Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epidemiologic Factors and Urogenital Infections Associated With Preterm Birth in a Midwestern U.S. Population

OBJECTIVE: To correlate epidemiologic factors with urogenital infections associated with preterm birth. METHODS: Pregnant women were sequentially included from four Wisconsin cohorts: large urban, midsize urban, small city, and rural city. Demographic, clinical, and current pregnancy data were collected. Cervical and urine specimens were analyzed by microscopy, culture, and polymerase chain reaction for potential pathogens. RESULTS: Six hundred seventy-six women were evaluated. Fifty-four (8.0%) had preterm birth: 12.1% (19/157) large urban, 8.8% (15/170) midsize urban, 9.4% (16/171) small city, and 2.3% (4/178) rural city. Associated host factors and infections varied significantly among sites. Urogenital infection rates, especially Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma parvum, were highest at the large urban site. Large urban site, minority ethnicity, multiple infections, and certain historical factors were associated with preterm birth by univariable analysis. By multivariable analysis, preterm birth was associated with prior preterm birth (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.76, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.27–6.02) and urinary tract infection (aOR 2.62, 95% CI 1.32–519), and negatively associated with provider-assessed good health (aOR 0.42, 95% CI 0.23–0.76) and group B streptococcal infection treatment (surrogate for health care use) (aOR 0.38, 95% CI 0.15–.99). Risk and protective factors were similar for women with birth at less than 35 weeks, and additionally associated with M hominis (aOR 3.6, 95% CI 1.4–9.7). CONCLUSION: These measured differences among sites are consistent with observations that link epidemiologic factors, both environmental and genetic, with minimally pathogenic vaginal bacteria, inducing preterm birth, especially at less than 35 weeks of gestation. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II
Coping strategy use, personality, and adjustment of parents rearing children with developmental disabilities.

BACKGROUND Parents rearing children with developmental disabilities encounter stressors that require coping and adaptation. In Glidden et al. 2006, the use of problem-focused coping strategies was more often associated with positive adjustment outcomes than was the use of emotion-focused coping strategies, and parental personality was shown to influence outcomes, with Neuroticism, in particular, associated with lower well-being. METHOD In the current study we aimed to replicate these results for adjustment outcomes measured 6 years later. Sixty-eight married couples parenting at least one child with developmental disabilities completed measures of depression and subjective well-being, and the Transition Daily Rewards and Worries Questionnaire, an inventory that assesses parental reaction to children transitioning into adulthood. RESULTS For both mothers and fathers, combinations of personality factors and coping strategies were able to significantly predict outcome variables measured 6 years later. Personality, however, was a better predictor for mothers, whereas coping strategies predicted more variance for fathers. Distancing, especially, demonstrated mother-father differences. CONCLUSIONS For the most part, the current results demonstrated that the relations among personality, coping and parental outcomes were consistent and stable over the 6-year interval. In addition, although we found some differences between mothers and fathers, there were also many similarities in the frequency of use of different coping strategies, and in the direction of influence of personality and coping strategy on outcome variables.
Can method data dependencies support the assessment of traceability between requirements and source code?

Requirements traceability benefits many software engineering activities, such as change impact analysis and risk assessment. However, these activities require complete and correct traceability links which is not trivial, making traceability assessment an important field of study. In recent years, requirements traceability research has focused on using call dependencies within source code to understand how code properties contribute to the implementation of a requirement and to assess whether traceability links are correct and complete. These approaches largely ignore the role of existing data dependencies within the source code. That is, methods may never call each other, but may still depend upon another by sharing data. We identified five research questions and validated them on five software systems, covering 4 to 72 KLOC. We found that data dependencies are as relevant as call dependencies for assessing requirements traceability. Even more interesting, our analyses show that data dependencies complement call dependencies in the assessment. These findings have strong implications on code understanding, including trace capture, maintenance, and validation techniques. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Towards a metatheory of accounting information systems

The purpose of this paper is to articulate a model for accounting information systems (AIS) research that synthesizes the primary theoretical perspectives of the extant literature. Building on the three orientations used in prior research (technological, organizational and cognitive approaches) and adopting an explicit systems perspective, we develop a model that links system design alternatives to the three orientations and to task performance. The model places a central focus on the accounting task and suggests a matching process between requirements of the task and system design alternatives at multiple levels of analysis. We also demonstrate how the application of the model suggests future research opportunities, organized around four research propositions. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
B-ZIP proteins encoded by the Drosophila genome: evaluation of potential dimerization partners.

