Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Haitian Children’s Resilience and Vulnerability Assessed With House–Tree–Person (HTP) Drawings

House–Tree–Person (HTP) Test drawings by children (N = 131; age range 6–15) in Haiti were studied statistically to assess for resilience and vulnerability post-2010 Haiti earthquake. Consistent with ecological theory, item contents indicated that resilience was derived from systems of home life and familial relationships, reflections on self-other interactions, interpersonal relationships, and connectedness with the environment, and that vulnerability was derived from living without external systemic support, placing a child at risk for an intrapersonal life of negative representation of self, self-in-relation to others, and personal-social attitudes. A pilot qualitative study developed item criteria with themes of resilience and vulnerability. While exploratory analyses of the scoring system led to the formation of resilience (RES) and Vulnerability (VUL) items (31 items) that were scored as present or not present (1 or 0) in the sample’s drawings. For the study, several raters scored the same participant’s 3 drawings, which showed fair interrater reliability through ICCs, moderate Cronbach’s alphas, and a strong negative correlation between RES and VUL. A multivariate regression analysis for RES and VUL showed differences by age and sex, as well as trends in RES and VUL across time for participant locations that were impacted differently by postearthquake conditions. Over 50% of participants had significantly different RES and VUL scores that were not due to measurement error, suggesting differential individual profiles. The majority had higher RES scores and a few had significantly higher VUL scores, showing that resilience was the cultural norm for Haitian children. It is recommended that vulnerable Haitian children would benefit from strength-based resilience counseling for trauma. An innovative study applied the controversial HTP tool in a way that has not been done before to assess Haitian children who are exposed to continuous trauma. The study is important by virtue of examining over time the applicability and scope of the nonverbal HTP test to assess for adaptation and maladaptation in a non-English speaking and socioculturally different community in the Caribbean.
Stages in the Reaction , Observed in Supernumerary and Calcium-Treated Spermatozoa

Suspensions of Mytilus edulis eggs were fixed with osmium tetroxide at various intervals between 1 and l0 seconds after heavy insemination, and sectioned for electron microscopy to follow the natural process of acrosome reaction in the spermatozoa around the eggs. Sperm suspensions were also fixed after the addition of I0 per cent by volume of M/3 calcium chloride. Within the first second after the acrosolne is stimulated to react, an opening appears at its apex, around which the plasma and acrosomal membranes fuse to each other, and the resulting membrane complex is reflected backward, presumably by the swelling of material lining it. At the same time the other material within the now open vesicle disappears, and the rudiment of the acrosomal process, consisting of a short axial rod loosely surrounded by the invaginatcd part of the acrosomal membrane, is exposed at the anterior side of the sperm head. Within another second this rudiment is extended by elongation of the axial rod and expansion of the surrounding membrane. If the spermatozoon has reacted close to the egg surface, the elongation may be very slight, whereas in suspended spermatozoa the process may reach a length of 13 #. Possible mechanisms underlying these changes are suggested. As the previous paper has demonstrated (10), the intact acrosome of the Mytilus edulis spermatozoon has a conspicuous conical acrosomal vesicle applied to the anterior face of the sperm nucleus, directly under the plasma membrane. The membrane of this vesicle is invaginated at the side facing the nucleus, to form a spacious pocket; a slender axial rod originates in a tube passing through the nucleus and extends through the center of the invagination to a length of about 2 #. The present report will show that the acrosomal vesicle opens when the spermatozoon comes into contact with an egg, exposing the invaginated portion of the acrosomal membrane, within which the axial rod elongates. Whereas the acrosomal process formed in this way resembles those of the echinoderms (6-8) in being single and having a central core, the intact acrosome of Mytilus is much more like that of the annelid Hydroides (1, 3) in its general structure and in its mode of reaction, the details of which will be described in this paper. M A T E R I A L AND METHODS Eggs of Mytilus edulis, obtained by electrically stimulated spawning (9), were heavily inseminated and
Maintenance of xylem Network Transport Capacity: A Review of Embolism Repair in Vascular Plants

