Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of intentional communication in students with severe and multiple disabilities

The use of published criteria to determine the intentionality of communicative behaviors of individuals with severe and multiple disabilities is discussed in light of research with individuals with and without intellectual disability. Data were collected from four young students with severe intellectual and physical disabilities in addition to sensory deficits. Communicative sampling procedures were used to explore how behaviors other than co-ordinated attention may signal emerging intentionality. These behaviors, which included persistence, idiosyncratic behaviors, and modifications to signals, in addition to patterns of differential modality use, are discussed as potential indicators. Implications for the identification and development of intentional communication in children with severe and multiple disabilities are discussed, along with directions for future research.
The role of thermoregulatory thermogenesis in the development of obesity in genetically-obese (ob/ob) mice pair-fed with lean siblings

1. In order to quantitatively assess the energetic significance of reduced thermoregulatory thermogenesis in the accumulation of excess body fat in genetically-obese (ob/ob) mice experiments have been conducted at four environmental temperatures (17, 23, 28 and 33°) in which young growing obese animals were pair-fed for 10 d to the ad lib. intake of lean siblings. 2. The food intake of the lean mice increased with decreasing environmental temperature: at 17° the intake was 86% higher than that at 33°. 3. The estimated gain in carcass energy of lean mice rose with increasing temperature, from 82 kJ at 17° to 150 kJ at 33°. The energy gain of the pair-fed obese mice was higher than that of the lean at all temperatures but showed a slight decrease with increasing temperature, from 231 kJ at 17° to 191 kJ at 33°. 4. Environmental temperature affected the ‘excess’ energy gain of the obese mice. At 17° the obese mice deposited 182% more energy than the lean but this difference decreased progressively with increasing temperature to 127, 62 and 27% more energy at 23, 28 and 33° respectively. 5. At all environmental temperatures the pair-fed obese mice deposited considerably less protein than their lean controls. The deposition ranged from 32% (at 17°) to 56% (at 28°) of that of the lean mice. 6. It is concluded that environmental temperature plays a major role in determining the excess energy gain of ob/ob mice receiving the same amount of food as lean controls, and that the low energy expenditure and consequent high metabolic efficiency of this mutant is due primarily to reduced thermoregulatory thermogenesis.
Review article: epidemiology, pathogenesis and potential treatments of paediatric non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease

Background Non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of paediatric liver disease. Similar to NAFLD in adults, NAFLD in children is associated with obesity and insulin resistance and requires liver histology for diagnosis and staging. However, significant histological differences exist between adult and paediatric NAFLD to warrant caution in extrapolation of adult data.
Explicit second-person subjects in Russian imperatives: semantics, word order, and a comparison with English

Abstract This article offers an analysis of the function of the second person subject of the imperative in Russian. Apart from expressing contrast, the subject of the imperative is used for various pragmatic functions. It is shown that these functions can only be accounted for by looking both at the information structure of the sentence as a whole (word order and sentence stress), and the vocative-like properties of the subject. The specific analysis of these functions is supported by corpus data, more specifically the use of lexical verbs and the use of modal particles. Finally, the function of the subject of the imperative in Russian is compared to the function of the subject of the imperative in English. This comparison shows that the pragmatic functions of the imperative subject in English differ significantly from those of Russian. It is suggested that the difference between Russian and English may be partly due to the fact that English has a relatively rigid word order, whereas Russian word order is largely determined by information structure.
EFFECT OF TEACHERS’ MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS: EXPERIENCE FROM NIGERIA

The study was carried out to examine the effect of teachers’ motivational strategies on students’ academic achievement in Kwara State public secondary schools in Nigeria. The design of the study was a descriptive survey. The population consisted of all the 6839 teachers and all students in Kwara State public secondary schools. The sample consisted of 330 respondents including 210 teachers and 120 students. Systematic and purposive random sampling techniques were used. A self-designed questionnaire titled “Teachers’ Motivational Strategies and Students’ Academic Achievement” (TMSSAA), and interview guide titled “Interview on Level of Teachers’ Motivational Strategies in Schools” (ILTMSS) were used to collect information on teachers’ motivational strategies. Data were personally collected and analyzed using frequency counts, percentage scores and Chi-square to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that awards, scholarship, encouragement, evaluation of lesson, good teaching skills, guidance and counseling, among others, were motivational strategies used by the teacher. Teachers’ motivational strategies in relation to the students’ learning domains were found to be high and satisfactory while, level of students’ motivation was adjudged high and appreciated by the teachers and students. The results revealed a significant relationship between teachers’ motivation and students’ academic achievement with (r tab = 47.623, r cal.40.1*, p < .05); equally, no significant relationship existed between teachers’ motivational strategies and students’ academic achievement with (r tab= 30.412, r cal.40.1*, p < .05). Findings on the teachers interviewed corroborated the quantitative findings. In conclusion, teachers’ motivational strategies did not enhance students’ academic achievement in Kwara state public secondary schools, Nigeria. It was recommended that more experienced and qualified teachers should be employed in order for them to motivate individual students according to their needs in enhancing their academic achievement.
A Comparison of Traditional and Alternative Certification Routes on Classroom Management

