Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of endotoxins on susceptibility to infections.

Endotoxins can alter susceptibility to many infections and have provided an important tool for investigation of the mechanisms of host resistance. These bacterial toxins may enhance or inhibit the pathogenicity of infection, depending upon the infecting microorganism, dose and route of injection of endotoxin, and the interval between administration of toxin and initiation of infection. Other substances besides endotoxin, including thorotrast, sulfur, heated albumin-globulin, levans, dextran, and microbial acid polysaccharides, have similar effects upon host resistance [1, 2]. The colloidal or high molecular weight of these substances and of endotoxin has suggested the possibility that size of the particle may be one determinant of their action [3, 4]. No physicochemical or biological characteristics of these materials, however, provides a satisfactory explanation for their effects upon host resistance. Some investigations suggest but do not establish a dissociation between some of the toxic effects of endotoxin
Do Maternal Food Deprivation and Offspring Predator Cues Interactively Affect Maternal Effort in Fish

The state of the environment parents are exposed to during reproduction can either facilitate or impair their ability to take care of their young. Thus, the environmental conditions experienced by parents can have a transgenerational impact on offspring phenotype and survival. Parental energetic needs and the variance in offspring predation risk have both been recognized as important factors influencing the quality and amount of parental care, but surprisingly, they are rarely manipulated simultaneously to investigate how parents adjust care to these potentially conflicting demands. In the maternally mouthbrooding cichlid Simochromis pleurospilus, we manipulated female body condition before spawning and exposure to offspring predator cues during brood care in a two-by-two factorial experiment. Subsequently, we measured the duration of brood care and the number and size of the released young. Furthermore, we stimulated females to take up their young by staged predator attacks and recorded the time before the young were released again. We found that food-deprived females produced smaller young and engaged less in brood care behaviour than well-nourished females. Final brood size and, related to this, female protective behaviour were interactively determined by nutritional state and predator exposure: well-nourished females without a predator encounter had smaller broods than all other females and at the same time were least likely to take up their young after a simulated predator attack. We discuss several mechanisms by which predator exposure and maternal nutrition might have influenced brood and offspring size. Our results highlight the importance to investigate the selective forces on parents and offspring in combination, if we aim to understand reproductive strategies.
Novel Polymorphic Region of the rpoB Gene Containing Mycobacterium Species-Specific Sequences and Its Use in Identification of Mycobacteria

ABSTRACT Sequence analysis of a specific region of the mycobacterium rpoB gene in 35 mycobacterial strains representing 26 different mycobacterial species of clinical importance showed that there exists a highly polymorphic region. Based on the sequences of the polymorphic region, the oligonucleotide probes of 14 mycobacterial species with relatively high clinical importance were designed and shown to be specific to their corresponding mycobacterial species by dot blot hybridization. The results showed that the probes designed in this study are highly specific to each mycobacterial species, which suggests that these sequences may be useful for the species identification of mycobacteria.
Feature-Specific Event-Related Potential Effects to Action- and Sound-Related Verbs during Visual Word Recognition

Grounded cognition theories suggest that conceptual representations essentially depend on modality-specific sensory and motor systems. Feature-specific brain activation across different feature types such as action or audition has been intensively investigated in nouns, while feature-specific conceptual category differences in verbs mainly focused on body part specific effects. The present work aimed at assessing whether feature-specific event-related potential (ERP) differences between action and sound concepts, as previously observed in nouns, can also be found within the word class of verbs. In Experiment 1, participants were visually presented with carefully matched sound and action verbs within a lexical decision task, which provides implicit access to word meaning and minimizes strategic access to semantic word features. Experiment 2 tested whether pre-activating the verb concept in a context phase, in which the verb is presented with a related context noun, modulates subsequent feature-specific action vs. sound verb processing within the lexical decision task. In Experiment 1, ERP analyses revealed a differential ERP polarity pattern for action and sound verbs at parietal and central electrodes similar to previous results in nouns. Pre-activation of the meaning of verbs in the preceding context phase in Experiment 2 resulted in a polarity-reversal of feature-specific ERP effects in the lexical decision task compared with Experiment 1. This parallels analogous earlier findings for primed action and sound related nouns. In line with grounded cognitions theories, our ERP study provides evidence for a differential processing of action and sound verbs similar to earlier observation for concrete nouns. Although the localizational value of ERPs must be viewed with caution, our results indicate that the meaning of verbs is linked to different neural circuits depending on conceptual feature relevance.
Cross-scale dynamics and the evolutionary emergence of infectious diseases

