Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinicians' perceptions of their role in grief counseling

The experiences and perceptions of grief counselors regarding their work is an often ignored, though highly valuable topic. Previous literature suggests that practicing grief clinicians are largely utilizing outdated grief theories in their practices. This study seeks to elucidate the meaning of these findings, explore what grief clinicians are actually doing in the field, and learn from the insights and clinical innovations of these contemporary clinicians. In this study, 10 clinicians, who have all practiced grief counseling within the last five years, were interviewed using a semi-structure interview model. Their theoretical models, most commonly used interventions, and conceptualizations of grief are revealed in the findings of this study. Emerging from the data are findings demonstrating the endorsement of interventions such as witnessing the client, creating a space for the client to express and experience their emotions in relation to the grief, and the non-judgemental/non-pathologizing stance of the clinician towards the client. The findings in this study echo findings in prior studies, but suggest a movement towards greater utilization of contemporary research. Similarly, it demonstrates a greater integration of holistic approaches to treating grief, with the utilization of other contemporary theories and interventions such as trauma theories, spirituality, and wellness. CLINICIANS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR ROLE IN GRIEF COUNSELING CLINICIANS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR ROLE IN GRIEF COUNSELING A project based upon an independent investigation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work. Dinh Q. Tran Smith College School for Social Work Northampton, Massachusetts 01063
Information sharing and supply chain performance: the role of connectivity and willingness

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand how information technology (IT) is used to enhance supply chain performance.Design/methodology/approach – A large‐scale survey and semi‐structured interviews were used to collect industry data.Findings – Two distinct dimensions to information sharing – connectivity and willingness – are identified and analyzed. Both dimensions are found to impact operational performance and to be critical to the development of a real information sharing capability. However, many companies are found to have placed most of their emphasis on connectivity, often overlooking the willingness construct. As a result, information sharing seldom delivers on its promise to enable the creation of the cohesive supply chain team.Research limitations – Despite the extensive data collection, the research represents a snapshot of practice. Replication from a longitudinal perspective would help define how IT is evolving to enable supply chain management.Practical implications – A roadmap.
Combining supervisor synthesis and model checking

Model checking and supervisor synthesis have been successful in solving different design problems related to discrete systems in the last decades. In this paper, we analyze some advantages and drawbacks of these approaches and combine them for mutual improvement. We achieve this through a generalization of the supervisory control problem proposed by Ramadge and Wonham. The objective of that problem is to synthesize a supervisor which constrains a system's behavior according to a given specification, ensuring controllability and coaccessibility. By introducing a new representation of the solution using systems of μ-calculus equations, we are able to handle these two conditions separately and thus to exchange the coaccessibility requirement by any condition that could be used in model checking. Well-known results on μ-calculus model checking allow us to easily assess the computational complexity of any generalization. Moreover, the model checking approach also delivers algorithms to solve the generalized synthesis problem. We include an example in which the coaccessibility requirement is replaced by fairness constraints. The paper also contains an analysis of related work by several authors.
A marked point process model for tree crown extraction in plantations

This work presents a framework to extract tree crowns from remotely sensed data, especially in plantation images, using stochastic geometry. We aim at finding the tree top positions, and the tree crown diameter distribution. Our approach consists in considering that these images are some realizations of a marked point process. First we model the tree plantation as a configuration of an unknown number of ellipses. Then, a Bayesian energy is defined, containing both a prior energy which incorporates the prior knowledge of the plantation geometric properties, and a likelihood which fits the objects to the data. Eventually, we estimate the global minimum of this energy using reversible jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo dynamics and a simulated annealing scheme. We present results on optical aerial images of poplars provided by IFN.
Exploring ecological significance of tree crown plasticity through three-dimensional modelling.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Morphogenetic plasticity may be as important as physiological plasticity in determining plant adaptability to changing environmental conditions. This study examines the importance of crown plasticity of trees in stands. METHODS A three-dimensional forest simulator is used to explore the impact of crown shape plasticity on tree growth. Crown deformation is mediated through the local response to light and overall allometric constraints governing tree dimensions. By altering shape response parameters of Hevea brasiliensis the impact of increased or decreased plasticity is explored in a variety of competitive environments defined by various combinations of tree density and relative frequency of different strategies. The possible interactions between plasticity and growth rate and plasticity and below-ground competition are also explored. KEY RESULTS Crown plasticity confers competitive superiority in all cases studied. Interactions with other processes may downplay or enhance this competitive advantage. CONCLUSIONS Simulation results strongly suggest that crown plasticity does have a significant impact on tree performance in nature and that commonly observed crown shape deformation response of trees is of adaptive value.
Efficient Markov Logic Inference for Natural Language Semantics

