Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synthesis of Pt–Pd Bimetallic Porous Nanostructures as Electrocatalysts for the Methanol Oxidation Reaction

Pt-based bimetallic nanostructures have attracted a great deal of attention due to their unique nanostructures and excellent catalytic properties. In this study, we prepared porous Pt–Pd nanoparticles using an efficient, one-pot co-reduction process without using any templates or toxic reactants. In this process, Pt–Pd nanoparticles with different nanostructures were obtained by adjusting the temperature and ratio of the two precursors; and their catalytic properties for the oxidation of methanol were studied. The porous Pt–Pd nanostructures showed better electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of methanol with a higher current density (0.67 mA/cm2), compared with the commercial Pt/C catalyst (0.31 mA/cm2). This method provides one easy pathway to economically prepare different alloy nanostructures for various applications.
The Dimerization State of the Mammalian High Mobility Group Protein AT-Hook 2 (HMGA2)

The mammalian high mobility group protein AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) is a chromosomal architectural transcription factor involved in cell transformation and oncogenesis. It consists of three positively charged “AT-hooks” and a negatively charged C-terminus. Sequence analyses, circular dichroism experiments, and gel-filtration studies showed that HMGA2, in the native state, does not have a defined secondary or tertiary structure. Surprisingly, using combined approaches of 1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) chemical cross-linking, analytical ultracentrifugation, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), and mass spectrometry, we discovered that HMGA2 is capable of self-associating into homodimers in aqueous buffer solution. Our results showed that electrostatic interactions between the positively charged “AT-hooks” and the negatively charged C-terminus greatly contribute to the homodimer formation.
The E cient Deployment of Police Resources: Theory and New Evidence from a Randomized Drunk Driving Crackdown in India

A central question in law and economics is whether, with limited resources, police activity should be narrowly focused and high force, or widely-dispersed but of moderate intensity. Critics of intense “hot spot” enforcement argue that this approach will only lead to crime shifting to other locations or other times. But if law breakers take time to learn that enforcement has begun, the police may take advantage of this period to intervene intensively in the most productive location. We propose a model where criminals progressively learn about policing, and structurally estimate its parameters using a randomized controlled experiment on an anti-drunk driving campaign with the police department in Rajasthan, India. In each station, sobriety checkpoints were either randomly rotated on 3 main routes or fixed in the best route, and the intensity of the crackdown was cross-randomized. We find clear evidence of driver learning about the crackdown and strategically responding to it, causing rotating checkpoints to dominate the fixed location approach. Our structural estimates allow us to design the optimal policy: we find that 50% of checks should occur on roads with, ex-ante, less criminal activity. We estimate that crackdowns in rotating locations reduced night accidents in the area covered by a particular police station by 17%, and night deaths by 25% over a two month crackdown and 6 weeks following it.
Sphingosine kinase 1/sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P)/S1P receptor axis is involved in ovarian cancer angiogenesis

Sphingosine kinase (SphK)/sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P)/S1P receptor (S1PR) signaling pathway has been implicated in a variety of pathological processes of ovarian cancer. However, the function of this axis in ovarian cancer angiogenesis remains incompletely defined. Here we provided the first evidence that SphK1/S1P/S1PR1/3 pathway played key roles in ovarian cancer angiogenesis. The expression level of SphK1, but not SphK2, was closely correlated with the microvascular density (MVD) of ovarian cancer tissue. In vitro, the angiogenic potential and angiogenic factor secretion of ovarian cancer cells could be attenuated by SphK1, but not SphK2, blockage and were restored by the addition of S1P. Moreover, in these cells, we found S1P stimulation induced the angiogenic factor secretion via S1PR1 and S1PR3, but not S1PR2. Furthermore, inhibition of S1PR1/3, but not S1PR2, attenuated the angiogenic potential and angiogenic factor secretion of the cells. in vivo, blockage of SphK or S1PR1/3 could attenuate ovarian cancer angiogenesis and inhibit angiogenic factor expression in mouse models. Collectively, the current study showed a novel role of SphK1/S1P/S1PR1/3 axis within the ovarian cancer, suggesting a new target to block ovarian cancer angiogenesis.
Unhealthy weight control behaviors among youth: Sex of sexual partner is linked to important differences

