Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Values at the Water ’ s Edge : Social Welfare Values and Foreign Aid

What explains variation in public opinion about foreign aid in donor countries? The conventional wisdom points to the importance of values related to the welfare state such as economic ideology. Scholars argue that liberals, who support redistribution at home, also support redistribution abroad in the form of foreign aid. Yet, the conditions under which individuals apply values learned in the domestic political context to issues of foreign policy remain undertheorized. In this article, I argue that ideology interacts with foreign policy orientation – individuals’ placement along the internationalist/isolationist spectrum – to shape mass attitudes towards foreign aid. Using data from public opinion surveys fielded in the U.S., UK, and Norway, I show that ideology is strongly associated with support for foreign aid among internationalists, but has little effect on isolationists’ foreign aid preferences. This effect is due to a split among liberals: Liberal internationalists strongly favor foreign aid, but liberal isolationists oppose it. These findings help explain why support for foreign aid is so low in some countries, why domestic welfare programs are often more popular than foreign aid, and why some countries have generous welfare states but are foreign aid laggards. The theory and findings have important implications more generally for understanding the externalization of domestic political values to issues of foreign policy. ∗I would like to thank the Laboratory for the Study of American Values for generously supporting my survey instruments and the participants in the Lab seminar for their help in the development of the instruments. I would also like to thank Josh Kertzer, Jonathan Renshon, Jonathan Rodden, Elizabeth Saunders, Rachel Stein, Ken Schultz, Paul Sniderman, and Mike Tomz for providing feedback on early drafts of the paper. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE-1147470. The ideas presented in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. All errors are my own.
Acquisition of resistance genes by the IncQ plasmid R1162 is limited by its high copy number and lack of a partitioning mechanism

R1162 is a representative member of the broad-host-range IncQ group of multicopy plasmids. Lower-copy-number derivatives of R1162 were constructed in vitro and shown to be unstable, indicating that partitioning of plasmid copies at cell division is due to random distribution and not to an active partitioning mechanism. However, the normal copy number of R1162 reduces cell fitness during growth in broth and favors the emergence of unstable, lower-copy-number variants. As a result, plasmid-borne antibiotic resistance genes active at a low copy number eventually result in plasmid loss during periods of no selection. We argue that the maintenance of R1162 in a population requires a gene that is selected only at high levels. This reduces the potential for acquiring genes from other R factors and could explain the limited variety of antibiotic resistance genes contained by naturally occurring IncQ plasmids.
Early or Delayed Endoscopic Papillotomy (EPT) in Gallstone Pancreatitis

In 29 patients with gallstone pancreatitis, endoscopic papillotomy was performed during the first period (1976–1979) as elective procedure 1–8 weeks after the clinical symptoms had subsided. From 1979, endoscopic investigations and treatment were routinely done within 48 hours after the onset of clinical symptoms. The ERCPs and EPTs were well-tolerated and were performed without serious complications. The results of these series indicate that EPT can be safely performed in the acute stage of gallstone pancreatitis. Acute EPT gives effective drainage and relief of the acute symptoms in patients with obstructive pancreatitis.
Association between possible sleep bruxism and sleep characteristics in children

Abstract Aims: To evaluate the relationship between possible sleep bruxism and sleep characteristics in children. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted through data collection of a pre-tested questionnaire answered by 111 parents on behalf of their children in the waiting room during their appointment at the Pediatric Dentistry Clinic of a public Brazilian university. The diagnosis of possible sleep bruxism was based on the international classification of sleep disorders (ICSD) criteria. The Chi-square test and logistic multinomial regression test were used in the statistical analysis. Results: The final model of logistic multinomial regression demonstrated that children with muscle pain in the mouth region (OR = 19.70 95% IC = 1.82–212.69), snoring (OR = 8.25 95% IC = 2, 56–26, 54), and those with parents with possible sleep bruxism have more of a probability of sleep bruxism. Conclusion: Potential sleep bruxism tends to be hereditary. Muscle pain, snoring, and mouth breathing were important signals associated with possible sleep bruxism among children.
Productions in bilinguism , early foreign lan a prosodic comp

