Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Policing Gender Through Housing and Employment Discrimination: Comparison of Discrimination Experiences of Transgender and Cisgender LGBQ Individuals

Objective: Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community experience higher rates of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts. However, little is known about how rates of discrimination differ among all members of the LGBTQ community. This article examines the prevalence of and factors associated with experiences of discrimination for cisgender LGBQ individuals and those who identify as transgender. Method: Rates of discrimination in housing and in employment were compared among 3,838 transgender and cisgender LGBQ individuals using self-reported data collected in online surveys. Results: Transgender individuals experience a higher frequency of discrimination related to housing and employment than cisgender participants. Factors associated with experiencing discrimination include gender identity; length of time being out, that is, openly disclosing their sexual orientation and/or gender identity; age; and race. Conclusions: Results suggest that social workers, educators, and other human service professionals be aware of and actively work against transphobic policies and actions that affect the quality of life for transgender individuals beyond the already increased discrimination risks faced by the LGBTQ community.
Limits of Friendship Networks in Predicting Epidemic Risk

The spread of an infection on a real-world social network is determined by the interplay of two processes: the dynamics of the network, whose structure changes over time according to the encounters between individuals, and the dynamics on the network, whose nodes can infect each other after an encounter. Physical encounter is the most common vehicle for the spread of infectious diseases, but detailed information about encounters is often unavailable because expensive, unpractical to collect or privacy sensitive. We asks whether the friendship ties between the individuals in a social network successfully predict who is at risk. Using a dataset from a popular online review service, we build a time-varying network that is a proxy of physical encounter between users and a static network based on reported friendship. Through computer simulations, we compare infection processes on the resulting networks and show that, whereas distance on the friendship network is correlated to epidemic risk, friendship provides a poor identification of the individuals at risk if the infection is driven by physical encounter. Such limit is not due to the randomness of the infection, but to the structural differences of the two networks. In contrast to the macroscopic similarity between processes spreading on different networks, the differences in local connectivity determined by the two definitions of edges result in striking differences between the dynamics at a microscopic level. Despite the limits highlighted, we show that periodical and relatively infrequent monitoring of the real infection on the encounter network allows to correct the predicted infection on the friendship network and to achieve satisfactory prediction accuracy. In addition, the friendship network contains valuable information to effectively contain epidemic outbreaks when a limited budget is available for immunization.
Visualization and Analysis of Second‐Order Tensors: Moving Beyond the Symmetric Positive‐Definite Case

Tensors provide a powerful language to describe physical phenomena. Consequently, they have a long tradition in physics and appear in various application areas, either as the final result of simulations or as intermediate product. Due to their complexity, tensors are hard to interpret. This motivates the development of well‐conceived visualization methods. As a sub‐branch of scientific visualization, tensor field visualization has been especially pushed forward by diffusion tensor imaging. In this review, we focus on second‐order tensors that are not diffusion tensors. Until now, these tensors, which might be neither positive‐definite nor symmetric, are under‐represented in visualization and existing visualization tools are often not appropriate for these tensors. Hence, we discuss the strengths and limitations of existing methods when dealing with such tensors as well as challenges introduced by them. The goal of this paper is to reveal the importance of the field and to encourage the development of new visualization methods for tensors from various application fields.
Pathogenesis of aortic dissection: elastic fiber abnormalities and aortic medial weakness.

Although aortic dissection was previously a disease with an extremely poor prognosis, recent advances in diagnostic imaging and therapeutic modalities may improve its prognosis.1, 2) However, much of its etiology and pathogenesis remains unknown. In addition, new pathological variants of aortic dissection, such as intramural hematoma (IMH) and penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer, and related diseases have been identified, raising a new problem. Against this background, this paper revisits the basic pathology of aortic dissection, and discusses the structural abnormalities of the aortic media and mechanism of aortic dissection, as extrapolated from them.
Pneumonia Due to Bordetella bronchiseptica in a Cystic Fibrosis Patient: 16S rRNA Sequencing for Diagnosis Confirmation

ABSTRACT Bordetella bronchiseptica was identified as an unusual etiologic agent of pulmonary recurrent exacerbations and pneumonia in a cystic fibrosis (CF) patient by utilizing a 16S rRNA molecular kit in our hospital's clinical laboratory. This method appears to be a useful approach for identifying new emerging CF pathogens when discrepancies exist between phenotypical tests.
The effect of Kinesio Taping on handgrip strength

