Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Support and Grandparent Caregiver Health: One-Year Longitudinal Findings for Grandparents Raising Their Grandchildren.

OBJECTIVES The role of social support in predicting health among grandparents raising grandchildren was explored among 86 grandparent caregivers assessed twice over a 1-year timeframe. METHOD Relationships between social support and health were ascertained via cross-lagged analyses. Regression analyses explored the mitigating role of social support in influencing both health and depression among grandparent caregivers. RESULTS Cross-lagged findings suggested that social support predicted health over time rather than vice versa. Regression analyses found that this relationship held when adjusting for multiple covariates as well as previous levels of health, depression, and parental stress. Additionally, the interaction of overall health and social support at Time 1 predicted Time 2 depression. For those who lacked social support, overall health was negatively related to self-reported depression symptoms 1 year later; this was not the case among those reporting greater social support. In addition, parental stress moderated the effects of social support on depression, and social support moderated the effects of parental stress on depression. DISCUSSION Greater social support may lay the groundwork for better health, and such support, in concert with better health as well as lessened parental stress may prevent the development of depression among grandparent caregivers.
A Comparison of Peritoneal Equilibration Tests Performed 1 and 4 Weeks after PD Commencement

Objective The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate the ability of a peritoneal equilibration test (PET) performed in the first week of peritoneal dialysis (PD) to predict subsequent transport status, as determined by a PET at 4 weeks and >1 year after PD commencement. Design Prospective observational study of an incident PD cohort at a single center. Setting Tertiary-care institutional dialysis center. Participants The study included 50 consecutive patients commencing PD at the Princess Alexandra Hospital between 25/2/2001 and 14/5/2003 (mean age 60.9 ± 12.2 years, 54% male, 92% Caucasian, 38% diabetic). All patients were initially prescribed continuous ambulatory PD. Main Measurements Measurements performed during paired PETs included dialysate-to-plasma ratios of urea (D/P urea) and creatinine (D/P creatinine) at 4 hours, the ratio of dialysate glucose concentrations at 0 and 4 hours (D/D0 glucose), and drain volumes at 4 hours. Results When paired 1-week and 1-month PET data were analyzed, significant changes were observed in measured D/P urea (0.91 ± 0.07 vs 0.94 ± 0.07 respectively; p < 0.05), D/P creatinine (0.55 ± 0.12 vs 0.66 ± 0.11, p < 0.001), and D/D0 glucose (0.38 ± 0.08 vs 0.36 ± 0.10, p < 0.05). Using Bland–Altman analysis, the repeatability coefficients were 0.17, 0.20, and 0.13, respectively. Agreement between 1-week and 1-month PET measurements with respect to peritoneal transport category was moderate for D/D0 glucose (weighted κ 0.52), but poor for D/P urea (0.30), D/P creatinine (0.35), and drain volumes (0.20). The PET measurements performed more than 1 year following PD commencement (n = 28) generally agreed closely with 1-month measurements, and poorly with 1-week measurements. Conclusions Peritoneal transport characteristics change significantly within the first month of PD. PETs carried out during this time should be considered preliminary and should be confirmed by a PET 4 weeks later. Nevertheless, performing an early D/D0 glucose measurement at 1 week predicted ultimate transport status sufficiently well to facilitate early clinical decision-making about optimal PD modality while patients were still receiving PD training. On the other hand, the widespread practice of using measured drain volumes in the first week to predict ultimate transport category is highly inaccurate and not recommended.
Diurnal Changes in Metabolite Levels and Crassulacean Acid Metabolism in Kalanchoë daigremontiana Leaves.

Diurnal changes in levels of selected metabolites associated with glycolysis, the C(3) cycle, C(4)-organic acids, and storage carbohydrates were analyzed in active Kalanchoë daigremontiana Crassulacean acid metabolism leaves. Three metabolic transition periods occurred each day. During the first two hours of light, nearly all of the metabolite pools underwent transient changes. Beginning at daylight, stomata opened transiently and closed again within 30 minutes; malate synthesis continued for about 1 hour into the light; C(3) photosynthesis began within 30 minutes; and net quantities of starch and glucan began to accumulate after 2 hours, continuing linearly throughout the rest of the day.THE SECOND TRANSITION OCCURRED IN MIDAFTERNOON: stomata reopened; malate decarboxylation nearly terminated; and the assimilation of ambient CO(2) occurred primarily via the C(3) cycle. The third transition occurred at dark: stomata transiently closed before opening again; the C(3) cycle stopped; malate synthesis started in about 1 hour; starch and glucan degradation began within 1 hour; and the bulk of carbon flow was through glycolysis leading to the synthesis and accumulation of malate throughout the night. At night, the levels of metabolites involved in acidification and glycolysis (except for phosphoenolpyruvate) generally accumulated. Phosphoenolpyruvate levels peaked near midday and were minimal at night. The ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate pool was depleted at night, while sedoheptulose 1,7-bisphosphate, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, glucose 6-phosphate, and fructose 6-phosphate accumulated.
Government Spending During Sudden Stop Crises

