Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fe b 20 05 Topological gravity on plumbed V-cobordisms

An ensemble of cosmological models based on generalized BF theory is constructed where the rôle of vacuum (zero-level) coupling constants is played by topologically invariant rational intersection forms (cosmological-constant matrices) of 4-dimensional plumbed Vcobordisms which are interpreted as Euclidean spacetime regions. For these regions describing topology changes, the rational and integer intersection matrices are calculated. A relation is found between the hierarchy of certain elements of these matrices and the hierarchy of coupling constants of the universal (low-energy) interactions. PACS numbers: 0420G, 0240, 0460 Mathematics Department, CUCEI, University of Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico. E-mail: efremov@udgserv.cencar. udg.mx Physics Department, CUCEI, University of Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico. E-mail: mitskievich03@yahoo.com. mx
The Evening's Bad News: Effects of Compelling Negative Television News Images on Memory

This study examined the relationship between compelling negative images in television news and memory for information in the stories. Memory differences were found before, during, and after the presence of negative compelling images. Memory was worse for material that preceded the negative scenes. During negative scenes, memory was worse for semantically intact audio information such as speech than for nonsemantic aural information such as screams or crashing noises. Memory for visual material presented after compelling negative images was better than memory for material presented before compelling negative images. Results are discussed in relation to retroactive inhibition and proactive facilitation of memory, and in relation to theories about the effects of emotion in cognitive processing.
Kaliningrad — the last piece in the Baltic jigsaw?

This paper explores tourism development in the Kaliningrad Oblast associated with European Union (EU) enlargement. Although politically part of the Russian Federation, Kaliningrad now exists as an exclave, distant from the Russian border and surrounded by EU territory. Situated in discourse on cross-border tourism, this paper argues for a more active analysis of the geopolitics of tourism. Kaliningrad's future is intricately linked with the possible re-establishment of a former tourism region along the southeastern Baltic coast which crosses several state borders. The potential for this to be achieved, however, is a function of the resolution of the strategic interests of neighbouring states and the EU. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Lid.
Nurses' assessments of individualised care in long-term care institutions.

AIMS The aims of this study were to explore nurses' assessments of individualised care in long-term care wards and to examine how their sociodemographic variables were associated with their views of such care. BACKGROUND Although the importance of individualised care is highlighted both by nurses and by older people, there is a limited amount of research about individualised care, especially in the long-term care of older people. DESIGN An exploratory design was employed. METHODS Data were collected using questionnaires [Individualised Care Scale (ICS)-Nurse] from nurses (n = 283, n = 215, response rate 76%) working in the long-term care wards (n = 19) of four institutions in 2009. Data were analysed statistically. RESULTS Overall, nurses perceived that they supported patient individuality during nursing activities but the care they provided was not so individualised. Nurses perceived that they supported older peoples' individuality in the clinical situation and in decisional control over care well but supported older peoples' individual life situation to a lesser extent. The higher the nurses' age, the longer the working experience in health care or experience in the current ward, the more positive views they had about the support of individuality. CONCLUSIONS This study identified some shortcomings in the realisation of individuality in the care of older people. Nurses seem to think they generally provide individualised care but this was not necessarily realised in the current evaluations of the care they delivered. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE There is need to identify issues that may help in developing individualised care in clinical practice. Nurses' attitude to older people in the geriatric care settings needs exploration. Nurses may focus on physiological needs that may hinder the recognition of older patient's individuality.
Under Construction

The Under Construction Exercise was developed by the authors to highlight key factors of work design that when implemented among the work group or entire organization can lead to an environment conducive to fostering satisfaction and motivation. In the exercise, groups are assigned to one of four different conditions that are designed to emulate elements of the Job Characteristics Model: the core job dimensions, critical psychological states, and personal and work outcomes. Students work in groups to complete a LEGO building project in a short amount of time and are then asked to reflect on the activity. Instructions for conducting and debriefing the 45-minute exercise are followed by students’ reactions to the activity.
Gender bias in marital therapy: A multidimensional scaling analysis

Abstract Researchers in the field of marriage and family therapy have largely ignored the effect of gender bias on clinical decision making. The purpose of this study was to explore if patient gender influenced prognostic judgments and if male and female therapists utilized different client characteristics when formulating prognostic judgments. Prognostic judgments were based on clinical profiles of couples seeking marital therapy for inhibited sexual desire. The multidimensional scaling procedure, KYST, was utilized to analyze the data. The findings indicated that the identified patient's gender did not influence prognostic judgments. However, therapist gender did influence the client characteristics used to formulate prognostic judgments.
The promise of telecommunication tools to ‘reach’ the disengaged patient with diabetes