[Purpose] The purpose of this research was to evaluate the change in muscle function induced by a Kinesio Tape application with no or moderate tension, to the dominant and non-dominant arms. [Subjects and Methods] This research was a quantitative study, in which 75 women participated. The subjects, aged 18–30 years, were divided into 3 groups, Kinesio, Kinesio without Tension, and Control, and they were assessed before the taping intervention and after 30 minutes, 24 hours, and 48 hours of taping. [Results] The Kinesio group subjects demonstrated an increase in handgrip strength after 30 minutes, 24 hours, and 48 hours of tape application compared to control. A statistically significant increase in strength was observed in the Kinesio group comparison to the Control after 24 hours and 48 hours for the right hand, and after 48 hours for the left hand. Improvement in the Kinesio group compared to the Kinesio without Tension was observed only after 24 hours of taping application, and only in the right hand. [Conclusion] The Kinesio Taping method augmented the handgrip strength of healthy women, and the increase in grip strength was maintained for 48 hours after its application; the dominant hand demonstrated the greatest strength values.
Alkali-activated slag cement and concrete: a review of properties and problems

This paper summarizes the advantageous and disadvantageous properties of alkali-activated slag cement and concrete by reviewing previously published work in English, Russian and Chinese. Practical problems and theoretical questions are discussed. Topics for future work in this field are suggested. The practical problems mentioned are quick setting, the possibility of alkali—aggregate reaction, and the occurrence of efflorescence, shrinkage, microcracks and strength variation. The theoretical questions discussed concerning alkaline activation include the roles of the alkaline anion and cation, the nature of the hydration products, microstructural development and the setting and hardening mechanisms.
On the reduction of concatenation artefacts in diphone synthesis

One well-known problem with diphone concatenation is the occurrence of audible discontinuities at diphone boundaries, which are most prominent in vowels and semi-vowels. Significant formant jumps at certain boundaries suggest that the problem is of a spectral nature. We have examined this hypothesis by correlating the results of a listening experiment with spectral distances measured across diphone boundaries. The aim is to find a spectral distance measure that best predicts when discontinuities are audible in order to find out how the diphone database can best be extended with context-sensitive diphones. The results show that the KullbackLeibler measure is the best predictor.
Ethyl glucuronide in hair compared with traditional alcohol biomarkers--a pilot study of heavy drinkers referred to an alcohol detoxification unit.

BACKGROUND Traditional biomarkers for heavy alcohol use include serum carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), the enzymes aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) as well as gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT). Measurement of the nonoxidative ethanol metabolite, ethyl glucuronide (EtG) in hair, has been proposed as a new marker with superior qualities. The aim of this study was to investigate the sensitivity of EtG in hair to detect heavy alcohol use compared with CDT, AST, ALT, and GGT. We also wanted to study the quantitative relation between alcohol intake and the different biomarkers. METHODS Sixteen patients with a history of heavy alcohol use over the previous 3 months were recruited directly after admission to a withdrawal clinic. They were thoroughly interviewed about their drinking pattern as well as relevant diseases and use of medicines or drugs. Serum was sampled and analyzed for %CDT, AST, ALT, and GGT. Hair samples were collected and analyzed for EtG. RESULTS The mean estimated daily intake (EDI) over the previous 3 months was 206 +/- 136 g pure alcohol. All patients fulfilled the criteria for heavy alcohol use. The sensitivity to detect heavy alcohol use was 64% for %CDT, 67% for AST, 67% for ALT, 93% for GGT, and 94% for EtG. There was no correlation between the quantitative values of EDI and %CDT, AST, ALT, and GGT. There was a positive, statistically significant correlation between EDI and the level of EtG in hair. CONCLUSIONS In this study, EtG in hair and GGT showed the best sensitivity to detect heavy alcohol use and there was a positive correlation between EDI and the concentrations of EtG in hair. Before giving recommendations for clinical practice, further studies should be carried out on larger materials and populations with a wider range of alcohol intake.
Portal triad clamping versus other methods of vascular control in liver resection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Portal triad clamping (PTC) is the most commonly used method of achieving vascular control during liver resection. However, the efficacy and safety of PTC, compared with those of other methods of vascular control, are uncertain. METHODS A systematic review was conducted to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing PTC with other methods of vascular control during liver resection. Endpoints included in-hospital mortality, need for transfusion, number of complications and length of hospital stay. Meta-analyses were performed using a random-effects model. RESULTS Ten RCTs were identified; these included a total of 820 patients. No statistically significant differences between PTC and other forms of vascular control in liver resection were demonstrated. CONCLUSIONS There is no evidence, on the basis of this meta-analysis of RCTs, of any difference between PTC and other forms of vascular control in liver resection.
Ja n 20 02 Elliptic genus and vertex operator algebras

were also studied in [47]. It was conjectured in [47] that all these elliptic operators are rigid, generalizing the famous vanishing theorem of Atiyah-Hirzebruch for the Â-genus. There were several rather interesting proofs of these Witten’s conjectures (see [46], [8], [38], [41]). The one relevant to this paper is the proof given in [38], [39] where the main idea was to use the modular invariance of affine Kac-Moody characters. Note that the fibers of the bundles
How Stress Alters Memory in ‘Smart’ Snails