This paper studies the effect of government spending policy during sudden stop crises. Using a quarterly dataset of 30 small open economies, I find that government spending is more effective in stimulating consumption and appreciating the real exchange rate during sudden stops than during normal times. To rationalize this, I build a two-sector model with a collateral constraint on external debt. During a recession, an adverse international shock reduces consumption and undermines the value of collateral. The collapsing asset price in turn tightens the financial constraint, deteriorates the real absorption, and sets-in a fully-blown debt-deflation mechanism. In this context, an increase in government purchases exerts a counteracting force by raising asset prices and stimulating real activities. More importantly, if the government can commit to certain paths of spending in the future, the expected real appreciation will further relax the financial constraint today. I use a calibrated model to explore the multiplier effect under different exchange rate regimes, the asymmetric multipliers, and the multipliers under different levels of shock persistence.
An informational diversity framework, illustrated with sexually deceptive orchids in early stages of speciation

Reconstructing evolutionary history for emerging species complexes is notoriously difficult, with newly isolated taxa often morphologically cryptic and the signature of reproductive isolation often restricted to a few genes. Evidence from multiple loci and genomes is highly desirable, but multiple inputs require ‘common currency’ translation. Here we deploy a Shannon information framework, converting into diversity analogue, which provides a common currency analysis for maternally inherited haploid and bi‐parentally inherited diploid nuclear markers, and then extend that analysis to construction of minimum‐spanning networks for both genomes. The new approach is illustrated with a quartet of cryptic congeners from the sexually deceptive Australian orchid genus Chiloglottis, still in the early stages of speciation. Divergence is more rapid for haploid plastids than for nuclear markers, consistent with the effective population size differential (Nep < Nen), but divergence patterns are broadly correlated for the two genomes. There are nevertheless intriguing discrepancies between the emerging plastid and nuclear signals of early phylogenetic radiation of these taxa, and neither pattern is entirely consistent with the available information on the sexual cues used by the orchids to lure the pollinators enforcing reproductive isolation. We describe possible extensions of this methodology to multiple ploidy levels and other types of markers, which should increase the range of application to any taxonomic assemblage in the very early stages of reproductive isolation and speciation.
Supporting Information for manuscript entitled “ Normal-Incidence PEEM Imaging of Propagating Modes in a Plasmonic Nanocircuit ”

“Normal-Incidence PEEM Imaging of Propagating Modes in a Plasmonic Nanocircuit” Gary Razinskas,† Deirdre Kilbane,‡ Pascal Melchior,‡ Peter Geisler,† Enno Krauss,† Stefan Mathias,‡,¶ Bert Hecht,∗,†,§ and Martin Aeschlimann∗,‡ †Nano-Optics and Biophotonics Group, Department of Experimental Physics 5, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany ‡Department of Physics and Research Center OPTIMAS, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger-Str. 46, D-67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany ¶ I. Physikalisches Institut, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany § Röntgen Center for Complex Material Systems (RCCM), Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany
Modeling and Characterization of TSV Capacitor and Stable Low-Capacitance Implementation for Wide-I/O Application

Equations of the electric field, surface charge, and silicon capacitance with respect to the surface potential of single through-silicon via (TSV) are derived by Poisson's equation. Four kinds of charges such as the electrons, holes, and ionized donor/acceptor charges in the p-type silicon substrate are brought into the equations. The numerical results of the surface charge show identical plots to planar MOS capacitor when the TSV radius is larger than 1 μm. After presenting the fundamental C-V characteristics of one TSV capacitor, a simple design for gaining a stable low TSV capacitance value within a wide operating window (|Vow| = 20 V) is proposed. Cu TSVs in this design are then demonstrated in the scheme of the wafer-level Cu/Sn to BCB hybrid bonding. The design gives the rational power consumption and delay, and the guideline for physical IC design is described in this paper. Without the oxide-trapped charge Qot engineering in TSV oxide liner, neither considerations of the VFB shifts nor the doping-type selection in silicon substrate, the design facilitates IC engineers to plan the high-speed TSVs at a specific location and to save the cost from TSV engineering simultaneously.
Controlling the time evolution of mAb N‐linked glycosylation ‐ Part II: Model‐based predictions

