Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Organisational conditions to boost or limit professional development in the Cypriot primary school

In this article, I examine which organisational conditions can promote or limit the professional development of teachers in the Cypriot primary school. The discussion builds on findings from a study I conducted about Cypriot primary school teachers’ reflective practices (Loizou 2011). The study was qualitative and used semi-structured interviews with a cross section of 18 primary school teachers. The findings revealed that the kind of professional exchange in which the teachers engaged was associated with their ability to bring about substantial change in practice through reflection. Further analysis showed that the organisational conditions in each school can differentiate the teachers’ professional exchange. The aim of this article is to examine the association between organisational conditions, professional exchange and change in practice. In particular, I aim to explore how organisational conditions can underpin the development of different kinds of professional exchange and how this impacts on change and professional development. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for Cypriot teachers’ development through professional exchange in the primary school.
Symplectic Conifold Transitions

We introduce a symplectic surgery in six dimensions which collapses Lagrangian three-spheres and replaces them by symplectic two-spheres. Under mirror symmetry it corresponds to an operation on complex 3-folds studied by Clemens, Friedman and Tian. We describe several examples which show that there are either many more Calabi-Yau manifolds (e.g., rigid ones) than previously thought or there exist “symplectic Calabi-Yaus” — non-Kahler symplectic 6-folds with c1 = 0. The analogous surgery in four dimensions, with a generalisation to ADE-trees of Lagrangians, implies that the canonical class of a minimal complex surface contains symplectic forms if and only if it has positive square.
Cancun’s tourism development from a Fordist spectrum of analysis

Tourism scholars in recent years have posited a global paradigmatic shift from Fordist to more post-Fordist and neo-Fordist modes of tourism production and consumption. This article provides a brief literature review of transformations in global tourism production and consumption from a Fordist spectrum of analysis. Following a discussion of tourism development in Cancun and the surrounding state of Quintana Roo, this article draws on empirical data from a survey of 615 visitors to the Yucatan Peninsula and 60 Cancun hotels to provide a contextual application of the Fordist spectrum in understanding the nature of tourism production and consumption in the region. Cancun is situated as a predominately Fordist mass tourism resort, however, analysis reveals that the region’s tourism landscape, which is experiencing processes of diversification, is in reality a complex combination of both Fordist and post-Fordist elements manifest in different ‘shades’ of mass tourism, ‘neo-Fordism’ and ‘mass customization’. The article concludes that the Fordist spectrum of analysis provides a useful perspective from which to examine the changing nature of tourism production and consumption.
Simulation of metal oxide surge arrester dynamic behavior under fast transients

Data on characteristics of metal-oxide surge arresters indicates that for fast front surges, those with rise times less than 8µs, the peak of the voltage wave occurs before the peak of the current wave and the residual voltage across the arrester increases as the time to crest of the arrester discharge current decreases. Several models have been proposed to simulate this frequency-dependent characteristic. These models differ in the calculation and adjustment of their parameters. In the present paper, a simulation of metal oxide surge arrester (MOSA) dynamic behavior during fast electromagnetic transients on power systems is done. Some models proposed in the literature are used. The simulations are performed with the Alternative Transients Program (ATP) version of Electromagnetic Transient Program (EMTP) t o evaluate some metal oxide surge arrester models and verify their accuracy.
Calcium supplementation and the risks of atherosclerotic vascular disease in older women: Results of a 5‐year RCT and a 4.5‐year follow‐up

Concern has been expressed that calcium supplementation, a key intervention for preventing osteoporotic fracture in older women, may increase the risk of atherosclerotic vascular disease. To evaluate the risk further, an examination of complete verified atherosclerotic vascular hospitalization and mortality data from a 5‐year randomized, controlled trial (RCT) of calcium carbonate and 4.5 years of posttrial follow‐up was undertaken. This study used data from a published 5‐year randomized, double‐blinded, placebo‐controlled trial [Calcium Intake Fracture Outcome Study (CAIFOS)]. The participants were 1460 women aged 75.1 ± 2.7 years at baseline (1998) recruited from the general population and randomized to receive 1200 mg of calcium carbonate daily or an identical placebo. All hospital admission and deaths during the 5‐year study and the 4.5‐year follow‐up were derived from the Western Australian Data Linkage Service (WADLS). Hazard ratios (HRs) for the combined endpoint of atherosclerotic vascular mortality or first hospitalization were calculated using prespecified intention‐to‐treat and per‐protocol models. The intervention group that received calcium supplementation did not have a higher risk of death or first‐time hospitalization from atherosclerotic vascular disease in either the 5‐year RCT [multivariate‐adjusted HR = 0.938, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.690–1.275] or during the 9.5 years of observational study (multivariate‐adjusted HR = 0.919, 95% CI 0.737–1.146). Further analysis suggested that calcium supplementation may reduce the risk of hospitalization and mortality in patients with preexisting atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. This trial provides compelling evidence that calcium supplementation of 1200 mg daily does not significantly increase the risk of atherosclerotic vascular disease in elderly women. © 2011 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Redundant surgical publications: tip of the iceberg?

