Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The nucleophilicity N index in organic chemistry.

The nucleophilicity N index (J. Org. Chem. 2008, 73, 4615), the inverse of the electrophilicity, 1/ω, and the recently proposed inverse of the electrodonating power, 1/ω⁻, (J. Org. Chem. 2010, 75, 4957) have been checked toward (i) a series of single 5-substituted indoles for which rate constants are available, (ii) a series of para-substituted phenols, and for (iii) a series of 2,5-disubstituted bicyclic[2.2. 1]hepta-2,5-dienes which display concurrently electrophilic and nucleophilic behaviors. While all considered indices account well for the nucleophilic behavior of organic molecules having a single substitution, the nucleophilicity N index works better for more complex molecules. Unlike, the inverse of the electrophilicity, 1/ω, (R(2) = 0.71), and the inverse of the electrodonating power, 1/ω⁻ (R(2) = 0.83), a very good correlation of the nucleophilicity N index of twelve 2-substituted-6-methoxy-bicyclic[2.2. 1]hepta-2,5-dienes versus the activation energy associated with the nucleophilic attack on 1,1-dicyanoethylene is found (R(2) = 0.99). This comparative study allows to assert that the nucleophilicity N index is a measure of the nucleophilicity of complex organic molecules displaying concurrently electrophilic and nucleophilic behaviors.
International genetic evaluations for female fertility traits using multi-trait MACE

Several countries participating in international genetic evaluations for female fertility traits do have multi-trait genetic evaluations nationally. The current single-trait MACE procedure cannot take into account the information from within-country correlated traits, therefore a multi-trait MACE procedure was applied to the data. Data were analyzed with both single-trait and multi-trait procedures and international reliabilities were compared. The study showed a 3% increase in the reliability of international evaluations using multi-trait MACE compared to single-trait MACE.
Trends in Selected Chronic Conditions and Behavioral Risk Factors Among Women of Reproductive Age, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2001-2009

Introduction Some potentially modifiable risk factors and chronic conditions cause significant disease and death during pregnancy and promote the development of chronic disease. This study describes recent trends of modifiable risk factors and controllable chronic conditions among reproductive-aged women. Methods Data from the 2001 to 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a representative state-based telephone survey of health behavior in US adults, was analyzed for 327,917 women of reproductive age, 18 to 44 years. We calculated prevalence ratios over time to assess trends for 4 selected risk factors and 4 chronic conditions, accounting for age, race/ethnicity, education, health care coverage, and individual states. Results From 2001 to 2009, estimates of 2 risk factors improved: smoking declined from 25.9% to 18.8%, and physical inactivity declined from 25.0% to 23.0%. One risk factor, heavy drinking, did not change. From 2003 to 2009, the estimates for 1 risk factor and 4 chronic conditions worsened: obesity increased from 18.3% to 24.7%, diabetes increased from 2.1% to 2.9%, high cholesterol increased from 10.3% to 13.6%, asthma increased from 13.5% to 16.2%, and high blood pressure increased from 9.0% to 10.1%. All trends were significant after adjustment, except that for heavy drinking. Conclusion Among women of reproductive age, prevalence of smoking and physical inactivity improved, but prevalence of obesity and all 4 chronic conditions worsened. Understanding reasons for the improvements in smoking and physical activity may support the development of targeted interventions to reverse the trends and help prevent chronic disease and adverse reproductive outcomes among women in this age group.
Capacity and performance analysis for multi-user system under distributed opportunistic scheduling in a time dependent channel

Consider the problem of a multi-user multiple access channel. While several multi-user coding techniques exist, in practical scenarios, not all users can be scheduled simultaneously. Thus, a key problem is which users to schedule in a given time slot. Under realistic approach for time dependency of the channel, we adopt a distributed scheduling algorithm in which each user, in the beginning of each slot, estimates his channel gain and compares it to a threshold, and if exceeding it the user can transmit. In this work we are interested in the expected capacity of the system and the delay and quality of service of the data accumulated at the users under this scheduling scheme. First we derive the expected capacity under scheduling (distributed and centralized) for this time dependent environment and show that its scaling law is $O(\sigma_g\sqrt{2\log K}+\mu_g)$, were $\sigma_g, \mu_g$ are the good channel parameters (assuming Gaussian capacity approximation, e.g., under MIMO) and $K$ is the number of users. Then we turn to the performance analysis of such system while assuming the users are not necessarily fully backlogged, and focus specifically on the queueing problem and the strong dependence between the queues which leave no alternative but to turn to approximate models for this system. We adopt the celebrated model of Ephremides and Zhu to give new results on the convergence of the probability of collision to its average value (as the number of users grows), and hence for the ensuing system performance metrics, such as throughput and delay. We further utilize this finding to suggest a much simpler approximate model, which accurately describes the system behavior when the number of queues is large. The system performance as predicted by the approximate models shows excellent agreement with simulation results.
Socio-economic and Demographic Determinants of Antenatal Care Services Utilization in Central Nepal

