Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Defectors Can Create Conditions That Rescue Cooperation

Cooperation based on the production of costly common goods is observed throughout nature. This is puzzling, as cooperation is vulnerable to exploitation by defectors which enjoy a fitness advantage by consuming the common good without contributing fairly. Depletion of the common good can lead to population collapse and the destruction of cooperation. However, population collapse implies small population size, which, in a structured population, is known to favor cooperation. This happens because small population size increases variability in cooperator frequency across different locations. Since individuals in cooperator-dominated locations (which are most likely cooperators) will grow more than those in defector-dominated locations (which are most likely defectors), cooperators can outgrow defectors globally despite defectors outgrowing cooperators in each location. This raises the possibility that defectors can lead to conditions that sometimes rescue cooperation from defector-induced destruction. We demonstrate multiple mechanisms through which this can occur, using an individual-based approach to model stochastic birth, death, migration, and mutation events. First, during defector-induced population collapse, defectors occasionally go extinct before cooperators by chance, which allows cooperators to grow. Second, empty locations, either preexisting or created by defector-induced population extinction, can favor cooperation because they allow cooperator but not defector migrants to grow. These factors lead to the counterintuitive result that the initial presence of defectors sometimes allows better survival of cooperation compared to when defectors are initially absent. Finally, we find that resource limitation, inducible by defectors, can select for mutations adaptive to resource limitation. When these mutations are initially present at low levels or continuously generated at a moderate rate, they can favor cooperation by further reducing local population size. We predict that in a structured population, small population sizes precipitated by defectors provide a “built-in” mechanism for the persistence of cooperation.
Information Literacy: assessing the readiness of Ghanaian universities

The study assesses the readiness of the University of Ghana and the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, to formally integrate information literacy (IL) into their curricula. A multiple case study approach was adopted and in-depth interviews with some heads of departments and librarians were carried out. The study revealed that library literacy, computer literacy and communication skills literacy are being carried out to some extent in both institutions. Some constraints which could impede the smooth implementation of a campus-wide information literacy project in the universities include the large enrolment numbers and the lack of collaboration or cooperation among departments carrying out some IL initiatives. The study recommends, among others, the sensitization of the whole university community to the IL programme and the important role the libraries and information professionals should play in the implementation of IL projects.
Maintenance and Neuronal Cell Differentiation of Neural Stem Cells C17.2 Correlated to Medium Availability Sets Design Criteria in Microfluidic Systems

Background Neural stem cells (NSCs) play an important role in developing potential cell-based therapeutics for neurodegenerative disease. Microfluidics has proven a powerful tool in mechanistic studies of NSC differentiation. However, NSCs are prone to differentiate when the nutrients are limited, which occurs unfavorable by fast medium consumption in miniaturized culture environment. For mechanistic studies of NSCs in microfluidics, it is vital that neuronal cell differentiation is triggered by controlled factors only. Thus, we studied the correlation between available cell medium and spontaneous neuronal cell differentiation of C17.2 NSCs in standard culture medium, and proposed the necessary microfluidic design criteria to prevent undesirable cell phenotype changes. Methodology/Principal Findings A series of microchannels with specific geometric parameters were designed to provide different amount of medium to the cells over time. A medium factor (MF, defined as the volume of stem cell culture medium divided by total number of cells at seeding and number of hours between medium replacement) successfully correlated the amount of medium available to each cell averaged over time to neuronal cell differentiation. MF smaller than 8.3×104 µm3/cell⋅hour produced significant neuronal cell differentiation marked by cell morphological change and significantly more cells with positive β-tubulin-III and MAP2 staining than the control. When MF was equal or greater than 8.3×104 µm3/cell⋅hour, minimal spontaneous neuronal cell differentiation happened relative to the control. MF had minimal relation with the average neurite length. Significance MFs can be controlled easily to maintain the stem cell status of C17.2 NSCs or to induce spontaneous neuronal cell differentiation in standard stem cell culture medium. This finding is useful in designing microfluidic culture platforms for controllable NSC maintenance and differentiation. This study also offers insight about consumption rate of serum molecules involved in maintaining the stemness of NSCs.
Social carrying capacity: An integration and synthesis of twenty years of research

Abstract This paper reviews research conducted over the past twenty years related to social carrying capacity. Pursuant to existing definitions, the scope of this review extends beyond most individual studies to include the broad range of variables which influence how people perceive quality in a recreation experience. Emphasis is placed on integrating this diverse literature within a conceptual framework which helps to explain the diversity and complexity inherent in visitors’ experience evaluations. This framework builds upon a basic understanding of recreationists’ motivations and identifies an interrelated set of impacts resulting from increasing use levels. The paper then summarizes results of previous studies regarding: (1) relationships between the various impact parameters and recreational use levels, and (2) individual, activity, and site factors affecting use/impact relationships. Implementation of social carrying capacity is also examined, with emphasis on integrating scientific information and.
Antihyperglycaemic and Antihyperproteinaemic Activity of Extracts of Picralima nitida Seed and Tapinanthus bangwensis Leaf on Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Rabbits

