Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the Current and Future Dry Spell Characteristics over Africa

Changes in precipitation frequency and intensity distribution over Africa will have a direct impact on dry spells and, therefore, will affect various climate sensitive sectors. In this study, the ability of the fifth generation of the Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM5) in simulating annual and seasonal dry spell characteristics is assessed for four precipitation thresholds (0.5 mm, 1 mm, 2 mm and 3 mm) over Africa. The dry spell characteristics considered are the number of dry days, number of dry spells and five-year return levels of maximum dry spell durations. The performance errors are assessed by comparing ERA-Interim driven CRCM5 with the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) dataset, for the common 1997–2008 period. Lateral boundary forcing errors, i.e., errors in the CRCM5 simulation created by errors in the driving Canadian Earth System model (CanESM2) data—as well as the added value—of CRCM5 over CanESM2 are also assessed for the current climate. This is followed by an assessment of projected changes to dry spell characteristics for two future climates (2041–2070 and 2071–2100) simulated by both CRCM5 driven by CanESM2 and CanESM2 itself, for Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5. Results suggest that CRCM5 driven by ERA-Interim has a tendency to overestimate the annual mean number of dry days and the five-year return level of the maximum dry spell duration in a majority of the regions while it slightly underestimates the number of dry spells. In general, the CRCM5 performance errors associated with the annual and seasonal dry spell characteristics are found to be larger in magnitude compared to the lateral boundary forcing errors. Projected changes to the dry spell characteristics for the 2041–2070 and 2071–2100 periods, with respect to the 1981–2010 period suggests significant changes in the tropics, with the mean number of dry days and the five-year return levels of maximum dry spell duration increasing, while the mean number of dry spell days decreases.
Social, Political, Educational, Linguistic and Cultural (Dis-)Incentives for Languages Education in Australia

The issues related to language and culture teaching and learning in Australia across all levels of state-funded education have continuously centred around the sociocultural and linguistic aspirations for maintenance of primarily immigrant parents and their children. However, the equally important aspirations of the Australian-born parents for their own children, the grandchildren of immigrant grandparents, are seldom examined by researchers and education specialists. In this study, parents of Hellenic background, born and educated in Australia, share their current self-defined, bilingual and bicultural aspirations for the cultural and linguistic future of their children. Their views and opinions reflect their personal interactions and negotiations with the ever-changing sociocultural, sociopolitical, and socioeconomic contexts of the funding state that constantly regulates all opportunities for languages/cultures education in schools within the continuously evolving federal agenda on 'multicultural' policy. Excerpts from interviews with these parents are presented and the discussion is focused on the ambivalence characterising their perspectives on educational opportunities for their children. This study argues that this ambivalence is influenced by the dis-incentives advocated through the ideological discourse on languages education in official government documents that, in turn, reflect the shifting ideology on what it means to be bicultural and bilingual in present-day Australia.
Stylized facts in microalgal growth: interpretation in a dynamic energy budget context

A dynamic energy budget (DEB) model for microalgae is proposed. This model deviates from the standard DEB model as it needs more reserves to cope with the variation of assimilation pathways, requiring a different approach to growth based on the synthesizing unit (SU) theory for multiple substrates. It is shown that the model is able to accurately predict experimental data in constant and light-varying conditions with most of the parameter values taken directly from the literature. Also, model simulations are shown to be consistent with stylized facts (SFs) concerning N∶C ratio. These SFs are reinterpreted and the general conclusion is that all forcing variables (dilution rate, temperature and irradiance) impose changes in the nitrogen or carbon limitation status of the population, and consequently on reserve densities. Model predictions are also evaluated in comparison with SFs on chlorophyll concentration. It is proposed that an extra structure, more dependent on the nitrogen reserve, is required to accurately model chlorophyll dynamics. Finally, SFs concerning extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) production by benthic diatoms are collected and interpreted and a formulation based on product synthesis and rejection flux is proposed for the EPSs production rate.
Body size indexes for optimizing iodine dose for aortic and hepatic enhancement at multidetector CT: comparison of total body weight, lean body weight, and blood volume.

