Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Theory of pixel lensing towards M31 - I. The density contribution and mass of MACHOs

POINT–AGAPE is an Anglo-French collaboration which is employing the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) to conduct a pixel-lensing survey towards M31. Pixel lensing is a technique which permits the detection of microlensing against unresolved stellar fields. The survey aims to constrain the stellar population in M31, and also the distribution and nature of massive compact halo objects (MACHOs) in both M31 and the Galaxy. In this paper we investigate what we can learn from pixel-lensing observables about the MACHO mass and fractional contribution in M31 and the Galaxy for the case of spherically symmetric, near-isothermal haloes. We employ detailed pixel-lensing simulations which include many of the factors that affect the observables, such as non-uniform sampling and signal-to-noise ratio degradation owing to changing observing conditions. For a maximum MACHO halo we predict an event rate in V of up to 100 per observing season for M31 and 40 per season for the Galaxy. However, the Einstein radius crossing time is measurable for less than 10 per cent of the events, and the observed full-width at half-maximum duration provides only a weak tracer of lens mass. None the less, we find that the near–far asymmetry in the spatial distribution of M31 MACHOs provides significant information on their mass and density contribution. We present a likelihood estimator for measuring the fractional contribution and mass of both M31 and Galaxy MACHOs, which permits an unbiased determination to be made of MACHO parameters, even from data sets strongly contaminated by variable stars. If M31 does not have a significant population of MACHOs in the mass range 0.001–1 M⊙, strong limits will result from the first season of INT observations. Simulations based on currently favoured density and mass values indicate that, after three seasons, the M31 MACHO parameters should be constrained to within a factor of 4 uncertainty in halo fraction and an order of magnitude uncertainty in mass (90 per cent confidence). Interesting constraints on Galaxy MACHOs may also be possible. For a campaign lasting 10 years, comparable to the lifetime of current LMC surveys, reliable estimates of MACHO parameters in both galaxies should be possible.
Effects of UV Irradiation on Skin and Nonskin-associated Herpes Simplex Virus Infections in Rats¶

Abstract Herpes simplex virus (HSV) normally causes vescular lesions on mucocutaneous surfaces but can also cause encephalitis. The virus can reactivate from the latent state in neurons to form recrudescent lesions. One common stimulus for reactivation is exposure to sunlight. In the present study, the effects of irradiating rats with suberythemal ultraviolet (UV) before or after infecting them epidermally with HSV was investigated. Preexposure to UV impaired HSV-specific cellular immune responses, as indicated by delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) and in vitro lymphoproliferation assays. However, the number and severity of the skin lesions were not altered. In contrast, exposure after infection did not affect cellular immunity but resulted in a large increase in the severity and number of lesions. In a second series of experiments, the effects of preirradiating with UV on HSV infection was examined using a route of inoculation which was not skin-associated, namely intranasal, allowing direct noninvasive access to the nervous system. It was found that suppressed DTH resulted, together with an increase in the incidence and severity of neurological symptoms and an increased viral load in the brain. Therefore, unlike the situation in the skin, irradiation of rats before intranasal inoculation led to a suppressed immune response to HSV which correlated with increased viral load and symptoms. These results indicate that the effects of UV may be dependent on whether the animal is exposed before or after the infection, and whether the infection is skin-associated or systemic.
Consulting pupils in Assessment for Learning classrooms: the twists and turns of working with students as co‐researchers

Research literature on students as researchers demonstrates a spectrum of constructive ways in which students are being actively engaged in school and classroom action inquiries. Any identified tensions lie in the degree to which students themselves are genuinely engaged as action researchers. Increasingly, externally driven agendas for change and improvement are appropriating action research as means to facilitate teachers in developing new skills and tailor‐making national initiatives. According students appropriately democratic roles in such research processes are a lot less evident. This paper illustrates and discusses some of the difficulties, tensions and positive outcomes of engaging with students as co‐researchers at Key Stage 3 within a nationally funded project that intersects an action research policy framework supporting the introduction of Assessment for Learning throughout Northern Ireland. Issues discussed include student research advisory groups, students as data gatherers and students acting as co‐interpreters of video‐taped and image‐based classroom data.
Optimal Site Selection of Tidal Power Plants Using a Novel Method: A Case in China

The site selection plays an important role in the entire life cycle of a tidal power plant (TPP) project. However, some problems decrease the evaluation quality of TPP site selection: (a) suitable and effective methods are scarce since the TPP site selection involves multiple forms of data; (b) there is no comprehensive evaluation index system due to the unilateralism of existing criteria. In this paper, we firstly propose a novel method based on interval number with probability distribution weighted operation and stochastic dominance degree. It takes all stakeholders’ preferences into consideration and can simultaneously deal with different forms of data in the TPP site selection; then, a comprehensive evaluation index system for TPP site selection is constructed on the basis of academic literature, feasibility research reports and expert opinions in different fields. It takes the factors of construction conditions, existing policies, social impacts as well as ecological and environmental impacts which reflects the inherent characteristics of TPP site selection fully into account. Finally, a Chinese case study is given to illustrate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed method.
Religious Problem Solving and the Complexity of Religious Rationality Within an Iranian Muslim Ideological Surround

