Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The H‐2 Model for the Major Histocompatibility Systems

Thirty-five years ago, Gorer (1936), working with inbred strains of mice, discovered four blood group antigens and showed (Gorer 1937) that one of them, antigen II, was also present in fixed tissues and played a decisive role in determining susceptibility or resistance to tumor transplants. Following the suggestion of Snell (1948) that antigens concerned in transplantation reactions should be called histocompatibility (H) antigens, the designation antigen II was changed to H-2. The gene controlling the H-2 antigen was shown to be linked with Fused (a gene for a tail anomaly) in the 9th linkage group (Gorer et cd. 1948). It soon became apparent through histogenetical studies by Snell and his coworkers (for a review, see Snell 1953) that what looked at first like a simple biaJlelic locus was actually a multiallelic system with many different H-2 alleles present in different inbred strains. At the same time, serological studies by Gorer, Amos, Hoecker, and others (for a review, see Gorer 1959) revealed that the H-2 antigen was not simple, but consisted of increasing numbers of antigenic components. In 1951, Snell showed that Fl hybrids between inbred strains BALB/c {H-2^) and CBA {H-2^) were susceptible to an A strain tumor and suggested that the H-2^ allele of strain A was actually composed of two components, d and k, and should be therefore written as H-2^^, This was the first indication of a bipartite structure of the H~2 locus. The bipartity was further supported by detection of crossingover between the d and k components (Allen 1955), but was later obscured by discoveries of additional recombinants and an increasing serological complexity. The idea re-emerged in 1965 when it was discovered that the Ss (serum protein) locus was located within the complex chromosomal region controlling H-2 antigens (Shreffler 1965).
The effect of an intermediate articulatory layer on the performance of a segmental HMM

We present a novel multi-level HMM in which an intermediate ‘articulatory’ representation is included between the state and surface-acoustic levels. A potential difﬁculty with such a model is that advantages gained by the introduction of an articulatory layer might be compromised by limitations due to an insufﬁciently rich articulatory representation, or by compromises made for mathematical or computational expediency. This paper decribes a simple model in which speech dynamics are modelled as linear trajectories in a formant-based ‘ar-ticulatory’ layer, and the articulatory-to-acoustic mappings are linear. Phone classiﬁcation results for TIMIT are presented for monophone and triphone systems with a phone-level syntax. The results demonstrate that provided the intermediate representation is sufﬁciently rich, or a sufﬁciently large number of phone-class-dependent articulatory-to-acoustic mapping are employed, classiﬁcation performance is not compromised.
Differential effect of university entrance score on first-year students’ academic performance in Portugal

Abstract The main goal of this study is to show that the association between university entrance score and first-year students’ academic performance varies randomly across courses after controlling for students’ sociodemographic, schooling trajectory and motivational variables. The sample consists of 2697 first-year students who were enrolled in 54 courses at a Portuguese public university in 2015/16. Multilevel modelling of academic performance suggests that 34% of variability in grade point average is due to differences among courses and that 80% of such variability is explained by the field of study, whether the university is the student’s first choice, and the student’s gender, age and parents’ level of education. In addition, the results corroborate that the university entrance score is the strongest predictor of first-year academic performance.
An Experimental Study on Non-Compression X-Bracing Systems Using Carbon Fiber Composite Cable for Seismic Strengthening of RC Buildings

Cross-bracing (X-bracing) is one of the most popular methods of seismic retrofitting, and has been shown to significantly increase the structural stiffness and strength of buildings. Conventional steel X-bracing methods typically exhibit brittle failure at the connection between the brace and the building, or buckling failure of the braces. This study investigated the structural properties of a new type of non-compression X-bracing system using carbon fiber composite cable (CFCC). This non-compression X-bracing system uses CFCC bracing and bolt connections between structural members and the terminal fixer of the CFCC, instead of conventional steel bracing. The aim is to overcome the brittle and buckling failures that can occur at the connection and bracings with conventional steel X-bracing methods. We carried out cyclic loading tests, and the maximum load carrying capacity and deformation were investigated, as well as hysteresis in the lateral load–drift relations. The test results revealed that the CFCC X-bracing system installed in reinforced concrete frames enhanced the strength markedly, and buckling failure of the bracing was not observed.
Factors related to unstained areas in whole ewe ovaries perfused with a metabolic marker.

