Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The minority ethnic group experience in Scottish higher education

This study explores the contexts and learning experiences of a group of minority ethnic group learners as higher education students in the University of Dundee. The research serves a scoping purpose, aiming to examine the influences, values, attitudes, behaviours and policies that affect the learning experiences of these bilingual minority ethnic group students in the monocultural and monolingual Scottish educational system. An initial exploration of these factors lays the foundation for the further aim of appraising the ways in which ethnicity, cultural values and bilingualism contribute to the learning profile of such students. Quantitative data were obtained from public domain statistical records, and qualitative data from a pilot postal questionnaire, focus group meetings and single or paired interviews. Research literature underpinning and informing the study draws from various fields including anthropology, bilingual education, demography, cognitive psychology, education, language acquisition, linguistics and sociology. The voices of the students combine to provide a powerful commentary of their experiences and this gives rise to the emergence of several themes in this research. A key theme, the importance of identity, is one that is woven through this work. Changing emphases can be observed in the developing Ethnic, Academic and Global modes of Self as these mutate in response to tensions that arise for the students as they straddle the dichotomy of heritage and educational cultures. The difference that distinguishes resident bilinguals from dominant ethnic group students can be seen in their differing language profiles. Problematic aspects of learning at university can apply to all learners, but such difficulties seem to be accentuated in the case of resident bilinguals. The acquisition of academic literacies is one such problematic area and, while both resident bilingual and dominant ethnic group students can be challenged in these areas, this can be in subtly different ways.
Is clinical practice variability the major reason for differences in pathology requesting patterns in general practice?

AIMS To examine whether variations in pathology test requesting between different general practices can be accounted for by sociodemographic or other descriptive indicators of the practice. METHOD This was a comparative analysis of requesting patterns across a range of pathology tests representing 95% of those requested in general practice, in 22 general practices in a single district, serving a population of 165 000. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated and both the top and bottom fifths of activity were displayed graphically to detect trends at the extremes of the ranges. RESULTS The proportion of women of childbearing age, median practice Townsend scores, or the existence of specialist miniclinics within the practice did not have a demonstrable impact on requesting patterns. A weak correlation was found between the proportion of elderly patients and creatinine/electrolyte testing but not for the other two tests examined for this patient group. CONCLUSIONS The large differences observed in general practice pathology requesting probably result mostly from individual variation in clinical practice and are therefore potentially amenable to change.
The contribution of observation to apprentices’ learning

Mimesis, learning through observation, imitation and practice, is held to be the main contributor to human endeavours. In this article, observation is proposed to be a key feature of trades learning through affording ease of entry into trade occupations’ practice communities. Observation provides apprentices with significant socio-cultural and socio-material cues to resolve initial ‘newcomer’ status. Aspects of work learnt through observation influence apprentices’ engagement with and learning of trade occupations’ inherent complexities. This article utilises narratives of apprentices’ experienced curriculum to illuminate the role of observation in learning a trade and proposes recommendations to circumvent barriers to maximising the potential of learning through observation.
High Resolution Melting Analysis for Rapid Mutation Screening in Gyrase and Topoisomerase IV Genes in Quinolone-Resistant Salmonella enterica

The increased Salmonella resistance to quinolones and fluoroquinolones is a public health concern in the Southeast Asian region. The objective of this study is to develop a high resolution melt curve (HRM) assay to rapidly screen for mutations in quinolone-resistant determining region (QRDR) of gyrase and topoisomerase IV genes. DNA sequencing was performed on 62 Salmonella strains to identify mutations in the QRDR of gyrA, gyrB, parC, and parE genes. Mutations were detected in QRDR of gyrA (n = 52; S83F, S83Y, S83I, D87G, D87Y, and D87N) and parE (n = 1; M438I). Salmonella strains with mutations within QRDR of gyrA are generally more resistant to nalidixic acid (MIC 16 > 256 μg/mL). Mutations were uncommon within the QRDR of gyrB, parC, and parE genes. In the HRM assay, mutants can be distinguished from the wild-type strains based on the transition of melt curves, which is more prominent when the profiles are displayed in difference plot. In conclusion, HRM analysis allows for rapid screening for mutations at the QRDRs of gyrase and topoisomerase IV genes in Salmonella. This assay markedly reduced the sequencing effort involved in mutational studies of quinolone-resistance genes.
‘There was a Time’

African writing and criticism have been accused of ‘ecohesitation’. This essay uses Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s novel Wizard of the Crow (2006) to challenge this notion. Mourning the disappearance of the luxuriant forests in the fictive Republic of Aburiria, Ngugi's novel interrogates external as well as internal influences on African nature, offering a highly sophisticated reading of the postcolonial African state and reminding us that ecological consciousness has always been constitutive of African literature.
Comparison of algorithms in graph partitioning