ABSTRACT Unhealthy weight control behaviors (UWCBs) have been decreasing for most youth over time, yet little is known whether these behaviors have changed for sexual minority (e.g., non-heterosexual) youth. This is important because many studies have found that sexual minorities report some of the highest rates of UWCBs. To determine whether or not these behaviors have changed over time, given the extreme changes in social contexts over the past two decades, we utilised three waves of the Minnesota Student Survey (N = 55,597, Mage = 17). In doing so, we report trends, disparities, and changes in disparities of UWCBs. Overall, the prevalence of UWCBs has declined from 1999 to 2010 for all youth, but there are alarming disparities by sex of sexual partner. We found that both- and same-sex partnered male youth were more likely to fast, use diet pills, and vomit on purpose to lose weight compared to their opposite-sex partnered counterparts in all three survey years; specifically, both-sex partnered boys were up to 5.5× as likely to vomit on purpose compared to their opposite-sex partnered counterparts. Likewise, both-sex partnered girls were more likely to use diet pills and vomit on purpose to lose weight compared to opposite-sex partnered girls in all three survey years. Additionally, the disparity in fasting to lose weight widened for the same-sex partnered females compared to the opposite-sex partnered females from 1998 to 2004. This has implications for UWCB interventions and preventions targeted specifically towards sexual minorities.
One-suture, 1-knot technique in renal vascular transplant.

OBJECTIVES We describe the results of our 1-suture, 1-knot technique for vascular anastomosis in renal transplant. This technique can be used for both of the arterial and venous anastomoses. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between May 2006 and June 2008, a total of 386 renal transplants were done in our center, using a 1-suture, 1-knot technique. Intraoperative data including the warm and cold ischemic time, arterial and venous anastomotic time, and any early and late postoperative complications in the follow-up were recorded. RESULTS Mean age of recipients was 37 years. Mean kidney warm and cold ischemia time was 4.8 and 26.2 minutes. Mean arterial and venous anastomotic time was 5.1 and 7.2 minutes. No vascular complications were seen in the early postoperative period. Delayed graft function was diagnosed in 36 patients, but a renal scan showed good perfusion of the allografts of these cases. In the mean follow-up of 18.5 months, we did not encounter any case of renal artery thrombosis or any suspected arterial stenosis. CONCLUSIONS The 1-suture, 1-knot technique is a safe, rapid, and easy method for arterial and venous anastomosis of the renal allograft with low complication rates. It is especially valuable in obese patients and recipients with deep iliac fossa.
Substrate-treated water: a method to enhance fish activity in laboratory experiments

Fast acclimatisation of experimental animals to laboratory test conditions is crucial for effective research. During highly standardized experiments, confounding parameters must be mini- mized which might lead to animals behaving unnaturally. The objective of the present study was to develop a simple method to enhance activity of fishes under laboratory test conditions. Many fishes intensively interact with substrate in their natural environment; however, providing substrate during experiments might impair observation or may otherwise confound the results. Therefore, the behav- iour of the cichlid Pelvicachromis taeniatus was examined in water that was exposed to substrate only prior to the experiment. As a control, fish behaviour in tap water was investigated. Fish activity (i.e. covered distance) was evaluated during a period of 2 h. In substrate-treated water fish were signifi- cantly more active than in tap water. Furthermore, males in the substrate-treated water increased their activity over time, whereas males in tap water did not. In contrast, activity of females did not change significantly over time. No significant relationship between fish activity and body size or condition was found. Furthermore, standard chemical water parameters were not altered by the substrate treatment. Thus, substrate is suggested as a means to improve the olfactory environment, promoting fish welfare and activity. In conclusion, this method is suggested as a standard with wide applicability across benthic fish species to improve acclimatisation of fishes to experimental conditions in the laboratory.
InterBase (KB): A Knowledge-based Multidatabase System for Data Warehousing

This paper describes the extension of a mullidatnbase system with a knowledge-base module in order to support data warehousing. The multidatabase system integrates various component databases with a common query and transaction specification language, however, il does not provide capabilily for schema integration. The knowledge base module provides a declarative logic language with second-order syntax but first-order semantics for integrating the schemes of the data sources into the warehouse and for defining complex materialized views. Funhennore, the views are self-maintainable, i.e. they are incrementally maintained by an efficient mechanism that uses only the changes to the data sources.
Dietary glycemic load assessed by food-frequency questionnaire in relation to plasma high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and fasting plasma triacylglycerols in postmenopausal women.

