Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fate of trace organic compounds during vadose zone soil treatment in an onsite wastewater system

During onsite wastewater treatment, trace organic compounds are often present in the effluents applied to subsurface soils for advanced treatment during vadose zone percolation and groundwater recharge. The fate of the endocrine‐disrupting surfactant metabolites 4‐nonylphenol (NP), 4‐nonylphenolmonoethoxylate (NP1EO), and 4‐nonylphenolmonoethoxycarboxylate (NP1EC), metal‐chelating agents ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), antimicrobial agent triclosan, stimulant caffeine, and antibiotic sulfamethoxazole during transport through an unsaturated sandy loam soil was studied at a field‐scale test site. To assess the effects of effluent quality and hydraulic loading rate (HLR) on compound fate in the soil profile, two effluents (septic tank or textile biofilter) were applied at two design HLRs (2 or 8 cm/d). Chemical concentrations were determined in the two effluents and soil pore water at 60, 120, and 240 cm below the soil infiltrative surface. Concentrations of trace organic compounds in septic tank effluent were reduced by more than 90% during transport through 240 cm (often within 60 cm) of soil, likely due to sorption and biotransformation. However, the concentration of NP increased with depth in the shallow soil profile. Additional treatment of anaerobic septic tank effluent with an aerobic textile biofilter reduced effluent concentrations of many compounds, but generally did not affect any changes in pore water concentrations. The soil profile receiving septic tank effluent (vs. textile biofilter effluent) generally had greater percent removal efficiencies. EDTA, NP, NP1EC, and sulfamethoxazole were measured in soil pore water, indicating the ability of some trace organic compounds to reach shallow groundwater. Risk is highly dependent on the degree of further treatment in the saturated zone and the types and proximity of uses for the receiving groundwater environment. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2010;29:285–293. © 2009 SETAC
Current Concepts: Lateral Ankle Instability

Ankle sprains are the most common musculoskeletal injury, with an incidence of 30,000 per day in the United States;28,35 40% of all athletic injuries involve the ankle.12,28 Most ankle sprains involve the lateral ligament complex and are caused by an inversion force on a plantarflexed foot.42 In 1965, Freeman40 hypothesized that injury to the mechanoreceptors of the ankle joint was the main factor for continued symptoms after ankle sprain. Despite the large number of ankle sprains each year, however, most individuals do not develop chronic ankle instability. Those who do generally have two distinct presentations. Patients with mechanical instability complain of giving way and have documented pathologic hypermobility of the tibiotalar joint.28 Individuals with functional instability present with subjective complaints of an unreliable ankle but lack any demonstrable radiographic signs of instability.41 Significant research in recent years indicates that patients with either acute lateral ligament tears or chronic functional instability are best managed with a bracing and rehabilitation program, as substantiated by the 2002 Cochrane Database review by Kerkhoffs et al.75 Controversy still exists, however, regarding the optimal treatment of individuals with chronic mechanical ankle instability. What has become clear is that prevention of lateral ankle instability is mandatory, because the relationship between chronic instability and late sequelae, such as arthritic progression has become more obvious,54 although further Level I16,107 (Table 1) outcomes research are necessary to define these issues.
Sex‐Specific Associations of Oral Anticoagulant Use and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

Background Sex‐specific effectiveness of rivaroxaban (RIVA), dabigatran (DABI), and warfarin in reducing myocardial infarction (MI), heart failure (HF), and all‐cause mortality among patients with atrial fibrillation are not known. We assessed sex‐specific associations of RIVA, DABI, or warfarin use with the risk of MI, HF, and all‐cause mortality among patients with atrial fibrillation. Methods and Results Medicare beneficiaries (men: 65 734 [44.8%], women: 81 135 [55.2%]) with atrial fibrillation who initiated oral anticoagulants formed the study cohort. Inpatient admissions for MI, HF, and all‐cause mortality were compared between the 3 drugs separately for men and women using 3‐way propensity‐matched samples. In men, RIVA use was associated with a reduced risk of MI admissions compared with warfarin use (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.59 [0.38–0.91]), with a trend towards reduced risk compared with DABI use (0.67 [0.44–1.01]). In women, there were no significant differences in the risk of MI admissions across all 3 anticoagulants. In both sexes, RIVA use and DABI use were associated with reduced risk of HF admissions (men: RIVA; 0.75 [0.63–0.89], DABI; 0.81 [0.69–0.96]) (women: RIVA; 0.64 [0.56–0.74], DABI; 0.73 [0.63–0.83]) and all‐cause mortality (men: RIVA; 0.66 [0.53–0.81], DABI; 0.75 [0.61–0.93]) (women: RIVA; 0.76 [0.63–0.91], DABI; 0.77 [0.64–0.93]) compared with warfarin use. Conclusions RIVA use and DABI use when compared with warfarin use was associated with a reduced risk of HF admissions and all‐cause mortality in both sexes. However, reduced risk of MI admissions noted with RIVA use appears to be limited to men.
Firms’ Collaboration Within Their Business Networks in Bioenergy Technology: A Case Study