In Texas, there are different ways teachers can attain certification. Thus, teachers are entering the classroom through various certification routes with varying levels of training as the traditional and alternative programs differ in their requirements. Classroom management can determine the success or failure of teachers and students. The research involved in this study attempted to determine whether university-certified teachers differ from alternatively certified teachers in the area of classroom management as determined by referrals, while controlling for level of education, years of teaching experience, age, race, and gender at both middle and high school levels. The population for this study was the middle and high school teachers in one rural south central Texas school district. Data were collected from the school district’s personnel database as well as from the campus-level administrators. Hierarchical regressions were used to test null hypotheses and recommendations were suggested.
Effects of Participative Pricing on Consumers' Cognitions and Actions: A Goal Theoretic Perspective

Using a goal theoretic approach we examine how goal-related mind-sets influence consumers' reactions to participative pricing mechanisms (where consumers participate in price determination; e.g., auctions) relative to economically equivalent, fixed price offers. We show that the congruence between individuals' notions of high-perceived control over shopping situations and participative price environments produces an implementation-oriented mind-set that influences cognitions and intentions. In the absence of such congruence, we can independently create implemental mind-sets that replace the natural deliberative thinking of consumers contemplating a purchase. Demonstrating the subtle yet powerful role mind-sets play in dictating thought and action is a unique contribution of this research.
Responses In Vivo Dendritic Cells and Elicit Specific Immune Phenotypic and Functional Maturation of Mast Cell-Derived Exosomes Induce

Mast cells (MCs) are considered major players in IgE-mediated allergic responses, but have also recently been recognized as active participants in innate as well as speciﬁc immune responses. Recent work provided evidence that MCs are able to activate B and T lymphocytes through the release of vesicles called exosomes. Here we demonstrate that exosomes, which are located in the endocytic pathway, harbor exogenous Ags that associate with other molecules endowed with immunomodulatory functions, including 60- and 70-kDa heat shock proteins. Administration to naive mice of Ag-containing exosomes in the absence of conventional adjuvants elicits speciﬁc Ab responses across the MHC II haplotype barrier. We demonstrate that MC-exosomes induce immature dendritic cells (DCs) to up-regulate MHC class II, CD80, CD86, and CD40 molecules and to acquire potent Ag-presenting capacity to T cells. Uptake and processing of Ag-associated exosomes by endogenous DCs were also demonstrated. Finally, exosome-associated heat shock proteins are critical for the acquisition by DCs of the Ag-presenting function. This work demonstrates a heretofore unrecognized collaborative interaction between MCs and DCs leading to the elicitation of speciﬁc immune responses. The Journal of Immunology, 2003, 170: 3037–3045.
NOTES AND COMMENTS GIVING ACCORDING TO GARP: AN EXPERIMENTAL TEST OF THE CONSISTENCY OF PREFERENCES FOR ALTRUISM

Subjects in economic laboratory experiments have clearly expressed an interest in behaving unselfishly. They cooperate in prisoners’ dilemma games, they give to public goods, and they leave money on the table when bargaining. While some are tempted to call this behavior irrational, economists should ask if this unselfish and altruistic behavior is indeed self-interested. That is, can subjects’ concerns for altruism or fairness be expressed in the economists’ language of a well-behaved preference ordering? If so, then behavior is consistent and meets our definition of rationality. This paper explores this question by applying the axioms of revealed preference to the altruistic actions of subjects. If subjects adhere to these axioms, such as GARP, then we can infer that a continuous, convex, and monotonic utility function could have generated their choices. This means that an economic model is sufficient to understand the data and that, in fact, altruism is rational. We do this by offering subjects several opportunities to share a surplus with another anonymous subject. However, the costs of sharing and the surplus available vary across decisions. This price and income variation creates budgets for altruistic activity that allow us to test for an underlying preference ordering. We found that subjects exhibit a significant degree of rationally altruistic behavior. Over 98% of our subjects made choices that are consistent with utility maximization. Only a quarter of subjects are selfish money-maximizers, and the rest show varying degrees of altruism. Perhaps most strikingly, almost half of the subjects exhibited behavior that is exactly consistent with one of three standard CES utility functions: perfectly selfish, perfect substitutes, or Leontief. Those with Leontief preferences are always dividing the surplus equally, while those with perfect substitutes preferences give everything away when the price of giving is less than one, but keep everything when the price of giving is greater than one. Using the data on choices, we estimated a population of utility functions and applied these to predict the results of other studies. We found that our results could successfully characterize the outcomes of other studies, indicating still further that altruism can be captured in an economic model.
Splicing changes in SMA mouse motoneurons and SMN-depleted neuroblastoma cells: Evidence for involvement of splicing regulatory proteins