Coconut water extract of Picralima nitida seed and aqueous extract of Tapinanthus bangwensis leaf were investigated for their antidiabetic activities on some biochemical parameters (glucose, protein) associated with diabetes in both the serum and tissues of experimental animals using alloxan-induced diabetic rabbits as model. The rabbits were fasted overnight before they were given a single intraperitoneal injection of aqueous alloxan monohydrate (Sigma, USA) at a dose of 300 mg/kg body weight to make them diabetic. The experimental rabbits (chinchilla) were grouped into six and extracts administered orally, once daily for five weeks. Groups 1 and 2 (non-diabetic) received only distilled water and coconut water respectively, group 3 (diabetic) received 200 mg/kg body weight aqueous extract of T. bangwensis leaf, group 4 received 400 mg/kg body weight of coconut water extract of P. nitida seed, groups 5 and 6 (diabetic) received only distilled water and coconut water respectively. The results revealed that the extracts independently lowered significantly (p<0.05) the blood glucose and protein levels of the diabetic rabbits. Both extracts significantly (p<0.05) increased the tissue protein. Overall, aqueous extract of T. bangwensis leaf and coconut water extract of P. nitida seed independently possesses insulin-like properties as demonstrated by their antidiabetic actions, hence, may be good herbal extracts in the management of diabetes.
Development of Antisense‐Mediated Exon Skipping as a Treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe muscle‐wasting disease caused by frame shifting and nonsense mutations in the dystrophin gene. Through skipping of an (additional) exon from the pre‐mRNA, the reading frame can be restored. This can be achieved with antisense oligonucleotides (AONs), which induce exon skipping by binding to splice sites or splice enhancer sites. The resulting protein will be shorter but at least partially functional. So far, exon skipping has been very successful in cell cultures, in mouse and dog models, and even in a first exploratory study in patients. Current research mainly focuses on optimization of systemic AON delivery. Here we give an overview of the available mouse models. To obtain the most informative results for future clinical application, research may have to move from the currently preferred mdx mouse to mouse models more comparable to patients, such as the utrophin/dystrophin‐negative mouse and the hDMD mouse models. Further, we briefly discuss two AON backbone chemistries that are currently in clinical trials for DMD exon skipping. We propose that different chemistries should be further developed in parallel in order to hasten the transfer of the exon skipping therapy to the clinic.
Structural organization of actin in the sea urchin egg cortex: microvillar elongation in the absence of actin filament bundle formation

We have investigated the relationship between the formation of actin filament bundles and the elongation of microvilli (MV) after fertilization in sea urchin eggs. In a previous study (1979, J Cell Biol. 83:241-248) we demonstrated that increased pH induced the formation of actin filaments in isolated sea urchin egg cortices with the concomitant elongation of MV. On the basis of these results we suggested that increased cytoplasmic pH after fertilization causes a reorganization of cortical actin, which in turn provides the force for MV elongation. To test this hypothesis, we compared the morphology of microvilli in eggs activated with and without the release of fertilization acid. Activation of eggs in normal sea water with the calcium ionophore A23187 causes the release of fertilization acid and the elongation of MV containing core bundles of actin filaments. Eggs activated with A23187 in NA(+)-free water do not undergo normal fertilization acid release but develop elongated, flaccid MV. These MV contain an irregular network of actin filaments rather than the parallel bundles of filaments found in normal MV. The addition of 40 mM NaCl to these eggs results in the release of H(+) and the concomitant conversion of flaccid MV to erect MV containing typical core bundles of actin filaments. Identical results are obtained when 10 mM NH(4)Cl is substituted for NaCl. The induction of cytoplasmic alkalinization in unactivated eggs with NH(4)Cl does not cause either MV elongation or the formation of actin filament bundles . These results suggest that: (a) the elongation of MV is stimulated by a rise in intracellular free Ca(++) concentration; (b) actin filament bundle formation is triggered by an increase in cytoplasmic pH; and (c) the formation of actin filament bundles is not necessary for MV elongation but is required to provide rigid support for MV.
Cell delay variation in an ATM multiplexer

