Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Small Family , Smart Family ? Family Size and the IQ Scores of

How do families influence the ability of children? Cognitive skills have been shown to be a strong predictor of educational attainment and future labor market success; as a result, understanding the determinants of cognitive skills can lead to a better understanding of children’s long run outcomes. This paper uses a large dataset on the male population of Norway and focuses on one family characteristic: the effect of family size on IQ. Because of the endogeneity of family size, we instrument for family size using twin births and sex composition. IV estimates using sex composition as an instrument show no negative effect of family size; however, IV estimates using twins imply that family size has a negative effect on IQ. Our results suggest that effect of family size depends on the type of family size intervention. We conclude that there are no important negative effects of expected increases in family size on IQ but that unexpected shocks to family size resulting from twin births have negative effects on the IQ of existing children. * Black and Devereux gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Science Foundation and the California Center for Population Research. Salvanes thanks the Research Council of Norway for financial support. We would like to thank Josh Angrist and seminar participants at UCD Geary Institute, Pompeu Fabra, CEMFI Madrid, the Society of Labor Economists, and the CEPR conference on The Formation and Use of Human Capital and Knowledge in Bergen, Norway for useful suggestions. We are grateful to the Medical Birth Registry for Norway for providing the birth registry data. We are also indebted to Stig Jakobsen who was instrumental in obtaining data access to the IQ data from the Norwegian Armed Forces.
Efficacy of corneal collagen cross-linking using a custom epithelial debridement technique in thin corneas: a confocal microscopy study.

PURPOSE To examine the corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) effect with a customized epithelial debridement technique in thin corneas using anterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT) and confocal microscopy. METHODS Two patients with keratoconus who underwent a customized epithelial debridement technique (preserving the epithelium in thinner corneal regions where the deepithelialized corneal thickness was <400 μm) and subsequent CXL were examined by anterior segment OCT and in vivo confocal microscopy 1 month postoperatively. RESULTS Anterior segment OCT showed the demarcation line in the peripheral deepithelialized corneal areas, but it was not detectable in the central corneal regions corresponding to the cone where the epithelium was preserved. In vivo confocal microscopy analysis revealed total loss of keratocytes together with the intense honeycomb-like stromal edema in the anterior ∼320 μm of the cornea in the deepithelialized areas. This effect was mild under the intact epithelium with preservation of keratocytes and only a mild increase in stromal reflectivity. CONCLUSIONS In this confocal microscopy study, the corneal stroma under the intact epithelium seemed to be spared from the collagen CXL effect by the customized epithelial debridement technique.
An Interactive Information Visualization Approach to Physically-Based Rendering

In this work, we present a novel information visualization tool to gain insight into the light transport in a physically-based rendering setting. The tool consists of a sampling-based data reduction technique, an extended interactive parallel coordinates plot providing an overview of the attributes linked to each light sample, 2D and 3D heat maps to represent different aspects of the rendering process, as well as a three-dimensional view to display and animate the light path transportation throughout the scene. We show several applications including differential light transport visualization for scene analysis, lighting and material optimization, reduction of rendering artifacts, and user-guided importance sampling.
Nitrate and nitrite content of human, formula, bovine, and soy milks: implications for dietary nitrite and nitrate recommendations.

