Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Obesity, Mortality, and Life Years Lost Associated With Breast Cancer in Nonsmoking US Women, National Health Interview Survey, 1997–2000

Introduction The relationship between obesity and breast cancer has been extensively investigated. However, how obesity and breast cancer interplay to affect mortality and life expectancy of women in the United States has not been well studied. Methods We used data from the National Health Interview Survey, 1997–2000. Our sample included nonsmoking, nonpregnant women who reported a body mass index of at least 18.5 kg/m2 and no cancer other than breast cancer at the time of the survey. A survival model with Gamma frailty and Gompertz baseline was used to estimate relative risks of total mortality and project life years lost associated with breast cancer by obesity status and age. Results Breast cancer increased risk of mortality depending on degree of obesity and decreased life years by 1 to 12 years depending on race, age, and obesity status. Relative risks for death increased with degree of obesity. Obese women under age 50 across all racial groups were predicted to lose the most life years; racial groups other than whites and blacks lost the most life years (11.9 y), followed by whites (9.8 y) and blacks (9.2 y). Conclusion The number of life years lost associated with breast cancer was more marked for more obese than for less obese women and for women under age 50 and women aged 70 or older than for women aged 50 through 69. Public health initiatives should put more emphasis on the prevention and control of obesity for these target populations.
Effects of suppressing negative self-referent thoughts on mood and self-esteem

Abstract Researchers have implicated thought suppression as a factor in the etiology and maintenance of a variety of psychological disorders, including obsessive–compulsive disorder, post–traumatic stress disorder, and depression, but have virtually ignored the potentially harmful effects of suppression on self–esteem. In the current study, we examined the effects of suppressing negative self–referent thoughts on subsequent state self–esteem and mood. Participants who suppressed their negative thoughts, compared to those who did not, experienced lower state self–esteem and more anxious and depressed mood. In addition, participants who rated their thoughts as highly depressing were particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of suppression. The results emphasize the importance of examining the consequences to the self–concept and mood of suppressing negative self–referent thoughts.
Undergraduates’ Perception on Causes, Coping and Outcomes of Academic Stress: Its Foresight Implications to University Administration

This study aims to identify the causes, outcomes, and coping strategies of academic stress among undergraduates. Using a sample of 480 business students from eight universities in Klang Valley, results reveal that the major causes of academic stress are due to conflicts and pressures that ultimately cause a detrimental effect on health and performance. While undergraduates most often tend to use avoidant-focused coping strategies to reduce stress, problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies are the preferred choice to alleviate stress. Results provide university administrators with some proactive insights into student services and curriculum design to address excessive levels of academic stress among students.
Post‐translational modifications of proteins: Acetylcholinesterase as a model system

Analysis of the expressed protein complement of cells requires knowledge of the diversity of post‐translational modifications that can occur and which can be transient or permanent. The modifications range from amino acid changes through to the addition of macromolecules: lipid, carbohydrate or protein. Many variants of the common amino acids can occur, which can affect the structure or function of the protein. The major class of modification, however, is represented by glycosylation, N‐linked, O‐linked, or glycosylphosphatidylinositol(GPI)‐linked. Such modifications have roles in protein stability and folding, targeting and recognition. Glycosylated proteins can be found in all cellular compartments and, intracellularly, O‐GlcNAc modification is commonplace. Lipid modification of proteins (acylation, prenylation, GPI‐anchoring) is also common, resulting in membrane association, and can play an important role in cell signalling. Targeting and turnover of proteins can also be mediated via covalent protein addition, for example by members of the ubiquitin family. Limited proteolysis as a post‐translational modification will be discussed, focusing on the family of membrane protein secretases, in particular in relation to the Alzheimer’s amyloid precursor protein. Finally, acetylcholinesterase will be used as a model example to illustrate the diversity of modifications occurring on a single protein.
Effect of fatigue on neuromuscular function at the ankle.

CONTEXT Lateral ankle sprains occur more frequently than any other orthopedic injury. Athletes often report sustaining more injuries late in competition when fatigue is present. OBJECTIVE To evaluate neuromuscular function of the ankle musculature after fatigue. DESIGN Experimental, pretest-posttest. SETTING Research laboratory. PARTICIPANTS Ten female and 9 male college-aged subjects. INTERVENTION Fatigue was induced via continuous concentric and eccentric muscle actions of the ankle: inversion (INV), eversion (EV), plantar flexion (PF), and dorsiflexion (DF). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Peak torque (PT), peak EMG, and median frequency (MF) were calculated prefatigue and postfatigue in the tibialis anterior (TA), peroneus longus (PER), and lateral gastrocnemius (GAS) muscles. RESULTS Main effects were noted for test (P < 0.0125) in all statistical tests performed indicating changes in PT, peak EMG, and MF after fatigue. CONCLUSIONS A significant decrease in MF of the PER muscle after PF fatigue and corresponding with a decreased firing rate, may be of importance, especially with regard to the role in countering the violent moment seen with inversion ankle sprains.
Transparency in Academic Recruitment: A Problematic Tool for Gender Equality?

