Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parental stress in the NICU: the influence of personality, psychological, pregnancy and family factors

Background The birth of an infant requiring admission to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) can represent a considerable source of stress for some parents. Currently, little is known about the factors associated with parental stress response to the NICU, especially for fathers. The objective of this study is to compare sources of NICU stress for mothers and fathers and explore variables associated with NICU stress. Method One hundred and seventy-two randomly selected couples with an infant admitted to the NICU were administered a structured clinical interview and completed self-report measures, including the Parental Stress Scale (PSS). Results Mothers had the highest overall stress. The altered parental role was the highest source of stress for both parents. Key general predictors of parental stress were dysfunctional personality traits and high anxiety. For mothers, high stress was associated with lower income, de facto relationship, abnormal pregnancy scan and no previous NICU experience. For fathers, high stress was associated with transfer of the pregnant mother due to complications and early experience of paternal over control. Conclusion Identification of factors that contribute to parent stress can enable health professionals to facilitate parent adaptation and coping, thereby promoting optimal parent–infant relationships and subsequent infant development. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Agricultural practices altered soybean seed protein, oil, fatty acids, sugars, and minerals in the Midsouth USA

Information on the effects of management practices on soybean seed composition is scarce. Therefore, the objective of this research was to investigate the effects of planting date (PD) and seeding rate (SR) on seed composition (protein, oil, fatty acids, and sugars) and seed minerals (B, P, and Fe) in soybean grown in two row-types (RTs) on the Mississippi Delta region of the Midsouth USA. Two field experiments were conducted in 2009 and 2010 on Sharkey clay and Beulah fine sandy loam soil at Stoneville, MS, USA, under irrigated conditions. Soybean were grown in 102 cm single-rows and 25 cm twin-rows in 102 cm centers at SRs of 20, 30, 40, and 50 seeds m-2. The results showed that in May and June planting, protein, glucose, P, and B concentrations increased with increased SR, but at the highest SRs (40 and 50 seeds m-2), the concentrations remained constant or declined. Palmitic, stearic, and linoleic acid concentrations were the least responsive to SR increases. Early planting resulted in higher oil, oleic acid, sucrose, B, and P on both single and twin-rows. Late planting resulted in higher protein and linolenic acid, but lower oleic acid and oil concentrations. The changes in seed constituents could be due to changes in environmental factors (drought and temperature), and nutrient accumulation in seeds and leaves. The increase of stachyose sugar in 2010 may be due to a drier year and high temperature in 2010 compared to 2009; suggesting the possible role of stachyose as an environmental stress compound. Our research demonstrated that PD, SR, and RT altered some seed constituents, but the level of alteration in each year dependent on environmental factors such as drought and temperature. This information benefits growers and breeders for considering agronomic practices to select for soybean seed nutritional qualities under drought and high heat conditions.
Unsupervised Object Class Recognition based on “ Scale-invariant ” Salient Features and an Extension to Face Detection

1. Firstly, an entropy based feature detector is used to select regions of interest in the image. Once the regions of interest are obtained (which are of varying scales ‘scale’ being the radius of the circular region of interest), each circular feature is mapped to a square of size 11 by 11. Thus, the feature-extractor ends up with 121-dimensional features. The goal is to build proper probabilistic models using the generated features.
The Contribution of Executive Functions to Emergent Mathematic Skills in Preschool Children

Mathematical ability is related to both activation of the prefrontal cortex in neuroimaging studies of adults and to executive functions in school-age children. The purpose of this study was to determine whether executive functions were related to emergent mathematical proficiency in preschool children. Preschool children (N = 96) were administered an executive function battery that was reduced empirically to working memory (WM), inhibitory control (IC), and shifting abilities by calculating composite scores derived from principal component analysis. Both WM and IC predicted early arithmetic competency, with the observed relations robust after controlling statistically for child age, maternal education, and child vocabulary. Only IC accounted for unique variance in mathematical skills, after the contribution of other executive functions were controlled statistically as well. Specific executive functions are related to emergent mathematical proficiency in this age range. Longitudinal studies using structural equation modeling are necessary to better characterize these ontogenetic relations.
Between-subject variability of muscle synergies during a complex motor skill

