Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The gene polymorphisms of insulin degrading enzyme ( IDE ) are associated with the risk of coronary heart disease in Chinese Han population

Objectives: Altered insulin degrading enzyme function leads to toxic amyloidand insulin aggregates, inflammation, and atherosclerosis. We hypothesized that gene polymorphisms of insulin degrading enzyme (IDE) are associated with the development of coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods: In this case-control study, 231 CHD patients and 200 non-CHD controls were selected according to the coronary angiography (CAG) results. Sequenom’s MassARRAY system was used to genotype 5 IDE gene TagSNPs, namely rs1887922, rs2149632, rs6583817, rs4646954, and rs3758505. The frequencies of the alleles, genotypes, and haplotypes of these TagSNPs were compared between the CHD and control groups. Results: The rs1887922, rs2149632, and rs4646954 were significantly associated with the risk of developing CHD (P<0.05). Haplotype analysis of rs1887922-rs2149632rs6583817-rs4646954-rs3758505 showed that the CTCGT haplotype increased the risk of developing CHD (P<0.001; OR=3.429, 95% CI: 1.816-6.475), while the TCCGT reduced the risk (P=0.020; OR=0.708, 95% CI: 0.530-0.947). In addition, the rs1887922 C allele was associated with reduced hepatic insulin clearance (HIC) (P<0.001), decreased glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (P=0.032), and increased plasma insulin concentration (P=0.023). Conclusions: IDE gene polymorphisms are closely associated with the risk of developing CHD in Chinese Han population.
Evaluating the Validity of Classroom Observations in the Head Start Designation Renewal System

Classroom observations are increasingly common in education policies as a means to assess the quality of teachers and/or education programs for purposes of making high-stakes decisions. This article considers one policy, the Head Start Designation Renewal System (DRS), which involves classroom observations to assess the quality of Head Start programs in order to decide whether their funding is renewed. This article applies an argument-based approach for evaluating the validity of observational assessments that (a) explicates assumptions that underlie the presumed logic, leading from the collection of scores from observations of Head Start classrooms, to the inference that scores assess the quality of Head Start programs, to the decision to renew funding to Head Start programs, and (b) summarizes evidence that speaks to the plausibility of each assumption. There was limited evidence to support the plausibility of many assumptions, including those pertaining to score generalizability, predictive validity, and the cutoff scores set as minimum standards of quality. Implications for improving the validity of classroom observations and the accuracy and fairness of decisions in the Head Start DRS are discussed.
Localization with Rotatable Directional Antennas for Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper we show the design and implementation of a novel localization scheme, called Rotatable Antenna Localization (RAL), for a wireless sensor network (WSN) with beacon nodes with directional antennas which rotate regularly. A beacon node periodically sends beacon signals containing its position and antenna orientations. By observing the variation of the received signal strength indication (RSSI) values of the beacon signals, a sensor node can estimate the orientation relative to the beacon node. With the estimated orientations and exact positions of two distinct beacon nodes, a sensor can calculate its own location. Four methods are proposed and implemented for the sensor node to estimate its orientations. Among them, we find that the strongest-signal (SS) method has the most accurate orientation estimation. With SS method, we implement RAL scheme and apply it to a WSN in a 10- by 10-meter indoor environment with two beacon nodes at two ends of a side. Our experiment demonstrates that the average position estimation error of RAL is 76 centimeters. We further propose two methods, namely grid- and vector-based approximation methods, to improve RAL by installing more than two beacon nodes. We show by simulation that the improvements can reduce about 10% of the position error.
Command switching strategy based safety protection control for aeroengines

