Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chromosome aberrations determined by sFISH and G-banding in lymphocytes from workers with internal deposits of plutonium

Abstract Purpose: To examine the influence of α-particle radiation exposure from internally deposited plutonium on chromosome aberration frequencies in peripheral blood lymphocytes of workers from the Sellafield nuclear facility, UK. Materials and methods: Chromosome aberration data from historical single colour fluorescence in situ hybridization (sFISH) and Giemsa banding (G-banding) analyses, together with more recent sFISH results, were assessed using common aberration analysis criteria and revised radiation dosimetry. The combined sFISH group comprised 29 men with a mean internal red bone marrow dose of 21.0 mGy and a mean external γ-ray dose of 541 mGy. The G-banding group comprised 23 men with a mean internal red bone marrow dose of 23.0 mGy and a mean external γ-ray dose of 315 mGy. Results: Observed translocation frequencies corresponded to expectations based on age and external γ-ray dose with no need to postulate a contribution from α-particle irradiation of the red bone marrow by internally deposited plutonium. Frequencies of stable cells with complex aberrations, including insertions, were similar to those in a group of controls and a group of workers with external radiation exposure only, who were studied concurrently. In a similar comparison there is some suggestion of an increase in cells with unstable complex aberrations and this may reflect recent direct exposure to circulating lymphocytes. Conclusions: Reference to in vitro dose response data for the induction of stable aberrant cells by α-particle irradiation indicates that the low red bone marrow α-particle radiation doses received by the Sellafield workers would not result in a discernible increase in translocations, thus supporting the in vivo findings. Therefore, the greater risk from occupational radiation exposure of the bone marrow resulting in viable chromosomally aberrant cells comes from, in general, much larger γ-ray exposure in comparison to α-particle exposure from plutonium.
Prediction of Mortality after Emergent Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt Placement: Use of APACHE II, Child-Pugh and MELD Scores in Asian Patients with Refractory Variceal Hemorrhage

Objective This study was designed to determine if existing methods of grading liver function that have been developed in non-Asian patients with cirrhosis can be used to predict mortality in Asian patients treated for refractory variceal hemorrhage by the use of the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) procedure. Materials and Methods Data for 107 consecutive patients who underwent an emergency TIPS procedure were retrospectively analyzed. Acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE II), Child-Pugh and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) scores were calculated. Survival analyses were performed to evaluate the ability of the various models to predict 30-day, 60-day and 360-day mortality. The ability of stratified APACHE II, Child-Pugh, and MELD scores to predict survival was assessed by the use of Kaplan-Meier analysis with the log-rank test. Results No patient died during the TIPS procedure, but 82 patients died during the follow-up period. Thirty patients died within 30 days after the TIPS procedure; 37 patients died within 60 days and 53 patients died within 360 days. Univariate analysis indicated that hepatorenal syndrome, use of inotropic agents and mechanical ventilation were associated with elevated 30-day mortality (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that a Child-Pugh score > 11 or an MELD score > 20 predicted increased risk of death at 30, 60 and 360 days (p < 0.05). APACHE II scores could only predict mortality at 360 days (p < 0.05). Conclusion A Child-Pugh score > 11 or an MELD score > 20 are predictive of mortality in Asian patients with refractory variceal hemorrhage treated with the TIPS procedure. An APACHE II score is not predictive of early mortality in this patient population.
The incorporation of linoleic acid into the plasma lipids of sheep given intraruminal infusions of maize oil or free linoleic acid

1. The fatty acid compositions of the plasma cholesteryl esters, phospholipids, triglycerides and unesterilied fatty acids were determined in two sheep at various times after they had been given intraruminal infusions of emulsions of maize oil or linoleic acid. 2. The concentration of linoleic acid in the plasma triglycerides began to increase 3 h after infusion began. The infusions of maize oil and linoleic acid resulted in the appearance of peak concentrations of linoleic acid in the plasma triglycerides 6 and 12h respectively after infusion began. 3. After the infusion of maize oil the plasma triglycerides showed an increasein theconcentration of stearic acid but after the infusion of linoleic acid the plasma triglycerides showed an increase in the concentration of oleic acid. 4. The concentration of linoleic acid in the plasma phospholipids and cholesteryl esters did not begin to increase until 6–9 h and 24–25 h respectively after the infusions had begun. 5. No evidence was found for an absorption mechanism which involved the direct incorporation of linoleic acid into the blood phospholipids or cholesteryl esters.
Rescue of Dystrophic Skeletal Muscle by PGC-1α Involves a Fast to Slow Fiber Type Shift in the mdx Mouse

