Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How Reliable are Letters of Recommendation

A sample of letters of recommendation regarding job applicants or staff members in view of promotions were rated independently by senior professors at an institute of higher learning. Results show a general tendency on the part ofjudges to disagree with regard to the value of the letters. Most candidates had letters covering a relatively wide range of values. No relationship was found between the kind of university and the kinds of letters written by its members. Favorable letters were in general longer than unfavorable ones, but the longest letters were ambiguous. Knowledge of the quality of the university seems to improve the favorability of rating, and judges differ widely in their styles ofjudging.
Chroma Toolbox: Matlab Implementations for Extracting Variants of Chroma-Based Audio Features

Chroma-based audio features, which closely correlate to the aspect of harmony, are a well-established tool in processing and analyzing music data. There are many ways of computing and enhancing chroma features, which results in a large number of chroma variants with different properties. In this paper, we present a chroma toolbox [13], which contains MATLAB implementations for extracting various types of recently proposed pitch-based and chroma-based audio features. Providing the MATLAB implementations on a welldocumented website under a GNU-GPL license, our aim is to foster research in music information retrieval. As another goal, we want to raise awareness that there is no single chroma variant that works best in all applications. To this end, we discuss two example applications showing that the final music analysis result may crucially depend on the initial feature design step.
The Effect of Different Storage Media on Color Stability of Self-Adhesive Composite Resin Cements for up to One Year

The aim of this study was to analyze the long-term color stability of eight self-adhesive composite resin cements (SACRCs) after storage in diverse media for up to one year. 480 discs (diameter: 12 mm/thickness: 1.0 ± 0.05 mm) were fabricated (n = 60/SACRC): (1) BeautyCem (BEA); (2) Bifix SE (BIF); (3) Clearfil SA Cement Automix (CLE); (4) RelyX Unicem 2 Automix (RXU); (5) SeT (SET); (6) SmartCem 2 (SMC); (7) SoloCem (SOC); and (8) SpeedCEM (SPC). After polishing, specimens were immersed in (a) red wine (RW); (b) curry-solution (CU); (c) cress-solution (CR); and (d) distilled water (DW) at 37 °C and measured after 7, 28, 90, 180, and 365 days for color differences (ΔE) and water absorption (WA). Non-aged specimens were used as baselines. After 365 days, all of the discs were polished and their ΔE was measured. Data were analyzed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov, partial-eta-squared/ηP2, 3-/1-way ANOVA with Tukey-HSD post-hoc test (α = 0.05). Significant differences occurred between all SACRCs for WA (p ≤ 0.003), except in RXU and in SET and in ΔE (p ≤ 0.002), except in SET and SPC. The significantly highest WA presented in SOC; the lowest showed in BEA. Significant ΔE differences and a decrease after polishing between all storage media were found (p < 0.001) with highest values for RW, followed by CU, CR, and DW. The lowest ΔE was measured for CLE, followed by SOC, BIF, RXU, BEA, SPC, SET, and SMC (p < 0.001) and increased significantly during aging. The highest ΔE decrease presented in BEA. SACRCs showed an increase in WA/ΔE within total aging time. Discoloration could not be removed completely by polishing. SACRCs need to be carefully selected for restorations in the esthetical zone with visible restoration margins. Polishing can significantly reduce the marginal discoloration.
Are RIASEC Interests Traits? Evidence Based on Self–Other Agreement

Two studies examined the conceptualization of career interests as traits using self–other agreement data. Study 1 participants were 114 college student–friend dyads, and Study 2 participants were 93 student–parent dyads. In each study, students provided interest (using Holland’s realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional [RIASEC] dimensions) and personality (using the Big Five factors) self-ratings, and friends/parents completed parallel measures on which they rated the students. Self–other agreement for interests was similar in magnitude to that for personality, providing support for a trait conceptualization. Student–parent dyads were in closer agreement regarding realistic than investigative or conventional interests, but among friends the degree of agreement across RIASEC interest dimensions did not differ. The magnitude of agreement between friends was comparable to that of student–parent dyads, but whereas one index of agreement between student–parent dyads was associated with students’ vocational identity, agreement with friends was unrelated to vocational identity. Implications for theory, intervention, and research are presented.
Expression of RNA-Interference/Antisense Transgenes by the Cognate Promoters of Target Genes Is a Better Gene-Silencing Strategy to Study Gene Functions in Rice