Purpose of reviewTo discuss recent research on the use of telecommunication technologies to improve care for disengaged patients with diabetes. Recent findingsIt is established that patients who are disengaged with their healthcare have worse health outcomes. Reasons for disengagement vary but could be because of difficulties accessing or affording care or not possessing the skills or tools required to manage their disease. New patient-facing technologies are being used to improve communication and coordination of care for patients with diabetes. Early results show improvements in health outcomes. Utilizing these technologies to reach patient groups susceptible for disengagement has begun to demonstrate improvement. SummaryResearch over the past year has continued to demonstrate the promise of using telecommunication tools to assist patients in the management of diabetes. Although a few studies looked specifically at disengaged patients, efforts to utilize appropriate technological interventions targeting specific groups of patients are needed.
Family Strain, Gender, and Delinquency

In the last decade, Robert Agnew's general strain theory (GST) of delinquency has received considerable empirical attention, with most studies yielding favorable evidence. One aspect of GST neglected by researchers, however, concerns its ability to explain why certain demographic variables are related to delinquency. This article reports such a test of GST with respect to the gender-delinquency relationship in particular—one of the strongest relationships in delinquency research. The focus is on family-related strain faced by adolescents and how it may account for the gender gap in delinquency. Building on the work of Broidy and Agnew, and using questionnaire data collected from a sample of urban adolescents, this study tests three GST explanations for males' higher involvement in delinquency. The results of the analysis suggest that the gender gap in delinquency may be closely linked to gender differences in both the experience of and response to family-related strain.
Religiousity and Risky Sexual Behaviour among Undergraduates in South West Nigeria

This study aimed to explore the relationship spirituality and religion had on sexual behaviour and experiences. A cross-sectional analytical survey involving 215 undergraduates from three tertiary institutions was conducted. These students were interviewed while on rural health practicum in a town in south west Nigeria. Spirituality was assessed with 9 questions having dichotomous responses. Maximum obtainable score was 18. Scores above the mean were classed as high spirituality. Mean age of respondents was 23.1±3.7 years, 59.1% were female, and 78.1% were Christian while 11.9% were Muslims. In all, 54.4% were sexually active. Among the sexually active 76(65%) were involved in Risky Sexual Behaviour (RSB). Spirituality/faith was an important part of the lives of 92.6% while 80% considered themselves to be moderately or very spiritual. Religious practices were reported on a daily basis by 83.7%. The mean age at sexual initiation was 17±5.2years. Less than half (49%) had multiple sexual partners, 22% received gifts for sex, 53% did not use condom at last sex, and 22% had unwanted pregnancy while 9% had Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI). Logistic regression analysis revealed that spirituality had no influence on sexual risk behaviour. Many students were sexually active and a high proportion exhibited RSB. Sustainable sexual health responses targeted at reducing risk behaviour among young people should not be limited by perceived spirituality. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014. v5n23p2345
Polydnaviruses of Parasitic Wasps: Domestication of Viruses To Act as Gene Delivery Vectors

Symbiosis is a common phenomenon in which associated organisms can cooperate in ways that increase their ability to survive, reproduce, or utilize hostile environments. Here, we discuss polydnavirus symbionts of parasitic wasps. These viruses are novel in two ways: (1) they have become non-autonomous domesticated entities that cannot replicate outside of wasps; and (2) they function as a delivery vector of genes that ensure successful parasitism of host insects that wasps parasitize. In this review we discuss how these novelties may have arisen, which genes are potentially involved, and what the consequences have been for genome evolution.
Biologic agents in nail psoriasis: efficacy data and considerations

Introduction: Nail psoriasis plays a major role in the overall assessment of psoriatic disease. Four biologic agents are officially labeled for the treatment of moderate to severe, stable plaque psoriasis (adalimumab, etanercept, infliximab, ustekinumab) and have enriched subsequently the therapeutic armamentarium against psoriatic nails. However, evidence for the efficacy of these agents for nail psoriasis is under investigation. Areas covered: In this review an effort has been made to summarize evidence regarding the efficacy of biologics in nail psoriasis. A systemic search for reports of biologic agents in psoriatic patients with nail involvement was carried out (MEDLINE and CENTRAL in the Cochrane Library). Relevant data are thoroughly presented. Expert opinion: All four biologic agents have shown efficacy on psoriatic nail disease. However, published data are heterogeneous, based on studies assessing the therapeutic efficacy with different scoring indexes and at different time points, depending on the time table of each drug administration. Therefore, the need for consensus on core outcome to be used is mandatory. Additionally, optimization of the scoring systems and the conduction of further trials of high quality and validity could lead to more accurate conclusions on the efficacy of biologic agents in the treatment of nail psoriasis.
L'effet du rang d'appel et de la présence du conjoint dans une enquête par téléphone