Background/Objective: The importance of maternal health services in lessening maternal mortality and morbidity as well as neonatal deaths has received substantial recognition in the past decade. The lack of antenatal care has been identified as a risk factor for maternal mortality and other adverse pregnancy outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors affecting attendance of antenatal care services in Nepal. Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out in Central Nepal. Using semi-structured questionnaire, interviews were conducted with married women aged between 15-49 years, who had delivered their babies within one year. Systematic random sampling method was used to select the sample. Results were obtained by frequency distribution and cross-tabulation of the variables. Results: More than half of the women were not aware of the consequences of lack of antenatal care. Age, education, income, type of family were strongly associated with the attendance at antenatal care service. Conclusions and Public Health Implications: In Nepal and in other developing countries, maternal mortality and morbidity continue to pose challenges to the health care delivery system. Variety of factors including socio-demographic, socio-economic, cultural and service availability as well as accessibility influences the use of maternal health services.
Creating a Culture of Data Use for Continuous Improvement: A Case Study of an Edison Project School

In this article, I outline how, with the appropriate mix of external requirements and internal motivation, structure and capacity, a school can promote and maintain a culture of evaluative practices, specifically data use, for continuous improvement. I draw upon qualitative data conducted in a study of an Edison Project school. The findings from this paper are the result of a larger 4-year study examining Comprehensive School Reform in 12 Title 1 schools in three states. Interviews were conducted with principals, teachers, other staff, parents and students, as well as with state officials, the superintendent, assistant superintendent and other high level administrators in the district. Observations were undertaken at the classroom level. Key findings include the importance of obtaining a multidimensional view of educational change. That is, we need to obtain a picture of the school reform environment (i.e., interconnections between the state, district, and school levels), and simultaneously investigate the interplay among critical school levers that are required to promote and maintain a culture of data use for school improvement. From this multidimensional view, we are better positioned to investigate and evaluate school change efforts.
The nosological position of concentric lacunar leucoencephalopathy.

In 1960 Grcevic reported an apparently unique case. The patient, a woman, had been well until the age of 30. In the following three years she became 'almost blind', her vision deteriorating in an illness characterized by exacerbations and partial remissions. She then became progressively demented, developing abruptly a hemiparesis and aphasia six months before her death in epileptic status at the age of 35. At necropsy extensive changes were found in the white matter of the rostral two-thirds of the cerebral hemispheres consisting of concentric lacunae separated by glial septa. In the affected areas there was total loss of axons and myelin sheaths. The lesions bore a superficial similarity to the concentric sclerosis of Balo (1928) from which they differed in being destructive and not demyelinating. The author discussed the nosological position of the condition which he named 'concentric lacunar leucoencephalopathy', and its relationship to demyelinating diseases, without reaching definite conclusions. We report a case in which the association of similar lesions in the white matter with patchy demyelination in the optic pathways and an acute necrotizing myelopathy suggested a close relationship to the demyelinating diseases, particularly to neuromyelitis optica.
BIS Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific

The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Bank for International Settlements or the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. We thank Már Gudmundsson, James Yetman, Anella Munro and participants of the 6 th Norges Bank Conference on Monetary Policy for helpful comments. We also thank Marek Raczko for superb research assistance.
Behavioral Work Outcomes of a Strategic Performance Measurement System-Based Incentive Plan

ABSTRACT: Strategic performance measurement systems (SPMS) that translate a firm's strategy to its employees are increasingly used. We examine whether the extent to which an SPMS is coupled with strategy affects employee performance indirectly through motivational characteristics including perceived self-efficacy and perceived psychological contract. Using data from 242 employees, we find evidence that the extent to which an SPMS is tightly coupled with strategy affects employee performance through perceived self-efficacy and perceived psychological contract. Self-efficacy is a critical dimension of intrinsic motivation. Thus, an implication of our findings is that tightly coupling an SPMS-based incentive plan with strategy facilitates internalized motivated behaviors. We also find that our hypothesized results hold across varying levels of two types of employee climate. However, the workforce's age and education levels serve as boundary conditions since we find that the relation between self-efficacy and.
Suppression of LPS-induced inflammatory responses by the hydroxyl groups of dexamethasone