Antisense and RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated gene silencing systems are powerful reverse genetic methods for studying gene function. Most RNAi and antisense experiments used constitutive promoters to drive the expression of RNAi/antisense transgenes; however, several reports showed that constitutive promoters were not expressed in all cell types in cereal plants, suggesting that the constitutive promoter systems are not effective for silencing gene expression in certain tissues/organs. To develop an alternative method that complements the constitutive promoter systems, we constructed RNAi and/or antisense transgenes for four rice genes using a constitutive promoter or a cognate promoter of a selected rice target gene and generated many independent transgenic lines. Genetic, molecular, and phenotypic analyses of these RNAi/antisense transgenic rice plants, in comparison to previously-reported transgenic lines that silenced similar genes, revealed that expression of the cognate promoter-driven RNAi/antisense transgenes resulted in novel growth/developmental defects that were not observed in transgenic lines expressing constitutive promoter-driven gene-silencing transgenes of the same target genes. Our results strongly suggested that expression of RNAi/antisense transgenes by cognate promoters of target genes is a better gene-silencing approach to discovery gene function in rice.
Assessment of Power Quality Events by Empirical Mode Decomposition based Neural Network

—The paper presents assessment of various power quality events based on Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) with Hilbert Transform (HT). EMD method decomposes the signal into waveforms modulated in both amplitude and frequency. The oscillatory modes embedded in the signal are extracted by employing sifting process. These oscillatory modes are called Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs). The magnitude plot of the Hilbert Transform of the first IMF correctly detects the event. The characteristic features of the first three IMFs of each disturbance are used as inputs to Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) for identification of the disturbances. Simulation results show that EMD method can effectively classify the power quality disturbances.
Returns to education : an updated international comparison

The question of the profitability of investing in human capital remains controversial. Three main methods for estimating the rate of return to investment in education are described: the elaborate method, the earnings function method, and the short-cut method. Application of cost-benefit analysis measures in 44 countries yields four patterns that have important policy implications: (i) top priority should be given to primary education as a form of human resource investment due to high returns, both social and private; (ii) secondary and higher education should also be pursued in a program of balanced human resource development; (iii) the larger discrepancy between the private and social returns in higher education indicates room for private finance at the university level; and (iv) falling returns to education that result as a country develops and/or the capacity of its educational system expands are minimal under time-series analysis and do not warrant abandonment of educational expansion.
Design and evaluation of a two-tier peer-to-peer traffic information system

Decentralized traffic information systems realize real-time traffic information services without the need for a server infrastructure. However, existing systems rely on either the vehicular ad hoc network or application-layer peer-to-peer protocols over a broadband wireless network suffering from low lookup success rate, high lookup latency, and maintenance overhead of the P2P network. This article proposes a two-tier VANET/P2P architecture that exploits both VANET and P2P technology. In the low tier, vehicles form a VANET via intervehicle communication to exchange traffic information. On top of the VANET, a portion of the vehicles further establish a P2P overlay through a broadband wireless infrastructure to mitigate the disconnectivity problems of the VANET. Simulation results demonstrate that the two-tier architecture can significantly improve the lookup success rate compared to the single-tier VANET systems while reducing lookup latency and maintenance overhead compared to the single-tier P2P systems.
Organ-Specific Expression of Brassinosteroid-Biosynthetic Genes and Distribution of Endogenous Brassinosteroids in Arabidopsis