Using Markov logic to integrate logical and distributional information in natural-language semantics results in complex inference problems involving long, complicated formulae. Current inference methods for Markov logic are ineffective on such problems. To address this problem, we propose a new inference algorithm based on SampleSearch that computes probabilities of complete formulae rather than ground atoms. We also introduce a modified closed-world assumption that significantly reduces the size of the ground network, thereby making inference feasible. Our approach is evaluated on the recognizing textual entailment task, and experiments demonstrate its dramatic impact on the efficiency of inference.
Shares versus Residual Claimant Contracts: The Case of Chinese TVEs

This paper uses a national survey of 200 Chinese town and village enterprises (TVEs) from 1985 to 1990 to explore empirically the effect of contractual arrangements on the performance of enterprises under Chinese institutional conditions. A theoretical model that emphasizes a potentially important role for local government effort in a situation of double-sided moral hazard is developed to explain why the share profit system may produce better incentives than the quota profit system. The paper shows that, from a profit maximazation perspective, the trend away from share profit contracts to quota profit contracts among Chineses TVEs in the late 1980s may have been premature.
PrimerProspector: de novo design and taxonomic analysis of barcoded polymerase chain reaction primers

Motivation: PCR amplification of DNA is a key preliminary step in many applications of high-throughput sequencing technologies, yet design of novel barcoded primers and taxonomic analysis of novel or existing primers remains a challenging task. Results: PrimerProspector is an open-source software package that allows researchers to develop new primers from collections of sequences and to evaluate existing primers in the context of taxonomic data. Availability: PrimerProspector is open-source software available at http://pprospector.sourceforge. net Contact: rob.knight@colorado.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Performance Evaluation of Driving Assistance Systems that Uses Sensors and/or Communications

This paper describes quantitative evaluation of driving assistance systems that use on-board sensors for getting surrounding vehicle information, and/or inter-vehicle communications for sharing information with other vehicles. The safety performance of each system is quantitatively evaluated with an improved microscopic traffic flow simulator. Simulation results show that the performance of the system using both on-board sensors and inter-vehicle communications is higher than that of the system using on-board sensors only or inter-vehicle communications only. In addition, they show that the performance of the system using only communications exceeds that of the system using only sensors when the penetration ratio is greater than 96%.
Can female role models reduce the gender gap in science? Evidence from classroom interventions in French high schools

This paper reports the results of a large scale randomized experiment that was de- signed to assess whether a short in-class intervention by an external female role model can influence students’ attitudes towards science and contribute to a significant change in their choice of field of study. The intervention consists in a one hour, one off visit of a high school classroom by a volunteer female scientist. It is targeted to change students’ perceptions and attitudes towards scientific careers and the role of women in science, with the aim of ultimately reducing the gender gap in scientific studies. Using a random as- signment of the interventions to 10th and 12th grade classrooms during normal teaching hours, we find that exposure to female role models significantly reduces the prevalence of stereotypes associated with jobs in science, for both female and male students. While we find no significant effect of the classroom interventions on 10th grade students’ choice of high school track the following year, our results show a positive and significant impact of the intervention on the probability of applying and of being admitted to a selective science major in college among 12th grade students. This effect is essentially driven by high-achieving students and is larger for girls in relative terms. After the intervention, their probability to be enrolled in selective science programs after graduating from high school increases by 30 percent with respect to the baseline mean.
Crystal Structure of a Complex of NOD1 CARD and Ubiquitin

The Caspase Recruitment Domain (CARD) from the innate immune receptor NOD1 was crystallized with Ubiquitin (Ub). NOD1 CARD was present as a helix-swapped homodimer similar to other structures of NOD1 CARD, and Ub monomers formed a homodimer similar in conformation to Lys48-linked di-Ub. The interaction between NOD1 CARD and Ub in the crystal was mediated by novel binding sites on each molecule. Comparisons of these sites to previously identified interaction surfaces on both molecules were made along with discussion of their potential functional significance.
Effects and outcome of a policy of intermittent imatinib treatment in elderly patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.

We report a study of an alternative treatment schedule of imatinib (IM) in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Seventy-six Philadelphia-positive (Ph+), BCR-ABL-positive patients aged 65 years or older who had been treated with IM for more than 2 years and who were in stable complete cytogenetic response (CCgR) and major molecular response (MMR) were enrolled in a single-arm study to test the effects of a policy of intermittent IM (INTERIM) therapy for 1 month on and 1 month off. With a minimum follow-up of 4 years, 13 patients (17%) lost CCgR and MMR and 14 (18%) lost MMR only. All these patients resumed continuous IM and all but one (lost to follow-up) regained CCgR and MMR. No patients progressed to accelerated or blastic phase or developed clonal chromosomal abnormalities in Ph+ cells or BCR-ABL mutations. In elderly Ph+ CML patients carefully selected for a stable CCgR (lasting >2 years), the policy of INTERIM treatment affected the markers of residual disease, but not the clinical outcomes (overall and progression-free survival). This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials. gov as NCT 00858806.
Oxidative stress in end-stage renal disease: an emerging threat to patient outcome.

