Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Family Process Environmental Measures in the NLSY97: Variation by Race and Socioeconomic Conditions

This article uses data from the NLSY97 to provide a descriptive portrait of family environmental indices—family/home risk, physical environment risk, enriching environments for youth, and family religious practices. The report includes a brief overview of the literature on risk, resilience, and protective factors as they relate to family processes, detailed information about the indices related to family/home risk, physical environment risk, enriching environments for youth, and family religious practices, as well as variations in each of these indices by adolescent gender, race, family income, and family structure. The comparisons were performed using analysis of variance to control for group differences. Results show that White adolescents reported fewer environmental risks and more protective factors than African American adolescents. Parents of African American adolescents reported higher religiosity than parents of Hispanic or White adolescents. Other findings with respect to gender, race, and income, as well as some interaction effects, were also indicated by the analysis.
Aberrant Splicing of an Alternative Exon in the Drosophila Troponin-T Gene Affects Flight Muscle Development

During myofibrillogenesis, many muscle structural proteins assemble to form the highly ordered contractile sarcomere. Mutations in these proteins can lead to dysfunctional muscle and various myopathies. We have analyzed the Drosophila melanogaster troponin T (TnT) up1 mutant that specifically affects the indirect flight muscles (IFM) to explore troponin function during myofibrillogenesis. The up1 muscles lack normal sarcomeres and contain “zebra bodies,” a phenotypic feature of human nemaline myopathies. We show that the up1 mutation causes defective splicing of a newly identified alternative TnT exon (10a) that encodes part of the TnT C terminus. This exon is used to generate a TnT isoform specific to the IFM and jump muscles, which during IFM development replaces the exon 10b isoform. Functional differences between the 10a and 10b TnT isoforms may be due to different potential phosphorylation sites, none of which correspond to known phosphorylation sites in human cardiac TnT. The absence of TnT mRNA in up1 IFM reduces mRNA levels of an IFM-specific troponin I (TnI) isoform, but not actin, tropomyosin, or troponin C, suggesting a mechanism controlling expression of TnT and TnI genes may exist that must be examined in the context of human myopathies caused by mutations of these thin filament proteins.
Multilingual Groups: Effects of Linguistic Ostracism on Felt Rejection and Anger, Coworker Attraction, Perceived Team Potency, and Creative Performance

We defined linguistic ostracism (LO) as any situation in which people converse in a language that others cannot understand (as opposed to linguistic inclusion [LI], in which people converse in a language that others do understand). Participants were exposed to either LO or LI by two Russian-speaking confederates. Participants then performed a creativity (brainstorming) task expecting to be evaluated individually or to reconvene with their groups and be evaluated collectively. Results revealed that targets of LO compared to LI reported more rejection and anger, less attraction toward their coworkers, and lower perceived team potency. In the group work condition, targets high in social self-efficacy (SSE) performed better following LO (compared to LI), whereas those low in SSE performed worse. No effects emerged in the individual work condition. Targets' levels of rejection sensitivity were positively associated with aggressively charged ideas following LO but not LI. We conclude that LO is psychologically aversive for targets and hampers group-based performance among those who lack confidence in their social abilities. Future areas of research as well as implications for multilingual organizations are discussed.
Factors that Positively Affect Academic Performance of African American Football Student Athletes

Abstract The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that affected the academic persistence and graduation of African-American male student-athletes who participated in the sport of football at Southeastern Conference (SEC) institutions. This study differs from previous studies by concentrating on African-American male student-athletes who successfully navigated the academic processes of higher education and ultimately earned a degree. More often than not, research on the academic performance of African-American male student-athletes has been conceptualized from a deficit perspective focusing mainly on nonperformance. This study used a qualitative case study design to examine the experiences and perceptions related to academic persistence and graduation. Eighteen African-American males who are former student-athletes in the sport of football in the SEC and graduated were interviewed. A grounded theory approach was used in the analysis of the data. Six themes emerged from this study that appears central to the academic persistence and graduation of the student-athletes in this study. These themes are: (a) family member/significant other influence; (b) institutional commitment; (c) teammate influence/peer acceptance; (d) self-motivation; (e) fraternity influence; and (f) spirituality.
The Relationship between Small-Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth and Intestinal Permeability in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Background/Aims Small-intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is a frequent finding in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Many patients with IBS also have abnormal intestinal permeability, which is probably due to low-grade inflammation in the intestinal mucosa. Our aim was to verify the relationship between SIBO and small-intestinal permeability in IBS patients. Methods A cohort of 38 IBS patients (20 women and 18 men; age range 16-70 years; mean age 40.2 years) with symptoms that fulfilled Rome-II criteria, and 12 healthy controls (5 women and 7 men; age range 25-52 years; mean age: 37.8 years) were recruited. All subjects underwent lactulose breath tests (LBTs) and intestinal permeability tests using the polyethylene glycol (PEG) 3350/400 retrieval ratio. Results A positive LBT was found in 18.4% (7/38) of patients with IBS and 8.3% (1/12) of control subjects. Intestinal permeability was significantly increased in patients with IBS compared with the normal controls (0.82±0.09 vs 0.41±0.05 [mean±SD], respectively; p<0.05). However, the intestinal permeability did not differ significantly between IBS patients with a positive LBT and those with a negative LBT (0.90±0.13 and 0.80±0.11, respectively; p>0.05). Conclusions Intestinal permeability was increased in patients with IBS, but this finding did not correlated with the occurrence of SIBO.
QoS Driven Web Services Evolution

