Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Breast feeding is associated with postpartum smoking abstinence among women who quit smoking due to pregnancy.

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study was to characterize the relationship between breast feeding and postpartum smoking abstinence among women who quit smoking due to pregnancy and who were participating in a randomized clinical trial of an intervention designed to prevent postpartum relapse. METHODS A total of 251 women were enrolled in the intervention between 30 and 33 weeks postpartum and were followed through 26 weeks postpartum. Participant characteristics were assessed at the prepartum baseline visit, any breast feeding was assessed at 8 weeks postpartum, and smoking abstinence was assessed at 8 and 26 weeks postpartum. RESULTS Although 79.1% of participants intended to breast feed, only 40.2% reported breast feeding at 8 weeks postpartum. Characteristics associated with breast feeding at 8 weeks postpartum included Caucasian race/ethnicity, greater education, higher household income, and being married/living with a significant other. Logistic regression analysis indicated that breast feeding at 8 weeks postpartum was significantly associated with smoking abstinence at 8 weeks postpartum, odds ratio (OR) = 7.27 (95% CI = 3.27, 16.13), p < . 001. Breast feeding at 8 weeks postpartum was also associated with abstinence at 26 weeks postpartum after controlling for smoking status at 8 weeks postpartum, OR = 2.64 (95% CI = 1.14, 6.10), p = . 02. DISCUSSION Encouraging breast feeding among women who quit smoking due to pregnancy may facilitate postpartum smoking abstinence while increasing adherence to current infant feeding guidelines.
Mammary gland development of dairy heifers during their first gestation.

Mammary gland development was determined by analysis of udders at thirteen stages of the first gestation of nine pairs of identical twin dairy heifers. Stained sagittal sections of udders showed that gland parenchyma spread into and displaced adipose tissue so that total udder weight does not reveal extent of gland development. Changes in composition of mammary gland during gestation reflected gross and histological changes. Percentages of fat and deoxyribonucleic acid decreased while percentages of nitrogen, water, dry fat-free tissue, and ribonucleic acid increased. Development of the portion of the udder which was mammary gland appeared to be a continuous exponential process through gestation, and increases in quantitative development followed the general formula for organ growth, Y = Aekt (In Y = In A + kt), in which k is the rate constant for growth by months (t). Analysis of variance showed in addition to stage of gestation that body weight and pairs, but not age, affected the regression. Adjusting for body weight only produced rate constants for growth similar to those from adjusting for pairs and weight. Rates of development were approximately 33% per month for nitrogen, dry fat-free tissue, and internal surface area of mammary glands, and approximately 25% for parenchyma weight and deoxyribonucleic acid. Average rate of increase in total udder weight was only about . 5 that for mammary glands only.
Multinational corporations' corporate social and environmental disclosures (CSED) on web sites

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate multinational corporations' (MNCs) voluntary practice of including corporate social and environmental disclosure (CSED) on their web sites and characteristics that inspire MNCs to be more accountable in this regard.Design/methodology/approach – This study adopts discrimination analysis to test six hypotheses to determine which variables influence the MNCs to post their CSED on the web sites. Data from a sample of 49 MNCs were analyzed with STATISTICA. The independent variables tested include log of total assets (size) and log of total equity (size), return on assets (profitability), debt ratio (risk), auditor (Big4 and non‐Big4), country effect (origin the USA or non‐USA) and industry effect (manufacturing versus services). Findings – The results show that companies with a strong equity base and in a good financial condition have a propensity to voluntarily disclose more environmental information. For social disclosure, company size and the profitabilit.
The application research of MR damper in intelligent bionic leg

MR damper is a new-style intelligent damper and is newly applied in intelligent bionic leg. The conception and research purpose of intelligent bionic leg was introduced. Modeling methods of MR damper were discussed and modified Sigmoid model was proposed. Then experimental modeling was introduced in detail. In the end, the simulation of intelligent bionic leg using iterative learning control was done. The results indicate the intelligent bionic leg with MR damper can track the normal gait of human healthy leg well and has good humanoid characteristic.
Strategic Management Thinking and Practice in the Public Sector: A Strategic Planning for All Seasons?

