Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Opportunity for information search and the effect of false heart-rate feedback.

The role of information search in the attribution of physiological states was investigated by manipulating the subject’s opportunity for information search following the presentation of false information about his heart-rate reactions to photographs of female nudes. Consistent with the self-persuasion hypothesis proposed by Valins, the rated attractiveness of the slides was not affected by the false heart-rate feedback for those subjects who were prevented from visually searching the slides. Those subjects who had ample opportunity to view the slides rated those slides accompanied by false information of a heart-rate change as more attractive than those slides which were not paired with a change in heart rate.
Availability and inequality in the distribution of health workers in the public health system in rural India

After decades of effort, the health outcomes in India are still poor. In addition to the slow socioeconomic development and sluggish progress in poverty eradication, the ongoing poor health status of individuals living in rural India is often attributed to an inefficient and largely dysfunctional public healthcare system. Although India has developed a huge network of public health facilities, the utilization of services at these facilities still remains abysmal. One of the factors underlying this situation is thought to be the poor availability of human resources in healthcare. Recognising the need to overhaul the system, the government launched the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), an initiative that aimed to increase health worker availability in public health facilities. It has been more than a decade since the launch of the NRHM, and the time is ripe to evaluate the extent to which health worker availability has improved in public health facilities, and how inequalities in the distribution of health workers in public facilities has changed. Related to this is an important question: What factors shape such distributional inequalities? The NRHM introduced new cadres to the public health system – a 2 nurse midwife at the sub-centres and a traditional medical doctor at the primary health centres. Thus, this study also investigated the effects associated with the implementation of these workers on healthcare utilization. This study largely uses quantitative tools and secondary data from the District Level Household Survey (DLHS) series. It finds that the overall health worker availability has improved slightly, but the availability of a few health worker cadres, such as male health workers, has deteriorated. The study also found that the distribution of health workers has become more unequal over the study period. While the inequality in the distribution of health workers within states remains considerably high, the inequality in the availability of health workers across states has increased. The study finds a mesh of complex factors affecting the availability and distribution of health workers across health facilities, which include the availability of basic amenities, physical infrastructure, work environments, family and personal choices, misuse of transfer, and deployment policies. It also finds that the utilization of health services is lower at those sub-centres run by a 2 ANM compared to those run by permanent ANMs. Evidence about the impact of a 2 ANM and AYUSH are inconclusive for most indicators. Thus, the findings of this study suggest that there is a need to further improve health worker availability at rural public health facilities. The emphasis should be on reducing the inequality not only across states, but also within states. Special efforts would be
Transcatheter occlusion of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations using the amplatzer vascular plug II

Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) are a relatively uncommon but potentially life‐threatening condition manifested by cyanosis, paradoxical embolization, brain abscess, and rupture. A variety of transcatheter closure devices have been used to occlude PAVMs however risks of device embolization, incomplete closure, or large delivery systems have made each of these methods sub‐optimal. The Amplatzer Vascular Plug II (AVP II) is a new multisegmented, woven nitinol cylinder that can be deployed through a small delivery catheter. The AVP II differs from the original AVP in having a finer, more tightly woven nitinol frame and three, rather than one occlusive segment. The authors report the first use of the AVP II for occlusion of bilateral large arteriovenous malformations in a patient with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
CHROMOSOME SIZE AT DISTRIBUTIVE PAIRING IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER FEMALES.

DISTRIBUTIVE pairing is that phase of the meiotic cycle in Drosophila melanogaster females during which chromosomes that have failed to undergo exchange may associate nonhomologously. At this time, segregation ratios indicate that a single nonrecombinant remains unassociated, that two nonrecombinants, whether homologues or nonhomologues, pair with high frequencies and that three nonrecombinants compete for associations and may exhibit marked preferences (R. F. GRELL 1962a). The present work is concerned with the preferential aspect of distributive pairing. The point of departure for these experiments was the observation that among three nonrecombinant chromosomes, the two that possessed no homology in common, segregated regularly from each other while the third, which carried a centromere and proximal heterochromatin similar in origin to one of the two, assorted randomly with both (GRELL and GRELL 1960). This experiment permitted two conclusions. First, the choice of partners at distributive pairing is not a random event depending upon the chance encounter between any two centromeres. Rather, it appears to be extremely precise and to involve the entire chromosome, euchromatin as well as heterochromatin. Secondly, it becomes clear that homology, at least for the centromere and proximal heterochromatin, is not the basis for choice of partners. In fact, evidence from a variety of sources negates the notion that homology of any kind plays a decisive role in the selection of associates. If such were the case, the availability of two nonrecombinant homologues would preclude the involvement of either with a nonhomologue. Yet, it is well established that two X chromosomes will frequently associate with an autosome when all are noncrossovers (COOPER, ZIMMERING and KRIVSHENKO 1955) and particularly when one member of the autosomal pair is made unavailable for distributive pairing by translocation (ROBERTS 1962). One correlation that is evident from the experiment of GRELL and GRELL (1960) described above, is that those chromosomes which segregate regularly are comparatively large whereas the chromosome that assorts at random is small. This observation suggested that chromosome size might be an important factor in distributive pairing. A second possibility concerns the existence of a small number of nonspecific pairing sites so arranged as to favor associations between particular nonhomologues. Experiments were designed to test the possible roles
Functional decision diagrams for multiple-valued functions

