Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changing Patterns of Religious Affiliation, Religiosity, and Marital Dissolution: A 35-Year Study of Three-Generation Families

This article examines multiple aspects of religion and the risk of marital dissolution with a life course lens. Relying on the Longitudinal Study of Generations (LSOG), 1971 to 2005, we explore the effects of religion on the risk of first marital dissolution. Using discrete time-logit analysis, we find that the effect of religion and religiosity on divorce and separation were not significant, after controlling for sociodemographic factors, such as gender, ethnicity, marriage cohort, education, presence of children, household income, and employment status. Our findings support exchange theory that emphasizes educational and financial resources as key factors in divorce rather than religion or religiosity.
Cooperative space object tracking using consensus-based filters

Cooperative tracking plays a key role in space situation awareness (SSA) in which there are a limited number of observations and poor tracking performance from a single sensor. To utilize the information from multiple networked sensors, both centralized and decentralized fusion algorithms can be used. Compared with centralized fusion algorithms, decentralized fusion algorithms are more robust in terms of communication failure and computational burden. One popular distributed estimation approach is based on the average consensus which asymptotically converges to the optimal estimate by multiple iterations of neighborhood information. Consensus-based algorithms have become popular in recent years due to the fact that they do not require the global knowledge of the network or the routing protocols. In this paper, we utilize the information weighted consensus filter (ICF) to track space objects using multiple space-based optical (SBO) sensors. A scenario which contains a space object and four SBOs is used to test the ICF. To improve the performance of ICF, the cubature rule embedded ICF (Cub-ICF) is proposed and compared with the ICF. We also compare the ICF with the centralized extended information filter (CEIF). The results indicate that the proposed Cub-ICF is more robust than the ICF and the consensus based decentralized filters can achieve close performance to the centralized filters. Consensus based filters facilitate cooperative space tracking leading to robustness amongst sensor failures, reduction in computations, and elimination of complex network protocols.
Evolutionary Image Descriptor: A Dynamic Genetic Programming Representation for Feature Extraction

Texture classification aims at categorising instances that have a similar repetitive pattern. In computer vision, texture classification represents a fundamental element in a wide variety of applications, which can be performed by detecting texture primitives of the different classes. Using image descriptors to detect prominent features has been widely adopted in computer vision. Building an effective descriptor becomes more challenging when there are only a few labelled instances. This paper proposes a new Genetic Programming (GP) representation for evolving an image descriptor that operates directly on the raw pixel values and uses only two instances per class. The new method synthesises a set of mathematical formulas that are used to generate the feature vector, and the classification is then performed using a simple instance-based classifier. Determining the length of the feature vector is automatically handled by the new method. Two GP and nine well-known non-GP methods are compared on two texture image data sets for texture classification in order to test the effectiveness of the proposed method. The proposed method is also compared to three hand-crafted descriptors namely domain-independent features, local binary patterns, and Haralick texture features. The results show that the proposed method has superior performance over the competitive methods.
Prevalence of Congenital Anomalies in Infants With In Utero Exposure to Antiretrovirals

Background: Although use of efficacious interventions, including antiretrovirals (ARVs), has dramatically reduced the rate of mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus, the safety of in utero ARV exposure remains of concern. Methods: Data regarding 1112 infants enrolled in the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Group protocol P1025 born between 2002 and 2007 were analyzed for this study. Congenital anomalies were classified based on the Metropolitan Atlanta Congenital Defects Program guidelines. Associations between congenital anomalies and timing of first in utero exposure to ARVs were evaluated by logistic regression analysis. Results: Congenital anomalies were identified and confirmed in 61 of the 1112 infants, resulting in a prevalence of 5.49/100 live births (95% confidence interval, 4.22–6.99). Among the 80 anomalies identified, the organ systems involved included cardiovascular (n = 33), musculoskeletal (n = 15), renal (n = 9), genitourinary (n = 6), craniofacial (n = 4), and central nervous system (n = 2). First trimester exposure to efavirenz was associated with a significantly increased risk of congenital anomalies (odds ratio, 2.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.13–7.16). No significant associations were observed between exposure to other individual ARVs or classes of ARVs started at any time during pregnancy and infant congenital anomalies. Conclusions: The observed rate of congenital anomalies in this cohort is higher than previously reported for the general population, but it is consistent with rates observed in other recent studies of children born to human immunodeficiency virus–infected women. Cardiovascular anomalies occurred most frequently. With the exception of a known teratogen (efavirenz), no statistically significant associations between in utero exposure to ARVs and congenital anomalies were identified.
Governing through Quality: Conventions and Supply Relations in the Value Chain for South African Wine

