Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The new parliamentary peace-building paradigm in Africa : features

The international development community seems to have discovered parliamentarians, at long last, at the intersection of collective efforts to help democratise and develop Africa. At the forefront, a new generation of African leaders has taken up the challenge, in the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), to correct the failures of past leaders and, among other things, put parliamentarians into the front seat, and perhaps eventually even in the driver's seat, of the political process. At seemingly the ideal moment, a plethora of parliamentary handbooks, toolkits and guidelines has emerged around the turn of the century, in recognition of what parliamentary bodies have been insisting for quite some time: without a central role for parliaments, lasting peace and prosperity in Africa will be an illusion.
A Solution to the Animal Problem

Let A be an animal. We consider magnifications of A in x-, y-, or z-direction. But this is not always possible because there may be voxels that block the magnification. To overcome this difficulty, we consider an AD-movement. This is performed by considering the magnification in two directions (e.g., y-direction and z-direction) such that any series of blocking voxels never forms a cycle. If a magnification is possible for two directions then it is also possible for the third direction. After all undilatable voxels have been erased, we can apply a previously shown result for showing that the animal problem is positively solvable. This paper is a continuation of [4]. Let B be a well-composed picture [3] that does not contain any cavity or any tunnel. Is B SD-equivalent (i.e., equivalent by repeated simple deformations) to a single voxel? This problem was named B-problem by the late Azriel Rosenfeld. In [4], we have given a positive solution to this problem. The animal problem proposed by Janos Pach was the question whether every animal can be reduced to a single unit cube by a finite sequence of moves, each consisting of either adding or deleting a cube provided the result is an animal again at each move. Azriel Rosenfeld called this problem the A-problem. In this animal problem, the deformation is not based on SD but must preserve animality of the picture at each step. This means that the B-problem is weaker than the A-problem. In this paper, we give a positive solution to the animal problem. We assume that readers are familiar with basic definitions in digital topology, such as provided in [1, 2], and, in particular, with the discussion in [4]. An animal is defined as a topological 3-ball in R, consisting of unit cubes (i.e., a subcomplex in the 3D grid cell space). In accordance with terms of digital topology, hereafter, we call a unit cube also a voxel. Let A be an animal consisting of black voxels (black means that a unit cube is present, i.e., in a given “object”) and p be a black voxel. 1 Professor emeritus at Hiroshima University, Japan; email: an1206@ad.cyberhome. ne.jp
Whole exome sequencing of extreme age-related macular degeneration phenotypes

Purpose Demographic, environmental, and genetic risk factors for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have been identified; however, a substantial portion of the variance in AMD disease risk and heritability remains unexplained. To identify AMD risk variants and generate hypotheses for future studies, we performed whole exome sequencing for 75 individuals whose phenotype was not well predicted by their genotype at known risk loci. We hypothesized that these phenotypically extreme individuals were more likely to carry rare risk or protective variants with large effect sizes. Methods A genetic risk score was calculated in a case–control set of 864 individuals (467 AMD cases, 397 controls) based on 19 common (≥1% minor allele frequency, MAF) single nucleotide variants previously associated with the risk of advanced AMD in a large meta-analysis of advanced cases and controls. We then selected for sequencing 39 cases with bilateral choroidal neovascularization with the lowest genetic risk scores to detect risk variants and 36 unaffected controls with the highest genetic risk score to detect protective variants. After minimizing the influence of 19 common genetic risk loci on case-control status, we targeted single variants of large effect and the aggregate effect of weaker variants within genes and pathways. Single variant tests were conducted on all variants, while gene-based and pathway analyses were conducted on three subsets of data: 1) rare (≤1% MAF in the European population) stop, splice, or damaging missense variants, 2) all rare variants, and 3) all variants. All analyses controlled for the effects of age and sex. Results No variant, gene, or pathway outside regions known to be associated with risk for advanced AMD reached genome-wide significance. However, we identified several variants with substantial differences in allele frequency between cases and controls with strong additive effects on affection status after controlling for age and sex. Protective effects trending toward significance were detected at two loci identified in single-variant analyses: an intronic variant in FBLN7 (the gene encoding fibulin 7) and at three variants near pyridoxal (pyridoxine, vitamin B6) kinase (PDXK). Aggregate rare-variant analyses suggested evidence for association at ASRGL1, a gene previously linked to photoreceptor cell death, and at BSDC1. In known AMD loci we also identified 29 novel or rare damaging missense or stop/splice variants in our sample of cases and controls. Conclusions Identified variants and genes may highlight regions important in the pathogenesis of AMD and are key targets for replication.
Acetylation Regulating Protein Stability and DNA-Binding Ability of HilD, thus Modulating Salmonella Typhimurium Virulence