The degree of L2 foreign accent is likely to vary, according to the age of the acquisition, the length of contact with L2 and the possible interaction between L1 and L2. This study examined how children who master French and English at different levels pronounce disyllabic words in both languages. Acoustic analysis (F0, duration and amplitude) of syllables in disyllabic words were compared between 8 bilingual children (French-English, aged between 3;6 and 6;1 years) and 16 monolingual children (8 French children and 8 English children of the same age) and confronted to the analysis of 20 (7 years aged) early French Learners of English (FLE) children. Results showed that the bilingual children acquired prosodic patterns in both languages. However, the accent of their disyllabic words differed from those of the monolingual children. French 7 years old-aged learners of English, after only two years of acquisition, produced the native-like accent. Our findings modulate the “critical age” hypothesis and bring some new elements in favour of the L1 and L2 obligatory interaction hypothesis.
Development of a complex hydrogel of hyaluronan and PVA embedded with silver nanoparticles and its facile studies on Escherichia coli

Novel nanocomposite hydrogels composed of hyaluronan (HA), poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and silver nanoparticles were prepared by several cycles of freezing and thawing. The nanocomposite was then characterised using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The complex hydrogels consisted of semi-interpenetrating network structures, with PVA microcrystallines as junction zones. By increasing the HA content, the crystallinity and melting temperature of the complex hydrogels decreased, whereas the glass transition temperatures of these materials increased because of the steric hindrance of HA and the occurrence of intermolecular interactions through hydrogen bonding between HA and PVA in the complex hydrogels. Swelling studies showed that in comparison with the swelling properties of the cryogels from PVA alone, those of the complex hydrogels can be significantly improved and presented in a pH-sensitive manner. In addition, silver nanoparticles were synthesised through UV-initiated photoreduction with HA functioning as a reducing agent and stabiliser. The silver nanoparticles were then incorporated in situ into the HA/PVA complex hydrogel matrix. The size and morphology of the as-prepared Ag nanoparticles were investigated through ultraviolet–visible light spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, XRD and thermogravimetric analysis. The experimental results indicated that silver nanoparticles 20–50 nm in size were uniformly dispersed in the hydrogel matrix. The antibacterial effects of the HA/PVA/Ag nanocomposite hydrogel against Escherichia coli were evaluated. The results show that this nanocomposite hydrogel possesses high antibacterial property and has a potential application as a wound dressing material.
Model predictive control of a robotically actuated delivery sheath for beating heart compensation

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) during cardiovascular interventions reduces trauma and enables the treatment of high-risk patients who were initially denied surgery. However, restricted access, reduced visibility and control of the instrument at the treatment locations limits the performance and capabilities of such interventions during MIS. Therefore, the demand for technology such as steerable sheaths or catheters that assist the clinician during the procedure is increasing. In this study, we present and evaluate a robotically actuated delivery sheath (RADS) capable of autonomously and accurately compensating for beating heart motions by using a model-predictive control (MPC) strategy. We develop kinematic models and present online ultrasound segmentation of the RADS that are integrated with the MPC strategy. As a case study, we use pre-operative ultrasound images from a patient to extract motion profiles of the aortic heart valve (AHV). This allows the MPC strategy to anticipate for AHV motions. Further, mechanical hysteresis in the steering mechanism is compensated for in order to improve tip positioning accuracy. The novel integrated system is capable of controlling the articulating tip of the RADS to assist the clinician during cardiovascular surgery. Experiments demonstrate that the RADS follows the AHV motion with a mean positioning error of 1.68 mm. The presented modelling, imaging and control framework could be adapted and applied to a range of continuum-style robots and catheters for various cardiovascular interventions.
Fiber material dependent QoS analysis and OVPN connection setup over WDM/DWDM network