Cognitive ability varies within species, but whether this variation alters the manner in which memory formation is affected by environmental stress is unclear. The great pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, is commonly used as model species in studies of learning and memory. The majority of those studies used a single laboratory strain (i.e. the Dutch strain) originating from a wild population in the Netherlands. However, our recent work has identified natural populations that demonstrate significantly enhanced long-term memory (LTM) formation relative to the Dutch strain following operant conditioning of aerial respiratory behaviour. Here we assess how two populations with enhanced memory formation (i.e. ‘smart’ snails), one from Canada (Trans Canada 1: TC1) and one from the U.K. (Chilton Moor: CM) respond to ecologically relevant stressors. In control conditions the Dutch strain forms memory lasting 1–3 h following a single 0.5 h training session in our standard calcium pond water (80 mg/l [Ca2+]), whereas the TC1 and CM populations formed LTM lasting 5+ days following this training regime. Exposure to low environmental calcium pond water (20 mg/l [Ca2+]), which blocks LTM in the Dutch strain, reduced LTM retention to 24 h in the TC1 and CM populations. Crowding (20 snails in 100 ml) immediately prior to training blocks LTM in the Dutch strain, and also did so in TC1 and CM populations. Therefore, snails with enhanced cognitive ability respond to these ecologically relevant stressors in a similar manner to the Dutch strain, but are more robust at forming LTM in a low calcium environment. Despite the two populations (CM and TC1) originating from different continents, LTM formation was indistinguishable in both control and stressed conditions. This indicates that the underlying mechanisms controlling cognitive differences among populations may be highly conserved in L. stagnalis.
LOOKING BEYOND REGION BOUNDARIES : REGION-BASED IMAGE RETRIEVAL USING FUZZY FEATURE MATCHING

For a region-based image retrieval system, performance dep n s critically on the accuracy of object segmentation. We propo se a soft computing approach, unified feature matching (UFM), wh ich greatly increases the robustness of the retrieval system ag ainst segmentation related uncertainties. In our retrieval system, an image is represented by a set of segmented regions each of which is c haracterized by a fuzzy feature (fuzzy set) reflecting color, te xture, and shape properties. The resemblance between two images is then defined as the overall similarity between two families o f fuzzy features, and quantified by a similarity measure, UFM measur e. The system has been tested on a database of about 60,000 gener alpurpose images. Experiment results demonstrate improved a ccuracy, robustness, and high speed.
Secure Multiplex Coding Over Interference Channel with Confidential Messages

In this paper, an inner bound on the capacity region of two-user interference channels with two confidential messages has been proposed. With secure multiplex coding, we show that the Han-Kobayashi region can be achieved with strong security requirement. The equivocation rate for a collection of secret messages has also been evaluated, when the length of the message is finite or the information rate is high, our result provides a good approximation for bounding the worst case equivocation rate. Index Terms—Information theoretic security, capacity region, interference channel, secure multiplex coding, strong security.
Vaccination against Seasonal Influenza A/H3N2 Virus Reduces the Induction of Heterosubtypic Immunity against Influenza A/H5N1 Virus Infection in Ferrets

ABSTRACT Infection with seasonal influenza viruses induces a certain extent of protective immunity against potentially pandemic viruses of novel subtypes, also known as heterosubtypic immunity. Here we demonstrate that infection with a recent influenza A/H3N2 virus strain induces robust protection in ferrets against infection with a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of the H5N1 subtype. Prior H3N2 virus infection reduced H5N1 virus replication in the upper respiratory tract, as well as clinical signs, mortality, and histopathological changes associated with virus replication in the brain. This protective immunity correlated with the induction of T cells that cross-reacted with H5N1 viral antigen. We also demonstrated that prior vaccination against influenza A/H3N2 virus reduced the induction of heterosubtypic immunity otherwise induced by infection with the influenza A/H3N2 virus. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of vaccination strategies and vaccine development aiming at the induction of immunity to pandemic influenza.
Dinosaurs and the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution

The observed diversity of dinosaurs reached its highest peak during the mid- and Late Cretaceous, the 50 Myr that preceded their extinction, and yet this explosion of dinosaur diversity may be explained largely by sampling bias. It has long been debated whether dinosaurs were part of the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution (KTR), from 125–80 Myr ago, when flowering plants, herbivorous and social insects, squamates, birds and mammals all underwent a rapid expansion. Although an apparent explosion of dinosaur diversity occurred in the mid-Cretaceous, coinciding with the emergence of new groups (e.g. neoceratopsians, ankylosaurid ankylosaurs, hadrosaurids and pachycephalosaurs), results from the first quantitative study of diversification applied to a new supertree of dinosaurs show that this apparent burst in dinosaurian diversity in the last 18 Myr of the Cretaceous is a sampling artefact. Indeed, major diversification shifts occurred largely in the first one-third of the group's history. Despite the appearance of new clades of medium to large herbivores and carnivores later in dinosaur history, these new originations do not correspond to significant diversification shifts. Instead, the overall geometry of the Cretaceous part of the dinosaur tree does not depart from the null hypothesis of an equal rates model of lineage branching. Furthermore, we conclude that dinosaurs did not experience a progressive decline at the end of the Cretaceous, nor was their evolution driven directly by the KTR.
Controllability of Spacecraft Attitude Using Control Moment Gyroscopes

