Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antagonistic, Stage-Specific Selection on Defensive Chemical Sequestration in a Toxic Butterfly

Abstract Larvae of the pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor) sequester toxic alkaloids called aristolochic acids from their Aristolochia host plants, rendering both larvae and adults chemically defended against most predators. Using a chemically controlled artificial diet, we observed substantial among-family variation in sequestration ability and larval developmental rate in a population occurring in central Texas. Early instar larvae from families that sequester greater amounts of aristolochic acid showed increased survivorship in a field experiment in which cohorts from each family were exposed to natural predators, whereas among-family variation in growth rate did not predict survivorship. Conversely, the aristolochic acid content of adult butterflies was negatively correlated with adult fat content, a fitness correlate. Sequestration ability positively affects the probability of larval survivorship, but at the cost of adult fat content. The costs and benefits of aristolochic acid sequestration vary during the course of the butterfly's development, and these antagonistic selection pressures may explain why variation in sequestration ability persists in wild populations.
Comparison of the Effects of Intrathecal Fentanyl and Intrathecal Morphine on Pain in Elective Total Knee Replacement Surgery

Objective. Total knee replacement is one of the most painful orthopedic surgical procedures. In this study, our goal was to compare the intraoperative and postoperative hemodynamic effects, the side effects, the effect on the duration of pain start, the 24-hour VAS, and the amount of additional analgesia used, of the fentanyl and morphine we added to the local anesthetic in the spinal anesthesia we administered in cases of elective knee replacement. Materials and Methods. After obtaining the approval of the Erciyes University Medical Faculty Clinical Drug Trials Ethics Committee, as well as the verbal and written consent of the patients, we included 50 patients in our prospective, randomized study. Results. In our study, the morphine group (Group M) had lower pain scores in the 2nd, 6th, 12th, and 24th hours compared to the fentanyl group (Group F). When additional analgesic requirements were compared, it was found that in the 2nd, 6th, and 24th hours fewer Group M patients needed more analgesics than did Group F patients. Conclusion. The fentanyl group also had lower first analgesic requirement times than did the morphine group. In terms of nausea and vomiting, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups.
Association between Visit-to-Visit Glucose Variability and Cognitive Function in Aged Type 2 Diabetic Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background and Purpose Diabetes is associated with cognitive decline as well as the development of dementia. Although mean blood glucose levels are typically used to assess the status of diabetic patients, glucose variability is also involved in the manifestation of macro- and microvascular complications in this population. Thus, the present study sought to determine whether visit-to-visit glucose variability contributes to cognitive decline in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods The present study assessed 68 patients with type 2 diabetes using several validated neuropsychological measures. All patients had no cerebrovascular disease, history of hypoglycemia, psychiatric conditions, or other medical illnesses. Standard deviations (SDs) and coefficients of variance (CVs) of the patients’ blood glucose (after fasting and 2 hours postprandial; FBS and PP2), and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) values were used as indices of glucose variability. The cognitive outcome parameters were transformed with z-scores and entered into a multiple linear regression model that included educational status, age, sex, vascular risk factors, and mean glucose parameters as covariates. Results The mean age of the total patient population was 70.9 years; 46 (67.6%) of the patients were men, and the median follow-up duration at our endocrinology outpatient clinic was 4.8 years. The mean FBS and PP2 glucose levels of the patients were 132 mg/dL and 199 mg/dL, respectively, and the mean HbA1c level was 8.0%. A univariable analysis revealed that only the PP2 value was associated with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score, and multivariable analysis revealed that a high SD and/or CV for PP2 glucose were associated with low scores on the Rey Complex Figure Copy test and/or the Verbal Learning Test. Additionally, a high SD and a higher CV for HbA1c level were significantly associated with low MMSE and Digit Span test scores even after adjusting for mean HbA1c values. Conclusions The present data indicate that a greater degree of visit-to-visit glucose variability influenced specific types of cognitive function in type 2 diabetic patients independently of mean blood glucose levels. Future studies should focus on whether reductions in glycemic variability will improve the cognitive decline observed in type 2 diabetic patients.
Occupational Stress and Job Satisfaction among Nurse Educators in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria

Aims: This research was carried out on occupational stress and job satisfaction among nurse educators in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria with the aim of identifying the type of stress nurse educators encounter in their work, determining the influence of level of education on the stress encountered, identifying the satisfaction nurse educators derive from their job. Study Design: The study population includes nurse educators. A cross-sectional descriptive survey design was used with a sample size of 185 respondents. A multistage sampling and simple random sampling technique were used where nurse educators were stratified based on their ranks. Results and Discussion: The result of the findings showed that majority of nurse educators the stress of insufficient teaching facilities i.e 42.62% (104), the influence of level of education on stress encountered is that of positive influence i.e 90% (144), respect and recognition for a job is the commonest factor that enhances the respondent's job satisfaction 28.71% (960) and the satisfaction derived by respondents is that of impaction of knowledge on junior/student nurses. Conclusion: Occupational stress is high among nurse educators due to insufficient teaching facilities thus negatively affect their satisfaction. Therefore it is recommended that teaching facilities should be provided as well as working holidays so as to reduce job stress and thus enhance satisfaction.
Intracellular transport of influenza virus hemagglutinin to the apical surface of Madin-Darby canine kidney cells

The intracellular pathway followed by the influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) to the apical surface of Madin-Darby canine kidney cells was studied by radioimmunoassay, immunofluorescence, and immunoelectron microscopy. To synchronize the migration, we used a temperature- sensitive mutant of influenza WSN, ts61, which, at the nonpermissive temperature, 39.5 degrees C, exhibits a defect in the HA that prevents its exit from the endoplasmic reticulum. Upon transfer to permissive temperature, 32 degrees C, the HA appeared in the Golgi apparatus after 10 min, and on the apical surface after 30-40 min. In the presence of cycloheximide, the expression was not inhibited, indicating that the ts defect is reversible; a wave of HA migrated to the cell surface, where it accumulated with a half time of 60 min. After passage through the Golgi apparatus the HA was detected in a population of smooth vesicles, about twice the size of coated vesicles, located in the apical half of the cytoplasm. These HA-containing vesicles did not react with anti- clathrin antibodies. Monensin (10 microM) delayed the surface appearance of HA by 2 h, but not the transport to the Golgi apparatus. Incubation at 20 degrees C retarded the migration to the Golgi apparatus by approximately 30 min and blocked the surface appearance by acting at a late stage in the intracellular pathway, presumably at the level of the post-Golgi vesicles. The initial appearance of HA on the apical surface was in the center; no preference was observed for the tight-junctional regions.
An Empirical Study Of Flow Experiences In Social Network Sites

Social network sites (SNS) have simplified and amplified social interaction between online users. The unique hedonic-oriented features provide experiential motives for SNS users. Although SNS is growing popularity, a number of questions remain to be addressed concerning the usage of SNS: What are experiential motives for SNS users? What is the relationship between flow experiences and behavioral intentions winthin the SNS context? Given the novelty of SNS phenomenon and its unexplored potential in many fields, this study develops a conceptual model derived from reference studies on online services and social psychology. The present study proposes four flow experiences of SNS users such as perceived enjoyment, concentration, escape and social ineteraction to represent the multidimensional aspect of flow instead of a single dimension. To investigate the research model, this study apply structural equation mode(SEM) anlysisl with 342 valid replies. As a result, this empirical study indicated that perceived enjoyment was the most important flow experience with SNS, followed by escape and social interaction. Concentration was not a significant predictor of behavioral intentions toward SNS.
Action-Oriented Query Processing for Pervasive Computing

Pervasive computing applications monitor physical-world phenomena and integrate data acquisition, communication and actions across small, heterogeneous devices (e.g., smart sensors, network cameras and handheld devices). To ease the development of these applications, we propose to perform their tasks by executing action-embedded queries, which are continuous queries with operations towards devices. We extend SQL to allow applications to specify actions and action-embedded queries. We treat actions as first-class citizens (operators) in query execution plans, and investigate adaptive, costbased optimization techniques for a single query as well as for multiple queries. We evaluate our prototype query processor, Aorta, using a pervasive lab monitoring application. The initial experimental results show that Aorta ensures correct application semantics, improves query response time and balances device workload.
Cournot Games with Uncertainty: Coalitions, Competition, and Efficiency

We investigate the impact of group formations on the efficiency of Cournot games where producers face uncertainties. In particular, we study a market model where producers must determine their output before an uncertainty production capacity is realized. In contrast to standard Cournot models, we show that the game is not efficient when there are many small producers. Instead, producers tend to act conservatively to hedge against their risks. We show that in the presence of uncertainty, the game becomes efficient when producers are allowed to take advantage of diversity to form groups of certain sizes. We characterize the trade-off between market power and uncertainty reduction as a function of group size. Namely, we show that when there are N producers present, competition between groups of size O( √ N) results in equilibria that are socially optimal.
Cationic Amphiphilic Drugs Are Potent Inhibitors of Yeast Sporulation