BACKGROUND Estimation of nitrate and nitrite concentrations of milk sources may provide insight into potential health risks and benefits of these food sources for infants, children, and adults. The World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive consumption of human milk for the first 6 months of life. Human milk is known to confer significant nutritional and immunological benefits for the infant. Consumption of formula, cow's, and soy milk may be used as alternatives to human milk for infants. METHODS We sought to estimate potential exposure to nitrate and nitrite in human, formula, bovine, and soy milk to inform total dietary exposure estimates and recommendations. Using sensitive quantitative methodologies, nitrite and nitrate were analyzed in different samples of milk. RESULTS Human milk concentrations of colostrum (expressed days 1-3 postpartum; n=12), transition milk (expressed days 3-7 postpartum; n=17), and mature milk (expressed >7 days postpartum; n=50) were 0.08 mg/100 mL nitrite and 0.19 mg/100 mL nitrate, 0.001 mg/100 mL nitrite and 0.52 mg/100 mL nitrate, and 0.001 mg/100 mL nitrite and 0.3 mg/100 mL nitrate, respectively, revealing that the absolute amounts of these anions change as the composition of milk changes. When expressed as a percentage of the World Health Organization's Acceptable Daily Intake limits, Silk® Soy Vanilla (WhiteWave Foods, Broomfield, CO) intake could result in high nitrate intakes (104% of this standard), while intake of Bright Beginnings Soy Pediatric® formula (PBM Nutritionals, Georgia, VT) could result in the highest nitrite intakes (383% of this standard). CONCLUSIONS The temporal relationship between the provision of nitrite in human milk and the development of commensal microbiota capable of reducing dietary nitrate to nitrite supports a hypothesis that humans are adapted to provide nitrite to the gastrointestinal tract from birth. These data support the hypothesis that the high concentrations of breastmilk nitrite and nitrate are evidence for a physiologic requirement to support gastrointestinal and immune homeostasis in the neonate.
VCAM-1 expression, eosinophil infiltration, and pharmacological modulation in rat allergic airway inflammation.

AIM To determine vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) expression and eosinophil infiltration in the lungs of the rats with allergic airway inflammation, and their possible modulation by dexamethasone and neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist SR140333. METHODS Sensitized rats were challenged with inhalation of 1 % ovalbumin aerosol. Protein expression of VCAM-1 in the lungs and eosinophil infiltration around bronchi in different groups were determined 24 h after challenge. SR140333 (0.01 and 0.10 mg/kg) and dexamethasone (0.50 mg/kg) were injected ip, twice a day, for 3 d before challenge. RESULTS The expression of VCAM-1 was increased in the sensitized rat lungs as compared with the non-sensitized rats (P<0.05). The increment was inhibited by pretreatment with dexamethasone (P<0.05), but not with SR140333 (P>0.05). On the other hand, antigen challenge in sensitized rats evoked eosinophil infiltration (P<0.05) but no further increase in VCAM-1 expression (P>0.05). Furthermore, SR140333 inhibited eosinophil infiltration (P<0.05) but had no effect on VCAM-1 expression (P>0.05), whereas dexamethasone inhibited both responses (P<0.05). CONCLUSION The expression of VCAM-1 increases during antigen sensitization in rat lungs, and dexamethasone and SR140333 may inhibit allergic airway inflammation in different mechanisms.
Association between circulating tumor cells and prognosis in patients with stage III melanoma with sentinel lymph node metastasis in a phase III international multicenter trial.

PURPOSE The outcomes of patients with melanoma who have sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastases can be highly variable, which has precluded establishment of consensus regarding treatment of the group. The detection of high-risk patients from this clinical setting may be helpful for determination of both prognosis and management. We report the utility of multimarker reverse-transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in patients with melanoma diagnosed with SLN metastases in a phase III, international, multicenter clinical trial. PATIENTS AND METHODS Blood specimens were collected from patients with melanoma (n = 331) who were clinically disease-free after complete lymphadenectomy (CLND) before entering onto a randomized adjuvant melanoma vaccine plus bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) versus BCG placebo trial from 30 melanoma centers (United States and international). Blood was assessed using a verified multimarker RT-qPCR assay (MART-1, MAGE-A3, and GalNAc-T) of melanoma-associated proteins. Cox regression analyses were used to evaluate the prognostic significance of CTC status for disease recurrence and melanoma-specific survival (MSS). RESULTS Individual CTC biomarker detection ranged from 13.4% to 17.5%. There was no association of CTC status (zero to one positive biomarkers v two or more positive biomarkers) with known clinical or pathologic prognostic variables. However, two or more positive biomarkers was significantly associated with worse distant metastasis disease-free survival (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.13, P = .009) and reduced recurrence-free survival (HR = 1.70, P = .046) and MSS (HR = 1.88, P = .043) in a multivariable analysis. CONCLUSION CTC biomarker status is a prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival, distant metastasis disease-free survival, and MSS after CLND in patients with SLN metastasis. This multimarker RT-qPCR analysis may therefore be useful in discriminating patients who may benefit from aggressive adjuvant therapy or stratifying patients for adjuvant clinical trials.
Cultural Similarities in Self-Esteem Functioning

