Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Employment characteristics and job loss in patients awaiting surgery on the hip or knee

Aims: To investigate the factors, including size of organisation, associated with job loss in patients awaiting surgery to the hip or knee joint. Methods: A questionnaire was mailed to 498 consecutive patients of working age listed at a district general hospital for major joint replacement, knee arthroscopy, or periacetabular osteotomy. Questions were asked about level of physical disability, duration of symptoms, employment circumstances at the time the joint problem began, and job changes since the onset of symptoms with their reasons. Analysis focused on those in work when their health problem began. Cox regression was used to examine risk factors for job loss related and unrelated to the joint problem, and results were summarised as adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results: Responses came from 370 (74%) of those mailed, including 278 who were in work when their joint problem began. Of these, 82 (30%) had left their original job mainly or partly because of their joint disorder. Such job loss was more common in those employed in small businesses (HR for <10 v ⩾10 employees: 1.9, 95% CI 1.2–3.0) and those whose work involved standing for >2 hours per day (HR 2.7, 95% CI 1.2–6.1) No similar associations were found when jobs were left for other reasons. After adjustment for non-sedentary work the association with small business employment remained but was weaker (HR 1.5, 95% CI 0.9–2.5). Modifications to work and access to occupational health advice were not associated with better job retention. Conclusions: In subjects with disabling hip or knee disease, job retention is poorer in those from small companies—a matter of concern given the rising prevalence of serious joint disease in the British workforce and the tendency of businesses to downsize and subcontract services to smaller enterprises.
The Automatic Synthesis of Linear Ranking Functions: The Complete Unabridged Version

The classical technique for proving termination of a generic sequential computer program involves the synthesis of a ranking function for each loop of the program. Linear ranking functions are particularly interesting because many terminating loops admit one and algorithms exist to automatically synthesize it. In this paper we present two such algorithms: one based on work dated 1991 by Sohn and Van Gelder; the other, due to Podelski and Rybalchenko, dated 2004. Remarkably, while the two algorithms will synthesize a linear ranking function under exactly the same set of conditions, the former is mostly unknown to the community of termination analysis and its general applicability has never been put forward before the present paper. In this paper we thoroughly justify both algorithms, we prove their correctness, we compare their worst-case complexity and experimentally evaluate their eciency, and we present an open-source implementation of them that will make it very easy to include termination-analysis capabilities in automatic program veriers.
Ambient air pollution triggers wheezing symptoms in infants

Background: There is limited evidence for the role of air pollution in the development and triggering of wheezing symptoms in young children. A study was undertaken to examine the effect of exposure to air pollution on wheezing symptoms in children under the age of 3 years with genetic susceptibility to asthma. Methods: Daily recordings of symptoms were obtained for 205 children participating in the birth cohort study Copenhagen Prospective Study on Asthma in Children and living in Copenhagen for the first 3 years of life. Daily air pollution levels for particulate matter <10 μm in diameter (PM10) and the concentrations of ultrafine particles, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO) were available from a central background monitoring station in Copenhagen. The association between incident wheezing symptoms and air pollution on the concurrent and previous 4 days was estimated by a logistic regression model (generalised estimating equation) controlling for temperature, season, gender, age, exposure to smoking and paternal history of asthma. Results: Significant positive associations were found between concentrations of PM10, NO2, NOx, CO and wheezing symptoms in infants (aged 0–1 year) with a delay of 3–4 days. Only the traffic-related gases (NO2, NOx) showed significant effects throughout the 3 years of life, albeit attenuating after the age of 1 year. Conclusions: Air pollution related to traffic is significantly associated with triggering of wheezing symptoms in the first 3 years of life.
A Review of “Sex Differences: Summarizing More Than a Century of Scientific Research”