Meiosis is a highly regulated developmental process that occurs in all eukaryotes that engage in sexual reproduction. Previous epidemiological work shows that male and female infertility is rising and environmental factors, including pollutants such as organic solvents, are thought to play a role in this phenomenon. To better understand how organic compounds interfere with meiotic development, the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae was exposed to 446 bioactive molecules while undergoing meiotic development, and sporulation efficiency was quantified employing two different high-throughput assays. 12 chemicals were identified that strongly inhibited spore formation but did not interfere with vegetative growth. Many of these chemicals are known to bind to monoamine-receptors in higher eukaryotes and are cationic amphiphilic drugs. A detailed analysis of one of these drugs, tripelennamine, revealed that it induces sporulation-specific cytotoxicity and a strong inhibition of meiotic M phase. The drug, however, only mildly interfered with pre-meiotic DNA synthesis and the early meiotic transcriptional program. Chemical-genomic screening identified genes involved in autophagy as hypersensitive to tripelennamine. In addition, we found that growing and sporulating yeast cells heterozygous for the aminophospholipid translocase, NEO1, are haploinsufficient in the presence of the drug.
Video-mediated interpreting: an overview of current practice and research

s/23_abstract_Videoconferencing_Norway. pdf; http://www.ccbe. org/fileadmin/user_upload/document/E-Justice_Portal/17-18_02_2009/ Presentations/23_Videoconferencing_in_Norwegian_courts. pdf 34 http://www.haaretz. co.il/hasite/spages/808333.html 35 http://www.lantech. co.ke/index.php? option=com_contentv http://www.remoteinterpreting. com/media/PDFs/TCPA http://www.remoteinterpreting. com/media/PDFs/TCP&A_Full_Recommend. pdf, p. 55. 45 http://contentdm.ncsconline. org/cdm4/item_viewer. php? CISOROOT=/tech&CISOPTR=708
Efficacy of experimental treatments compared with standard treatments in non-inferiority trials: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND There is concern that non-inferiority trials might be deliberately designed to conceal that a new treatment is less effective than a standard treatment. In order to test this hypothesis we performed a meta-analysis of non-inferiority trials to assess the average effect of experimental treatments compared with standard treatments. METHODS One hundred and seventy non-inferiority treatment trials published in 121 core clinical journals were included. The trials were identified through a search of PubMed (1991 to 20 February 2009). Combined relative risk (RR) from meta-analysis comparing experimental with standard treatments was the main outcome measure. RESULTS The 170 trials contributed a total of 175 independent comparisons of experimental with standard treatments. The combined RR for all 175 comparisons was 0.994 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.978-1.010] using a random-effects model and 1.002 (95% CI 0.996-1.008) using a fixed-effects model. Of the 175 comparisons, experimental treatment was considered to be non-inferior in 130 (74%). The combined RR for these 130 comparisons was 0.995 (95% CI 0.983-1.006) and the point estimate favoured the experimental treatment in 58% (n = 76) and standard treatment in 42% (n = 54). The median non-inferiority margin (RR) pre-specified by trialists was 1.31 [inter-quartile range (IQR) 1.18-1.59]. CONCLUSION In this meta-analysis of non-inferiority trials the average RR comparing experimental with standard treatments was close to 1. The experimental treatments that gain a verdict of non-inferiority in published trials do not appear to be systematically less effective than the standard treatments. Importantly, publication bias and bias in the design and reporting of the studies cannot be ruled out and may have skewed the study results in favour of the experimental treatments. Further studies are required to examine the importance of such bias.
Revised mechanism of d-alanine incorporation into cell wall polymers in Gram-positive bacteria

Teichoic acids (TAs) are important for growth, biofilm formation, adhesion and virulence of Gram-positive bacterial pathogens. The chemical structures of the TAs vary between bacteria, though they typically consist of zwitterionic polymers that are anchored to either the peptidoglycan layer as in the case of wall teichoic acid (WTA) or the cell membrane and named lipoteichoic acid (LTA). The polymers are modified with d-alanines and a lack of this decoration leads to increased susceptibility to cationic antimicrobial peptides. Four proteins, DltA–D, are essential for the incorporation of d-alanines into cell wall polymers and it has been established that DltA transfers d-alanines in the cytoplasm of the cell onto the carrier protein DltC. However, two conflicting models have been proposed for the remainder of the mechanism. Using a cellular protein localization and membrane topology analysis, we show here that DltC does not traverse the membrane and that DltD is anchored to the outside of the cell. These data are in agreement with the originally proposed model for d-alanine incorporation through a process that has been proposed to proceed via a d-alanine undecaprenyl phosphate membrane intermediate. Furthermore, we found that WTA isolated from a Staphylococcus aureus strain lacking LTA contains only a small amount of d-alanine, indicating that LTA has a role, either direct or indirect, in the efficient d-alanine incorporation into WTA in living cells.
Evaluating Public Expenditures When Governments Must Rely on Distortionary Taxation