When emerging pathogens encounter new host species for which they are poorly adapted, they must evolve to escape extinction. Pathogens experience selection on traits at multiple scales, including replication rates within host individuals and transmissibility between hosts. We analyze a stochastic model linking pathogen growth and competition within individuals to transmission between individuals. Our analysis reveals a new factor, the cross-scale reproductive number, that quantifies how quickly mutant strains increase in frequency when they initially appear in the infected host population. This cross-scale reproductive number combines with viral mutation rates, reproductive numbers, and transmission bottleneck width to determine the likelihood of evolutionary emergence, and whether evolution occurs swiftly or gradually within chains of transmission. We find that wider transmission bottlenecks facilitate emergence of pathogens with short-term infections, but hinder emergence of pathogens exhibiting cross-scale selective conflict and long-term infections. Our results provide a framework for a new generation of evidence-based risk assessment of emergence threats.
Equity and marketisation: a brief commentary

Beginning with a reflection on the Participation and Equity Program (PEP) in Australia in the 1980s, this response describes the distinctive ideological shift from a social democratic to a market conception of equity in education over the past three decades. This shift has been accompanied by changes in the techniques of educational governance, from the collaborative approach of the PEP, which emphasised the importance of trust in teachers as professionals, to new managerialism focused on efficiency and accountability. Market reforms in education have continued to use such traditionally socially democratic notions as equity, but have been enormously successful in re-articulating their meaning. A commentary is provided on the papers in this Special Issue and their collective analysis of governmental strategies that have led to this re-articulation of equity; the extent to which these strategies have been successful; the consequences they have had on students and school communities, and for the work of teachers and schools; and possibilities for creating new approaches in education that undermine the seemingly hegemonic neo-liberal imaginary and work towards a more progressive democratic view of educational equity.
Representing meaning: a feature-based model of object and action words

The representation of word meaning has received substantial attention in the psycholinguistic literature over the past decades, yet the vast majority of studies have been limited to words referring to concrete objects. The aim of the present work is to provide a theoretically and neurally plausible model of lexical-semantic representations, not only for words referring to concrete objects but also for words referring to actions and events using a common set of assumptions across domains. In order to do so, features of meaning are generated by naive speakers, and used as a window into important aspects of representation. A first series of analyses test how the meanings of words of different types are reflected in features associated with different modalities of sensory-motor experience, and how featural properties may be related to patterns of impairment in language-disordered populations. The features of meaning are then used to generate a model of lexical-semantic similarity, in which these different types of words are represented within a single system, under the assumption that lexical-semantic representations serve to provide an interface between conceptual knowledge derived in part from sensory-motor experience, and other linguistic information such as syntax, phonology and orthography. Predictions generated from this model are tested in a series of behavioural experiments designed to test two main questions: whether similarity measures based on speaker- generated features can predict fine-grained semantic similarity effects, and whether the predictive quality of the model is comparable for words referring to objects and words referring to actions. The results of five behavioural experiments consistently reveal graded semantic effects as predicted by the feature-based model, of similar magnitude for objects and actions. The model's fine-grained predictive performance is also found to be superior to other word-based models of representation (Latent Semantic Analysis, and similarity measures derived from Wordnet).
Effects of Broken Marriage on Primary School Pupils’ Academic Performance in Ilala Municipality

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of broken marriage on academic performance of primary school pupils and the role of teachers and community members in minimizing those effects. The study employed qualitative and quantitative research approach. The sample includes pupils from the selected primary schools in Ilala Municipality, head teachers, and community members. The research instruments used to collect information were interviews, observations, and documentary reviews. The study findings showed that broken marriages contribute a lot to student’s poor academic performance, psychological problems academic performance and delinquent behavior among students. Community members were aware that broken marriages have effects on children’s academic performance and that broken marriages contribute much to negative perception. The researcher recommends that parents should be responsible to their children by helping to make their marriages work in order to ensure the good welfare of their children. The community members, including teachers, neighbors and all who love children should make it their responsibility regardless being their biological parents or otherwise. Schools at all levels should have strong guidance and counseling unit to help all the children in need of special attention. The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT), Universities and religious organizations should work together and develop training programme on Love.
Television Commercials and Fading Behavioral Brand Choice Effects in Austrian Children

Previous research demonstrates that commercials can influence food choice and thus eating behavior in children but little is known about the duration of this effect. We conducted an experiment (N = 134) where seven- to eleven-year-old children watched a cartoon with an embedded advertising block. Half of the children saw a commercial for a specific brand of chocolate candies. After watching, we measured actual brand choice. We found that children watching the target commercial chose the advertised brand significantly more often compared to children not watching the target commercial. The primary contribution of the present study is the examination of how temporal delay influences this effect. We manipulated the time that elapsed between exposure to the commercial and brand choice. Analysis indicated that the behavioral effect on brand choice was only evident immediately after exposure and did not persist over time.
Combination of tt̄ cross section measurements and constraints on the mass of the top quark and its decays into charged Higgs bosons