Global warming is becoming a serious environmental concern, and current primary energy sources are also getting exhausted. Decentralized combined heat and power production using biofuels such as forest biomass could offer a qualified sustainable solution for many regions. The objective of this paper is to analyze what kind of heating plant manufacturers exist in the bioenergy field in Finland that also have future potential for supplying power generation units, and how they collaborate within their business networks. The primary sources of information for the industry evaluation were an analysis of major industry players based on financial and non-financial data and key expert interviews. The results reveal that the plant suppliers can be divided into three different clusters: network leaders, turnkey suppliers and distributors; and that they collaborate extensively within their business networks. The plant suppliers complement their own capabilities and competences by efficient networking that prepares the way for complete plant deliveries instead of component and parts supply only.
A Longitudinal Study of Herd Behavior in the Adoption and Continued Use of Technology

Herd literature suggests that people tend to discount their own beliefs and imitate others when making adoption decisions and that the resulting adoption decisions are fragile and can be easily reversed during the post-adoptive stage. This helps explain why the adoption of a number of new technologies--from Amazon's Kindle, to Apple's iPod, iPhone, and iPad, to various types of Web 2.0 technologies--appears to have adoption patterns similar to those of new fashion trends (i. e., an initial en masse acquisition followed by subsequent abandonment). It is important to understand these phenomena because they are strongly related to the staying power of technology. From a herd behavior perspective, this study proposes two new concepts, namely discounting one's own information and imitating others, to describe herd behavior in technology adoption. A research model is developed to describe the conditions under which herd behavior in technology adoption occurs, how it impacts technology adoption decision making, and how it influences post-adoptive system use. A longitudinal study is conducted to examine the research model. Findings from this research suggest that the discounting of one's own beliefs and the imitating of others when adopting a new technology are provoked primarily by the observation of prior adoptions and perceptions of uncertainty regarding the adoption of new technology. Herd behavior has a significant influence on user technology adoption; however, it does not necessarily lead to the collapse of the user base, as predicted in the herd literature. Instead, imitation can help reduce post-adoption regret and thus serve as a legitimate strategy for choosing a good enough technology, which may or may not be the best option to enhance job performance. People tend to adjust their beliefs when herding and also to revive their discounted initial beliefs to modify their beliefs about the technology at the post-adoptive stage. Findings from this study have significant research and practical implications.
Cilia and coordination of signaling networks during heart development

Primary cilia are unique sensory organelles that coordinate a wide variety of different signaling pathways to control cellular processes during development and in tissue homeostasis. Defects in function or assembly of these antenna-like structures are therefore associated with a broad range of developmental disorders and diseases called ciliopathies. Recent studies have indicated a major role of different populations of cilia, including nodal and cardiac primary cilia, in coordinating heart development, and defects in these cilia are associated with congenital heart disease. Here, we present an overview of the role of nodal and cardiac primary cilia in heart development.
Real Estate Investment Vehicles: The Tension between Asset and Fund Liquidity

This paper examines the flow-performance relationship for direct real estate investment funds. Combining a unique data set with a VAR model framework, we find evidence that investors chase past returns at the aggregate level. However, we find against a market timing hypothesis real estate fund flows do not seem to predict subsequent returns. Additional findings indicate aggregate flows into direct real estate funds are serially correlated and negatively related to changes in the risk free rate. Our analysis of individual fund flows is motivated by a growing body of literature that addresses the flow-performance relationship and the effect of illiquid assets. Overall, we find the flow-performance relationship for direct real estate investment funds is convex. This finding is consistent with studies based on funds with more liquid underlying assets such as equity funds. More importantly, we find that the flow-performance shape varies with fund-level liquidity. Individual fund flows are less sensitive to poor performance as liquidity increases. The flow-performance sensitivity is higher for high performing funds as liquidity increases. Together these results imply that fund liquidity
Haemostatic Actions of the Folkloric Medicinal Plant Extract Ankaferd Blood Stopper®