BACKGROUND In metabolic studies, both greater carbohydrate intakes and higher glycemic indexes (GIs) raise fasting triacylglycerol concentrations. In epidemiologic studies, dietary glycemic load (GL) is positively associated with risk of coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes. OBJECTIVE We examined both the physiologic relevance of GI and GL and the ability of dietary questionnaires to measure these variables. DESIGN In the Nurses' Health Study, we measured plasma triacylglycerol concentrations in fasting blood samples from 185 healthy postmenopausal women and HDL-cholesterol concentrations in an additional 95 nonfasting samples. Dietary carbohydrate, GI, and GL were assessed by use of semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaires. The cross-sectional associations between these 3 variables and plasma triacylglycerol and HDL were assessed, with adjustment for potential confounding factors. RESULTS For the lowest and highest quintiles of GL, the multivariate-adjusted geometric mean triacylglycerol concentrations were 0.98 and 1.75 mmol/L (87 and 155 mg/dL; P for trend < 0.001). Both overall GI (P for trend = 0.03) and carbohydrate (P for trend < 0.01) contributed independently to the strong positive association between GL and fasting triacylglycerol concentrations. GL was also inversely associated with HDL-cholesterol concentrations. For the lowest and highest quintiles of GL, the mean HDL-cholesterol concentrations were 1.50 and 1.34 micromol/L (58 and 52 mg/dL; P for trend = 0.03). The relation between GL and fasting triacylglycerol concentrations differed significantly by body mass index (BMI; in kg/m(2)) categories (P < 0.001 for interaction). For the lowest to the highest quintiles of GL, the mean triacylglycerol concentrations were 0.92 and 2.24 mmol/L (81 and 198 mg/dL) in women with BMIs > 25 (P for trend < 0.001) and 1.02 and 1.42 mmol/L (90 and 126 mg/dL) in women with BMIs < or = 25 (P for trend < 0.001). CONCLUSION These data support the physiologic relevance of the GL as a potential risk factor for coronary artery disease in free-living women, particularly those prone to insulin resistance. These findings also document the ability of a semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire to assess dietary GIs and GLs.
Managing soil carbon and nitrogen for productivity and environmental quality

In this study, we investigated the impact of cropping system management on C and N pools, crop yield, and N leaching in a long-term agronomic experiment in Southwest Michigan. Four management types, conventional (CO), integrated fertilizer (IF), integrated compost (IC), and transitional organic (TO) were applied to two crop sequences, a corn (Zea mays L.)-corn-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ]-wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) rotation and continuous corn, which were grown with and without cover crops in the IF, IC, and TO managements. Using compost as a fertility source and reducing the use of herbicides and other chemicals resulted in long-term changes in soil organic matter pools such TO ≥ IC > IF ≥ CO for total C and N and for the labile C and N measured through aerobic incubations at 70 and 150 d. Mineralizable N varied within the rotation, tending to increase after soybean and decrease after corn production in all systems. Corn yield was closely associated with 70-d N mineralization potential, being greatest for first-year corn with cover and least for continuous corn without cover under all management types. Although the TO and IC systems produced the lowest yield for second-year or continuous corn, the combination of soybean and wheat plus red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) always supported high yield for first-year corn. Fall nitrate level and nitrate leaching were higher for commercially fertilized corn than for any other crop or for compost-amended corn.
Research to Establish the Validity, Reliability, and Clinical Utility of a Comprehensive Language Assessment of Mandarin.

Purpose With no existing gold standard for comparison, challenges arise for establishing the validity of a new standardized Mandarin language assessment normed in mainland China. Method A new assessment, Diagnostic Receptive and Expressive Assessment of Mandarin (DREAM), was normed with a stratified sample of 969 children ages 2;6 (years;months) to 7;11 in multiple urban and nonurban regions in northern and southern China. In this study of 230 children, the sensitivity and specificity of DREAM were examined against an a priori judgment of disorders. External validity was assessed using 2 indices of language production for different age groups. Results External validity was assessed against spontaneous language indices (correlation range: r = .6-.7; all ps < .01) and narrative indices (overall: r = .45, p < .01). Sensitivity (.73) and specificity (.82) of DREAM are moderate to good using a priori judgment as the standard. The values improved to . 95 and . 82 when spontaneous language and narratives were added to a priori judgment to define typicality. Divergent validity was moderate with nonlinguistic indices. Conclusion DREAM holds promise as a diagnostic test of Mandarin language impairment for children aged 2;6 to 7;11.
Thermal properties and thermal degradation kinetics of phenolic and wood flour-reinforced phenolic foams

In the present work, the thermal stability, changes in chemical structure during thermal degradation, and the kinetics of thermal degradation of a phenolic foam were studied. An 8.5 wt% of Pinus radiata wood flour reinforcement was added to the phenolic foam. A commercial phenolic resol was used as the matrix for the foam. The wood flour-reinforced foam showed a structure similar to the phenolic foam according to the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results. The wood flour increased the thermal stability of the phenolic foam in the first stage of thermal degradation (T 5% ), decreased it in the second step (T 25% ), and negligibly influenced the final stage. The activation energies of the degradation processes of the studied materials were obtained by the Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa model-free kinetic methods and a 2-Gaussian distributed activation energy model. The values of the activation energies obtained by the model-free kinetic methods for the first degradation stage of the phenolic foams were in a range between 110 and 170 kJ mol−1, whereas for the wood flour it was 162 kJ mol−1 for almost all of the conversion range of its main degradation stage. The applied models showed good fits for all the materials, and the activation energies calculated were in agreement with the values found in the literature.
A hygrothermo-mechanical model for wood: part A. Poroelastic formulation and validation with neutron imaging