The basic region-leucine zipper (B-ZIP) (bZIP) protein motif dimerizes to bind specific DNA sequences. We have identified 27 B-ZIP proteins in the recently sequenced Drosophila melanogaster genome. The dimerization specificity of these 27 B-ZIP proteins was evaluated using two structural criteria: (1) the presence of attractive or repulsive interhelical g<-->e' electrostatic interactions and (2) the presence of polar or charged amino acids in the 'a' and 'd' positions of the hydrophobic interface. None of the B-ZIP proteins contain only aliphatic amino acids in the'a' and 'd' position. Only six of the Drosophila B-ZIP proteins contain a "canonical" hydrophobic interface like the yeast GCN4, and the mammalian JUN, ATF2, CREB, C/EBP, and PAR leucine zippers, characterized by asparagine in the second 'a' position. Twelve leucine zippers contain polar amino acids in the first, third, and fourth 'a' positions. Circular dichroism spectroscopy, used to monitor thermal denaturations of a heterodimerizing leucine zipper system containing either valine (V) or asparagine (N) in the 'a' position, indicates that the V-N interaction is 2.3 kcal/mole less stable than an N-N interaction and 5.3 kcal/mole less stable than a V-V interaction. Thus, we propose that the presence of polar amino acids in novel positions of the 'a' position of Drosophila B-ZIP proteins has led to leucine zippers that homodimerize rather than heterodimerize.
Cleavage of proBDNF by tPA/Plasmin Is Essential for Long-Term Hippocampal Plasticity

Long-term memory is thought to be mediated by protein synthesis–dependent, late-phase long-term potentiation (L-LTP). Two secretory proteins, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), have been implicated in this process, but their relationship is unclear. Here we report that tPA, by activating the extracellular protease plasmin, converts the precursor proBDNF to the mature BDNF (mBDNF), and that such conversion is critical for L-LTP expression in mouse hippocampus. Moreover, application of mBDNF is sufficient to rescue L-LTP when protein synthesis is inhibited, which suggests that mBDNF is a key protein synthesis product for L-LTP expression.
Impact of Communication Medium and Computer Support on Group Perceptions and Performance: A Comparison of Face-to-Face and Dispersed Meetings

Economic, social, and political institutions worldwide are relying increasingly on communication technology to perform a variety of functions: holding electronic town meetings where hundreds of people in numerous cities participate simultaneously; forging strategic links with business partners, thereby forming "virtual corporations" that can be instantly disbanded; redefining the conventional notion of a college campus by offering classes via interactive media to non-traditional students; and enabling consumers with personal digital assistants to remain connected with their children and families at all times. In this environment, where geographic and temporal boundaries are shrinking rapidly, electronic meeting systems (EMS) are playing an important role. This study examines the impact of teams on using EMS in dispersed and face-to-face settings. The results suggest that EMS can be effective in augmenting traditional audio-conferencing by strengthening the medium and allowing additional communication use to be exchanged among participants. They also indicate that EMS can improve decision-making performance, given proper task-technology fit and adequate facilitation. As businesses expand globally, such systems will provide instant communication capabilities and help coordinate dispersed decision-making activities.
Study of the reliability of a binary symmetric channel under non‐Gaussian disturbances

The field of digital and data communications is becoming increasingly dominant because digital transmission offers data processing options and flexibilities not available with analog transmission. The main feature of a digital communication system is that during a finite interval of time, it sends a waveform from a finite set of possible waveform. One of the most important and fundamental models of communications channels is the binary symmetric channel (BSC). An important measure of system performance in a digital communication system is the probability of error. In this paper, the probability of error, the reliability, the entropy and the channel capacity of a BSC model are studied under non‐Gaussian noise disturbances. Namely, Cauchy, Laplace and logistic distributions are considered. It is found that the reliability of the signaling system is low under non‐Gaussian noise distributions compared to the Gaussian noise distribution. Several methods were used to reduce the error probability. The amount of improvement in reliability using the reduction methods is higher in the case of Gaussian noise. In order to achieve high reliability under non‐Gaussian noise distribution, it is required to increase signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) and increase number of repetitions when sending the same signal different times. Finally, it is observed that increasing the reliability for Cauchy distribution noise has totally failed based on sending the same signal different times and summing the received signals. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Real-time underactuated robot swing-up via fuzzy PI+PD control