This paper explores how strategic management thinking manifests itself in strategic management practice in the public sector. Mintzberg's framework of ten strategic management schools of thought is chosen for mapping strategic management thinking. The paper analyses a convenience sample of 35 strategic management processes, observation of an agency's strategy reformulation process and interviews of managers in the public sector in Norway for informing the discussion. Strategic planning is heavily criticised in some of the business strategy literature. The analysis indicates that strategic management in the public sector extensively uses strategic planning, bundled with certain other schools of thought, despite tendencies to downplay formal, mechanistic planning in contemporary strategic management theory.
Using Markov decision process in cognitive radio networks towards the optimal reward

The Learning is an indispensable phase in the cognition cycle of cognitive radio network. It corresponds between the executed actions and the estimated rewards. Based on this phase, the agent learns from past experiences to improve his actions in the next interventions. In the literature, there are several methods that treat the artificial learning. Among them, we cite the reinforcement learning that look for the optimal policy, for ensuring the maximum reward. The present work exposes an approach, based on a model of reinforcement learning, namely Markov decision process, to maximize the sum of transfer rates of all secondary users. Such conception defines all notions relative to an environment with finite set of states, including: the agent, all states, the allowed actions with a given state, the obtained reward after the execution of an action and the optimal policy. After the implementation, we remark a correlation between the started policy and the optimal policy, and we improve the performances by referring to a previous work.
Bidding Wars for Houses

type="main"> This article analyzes the time series and cross-sectional patterns of bidding wars for houses. Bidding wars were once rare, a fairly constant 3–4% of transactions. This led to treating list price as a ceiling in empirical and theoretical research on housing. The bidding war share roughly tripled between 1995 and 2005, rising to more than 30% in some markets. The share fell during the subsequent bust, but it remains approximately twice as high as previously. The article shows bidding war incidence to be greater during macroeconomic and housing booms. The article also considers other potential contributing factors, including buyer irrationality, the use of the Internet in home purchases and land use regulation.
House dust mite facilitates ovalbumin-specific allergic sensitization and airway inflammation.

RATIONALE Mouse models of allergic airway disease have greatly contributed to our understanding of disease induction and pathogenesis. Although these models typically investigate responses to a single antigen or allergen, humans are frequently exposed to a myriad of allergens, each with distinct antigenic potential. OBJECTIVES Given that airway exposure to ovalbumin (OVA), a prototypic innocuous antigen, induces inhalation tolerance, we wished to investigate how this response would be altered if OVA were encountered concurrently with a house dust mite extract (HDM), which we have recently shown is capable of eliciting a robust allergic airway inflammatory response that is mediated, at least in part, by granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. METHODS Balb/c mice were exposed daily to HDM (intranasally) followed immediately by exposure to aerosolized OVA for 5 weeks. To allow the inflammatory response elicited by HDM to subside fully, mice were then allowed to rest, unexposed, for 8 weeks, at which time they were rechallenged with aerosolized OVA for 3 consecutive days. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS At this time, we observed a robust eosinophilic inflammatory response in the lung that was associated with an increase in bronchial hyperreactivity. Moreover, we documented significantly elevated serum levels of OVA-specific IgE and IgG(1) and increased production of the Th2 cytokines interleukin 4 (IL-4), IL-5, and IL-13 by splenocytes stimulated in vitro with OVA. CONCLUSION Our data demonstrate the potential of a potent allergen such as HDM to establish a lung microenvironment that fosters the development of allergic sensitization to otherwise weak or innocuous antigens, such as OVA.
Characterization of canine embryonic stem cell lines derived from different niche microenvironments.

Embryo-derived stem cells hold enormous potential for producing cell-based transplantation therapies, allowing high-throughput drug screening and delineating early embryonic development. However, potential clinical applications must first be tested for safety and efficacy in preclinical animal models. Due to physiological and genetic parity to humans, the domestic dog is widely used as a clinically relevant animal model for cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, orthopedic, and oncologic diseases. Therefore, we established numerous putative canine embryonic stem cell (cESC) lines by immunodissection of the inner cell mass (ICM), which we termed OVC.ID. 1-23, and by explant outgrowths from whole canine blastocysts, named OVC.EX. 1-16. All characterized lines were immunopositive for OCT4, SOX2, NANOG, SSEA-3, and SSEA-4; displayed high telomerase and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities; and were maintained in this state up to 37 passages ( approximately 160 days). Colonies from OVC.EX lines showed classic domed hESC-like morphology surrounded by a ring of fibroblast-like cells, whereas all OVC.ID lines exhibited a mixed cell colony of tightly packed cESCs surrounded by a GATA6+/CDX2- hypoblast-derived support layer. Spontaneous serum-only differentiation without feeder layers demonstrated a strong lineage selection associated with the colony niche type, and not the isolation method. Upon differentiation, cESC lines formed embryoid bodies (EB) comprised of cells representative of all germinal layers, and differentiated into cell types of each layer. Canine ESC lines such as these have the potential to identify differences between embryonic stem cell line derivations, and to develop or to test cell-based transplantation therapies in the dog before attempting human clinical trials.
Ten-year Experience with the Supraorbital Subfrontal Approach through an Eyebrow Skin Incision