Global value chain (GVC) analysis examines the dynamics of economic globalisation and international trade. The concept of GVC governance illustrates how ‘lead firms’ achieve certain functional divisions of labour along a value chain ‐ resulting in specific allocations of resources and distributions of gains. In this article I argue that agro-food lead firms do not govern chains solely on the basis of buyer power, market share, and/or economies of scale or scope but also through normative work. In order to do so, I apply convention theory to the analysis of governance in the value chain for South African wine. I analyse how wine quality conventions applied in the UK are translated in South Africa into specific functional divisions of labour and supply relations, themselves underpinned by local configurations of quality conventions. The case study of wine suggests that lead firms are able to drive a value chain only when industrial and market conventions are dominant, such as in basic quality wine. These conventions are more portable and thus easier to transmit at a distance. Where other, less portable, conventions are more important in discovering quality, as in mid-range and top quality wines, the value chain is much more fragmented and less driven.
Asymptotic distance and convergence analysis of braided protograph convolutional codes

We analyze a class of LDPC convolutional codes that are constructed from tightly braided convolutional base codes by a lifting procedure. For these braided protograph convolutional codes, we show that the distances grow linearly with the constraint length, and we present lower bounds on their asymptotic segment distance and free distance as well as on the asymptotic minimum distance of their tail-biting versions. With some constraints imposed on the lifting permutations, braided protograph convolutional codes can also be decoded as turbo-like codes by iterative application of the BCJR algorithm. For this case, we derive an explicit upper-bound on the asymptotic decoding error probability as a function of the number of iterations.
Effects of Electroacupuncture for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose. This study aims to verify the effects of electroacupuncture treatment on osteoarthritis of the knee. Methods. MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, CENTRAL, AMED, CNKI, and five Korean databases were searched by predefined search strategies to screen eligible randomized controlled studies meeting established criteria. Any risk of bias in the included studies was assessed with the Cochrane Collaboration's tool. Meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan version 5.3 software. Results. Thirty-one randomized controlled studies of 3,187 participants were included in this systematic review. Meta-analysis was conducted with eight studies including a total of 1,220 participants. The electroacupuncture treatment group showed more significant improvement in pain due to knee osteoarthritis than the control group (SMD −1.86, 95% CI −2.33 to −1.39, I 2 75%) and in total WOMAC score than the control group (SMD −1.34, CI 95% −1.85 to −0.83, I 2 73%). Compared to the control group, the electroacupuncture treatment group showed more significant improvement on the quality of life scale. Conclusion. Electroacupuncture treatment can relieve the pain of osteoarthritis of the knees and improve comprehensive aspects of knee osteoarthritis and the quality of life of patients with knee osteoarthritis.
Mitochondrial metabolism and substrate competition in the aging Fischer rat heart.

OBJECTIVE The objective was to examine mitochondrial oxidative metabolism of long chain fatty acids and to compare it with glucose uptake and the generation of pressure-volume work in hearts from mature and aged rats. METHODS Hearts from mature (8 to 15 months of age) and old (28 to 30 months) Fischer 344 rats were perfused as working hearts with either 10 mM glucose or glucose plus 1 mM oleic acid (2% bovine serum albumin) and rates of glucose extraction were determined. Hearts were subjected to a stepwise increase in work load. In separate experiments, mitochondria were isolated from mature and old rat hearts and assayed for respiratory function, carnitine exchange, carnitine palmitoyltransferase activities, and phospholipid content. RESULTS Although there were no differences in peak work attained between the mature and old rats in the presence of either glucose alone or glucose plus oleic acid, glucose utilisation was significantly decreased by oleate in the mature animals only. No significant changes in either glutamate or succinate (+rotenone) supported respiration were found in heart mitochondria isolated from old rats compared with mature animals. In agreement with prior studies with the Wistar rat model of aging, significant decrements in the rates of palmitoylcarnitine oxidation and carnitine exchange were apparent in the old Fischer animals. A significant lowering of heart mitochondrial carnitine palmitoyltransferase I activity was also found in the old animals. A decrease in the amounts of carnitine loaded in mitochondria from old animals is consistent with reduced carnitine content in both mitochondria and whole hearts from aged Wistar and Fischer rats. A significant (23%) reduction in heart mitochondrial cardiolipin content from 30 month old Fischer rats suggests that this phospholipid may also contribute to the lower rates of carnitine and acylcarnitine transport across the mitochondrial inner membrane. CONCLUSION The limitation in the delivery of fatty acyl units to beta oxidation as measured in isolated heart mitochondria from old rats has a physiological correlate in the intact heart. The well documented suppression of glucose oxidation by fatty acids seen in the adult rat heart is not seen in old hearts, supporting the in vitro finding of decreased oxidation of palmitoylcarnitine with senescence.
CDC EZ-Text: Software for Management and Analysis of Semistructured Qualitative Data Sets

