Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ecological factors underlying the adrenocortical response to capture stress in arctic-breeding shorebirds.

Birds breeding in the Arctic must carefully balance survival and reproduction because of the often extreme environmental conditions and the very brief breeding season. Acute elevation of plasma corticosterone is one mechanism that birds apparently use to alter the balance in favor of survival at the expense of reproduction when faced with stressors such as storms, predators, or low food availability. To examine this relationship, we applied a standardized stressor, capture and handling, to four species of shorebirds (Scolopacidae) during their breeding season in the Arctic and measured the increase in corticosterone between 3 min and 30 min after capture (hereafter called the stress response). We tested two hypotheses in an effort to explain the individual variation observed in the stress response. The first hypothesis states that individuals most responsible for parental care have a lower stress response than individuals less responsible for parental care. In species with uniparental care (Pectoral Sandpiper Calidris melanotos, Red Phalarope Phalaropus fulicaria), the caregivers had a lower stress response than the opposite sex, although in the latter species the difference was not significant (P = 0.016 and P = 0.102, respectively). In a species with equal biparental care (Semipalmated Sandpiper C. pusilla), the stress response did not differ between the sexes (P = 0.99, Barrow population). In a species with unequal biparental care (Western Sandpiper C. mauri), the more parental sex (males) had a much lower stress response than the less parental sex (P = 0.002). The second hypothesis states that individuals breeding in the high Arctic have a lower stress response than individuals breeding in the low Arctic. The stress response in a low-Arctic population of Semipalmated Sandpipers (Nome) was higher than that in a high-Arctic population (Barrow, P < 0.05). Individuals at an additional high-Arctic location (Prudhoe Bay) exhibited stress responses most similar to those of the Barrow population (P > 0.05). Taken together, these results provide evidence of a mechanism that birds may use to breed in environments with a brief breeding season and under conditions that might be perceived as stressful, if not for their reduced sensitivity to potential stressors.
The Pedagogy of Monsters: Scary Disturbances in a Doctoral Research Preparation Course

Background/Context Although doctoral education is an important component of research universities, few investigations of doctoral education exist. Furthermore, with the push in education and in other disciplines to help beginning researchers understand multiple paradigmatic, epistemological, and theoretical orientations that define fields of study, few reports explore the attempts and their effects. Purpose This study sought to understand the unusually strong student responses to a new doctoral core course that aimed to initiate them into the competing theoretical, epistemological, and paradigmatic complexity of contemporary educational research. This study developed from the authors’ experiences with the course in an attempt to understand students’ conflicted responses. Setting A private urban graduate school of education was the setting for this study. Participants Participants were doctoral students who enrolled in the core course between 1999 and 2002. By virtue of the action research design, the authors were also participants. Research Design The overarching design developed from action research in that we sought to investigate a question that arose from our teaching practice. Our initial research question was, How can we understand students’ highly charged responses to the doctoral core course? The inquiry drew upon three traditions in qualitative interpretive research: action research, collective memory work, and deep interpretation and reflection. Data Collection and Analysis Data were collected via three collective memory groups and through the sustained and collaborative sharing of the authors’ own varied experiences of the doctoral core course. Findings/Results Students’ stories of turmoil in the doctoral course are interpreted as disruptions that occurred when familiar ideas about knowledge and learning, identities, and social networks were breached. These disturbances—encounters with ambivalence, and the awareness of more than one way to interpret, categorize, and feel about phenomena—were related to instances in which their reading, perceptions, and identities were challenged. These disturbances were frightening, and students defended against the uncertainty and the attendant questions of their own competence by recuperating stable ideas of knowledge, self, and community through talk of authentic learning, noncompetitive peers, caring professors, and a harmonious academic community. Conclusions/Recommendations The doctoral core course took on a life of its own, like Frankenstein, achieving effects beyond the original intention and desires of its creators and its students. We now recognize some of the limits to the critical curriculum that we developed, revised, and enacted. We have sought to tame some disturbing aspects of the course and also to admit that teaching that interferes will always produce unpredictable and mixed responses.
The Coach in Action: A Descriptive Analysis.