Maintenance of long distance water transport in xylem is essential to plant health and productivity. Both biotic and abiotic environmental conditions lead to embolism formation within the xylem resulting in lost transport capacity and ultimately death. Plants exhibit a variety of strategies to either prevent or restore hydraulic capacity through cavitation resistance with specialized anatomy, replacement of compromised conduits with new growth, and a metabolically active embolism repair mechanism. In recent years, mounting evidence suggests that metabolically active cells surrounding the xylem conduits in some, but not all, species are capable of restoring hydraulic conductivity. This review summarizes our current understanding of the osmotically driven embolism repair mechanism, the known genetic and anatomical components related to embolism repair, rehydration pathways through the xylem, and the role of capacitance. Anatomical differences between functional plant groups may be one of the limiting factors that allow some plants to refill while others do not, but further investigations are necessary to fully understand this dynamic process. Finally, xylem networks should no longer be considered an assemblage of dead, empty conduits, but instead a metabolically active tissue finely tuned to respond to ever changing environmental cues.
Short- and Long-Term Packet Loss Behavior: Towards Speech Quality Prediction for Arbitrary Loss Distributions

A speech-quality-oriented classification of packet loss distributions is proposed according to both the short- and long-term loss behavior. While the short-term behavior (microscopic loss behavior) relates to the effect of packet loss on the coder and packet loss concealment performance, the long-term loss behavior (macroscopic loss behavior) is defined so that it reflects the loss behavior that ultimately leads to speech quality that perceptively changes over time. Based on this classification, different parametric (objective) modeling approaches for predicting speech quality are discussed. To this aim, a packet loss averaging approach is presented for modeling speech quality under short-term loss. Starting from this model, two different ways for predicting speech quality under long-term-dependent packet loss are analyzed and compared to auditory (subjective) test results: quality prediction based on the averaging at packet trace level as provided, for example, by the E-model (2005), and the prediction based on the time-averaging of estimated instantaneous quality profiles, as suggested, for example, by L. Gros and N. Chateau (2001) (1998). From this comparison, the suitability of the different approaches for network planning are discussed, and their limitations in case of particular loss distributions are pointed out
‘I wouldn’t be able to graduate if it wasn’t for my mobile phone.’ The affordances of mobile devices in the construction of complex academic texts

ABSTRACT This is a case study of one student’s mobile device use in HE. We draw on data generated by extended interviews to illustrate the learning practices and dispositions the student, now a co-author, evidenced with his smartphone and other devices whilst producing a third-year undergraduate assignment. We describe the process of assembling a complex academic text across multiple mobile internet-enabled devices. We aim to illuminate some contemporary mobile learning practices, and hence contribute to the discourse on pedagogy, assessment and mobile learning in HE. The paper is timely because although smartphones and internet access are near-ubiquitous in universities, there is relatively little extant research which reports in detail on the ways in which students actually use these technologies in their everyday learning and lives.
Latent variable modeling paradigms for genotype-trait association studies

Characterizing associations among multiple single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within and across genes, and measures of disease progression or disease status will potentially offer new insight into disease etiology and disease progression. However, this presents a significant analytic challenge due to the existence of multiple potentially informative genetic loci, as well as environmental and demographic factors, and the generally uncharacterized and complex relationships among them. Latent variable modeling approaches offer a natural framework for analysis of data arising from these population‐based genetic association investigations of complex diseases as they are well‐suited to uncover simultaneous effects of multiple markers. In this manuscript we describe application and performance of two such latent variable methods, namely structural equation models (SEMs) and mixed effects models (MEMs), and highlight their theoretical overlap. The relative advantages of each paradigm are investigated through simulation studies and, finally, an application to data arising from a study of anti‐retroviral‐associated dyslipidemia in HIV‐infected individuals is provided for illustration.
A simulation tool to help learning of object oriented programming basics