Increased utrophin expression is known to reduce pathology in dystrophin-deficient skeletal muscles. Transgenic over-expression of PGC-1α has been shown to increase levels of utrophin mRNA and improve the histology of mdx muscles. Other reports have shown that PGC-1α signaling can lead to increased oxidative capacity and a fast to slow fiber type shift. Given that it has been shown that slow fibers produce and maintain more utrophin than fast skeletal muscle fibers, we hypothesized that over-expression of PGC-1α in post-natal mdx mice would increase utrophin levels via a fiber type shift, resulting in more slow, oxidative fibers that are also more resistant to contraction-induced damage. To test this hypothesis, neonatal mdx mice were injected with recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) driving expression of PGC-1α. PGC-1α over-expression resulted in increased utrophin and type I myosin heavy chain expression as well as elevated mitochondrial protein expression. Muscles were shown to be more resistant to contraction-induced damage and more fatigue resistant. Sirt-1 was increased while p38 activation and NRF-1 were reduced in PGC-1α over-expressing muscle when compared to control. We also evaluated if the use a pharmacological PGC-1α pathway activator, resveratrol, could drive the same physiological changes. Resveratrol administration (100 mg/kg/day) resulted in improved fatigue resistance, but did not achieve significant increases in utrophin expression. These data suggest that the PGC-1α pathway is a potential target for therapeutic intervention in dystrophic skeletal muscle.
Anti-reflexivity and climate change skepticism in the US general public

The leading theoretical explanation for the mobilization of organized climate change denial is the Anti-Reflexivity Thesis, which characterizes the climate change denial countermovement as a collective force defending the industrial capitalist system. In this study, I demonstrate that the Anti-Reflexivity Thesis also provides theoretical purchase for explaining patterns of climate change skepticism among regular citizens. Analyzing nationally representative survey data from multiple waves of the University of Texas Energy Poll, I examine key predictors of climate change skepticism within the US general public. Identification with or trust in groups representing the industrial capitalist system increases the likelihood of climate change skepticism. Also, identification with or trust in groups representing forces of reflexivity (e.g., the environmental movement and scientific community) decreases the likelihood of such skepticism. Further, this study finds that climate change skeptics report policy preferences, voting intentions, and behavioral intentions generally supportive of the existing fossil fuels–based industrial capitalist system.
A comparative study on learning strategies used by Australian CFL and Chinese EFL learners

Abstract This study compared language learning strategies used by Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learners in Australia and English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in China through Oxford’s (1990. Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. Boston: Heinle and Heinle.) Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (SILL) questionnaire survey. Two cohorts of learners, namely Australian CFL learners (N=101) and Chinese EFL learners (N=100), participated in this study. It was found that the most frequently used strategies by the Chinese EFL learners were compensation strategies and the least frequently used strategies were memory strategies while the most frequently used strategies by the Australian CFL learners were social strategies and the least frequently used strategies were affective strategies. Australian female learners used slightly more strategies than male learners, but no difference was found in the strategies used by the Chinese EFL male and female learners. No significant difference was found either in the strategies used by learners of different grade levels, regardless of whether they were Chinese EFL or Australian CFL learners. Scores of some individual categories significantly differed between the three levels of the Australian CFL learners and the four levels of the Chinese EFL learners. In general the Chinese EFL learners used more strategies when compared with those used by the Australian CFL learners. Pedagogical implications of the findings were also discussed. This study contributes to the research in language learning strategies in that it considers the typological distance between learners’ L1 and the target language for the first time. It also has clarified the seemingly inconsistent findings in the literature in terms of memory strategies use by Asian learners (Chinese learners in this case): when compared with other categories of strategies, memory strategies were used the least frequently by the Chinese EFL learners; when compared with learners from other cultural backgrounds such as the Australian or American, the Chinese EFL learners used memory strategies more frequently.
Self-Assessment Accuracy: Correlations between Japanese English Learners' Self-Assessment on the CEFR--Japan's Can Do Statements and Scores on the TOEIC®.

Since its release in 1979 the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) has been consistently and widely used by educational institutions and companies of Japan despite criticisms that it provides little useable information about language ability. In order to both reduce the extreme focus on and also aid with the practical interpretability of TOEIC test scores, other approaches to the assessment of language proficiency have started to gain popularity. One notable shift seems to be towards the usage of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), which is purported to provide a highly learner-centered approach to the teaching, learning and assessment of languages. The CEFR promotes the development of learner autonomy and supports learner self-assessment through the usage of can do statements, which describe the communicative actions learners are able to perform at any given time. Due to the increasing interest in using the CEFR as an assessment tool for learning in Japan, further study of the relationship between language proficiency and self-assessment is required. The current study thus explored the relationship between Japanese English language learners’ self-assessment scores on listening and reading can do statements from the Common European Framework of Reference-Japan (CEFR-J, a modified version of the CEFR) with test scores from the TOEIC. Moderate correlations between the TOEIC and can do self-assessment scores were found for listening, while no correlations were found for reading. The factors that may influence a learner’s self-assessment tendencies, the efficacy of a self-assessment system for Japanese learners and the interpretability of TOIEC® scores are discussed.
OPTIMAL FILTER SYSTEMS FOR PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFT ESTIMATION

