Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Resilience to adversity and the early origins of disease

Abstract For the past quarter century, scientists at the Center for Family Research at the University of Georgia have conducted research designed to promote understanding of normative developmental trajectories among low socioeconomic status African American children, youths, and young adults. In this paper, we describe a recent expansion of this research program using longitudinal, epidemiological studies and randomized prevention trials to test hypotheses about the origins of disease among rural African American youths. The contributions of economic hardship, downward mobility, neighborhood poverty, and racial discrimination to allostatic load and epigenetic aging are illustrated. The health benefits of supportive family relationships in protecting youths from these challenges are also illustrated. A cautionary set of studies is presented showing that some psychosocially resilient youths demonstrate high allostatic loads and accelerated epigenetic aging, suggesting that, for some, “resilience is just skin deep. ” Finally, we end on an optimistic note by demonstrating that family-centered prevention programs can have health benefits by reducing inflammation, helping to preserve telomere length, and inhibiting epigenetic aging.
Configurational examination of successful human resources outsourcing

Purpose The causal conditions leading to successful human resources outsourcing (HRO) have until now attracted only limited research attention. To address this shortcoming, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how a firm and a HR provider should work together to ensure successful HRO. Design/methodology/approach By applying a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, the authors demonstrate how combining in different ways provider quality, business understanding, trust, and closed HRO networks can lead to HRO success. In addition, this study compares the causal combinations between cases with differing levels of HR-task interdependence and IT use. Findings The results of this study reveal three common solutions that lead to successful HRO from both economic and relational viewpoints. The findings also indicate that, from an economic viewpoint, trust is a core condition for achieving HRO success. Moreover, HR-task interdependence and IT use alter the number of solutions and the conditions for attaining HRO success. Practical implications Based on the solutions proposed herein, firms can consider different ways to achieve HRO success under diverse conditions. Originality/value This work also contributes to building new theories regarding HRO, trust, knowledge sharing, and IT use.
Development of angiotensin (1‐7) as an agent to accelerate dermal repair

Angiotensin II has been shown to be a potent agent in the acceleration of wound repair. Angiotensin (1‐7), a fragment of angiotensin II that is not hypertensive, was found to be comparable to angiotensin II in accelerating dermal healing. This activity was evaluated in four models: rat and diabetic mouse full‐thickness excisional wounds; rat random flap; and guinea pig partial thickness thermal injury. In all models, angiotensin (1‐7) was comparable to angiotensin II. Angiotensin (1‐7) accelerated the closure of wounds in diabetic mice and rats. In diabetic mice the resultant tissue at day 25 after injury was more comparable to normal tissue than the fibrotic scar observed in placebo‐treated wounds. In the random flap model, angiotensin (1‐7) was comparable to angiotensin II in maintaining flap viability (approximately 82%) and flap survival (40%). Finally, angiotensin (1‐7) increased proliferation in the hair follicles at the edge of the wound and site of thermal injury, and the number of patent blood vessels on day 7 after partial thickness thermal injury. These data may be partially explained by the effect of angiotensin II and angiotensin (1‐7) on keratinocyte proliferation. While platelet‐derived growth factor had no effect on keratinocyte proliferation, angiotensin II and angiotensin (1‐7) significantly increased keratinocyte proliferation. These data show that angiotensin(1‐7) is comparable to angiotensin II in accelerating skin repair. Furthermore, the hypertensive and wound healing effects can be separated within the family of angiotensin peptides.
Transcranial focusing and HIFU beam localization with dual-mode ultrasound arrays

Focused ultrasound (FUS) has been proposed for a variety of transcranial applications, including neuromodulation, tumor ablation, blood brain barrier opening. A flurry of activity in recent years have generated encouraging results demonstrating its feasibility in these and other applications. To date, monitoring of FUS beams have been primarily accomplished using MR guidance, where both MR thermography and elastography have been used. With the use of dual-mode ultrasound array (DMUA) systems with real-time imaging capability, it is possible to localize sub-therapeutic and therapeutic transcranial FUS (tFUS) beams using ultrasound. We have designed and implemented a 64-channel DMUA system with real-time GPU-based beamformer capable of supporting single transmit focus (STF) imaging at frame rates in excess of 500 fps. A 3.5-MHz, concave (40-mm roc), 32-element DMUA transducer was used to produce sub therapeutic tFUS while simultaneously imaging a decapitated head of a Copenhagen rat. A 150-μm needle thermocouple was placed at the center of the brain to measure the tFUS induced temperature. DMUA imaging was used to localize the T/C needle and place the tFUS beam near the T/C junction. A number of sub-therapeutic tFUS beams with varying power were then generated while T/C measurements were recorded synchronously with the STF frames. Speckle tracking of echo data from the tFUS beam location within the brain was used to produce transcranial images of temperature change. We have also characterized the distortion to the array psf due to the skull using images of a 50-μm wire at the center of the brain. The results show that, while the DMUA focus is degraded due to the propagation through the skull, it still produces localized heating effects within sub-millimeter volume. In addition, DMUA transcranial echo data from brain tissue allow for reliable estimation of temperature change through speckle tracking.
60-GHz Groove Gap Waveguide Based Wideband $H$ -Plane Power Dividers and Transitions: For Use in High-Gain Slot Array Antenna