I long for bygone days. I have a romantic attachment to the epic struggle between Charles Scribner and Sons’ Maxwell Perkins and one of his young discoveries, Thomas Wolfe. While Wolfe churned out pages, Perkins cut and edited to keep the novels under control. Most scholars believe that Wolfe’s literary greatness owed a great deal to Perkins’ relentless work. In Perkin’s time, the job of a publishing house was to ensure intellectual heft. As I read Sex Differences: Summarizing More Than a Century of Scientific Research, I yearned for this era. How could a major academic psychology press have published this book, which, while it has considerable physical heft (weighing in at 5.5 pounds, without the roughly 18,000 references that are included on a separate CD) is discouragingly lacking in critical analysis? Let us start with the title. What do the authors mean by the word scientific? They chose to include all studies on sex differences (during the last 1+ centuries) published in a journal or book. A study with 10 subjects (done unblinded) received equal weight with one with a sample size of 100 done with a double blind design. The authors argue that being completely unselective minimizes citation bias in the literature (p. XI of the preface). But if, by citation bias, one means a critical evaluation of previous work in order to hold it to high scientific standards, then this is precisely what one wants to do. Rather than including every study ever done literature reviews should choose the best studies, the work which can provide a foundation for building new knowledge. Poorly done studies ought to languish. Of course, scientists will disagree about the worth of a particular study, but through such disagreements scientific standards evolve, and hopefully improve. The field standard to evaluate a series of studies is a meta-analysis, a statistic that allows one to combine results from several studies, even inconclusive ones, to see if their combined weight makes it statistically likely that a conclusion (in this case) about sex differences can be drawn. Janet Hyde’s work, for example, has led her to propose a sex similarities hypothesis (Hyde, 2005). Rather than use a state of the art approach, the authors
Electromagnetic scattering by periodic of circular cylinders with a defect

The two-dimensional scattering of electromagnetic wave by a periodic array of circular cylinders with a defect is investigated using the recursive transition-matrix (T-matrix) algorithm. The T-matrices for periodic cylinder array with a defect are calculated from a general form of T-matrices of periodic cylinder array without defect for cylindrical wave incidence and Graf's addition theorem.
A Simulation Model to Predict the Impact of Prophylactic Surgery and Screening on the Life Expectancy of BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation Carriers

Background: Women with inherited mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 (BRCA1/2) genes are recommended to undergo a number of intensive cancer risk-reducing strategies, including prophylactic mastectomy, prophylactic oophorectomy, and screening. We estimate the impact of different risk-reducing options at various ages on life expectancy. Methods: We apply our previously developed Monte Carlo simulation model of screening and prophylactic surgery in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. Here, we present the mathematical formulation to compute age-specific breast cancer incidence in the absence of prophylactic oophorectomy, which is an input to the simulation model, and provide sensitivity analysis on related model parameters. Results: The greatest gains in life expectancy result from conducting prophylactic mastectomy and prophylactic oophorectomy immediately after BRCA1/2 mutation testing; these gains vary with age at testing, from 6.8 to 10.3 years for BRCA1 and 3.4 to 4.4 years for BRCA2 mutation carriers. Life expectancy gains from delaying prophylactic surgery by 5 to 10 years range from 1 to 9.9 years for BRCA1 and 0.5 to 4.2 years for BRCA2 mutation carriers. Adding annual breast screening provides gains of 2.0 to 9.9 years for BRCA1 and 1.5 to 4.3 years for BRCA2. Results were most sensitive to variations in our assumptions about the magnitude and duration of breast cancer risk reduction due to prophylactic oophorectomy. Conclusions: Life expectancy gains depend on the type of BRCA mutation and age at interventions. Sensitivity analysis identifies the degree of breast cancer risk reduction due to prophylactic oophorectomy as a key determinant of life expectancy gain. Impact: Further study of the impact of prophylactic oophorectomy on breast cancer risk in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers is warranted. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 21(7); 1066–77. ©2012 AACR.
Phosphatidylserine-selective targeting and anticancer effects of SapC-DOPS nanovesicles on brain tumors

