Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adult neural progenitor cell grafts survive after acute spinal cord injury and integrate along axonal pathways

The main rationale for cell‐based therapies following spinal cord injury are: (i) replacement of degenerated spinal cord parenchyma by an axon growth supporting scaffold; (ii) remyelination of regenerating axons; and (iii), local delivery of growth promoting molecules. A potential source to meet these requirements is adult neural progenitor cells, which were examined in the present study. Fibroblast growth factor 2‐responsive adult spinal cord‐derived syngenic neural progenitor cells were either genetically modified in vitro to express green fluorescent protein (GFP) using retroviral vectors or prelabelled with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU). Neural progenitor cells revealed antigenic properties of neurons and glial cells in vitro confirming their multipotency. This differentiation pattern was unaffected by retroviral transduction. GFP‐expressing or BrdU‐prelabelled neural progenitor cells were grafted as neurospheres directly into the acutely injured rat cervical spinal cord. Animals with lesions only served as controls. Three weeks postoperatively, grafted neural progenitor cells integrated along axonal profiles surrounding the lesion site. In contrast to observations in culture, grafted neural progenitor cells differentiated only into astro‐ and oligodendroglial lineages, supporting the notion that the adult spinal cord provides molecular cues for glial, but not for neuronal, differentiation. This study demonstrates that adult neural progenitor cells will survive after transplantation into the acutely injured spinal cord. The observed oligodendroglial and astroglial differentiation and integration along axonal pathways represent important prerequisites for potential remyelination and support of axonal regrowth.
Repeated Intrastromal Injections of Voriconazole in Combination with Corneal Debridement for Recalcitrant Fungal Keratitis – a Case Series

Abstract Background: To report the use of intrastromal voriconazole injections combined with corneal debridement to treat deep recalcitrant fungal keratitis. History and Signs: Three patients (2 female and 1 male) with culture proven fungal keratitis (1 Fusarium, 1 Candida, 1 Pseudallescheria boydii) were included in this study. The patients were treated with repeated intrastromal voriconazole (100 mg/1 ml) in combination with corneal debridement. Therapy and Outcome: The mean age of the patients was 65 years. The mean number of injections was 5. The patients were injected every 2–3 days. This technique required repeated corneal debridement to achieve complete resolution in these three cases. Conclusions: Repeated intrastromal injection of voriconazole in combination with corneal debridement appears to be an effective and safe way to treat recalcitrant fungal keratitis, even in Fusarium keratitis.
Teaching Self-Regulated Learning through a “Learning to Learn” Course

This study addressed the impact of a semester-long course called Learning to Learn, an undergraduate psychology course designed to teach college students to be self-regulated learners. Results of pretesting and posttesting of 78 students with the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1993) provided support for the intervention. Mean differences and correlational results suggest that students increased in their mastery orientation to learning and their self-efficacy for learning, increased in their valuing of the course and in cognitive strategy use, and declined in test anxiety over the term. These findings suggest that an intervention that targets a range of cognitive and motivational components can have utility for college students and that there is value to a stand-alone course in learning to learn at the college level.
Predicates and predicate transformers for supervisory control of discrete event dynamical systems

Discrete-event systems are studied, treating the state space as the fundamental modeling concept. The control of discrete-event systems using predicates and predicate transformers is treated. Predicates have the advantage that they can concisely characterize an infinite state space. The notion of controllability of a predicate is defined, and the supervisory predicate control problem is solved. A closed-form expression for the weakest controllable predicate is obtained. The problem of controlling discrete event systems under incomplete state observation is also considered, and observability of predicates is defined. Techniques for finding extremal solutions of Boolean equations are used to derive minimally restrictive supervisors. >
Optimal Capacitor Placement to Distribution Transformers for Power Loss Reduction in Radial Distribution Systems

Deploying shunt capacitor banks in distribution systems can effectively reduce the power loss and provide additional benefits for system operation. In practice, the power loss on distribution transformers can account for a considerable portion of the overall loss. This paper proposes a method for optimal placement of capacitor banks to the distribution transformers to reduce power loss. The capacitor bank locations are considered at the low-side of transformers. The net present value (NPV) criterion is adopted to evaluate the cost benefit of the capacitor installation project. First, an explicit formula for directly calculating the power loss of radial distribution systems is derived. Then, the optimal capacitor bank placement is formulated as a mixed-integer programming (MIP) model maximizing the NPV of the project subject to certain constraints. The model is suitable for being solved by commercial MIP packages, and the operational control of the capacitor banks to maximize the power loss reduction can be simply achieved by local automatic switching according to VAR measurements. The proposed method has been practically applied in the Macau distribution system, and the simulation results show that the proposed method is computationally efficient, and a considerable positive NPV can be obtained from the optimal capacitor bank placement.
CHILDREN FIND FRIENDLY WORDS FRIENDLY TOO: WORDS WITH MANY ORTHOGRAPHIC NEIGHBOURS ARE EASIER TO READ AND SPELL