Wideband design of power dividers, T-junctions, and transitions based on groove gap waveguide (GGW) technology is presented in this paper with the goal to use these components in high-gain millimeter-wave antenna array design at 60-GHz frequency range. Since this GGW technology does not require electrical contact between the different metal layers of a complex 3-D waveguide structure, the fabrication cost and mechanical complexity are decreased. The designed T-junctions and different power dividers exhibit wide operational bandwidth and low output power and phase imbalance over the 60-GHz frequency band. Also, two transitions from GGW to a standard rectangular waveguide have been designed. To validate the performance of the designed components, a 64-way power divider in combination with 256 radiating slots is designed, prototyped, and measured at 60-GHz band. Measurement results agree well with the simulated performance of the complete array antenna, and the antenna gain is more than 32.5 dBi. The total radiation efficiency is more than 80% over the operating frequency range from 57 to 67 GHz. Also, the measured sidelobe levels are found to be agreeing well with the simulated level.
Recent progress in designing inhibitors that target the drug‐resistant M2 proton channels from the influenza A viruses

Influenza viruses are the causative agents for seasonal influenza, which results in thousands of deaths and millions of hospitalizations each year. Moreover, sporadic transmission of avian or swan influenza viruses to humans often leads to an influenza pandemic, as there is no preimmunity in the human body to fight against such novel strains. The metastable genome of the influenza viruses, coupled with the reassortment of different strains from a wide range of host origins, leads to the continuous evolution of the influenza virus diversity. Such characteristics of influenza viruses present a grand challenge in devising therapeutic strategies to combat influenza virus infection. This review summarizes recent progress in designing small molecule inhibitors that target the drug‐resistant influenza A virus M2 proton channels and highlights the contribution of mechanistic studies of proton conductance to drug discovery. The lessons learned throughout the course of M2 drug discovery might provide insights for designing inhibitors that target other therapeutically important ion channels. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers (Pept Sci) 104: 291–309, 2015.
An optical 90/spl deg/-hybrid balanced receiver module using a planar lightwave circuit

An optical 90/spl deg/-hybrid coherent receiver module is constructed that uses the planar lightwave circuit technique. The module consists of an optical 90/spl deg/-hybrid silica planar waveguide and two 14 GHz balanced O/E converters; the solder-bump technique is employed. For both sets of paths between the optical coupler and the twin-p-i-n photodetector pairs, the effective propagation time differences were reduced to within 4 ps. A 10 Gb/s BPSK homodyne detection experiment confirms the feasibility of the receiver. <<ETX>>
Violence, mental health, and physical symptoms in an academic internal medicine practice

AbstractOBJECTIVE: To assess how physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV), child abuse, and community violence relate to long-term mental and physical problems; to examine the overlap between different forms of violence and the impact of experiencing multiple forms of violence. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Three general internal medicine practices affiliated with an academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS: English-speaking women aged 25 to 60. MEASUREMENTS: Telephone or in-person interview and chart review. RESULTS: One hundred seventy-four women completed interviews. A majority of participants experienced more than one form of violence. In separate multivariate analyses, each form of violence was associated with depressive symptoms or with at least 6 chronic physical symptoms, after adjustment for demographic factors and substance abuse. The degree of association with health outcomes was similar for each form of violence (odds ratio [OR], 2.4 to 3.9; P<.003). The association with chronic physical symptoms remained significant for IPV (OR, 3.3; P<.002) and community violence (OR, 3.4; P<.003), even after adjustment for depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. There were dose-response relationships between the number of forms of violence experienced and the odds of depressive symptoms and the odds of multiple chronic physical symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple types of victimizations may contribute to patients’ current mental health and physical problems. Research or clinical protocols that only focus on one form of violence may underestimate the complexity of women’s experiences and needs.
Modified densely connected convolutional network for content generation in automatic image description generation system

