Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variation in food group and nutrient intake with day of the week in an elderly population

The present paper is an aalysis of 138 5- or 7-d diet diaries collected from a free-living population of people aged 68–90 years in Norwich. Men had higher intakes than women of energy and most nutrients, but patterns of variation across the week were similar for both sexes. Intakes of meat, meat products, fish and vegetables varied across the week both in frequency and amount eaten, but the other main food groups showed no significant variation. Alcohol was taken more frequently at weekends but the amount did not vary significantly. Intakes of energy, protein and many micronutrients varied significantly with day of the week, with increased intake at weekends, especially of vegetable-derived micronutrients on Sundays, and generally decreased intake on Mondays and Fridays. Nutrient densities of carotene, retinol equivalents, folate, vitamin C, pantothenate and Zn Were all highest on Sundays, providing further evidence of variation of diet quality on different days of the week.
Gaining Access to Economically Marginalized Rural Populations: Lessons Learned from Nonprobability Sampling*

Poverty is a significant problem in rural America. Gaining access to economically marginalized rural populations in order to recruit individuals to participate in a research study, however, is often a challenge. This article compares three different nonprobability sampling techniques that have been used to recruit rural, low-income mothers--purposive sampling, respondent-driven sampling, and mixed purposive sampling. We review the relative advantages and drawbacks of the three methods in terms of access to the targeted population, methods of recruitment, size of the sample pool, randomness of the sample, generalizability of results, and researchers' control over the process. Language: en
1-Tb/s DWDM Long-Haul Transmission Employing a Fiber Optical Parametric Amplifier

In this letter, we report the performance of a fiber optical parametric amplifier (OPA) when used as a source or intermediate node amplifier in a dense wavelength-division-multiplexed (DWDM) long-haul transmission testbed with 26 DWDM channels modulated at 43.7-Gb/s return-to-zero differential phase-shift keying. In both scenarios, we demonstrate similar performance to an erbium-doped fiber amplifier. This shows the OPAs compatibility with high-capacity (>1 Tb/s) long-haul communication systems.
Trading Volume and Beta Stability

S ince the rise to popularity of the Capital 60 3 3 Asset Pricing Model, the "systematic," or "iiondiversifiable," component of return variation has received primary attention as the appropriate risk rneasure. This component is expressed in terms of the sensitivity to the market return, or "beta" risk. Although information as to the beta of various assets, estimated from historical data, is available from a number of investor research services, empirical investigations of the betas of individual securities indicate that unfortunately this risk measure is unstable. This paper suggests that the instability in estimates of security betas may result from the inappropriate use of chronological time as an index in the return computation. We present an alternative model, in which the return generation process evolves at a variable rate over time, and then describe its implications for the stability of beta estimates. Next, we show the results of tests that compare beta estimates drawn from periods of high volume to estimates drawn from periods of low volume. Since the tests indicate that trading volume does affect beta estimates, we demonstrate the results of beta estimation using trading volume as an instrumental variable to index the evolution of the return generation process. Finally, we offer some practical and operational implications of this approach. the relationship between security returns and the market return, or the "beta" risk, as p, in the familiar regression:
A boosting classifier for induction motor fault diagnosis

Many fault diagnosis techniques have been proposed in literature for motor fault detection, however, each having its own merits and limitations. A new boosting classifier is developed in this paper to classify features from three information domains, i.e., time domain, frequency domain and time-frequency domain for fault diagnosis. In the proposed boosting classifier, a new noise regulation mechanism is proposed to address the noise samples, in order to derive more robust fault diagnosis. The effectiveness of the developed boosting classifier is verified by the experiments of induction motors with broken rotor bars and the bearing defect.
Bromocriptine in the Management of End of Dose Deterioration in Parkinson’s Disease