OBJECTIVE: More than ever before, the priority in contemporary neurosurgery is to achieve the greatest therapeutic effect while causing the least iatrogenic injury. The evolution of microsurgical techniques with refined instrumentation and illumination and the enormous development of preoperative and intraoperative diagnostic tools enable neurosurgeons to treat different lesions through limited and specific keyhole approaches. METHODS: Based on our surgical experience, the technique of supraorbital subfrontal craniotomy is described in detail in this article. After an eyebrow skin incision is made, a limited supraorbital craniotomy is performed with a width of 15 to 25 mm and a height of 10 to 15 mm. RESULTS: We have been using the supraorbital keyhole craniotomy since 1985 and have approached a variety of lesions within the anterior, middle, and posterior cranial fossae. During a 10-year period between July 1994 and June 2004, the lesions treated via the supraorbital approach in our department comprised 1125 intracranial tumors or cystic lesions, cerebral aneurysms, and other miscellaneous diseases, performed by 23 different surgeons and residents. Of these 1125 patients, we operated on 471 of them, and information obtained from 450 contributed to the follow-up data. Three months after surgery, the Glasgow Outcome Scale scores for this very heterogeneous group of patients were as follows: 5 in 387 patients (86.0%), 4 in 29 patients (6.4%), 3 in 16 patients (3.5%), 2 in 10 patients (2.2%), and 1 in 8 patients (1.8%). Of the 450 patients, 229 were treated for intracranial aneurysms, 93 for cranial base meningiomas, 39 for craniopharyngiomas, 23 for pituitary adenomas, 18 for deep-seated brainstem tumors, and 48 for other miscellaneous frontotemporal or suprasellar lesions. CONCLUSION: In our experience, the supraorbital craniotomy allows a wide, intracranial exposure for extended, bilaterally situated, or even deep-seated intracranial areas, according to the strategy of keyhole craniotomies. The supraorbital craniotomy offers equal surgical possibilities with less approach-related morbidity owing to limited exposure of the cerebral surface and minimal brain retraction. In addition, the short skin incision within the eyebrow and careful soft tissue dissection result in a pleasing cosmetic outcome.
Scale efficiency in Danish agriculture: an input distance–function approach

This paper presents the results of an analysis that predicts the scale efficiency of individual farms and analyses the differences in scale efficiency over time and between farms. Representative farm account data for 1985--2006 are used, and the study applies stochastic frontier analysis using an input distance--function approach. The results show that pig farms have improved their input scale efficiency significantly over time, as have dairy farms during the last few years after a period of constant scale efficiency. Crop farms have the lowest scale efficiency, and there is a considerable potential for improving productivity in the cash crop sector by increasing the size of the farms. It is shown that a change in scale efficiency and technological change are the major components of aggregate productivity changes for all farm types. Oxford University Press and Foundation for the European Review of Agricultural Economics 2010; all rights reserved. For permissions, please email journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.
Flagellin gene transcription in Bordetella bronchiseptica is regulated by the BvgAS virulence control system

The products of the bvgAS locus activate expression of a majority of the known Bordetella virulence factors but also exert negative control over a class of genes called vrg genes (bvg-repressed genes). BvgAS negatively controls the production of flagella and the phenotype of motility in Bordetella bronchiseptica. In this study flaA, the flagellin gene, was cloned and characterized to facilitate studies of this negative control pathway. An internal flaA probe detected hybridizing sequences on genomic Southern blots of Bordetella pertussis, Bordetella parapertussis, and Bordetella avium, although B. pertussis and B. parapertussis are nonmotile. FlaA is similar to the FliC flagellins of Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli, and flaA complemented an E. coli flagellin mutant. Insertional inactivation of the chromosomal flaA locus eliminated motility, which was restored by complementation with the wild-type locus. Analysis of flaA mRNA production by Northern (RNA) blotting and primer extension indicated that negative regulation by BvgAS occurs at the level of transcription. The transcriptional start site of flaA mapped near a consensus site for the alternative sigma factor, sigma F, encoded by fliA in E. coli and S. typhimurium. Consistent with a role for a fliA analog in B. bronchiseptica, transcriptional activation of a flaA-lacZ fusion in E. coli required fliA and a flaA-linked locus designated frl.frl also efficiently complemented mutations in the flagellar master regulatory locus, flhDC, of E. coli. Our analysis of the motility phenotype of B. bronchiseptica suggests that the Bordetella virulence control system mediates transcriptional control of flaA through a regulatory hierarchy that includes the frl locus and an alternative sigma factor.
Tracheobronchomalacia and excessive dynamic airway collapse