Brain tumors, either primary (e.g., glioblastoma multiforme) or secondary (metastatic), remain among the most intractable and fatal of all cancers. We have shown that nanovesicles consisting of Saposin C (SapC) and dioleylphosphatidylserine (DOPS) are able to effectively target and kill cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. These actions are a consequence of the affinity of SapC-DOPS for phosphatidylserine, an acidic phospholipid abundantly present in the outer membrane of a variety of tumor cells and tumor-associated vasculature. In this study, we first characterize SapC-DOPS bioavailability and antitumor effects on human glioblastoma xenografts, and confirm SapC-DOPS specificity towards phosphatidylserine by showing that glioblastoma targeting is abrogated after in vivo exposure to lactadherin, which binds phosphatidylserine with high affinity. Second, we demonstrate that SapC-DOPS selectively targets brain metastases-forming cancer cells both in vitro, in co-cultures with human astrocytes, and in vivo, in mouse models of brain metastases derived from human breast or lung cancer cells. Third, we demonstrate that SapC-DOPS nanovesicles have cytotoxic activity against metastatic breast cancer cells in vitro, and prolong the survival of mice harboring brain metastases. Taken together, these results support the potential of SapC-DOPS for the diagnosis and therapy of primary and metastatic brain tumors.
Using Guided Notes with Academically At-Risk High School Students during a Remedial Summer Social Studies Class.

This study evaluated the effects guided notes on the performance of academically at-risk high school students during a remedial summer American History class. The study compared students' own notetaking strategies with that of short- and long-form guided notes. Three students were selected for data collection due to their low baseline notetaking accuracy and quiz scores and a history of severe learning problems: One was enrolled in special education programs for developmental disabilities and the other two were enrolled in English as a Second Language programs (ESL). A modified ABAB reversal design with an imbedded alternating treatments design during intervention (A. E. Kazdin, 1982) was used to compare the effects of students' notetaking accuracy and daily quiz scores while taking their own notes with the effects of responding under the short- and long-form guided notes. The results indicated that both guided notes procedures were successful at increasing the accuracy of students' notes, improving session quiz scores, and were overwhelmingly preferred when compared with students taking their own notes. Differences were the number of concepts written correctly. Practical considerations and implications for adoption in the classroom were discussed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Dust emissivity in the far-infrared

We have derived the dust emissivity in the Far- Infrared (FIR) using data available in the literature. We use two wavelength dependences derived from spectra of Galac- tic FIR emission (Reach et al. 1995). A value for the emissivity, normalised to the extinction efficiency in the V band, has been retrieved from maps of Galactic FIR emission, dust temperature and extinction (Schlegel et al. 1998). Our results are similar to other measurements in the Galaxy but only marginally consistent with the widely quoted values of Hildebrand (1983) derived on one reflection nebula. The dis- crepancy with measurements on other reflection nebulae (Casey 1991) is higher and suggests a different grain composition in these environments with respect to the diffuse interstellar medium. We measure dust masses for a sample of six spiral galaxies with FIR observations and obtain gas-to-dust ratios close to the Galactic value.
Policy effects of secondhand smoke exposure in public places in the Republic of Korea: evidence from PM2.5 levels and air nicotine concentrations.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure inside selected public places to provide basic data for the development and promotion of smoke-free policies. METHODS Between March and May 2009, an SHS exposure survey was conducted. PM2.5 levels and air nicotine concentrations were measured in hospitals (n=5), government buildings (4), restaurants (10) and entertainment venues (10) in Seoul, Republic of Korea, using a common protocol. Field researchers completed an observational questionnaire to document evidence of active smoking (the smell of cigarette smoke, presence of cigarette butts and witnessing people smoking) and administered a questionnaire regarding building characteristics and smoking policy. RESULTS Indoor PM2.5 levels and air nicotine concentrations were relatively higher in monitoring sites where smoking is not prohibited by law. Entertainment venues had the highest values of PM2.5(μg/m3) and air nicotine concentration(μg/m3), which were 7.6 and 67.9 fold higher than those of hospitals, respectively, where the values were the lowest. When evidence of active smoking was present, the mean PM2.5 level was 104.9 μg/m3, i.e., more than 4-fold the level determined by the World Health Organization for 24-hr exposure (25 μg/m3). Mean indoor air nicotine concentration at monitoring sites with evidence of active smoking was 59-fold higher than at sites without this evidence (2.94 μg/m3 vs. 0.05 μg/m3). The results were similar at all specific monitoring sites except restaurants, where mean indoor PM2.5 levels did not differ at sites with and without active smoking evidence and indoor air nicotine concentrations were higher in sites without evidence of smoking. CONCLUSION Nicotine was detected in most of our monitoring sites, including those where smoking is prohibited by law, such as hospitals, demonstrating that enforcement and compliance with current smoke-free policies in Korea is not adequate to protect against SHS exposure.
POST-FIRE VEGETATION MONITORING USING HYPERSPECTRAL AHS-INTA IMAGES IN GUADALAJARA ( SPAIN )

