Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Israel/Palestine, South Africa and the ‘One-State Solution’: The Case for an Apartheid Analysis

The application of the term ‘apartheid’ to the policies and practices of the Israeli state forms a flashpoint in contemporary global politics. South Africa has provided a point of comparison for many state formations, and we suggest that, overall, the apartheid analysis serves as a useful contribution regarding Israel/Palestine within the framework of comparative political science. Moreover, because of the transformation evident in South Africa since 1994, the reference to the apartheid experience draws attention to the possibility of change, and has been a central element in discussions of the ‘one-state solution’ to the Middle East conflict. Adopting an approach consistent with the comparative method in political science, we see comparison as a means through which to highlight both similarities and differences between Israel (post-1948 and post-1967) and the apartheid-era South African context.
Retinal Ganglion Cells and Circadian Rhythms in Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Beyond

There is increasing awareness on the role played by circadian rhythm abnormalities in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). The characterization of the circadian dysfunction parallels the mounting evidence that the hallmarks of neurodegeneration also affect the retina and frequently lead to loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and to different degrees of optic neuropathy. In the RGC population, there is the subgroup of cells intrinsically photosensitive and expressing the photopigment melanopsin [melanopsin-containing retinal ganglion cells (mRGCs)], which are now well known to drive the entrainment of circadian rhythms to the light–dark cycles. Thus, the correlation between the pathological changes affecting the retina and mRGCs with the circadian imbalance in these neurodegenerative diseases is now clearly emerging, pointing to the possibility that these patients might be amenable to and benefit from light therapy. Currently, this connection is better established for AD and PD, but the same scenario may apply to other neurodegenerative disorders, such as Huntington’s disease. This review highlights similarities and differences in the retinal/circadian rhythm axis in these neurodegenerative diseases posing a working frame for future studies.
An accuracy improvement in Egorov's Theorem

We prove that the theorem of Egorov, on the canonical transformation of symbols of pseudodifferential operators conjugated by Fourier integral operators, can be sharpened. The main result is that the statement of Egorov's theorem remains true if, instead of just considering the principal symbols in $S^m/S^{m-1}$ for the pseudodifferential operators, one uses refined principal symbols in $S^m/S^{m-2}$, which for classical operators correspond simply to the principal plus the subprincipal symbol, and can generally be regarded as the first two terms of its Weyl symbol expansion: we call it the principal Weyl symbol of the pseudodifferential operator. Particular unitary Fourier integral operators, associated to the graph of the canonical transformation, have to be used in the conjugation for the higher accuracy to hold, leading to microlocal representations by oscillatory integrals with specific symbols that are given explicitly in terms of the generating function that locally describes the graph of the transformation. The motivation for the result is based on the optimal symplectic invariance properties of the Weyl correspondence in ${\mathbb R}^n$ and its symmetry for real symbols.
A Simulation Estimator for Testing the Time Homogeneity of Credit Rating Transitions

The measurement of credit quality is at the heart of the models designed to assess the reserves and capital needed to support the risks of both individual credits and portfolios of credit instruments. A popular specification for credit- rating transitions is the simple, time-homogeneous Markov model. While the Markov specification cannot really describe processes in the long run, it may be useful for adequately describing short-run changes in portfolio risk. In this specification, the entire stochastic process can be characterized in terms of estimated transition probabilities. However, the simple homogeneous Markovian transition framework is restrictive. We propose a test of the null hypotheses of time-homogeneity that can be performed on the sorts of data often reported. We apply the tests to 4 data sets, on commercial paper, sovereign debt, municipal bonds and SP sovereign debt also looks Markovian (perhaps due to a small sample size); municipals are well-modeled by the Markov specification for up to 5 years, but could probably benefit from frequent updating of the estimated transition matrix or from more sophisticated modeling, and S&P Corporate ratings are approximately Markov over 3 transitions but not 4.
Metacognition, Study Habits and Attitudes.

This study is conducted to investigate the relationship between fifth grade students’ metacognition levels, and their study habits and attitudes. Participants of the study consist of 221 students, 125 female and 96 male, enrolling to six public primary schools in Turkey. The results revealed that there is a medium positive relationship between metacognitive knowledge and skills and study habits ( r = .351, p < .05), study attitudes ( r = .415, p < .05) and study orientation ( r = .434, p < .05). Additionally, the results of the study showed that there is no significant relationship between metacognition and study habits and attitudes for low and medium achievers but, there is a significant relationship for high achievers.
The factors influencing young children's social interaction in technology integration

