Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multifocal and pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials vs. automated perimetry frequency-doubling technology matrix in optic neuritis

Background: To compare the usefulness of the traditional pattern-reversal Visual Evoked Potentials (VEP) with multifocal VEP (mfVEP) and Frequency-Doubling Technology (FDT) perimetry in the evaluation of the ocular abnormalities induced by acute or subacute optic neuritis (ON). Materials and Methods: The test results of 24 ON patients were compared with those obtained in 40 normal control subjects. MfVEP recordings were obtained by using an Optoelectronic Stimulator that extracts topographic VEP using a pseudorandom m-sequence stimulus. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated to determine the sensitivity and specificity of abnormal values. Results: The frequency of the abnormal ocular findings differed in the ON patients according to the used technique. Reduced visual sensitivity was demonstrated in 12 eyes (54.5%) using FDT perimetry; 17 eyes (77.2%) showed decreased amplitude and/or an increase in the implicit time of the P1 wave in mfVEP and 20 eyes (90.9%) showed an abnormal decrease in the amplitude and/or an increase in the latency of the P100 peak at VEP examination. The areas under the ROC curves ranged from 0.743 to 0.935, with VEP having the largest areas. The VEP and mfVEP amplitudes and latencies yielded the greatest sensitivity and specificity. Conclusions: The mfVEP and the FDT perimetry can be used for the evaluation and monitoring of visual impairment in patients with ON. The most sensitive and practical diagnostic tool in patients with ON is, however, the traditional VEP. The mfVEP can be utilized in those cases with doubtful or negative VEP results.
Dialogic teaching in Turkish courses: What the teachers say and what they do?

In this research, it is aimed to investigate in depth the thoughts and practices of primary teachers regarding the practice of dialogical teaching. This research is designed as a phenomenological. Within the scope of the study, the researcher examined the conditions under which the experiences of dialogic teaching in the learning-teaching process are realised, focusing on the phenomenon of dialogical teaching. Research data are gathered through interviews and observations. 11 primary teachers participated in the interviews as well as with the observations in the classroom of four teachers. In the analysis of the interview data, Moustakas data analysis technique is used. The findings of the interviews show that teachers care about interaction and try to regulate the learning environment accordingly. On the contrary, the findings obtained from the observations do not support the interviews. It is observed that the learning environment is monologue rather than dialogic. Keywords: Dialogic teaching, primary teachers, interaction in class.
Are University Admissions Academically Fair?

Abstract Admission practices at high-profile universities are often criticized for undermining academic merit. Popular tests for detecting such biases suffer from omitted characteristic bias. We develop a bounds-based test to circumvent this problem. We assume that students who are better qualified on observableswould, on average, appear academically stronger to admission officers based on unobservables. This assumption reveals the sign of differences in admission standards across demographic groups that are robust to omitted characteristics. Applying our methods to admissions data from a British university, we find higher admission standards for men and slightly higher ones for private school applicants, despite equal admission success probability across gender and school background.
Variety‐Seeking and Perceived Expertise

People often infer expertise from the choice of unique, rare, or sophisticated options. But might mere varietyseeking also serve as a signal of expertise, and if so, how? Six studies show that the relationship between variety-seeking and perceived expertise is not unidirectional and depends on the perceiver’s own level of expertise. Category experts perceive lower variety-seeking as indicative of discernment, which in turn increases perceived expertise in that category. Consequently, experts choose less variety to portray themselves as experts. In contrast, novices perceive high variety-seeking as indicative of category breadth knowledge, which in turn increases their perception of category expertise. Consequently, novices choose more variety to portray themselves as experts. The findings make novel theoretical contributions to research on variety-seeking, consumer expertise, and social perception, as well as practical contributions for marketers of product assortments and bundles.
New Avian Paramyxoviruses Type I Strains Identified in Africa Provide New Outcomes for Phylogeny Reconstruction and Genotype Classification