The innate immune response is a central process that is activated during pathogenic infection in order to maintain physiological homeostasis. It is well known that dexamethasone (Dex), a synthetic glucocorticoid, is a potent immunosuppressant that inhibits the cytokine production induced by bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Nevertheless, the extent to which the functional groups of Dex control the excessive activation of inflammatory reactions remains unknown. Furthermore, importantly, the role of Dex in the innate immune response remains unclear. Here we explore the mechanism of LPS-induced TNF-α secretion and reveal p38 MAPK signaling as a target of Dex that is involved in control of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-converting enzyme (TACE) activity; that later mediates the shedding of TNF-α that allows its secretion. We further demonstrate that the 11-hydroxyl and 21-hydroxyl groups of Dex are the main groups that are involved in reducing LPS-induced TNF-α secretion by activated macrophages. Blockage of the hydroxyl groups of Dex inhibits immunosuppressant effect of Dex during LPS-induced TNF-α secretion and mouse mortality. Our findings demonstrate Dex signaling is involved in the control of innate immunity.
Geriatric clinical pharmacology and clinical trials in the elderly

The aging process is linked to changes in the physiological function of organs and changes in body composition that alter the pharmacokinetics of drugs and pharmacodynamic responses. Comorbidity and polypharmacy in the elderly decreases tolerability of drugs, leading to greater vulnerability to adverse drug reactions than that observed in younger adults. In geriatric pharmacotherapy, the general recommendation is dose reduction and slow titration, which is based on pharmacokinetic considerations and concern for adverse drug reactions, rather than clinical trial data. Older patients are under-represented in clinical trials. In the absence of evidence, extrapolation of risk–benefit ratios from younger adults to geriatric populations is not necessarily valid. Sound evidence through prospective clinical trials is essential, and geriatric societies, governments, and patient advocacy groups should collaborate to promote the inclusion of older people in clinical trials. It is believed that all involved in clinical trials have both an obligation and an opportunity to eliminate age discrimination in clinical trial practice.
Formative and shared assessment in higher education. Lessons learned and challenges for the future

Formative assessment is the process by which teachers provide information to students during the learning process to modify their understanding and self-regulation. An important process within this is shared assessment, which refers to student involvement in the assessment and learning practice, a process of dialogue and collaboration between teacher and students aimed at improving the learning process, both individually and collectively. The purpose of this paper is to review the current state of affairs in depth. This paper therefore highlights, on the one hand, the lessons learned through research and development in higher education (i.e. providing clear learning goals and feedback, guiding learning, involving students in learning and assessment, promoting feedback as a process of dialogue, and making processes viable). On the other hand, these lessons also suggest some challenges and difficulties that must be addressed in the future in order to further improve formative and shared assessment in higher education. These include the need for more research on its effects, further conceptual clarification, the intersubjectivity of the process, recognition of the divergent processes and ethical principles, students’ involvement not only in assessment but also in determining academic grades, and broading learning goals and objetives in FA & SA.
Quantitative Brightness Analysis of Fluorescence Intensity Fluctuations in E. Coli

The brightness measured by fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy specifies the average stoichiometry of a labeled protein in a sample. Here we extended brightness analysis, which has been mainly applied in eukaryotic cells, to prokaryotic cells with E. coli serving as a model system. The small size of the E. coli cell introduces unique challenges for applying brightness analysis that are addressed in this work. Photobleaching leads to a depletion of fluorophores and a reduction of the brightness of protein complexes. In addition, the E. coli cell and the point spread function of the instrument only partially overlap, which influences intensity fluctuations. To address these challenges we developed MSQ analysis, which is based on the mean Q-value of segmented photon count data, and combined it with the analysis of axial scans through the E. coli cell. The MSQ method recovers brightness, concentration, and diffusion time of soluble proteins in E. coli. We applied MSQ to measure the brightness of EGFP in E. coli and compared it to solution measurements. We further used MSQ analysis to determine the oligomeric state of nuclear transport factor 2 labeled with EGFP expressed in E. coli cells. The results obtained demonstrate the feasibility of quantifying the stoichiometry of proteins by brightness analysis in a prokaryotic cell.
On Accelerated Inertial Frames in Gravity and Electromagnetism

Abstract When a charged insulating spherical shell is uniformly accelerated, an oppositely directed electric field is produced inside. Outside the field is the Born field of a uniformly accelerated charge, modified by a dipole. Radiation is produced. When the acceleration is annulled by the nearly uniform gravity field of an external shell with a 1+βcos θsurface distribution of mass, the differently viewed Born field is static and joins a static field outside the external shell; no radiation is produced. We discuss gravitational analogues of these phenomena. When a massive spherical shell is accelerated, an untouched test mass inside experiences a uniform gravity field and accelerates parallelly to the surrounding shell. In the strong gravity regime we illustrate these effects using exact conformastatic solutions of the Einstein–Maxwell equations with charged dust. We consider a massive charged shell on which the forces due to nearly uniform electrical and gravitational fields balance. Both fields are reduced inside by the ratio of theg00inside the shell to that away from it. The acceleration of a free test particle, relative to a static observer, is reduced correspondingly. We give physical explanations of these effects.
Two Different Drosophila ADA2 Homologues Are Present in Distinct GCN5 Histone Acetyltransferase-Containing Complexes