Gender research has made a call for more transparency and accountability in academic recruitment and selection in order to overcome the inequality practices that have led to an underrepresentation of women among full professors. This paper provides insight into the multiple ways in which the notions of transparency and accountability are put into practice in academic recruitment and selection, and how this has enhanced — or hindered — gender equality. The methods employed consist of a qualitative content analysis of seven recruitment and selection protocols, interviews with 64 committee members, and an analysis of 971 appointment reports of full professors in the Netherlands. Our analysis contributes to the study of organizations in three respects. First, it shows that recruitment and selection processes are characterized by bounded transparency and limited accountability at best. Second, it explains that the protocols that should ensure transparency and accountability remain paper tigresses, because of the micropolitics and gender practices that are part and parcel of recruitment and selection. Third, it contributes to gender equality theory in organization theory by showing how a myriad of gender practices simultaneously increases and counteracts gender equality measures in academia.
An interactive image retrieval method

In this paper, we propose an interactive image retrieval method based on interactive image segmentation and relevance feedback. For testing the performance of the algorithm, we built an image database by web crawlers, and added a background label to each image by histogram analysis. For image retrieval, an interactive image segmentation scheme based on GrabCut has been applied to get the region of interest (ROI), and then we use an automatic labeling method to get the training samples of relevance feedback, and then incorporate the background labels into the similarity measurement to decrease the influence of clutters. The experimental results show that this method can reduce the influence of image background on image retrieval, and optimize the search results by the feedback of users.
After the ink dries: doing collaborative international work in higher education

This article offers a contribution to the limited literature on internationalization as academic work. Using narrative inquiry incorporating a mode of research known as ‘car time’, the authors generate narratives of practice to analyse the day‐to‐day work involved in their international university collaboration. The article foreshadows the dialogic opportunities available to academic staff engaged in collaborative international work. This trust‐based approach to internationalization involves building and sustaining inter‐ and intra‐institutional relationships, catalytic events which ‘make things happen’, and learning from each other via common and divergent institutional practices. While cognizant of demands for increased regulation, the article argues for a broader consideration of the learning to be gained from such partnerships. Three things keep this partnership going long after the ink had dried on official agreements between institutions: a personal click, shared professional interests and a framework for institutional agreements and structures.
Site of addition of N-acetyl-galactosamine to the E1 glycoprotein of mouse hepatitis virus-A59

By pulse-chase labeling with [35S]methionine and long-term labeling with 3H-sugars, the E1 glycoprotein of coronavirus MHV-A59 has been shown to acquire O-linked oligosaccharides in a two-step process. About 10 min after synthesis of the E1 protein, N-acetyl-galactosamine was added. This was followed approximately 10 min later by the addition of both galactose and sialic acid to give the mature oligosaccharides. This sequence of additions was confirmed by analyzing the 3H-labeled oligosaccharides bound to each of the E1 forms using gel filtration on P4 columns. The intracellular location of the first step was determined by exploiting the temperature sensitivity of virus release. The virus normally buds first into a smooth membrane compartment lying between the rough endoplasmic reticulum and the cis side of the Golgi stack (Tooze et al., 1984). At 31 degrees C the virus is assembled but does not appear to enter the Golgi stacks. The addition of N-acetyl- galactosamine is unaffected although the addition of galactose and sialic acid is inhibited. These results strongly suggest that addition of N-acetyl-galactosamine occurs in this budding compartment, the morphology of which is similar to that of transitional elements and vesicles.
Dynamic Experience Management in Virtual Worlds for Entertainment , Education , and Training

Modern computer systems have the ability to make the storytelling experience interactive by involving a participant or learner as a character in the narrative itself. We present a framework for creating interactive narratives for entertainment, educational, and training purposes based on a type of agent called an experience manager. An experience manager (a generalization of a drama manager) is an intelligent computer agent that manipulates a virtual world to coerce a participant’s experience to conform to a set of provided properties. Our realization of the experience manager automatically generates narrative content in order to adapt to the user’s actions in the virtual world. The experience management framework has been used to develop an interactive version of Little Red Riding Hood and an interactive practice environment called IN-TALE for educating and training cognitive skills such as situation awareness, cultural awareness, leadership, and decisionmaking.
The development of a minimal intervention strategy to address overweight and obesity in adult primary care patients in The Netherlands.

