Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parent-Adolescent Sexual Communication and Adolescent Safer Sex Behavior: A Meta-Analysis.

IMPORTANCE Parent-adolescent sexual communication has received considerable attention as a factor that can positively affect safer sex behavior among youth; however, the evidence linking such communication to youth contraceptive and condom use has not been empirically synthesized. OBJECTIVES To examine the effect of parent-adolescent sexual communication on safer sex behavior among youth and explore potential moderators of this association. DATA SOURCES A systematic search of studies published from database inception through June 30, 2014, using the MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Communication & Mass Media Complete databases and relevant review articles yielded 5098 studies, of which 52 studies with 25,314 adolescents met the study eligibility criteria. Analysis was conducted from July 1, 2014, to July 27, 2015. STUDY SELECTION Studies were included if they sampled adolescents (mean sample age ≤18 years), included an adolescent report of sexual communication with one or both parents, measured safer sex behavior, and were published in English. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Correlation coefficients (r) and 95% CIs were computed from studies and meta-analyzed using random-effects models. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Safer sex behavior, including use of contraceptives or condoms. RESULTS Fifty-two articles, including 71 independent effects representing more than 3 decades of research on 25,314 adolescents (weighted mean age, 15.2 years) were synthesized. Across studies, there was a significant weighted mean effect (r = 0.10; 95% CI, 0.08-0.13) linking parent-adolescent sexual communication with safer sex behavior, which was statistically heterogeneous (Q = 203.50, P < .001, I2 = 65.60). Moderation analyses revealed larger effects for communication with girls (r = 0.12) than boys (r = 0.04) and among youth who discussed sex with their mothers (r = 0.14) compared with their fathers (r = 0.03). Effects did not differ for contraceptive vs condom use or among longitudinal vs cross-sectional studies, indicating that parent sexual communication had a similar effect across study designs and outcomes. Several methodological issues were identified in the literature; future studies can improve on these issues by measuring parent-adolescent communication with robust, multi-item measures, clearly specifying the target parent, and applying multimethod longitudinal designs. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Sexual communication with parents, particularly mothers, plays a small protective role in safer sex behavior among adolescents; this protective effect is more pronounced for girls than boys. We discuss the implications for practice and make suggestions for future research on parent-adolescent sexual communication.
Innovative financial mechanisms for sustainable development: overcoming the political obstacles to international taxation

Fourth Expert Group Meeting on Finandal Issues of Agenda 21 ' Organized by the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development of the United Nations (DPCSD) together with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) and co-sponsored by the Governments of The Netherlands and Chile Santiago, Chile, 8 to 10 January 1997
Comparison of biodistribution profile of monoclonal antibodies nanoparticles and aptamers in rats with breast cancer

Abstract The use of monoclonal antibodies and aptamers is growing every single day, as the use of nanoparticle systems. Although most of the products are under investigation, there are a few commercialized products available at the market, for human consume. In this study, we have compared three formulations (aptamer anti-MUC1, monoclonal antibody – Trastuzumab and monoclonal antibodies nanoparticles – PLA/PVA/MMT trastuzumab) to identify their profile as also to understand their behavior into an alive biological system. In this direction the radiolabeling of the products were done and they were all tested in animals (in vivo) in two conditions: healthy rats and breast cancer induced animals. The results showed that the nanoparticle has the better biodistribution profile, followed by the aptamer. We conclude that more studies and a global effort to elucidate the biological behavior of drugs and especially nano-drugs are necessary.
CursorCamouflage: multiple dummy cursors as a defense against shoulder surfing

More and more services and information are being stored on the cloud. Since anybody can access an Internet terminal, it is critical to provide appropriate security mechanisms. One popular approach is to strengthen the protocol and encryption algorithm, which is now being actively investigated in the security field. Another potentially effective approach is to enhance the user interface for security systems. Since security is ultimately a human-computer interaction problem, we believe that there are many interesting opportunities related to the latter approach.
Temporal Visual Mechanisms May Mediate Compensation for Macular Pigment

Macular pigment (MP) is a pre-receptoral filter that is diet derived and deposited in relatively high optical density in the foveal region of the retina. Due to its yellow coloration, MP absorbs light of relatively short wavelengths, ranging from 400 nm to 520 nm. Despite the spectral and spatial nonuniformity imposed upon the sensory retina by MP, perception appears to be relatively uniform across the central visual field. MP therefore offers an opportunity to determine experimentally potential mechanisms responsible for mediating this uniformity. After assessing, in 14 subjects, MP’s effects on the temporal sensitivity of both the short-wavelength- and middle-/long-wavelength-sensitive visual pathways, it appears that the visual system compensates for absorption of short-wavelength light by MP by slowing the sampling rate of short-wavelength cones and by increasing the processing speed of middle-/long-wavelength-sensitive cones. This mechanism could work via temporal summation or a temporal neural code, whereby slower response dynamics lead to amplification of relatively weak signals.
De Jure Versus De Facto Exchange Rate Regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa

There are 22 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with floating exchange rate regimes, de jure. Some target the money supply or the inflation rate; others practice "managed floating. " Statistical analysis on monthly data for the past decade reveals that in most cases these exchange rate regimes can be approximated surprisingly well by a soft peg to a basket dominated by the US dollar. The weight on the dollar appears to have fallen somewhat across the continent in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Replicating the model with weekly data for The Gambia suggests that the focus on the dollar might be even more pronounced at higher data frequencies. While there might be strong arguments in favor of limiting exchange rate volatility in SSA countries, soft-pegging to the dollar does not appear to be the best fit for them, given the currency structure of their external trade and finance. The paper concludes by discussing some policy options for SSA countries with flexible exchange rates, in the context of an illustrative recent country case.
Physical activity and incident hypertension in black and white adults: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

BACKGROUND The epidemiologic observation that physical activity reduces the risk for hypertension has only been made for white men who self-reported hypertension. This study examined physical activity and clinically determined incident hypertension in black and white men and women of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. METHODS ARIC is a population-based prospective study with four U.S. clinic centers. The present analyses included 7,459 black and white adults 45-65 years of age. Hypertension (systolic/diastolic blood pressure >/= 140/90 mm Hg) was defined by blood pressure measured by a random-zero device or medication use. Physical activity was assessed with the Baecke questionnaire. RESULTS After adjustment for age, baseline blood pressure, ARIC center, education, body mass index, waist-hip ratio, parental history of hypertension, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and diet, white men in the highest quartile of leisure activity (primarily cycling and walking) had a 34% lower odds of developing hypertension over 6 years compared to the least active (OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.47-0.94; P for quartile trend = 0.01). Baseline activity was not associated with incident hypertension in white women or blacks. CONCLUSIONS Leisure-time physical activity reduces the odds of hypertension in middle-aged white men. Additional studies in women and blacks are needed.
pH and calcium ion release of 2 root-end filling materials.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pH and calcium ion release of 2 materials used for root-end fillings and perforation repair. STUDY DESIGN ProRoot and MTA-Angelus were placed in plastic tubes and immersed in glass flasks containing deionized water. After 3, 24, 72, and 168 hours, the water in which each had been immersed was tested to determine the pH changes and released calcium. RESULTS The values for pH and calcium ion release were slightly higher for MTA-Angelus than ProRoot. The calcium release and pH of both materials were initially higher. CONCLUSION The results suggest that both materials release calcium and promote alkaline pH.
Estimating the time to extinction in an island population of song sparrows

We estimated and modelled how uncertainties in stochastic population dynamics and biases in parameter estimates affect the accuracy of the projections of a small island population of song sparrows which was enumerated every spring for 24 years. The estimate of the density regulation in a theta–logistic model ( = 1.09) suggests that the dynamics are nearly logistic, with specific growth rate = 0.99 and carrying capacity = 41.54. The song sparrow population was strongly influenced by demographic ( = 0.66) and environmental ( = 0.41) stochasticity. Bootstrap replicates of the different parameters revealed that the uncertainties in the estimates of the specific growth rate r1 and the density regulation θ were larger than the uncertainties in the environmental variance and the carrying capacity K. We introduce the concept of the population prediction interval (PPI), which is a stochastic interval which includes the unknown population size with probability (1-&agr;). The width of the PPI increased rapidly with time because of uncertainties in the estimates of density regulation as well as demographic and environmental variance in the stochastic population dynamics. Accepting a 10% probability of extinction within 100 years, neglecting uncertainties in the parameters will lead to a 33% overestimation of the time it takes for the extinction barrier (population size X = 1) to be included into the PPI. This study shows that ignoring uncertainties in population dynamics produces a substantial underestimation of the extinction risk.
GENETIC VARIANCE AND COVARIANCE FOR PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS IN LOBELIA:ARE THERE CONSTRAINTS ON ADAPTIVE EVOLUTION?