We combine measurements of the top quark pair production cross section in p (p) over bar collisions in the l + jets, ll, and tau l final states ( where l is an electron or muon) at a center of mass energy of root s = 1.96 TeV in 1 fb(-1) of data collected with the D0 detector. For a top quark mass of 170 GeV/c(2), we obtain sigma(t (t) over bar) = 8.18(-0.87)(+0.98) pb in agreement with the theoretical prediction. Based on predictions from higher order quantum chromodynamics, we extract a mass for the top quark from the combined t (t) over bar cross section, consistent with the world average of the top quark mass. In addition, the ratios of t (t) over bar cross sections in different final states are used to set upper limits on the branching fractions B(t -> H(+)b -> tau(+) vb) and B(t -> H(+)b -> c (s) over barb) as a function of the charged Higgs boson mass.
Association between mental health and physical activity in patients with chronic heart failure

Abstract Purpose: Poor mental health (MH) is common in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients. No studies have reported a relation between MH status and objectively measured physical activity (PA) in CHF patients. The study aim was to determine self-reported MH-related differences associated with PA and target values of PA for improved MH in CHF outpatients. Methods: We divided 243 CHF outpatients (mean age 57.1 years) into two groups according to MH assessed by Short Form-36 score: high-MH (≥68 points) group (n = 148) and poor-MH (<68 points) group (n = 95). Average step count (steps) and energy expenditure on PA (EE) (kcal) per day for 1 week of PA were assessed by an accelerometer and compared between groups. PA resulting in high MH was determined by the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results: PA correlated positively with MH in all patients (steps: r = 0.46, p < 0.001; EE: r = 0.43, p < 0.001). After adjusting for patient characteristics, steps and EE were significantly lower in the poor-MH versus high-MH group (5020.1 ± 280.7 versus 7174.1 ± 221.5 steps, p < 0.001; 133.9 ± 10.8 versus 215.9 ± 8.4 kcal, p < 0.001). Cut-off values of 5590.8 steps and 141.1 kcal were determined as PA target values associated with improved MH. Conclusions: Poor MH status may reduce PA. Attaining PA target values may improve MH status of CHF outpatients. Implications for Rehabilitation Poor mental health may negatively affect physical exercise in CHF outpatients. In particular step counts and energy expenditure are lower in those with poor mental health. It may be that focused exercise training may impact positively both on mental health and physical well being.
The action of serotonin on excitatory nerve terminals in lobster nerve‐muscle preparations.

1. The action of serotonin on excitatory transmission in the opener muscle of the dactyl of the lobster walking leg was examined by intracellular recording techniques. 2. Serotonin, at concentrations as low as 5 x 10(‐9) M, caused a sustained increase in the size of the excitatory junctional (synaptic) potential (e.j.p.). When serotonin was washed out of the bath the e.j.p. declined in two steps (T 1/2 approximately equal to 1‐2 min; T 1/2 approximately equal to 30 min) to the control size. The increased e.j.p. size was predominantly due to a serotonin‐induced increase in the release of quanta of excitatory transmitter with nerve stimulation. 3. The increase in transmitter release did not require nerve stimulation or the presence of Na+ or Ca2+ ions in the bathing medium during the period of serotonin treatment. 4. Three types of experiments suggested that a part of the action of serotonin on excitatory nerve terminals might involve a long‐term metabolic change within terminals, possibly involving the buffering or storage of Ca2+ ions. First, serotonin increased the frequency of spontaneous release of transmitter in both normal saline (26 mM‐Ca2+) and saline with very low levels of Ca2+ (less than 10(‐8) M). Secondly, serotonin greatly potentiated increases in miniature excitatory junctional potential frequency induced by the loading of the nerve terminal with Na+ either by veratridine or by inhibition of the Na+ pump or by the addition of the Na‐ionophore monensin in low‐Ca2+ salines. Thirdly, in some experiments, serotonin treatment produced a partial restoration of the nerve‐evoked release of transmitter in the low‐Ca2+ medium (less than 10(‐8) M).
Theory and experiment of dual-mode microstrip triangular patch resonators and filters