Many research projects require collecting semistructured qualitative data. This includes situations where interview guides containing a series of open-ended questions are consistently administered to each person in the sample, even though the content, length, and complexity of responses to the questions may vary widely between respondents. One advantage of semistructured interviews is that they are flexible enough to allow interviewers to explore complex issues or questions that do not have a finite or predetermined set of response categories. In such cases, it would be difficult to design fully structured interview instruments with closed-ended responses (e.g., truelfalse, agreeldisagree, or multiple choice).
A comparison of tissue-based and recombinant protein–based assays for detecting PCA-Tr/DNER-IgG

Purkinje cell cytoplasmic antibody, type Tr (PCA-Tr) is typically encountered in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma–related paraneoplastic cerebellar ataxia.1 Immunohistochemical techniques, including indirect immunofluorescence assays (IFAs), employing rodent brain as substrate, reveal a specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) binding pattern on cerebellar Purkinje cell cytoplasm and molecular layer dendritic spines.2 PCA-Tr characterization as delta/notch-like epidermal growth factor–related receptor (DNER)–IgG has permitted antigen-specific assay development.3 With rare exception, the phenotype encountered is cerebellar ataxia among patients with Hodgkin lymphoma. Tr autoimmunity is occasionally reported in some patients with noncerebellar neurologic disorders, and in others with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.4
Testing and Modeling Dependencies Between a Network and Nodal Attributes

Network analysis is often focused on characterizing the dependencies between network relations and node-level attributes. Potential relationships are typically explored by modeling the network as a function of the nodal attributes or by modeling the attributes as a function of the network. These methods require specification of the exact nature of the association between the network and attributes, reduce the network data to a small number of summary statistics, and are unable to provide predictions simultaneously for missing attribute and network information. Existing methods that model the attributes and network jointly also assume the data are fully observed. In this article, we introduce a unified approach to analysis that addresses these shortcomings. We use a previously developed latent variable model to obtain a low-dimensional representation of the network in terms of node-specific network factors. We introduce a novel testing procedure to determine if dependencies exist between the network factors and attributes as a surrogate for a test of dependence between the network and attributes. We also present a joint model for the network relations and attributes, for use if the hypothesis of independence is rejected, which can capture a variety of dependence patterns and be used to make inference and predictions for missing observations.
Simulating Intermittently Powered Embedded Networks

With the promise of delivering immortality, energy harvesting and wireless energy transfer have become the next research frontier for pervasive computing and networks. The challenge still is to adapt operations along all aspects of a sensing system (sensing, computation, communication), to deal with the varied, unpredictable or possibly intermittent supply of such energy. To understand these challenges, we currently lack sufficient tools to evaluate the impact of different energy harvesting and transfer models - which is further exacerbated due to the high cost of deploying such systems at a large scale. We present a generic, TOSSIM-based simulation framework to model energy harvesting and energy transfer, enabling rapid development of harvesting- and transfer-aware applications, protocols, and system software. Our evaluation shows that even an abstract simulation model can provide unique insights, such as frequent power outages and node reboots due to intermittent energy supply. Based on these insights, we further establish the utility of this framework by demonstrating how high level simulations can lead to a better choice of energy scheduling algorithms.
Structure-Function Correlation Analysis of Connexin50 Missense Mutations Causing Congenital Cataract: Electrostatic Potential Alteration Could Determine Intracellular Trafficking Fate of Mutants

Connexin50 (Cx50) mutations are reported to cause congenital cataract probably through the disruption of intercellular transport in the lens. Cx50 mutants that undergo mistrafficking have generally been associated with failure to form functional gap junction channels; however, sometimes even properly trafficked mutants were found to undergo similar consequences. We hereby wanted to elucidate any structural bases of the varied functional consequences of Cx50 missense mutations through in silico approach. Computational studies have been done based on a Cx50 homology model to assess conservation, solvent accessibility, and 3-dimensional localization of mutated residues as well as mutation-induced changes in surface electrostatic potential, H-bonding, and steric clash. This was supplemented with meta-analysis of published literature on the functional properties of connexin missense mutations. Analyses revealed that the mutation-induced critical alterations of surface electrostatic potential in Cx50 mutants could determine their fate in intracellular trafficking. A similar pattern was observed in case of mutations involving corresponding conserved residues in other connexins also. Based on these results the trafficking fates of 10 uncharacterized Cx50 mutations have been predicted. Further experimental analyses are needed to validate the observed correlation.
A Review of Machine Vision-Based Structural Health Monitoring: Methodologies and Applications