STUDY QUESTION What factors are associated with the presence of areas unexposed to the perfusate after whole ovary perfusion? SUMMARY ANSWER Over half the ovaries perfused with the metabolic marker methylthiazolyl blue tetrazolium (MTT) were incompletely stained. Incomplete staining was statistically significantly associated with a small ovarian slice surface area, inexperience of the experimenter, and the presence of a corpus luteum. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Whole ovary cryopreservation followed by vascular auto-transplantation has provided poor outcomes as an alternative way to safeguard fertility. Perfusion, commonly used to expose the ovaries to cryoprotectants, may miss areas excluded from the vascular network, explaining subsequent poor ovarian functionality. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION An observational study of 360 ewe ovaries stained by in vitro perfusion with MTT as a qualitative marker of tissue blood supply was performed. A logistic regression model was built to identify factors associated with incomplete ovary staining. MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Whole ewe ovaries with their vascular pedicles were perfused at 0.35 ml/min with 1 g/l MTT for 2 h at 39°C under 19 experimental conditions. The pedicles were removed and the ovaries cut in half sagittally and photographed. The unstained area of the slice surface was measured. Times from ovary collection to ovary rinsing and to MTT perfusion initiation, ovary weight and slice surface area, presence of a corpus luteum and operator experience (number of ovaries previously perfused) were recorded. Pedicle MTT staining was quantified at 564 nm after solubilization in alcohol. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Unstained areas were observed in 64.4% of the ovaries. Multivariate analysis found that incomplete ovary staining was independently associated with lower experimenter experience (P < 0.02), smaller ovary slice surface area (P < 0.0001) and presence of a corpus luteum (P < 0.01). The presence of unstained areas was independent from experimental conditions. The rate of incomplete ovary staining decreased from 83 to 60% beyond the 80th perfused ovary (P < 0.0001). LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION Descriptive study. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS Blood-supply impairments that result in incomplete perfusion might adversely affect outcomes after whole ovary cryopreservation. Improved perfusion techniques should enhance success.
Does the Military Make the (Wo)man? An Examination of Gender Differences Among Incarcerated Veterans

Drawing upon prior research that has examined participation in the military and criminal justice outcomes, the current study investigates whether service history elements are associated with arrest frequencies, types of criminal behavior, and if certain service components influenced these outcomes in a similar or different manner for male and female veteran inmates. Using data from a nationally representative sample of inmates incarcerated in state prisons, results indicated that various attributes of military service and veteran gender were directly related to lifetime arrests and offense types. Gender disparities also emerged across military experiences depending on the type of behavior examined. The findings lend support for a multifaceted approach to understand and implement gender-specific programming in meeting the needs of justice-involved veterans.
Okul Öncesi Dönem Çocuklarının Sosyal Davranışının İncelenmesi

Calismada, okul oncesi donem cocuklarinin sosyal davranislarini incelemek, sosyal davranislarla bazi degiskenlerin iliskili olup olmadigini belirlemek amaclanmistir. Calismaya Afyonkarahisar il merkezinde bulunan Milli Egitim Mudurlugune bagli ozel anaokullari ile ilkogretim okullarinin anasiniflarina devam eden alti yas grubundaki toplam 299 cocuk dâhil edilmistir. calismada Crick ve arkadaslari (1997) tarafindan gelistirilen Karakus (2008) tarafindan Turkceye uyarlamasi yapilan Okul Oncesi Sosyal Davranis Olcegi Ogretmen Formu kullanilmistir. Okul oncesi donem cocuklarinin sosyal davranislarinda ogretmen goruslerine gore cinsiyetin, anne-baba ogrenim duzeyinin, anne-baba yasi degiskenleri arasinda farklilik yaratip yaratmadigini belirlemek amaciyla t testi ve varyans analizi kullanilmistir. Arastirma sonucunda okul oncesi donem cocuklarinin fiziksel, iliskisel ve olumlu sosyal davranis boyutlarinda cinsiyetin, anne-baba ogrenim duzeyi ile anne-baba yasinin anlamli farkliliklar gosterdigi bulunmustur.
Statistical positivism versus critical scientific realism. A comparison of two paradigms for motivation research: Part 1. A philosophical and empirical analysis of statistical positivism