East Asians report lower levels of self-esteem than North Americans and Western Europeans. These differences could mean that self-esteem is a culturally bounded construct, experienced differently in different cultures, or they could mean that self-esteem is a universally relevant construct whose average level is raised or lowered in different cultures. To examine these possibilities, the authors assessed self-esteem functioning in China and America. Study 1 found that, across cultures, self-serving attributions are stronger when self-esteem is high than when it is low. Study 2 replicated this finding and also found that, across cultures, failure produces less emotional distress when self-esteem is high than when it is low. Because self-esteem functioned similarly in China as in America, the authors conclude it is of general psychological importance.
A Concise Historical Grammar of the Albanian Language: Reconstruction of Proto-Albanian

This book deals with the historical development of the Albanian language from prehistoric times to our days. The main focus of the book is the reconstruction of Proto-Albanian, the analysis of its relations to its ancestor, Indo-European, and its further change leading to Albanian in its present form. The volume contains a detailed description of historical phonetics and morphology of Albanian. The reader will also find important data on the Albanian vocabulary in its historical development. Together with the author's Albanian Etymological Dictionary, the present book makes a powerful research tool important for Albanologists, Balkanologists and historical linguists.
Edge Detection of an Image based on Bi-Level Histogram Equalization and Ant Colony Optimization Technique

This paper describes a novel approach for edge detection of an image which is based on Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), Bi-Level histogram equalization and also Brightness Preserving Dynamic Fuzzy Histogram Equalization. The query image is taken in gray scale form and the Bi-Level Histogram Equalization is applied for enhancing the contrast of the image. This is done since the contrast enhancement gives the better distinction between the brightness of background and the foreground of objects especially in low contrast images. Then ACO is used for edge detection of a Bi-Level Histogram Equalized image. The performance of the proposed approach is demonstrated with the help of experimental results. The results show that our approach is better than other techniques.
Validation of the Japanese Version of the Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire in Patients with Low Back Pain

There is a growing interest in the role of disturbed body perception in people with persistent pain problems such as chronic low back pain (CLBP). A questionnaire, the Fremantle Back Awareness Questionnaire (FreBAQ), was recently developed as a simple and quick way of assessing disturbed perceptual awareness of the back in people with CLBP and appears to have acceptable psychometric properties. The aim of the present study was to develop a Japanese version of the FreBAQ (FreBAQ‐J) and evaluate its psychometric properties in a sample of Japanese people with low back pain (LBP).
Circulating levels and clinical significance of soluble CD40 in patients with hematologic malignancies

CD40 plays a critical role in immunoregulation, and CD40 ligation is being investigated as a therapy for hematologic malignancies. Although soluble CD40 (sCD40) is a potential modulator of both antitumor responses and CD40‐based therapies, the levels and significance of sCD40 in patients with hematologic malignancies are unknown.
Theoretical Analysis of Diffuse Reflectance from a Two-Layer Tissue Model

A three-dimensional diffuse reflectance equation for a two-layer tissue model was developed using photon diffusion theory. In this model, tissue was considered to consist of two homogeneous isotropically scattering layers whose scattering and absorption constants were expressed as a linear sum of those of whole blood and a blood-free tissue component; tissue hemoglobin content and oxygen saturation were then expressed in terms of these total tissue parameters. Reflectance predictions given by the two-layer equation were used to investigate the effects of various tissue and system parameters on the partial reflectance from the second tissue layer; among such parameters significantly affecting deep-layer reflectance are the tissues scattering constants, its geometry, and the geometry of the optical transducer. When the penetration depth of the incident photons is small compared with the thickness of the first layer, reflectance contributions from the second layer are negligible, and a single-layer approximation would be adequate; resultant reflectance errors range from 6 to 8 percent of the total reflectance, for source-detector separations in the range from 1 to 4 mm. However, when the photon penetration depth is large with respect to first-layer thickness, the effects of deep layers are both important and strongly dependent on transducer geometry; partial reflectances range to 50 percent of the total when the source-detector separation is 4 mm.
Testing DNA barcoding in closely related groups of Lysimachia L. (Myrsinaceae)