Based on the simplified hypersonic air-breathing propulsion model, this paper studies the output regulation/ safety protection multi-objective switching control problem focusing on the safety boundaries existing during the working progressing. Command switching strategy based on the safety margin is researched. In the safe region with a sufficiently large safety margin, the regulation loop is active and the regulated output is controlled to track the reference signal as quickly as possible. But the protected loop will be switched on and the protected output will be forced to escape from dangers once the safety boundaries approach. A dynamical state feedback controller and a protection controller work in turn in a hysteresis switching way to guarantee the asymptotic tracking with certain safety performance. The conditions under which the asymptotic tracking could be guaranteed are given and the control parameters could be calculated by solving optimal problems. It is pointed out in this paper that the designing of the regulation controller and the protection controller could be implemented separately, and the control parameters could be optimized to get certain optimal performance index using numerical method. Finally, simulation researches are performed to verify the effectiveness of the given methods, which also indicate that the commands switching control can improve both safety margin and the dynamical performance indices than the single controller.
Frequency response of stress-effects on CMOS power amplifiers

RF Power Amplifiers (PAs) undergo to high electrical stress conditions due to strong lateral field along the channel. Reliability of CMOS PAs is largely studied in literature. Generally is focused in understanding how RF stress can harm the device. Many authors proved that the generation of defects does not have a frequency dependency. In this work the problem is faced from a new point of view. The response of the defects, instead of the generation, is studied over frequency. It is demonstrated that the electrons-trapping by interface states is quenched by increasing the operation frequency. As a consequence the performance of the PA are recovered. This finding points out for the first time the possibility of relaxing the reliability constrains when operating in RF regime.
Good omens? The intricate relations between educational and vocational identity in adolescence

Abstract This study examines the relation between educational and vocational identity in Romanian adolescents. Access to work-relevant experiences is very limited among Romanian adolescents, and most encounters with career constructs are confined to educational settings. Hence, to gain a better understanding of how identity processes in the educational and vocational domains support or inhibit each other, we aimed at investigating: (a) educational and vocational identity statuses through cluster analysis and (b) associations between identity statuses in these life domains. Participants were 1551 Romanian youth, aged 14–20 (39.3% girls), who completed measures of educational and vocational identity. Results indicated that, in the Romanian context, educational and vocational identities are closely linked, as adolescents draw information for future career development mostly from their educational experiences. Implications for youth policies and for applied interventions sensitive to socioeconomic and cultural realities are discussed.
Invariant mantling of growth cones by Schwann cell precursors characterize growing peripheral nerve fronts

Little is known about the cytoarchitecture of growth fronts in developing mammalian nerves. We report here the first quantitative, ultrastructural analysis of growth cones (GCs) and their immediate cellular and tissue environment at tips of growing nerves that are nearing their targets in fore limbs of E14 rat embryos. Schwann cell precursor (SCP) marker, p75 neurotrophin receptor, and growth cone marker, SCG10, were used to identify nerve fronts, respectively. Using confocal 3D reconstructions and immunoelectron microscopy, we found that growth cone and Schwann cell precursor migrate together at the nerve front, where growth cone contact adjacent growth cone and Schwann cell precursor with similar frequency. Schwann cell precursor are extensively connected by adherens junctions and form elaborate scaffolds that enmantle growth cone at nerve fronts, so that 80% of the nerve front surface is covered by Schwann cell precursor. Although they interdigitate in complex ways among growth cone, the total contact area between growth cone and glial membranes is remarkably constant among the 100 growth fronts analyzed. In contrast to this consistency, other growth cone contacts varied markedly from front to front such that the frequencies of GC–GC contacts are increasing proportional to their decreasing contacts with mesenchymal tissue. Thus, at the nerve front, it is the Schwann cell precursor that are most exposed to extracellular environment while forming a surprisingly invariant substrate for advancing growth cone. This study shows for the first time that Schwann cell precursor are close and consistent cellular companions of growth cone in their approach to their final targets in the developing limb and suggests a previously unappreciated role for Schwann cell precursor in growth cone advance through the limb mesenchyme. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cost-benefit analysis of the Global Dracunculiasis Eradication Campaign (GDEC)