HilD, a dominant regulator of Salmonella pathogenicity island 1, can be acetylated by protein acetyltransferase (Pat) in Salmonella Typhimurium, and the acetylation is beneficial to its stability. However, the underlying mechanism of HilD stability regulated by acetylation is not clear. We show here that lysine 297 (K297) located in the helix-turn-helix motif, can be acetylated by Pat. Acetylation of K297 increases HilD stability, but reduces its DNA-binding affinity. In turn, the deacetylated K297 enhances the DNA-binding ability but decreases HilD stability. Under the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1-inducing condition, the acetylation level of K297 is down-regulated. The acetylated K297 (mimicked by glutamine substitution) causes attenuated invasion in HeLa cells, as well as impaired virulence in mouse model, compared with the deacetylated K297 (mimicked by arginine substitution), suggesting that deacetylation of K297 is essential for Salmonella virulence. These findings demonstrate that the acetylation of K297 can regulate both protein stability and DNA-binding ability. This regulation mediated by acetylation not only degrades redundant HilD to keep a moderate protein level to facilitate S. Typhimurium growth but also maintains an appropriate DNA-binding activity of HilD to ensure bacterial pathogenicity.
Using the Schools and Staffing Survey/Teacher Survey to compare general education teachers\' and special education teachers\' perceptions on collaborative themes

This paper compared the perceptions of secondary special education teachers (SETs) and general education teachers (GETs) on collaborative themes using the Schools and Staffing Survey/Teacher Survey (SASS/TS, 2007-2008) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). In this study, ANOVAs, independent samples t-tests, and simple linear regression were used to analyze SASS/TS data comparing GETs and SETs on three themes derived from collaboration literature: 1) beliefs and values, 2) roles and responsibilities, and 3) teacher satisfaction. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the perceptions of SETs and GETs on both beliefs and values and roles and responsibilities. This study also found that beliefs and values was a statistically significant predictor of teacher satisfaction for GETs and SETs. Roles and responsibilities was not a statistically significant predictor of teacher satisfaction. COLLABORATIVE THEMES COLLABORATIVE THEMES iii Acknowledgements and Dedication No dissertation can be developed without an exemplary advisor and dissertation committee. Thank you Dr. Williams for taking me on and being there all the way to the very grinding end. Most of all for being the best advisor in the SOE Thank you Dr. Billingsley for giving me the best start any doctoral student could have received Thank you Dr. Asselin for keeping me grounded, focused and stress-less Thank you Dr. Barksdale for excellent advice and insight during the whole process in your unassuming but always profound way No doctoral process is possible without a loving and strong family: Thank you my first and only love, Arvin, for being there without a day’s complaint and only praise Thank you Ayan and Shruti for reminding me that I am your mother first and foremost Thank you Bobby and Madhu bhabhi for believing in me Thank you Bhandaries for always being there and putting up with me Thank you Chotu and Kitkit for listening to me outside of my head No doctoral journey is fun without caring and exemplary friends: Thank you (in alphabetical order): Beth Macdonald Cathy Cocke Elvin, Lynne and Maggie Epting Jenny Martin Mike, Lucia and Bello Koryzcinski Windi Turner I dedicate this dissertation to my parents who always believed in me and in an education. I am sorry this day took so long that you could not physically be present, but your spiritual presence is just as strong. Thank you. No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you Althea Gibson COLLABORATIVE THEMES iv Table of
An overview of visualization: its use and design: report of the working group in visualization

This paper presents an overview of visualization in Computer Science instruction. It is broken down in the following fashion. First, we present the motivation for using visualization and visual techniques in instruction. This is followed by a discussion of when the use of visualization is most appropriate. We then consider a broad spectrum of uses of visualization in Computer Science instruction. This spectrum is organized from passive to active in terms of a student’s involvement with the visualization tools. Types of visualizations are then categorized. The remainder of the paper focuses more on design issues for instructional visualization tools. These design issues are first presented from the perspective of the instructor who is constructing the visualization tool for students and then from the perspective of the programmer who is creating visualization software. We close the paper with some suggestions on organizing and maintaining a Web-based repository of visualization tools for Computer Science instruction.
Low power transformer coupled VCO for wearable sensor applications

This article presents a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) utilizing transformer coupling method and combining the efficiency of the class-C oscillator to improve the phase noise performance by increasing the negative-conductance (-Gm) of the VCO core and reduce the power consumption. Implemented in 0.18um SiGe BiCMOS process, the proposed VCO operates between 5.27 GHz and 5.56 GHz and matches 802.11a standard. At the supply voltage of 1.55 V, the core power consumption is 4.9 mW. The measured phase noise and the figure of merit (FOM) of the proposed VCO operating at 5.27 GHz are −119.86 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset frequency and −187.39 dBc/Hz, respectively.
Impact of obesity on childhood kidney