We first give a uniform interpretation of the binary and functional decision diagrams for binary switching functions. Based upon that, the concept of functional decision diagrams is extended to MV functions relative to the Galois field and Reed-Muller-Fourier representations. The application of the introduced decision diagrams in the realization of functions and the calculation of Galois field and Reed-Muller-Fourier coefficients is considered.
Contribution à l'étude des systèmes de capitalisation des connaissances : SMOKC, un système dédié aux PMI-PME

Knowledge Capitalisation is a process which aims to identify, to collect and to make usable, whatever the context, all the knowledge acquired by an organisation. The research work presented in this report is a study about the foundations of Knowledge Capitalisation Systems (KCS) and, more particulary, adapted to the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) industrial context. First of all, we show the relevancy of KCS in the field of enterprise knowledge management already endowed with systems stemming from Information Systems and Knowledge Base Systems. We argue this statement mainly on the distinction between Information and Knowledge. Consequently to this we propose a classification of approaches and tools for Knowledge Management Systems. Up to now, Knowledge Capitalisation Systems elaborated in France were mostly developed for/by very large enterprises. Such a fact may underlines the SME position considering knowledge capitalisation project.
Exploring Reasons for Bed Pressures in Winnipeg Acute Care Hospitals*

ABSTRACT Hospital overcrowding has plagued Winnipeg and other Canadian cities for years. This study explored factors related to overcrowding. Hospital files were used to examine patterns of hospital use from fiscal years 1996/1997 to 1999/2000. Chart reviews were conducted to examine appropriateness of admissions and hospital stays during one pressure week. Results indicate that pressure periods in the hospital system were driven by an influx of older adults with influenza-associated respiratory illnesses. Moreover, examination of one specific pressure week showed that at least 100 beds were occupied by patients who likely did not require acute care. The chart review revealed that a substantial proportion of non-acute patient-days were spent awaiting home care, long-term care, or diagnostic testing services. These findings suggest future bed pressures might be prevented through influenza vaccination and an increase in the availability of – and timely transfer to – alternative levels of care. RÉSUMÉ La surpopulation des hôpitaux constitue un fléau à Winnipeg et dans d'autres villes canadiennes depuis des années. Cette étude aborde divers facteurs liés à cette surpopulation. Les dossiers des hôpitaux ont servi à l'évaluation des fluctuations relativement à l'utilisation des hôpitaux pour les exercices 1996/1997 à 1999/2000. Un examen des dossiers a été mené afin de déterminer la pertinence des admissions et des séjours à l'hô pital pendant une semaine de forte affluence. Les résultats réve`lent que les périodes d'affluence du système hospitalier étaient dues à l'afflux de personnes âgées souffrant de maladies respiratoires associées à la grippe. Par ailleurs, l'examen d'une semaine de forte affluence en particulier a révélé qu'au moins une centaine de lits étaient occupés par des patients qui n'avaient probablement pas besoin de soins de courte durée. L'examen des dossiers a révélé qu'une proportion substantielle de jours-patients qui n'étaient pas de courte durée ont été passés à attendre des soins à domicile, des soins de longue durée ou des examens paracliniques. Ces conclusions semblent indiquer que l'on pourrait éviter d'éventuelles périodes de forte affluence au moyen de vaccinations contre la grippe ainsi que d'une augmentation de la disponibilité des autres niveaux de soins et de transferts rapides vers ceux-ci.
Thalamic processing of vibrissal information in the rat. I. Afferent input to the medial ventral posterior and posterior nuclei

Retrograde tracing with true blue (TB) and diamidino yellow (DY) and anterograde tracing with either wheatgerm agglutinin–conjugated horseradish peroxidase (WGA‐HRP) or Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin (PHA‐L) were employed to investigate the projections from trigeminal nucleus principalis (PrV) and trigeminal subnucleus interpolaris (SpI) to their targets in the medial ventral posterior (VPM) and posterior (POm) nuclei of the thalamus. Many more cells in both PrV and SpI were labeled by tracer injections into VPM than into POm. Only a very small number of double‐labeled neurons were observed in either PrV or SpI. However, a significantly higher percentage of SpI cells projected to POm or to both POm and VPM than was the case for PrV. Anterograde tracing with WGA‐HRP showed that the projections from both PrV and SpI to VPM were much denser than those from the same nuclei to POm. Small injections of PHA‐L into either PrV or SpI produced a focus of fairly dense labeling in VPM and much more diffuse terminal labeling in POm. These anatomical data provide evidence for two separate trigeminothalamic pathways, one originating from PrV and the second originating from SpI. Both of these pathways converge and diverge at the thalamic level. That is, information from the PrV pathway and from the SpI pathway are both provided to VPM in a morphologically restricted fashion and to POm in a morphologically widespread fashion.
Passive force, angle, and stiffness changes after stretching of hamstring muscles.

