Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sociodemographic determinants of diet quality of the EU elderly: a comparative analysis in four countries

Abstract Objective To investigate the sociodemographic determinants of diet quality of the elderly in four EU countries. Design Cross-sectional study. For each country, a regression was performed of a multidimensional index of dietary quality v. sociodemographic variables. Setting In Finland, Finnish Household Budget Survey (1998 and 2006); in Sweden, SNAC-K (2001–2004); in the UK, Expenditure & Food Survey (2006–07); in Italy, Multi-purpose Survey of Daily Life (2009). Subjects One- and two-person households of over-50s (Finland, n 2994; UK, n 4749); over-50 s living alone or in two-person households (Italy, n 7564); over-60 s (Sweden, n 2023). Results Diet quality among the EU elderly is both low on average and heterogeneous across individuals. The regression models explained a small but significant part of the observed heterogeneity in diet quality. Resource availability was associated with diet quality either negatively (Finland and UK) or in a non-linear or non-statistically significant manner (Italy and Sweden), as was the preference for food parameter. Education, not living alone and female gender were characteristics positively associated with diet quality with consistency across the four countries, unlike socio-professional status, age and seasonality. Regional differences within countries persisted even after controlling for the other sociodemographic variables. Conclusions Poor dietary choices among the EU elderly were not caused by insufficient resources and informational measures could be successful in promoting healthy eating for healthy ageing. On the other hand, food habits appeared largely set in the latter part of life, with age and retirement having little influence on the healthiness of dietary choices.
Growth potential of Eucalyptus globulus subsp. bicostata provenances for the mid-altitude summer rainfall regions of South Africa

Eucalyptus grandis is cultivated extensively in the humid, warmer temperate and subtropical regions in South Africa. With forestry expanding into mid-altitude drier and warmer, or drier and colder, sites the search to identify reasonably well-performing species/provenances for such 'low productivity' sites has extended to summer-rainfall provenances of E. globulus subsp. bicostata, which is closely related to E. globulus, a species known to have superior kraft pulping. Seed from New South Wales, Australia, provenances Narrow Neck Ridge, Nullo Mountain (West) and Nullo Mountain (North) was established in provenance/progeny trials on four sites in South Africa (Windy Gap, Enon, Petrusvlei and Speenkoppies). Eucalyptus globulus and E. globulus subsp. maidenii were the internal controls. Trials were planted at 1 667 stems ha–1, in single-row plots of six trees, with four replications in an unbalanced lattice design. Commercial seed of other eucalypts and clones was used as external controls. Mycosphaerella nobilosa susceptibility was measured at 12 and 30 months, and diameter at breast height (dbh) and height were measured at 80 months at Petrusvlei, 84 months at Enon, and 96 months at Windy Gap and Speenkoppies. Basal area and volumes were derived from these measurements. Mycosphaerella nobilosa infection was more severe at 12 months than 30 months. The Narrow Neck Ridge provenance, which was significantly less susceptible than other provenances and controls, also outperformed other E. globulus subsp. bicostata provenances for dbh, height, basal area and volume. The top Narrow Neck Ridge provenance families performed better than, or similar to, the best commercial controls for basal area and volume at three of the four sites tested. The inhibitory effect of M. nobilosa on growth emphasises the importance of site–species and site–provenance matching. Amongst the imported E. globulus subsp. bicostata material, the more M. nobilosa-tolerant Narrow Neck Ridge provenance was most suited to summer-rainfall, mid-altitude South African sites.
Statistical timing for parametric yield prediction of digital integrated circuits

Uncertainty in circuit performance due to manufacturing and environmental variations is increasing with each new generation of technology. It is therefore important to predict the performance of a chip as a probabilistic quantity. This paper proposes three novel algorithms for statistical timing analysis and parametric yield prediction of digital integrated circuits. The methods have been implemented in the context of the EinsTimer static timing analyzer. Numerical results are presented to study the strengths and weaknesses of these complementary approaches. Across-the-chip variability continues to be accommodated by EinsTimer's "Linear Combination of Delay (LCD)" mode. Timing analysis results in the face of statistical temperature and V/sub dd/ variations are presented on an industrial ASIC part on which a bounded timing methodology leads to surprisingly wrong results.
Stress and burnout among mothers Annelerde stres ve tükenmişlik