Comparative rationality analysis formally examines the incommensurable social rationalities that theoretically exist within religions and the social sciences according to the ideological surround model (ISM) of the psychology of religion. This study extended these procedures to a new cultural context: 220 Iranian university students responded to the Religious Problem-Solving Scales developed by Pargament et al. (1988). As hypothesized, the Collaborative Problem-Solving Style was consistent, and the Self-Directing Style inconsistent, with Iranian Muslim religious and psychological adjustment. The Deferring Style had ambiguous implications. Comparative rationality analysis demonstrated that sample interpretations of these styles explained greater variance in adjustment than did the original scales. These procedures also yielded the unexpected discovery that the Deferring Style included a secular as well as a religious form of Iranian rationality. These data most importantly support the ISM claim that “future objectivity” requires empirical analyses of the incommensurable rationalities operating within the psychology of religion.
Effects of methylprednisolone on bone mineral density and microarchitecture of trabecular bones in rats with administration time and assessed by micro-computed tomography

Background: Little research exists on the dynamic effects of glucocorticoids on bone mineral density (BMD) and microarchitecture of trabecular bones of rats assessed by micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). Purpose: To investigate time-related changes in the BMD and microarchitecture of trabeculae in rats exposed to glucocorticoid. Material and Methods: Female Sprague-Dawley rats were recruited into a baseline group, glucocorticoid-treated groups, or control groups. Glucocorticoid-treated rats were given daily subcutaneous injections of methylprednisolone at a dosage of 3.5 mg/kg for 1 or 9 weeks. A high-resolution micro-CT was used to identify the densitometric and microarchitectural properties of trabeculae in both the proximal metaphysis of tibiae and the sixth lumbar vertebrae (L6). Results: Compared with baseline rats, volumetric BMD, tissue BMD, bone volume fraction, trabecular number, and degree of anisotropy of trabeculae from tibiae or L6 increased in control rats and glucocorticoid-treated rats with time; however, changes in the latter group were smaller. Compared with control rats at each time point, a decrease occurred in volumetric BMD, tissue BMD, bone volume fraction, trabecular number, degree of anisotropy, and trabecular connectivity density in trabecular bones from tibiae or L6 in glucocorticoid-treated rats. The decrease was greater in week 9 compared to week 1. Contrarily, an increase was noted in trabecular thickness, trabecular separation, and structure model index in glucocorticoid-treated rats. A time-related analysis within glucocorticoid-treated groups in both skeletal regions showed a decline in bone volume fraction, trabecular connectivity density, trabecular number, and degree of anisotropy with time, but trabecular thickness and trabecular separation were elevated. Conclusion: Methylprednisolone can inhibit bone mineralization and bone mass gain with growth in rats. It can also deteriorate microarchitecture of trabeculae in a time-dependent or an accumulative dose-dependent manner. Further, the remaining trabeculae appear to thicken in order to adapt to altered stress.
Endotoxin-induced nitric oxide production in pulmonary artery endothelial cells is regulated by cytokines.

BACKGROUND L-Arginine is the sole precursor of nitric oxide (NO). Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (endotoxin) (LPS) stimulates carrier-mediated L-arginine transport in porcine pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) through an autocrine pathway that involves interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). OBJECTIVES To determine if Escherichia coli LPS stimulates NO synthesis in PAECs and, if so, if LPS stimulation of NO production is also mediated by autocrine secretion of IL-1 alpha and TNF-alpha. DESIGN Monolayers of PAECs were incubated with various concentrations of LPS, recombinant human TNF-alpha, or IL-1 alpha, and total nitrate-nitrite accumulation was measured at different time points with the Greiss reagent following cadmium reduction. Release of TNF-alpha and IL-1 alpha release by LPS-stimulated PAECs were measured using the WEHI (for TNF-alpha) and A375.S2 (for IL-1 alpha) bioassays. The PAECs were then incubated with saline solution or LPS in the presence or absence of either a polyclonal antibody to human TNF or IL-1 receptor antagonist, and nitrate-nitrite accumulation was measured at 48 hours. RESULTS Production of NO by PAECs was increased 230% by LPS (1 microgram/mL), 350% by TNF-alpha (1000 U/mL), and 240% by IL-1 alpha (1000 U/mL) (P < .05 vs control). The LPS-stimulated NO production was inhibited by IL-1 receptor antagonist (100 micrograms/mL) or antibody to TNF (10 micrograms/mL) to control levels (P < .05 vs LPS; difference vs saline solution was not significant). The LPS-stimulated TNF-alpha secretion by PAECs and TNF-alpha activity were maximal at 6 hours (400 +/- 42 pg/mL). The IL-1 alpha activity was not detectable in LPS-stimulated PAECs by the A375.S2 bioassay. CONCLUSIONS Endotoxin, TNF-alpha, and IL-1 alpha stimulated NO synthesis in PAECs. Endotoxin-stimulated NO synthesis through an autocrine pathway involving the cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-1 alpha.
White Matter Damage Disorganizes Brain Functional Networks in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