Ankaferd Blood Stopper® (ABS), a standardized mixture of five plants, has been used historically as a haemostatic agent but its mechanism of action remains unknown. This study investigated the in vitro effects of ABS on haemostatic parameters. When added to plasma or serum, ABS induced the very rapid formation of a protein network and erythrocyte aggregation. The levels of coagulation factors II, V, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XIII were not affected by ABS. Plasma fibrinogen activity and antigen levels were decreased following the addition of ABS, in parallel with the prolonged thrombin time. Total protein, albumin, and globulin levels decreased after the addition of ABS. Our findings suggest that ABS stimulates the formation of an encapsulated protein network that provides focal points for erythrocyte aggregation. ABS has the therapeutic potential to be used for the management of haemorrhage and this agent should be investigated further in clinical trials.
Inflammation and cortisol response in coronary artery disease

Atherosclerosis is characterized by chronic inflammation involving autoimmune components. The degree of inflammatory activity, as detectable both within the atherosclerotic plaque and in the circulation, is associated with plaque destabilization and atherothrombotic complications. Endogenous glucocorticoids are modulators of innate and acquired immune responses, and as such play a key role in the reciprocal interaction between neuroendocrine and immune systems. Abnormalities in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) function have been described in several chronic inflammatory disorders, and evidence has emerged lately that HPA dysfunction may be implicated also in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease. This review is an outline of knowledge gained so far by previous studies of glucocorticoids in coronary atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction. The results consistently point towards a dysregulated cortisol secretion that may involve a failure to contain inflammatory activity. A dysfunctional HPA axis and its possible implications for coronary artery disease progress, including the hypothetical link between stress and inflammation, are discussed.
Question–behaviour effect: A randomised controlled trial of asking intention in the interrogative or declarative form

Objective: This study investigated the question–behaviour effect of measuring intention in the interrogative or declarative form combined or not with a measure of moral norm. Design: A sample of 762 participants was randomised according to a 2 × 2 factorial design. Main outcome measures: Cognitions were assessed at the baseline, and physical activity behaviour was self-reported three weeks later. Results: At baseline, there were no significant differences on the studied variables. An ANOVA showed a significant interaction effect between the two experimental conditions (p = 0.04). Post-hoc contrast analyses showed that the interrogative intention-only condition significantly differed from the declarative intention-only (d = 0.21, p = 0.03) and interrogative intention + moral norm (d = 0.22, p = 0.03) conditions. Conclusion: Results suggest that self-posed questions about a future action increases the likelihood of doing it when these questions are not accompanied by measures of moral norm. This provides support for using introspective self-talk to favour the adoption of behaviour.
Three water sites in upper mantle olivine and the role of titanium in the water weakening mechanism

[1] Infrared spectroscopy on synthetic olivines has established that there are at least four different mechanisms by which hydrogen is incorporated into the crystal structure. Two mechanisms occur in the system MgO-SiO2-H2O associated with silicon and magnesium vacancies, respectively. A third mechanism is associated with trivalent cation substitution, commonly Fe3+ in natural olivine, while the fourth mechanism, which is the one most prevalent in natural olivines from the spinel-peridotite facies of the Earth's upper mantle, is associated with Ti4+ [ Berry et al., 2005]. Here first principles calculations based on density functional theory are used to derive the structure and relative energies of the two defects in the pure MgO-SiO2-H2O system, and possible hydrogen-bearing and hydrogen-free point defects in Ti4+-doped forsterite. Calculated structures are used to compare the predicted orientation of the O-H bonds with the experimentally determined polarization. The energies are used to discuss how different regimes of chemical environment, temperature ( T), pressure ( P), and both water content and water fugacity (f(H2O)), impact on which of the different hydroxyl substitution mechanisms are thermodynamically stable. We find that given the presence of Ti impurities, the most stable mechanism involves the formation of silicon vacancies containing two protons charge balanced by a Ti4+ cation occupying an adjacent octahedral site. This mechanism leads to the water-mediated formation of silicon vacancies. As silicon is known to be the most slowly diffusing species in olivine, this provides a credible explanation of the observed water weakening effect in olivine.
Adapting to Radical Change: The Benefits of Short-Horizon Investors

We show that, following shocks that change an industry’s competitive environment, firms with more short-term institutional investors experience smaller drops in sales and investment and have better long-term performance than similar firms affected by the shocks. To do so, these firms introduce new products, file more trademarks, intensify their innovation efforts, conduct more diversifying acquisitions, and have higher executive turnover in the aftermath of the shocks. Our findings suggest that firms with more short-term investors adapt better to the new competitive environment. Endogeneity of institutional ownership and other selection problems do not appear to drive our findings. This paper was accepted by Gustavo Manso, finance.
Multimodal Imaging of Incidental Retrieval: The Low Route to Memory