In this paper Cell Delay Variation (CDV) in an ATM multiplexer is investigated in the case where a Constant Bit Rate (CBR) traffic stream is mixed with a background traffic stream that arrives in the form of independent and identically distributed batches with general batch size distribution (Batch Bemoulli process). An exact Markovian solution approach is presented which gives the entries in the underlying transition matrix in closed form. In addition an approximate diffusion approach that is both computational simple and provides insight into the point process properties of the CBR stream after passing through the multiplexer is presented. It is demonstrated that the diffusion approximation has nice properties: it is second order exact in the heavy traffic case, and it provides fast and reasonable accuracy results over a wide range of system parameters.
Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level is associated with aortic distensibility and left ventricle hypertrophy in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus

We aimed to evaluate the association between serum vitamin D status and elastic properties of aorta in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). We studied 136 patients with newly diagnosed DM (mean age: 62.9 ± 10.6 years). Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D was measured using a direct competitive chemiluminescent immunoassay. Aortic distensibility was calculated from the echocardiographically derived ascending aorta diameters and haemodynamic pressure measurements. Left ventricle mass index (LVMI) was determined according to the Devereux formula. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that vitamin D level is independently associated with LVMI (β = −0.259, p = 0.001), aortic distensibility (β = 0.369, p < 0.001), high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) (β = −0.220, p = 0.002) and body mass index (β = −0.167, p = 0.015) in patients with DM. In diabetic patients, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level is independently associated with aortic distensibility. Vitamin D may play a role on pathogenesis of impaired elastic properties of aorta in type 2 DM.
Intrapleural fibrinolytic treatment of traumatic clotted hemothorax.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To evaluate the role of intrapleural fibrinolytic treatment (IPFT) in traumatic clotted hemothorax. DESIGN AND PATIENTS Between August 1995 and February 1997, 24 patients with traumatic clotted hemothorax were included. Streptokinase (SK), 250,000 IU, or urokinase (UK), 100,000 IU, diluted in 100 mL of saline solution was given daily. We administered 5.0+/-1.8 (range, 2 to 9) doses of SK or 6.25+/-5.97 (range, 2 to 15) doses of UK. SETTING Dicle University School of Medicine, Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Department. RESULTS Complete response, which was defined as resolution of symptoms with complete drainage of fluid and no residual space radiographically, occurred in 15 (62.5%) patients. Partial response, which was defined as resolution of symptoms with a small pleural cavity, occurred in seven (29.2%) patients. Two patients (8.3%) required decortication; they were defined as nonresponders. The mean period of time between the diagnosis and fibrinolytic treatment (FT) was 11.65+/-6.38 (range, 4 to 25) days. There were no complications related to IPFT. There was no mortality during the course of IPFT. CONCLUSION The use of intrapleural fibrinolytic agents has resulted in resolution of clotted hemothorax with an overall success rate of 91.7%. We recommend that IPFT should be added to the algorithm for management of clotted hemothorax before proceeding with minithoracotomy or pleural decortication.
The International Use of Incarceration

A 52-nation survey on the international use of incarceration shows a broad variation in the degree to which countries make use of imprisonment. The survey shows that Russia and the United States now lead all other nations, with an incarceration rate that is 5-8 times that of most industrialized nations. Although rates of violent crime in the United States are considerable higher than in other nations, this has not been the primary factor leading to the 155% increase in new court commitments since 1980 because 84% of the increase was due to drug, property, and public order offenses. Cross-national comparisons of incarceration have found that sentence length is a key variable in explaining differences in the use of incarceration and that relative punitiveness may be a function of the degree of general societal inequality.
Can Leading Indicators Assess Country Vulnerability? Evidence from the 2008-09 Global Financial Crisis

This paper investigates whether leading indicators can help explain the cross-country incidence of the 2008-09 financial crisis. Rather than looking for indicators with specific relevance to the current crisis, the selection of variables is driven by an extensive review of more than eighty papers from the previous literature on early warning indicators. The review suggests that central bank reserves and past movements in the real exchange rate were the two leading indicators that had proven the most useful in explaining crisis incidence across different countries and crises in the past. For the 2008-09 crisis, we use six different variables to measure crisis incidence: drops in GDP and industrial production, currency depreciation, stock market performance, reserve losses, and participation in an IMF program. We find that the level of reserves in 2007 appears as a consistent and statistically significant leading indicator of who got hit by the 2008-09 crisis, in line with the conclusions of the pre-2008 literature. In addition to reserves, recent real appreciation is a statistically significant predictor of devaluation and of a measure of exchange market pressure during the current crisis. So is the exchange rate regime. We define the period of the global financial crisis as running from late 2008 to early 2009, which probably explains why we find stronger results than earlier papers such as Obstfeld, Shambaugh and Taylor (2009, 2010) and Rose and Spiegel (2009a,b) which use annual data.
Perceptions of Science and Technology: A Comparison of Criminal Justice and Traditional Science and Technology Majors