ABSTRACT Observations were made of coaches' interactive behavior during competitive games, and the quantity and quality of interaction between 38 coaches and their athletes were recorded. Interactions were categorized as: (1) positive--verbal praise, nonverbal affirmative gestures; (2) neutral--lecturing, giving commands, pointing, demonstrating; ani (3) negative--verbal critiCism, grimacing, frowning. Analysis of the data revealed: (1) Coaches spent approximately one-half of their time observing, absorbed in the action of the game, and not interacting with their players; (2) The most common coaching behavior directed to an individual player was nonevaluative or instructive; (3) Male coaches provided significantly more verbal praise and encouragement than did -female coaches; (4) Coaches of winning teams were characterized by greater use of verbal and nonverbal, neutral, and negative interaction; (5) Coaches of losing teams displayed more positive interaction (praise, support) with their players; and (6) Individual interactions occurred most frequently when the score was tied. (JD)
Adhesion molecules during somitogenesis in the avian embryo

In avian embryos, somites constitute the morphological unit of the metameric pattern. Somites are epithelia formed from a mesenchyme, the segmental plate, and are subsequently reorganized into dermatome, myotome, and sclerotome. In this study, we used somitogenesis as a basis to examine tissue remodeling during early vertebrate morphogenesis. Particular emphasis was put on the distribution and possible complementary roles of adhesion-promoting molecules, neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM), N-cadherin, fibronectin, and laminin. Both segmental plate and somitic cells exhibited in vitro calcium- dependent and calcium-independent systems of cell aggregation that could be inhibited respectively by anti-N-cadherin and anti-N-CAM antibodies. In vivo, the spatio-temporal expression of N-cadherin was closely associated with both the formation and local disruption of the somites. In contrast, changes in the prevalence of N-CAM did not strictly accompany the remodeling of the somitic epithelium into dermamyotome and sclerotome. It was also observed that fibronectin and laminin were reorganized secondarily in the extracellular spaces after CAM-mediated contacts were modulated. In an in vitro culture system of somites, N-cadherin was lost on individual cells released from somite explants and was reexpressed when these cells reached confluence and established intercellular contacts. In an assay of tissue dissociation in vitro, antibodies to N-cadherin or medium devoid of calcium strongly and reversibly dissociated explants of segmental plates and somites. Antibodies to N-CAM exhibited a smaller disrupting effect only on segmental plate explants. In contrast, antibodies to fibronectin and laminin did not perturb the cohesion of cells within the explants. These results emphasize the possible role of cell surface modulation of CAMs during the formation and remodeling of some transient embryonic epithelia. It is suggested that N-cadherin plays a major role in the control of tissue remodeling, a process in which N-CAM is also involved but to a lesser extent. The substratum adhesion molecules, fibronectin and laminin, do not appear to play a primary role in the regulation of these processes but may participate in cell positioning and in the stabilization of the epithelial structures.
Ensuring High-Quality Instruction for Students in Braille Literacy Programs

This study used the Delphi research method to gain a consensus among 40 professionals on the appropriate levels of instructional service to address the needs of students with visual impairments in 12 areas of braille literacy skills. These resulting recommendations are general guidelines for educational teams to follow in designing braille literacy programs, but must be tailored to address the individual needs of each student.
Gene expression in visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues

A large body of evidence demonstrates depot-specific differences in the expression of genes coding important functional proteins in adipocytes. This may contribute to the well-known specific functional properties of the adipocytes from intra-abdominal and subcutaneous regions. This review will focus on the main findings regarding the regional differences in adipocyte gene expression in humans. These genes encode proteins belonging to three different functional groups: the metabolic enzyme and related signalling proteins, the adipogenic factors, and, finally, the products of adipocytes.
Microstructure of Sheared Entangled Solutions of Semiflexible Polymers

We study the influence of finite shear deformations on the microstructure and rheology of solutions of entangled semiflexible polymers theoretically and by numerical simulations and experiments with filamentous actin. Based on the tube model of semiflexible polymers, we predict that large finite shear deformations strongly affect the average tube width and curvature, thereby exciting considerable restoring stresses. In contrast, the associated shear alignment is moderate, with little impact on the average tube parameters, and thus expected to be long-lived and detectable after cessation of shear. Similarly, topologically preserved hairpin configurations are predicted to leave a long-lived fingerprint in the shape of the distributions of tube widths and curvatures. Our numerical and experimental data support the theory.
Your Brain and Business: The Neuroscience of Great Leaders