The loose coupling and on-demand integration are the fundamental characteristics of the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), which have enforced rapid development of Web services. However, nonfunctional quality of service (QoS) attributes may evolve due to the changes of network conditions and locations of the service users. Some real services may update their QoS properties on-the-fly, others may turn to unavailable. Thus, addressing the problem of uninformed QoS evolution of Web services has become a significant research issue. This paper proposes a dynamic evolution framework of Web services, which uses the Collaborative Filtering (CF) to predict the QoS values and enables the evolution of Web services. In this framework, the QoS values of current users can be predicted using the past QoS data of similar users. There is no extra Web services invocation. About 1.5 millions real-world QoS data are used for evaluation and the experimental results show that it is a feasible and supplementary manner in dynamic evolution of the Web Services.
Flunk’em or Get Them Classified

The authors argue not only that high-stakes primary grade testing increases the pressure on low-achieving schools to improve their test performance but that these assessment mandates also increase the chances that low-scoring children will be retained in grade or classified as handicapped. Placement practices such as handicapped classification, flunking, and "developmental" classes remove low- achieving children from the assessment stream and, in the authors’ view, constitute not just pollution of assessment data, but outright contamination of the reported results. The authors regard decisions to classify or fail low-achieving children as egregiously unethical if such decisions are motivated by pressure to increase the school’s publicly reported test performance, and they suggest that current high-stakes testing programs be modified to eliminate any incentives to engage in such placement practices.
Universal Constructions for Large Objects

We present lock-free and wait-free universal constructions for implementing large shared objects. Most previous universal constructions require processes to copy the entire object state, which is impractical for large objects. Previous attempts to address this problem require programmers to explicitly fragment large objects into smaller, more manageable pieces, paying particular attention to how such pieces are copied. In contrast, our constructions are designed to largely shield programmers from this fragmentation. Furthermore, for many objects, our constructions result in lower copying overhead than previous ones. Fragmentation is achieved in our constructions through the use of load-linked, store-conditional, and validate operations on a "large" multiword shared variable. Before presenting our constructions, we show how these operations can be efficiently implemented from similar one-word primitives.
Morphological evolution in Tropidurinae squamates: an integrated view along a continuum of ecological settings

Variation in squamate foot morphology is likely relevant during evolutionary processes of habitat colonization because distinct surfaces differ in energetic and functional demands for locomotion. We combined new foot morphological data with published information of limb and tail lengths to investigate evolutionary changes possibly associated with the differential usage of ecological settings by Tropidurinae species. Several traits exhibited significant phylogenetic signal, and we performed conventional and phylogenetic regressions of PC scores (retained from Principal Components Analyses of morphometric traits) on continuous ecological indices. Tropidurines from sandy habitats exhibit larger foot soles, opposite to the evolution of narrow feet in species that use branches and rocks. Also, species that usually move along trunks present longer femora. This study provides evidence for morphological adaptations associated with substrate usage in Tropidurinae, and suggests that opposite morphological profiles might evolve associated with the use of surfaces energetically and functionally contrasting, possibly leading to trade‐offs.
Pathogen-Induced Defense Signaling and Signal Crosstalk in Arabidopsis