In this two-part publication, we compare two paradigms—statistical positivism and critical scientific realism—in their application to research on academic motivation. In the first part, the propositions of statistical positivism and their applications to psychological research are presented. An empirical study in this part combines self-determination and achievement goal theories and builds a statistically integrated model of motivation of 385 college students using path analysis. This part ends with a critical analysis of this statistical model and the knowledge about motivation that it provides. In the second part, the propositions of critical scientific realism are articulated. An empirical study in Part 2 utilizes these propositions and initiates realist interviewing of 12 purposefully selected students. Using within- and between-case analyses, a model of a motivational mechanism of successful university students is proposed. The authors conclude that the continued use of statistical positivism generates minimal new knowledge about the mechanisms of academic motivation. This paradigm should be replaced with the realist one and a case-based methodology, which have a better chance to advance research and improve understanding of academic motivation.
Risk aversion vs. individualism: what drives risk taking in household finance?

Despite a considerable premium on equity with respect to risk-free assets, many households do not own stocks. We ask why the prevalence of stockholding is so limited. We focus on individuals’ attitudes toward risk and identify relevant factors that affect the willingness to take financial risks. Our empirical evidence contradicts standard portfolio theory, as it does not indicate a significant relationship between risk aversion and financial risk taking. However, our analysis supports the behavioral view that psychological factors rooted in national culture affect portfolio choice. Individualism, which is linked to overconfidence and overoptimism, has a significantly positive effect on financial risk taking. In microdata from Germany and Singapore, as well as in cross-country data, we find evidence consistent with low levels of individualism being an important factor in explaining the limited participation puzzle.
Bullying Intervention in Schools: A Multilevel Analysis of Teachers’ Success in Handling Bullying From the Students’ Perspective

To date, little has been known about teachers’ success in bullying interventions. Thus, the present study analyzes how successfully teachers intervene in real bullying situations, based on an analysis of 1,996 reports by German students aged between 12 and 15 (49.2% female) from 24 schools. Predictors of success included intervention strategy (authoritarian-punitive, supportive-individual, supportive-cooperative intervention), bullying form (physical, verbal, relational, cyber), and the student’s bullying role (bully, victim, bystander) in the particular situation. Multilevel analyses showed that supportive-cooperative intervention strategies were the most successful in dealing with bullying in both the short and long term. In the long term, students evaluated teachers as being more successful in dealing with cyberbullying compared with physical bullying. Compared with students who observed bullying, students who perpetrated it were less likely to report that teachers’ interventions were successful in the short term. Implications for bullying intervention, preservice teacher-training, and future research are discussed.
Supergravity dual of Chern-Simons Yang-Mills theory with = 6, 8 superconformal IR fixed point

We construct a solution of eleven dimensional supergravity corresponding to a stack of M2 branes localized at the center of a particular eight dimensional hyper-Kahler manifold constructed by Gauntlett, Gibbons, Papadopoulos, and Townsend, generalizing the earlier construction of Cherkis and Hashimoto. In the decoupling limit, this solution is dual to a Chern-Simons/Yang-Mills/Matter theory in 2+1 dimensions with = 3 supersymmetry, which flows in the infra red to a superconformal Chern-Simons/Matter system preserving = 6, 8 supersymmetry, constructed recently by Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis, and Maldacena.
Ribose Utilization with an Excess of Mutarotase Causes Cell Death Due to Accumulation of Methylglyoxal