ABSTRACT Thirty-three patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease complicated by end of dose deterioration were treated with bromocriptine. The drug was slowly increased so that by treatment week 24 the mean daily dose of bromocriptine was 22mg and levodopa had been decreased by an average of 15 percent. The majority of improvement in daily fluctuations and Parkinsonian disability score was documented by 8 weeks, at which time the mean daily bromocriptine dose was only 12mg. End of dose deterioration was reduced in 78 percent of the patients (mean 43% improvement). Total Parkinsonian disability score was decreased by 33 percent. Adverse effects were minimal; the most common was mild transient early treatment nausea which occurred in 15 percent of the patients. The slow introduction of small doses of bromocriptine, combined with minimal levodopa reduction, can give Parkinsonian patients significant improvement in end of dose deterioration.
Community Development Block Grants at 40: Time for a Makeover

This article reviews the origins and evolution of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, the federal government's largest program providing direct assistance to local governments. The article examines the program's changing national policy context over its 40-year history, as manifest in presidential, executive, and legislative deliberations over the program's national goals and objectives, as well as the key components of the program's policy design and administrative structure. The article also explores how the decisions affecting policy design adopted at the national level play out at the local level, through an examination of the choices communities have made regarding uses of CDBG funds and the social and geographic targeting outcomes that have been obtained. The article then revisits the extent to which the CDBG program conforms with the basic characteristics of block grants. The article concludes with several recommendations for revising CDBG that will provide a policy tool better aligned with the new community-building paradigm that has emerged over the past two decades, with its emphasis on collaborative, comprehensive, community-based initiatives.
A Third-Generation Lipid Emulsion that Contains n-3 Long-Chain PUFAs Preserves Retinal Function in Parenterally Fed Neonatal Piglets.

BACKGROUND Preterm neonates and those with intestinal failure require prolonged parenteral nutrition (PN) during a critical time of early central nervous system maturation. Conventional lipid emulsions fed to preterm neonates lack n-3 (ω-3) long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs; >20 carbon chain in length). Recently, fish oil lipid emulsions have been developed that provide both n-6 (ω-6) and n-3 LC-PUFAs, precursors of very long-chain PUFAs (VLC-PUFAs; >24 carbon chain in length). OBJECTIVE Our objective was to determine the effect of fish oil lipid on retinal function in neonatal piglets fed total PN with the use of the lipid emulsions available in clinical practice. We hypothesized that fish oil-containing parenteral lipid would preserve retinal function more than conventional parenteral lipid. METHODS Male neonatal piglets (2-5 d of age) were fed isonitrogenous (16 g · kg-1 · d-1), isocaloric (1.1 MJ · kg-1 · d-1) PN that varied only in the lipid emulsion: Intralipid or SMOFlipid at 10 g · kg-1 · d-1 (n = 8/group). Retinal function was assessed after 14 d of treatment by recording electroretinograms under various light intensity conditions. Retinas were then harvested for histology and to determine fatty acid composition. RESULTS Electroretinogram intensity response curves showed greater photoreceptor a-wave amplitude in piglets fed SMOFlipid than in those fed Intralipid (percentage), for postsynaptic depolarizing bipolar cell b-waves (percentage) and for flicker electroretinogram amplitudes (percentage) (P < 0.05). Compared with those fed Intralipid, SMOFlipid-fed piglets had greater retinal total n-3 LC-PUFAs (15.7% compared with 18.4%; P = 0.04) and n-3 VLC-PUFAs (0.9% compared with 1.5%; P = 0.02), whereas Intralipid-fed piglets had greater total n-6 LC-PUFAs (13.1% compared with 10.5%; P < 0.01) and n-6 VLC-PUFAs (0.7% compared with 0.5%; P = 0.01). Histologically, retinas were indistinguishable between groups. CONCLUSIONS In a neonatal piglet model of PN feeding, the inclusion of fish oil-based n-3 LC-PUFAs in the lipid emulsion leads to their accretion and endogenous elongation to VLC-PUFAs in the retina, which is associated with better retinal function.
A system for learning continuous human-robot interactions from human-human demonstrations

