Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Freedom of Information: A Comparative Legal Survey

Freedom of Information: A Comparative Legal Survey. Toby Mendel. New Delhi, India: UNESCO, Regional Bureau for Communication and Information, 2003, 134 pp. (free) pbk. (Available online at ) Since the post-September 11 terrorist attacks, freedom of information has taken on a growing sense of urgency. Toby Mendel, law program director of ARTICLE 19: Global Campaign for Free Expression, notes: "There is a massive global trend towards legal recognition of this right [to access government information] as countries around the world that aspire to democracy either have adopted, or are in the process of preparing, freedom of information laws. " His book, Freedom of Information: A Comparative Legal Survey, showcases how freedom of expression is more than freedom from the government in a growing number of established and emerging democracies. One of the foundations making freedom of expression more practical is recognition of a right to access government records, for no participatory democracy is possible without a well-informed citizenry relating to government affairs. Over the years, a number of books, monographs, and scholarly journal articles have been published about freedom of information as a right. Nonetheless, few of them have examined the subject from an international and comparative perspective. Among the rare exceptions are Sandra Couver et al.'s secrecy and Liberty: National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information; Venkat Iyer's Freedom of Information: An Asian Survey; and Norman S. Marsh's Public Access to Government-held Information: A Comparative Symposium. What makes Mendel's Freedom of Information distinctive is the book's informative overview of the international and national framework of the FOI right as a human right. Also unique about the book is its discussion of ARTICLE 19's principles, which serve as a benchmark for FOI legislation. Most valuable to those who need a comparative survey of various FOI laws is the book's seventy-five-page "Country Profiles" chapter. It is the author's survey of ten countries: Bulgaria, India, Japan, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Some readers, the reviewer included, most likely will wonder why these particular countries, not others, were selected. Mendel explains: "The choice of countries was based on a number of factors including geographic distribution, progressive and/or longstanding legislation and the familiarity of the author with the country/legislation. " In each of his country-by-country analyses, Mendel first offers a brief introduction on the FOI statute. He then discusses the right of informational access, the government's duty to publish information, the exceptions to access to public information, the appeals from access denials, and the government's promotion of access to public records. …
Plasma microparticles and vascular disorders

Microparticles are circulating, phospholipid rich, submicron particles released from the membranes of endothelial cells, platelets, leucocytes and erythrocytes. Investigation into their biological activity has revealed diverse actions in coagulation, cell signalling and cellular interactions. These actions are mediated through their phospholipid rich surfaces and the expression of cell surface molecules which reflect their cell of origin and its state of activation.
Towards a cartography of indigenous knowledge systems in library and information science training and education in Anglophone eastern and southern Africa

The focus of this article is on mapping the inclusion of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) content in the higher education curriculum of universities that offer library and information science (LIS) education in Anglophone eastern and southern Africa (AESA). As universities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are being encouraged to "adapt" and to become more "societally relevant" in their production, transmission and acquisition of knowledge, they should include hitherto subjugated IKS. The main argument is that the inclusion of indigenous knowledge (IK), with its emphasis on context and the holistic nature of human experiences, in higher education may partly offer knowledge that resonates with Bernstein's (2000) horizontal discourses and Dewey's (2004) notion of education that addresses the disposition of the learner holistically. Although some studies on higher education curricula have focused on a diversity of issues, including improved pedagogy, assessment strategies, low achievement, student throughput, content, institutional autonomy and public accountability (Bester, 2011), the scope of this article is limited to the content aspect of the curriculum. Content is at the centre of the relevance of a curriculum in a specific context. A meaningful coverage of IK content in the curriculum may equip information and heritage management professionals with skills and knowledge to preserve the declining IK and elevate it to a respectable level in Africa. The results of this quantitative study confirm that the end of foreign domination in AESA did not bring about a new cartography in the LIS curricula of the universities, as colonial pedagogic practices that undervalued IK have continued to dominate the higher education landscape at the expense of the inclusion of IK.
Strategic reading instruction and reattribution training for students who are "at-risk" or learning disabled