ABSTRACT Methylglyoxal (MG) is a highly reactive metabolic intermediate, presumably accumulated during uncontrolled carbohydrate metabolism. The major source of MG is dihydroxyacetone phosphate, which is catalyzed by MG synthase (the mgs product) in bacteria. We observed Escherichia coli cell death when the ribose transport system, consisting of the RbsDACBK proteins, was overproduced on multicopy plasmids. Almost 100% of cell death occurs a few hours after ribose addition (>10 mM), due to an accumulation of extracellular MG as detected by 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR). Under lethal conditions, the concentration of MG produced in the medium reached approximately 1 mM after 4 h of ribose addition as measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. An excess of the protein RbsD, recently characterized as a mutarotase that catalyzes the conversion between the β-pyran and β-furan forms of ribose, was critical in accumulating the lethal level of MG, which was also shown to require ribokinase (RbsK). The intracellular level of ribose 5-phosphate increased with the presence of the protein RbsD, as determined by 31P-NMR. As expected, a mutation in the methylglyoxal synthase gene (mgs) abolished the production of MG. These results indicate that the enhanced ribose uptake and incorporation lead to an accumulation of MG, perhaps occurring via the pentose-phosphate pathway and via glycolysis with the intermediates fructose 6-phosphate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate. It was also demonstrated that a small amount of MG is synthesized by monoamine oxidase.
Tensile and Fatigue Behaviour of Glass Fibre Reinforced Polyester Composites

This document contains the formatting information for the papers presented at the International conference on “4th International Conference on Recent Advances in Automotive Engineering & Mobility Research (ReCAR IV)”. The conference would be held at Hotel Bangi-Putrajaya during August 8-10, 2017. Fibreglass composites are one of the materials that can be used in manufacturing of the vehicles part due to their excellent lightweight properties. Composite structures may undergone the fatigue failure when subjected to a certain numbers of cyclic loading, which is normally occurs below the ultimate strength of material. However, there still lack of studies on the effect of fibre orientations on the fatigue strength of glass fibre reinforced composites (GFRC). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine which orientation would have the highest fatigue strength. The fibre materials used in this study is unidirectional glass fibre with [0/90]°, [ ±45]° orientation and chopped strand mat (CSM). The composite is fabricated from glass fibre and polyester resin using a hand lay-up technique according to ASTM D3039 for tensile test and ASTM D3479 for fatigue test. The results were presented in the form of S-N curve. The results show that the mechanical properties and fatigue behavior were significantly affected by the fibre orientation of the GFRC
ERP Correlates of Procedural Learning: Designing a Task for Children with Autism

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Throughout this whole process there were numerous people who made my thesis-writing experience possible, in addition to quite a few others who helped make it more enjoyable. First, I would like to thank everyone at the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience for giving me the opportunity to work on this study and to extend it into a thesis. To Shafali Jeste for encouraging me to take this project on from the very beginning, for helping me in her spare time from literally across the entire country, and also in general for being an awesome and inspiring mentor. Also to Margaret Sheridan who so kindly obliged to spend several long, sunny Saturdays teaching me about ERPs, ANOVAs, and sweat artifact season. I truly appreciate all the off-hours time and effort they both put into allowing me to make this happen. I would also like to thank Matt Kurtz, whose passion for neuroscience was contagious in NS&B 213 and who has unfailingly continued to inspire me in the many semesters since – thank you for advising me on this project at Wesleyan and for offering consistent support and helpful suggestions all along the way. Also thank you to Anna Shusterman, who rendered me eternally perplexed and compelled about the role of language in thought, and to Charles Sanislow for taking the time to be readers on this thesis. To the ladies of 44 Home, I want to thank you for coaxing me out of my carrel to participate in civilization, and also just for being fantastic people as always. Also to my fellow thesis writers and other Olin regulars – it was a pleasure procrastinating with you all. Lastly, I want to thank my wonderful family for their incredible support in everything I do. To Dad and Dena for taking the time to read this entire manuscript despite their admittedly minimal prior interest in autism or procedural learning. Also, to Mom for being a reliable listener, faithful editor, and a fielder of APA style questions at any time, day or night.
Cost effectiveness analysis of a randomised trial of acupuncture for chronic headache in primary care