Summary. Forty-nine children (aged 8:4 to 10:4) were grouped according to reading ability and were tested on lexical decision, naming and spelling of words and non-words which differed in orthographic neighbourhood size. Friendly words with many neighbours caused significantly fewer errors on all these tasks. Item analysis demonstrated that these effects were robust when corrected for frequency, regularity, word length and age of acquisition. Good readers showed less reliance on neighbourhood size and more evidence of accurate use of grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules. The results indicate that children find common orthographic sequences easier to read and spell before they have learned to use grapheme-phoneme correspondences consistently.
The Role of Professional Associations in Technology Diffusion

It is important for firms to be able to adopt technologies that offer them com petitive advantage. Before adoption can occur, knowledge about new technolo gies needs to be diffused so that firms can decide what is relevant to their needs. Professional associations see themselves as key agents in this diffusion of knowledge. Members of professional associations working in industry may act as boundary spanners who, through their involvement in these inter organizational networks, are able to learn about new technological develop ments. This paper examines the relevance of a professional association for this diffusion process, using the example of a specific technological domain — production and inventory control (PIC). The research investigated a profes sional PIC association in Canada. A survey of members revealed that this association was perceived to be an important network for learning about new developments in PIC. Predictors of technological innovation in PIC included involvement in the professional development activities of this professional association, as well as firm size and members' communication within their firm. The findings support the idea that professional associations impart knowl edge that is important for the diffusion of technology. However, the influence of this professional association was limited by its rather small size and its lack of penetration into small firms. The results from the Canadian association are compared with earlier work conducted with similar associations in Britain and the United States and suggest that there are national differences in the roles of these associations in the knowledge diffusion process.
Examining the legitimacy of unrecognised low-fee private schools in India: comparing different perspectives

Studies to date show how low-fee private (LFP) schools, including unrecognised ones, have gained practical legitimacy and continue to increase in number. However, little explanation is offered regarding the legal legitimacy of such unrecognised LFP schools. This paper intends to fill this gap by examining the legal legitimacy of unrecognised schools in Delhi whose actual existence was challenged by the Delhi High Court and the Right to Education Act, 2009. The paper also illustrates the practical legitimacy of unrecognised schools by comparing perspectives of different actors (the government, NGOs and managers, teachers and parents at nine unrecognised schools in Delhi) based primarily on the author’s interviews with these actors.
School-Based Service Use by Youth With ADHD in Public-Sector Settings

This study investigates rates and predictors of school-based services (SBSs) for 390 youth meeting criteria for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and served in the San Diego public sectors. Only 60% of youth had received an Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder diagnosis; these youth were younger, male, Caucasian (versus Latino), and active to public mental health and special education (Emotional Disturbance category) at enumeration of study participants. Higher rates of SBSs (64%) were revealed than in community samples. Only 26% accessed multimodal treatment including SBSs, medication, and mental health. In multivariate modeling, SBSs displayed a curvilinear relationship with age, which may explain previously conflicting results regarding that relationship. Youth with private insurance or receiving mental health or medication were more likely to receive SBSs. Gender, race/ethnicity, and caregiver education, health, and mental health were not related to SBSs use. These findings may reflect sample characteristics. Further exploration of factors influencing SBSs use in different populations is warranted.
Management of Employability in The Netherlands

This article explores the question how companies can create a different basis for security for their employees now that job security has increasingly become a thing of the past? An answer to this question is to create a new secure base by developing the employability of workers by sustaining and developing opportunities for work in the future. Promoting employability is part of a new psychological contract between employer and employee, whereby both are responsible for maintaining the employment situation. The employability of employees is determined by their actual know-how and skills; their willingness to be mobile and their knowledge of the labour market. Although the development of employability is not only a matter for labour organizations (branch organizations, the government, and employers' representatives and unions have to do their part too), we focus primarily on the policy that organizations can set out. Policymakers have to answer the following questions: (1) Is it necessary to develop the ext.
Testing Construct Theories