UNLABELLED Periodic or long-term stretching programs have demonstrated changes in joint range of motion. The suggested mechanisms for these increases in range of motion are changes in the tissue properties of the muscle and more recently stretch tolerance. However, few studies have examined changes in passive resistive forces and related these changes to increases in range of motion. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of a 6-wk hamstring-stretching program on knee extension range of motion, passive resistive forces, and muscle stiffness. METHODS A randomized control trial with repeated measures was undertaken with 43 school-age subjects. Hamstring extensibility was assessed by a passive knee extension test using a Kincom isokinetic dynamometer. The intervention group participated in a 6-wk hamstring-stretching program. Stretches were performed 5 d x wk(-1), once per day, held for 30 s, and for 3 repetitions. The control group did not stretch over the 6-wk intervention period. Measurements of hamstring extensibility were repeated at the end of the 6-wk intervention. RESULTS After the intervention period, significant (P < 0.05) increases in knee extension range of motion, passive resistive force, and stiffness were observed in the experimental group. No significant differences were observed in the control group's findings for the same variables. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study are consistent with other literature that shows periodic stretching programs over a 6-wk time frame produce significant changes in knee extension range of motion. The finding of increased stiffness in the new range of motion, gained as a result of the stretching program, provides some evidence that structural changes had occurred in the stretched muscles.
Optical coherence tomography in coronary atherosclerosis

Despite developments in therapeutic and diagnostic technologies, the global burden of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease is increasing. Intravascular imaging has become an invaluable adjunct to percutaneous coronary intervention. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a catheter based invasive imaging system that uses light instead of ultrasound to produce high resolution in vivo images of coronary arteries and deployed stents. The technical aspects of intracoronary image acquisition, advantages, disadvantages of use and current applications of OCT in coronary atherosclerosis are discussed.
Four-step high-dose sequential chemotherapy with double hematopoietic progenitor-cell rescue for metastatic breast cancer.

PURPOSE High-dose chemotherapy produces high complete remission (CR) rates and some survival advantage in patients with metastatic breast cancer (BC). A current issue is the possibility that these patients may have an even better prognosis with multiple high-dose treatments. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of a four-step, high-dose sequential chemotherapy (HDSC) with double autologous hematopoietic progenitor-cell rescue. We also tested the hypothesis that peripheral-blood progenitor cells (PBPCs) harvested following a single recruitment with cyclophosphamide (CY) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) allow the safe administration of the whole HDSC with closely timed repeated courses of several non-cross-resistant agents. PATIENTS AND METHODS The treatment plan included CY 7 g/m2, followed by GM-CSF 5 to 7 micrograms/kg/d administered by continuous intravenous (i.v.) infusion on days 2 to 14; PBPCs with or without bone marrow (BM) harvest; mitoxantrone (NOV) 60, 75, or 90 mg/m2 plus melphalan (L-PAM) 140 to 180 mg/m2 with hematopoietic rescue; methotrexate (MTX) 8 g/m2 plus vincristine (VCR) 1.4 mg/m2; and etoposide (VP-16) 1.5 g/m2 plus carboplatin (PP) 1.5 g/m2 with hematopoietic rescue. RESULTS All 15 patients enrolled completed the entire treatment and there were no toxic deaths. Hematologic reconstitution was good at each step. The median number of days with an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) less than 100/microL and platelet count less than 20,000/microL were 8 and 3, respectively, after NOV plus L-PAM, and 7 and 4, respectively, after VP-16 plus PP. The main non-hematologic toxicity was mucositis, while organ toxicity was mild and reversible. CONCLUSION This regimen is feasible, with acceptable toxicity. GM-CSF and PBPCs have a pivotal role, as they hasten hematologic reconstitution, abate toxicity, and allow rapid recycling.
To What Surprises Do Hog Futures Markets Respond?