Obese patients are known to have greater risks to develop hypertension, coronary vascular disease, and insulin resistance, and more attention has been recently paid to the impact of obesity on kidney. This study was conducted to investigate whether obese children have higher risk of renal injury as well as adults. Eighteen hundred and thirty school children aged 6–14 years with abnormal urinary findings on thrice occasions detected by the screening program for renal disease in Japan were enrolled. Of them, 27 children with nephritis or suspected nephritis diagnosed by persistent proteinuria with hematuria were compared to 588 without urinary abnormalities regarding their body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), and serum level of total cholesterol. BMI and systolic BP (mmHg) were significantly higher in the former than in the latter. As a result, obesity may be associated with the development of renal injury even in childhood.
Vocabulary intervention aimed at improving expressive language for children with hearing impairment

Children with hearing impairment are at risk of language delay. Language delays can have far reaching consequences. Language delay in children with hearing impairment is thought to be due to receiving insufficient auditory information during the critical period. This study investigated whether a hybrid language intervention program could be used with children with hearing impairment to improve their language delay. Three participants, two participants who wore hearing aids, and one participant who had a cochlear implant, participated in an intervention programme targeting vocabulary. All participants had unique patterns of hearing loss and all had a language delay. There were three phases to this study. An assessment and baseline testing phase, an intervention phase and a post-intervention phase. Outcome measures were: number of target verbs produced, Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) in morphemes, and the number of different words in a conversational language sample. Results indicated all three participants improved in their production of the target verbs. Contrary to expectations, an increase in MLU in morphemes did not occur. Only one participant had a significant increase in the number of different words. These findings suggest children with hearing impairment and language delay are stimulable to intervention. Further research is warranted into whether the hybrid intervention program used in this study may be more applicable to children of younger ages with hearing impairment.
Differential Modulation of Mitogen-activated Protein (MAP) Kinase/Extracellular Signal-related Kinase Kinase and MAP Kinase Activities by a Mutant Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (*)

A paradigm has been established whereby mutant tyrosine kinase receptors such as the v-erbB and v-fms gene products function as oncoproteins in the absence of ligand. A spontaneously occurring deletional mutant of the human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFRvIII) has been isolated from astrocytic neoplasms and transforms NIH3T3 cells in the absence of ligand. The EGFRvIII is constitutively complexed with the majority of cellular GRB2, suggesting a link to the Ras-Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway (D. Moscatello, R. B. Montgomery, P. Sundareshan, H. McDanel, M. Y. Wong, and A. J. Wong, submitted for publication). In this report, we document that expression of EGFRvIII in fibroblasts is associated with downstream activation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK) and modest activation of p42 and p44 MAP kinases. The presence of EGFRvIII suppresses activation of p42 and p44 MAP kinases by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and serum; however, MEK activation by PMA is not suppressed by EGFRvIII. Basal and PMA-stimulated MAP kinase activity in EGFRvIII-transfected cells is augmented by the tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor sodium vanadate. EGFRvIII is capable of transducing downstream signals through MAP kinase as evidenced by activation of cytoplasmic phospholipase A2 at levels similar to that induced by intact EGFR. Our results suggest that EGFRvIII constitutively activates downstream signal transduction through MAP kinase, and this chronic stimulation of the MAP kinase pathway may represent one means by which mutant EGFR transduces an oncogenic signal.
Revisiting the Idea of Arts-Based Research

In an effort to prise arts-based research away from over-signification, this paper engages the following two questions: (1) For us to give art a research purpose, are we requiring art to do more than it is capable of doing while simultaneously not paying enough attention to what art does? (2) If we think of research as the pursuit and construction of knowledge, then should we not ask what types of pursuits are possible and what types of phenomena are probable when we approach or do research from the practice of art? The paper makes a case for considering art and research as two distinct practices that come together in the pursuit of knowing without becoming one or the other.
Bose metals and insulators on multileg ladders with ring exchange

We establish compelling evidence for the existence of new quasi-one-dimensional descendants of the d-wave Bose liquid (DBL), an exotic two-dimensional quantum phase of uncondensed itinerant bosons characterized by surfaces of gapless excitations in momentum space [O. I. Motrunich and M. P. A. Fisher Phys. Rev. B 75 235116 (2007)]. In particular, motivated by a strong-coupling analysis of the gauge theory for the DBL, we study a model of hard-core bosons moving on the N-leg square ladder with frustrating four-site ring exchange. Here, we focus on four- and three-leg systems where we have identified two novel phases: a compressible gapless Bose metal on the four-leg ladder and an incompressible gapless Mott insulator on the three-leg ladder. The former is conducting along the ladder and has five gapless modes, one more than the number of legs. This represents a significant step forward in establishing the potential stability of the DBL in two dimensions. The latter, on the other hand, is a fundamentally quasi-one-dimensional phase that is insulating along the ladder but has two gapless modes and incommensurate power-law transverse density-density correlations. While we have already presented results on this latter phase elsewhere [ M. S. Block et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 046402 (2011)], we will expand upon those results in this work. In both cases, we can understand the nature of the phase using slave-particle-inspired variational wave functions consisting of a product of two distinct Slater determinants, the properties of which compare impressively well to a density matrix renormalization group solution of the model Hamiltonian. Stability arguments are made in favor of both quantum phases by accessing the universal low-energy physics with a bosonization analysis of the appropriate quasi-1D gauge theory. We will briefly discuss the potential relevance of these findings to high-temperature superconductors, cold atomic gases, and frustrated quantum magnets.
Injection of Human Bone Marrow and Mononuclear Cell Extract into Infarcted Mouse Hearts Results in Functional Improvement

