Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vital scientific puzzle or lived uncertainty? Professional and lived approaches to the uncertainties of ageing with HIV

Abstract The ageing of the HIV population is unfolding within the context of a politicised history of medical care, medical breakthroughs changing HIV from a fatal to a chronic illness, and a long-standing treatment partnership between medical professionals and HIV patients. This article draws on in-depth interviews with those living with HIV in later life (aged 50 and over), as well as those working with them, to uncover how these various actors understand the nature and consequences of this new phenomenon, and whether their understandings and approaches vary according to the individual’s connection to it. All informants described the interaction between ageing and HIV as complex and incompletely understood, and accounted for their own uncertainties about this interplay as due to a global knowledge gap produced by the novelty of ageing with HIV. In these data, working in the area of, or being personally affected by, ageing with HIV emerged as ‘experiments in living, ’ with those variously involved in the phenomenon forced to take tentative, exploratory steps while navigating ‘uncharted territory. ’ Yet, the poorly-understood nature of the ageing/HIV interplay was framed differently, with clinicians and scientists constructing it as a temporary gap in technical knowledge (a scientific puzzle), and non-medical stakeholders and older people living with HIV describing it as an anxiety-provoking source of chronic uncertainty permeating daily life. These differences and similarities can help us to reformulate what medical sociology has often constructed as a static ‘gulf’ between the clinical and the lifeworlds as, instead, gravitational pulls towards clinical and experiential dimensions of chronic illness as it unfolds in later life.
Working with the Experts: Collaborative research with people with an intellectual disability

ABSTRACT This paper reports on part of a wider study concerned with the collaborative efforts of an inquirer and six people with an intellectual disability, to develop a grounded theory explaining the processes by which these informants manage the relationships within their personal communities. The study was conducted through a series of in-depth interviews with each informant; a process characterised by information sharing, tentative theory development and elaboration, and informants' checking the accuracy of the emerging theory. This inductive approach allowed not only an insight into the lives of each informant, but recognised the informants' expertise in matters concerning their own lives and thus facilitated the emergence of theoretical elements of relevance to the informants themselves. The focus of the paper is on the collaborative or partnership approach adopted. The outcomes of the research partnership are detailed and implications drawn for the role of research in the lifestyles of people with an intellectual disability.
Panacea or Panopticon?

This article examines how interaction by means of computer-mediated communication (CMC) affects the operation of both status differentials and power relations. The authors attempt to provide a corrective to the dominant assessment, particularly within social psychological analyses, that CMC tends to equalize status, decentralize and democratize decision making, and thus empower and liberate the individual user. This emphasis contrasts with sociological critiques employing the Foucauldian metaphor of the panopticon, claiming that power relations can actually be reinforced in CMC. The authors argue that prevailing conceptualizations of influence and power within social psychology have tended to prefigure the more optimistic account, and outline a theoretical framework in which processes of “panoptic power” in CMC are given a more concrete social psychological foundation.
Probing the Nucleation of $\hbox{Al}_{2}\hbox{O}_{3}$  in Atomic Layer Deposition on Aluminum for Ultrathin Tunneling Barriers in Josephson Junctions

Ultrathin dielectric tunneling barriers are critical to Josephson junction (JJ) based superconducting quantum bits (qubits). However, the prevailing technique of thermally oxidizing aluminum via oxygen diffusion produces problematic defects, such as oxygen vacancies, which are believed to be a primary source of the two-level fluctuators and contribute to the decoherence of the qubits. Development of alternative approaches for improved tunneling barriers becomes urgent and imperative. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of aluminum oxide is a promising alternative to resolve the issue of oxygen vacancies in the tunneling barrier, and its self-limiting growth mechanism provides atomic-scale precision in tunneling barrier thickness control. A critical issue in ALD of on metals is the lack of hydroxyl groups on metal surface, which prevents nucleation of the trimethylaluminum. In this work, we explore modifications of the aluminum surface with water pulse exposures followed by trimethylaluminum pulse exposures to assess the feasibility of ALD as a viable technique for JJ qubits. ALD films from 40 to 100 were grown on 1.4 to 500 of Al, and were characterized with ellipsometry and atomic force microscopy. A growth rate of 1.2 was measured, and an interfacial layer was observed. Because the interfacial layer thickness depends on the availability of Al and saturated at 2 nm, choosing ultrathin Al wetting layers may lead to ultrathin ALD tunneling barriers.
Studies on immunomodulatory effects of Salacia chinensis L. on albino rats