This technical note describes an application of nonlinear controllability theory to the problem of spacecraft attitude control using control moment gyroscopes (CMGs). Nonlinear controllability theory is used to show that a spacecraft carrying one or more CMGs is controllable on every angular momentum level set in spite of the presence of singular CMG configurations, that is, given any two states having the same angular momentum, any one of them can be reached from the other using suitably chosen motions of the CMG gimbals. This result is used to obtain sufficient conditions on the momentum volume of the CMG array that guarantee the existence of gimbal motions which steer the spacecraft to a desired spin state or rest attitude.
Genome Sequence of Salmonella enterica Phage Det7

ABSTRACT Det7 is a Myoviridae bacteriophage that gains entry into its Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium host cells by adsorbing to O-antigen polysaccharide. We report here the complete 157,498-bp sequence of its genome. Det7, together with its Vi01-like relatives, are distantly related to phage T4.
New Biomarkers of Acute Kidney Injury and the Cardio-renal Syndrome

Changes in renal function are one of the most common manifestations of severe illness. There is a clinical need to intervene early with proven treatments in patients with potentially deleterious changes in renal function. Unfortunately progress has been hindered by poor definitions of renal dysfunction and a lack of early biomarkers of renal injury. In recent years, the definitional problem has been addressed with the establishment of a new well-defined diagnostic entity, acute kidney injury (AKI), which encompasses the wide spectrum of kidney dysfunction, together with clearer definition and sub-classification of the cardio-renal syndromes. From the laboratory have emerged new biomarkers which allow early detection of AKI, including neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and cystatin C. This review describes the new concepts of AKI and the cardio-renal syndromes as well as novel biomarkers which allow early detection of AKI. Panels of AKI biomarker tests are likely to revolutionise the diagnosis and management of critically ill patients in the coming years. Earlier diagnosis and intervention should significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with acute kidney damage.
Analysis of high performance polypyrrole actuators

Electrochemical actuators based on polypyrrole (PPy) have been constructed and characterized. The actuation performance was analyzed in terms of several main parameters: thickness, scan rate, applied stress, cycle life and creep. Two different dopants and two different forms (tubes and free standing films) were produced to investigate their effects on the actuation performance and the underlying mechanisms of actuation. The actuation strain generated by the PPy materials when an external load was applied was found to be the sum of three individual time-dependent processes: strain generated directly from charge and solvent injection; strain generated from elastic modulus changes; and strain caused by creep. It was found that the strain generated from charge and solvent injection behaved like a diffusion-controlled process and the process were found to be relatively slow, whether during ramp or step voltage scanning. A semi-empirical model based on Fickian diffusion was built to predict the actuation strain under different loads at different scan rate in ramp voltage scanning and for different actuator thicknesses. By using the model, work and power of PPy actuators were analyzed. A consequence of the slow charging process is that the thicker PPy materials produce a larger work output but a lower power output. The effect of dopant used for the PPy was quite significant with bis-(trifluoromethanesulfonimide) (TFSI) producing higher strains for equivalent conditions than hexafluorophosphate (PF6) doped PPy. PPy/TFSI films were found to respond slowly to a step voltage change with a significant amount of strain occurring after the applied current had decayed to zero. This contribution to strain was assumed to be due to solvent ingress
Effect of working Condition and Fatigue on Performance of Staff Nurses at Mansoura University Hospital.

Background: Staff nurses' working condition is changing dramatically and rapidly causing fundamental transformations that have an impact on staff nurses fatigue and performance. Aim: The study aimed to investigate the effect of working condition and fatigue on performance of staff nurses at Mansoura University Hospital. Methods: A descriptive co relational design was used and the study was conducted on 110 staff nurses working at all general medical and surgical units, using three tools: working condition questionnaire, occupational fatigue exhaustion recovery scale and observation checklist of nurses performance. Results: There were a statistically significant differences between working condition, fatigue, and performance among staff nurses (p=0.0001). Conclusion: Staff nurses' performance was affected by degree of working condition and level of fatigue. So, there is a possibility of improving the performance of staff nurses and decreasing their fatigue through improving their working condition