In the coming years, several cosmological surveys will rely on imaging data to estimate the redshift of galaxies, using traditional filter systems with 4–5 optical broad bands; narrower filters improve the spectral resolution, but strongly reduce the total system throughput. We explore how photometric redshift performance depends on the number of filters nf, characterizing the survey depth by the fraction of galaxies with unambiguous redshift estimates. For a combination of total exposure time and telescope imaging area of 270 hr m2, 4–5 filter systems perform significantly worse, both in completeness depth and precision, than systems with nf ≳ 8 filters. Our results suggest that for low nf the color–redshift degeneracies overwhelm the improvements in photometric depth, and that even at higher nf the effective photometric redshift depth decreases much more slowly with filter width than naively expected from the reduction in the signal-to-noise ratio. Adding near-IR observations improves the performance of low-nf systems, but still the system which maximizes the photometric redshift completeness is formed by nine filters with logarithmically increasing bandwidth (constant resolution) and half-band overlap, reaching ∼0.7 mag deeper, with 10% better redshift precision, than 4–5 filter systems. A system with 20 constant-width, nonoverlapping filters reaches only ∼0.1 mag shallower than 4–5 filter systems, but has a precision almost three times better, δz = 0.014(1 + z) versus δz = 0.042(1 + z). We briefly discuss a practical implementation of such a photometric system: the ALHAMBRA Survey.
A Semi-Automatic, Iterative Method for Creating a Domain-Specific Treebank

In this paper we present the development process of NLP-QT, a question treebank that will be used for data-driven parsing in the context of a domain-specific QA system for querying NLP resource metadata. We motivate the need to build NLP-QT as a resource in its own right, by comparing the Penn Treebank-style annotation scheme used for QuestionBank (Judge et al., 2006) with the modified NP annotation for the Penn Treebank introduced by Vadas and Curran (2007). We argue that this modified annotation scheme provides a better interface representation for semantic interpretation and show how it can be incorporated into the NLP-QT resource, without significant loss in parser performance. The parsing experiments reported in the paper confirm the feasibility of an iterative, semi-automatic construction of the NLP-QT resource similar to the approach taken for QuestionBank. At the same time, we propose to improve the iterative refinement technique used for QuestionBank by adopting Hwa (2001)’s heuristics for selecting additional material to be handcorrected and added to the data set at each iteration.
Impact of Groundwater Salinity on Bioremediation Enhanced by Micro-Nano Bubbles

Micro-nano bubbles (MNBs) technology has shown great potential in groundwater bioremediation because of their large specific surface area, negatively charged surface, long stagnation, high oxygen transfer efficiency, etc. Groundwater salinity, which varies from sites due to different geological and environmental conditions, has a strong impact on the bioremediation effect. However, the groundwater salinity effect on MNBs’ behavior has not been reported. In this study, the size distribution, oxygen transfer efficiency and zeta potential of MNBs was investigated in different salt concentrations. In addition, the permeability of MNBs’ water through sand in different salt concentrations was studied. The results showed that water salinity has no influence on bubble size distribution during MNBs generation. MNBs could greatly enhance the oxygen transfer efficiency from inner bubbles to outer water, which may greatly enhance aerobic bioremediation. However, the enhancement varied depending on salt concentration. 0.7 g/L was found to be the optimal salt concentration to transfer oxygen. Moreover, MNBs in water salinity of 0.7 g/L had the minimum zeta potential. The correlation of zeta potential and mass transfer was discussed. The hydraulic conductivities of sand were similar for MNBs water with different salt concentrations. The results suggested that salinity had a great influence on MNBs performance, and groundwater salinity should be taken into careful consideration in applying MNBs technology to the enhancement of bioremediation.
Semantic sentiment analysis of twitter Conference Item

Sentiment analysis over Twitter offer organisations a fast and effective way to monitor the publics’ feelings towards their brand, business, directors, etc. A wide range of features and methods for training sentiment classifiers for Twitter datasets have been researched in recent years with varying results. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach of adding semantics as additional features into the training set for sentiment analysis. For each extracted entity (e.g. iPhone) from tweets, we add its semantic concept (e.g. “Apple product”) as an additional feature, and measure the correlation of the representative concept with negative/positive sentiment. We apply this approach to predict sentiment for three different Twitter datasets. Our results show an average increase of F harmonic accuracy score for identifying both negative and positive sentiment of around 6.5% and 4.8% over the baselines of unigrams and part-of-speech features respectively. We also compare against an approach based on sentiment-bearing topic analysis, and find that semantic features produce better Recall and F score when classifying negative sentiment, and better Precision with lower Recall and F score in positive sentiment classification.
Prisoner's Dilemma: non-trivial results for the lowest temptation level in the Darwinian and Pavlovian evolutionary strategies