BACKGROUND A redundant publication is one which duplicates previous, simultaneous, or future publications by the same author or group or, alternatively, could have been combined with the latter into one paper. As there is no information about the extent of this problem in the surgical literature, we set out to assess the incidence, spectrum, and salient characteristics of redundant publications in 3 leading surgical journals. METHODS Original articles (excluding reviews, editorials, abstracts, and letters) published during 1998 in the journals Surgery, The British Journal of Surgery, and Archives of Surgery were searched by using the on-line search engine PUBMED. Each original article was scrutinized to identify redundancy by combining the names of the first, second, and last authors with a few key words from the title. Papers were defined as "suspected" redundant publications if they were found to address the same topic as the "index" article and shared some or most of the elements of methodology, results, or conclusions. The full versions of all suspected papers were retrieved and compared with the index articles. A grading system was developed to define several types of redundant publications: A. "dual"; B. "potentially dual"; C. "salami-slicing. " RESULTS A total of 660 articles were screened. There were 92 index articles (14%) leading to 147 suspected papers found in other journals, representing some potential form of a redundant publication. The vast majority of suspected papers were published within approximately a year of the index paper and were not cited by the latter. Most (69%) of the suspected papers were also published in surgical journals. Only 12 (8.1%) appeared in, or originated from, a "local-foreign" journal. Twenty (13.6%) of the suspected papers met the criteria for dual publications, 50 (34%) for potentially dual publications, and 77 (52.4%) were considered products of salami-slicing. CONCLUSIONS Almost 1 in every 6 original articles published in leading surgical journals represents some form of redundancy. Current on-line search technology provides an effective tool for identifying and tracing such publications, but it is not used routinely as part of the peer review process. Redundancies occur in several well-defined patterns; the phenomenon is widespread, and it cuts across the entire spectrum of surgeons in the United States and abroad. Redundant publications must be recognized not as a mere nuisance but as a real threat to the quality and intellectual impact of surgical publishing.
Strategies and Influence of Social Bots in a 2017 German state election - A case study on Twitter

As social media has permeated large parts of the population it simultaneously has become a way to reach many people e.g. with political messages. One way to efficiently reach those people is the application of automated computer programs that aim to simulate human behaviour - so called social bots. These bots are thought to be able to potentially influence users' opinion about a topic. To gain insight in the use of these bots in the run-up to the German Bundestag elections, we collected a dataset from Twitter consisting of tweets regarding a German state election in May 2017. The strategies and influence of social bots were analysed based on relevant features and network visualization. 61 social bots were identified. Possibly due to the concentration on German language as well as the elections regionality, identified bots showed no signs of collective political strategies and low to none influence. Implications are discussed.
Does Question Wording Predict Support for the Affordable Care Act? An Analysis of Polling During the Implementation Period, 2010–2016

ABSTRACT The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues to be the subject of fierce political debate in the United States. Drawing on issue framing theory, together with research on wording effects in survey responding, we tested how common differences in the wording of ACA surveys relate to apparent public support for the law. We report on a content analysis of N = 376 U.S. national opinion surveys fielded during a more than six-year period, beginning 23 March 2010 (when President Obama signed the bill into law) and ending 8 November 2016 (Election Day), and use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models to predict public support for the law as a function of variation in question wording. We coded questions gauging general sentiment toward the law for differences in issue labeling (e.g., Obamacare, Affordable Care Act), whether or not they referenced particular political entities (e.g., President Obama, Congress) or segments of the public (e.g., You, Your Family), various opinion metrics (e.g., Support, Favor), and different response options (e.g., Repeal, Expand) which we used to model aggregate levels of support. The results revealed several key differences in question wording—for example, generic references to the Healthcare Law were employed much more frequently than Obamacare or Affordable Care Act—a number of which reliably predicted aggregate levels of public support. The discussion considers possible explanations for these patterns and reiterates the value of attending to questionnaire design features when interpreting survey data about politically contentious health policy issues.
Hepatitis C virus replication in Caucasian HIV controllers