In this paper, we suggest a QoS based OVPN framework depending on delay. Now-a-days QoS assurances by the service provider network for Optical Virtual Network (OVPN) over GMPLS/DWDM network are a demanding factor for telecommunication clients. The proposed framework computes wavelength dependent delay for all possible OVPN connections for a source and destination pair of a client and finally setup a qualitatively best OVPN connection and provides a guaranteed quality of service (QoS). This framework also computes the QoS for different fiber materials in order to choose the right material, which can help to improve the QoS for an OVPN connection.
Named Entity Recognition of Indian Origin Names in English Documents

Named Entity Recognition (NER) is the task of identifying and classifying all proper nouns in a document as person names, organization names, location names, date & time expressions and miscellaneous. There has been a growing interest in this field since early 1990s. Earlier, work has been done on NER taking English language as the medium. Apart from that some researchers have also tried their hands on Hindi and regional languages such as Telugu. The objective of our project is to identify names of Indian origin in English documents. The idea is to cover cross-linguistic aspects of text while performing NER on Indian names. The proposed project mainly distinguishes persons, organizations, locations and contact numbers in a document. The approach adopted is mainly unsupervised learning based on the feature space. Gazetteers are also used to improve the results of the experiment. The application is developed in C#. NET using the IDE of Visual Studio 2008.
National trends in CT use in the emergency department: 1995-2007.

PURPOSE To identify nationwide trends and factors associated with the use of computed tomography (CT) in the emergency department (ED). MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was exempt from institutional review board approval. Data from the 1995-2007 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey were used to evaluate the numbers and percentages of ED visits associated with CT. A mean of 30 044 visits were sampled each year. Data were also subcategorized according to multiple patient and hospital characteristics. The Rao-Scott χ(2) test was performed to determine whether CT use was similar across subpopulations. Data were evaluated according to exponential and logistic growth models. RESULTS From 1995 to 2007, the number of ED visits that included a CT examination increased from 2.7 million to 16.2 million, constituting a 5.9-fold increase and a compound annual growth rate of 16.0%. The percentage of visits associated with CT increased from 2.8% to 13.9%, constituting a 4.9-fold increase and a compound annual growth rate of 14.2%. The exponential growth model provided the best fit for the trend in CT use. CT use was greater in older patients, white patients, patients admitted to the hospital, and patients at facilities in metropolitan regions. By the end of the study period, the top chief complaints among those who underwent CT were abdominal pain, headache, and chest pain. The percentage of patient visits associated with CT for all evaluated chief complaints increased-most substantially among those who underwent CT for flank, abdominal, or chest pain. CONCLUSION Use of CT has increased at a higher rate in the ED than in other settings. The overall use of CT had not begun to taper by 2007.
Characterization of Soluble Enzyme II Complexes of the Escherichia coli Phosphotransferase System

ABSTRACT Plasmid-encoded His-tagged glucose permease of Escherichia coli, the enzyme IIBCGlc (IIGlc), exists in two physical forms, a membrane-integrated oligomeric form and a soluble monomeric form, which separate from each other on a gel filtration column (peaks 1 and 2, respectively). Western blot analyses using anti-His tag monoclonal antibodies revealed that although IIGlc from the two fractions migrated similarly in sodium dodecyl sulfate gels, the two fractions migrated differently on native gels both before and after Triton X-100 treatment. Peak 1 IIGlc migrated much more slowly than peak 2 IIGlc. Both preparations exhibited both phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent sugar phosphorylation activity and sugar phosphate-dependent sugar transphosphorylation activity. The kinetics of the transphosphorylation reaction catalyzed by the two IIGlc fractions were different: peak 1 activity was subject to substrate inhibition, while peak 2 activity was not. Moreover, the pH optima for the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent activities differed for the two fractions. The results provide direct evidence that the two forms of IIGlc differ with respect to their physical states and their catalytic activities. These general conclusions appear to be applicable to the His-tagged mannose permease of E. coli. Thus, both phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system enzymes exist in soluble and membrane-integrated forms that exhibit dissimilar physical and kinetic properties.
Balanced Scorecard; a Tool for Measuring and Modifying IT Governance in Healthcare Organizations