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether subjects who have learned a complex motor skill exhibit similar neuromuscular control strategies. We studied a population of experienced gymnasts during backward giant swings on the high bar. This cyclic movement is interesting because it requires learning, as untrained subjects are unable to perform this task. Nine gymnasts were tested. Both kinematics and electromyographic (EMG) patterns of 12 upper-limb and trunk muscles were recorded. Muscle synergies were extracted by non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), providing two components: muscle synergy vectors and synergy activation coefficients. First, the coefficient of correlation (r) and circular cross-correlation (rmax) were calculated to assess similarities in the mechanical patterns, EMG patterns, and muscle synergies between gymnasts. We performed a further analysis to verify that the muscle synergies (in terms of muscle synergy vectors or synergy activation coefficients) extracted for one gymnast accounted for the EMG patterns of the other gymnasts. Three muscle synergies explained 89.9 ± 2.0% of the variance accounted for (VAF). The coefficients of correlation of the muscle synergy vectors among the participants were 0.83 ± 0.08, 0.86 ± 0.09, and 0.66 ± 0.28 for synergy #1, #2, and #3, respectively. By keeping the muscle synergy vectors constant, we obtained an averaged VAF across all pairwise comparisons of 79 ± 4%. For the synergy activation coefficients, rmax-values were 0.96 ± 0.03, 0.92 ± 0.03, and 0.95 ± 0.03, for synergy #1, #2, and #3, respectively. By keeping the synergy activation coefficients constant, we obtained an averaged VAF across all pairwise comparisons of 72 ± 5%. Although variability was found (especially for synergy #3), the gymnasts exhibited gross similar neuromuscular strategies when performing backward giant swings. This confirms that the muscle synergies are consistent across participants, even during a skilled motor task that requires learning.
The Demise of Okun's Law and of Procyclical Fluctuations in Conventional and Unconventional Measures of Productivity

and other participants for helpful comments at presentations of earlier versions of this paper at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and at the Atlanta AEA meetings. Thanks also go to Bob Hall for flagging the existence of a BLS series on aggregate labor hours based on the household survey. A drastically shortened summary of an earlier version of this paper appeared under the title " Okun's Law and Productivity Innovations, " American Economic Review Papers and ABSTRACT The point of departure is Okun's Law, a rough prediction that a cyclical deviation of output from trend would be divided between a 2/3 response of aggregate hours and a 1/3 response of productivity. The main conclusion of the paper is that the procyclical productivity response of Okun's Law is obsolete in U. S. data since the mid‐1980s. These results cast doubt not only on Okun's original law, but on the convention in modern macro theory of assuming that unexplained procyclical productivity shocks drive part or all of business cycle fluctuations. A definitional identity links output, productivity, aggregate hours, and the employment rate. The paper decomposes data on the components of the output identity into trends and deviations from trends, or " gaps ". Its regression analysis reveals regular features of postwar business cycles, including lags of hours and employment behind output and leads of productivity changes ahead of output changes. Productivity grows slowest in the later stages of the business cycle expansion and most rapidly in the early phase of the business cycle recovery. The paper proposes a joint explanation, the " disposable worker hypothesis, " of increased cyclical labor‐market responsiveness and increased inequality of the income distribution. A set of factors has gradually over the past three decades boosted managerial power and reduced the bargaining power of workers. These factors include the shift of executive compensation towards stock options which has led to increased emphasis on maximizing shareholder value. Worker power has been diminished by a lower real minimum wage, the declining importance of labor unions, increased imports, and increased low‐skill immigration. Increased responsiveness of hours may also reflect incentives to push employees into forced part‐time work, as well as the role of the internet in making the labor market more flexible. A novelty in this paper is the recognition that alternative measures are available for the output numerator and the hours denominator of productivity. An " unconventional " …
The Adolescence of Institutional Theory.

Early versions of this paper were presented at the "Conference on Institutional Change," held at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, CA, May 15-16, 1987; and at a conference, "Critical Perspectives on Organizational Theories," sponsored by the International Sociological Association and held at the Conference Center De Narwal, Wassenaar, The Netherlands, July 19-21, 1987. Thanks are due to the conference organizers: Paul J. DiMaggio and Walter W. Powell, Stanford Conference; and to Marshall W. Meyer and Ad Teulings, Wassenaar Conference. I also wish to acknowledge the helpful comments received on earlier versions of this paper from Ronald L. Jepperson, John W. Meyer, and Walter W. Powell.
The Motivations to Volunteer

Why do significant numbers of people engage in the unpaid helping activities known as volunteerism? Drawing on functional theorizing about the reasons, purposes, and motivations underlying human behavior, we have identified six personal and social functions potentially served by volunteering. In addition to developing an inventory to assess these motivational functions, our program of research has explored the role of motivation in the processes of volunteerism, especially decisions about becoming a volunteer in the first place and decisions about continuing to volunteer.
Strategic Change in Terrorist Movements: Lessons from Hamas