PURPOSE To evaluate and compare total body weight (TBW), lean body weight (LBW), and estimated blood volume (BV) for the adjustment of the iodine dose required for contrast material-enhanced multidetector computed tomography (CT) of the aorta and liver. MATERIALS AND METHODS Institutional review committee approval and written informed consent were obtained. One hundred twenty patients (54 men, 66 women; mean age, 64.1 years; range, 19-88 years) who underwent multidetector CT of the upper abdomen were randomized into three groups of 40 patients each: (a) TBW group (0.6 g of iodine per kilogram of TBW), (b) LBW group (0.821 g of iodine per kilogram of LBW), and (c) BV group (men, 8.6 g of iodine per liter of BV; women, 9.9 g of iodine per liter of BV). Change in CT number between unenhanced and contrast-enhanced images per gram of iodine and maximum hepatic enhancement (MHE) adjusted for iodine dose were examined for correlation with TBW, LBW, and BV by using linear regression analysis. RESULTS In the portal venous phase, correlation coefficients for the correlation of change in CT number per gram of iodine with TBW for the aorta and liver were -0.71 and -0.79, respectively, in the TBW group; -0.80 and -0.86, respectively, in the LBW group; and -0.68 and -0.66, respectively, in the BV group. In the liver, they were marginally higher in the LBW group than in the BV group (P = .03). Adjusted MHE remained constant at 77.9 HU +/- 10.2 (standard deviation) in the LBW group with respect to TBW, but it increased in the TBW (r = 0.80, P < .001) and BV (r = 0.70, P < .001) groups as TBW increased. CONCLUSION When LBW, rather than TBW or BV, is used, the iodine dose required to achieve consistent hepatic enhancement may be estimated more precisely and with reduced patient-to-patient variability.
Induction of Protective Immunity against Toxoplasmosis in BALB/c Mice Vaccinated with Toxoplasma gondii Rhoptry-1

Toxoplasma gondii is the causative agent for toxoplasmosis. The rhoptry protein 1 (ROP1) is secreted by rhoptry, an apical secretory organelle of the parasite. ROP1 plays an important role in host cell invasion. In this study, the efficacy of ROP1 as a vaccine candidate against toxoplasmosis was evaluated through intramuscular or subcutaneous injection of BALB/c mice followed by immunological characterization (humoral- and cellular-mediated) and lethal challenge against virulent T. gondii RH strain in BALB/c mice. Briefly, a recombinant DNA plasmid (pVAX1-GFP-ROP1) was expressed in CHO cells while expression of recombinant ROP1 protein (rROP1) was carried out in Escherichia coli expression system. Immunization study involved injection of the recombinant pVAX1-ROP1 and purified rROP1 into different group of mice. Empty vector and PBS served as two different types of negative controls. Results obtained demonstrated that ROP1 is an immunogenic antigen that induced humoral immune response whereby detection of a protein band with expected size of 43 kDa was observed against vaccinated mice sera through western blot analysis. ROP1 antigen was shown to elicit cellular-mediated immunity as well whereby stimulated splenocytes with total lysate antigen (TLA) and rROP1 from pVAX1-ROP1 and rROP1-immunized mice, respectively, readily proliferated and secreted large amount of IFN-γ (712 ± 28.1 pg/ml and 1457 ± 31.19 pg/ml, respectively) and relatively low IL-4 level (94 ± 14.5 pg/ml and 186 ± 14.17 pg/ml, respectively). These phenomena suggested that Th1-favored immunity was being induced. Vaccination with ROP1 antigen was able to provide partial protection in the vaccinated mice against lethal challenge with virulent RH strain of tachyzoites. These findings proposed that the ROP1 antigen is a potential candidate for the development of vaccine against toxoplasmosis.
Creating a Successful Learning Environment for Postsecondary Students with Learning Disabilities: Policy and Practice

As postsecondary enrollment increases and diversifies, colleges and universities are focusing attention on providing accessible, responsive and diverse opportunities for lifelong learning. However, creating an accessible and responsive environment for all students, and especially those students with learning disabilities, isn't as simple as it may first appear. Ultimately, it is a reflective process that requires instructors to question their pedagogical approach and beliefs by asking themselves: "Does my current pedagogical approach meet the learning needs of the students in my classroom? How can I effectively create a responsive and diverse lifelong learning environment for all students, and especially those with learning disabilities, in my
Component-wise pose normalization for pose-invariant face recognition

The pose variation involved in facial images significantly degrades the performance of face recognition systems. In this paper, a component-wise pose normalization method for facilitating pose-invariant face recognition is proposed. The main idea is to normalize a non-frontal facial image to a virtual frontal image component by component. In this method, we first partition the whole non-frontal facial image into different facial components and then the virtual frontal view for each component is estimated separately. The final virtual frontal image is generated by integrating the virtual frontal components. The proposed method relies only on 2D images, therefore complex 3D modeling is not needed. The experimental results using the CMU-PIE database demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method.
Effectiveness of Music Therapy on Aggressive Behavior of Visually Impaired Adolescents