INTA IMAGES IN GUADALAJARA (SPAIN) F. González-Alonso, M. Huesca, S. Merino de Miguel, S. Martínez & J.M. Cuevas Remote Sensing Laboratory, CIFOR – INIA, Ctra. A Coruña, km 7.5 Madrid 28040 Spain ETSI Montes, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n Madrid 28040 Spain EUIT Forestal, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n Madrid 28040 Spain Consejería de Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Rural, Junta de Castilla-La Mancha Toledo Spain
Effects of repeated collaborative retrieval on individual memory vary as a function of recall versus recognition tasks

Our research examines how prior group collaboration modulates later individual memory. We recently showed that repeated collaborative recall sessions benefit later individual recall more than a single collaborative recall session (Blumen & Rajaram, 2008). Current research compared the effects of repeated collaborative recall and repeated collaborative recognition on later individual recall and later individual recognition. A total of 192 participants studied a list of nouns and then completed three successive retrieval sessions in one of four conditions. While two collaborative recall sessions and two collaborative recognition sessions generated comparable levels of individual recall (CRecall-CRecall-I Recall ∼ CRecognition-CRecognition-I Recall , Experiment 1a), two collaborative recognition sessions generated greater levels of individual recognition than two collaborative recall sessions (CRecognition-CRecognition- IRecognition > CRecall-CRecall- I Recognition , Experiment 1b). These findings are discussed in terms of two opposing mechanisms that operate during collaborative retrieval—re-exposure and retrieval disruption—and in terms of transfer-appropriate processing across collaborative and individual retrieval sessions.
Methodological and social concerns in the study of children's language-learning environments: a reply to Pine

The point of the paper that Pine’s comments address was a methodological one that the absolute frequency with which mothers produce different utterance types ought to be considered along with the typically-used measures of the proportional frequency of different utterance types when maternal speech is studied. In the paper, I illustrated how different the resultant descriptions of maternal speech can be depending on which type of measure is used by calculating both and comparing the outcomes. For this illustration I used speech samples that I had previously collected in a study of mother-child interaction in two social classes (Hoff-Ginsberg 1991). Pine’s comments address both the methodological point that I made and the particular data with which I illustrated it. I will respond to his comments on the methodological point first and on my data second. With respect to the methodological argument, Pine seems to accept my assertion that mothers vary in how much they talk to their children and that such variation might influence maternal speech, but he nonetheless has doubts about the wisdom of including measures of the total amount of speech mothers produce or the total frequency of particular kinds of utterances in maternal speech in studies of the relation between maternal speech and children’s language development. His doubts stem from three
Determining Causation from Observational Studies: A Challenge for Modern Neuroepidemiology