Article history: Received on: 26/08/2012 Revised on: 10/09/2012 Accepted on: 15/09/2012 Available online: 28/09/2012 India has a very rich diverse faunal and floral wealth spread across the length and breadth of country. Biodiversity hotspots like Himalayan region and Western Ghats are bestowed with innumerous number of potential medicinally important plants whose scientific research are yet to be taken up. Salacia chinensis is one among them and forms one of the known ethanobotanically used herbal drug for diabetes and aliments. A scientific study on physiological effect of Salacia chinensis can give baseline information about potency of plant drug formulae. Therefore this plant was taken up for the study of immunomodulatory effects on swiss albino rats. Rats were fed with a concentration of 1 mg/kg, 2 mg/kg, 4 mg/kg and 32 mg/kg body weight of aqoues extract of Salacia chinensis for a period of 14 days. Various hematological, serological and immunological parameters were studied at the end of 14days trial and compared with control group. Total leukocyte count, neutrophil percentage, blood glucose hemoglobin, hemagglutination antiboby titer against SRBC and delayed hypersensitivity reaction were found increased along the animals treated with 1mg/kg body weight of animal. On the contrary higher concentration of drug have reduced immune response compared to control group showing the negative effect of the higher concentration of drug on the immune response. The present study of Salacia chinensis evidently shows that concentration of 1mg/kg can boost the immune system and at the same time if used at higher concentration can determine the immune system.
Dilemmas of Peer Assistance in a Bilingual Full Inclusion Classroom

In this ethnographic study of a second-grade full inclusion classroom, I examined spontaneous, unstructured peer assistance interactions between 22 general education and 11 special education students during small-group and independent work periods. Data sources included field notes from 9 months of participant observation, transcripts of audio and video recordings, and interviews with teachers and students. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of helping interactions revealed that helping exchanges in academic contexts were complicated by students' social agendas, particularly their desire to achieve mastery, display competence, establish their place in the classroom social network, and save face. The complex peer social worlds of the classroom affected special education students' access to curricular content. Examples of classroom interaction involving 3 focal special education students are given. Implications for classroom practice include the need for more active teacher involvement in understanding and monitoring students' helping interactions, the creation of learning structures that allow all students to display competence regularly, and direct instruction in the social and linguistic skills necessary for fuller participation in peer assistance.
The Effect of Vitamin D Status on Pediatric Asthma at a University Hospital, Thailand

Purpose In the USA and Europe, hypovitaminosis D is associated with increased asthma severity, emergency department (ED) visit, and impaired pulmonary function in asthmatic patients. However, in tropical countries, data on the effect of vitamin D status on asthma is limited. This study evaluates the relationship between vitamin D status and the level of asthma control as well as other asthmatic parameters. Methods Asthmatic children were evaluated for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, pulmonary function tests, a skin prick test, and the level of asthma control. Results A total of 125 asthmatic children were recruited (boys, 66.4%). Their mean age±SD was 10.8±3.0 years. Vitamin D statuses were: deficiency (<20 ng/mL) in 19.2% of the patients, insufficiency (20-30 ng/mL) in 44.8%, and sufficiency (>30 ng/mL) in 36%. The vitamin D levels were 25.9±9.4 ng/mL in uncontrolled patients, 29.2±8.6 ng/mL in partly controlled patients, and 27.9±8.0 ng/mL in controlled patients (P>0.05). There were no significant differences in pulmonary function, asthma exacerbation, inhaled-corticosteroid (ICS) dose, anti-inflammatory drugs, or ED visit or hospitalization between different vitamin D statuses. Vitamin D deficiency patients were older and had a delayed onset of asthma than insufficiency or sufficiency patients. There was no significant correlation between serum vitamin D and pulmonary function/doses of ICS. Conclusions High prevalences of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency were found in asthmatic children in Thailand; however, there was no significant relationship between vitamin D status and the level of asthma control or other asthma parameters.
An Exact A* Method for Deciphering Letter-Substitution Ciphers

Letter-substitution ciphers encode a document from a known or hypothesized language into an unknown writing system or an unknown encoding of a known writing system. It is a problem that can occur in a number of practical applications, such as in the problem of determining the encodings of electronic documents in which the language is known, but the encoding standard is not. It has also been used in relation to OCR applications. In this paper, we introduce an exact method for deciphering messages using a generalization of the Viterbi algorithm. We test this model on a set of ciphers developed from various web sites, and find that our algorithm has the potential to be a viable, practical method for efficiently solving decipherment problems.
Measuring self-regulation in a learning context: Reliability and validity of the Self-Regulation of Learning Self-Report Scale (SRL-SRS)