Abstract: Tracheobronchomalacia and excessive dynamic airway collapse are two separate forms of dynamic central airway obstruction that may or may not coexist. These entities are increasingly recognized as asthma and COPD imitators. The understanding of these disease processes, however, has been compromised over the years because of uncertainties regarding their definitions, pathogenesis and aetiology. To date, there is no standardized classification, diagnosis or management algorithm. In this article we comprehensively review the aetiology, morphopathology, physiology, diagnosis and treatment of these entities.
A structure information based image fusion algorithm using IHS and discrete wavelet transform

Pixel-level image fusion, as an important part of image fusion algorithms, can combine spectral information of coarse resolution imagery with finer spatial resolution imagery. In this paper we propose a new pixel-level multisensor image fusion algorithm for sharpening multispectral (MS) data with better spectral preservation ability and higher spatial resolution combining intensity-hue-saturation (IHS) transformation and discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and develop a fusion rule based on structure information extracted from the high spatial resolution image. Experimental results are presented on a set of MS images and a Systeme Pour I'Observation de la Terre Panchromatic image . The proposed method was compared visually and qualitatively with existing standard IHS transformation, standard DWT strategies and a simple combination of IHS and DWT. Comparative analysis shows that the proposed algorithm has higher fidelity to the original spectral information and better spatial quality with respect to those methods for the test images.
Distributed Receding Horizon Control of Vehicle Platoons: Stability and String Stability

This paper considers the problem of distributed control of a platoon of vehicles with nonlinear dynamics. We present distributed receding horizon control algorithms and derive sufficient conditions that guarantee asymptotic stability, leader-follower string stability, and predecessor-follower string stability, following a step speed change in the platoon. Vehicles compute their own control in parallel, and receive communicated position and velocity error trajectories from their immediate predecessor. Leader-follower string stability requires additional communication from the lead car at each update, in the form of a position error trajectory. Predecessor-follower string stability, as we define it, implies leader-follower string stability. Predecessor-follower string stability requires stricter constraints in the local optimal control problems than the leader-follower formulation, but communication from the lead car is required only once at initialization. Provided an initially feasible solution can be found, subsequent feasibility of the algorithms are guaranteed at every update. The theory is generalized for nonlinear decoupled dynamics, and is thus applicable to fleets of planes, robots, or boats, in addition to cars. A simple seven-car simulation examines parametric tradeoffs that affect stability and string stability. Analysis on platoon formation, heterogeneity and size (length) is also considered, resulting in intuitive tradeoffs between lead car and following car control flexibility.
Hollywood Economics: How Extreme Uncertainty Shapes the Film Industry

Part I: Box-office champions, chaotic dynamics and herding 1. The market for motion pictures: Rank, revenue and survival 2. Bose-Einstein dynamics and adaptive contracting in the motion picture industry 3. Quality evaluations and the breakdown of statistical herding in the dynamics of box-office revenue Part II: "Wild" uncertainty, tough decisions and false beliefs 4. Uncertainty in the movie industry: Can star power reduce the terror of the box office? 5. Does Hollywood make too many R-rated movies? : Risk, stochastic dominance and the illusion of expectation 6. Big budgets, big openings and legs: Analysis of the blockbuster strategy Part III: Judges, lawyers and the movies 7. Motion picture antitrust: The Paramount cases revisited 8. Was the antitrust action that broke up the movie studios good for the movies? : Evidence from the stock market 9. Stochastic market structure: Concentration measures and motion picture antitrust Part IV: A business of extremes 10. Motion picture profit, the stable Paretian hypothesis and the curse of the superstar 11. Contracting with stars when "nobody knows anything" 12. How extreme uncertainty shapes the movie business Epilogue: Can you manage a business when "nobody knows anything"?
Nowhere to hide: an analysis of investment opportunities in listed property markets during financial market crises

The effects of financial crises in listed property markets have left investors looking for safe havens through diversification. This is the largest study to date of the effect of crises on diversification opportunities in the listed property context, spanning 12 markets. Our study covers the Asian market crisis and the current global credit crisis. A critical contribution our work makes is the inclusion in our modelling of the potential for currency effects to impact the diversification environment. We observed that diversification benefits evaporated during the crisis in both hedged and un‐hedged cases. Perhaps a surprising result given the magnitude of the currency effects experienced during the Asian crisis. Interestingly, although diversification benefits vanish during the crisis in both hedged and un‐hedged cases, the markets that are significant in the model differ between the two cases. The methodology we have employed represents a very flexible, dynamic, and realistic modelling approach to the data at hand. Our implementation uses a specific class of Vector Autoregression (VAR) models (Zero‐Non‐Zero coefficient VAR models) that have a particular advantage in dealing with data for which we believe that certain coefficients should automatically be zero (as a result of structural features of the markets involved), and our approach is a ‘full system’ approach that allows for cointegration between markets.