Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lesbian identities and everyday space in contemporary urban Russia

Within the social sciences, the extensive literature on homosexuality as a socio-cultural construct and on ‘queer’ identities and experiences generally focuses on Western European or Anglo-American societies. Sexuality and homosexuality remain relatively unexplored fields of enquiry within Russian studies, even if it is usually acknowledged that the complex transformations undergone by Russian society since the fall of the communist system have deeply affected sexual practices and attitudes to sex and sexuality. This thesis addresses a gap in the literature by exploring how ‘lesbian’ identities, broadly understood as encompassing the whole spectrum of LBT (lesbian, bisexual, transgender/transsexual) women’s sexualities, are (re)constructed and (re)negotiated in contemporary Russia. It draws on data generated through participant observation, ethnographic interviews with sixty-one queer-identified women, and expert interviews with activists in local community initiatives; ethnographic data is framed within a broader analysis of discourses on lesbianism in popular culture and the media. The thesis critically assesses the centrality of the ‘East/West’ binary in the existing literature on Russian sexualities. Rather than imposing Western-centric categories of identity, it explores women’s own identifications and the meanings they attach to them, framing them within shifting discourses on sexuality, gender and morality across the Soviet and post-Soviet period. The thesis also looks at how sexual identities are performed, negotiated and expressed across everyday contexts such as the home, the workplace, and the street. It interrogates women’s strategies of identity negotiation, highlighting the constraining effects of heteronormative and gendered notions of respectability, but also foregrounding the importance of individual agency. The thesis also maps ‘lesbian/queer’ space in the different urban settings of Moscow and provincial Ul’ianovsk. It explores how ‘lesbian/queer’ space is collectively carved out of the city landscape, while also examining the cultural practices and patterns of socialising attached to specific ‘lesbian’ settings; it also highlights the role of ‘lesbian/queer’ space in validating and performatively producing shared notions of non-heteronormative sexual identities.
Loss of α-Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (αCGRP) Reduces the Efficacy of the Vestibulo-ocular Reflex (VOR)

The neuroactive peptide calcitonin-gene related peptide (CGRP) is known to act at efferent synapses and their targets in hair cell organs, including the cochlea and lateral line. CGRP is also expressed in vestibular efferent neurons as well as a number of central vestibular neurons. Although CGRP-null (−/−) mice demonstrate a significant reduction in cochlear nerve sound-evoked activity compared with wild-type mice, it is unknown whether and how the loss of CGRP influence vestibular system function. Vestibular function was assessed by quantifying the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) in alert mice. The loss of CGRP in (−/−) mice was associated with a reduction of the VOR gain of ≈50% without a concomitant change in phase. Using immunohistochemistry, we confirmed that, although CGRP staining was absent in the vestibular end-organs of null (−/−) mice, cholinergic staining appeared normal, suggesting that the overall gross development of vestibular efferent innervation was unaltered. We further confirmed that the observed deficit in vestibular function of null (−/−) mice was not the result of nontargeted effects at the level of the extraocular motor neurons and/or their innervation of extraocular muscles. Analysis of the relationship between vestibular quick phase amplitude and peak velocity revealed that extraocular motor function was unchanged, and immunohistochemistry revealed no abnormalities in motor endplates. Together, our findings show that the neurotransmitter CGRP plays a key role in ensuring VOR efficacy.
Transcriptome analyses to investigate symbiotic relationships between marine protists