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are steroidal plant hormones that are essential for growth and development. There is only limited information on where BRs are synthesized and used. We studied the organ specificity of BR biosynthesis in Arabidopsis, using two different approaches: We analyzed the expression of BR-related genes using real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and analyzed endogenous BRs using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Before starting this study, we cloned the second BR-6-oxidase (BR6ox2) gene from Arabidopsis and found that the encoded enzyme has the same substrate specificity as the enzyme encoded by the previously isolated 6-oxidase gene (BR6ox1) of Arabidopsis. Endogenous BRs and the expression of BR-related genes were detected in all organs tested. The highest level of endogenous BRs and the highest expression of the BR6ox1,BR6ox2, and DWF4 genes were observed in apical shoots, which contain actively developing tissues. These genes are important in BR biosynthesis because they encode the rate-limiting or farthest downstream enzyme in the BR biosynthesis pathway. The second highest level of endogenous BRs and expression ofBR6ox1 and DWF4 were observed in siliques, which contains actively developing embryos and seeds. These findings indicate that BRs are synthesized in all organs tested, but are most actively synthesized in young, actively developing organs. In contrast, synthesis was limited in mature organs. Our observations are consistent with the idea that BRs function as the growth-promoting hormone in plants.
Fluid motion estimation method based on physical properties of waves

This paper presents a fluid flow estimation method for ocean/river waves, clouds, and smoke based on the physical properties of waves. Most of the previous optical flow methods based on fluid dynamics/mechanics estimate a smooth flow using a continuity equation and/or div-curl velocity constraint. However, abrupt or inhomogeneous image motion changes in such fluid-like images are not estimated well. In this paper, we assume that many fluid-like motion changes are due to wave phenomena that lead to a brightness change. Thus, a wave generation equation is applied with a two-step optimization. A novel constraint based on the velocity-frequency relationship equation and a wave statistical property are used. The results of experiments on synthetic and real image sequences show the validity of our method.
uPA/uPAR System Is Active in Immature Dendritic Cells Derived from CD14+CD34+ Precursors and Is Down-Regulated upon Maturation1

We recently described a subset of peripheral CD14+CD34+ cells able to migrate across endothelial cell monolayers and differentiate into immunostimulatory dendritic cells (DC). In this paper we show that immature DC derived from CD14+CD34+ precursors are also capable of reverse transendothelial migration and extracellular matrix (ECM) invasion using the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR). We found that these cells respond to macrophage-inflammatory protein (MIP)-1α, enhancing their ability to invade ECM and supporting the idea that immature DC are selectively recruited at the site of inflammation to expand the pool of APCs. Interestingly, MIP-1α was also capable of preventing the decreased matrix invasion observed by blocking uPAR, suggesting that the uPA/uPAR system and MIP-1α cooperate in driving immature DC migration through the subendothelial matrix. Upon exposure to maturating stimuli, such as TNF-α, CD14+CD34+-derived DC enhance their APC function and decrease the capacity of invading ECM; these changes are accompanied by altered expression and function of uPAR. Moreover, mature DC shift their sensitivity from MIP-1α to MIP-3β, enhancing their transendothelial migration capability in response to the latter chemokine. Our data support the hypothesis that bloodborne DC can move through ECM toward the site of pathogen entry where they differentiate into fully mature APCs with their motility and function regulated by microenvironmental stimuli, including MIP-1α, MIP-3β, and TNF-α.
Relationship between Function and Health-Related Quality of Life of School-Aged Children with Cerebral Palsy