ABSTRACT When technology integration is accomplished successfully in early childhood education settings, children tend to interact more with one another and exchange information related to computer tasks as well as the overall classroom on-going curriculum themes. Therefore, to explore how young children are interacting in computer areas when using computers as integrated tools for learning is valuable. Accordingly, the research questions were as follows: (1) What factors support young children's social interaction in technology integration? ; and (2) What factors hinder young children's social interaction in technology integration? The supporting factors were found as the connection with classroom themes, user-friendly software design, working pairs, and open-ended software programme. The hindering factors were summarized as teacher interruption, closed-software programme, and environmental limitations.
Sex, Instructional Set, and Group Make-up: Organismic and Situational Factors Influencing Risk-Taking

The present piece of research was designed to investigate the effects of sex, type of instruction, and group composition on risk-taking behavior. Risk-oriented instructions produced significantly greater risk than neutral instructions for both individuals and groups. There were no significant shifts in risk when analyzing the difference between an individual's prescore and his score during group interaction. Males consistently demonstrated greater risk-taking behavior than females. Furthermore, all-male groups displayed more risk than either all-female, mixed-sex, or control groups. Plausible explanations were offered: sex-role stereotyping and consistency or congruity theory. Implications for research were discussed.
Miscarriages of Justice and the Discourse of Innocence: Perspectives from Appellants, Campaigners, Journalists, and Legal Practitioners

This article problematizes the discourse of innocence in relation to victims of wrongful conviction operating within the criminal justice system. For appellants whose convictions have been quashed by the Court of Appeal, notions of innocence are often at odds with how others perceive and understand the purpose of criminal trials and appeals. This article will examine the views of legal practitioners, journalists, and victims of wrongful conviction and their supporters regarding factual innocence and how misunderstanding can sometimes lead to miscommunication by actors operating within the same system. The article will further examine the issue of compensation in light of the recent ruling by the Supreme Court and conclude that the current debate regarding what constitutes a miscarriage of justice continues to confuse legal practitioners and prolong the anxiety suffered by victims recovering from the trauma of wrongful imprisonment and subsequent losses.
An effective joint model for chinese word segmentation and POS tagging

Chinese word segmentation and Part-of-speech (POS) tagging have been studied for decades. However, most of the previous works mainly focus on pipeline method which will lead to error propagation. In order to make word segmentation and POS tagging jointly in one model, in this paper, we propose an effective neural network model to improve the accuracy of the segmentation and tagging. Our model works based on the hierarchical Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and trained jointly in one objective function. What's more, to better utilizing the transition features between tags, we further introduce the transition matrix which can help to search the best tagging sequence. Experiment on Chinese Treebank shows that our model achieves competitive accuracy on word segmentation and POS tagging.
AGREEMENT BETWEEN DIFFERENT PATHOLOGISTS IN HISTOPATHOLOGIC DIAGNOSIS OF 128 GASTRIC POLYPS.

BACKGROUND - Gastric polyps are elevated mucosal lesions. Most of them are less than 1 cm and when larger than 2 cm, has a high malignancy probability. The histopathological types are mainly fundic gland polyps, hyperplastic polyps and adenomatous polyps. OBJECTIVE - To evaluate the agreement between three different pathologists in the histopathological diagnosis of 128 biopsied gastric polyps in Digestive Endoscopy Unit from Walter Cantídeo University Hospital, between May 2010 to May 2012. METHODS - To describe the intensity of agreement between observers, we use kappa index that is based on the number of concordant measures between them. RESULTS - There was substantial agreement in the diagnosis of adenoma (kappa=0.799, CI: 0.899-0.698) and fundic glands (kappa=0.655, CI: 0.755-0.555). Regarding to hyperplastic polyps (kappa=0.415, CI: 0.515-0.315) and inflammatory (kappa=0.401, CI: 0.501-0.301), we obtained a moderate agreement. Regarding the presence of Helicobacter pylori in biopsy of the polyp, there was a low agreement (kappa=0.219, CI: 0.319-0.119). CONCLUSION - It is clear that the agreement between pathologists depends on the histological type of the biopsied polyp and this agreement is more substantial in adenoma, or fundic gland polyps.
Evidence for the Latent Factor Structure of the MSLQ

The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) has a long history of use in educational psychology, yet few studies have examined the latent factor structure of the entire scale using data from a single administration of the instrument. Although using the subscales individually was encouraged by the creators of the instrument, the practice has produced piecemeal evidence for the latent factor structure. In the current study, we administered all 15 subscales of the MSLQ to a large population of postsecondary students enrolled in introductory geoscience courses and used confirmatory factor analysis to examine the latent factor structures described in previous MSLQ literature. Faced with unsatisfactory evidence for the hypothesized structures, we describe our respecification process and provide some commentary on a more parsimonious latent factor structure that may be of use in similar research projects.
Temporal Expectation Enhances Contrast Sensitivity by Phase Entrainment of Low-Frequency Oscillations in Visual Cortex