Résumé Firdion (Jean-Marie). - Effet du rang d'appel et de la présence du conjoint dans une enquête par téléphone Dans le cadre de l'enquête sur les comportements sexuels en France (ACSF), nous analysons deux sources possibles de biais de réponse à des questions « sensibles », liées aux conditions d'enquête téléphonique. Combien d'appels doit-on réaliser pour réduire le biais d'échantillonnage dû à la population difficile à joindre ? Les enquêtes joints tardivement se caractérisent par une fréquence plus forte du multipartenariat ainsi que par un nombre moyen de partenaires sexuels plus élevé, ce qui justifie, pour ce sujet, la persévérance de collecte jusqu'au I2eme appel. En second lieu, nous avons étudié si la présence du conjoint, lors de l'entretien, influe sur les réponses de l'enquêté. On relève, dans ce dernier cas, une moindre déclaration de consommation, passée, de drogue et moins de partenaires sexuels (dans le passé). Le mode de collecte par téléphone ne prémunit donc pas contre l'effet de la présence du conjoint, pour certaines questions « sensibles » portant sur de longues durées, périodes en partie antérieures à la formation du couple.
Internalization of the Thin Ideal as a Predictor of Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating in African, African-American, and Afro-Caribbean Female College Students

This study, conducted at a historically Black university, evaluated the impact of awareness and internalization of the Western thin ideal of beauty on body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and bulimia in African-American, African, and Caribbean women. The relationship between internalization of the thin ideal and disordered eating was moderated by ethnicity, with the relationship significant only for the African-American group. Internalization functioned as a mediator between awareness of the thin ideal and both drive for thinness and bulimia, but only for the African-American group. These results suggest that the sociocultural model may not be as valuable in predicting eating disturbance in women from non-Western societies.
An Architecture to Support Learning-based Adaptation of Persistent Queries in Mobile Environments

Queries are frequently used by applications in dynamically formed mobile networks to discover and acquire information and services available in the surrounding environment. A number of inquiry strategies exist, each of which embodies an approach to disseminating a query and collecting results. The choice of inquiry strategy has different tradeoffs under different operating conditions. Therefore, it is beneficial to allow a query-based application to dynamically adapt its inquiry strategy to the changing environmental conditions. To promote development by non-expert domain programmers, we can automate the decision-making process associated with adapting the inquiry strategy. In this paper, we propose an architecture to support automated adaptative query processing for dynamic mobile environments. The decision-support module of our architecture relies on an instance-based learning approach to support context-aware adaptation of the inquiry strategy.
A compressed sensing-based pan-sharpening using joint data fidelity and blind blurring kernel estimation

Pan-sharpening is an approach that fuse low resolution multi-spectral (LRMS) images with a high spatial detail of panchromatic (PAN) image to obtain the high resolution multispectral (HRMS) images. In this paper, we present a compressed sensing-based pan-sharpening method that include joint data fidelity and blind blurring kernel estimation. The joint data fidelity contain following three fidelity terms: (1) the LRMS images could be the decimated form of the HRMS images by convolving a blurring kernel, (2) the gradient of HRMS images in the spectrum direction could be proximity to those of the LRMS images, (3) the high frequency part of linear combination of HRMS image bands is approximate to the corresponding parts of the PAN image. Different from other methods which simply apply average blurring kernel for pan-sharpening, a blind deconvolution algorithm is introduced to estimate the blurring kernel from different satellites respectively. We also include a novel anisotropic total variation (TV) prior term to better reconstruct the image edges. The alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is used to solve the proposed model efficiently. Finally, a Pléiades satellite image is employed to demonstrate that the proposed method achieve effective and efficient results simultaneously compared with other existing methods.
Development of a Body Condition Scoring Index for Female African Elephants Validated by Ultrasound Measurements of Subcutaneous Fat

Obesity-related health and reproductive problems may be contributing to non-sustainability of zoo African elephant (Loxodonta africana) populations. However, a major constraint in screening for obesity in elephants is lack of a practical method to accurately assess body fat. Body condition scoring (BCS) is the assessment of subcutaneous fat stores based on visual evaluation and provides an immediate appraisal of the degree of obesity of an individual. The objective of this study was to develop a visual BCS index for female African elephants and validate it using ultrasound measures of subcutaneous fat. To develop the index, standardized photographs were collected from zoo (n = 50) and free-ranging (n = 57) female African elephants for identifying key body regions and skeletal features, which were then used to visually determine body fat deposition patterns. This information was used to develop a visual BCS method consisting of a list of body regions and the physical criteria for assigning an overall score on a 5-point scale, with 1 representing the lowest and 5 representing the highest levels of body fat. Results showed that as BCS increased, ultrasound measures of subcutaneous fat thickness also increased (P<0.01), indicating the scores closely coincide with physical measures of fat reserves. The BCS index proved to be reliable and repeatable based on high intra- and inter-assessor agreement across three assessors. In comparing photographs of wild vs. captive African elephants, the median BCS in the free-ranging individuals (BCS = 3, range 1–5) was lower (P<0.001) than that of the zoo population (BCS = 4, range 2–5). In sum, we have developed the first validated BCS index for African elephants. This tool can be used to examine which factors impact body condition in zoo and free-ranging elephants, providing valuable information on how it affects health and reproductive potential of individual elephants.
Gender Differences in Adherence to Type 1 Diabetes Management Across Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Depression