We first describe four recent methods to cluster vertices of an undirected non weighted connected graph. They are all based on very different principles. The fifth is a combination of classical ideas in optimization applied to graph partitioning. We compare these methods according to their ability to recover classes initially introduced in random graphs with more edges within the classes than between them.
Ischemic Stroke and Intracerebral Hemorrhage: The Latest Evidence on Mortality, Readmissions and Hospital Costs from Scotland

Background and Purpose: Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the UK, yet little information exists on current treatment patterns, outcomes and costs. This study assessed survival, readmissions and total hospital costs over 12 months in patients with first-ever intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) or ischemic stroke (IS) in Scotland. Methods: Hospital-based retrospective inception cohort design using data from the Hospital Record Linkage System in the National Health Service in Scotland. Survival, readmissions and total hospital costs were evaluated in all patients admitted to hospital for ICH or IS from April 1, 2004, to March 31, 2005. Results: A total of 1,016 patients with ICH and 4,295 with IS were identified. The average age was 67.6 years (SD 14.5) for ICH and 70.4 years (SD 12.7) for IS at stroke onset. In-hospital mortality was 45.2% (95% confidence interval, CI, 41.0–49.3) for ICH and 15.6% (95% CI, 14.4–16.7) for IS, while 52.5% (95% CI, 48.0–56.9) and 27.2% (95% CI, 25.7–28.8), respectively, were dead at 1 year after stroke onset. The cumulative 1-year risk of rehospitalization for stroke and severe cardiac events was 15.0 and 1.0% in the ICH cohort, respectively, and 10.8 and 1.5% in the IS cohort. The average length of initial hospital stay was 38.4 days for ICH and 39.3 days for IS. The average total hospital costs over 12 months were GBP 13,960 (SD 21,487) for ICH and GBP 14,051 (SD 17,850) for IS. Conclusion: Individuals experiencing an ICH continue to exhibit a much worse prognosis than IS, and both forms of stroke continue to imply significant hospital costs to the National Health Service in Scotland.
An analysis of automated tests for mobile Android applications

Mobile computing has become ubiquitous, thus the amount and complexity of mobile applications have challenged software engineering practices. To overcome the challenges brought by mobile applications, the adoption of repeatable, systematic and mainly automated tests have been researched. In this paper, we look into open source projects in hopes of identifying how automated tests are applied to mobile applications developed for the Android platform. We analyzed the automated tests to identify the frameworks adopted, the relation between the production and the testing code, and how the following challenges have been dealt with: connectivity, rich GUIs, limited resources, sensors, and multiple configurations.
Atypical antipsychotics as noncompetitive inhibitors of a 4 b 2 and a 7 neuronal nicotinic receptors

It has been suggested that the interaction of antipsychotic medications with neuronal nicotinic receptors may increase the cognitive dysfunction associated with schizophrenia and may explain why current therapies only partially address this core feature of the illness. In the present studies we compared the effects of the atypical antipsychotics quetiapine, clozapine and N-desmethylclozapine to those of the typical antipsychotics haloperidol and chlorpromazine on the a4b2 and a7 nicotinic receptor subtypes. The binding of [3H]-nicotine to rat cortical a4b2 receptors and [3H]-methyllycaconitine to rat hippocampal a7 receptors was not affected by any of the compounds tested. However, Rbþ efflux evoked either by nicotine or the selective a4b2 agonist TC-1827 from a4b2 receptors expressed in SH-EP1 cells and nicotine-evoked [3H]-dopamine release from rat striatal synaptosomes were non-competitively inhibited by all of the antipsychotics. Similarly, a-bungarotoxin-sensitive epibatidine-evoked [3H]-norepinephrine release from rat hippocampal slices and acetylcholine-activated currents of a7 nicotinic receptors expressed in oocytes were inhibited by haloperidol, chlorpromazine, clozapine and N-desmethylclozapine. The inhibitory effects on nicotinic receptor function produced by the antipsychotics tested occurred at concentrations similar to plasma levels achieved in schizophrenia patients, suggesting that they may lead to clinically relevant effects on cognition. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
MicroRNA 146a (miR-146a) Is Over-Expressed during Prion Disease and Modulates the Innate Immune Response and the Microglial Activation State