In this paper we present the OOP-Anim learning environment. It was developed to help our students to learn the basic concepts of object oriented programming and to develop their programming capabilities using this paradigm. To achieve those goals students must practice intensively the development and debugging of programs. We believe this environment can help, since it uses animation to facilitate program understanding and error detection/correction. This debugging process has a lot of educational potential, as students can learn when correcting their own mistakes. When they reach a working solution, their experience and confidence normally improves, facilitating further learning. In the paper we describe the environment main features, some possible uses and the educational advantages associated with that utilization.
Gamification is All about fun: the Role of Incentive Type and Community Collaboration

As the transformation of various services into appealing game-like experiences is in its infancy, limited research exists in the area and in particular on the way each gamification design decision affects intended outcome. In the present study we investigate the impact of two game elements (incentive type and community collaboration) on user’s experienced fun during participation in a gamified service. Via an experiment (N=108), we examine the role of Incentive Type [Accomplish an achievement versus Receive discounted offer], as a motivator for participation, and Community Collaboration, as participation setting (individual pursuit of goals versus collaborative pursuit of goals), on experienced fun in the context of a gamified consumer service. The service is aimed at assisting consumers in their efforts to adopt an ecologically conscious consumer behaviour. Results indicate that the selection of community collaboration as a form of interaction presents significant difference in experienced fun during participation, whereas accomplishing an achievement opposed to receiving discounted price does not.
HCV+ Hepatocytes Induce Human Regulatory CD4+ T Cells through the Production of TGF-β

Background Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is remarkably efficient at establishing persistent infection and is associated with the development of chronic liver disease. Impaired T cell responses facilitate and maintain persistent HCV infection. Importantly, CD4+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) act by dampening antiviral T cell responses in HCV infection. The mechanism for induction and/or expansion of Tregs in HCV is unknown. Methodology/Principal Findings HCV-expressing hepatocytes were used to determine if hepatocytes are able to induce Tregs. The infected liver environment was modeled by establishing the co-culture of the human hepatoma cell line, Huh7.5, containing the full-length genome of HCV genotype 1a (Huh7.5-FL) with activated CD4+ T cells. The production of IFN-γ was diminished following co-culture with Huh7.5-FL as compared to controls. Notably, CD4+ T cells in contact with Huh7.5-FL expressed an increased level of the Treg markers, CD25, Foxp3, CTLA-4 and LAP, and were able to suppress the proliferation of effector T cells. Importantly, HCV+ hepatocytes upregulated the production of TGF-β and blockade of TGF-β abrogated Treg phenotype and function. Conclusions/Significance These results demonstrate that HCV infected hepatocytes are capable of directly inducing Tregs development and may contribute to impaired host T cell responses.
Is Open-Space Preservation a Form of Exclusionary Zoning?

This article examines the evolving policy context of municipal open-space acquisition in New Jersey. The authors hypothesize that voters’ interest in open-space protection is sensitive to changes in state policy and that municipal acquisition may have exclusionary effects. The authors examine local acquisition practices using three different approaches: voting behavior, municipal acquisition, and parcel-level characteristics of acquired lands. They find that support for preservation is responsive to growth pressures and changing state policy environments. They also present evidence that municipalities are targeting land able to accommodate higher-density development in their preservation efforts and that municipalities that preserve open space are also active in transferring away their affordable housing obligations.
A yield centric statistical design method for optimization of the SRAM active column

For robust design of SRAM memories, it is not sufficient to guarantee good statistical margins on the SRAM cell parameters. The sense amplifier needs sufficient input signal before it can reliably sense the data, while the SRAM cell requires sufficient time to develop that input signal. This paper presents a new statistical method that allows optimization of the access time of an SRAM memory, while guaranteeing a yield target set by the designer. Using this method, the access time of a high performance advanced CMOS SRAM has been improved 6%, while simultaneously reducing the sense amplifier size.
Overexpression of Interleukin-23 and Interleukin-17 in the Lesion of Pemphigus Vulgaris: A Preliminary Study