Existing literature is weak in explaining strategic change among terrorist movements, especially regarding the question of why these organizations often switch between contesting the external enemy, usually the government or the occupying power, and the internal arena in which they compete against fellow rebel groups. A rebel force facing diminishing returns from a formerly successful tactic with no equally effective tactical substitute in sight is likely to switch from conflict against a government to achieve dominance in the rebel camp. The terrorist movement will switch from the external to the internal arena even if such substitution compromises the overall goals of the rebel camp. The following article explores these dynamics in Hamas's strategy in the latest round of conflict between the movement and Israel.
Health Dynamics and the Evolution of Health Inequality over the Life Course: The Importance of Neighborhood and Family Background

Abstract This paper investigates the extent and ways in which childhood family and neighborhood quality influence later-life health outcomes. The study analyzes the health trajectories of children born between 1950 and 1970 followed through 2005. Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) spanning four decades are linked with information on neighborhood attributes and school quality resources that prevailed at the time these children were growing up.There are several key findings. First, estimates of sibling and child neighbor correlations in health are used to bound the proportion of inequality in health status in childhood through mid-life that are attributable to childhood family and neighborhood quality. Estimates based on four-level hierarchical random effects models (neighborhoods, families, individuals, over time) consistently show a significant scope for both childhood family and neighborhood background (including school quality). The results imply substantial persistence in health status across generations that are linked in part to low intergenerational economic mobility. Sibling correlations are large throughout at least the first 50 years of life: roughly three-fifths of adult health disparities may be attributable to family and neighborhood background. Childhood neighbor correlations in adult health are also substantial (net of the similarity arising from similar family characteristics), suggesting that disparities in neighborhood background account for more than one-third of the variation in health status in mid life.Second, exposure to concentrated neighborhood poverty during childhood has significant deleterious impacts on adult health. The results reveal that even a large amount of selection on unobservable factors does not eliminate the significant effect of child neighborhood poverty on health status later in life. Thus, racial differences in adult health can be accounted for by childhood family, neighborhood, and school quality factors, while contemporaneous economic factors account for relatively little of this gap.
Attachment and the leader—follower relationship

Leader—follower relationships have been thought to involve attachment dynamics, in particular when these relationships have an affective component. In this paper, I consider why and under what circumstances followers form attachment relationships with a leader and how both a follower’s and a leader’s attachment representations can affect the quality and characteristics of their relationship. Results from several studies, focused on different contexts and cultures, indicate that secure individuals tend to be nominated as leaders, and that leaders’ attachment security is associated with pro-social and follower-empowering leadership styles, leadership effectiveness, and positive outcomes for followers. I suggest promising directions for future research (e.g., the study of attachment to political or destructive leaders) and emphasize the importance of contextual moderators (military vs. commercial organizations) and leaders’ “caregiving” behavior.
The Effects of Line Dance Program on Muscle Strength, Balance, Flexibility, Pain, and Mood State in Post-menopausal Women*

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of line dance program on muscle strength, balance, flexibility, pain, and mood state in post-menopausal women. Methods: A quasi-experimental research design (one group pretest-posttest) was employed. A total of 13 post-menopausal women completed 12-week line dance program(60min/day, 2days/wk) in S city. Descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon signed rank test were used in the data analysis by SPSS 18.0. Results: Muscle strength and balance were higher, and pain level were lower than before the line dance program. However, flexibility and mood state were not significantly changed after the line dance program. Conclusion: Findings of this study indicated that the 12-week line dance program were effective on muscle strength, balance, and pain relief in the post-menopausal women. Future study is needed to explore the effect of the line dance program on flexibility and mood state with the post-menopausal women.
Enteric Protozoa in the Developed World: a Public Health Perspective

SUMMARY Several enteric protozoa cause severe morbidity and mortality in both humans and animals worldwide. In developed settings, enteric protozoa are often ignored as a cause of diarrheal illness due to better hygiene conditions, and as such, very little effort is used toward laboratory diagnosis. Although these protozoa contribute to the high burden of infectious diseases, estimates of their true prevalence are sometimes affected by the lack of sensitive diagnostic techniques to detect them in clinical and environmental specimens. Despite recent advances in the epidemiology, molecular biology, and treatment of protozoan illnesses, gaps in knowledge still exist, requiring further research. There is evidence that climate-related changes will contribute to their burden due to displacement of ecosystems and human and animal populations, increases in atmospheric temperature, flooding and other environmental conditions suitable for transmission, and the need for the reuse of alternative water sources to meet growing population needs. This review discusses the common enteric protozoa from a public health perspective, highlighting their epidemiology, modes of transmission, prevention, and control. It also discusses the potential impact of climate changes on their epidemiology and the issues surrounding waterborne transmission and suggests a multidisciplinary approach to their prevention and control.
Spatial Data and Metadata Integration for SDI Interoperability