This study investigated the effects of providing students of low reading ability with direct instruction in strategic reading and reattributional training for effort. There were two conditions: Experimental and control. Both focused on reading comprehension. Specifically, the experimental group focused on increasing reading comprehension through the teaching of specific reading skills. Twenty-four students received instruction in reading strategies for use in three different stages of reading: Pre, during, and postreading. Pre-reading strategies included examining the title and headings, looking at the pictures, skimming the text, thinking about what the story might be about, and activating prior knowledge. The during reading strategies consisted of identifying the main idea, making inferences, and-backtracking. Postreading strategies included self-monitoring such as "Did I meet my goal? ", "What did I learn? ", "Were my predictions accurate? ", "Did everything make sense? ", and "Can I summarize the main points? ". In addition, the students received reattribution training for effort which made the students aware of the relationship between effort and achievement. The fifteen children in the control group received practice in reading for comprehension. Instruction for the control group centred on improving reading comprehension using a content based approach. Thus, while both the experimental and the control groups focused on reading comprehension, the experimental group utilized a skills-based approach while the control group employed a content-based approach. The results of the study indicated that combining instruction in strategic reading with reattribution training for effort led to increased scores in word iv identification, passage comprehension, knowledge of metacomprehension strategies, and self-efficacy .
Fractional Diffusion Based Modelling and Prediction of Human Brain Response to External Stimuli

Human brain response is the result of the overall ability of the brain in analyzing different internal and external stimuli and thus making the proper decisions. During the last decades scientists have discovered more about this phenomenon and proposed some models based on computational, biological, or neuropsychological methods. Despite some advances in studies related to this area of the brain research, there were fewer efforts which have been done on the mathematical modeling of the human brain response to external stimuli. This research is devoted to the modeling and prediction of the human EEG signal, as an alert state of overall human brain activity monitoring, upon receiving external stimuli, based on fractional diffusion equations. The results of this modeling show very good agreement with the real human EEG signal and thus this model can be used for many types of applications such as prediction of seizure onset in patient with epilepsy.
Noncanonical transforming growth factor β signaling in scleroderma fibrosis

Purpose of reviewPersistent transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) signaling is the major factor contributing to scleroderma (SSc) fibrosis. This review will summarize recent progress on the noncanonical TGF-β signaling pathways and their role in SSc fibrosis. Recent findingsCanonical TGF-β signaling involves activation of the TGF-β receptors and downstream signal transducers Smad2/3. The term noncanonical TGF-β signaling includes a variety of intracellular signaling pathways activated by TGF-β independently of Smad2/3 activation. There is evidence that these pathways play important role in SSc fibrosis. In a subset of SSc fibroblasts, a multiligand receptor complex consisting of TGF-β and CCN2 receptors drives constitutive activation of the Smad1 pathway. CCN2 is also a primary effector of this pathway, thus establishing an autocrine loop that amplifies TGF-β signaling. SSc fibroblasts also demonstrate reduced expression of endogenous antagonists of TGF-β signaling including transcriptional repressors, Friend leukemia integration-1 and perixosome proliferator-activated receptor-γ, as well as inhibitor of Smad3 phosphorylation, PTEN. PTEN is a key mediator of the cross-talk between the sphingosine kinase and the TGF-β pathways. SummaryDiscovery of the role of noncanonical TGF-β signaling in fibrosis offers new molecular targets for the antifibrotic therapies. Due to the heterogeneous nature of SSc, knowledge of these pathways could help to tailor the therapy to the individual patient depending on the activation status of a specific profibrotic pathway.
Cowden syndrome