In this paper a new fuzzy PI+PD controller, which includes a Dynamic Switching Fuzzy System (DSFS), is applied to swing-up an underactuated mechanism: the pendubot. This mechanism consists of a double pendulum actuated only at the first joint. This new controller and its real-time application to the pendubot constitute our original contribution.
An improved particle swarm optimisation with a linearly decreasing disturbance term for flow shop scheduling with limited buffers

The flow shop scheduling problem with limited buffers is a typical combinational optimisation problem that is NP-hard. In this article, an improved particle swarm optimisation with a linearly decreasing disturbance term (LDPSO) is presented for permutation flow shop scheduling with limited buffers between consecutive machines to minimise the maximum completion time (i.e. the makespan). A linearly decreasing disturbance term was added to the velocity, updating formula of the standard particle swarm optimisation algorithm. The decision probability of the linearly decreasing disturbance term was used to control the utilisation of the global exploration operation and the local exploitation search based on problem-specific information so as to prevent premature convergence and concentrate computing efforts on promising neighbour solutions. Theoretical analysis based on previous studies showed that the improved algorithm converged to the global optimum at a probability of 1. The ranked-order-value encoded method transferred the continuous particle position of the LDPSO to the order sequence. Furthermore, the neighbour search strategy based on block guaranteed that the entire order sequence could be searched. Simulation results and comparisons based on benchmarks demonstrate the effectiveness of the LDPSO. The effects of buffer size and decision probability on optimisation performance are discussed in this article.
Vaccine protection by a triple deletion mutant of simian immunodeficiency virus

Twelve rhesus monkeys were vaccinated with SIVmac316 delta nef (lacking nef sequences), and 12 were vaccinated with SIVmac239 delta3 (lacking nef, vpr, and upstream sequences in U3). SIVmac316 and SIVmac239 differ by only eight amino acids in the envelope; these changes render SIVmac316 highly competent for replication in macrophages. Seventeen of the animals developed persistent infections with the vaccine viruses. Seven of the 24 vaccinated animals, however, developed infections that were apparently transient in nature. Six of these seven yielded virus from peripheral blood when tested at weeks 2 and/or 3, three of the seven had transient antibody responses, but none of the seven had persisting antibody responses. The 24 monkeys were challenged in groups of four with 10 rhesus monkey infectious doses of wild-type, pathogenic SIVmac251 at weeks 8, 20, and 79 following receipt of vaccine. None of the seven with apparently transient infections with vaccine virus were protected upon subsequent challenge. Analysis of cell-associated viral loads, CD4+ cell counts, and viral gene sequences present in peripheral blood in the remainder of the monkeys following challenge allowed a number of conclusions. (i) There was a trend toward increased protection with length of time of vaccination. (ii) Solid vaccine protection was achieved by 79 weeks with the highly attenuated SIV239 delta3. (iii) Solid long-term protection was achieved in at least two animals in the absence of complete sterilizing immunity. (iv) Genetic backbone appeared to influence protective capacity; animals vaccinated with SIV239 delta3 were better protected than animals receiving SIV316 delta nef. This better protection correlated with increased levels of the replicating vaccine strain. (v) The titer of virus-neutralizing activity in serum on the day of challenge correlated with protection when measured against a primary stock of SIVmac251 but not when measured against a laboratory-passaged stock. The level of binding antibodies to whole virus by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay also correlated with protection.
MicroRNA-16 feedback loop with p53 and Wip1 can regulate cell fate determination between apoptosis and senescence in DNA damage response

Cell fate regulation is an open problem whose comprehension impacts several areas of the biosciences. DNA damage induces cell cycle checkpoints that activate the p53 pathway to regulate cell fate mechanisms such as apoptosis or senescence. Experiments with different cell types show that the p53 pathway regulates cell fate through a switch behavior in its dynamics. For low DNA damage the pathway presents an oscillatory pattern associated with intense DNA damage repair while for high damage there are no oscillations and either p53 concentration increases inducing apoptosis or the cell enters a senescence state. Apoptosis and senescence phenotypes seem to have compensatory functions in tissues and the microRNA 16–1 (miR-16) is involved in the regulation of the fate between both phenotypes in cancer cells. To investigate the regulation of cell fate we developed a logical model of the G1/S checkpoint in DNA damage response that takes into account different levels of damage and contemplates the influence of miR-16 through its positive feedback loop formed with p53 and Wip1. The model reproduces the observed cellular phenotypes in experiments: oscillatory (for low DNA damage) regulated by negative feedback loops involving mainly p53 and Mdm2 and apoptotic or senescent (for high DNA damage) regulated by the positive p53/Wip1/miR-16 feedback loop. We find good agreement between the level of DNA damage and the probability of the phenotype produced according to experiments. We also find that this positive feedback makes senescent and apoptotic phenotypes to be determined stochastically (bistable), however controlling the expression level of miR-16 allows the control of fate determination as observed experimentally.
Agent-based simulation of multiple-round timber combinatorial auction