Abstract Objective To evaluate the cost effectiveness of acupuncture in the management of chronic headache. Design Cost effectiveness analysis of a randomised controlled trial. Setting General practices in England and Wales. Participants 401 patients with chronic headache, predominantly migraine. Interventions Patients were randomly allocated to receive up to 12 acupuncture treatments over three months from appropriately trained physiotherapists, or to usual care alone. Main outcome measure Incremental cost per quality adjusted life year (QALY) gained. Results Total costs during the one year period of the study were on average higher for the acupuncture group (£403; $768;€598) than for controls (£217) because of the acupuncture practitioners' costs. The mean health gain from acupuncture during the one year of the trial was 0.021 quality adjusted life years (QALYs), leading to a base case estimate of £9180 per QALY gained. This result was robust to sensitivity analysis. Cost per QALY dropped substantially when the analysis incorporated likely QALY differences for the years after the trial. Conclusions Acupuncture for chronic headache improves health related quality of life at a small additional cost; it is relatively cost effective compared with a number of other interventions provided by the NHS.
of Linguistics and Cognitive

Studies of coordination in rhythmic limb movement have established that certain phase relationships among cycling limbs are preferred, i.e. patterns such as synchrony and anti-synchrony are produced more often and more reliably than arbitrary relations. A speech experiment in which subjects attempt to place a phrase-medial stress at a range of phases within an overall phrase repetition cycle is presented, and analogous results are found. Certain phase relations occur more frequently and exhibit greater stability than others. To a rst approximation, these phases are predicted by a simple harmonic model. The observed commonalities between limb movements and spoken rhythm support Lashley's conjecture that a common control strategy underlies the coordination of all rhythmic activity.
Orbitofrontal cortex mediates pain inhibition by monetary reward

Abstract Pleasurable stimuli, including reward, inhibit pain, but the level of the neuraxis at which they do so and the cerebral processes involved are unknown. Here, we characterized a brain circuitry mediating pain inhibition by reward. Twenty-four healthy participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while playing a wheel of fortune game with simultaneous thermal pain stimuli and monetary wins or losses. As expected, winning decreased pain perception compared to losing. Inter-individual differences in pain modulation by monetary wins relative to losses correlated with activation in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC). When pain and reward occured simultaneously, mOFCs functional connectivity changed: the signal time course in the mOFC condition-dependent correlated negatively with the signal time courses in the rostral anterior insula, anterior-dorsal cingulate cortex and primary somatosensory cortex, which might signify moment-to-moment down-regulation of these regions by the mOFC. Monetary wins and losses did not change the magnitude of pain-related activation, including in regions that code perceived pain intensity when nociceptive input varies and/or receive direct nociceptive input. Pain inhibition by reward appears to involve brain regions not typically involved in nociceptive intensity coding but likely mediate changes in the significance and/or value of pain.
Demonstrating Credentials? Female Executives, Women’s Status, and the Use of Force

ABSTRACT Prior research has found that though higher levels of women’s equality are associated with more peaceful interstate relations, female executives have been found to be significantly more hawkish than their male counterparts. We argue that this paradox can be explained by considering the gender environment in which those executives are operating. First, in contrast to prior quantitative findings that female-led states are more conflictual, we find that after distinguishing between initiation and being targeted, female executives only seek to “demonstrate their security credentials” when governing countries with very poor women’s status. Female-led states are increasingly more peaceful when women’s rights improve. Second, we find that male leaders also respond to the domestic gender environment and are significantly more likely to initiate disputes against states with female executives but are also increasingly less likely to do so as women’s rights in their state improve.