Although progressive functional brain network disruption has been one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's Disease, little is known about the origin of this functional impairment that underlies cognitive symptoms. We investigated how the loss of white matter (WM) integrity disrupts the organization of the functional networks at different frequency bands. The analyses were performed in a sample of healthy elders and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects. Spontaneous brain magnetic activity (measured with magnetoencephalography) was characterized with phase synchronization analysis, and graph theory was applied to the functional networks. We identified WM areas (using diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging) that showed a statistical dependence between the fractional anisotropy and the graph metrics. These regions are part of an episodic memory network and were also related to cognitive functions. Our data support the hypothesis that disruption of the anatomical networks influences the organization at the functional level resulting in the prodromal dementia syndrome of MCI.
Pharmacokinetic of Cyclosporine Microemulsion in Pediatric Kidney Recipients Receiving A Quadruple Immunosuppressive Regimen: The Value of C2 Blood Levels

Background. The management of cyclosporine therapy in pediatric kidney-transplant recipients is largely based on single center's experience rather than on a univocal pharmacokinetic approach based on therapeutic drug monitoring. A prospective multicenter trial was designed to address the question whether C2 blood level monitoring of cyclosporine microemulsion therapy is feasible in the pediatric setting. Methods. Sixty-four pediatric kidney-transplant recipients receiving a triple immunosuppressive regimen based on cyclosporine microemulsion had their cyclosporine dose adjusted to the same protocol-defined C2 targets from the time of the transplant until 2 years posttransplant. The interim analyses after 1 year of enrolment is presented in this study. Results. One-year patient and graft survival were 100% and 94.8%, respectively. One-year rejection rate was 15%. C2 management of cyclosporine did not affect graft function: 1-year serum creatinine and glomerular filtration rate were 1.3±1 mg/mL and 71.2±20 mL/min/1.73 m2, respectively. C2 was the best single-point predictor of the area under the concentration curve throughout the entire follow-up, with a mean coefficient of correlation of 0.97±0.01. Conclusions. C2 management of cyclosporine microemulsion therapy is effective and safe in pediatric kidney-transplant recipients given a combined immunosuppressive treatment.
Machine-Aware Atomic Broadcast Trees for Multicores

The performance of parallel programs on multicore machines often critically depends on group communication operations like barriers and reductions being highly tuned to hardware, a task requiring considerable developer skill. Smelt is a library that automatically builds efficient inter-core broadcast trees tuned to individual machines, using a machine model derived from hardware registers plus micro-benchmarks capturing the low-level machine characteristics missing from vendor specifications. Experiments on a wide variety of multicore machines show that near-optimal tree topologies and communication patterns are highly machine-dependent, but can nevertheless be derived by Smelt and often further improve performance over well-known static topologies. Furthermore, we show that the broadcast trees built by Smelt can be the basis for complex group operations like global barriers or state machine replication, and that the hardware-tuning provided by the underlying tree is sufficient to deliver as good or better performance than state-of-the-art approaches: the higher-level operations require no further hardware optimization.
Causal logistic models for non‐compliance under randomized treatment with univariate binary response

We propose a method for estimating the marginal causal log‐odds ratio for binary outcomes under treatment non‐compliance in placebo‐randomized trials. This estimation method is a marginal alternative to the causal logistic approach by Nagelkerke et al. (2000) that conditions on partially unknown compliance (that is, adherence to treatment) status, and also differs from previous approaches that estimate risk differences or ratios in subgroups defined by compliance status. The marginal causal method proposed in this paper is based on an extension of Robins' G‐estimation approach for fitting linear or log‐linear structural nested models to a logistic model. Comparing the marginal and conditional causal log‐odds ratio estimates provides a way of assessing the magnitude of unmeasured confounding of the treatment effect due to treatment non‐adherence. More specifically, we show through simulations that under weak confounding, the conditional and marginal procedures yield similar estimates, whereas under stronger confounding, they behave differently in terms of bias and confidence interval coverage. The parametric structures that represent such confounding are not identifiable. Hence, the proof of consistency of causal estimators and corresponding simulations are based on two different models that fully identify the causal effects being estimated. These models differ in the way that compliance is related to potential outcomes, and thus differ in the way that the causal effect is identified. The simulations also show that the proposed marginal causal estimation approach performs well in terms of bias under the different levels of confounding due to non‐adherence and under different causal logistic models. We also provide results from the analyses of two data sets further showing how a comparison of the marginal and conditional estimators can help evaluate the magnitude of confounding due to non‐adherence. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A hierarchical particle swarm optimizer with random social cognition for large scale global optimization