We reassess the effect of new information in the Hogs and Pigs Reports (HPR) focusing on announcements' rationality and alternative surprises. HPR announcements are irrational estimates of final estimates, and market expectations are irrational estimates of HPR numbers. Using the market's best forecast and incorporating final estimates, we modify conventional information measures. Despite differences as large as 33 cents/cwt in price response, findings suggest there is little to differentiate among surprise measures. Regardless, the message that HPR provides new information to the market is strongly supported. On balance, marketing (breeding) information has a larger effect on short-term (long-term) price changes.
Floodplain Stability Indices for Sustainable Waterfront Development by Spatial Identification of Erosion and Deposition

The abrupt rises of water level in rivers by torrential rain or storm repeatedly cause inundation damage, such as erosion and deposition in floodplains. However, studies on identifying the abrasion of waterfront facilities or the accumulation of sediment near rivers under extreme flow conditions are seldom found because floodplains are utilized in various ways in each country. In this study, novel floodplain sustainability indices by spatial classification of erosion and deposition were developed for sustainable waterfront development. The indices can provide the relative spatial distribution of erosion and deposition in a floodplain by using only kinematic flow information, such as flow depth and velocity obtained by 2D numerical analysis. Accordingly, applying a complex sediment transport model that involves numerous assumptions and parameters can be moderately replaced with the present approach. The suitability of developed indices was tested in several flow problems by comparing the predicted erosional or depositional region with measured data. In addition, the developed indices were applied to a floodplain in a natural river to examine the relative spatial distribution of the erosion and deposition for a typhoon event, and the results were compared with field monitoring data. It was found that deposition was more likely to occur than erosion in most floodplains, and the developed floodplain sustainability indices accurately quantified the erosion and deposition phenomena.
Individual variability in human blood metabolites identifies age-related differences

Significance Human blood provides a rich source of information about metabolites that reflects individual differences in health, disease, diet, and lifestyle. The coefficient of variation for human blood metabolites enriched in red blood cells or plasma was quantified after careful preparation. We identified 14 age-related metabolites. Metabolites that decline strikingly in the elderly include antioxidants and compounds involved in high physical activity, including carnosine, UDP-acetyl-glucosamine, ophthalmic acid,1,5-anhydroglucitol, NAD+, and leucine. Metabolites that increase significantly in the elderly include compounds related to declining renal and liver function. Statistical analysis suggests that certain age-related compounds that either increased or decreased in the elderly are correlated. Individual variability in blood metabolites may lead to identify candidates for markers of human aging or relevant diseases. Metabolites present in human blood document individual physiological states influenced by genetic, epigenetic, and lifestyle factors. Using high-resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), we performed nontargeted, quantitative metabolomics analysis in blood of 15 young (29 ± 4 y of age) and 15 elderly (81 ± 7 y of age) individuals. Coefficients of variation (CV = SD/mean) were obtained for 126 blood metabolites of all 30 donors. Fifty-five RBC-enriched metabolites, for which metabolomics studies have been scarce, are highlighted here. We found 14 blood compounds that show remarkable age-related increases or decreases; they include 1,5-anhydroglucitol, dimethyl-guanosine, acetyl-carnosine, carnosine, ophthalmic acid, UDP-acetyl-glucosamine, N-acetyl-arginine, N6-acetyl-lysine, pantothenate, citrulline, leucine, isoleucine, NAD+, and NADP+. Six of them are RBC-enriched, suggesting that RBC metabolomics is highly valuable for human aging research. Age differences are partly explained by a decrease in antioxidant production or increasing inefficiency of urea metabolism among the elderly. Pearson’s coefficients demonstrated that some age-related compounds are correlated, suggesting that aging affects them concomitantly. Although our CV values are mostly consistent with those CVs previously published, we here report previously unidentified CVs of 51 blood compounds. Compounds having moderate to high CV values (0.4–2.5) are often modified. Compounds having low CV values, such as ATP and glutathione, may be related to various diseases because their concentrations are strictly controlled, and changes in them would compromise health. Thus, human blood is a rich source of information about individual metabolic differences.
Market Reactions To Analysts' Forecasts And Mandatory Disclosures

This dissertation investigates the effects of changes in the accounting environment on the capital markets. Included are three manuscripts, each of which, make an important contribution to the accounting literature. The first two manuscripts investigate the impact and importance of analysts’ forecasts. The third manuscript documents the impact of eliminating an important accounting disclosure. This dissertation makes the following contributions to the accounting literature. The first manuscript documents that investor skepticism towards meet/beat firms appears to have been a temporary phenomenon and investors have resumed rewarding firms that meet/beat analysts’ earnings expectations. Further, the study provides evidence that changes in the analyst forecasting environment also contributed to this temporary decline implying that the scandals did not have as strong of an effect on investors’ confidence in earnings as previously believed. The second manuscript contributes to the accounting literature by documenting the importance of meeting/beating cash flow forecasts to participants in the debt markets. Finally, the third manuscript contributes to the existing literature regarding the value relevance of the IFRS – U.S.GAAP reconciliation by documenting a significant decrease in publicly available information to equity investors at the first reporting period following the SEC’s decision to eliminate the reconciliation. All of these manuscripts extend what is currently known about the importance of public disclosures to capital market participants.