The lowest temptation level (T = 1) is considered a trivial case for the Prisoner's Dilemma. Here, we show that this statement is true only for a very particular case, where the players interact with only one player. Otherwise, if the players interact with more than one player, the system presents the same possible behaviors observed for $T > 1$. In the steady state, the system can reach the cooperative, chaotic or defective phases, when adopting the Darwinian Evolutionary Strategy and the cooperative or quasi-regular phases, adopting the Pavlovian Evolutionary Strategy.
Patients' Perspective on Day Case Breast Surgery

Background: This study assessed the views of patients undergoing breast surgery for breast cancer with a planned overnight stay, asking whether they would be happy to be discharged home on the same day of surgery. Methods: A structured questionnaire sent out in the 6 weeks following surgery was used to ascertain the patients' views. Results: The majority of patients undergoing mastectomy and axillary node clearance preferred an overnight stay, primarily for psychological reasons. Conclusions: Patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery were more prepared to go home on the day of surgery.
The ATHENA equation – balancing the efficacy of citizens’ response with the reality of citizens’ rights around data protection

The ways and extent to which LEAs and other crisis responders might possibly harness new communication media – particularly web-based social media such as Twitter and Facebook, and the prolific use of high-tech mobile devices to provide efficient and effective communication and enhanced situational awareness during a crisis is being explored by Sheffield Hallam University’s EC-funded ATHENA project, which comes to an end in December 2016. This article is the first of a two-part analysis of that seminal project funded by the European Commission and considers the legal issues arising from utilising citizen responders’ data in civil emergencies.
An integrated exploration of factors associated with psychological distress among older prisoners

Abstract This paper compares the contributions of socio-demographic, health, mental health, social and environmental factors in explaining variations in psychological distress among older prisoners in two Australian states. One hundred and seventy-three prisoners (aged 50+ ) from 8 Australian prisons were interviewed using the Kessler Psychological Distress (K10) Scale. Three regression analyses were conducted to compare different models of 14 variables significantly associated with psychological distress. Independent variables most prominently associated with variations in psychological distress among older inmates were self-reported levels of social support, self-reported safety and ease of health care access. Difficulties in the built environment and mental health history were significantly explanatory of variations in older prisoner distress in two of the three models. The findings suggest that modifiable situational factors evident in current prison contexts are reasonably explanatory of variations in prisoner distress among older inmates.
The Path-of-probability Algorithm for Steering and Feedback Control of Flexible Needles

In this paper we develop a new framework for path planning of flexible needles with bevel tips. Based on a stochastic model of needle steering, the probability density function for the needle-tip pose is approximated as a Gaussian. The means and covariances are estimated using an error propagation algorithm which has second-order accuracy. Then we adapt the path-of-probability (POP) algorithm to path planning of flexible needles with bevel tips. We demonstrate how our planning algorithm can be used for feedback control of flexible needles. We also derive a closed-form solution for the port placement problem for finding good insertion locations for flexible needles in the case when there are no obstacles. Furthermore, we propose a new method using reference splines with the POP algorithm to solve the path planning problem for flexible needles in more general cases that include obstacles.
Identity and Vote Overreporting by Bureaucrats: Implications for Public Service Motivation

Studies have argued that the higher levels of public service motivation (PSM) found in bureaucrats as compared with others lead to the positive civic and political behaviors seen in government employees. This study extends those findings to see if high PSM could have any negative effects on these same behaviors. Drawing from research on identity theory, it is hypothesized that a salient “public service identity” could contribute to bureaucrats being more apt than others to report that they have voted in elections when they actually had not. Logit models using data covering a span of almost 30 years in the United States find support for the hypothesis. This work suggests that viewing PSM through the lens of identity theory may have broad implications for the field of public administration.
Noise Dressing of Financial Correlation Matrices

We show that results from the theory of random matrices are potentially of great interest to understand the statistical structure of the empirical correlation matrices appearing in the study of price fluctuations. The central result of the present study is the remarkable agreement between the theoretical prediction (based on the assumption that the correlation matrix is random) and empirical data concerning the density of eigenvalues associated to the time series of the different stocks of the S&P500 (or other major markets). In particular the present study raises serious doubts on the blind use of empirical correlation matrices for risk management.