Rhizaria are an important component of oceanic plankton communities worldwide. A number of species harbor eukaryotic microalgal symbionts, which are horizontally acquired in the environment at each generation. Although these photosymbioses are determinant for Rhizaria ability to thrive in oceanic ecosystems, the mechanisms for symbiotic interactions are unclear. Using high-throughput sequencing technology (i.e., 454), we generated large Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) datasets from four uncultured Rhizaria, an acantharian (Amphilonche elongata), two polycystines (Collozoum sp. and Spongosphaera streptacantha), and one phaeodarian (Aulacantha scolymantha). We assessed the main genetic features of the host/symbionts consortium (i.e., the holobiont) transcriptomes and found rRNA sequences affiliated to a wide range of bacteria and protists in all samples, suggesting that diverse microbial communities are associated with the holobionts. A particular focus was then carried out to search for genes potentially involved in symbiotic processes such as the presence of c-type lectins-coding genes, which are proteins that play a role in cell recognition among eukaryotes. Unigenes coding putative c-type lectin domains (CTLD) were found in the species bearing photosynthetic symbionts (A. elongata, Collozoum sp., and S. streptacantha) but not in the non-symbiotic one (A. scolymantha). More particularly, phylogenetic analyses group CTLDs from A. elongata and Collozoum sp. on a distinct branch from S. streptacantha CTLDs, which contained carbohydrate-binding motifs typically observed in other marine photosymbiosis. Our data suggest that similarly to other well-known marine photosymbiosis involving metazoans, the interactions of glycans with c-type lectins is likely involved in modulation of the host/symbiont specific recognition in Radiolaria.
Bottleneck zone analysis in energy-constrained wireless sensor networks

In a typical sensor network, nodes around the sink consume more energy than those further away. It is not unusual that limited energy resources available at the nodes around the sink become the bottleneck which confines the performance of the whole network. In this letter, we firstly present our considered bottleneck zone in a general sensor network scenario. Then, the effect of the bottleneck zone on network performance is investigated by deducing performance bounds imposed by the energy resources available inside the bottleneck zone. In this letter, both the performance bound in terms of network lifetime and the performance bound in terms of information collection are explored. Finally, the ways by which network deployment variables may affect the performance bounds are analyzed.
Schema affirmation and White Asparagus: cultural multilingualism among readers of texts

This article builds on the work of Cook (1994) and Semino (1997), although it begins by attempting to demonstrate that their claims that the general function of literature is to change a reader's schemata are logically difficult to sustain, difficult to demonstrate empirically and counter-intuitive for many experiences of reading literature. Two poems are considered as examples of 'schema-affirmation': the identification in a text of prior knowledge or experience which is rarely or never publicly articulated in that genre. It is claimed that this is a common experience for readers of literary works, particularly for those who in some way feel themselves oppressed or alienated by the mainstream culture. It is suggested that the ability to read simultaneously from a number of viewpoints should become the foundation of any model of textual meaning, and that readers' tendency to construct what they see as the 'intended' meaning is not necessarily affected by their other or alternative readings. The need for empirical work investigating these phenomena is acknowledged and it is suggested that reader-response studies could be adapted to this end.
Technology and Achievement: The Bottom Line

Looking back on the 1990s, advocates of education technology can pat themselves on the back. When that decade began, computer-to-student ratios in the United States typically stood at about 1 to 20. Computers rarely appeared in the classroom; instead, they were relegated to central labs that teachers and students visited sporadically. When students did use computers, they were typically learning basic computer skills or programming. Schools rarely, if ever, made computers an integral part of the content-area curriculum.
Recommending citations: translating papers into references

When we write or prepare to write a research paper, we always have appropriate references in mind. However, there are most likely references we have missed and should have been read and cited. As such a good citation recommendation system would not only improve our paper but, overall, the efficiency and quality of literature search. Usually, a citation's context contains explicit words explaining the citation. Using this, we propose a method that "translates" research papers into references. By considering the citations and their contexts from existing papers as parallel data written in two different "languages", we adopt the translation model to create a relationship between these two "vocabularies". Experiments on both CiteSeer and CiteULike dataset show that our approach outperforms other baseline methods and increase the precision, recall and f-measure by at least 5% to 10%, respectively. In addition, our approach runs much faster in the both training and recommending stage, which proves the effectiveness and the scalability of our work.
Investigation of burnout scores of high school students according to socio-demographic variables, psychological symptoms and attachment styles Lise öğrencilerinin tükenmişlik puanlarının sosyo-demografik değişkenler, psikolojik belirtiler ve bağlanma stilleri açısından incelenmesi