Self-regulation of learning has been suggested to refer to self-directed processes that help individuals learn more effectively. No instrument is available to date examining self-regulation of learning as a relatively stable individual attribute. Therefore, based on Zimmerman's self-regulated learning theory, we composed the Self-Regulation of Learning Self-Report Scale (SRL-SRS), which comprises six subscales: planning, self-monitoring, evaluation, reflection, effort and self-efficacy. This study examined the reliability and validity of the SRL-SRS. Two confirmatory factor analyses were conducted involving 601 and 600 adolescents aged 11 to 17 years (M age = 13.9, SD = 1.3). The first confirmatory factor analysis revealed that an adjusted six-factor model described the observed data and content of factors best, which was cross-validated in the second sample of adolescents. The relative and absolute test-retest reliability was satisfactory. In conclusion, this study showed that the SRL-SRS is a reliable instrument, and supported its content and construct validity.
On "The Censored Newsvendor and the Optimal Acquisition of Information"

We have read Ding et al. (2002), referred to hereafter as DPB, with great interest. DPB con ains two main results: Theorem A claims that the myopic inventory level is a lower bound on the optimal inventory level, and Theo rem B attempts to quantify the marginal expected value of information. However, there are mistakes in the proof of Theorem A. The result itself is correct; a proof is given in Lu et al. (2004). Furthermore, one of the erroneous expressions in DPB's proof leads to an error in the marginal expected value of information in Theorem B. We now provide more details. The equation numbers, unless specified otherwise, refer to the appendix of DPB, available at the Operations Research home page (http://or. pubs.informs.org). The main error in the proof of Theorem A is the follow ing. If a{x) and b{x) are two functions of the variable jc, then the derivative of a(x)b(x) with respect to x is d r / x, / m , / ,da{x) . db(x) ? [a(x)b(x)] = b(x) -? + a(x) -^. DPB's mistake, in essence, is to omit the second term. More specifically, a key step in proving Theorem A is inequality (35):
Speaker identification by combining MFCC and phase information in noisy environments

In conventional speaker recognition methods based on MFCC, the phase information has been ignored. Recently, we proposed a method that integrated MFCC with the phase information on a speaker recognition method. Using the phase information, the speaker identification error rate was reduced by 78% for clean speech. In this paper, we describe the effectiveness of phase information for noisy environments on speaker identification. Integrationg MFCC with phase information, the speaker error identification rates were reduced by 20%∼70% in comparison with using only MFCC in noisy environments.
Class Generative Models Based on Feature Regression for Pose Estimation of Object Categories

In this paper, we propose a method for learning a class representation that can return a continuous value for the pose of an unknown class instance using only 2D data and weak 3D labeling information. Our method is based on generative feature models, i.e., regression functions learned from local descriptors of the same patch collected under different viewpoints. The individual generative models are then clustered in order to create class generative models which form the class representation. At run-time, the pose of the query image is estimated in a maximum a posteriori fashion by combining the regression functions belonging to the matching clusters. We evaluate our approach on the EPFL car dataset and the Pointing'04 face dataset. Experimental results show that our method outperforms by 10% the state-of-the-art in the first dataset and by 9% in the second.
Distributed adaptive attitude consensus of networked spacecraft on directed graphs

In this paper, we address attitude consensus problem of multiple spacecraft in the presence of dynamic uncertainties and bounded constant time delays. The agents are assumed to interact on strongly connected graphs. The consensus objective is achieved via the construction of the reference systems, where the quaternion-based nonlinear inner coupling of the attitudes is utilized as the reference control input such that the attitudes of the reference systems are driven to synchronize asymptotically. Then, based on the reference systems, we perform the quaternion-based adaptive controller design to achieve consensus of the networked spacecraft. The convergence of consensus errors is proved with energy-based analysis structure and Lyapunov stability tool. Finally, simulation with networked spacecraft is included to validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.
The Plasma Viscosity

The viscosity of the plasma was studied briefly by Fahraeus in his original investigations (1921) into the blood sedimentation rate. In 1940 further studies were made by T'Ang and Wang, who concluded that it gave a more accurate picture of the activity of disease processes than the erythrocyte sedimentation rate. The plasma viscosity technique was independently developed by Whittington and his colleagues, who reached a similar conclusion (Miller and Whittington, 1942; Houston, Harkness, and Whittington, 1946). In the present work an attempt has been made to study the importance of individual protein fractions in plasma viscosity changes and to assess the value of such a fractionation in diagnosis, prognosis, and the control of therapy.
Social Assimilation. I

WRITERS on historical and social science are just beginning to turn their attention to the large subject of social assimilation. The impulse given to thought along this new line is mainly due to the influence of Ludwig Gumplowicz, who makes assimilation the most important social fact and considers it the cause of all advance in civilization. To him the struggle of races is the supreme law of social life, and the resulting "cross-fertilizations of culture " t the cause of progress.2 This is the thesis of all his writings, and the masterly way in which he handles his theme has opened up a vast new field for the coming sociologist. Of hardly less importance in this regard is the work of Gustav Ratzenhofer,3 and already through the combined efforts of these two the ground has been thoroughly cultivated and stands ready for planting. The Russian sociologist Novicow also recognizes the importance which the fact of assimilation is to take in all sociological theory, for he prophesies that in the future treatises on assimilation will form vast libraries, such as today are made by the treatises on strategy, tactics, or law.4 That the subject has until recently received little attention is readily seen by a mere glance at the works of our leading
Thailand diabetes registry project: current status of dyslipidemia in Thai diabetic patients.