Stress and burnout are dealt with in the literature as an issue commonly associated with jobs that require human relationships. The significant points highlighted in the definition of burnout are face-to-face relationships in the job environment and exposure to intensive emotional demands. Based on this definition, it may be concluded that mothers are also faced with the risk of stress and burnout, although motherhood is not defined as a profession. Mothers generally bear the main responsibility in the care and education of children and in guiding children’s lives. Since the psychological health of mothers has direct impacts on the mental health of children, it is important to study the prevention of distress and burnout in mothers and relevant coping strategies. The literature mostly presents studies related to burnout in the mother of sick or handicapped children. However, distress and burnout in mothers of children with normal development also need to be studied. In that vein, this study discusses the symptoms, prevention and coping strategies of distress and burnout with regard to motherhood. Ozet Stres ve tukenmislik insan ile iliski kuran meslek gruplarinda siklikla calisilan bir konu olarak alan yazinda yer almaktadir. Tukenmisligin taniminda meslek geregi insanlarla yuz yuze calisma ve yogun duygusal taleplere maruz kalma vurgu yapilan onemli noktalardir. Bu noktadan hareketle annelerin bir cocugun bakim ve egitimi ile yasamina yon vermede genellikle birinci derece sorumlu olan kisi olmasi nedeni ile bir meslek olarak tanimlanmasa da olumsuz stres ve tukenmislik yasama riski bulunmaktadir. Diger yandan annenin psikolojik sagligi ayni zamanda cocuklarinin ruh sagligi uzerinde etkili olabileceginden annelerde olumsuz stres ve tukenmislik sendromunu onleme ve bas etme stratejilerinin vurgulanmasi gereken onemli bir konu oldugu dusunulmektedir. Alan yazinda genellikle hasta ya da engelli cocuk annelerinde tukenmislik ile ilgili calismalarin yer aldigi gorulmektedir. Ancak normal gelisim gosteren cocuga sahip annelerde de olumsuz stres ve tukenmisligin gorulme olasiligi dikkat edilmesi gereken bir ozelliktir. Bu nedenle, bu derleme calismasinda stres ve tukenmisligin, annelikle iliskili olarak boyutlari, belirtileri, onleme ve basa cikma stratejileri tartisilmis, yeni calismalara yonelik onerilerde bulunulmustur.
Engineering a More Thermostable Blue Light Photo Receptor Bacillus subtilis YtvA LOV Domain by a Computer Aided Rational Design Method

The ability to design thermostable proteins offers enormous potential for the development of novel protein bioreagents. In this work, a combined computational and experimental method was developed to increase the T m of the flavin mononucleotide based fluorescent protein Bacillus Subtilis YtvA LOV domain by 31 Celsius, thus extending its applicability in thermophilic systems. Briefly, the method includes five steps, the single mutant computer screening to identify thermostable mutant candidates, the experimental evaluation to confirm the positive selections, the computational redesign around the thermostable mutation regions, the experimental reevaluation and finally the multiple mutations combination. The adopted method is simple and effective, can be applied to other important proteins where other methods have difficulties, and therefore provides a new tool to improve protein thermostability.
Redox state changes in human skeletal muscle after isometric contraction.