Abstract Physiological traits that control the uptake of carbon dioxide and loss of water are key determinants of plant growth and reproduction. Variation in these traits is often correlated with environmental gradients of water, light, and nutrients, suggesting that natural selection is the primary evolutionary mechanism responsible for physiological diversification. Responses to selection, however, can be constrained by the amount of standing genetic variation for physiological traits and genetic correlations between these traits. To examine the potential for constraint on adaptive evolution, we estimated the quantitative genetic basis of physiological trait variation in one population of each of two closely related species (Lobelia siphilitica and L. cardinalis). Restricted maximum likelihood analyses of greenhousegrown half‐sib families were used to estimate genetic variances and covariances for seven traits associated with carbon and water relations. We detected significant genetic variation for all traits in L. siphilitica, suggesting that carbongain and water‐use traits could evolve in response to natural selection in this population. In particular, narrow‐sense heritabilities for photosynthetic rate (A), stomatal conductance (gs), and water‐use efficiency (WUE) in our L. siphilitica population were high relative to previous studies in other species. Although there was significant narrow‐sense heritability for A in L. cardinalis, we detected little genetic variation for traits associated with water use (gs and WUE), suggesting that our population of this species may be unable to adapt to drier environments. Despite being tightly linked functionally, the genetic correlation between A and gs was not strong and significant in either population. Therefore, our L. siphilitica population would not be genetically constrained from evolving high A (and thus fixing more carbon for growth and reproduction) while also decreasing gs to limit water loss. However, a significant negative genetic correlation existed between WUE and plant size in L. siphilitica, suggesting that high WUE may be negatively associated with high fecundity. In contrast, our results suggest that any constraints on the evolution of photosynthetic and stomatal traits of L. cardinalis are caused primarily by a lack of genetic variation, rather than by genetic correlations between these functionally related traits.
Transglucosidase activity of rumen strains of Streptococcus bovis. 2. Isolation and properties of dextransucrase.

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Polymerase chain reaction-and RNA hybridization-based method for the investigation of deep-seated candidiasis.

OBJECTIVE To determine the usefulness of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and RNA hybridization method for the diagnosis of invasive candidiasis and to compare its sensitivity with blood cultures. DESIGN Blood cultures and a blood sample for PCR were taken from patients with suspected invasive candidiasis. A 105 base pair conserved segment within the rDNA of Candida species was amplified. The amplicon was detected by hybridization and gel electrophoresis. SETTING Intensive care units of two tertiary care hospitals. PATIENTS One hundred and eighteen patients 16 years of age or older with four more risk factors for invasive candidiasis were enrolled. Present or recent past treatment with broad spectrum antibiotics, cancer chemotherapy, immunosuppressive drugs, granulocytopenia or granulocytosis, intravascular catheterization, tracheal intubation, recent abdominal surgery and parenteral nutrition were considered risk factors. RESULTS Forty-three patients had invasive candidiasis. PCR detected infections in 28 and 26 patients (sensitivity 65.1% and 60.4%) by hybridization and gel electrophoresis, respectively. The sensitivity of blood cultures was 58.1%. Of 25 patients with positive blood cultures, 17 were positive by PCR with the hybridization method. Eleven patients with invasive candidiasis had negative blood cultures but were positive by PCR. CONCLUSION PCR, especially with a hybridization detection method, is more sensitive than blood culture for invasive candidiasis and may facilitate the diagnosis of nonfungemic disease.
Suicidal behaviour in children and adolescents. part 1: etiology and risk factors.

OBJECTIVE This is Part 1 of a 2-part review of suicidal behaviour in children and adolescents. Part 1 explores the phenomenology and epidemiology of suicide in children and adolescents. METHOD Systematic review of the literature since 1966. Behaviours included within this spectrum are discussed and differentiated. The literature regarding the impact of demographic, social, and psychological risk factors is summarized. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Suicide rates in youth are declining, but the reasons are speculative. Suicidal behaviour comprises a spectrum with differing frequencies and risk factors. While some risk factors are fixed, such as age and family history, others, such as psychiatric illness and stressors, may be amenable to intervention.
Analysis and Design of a Soft-Switching Boost Converter With an HI-Bridge Auxiliary Resonant Circuit

A new soft-switching boost converter is proposed in this paper. The conventional boost converter generates switching losses at turn on and off, and this causes a reduction in the whole system's efficiency. The proposed boost converter utilizes a soft-switching method using an auxiliary circuit with a resonant inductor and capacitor, auxiliary switch, and diodes. Therefore, the proposed soft-switching boost converter reduces switching losses more than the conventional hard-switching converter. The efficiency, which is about 91% in hard switching, increases to about 96% in the proposed soft-switching converter. In this paper, the performance of the proposed soft-switching boost converter is verified through the theoretical analysis, simulation, and experimental results.
A sampling algorithm for intermittently connected delay tolerant wireless sensor networks