Objective: Aggression is one of the common social disorders in adolescence. Blindness is a disability, which can lead to immature and inappropriate behaviors in children, and increase aggression in teenagers. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of music on aggressive behavior in visually impaired students. Methods: This research was an experimental pretest-posttest study with a control group and was conducted in 2012. The study population of this research was teenagers with visual impairments in Bojnord, northeast of Iran. For this purpose, Buss and Perry aggression questionnaire and Rutter behavior questionnaire for teachers were used. Twelve music therapy sessions were held, each lasting 90 minutes. T-tests and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used for data analysis. Results: There were not significant differences between the two groups regarding age, socioeconomic status, and education level of parents, as ascertained prior to the pretest. In the intervention group, the declines of aggression scores were statistically significant. There were significant differences between the results of posttest in the intervention and control groups. Conclusion: Music therapy reduces aggression in teens with blindness and can be used as a non-pharmacological intervention to reduce emotional states in this group.
An Arabidopsis Endo-1,4-β-d-Glucanase Involved in Cellulose Synthesis Undergoes Regulated Intracellular Cycling[W]

The synthesis of cellulose microfibrils requires the presence of a membrane-bound endo-1,4-β-d-glucanase, KORRIGAN1 (KOR1). Although the exact biochemical role of KOR1 in cellulose synthesis is unknown, we used the protein as a marker to explore the potential involvement of subcellular transport processes in cellulose synthesis. Using immunofluorescence and a green fluorescent protein (GFP)–KOR1 fusion that complemented the phenotype conferred by the kor1-1 mutant, we investigated the distribution of KOR1 in epidermal cells in the root meristem. KOR1 was localized in intracellular compartments corresponding to a heterogeneous population of organelles, which comprised the Golgi apparatus, FM4-64–labeled compartments referred to as early endosomes, and, in the case of GFP-KOR1, the tonoplast. Inhibition of cellulose synthesis by isoxaben promoted a net redistribution of GFP-KOR1 toward a homogeneous population of compartments, distinct from early endosomes, which were concentrated close to the plasma membrane facing the root surface. A redistribution of GFP-KOR1 away from early endosomes was also observed in the same cells at later stages of cell elongation. A subpopulation of GFP-KOR1–containing compartments followed trajectories along the plasma membrane, and this motility required intact microtubules. These observations demonstrate that the deposition of cellulose, like chitin synthesis in yeast, involves the regulated intracellular cycling of at least one enzyme required for its synthesis.
The measurement of self-efficacy in persons with spinal cord injury: psychometric validation of the moorong self-efficacy scale

Purpose. The factorial and concurrent validity of the Moorong Self-Efficacy Scale (MSES) was examined using a sample of Americans with spinal cord injury. Methods. One hundred sixty-two participants were recruited with the assistance of the Florida Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program and the Florida Spinal Cord Injury Resource Centre. Mean age of participants was 45.8 years (SD = 13.4), and 68.5% were men. The participants completed a survey containing a demographic questionnaire, the MSES, the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Personal Resources Questionnaire – 2000 (PRQ-2000), and the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale – 10 item version (CES-D-10). Results. Factor analysis yielded two factors (Interpersonal Self-Efficacy and Instrumental Self-Efficacy) similar to the original MSES. In addition, the MSES factors and total score in the present study were significantly correlated in the predicted directions with specified psychosocial variables, as well as hours of paid employment. Conclusions. The results of this study support the factorial and concurrent validity of the MSES as a self-efficacy measure in Americans with spinal cord injury.
The performance of un-instrumented in-air pointing

We present an analysis of in-air finger and hand controlled object pointing and selection. The study used a tracking system that required no instrumentation on the user. We compared the performance of the two pointing methods with and without elbow stabilization and found that the method that yielded the best performance varied for each participant, such that there was no method that performed significantly better than all others. We also directly compared user performance between un-instrumented in-air pointing and the mouse. We found that the un-instrumented in-air pointing performed significantly worse, at less than 75% of mouse throughput. Yet, the larger range of applications for un-instrumented 3D hand tracking makes this technology still an attractive option for user interfaces.
Changing Values in Advanced Industrial Societies

Ronald Inglehart has demonstrated the important political and behavioral implications of value change in advanced industrial societies. In an effort to enhance our understanding of this politically relevant “silent revolution,” an alternate theory of value change is presented, contrasting Inglehart's “needs theory” approach with a “functional constraints” theoretic construct. It is then argued that both kinds of value change are taking place, the first a change in the priorities attached to economic as opposed to noneconomic, value issues as measured by a materialism-nonmaterialism scale, and the second a change in basic social value preferences as measured by an authoritarian-libertarian scale. It is further argued that Inglehart's acquisitive-postbourgeois value scale combines both of these value priority and value preference dimensions. Relying primarily on Japanese data, it is demonstrated that these two subdimensions have sharply contrasting properties in both their causal origins and behavioral properties and hence are preferably kept distinct. Finally it is shown that the alternate theory and measurement of value change presented here overcome several problems in the Inglehart approach.
An assessment of clinical application of a new tooth notation for primary teeth