Cowden syndrome is associated with an increased risk of developing several types of cancer, particularly cancers of the breast, a gland in the lower neck called the thyroid, and the lining of the uterus (the endometrium). Other cancers that have been identified in people with Cowden syndrome include colorectal cancer, kidney cancer, and a form of skin cancer called melanoma. Compared with the general population, people with Cowden syndrome develop these cancers at younger ages, often beginning in their thirties or forties. Other diseases of the breast, thyroid, and endometrium are also common in Cowden syndrome. Additional signs and symptoms can include an enlarged head (macrocephaly) and a rare, noncancerous brain tumor called Lhermitte-Duclos disease. A small percentage of affected individuals have delayed development or intellectual disability.
Diverse monoclonal antibodies against the CA 19‐9 antigen show variation in binding specificity with consequences for clinical interpretation

The CA 19‐9 antigen is currently the best individual marker for the detection of pancreatic cancer. In order to optimize the CA 19‐9 assay and to develop approaches to further improve cancer detection, it is important to understand the specificity differences between CA 19‐9 antibodies and the consequential affect on biomarker performance. Antibody arrays enabled multiplexed comparisons between five different CA 19‐9 antibodies used in the analysis of plasma samples from pancreatic cancer patients and controls. Major differences were observed between antibodies in their detection of particular patient samples. Glycan array analysis revealed that certain antibodies were highly specific for the canonical CA 19‐9 epitope, sialyl‐Lewis A, while others bound sialyl‐Lewis A in addition to a related structure called sialyl‐Lewis C and modification with Nue5Gc. In a much larger patient cohort, we confirmed the binding of sialyl‐Lewis C glycan by one of the antibodies and showed that the broader specificity led to the detection of an increased number of cancer patients without increasing detection of pancreatitis patient samples. This work demonstrates that variation between antibody specificity for cancer‐associated glycans can have significant implications for biomarker performance and highlights the value of characterizing and detecting the range of glycan structures that are elevated in cancer.
二线方案治疗98例复发难治弥漫大B细胞淋巴瘤的疗效及预后分析

目的 研究二线方案治疗复发或难治性弥漫大B细胞淋巴瘤（DLBCL）的有效性及相关预后因素。 方法 回顾性2004年7月至2016年6月收治的98例复发难治性DLBCL患者的临床资料，评估化疗结束后缓解率，采用Kaplan-Meier方法计算总生存期（OS），并采用Cox回归法进行多因素分析，寻找影响患者OS的独立预后因素。 结果 98例患者中男60例，女38例，中位年龄55. 5（15~77）岁。 48例（49.0%）获得缓解，其中完全缓解32例（32.7%），部分缓解16例。 难治DLBCL（早期进展或复发<12个月）（χ2=5.878，P=0.015）、IPI中高危/高危（χ2=5.930，P=0.015）和NCCN-IPI中高危/高危（χ2=4.961，P=0.026）是影响化疗缓解率的不良因素，生发中心来源型（GCB）与非生发中心来源型（non-GCB）患者的化疗缓解率差异无统计学意义[χ2=0.660，P=0.417]。 1年OS率为51. 0%，2年OS率为31. 5%，中位OS时间为13. 17个月。 多因素分析显示，NCCN-IPI中高危/高危[HR=2.176（95%CI 1.338~3.538），P=0.002]是影响患者生存的独立危险因素，化疗后缓解是提高患者OS率的独立预后因素[HR=0.273（95%CI 0.165~0.452），P<0.001]。 结论 NCCN-IPI可作为复发难治性DLBCL患者的一个强有力的预后评价手段，化疗后缓解是患者获得较长OS的独立预后因素。
A framework for understanding old-age vulnerabilities