Background: We have previously shown that mouse whole bone marrow cell (BMC) extract results in improvement of cardiac function and decreases scar size in a mouse model of myocardial infarction (MI), in the absence of intact cells. It is not clear if these results are translatable to extracts from human BMC (hBMC) or mononuclear cells (hMNC), which would have significant clinical implications. Methods: Male C57BL/6J (10-12 weeks old) mice were included in this study. MI was created by permanent ligation of the left anterior descending artery. Animals were randomized into three groups to receive ultrasound-guided myocardial injections with either hBMCs extract (n=6), hMNCs extract (n=8) or control with 0.5% bovine serum albumin (BSA) (n=7). Cardiac function was assessed by echocardiography at baseline, 2 and 28 days post-MI. Infarct size and vascularity was assessed at 28 days post-MI. Results: hBMC and hMNC extract preserve cardiac function and result in smaller scar size post-MI when compared with the control group. Conclusions: The current study for the first time reports that hBMC and hMNC extracts improve cardiac function post-MI in a mouse MI model. Further studies are necessary to fully address the potential clinical benefits of these therapies.
Anthropometrics and display station preferences of VDU operators.

The anthropometric dimensions of three major ethnic groups in Singapore were studied on 94 female VDU operators. The postural preferences at the VDU work stations were also investigated. Few anthropometric differences were noted for the Chinese, Malays arid Indians. However, when compared to data from Germany and the U.S.A. , the three Asian cohorts are smaller in body size. Owing to the smaller body build, the Singapore operators preferred to have a sitting height of about 46 cm, and a working height of about 74 cm, compared with the 47 cm and 77 cm, respectively, preferred by European operators. Despite the anthropometric differences, the Singapore VDU operators, like their counterparts in Europe and the U.S.A. also preferred to sit in a pronounced backward leaning posture with a slightly open elbow angle. This sitting posture seems to ignore the traditional recommended upright trunk position of 90°.
Autoimmune hemolytic anemia in systemic lupus erythematosus at diagnosis: differences between pediatric and adult patients

Objective To determine the overall prevalence of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA), and to compare clinical and laboratory features in a large population of children and adult lupus patients at diagnosis. Methods This retrospective study evaluated the medical charts of 336 childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE) and 1830 adult SLE (aSLE) patients followed in the same tertiary hospital. Demographic data, clinical features and disease activity were recorded. AIHA was defined according to the presence of anemia (hemoglobin <10 g/dL) and evidence of hemolysis (reticulocytosis and positive direct antiglobulin test (DAT)/Coombs test) at SLE diagnosis. Evans syndrome (ES) was defined by the combination of immune thrombocytopenia (platelet count <100,000/mm3) and AIHA. Results The frequency of AIHA at diagnosis was significantly higher in cSLE patients compared to aSLE (49/336 (14%) vs 49/1830 (3%), p = 0.0001), with similar frequency of ES (3/336 (0.9%) vs 10/1830 (0.5%), p = 0.438). The median of hemoglobin levels was reduced in cSLE vs aSLE patients (8.3 (2.2–10) vs 9.5 (6.6–10) g/dL, p = 0.002) with a higher frequency of multiple hemorrhagic manifestations (41% vs 7%, p = 0.041) and erythrocyte transfusion due to bleeding (24% vs 5%, p = 0.025). cSLE patients also had more often constitutional involvement (84% vs 31%, p < 0.001), fever (65% vs 26%, p < 0.001), weight loss > 2 kg (39% vs 6%, p < 0.001), reticuloendothelial manifestations (48% vs 8%, p < 0.001), hepatomegaly (25% vs 2%, p < 0.001) and splenomegaly (21% vs 2%, p = 0.004). Other major organ involvements were common but with similar frequencies in cSLE and aSLE (p > 0.05). Median systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index 2000 (SLEDAI-2 K) was comparable in cSLE and aSLE (p = 0.161). Conclusions We identified that AIHA was not a common condition in cSLE and aSLE, with distinct features characterized by a higher prevalence/severity in children and concomitant constitutional symptoms in the majority of them.