Summary. Whether HIV controllers, patients who spontaneously control HIV viraemia, are able to control hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, in terms of spontaneous clearance or lower HCV replication, is not well understood. To assess to what extent Caucasian HIV controllers are able to control HCV replication and potential associated factors, plasma HIV‐1 and HCV RNA levels, anti‐HCV antibodies, HCV genotype and human leucocyte antigens (HLA) typing were determined in samples from 75 HIV controllers (33 viraemic controllers, <1000 HIV‐1 RNA copies/mL, and 42 elite controllers, <40 HIV‐1 RNA copies/mL) and compared with 261 HIV‐infected noncontrollers. We did not find differences in the HCV spontaneous clearance rates between groups. However, we interestingly found a lower HCV viral load in HIV controllers, alongside a different distribution of HCV genotypes in relation to the comparison group. In addition, HLA‐B57 was associated with a lower HCV viral load in the control group and HIV controllers, and conversely, HLA‐B35 with higher HCV viral load in HIV controllers. The subrepresentation of HCV genotype 1 and the overrepresentation of HLA‐B57 only partly explained the lower HCV viral load found in HIV controllers. In fact, HIV controller status was independently associated with lower HCV viral load, together with HCV genotype non‐1, the presence of HLA‐B57 and absence of HLA‐B35. Caucasian HIV controllers are able to better control HCV replication, in terms of lower HCV viral load levels. These findings support the idea that some common host mechanisms are involved in the defence against these two persistent infections.
Immature platelets in patients with acute coronary syndromes

Summary Platelets newly released from the bone marrow are RNA-containing and more haemostatically active than mature platelets. Immature platelets are reliably quantified by flow cytometry, and the immature platelet fraction (IPF) reflects platelet production and the rate of platelet turnover. It was the objective of this study to evaluate the presence of immature platelets in healthy subjects, patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and patients with acute coronary syndromes. Flow cytometric determination of immature platelets was performed with an automated analyzer (Sysmex XE-2100) using RNA fluorescent dyes. IPF was determined in 420 individuals: 22 healthy subjects, 39 patients with stable CAD, 182 patients with unstable angina/ non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (non-STEMI) and 177 patients with acute STEMI. The geometric mean [95% confidence interval] of IPF was 2.51 [2.04–3.10] in healthy subjects, 2.87 [2.45–3.36] in CAD patients, 2.93 [2.72–3.15] in the non-STEMI/unstable angina group and 3.71 [3.45–3.99] in patients with STEMI (ANOVA: p < 0.0001). This difference remained significant after adjusting for baseline characteristics (p = 0.0003). In active smokers, IPF was 18% higher than in non-smoking individuals (p = 0.007), and IPF was 16% higher in diabetics compared with non-diabetics (p = 0.060). In conclusion, the fraction of immature platelets is increased in acute coronary syndromes, especially in the acute phase of STEMI. Immature platelets with an increased haemostatic potential may contribute to coronary thrombus formation.
Reduced Prefrontal-Parietal Effective Connectivity and Working Memory Deficits in Schizophrenia

The neural mechanisms behind cognitive deficits in schizophrenia still remain unclear. Functional neuroimaging studies on working memory (WM) yielded inconsistent results, suggesting task performance as a moderating variable of prefrontal activation. Beyond regional specific activation, disordered integration of brain regions was supposed as a critical pathophysiological mechanism of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Here, we first hypothesized that prefrontal activation implicated in WM depends primarily on task performance and therefore stratified participants into performance subgroups. Second, in line with the dysconnectivity hypothesis, we asked whether connectivity in the prefrontal-parietal network underlying WM is altered in all patients. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging in human subjects (41 schizophrenia patients, 42 healthy controls) and dynamic causal modeling to examine effective connectivity during a WM task. In line with our first hypothesis, we found that prefrontal activation was differentially modulated by task performance: there was a significant task by group by performance interaction revealing an increase of activation with performance in patients and a decrease with performance in controls. Beyond that, we show for the first time that WM-dependent effective connectivity from prefrontal to parietal cortex is reduced in all schizophrenia patients. This finding was independent of performance. In conclusion, our results are in line with the highly influential hypothesis that the relationship between WM performance and prefrontal activation follows an inverted U-shaped function. Moreover, this study in a large sample of patients reveals a mechanism underlying prefrontal inefficiency and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, thereby providing direct experimental evidence for the dysconnectivity hypothesis.
Academic writing by 'international' students in the internet age: studying diversity in practice

This is an exploratory study that identifies some of the characteristics of student academic writing in the internet age. The study followed fourteen postgraduate international students in the UK as they undertook a critical literature review assignment and examined how they adapted to the requirements of their British assignments. The students came from China, Greece and India. Three rounds of interviews were undertaken. The study was intentionally exploratory as little is known about how students actually write, what online search tools they use and how they take advantage of pedagogic interventions provided by their teachers in adapting to their new educational environment. The study presents strategies that the students adopt to make the transition from the ways of studying and writing that they are familiar with to those required to do well in the British system. The paper ends by presenting implications for practice alongside reflections for theory.
The Politics of Ideologie-Kritik: Socialism in the Age of Neo/Post-Marxism