N‐linked glycosylation is known to be a crucial factor for the therapeutic efficacy and safety of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and many other glycoproteins. The nontemplate process of glycosylation is influenced by external factors which have to be tightly controlled during the manufacturing process. In order to describe and predict mAb N‐linked glycosylation patterns in a CHO‐S cell fed‐batch process, an existing dynamic mathematical model has been refined and coupled to an unstructured metabolic model. High‐throughput cell culture experiments carried out in miniaturized bioreactors in combination with intracellular measurements of nucleotide sugars were used to tune the parameter configuration of the coupled models as a function of extracellular pH, manganese and galactose addition. The proposed modeling framework is able to predict the time evolution of N‐linked glycosylation patterns during a fed‐batch process as a function of time as well as the manipulated variables. A constant and varying mAb N‐linked glycosylation pattern throughout the culture were chosen to demonstrate the predictive capability of the modeling framework, which is able to quantify the interconnected influence of media components and cell culture conditions. Such a model‐based evaluation of feeding regimes using high‐throughput tools and mathematical models gives rise to a more rational way to control and design cell culture processes with defined glycosylation patterns. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog. , 32:1135–1148, 2016
PROTAX-Sound: A probabilistic framework for automated animal sound identification

Autonomous audio recording is stimulating new field in bioacoustics, with a great promise for conducting cost-effective species surveys. One major current challenge is the lack of reliable classifiers capable of multi-species identification. We present PROTAX-Sound, a statistical framework to perform probabilistic classification of animal sounds. PROTAX-Sound is based on a multinomial regression model, and it can utilize as predictors any kind of sound features or classifications produced by other existing algorithms. PROTAX-Sound combines audio and image processing techniques to scan environmental audio files. It identifies regions of interest (a segment of the audio file that contains a vocalization to be classified), extracts acoustic features from them and compares with samples in a reference database. The output of PROTAX-Sound is the probabilistic classification of each vocalization, including the possibility that it represents species not present in the reference database. We demonstrate the performance of PROTAX-Sound by classifying audio from a species-rich case study of tropical birds. The best performing classifier achieved 68% classification accuracy for 200 bird species. PROTAX-Sound improves the classification power of current techniques by combining information from multiple classifiers in a manner that yields calibrated classification probabilities.
An investigation into the key elements of the Chinese Shanzhai model: Alternative path to growth, cross-specialization partnership, and opportunistic niche infiltration

How do small emerging-market late-entrants with weak capabilities and scarce resources overtake leading U.S. and European firms in emerging markets? To answer this question, this study investigates Chinese Shanzhai firms in mobile phone, automobile, and notebook PC through secondary data, firm interviews, and retail channel observation. The result of this study not only helps understand the Shanzhai innovation model but extends the theory of vertical alliance and provides other aspiring emerging-market late-entrants a framework for devising winning innovation strategies. This study finds the key to the rapid and steady rise of Chinese Shanzhai firms is their vertical alliance model characteristic of alternative path to growth, cross-specialization partnership, and opportunistic niche infiltration. First of all, these firms seek out room in the marginal areas of the existing industrial system by changing their scope of operations and restructuring the value network. Secondly, they build up an open platform for innovation different from that of the incumbents' through cross-industry partnerships for collaboration and value co-creation to make up for what they lack. Lastly, they target a niche market by providing maximized Price-to-Performance ratios and maintaining diverse product lines to then infiltrate the mainstream market.
Megavoltage Computed Tomography Image-based Low-dose Rate Intracavitary Brachytherapy Planning for Cervical Carcinoma

Initial results of megavoltage computed tomography (MVCT) brachytherapy treatment planning are presented, using a commercially available helical tomotherapy treatment unit and standard low dose rate (LDR) brachytherapy applicators used for treatment of cervical carcinoma. The accuracy of MVCT imaging techniques, and dosimetric accuracy of the CT based plans were tested with in-house and commercially-available phantoms. Three dimensional (3D) dose distributions were computed and compared to the two dimensional (2D) dosimetry results. Minimal doses received by the 2 cm3 of bladder and rectum receiving the highest doses (DB2cc and DR2cc, respectively) were computed from dose-volume histograms and compared to the doses computed for the standard ICRU bladder and rectal reference dose points. Phantom test objects in MVCT image sets were localized with sub-millimetric accuracy, and the accuracy of the MVCT-based dose calculation was verified. Fifteen brachytherapy insertions were also analyzed. The ICRU rectal point dose did not differ significantly from DR2cc (p=0.749, mean difference was 24 cGy ± 283 cGy). The ICRU bladder point dose was significantly lower than the DB2cc (p=0.024, mean difference was 291 cGy ± 444 cGy). The median volumes of bladder and rectum receiving at least the corresponding ICRU reference point dose were 6.1 cm3 and 2.0 cm3, respectively. Our initial experience in using MVCT imaging for clinical LDR gynecological brachytherapy indicates that the MVCT images are of sufficient quality for use in 3D, MVCT-based dose planning.
Intellectual capital and competitive advantage in Uganda’s microfinance industry