Subjects maintained an isometric contraction of the quadriceps femoris muscle at two‐thirds maximal voluntary contraction (m.v.c.) force for 5 s (5.0 +/‐ 0.3 s; mean +/‐ S.E. of mean; n = 6) or until fatigue (52 +/‐ 4 s; n = 13). Muscle biopsies were obtained at rest, immediately after the contractions and also at 1 and 4 min of recovery after contraction to fatigue. In all subjects 5 s isometric contraction resulted in an increase of muscle NADH (0.084 +/‐ 0.012 at rest to 0.203 +/‐ 0.041 mmol/kg dry wt.) and a decrease of phosphocreatine (PC; change in concentration = ‐17.3 +/‐ 3.8 mmol/kg dry wt.). Glucose‐6‐phosphate concentration was more than doubled whereas lactate increased in only four of the six subjects. The two subjects who did not show any increase in lactate also had the lowest increase in NADH. At fatigue NADH increased to 0.226 +/‐ 0.032 mmol/kg dry wt. which was not significantly different from the value after 5 s contraction. Muscle PC was nearly depleted and lactate increased 12‐fold above resting levels. The major part (65%) of the NADH increase at fatigue had reverted after 1 min recovery but only a slight further decrease occurred between 1 and 4 min of recovery. In relative terms the time course of the changes in muscle NADH during the first minute of recovery was similar to that of PC resynthesis, suggesting a common regulator such as O2 availability. In contrast to the delayed return of NADH concentration, PC resynthesis continued during the later part of the recovery period and PC concentration was almost fully restored after 4 min of recovery. It is concluded that muscle NADH is already maximally increased in the first seconds of muscle contraction at two‐thirds m.v. c. Indirect evidence indicates that this increase reflects a reduction of the mitochondrial NAD‐NADH redox couple. The rapid establishment of a reduced mitochondrial redox state at the start of muscle contraction will probably lead to a reduction of the redox state in the cytoplasm also and therefore be important for enhancing lactate formation.
Lipid peroxidation and peroxynitrite in retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury.

PURPOSE To investigate whether lipid peroxides play a role in retinal cell death due to ischemia-reperfusion injury, whether recombinant human thioredoxin (rhTRX) treatment reduces production of lipid peroxides of the retina, and whether such treatment reduces the number of cells expressing c-Jun and cyclin D1. METHODS Retinal ischemia was induced in rats by increasing the intraocular pressure to 110 mm Hg for 60 minutes. After reperfusion, immunohistochemical staining for lipid peroxide, peroxynitrite, c-Jun, and cyclin D1 and propidium iodide (PI) staining were performed on retinal sections from animals treated intravenously with and without rhTRX, a free radical scavenger. Quantitative analyses of PI-, c-Jun-, and cyclin D1-positive cells were performed after the ischemic insult. Concentration of lipid peroxides in the retina was determined by the thiobarbituric acid assay. RESULTS Specific immunostaining for lipid peroxides was seen in the ganglion cell layer at 6 hours after reperfusion, in the inner nuclear layer at 12 hours, and in the outer nuclear layer at 48 hours. Time course studies for PI-positive cells in the three nuclear layers coincided with those of specific immunostaining for lipid peroxides. The specific immunostaining was weakened by pre- and posttreatment with 0.5 mg of rhTRX. The number of PI-, c-Jun-, and cyclin D1-positive cells and the concentration of lipid peroxides were significantly decreased by treatment with rhTRX compared with those of vehicle-treated control rats (P: < 0. 01). CONCLUSIONS Lipid peroxides formed by free radicals may play a role in neuronal cell death in retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury.
Saving Behaviour and the Effectiveness of Fiscal Policy