This study examined whether gender differences in adherence and metabolic control among adolescents with type 1 diabetes are mediated by depression. In a sample of 127 adolescents with type 1 diabetes (ages 10 to 15 years), gender interacted with age to predict symptoms of depression and adherence, but did not interact to predict metabolic control. Among girls, age was associated with higher depression and poorer adherence; among boys, age-related associations were weaker or in the opposite direction. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that depression partially mediated the Gender × Age interaction predicting adherence. Clinical implications of viewing depression as a risk factor for poor diabetes management among adolescent females are discussed.
A novel network simulator based on stochastic spatial models

Wireless ad hoc networks have been of significant interest in the communications engineering field within the last decades. Due to their flexibility and relatively low infrastructure and front end expenses, wireless ad hoc networks promise a wide application spectrum. To understand their expected performance, interference limited scenarios must be considered and an interference analysis based on the spatial distribution of the network nodes is necessary. This analysis must cover the randomness of this spatial distribution. The authors have considered the stochastic geometry tools as basic means for this analysis. The randomness of the individual spatial distribution realizations can thus be decoupled from the interference analysis by collecting the statistics over multiple particular spatial network distributions, which eases the analysis. In this manuscript the authors illustrate a simulation framework for the investigation of the performance of wireless ad hoc networks. The simulation results for the various spatial node densities are discussed for both distribution types by taking the interference limited scenarios into account. Also, theoretical performance bounds are shown which allow the verification of the stochastic simulation.
CD40, an extracellular receptor for binding and uptake of Hsp70–peptide complexes

Tumor and viral antigens elicit a potent immune response by heat shock protein–dependent uptake of antigenic peptide with subsequent presentation by MHC I. Receptors on antigen-presenting cells that specifically bind and internalize a heat shock protein–peptide complex have not yet been identified. Here, we show that cells expressing CD40, a cell surface protein crucial for B cell function and autoimmunity, specifically bind and internalize human Hsp70 with bound peptide. Binding of Hsp70–peptide complex to the exoplasmic domain of CD40 is mediated by the NH2-terminal nucleotide–binding domain of Hsp70 in its ADP state. The Hsp70 cochaperone Hip, but not the bacterial Hsp70 homologue DnaK, competes formation of the Hsp70–CD40 complex. Binding of Hsp70-ADP to CD40 is strongly increased in the presence of Hsp70 peptide substrate, and induces signaling via p38. We suggest that CD40 is a cochaperone-like receptor mediating the uptake of exogenous Hsp70–peptide complexes by macrophages and dendritic cells.
Observations of HIV-1 Genotypic Drug Resistance in a Trial of Four Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (Quattro Trial)

The Quattro Trial compared the use of four HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors (zidovudine, lamivudine, loviride and zalcitabine), given either as four-drug combination therapy or monotherapy, with 8-week cycles of each drug, with zidovudine/lamivudine dual therapy. Observations of resistance associated and other mutations in the RT gene were made to determine whether therapy failure could be explained by acquisition of these mutations and whether novel mutation patterns developed. As in the intent-to-treat analysis, the use of cyclical monotherapy gave a smaller reduction in plasma virus load at 64 weeks (0.4 log10 copies/ml below baseline) than the quadruple or dual therapy arms (1.3 and 0.8 log10 copies/ml below baseline). Cyclical therapy appeared to generate less genotypic resistance to zidovudine, loviride or zalcitabine than the other arms. Resistance to lamivudine (mutation M184V) developed rapidly in all three arms. Resistance to zidovudine was acquired by a larger proportion of subjects on dual therapy than on quadruple therapy. Resistance to loviride or zalcitabine was rarely observed. During lamivudine monotherapy the M184V mutation was rapidly acquired and viral load rebounded. Zalcitabine monotherapy initially selected M184V mutants, but these were lost as therapy continued. Novel mutations that may have been associated with combination or cyclical quadruple therapy were observed infrequently. There was no clear correlation between changes in response to therapy and the development of previously described resistance mutations or with novel mutations in the RT gene.