Automatic image description generation is a challenging task in computer vision and computational linguistics. It helps people to get access to social media images easily. Content generation and surface realization are two important phases of this task. Deep learning techniques have a major role in content generation phase. The important scenario in content generation is object recognition. Deep learning algorithms produce better results compared to classical machine learning techniques. In this paper, we will explain a modified densely connected convolution network(Densenet) for object classification.
Development, characterization, and cross-amplification of 16 microsatellite primers for Atriplex tatarica (Amaranthaceae)1

Premise of the study: Microsatellite primers were developed to characterize the genetic diversity and structure of the annual herb Atriplex tatarica (Amaranthaceae) and to facilitate ecological and evolutionary studies of A. tatarica and its relatives. Methods and Results: Sixteen novel microsatellite primers were developed for A. tatarica based on high-throughput sequencing of enriched libraries. All markers were polymorphic, with the number of alleles per locus ranging from three to 25 and observed and expected heterozygosity ranging from 0.08 to 0.74 and 0.10 to 0.87, respectively. In addition, some of these loci were successfully amplified and showed polymorphisms in four Atriplex and seven Chenopodium species. Conclusions: The microsatellite markers published here will be useful in assessing genetic diversity, structure, and gene flow within and across populations of A. tatarica, as well as in other species of Atriplex and the related genus Chenopodium.
Aprotinin Could Promote Arterial Thrombosis in Pigs: a Prospective Randomized, Blind Study

Summary Haemostatic properties of aprotinin could be associated with an increased risk of thrombosis. A randomized, blinded study was conducted to consider the potential thrombogenicity of aprotinin, using the Fobs’ model on femoral arteries in 12 pigs. The flow variations were measured by a pulsed Doppler in anaesthetised animals. Ear immersion bleeding time was performed. During the first part of the study, a stenosis was performed successively on both femoral arteries, each for a period of 30 min, without prior injury, to assess the integrity of the vessel, and to check that the arteries did not develop cyclic flow reductions (CFR), permanent cessation of flow (PCF) or partial thrombosis, when a stenosis is applied. Then the clamp was released and a bolus of placebo (saline), or aprotinin (4 millions KIU, followed by a continuous infusion of 1 million KIU · h−1), was administered. At the end of the bolus, the second part of the study began. Stenosis was applied to the arteries. If CRF, PCF, or partial thrombosis were observed without prior injury then the infused drug (aprotinin or saline) was considered a prothrombotic drug, and the opposite artery was studied. For each animal, right and left femoral artery segments were fixed and studied (morphologic study). Eighteen arteries were studied. In the aprotinin group, 6 arteries out of 8 developed an unexpected thrombosis, as compared with only 2 out of 10 arteries in the control group (p = 0.02). The morphologic study confirmed the occurrence of thrombosis in 4 out of 7 arteries in the aprotinin group, as compared with only 1 out of 9 in the control group. The ear immersion bleeding time was not different in either group. No difference could be demonstrated with regard to the values of activated partial thromboplastin time, prothrombin time and fibrinogen. Aprotinin may have promoted the development of thrombosis in the pig.
A 90nm Phase Change Memory Technology for Stand-Alone Non-Volatile Memory Applications

A 90nm technology node phase change memory (PCM) process, based on a chalcogenide material storage element with a vertical pnp bipolar junction transistor (BJT) selector device, is presented. The small cell area of 12F2, the good electrical results, and the intrinsic reliability demonstrate the viability of the PCM cell concept. Programming currents as low as 400muA, very good distributional data achieved on multi-megabit arrays for programming (set and reset), endurance, and retention, demonstrate the suitability of PCM for fabrication of a high density array at 90nm
Human-Murine Transthyretin Heterotetramers Are Kinetically Stable and Non-amyloidogenic

The transthyretin amyloidoses appear to be caused by rate-limiting tetramer dissociation and partial monomer unfolding of the human serum protein transthyretin, resulting in aggregation and extracellular deposition of amorphous aggregates and amyloid fibrils. Mice transgenic for few copies of amyloid-prone human transthyretin variants, including the aggressive L55P mutant, failed to develop deposits. Silencing the murine transthyretin gene in the presence of the L55P human gene resulted in enhanced tissue deposition. To test the hypothesis that the murine protein interacted with human transthyretin, preventing the dissociation and partial unfolding required for amyloidogenesis, we produced recombinant murine transthyretin and human/murine transthyretin heterotetramers and compared their structures and biophysical properties to recombinant human transthyretin. We found no significant differences between the crystal structures of murine and human homotetramers. Murine transthyretin is not amyloidogenic because the native homotetramer is kinetically stable under physiologic conditions and cannot dissociate into partially unfolded monomers, the misfolding and aggregation precursor. Heterotetramers composed of murine and human subunits are also kinetically stable. These observations explain the lack of transthyretin deposition in transgenics carrying a low copy number of human transthyretin genes. The incorporation of mouse subunits into tetramers otherwise composed of human amyloid-prone transthyretin subunits imposes kinetic stability, preventing dissociation and subsequent amyloidogenesis.
Safety glasses RFID antennas