Spatial data users need to know about the availability and usability of the data. Therefore, metadata are important. The meaning of metadata grows in the context of interoperability in networked geo-information systems. In order to integrate heterogeneous spatial data, it is necessary to label the latter with metadata. The concept of enhancing spatial data so that they contain their own metadata would diminish the work of updating two separate data sets and thus obtain a better data quality and less redundancy between metadata and spatial data. In order to be able to integrate different data sets the formal descriptions of the different data schemas (data models) for every data source must exist and be used to map the different metadata and spatial data models to each other. This concept was tested on three different examples from different information communities and modelled in different Modelling languages. General rules for spatial data-metadata integration were created based on the case study experiences for object-oriented modelling languages and relational modelling languages. Furthermore, a tool was developed, which assists modellers who plan common spatial data and metadata sets from the beginning and the general rules were implemented to assist a modeller. Thus, the concept of integrating spatial data and metadata proved to be feasible and further developments for supporting tools are planned.
Impaired Thermosensation in Mice Lacking TRPV3, a Heat and Camphor Sensor in the Skin

Environmental temperature is thought to be directly sensed by neurons through their projections in the skin. A subset of the mammalian transient receptor potential (TRP) family of ion channels has been implicated in this process. These “thermoTRPs” are activated at distinct temperature thresholds and are typically expressed in sensory neurons. TRPV3 is activated by heat (>33°C) and, unlike most thermoTRPs, is expressed in mouse keratinocytes. We found that TRPV3 null mice have strong deficits in responses to innocuous and noxious heat but not in other sensory modalities; hence, TRPV3 has a specific role in thermosensation. The natural compound camphor, which modulates sensations of warmth in humans, proved to be a specific activator of TRPV3. Camphor activated cultured primary keratinocytes but not sensory neurons, and this activity was abolished in TRPV3 null mice. Therefore, heat-activated receptors in keratinocytes are important for mammalian thermosensation.
Vibrotactile activation of the auditory cortices in deaf versus hearing adults

Neuroplastic changes in auditory cortex as a result of lifelong perceptual experience were investigated. Adults with early-onset deafness and long-term hearing aid experience were hypothesized to have undergone auditory cortex plasticity due to somatosensory stimulation. Vibrations were presented on the hand of deaf and normal-hearing participants during functional MRI. Vibration stimuli were derived from speech or were a fixed frequency. Higher, more widespread activity was observed within auditory cortical regions of the deaf participants for both stimulus types. Life-long somatosensory stimulation due to hearing aid use could explain the greater activity observed with deaf participants.
Semantic Web Services as Agent Behaviors

We describe a technique for providing agent software with dynamically configured capabilities. These capabilities, described with DAML-S, can represent atomic or orchestrated Web Services. The DAML-S specification will be transformed into an executable program written in a composition language named Piccola. When executed, the composite service will be available as a semantically described behavior within a FIPA compliant agent.
A Parallel Motion Planner for Systems with Many Degrees of Freedom

During the several decades of research, a number of algorithms intended to solve practical motion planning problems have been presented. However, the intractability of the problem makes it difficult to design algorithms capable of solving hard problems, especially when the number of degrees-of-freedom is large. It is necessary to use all available means to extend the domain of practically solvable problem instances. This paper reports results for a parallel implementation of a motion planner based on two-level search algorithm. The planner can solve difficult problems with many degrees-of-freedom within practicable time limits. Furthermore, easier problems can be solved with unprecedented search resolution.
Diploma Options and Perceived Consequences for Students with Disabilities

In response to more than two decades of criticism that American students exit high school lacking the skills and knowledge necessary for a productive citizenry, states have implemented graduation policies intended to raise academic standards for all students. Such policies have included state and local district testing, development of exit examinations linked to a student's eligibility for a diploma, and a focus on improving student graduation rates. For states and local districts, the challenge of such policies has been how to best include students with disabilities within current and future accountability systems rather than establishing separate or alternative assessment practices. Although the political context surrounding graduation policies changes quickly, it is important to document policies and practices at points in time. In the study reported here, we replicated a 2002 survey about the status of state graduation policies and diploma options for youth with and without disabilities in 2006. State policies were also examined in relation to their intended benefits as well as possible unintended negative consequences. Recommendations for policies and practices are offered.