We present a data-driven imitation learning system for learning human-robot interactions from human-human demonstrations. During training, the movements of two interaction partners are recorded through motion capture and an interaction model is learned. At runtime, the interaction model is used to continuously adapt the robot's motion, both spatially and temporally, to the movements of the human interaction partner. We show the effectiveness of the approach on complex, sequential tasks by presenting two applications involving collaborative human-robot assembly. Experiments with varied object hand-over positions and task execution speeds confirm the capabilities for spatio-temporal adaption of the demonstrated behavior to the current situation.
Explaining growth rate differences in highly indebted countries: an extension to Thirlwall and Hussain

In recent years, growth rate differences have increased and have elicited numerous explanations. Among the most controversial interpretations is that postulated by Thirlwall (1979) and later extended by Thirlwall and Hussain (1982), both papers arguing that growth rate differences are best explained by demand constraints found in the balance of payments. Although the inclusion of capital flows by Thirlwall and Hussain (1982) is widely viewed as an improvement in the original model, still we believe the model to be less than complete because it omitted the effect of debt servicing. Extending the model to include the effect of debt servicing, this paper improves the predictability of the original model as it brought the actual growth rates closer to the predicted growth rates for most of the countries used in the previous research.
OPTIMAL LISTING POLICY FOR IPOs IN THE GERMAN FINANCIAL MARKET

Using an existing theoretical model, we investigate a firm's decision to go public empirically. In other words, should their shares be listed on either the 1st Market Segment, or on the Neuer Markt Segment (modelled on NASDAQ) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, provided the fact, that the listing requirements for both market segments are fulfilled is the major question of this paper. A binary choice model (the so-called dichotomous Probit-model) is used, i.e., a regression on a dummy dependent variable will be conducted, using also a mixture of qualitative and quantitative explanatory variables describing the particular market best, to test for German circumstances and conclusions are drawn.
Seasonal variation of the lying and standing behavior indexes of dairy cattle at different daily time periods in free-stall housing.

The lying and standing behavior of dairy cattle reveal whether dairy cattle housing is appropriate to cow comfort. Lying and standing behavior indexes, such as cow comfort index (CCI), cow stress index (CSI) and stall usage index (SUI) are often used as an indication of animal welfare. This study was performed to determine the seasonal and hourly variation of cow behavioral indexes at different daily time periods (DTP) and evaluate appropriate DTP better representing daily behavioral activity of dairy cattle in free-stall housing (FHS) in Konya, Turkey. Animal behaviors were videotaped for a total of 24 days (576 h) over four seasons in a FHS at a commercial dairy farm from November 2007 to March 2009 using continuous video data (24 h per day). The behaviors of cows in the barn were evaluated using 60-min scan sampling. All phenotypes were evaluated on an hourly basis during the experimental period. The results show how these indexes can be accurately evaluated by analyzing video recordings taken on DTP between 08.00-15.00 and 19.00-24.00 hours for autumn and summer and 10.00-12.00 and 20.00-22.00 hours for spring, instead of continuous observation (r > 0.93, P < 0.01). Consequently, the evaluated method provides saving time and labor to accurately analyze cow behavior instead of observations over a long time.
Changes in the Distribution of Individual Earnings in the United States: 1967-1986

Using micro-data from the Current Population Survey, the author examines the sensitivity of conclusion regarding time-series changes in inequality to the measure of inequality employed and to the population group analyzed. Although changes in inequality over time are sensitive to the measure of inequality, the author finds a general pattern of stable or decreasing inequality throughout the 1970s followed by a period of increasing inequality. Based upon a decomposition analysis, the author concludes that these changes are not simply the results of the changing employment distribution among groups, defined by sex, age, education or industry. Instead the rise in inequality results from an increase in inequality within these groups. Copyright 1992 by MIT Press.
Negative Affect and Chemical Intolerance as Risk Factors for Building-Related Symptoms: A Controlled Exposure Study