Anderson and Martin provide simple, robust rules for evaluating public spending in distorted economies. Their analysis integrates, within a clean unified framework, previous treatments of project evaluation as special cases. In this paper, the authors use a general system of fiscal accounting for marginal changes in the provision of public that allows them to account for various approaches to the funding of government projects. They obtain two key results that seem likely to be useful for project evaluation. Firstly, the shadow prices of traded (as well as non-traded) goods are not generally equal to their world prices, but differ from world prices by an amount that depends upon the impact of the project on government revenues and on the Marginal Cost of Funds (MCF). Secondly, the costs of a government project need to be adjusted by the Marginal Cost of Funds before being compared with the benefits accruing from the project. The analysis leads to operational rules for project evaluation that are only slightly more complex than the border pricing rule. To conduct the analysis, the authors utilize a framework that makes explicit the role of government in providing public goods and services subject to a budget constraint. They consider first in Section 1 a general welfare analysis of the provision of a public good which is purchased from the rest of the world and paid for out of distortionary tax revenue. In Section 2 they consider the nature of the resulting shadow prices in more detail. In Section 3 the authors consider the role of the MCF in evaluating the cost of project inputs. Section 4 deals with user charges for public goods, which are of course only feasible when such goods are excludable. Section 5 places the results in the context of the earlier literature in order to clarify the relationship between their results and those obtained by earlier authors. Section 6 provides some simple numerical examples to highlight the potential importance allowing for the costs of raising funds.
Achievement Motivation, Critical Thinking Skills, and Reading Comprehension Correlation with Scientific Literacy among Senior High School Students

Abstract : This research seeks to explore the relationship among achievement motivation, critical thinking skills, and reading comprehension ability with science literacy ability of high school students. The data is the entire students of X graders at high school. Based on data analysis, the coefficient correlation between X1 with Y is 0,811, the correlation coefficient between X2 with Y is 0,846 and correlation coefficient between X3 with Y is 0,686. The achievement motivation, critical thinking skills, and reading comprehension ability contribute 0.856 to the scientific literacy skill. Therefore, it can be concluded that achievement motivation, critical thinking skills, and reading comprehension correlate with scientific literacy skill. Key Words : achievement motivation, critical thinking skills, reading comprehension ability, comprehension, scientific literacy Abstrak : Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui hubungan antara motivasi berprestasi, kemampuan berpikir kritis dan kemampuan membaca pemahaman dengan kemampuan literasi sains siswa SMA. Populasi penelitian seluruh siswa kelas X SMA. Berdasarkan analisis data koefisien korelasi. Secara bersama motivasi berprestasi, kemampuan berpikir kritis dan kemampuan membaca pemahaman siswa berkontribusi sebesar 0,856 pada kemampuan literasi sains siswa SMA. Hasil tersebut menunjukkan bahwa terdapat hubungan motivasi berprestasi, kemampuan berpikir kritis dan kemampuan membaca pemahaman dengan literasi sains. Analisis lebih lanjut menunjukkan hubungan yang positif. Berdasarkan hal tersebut disimpulkan bahwa motivasi berprestasi, kemampuan berpikir kritis, dan kemampuan membaca pemahaman meningkatkan literasi sains siswa. Kata kunci : motivasi berprestasi, kemampuan berpikir kritis, kemampuan membaca, pemahaman, literasi sains
MULTIPLE-JOB-HOLDING IN AFRICA: THE CASE OF TANZANIA*

In a sample of Tanzanian formal sector workers the vast majority have a desire for working longer hours in their main job, and supplement earnings through participation in informal production. Determinants of participation in informal production are examined through estimation of structural-form Logit models. A new way around the problem of measuring incomes from informal production is suggested and evaluated. The results show that participation in informal production is inversely related to income, and positively related to age. Age seems to play a very different role in the transition from work to retirement in Tanzania compared to industrialised countries. JEL classification: D13; J22
The Peer Companion Program: An Experiential Learning Opportunity

Abstract It is believed that by providing university students with knowledge about people who are marginalized in society, in combination with opportunities to interact positively with them, feelings of unease and stereotypical thinking are diminished. Experiential opportunities can also support students' academic and professional development as advocates for community inclusion. The Peer Companion Program (PCP) was designed as part of an undergraduate university course in recreation to initiate peer relationships between students with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities. Since 2002, the PCP has required approximately 50–70 students per semester to spend 15 hr of field experience with a carefully matched participant with a disability over a 12-week period. With support from student facilitators, myriad outcomes have been observed and reported, including clarification of career paths, increased understanding of course concepts, and more effective advocacy for inclusive service delivery. Participants with disabilities have reported a broad range of benefits as well.