The purpose of this research is to investigate the contributions of psychological symptoms with attachment styles to indicate the prediction of burnout scores of high school students by identifying whether there is a difference in burnout scores according to gender, class level and school type variables. The research group is consisting of 1260 students. 649 of them (%51, 5) are female and 611 of them (% 48,5) are male and they are chosen by simple random sampling method from the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th classes of different kinds of high schools in four center districts (Akdeniz, Mezitli, Toroslar and Yenisehir) of Mersin Province. The data have been collected with "Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-SS)", "The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)", "Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ)" and "Personal Information Form". Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA), correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis have been used in the analysis of data. The results indicated that gender, class level and school type variables have effective on MBI-SS subscale scores and attachment styles and psychological symptoms have been predictive relations. The results were discussed in the light of the literature. Ozet Bu arastirmanin amaci, lise ogrencilerinin; tukenmislik puanlarinin cinsiyet, sinif duzeyi ve okul turu degiskenleri acisindan farklilasip farklilasmadigini belirleyerek, psikolojik belirtiler ile baglanma stillerinin tukenmislik puanlarini yordamadaki katkilarini incelemektir. Arastirma grubu, Mersin Ilinin dort merkez ilcesindeki (Akdeniz, Mezitli, Toroslar ve Yenisehir) farkli turdeki liselerin 9, 10, 11 ve 12. siniflarindan basit tesadufi ornekleme yontemi ile secilen ve 649’u (% 51.5) kiz ve 611’i (% 48.5) erkek olmak uzere toplam 1260 ogrenciden olusmaktadir. Veriler, “Maslach Tukenmislik Envanteri-Ogrenci Formu (MTE-OF)”, “Kisa Semptom Envanteri (KSE)”, “Iliski Olcekleri Anketi (IOA)” ve “Kisisel Bilgi Formu” kullanilarak toplanmistir. Verilerin analizinde dogrulayici faktor analizi (DFA), t testi, tek yonlu varyans analizi (ANOVA), cok yonlu varyans analiz (MANOVA), korelasyon analizi ve coklu regresyon analizinin kullanildigi arastirma sonuclarinda, MTE-OF’nun alt olcek puanlari uzerinde, cinsiyet, sinif duzeyi ve okul turu degiskenlerinin etkili oldugu ve psikolojik belirtiler ile baglanma stilleri acisindan yordayici iliskilerin elde edildigi bulunmustur. Bulgular literature isiginda tartisilmistir.
All-trans-retinoic acid prevents radiation- or bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis.

RATIONALE Although radiotherapy is effective in treating lung cancers, resultant pulmonary injury is the main obstacle. Pulmonary fibrosis is characterized by progressive worsening in pulmonary function leading to high incidence of death. Currently, however, there has been little progress in effective preventive and therapeutic strategies. OBJECTIVES Previously, we reported that all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) reduced both irradiation-induced interleukin (IL)-6 production in lung fibroblasts and IL-6-dependent cell growth, and also directly inhibited the proliferation of lung fibroblasts after irradiation. In this study, we examined the preventive effect of ATRA on the progression of lung fibrosis both in irradiated and bleomycin-treated mice. MEASUREMENTS We performed histologic examinations and quantitative measurements of IL-6, transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta(1), and collagen type Ialpha1 (COL1A1) in irradiated and bleomycin- treated mouse lung tissues with or without the administration of ATRA. RESULTS Lethal irradiation effect was reduced by intraperitoneal administration of ATRA, and the overall survival rate at 16 wk was 30.0% without ATRA (n = 11), whereas it was 81.8% (n = 10) in the treatment group (p = 0.04). In vitro studies disclosed that the administration of ATRA reduced (1) irradiation-induced production of IL-6, TGF-beta(1), and collagen from IMR90 cells, and (2) IL-6-dependent proliferation and TGF-beta(1)-dependent transdifferentiation of the cells, which could be the mechanism underlying the preventive effect of ATRA on lung fibrosis. Furthermore, ATRA ameliorated bleomycin-induced fibrosis in mouse lung tissues. CONCLUSIONS These data may provide a rationale to explore clinical use of ATRA for the prevention of radiation-induced lung fibrosis and other pathologic conditions involving pulmonary fibrosis.
Some Properties of Social Play.