INTRODUCTION Patients affected by end-stage renal disease (ESRD) experience an excess of morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular disease (CVD), which cannot be fully explained by the classical CVD risk factors. Among emerging CVD risk factors, oxidative stress is currently being given emphasis. METHODS We achieved a consensus on key points relating to oxidative stress in ESRD patients. RESULTS ESRD patients are subjected to enhanced oxidative stress, as a result of reduced anti-oxidant systems (vitamin C and selenium deficiency, reduced intracellular levels of vitamin E, reduced activity of the glutathione system) and increased pro-oxidant activity (advanced age, high frequency of diabetes, chronic inflammatory state, uraemic syndrome, bio-incompatibility of dialysis membranes and solutions). Oxidative stress and inflammation are deeply inter-related, as different oxidant free radicals are generated by phagocytic cells in response to inflammatory stimuli: both are related to endothelial dysfunction, as the endothelium is a source and a target of oxidants and participates in the inflammatory response. There is growing evidence, from experimental and clinical studies, that oxidative stress may be implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and other complications of ESRD, namely dialysis-related amyloidosis, malnutrition and anaemia. Given that free radicals have very short half-lives (seconds), the clinical assessment of oxidative stress is based on the measurement of different stable oxidized compounds (such as lipid peroxidation products, advanced glycation and oxidation lipid and protein products, nucleic acid oxidation derivatives) or antibodies directed against oxidized epitopes (such as anti-oxidized low-density lipoprotein antibodies). At the same time, both enzymatic anti-oxidants (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase) and non-enzymatic anti-oxidants (glutathione, vitamin C, vitamin E, negative inflammatory proteins) can be evaluated. However, many laboratory methods assessing various oxidative stress components still have to be standardized. Moreover, it is still uncertain whether it is better measuring plasma and/or intracellular concentrations or activities of these components. The possibility of improving patient outcome by therapeutic interventions aimed at reducing oxidative stress, e.g. by vitamin C or vitamin E supplementation, currently is to the fore, but results so far have remained inconclusive. CONCLUSIONS It is important to consider oxidative stress as a potentially important source of patient morbidity and mortality, although this knowledge is not yet immediately applicable in the clinical arena. Further well-designed, randomized controlled clinical trials with anti-oxidants (e.g. vitamin E, vitamin C, N-acetyl cysteine, L-arginine) are required to establish evidence-based recommendations for clinical practice.
Teaching Strategies to Develop Inquiry and Literacy Skills: Languaging in Foreign Language Immersion Education

Author(s): Husbye, Nicholas; Dorner, Lisa M. | Abstract: One-way, or foreign language, immersion schools face unique challenges as they seek to support the literacy development of their students. This manuscript draws on sociocultural theories of literacy development and the concept of languaging, the process of using language to make meaning. Working with two classrooms over one semester, we asked: How were fifth-grade students using language to make meaning and develop new skills during literacy activities? Where and when did students apply their learning? Teaching the strategies in English, the authors posit, provided students with moments of languaging, or talk about language, that allowed them to transfer certain strategies to target language instruction. Examples from our work demonstrate how explicit languaging about literacy strategies in English helped students to develop new research skills, which they later applied to inquiry projects completed in their school’s immersion language. However, while we witnessed students’ languaging in reference to literacy strategies, we rarely observed translanguaging, or students drawing upon their range of linguistic repertoires (English, Spanish, Bosnian, African American vernacular, and so on) to make meaning. We conclude by highlighting the potential of languaging to develop new literacy skills in language immersion education, as well as the need for future research on translanguaging in such contexts.
A mixture model-based approach to the clustering of microarray expression data

