Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What state are we in? : activism, professional feminists and local government

This thesis examines the particular sphere of gender equality working in UK local government in relation to feminist ideas and activism. In doing so it addresses questions about the nature and legacy of the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM), as well as how we should understand those engaged with feminist issues but organised in apparently non-traditional ways and locations. It also considers the significance of national legislation in shaping how this area of work has developed, with reference to the most recent Equality Acts. Taking as my starting point classic debates about organising for social change within the WLM, I undertook a qualitative comparative analysis of local government gender equality working. This examined three councils during the period in which they first created municipal feminist women’s initiatives, and the present day. To do this I undertook interviews with those working during both time periods, and gathered contemporary and archival texts relating to the councils’ work on gender equality. I suggest that the council gender equality initiatives, and those working within them, present an interesting way to complicate several boundaries; those usually defining the feminist movement and its organising; social movements in relation to the state; and feminist activity in relation to professionalism. I argue for the significance of the municipal feminist initiatives for present day work on gender equality, particularly in terms of their organisational position and form. I explore the utility of, and problems with, recent legislative developments in relation to gender equality, suggesting they have played an important role in standardising the work that takes place. I also examine the processes through which the concepts and practices of local government gender equality working have developed. In doing so I argue for the non-linear way this takes place and the importance of individual workers in shaping this arena. Finally, I present the idea of the ‘professional feminist’ as a way to understand the workers who identify as feminists. This challenges the terms of the early WLM but does so through drawing out and reconciling professionalism with feminist ideas.
Segmentation-Based Clipped Error Control Algorithm for Global Backlight Dimming

This paper presents a new backlight dimming method that applies segmentation-based clipped error control to liquid crystal displays. Clipped error control is the most important algorithm for power saving during backlight dimming. The proposed segmentation-based clipped error control algorithm considers the exact local distribution of an image using image segmentation, which enhances the image quality compared with existing methods. In addition, a binary search algorithm is applied to the proposed method for reducing the computational complexity. The experimental results showed that the average peak signal-to-noise ratio with the proposed method was up to 11.734 dB higher than those of conventional methods whereas the power consumption increased only slightly.
Enhancing Police Legitimacy

This article makes three points. First, the police need public support and cooperation to be effective in their order-maintenance role, and they particularly benefit when they have the voluntary support and cooperation of most members of the public, most of the time. Second, such voluntary support and cooperation is linked to judgments about the legitimacy of the police. A central reason people cooperate with the police is that they view them as legitimate legal authorities, entitled to be obeyed. Third, a key antecedent of public judgments about the legitimacy of the police and of policing activities involves public assessments of the manner in which the police exercise their authority. Such procedural-justice judgments are central to public evaluations of the police and influence such evaluations separately from assessments of police effectiveness in fighting crime. These findings suggest the importance of enhancing public views about the legitimacy of the police and suggest process-based strategies for achieving that objective.
EFFECTS OF INQUIRY STRATEGY ON STUDENTS' SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS IN SELECTED ABSTRACT CONCEPTS IN BIOLOGY

Researchers in science education have observed low outcomes in biology especially in abstract concepts. Attempts at improving the students' science process skills in abstract concept in Biology of the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination need to be directed to these students in their formal education sector because these outcomes govern behaviour throughout adult life. This study, therefore, determined the effects of Inquiry strategy on students' science process skills on selected abstract concepts in biology. It also investigated the moderating effects of mental ability and gender on the dependent variable. The pretest, posttest, control group, quasi-experimental design with 2x2x2 factorial matrix was adopted. One hundred and twenty SS2 students from six purposively selected senior secondary schools in three Local Government Areas of Oyo State were used for the study. The schools were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups while the study lasted for fourteen weeks. Four instruments used for data collection were: Teachers Instructional Guides for teachers using the one treatment and control group; Students Environmental Achievement Test (r = 0.80), Mental Ability Test (r = 0.81) and Assessment Sheet for evaluating research assistants. Two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data collected were analysed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). There was a significant main effect of Treatment of the Science Process Skills of the Students' F(1,111) = 28.001, P < . 05, η 2 = . 344,); inquiry strategy enhanced students' science process skills than the conventional strategy. It was recommended that inquiry strategy will improve achievement taking into cognizance the mental ability and gender of students concerned.
The ‘sequential allosteric ring’ mechanism in the eukaryotic chaperonin‐assisted folding of actin and tubulin