Objective: To assess whether differences in negative affect (NA) and chemical intolerance (CI) affect responses to chemical mixtures and stress in a controlled experimental model. Methods: Participants were 130 nonsmoking, healthy women, recruited from a university community. Participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect Scale and the Chemical Odor Intolerance Index. In separate sessions 1 week apart, they were exposed to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), VOCs with ozone (VOCs+O3), and ambient or filtered air with a 1-minute spike of VOCs (masked clean air). During each session, half of the participants performed a videotaped speech stressor and half performed simple arithmetic. Before, during, and after each session, salivary cortisol samples were collected, and subjects completed neurobehavioral tests and used a ratio scale to rate physical, cognitive, and anxiety symptoms. Results: Relative to low NA or low CI, neither the high NA nor the high CI groups reported significantly more symptoms in response to any exposure condition. High NA subjects reported more anxiety symptoms in response to the speech stressor but did not have higher cortisol than low NA subjects. High NA subjects, however, were more distressed by the experimental conditions than were low NA subjects. Low NA subjects reported more severe anxiety in the VOCs+O3 with psychological stress condition. Conclusions: Subjects high in NA were more anxious after a stressor but were not more physically symptomatic in response to increasing chemical exposures. A disposition toward high or low CI did not result in a differential symptomatic response to controlled chemical exposures. CEF = controlled environment facility; CI = chemical intolerance; CII = chemical odor intolerance index; CO2 = carbon dioxide; ECG = electrocardiogram; IRB = Institutional Review Board; MCA = masked clean air; MCS = multiple chemical sensitivity; NA = negative affect; NSBRI = non-specific building-related illness; POL = performance on-line; SAS = statistical analysis system; TLV = threshold limit value; UMDNJ = University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; VOCs = volatile organic compounds; VOC+O3 = VOCs with ozone.
International Law and Public Attitudes Toward Torture: An Experimental Study

Abstract Domestic approaches to compliance with international commitments often presume that international law has a distinct effect on the beliefs and preferences of national publics. Studies attempting to estimate the consequences of international law unfortunately face a wide range of empirical and methodological challenges. This article uses an experimental design embedded in two U.S. national surveys to offer direct systematic evidence of international law's effect on mass attitudes. To provide a relatively tough test for international law, the surveys examine public attitudes toward the use of torture, an issue in which national security concerns are often considered paramount. Contrary to the common contention of international law's inefficacy, I find that legal commitments have a discernible impact on public support for the use of torture. The effect of international law is also strongest in those contexts where pressures to resort to torture are at their highest. However, the effects of different dimensions in the level of international agreements' legalization are far from uniform. In contrast to the attention often devoted to binding rules, I find that the level of obligation seems to make little difference on public attitudes toward torture. Rather, the relative precision of the rules, along with the degree to which enforcement is delegated to third parties, plays a much greater role in shaping public preferences. Across both international law and legalization, an individual's political ideology also exerts a strong mediating effect, though in varying directions depending on the design of the agreement. The findings have implications for understanding the overall impact of international law on domestic actors, the importance of institutional design, and the role of political ideology on compliance with international agreements.
Position and orientation estimation using Kalman filtering and particle diltering with one IMU and one position sensor

In this paper, a novel position and orientation estimation method that relies on Kalman filtering and particle filtering is proposed. The orientation calculation error by using gyros increases over time due to the integration of angular velocity measurement errors. This paper describes how to estimate the orientation and position with a high accuracy when one inertial measurement unit (IMU) and one position sensor are available. The proposed filter takes advantage of the particle filtering component to estimate the orientation, and the Kalman filtering component to estimate the position of each orientation particle. The simulation results of the orientation calculation with no filter, with a Kalman filter (KF), and with the proposed filter are compared and discussed. The proposed filter is proven to reduce the position error and the rotation matrix error significantly.
Correlation between tumor oxygenation and 18F-fluoromisonidazole PET data simulated based on microvessel images