This work presents a sampling solution applied to intermittently connected delay tolerant wireless sensor networks (ICDT-WSNs). In such networks, when the storage capacity of a node is limited compared to the amount of data to collect, it is common to apply a packet drop strategy based on network layer parameters only. However, such strategies are not suitable for monitoring applications of WSNs where data quality is essential. Alternatively, we propose a data-aware drop strategy which applies a sampling algorithm over the collected data in order to reduce the amount of stored data while keeping an overall data quality to represent the monitored area. In order to evaluate our solution, we executed and compared it with drop strategies in literature. We modeled and simulated scenarios where different events occur. The results show that the sampling algorithm is, approximately, twice better than common drop strategies in all evaluated scenarios.
Measuring the longitudinal distribution of four-wave mixing efficiency in dispersion-shifted fibers

We measured and analysed four-wave mixing (FWM) efficiency and fluctuation along the actual dispersion-shifted fibers (DSF's). In the short, 1.1-km DSF, our results agreed with theory, and we also obtained zero-dispersion wavelength /spl lambda//sub 0/, zero-dispersion slope dD/d/spl lambda/, and nonlinear refractive index n/sub 2/ simultaneously. In the long, 23-km, DSF, a high FWM efficiency was observed in the wide wavelength region, due to the longitudinal zero-dispersion wavelength distribution. The fluctuation range was about 3.5 nm and the maximum slope about 1.1 km/nm. <<ETX>>
Full or Partial Retirement? Effects of the Pension Incentives and Increasing Retirement Age in the United States and the Netherlands

The share of the older workers in the labor force has increased due to population aging and pension reforms in many countries. However, rules of the public and private pension schemes and restrictions from the employers still require large populations of older workers with possibly heteregeneous work preferences to retire fully at a given age. We study the preferences of older people for a rich set of retirement trajectories charactersized by early or delayed full retirement as well as partial retirement at various ages in the Netherlands and the United States. Two in five prefer partial retirement over early or delayed abrupt full retirement. This suggests that partial retirement can substantially increase the utility derived from work in old age. Furthermore, we study the effects of the pension incentives and increasing retirement age on the preferences to delay retirement fully or partially as means of reducing public expenditure. Individuals want to use partial retirement to extend their work lives if deferring pension rights are made actuarially attractive or if pension accruals are made less generous. On the other hand, as the retirement age increases, individuals want to retire early or work part-time instead of full-time. The comparison of the results between the Netherlands and the United States shows that while people in the Netherlands are responsive to a substitution effect of higher pensions, people in the United States are responsive to an income effect of higher pensions.
Designing Bureaucratic Responsiveness: Administrative Procedures and Agency Choice in State Environmental Policy

Elected politicians can manage government agencies using administrative procedures that either enhance agencies' political responsiveness or their autonomy. Rational politicians will delegate autonomy when the benefits of agency decision-making are high, such as when the policy problem is technically complex. This article tests this hypothesis by investigating how state politicians design the institutional features of state clean air agencies and how these agencies perform under different administrative procedure regimes. I find that when a state's air pollution problem is complex, politicians eschew administrative procedures that enhance political control, and these agencies respond by choosing policies from a broader range of options.
Remaining Useful Life Prediction Based on a General Expression of Stochastic Process Models

In remaining useful life (RUL) prediction, stochastic process models are widely used to describe the degradation processes of systems. For age-dependent stochastic process models, the RUL probability density function (PDF) can be calculated using a closed-form solution. For state-dependent models, however, it is difficult to calculate such a closed-form solution. Therefore, the RUL is always approximately estimated using a sequential Monte Carlo-based method, but this method has some limitations. First, it only provides a numerical approximation result whose accuracy highly relies on the quality and quantity of the simulated degradation trajectories. Second, the time interval is unable to be adjusted during the state transition process, resulting in too few discrete probability densities in the result near the end-of-life. This paper describes the degradation processes using a general expression of age- and state-dependent models. The analytical solution of the RUL PDF is derived from the general expression. After that, a new RUL prediction method is proposed. In this method, a series of degradation trajectories are generated through degradation process simulation. The RUL PDF is estimated by inputting the state values of the degradation trajectories into the analytical solution. The validity of the proposed method is verified using fatigue-crack-growth data.