Due to the increased demands for science and technology (S&T) in criminal justice (CJ) occupational preparation and in response to the growing interest of students in forensics, this study explores the attitudes of CJ majors towards S&T. Despite the acknowledgment that S&T skills are helpful in gaining employment, CJ majors reported less favorable attitudes than S&T majors, reporting: less interest in gaining S&T knowledge, fewer social benefits of S&T, and greater concerns that S&T are dangerous to society than traditional forensic science majors. While these findings raise some fundamental questions about the suitability of increased representation of S&T courses within CJ curriculum, authors argue that CJ curricular goals must continue to evolve to foster innovative students who are academically prepared to meet the twenty-first century challenges of their future careers.
Analog frequency response measurement in mixed-signal systems

We present an efficient approach for on-chip frequency response measurement, including phase and gain, of analog circuitry in mixed-signal systems. The approach uses direct digital synthesizer (DDS) to supply test sine waves with different frequencies and phases. The output response is analyzed using a multiplier and accumulator. The resultant phase delay measurement is used to correct other measurements such as gain and linearity for more accurate testing and characterization of the analog circuit under test. The approach was implemented in Verilog, synthesized in a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and used for frequency response measurements of an actual device under test
Desiccation Tolerance of Adult Stem Cells in the Presence of Trehalose and Glycerol

Development of protocols for storing desiccated cells at ambient temperatures offers tremendous economic and practical advantages over traditional storage procedures like cryopreservation and freeze-drying. As a first step for devel- oping such procedures for adult stem cells, we have measured the post-rehydration membrane integrity (PRMI) of two passages, Passage-0 (P0) and Passage-1 (P1), of human adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs). ASCs were dried using a con- vective stage at three different drying rates (slow, moderate and rapid) in D-PBS with trehalose (50 mM) and glycerol (384 mM). ASCs were incubated in the drying media for 30 mins prior to drying at the prescribed rate on the convective stage for 30 mins. After drying, the ASCs were stored for 48 hrs in three different conditions: i) at ambient temperature, ii) in plastic bags at ambient temperature and iii) in vacuum sealed plastic bags at ambient temperature. PRMI was as- sessed after incubating the rehydrated ASCs with stromal medium for a further 48 hrs. Our measurements show that the PRMI of ASCs was: i) higher when ASCs were dried slowly; ii) increased when they were stored in vacuum as opposed to at ambient or in plastic bags; and iii) decreased with increasing passage of ASCs, i.e. under similar drying and storage conditions P0 ASCs had higher PRMI than P1 ASCs. Our results suggest that the best PRMI (37% for P0 ASCs and ~14% for P1 ASCs) can be achieved when the ASCs were dried slowly and stored in vacuum.
Language Lessons on Immigrant Identity, Food Culture, and the Search for Home.

The concept of transnationalism in many disciplines has deepened appreciation for stories of immigrant adaptation in today's globalizing world—stories that reveal shifting conceptualizations of “home,” the everyday practices (e.g., cooking) that help families establish meaningful connections to home, as well as the struggles to maintain those connections. Adult English as a second language (ESL) learners' story, however, has been overlooked in transnational research, despite the great potential that the ESL classroom holds for documenting the relationship between identity, changing traditions, and learners' perceptions about home. This article highlights an interdisciplinary partnership between adult ESL and public health that explored the power of learners' stories of home and the implications for ESL teaching and improved immigrant health. Using a classroom-based ethnographic approach, we found that learners' interpretations of health-related texts can promote language learning and critical engagement around texts. Moreover, the learners' talk about stories of home provides evidence that ESL classrooms are valuable sites for the expression of transnational identity and critical dialogue on the challenges of staying healthy in the United States. “Home” is not just a symbol, but a powerful force in the lives of the immigrants who carry with them “the memories of childhood” and the “lasting power of attachments to birth-places. ” … Home is an anchor for the transnational migrant composed of an influential set of forces acting in their lives—and in the lives of the family at home. (Grieshop, 2006, p. 401)
Existence of Integrative Motivation in an Asian EFL Setting.

Abstract: The major purpose of this study was to investigate the existence of distinct motivational groups within a population of Taiwan English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Based on previous English as a Second Language (ESL) research, this study assumed the existence of both an integrative and an instrumental motivation. A hypothesized motivation, labeled “required,” was also tested for. A survey instrument was developed and completed by over 2000 non-English majors at two educational institutions in Taiwan. This paper reports preliminary results from the first educational institution and includes the first wave of 500 responses. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to confirm the existence the motivational groups and to determine their temporal orientations (past, present, or future). Results did not support the existence of an integrative motivational group, but did find a strong required motivational group as well as an instrumental group. Lack of integrative motivation among Taiwan EFL learners has significance for language education in Taiwan, since most EFL classroom techniques are derived directly from Western ESL theory that assumes integration as one of the main motivations. Cultural influences on EFL settings are discussed.