ABSTRACT We have isolated a novel Drosophila (d) gene coding for two distinct proteins via alternative splicing: a homologue of the yeast adaptor protein ADA2, dADA2a, and a subunit of RNA polymerase II (Pol II), dRPB4. Moreover, we have identified another gene in the Drosophila genome encoding a second ADA2 homologue (dADA2b). The two dADA2 homologues, as well as many putative ADA2 homologues from different species, all contain, in addition to the ZZ and SANT domains, several evolutionarily conserved domains. The dada2a/rpb4 and dada2b genes are differentially expressed at various stages of Drosophila development. Both dADA2a and dADA2b interacted with the GCN5 histone acetyltransferase (HAT) in a yeast two-hybrid assay, and dADA2b, but not dADA2a, also interacted with Drosophila ADA3. Both dADA2s further potentiate transcriptional activation in insect and mammalian cells. Antibodies raised either against dADA2a or dADA2b both immunoprecipitated GCN5 as well as several Drosophila TATA binding protein-associated factors (TAFs). Moreover, following glycerol gradient sedimentation or chromatographic purification combined with gel filtration of Drosophila nuclear extracts, dADA2a and dGCN5 were detected in fractions with an apparent molecular mass of about 0.8 MDa whereas dADA2b was found in fractions corresponding to masses of at least 2 MDa, together with GCN5 and several Drosophila TAFs. Furthermore, in vivo the two dADA2 proteins showed different localizations on polytene X chromosomes. These results, taken together, suggest that the two Drosophila ADA2 homologues are present in distinct GCN5-containing HAT complexes.
Teachers Little Helper: Multi-Math-Coach.

Individual learning is out of sync with the elements of a curricula and the daily program of a teacher. At a time when multidigit multiplication methods are taught, many children are not perfectly performing the basic multiplication table. Teachers organize settings for learning and they usually have no time to give an individual feedback to every single student. Furthermore they have no physiological capacity to produce statistics and to investigate the probable causes of errors. Our goal is to give teachers a tool to help them to review and train some typical requirements for written multiplying. We use the ubiquity of the Internet and provide on different devices free applications with written multiplication problems. All data are collected centrally and are used to determine typical errors. These data could also be used to answer further new questions and test new hypothesis. This is one aspect of Learning Analytics. The given tasks are automatically adapted to the skill level of a student. Teachers can see every detail of the solution process of every task. But really useful is that teachers can see the typical problems of each student as well as of the whole class every time at a glance. They need just a connection to the database with a web browser – anywhere, anytime. Finally the first evaluation of the system pointed out some remarkable results. Children are learning with the system in the intended way according to the shown learning curves.
Shelf-life of fresh blueberries coated with quinoa protein/chitosan/sunflower oil edible film.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to evaluate quinoa protein (Q), chitosan (CH) and sunflower oil (SO) as edible film material as well as the influence of this coating in extending the shelf-life of fresh blueberries stored at 4 °C and 75% relative humidity. These conditions were used to simulate the storage conditions in supermarkets and represent adverse conditions for testing the effects of the coating. The mechanical, barrier, and structural properties of the film were measured. The effectiveness of the coating in fresh blueberries (CB) was evaluated by changes in weight loss, firmness, color, molds and yeast count, pH, titratable acidity, and soluble solids content. RESULTS The tensile strength and elongation at break of the edible film were 0.45 ± 0.29 MPa and 117.2% ± 7%, respectively. The water vapor permeability was 3.3 × 10(-12) ± 4.0 × 10(-13) g s(-1) m(-1) Pa(-1). In all of the color parameters CB presented significant differences. CB had slight delayed fruit ripening as evidenced by higher titratable acidity (0.3-0.5 g citric acid 100 g(-1)) and lower pH (3.4-3.6) than control during storage; however, it showed reduced firmness (up to 38%). CONCLUSION The use of Q/CH/SO as a coating in fresh blueberries was able to control the growth of molds and yeasts during 32 days of storage, whereas the control showed an increasing of molds and yeast, between 1.8 and 3.1 log cycles (between 20 and 35 days).
The effects of social identification, norms and attitudes on use of outreach services by homeless people

The theory of planned behaviour, social identity theory and attitudes toward institutional authority were used to predict the uptake of outreach services over a 3-week period in a prospective study of 126 homeless people in a major UK city. Consistent with previous research, subjective norm was an important predictor, but so were identification with support services and attitudes to authority. The effect of intention on behaviour was moderated by subjective norm, such that intention affected behaviour more when subjective norm was weak. Subjective norm was affected by identification with support services, which in turn, was predicted by identification with homeless people and attitude to authority. It is concluded that the role of social identity and social norms is of central importance in understanding uptake of outreach services among homeless people. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.