Newcastle disease (ND) is one of the most lethal diseases of poultry worldwide. It is caused by an avian paramyxovirus 1 that has high genomic diversity. In the framework of an international surveillance program launched in 2007, several thousand samples from domestic and wild birds in Africa were collected and analyzed. ND viruses (NDV) were detected and isolated in apparently healthy fowls and wild birds. However, two thirds of the isolates collected in this study were classified as virulent strains of NDV based on the molecular analysis of the fusion protein and experimental in vivo challenges with two representative isolates. Phylogenetic analysis based on the F and HN genes showed that isolates recovered from poultry in Mali and Ethiopia form new groups, herein proposed as genotypes XIV and sub-genotype VIf with reference to the new nomenclature described by Diel’s group. In Madagascar, the circulation of NDV strains of genotype XI, originally reported elsewhere, is also confirmed. Full genome sequencing of five African isolates was generated and an extensive phylogeny reconstruction was carried out based on the nucleotide sequences. The evolutionary distances between groups and the specific amino acid signatures of each cluster allowed us to refine the genotype nomenclature.
Functional Evaluation of Genetic and Environmental Regulators of P450 mRNA Levels

Variations in the activities of Cytochrome P450s are one of the major factors responsible for inter-individual differences in drug clearance rates, which may cause serious toxicity or inefficacy of therapeutic drugs. Various mRNA level is one of the key factors for different activity of the major P450 genes. Although both genetic and environmental regulators of P450 gene expression have been widely investigated, few studies have evaluated the functional importance of cis- and trans-regulatory factors and environmental factors in the modulation of inter-individual expression variations of the P450 genes. In this study, we measured the mRNA levels of seven major P450 genes (CYP1A1, CYP1A2, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP3A4 and CYP3A5) in 96 liver biopsy samples from Chinese population. Both trans-acting (mRNA levels and non-synonymous SNPs of putative regulator genes) and cis-acting (gene copy number and functional SNPs) factors were investigated to identify the determinants of the expression variations of these seven P450 genes. We found that expression variations of most P450 genes, regulator genes and housekeeping genes were positively correlated at the mRNA level. After partial correlation analysis using ACTB and GAPDH expression to eliminate the effect of global regulators, a UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean) tree was constructed to reveal the effects of specific regulation networks potentially masked by global regulators. Combined with the functional analysis of regulators, our results suggested that expression variation at the mRNA level was mediated by several factors in a gene-specific manner. Cis-acting genetic variants might play key roles in the expression variation of CYP2D6 and CYP3A5, environmental inducers might play key roles in CYP1A1 and CYP1A2 variation and global regulators might play key roles in CYP2C9 variation. In addition, the functions of regulators that play less important roles in controlling expression variation for each P450 gene were determined.
To Buy or Not to Buy? An Experimental Study of Consumer Boycotts in Retail Markets

We investigate experimentally how firms and consumers react to a sudden cost increase in a competitive retail market. We compare two conditions that exclusively differ with respect to how difficult it is to organize and enforce boycotts. We find that cost increases translate into sudden price increases, and that consumer boycotts are frequent in response. However, consumer boycotts are unsuccessful in holding down market prices even if collective action problems are completely eliminated. While consumer boycotts do not increase consumer rent, they reduce market efficiency. Consumer boycotts apparently serve to punish firms for seemingly unfair price increases.
A new generalized thresholding algorithm for inverse problems with sparsity constraints

We propose a new generalized thresholding algorithm useful for inverse problems with sparsity constraints. The algorithm uses a thresholding function with a parameter p, first mentioned in [1]. When p = 1, the thresholding function is equivalent to classical soft thresholding. For values of p below 1, the thresholding penalizes small coefficients over a wider range and applies less bias to the larger coefficients, much like hard thresholding but without discontinuities. The functional that the new thresholding minimizes is non-convex for p <; 1. We state an algorithm similar to the Iterative Soft Thresholding Algorithm (ISTA) [2]. We show that the new thresholding performs better in numerical examples than soft thresholding.
Reprogramming of mesenchymal stem cells and adult fibroblasts following nuclear transfer in rabbits