Folding to completion of actin and tubulin in the eukaryotic cytosol requires their interaction with cytosolic chaperonin CCT [chaperonin containing tailless complex polypeptide 1 (TCP‐1)]. Three‐dimensional reconstructions of nucleotide‐free CCT complexed to either actin or tubulin show that CCT stabilizes both cytoskeletal proteins in open and quasi‐folded conformations mediated through interactions that are both subunit specific and geometry dependent. Here we find that upon ATP binding, mimicked by the non‐hydrolysable analog AMP‐PNP (5′‐adenylyl‐imido‐diphosphate), to both CCT–α‐actin and CCT–β‐tubulin complexes, the chaperonin component undergoes concerted movements of the apical domains, resulting in the cavity being closed off by the helical protrusions of the eight apical domains. However, in contrast to the GroE system, generation of this closed state does not induce the release of the substrate into the chaperonin cavity, and both cytoskeletal proteins remain bound to the chaperonin apical domains. Docking of the AMP‐PNP–CCT‐bound conformations of α‐actin and β‐tubulin to their respective native atomic structures suggests that both proteins have progressed towards their native states.
Self-Regulation and Task Engagement as Predictors of Emergent Language and Literacy Skills

ABSTRACT Research Findings: A growing emphasis in the literature on children’s self-regulation signals the need for increased understanding of the ways in which young children become active players in the acquisition of knowledge. In particular, self-regulation may be linked to subsequent academic achievement through greater engagement with the learning tasks and activities made available in the preschool classroom. This study tested preschoolers’ (N = 603) observed task engagement in the classroom as mediating the relations between directly assessed self-regulation and changes in their language and literacy outcomes during the preschool year. Findings indicate that self-regulation is directly related to observed task engagement as well as changes in a host of language and literacy skills. Engagement with tasks and activities in the classroom also partially mediates the association between self-regulation and changes in expressive vocabulary. Mediation through task engagement was not found for receptive language or early literacy skills. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest that the development and evaluation of clearly articulated preschool curricula designed to promote academic achievement by fostering self-regulation is an important direction for future research.
Tumor Heterogeneity in Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2)-Positive Advanced Gastric Cancer Assessed by CT Texture Analysis: Association with Survival after Trastuzumab Treatment

Background Image texture analysis is a noninvasive technique for quantifying intratumoral heterogeneity, with derived texture features reported to be closely related to the treatment outcome of tumors. Gastric cancer is one of the most common tumors and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Although trastuzumab is associated with a survival gain among patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive advanced gastric cancer, optimal patient selection is challenging. The purpose of this study was to determine whether CT texture features of HER2-positive gastric cancer were related to the survival rate after trastuzumab treatment. Methods and Findings Patients diagnosed with HER2-positive advanced gastric cancer from February 2007 to August 2014 were retrospectively selected. Using in-house built software, histogram features (kurtosis and skewness) and gray-level co-occurrence matrices (GLCM) features (angular second moment [ASM], contrast, entropy, variance, and correlation) were derived from the CT images of HER2-positive advanced gastric cancer in 26 patients. All the patients were followed up for more than 6 months, with no confirmed deaths. The patients were dichotomized into a good and poor survival group based on cutoff points of overall survival of 12 months. A receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was performed to test the ability of each texture parameter to identify the good survival group. Kaplan–Meier curves for patients above and below each threshold were constructed. Using a threshold of >265.8480 for contrast, >488.3150 for variance, and ≤0.1319×10−3. for correlation, all of the area under the ROC curves showed fair accuracy (>0.7). Kaplan–Meier analysis showed statistically significant survival difference between two groups according to optimal cutoff values of contrast, variance, correlation and ASM. However, as this study had a small number of patients, a further study with a larger population will be needed to validate the results. Conclusions Heterogeneous texture features on CT images were associated with better survival in patients with HER2-positive advanced gastric cancer who received trastuzumab-based treatment. Therefore, texture analysis shows potential to be a clinically useful imaging biomarker providing additional prognostic information for patient selection.
Endometriosis, Angiogenesis and Tissue Factor

Tissue factor (TF), is a cellular receptor that binds the factor VII/VIIa to initiate the blood coagulation cascade. In addition to its role as the initiator of the hemostatic cascade, TF is known to be involved in angiogenesis via intracellular signaling that utilizes the protease activated receptor-2 (PAR-2). We now review the physiologic expression of TF in the endometrium and its altered expression in multiple cell types derived from eutopic and ectopic endometrium from women with endometriosis compared with normal endometrium. Our findings suggest that TF might be an ideal target for therapeutic intervention in endometriosis. We have employed a novel immunoconjugate molecule known as Icon and were able to eradicate endometrial lesions in a mouse model of endometriosis without affecting fertility. These findings have major implications for potential treatment in humans.
New Findings About Social Intelligence

Social intelligence (SI) is an ability construct with a long history in scientific psychology which has yet to be clearly established. SI tests show low convergent validity and can hardly be distinguished from academic intelligence. This may be the result of conceptual ambiguity and a lack of reliable and valid performappance tests that apply nonverbal stimuli. The Magdeburg Test of Social Intelligence (MTSI) is a new multimedia-based performance test battery relying on a potential-based concept of SI. It presently comprises subtests for social understanding, social memory, and social perception, each of which is measured with real auditory, video-based, pictorial, and verbal task material. It applies target scoring to the social understanding tasks. Two studies with 127 and 190 participants, respectively, examined the psychometric properties and construct validity of the MTSI. Discriminant construct validation was conducted with well-established academic intelligence and personality tests. The findings r.
Lung function in fragrance industry employees.