8 INTRODUCTION. 9 PLANT-PATHOGEN INTERACTION . 11 PHYTOPATHOGENIC BACTERIA.12 PLANT DEFENSE . 13 Preformed defenses . 13 Inducible defenses . 14 Elicitation of plant defense. 15 General elicitors . 15 Race-specific elicitors . 16 Elicitor perception . 17 Defense signaling . 18 Role of reactive oxygen species in defense signaling. 20 Role of nitric oxide in defense signaling . 22 Salicylic acid-mediated defense signaling . 22 Nature of the systemic signal. 25 Jasmonic acid-mediated defense signaling . 26 Jasmonic acid in systemic signaling . 27 Ethylene-mediated defense signaling. 28 Abscisic acid. 30 Role of ABA in abiotic stress responses. 31 Role of ABA in biotic stress responses. 33 CROSSTALK BETWEEN SIGNALING PATHWAYS . 35 MODEL ORGANISM ERWINIA CAROTOVORA . 37 OPEN QUESTIONS . 39 AIMS OF THE STUDY.40 MATERIALS AND METHODS.41 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION . 42 ERWINIA CAROTOVORA AND ELICITORS HRPN AND PEHA TRIGGER DISTINCT BUT INTERACTING DEFENSE RESPONSES AND CELL DEATH IN ARABIDOPSIS (I) . 42 HrpN elicits lesion formation and induces resistance to E. carotovora in Arabidopsis . 42 Establishment of HrpN-triggered resistance requires both SA and JA signaling . 43 Synergistic action of elicitors HrpN and PehA triggers enhanced defense gene expression and cell death.44 PLANT RESPONSES TO E. CAROTOVORA (II, III) . 44 CHLOROPHYLLASE 1 AFFECTS INDUCTION OF DEFENSE PATHWAYS IN PLANTS (II) . 45 RNAi silencing of chlorophyllase 1 (AtCLH1) improves resistance to E. carotovora in Arabidopsis . 45 Resistance of AtCLH1 RNAi-silenced plants is light-dependent and involves increased accumulation of ROS . 46 Silencing of AtCLH1 affects the balance between SAand JA-dependent defenses in Arabidopsis . 47 ERD15 IS A NEGATIVE REGULATOR OF ABA RESPONSES IN ARABIDOPSIS (III) . 49 ERD15 is rapidly induced by both biotic and abiotic factors . 49 Modulation of ERD15 expression affects abiotic stress tolerance by influencing ABA sensitivity . 49 Insensitivity to ABA enhances resistance of Arabidopsis to E. carotovora. 51 ERD15 is a negative regulator of ABA responses in Arabidopsis . 52 CONCLUDING REMARKS AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES . 53 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . 56 REFERENCES . 58
Optimization of Polynomial Functions

Abstract This paper develops a refinement of Lasserre's algorithm for optimizing a polynomial on a basic closed semialgebraic set via semidefinite programming and addresses an open question concerning the duality gap. It is shown that, under certain natural stability assumptions, the problem of optimization on a basic closed set reduces to the compact case.
Considering the Vignette Technique and its Application to a Study of Drug Injecting and HIV Risk and Safer Behaviour

Vignettes are stories generated from a range of sources including previous research findings. They make reference to important factors in the study of perceptions, beliefs and attitudes. Vignettes have primarily been used by psychologists in North America and used in quantitative surveys but more recently they have been used in a small number of qualitative studies. Drawing from a range of studies in the social sciences this paper considers the value of vignettes together with the difficulties associated with the technique. It introduces the technique in a study that explores drug injectors’ perceptions of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk and safer behaviour inside and outside the prison system.
Aerodynamics and control of autonomous quadrotor helicopters in aggressive maneuvering

Quadrotor helicopters have become increasingly important in recent years as platforms for both research and commercial unmanned aerial vehicle applications. This paper extends previous work on several important aerodynamic effects impacting quadrotor flight in regimes beyond nominal hover conditions. The implications of these effects on quadrotor performance are investigated and control techniques are presented that compensate for them accordingly. The analysis and control systems are validated on the Stanford Testbed of Autonomous Rotorcraft for Multi-Agent Control quadrotor helicopter testbed by performing the quadrotor equivalent of the stall turn aerobatic maneuver. Flight results demonstrate the accuracy of the aerodynamic models and improved control performance with the proposed control schemes.
Nonneutralizing Antibodies Are Able To Inhibit Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Replication in Macrophages and Immature Dendritic Cells