Dracunculiasis (or Guinea worm disease) was endemic in several African countries as well as in India, Pakistan, and Yemen. The past decade, however, has seen a remarkable decline in the incidence of dracunculiasis as a result of the Global Dracunculiasis Eradication Campaign. The authors compare spending on the eradication campaign with estimates of increased agricultural production resulting from reductions in infection-related morbidity as a result of the program. Using a project horizon of 1987-98, they calculate the economic rate of return as 29 percent, under conservative assumptions about the average incapacitation caused by Guinea worm infection (five weeks). After 1998, Sudan is projected to be the only country in which the disease will remain endemic. The authors'results indicate that for economic returns in Sudan to be consistent with those in other countries where the disease was endemic, eradication must be completed in Sudan at the very latest by 2001.
DroidFuzzer: Fuzzing the Android Apps with Intent-Filter Tag

The Android system is getting more and more popular on the mobile devices. Thus, lots of apps have sprung up to facilitate people's daily life. However, many of the apps are released without sufficient testing work, so the users encounter a sudden app crash now and then. This will undoubtedly impact the user's experience and even lead to economic loss. Because current testing tools on Android apps mainly focus on the motion event on the screen, like click event, bugs concerned with data handling module in an app is neglected. In this paper, we propose an automated testing method to fuzz testing the Android apps. The test targets are the Activities which accept outside MIME data. These Activities are picked out by analyzing the Intent-filter tag in the AndroidManifest.xml file. An automated fuzzing tool, DroidFuzzer, is implemented based on the method. Finally, experiments are conducted to prove the effectiveness of it.
Expression and Regulation of Facilitative Glucose Transporters in Equine Insulin-Sensitive Tissue: From Physiology to Pathology

Glucose uptake is the rate-limiting step in glucose utilization in mammalians and is tightly regulated by a family of specialized proteins, called the facilitated glucose transporters (GLUTs/SLC2). GLUT4, the major isoform in insulin-responsive tissue, translocates from an intracellular pool to the cell surface and as such determines insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. However, despite intensive research over 50 years, the insulin-dependent and -independent pathways that mediate GLUT4 translocation are not fully elucidated in any species. Insulin resistance (IR) is one of the hallmarks of equine metabolic syndrome and is the most common metabolic predisposition for laminitis in horses. IR is characterized by the impaired ability of insulin to stimulate glucose disposal into insulin-sensitive tissues. Similar to other species, the functional capability of the insulin-responsive GLUTs is impaired in muscle and adipose tissue during IR in horses. However, the molecular mechanisms of altered glucose transport remain elusive in all species, and there is still much to learn about the physiological and pathophysiological functions of the GLUT family members, especially in regard to class III. Since GLUTs are key regulators of whole-body glucose homeostasis, they have received considerable attention as potential therapeutic targets to treat metabolic disorders in human and equine patients.
Fate and Uptake of Pharmaceuticals in Soil–Plant Systems

Pharmaceuticals have been detected in the soil environment where there is the potential for uptake into crops. This study explored the fate and uptake of pharmaceuticals (carbamazepine, diclofenac, fluoxetine, propranolol, sulfamethazine) and a personal care product (triclosan) in soil–plant systems using radish (Raphanus sativus) and ryegrass (Lolium perenne). Five of the six chemicals were detected in plant tissue. Carbamazepine was taken up to the greatest extent in both the radish (52 μg/g) and ryegrass (33 μg/g), whereas sulfamethazine uptake was below the limit of quantitation (LOQ) (<0.01 μg/g). In the soil, concentrations of diclofenac and sulfamethazine dropped below the LOQ after 7 days. However, all pharmaceuticals were still detectable in the pore water at the end of the experiment. The results demonstrate the ability of plant species to accumulate pharmaceuticals from soils with uptake apparently specific to both plant species and chemical. Results can be partly explained by the hydrophobicity and extent of ionization of each chemical in the soil.
Pie, fry, why: Language play in 3- to 5-year-old children