ABBREVIATIONS 6-DMAP ART Blast BM BMSCs BSA °C CB CHX Cm DAPI DC DMEM DMSO DNA DNMT DMR EDTA EG cells EGFP ES cells ET FCS FSH g g h H3-K4 H3-K27 hCG HDAC ICM IU IVF i.e. iPS cells kV LH µg µl µm µM µs M M199 mA MBD MSC 6-dimethylaminopurine assisted reproduction technologies blastocyst bone marrow bone marrow stem cells bovine serum albumin Celsius degree cytochalasin B cycloheximide centimeter 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole direct current Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium dimethyl sulfoxide deoxyribonucleic acid DNA methyltransferase differentially methylated region ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid embryonic germ cells enhanced green fluorescent protein embryonic stem cells embryo transfer fetal calf serum follicle-stimulating hormone gram relative centrifugal force (RCF) hour histone H3 lysine 4 histone H3 lysine 27 human chorionic gonadotrophin histone deacetylase inner cell mass international unit in vitro fertilized that is induced pluripotent stem cells kilovolt luteinizing hormone microgram microliter micrometer micromolar microsecond molar Hepes buffered medium 199 supplemented with 10% FCS milliampere methyl binding domain protein mesenchymal stem cell MeCP Mg MII min ml mM mm mPBS NaBu NEBD ng nm NT ntES PBS PCC PDs PGCs PMSG POU5F1 RFF RT SCNT sec V vs. methyl-CpG binding proteins milligram second meiotic division minute milliliter millimolar millimeter modified PBS (PBS supplemented with BSA) sodium butyrate nuclear envelope breakdown nanogram nanometer nuclear transfer embryonic stem cell derived from nuclear transfer phosphate buffered saline premature chromosome condensation population doublings primordial germ cells pregnant mare's serum gonadotrophin POU domain, class 5, transcription factor 1 rabbit fetal fibroblast cells room temperature somatic cell nuclear transfer second volt versus Content I Donor cell sources Embryonic cells Somatic cells and cell lines Stem cells Embryonic stem cells Adult stem cells Nuclear reprogramming of cloned embryos DNA methylation during embryonic development of normal (in vivo derived) and cloned embryos Genomic imprinting Histone modification Steps of NT Embryo reconstruction Cell cycle synchronization between donor cells and recipient oocytes Activation of reconstructed embryos Application and prospects of cloning Identical animals for research and clinic trial Production of a large flock of the same quality and genetic background farm animals (reproductive cloning) Rescue of endangered species Genetically modified animals for bioreactor factories and cancer research Cloned pigs for tissue and/or organ transplantation
The Effect of Options on Stock Prices: 1973 to 1995

I show that the effect of option introductions on underlying stock prices is best described by a two-regime switching means model whose optimal switch date occurs in 1981. In accordance with previous studies, I find positive abnormal returns for options listed during 1973 to 1980. By contrast, I find negative abnormal returns for options listed in 1981 and later. Possible causes for this switch include the introduction of index options in 1982, the implementation of regulatory changes in 1981, and the possibility that options expedite the dissemination of negative information. Copyright The American Finance Association 2000.
The ecological connectivity of whale shark aggregations in the Indian Ocean: a photo-identification approach

Genetic and modelling studies suggest that seasonal aggregations of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) at coastal sites in the tropics may be linked by migration. Here, we used photo-identification (photo-ID) data collected by both citizen scientists and researchers to assess the connectedness of five whale shark aggregation sites across the entire Indian Ocean at timescales of up to a decade. We used the semi-automated program I3S (Individual Interactive Identification System) to compare photographs of the unique natural marking patterns of individual whale sharks collected from aggregations at Mozambique, the Seychelles, the Maldives, Christmas Island (Australia) and Ningaloo Reef (Australia). From a total of 6519 photos, we found no evidence of connectivity of whale shark aggregations at ocean-basin scales within the time frame of the study and evidence for only limited connectivity at regional (hundreds to thousands of kilometres) scales. A male whale shark photographed in January 2010 at Mozambique was resighted eight months later in the Seychelles and was the only one of 1724 individuals in the database to be photographed at more than one site. On average, 35% of individuals were resighted at the same site in more than one year. A Monte Carlo simulation study showed that the power of this photo-ID approach to document patterns of emigration and immigration was strongly dependent on both the number of individuals identified in aggregations and the size of resident populations.
Modelling foraging movements of diving predators: a theoretical study exploring the effect of heterogeneous landscapes on foraging efficiency