ABSTRACT Only five monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) neutralizing a broad range of primary isolates (PI) have been identified up to now. We have found that some MAbs with no neutralizing activities according to the “conventional” neutralization assay, involving phytohemagglutinin-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells as targets, efficiently inhibit the replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) PI in macrophages and immature dendritic cells (iDC). The mechanism of inhibition is distinct from the neutralization of infectivity occurring via Fab fragments and involves the interaction of the F portion with the FcγRs present on macrophages and iDC. We propose that, if such nonneutralizing inhibitory antibodies limit mucosal HIV transmission, they should be induced by vaccination.
Radiation dose reduction for CT-guided renal tumor cryoablation.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article is to retrospectively determine the image quality and degree of radiation dose reduction that is clinically acceptable for CT-guided renal tumor cryoablation. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 15 patients (17 procedures; mean age, 67 years; range, 38-85 years) undergoing clinically indicated CT-guided renal tumor cryoablation procedures were included in this retrospective study. A previously validated noise-insertion tool was used to simulate reduced-dose scans at 75%, 50%, 25%, and 10% of the original dose at four representative phases of the cryoablation procedure. Images obtained at different dose levels were randomized and reviewed by three radiologists blinded to the level of dose reduction, who scored them independently with a 5-point scale (1-5, with 5 the best). Images with a mean score of 3 or higher were considered diagnostically acceptable. The minimal acceptable dose was that at which 90% of images were considered diagnostically acceptable. Interrater agreement was assessed using the weighted kappa statistic. RESULTS The weighted kappa value was 0.68, indicating substantial agreement among the reviewers. The averaged percentage of diagnostically acceptable images for the four series was 100% for a full dose, 98-100% for the 75% dose level, 94-98% for the 50% dose level, and less than 90% for images obtained at the 25% and 10% dose levels, which was considered unacceptable. CONCLUSION On the basis of results from 15 patients (17 procedures), images obtained from CT acquisitions at 50% (volume CT dose index, 12.2 mGy) of the original dose level (volume CT dose index, 24.4 mGy) were acceptable for the purpose of CT monitoring of renal cryoablation procedures.
Process Parameter Optimization for Maximum Material Removal Rate in High Speed Electro-Discharge Machining

The objective of this paper is to determine the optimal combination of the process parameters in a high speed electrodischarge machining (EDM) while machining carbon fiber epoxy composite with the copper-cadmium tool. The parameters considered are peak current, gap voltage, pulse-on-time and duty cycle; whereas the response is material removal rate (MRR). The optimal setting of the parameters are determined through experiments planned, conducted and analyzed using the Taguchi method followed by regression analysis. In Taguchi’s design of experiment three levels of each parameter has been taken into consideration by using standard L9 orthogonal array to find out optimal setting of machining parameter for maximum material removal rate. A relationship among selected process parameters is developed doing regression analysis with the help of MINITAB 15 software.
Preoperative and Postoperative Anesthetic and Analgesic Techniques for Minimally Invasive Surgery of the Spine

Study Design. A review of methods to optimize anesthesia and analgesia for minimally invasive spine procedures. Objective. To provide information to surgeons and anesthesiologists of methods to provide optimal anesthesia and pain control for minimally invasive spine surgery with an emphasis on preoperative planning. Summary of Background Data. Postoperative pain management in patients undergoing minimally invasive spine surgery is a challenge for the perioperative anesthesiologist. In addition to the incisional pain, trauma to deeper tissues, such as ligaments, muscles, intervertebral discs, and periosteum are reasons for significant pain. The increasing number of minimally invasive surgeries and the need for improved and rapid return of the patient of functionality have brought the perioperative anesthesiologist and the surgeon closer. Methods. We undertook a review of the literature currently available on anesthesia and analgesia for minimally invasive spine surgery with an emphasis on preoperative planning. A large number of reports of randomized controlled clinical trials with respect to perioperative anesthetic and postoperative pain management for minimally invasive spine surgery are reviewed and the applicability of some of the principles and protocols used for other types of minimally invasive surgical procedures are placed in the context of spine surgery. Results. It is important to understand and implement a multimodal analgesic therapy during a patient's preoperative visits. Perioperative multimodal analgesia with a fast-track anesthetic protocol is also important and provided in the manuscript. This protocol poses a challenge to the anesthesiologist with respect to neurophysiologic monitoring, which requires further study. The postoperative analgesic management should be a continuance of the multimodal analgesia provided before surgery. Some drugs are not appropriate for patients undergoing fusion surgery because of their effect on bone healing. Conclusion. An optimal preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative anesthesia and analgesia protocol is important to best possible pain relief and rapid return to normal function. Communication between the anesthesiologist and spine surgeon is important to achieve a protocol with the best short- and long-term outcomes for the benefit of the patient.
Focus Groups: A Qualitative Opportunity for Researchers

This essay outlines focus groups as a relatively new method of research for the com munication and organizational researcher. The needs for this type of research, essen tial ingredients of a quality focus group session, and the advantages and disadvantages of the method are discussed. A theoretical framework is established and specific instances of the application of focus groups in recent organizational research are given. Finally, suggested methods for analyzing focus group data are presented.