A new tooth notation system records primary tooth classes and their types by letters ‘dI, dC, dM’ termed as ANAASEA letters and numbers (1,2) called as TOT digits respectively. The TOT digits are printed as superscript and subscript at both right and left sides of ANAASEA letters to indicate upper and lower teeth respectively. The new method is called MICAP (M-molar, I-incisor, C-canine, P- premolar) system. To assess the clinical application of new tooth notation by dental health professionals. Study design was cross sectional and tool was mock e dental chart based on MICAP format. The study participants were dental health professionals (N=225) who were divided into group A [dental specialists (n=44), dentists (n=60)] and group B [dental assistants (n=58), dental hygienists (n=38), dental technicians (n=25)]. They were demonstrated by video on MICAP format before they identified five primary teeth; three teeth to be written from word form to MICAP format and two teeth vice versa. Simple logistic regression and Pearson chi-square tests were performed to analyse the data. From group A, specialists performed significantly better (p value = 0.031) as compared to dentists in correct writing of ‘deciduous maxillary right canine’ into MICAP format [# 1 dC]. From group B, dental hygienists had significantly higher association in correct translation of [#2dM] as ‘deciduous mandibular right 2nd molar’ compared to dental assistants (P value =0.043). Furthermore, dental technicians compared to dental assistants significantly performed better (p value =0.047) in writing ‘deciduous mandibular left central incisor’ into MICAP format [#dI1]. Majority of dental health professionals were able to translate and write MICAP format. Doctors were better than paramedics. However, reliability of the new system requires additional data. Further research is recommended to compare MICAP notation with currently used notations such as FDI & Universal systems. Clinical article ( J Int Dent Med Res 2015; 8: (1), pp. 7-14 )
Constituting and Reconstituting the Gender Order in Europe

Abstract The existence of a European gender order is intrinsically connected with the creation and development of the European Union. The construction of this order – a combination of values, laws and practices seeking to give effect to gender equality – is contested at both supranational and nation-state levels. This article takes Ostner and Lewis' ‘two needles eyes' thesis to discuss the European and national constraints on the adoption of and compliance with the directives that constitute the ‘hard law’ of this transnational gender order. It examines the evolution of the legal order on gender equality, noting that the Amsterdam Treaty ushered in a more expansive context for the application of gender norms and practices. It also explores the extent to which member states have been open to the Europeanization of national gender regimes. It finds that challenges continue to exist at European and domestic levels to the extension, and implementation, of laws, policies and practices facilitating gender equality. It also finds, though, that the pattern of compliance in the Eastern enlargement countries is not out of step with the implementation patterns in older member states, even though social conditions are very different. In general, the study concludes that although the context for the construction of a gender order in Europe has changed, supranational and national challenges to gender equality persist.
Assessment acting as intervention: findings from a study of perinatal psychosocial assessment

Objective: To consider how psychosocial assessment in the perinatal period may act as an intervention. Background: Psychosocial assessment has been introduced into routine antenatal care in several countries but there has been no consideration of ‘measurement reactivity’, the effects of such processes on those being measured. Methods: Psychosocial assessment as part of routine antenatal booking and by self-completion of a research questionnaire, followed by interview of a purposive sample of 22 women who scored above threshold on maternal stress measures. Interviews were conducted up to three times during pregnancy and the early postnatal period, to explore women’s experiences and understandings of maternal stress and to obtain their views on antenatal psychosocial assessment and social support. Transcribed data and field notes were analysed using Framework Analysis. Results: The potential for assessment to act as an intervention varied across different settings (clinical practice and assessment in a research context), with different methods (self-completion and assessment as part of a consultation or interview), and across individuals. Measurement effects were pronounced through longitudinal involvement, interviewer style and concurrently assessing the origins of psychological health and coping strategies. Conclusion: The analysis illustrates how reflexivity can enable new and often unexpected findings to emerge. The findings raise important questions about how the role of the research(er) is constructed, particularly when evaluating interventions. Clinically, the findings have implications for how we view psychosocial assessment within care pathways.
Executive functioning in obese individuals waiting for clinical treatment.

BACKGROUND Executive functions have an important role in human behavioural regulation and can be a determinant of eating behaviour. Our aim was to study the different components of executive functions in obese individuals waiting for clinical treatment, comparing them with normoweight subjects with similar socio-demographic characteristics. METHOD A total of 114 adults (76 obese and 38 normoweight) completed a neuropsychological battery that included tasks of conceptualization and abstraction, motor programming, response maintenance, inhibition and resistance, problem solving, cognitive flexibility, and verbal fluency. RESULTS There was a statistically significant difference between groups for all the dimensions of the executive functions evaluated, with the obese group showing poorer performance compared to normoweight. CONCLUSIONS Obese individuals demonstrated poorer executive functions than normoweight individuals.