This paper presents a simulation-based analysis of a multiple-round timber combinatorial auction in the timber industry. Currently, most timber auctions are single-unit auctions (i.e., each forest stand is sold separately). However, other types of auctions could be applied to take advantage of the various needs of the bidders with respect to species, volumes, and quality. This study aims to analyze the use of combinatorial auction to this specific context using a simulation approach. Various number of auctions per year, periodicity, lot size, and number of bidders are considered as parameters to set up the different market configurations. The outcomes of both combinatorial auction and single-unit auction are compared with respect to different setup configurations. This analysis shows that combinatorial auction can bring more profit for both seller and buyer when the market is less competitive.
Phase I pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic study of the aurora kinase inhibitor danusertib in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors.

PURPOSE Danusertib (PHA-739358) is a small-molecule pan-aurora kinase inhibitor. This phase I dose escalation study was conducted to evaluate safety and tolerability of danusertib with additional pharmacokinetic, biomarker, and efficacy assessments. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with solid tumors refractory to standard therapies or with no standard therapy available were enrolled. Danusertib was administered intravenously on days 1, 8, and 15 every 28 days in 6-hour or 3-hour infusion schedules (ie, 6-hour IVS or 3-hour IVS). Dose levels from 45 mg/m(2) in the 6-hour IVS, and from 250 mg/m(2) in the 3-hour IVS, were studied. RESULTS Fifty patients were treated. For the 6-hour IVS, the most frequently reported adverse effects were neutropenia (55%), nausea (25%), anorexia (23%), fatigue (20%), and diarrhea (18%). In the 3-hour IVS, fatigue (70%), neutropenia (60%), diarrhea (50%), and nausea (30%) were seen. Nonhematologic toxicity was mild to moderate. Neutropenia was dose limiting. The maximum-tolerated dose was 330 mg/m(2) for the 6-hour IVS and was not identified for the 3-hour IVS. The systemic exposure to danusertib increased linearly with dose. The infusion rate did not appear to remarkably influence the pharmacokinetics of danusertib. Biomarker analysis showed inhibition of histone H3 phosphorylation, indicative of aurora B inhibition, at doses of 190 mg/m(2) or greater. Stable disease was observed in 23.7% of evaluable patients, and disease stabilization occurred in 6 or more months in five patients. CONCLUSION Dose-limiting toxicity of danusertib is neutropenia, which was short lasting and generally uncomplicated; danusertib administration had limited nonhematologic toxicity. The recommended dose of danusertib for phase II studies is 330 mg/m(2) infused over 6 hours on days 1, 8, and 15 every 28 days.
New Modes of Governance in Europe: Policy Making without Legislating? IHS Political Science Series: 2002, No. 81

The article analyzes new modes of governance in Europe. Firstly, different types of new governance, the open coordination method and voluntary accords, and their individual elements are identified. The theoretical discussion about them points out the reasons of their emergence, their mode of operation and the links to the ‘classical’ forms of decision-making. Secondly the simple question of the relative importance of new modes of governance in European policy-making is raised. Looking at the policy measures from the beginning of 2000 until July 2001, the analysis found that only a minority of measures can be considered new modes of governance, defined in the above terms. A third question raised concerns political institutional capacity. Finally the question or instrumental capacity or effectiveness is raised.
Lyapunov functions for switched linear hyperbolic systems

Systems of conservation laws and systems of balance laws are considered in this paper. These kinds of infinite dimensional systems are described by a linear hyperbolic partial differential equation with and without a linear source term. The dynamics and the boundary conditions are subject to a switching signal that is a piecewise constant function. By means of Lyapunov techniques some sufficient conditions are given for the exponential stability of the switching system, uniformly for all switching signals. Different cases are considered depending on the presence or not of the linear source term in the hyperbolic equation, and depending on the dwell time assumption on the switching signals. Some numerical simulations are also given to illustrate some main results, and to motivate this study.