Memories of past episodes frequently come to mind incidentally, without directed search. It has remained unclear how incidental retrieval processes are initiated in the brain. Here we used fMRI and ERP recordings to find brain activity that specifically correlates with incidental retrieval, as compared to intentional retrieval. Intentional retrieval was associated with increased activation in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. By contrast, incidental retrieval was associated with a reduced fMRI signal in posterior brain regions, including extrastriate and parahippocampal cortex, and a modulation of a posterior ERP component 170 msec after the onset of visual retrieval cues. Successful retrieval under both intentional and incidental conditions was associated with increased activation in the hippocampus, precuneus, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, as well as increased amplitude of the P600 ERP component. These results demonstrate how early bottom–up signals from posterior cortex can lead to reactivation of episodic memories in the absence of strategic retrieval attempts.
Cross-Dressing and Cyber-Shopping: the Internet As Consumption Tool and Community

Access to resources through the Internet has become critical for many cross-dressers today. Once only available through obscure mail-order catalogs, thanks to the Internet, products and services marketed to cross-dressers are now readily obtainable at the click of the mouse. This study examines 25 websites that concentrate on selling products and services related to cross-dressing. Within this examination the websites are interpreted as texts, linked together through their meanings as developed within a theoretical framework based on notions of self and identity in social context. In particular, the marketing and availability of products used to dress the body in a manner that achieves a gendered, ideal self are explored. An interpretation of themes that surfaced within and across these websites is developed which illustrates how members of this community create their own cross-dressed identity in the realm of cyberspace. This exploratory study demonstrates that in order to better meet the needs of this growing cyber-consumer market, an in-depth investigation of the consumption behavior of cross-dressers is essential.
C825T Polymorphism of the GNB3 Gene on Valproate-Related Metabolic Abnormalities in Bipolar Disorder Patients

Background: Valproate (VPA) is a mood stabilizer for treating patients with bipolar disorder (BD). It may cause metabolic abnormalities in certain bipolar patients. However, the genetic factors that influence the susceptibility remain unclear. Genetic polymorphism of the G-protein &bgr;3 subunit (GNB3) is reported to be associated with metabolic phenotypes. In the current study, we investigated the possible associations between the GNB3 variation and VPA-induced metabolic abnormalities. Methods: Subjects (n = 96) who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria for BD were recruited from the National Cheng Kung University Hospital. Their metabolic indices were measured. Results: The variation of GNB3 C825T showed an association with higher plasma total cholesterol (P = 0.037), triglyceride (P = 0.014), and leptin (P < 0.001) levels in BD patients treated with VPA. After adjusting for age, sex, types of BDs, and serum concentration of VPA, the variation of GNB3 C825T remained significantly associated with the levels of serum leptin and body mass index (BMI; P < 0.001 and P = 0.030, respectively). In addition, the GNB3 C825T showed significant drug-single-nucleotide polymorphism interactions with insulin levels (P = 0.033), triglyceride levels (P = 0.013), leptin levels (P = 0.013), and BMI (P = 0.018). These results indicated that the T allele may be associated with lower serum leptin levels and BMI in BD patients treated with VPA. Conclusions: The current study provides evidence that BD patients who are T allele carriers of the GNB3 C825T polymorphism have a lower risk for VPA-induced metabolic abnormalities. Further studies about the underlying mechanisms of G protein in VPA-induced metabolic abnormalities are warranted.
A hybrid ultrasonic squeeze film and magnetic levitation actuator for machine guideways

In this article we present a novel hybrid ultrasonic/magnetic levitation actuator for machine guideway applications. This arrangement is beneficial due to the repulsive and attractive forces of each physical phenomena. The combination simplifies guideway constructions significantly. Starting from analytical models of each effect, the self-stabilizing effect of the actuator is explained. In order to take advantage of the dynamic properties of the actuator, the position feedback of the ultrasonic transducer is shown. This enables the control of the levitation height as well as the bearing's damping and stiffness. The paper is concluded by an outlook to future applications of the novel hybrid actuator in machine guideways.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Comorbid Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder With Agoraphobia

The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral treatment package for comorbid generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA). A single-case, multiple-baseline, across-subjects design was used with 3 primary GAD patients with secondary PDA. The efficacy of the treatment was evaluated with a structured interview, a battery of self-report questionnaires, and daily self-monitoring booklets. Results are promising: At posttreatment, 2 out of 3 participants achieved high endstate functioning and maintained this level at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups. The 3rd participant also improved but achieved moderate endstate functioning. The strengths and limitations of the treatment are discussed.
Surgical management of Caroli's disease involving both lobes of the liver

Une observation. Schema de l'intervention complexe: resection du lobe gauche et du lobe caude, desimpaction de calculs, hepatico-jejunostomie sur anse «Roux en Y» et pose d'un catheter percutane pour endoscopies futures