BACKGROUND Production employees in the UK fragrance industry are exposed to large numbers of chemical substances and mixtures. There is a lack of published literature describing the effects of occupational respiratory exposure in this industry. AIMS To investigate whether occupational respiratory exposure to chemicals in the UK fragrance industry is linked to a statistically significant change in lung function as measured using spirometry. METHODS A multi-site cross-sectional study in which five UK companies took part, comprising an exposed group (fragrance production and associated functions) and a control group (non-exposed industry employees, e.g. office staff). Spirometric measurements (forced expiratory volume in 1 second, forced vital capacity and peak expiratory flow) were taken pre- and post-shift. Participants provided information on potential confounding factors (smoking, history of respiratory problems and body mass index). Post-shift measurements were compared between groups, using analysis of covariance to adjust for the baseline pre-shift measurements. RESULTS A total of 112 subjects participated: 60 in the exposed group and 52 in control group (response rate 33 and 24%, respectively). Adjusted mean differences in post-shift spirometric measurements between exposed and control groups were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS No significant effects were observed on the spirometric performance of the study population. This work is the first step in a novel area of research, and the industry would benefit from further such research.
Alcohol and Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Adding Fuel to the Flame

Primary tumors of the liver represent the fifth most common type of cancer in the world and the third leading cause of cancer-related death. Case-control studies from different countries report that chronic ethanol consumption is associated with an approximately 2-fold increased odds ratio for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Despite the substantial epidemiologic data in humans demonstrating that chronic alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for HCC development, the pathways causing alcohol-induced liver cancer are poorly understood. In this overview, we summarize the epidemiological evidence for the association between alcohol and liver cancer, review the genetic, oncogenic, and epigenetic factors that drive HCC development synergistically with ethanol intake and discuss the essential molecular and metabolic pathways involved in alcohol-induced liver tumorigenesis.
The CALMODULIN-BINDING PROTEIN 60 Family Includes Both Negative and Positive Regulators of Plant Immunity 1 [ W ] [ OPEN ]

Twomembers of the eight-member CALMODULIN-BINDING PROTEIN60 (CBP60) gene family, CBP60g and SYSTEMIC ACQUIRED RESISTANCE DEFICIENT1 (SARD1), encode positive regulators of plant immunity that promote the production of salicylic acid (SA) and affect the expression of SA-dependent and SA-independent defense genes. Here, we investigated the other six family members in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Only cbp60amutations affected growth of the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv maculicola ES4326. In contrast to cbp60g and sard1 mutations, cbp60a mutations reduced pathogen growth, indicating that CBP60a is a negative regulator of immunity. Bacterial growth was increased by cbp60g only in the presence of CBP60a, while the increase in growth due to sard1was independent of CBP60a, suggesting that the primary function of CBP60g may be to counter the repressive effect of CBP60a. In the absence of pathogen, levels of SA as well as of several SA-dependent and SA-independent pathogen-inducible genes were higher in cbp60a plants than in the wild type, suggesting that the enhanced resistance of cbp60a plants may result from the activation of immune responses prior to pathogen attack. CBP60a bound calmodulin, and the calmodulin-binding domain was defined at the C-terminal end of the protein. Transgenes encoding mutant versions of CBP60a lacking the ability to bind calmodulin failed to complement null cbp60a mutations, indicating that calmodulin-binding ability is required for the immunity-repressing function of CBP60a. Regulation at the CBP60 node involves negative regulation by CBP60a as well as positive regulation by CBP60g and SARD1, providing multiple levels of control over the activation of immune responses.
Startle provoked epileptic seizures:features in 19 patients.