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of dyslipidemia in adult Thai type 2 diabetes who attended diabetes clinics in university and tertiary-care hospitals. MATERIAL AND METHOD A cross-sectional, multi-center, hospital-based diabetes registry was conducted in 11 diabetic clinics in tertiary medical centers in Bangkok and major provinces between April and December 2003. A group of 9419 diabetic patients were registered. Individual Demographic data including education and socioeconomic status were collected. The results of the physical examination for complications, history screening and laboratory results were recorded. The prevalence of the various complications of diabetes was analyzed and the percentage achievement of metabolic control calculated. RESULTS Of the 9419 diabetic patients registered 8769 had complete demographic and plasma lipid data. Mean age was 59.5 +/- 13.3 years. The percentage of male patients was 33.9%. In the present study, there were 8464 type 2 diabetes and 383 type I diabetes. History of coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular disease were present in 8.1 and 4.2 percent ofthepatients, respectively. More than 80% of the patients had dyslipidemia. The patients with CVD had higher proportion of achieving the LDL target (< 100 mg/dl, 43 vs. 34%). More than half of the patients (55%) were taking lipid lowering medications, but one-third (30%) did not despite havingfulfilled indications. The patients covered by government supported health plan were less likely to received lipid-lowering medication than the patients covered by private health plans (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.57-0.75). The two most commonly used lipid-lowering agents were HMG CoA reductase inhibitors (76%) and fibrates (19%), both agents were used in combination in 5% ofthe patients. Only 40.1% ofthe patients on lipid-lowering medications reached the target LDL goal (<100 mg/dl). CONCLUSION Elevated LDL cholesterol was the most common lipid abnormality in the present study. Although 55% of the patients were taking lipid lowering agents, another 42% of the patients needed the medication. More than half of the patients treated needed more intensive lipid lowering in order to achieve the LDL goal. If the authors wish to follow the current (2005) American Diabetes Association recommendations, we would have to treat up to 97% of diabetic patients with lipid lowering
Improving Access to Mental Health Services for Korean American Immigrants: Moving Toward a Community Partnership Between Religious and Mental Health Services

Korean Americans (KAs) with psychiatric service needs underutilizes the mainstream mental health services in United States (US). Barriers to mental health service access among KAs reflect their unique heritage and culture. More than two-thirds of KAs identify themselves as Christians, and Korean clergy have influential roles in daily lives of vast majority of KAs. By working with the Korean clergy, a small voluntary organization such as the Association of Korean American Psychiatrists could provide invaluable assistance in removing the barriers to mental health services for KAs.
Students' Physical Activity Level, Students' Learning Behavior, and their Formative Class Evaluation during Fitness Units of Elementary School Physical Education Classes

Physical education (PE) has strategic position in dealing with sedentary problem among children. Kaga et al. (1997) have reported that in sedentary children, 21.9% of their daily physical activity (PA) was performed in PE class. Their steps taken during daily PA increased linearly as steps in PE class increased. Related to intensity of physical activity (IPA), McKenzie et al. (1994) reported that upper-elementary school children preferred moderate-intensity PA units of instruction to more strenuous ones. He also insisted that by engaging children in enjoyable PA and teaching them the skills Students’ Physical Activity Level, Students’ Learning Behavior, and their Formative Class Evaluation during Fitness Units of Elementary School Physical Education Classes
Exponential Synchronization of Hybrid Coupled Networks With Delayed Coupling

This paper investigates exponential synchronization of coupled networks with hybrid coupling, which is composed of constant coupling and discrete-delay coupling. There is only one transmittal delay in the delayed coupling. The fact is that in the signal transmission process, the time delay affects only the variable that is being transmitted from one system to another, then it makes sense to assume that there is only one single delay contributing to the dynamics. Some sufficient conditions for synchronization are derived based on Lyapunov functional and linear matrix inequality (LMI). In particular, the coupling matrix may be asymmetric or nondiagonal. Moreover, the transmittal delay can be different from the one in the isolated system. A distinctive feature of this work is that the synchronized state will vary in comparison with the conventional synchronized solution. Especially, the degree of the nodes and the inner delayed coupling matrix heavily influence the synchronized state. Finally, a chaotic neural network is used as the node in two regular networks to show the effectiveness of the proposed criteria.