Increasing evidence supports the involvement of microRNAs (miRNAs) in inflammatory and immune processes in prion neuropathogenesis. MiRNAs are small, non-coding RNA molecules which are emerging as key regulators of numerous cellular processes. We established miR-146a over-expression in prion-infected mouse brain tissues concurrent with the onset of prion deposition and appearance of activated microglia. Expression profiling of a variety of central nervous system derived cell-lines revealed that miR-146a is preferentially expressed in cells of microglial lineage. Prominent up-regulation of miR-146a was evident in the microglial cell lines BV-2 following TLR2 or TLR4 activation and also EOC 13.31 via TLR2 that reached a maximum 24–48 hours post-stimulation, concomitant with the return to basal levels of transcription of induced cytokines. Gain- and loss-of-function studies with miR-146a revealed a substantial deregulation of inflammatory response pathways in response to TLR2 stimulation. Significant transcriptional alterations in response to miR-146a perturbation included downstream mediators of the pro-inflammatory transcription factor, nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. Microarray analysis also predicts a role for miR-146a regulation of morphological changes in microglial activation states as well as phagocytic mediators of the oxidative burst such as CYBA and NOS3. Based on our results, we propose a role for miR-146a as a potent modulator of microglial function by regulating the activation state during prion induced neurodegeneration.
Bounded-Rational Behavior by Neural Networks in Normal Form Games

This paper presents a neural network model developed to simulate the endogenous emergence of bounded-rational behavior in normal-form games. There exists an algorithm which, if learnt by a neural network, would enable it to perfectly select Nash equilibria in never before seen games. However, finding this algorithm is too complex a task for a biologically plausible network, and as such it will instead settle for converging to an approximation to Nash in a subset of games. We employ computer simulations to show that Nash equilibria are found approximately 60% of the times, and to characterize the behavioural heuristics acquired by the bounded-rational agent. Pure sum of payoffs dominance, and the best response to this strategy, get closest to predicting the networks behavior.
Intrinsic Motivation, Performance, and the Mediating Role of Mastery Goal Orientation: A Test of Self-Determination Theory

ABSTRACT Although intrinsic motivation has been linked repeatedly to performance and outcomes, the causal relationship between the two has remained unclear. To explain the link, this study considered the focusing influence of mastery goals. Using a three-wave panel study and hypotheses drawn from self-determination theory and achievement goal theory, the current study sought to clarify the relationships between intrinsic motivation, mastery goal orientation, and performance. Specifically, the current study hypothesized and found that mastery goals mediated (explained) the relationship between intrinsic motivation and performance.
WITHIN-HOUSEHOLD DISAGREEMENTS AS A SOURCE OF SURVEY COVERAGE ERROR

Despite evidence of coverage errors and net un- dercounts in surveys due to listing errors and omissions from house- hold rosters, little systematic attention has been devoted to the mea- surement properties of household rosters. This article draws on data from the Living Situation Survey, a pilot study that experimented with expanded roster cues and probes to identify individuals with marginal or tenuous attachments to households. The data are ana- lyzed to test hypotheses that disagreements among individuals may cause omissions and to evaluate the traditional reliance on household respondents as the source of information about who lives in a house- hold. Evidence from the Living Situation Survey is used to identify categories of persons most at risk of omission due to disagreements and to suggest further directions for research to improve the ros- tering process in household surveys.
Proof of target for SU11654: inhibition of KIT phosphorylation in canine mast cell tumors.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor SU11654 on the activity of its molecular target KIT in canine mast cell tumors (MCT) and correlate target inhibition with mutational status of the c-kit juxtamembrane domain and SU11654 plasma concentration. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Tumor biopsies were obtained from dogs with advanced MCTs before and 8 h after administration of a single oral dose of SU11654, previously shown to be active in dogs with MCTs. Blood samples were taken to determine the plasma concentration of SU11654. Levels of phosphorylated KIT and ERK1/2 were assessed in tumor biopsies by Western blot. Tumors were analyzed by PCR for the presence or absence of an internal tandem duplication (ITD) in the juxtamembrane domain of c-kit. RESULTS Fourteen dogs with advanced MCTs were enrolled in the study; 11 of these were evaluable for KIT target modulation (the remaining tumor specimens had inevaluable amounts of total KIT protein). Of these, eight MCTs showed reduced levels of phosphorylated KIT relative to total KIT after treatment with SU11654, compared with pretreatment biopsies. All four evaluable MCTs expressing ITD mutant c-kitshowed modulation of KIT phosphorylation, as did four of seven tumors expressing non-ITD c-kit. Phosphorylated ERK1/2 was modulated in seven tumors; this did not correlate with inhibition of KIT phosphorylation CONCLUSION SU11654 treatment at the efficacious dose results in inhibition of KIT phosphorylation in canine MCTs.
‘Warm-up Angina’: harnessing the benefits of exercise and myocardial ischaemia