While epidemiology is the study of frequencies, trends, and determinants of disease in specified populations, the overriding aim of epidemiology is to apply such knowledge to prevention. Both primary and secondary prevention benefit from a detailed understanding of risk factors that can be uncovered through careful epidemiological research. Clearly some factors associated with outcomes in cross-sectional studies may be risk factors, but also may not, and indeed may not be in longitudinal studies. While risk factors are causal, some are modifiable and some not. But some risk factors that we have long regarded as fixed and not modifiable, such as genetics, have more recently, in the exploding science of epigenetics, been shown to be more or less expressed through different lifestyles. Ornish et al. has shown for example that intensive lifestyle changes favorably modulate gene expression in prostate cancer (1) and, with Nobel laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, that such environmental factors can reverse what was thought to be an inevitable decline in telomere length associated with aging and disease (2).
Opportunity Evaluation under Risky Conditions: The Cognitive Processes of Entrepreneurs

Even though the entrepreneurship literature places much emphasis on opportunity recognition, little is known about how entrepreneurs actually evaluate opportunities. This study uses a cognitive approach to examine opportunity evaluation, as the perception of opportunity is essentially a cognitive phenomenon. We present a model that consists of four independent variables (overconfidence, belief in the law of small numbers, planning fallacy, and illusion of control), a mediating variable (risk perception), two control variables (demographics and risk propensity), and the dependent variable (opportunity evaluation). We find that illusion of control and belief in the law of small numbers are related to how entrepreneurs evaluate opportunities. Our results also indicate that risk perception mediates opportunity evaluation.
Metaphors—Messengers of Meaning

Based on the idea that the central link between science and society is one established by a diffusion of knowledge, the authors present an outline of what might be called an evolutionary sociology of knowledge. The proposal is first to make use of the concept of metaphor whose characteristic features are well known within the literary realm. By introducing an unfamiliar analogy into a new context, both the metaphorical concept and the context challenge eventually may change each other. The authors claim that knowledge transfers, in general, might be analyzed in a similar fashion. Second, such a metaphor analysis of units of knowledge should be combined with discourse analysis as well as central concepts of evolutionary theory to uncover the institutionalized mechanisms by which certain bodies of knowledge become processed selectively.
A Dynamic Capability-Based Framework for Business Process Management: Theorizing and Empirical Application

Both incremental and radical business process change are undoubtedly core tasks of Business Process Management (BPM) and, thus, organizational design. The competence to successfully pursue such BPM initiatives represents an important capability which is needed by organizations exposed to a dynamic business environment. While the term BPM is omnipresent, research still lacks both a clear understanding and a theoretical framework in order to explain what constitutes BPM capability. To address this research gap, we apply Dynamic Capability Theory as a helpful means to conceptualize BPM. We further build a detailed framework of sub-capabilities we identify to be relevant for BPM based on existing literature. Finally, we demonstrate the applicability of our novel framework in a single case study in the telecommunications industry. Results suggest that organizations need to sense needs and opportunities for process change, seize the change options, and transform the organization accordingly.
The Road to Maternal Death In Rural Southwest Ethiopia

The study explored cultural beliefs and practices contributing to maternal deaths together with maternal deaths reviews as testimonial. Six maternal deaths were retrospectively observed in rural southwest Ethiopia. Four of the 6 deaths occurred due to direct obstetric causes. Substandard primary and referral care, not understanding the severity of the problem, and lack of transport were the major themes identified as contributing factors. The result highlighted the need to improving primary health care, to strengthen referral system and community education.
A TDD/FDD SAW-less superheterodyne receiver with blocker-resilient band-pass filter and multi-stage HR in 28nm CMOS

A SAW-less discrete-time superheterodyne receiver (RX) with multi-stage harmonic rejection in 28nm CMOS, featuring highly linear LNTA, employs a novel blocker-resilient octal charge-sharing band-pass filter to achieve low power consumption. The RX features NF of 2.1 to 2.6 dB, and IIP3 of 8 to 14 dBm, while drawing only 24 to 37 mW in different operating modes.