Although it is increasingly accepted that temporal expectation can modulate early perceptual processing, the underlying neural computations remain unknown. In the present study, we combined a psychophysical paradigm with electrophysiological recordings to investigate the putative contribution of low-frequency oscillatory activity in mediating the modulation of visual perception by temporal expectation. Human participants judged the orientation of brief targets (visual Gabor patterns tilted clockwise or counterclockwise) embedded within temporally regular or irregular streams of noise-patches used as temporal cues. Psychophysical results indicated that temporal expectation enhanced the contrast sensitivity of visual targets. A diffusion model indicated that rhythmic temporal expectation modulated the signal-to-noise gain of visual processing. The concurrent electrophysiological data revealed that the phase of delta oscillations overlying human visual cortex (1–4 Hz) was predictive of the quality of target processing only in regular streams of events. Moreover, in the regular condition, the optimum phase of these perception-predictive oscillations occurred in anticipation of the expected events. Together, these results show a strong correspondence between psychophysical and neurophysiological data, suggesting that the phase entrainment of low-frequency oscillations to external sensory cues can serve as an important and flexible mechanism for enhancing sensory processing.
Health Literacy and Numeracy: A Comparison of Magazine Health Messages

This content analysis of Cosmopolitan and Latina magazines (N = 348) examines health news stories read by millions of young U.S. women for factors related to health literacy. Findings show that the majority of magazine stories were brief and replete with technical language. Alternative explanations were provided only 41% of the time. More than half of stories in both magazines contained numbers, yet provided few figurative illustrations. Although a majority of stories had accompanying images, these images seldom added to the understanding of the health news. Latina included more culturally relevant information and had more coverage of diabetes and obesity.
Associations between retinal nerve fiber layer abnormalities and optic nerve examination

Objective: Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) abnormalities detected by optical coherence tomography (OCT) are useful markers for axonal loss and visual dysfunction in multiple sclerosis (MS), but their role in routine clinical management is not well-studied. Methods: Clinical and OCT examinations were performed on 240 patients attending a neurology clinic. Using OCT 5th percentile to define abnormal RNFL thickness, we compared eyes classified by neurologists as having optic atrophy to RNFL thickness, and afferent pupillary defect (APD) to RNFL thickness ratios of eye pairs. Results: Mean RNFL thickness was less in eyes classified by neurologists as having optic atrophy (79.4 ± 21 μm; n=63) vs those without (97.0 ± 15 μm; n=417; p < 0.001, t test) and in eyes with an APD (84.1 ± 16 μm; n=44) than without an APD (95.8 ± 17 μm; n=436; p < 0.001). Physicians' diagnostic accuracy for detecting pallor in eyes with an abnormal RNFL thickness was 79% (sensitivity=0.56; specificity=0.82). Accuracy for detecting a RAPD in patients with mean RNFL ratio (affected eye to unaffected eye) <0.90 was 73% (sensitivity=0.30; specificity=0.86). Ability to detect visual pathway injury via assessment of atrophy and APD differed between neurologists. Conclusions: OCT reveals RNFL abnormality in many patients in whom eyes are not classified by neurologic examiners as having optic atrophy. Further study is needed to define the role of OCT measures in the context of examinations for optic atrophy and APD by neuroophthalmologists. OCT-measured RNFL thickness is likely to have an important future role in the clinical setting.
When Both Similarities and Dissimilarities Matter: Extending the Concept of Relational Demography

The current study extends the concept of relational demography by considering both demographic similarities and demographic dissimilarities in supervisor-subordinate dyads. We further examined the effects of relational demography on both basic task performance and extra-role behaviors of the subordinates. We propose that demographic similarity, which engenders attraction, will be associated with extra-role behavior but not with basic task performance. We further propose that demographic dissimilarities that are consistent with relational norms will be associated with both types of performance. We tested these ideas on 335 supervisor-subordinate dyads in 10 US companies and found reasonable support for both hypotheses. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research on organizational demography and management of demographic differences that are inconsistent with social cultural norms.
Topical TRPM8 agonist (icilin) relieved vulva pruritus originating from lichen sclerosus et atrophicus.