Chapter 1 Relevance of Neuroscience to the Business Environment 1 Chapter 2 How Does Positive Thinking Affect the Business Brain? 25 Chapter 3 The Neuroscience of Social Intelligence: Guiding Leaders and Managers to Effective Relationships 59 Chapter 4 Of Innovation, Intuition, and Impostors: Intangible Vulnerabilities in the Brains of Great Leaders 91 Chapter 5 The Challenge Prior to Change: How Brain Science Can Bring Managers and Leaders from Idea to Action Orientation 121 Chapter 6 From Action Orientation to Change: How Brain Science Can Bring Managers and Leaders from Action Orientation to Action 155 Chapter 7 Coaching Brain Regions 183 Chapter 8 Coaching Brain Processes 217 Index 255
Clinical significance and diagnostic value of serum dickkopf-1 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide. It has been widely established that the early detection of HCC enables more treatment options and translates to improved survival. Aim: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of DKK1 as a serum protein marker for HCC by examining its diagnostic sensitivity and specificity in HCC. Methods: We analyzed data for 50 patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) related HCC as the studied group. Twenty patients with chronic hepatitis C and 20 patients with HCV-related liver cirrhosis will serve as control group. DKK1 was measured in serum by ELISA. We used receiver operating characteristics (ROC) to calculate its diagnostic accuracy. Results: We assessed serum DKK1 in 90 participants: 50 with HCC (studied group), 20 with chronic HCV infection, and 20 with liver cirrhosis (as control group). Serum concentration of DKK1 was significantly higher in HCC group and values did not differ significantly between the two control groups. We performed multivariate regression analysis using AFP level, number of focal lesions, focal lesion size and Portal vein thrombosis as an independent variable. ROC curves showed the optimum diagnostic cut off was 1.5 ng/mL (sensitivity 67.5%, specificity 89.3%). Conclusion: Serum DKK1 could potentially be used for early diagnosis of HCC and complement measurement of AFP in the diagnosis of HCC.
Question Asking as Program Generation

A hallmark of human intelligence is the ability to ask rich, creative, and revealing questions. Here we introduce a cognitive model capable of constructing human-like questions. Our approach treats questions as formal programs that, when executed on the state of the world, output an answer. The model specifies a probability distribution over a complex, compositional space of programs, favoring concise programs that help the agent learn in the current context. We evaluate our approach by modeling the types of open-ended questions generated by humans who were attempting to learn about an ambiguous situation in a game. We find that our model predicts what questions people will ask, and can creatively produce novel questions that were not present in the training set. In addition, we compare a number of model variants, finding that both question informativeness and complexity are important for producing human-like questions.
Screening for refractive errors in children: accuracy of the hand held refractor Retinomax to screen for astigmatism

AIMS To assess the reliability of the hand held automated refractor Retinomax in measuring astigmatism in non-cycloplegic conditions. To assess the accuracy of Retinomax in diagnosing abnormal astigmatism in non-cycloplegic refractive screening of children between 9 and 36 months. METHODS Among 1205 children undergoing a non-cycloplegic refractive screening with Retinomax, 299 (25%) had repeated non-cycloplegic measurements, 302 (25%) were refracted under cycloplegia using the same refractor, and 88 (7%) using retinoscopy or an automated on table refractor. The reproducibility of non-cycloplegic cylinder measurement was assessed by comparing the cylindrical power and axis values in the 299 repeated measurements without cycloplegia. The influence of the quick mode on cylinder measurement was analysed by comparing the cylinder and axis value in 93 repeated measurements without cycloplegia where normal mode was used in one measurement and quick mode in the other. Predictive values of the refractive screening were calculated for three different thresholds of manifest astigmatism (⩾1.5, ⩾1.75, and ⩾2 D) considering as a true positive case an astigmatism ⩾2 D under cycloplegic condition (measured by retinoscopy, on table, or hand held refractor). RESULTS The 95% limits of agreement between two repeated manifest cylinder measurements with Retinomax attained levels slightly less than plus or minus 1 D. The 95% limits of agreement for the axis were plus or minus 46°. The comparison of non-cycloplegic measurements in the quick and normal mode showed no significant difference and 95% limits of agreement plus or minus 0.75 D. The mean difference between non-cycloplegic and cycloplegic cylinder values measured by Retinomax reached 0.17 D and was statistically significant. Manifest thresholds of ⩾1.5 D, ⩾1.75 D, ⩾2 D cylinder value diagnosed 2 D of astigmatism under cycloplegia respectively with 71–84%, 59–80%, 51–54% of sensitivity (right eye-left eye) and 90–92%, 95%, 98% of specificity. CONCLUSION Without cycloplegia, Retinomax is able to measure cylinder power with the same reproducibility as cycloplegic retinoscopy. No significant difference was found in the cylinder values obtained with the quick and the normal modes. Therefore, the quick mode of measurement is recommended as it is more feasible in children. No difference, which is significant from a screening point of view, exists between the non-cycloplegic and the cycloplegic cylinder value (<0.25 D). Retinomax diagnoses abnormal astigmatism (⩾2 D) in a non-cycloplegic refractive screening at preschool ages with 51–84% sensitivity rates and 98–90% specificity rates, depending on the chosen threshold of manifest astigmatism. If 2 D of manifest astigmatism is chosen as a positive test, the positive predictive value of the screening reaches 81–84% and the negative predictive value 91–90% (right eye-left eye).
A Construction of Pooling Designs with Some Happy Surprises