In significant ways globalization theory derives from and is dependent on ideas originating with Marx, Engels, and Marxism. However, there are important puzzles within the Marxist heritage that need resolving, before current assessments of the global economic situation post-2007 can proceed. This is because these puzzles—about the nature of critique, the appropriate understanding of ideology, and the political power of neo/post Marxism—are part of the situation itself. Only after this clarification do Neo-Marxism and Post-Marxism make contrasting, but consistent sense. In a new era of global depression, credit crunch, and overt class struggle the multi-polar realities of the G20 nations now openly challenge the traditional dichotomies that divided democratic from one-party states, “free market” from planned (socialist) economies, and developed from developing (capitalist) economies. Globalization theory will thus require revision, and international political economy will necessarily rely on Ideologie-Kritik.
Spontaneous verbal repetition: A social strategy in aphasic conversation

Abstract This study investigated the spontaneous verbal repetition of a person with aphasia during conversation. Research questions were: Does repetition occur as a spontaneous verbal behaviour? How is repetion effectively used? What are the motivations for its use? A person with aphasia and his wife video recorded eight of their naturally occurring conversations which were subsequently transcribed and sequenced into turns-at-talk. Frequency of repetition and the sequential organization of conversation sequences containing repetition were analysed. Repetition was a frequent behaviour, occurring an average of 8% of the time for all conversations. Repetition was effectively used to meet the social needs of the conversation relating to displays of uncertainty, agreement, alignment and acknowledgement. Motivations for repetition related to its use as a compensatory strategy to overcome specific language barriers and to establish perceptions of conversational proficiency.
Novel Respiratory Syncytial Virus-Like Particle Vaccine Composed of the Postfusion and Prefusion Conformations of the F Glycoprotein

ABSTRACT Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of severe respiratory disease in infants and children and represents an important global health burden for the elderly and the immunocompromised. Despite decades of research efforts, no licensed vaccine for RSV is available. We have developed virus-like particle (VLP)-based RSV vaccines assembled with the human metapneumovirus (hMPV) matrix protein (M) as the structural scaffold and the RSV fusion glycoprotein (F) in either the postfusion or prefusion conformation as its prime surface immunogen. Vaccines were composed of postfusion F, prefusion F, or a combination of the two conformations and formulated with a squalene-based oil emulsion as adjuvant. Immunization with these VLP vaccines afforded full protection against RSV infection and prevented detectable viral replication in the mouse lung after challenge. Analyses of lung cytokines and chemokines showed that VLP vaccination mostly induced the production of gamma interferon (IFN-γ), a marker of the Th1-mediated immune response, which is predominantly required for viral protection. Conversely, immunization with a formalin-inactivated RSV (FI-RSV) vaccine induced high levels of inflammatory chemokines and cytokines of the Th2- and Th17-mediated types of immune responses, as well as severe lung inflammation and histopathology. The VLP vaccines showed restricted production of these immune mediators and did not induce severe bronchiolitis or perivascular infiltration as seen with the FI-RSV vaccine. Remarkably, analysis of the serum from immunized mice showed that the VLP vaccine formulated using a combination of postfusion and prefusion F elicited the highest level of neutralizing antibody and enhanced the Th1-mediated immune response.
SINGLE TREE DETECTION IN FOREST AREAS WITH HIGH-DENSITY LIDAR DATA

The study presents a novel method for delineation of tree crowns and detection of stem positions of single trees from dense airborne LIDAR data. The core module of the method is a surface reconstruction that robustly interpolates the canopy height model (CHM) from the LIDAR data. Tree segments are found by applying the watershed algorithm to the CHM. Possible stem positions of the tallest trees in the segments are subsequently derived from the local maxima of the CHM. Additional stem positions in the segments are found in a 3-step algorithm. First, all the points between the ground and the crown base height are separated. Second, possible stem points are found by hierarchical clustering these points using their horizontal distances. Third, the stem position is estimated with a robust RANSAC-based adjustment of the stem points. We applied the method to small-footprint full waveform data that have been acquired in the Bavarian Forest National Park with a point density of approximately 25 points per m. The results indicate that the detection rate for coniferous trees is 61 % and for deciduous trees 44 %, respectively. 7 % of the detected trees are false positives. The mean positioning error is 0.92 cm, whereas the additional stem detection improves the position on average by 22 cm. * Corresponding author.