The extensive literature on children's play, although arising from a number of diverse theoretical orientations, reflects a major concern with the functions of play in the child's individual cognitive, physical, or psychosocial development. Empirical studies which have dealt with play as social behavior have examined the role of age, sex, and ethnic identity in determining choice of play activities or partner or have treated settings as independent variables affecting physical or psy chological features of play (Herron & Sutton-Smith, 1971). However, even those studies that have examined play in a social context have failed to ask how the interaction is carried out or what kinds of skills are involved in play interchanges. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the structure of spontaneous episodes of dyadic play and to suggest some of the basic competencies which underlie social play activity. It is useful to distinguish four possible states which may obtain when two children are alone together: social nonplay, e.g., both may collaborate to repair a broken toy,· nonsocial nonplay, e.g., one or both may independently explore an object; nonsocial play, e.g., one or both may engage in an independent imaginative activity, as when one child irons the laundry and the other builds a wall with blocks,· and social play, e.g., both are mutually engaged in a housekeeping activity such as cooking and eating dinner or are driving the toy car to a family vacation. This paper will examine some properties of the state of social play, analyzing first the structures underlying the rhythmic, repetitive behaviors which we will call ritual play and then tracing the same structures in less stylized play episodes. Social play is defined here as a state of engagement in which the successive, nonliteral behaviors of one partner are contingent on the nonliteral behaviors of the other partner. Viewed from the standpoint
Anti-Retroviral Treatment Outcomes among Older Adults in Zomba District, Malawi

Background There are approximately 3 million people aged 50 and older in sub-Saharan Africa who are HIV-positive. Despite this, little is known about the characteristics of older adults who are on treatment and their treatment outcomes. Methods A retrospective cohort analysis was performed using routinely collected data with Malawi Ministry of Health monitoring tools from facilities providing antiretroviral therapy services in Zomba district. Patients aged 25 years and older initiated on treatment from July 2005 to June 2010 were included. Differences in survival, by age group, were determined using Kaplan–Meier survival plots and Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results There were 10,888 patients aged 25 and older. Patients aged 50 and older (N = 1419) were more likely to be male (P<0.0001) and located in rural areas (P = 0.003) than those aged 25–49. Crude survival estimates among those aged 50–59 were not statistically different from those aged 25–49 (P = 0.925). However, survival among those aged 60 and older (N = 345) was worse (P = 0.019) than among those 25–59. In the proportional hazards model, after controlling for sex and stage at initiation, survival in those aged 50–59 did not differ significantly from those aged 25–49 (hazard ratio 1.00 (95% CI: 0.79 to 1.27; P = 0.998) but the hazard ratio was 1.46 (95% CI: 1.03 to 2.06; P = 0.032) for those aged 60 and older compared to those aged 25–49. Conclusions Treatment outcomes of those aged 50–59 are similar to those aged 25–49. A better understanding of how older adults present for and respond to treatment is critical to improving HIV services.
Development of a Navy Job-Specific Vocational Interest Model

Abstract : The purpose of this project is to develop a Navy Job-specific vocational interest model designed to guide the development of a Navy job-specific interest inventory. We combined a review of the theoretical literature with a qualitative analysis of entry-level enlisted ratings to create a model that is grounded in current research and reflects the critical work activities and environments of Navy ratings. A content model of Navy-specific vocational interests was developed. The model will be used to guide the development of Jobs and Occupational Interests in the Navy (JOIN), a Navy-specific interest inventory and to develop a method and instrument to measure job characteristics that are congruent with the constructs assessed by the interest inventory. The Navy-Specific Vocational Interest Model was developed through an iterative, partially theoretical and partially empirical method that ensured the model was grounded in current interest theory and tailored it to the Navy's work and classification needs. The model will provide the basis for measuring individual differences in Navy applicant interests and interest-related job characteristics, which differentiate ratings or families of ratings. It can be used to add new or revamped ratings to the interest function in RIDE/PRIDE simply by obtaining SME data on the job characteristics variables, instead of conducting a validation study.
Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy After Administration of Norepinephrine