Identifying vulnerable older people and understanding the causes and consequences of their vulnerability is of human concern and an essential task of social policy. To date, vulnerability in old age has mainly been approached by identifying high risk groups, like the poor, childless, frail or isolated. Yet vulnerability is the outcome of complex interactions of discrete risks, namely of being exposed to a threat, of a threat materialising, and of lacking the defences or resources to deal with a threat. In this article, we review approaches to vulnerability in various disciplines in order to develop a systematic framework for approaching vulnerability. This framework distinguishes and examines the interactions among the domains of exposure, threats, coping capacities and outcomes. Drawing on European and Asian gerontological literature, we discuss what might be meant by these domains and their place in the understanding of vulnerability in old age. Two case studies are presented – one on homelessness in Britain, the other on familial care provision in Indonesia – to illustrate the ways in which specific vulnerabilities are created and distributed over the lifecourse.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN QUALITY OF LIFE AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE OF THE SAMPLE YOUTH

The present research was carried out with the aim of assessing the relationship between Quality of life and Emotional Intelligence among youth of Jammu city. The sample for the study comprised of 160 employed youth of Jammu city, half of who were males and rest females. The sample was selected through multi stage sampling technique where in the actual sample was selected randomly. The tools used for investigation / data collection were a standardized Emotional Intelligence scale developed Chadha and Singh (2003) and Quality of Life scale developed by Frish (1994). Correlation analysis reveals that for both male as well as female youth certain components of quality of life were significantly related with emotional intelligence and its sub components, pointing towards a significant association between emotional intelligence and quality of life.
Selective Involvement of the Amygdala in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Background Antibodies specifically affect the amygdala in a mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The aim of our study was to investigate whether there is also specific involvement of the amygdala in human SLE. Methods and Findings We analyzed a group of 37 patients with neuropsychiatric SLE (NP-SLE), 21 patients with SLE, and a group of 12 healthy control participants with diffusion weighted imaging (DWI). In addition, in a subset of eight patients, plasma was available to determine their anti-NMDAR antibody status. From the structural magnetic resonance imaging data, the amygdala and the hippocampus were segmented, as well as the white and gray matter, and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) was retrieved. ADC values between controls, patients with SLE, and patients with NP-SLE were tested using analysis of variance with post-hoc Bonferroni correction. No differences were found in the gray or white matter segments. The average ADC in the amygdala of patients with NP-SLE and SLE (940 × 10−6 mm2/s; p = 0.006 and 949 × 10−6 mm2/s; p = 0.019, respectively) was lower than in healthy control participants (1152 × 10−6 mm2/s). Mann-Whitney analysis revealed that the average ADC in the amygdala of patients with anti-NMDAR antibodies (n = 4; 802 × 10−6 mm2/s) was lower (p = 0.029) than the average ADC of patients without anti-NMDAR antibodies (n = 4; 979 × 10−6 mm2/s) and also lower (p = 0.001) than in healthy control participants. Conclusions This is the first study to our knowledge to observe damage in the amygdala in patients with SLE. Patients with SLE with anti-NMDAR antibodies had more severe damage in the amygdala compared to SLE patients without anti-NMDAR antibodies.
A Script-Based Approach to Modifying Knowledge Bases

Our goal is to build knowledge acquisition tools that support users in modifying knowledge-based systems. These modifications may require several individual changes to various components of the knowledge base, which need to be carefully coordinated to prevent users from leaving the knowledge-based system in an unusable state. This paper describes an approach to building knowledge acquisition tools which capture knowledge about commonly occurring modification sequences and support users in completing the modifications they start. These sequences, which we call KA Scripts, relate individual changes and the effects that they have on the knowledge base. We discuss our experience in designing and compiling a library of KA Scripts. We also describe the implementation of a tool that uses them and our preliminary evaluations that demonstrate their usability.
Fibroblast Growth Factor Signaling Regulates Pillar Cell Development in the Organ of Corti