In this paper, a Hierarchical Particle Swarm Optimizer with Random Social Cognition, briefly expressed as HPSO-RSC, is proposed. During the execution process of HPSO-RSC, the social environment is changed dynamically, and each particle is not only attracted by its previous best particle and the global best particle of the whole population, but also attracted by all other better particles randomly. During the early stage of the execution process, to speed up convergence of the algorithm, the particles are inclined to choose the global best particle as cognition object. On the other hand, during the late stage of the execution process, to keep the diversity of the population, the particles are inclined to choose the particles that better than themselves as cognition object. To solve the large scale global optimization problem, the algorithm is integrated into a cooperative coevolution framework with an efficient variable interaction checking method. Simulated experiments were conducted on the CEC'2008 benchmarks. The result demonstrates that, HPSO-RSC has strong ability to find the global optimum for most of the benchmark problems.
Which goal for fluid therapy during colorectal surgery is followed by the best outcome: near-maximal stroke volume or zero fluid balance?

BACKGROUND We aimed to investigate whether fluid therapy with a goal of near-maximal stroke volume (SV) guided by oesophageal Doppler (ED) monitoring result in a better outcome than that with a goal of maintaining bodyweight (BW) and zero fluid balance in patients undergoing colorectal surgery. METHODS In a double-blinded clinical multicentre trial, 150 patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery were randomized to receive fluid therapy after either the goal of near-maximal SV guided by ED (Doppler, D group) or the goal of zero balance and normal BW (Zero balance, Z group). Stratification for laparoscopic and open surgery was performed. The postoperative fluid therapy was similar in the two groups. The primary endpoint was postoperative complications defined and divided into subgroups by protocol. Analysis was performed by intention-to-treat. The follow-up was 30 days. The trial had 85% power to show a difference between the groups. RESULTS The number of patients undergoing laparoscopic or open surgery and the patient characteristics were similar between the groups. No significant differences between the groups were found for overall, major, minor, cardiopulmonary, or tissue-healing complications (P-values: 0.79; 0.62; 0.97; 0.48; and 0.48, respectively). One patient died in each group. No significant difference was found for the length of hospital stay [median (range) Z: 5.00 (1-61) vs D: 5.00 (2-41); P=0.206]. CONCLUSIONS Goal-directed fluid therapy to near-maximal SV guided by ED adds no extra value to the fluid therapy using zero balance and normal BW in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery.
A case study in leading schools for social justice: when morals and markets collide

Purpose – This paper explores how school leaders seek to promote social justice agendas within the context of multi‐ethnic schools in England.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on data from five case‐study secondary schools in England. Qualitative data was derived from interviewing principals in each institution together with interviews with staff, students and members of the wider community.Findings – Effective principals in multi‐ethnic schools had strong values commitments to social justice and were able to articulate these values across and through the policies and practices in their schools. However, in some cases value commitments to equity and inclusivity could be challenged by the consequences of policies promoting school choice and the development of a quasi‐market for school education. This could present school leaders with complex moral dilemmas that counter posed inclusion aspirations against performance in the local market.Originality/value – School leadership committed to promotin.
A passion for languages: motivation and preparation to teach modern foreign languages in eight cohorts of beginning teachers

The findings presented in this article build a picture of modern foreign languages (MFL) student teachers' concerns and motivations as they embark upon their initial training and subsequently their teaching careers. Their motivations to teach MFL, particularly relevant for the areas of recruitment and retention, and the emerging ideas on teaching languages which they bring with them are discussed, as well as student teachers' expectations of the year ahead. The data were collected through a questionnaire administered to eight cohorts of MFL student teachers immediately prior to their one-year postgraduate teacher training course. The analysis, using both qualitative and quantitative techniques, depicts a very conscientious group of student teachers, passionate about their subject, thoroughly committed at this stage to their choice of career, but who are tentative in many of their responses and who appear to be aware at least partially of the learning ahead. In a national context where modern languages are from September 2004 no longer compulsory at Key Stage 4 (pupils aged 14–16) and where MFL remains a shortage subject, it is timely to consider the motivating factors driving quality graduates.