Stress-induced cardiomyopathy is a syndrome of transient cardiac dysfunction with no clear pathophysiology. It is thought to be secondary to catecholamine surge. The mechanism by which catecholamine can induce transient cardiac dysfunction is unknown. We present a case of a patient who developed stress-induced cardiomyopathy after she was administered norepinephrine due to a nursing error.
The CorA Mg2+ Transporter Is a Homotetramer

ABSTRACT CorA is a primary Mg2+ transporter for Bacteria and Archaea. The C-terminal domain of ∼80 amino acids forms three transmembrane (TM) segments, which suggests that CorA is a homo-oligomer. A Cys residue was added to the cytoplasmic C terminus (C317) of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium CorA with or without mutation of the single periplasmic Cys191 to Ser; each mutant retained function. Oxidation of the Cys191Ser Cys317 CorA gave a dimer. Oxidation of Cys317 CorA showed a dimer plus an additional band, apparently cross-linked via both Cys317 and C191. To determine oligomer order, intact cells or purified membranes were treated with formaldehyde or carbon disulfide. Higher-molecular-mass bands formed, consistent with the presence of a tetramer. Cross-linking of the Bacillus subtilis CorA expressed in Salmonella serovar Typhimurium similarly indicated a tetramer. CorA periplasmic soluble domains from both Salmonella serovar Typhimurium and the archaeon Methanococcus jannaschii were purified and shown to retain structure. Formaldehyde treatment showed formation of a tetramer. Finally, previous mutagenesis of the CorA membrane domain identified six intramembrane residues forming an apparent pore that interacts with Mg2+ during transport. Each was mutated to Cys. In mutants carrying a single intramembrane Cys residue, spontaneous disulfide bond formation that was enhanced by oxidation with Cu(II)-1,10-phenanthroline was observed between monomers, indicating that these Mg2+-interacting residues within the membrane are very close to their cognate residue on another monomer. Thus, CorA appears to be a homotetramer with a TM segment of one monomer physically close to the same TM segment of another monomer.
Symptoms Experienced by Women Who Enter Into Natural and Surgical Menopause and Their Relation to Sexual Functions

We carried out this study to determine which symptoms women experienced according to menopause type and the relation of these symptoms to sexual functions. The patricipants of the study were 250 women who underwent natural menopause and 200 women who underwent surgical menopause. A questionnaire, the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS), and the Golombok Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS) provided data. According to the MRS, hot flushes and sweating problems were the most common experiences, and, according to the GRISS, sexual infrequency problems rated highest in both groups. There was a positive relationship between multiple sexual functioning problems and the perceived level of menopausal symptom intensity, especially in surgical menopause women.
An experimental design to study colonic fibre fermentation in the rat: the duration of feeding

1. The time-course of metabolic adaptation by rats to diets containing either wheat bran or gum arabic was studied during a 12-week period. 2. Stool weight was increased with wheat bran but not with gum arabic, and had stabilized after 4 weeks. 3. Bacterial mass as measured by diaminopimelic acid content had stabilized by week 4. Bacterial mass increased on feeding gum arabic but was unchanged with wheat bran. 4. There was increased caecal short-chain fatty acid, hydrogen and methane production with gum arabic but not with wheat bran. The change in caecal metabolic activity was slow to stabilize (8–12 weeks at least). 5. The faecal excretion of bile acids increased twofold with the wheat-bran-supplemented diet compared with the gum-arabic-supplemented and unsupplemented diets. Relatively greater amounts of muricholic acids were present in the caeca and faeces of gum-arabic-fed rats compared with the other groups.