The phenomenon of warm-up angina was first noted over 200 years ago. It describes the curious observation whereby exercise-induced ischaemia on second effort is significantly reduced or even abolished if separated from first effort by a brief rest period. However, the precise mechanism via which this cardio-protection occurs remains uncertain. Three possible explanations for reduced myocardial ischaemia on second effort include: first, an improvement in myocardial perfusion; second, increased myocardial resistance to ischaemia similar to ischaemic preconditioning; and third, reduced cardiac work through better ventricular–vascular coupling. Obtaining accurate coronary physiological measurements in the catheter laboratory throughout exercise demands a complex research protocol. In the 1980s, studies into warm-up angina relied on great cardiac vein thermo-dilution to estimate coronary blood flow. This technique has subsequently been shown to be inaccurate. However exercise physiology in the catheter laboratory has recently been resurrected with the advent of coronary artery wires that allow continuous measurement of distal coronary artery pressure and blood flow velocity. This review summarises the intriguing historical background to warm-up angina, and provides a concise critique of the important studies investigating mechanisms behind this captivating cardio-protective phenomenon.
The Neuroinflammatory Response in ALS: The Roles of Microglia and T Cells

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by upper and lower motoneuron death. Mutations in the gene for superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) cause a familial form of ALS and have been used to develop transgenic mice which overexpress human mutant SOD1 (mSOD) and these mice exhibit a motoneuron disease which is pathologically and phenotypically similar to ALS. Neuroinflammation is a pathological hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases including ALS and is typified by the activation and proliferation of microglia and the infiltration of T cells into the brain and spinal cord. Although the neuroinflammatory response has been considered a consequence of neuronal dysfunction and death, evidence indicates that manipulation of this response can alter disease progression. Previously viewed as deleterious to neuronal survival, recent reports suggest a trophic role for activated microglia in the mSOD mouse during the early stages of disease that is dependent on instructive signals from infiltrating T cells. However, at advanced stages of disease, activated microglia acquire increased neurotoxic potential, warranting further investigation into factors capable of skewing microglial activation towards a neurotrophic phenotype as a means of therapeutic intervention in ALS.
International R&D spillovers in emerging markets: The impact of trade and foreign direct investment

While economic theory predicts that growth in developing countries will gain significantly from technology spillovers, the empirical evidence on this issue remains relatively scarce. The present study focuses on a panel of 27 transition and 20 developed countries between 1990 and 2006 and uses the latest developments in panel unit root and cointegration techniques to disentangle the effects of international spillovers via inflows of trade and FDI on total factor productivity (TFP). The findings show that imports remain the main channel of diffusion for both sets of countries, while FDI, although statistically significant, has a lower impact on productivity of the recipients. The domestic R&D capital stock plays an active role in Western Europe while in the Eastern part it is less significant owing to lower levels, transitional disinvestment and relative obsolescence. Human capital affects TFP directly as a factor of production as well as indirectly by enhancing a country's absorptive capacity. In aggregate, the results show that transition countries from Eastern Europe and Central Asia seem to enjoy bigger productivity gains from the international diffusion process than their Western counterparts.
The Experts in the Crowd: The Role of Reputable Investors in a Crowdfunding Market

This paper examines the role of experts in an online crowdfunding market. Using a novel data set on individual investments in a crowdfunding market for mobile applications, we investigate whether early investments serve as signals of quality for later investors, and if the value of these signals differs depending on the identity of early investors. We find that while early investors have a significant influence on later investors, not all early investors are equally influential. Specifically, we find that among the early investors, two categories of experts — app developer investors and experienced investors—have a significant influence on the later investors the crowd. More interestingly, the specifics of their expertise determine their influence. App developer investors who have a better knowledge of the product are found to be more influential for “concept apps” (apps in the pre-release stage), while experienced investors – investors with a better knowledge of market performance are found to be more influential for “live apps” (apps that are already being sold in the market). Our findings show that the majority of investors in this market – the crowd – although inexperienced, are rather sophisticated in their ability to identify and exploit nuanced differences in the informational content of the investments made by these different experts. In examining the ex-post performance of apps, we find that successful funding in the market is positively associated with ex-post app sales and that the quality signals provided by the experts’ investment choices are indeed credible. Contrary to popular perceptions of crowdfunding markets as means for democratizing expertise and as substitutes for traditional expert-dominated mechanisms, our findings indicate that despite the freedom of choice provided by these crowd-based markets, the crowd’s decisions are highly influenced by experts participating in these markets.
Disciplined Inquiry or Policy Argument

Public and Private Schools has brought considerable visibility to the comparative study of public, Catholic, and non-Catholic private schools. This general area has been too long ignored, and it represents rich ground for inquiry about the organization and effectiveness of schools. The work of James Coleman, Thomas Hoffer, and Sally Kilgore provides a valuable first step. The descriptive analyses of the public, Catholic, and non-Catholic private school sectors substantially extends our understanding in these areas.