Foraging in the marine environment presents particular challenges for air-breathing predators. Information about prey capture rates, the strategies that diving predators use to maximise prey encounter rates and foraging success are still largely unknown and difficult to observe. As well, with the growing awareness of potential climate change impacts and the increasing interest in the development of renewable sources it is unknown how the foraging activity of diving predators such as seabirds will respond to both the presence of underwater structures and the potential corresponding changes in prey distributions. Motivated by this issue we developed a theoretical model to gain general understanding of how the foraging efficiency of diving predators may vary according to landscape structure and foraging strategy. Our theoretical model highlights that animal movements, intervals between prey capture and foraging efficiency are likely to critically depend on the distribution of the prey resource and the size and distribution of introduced underwater structures. For multiple prey loaders, changes in prey distribution affected the searching time necessary to catch a set amount of prey which in turn affected the foraging efficiency. The spatial aggregation of prey around small devices (∼ 9 × 9 m) created a valuable habitat for a successful foraging activity resulting in shorter intervals between prey captures and higher foraging efficiency. The presence of large devices (∼ 24 × 24 m) however represented an obstacle for predator movement, thus increasing the intervals between prey captures. In contrast, for single prey loaders the introduction of spatial aggregation of the resources did not represent an advantage suggesting that their foraging efficiency is more strongly affected by other factors such as the timing to find the first prey item which was found to occur faster in the presence of large devices. The development of this theoretical model represents a useful starting point to understand the energetic reasons for a range of potential predator responses to spatial heterogeneity and environmental uncertainties in terms of search behaviour and predator–prey interactions. We highlight future directions that integrated empirical and modelling studies should take to improve our ability to predict how diving predators will be impacted by the deployment of manmade structures in the marine environment.
Large-scale land acquisitions and leases: A set of minimum principles and measures to address the human rights challenge

On the basis of this analysis, the Special Rapporteur proposes a set of core principles and measures for host States and investors. These principles are intended to inform current initiatives such as the adoption of guidelines on land policies and governance by international and regional organizations. Their main aim is to ensure that negotiations leading to land acquisitions and leases comply with a number of procedural requirements, including the informed participation of local communities. They also seek to ensure adequate benefit-sharing, and a proviso that under no circumstances should such transactions be allowed to trump the human rights obligations of States. United Nations A/HRC/13/33/Add.2 General Assembly Distr. : General 28 December 2009
Integral field spectroscopy of Hα emission in cooling flow cluster cores : disturbing the molecular gas reservoir

We present optical integral field spectroscopy of the Hα-luminous (>1042 erg s−1) central cluster galaxies in the cores of the cooling flow clusters A1664, A1835, A2204 and Zw8193. From the [N ii]+Hα complex in these moderate resolution (70–150 km s−1) spectra we derive 2D views of the distribution and kinematics of the emission-line gas, and further diagnostics from the [S ii] and [O i] lines. The Hα emission shows a variety of disturbed morphologies, ranging from smooth but distorted to clumpy and filamentary, with velocity gradients and splittings of several hundred km s−1 on spatial scales of 20 kpc or more. Despite the small sample size, there are some generic features. The most disturbed Hα emission appears to be associated with secondary galaxies within 10–20 kpc (projected) of the central galaxy and close in velocity to the Hα. The global Hα kinematics match those of the CO(1–0) emission in single-dish data. The [N ii]/Hα, [S ii]/Hα and [O i]/Hα ratios vary little with position, local Hα surface brightness or between clusters. We propose that the Hα and CO emission arise in molecular clouds heated by a starburst, and that the latter has been triggered by interaction with a secondary galaxy. Such CO emission is known to trace massive (>1010 M⊙) compact (<20 kpc) reservoirs of cool molecular gas, and it is plausible that an infalling galaxy would disturb this gas, distorting the Hα morphology and initiating widespread star formation. We also examine the role of cloud–cloud collisions in the undisturbed molecular gas reservoir, and suggest that they might be an important source of excitation for the emission-line gas in the cores of lower Hα luminosity clusters with less intense star formation.
Genotype Diversity of H9N2 Viruses Isolated from Wild Birds and Chickens in Hunan Province, China