[Purpose] To determine the correlation between function, measured by the functional independence measure for children (WeeFIM) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL), measured by the child health questionnaire (CHQ-PF28) for children with cerebral palsy (CP), and to find out which child and parent factors related with each of these measures. [Subjects] One hundred fifty-five school-aged children with CP (89 boys, 66 girls) and their mothers. [Methods] Two physical therapists evaluated function and HRQOL using the WeeFIM and the CHQ-PF28 individually through interviews with the mothers of the subjects. [Results] Severer GMFCS levels were associated with lower functional ability, physical and psychosocial quality of life. The correlation between total WeeFIM score and Physical Summary Score (PHS) was r=0.48. Social cognition correlated fairly well with Psychosocial Summary Score (PSS) (r=0.26). Epilepsy was significantly related with lower PHS, PSS, WeeFIM total score and all the subscale scores. GMFCS was related with all the scales except the PSS. [Conclusion] The WeeFIM and CHQ-PF28 appear to assess related but different constructs, so there is a need to incorporate complementary measures when evaluating function and HRQOL of children with CP. Child factors such as epilepsy and GMFCS were more associated with functional status and well-being of school-aged children with CP than parental factors in Korea.
Re-enchanting Englishness: Multiculturalism and the Matter of Britain

‘Have you theh lahn-ed the kupreh? ’ Is this instance of the argot commonly used by young Sikhs in Britain simply a kind of illegitimate English? Or does this mongrel idiom attest to a new linguistic reality in contemporary Britain? What Kathleen Hall represents, in an echo of Homi Bhabha, as the end of the absolute tenure of the national tongue for the expressive latitude of translation. Drawing on insights from Jacques Derrida's Monolingualism of the Other I argue that this expression actually reflects a language that is English and Punjabi at the same time, invoking a native tongue that exists before its nativity, what I refer to as arche-english. I discuss the consequences of this accursed idiom for the question of being English, proposing that it vests ethnic minorities with a pedigree of belonging as profoundly ‘archaic’ as the lineage of native ness recorded by the folk traditions and legends of England. By reference to key textual sources for the Matter of Britain I show how the archaic depth of English tradition is also informed by contra-diction. These texts communicate the idea that King Arthur's law is established by deferral to another law, via the secret antinomies of incest and filicide, revealing that this political legitimacy is still to come. Ironically, then, the representation of Punjabi intrusions into British public culture as illegitimate, far from pressing it into a state of ethnic exile places it at the heart of an economy of alternative Englishness.
Cell Cycle Arrest and Cell Death Are Controlled by p53-dependent and p53-independent Mechanisms in Tsg101-deficient Cells*

Our previous studies have shown that cells conditionally deficient in Tsg101 arrested at the G1/S cell cycle checkpoint and died. We created a series of Tsg101 conditional knock-out cell lines that lack p53, p21Cip1, or p19Arf to determine the involvement of the Mdm2-p53 circuit as a regulator for G1/S progression and cell death. In this new report we show that the cell cycle arrest in Tsg101-deficient cells is p53-dependent, but a null mutation of the p53 gene is unable to maintain cell survival. The deletion of the Cdkn1a gene in Tsg101 conditional knock-out cells resulted in G1/S progression, suggesting that the p53-dependent G1 arrest in the Tsg101 knock-out is mediated by p21Cip1. The Cre-mediated excision of Tsg101 in immortalized fibroblasts that lack p19Arf seemed not to alter the ability of Mdm2 to sequester p53, and the p21-mediated G1 arrest was not restored. Based on these findings, we propose that the p21-dependent cell cycle arrest in Tsg101-deficient cells is an indirect consequence of cellular stress and not caused by a direct effect of Tsg101 on Mdm2 function as previously suggested. Finally, the deletion of Tsg101 from primary tumor cells that express mutant p53 and that lack p21Cip1 expression results in cell death, suggesting that additional transforming mutations during tumorigenesis do not affect the important role of Tsg101 for cell survival.
Placing Townies: The Symbolic Work of Naming

This article explores how students in one college town use the name “townies” to describe some local residents who are not affiliated with the university. Embedded within this name are unspoken connections that link townies (and the students who use the name) to discourses of socioeconomic class. In addition, the naming of particular bodies as townies symbolically works to stretch the social space of the university well beyond its physical boundaries, which reshapes the conceptual map of the local sociocultural terrain to, ironically, position townies as “out of place” within many portions of the town.
Affect in Sporting Activities: a Preliminary Validation of the Worcester Affect Scale