MOTIVATION This paper introduces the software EMMIX-GENE that has been developed for the specific purpose of a model-based approach to the clustering of microarray expression data, in particular, of tissue samples on a very large number of genes. The latter is a nonstandard problem in parametric cluster analysis because the dimension of the feature space (the number of genes) is typically much greater than the number of tissues. A feasible approach is provided by first selecting a subset of the genes relevant for the clustering of the tissue samples by fitting mixtures of t distributions to rank the genes in order of increasing size of the likelihood ratio statistic for the test of one versus two components in the mixture model. The imposition of a threshold on the likelihood ratio statistic used in conjunction with a threshold on the size of a cluster allows the selection of a relevant set of genes. However, even this reduced set of genes will usually be too large for a normal mixture model to be fitted directly to the tissues, and so the use of mixtures of factor analyzers is exploited to reduce effectively the dimension of the feature space of genes. RESULTS The usefulness of the EMMIX-GENE approach for the clustering of tissue samples is demonstrated on two well-known data sets on colon and leukaemia tissues. For both data sets, relevant subsets of the genes are able to be selected that reveal interesting clusterings of the tissues that are either consistent with the external classification of the tissues or with background and biological knowledge of these sets. AVAILABILITY EMMIX-GENE is available at http://www.maths. uq.edu. au/~gjm/emmix-gene/
Mechanical Characterization of the Heat Affected Zone of Gold Wirebonds Using Nanoindentation

Abstrac t -With increasing miniaturization in microelectronics the wirebonds used in IC packages are witnessing a thrust towards fine pitch wirebonding. To have a precise control over loop height of the wirebond for fine pitch wirebonding, it is imperative to do mechanical characterization of the wirebond. The present work studies the mechanical properties of gold wire and wirebond using nanoindentation. The wirebond specimen surface was planarized using mechanical polishing. The loop height of the gold wirebond is directly proportional to the length of the heat affected zone (HAZ) above the ball of gold wirebond. Metallographic preparation of gold wirebond cross section reveals the presence of undesirable coarse grain structure in HAZ due to recrystallization and grain growth in the gold wire adjacent to the ball. The recrystallization temperature of our gold wire was found using D.S. C. to be 340.66C. The doping elements present in the gold wire used, were identified using TOF-SIMS. Nanoindentation of the gold wire was done at different maximum loads to observe the hardness variation with load. The nanoindentation of gold wirebond has confirmed a v-shaped hardness profile in the HAZ. The hardness minima for the particular gold wire used with a ball size ratio of 2.4 was observed at distance of 160-170 μm from the neck of the ball. The elastic modulus was found to vary randomly and to be independent of the microstructure in the wirebond. A yield stress profile based on empirical hardness-yield strength correlation has been predicted for the gold wirebond.
Remarks on the Adler's equation

The phase equation of oscillators driven by weak signals at a frequency multiple of the free-running oscillation frequency is studied. This equation, describing the behavior of many injection locked circuits, extends the applicability of the well-known Adler's equation, which is limited to forcing signals close to the free-running frequency. The exact solution of the phase equation in time domain is derived for pulling operation and its utility in the calculation of the frequency spectrum of the system response is shown with reference to a widely used divide-by-2 frequency divider. Finally, a comparison of the results obtained by presented formulas with the results obtained by numerical integration and by SPICE simulations based on BSIM3 models is presented.
Establishing the Internet channel: short-term pain but long-term gain?

The emergence of the Internet has pushed many established companies to explore this radically new distribution channel. Like all market discontinuities, the Internet creates opportunities as well as threats – it can be performance-enhancing as readily as it can be performance-destroying. One industry where this certainly holds is the newspaper industry, where several players have rushed to supplement their traditional channels with an Internet channel, in spite of a lingering fear of cannibalizing their existing business. Making use of event-study methodology, we assess the net impact of setting up an additional Internet channel on a firm’s stock market return, a measure of the change in expected future cash flows. We find that, on average, Internet channel investments are positive net-present-value investments: the present value of the expected cash inflows is greater than the present value of the anticipated cash outflows. We then identify firm, introduction-strategy, and marketplace characteristics that influence the direction and magnitude of the stock-market reaction. More specifically, our results indicate that powerful firms with fewer direct channels achieve greater gains in financial performance than less powerful firms with a broader direct channel offering. In terms of introduction timing, early followers have a competitive advantage vis-à-vis both innovators and later followers. We also find that firms which provide additional advertising support to their Internet channel introduction achieve greater financial gains. Finally, in terms of marketplace characteristics, firms operating in fast-growing Internet environments benefit more than players operating in less munificent markets.
Long-Term K+ Channel-Mediated Dampening of Dopamine Neuron Excitability by the Antipsychotic Drug Haloperidol

Antipsychotic drugs require days of treatment to begin to produce therapeutic effects. We report that in vivo treatment with the antipsychotic drug haloperidol acts with a delay of days to slow spontaneous repetitive firing by isolated midbrain dopamine neurons. The decreased excitability is caused by an increased number of functional A-type K+ channels without any change in gating properties. Upregulation of dopamine neuron Kv4.3 mRNA accounts for this effect, demonstrating a role for channel gene expression in this delayed drug action. The resultant long-term dampening of dopamine neuron excitability may serve to tone down the dopamine system.