It has been suggested that rbcL and matK are the core barcodes in plants, but they are not powerful enough to distinguish between closely related plant groups. Additional barcodes need to be evaluated to improve the level of discrimination between plant species. Because of their well‐studied taxonomy and extreme diversity, we used Chinese Lysimachia (Myrsinaceae) species to test the performance of core barcodes (rbcL and matK) and two additional candidate barcodes (trnH‐psbA and the nuclear ribosomal ITS); 97 accessions from four subgenus representing 34 putative Lysimachia species were included in this study. And many closely related species pairs in subgen. Lysimachia were covered to detect their discriminatory power. The inefficiency of rbcL and matK alone or combined in closely related plant groups was validated in this study. TrnH‐psbA combined with rbcL + matK did not yet perform well in Lysimachia groups. In contrast, ITS, alone or combined with rbcL and/or matK, revealed high resolving ability in Lysimachia. We support ITS as a supplementary barcode on the basis of core barcode rbcL and matK. Besides, this study also illustrates several mistakes or underlying evolutionary events in Lysimachia detected by DNA barcoding.
Subthreshold Analog/RF Performance Enhancement of Underlap DG FETs With High- K Spacer for Low Power Applications

This paper presents a systematic study of the subthreshold analog/RF performance for underlap double gate (UDG) NMOSFETs using high dielectric constant (k) spacers. The conventional UDG-NMOSFETs offer reduced short-channel effects along with improved subthreshold analog/RF performance at a cost of higher distributed channel resistance and low on current. In this paper, we show that these drawbacks can be alleviated effectively by using high-k spacers without any severe degradation in the subthreshold analog/RF performance. In order to show the improvement in the device performance, we have studied the effect of high-k spacers on different subthreshold analog figures of merit such as the transconductance, transconductance generation factor, output resistance, and the intrinsic gain for different values of k . Moreover, we have analyzed the RF performance as a function of intrinsic capacitance and resistance, transport delay, inductance, cutoff frequency, and the maximum oscillation frequency. In order to assess the gain bandwidth (GBW) product, the circuit implementation of the UDG-NMOSFETs with different high-k spacers was performed on a common source amplifier. Our results show an improvement in the GBW of about 38% for the devices with high- k spacers compared to its low- k counterpart.
Tumor cell-specific inhibition of MYC function using small molecule inhibitors of the HUWE1 ubiquitin ligase

Deregulated expression of MYC is a driver of colorectal carcinogenesis, necessitating novel strategies to inhibit MYC function. The ubiquitin ligase HUWE1 (HECTH9, ARF‐BP1, MULE) associates with both MYC and the MYC‐associated protein MIZ1. We show here that HUWE1 is required for growth of colorectal cancer cells in culture and in orthotopic xenograft models. Using high‐throughput screening, we identify small molecule inhibitors of HUWE1, which inhibit MYC‐dependent transactivation in colorectal cancer cells, but not in stem and normal colon epithelial cells. Inhibition of HUWE1 stabilizes MIZ1. MIZ1 globally accumulates on MYC target genes and contributes to repression of MYC‐activated target genes upon HUWE1 inhibition. Our data show that transcriptional activation by MYC in colon cancer cells requires the continuous degradation of MIZ1 and identify a novel principle that allows for inhibition of MYC function in tumor cells.
NONLINEAR H1 CONTROL FOR UNDERACTUATED MANIPULATORS WITH ROBUSTNESS TESTS