OBJECTIVES--To define the clinical characteristics of a group of patients with startle provoked epileptic seizures (SPES). METHODS--Nineteen patients were identified during the course of a larger study of clinical seizure patterns. A witnessed seizure account was obtained in all patients; interictal EEG in 18, video-EEG-telemetry in eight, CT in 18, and high resolution MRI in eight. RESULTS--The onset of SPES was in childhood or adolescence in 14 of 19 patients. It was preceded by exclusively spontaneous seizures in nine patients and SPES had been replaced by exclusively spontaneous seizures in two patients. Sudden noise was the main triggering stimulus and somatosensory and visual stimuli were also effective in some patients. The clinical seizure pattern involved asymmetric tonic posturing in 16 of 19 patients. Focal neurological signs were present in nine patients, mental retardation in six, and 10 were clinically normal. Ictal scalp EEG showed a clear seizure discharge in only one patient with a tonic seizure pattern; over the lateral frontal electrodes contralateral to the posturing limbs. Brain CT showed a porencephalic cyst in three patients, focal frontal atrophy in one, and generalised atrophy in one. Brain MRI was undertaken in five normal subjects and three neurologically impaired patients, six with normal CT. It showed a porencephalic cyst in one patient. In six patients, there were dysplastic lesions. They affected the lateral premotor cortex in three patients and the perisylvian cortex in three patients, one with bilateral perisylvian abnormality. CONCLUSIONS--SPES are more frequent than is generally appreciated. They may be transient and occur relatively commonly without fixed deficit, by contrast with previous reports. The imaging abnormalities identified in those without diffuse cerebral damage suggest that SPES are often due to occult congenital lesions and that the lateral premotor and perisylvian cortices are important in this phenomenon.
Analysis of Chromatin Structure of Genes Silenced by Heterochromatin in Trans

While heterochromatic gene silencing in cis is often accompanied by nucleosomal compaction, characteristic histone modifications, and recruitment of heterochromatin proteins, little is known concerning genes silenced by heterochromatin in trans. An insertion of heterochromatic satellite DNA in the euchromatic brown (bw) gene of Drosophila melanogaster results in bwDominant (bwD), which can inactivate loci on the homolog by relocation near the centric heterochromatin (trans-inactivation). Nucleosomal compaction was found to accompany trans-inactivation, but stereotypical heterochromatic histone modifications were mostly absent on silenced reporter genes. HP1 was enriched on trans-inactivated reporter constructs and this enrichment was more pronounced on adult chromatin than on larval chromatin. Interestingly, this HP1 enrichment in trans was unaccompanied by an increase in the 2MeH3K9 mark, which is generally thought to be the docking site for HP1 in heterochromatin. However, a substantial increase in the 2MeH3K9 mark was found on or near the bwD satellite insertion in cis, but did not spread further. These observations suggest that the interaction of HP1 with chromatin in cis is fundamentally different from that in trans. Our molecular data agree well with the differential phenotypic effect on bwD trans-inactivation of various genes known to be involved in histone modification and cis gene silencing.
Fast Trains, Slow Boats, and the Ancestry of the Polynesian Islanders

The question of the origins of the Polynesians has, for over 200 years, been the subject of adventure science. Since Captain Cook's first speculations on these isolated Pacific islanders, their language affiliations have been seen as an essential clue to the solution. The geographic and numeric centre of gravity of the Austronesian language family is in island Southeast Asia, which was therefore originally seen as their dispersal homeland. However, another view has held sway for 15 years, the ‘out of Taiwan’ model, popularly known as the ‘express train to Polynesia’. This model, based on the combined evidence of archaeology and linguistics, proposes a common origin for all Austronesian-speaking populations, in an expansion of rice agriculturalists from south China/Taiwan beginning around 6,000 years ago. However, it is becoming clear that there is, in fact, little supporting evidence in favour of this view. Alternative models suggest that the ancestors of the Polynesians achieved their maritime skills and horticultural Neolithic somewhere between island Southeast Asia and Melanesia, at an earlier date. Recent advances in human genetics now allow for an independent test of these models, lending support to the latter view rather than the former. Although local gene flow occurring between the bio-geographic regions may have been the means for the dramatic cultural spread out to the Pacific, the immediate genetic substrate for the Polynesian expansion came not from Taiwan, but from east of the Wallace line, probably in Wallacea itself.
News coverage of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes: pro- and antitax arguments in public discourse.

OBJECTIVES We examined news coverage of public debates about large taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) to illuminate how the news media frames the debate and to inform future efforts to promote obesity-related public policy. METHODS We conducted a quantitative content analysis in which we assessed how frequently 30 arguments supporting or opposing SSB taxes appeared in national news media and in news outlets serving jurisdictions where SSB taxes were proposed between January 2009 and June 2011. RESULTS News coverage included more discrete protax than antitax arguments on average. Supportive arguments about the health consequences and financial benefits of SSB taxes appeared most often. The most frequent opposing arguments focused on how SSB taxes would hurt the economy and how they constituted inappropriate governmental intrusion. CONCLUSIONS News outlets that covered the debate on SSB taxes in their jurisdictions framed the issue in largely favorable ways. However, because these proposals have not gained passage, it is critical for SSB tax advocates to reach audiences not yet persuaded about the merits of this obesity prevention policy.