IL-23/IL-17 axis has been identified as major factor involved in the pathogenesis of several autoimmune diseases; yet its pathogenetic role in pemphigus vulgaris (PV) remains controversial. The aim of this research was to investigate the potential role of IL-23/IL-17 axis in the immunopathogenesis of PV, and correlation between IL-23+ cells and IL-17+ cells was also evaluated. For this purpose, ten patients with PV, three patients with pemphigus foliaceus (PF), and six healthy individuals were allocated to this research. The lesional skin biopsy specimens were obtained before treatment. Then immunofluorescence staining was performed to analyze the expression of IL-23 and IL-17 in the PV/PF patients and the healthy individuals. The results showed that the numbers of IL-23+ and IL-17+ cells were significantly higher in PV lesions, compared to PF lesions and normal control skins, respectively (all P < 0.05). Moreover, the correlation between IL-23+ cells and IL-17+ cells was significant (r = 0.7546; P < 0.05). Taken together, our results provided evidence that the IL-23/IL-17 axis may play a crucial role in the immunopathogenesis of PV and may serve as novel therapeutic target for PV.
Influence of Writing Ability and Computation Skill on Mathematics Writing

Mathematics standards expect students to communicate about mathematics using oral and written methods, and some high-stakes assessments ask students to answer mathematics questions by writing. Assumptions about mathematics communication via writing include (a) students possess writing skill, (b) students can transfer this writing skill to mathematics writing, and (c) mathematics writing is representative of a mathematics knowledge. We conducted a study in which we investigated the connections among general writing ability, mathematics computation skill, and mathematics writing. With 155 fourth-grade students in two regions of the United States, we administered a measure of essay writing, a measure of mathematics computation skill, and two mathematics-writing prompts. Results indicate moderate correlations among general writing ability, computation skill, and mathematics writing. Additionally, general writing ability and computation skill are significantly related to mathematics-writing outcomes.
MorphoTester: An Open Source Application for Morphological Topographic Analysis

The increased prevalence and affordability of 3D scanning technology is beginning to have significant effects on the research questions and approaches available for studies of morphology. As the current trend of larger and more precise 3D datasets is unlikely to slow in the future, there is a need for efficient and capable tools for high-throughput quantitative analysis of biological shape. The promise and the challenge of implementing relatively automated methods for characterizing surface shape can be seen in the example of dental topographic analysis. Dental topographic analysis comprises a suite of techniques for quantifying tooth surfaces and component features. Topographic techniques have provided insight on mammalian molar form-function relationships and these methods could be applied to address other topics and questions. At the same time implementing multiple complementary topographic methods can have high time and labor costs, and comparability of data formats and approaches is difficult to predict. To address these challenges I present MorphoTester, an open source application for visualizing and quantifying topography from 3D triangulated polygon meshes. This application is Python-based and is free to use. MorphoTester implements three commonly used dental topographic metrics–Dirichlet normal energy, relief index, and orientation patch count rotated (OPCR). Previous OPCR algorithms have used raster-based grid data, which is not directly interchangeable with vector-based triangulated polygon meshes. A 3D-OPCR algorithm is provided here for quantifying complexity from polygon meshes. The efficacy of this metric is tested in a sample of mandibular second molars belonging to four species of cercopithecoid primates. Results suggest that 3D-OPCR is at least as effective for quantifying complexity as previous approaches, and may be more effective due to finer resolution of surface data considered here. MorphoTester represents an advancement in the automated quantification of morphology, and can be modified to adapt to future needs and priorities.
Mean Time-to-Fire for the Noisy LIF Neuron - A Detailed Derivation of the Siegert Formula