BACKGROUND Currently, overweight and obesity do not receive the attention they deserve from the Dutch GPs, mostly because of a lack of an effective intervention strategy to tackle this difficult health problem. OBJECTIVE To develop a minimal intervention strategy (MIS) addressing overweight and obesity among adult primary care patients, resulting in a prototype. METHODS Following the intervention mapping protocol, the MIS is based on literature study, existing interventions, psychosocial theories, stakeholder interviews and a questionnaire study among stakeholders. This led to the development of a prototype of the MIS materials: a screening flow chart and a treatment flow chart, a manual and patient education materials. A pre-test among 42 general practitioners and practice nurses was conducted to investigate the usefulness of the MIS materials at first sight. RESULTS The stakeholder interviews and the questionnaire study resulted in insight on what the MIS should look like. For instance, the stakeholders indicated that the treatment needs to focus on helping patients to eat more healthy and exercise more, using techniques like motivational interviewing. The pre-test showed that most participants were enthusiastic about the materials, although they made some suggestions on improvements. CONCLUSION The MIS materials seem to be useful and promising. A future pilot test is needed to investigate its usefulness in daily practice and to further improve the materials in preparation for a process and effect evaluation.
Improving broadcast efficiency in wireless sensor network time synchronization protocols

In this work we proposed an algorithm to allow nodes in a wireless sensor network to interconnect in a way such that time stamp information can be efficiently distributed for network wide synchronization. The algorithm works by first establishing a level hierarchy in the network, and then solves set cover problems between adjacent levels through local interactions of the nodes. A proof is included to demonstrate the correctness of the distributed set cover method used in the algorithm. The algorithm features low overhead since it does not require any neighboring node list to be sent, making it ideal for networks with high connectivity. The efficiency and operation of the algorithm is studied through simulations.
Expanding Kidney Paired Donation Through Participation by Compatible Pairs

In kidney paired donation (KPD), incompatible pairs exchange kidneys so that each recipient receives a compatible organ. This modality is underutilized partly because of the difficulty of finding a suitable match among incompatible pairs. Alternatively, recipients with compatible donors might enter KPD arrangements in order to be matched with a donor predicted to give greater allograft durability or for other altruistic reasons. Using simulated donors and recipients, we investigated the impact of allowing recipients and their compatible donors to participate in KPD. For KPD programs of any size, the participation of compatible donor/recipient pairs nearly doubled the match rate for incompatible pairs (28.2% to 64.5% for single‐center program, 37.4% to 75.4% for national program). Legal, logistical, and governmental controversies have hampered the expansion of KPD in the United States by delaying the creation of a national program. The inclusion of compatible pairs into small single‐center pools could achieve match rates that would surpass that which could be realized by a national list made up of only incompatible pairs. This new paradigm of KPD can immediately be instituted at the single‐center level, while the greatest gains will be achieved by incorporating compatible pairs into a national program.
Microsurgical and laser ablation analysis of interactions between the zones and layers of the tomato shoot apical meristem

Plants exhibit life-long organogenic and histogenic activity in a specialised organ, the shoot apical meristem. Leaves and flowers are formed within the ring-shaped peripheral zone, which surrounds the central zone, the site of the stem cells. We have undertaken a series of high-precision laser ablation and microsurgical tissue removal experiments to test the functions of different parts of the tomato meristem, and to reveal their interactions. Ablation of the central zone led to ectopic expression of the WUSCHEL gene at the periphery, followed by the establishment of a new meristem centre. After the ablation of the central zone, organ formation continued without a lag. Thus, the central zone does not participate in organogenesis, except as the ultimate source of founder cells. Microsurgical removal of the external L1 layer induced periclinal cell divisions and terminal differentiation in the subtending layers. In addition, no organs were initiated in areas devoid of L1, demonstrating an important role of the L1 in organogenesis. L1 ablation had only local effects, an observation that is difficult to reconcile with phyllotaxis theories that invoke physical tension operating within the meristem as a whole. Finally, regeneration of L1 cells was never observed after ablation. This shows that while the zones of the meristem show a remarkable capacity to regenerate after interference, elimination of the L1 layer is irreparable and causes terminal differentiation.
Strengthening ethnic identity consciousness and the role of tactical voting in multi-racial Malaysia

Malaysia is often touted as an exemplar of a peaceful multiracial country, with the tensions in inter-ethnic relations engendered by the 13 May 1969 race riots overcome. However, three decades of steady economic growth coupled with the New Economic Policy have helped to strengthen consciousness of ethnic identity and social polarisation in society. This paper discusses how tactical voting in the mixed constituencies has helped the National Front to secure its two-thirds majority in parliament and maintain inter-ethnic calm.
A Distributed Multi-Robot Cooperative Hunting Algorithm Based on Limit-cycle