This paper examines the extent to which fiscal policy actions may be offset by simultaneous, anticipatory changes in private saving, as well as the determinants of that offset. The conditions under which private agents will engage in forward-looking consumption-smoothing behaviour are quite strict and unlikely to hold fully in practice. However, based on a sample of at most 21 OECD countries spanning the period 1970-2002, there is strong evidence of partial, yet substantial, offsetting movements in aggregate private and public saving. The overall offset is estimated at between about one-third and one-half, depending on model specification, and applies both to public consumption and revenue shifts. This is consistent with a marked degree of anticipatory private sector behaviour, insofar as the ex ante saving “leakage” embedded in the pure Keynesian or IS/LM type models would be expected to be smaller and apply only to revenues and transfers. Wealth effects, as in the case of rising equity and housing prices, are found to have an important complementary impact on saving, usually in reinforcing the direct saving offset. Initial conditions, as reflected in debt/GDP ratios are also found to influence the size of the offset. Comportement d'economie et l'efficacite de la politique fiscale Cet article examine dans quelle mesure la politique budgetaire discretionnaire peut etre compensee par des mouvements simultanes et anticipes de l’epargne privee. Il etudie aussi les determinants de cette compensation. Les conditions sous lesquelles les agents economiques prives lisseraient leur consommation dans le temps apparaissent difficilement applicables en pratique. Cependant, sur la base d’un echantillon d’au plus 21 pays de l’OCDE couvrant la periode allant de 1970 a 2002, les resultats de cette etude indiquent une compensation partielle, bien que substantielle, des mouvements de l’epargne privee et publique agregees. L’estimation de la compensation globale varie entre un tiers et un demi selon la specification du modele et s’applique tant a la consommation publique qu’aux recettes. Ce resultat est compatible avec un comportement d’anticipation tres accuse de l’epargne privee dans la mesure ou les fuites ex ante d’epargne incorporees dans les modeles Keynesiens purs ou du type IS/LM sont supposees plus faibles et ne s’appliqueraient qu’aux recettes et aux transferts. Les resultats indiquent que les effets de richesse, provenant de l’augmentation des prix des actions et des logements, ont une incidence complementaire importante sur l’epargne. Les conditions initiales, refletees par le ratio dette sur PIB, affectent la taille de la compensation.
The Bypassing the Blues Treatment Protocol: Stepped Collaborative Care for Treating Post-CABG Depression

Objective: To present the design of the Bypassing the Blues (BtB) study to examine the impact of a collaborative care strategy for treating depression among patients with cardiac disease. Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is one of the most common and costly medical procedures performed in the US. Up to half of post-CABG patients report depressive symptoms, and they are more likely to experience poorer health-related quality of life (HRQoL), worse functional status, continued chest pains, and higher risk of cardiovascular morbidity independent of cardiac status, medical comorbidity, and the extent of bypass surgery. Methods: BtB was designed to enroll 450 post-CABG patients from eight Pittsburgh-area hospitals including: (1) 300 patients who expressed mood symptoms preceding discharge and at 2 weeks post hospitalization (Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) ≥10); and (2) 150 patients who served as nondepressed controls (PHQ-9 <5). Depressed patients were randomized to either an 8-month course of nurse-delivered telephone-based collaborative care supervised by a psychiatrist and primary care expert, or to their physicians’ “usual care. ” The primary hypothesis will test whether the intervention can produce an effect size of ≥0.5 improvement in HRQoL at 8 months post CABG, as measured by the SF-36 Mental Component Summary score. Secondary hypotheses will examine the impact of our intervention on mood symptoms, cardiovascular morbidity, employment, health services utilization, and treatment costs. Results: Not applicable. Conclusions: This effectiveness trial will provide crucial information on the impact of a widely generalizable evidence-based collaborative care strategy for treating depressed patients with cardiac disease.
Quaternion Neuro-fuzzy Learning Algorithm for Fuzzy Rule Generation

In order to generate or tune fuzzy rules, Neuro-Fuzzy learning algorithms with Gaussian type membership functions based on gradient-descent method are well known. In this paper, we propose a new learning approach, the Quaternion Neuro-Fuzzy learning algorithm. This method is an extension of the conventional method to four-dimensional space by using a quaternion neural network that maps quaternion to real values. Input, antecedent membership functions and consequent singletons are quaternion, and output is real. Four-dimensional input can be better represented by quaternion than by real values. We compared it with the conventional method by several function identification problems, and revealed that the proposed method outperformed the counterpart: The number of rules was reduced to 5 from 625, the number of epochs by one fortieth, and error by one tenth in the best cases.
She hits like a girl: contexts and constructs of femininity, use of violence and living in group homes