This study examined the relationship between four common types of language play and their correlations with the verbal and social abilities of 3- to 5-year-old children. While observation has shown that children this age produce a range of play, research has not yet examined whether play is a measurable skill connected to preschoolers’ language development. In this study, we designed four language play elicitation games involving creating rhymes, word switching, word creation, and hyperbolic play. Children’s ability to produce novel play for each game was measured, and classroom teachers filled out assessments of children’s verbal and peer interaction skills. Results indicated that while children’s peer interaction scores were not related to their play scores, verbal skills scores were highly correlated with language play scores, highlighting that for preschoolers the ability to produce common types of language play may be a distinctly verbal skill.
IQ in the Production Function: Evidence from Immigrant Earnings

"We show that a country's average IQ score is a useful predictor of the wages that immigrants from that country earn in the United States, whether or not one adjusts for immigrant education. Just as in numerous microeconomic studies, 1 IQ point predicts 1% higher wages, suggesting that IQ tests capture an important difference in cross-country worker productivity. In a cross-country development accounting exercise, about one-sixth of the global inequality in log income can be explained by the effect of large, persistent differences in national average IQ on the private marginal product of labor. This suggests that cognitive skills matter more for groups than for individuals. " ("JEL" J24, J61, O47) Copyright (c) 2009 Western Economic Association International.
Motion perception in healthy humans and cognitive disorders

To elucidate how the dorsal visual pathway is functionally altered in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients, first, the neural basis of motion perception in healthy young adults was examined by using visual event-related potentials (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with coherent motion stimuli such as radial optic flow (OF) and horizontal motion (HO). Nonspecific, motion-related N170 from V5/MT and OF-specific P200 with an inferior parietal lobule (IPL) origin were obtained in ERPs. fMRI revealed the close relationship between IPL activity and OF stimuli. Next, coherent motion perception was assessed by the psychophysical thresholds for patients with AD and MCI, as well as ERPs for MCI patients. MCI patients manifested a selective elevation of the OF threshold, while AD patients exhibited higher psychophysical thresholds for both OF and HO. In ERPs, the P200 latency for OF (but not the N170 latency for OF and HO) was significantly prolonged in MCI patients. These findings indicate that patients with AD and MCI have impaired coherent motion processing due to higher levels of the dorsal pathway. In particular, OF processing related to the IPL is selectively impaired in patients with MCI. Therefore, a combined approach with psychophysics and ERPs using coherent motion (particularly OF) can be useful to discriminate MCI and AD patients from older but healthy adults. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-559-9.ch020
Sensory characteristics of high-amylose maize-resistant starch in three food products

Type 2 resistant starch from high-amylose maize (HAM-RS2) is considered a functional ingredient due to its positive organoleptic and physiochemical modifications associated with food and physiological benefits related to human health. The sensory characteristics of three types of food products (muffins, focaccia bread, and chicken curry) with and without HAM-RS2 were evaluated using a 9-point hedonic scale. The HAM-RS2-enriched muffins, focaccia bread, and chicken curry contained 5.50 g/100 g, 13.10 g/100 g, and 8.94 g/100 g RS, respectively, based on lyophilized dry weight. The HAM-RS2-enriched muffin had higher moisture content and was perceived as being significantly moister than the control according to the sensory evaluation. The addition of HAM-RS2 to muffins significantly enhanced all sensory characteristics and resulted in a higher mean overall likeability score. The HAM-RS2-enriched focaccia bread appeared significantly darker in color, was more dense, and had the perception of a well-done crust versus the control. A grainer texture was observed with the chicken curry containing HAM-RS2 which did not significantly affect overall likeability. We concluded that the addition of HAM-RS2 may not significantly alter consumer's acceptability in most food products.
Comparison of Immediate Primary Repair and Delayed Urethroplasty in Men with Bulbous Urethral Disruption after Blunt Straddle Injury