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is caused by deletions or mutations in the Survival Motor Neuron 1 (SMN1) gene. The second gene copy, SMN2, produces some, but not enough, functional SMN protein. SMN is essential to assemble small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) that form the spliceosome. However, it is not clear whether SMA is caused by defects in this function that could lead to splicing changes in all tissues, or by the impairment of an additional, less well characterized, but motoneuron-specific SMN function. We addressed the first possibility by exon junction microarray analysis of motoneurons (MNs) isolated by laser capture microdissection from a severe SMA mouse model. This revealed changes in multiple U2-dependent splicing events. Moreover, splicing appeared to be more strongly affected in MNs than in other cells. By testing mutiple genes in a model of progressive SMN depletion in NB2a neuroblastoma cells, we obtained evidence that U2-dependent splicing changes occur earlier than U12-dependent ones. As several of these changes affect genes coding for splicing regulators, this may acerbate the splicing response induced by low SMN levels and induce secondary waves of splicing alterations.
ama1 Genes of Sympatric Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum from Venezuela Differ Significantly in Genetic Diversity and Recombination Frequency

Background We present the first population genetic analysis of homologous loci from two sympatric human malaria parasite populations sharing the same human hosts, using full-length sequences of ama1 genes from Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum collected in the Venezuelan Amazon. Methodology/Principal Findings Significant differences between the two species were found in genetic diversity at the ama1 locus, with 18 distinct haplotypes identified among the 73 Pvama1 sequences obtained, compared to 6 unique haplotypes from 30 Pfama1 sequences, giving overall diversity estimates of h = 0.9091, and h = 0.538 respectively. Levels of recombination were also found to differ between the species, with P. falciparum exhibiting very little recombination across the 1.77kb sequence. In contrast, analysis of patterns of nucleotide substitutions provided evidence that polymorphisms in the ama1 gene of both species are maintained by balancing selection, particularly in domain I. The two distinct population structures observed are unlikely to result from different selective forces acting upon the two species, which share both human and mosquito hosts in this setting. Rather, the highly structured P. falciparum population appears to be the result of a population bottleneck, while the much less structured P. vivax population is likely to be derived from an ancient pool of diversity, as reflected in a larger estimate of effective population size for this species. Greatly reduced mosquito transmission in 1997, due to low rainfall prior to the second survey, was associated with far fewer P. falciparum infections, but an increase in P. vivax infections, probably due to hypnozoite activation. Conclusions/Significance The relevance of these findings to putative competitive interactions between these two important human pathogen species is discussed. These results highlight the need for future control interventions to employ strategies targeting each of the parasite species present in endemic areas.
Issues of harm and offence : the regulation of gender and sexuality portrayals in British television advertisiting

This thesis has two broad aims: 1) to explore the history and regulatory structure surrounding television advertising, particularly in relation to issues of ‘harm and offence’; and 2) to examine the regulatory discourses featured in adjudications responding to complaints of (alleged) offensive and/or harmful gender and sexuality portrayals in television advertising. Advertising has been a primary focus for a feminist criticism since, at least, the 1970s, arguing that it features and promotes sexist portrayals of women. However, little academic attention has been paid to the regulation of sexism in advertising, despite its long history. My work seeks to address the lack of research in this area. Using archival research I explore the historical trajectory of regulatory approaches to issues of harm and offence in British television advertising since the establishment of commercial television to present day. I argue that these have, historically, taken a paternalistic, moral stance, whilst issues of sexism have been largely overlooked or misinterpreted as issues of sexual morality. Moreover, through a discourse analysis of adjudications featuring complaints concerning gender and sexuality portrayals – published between 1990 and 2012 – I examine the regulatory discourses constructed in response to public claims of sexist advertising. Here, I make two separate, albeit interlinked, arguments. Firstly, that the regulatory discourse on the sexualisation of women in advertising lacks critical engagement with the meaning of sexual speech, particularly concerning issues of gender. Secondly, I explore, drawing on speech act theory, how regulatory discourse contribute to an ‘undoing’ of sexism, emphasizing a postfeminist reading of sexism as an ironic ‘fantasy’ of a distant past. In this way, I argue that sexist speech comes to be understood as a ‘failed performative’, no longer enacting that which it speaks in the wake of feminist success.
Maternal Descriptions of 2 and 3-year-old Children: A Comparison of Attachment Q-sorts in Two Socio-Cultural Communities