Pruritus vulvae is caused by a variety of skin diseases, as well as by neuropathic/neurological, psychosomatic and psychiatric diseases. It is difficult to determine the pathogenesis of itching symptoms over the vulval area, but ongoing inflammatory reactions, may be responsible for lowering the perception threshold of itching (1, 2). A variety of topical treatments has been used to reduce genital pruritus, including menthol, camphor, tannin preparations, local anaesthetics, antiseptics, urea preparations , glucocorticosteroids, immunomodulators and N-palmitoyl-ethanolamine-containing cream (3). General advice for relief of pruritic symptoms include avoiding sweating and occlusion of the skin, and reducing potential irritative cleansing habits. Empirical observation supports the use of cold compression over the pruritic skin lesion to relieve unpleasant nociception, such as itch and sensation of heat. Thus, local cooling sense evoked by TRPM8 activation can give a wisdom of controlling pruritus as shown in this case. A 54-year-old woman was referred from the department of gynaecology due to uncontrolled itching over the vulval area, which had persisted for one year. She had a history of total hysterectomy for stage T1aN0Mx endometrial carcinoma 3 months previously, but the ongoing itching sensation had not changed after surgery. Physical examination revealed a genital lesion with excoriated lichenification on whitish atrophic linear patches along the labia major (Fig. 1). The patient had been screened for psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, delusion and obsessive compulsive disorder, but no reliable association was revealed. We asked her to report the itch intensity in several occasions using a visual analogue scale (VAS) (range: 0 = none to 10 = extreme). Her response was always 9. Laboratory test results, including white blood cell counts, and kidney and liver functions, iron and glucose levels, were all within normal limits. Mycological examination and Papanicolaou test results were negative or non-contributory. Skin biopsy was performed and histopathology revealed a thin epidermis with a wide band of hyalinization in the upper dermis mixed with lymphohistiocytic infiltrates suggesting a typical pattern of lichen sclerosis et atrophicus (Fig. 2). Various topical agents, such as glucocorticoids, antifungal, oestrogen cream, including intralesional triamcinolone injection were all ineffective. The patient reported paroxysmal itching symptoms , sometimes related to sleep disturbance, thus we looked for a new agent that could directly affect the itching afferent sensory perception. Menthol is a well-known TRPM8 receptor agonist, which has been used as an additive in topical formulations to evoke a fresh cooling sensation. However, …
Anatomy of success and failure: the story of three novice teachers

This paper focuses upon describing and analysing the induction and integration of three novice teachers in their schools, and explores the emotional and social factors which influenced these processes. During their graduate year from the teacher preparatory programme, these teachers acquired teaching positions in central Israel. Using a qualitative inquiry perspective, four themes emerged: reception at school, involvement with the principal and the teaching staff, communications with pupils and developing attitude towards the profession and towards work. It seems that the integration of in-system support factors, such as the principal and teaching staff, with support elements from among the pupils, facilitated a successful induction to teaching. More attention from the school principal and emotional and professional support from the school faculty may improve novice teachers" integration and adaptation in school, consequently supporting their future professional success. Some adaptations for teacher education programmes are suggested in order to improve the induction process. Recommendations for professional and emotional support during the first year of teaching are also offered.
Field Dependency and Brand Cognitive Structures

This research examines the impact of field dependency on the way people structure brand information in memory. The authors propose that a person's level of field dependency is an important determinant of the way information is stored in memory. Specifically, the authors argue that field independents are more likely to extract and integrate episodic information to form overall brand beliefs, while field dependents tend to store more detailed, episodic information in memory and are less likely to generalize information across product categories. The authors further propose that this effect is moderated by level of expertise and that such differences have important implications for how people evaluate marketing communications. The results from five studies support their propositions.
Separation of the New Zealand Black Genetic Contribution to Lupus from New Zealand Black Determined Expansions of Marginal Zone B and B1a Cells1

The F1 hybrid of New Zealand Black (NZB) and New Zealand White (NZW) mice develop an autoimmune disease similar to human systemic lupus erythematosus. Because NZB and (NZB × NZW)F1 mice manifest expansions of marginal zone (MZ) B and B1a cells, it has been postulated that these B cell abnormalities are central to the NZB genetic contribution to lupus. Our previous studies have shown that a major NZB contribution comes from the Nba2 locus on chromosome 1. C57BL/6 (B6) mice congenic for Nba2 produce antinuclear Abs, and (B6.Nba2 × NZW)F1 mice develop elevated autoantibodies and nephritis similar to (NZB × NZW)F1 mice. We studied B cell populations of B6.Nba2 mice to better understand the mechanism by which Nba2 leads to disease. The results showed evidence of B cell activation early in life, including increased levels of serum IgM, CD69+ B cells, and spontaneous IgM production in culture. However, B6.Nba2 compared with B6 mice had a decreased percentage of MZ B cells in spleen, and no increase of B1a cells in the spleen or peritoneum. Expansions of these B cell subsets were also absent in (B6.Nba2 × NZW)F1 mice. Among the strains studied, B cell expression of β1 integrin correlated with differences in MZ B cell development. These results show that expansions of MZ B and B1a cells are not necessary for the NZB contribution to lupus and argue against a major role for these subsets in disease pathogenesis. The data also provide additional insight into how Nba2 contributes to lupus.