Abstract Background. Assessing hypoxia with oxygen probes provides a sparse sampling of tumor volumes only, bearing a risk of missing hypoxic regions. Full coverage is achieved with positron emission tomography (PET) using the tracer 18F-fluoromisonidazole (FMISO). In this study, the correlation between different FMISO PET imaging parameters and the median voxel PO2 (medianPO2) was analyzed. A measure of the median PO2 characterizes the microenvironment in consistency with probe measurements. Material and methods. Tissue oxygenations and FMISO diffusion-retention dynamics were simulated. Transport of FMISO and O2 molecules into and out of tissue was modeled by vessel maps derived from histology of head-and-neck squamous cell cancer xenograft tumor lines. Parameter sets were evaluated for 300 distinct 2 × 2 mm2 vessel configurations, including medianPO2 and two FMISO PET parameters: FH denotes the sub-regional signal four hours post injection (pi) and FH/P denotes the ratio between FH and the time-averaged signal 0–15 min pi. Correlations between O2 and FMISO parameters were evaluated. A receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was performed, regarding the accuracy of FH and FH/P in identifying voxels with medianPO2 < 2.5 mmHg. Results. In hypoxic sub-regions, the correlation between FH and medianPO2 is low (R2 = 0.37), while the correlation between FH/P and median PO2 is high (R2 = 0.99). The ROC analysis showed that hypoxic regions can be identified using FH/P with a higher diagnostic accuracy (YI = sensitivity+ specificity-1 = 1.0), than using FH alone (YI = 0.83). Both FMISO parameters are moderately effective in identifying hypoxia on the microscopic length scale (YI = 0.63 and 0.60). Conclusions. A combination of two FMISO PET scans acquired 0–15 min and four hours pi may yield an accurate measure of the medianPO2 in a voxel (FH/P). This measure is comparable to averaged oxygen probe measurements and has the advantage of covering the entire tumor volume. Therefore, it may improve the prediction of radiotherapy outcome and facilitate individualized dose prescriptions.
Anti-Tumor Immunity Provided by a Synthetic Multiple Antigenic Glycopeptide Displaying a Tri-Tn Glycotope1

In many cancer cells the alteration of glycosylation processes leads to the expression of cryptic carbohydrate moieties, which make them good targets for immune intervention. Identification of cancer-associated glycotopes as well as progress in chemical synthesis have opened up the way for the development of fully synthetic immunogens that can induce anti-saccharide immune responses. Here, we synthesized a dendrimeric multiple antigenic glycopeptide (MAG) containing the Tn Ag O-linked to a CD4+ T cell epitope. This MAG is based on three consecutive Tn moieties (tri-Tn) corresponding to the glycotope recognized by an mAb (MLS 128) produced against the LS180 colon carcinoma cell line. The Abs induced by this MAG recognized murine and human tumor cell lines expressing the Tn Ag. Prophylactic vaccination using MAG provided protection of mice against tumor challenge. When used in active specific immunotherapy, the MAG carrying the tri-Tn glycotope was much more efficient than the mono-Tn analogue in promoting the survival of tumor-bearing mice. Furthermore, in active specific immunotherapy, a linear glycopeptide carrying two copies of the tri-Tn glycotope was shown to be poorly efficient compared with the dendrimeric MAG. Therefore, both the clustering of carbohydrate Ags and the way they are displayed seem to be important parameters for stimulating efficient anti-saccharide immune responses.
Black tobacco, maté, and bladder cancer. A case–control study from uruguay

A case–control study of bladder cancer involving interviews with 111 incident cases and 222 controls was carried out in Montevideo, Uruguay. The analysis was conducted separately for each sex. Point estimates of relative risk associated with smoking variables, ingestion of infusions of the herb Ilex paraguariensis (maté), and selected dietary items were obtained by stratified and logistic regression analysis. Among men, smokers of black tobacco showed a relative risk (RR) 2.7 higher than blond tobacco smokers and maté exposure showed a significant dose–response, after adjustment for age, residence, social class, hospital, type of tobacco, smoking intensity, smoking duration, and vegetable consumption, with a seven‐fold increase in risk for heavy consumers. Joint exposure to type of tobacco and maté consumption showed a multiplicative effect. Women showed a similar increase in risk with maté consumption. The results suggest that the high mortality rates of bladder cancer observed in Uruguay could be explained by the combined effect of black tobacco smoking and maté ingestion.