Affect in Sporting Activities: a Preliminary Validation of the Worcester Affect Scale The overly long psychometric measures available for affect may have caused difficulty measuring this construct during physical activity (Barkoff & Heiby, 2005; Wilhelm & Schoebi, 2007). This paper aims to create a two-item affect scale to measure feeling states during physical activity. In study 1 ninety-four participants completed the PANAS (Watson et al., 1988) and the newly designed Worcester Affect Scale (WAS) measuring positive and negative affect. In study 2, seven participants completed two 20km cycle time trials in the laboratory. PANAS and WAS were administered prior to and after the trials and WAS was reported at frequent regular intervals during each time trial. Preliminary validation of the WAS was confirmed with significant correlations between the WAS and PANAS. The WAS scale is quick and easy to administer and was sensitive in measuring fluctuations in affect within a 20km cycle time trial. Future work is needed to examine the fluctuations in affect and clarify the relationship between positivity and negativity.
Debrisoquine/sparteine hydroxylation genotype and phenotype: analysis of common mutations and alleles of CYP2D6 in a European population.

Four different mutations of the cytochrome P450 CYP2D6 gene associated with the poor metabolizer phenotype (PM) of the debrisoquine/sparteine polymorphism were analyzed by Xba I restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based DNA amplification method in DNA of 394 healthy European subjects; 341 of these were phenotyped by sparteine or debrisoquine administration and urinary metabolic ratios (MR). Our study demonstrates the efficiency of the PCR-test for phenotype prediction; 96.4% of individuals were correctly predicted, i.e., 100% of the extensive metabolizers (EMs) and 86.0% of the poor metabolizers (PMs). In contrast, Xba I RFLP analysis was far less informative, predicting the phenotype in only 26.8% of PMs. By combining both DNA tests, the prediction rate of the PM phenotype increased to 90.6%. A point mutation at a splice-site consensus sequence termed D6-B represented the most common mutant CYP2D6 gene and accounted for more than 75% of mutant alleles. In addition, other known mutations such as D6-D (14%), D6-A (5%), and the rare D6-C mutation bring the identified mutant alleles to greater than 95% of all mutant PM-alleles. Most of Xba I 44-kb alleles were confirmed as mutant alleles carrying the D6-B mutation. However, 9.7% did not have this mutation and may express a functional CYP2D6 gene. Moreover, all Xba I 16 + 9-kb alleles contained the D6-B mutation. Heterozygous EM individuals had a significantly higher MR when compared to homozygous EMs. Genotyping provides an important advantage for investigations of the influence of CYP2D6 activity on drug therapy and its association with certain diseases.
Educational progress, behaviour, and motor skills at 10 years in early treated congenital hypothyroidism

AIM To assess educational attainments, behaviour, and motor skills at 10 years of age in a group of children with congenital hypothyroidism identified by neonatal screening. SUBJECTS 59 children with congenital hypothyroidism born in 1978–81, 31 cases with pretreatment thyroxine (T4) values of 40 nmol/l or below (group I) and 28 less severe cases with T4 values over 40 nmol/l (group II), together with 59 classroom control children matched for age, sex, social class, and main language spoken at home. METHODS The Neale analysis of reading ability; the child health and education study written test of mathematics; Rutter behaviour questionnaires for parents and teachers; the Oseretsky test of motor proficiency (short form). RESULTS On all measures the congenital hypothyroidism children in group I had less satisfactory scores for educational attainments, behaviour, and motor skills than those in group II and controls. For reading the differences were small and did not reach statistical significance, but the deficits in mathematics and total motor skills were statistically significant (p < 0.01). There were more striking and statistically significant differences in behaviour scores, particularly with respect to attentional difficulties. Although less striking, these were also apparent in the group II children with mild hypothyroidism. CONCLUSIONS At the age of 10 years severe congenital hypothyroidism is associated with some mild impairment in educational and motor attainments. Behaviour problems are also common, even in some children with less severe congenital hypothyroidism.