In this paper, the model-based robotic control problem with disturbance attenuation (or robotic H1 control problem), presented in Chen et all (1994), is extended to underactuated manipulators. The dynamic coupling between the links is used to control all manipulator’s free joints. A global explicit solution is found solving a minimax Bellman-Isaacs equation, generated via differential game theory. Experimental results, obtained from UArm II manipulator, considering fully actuated and underactuated congurations, are presented.
Simulating REAL LIVES

In response to an increasingly interdependent world, educators are demonstrating a growing interest in educating for global citizenship. Many definitions of the “good global citizen” value empathy as an especially important disposition for understanding others across national borders and cultural divides. Yet it may be difficult for people to achieve empathy with others who are perceived as psychologically and geographically distant. Can computerized simulation games help foster global empathy and interest in global civic learning? This quasiexperimental classroom study of 301 Northern California high school students in three schools examined the effects of playing REAL LIVES, a simulation game that allows players to inhabit the lives of individuals around the world. Compared with a control group, students who played the simulation game as part of their curriculum expressed more global empathy and greater interest in learning about other countries. Identification with REAL LIVES characters was also positively related to global empathy. These findings support claims that computerized simulations can cultivate important dispositions for global learning and citizenship.
Sentinel-1 observations of the 2016 Menyuan earthquake : A buried reverse event linked to the left-lateral Haiyuan fault

Knowledge on the interaction of active structures is essential to understand mechanics of continental deformation and estimate the earthquake potential in complex tectonic settings. Here we use Sentinel-1A radar imagery to investigate coseismic deformation associated with the 2016 Menyuan (Qinghai) earthquake, which occurred in the vicinity of the left-lateral Haiyuan fault. The ascending and descending interferograms indicate thrust-dominated slip, with the maximum line-of-sight displacements of 58 and 68 mm, respectively. The InSAR observations fit well with the uniform-slip dislocation models except for a larger slip-to-width ratio than that predicted by the empirical scaling law. We suggest that geometric complexities near the Leng Long Ling restraining bend confine rupture propagation, resulting in high slip occurred within a small area and much higher stress drop than global estimates. Although InSAR observations cannot distinguish the primary plane, we prefer the west-dipping solution considering aftershocks distribution and the general tectonic context. Both InSAR modelling and aftershock locations indicate that the rupture plane linked to the Haiyuan fault at 10 km depth, a typical seismogenic depth in Tibet. We suggest that the earthquake more likely occurred on a secondary branch at a restraining bend of the Haiyuan fault, even though we cannot completely rule out the possibility of it being on a splay of the North Qilian Shan thrusts.
Circulating triglycerides and bile acids are reduced by a soluble wheat arabinoxylan via modulation of bile concentration and lipid digestion rates in a pig model.

SCOPE Soluble dietary fibres have shown to have lipid reducing properties. However, their mechanisms of action are still unclear. The present study investigated how a soluble wheat arabinoxylan-rich fraction (AXRF) fed to pigs used as a human model reduced blood triglycerides. METHODS AND RESULTS After 4 weeks on the experimental diets, blood from the jugular (JV) and hepatic portal (HPV) veins, bile from the gall bladder, and digesta samples from four sites of the small intestine (SI) and cecum were collected. The results showed that the AXRF significantly decreased the concentrations of total bile acid (BA) in the HPV (p < 0.01), JV (p < 0.01), bile (p < 0.05) and SI (p < 0.05), but with no effect on ileal BAs excretion flux. Furthermore, blood triglyceride (TAG) levels were also lower with AXRF (p < 0.01) but with no significant effects on LDL-, HDL- or total cholesterol levels. The lower plasma TAG concentration was consistent with the reduced/delayed digestion and absorption of TAG with the AXRF (total fatty acid and MUFA p < 0.01; unsaturated fatty acid p < 0.05). CONCLUSION The results suggest that AXRF reduced the levels of circulating BAs which slowed down the digestion of TAG and absorption of free fatty acids, with consequent reduction in blood TAG. Reduction in circulating bile acids by arabinoxylan causes reduction in lipids digestion and absorption.