Purpose - The paper examines individual contribution of intellectual capital elements to competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to explore the weight of individual intellectual capital elements in explaining competitive advantage in Uganda’s microfinance industry. Design/methodology/approach - Hierarchical regression was used because of its capacity to indicate precisely what happens to the model as different predictor variables are introduced. Findings - This study confirms that the three intellectual capital elements are the strong predictors of competitive advantage and they account for 44 percent of variance in competitive advantage. However, the order of importance of these variables in explaining the variance in competitive advantage in the microfinance industry (basing on their standardized Research limitations/implications - Only a single research methodological approach was employed and future research through interviews could be undertaken to triangulate the data. Furthermore, the findings from the present study are cross-sectional; future research should be undertaken to examine the longitudinal effects of intellectual capital elements. Practical implications - The findings can help the management to intensify initiatives to encourage greater understanding and acceptance of the concept of intellectual capital that boosts competitive edge in the industry. Originality/value - This is the first study that focuses on testing the individual contribution of intellectual capital dimensions to competitive advantage in Uganda’s microfinance institutions.
Traffic management for ATM local area networks

Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is the first switching technology to be capable of supporting circuit switching and packet switching within a single integrated switching mechanism. This was one of the research goals that led to the development of ATM. Considerable progress has already been made in implementing constant bit-rate services, similar to conventional circuit switching, over ATM. The authors briefly consider how to support LAN emulation over an ATM network and then explore how to offer the dynamic bandwidth sharing in the local area. Considerable progress has already been made in implementing constant bit-rate services, similar to conventional circuit switching, over ATM. However, the bursty nature of data traffic requires dynamic bandwidth sharing similar to packet switching, and this is still under investigation. <<ETX>>
Induction of sTNF‐R1 and sTNF‐R2 by interferon beta‐1b in correlation with clinical and MRI activity

Objectives – To investigate the influence of interferon (IFN) beta‐1b on the serum levels of sTNF‐R1, sTNF‐R2 and TNF‐beta in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in correlation with clinical and MRI activity. Materials and methods – Serum samples were obtained every 3 months from 24 patients treated with 8×106 U of IFN beta‐1b every other day (treatment group) and from 21 patients without any immunomodulatory therapy (control group) over a 15‐month observation period. The cytokine levels were measured by ELISA. Cranial MRI was performed every 6 months to determine the burden of disease of every patient. Results – In the treatment group we found an obvious increase of sTNF‐R1 and sTNF‐R2 (P<0.001) and relatively stable serum levels of TNF‐beta with no statistical significance (P=0.56). In the control group, sTNF‐R1 showed a significant decrease (P<0.001) during the same observation period of 15 months. During the 15‐month observation period, the MRI‐responders group had significant larger mean AUC (area under the concentration‐time curve) values of sTNF‐R1 (P=0.04) and sTNF‐R2 (P=0.01) when compared to the group of MRI‐nonresponders. Conclusion – The present data suggest that IFN beta‐1b induces the expression and shedding of TNF‐R1 and TNF‐R2. The magnitude of an increase of sTNF‐Rs may be a marker for the effectiveness of treatment with IFN beta‐1b.
Diagnostic perspective of saliva in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus children: An in vivo study

Background and Objectives: The absence, destruction, or loss of β-cells of pancreas results in type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus [IDDM]). Presently, diagnosis and periodic monitoring of diabetes is achieved by evaluating blood glucose levels as it is relatively invasive and dreaded by children. In the light of this, present study was planned to compare salivary glucose values with blood glucose values and the biochemical characteristics of saliva in IDDM children were evaluated and obtained results were compared with the salivary parameters of normal children. Materials and Methods: Thirty IDDM children and 30 healthy children were selected for the study. Fasting blood sample and unstimulated salivary sample were collected from all the subjects and were subjected for analysis. Results: A weak positive correlation was noticed between fasting blood glucose and salivary glucose values in IDDM children. But a mean average of salivary glucose was high in IDDM children when compared with healthy children. The biochemical parameters like acid phosphatase, total protein count, and α-amylase were increased, whereas salivary urea did not show significant variation between the groups. Conclusion: With presently used diagnostic armamentarium, estimation of salivary glucose cannot replace the standard method of estimation of glucose in diabetic mellitus children. The established relationship was very weak with many variations.