  Abstract—Nowadays healthcare organizations satisfy most of their needs and in some cases achieve a competitive advantage with using new technologies. Information technology is one of those technologies that is most popular in both operational and administrative activities. So in this way IT plans should be driven by an organization called IT governance organization. The ultimate goal of designing, developing and implementing the IT governance is to combine business and IT to access better financial results and find relationship between business and IT to achieve objectives with better financial measures. Thus IT balanced scorecard process which is leading to corporate contribution is a rational process and is used in this article as one of research methods. Balance scorecard is a well-known method in performance evaluation and also as controlling and monitoring mechanism in strategic management. In this article IT balanced scorecard is used as a framework for evaluating performance of IT governance in a health care organization, and evaluated and scored firm's position in four aspects: corporate contribution, stakeholders, operation excellence, and future orientation. As a result, addition to current IT governance position in the organization some strategies suggested for improving use of IT as an enabling business tool.
Distinguishing Starters From Nonstarters in an Employee Physical Activity Incentive Program

Although the vast majority of Americans who are physically active are likely to extol its many physical, psychological, and social values, research indicates that approximately fifty percent of individuals who start a formal physical activity program will drop out in six months or less. The present study employed stepwise discriminant analytical techniques in an attempt to distinguish starters from nonstarters in an innovative employee physical activity incentive program. The results indicated that a combination of health beliefs and lifestyle characteristics, health locus of control expectancies, and physiological characteristics accurately discriminated 81.7% of the starters and nonstarters. It was concluded that physical activity programs need to be designed, implemented, and marketed in such a manner as to attract individuals who are sedentary, smoke, are unable to cope with home-mediated stress, have an external health locus of control expectancy, and/or have a high cardiovascular disease-risk factor profile.
Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy in Preterm Infants: Antecedent Factors, Brain Imaging, and Outcome

Our objectives were to establish antecedent factors and patterns of brain injury and their prognostic value in preterm infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Essential inclusion criteria were gestation (GA) ≤36 wk, Apgar scores <5/<7 at 1/5 min, major resuscitation at birth, and a brain MRI <6 postnatal wk. At least one additional criterion was required of the following: abnormal intrapartum CTG, sentinel event, meconium, cord pH <7.0, neonatal seizures, and multiorgan failure. Antenatal and perinatal data and ≥2 y neurodevelopmental outcome were documented. Fifty-five infants (GA 26–36+6; median, 35 wk) were eligible; all had 1–6 (median, 3) additional criteria. Placental abruption was the commonest identifiable antecedent event. Evidence of infection was not prominent. Main sites of injury were basal ganglia (BG, 75%), mostly severe, white matter (WM, 89%), mostly mild, brainstem (44%), and cortex (58%). Brainstem injury was associated with severe BG, WM, and cortical injury. Two-year outcome: death (32%), cerebral palsy (26%, mostly severe quadriplegia), mild impairment (10%), and normal (32%). Significant central gray matter and brainstem injury was found in many preterm infants with HIE. Neonatal MRI findings allowed accurate prediction of neurodevelopmental outcome. Early MRI is feasible and a valuable tool in this poorly reported group of infants.
Expression of DNA topoisomerases in chronic proliferative kidney disease.