Public and scholarly interest in youth violence has steadily increased over the past twenty years, as governments and communities strive to address concerns regarding the safety and wellbeing of its citizens. In Canada, the tragic beating death of Reena Virk in 1997 prompted an emphasis on girls' use of violence in particular. Media representations and their resulting public anxiety often represent a chasm between popular and professional understandings of these behaviours and their use by girls, given that outward acting, physically aggressive behaviour conflicts with popular notions of what it means to be female. Further, theoretical constructs for understanding violence have been based on ontological and epistemological positions that take the male experience, literature, and research as normative. -- This qualitative study explored the perspectives and interpretations of 22 young women, ages 14 to 24 years, regarding their experiences of being female, using violence, and living in residential settings. The data suggest that these girls are continually negotiating the terms of what it means to be female, shaping and being shaped by gender stereotypes, role models, interactions with boys, and the ongoing scrutiny of other girls as extensions of themselves. Further, the data suggest that girls fight each other based on principles of loyalty, morality and justice, and to convey specific messages about their relationships with boys, being verbally maligned, and having their personal possessions stolen. Finally, navigating the living space is an ongoing and intricate process for these girls. Understanding the requirements of the physical setting, the formal and informal rules, and the shifting dynamics of staff and residents, ensures that the living context is never fully known. -- Analyzing the data in relation to the literature, this study theorizes that these girls are raised according to discourses of choice yet experience material and discursive constraints; that they are watching and being watched in a state of perpetual surveillance; and that they are continually bargaining femininity, neither resisting femininity nor embracing masculinity in their use of violence.
The MBTI: Potential Uses and Misuses in Personnel Administration

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a useful instrument for team building, strengthening communications, decision making, and for diagnosing organizational dysfunctions. The MBTI is, however, also misued if used for employee selection, or to unfairly stereotype. Misuses of the MBTI and not seeing the instruments' full potential in the organization, stem largely from inadquate training. Training in the MBTI should be expanded to teach how to typewatch, shadow integration, and how to use the MBTI to improve customer relations.
The topography of marital conflict: A sequential analysis of verbal and nonverbal behavior.

from a study of content, affect, and context differences as well as from sequential analyses of the data. Findings show that this coding system made it possible to account for most of the variance in the classification of couples as distressed or nondistressed. Specific findings provided tests of many currently untested hypotheses about good communication in marriages that have been the basis of clinical interventions. The hypotheses which were studied in the present investigation involve the function of metacommunication, the expression of feelings, summarizing self versus other, feeling probes, nonverbal behavior during message delivery, context differences, and positive and negative reciprocity. Functions of messages were assessed by sequential analysis procedures.
Psychological Empowerment, Work Engagement and Turnover Intention: The Role of Leader Relations and Role Clarity in a Financial Institution

This study investigated the relationship between leader-member exchange, role clarity, psychological empowerment, engagement and turnover intention within a financial institution in South Africa. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A convenience sample (N = 278) was taken (males =31%, females =60%; 88% younger than 35 years; 57% with 2–5 years service) from the total population (N = 889). They completed the Leader-Member Exchange Questionnaire (Liden, Wayne, & Stilwell, 1993) Role Conflict and Ambiguity Questionnaire (Rizzo, House, & Lirtzman, 1970), Measuring Empowerment Questionnaire (Spreitzer, 1995), Engagement Questionnaire (May, Gilson, & Harter, 2004) and Intention-to-leave Scale (Sjöberg & Sverke, 2000). A path model was tested with SPSS to determine the relationships of the variables. Furthermore, a theoretical model was tested through the use of structural equation modelling (Arbuckle, 2008). The latent variables included LMX (consisting of two parcels), role clarity (consisting of two parcels), psychological empowerment (consisting of four variables, namely meaning, competence, impact, and self-determination), work engagement (consisting of two parcels), and turnover intention (a manifest variable). Role clarity mediated the relationship between leader-member exchange and psychological empowerment, while psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between role clarity and work engagement as well as turnover intention. Leader-member relations lead to better understanding of roles, while role clarity empowers and engages employees.