This paper proposed a limit-cycle based algorithm for cooperative hunting task using multiple mobile robots. By integrating the model-based system and the behavior-based system, a hybrid distributed control system is established, which emphasizes on the autonomy and intelligence of each robot. On the one hand, the algorithm uses artificial potential field for multi-robot formation. On the other hand, the limit-cycle based algorithm is introduced to enable the robot team to pursue themoving target and ultimately encircle the target in a symmetrical circle formation. In addition, the paper designs a heading direction control law for obstacle avoidance, and solves the problem of robot freezing caused by counteraction between repulsion and attraction. Simulation results show the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed method in cooperative hunting control.
IL-11 Attenuates Liver Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury (IRI) through STAT3 Signaling Pathway in Mice

Background The protective role of IL-11, an IL-6 family cytokine, has been implicated in ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) in the heart and kidney, but its role has not been elucidated in liver IRI. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of IL-11 and its mechanism of action on liver IRI in a mouse model. Methods A partial (70%) warm liver IRI was induced by interrupting the artery/portal vein blood supply to the left/middle liver lobes. IL-11 mRNA expression of ischemic liver after reperfusion was analyzed. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) was analyzed following IL-11 treatment in vivo and in vitro. Next, IL-11 was injected intraperitoneally (ip) 1 hour before ischemia. Liver injury was assessed based on serum alanine aminotransferase levels and histopathology. Apoptosis and inflammation were also determined in the ischemic liver. To analyze the role of STAT3 in IL-11 treatment, STAT3 siRNA or non-specific (NS) siRNA was used in vitro and in vivo. Results IL-11 mRNA expression was significantly increased after reperfusion in the ischemic liver. STAT3, as a target of IL-11, was activated in hepatocytes after IL-11 treatment in vivo and in vitro. Next, effects of IL-11/STAT3 signaling pathway were assessed in liver IRI, which showed IL-11 treatment significantly attenuated liver IRI, as evidenced by reduced hepatocellular function and hepatocellular necrosis/apoptosis. In addition, IL-11 treatment significantly inhibited the gene expressions of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IL-10) and chemokines (IP-10 and MCP-1). To determine the role of STAT3 in the hepatoprotective effects of IL-11, STAT3 siRNA or NS siRNA was used prior to IL-11 treatment. The results showed STAT3 knockdown abrogated the protective effects of IL-11 in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions This work provides first-time evidence for the protective effect of IL-11 treatment on hepatocyte in liver IRI, through the activation of the STAT3 pathway.
Universal syllable tokeniser for language identification

Phone recognition followed by language modeling gives good performance for language identification (LID). The requirement of labeled speech corpora makes it less appealing to build LID system. An alternative scalable approach is to build LID system that does not require annotated speech database. In this paper, we have compared two such LID systems namely Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) tokeniser and syllable based LID system. The phonotactics of GMM and syllable based system are captured by GMM cluster indices and syllable tokens respectively. We propose the use of universal syllable models in building the LID systems and then deriving the uni-gram syllable statistics from this model. Experimental results on the OGI 1992 multilingual speech corpus show that syllable based LID system performs significantly better than the GMM Tokeniser system.
Humidity Fixed Points of Binary Saturated Aqueous Solutions

An evaluated compilation of equilibrium relative humidities in air versus temperature from pure phase to approximately 105 pascal (1 atm) in pressure is presented for 28 binary saturated aqueous solutions. The relative humidities of the solutions range from about 3 to 98 percent. Using a data base from 21 separate investigations comprising 1106 individual measurements, fits were made by the method of least squares to regular polynomial equations with two through four coefficients. Equations and tables are presented along with the estimated uncertainties in the correlated results.
Can You Judge a Music Album by its Cover?

In this work we explore the potential role of music album cover arts for the task of predicting the overall rating of music albums and we investigate if one can judge a music album by its cover alone. We present the results of our participation to the Linked Data Mining Challenge at the Know@LOD 2016 Workshop, which suggest that the the cover album alone might not be sufficient for the rating prediction task.
The algorithm design and optimization for water erosion topographic factors based on digital elevation model

It is significant for water erosion survey and prediction to compute the water erosion topographic factors, which consist of slope angle and slope length factors. Based on the theories of slope hydrology, soil erosion, the analysis of digital terrain, and the arithmetic of multiple flow direction, the principle and achievement of an improved and optimized arithmetic for the terrain factors extraction form Digital Elevation Model are expounded. By taking the area of Hilly Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi as an example, the water erosion terrain factors are extracted with this optimized algorithm. And with the spatial structure and spatial statistic analysis, this algorithm is verified as reasonable and stable, meanwhile, it resolves the discontinuity in the raster surface of the slope angle and slope length factors derives from the old methods, which have a continuous raster surface and in according with the origin DEM surface.