BACKGROUND Circulating autoantibodies to human topoisomerases have been reported in glomerular kidney disease associated with scleroderma and systemic lupus erythematosus. However, limited information is available about the expression of topoisomerases in the kidney under normal and pathological conditions. METHODS The expression of DNA topoisomerases I and IIalpha was studied by immunohistochemistry on archival biopsies from 70 patients with chronic renal diseases. Normal kidney tissue was examined for comparison. Topoisomerase I was detected by means of monoclonal antibody (mAb) C21, and topoisomerase IIalpha was detected by means of mAb Ki-S4. In addition, mAb Ki-M1p was used to assess the density of monocytic infiltrates. All parameters were assessed in a semiquantitative manner. RESULTS Glomerular topoisomerase IIalpha levels were increased in mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN), rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN), and lupus nephritis (LN) and were reduced in membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN), chronic transplant nephropathy (CTN), and tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN). Tubular epithelia displayed high topoisomerase IIalpha levels in mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis (MCGN), RPGN, TIN, miscellaneous entities (MISC) and LN, and displayed low levels in MPGN and CTN. Topoisomerase I expression was high in the glomeruli of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), MCGN, and RPGN and was extreme in LN, whereas it was strikingly diminished in the glomeruli of MGN, CTN, and TIN. Almost all conditions displayed lower tubular topoisomerase I levels than normal kidney, except for LN, in which the enzyme content was markedly increased. Increased glomerular monocytic infiltrates were found in FSGS, MCGN, RPGN, TIN, and LN, and tubulointerstitial Ki-M1p+ cells were seen at high numbers in MCGN, RPGN, TIN, MISC, and LN. The expression of the topoisomerases I and IIalpha was significantly correlated; also, topoisomerases showed a positive association with the density of monocytic infiltrates. The parameter profiles exhibited significant differences between distinct types of chronic renal disease. CONCLUSION Topoisomerase IIalpha expression is tightly linked to cell cycling, and topoisomerase I is likely a reflection of gene transcription. Rapidly progressing glomerular disease therefore appears to be accompanied by active mesangial cell proliferation and increased metabolic activity in glomerular cells. The correlation with inflammatory infiltrates is likely to reflect a positive feedback mechanism involving cytokines, growth factors, and adhesion molecules. Assessment of topoisomerases may therefore be of diagnostic help and might allow prognostic predictions. Provided that our observations are supported by clinicopathological follow-up studies, one might envisage the use of topoisomerase inhibitors in the therapy of chronic proliferative renal disease refractory to current treatment protocols.
A Current-Fed Multiresonant Converter with Low Circulating Energy and Zero-Current Switching for High Step-Up Power Conversion

A high-efficiency high step-up dc-dc converter is proposed for renewable energy harvesting, where the sustainable power sources, such as PV panels and fuel cells, are characterized by low-voltage high-current output. The proposed converter employs the current-fed half-bridge structure to generate a square-wave current source. Then, a multiresonant tank is used to provide high voltage gain, absorb the parasitic parameters of the transformer, and create zero-current switching (ZCS) condition for all primary switches. By applying a single capacitor instead of LC for the output filter, the maximum voltage of the resonant capacitor is clamped to the output voltage, which reduces the circulating energy within the circuit and offers ZCS to the rectifying diodes. The operation principle is introduced and the steady-state analysis is also carried out for the derivation of the dc voltage gain and the ZCS conditions of the primary switches. The performance of the proposed converter was verified by a 150-W prototype. A peak efficiency of 95.2% was achieved by running the prototype at 255 kHz with 23-V input and 350-V output.
Photoacoustic signal measurement using thin film Fabry-Perot optical interferometer for photoacoustic microscopy

A photoacoustic signal measurement system using Fabry-Perot optical interferometer (FPI) for microscopy is presented. Most of the photoacoustic imaging systems have limitation by opaque ultrasound transducer in the alignment system setup. Thus, the excitation laser source should avoid the transducer to illuminate a sample, which makes the system difficult to build-up. To solve this difficulty, a FPI based on Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) thin film has been implemented and applied to measure the acoustic wave signal in this work. A tunable laser was used for choosing the Q-point at which the signal has the highest and/or linear response to the signal generated from the sample. When the acoustic wave arrives the PDMS film surface, its thickness is modulated, which affect the FPI interference signal and allows to have noncontact measurement of the photoacoustic signal.