This paper investigates the performance of RFID antennas on safety glasses. Dipole antennas have been designed to match an RFID chip and have been placed in different locations on standard safety glasses. The performance of the antenna is evaluated through simulations and measurements. Top center location is found to be best for optimal transmission in free space and when the glasses are worn. Reading range decreases by around 60% when the antenna is in close proximity to the human body.
Exploring the Impact of a Faculty-in-Residence Program on the Student Experience

Research shows faculty-student interactions outside of the classroom positively impact students’ holistic development. Throughout history, a number of universities have created space in residential education for these meaningful interactions to occur by allowing faculty to reside in student housing. This study explored the student benefits of a faculty-in-residence program at a private liberal arts and sciences university in the Midwest. Through the utilization of a mixed methods approach, the researcher developed a deeper understanding around the phenomenon of faculty-student interactions within a faculty-in-residence program. According to this study, the majority of students participate in the program in some capacity. Still, the benefit of their participation hinges primarily on their level of engagement, which the research defined as the “physical and physiological energy” invested into a particular end (Astin, 1999, p. 519). Although students with little engagement alluded to feeling supported by the presence of faculty in the residence hall, higher education professionals could improve the program’s impact by addressing some of the factors shaping a student’s willingness to engage. A faculty-inresidence program offers a unique opportunity for universities to redefine learning for students in meaningful ways. If institutions utilize faculty-in-residence programs at their highest capacity, students who engage could greatly benefit.
Cryptorchidism Is Not a Risk Factor for Antisperm Antibody Production in Post-Orchidopexy Males with Infertility

Introduction: Infertility in adulthood is a well-recognized consequence of cryptorchidism, even after successful orchidopexy. Autoimmune reactions against spermatozoa are associated with infertility and often found in cryptorchids. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the linkage between antisperm antibody (ASA) and cryptorchidism, and furthermore, to clarify whether ASA is involved in cryptorchidism-associated infertility. Materials and Methods: We investigated a total of 48 infertile males with a history of unilateral (n = 30) or bilateral (n = 18) cryptorchidism who had undergone successful orchidopexy in prepuberty, and 20 age-matched fertile and healthy males were collected as controls. ASA in sperm samples was detected by the direct immunobead test, and semen analysis was performed concomitantly. Results: No infertile case satisfied the diagnostic criteria of ASA-mediated infertility set forth by the World Health Organization. Decreases in both sperm concentration and motility accompanied by increases in abnormal morphology were seen in infertile cryptorchids when compared with the healthy controls. Conclusions: Testicular heat exposure in prepuberty is not a risk factor for ASA production. It is evident that the mechanisms that underlie cryptorchidism-associated infertility do not involve ASA. Poor sperm characteristics in cryptorchids resulting from thermal damage to the testes seem to be responsible for their infertility, even after successful orchidopexy.
Predicting performance – a dynamic capability view

Purpose Production planning and resource allocation are ongoing issues that organisations face on a day-to-day basis. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues by developing a dynamic performance measurement system (DPMS) to effectively re-deploy manufacturing resources, thus enhancing the decision-making process in optimising performance output. The study also explores the development of dynamic capabilities through exploitation of the organisational tacit knowledge. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted using six-stage action research for developing DPMS with real-time control of independent variables on the production lines to study the impact. The DPMS was developed using a hybrid approach of discrete event simulation and system dynamics by using the historical as well as live data from the action case organisation. Findings Through the development of DPMS and by combining the explicit and tacit knowledge, this study demonstrated an understanding of using cause and effect analysis in manufacturing systems to predict performance. Such a DPMS creates agility in decision making and significantly enhances the decision-making process under uncertainty. The research also explored how the resources can be developed and maintained into dynamic capabilities to sustain competitive advantage. Research limitations/implications The present study provides a starting-point for further research in other manufacturing organisations to generalise findings. Originality/value The originality of the DPMS model comes from the approach used to build the cause and effect analysis by exploiting the tacit knowledge and making it dynamic by adding modelling capabilities. Originality also comes from the hybrid approach used in developing the DPMS.