In the past two decades, a significant number of innovative sensing and monitoring systems based on the machine vision-based technology have been exploited in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM). This technology has some inherent distinctive advantages such as noncontact, nondestructive, long distance, high precision, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and large-range and multiple-target monitoring. A lot of machine vision-based structural dynamic measurement and structural state inspection methods have been proposed. Real-world applications are also carried out to measure the structural physical parameters such as the displacement, strain/stress, rotation, vibration, crack, and spalling. The purpose of this review article is devoted to presenting a summary of the basic theories and practical applications of the machine vision-based technology employed in structural monitoring as well as its systematic error sources and integration with other modern sensing techniques.
The Prevalence and Effects of Test Anxiety in School Children

This paper reviews the literature on the prevalence and effects of test anxiety on children in compulsory education. Tests are identified as a major source of concern to many children, and the overall prevalence of test anxiety appears to be increasing, possibly due to increased testing in schools and pressures associated with this. Studies of children are generally in accordance with the wider literature, namely that test anxiety impairs test performance, although this is moderated by individual differences and the testing environment. Methodological problems in the literature are discussed and suggestions for further research made.
EXPRESSION OF A NEUROPEPTIDE, ENDOTHELIN-1 IN PONS AND MEDULLA OF PRENATAL AND PERINATAL MOUSE BRAINS

Endothelin-1 (ET-1), a potent vasoconstrictor, is widely distributed in the central nervous system. This article demonstrates the spatio-temporal expression of mouse preproendothelin-1 (mPPET-1) gene in pre- and perinatal mouse brain by in situ hybridization using a probe specific for mPPET-1. mPPET-1 mRNA expression was first observed in medulla at embryonic age 11.5 (E11.5) and the level became increasingly stronger toward later stages of development. At E18.5 and postnatal day 0.5 (D0.5), mPPET-1 mRNA was found in discrete nucleus group in ventrolateral medulla. mPPET-1 mRNA was also detected in thalamic reticular nucleus at E16.5, E18.5, and D0.5. These results showed that mPPET-1 mRNA is present in neurons of central cardiorespiratory region and drastically increased during the transition from episodic fetal breathing to continuous postnatal respiration (E18.5 to D0.5), implicating the important role of ET-1 in central cardiorespiratory control regulating the onset of respiration during this critical period.
Preliminary support for the construct of health care empowerment in the context of treatment for human immunodeficiency virus

Background The Model of Health Care Empowerment (HCE) defines HCE as the process and state of being engaged, informed, collaborative, committed, and tolerant of uncertainty regarding health care. We examined the hypothesized antecedents and clinical outcomes of this model using data from ongoing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related research. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether a new measure of HCE offers direction for understanding patient engagement in HIV medical care. Using data from two ongoing trials of social and behavioral aspects of HIV treatment, we examined preliminary support for hypothesized clinical outcomes and antecedents of HCE in the context of HIV treatment. Methods This was a cross-sectional analysis of 12-month data from study 1 (a longitudinal cohort study of male couples in which one or both partners are HIV-seropositive and taking HIV medications) and 6-month data from study 2, a randomized controlled trial of HIV-seropositive persons not on antiretroviral therapy at baseline despite meeting guidelines for treatment. From studies 1 and 2, 254 and 148 participants were included, respectively. Hypothesized antecedents included cultural/social/environmental factors (demographics, HIV-related stigma), personal resources (social problem-solving, treatment knowledge and beliefs, treatment decision-making, shared decision-making, decisional balance, assertive communication, trust in providers, personal knowledge by provider, social support), and intrapersonal factors (depressive symptoms, positive/negative affect, and perceived stress). Hypothesized clinical outcomes of HCE included primary care appointment attendance, antiretroviral therapy use, adherence self-efficacy, medication adherence, CD4+ cell count, and HIV viral load. Results Although there was no association observed between HCE and HIV viral load and CD4+ cell count, there were significant positive associations of HCE scores with likelihood of reporting a recent primary care visit, greater treatment adherence self-efficacy, and higher adherence to antiretroviral therapy. Hypothesized antecedents of HCE included higher beliefs in the necessity of treatment and positive provider relationships.
Comparison of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester Analysis with the Use of API 20E and NFT Strips for Identification of Aquatic Bacteria

Aquatic bacteria grown on MacConkey agar and modified nutrient agar were identified by using API 20E and NFT strips and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis. Identifications agreed at the species level 35.7% of the time when API 20E strips and FAME analysis were used and in 4.3% of the cases when API NFT strips and FAME analysis were used. These techniques require further development before extended use in ecological studies.