A total of 101 mothers from two socio-cultural groups (55 French-speaking from Montreal and 46 English-speaking from Chicago) described their 2-or 3-year-old children using the Attachment Q-sort. The Q-sort descriptions from the two sites were compared at the level of criterion scores, at the level of derived scores for nine empirical scales, and at the level of individual Q-sort items. These analyses indicated only chance level differences between groups for analyses individual items. However, for the derived scales and for criterion scores, significant multivariate effects across samples were obtained. Additional analyses, covarying maternal age, education level, and social desirability response bias scores, indicated that only the criterion score for Attachment Security differed across the two socio-cultural groups. Subsequent correlational analyses relating empirical scale scores to the criterion scores for both samples yielded similar results. Only 3 of 27 separate pairs of correlations differed significantly across the two samples. The results suggest that the Attachment Q-sort is useful for evaluating differences among young children with respect to attachment security and related constructs in both sociocultural groups. However, the results also indicate that the scores derived from maternal Q-sort descriptions may be associated with demographic characteristics and culturally specific response biases that should be evaluated and controlled before interpreting the Q-sort scores with reference to universal, or species-specific, concepts of attachment security.
Conversion of viable but nonculturable Vibrio cholerae to the culturable state by co‐culture with eukaryotic cells

VBNC Vibrio cholerae O139 VC‐280 obtained by incubation in 1% solution of artificial sea water IO at 4°C for 74 days converted to the culturable state when co‐cultured with CHO cells. Other eukaryotic cell lines, including HT‐29, Caco‐2, T84, HeLa, and Intestine 407, also supported conversion of VBNC cells to the culturable state. Conversion of VBNC V. cholerae O1 N16961 and V. cholerae O139 VC‐280/pG13 to the culturable state, under the same conditions, was also confirmed. When VBNC V. cholerae O139 VC‐280 was incubated in 1% IO at 4°C for up to 91 days, the number of cells converted by co‐culture with CHO cells declined with each additional day of incubation and after 91 days conversion was not observed.
Functional Brain Imaging Using Near-Infrared Technology Assessing Cognitive Activity in Real-Life Situations

In the last decade, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIR) has been introduced as a new neuroimaging modality with which to conduct functional brain imaging studies [1]‐[24]. fNIR technology uses specific wavelengths of light, irradiated through the scalp, to enable the noninvasive measurement of changes in the relative ratios of deoxygenated hemoglobin (deoxy-Hb) and oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) during brain activity. This technology allows the design of portable, safe, affordable, noninvasive, and minimally intrusive monitoring systems. These qualities make fNIR suitable for the study of hemodynamic changes due to cognitive and emotional brain activity under many working and educational conditions, as well as in the field. Functional imaging is typically conducted in an effort to understand the activity in a given brain region in terms of its relationship to a particular behavioral state or its interactions with inputs from another region’s activity. The program of research in cognitive neuroscience conducted by our optical brain imaging group has utilized the current-generation fNIR system to investigate brain activity, primarily in the dorsolateral and inferior frontal cortex [20]‐[24]. To date, the fNIR studies of cognition and emotion have focused on functions associated with Brodman’s areas BA9, BA10, BA46, BA45, BA47, and BA44. Recent positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) studies have shown that these areas play a critical role in sustained attention, both the short-term storage and the executive process components of working memory, episodic memory, problem solving, response inhibition, and the perception of smell (for a recent review, see [25] and [26]). In addition, word recognition and the storage of verbal materials activate Broca’s area and left hemisphere supplementary and premotor areas [25], [27], [28]. To date, studies utilizing fNIR have shown results consistent with fMRI and PET findings for working memory and sustained attention [21]‐[23]. In this article, we will describe the working principles of fNIR and how the hemodynamic signals are extracted from the raw fNIR measurements using the modified Beer-Lambert Law. We will also introduce the fNIR system that we have developed and used in our studies. Current results from the augmented cognition research conducted in our laboratory are also presented, and the merits of optical imaging in augmented cognition are summarized. Working Principles