Abstract The correct prediction of the behavior of wood components undergoing environmental loading or industrial process requires that the hygrothermal and mechanical (HTM) behavior of wood is considered in a coupled manner. A fully coupled poromechanical approach is proposed and validated with neutron imaging measurements of moist wood specimens exposed to high temperature. This paper demonstrates that a coupled HTM approach adequately captures the variations of temperature, moisture content, and dimensions that result in a moist wood sample exposed to one-side heating.
Association of tobacco use and other determinants with pregnancy outcomes: a multicentre hospital-based case–control study in Karachi, Pakistan

Objectives The study aimed to identify the effects of maternal tobacco consumption during pregnancy and other factors on birth outcomes and obstetric complications in Karachi, Pakistan. Design A multicentre hospital-based case–control study. Setting Four leading maternity hospitals of Karachi. Participants A random sample of 1275 women coming to the gynaecology and obstetric department of selected hospitals for delivery was interviewed within 48 hours of delivery from wards. Cases were women with adverse birth outcomes and obstetric complications, while controls were women who had normal uncomplicated delivery. Primary and secondary outcome measures Adverse birth outcomes (preterm delivery, low birth weight, stillbirth, low Apgar score) and obstetric complications (antepartum haemorrhage, caesarean section, etc). Results Final multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that with every 1 year increase in age the odds of being a case was 1.03 times as compared with being a control. Tobacco use (adjusted OR (aOR): 2.24; 95% CI 1.56 to 3.23), having no slits in the kitchen (proxy indicator for indoor air pollution) (aOR=1.90; 95% CI 1.05 to 3.43), gravidity (aOR=0.83; 95% CI 0.73 to 0.93), non-booked hospital cases (aOR=1.87; 95% CI 1.38 to 2.74), history of stillbirth (aOR=4.06; 95% CI 2.36 to 6.97), miscarriages (aOR=1.91; 95% CI 1.27 to 2.85) and preterm delivery (aOR=6.04; 95% CI 2.52 to 14.48) were significantly associated with being a case as compared with control. Conclusions This study suggests that women who had adverse pregnancy outcomes were more likely to have exposure to tobacco, previous history of adverse birth outcomes and were non-booked cases. Engagement of stakeholders in tobacco control for providing health education, incorporating tobacco use in women in the tobacco control policy and designing interventions for tobacco use cessation is warranted. Prenatal care and health education might help in preventing such adverse events.
Culture Effect on Requirements Elicitation Practice in Developing Countries

Requirement elicitation is a very important step into developing any new application. This article will examine the culture effect on requirement elicitation in developing countries. This is unique research that will look at requirement elicitation process in 10 different parts of the world including Arab word, India, China, Africa and South America. The focus is how the culture affect RE and make every place has its own practice of RE. The data was collect through surveys, direct interviews. The results show astonishing culture effect on RE. The conclusion is that culture effect deeply the technique to choose for requirement elicitation. If you are doing RE in Thailand, it will be very different from RE in Arab world. For example in Thailand respect for leader is critical and any questioning of a manager method will create a problem while in Arab world decision tree is favourite RE technique because visual are liked more than documents Keywords— culture impact, requirement elicitation.
Central role of mTORC1 downstream of YAP/TAZ in hepatoblastoma development

Hepatoblastoma (HB) is the most common type of liver malignancy in children. Recent studies suggest that activation of Yes-associated protein (YAP) is a major molecular event in HB development, as activated YAP synergizes with mutant β-catenin to promote HB formation in mice (YAP/β-catenin). However, how YAP regulates HB development remains poorly defined. Similarly, de-regulation of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling has been implicated in multiple tumor types, but its functional role in HB development is scarcely understood. In the present study, we found that mTORC1 is activated in human HB cells and YAP/β-catenin-induced mouse HB tumor tissues. mTOR inhibitor MLN0128 significantly inhibits human HB cell growth in vitro. Furthermore, ablation of Raptor, the unique subunit of mTORC1, strongly delayed YAP/β-catenin-induced HB development in mice. At the molecular level, we found that expression of the amino acid transporter SLC38A1 is induced in mouse HB tissues, and amino acid deprivation leads to mTORC1 suppression in HB cell lines. Silencing of YAP and/or its paralog, transcriptional co-activator with PDZ binding motif (TAZ), decreased SLC38A1 expression as well as mTORC1 activation in HB cells. Furthermore, a frequent and concomitant upregulation of mTORC1 and SLC38A1 was detected in a collection of human HB specimens. Altogether, our study demonstrates the key role of mTORC1 in HB development. YAP and TAZ promote HB development via inducing SLC38A1 expression, whose upregulation leads to mTORC1 activation. Targeting mTOR pathway or amino acid transporters may represent novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of human HB.