The screening of data sets for "positive data objects" is essential to modern technology. A (group) test that indicates whether a positive data object is in a specific subset or pool of the dataset can greatly facilitate the identification of all the positive data objects. A collection of tested pools is called a pooling design. Pooling designs are standard experimental tools in many biotechnical applications. In this paper, we use the (linear) subspace relation coupled with the general concept of a "containment matrix" to construct pooling designs with surprisingly high degrees of error correction (detection.) Error-correcting pooling designs are important to biotechnical applications where error rates often are as high as 15%. What is also surprising is that the rank of the pooling design containment matrix is independent of the number of positive data objects in the dataset.
Perceptions of irregular immigrants’ participation in undeclared work in the United Kingdom from a social trust perspective

Purpose – There is a significant body of work dealing with the topic of undeclared work and irregular immigrants. However, relatively little is understood about the British general public’s perception of irregular immigrants’ participation in undeclared work. The purpose of this paper is to explore the topic from a social trust angle and to compare its findings with the real extent and distribution of the different sub-populations’ participation in undeclared work. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on the 2007 Eurobarometer data set, drawing upon the results of logistic regression analyses. Findings – The research reveals the extent that socio-demographic, occupational and spatial characteristics influence the perceptions of the general public towards the involvement of irregular immigrants in undeclared work in the UK. These findings are then analysed to show their impact on social trust. Practical implications – A policy intervention addressing perceptions could be joined by or be part.
Towards Deploying Model-Based Testing with a Domain-Specific Modeling Approach

Model-based testing, automating the generation of test cases is technically superior to conventional scripted testing. However, there have been difficulties in deploying the methodology in large scale industrial context. In this paper we present a domain-specific approach to model-based GUI testing that should be easier to adopt than more generic solutions. The method is based on keywords and action words that are considered as best practices in conventional GUI test automation. The basic idea is to record GUI events just like in capture/replay tools, but instead of producing scripts that can be hard to maintain, we produce sequences of keywords. These sequences are further transformed semi-automatically into labeled transition systems where action words are used as transition labels. The action words model user behavior at a high level of abstraction while the keywords correspond to the GUI navigation. We also describe the associated tool set that we are developing and an example of using the approach
Why women kill : homicide and gender equality

Introduction: Women, Gender, and Homicide. Existing Approaches to Women's Homicide. The Role of Gender Equality. Gender and Homicide: Comparing Men and Women. Gender Equality and Women's Homicide Rates. Extending Gender and Homicide Research. Conclusion: Directions in Women's Homicide.
ATP-dependent Proteases Differ Substantially in Their Ability to Unfold Globular Proteins*

ATP-dependent proteases control the concentrations of hundreds of regulatory proteins and remove damaged or misfolded proteins from cells. They select their substrates primarily by recognizing sequence motifs or covalent modifications. Once a substrate is bound to the protease, it has to be unfolded and translocated into the proteolytic chamber to be degraded. Some proteases appear to be promiscuous, degrading substrates with poorly defined targeting signals, which suggests that selectivity may be controlled at additional levels. Here we compare the abilities of representatives from all classes of ATP-dependent proteases to unfold a model substrate protein and find that the unfolding abilities range over more than 2 orders of magnitude. We propose that these differences in unfolding abilities contribute to the fates of substrate proteins and may act as a further layer of selectivity during protein destruction.
Radio-induced structural membrane modifications: a potential bioindicator of ionizing radiation exposure?

PURPOSE This study focused on radio-induced membrane alterations in order to assess some related parameters as potential biological indicators of ionizing radiation effects in cases of accidental overexposure. MATERIALS AND METHODS Radio-induced membrane alterations were assessed after gamma-irradiation of human blood. Biophysical techniques based on fluorescent probe incorporation into isolated living lymphocytes and erythrocytes membranes were applied. RESULTS Using the technique of fluorescence polarization, the lipophilic phase of the membrane was shown to be more fluid whereas the lipid-protein interface of the membrane was shown to be more rigid after gamma-irradiation. Fluorescent anisotropy modifications showed dose-time effect relationships after radiation exposure. Ionizing radiation induced a decrease in steady-state anisotropy values but did not affect the probe's lifetime as assessed by fluorescence lifetime distribution technique. These data suggest that the anisotropy variations are representative of the local properties of the fluorescent probe's micro-environment. However, the distribution width showed a decrease pointing towards radiation-induced changes of membrane domain organization, probably due not only to membrane water penetration related to lipoperoxidation, but also to compositional changes and redistribution of membrane components. In contrast, the lack of radiation effect observed using the lateral diffusion index technique may be related to the integrated overview of the radio-induced modifications of the membrane provided by this technique, which pointed out radio-induced damage to the membrane in micro-domains. CONCLUSION These findings suggest the utility of structural membrane modification measurements as an early bio-indicator of ionizing radiation exposure.