Three H9N2 avian influenza viruses were isolated from the Dongting Lake wetland, among which one was from fresh egret feces, the other two were from chicken cloacal swabs in poultry markets. Phylogenetic analyses suggested that eight genes of the egret-derived H9N2 virus might come from Korean-like or American-like lineages. The two poultry-derived H9N2 viruses were reassortants between the CK/BJ/94-like and G1-like viruses. Except the PB1 genes (90.6%), the nucleotide sequence of other internal genes of the two viruses exhibited high homology (>95%). In addition, they also exhibited high homology (96–98.3%) with some genes of the H7N9 virus that caused an epidemic in China in 2013. Nucleotide sequence of the poultry-derived and egret-derived H9N2 viruses shared low homology. Infection studies showed that the egret-derived H9N2 virus was non-pathogenic to both mice and chickens, and the virus was unable to infect chickens even through 8 passages continuously in the lung. On the other hand, the chickens infected by poultry-derived viruses showed obvious clinical symptoms and even died; the infected mice showed no noticeable clinical symptoms and weight loss, but viruses could be detected in their lungs. In conclusion, for the egret-derived H9N2 virus, it would take a long adaptation process to achieve cross-species transmission in poultry and mammals. H9N2 viruses isolated at different times from the same host species in the same geographical region presented different evolutionary status, and virus isolated from different hosts in the same geographical region exhibited genetic diversity. Therefore, it is important to continue the H9N2 virus surveillance for understanding their evolutionary trends so as to provide guidance for disease control and prevention.
Generations Comparison: Father Role Representations in the 1980s and the New Millennium

In the light of relevant and current debate on the changing role of fathers, this contribution is aimed at analysing the international literature on fatherhood, comparing two distinct periods of time, from the social, cultural and demographic point of view: the years 1980–1999 and the new millennium. This will contribute to identifying features of the fatherhood transformation in these two contexts, which in fact refer to two generations of fathers. The research questions to be answered are: Which aspects characterize the process of fatherhood transformation, in an intergenerational perspective? How are paternal childcare practices represented in different historical and social periods? An analysis of the academic publications on fathers in Scopus and Google Scholar will be conducted, in the two temporal periods indicated, using T-Lab software, in order to map fathers’ role representations.
Avoiding Inertia in Collaborative Supply Chain Systems: The Decision-Makers Role

To compete in knowledge intensive industries, firms are increasingly looking to trading partner collaboration as a means of bolstering innovation and competitive advantage. Specifically, many decision-makers are deploying Internet-enabled supply chain systems with the view to promoting collaborative activities and relationships with strategic suppliers. In reality, many of these so-called ‘collaborative’ supply chain systems have underperformed or been terminated. While these systems frequently achieve gains in operational performance, often they fail to enact any substantial relationship change or redesign business processes as required for collaboration. Hence, this study deploys a process-based approach to examine the intervention factors during implementation to distinguish successful from unsuccessful collaborative attempts. In this paper, the authors propose critical intervention requirements that decision makers need to consider when instigating and managing collaboration amongst trading partners. Based upon empirical data from an EC-Funded Fifth Framework Project, this research investigates the impact of an Internet-based system on three disparate industry supply chains attempting to promote collaboration within their supplier network.