When stimulated by a very large number of Poisson-like presynaptic current input spikes, the temporal dynamics of the soma membrane potential $V(t)$ of a leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neuron is typically modeled in the diffusion limit and treated as a Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process (OUP). When the potential reaches a threshold value $\theta$, $V(t) = \theta$, the LIF neuron fires and the membrane potential is reset to a resting value, $V_0 < \theta$, and clamped to this value for a specified (non-stochastic) absolute refractory period $T_r \ge 0$, after which the cycle is repeated. The time between firings is given by the random variable $T_f = T_r+ T$ where $T$ is the random time which elapses between the "unpinning" of the membrane potential clamp and the next, subsequent firing of the neuron. The mean time-to-fire, $\widehat{T}_f = \text{E}(T_f) = T_r + \text{E}(T) = T_r + \widehat{T}$, provides a measure $\rho$ of the average firing rate of the neuron, \[ \rho = \widehat{T}_f^{-1} = \frac{1}{T_r + \widehat{T}} . \] This note briefly discusses some aspects of the OUP model and derives the Siegert formula giving the firing rate, $\rho = \rho(I_0)$ as a function of an injected current, $I_0$. This is a well-known classical result and no claim to originality is made. The derivation of the firing rate given in this report, which closely follows the derivation outlined in the textbook by Gardiner, minimizes the required mathematical background and is done in some pedagogic detail to facilitate study by graduate students and others who are new to the subject. Knowledge of the material presented in the first five chapters of Gardiner should provide an adequate background for following the derivation given in this note.
Crystal structure of tRNA m1G9 methyltransferase Trm10: insight into the catalytic mechanism and recognition of tRNA substrate

Transfer RNA (tRNA) methylation is necessary for the proper biological function of tRNA. The N1 methylation of guanine at Position 9 (m1G9) of tRNA, which is widely identified in eukaryotes and archaea, was found to be catalyzed by the Trm10 family of methyltransferases (MTases). Here, we report the first crystal structures of the tRNA MTase spTrm10 from Schizosaccharomyces pombe in the presence and absence of its methyl donor product S-adenosyl-homocysteine (SAH) and its ortholog scTrm10 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae in complex with SAH. Our crystal structures indicated that the MTase domain (the catalytic domain) of the Trm10 family displays a typical SpoU-TrmD (SPOUT) fold. Furthermore, small angle X-ray scattering analysis reveals that Trm10 behaves as a monomer in solution, whereas other members of the SPOUT superfamily all function as homodimers. We also performed tRNA MTase assays and isothermal titration calorimetry experiments to investigate the catalytic mechanism of Trm10 in vitro. In combination with mutational analysis and electrophoretic mobility shift assays, our results provide insights into the substrate tRNA recognition mechanism of Trm10 family MTases.
The Individual “Costs” of Workaholism: An Analysis Based on Multisource and Prospective Data

We conducted two studies on workaholism to address three identified gaps in the literature, namely, the job-related affective experiences of workaholics, the relationship between workaholism and job demands, and the long-term mental health effects of workaholism. We also examined gender as a moderator of the relationship between workaholism and its outcomes. In Study 1 (N = 311), focused on a heterogeneous sample of workers, we found that workaholism was positively related to the experience of observer-reported, as well as self-reported, job-related negative affect and that this relationship was stronger among female workers. Furthermore, in a subsample of participants (n = 189) for whom we had available blood pressure data, we found that workaholism was positively related to systolic blood pressure. In Study 2 (N = 235), based on a sample of health-sector employees in which we adopted a full, two-wave panel design including workaholism, job demands, and mental distress, we found that the baseline levels of job demands impacted the follow-up levels of workaholism, while the reverse was not the case. We also found that the baseline levels of workaholism positively affected the levels of mental distress reported after 1 year. These results add to the existing literature on the job-related affective correlates and psychophysical costs of workaholism and shed further light on work environmental factors that may contribute to its genesis.