One of the most striking aspects of the cellular pattern within the sensory epithelium of the mammalian cochlea is the presence of two rows of pillar cells in the region between the single row of inner hair cells and the first row of outer hair cells. The factors that regulate pillar cell development have not been determined; however, previous results suggested a key role for fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3). To examine the specific effects of FGFR3 on pillar cell development, we inhibited receptor activation in embryonic cochlear explant cultures. Results indicated that differentiation of pillar cells is dependent on continuous activation of FGFR3. Moreover, transient inhibition of FGFR3 did not inhibit the pillar cell fate permanently, because reactivation of FGFR3 resulted in the resumption of pillar cell differentiation. The effects of increased FGFR3 activation were determined by exposing cochlear explants to FGF2, a strong ligand for several FGF receptors. Treatment with FGF2 led to a significant increase in the number of pillar cells and to a small increase in the number of inner hair cells. These effects were not dependent on cellular proliferation, suggesting that additional pillar cells and inner hair cells were a result of increased recruitment into the prosensory domain. These results indicate that FGF signaling plays a critical role in the commitment and differentiation of pillar cells. Moreover, the position of the pillar cells appears to be determined by the activation of FGFR3 in a subset of the progenitor cells that initially express this receptor.
Electromagnetic analysis and fault injection onto secure circuits

Implementation attacks are a major threat to hardware cryptographic implementations. These attacks exploit the correlation existing between the computed data and variables such as computation time, consumed power, and electromagnetic (EM) emissions. Recently, the EM channel has been proven as an effective passive and active attack technique against secure implementations. In this paper, we resume the recent results obtained on this subject, with a particular focus on EM as a fault injection tool.
The anatomical substrates of feature integration during object processing

Objects can be identified from a number of perceptual attributes, including visual, auditory and tactile sensory input. The integration of these perceptual attributes constitutes our semantic knowledge of an object representation. This research uses functional neuroimaging to investigate the brain areas that integrate perceptual features into an object representation, and how these regions are modulated by stimulus- and task-specific features. A series of experiments are reported that utilise different types of perceptual integration, both within and across sensory modalities. These include 1) the integration of visual form with colour, 2) the integration of visual and auditory object features, and 3) the integration of visual and tactile abstract shapes. Across these experiments I have also manipulated additional factors, including the meaning of the perceptual information (meaningful objects versus meaningless shapes), the verbal or non-verbal nature of the perceptual inputs (e.g. spoken words versus environmental sounds) and the congruency of crossmodal inputs. These experiments have identified a network of brain regions both common to, and selective for, different types of object feature integration. For instance, I have identified a common bilateral network involved in the integration and association of crossmodal audiovisual objects and intra-modal auditory or visual object pairs. However, I have also determined that activation in response to the same concepts can be modulated by the type of stimulus input (verbal versus nonverbal), the timing of those inputs (simultaneous versus sequential presentation), and the congruency of stimulus pairs (congruent versus incongruent). Taken together, the results from these experiments demonstrate modulations of neuronal activation by different object attributes at multiple different levels of the object processing hierarchy, from early sensory processing through to stored object representations. Critically, these differential effects have even been observed with the same conceptual stimuli. Together these findings highlight the need for a model of object feature processing that can account for the functional demands that elicit these anatomical differences.
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Neural Correlates of Music-syntactic Processing in Two-year Old Children

Music is a basic and ubiquitous socio-cognitive domain. However, our understanding of the time course of the development of music perception, particularly regarding implicit knowledge of music-syntactic regularities, remains contradictory and incomplete. Some authors assume that the acquisition of knowledge about these regularities lasts until late childhood, but there is also evidence for the presence of such knowledge in four-and five-year-olds. To explore whether such knowledge is already present in younger children , we tested whether 30-month-olds (N = 62) show neurophysiological responses to music-syntactically irregular harmonies. We observed an early right anterior negativity in response to both irregular in-key and out-of-key chords. The N5, a brain response usually present in older children and adults, was not observed, indicating that processes of harmonic integration (as reflected in the N5) are still in development in this age group. In conclusion, our results indicate that 30-month-olds already have acquired implicit knowledge of complex harmonic music-syntactic regularities and process musical information according to this knowledge.