In this paper, we report on the results of an investigation into dual-mode operation of microstrip triangular patch resonators and their applications for designing dual-mode bandpass filters. It has been found theoretically that the dual modes can result from the rotation and superposition of a fundamental mode. The characteristics of the dual modes and their mode splitting are described. The applications of this new type of dual-mode microstrip patch resonator in the design of microwave planar filter are presented. A circuit model for operation of this type of filter is proposed. Two- and four-pole filters of this type are demonstrated for the first time. Both theoretical and experimental results are presented.
Consequences of Consumer Animosity: A Meta-Analytic Integration

ABSTRACT This meta-analytic integration has three purposes: first, to evaluate the outcomes of consumer animosity and consumer ethnocentrism using empirical studies on this subject; second, to test an integrative conceptual model; and third, to report on the total effects of animosity/ethnocentrism on later constructs (willingness to buy and buying/owning). A meta-analysis is a suitable approach using a large collection of results from individual studies for the purpose of integrating their findings. As a result, a meta-analysis was used to integrate and combine the contradictory outcomes of studies and for analyzing variability in effect sizes across findings. Its results can be used to guide future research. The current study suggests that the relationship between consumer animosity and product quality judgments is negative. In addition, this study emphasizes the role of product quality judgments as a partial mediator between consumer animosity/consumer ethnocentrism and willingness to buy. This study unravels the tangled state of the pertinent literature by identifying and evaluating the outcome factors of animosity and consumer ethnocentrism and their influence on some core marketing variables, such as product quality judgment, willingness to buy, and actual buying.
UPT.Social: The Growth of a New Online Social Network

In order to better understand the emergence of online social networks, researchers usually employ state of the art synthetic topological models which can replicate some of the observed real-world social network characteristics. However, these characteristics rely on the analysis of common graph metrics at a certain point in time, when the snapshot of the real-world data is obtained. In other words, there is limited knowledge in terms of how empirical social network structures evolve over time. Our paper presents relevant statistical fingerprints of a young social network that we launched for university students in Timisoara (Romania) – from its launch day up to it's second month of existence. Timely snapshots that we acquired allow for the analysis of parameters dynamics, and for the understanding of parameter influence in terms of topological properties. As such, we discuss the temporal evolution of basic graph metrics, centrality distributions, node-edge balance, and preferential attachment correlations. Our findings highlight features like stability of betweenness distribution, the importance of PageRank and Eigenvector centralities in terms of preferential attachment, the linearity of the node-edge ratio etc. Our work brings a better understanding of social network evolution, and creates incentives for further research on dynamical complex networks that could contribute to the development of better recommender systems.
Operator algebras and algebraic $K$-theory

2. Extensions of C*-algebras. Let H be a separable infinite dimensional Hubert space, L(H) the algebra of bounded linear operators on H, K the ideal of compact operators, and A = L(H)/K. In [4] and [5] Ext(X) was defined as the set of equivalence classes of C*-algebra extensions, 0 —• K —• E —* C(X) —• 0, for X a compact metric space and C(X) the algebra of continuous complex functions on X. Ext(A^ was also described as unitary equivalence classes of *isomorphisms r: C(X) —•• A. It was shown that Ext(X) is a group and that it gives rise to a generalized homology theory which is related to ^-theory in roughly the same way as homology is related to cohomology. A Bott periodicity map, Per: Ext(SX) —• Ext(X), was defined and was proved to be injective for all X and surjective for smooth X. Also Ext(Jf) was given the structure of a not necessarily Hausdorff topological group, and the closure of the identity was called PExt(X).
Social Disparities in the Receipt of Contraceptive Services Among Sexually Experienced Adolescent Females

Social disparities in the receipt of contraceptive services were assessed among a sample of 2,031 sexually experienced adolescent females 15 to 18 years of age using secondary data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Findings revealed no social disparities in receipt of contraceptive services; rather, adolescent females who had a parent with less than a high school degree were more likely to receive contraceptive services. Adolescents' individual characteristics, including perceptions of maternal disapproval of sexual activity and use of contraceptives, barriers in access to and use of birth control, health needs, and enabling resources were significantly associated with their receipt of contraceptive services. Neighborhood characteristics were not significantly associated with adolescents' receipt of services in this study.
Distributed nonlinear optimal control using sequential convex programming and smoothing techniques

We regard a network of coupled nonlinear dynamical systems that we want to control optimally. The cost function is assumed to be separable and convex. The algorithm we propose to address the numerical solution of this problem is based on two ingredients: first, we exploit the convex problem structure using a sequential convex programming framework that linearizes the nonlinear dynamics in each iteration. Second, we use distributed dual decomposition methods to address the decomposable convex subproblems, that allow efficient parallel implementation. We analyze the convergence of the algorithm towards a local solution.