Purpose The aim of this study was to analyze the outcomes of immediate primary repair (IPR) compared with delayed repair (DR) after initial suprapubic cystostomy. Materials and Methods We reviewed the records of 60 patients with bulbous urethral disruption after blunt trauma from February 2001 to March 2011. Seventeen patients who presented in an acute injury state underwent IPR; 43 patients underwent DR after the initial suprapubic cystostomy. None of the patients had undergone previous urethral manipulation. We compared the outcomes, including stricture, impotence, and incontinence, between the two management approaches. We also measured the time to spontaneous voiding, the duration of suprapubic diversion, and the number of days spent in the hospital. Results The median follow-up was 20.5 months (range, 13 to 59 months; mean, 23.3 months). Among 17 patients in the IPR group, strictures developed in 2 patients (11.7%), and among 53 patients in the DR group, strictures developed in 8 patients (18.6%, p=0.709). The incidences of impotence and incontinence were similar in both groups (17.6% and 0% in the IPR group vs. 27.9% and 4.6% in the DR group, p=0.520 and 1.000, respectively). The time to spontaneous voiding and the duration of suprapubic diversion were significantly shorter in the IPR group (average 27.3 and 33.4 days, respectively) than in the DR group (average 191.6 and 198.1 days, respectively; p<0.001 and <0.001). Conclusions IPR may provide comparable outcomes to DR and allow for shorter times to spontaneous voiding and reduce the duration of suprapubic diversion.
Conceptualizing community resilience: Revisiting conceptual distinctions

Abstract Community development and related approaches have become prominent in academic circles, resulting in the emergence and resurgence of related community-level notions. With the expansion of terms, conceptual confusions have surfaced. The notion of community resilience has gone through this process, as its development/understanding is still in progress. Community resilience has been misused/confused with other notions including community agency, community vulnerability, community adaptability, and community capacity. Our goal here is to provide conceptual clarification to the term community resilience by reviewing and contrasting it with the above-mentioned notions. We argue that while similitudes exist within these concepts, they are bounded by their literatures fed by different fields of study, resulting in different goals (i.e. problem solving, response to change, and risk mitigation) in varying contexts. Despite their differences, we offer explanations of how the concepts are interrelated, in addition to noting the differences in the levels of conceptualization that each literature offers. We concluded that community resilience provides a better framework for understanding community change and how it is addressed.
Development of the Olfactory Epithelium and Nasal Glands in TMEM16A-/- and TMEM16A+/+ Mice

TMEM16A/ANO1 is a calcium-activated chloride channel expressed in several types of epithelia and involved in various physiological processes, including proliferation and development. During mouse embryonic development, the expression of TMEM16A in the olfactory epithelium is dynamic. TMEM16A is expressed at the apical surface of the entire olfactory epithelium at embryonic day E12.5 while from E16.5 its expression is restricted to a region near the transition zone with the respiratory epithelium. To investigate whether TMEM16A plays a role in the development of the mouse olfactory epithelium, we obtained the first immunohistochemistry study comparing the morphological properties of the olfactory epithelium and nasal glands in TMEM16A-/- and TMEM16A+/+ littermate mice. A comparison between the expression of the olfactory marker protein and adenylyl cyclase III shows that genetic ablation of TMEM16A did not seem to affect the maturation of olfactory sensory neurons and their ciliary layer. As TMEM16A is expressed at the apical part of supporting cells and in their microvilli, we used ezrin and cytokeratin 8 as markers of microvilli and cell body of supporting cells, respectively, and found that morphology and development of supporting cells were similar in TMEM16A-/- and TMEM16A+/+ littermate mice. The average number of supporting cells, olfactory sensory neurons, horizontal and globose basal cells were not significantly different in the two types of mice. Moreover, we also observed that the morphology of Bowman’s glands, nasal septal glands and lateral nasal glands did not change in the absence of TMEM16A. Our results indicate that the development of mouse olfactory epithelium and nasal glands does not seem to be affected by the genetic ablation of TMEM16A.