This paper presents and illustrates a novel methodology, construct-specification equations, for examining the construct validity of a psychological instrument. Whereas traditional approaches have focused on the study of between-person variation on the construct, the suggested methodology emphasizes study of the relationships between item characteristics and item scores. The major thesis of the construct-specification-equation approach is that until developers of a psychological instrument understand what item characteristics are determining the item difficulties, the understanding of what is being measured is unsatisfyingly primitive. This method is illustrated with data from the Knox Cube Test which purports to be a measure of visual attention and short-term memory.
Living with Crouzon syndrome: transition from childhood to adulthood

Abstract Objective. The aim of this qualitative investigation is to study the subjective experiences of transition from childhood to adulthood in individuals with Crouzon syndrome. Material and methods. Telephone interviews were carried out with eight informants and data were analysed according to grounded theory. Results. A core category emerged labelled facing barriers when developing self-image, which illuminates the different barriers the child had to face when trying to develop a self-image during the transition from childhood to adulthood. Facing barriers should not be confused with the actual barriered development. These barriers are further illuminated in five descriptive categories. Conclusions. These children face a variety of stressful barriers when developing their self-image during the transition from childhood to adulthood. The produced psychological outcome seems to be related to a complex interaction among multiple variables, including variables related to the individual with Crouzon syndr.
Extracellular Adenosine Mediates a Systemic Metabolic Switch during Immune Response

Immune defense is energetically costly, and thus an effective response requires metabolic adaptation of the organism to reallocate energy from storage, growth, and development towards the immune system. We employ the natural infection of Drosophila with a parasitoid wasp to study energy regulation during immune response. To combat the invasion, the host must produce specialized immune cells (lamellocytes) that destroy the parasitoid egg. We show that a significant portion of nutrients are allocated to differentiating lamellocytes when they would otherwise be used for development. This systemic metabolic switch is mediated by extracellular adenosine released from immune cells. The switch is crucial for an effective immune response. Preventing adenosine transport from immune cells or blocking adenosine receptor precludes the metabolic switch and the deceleration of development, dramatically reducing host resistance. Adenosine thus serves as a signal that the “selfish” immune cells send during infection to secure more energy at the expense of other tissues.
GPS-SNO: Computational Prediction of Protein S-Nitrosylation Sites with a Modified GPS Algorithm

As one of the most important and ubiquitous post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins, S-nitrosylation plays important roles in a variety of biological processes, including the regulation of cellular dynamics and plasticity. Identification of S-nitrosylated substrates with their exact sites is crucial for understanding the molecular mechanisms of S-nitrosylation. In contrast with labor-intensive and time-consuming experimental approaches, prediction of S-nitrosylation sites using computational methods could provide convenience and increased speed. In this work, we developed a novel software of GPS-SNO 1.0 for the prediction of S-nitrosylation sites. We greatly improved our previously developed algorithm and released the GPS 3.0 algorithm for GPS-SNO. By comparison, the prediction performance of GPS 3.0 algorithm was better than other methods, with an accuracy of 75.80%, a sensitivity of 53.57% and a specificity of 80.14%. As an application of GPS-SNO 1.0, we predicted putative S-nitrosylation sites for hundreds of potentially S-nitrosylated substrates for which the exact S-nitrosylation sites had not been experimentally determined. In this regard, GPS-SNO 1.0 should prove to be a useful tool for experimentalists. The online service and local packages of GPS-SNO were implemented in JAVA and are freely available at: http://sno.biocuckoo. org/.
Israeli and Japanese Immigrants to Canada: Home, Belonging, and the Territorialization of Identity

The article explores the meaning of the terms home, identity, and belonging for Israeli and Japanese immigrants to Canada. It also investigates identity formation, management, and change, and the interrelationship of the personal, the cultural, and the national. Israel and Japan are both countries with a strong sense of uniqueness, where the notions of "a chosen people" and "the promised land" are present in the national discourse. The findings of this study indicate that the ability to create an adult home, after immigration, is related to the nature of the self (individualistic versus self-sacrificing, and I-self versus we-self) and the ability to commit to the new place. The findings also indicate that Israelis and Japanese tend to think of Home differently, and identify it in different terms. While Israelis in general tend to equate Home with personal and national identity—and ultimately in terms of belonging and loyalty, most Japanese are able to center themselves in the small home, the basis for their daily activities. The findings are anchored in the historical predicament and the distinct cultures of the two groups.
Manipulating the immune system with immune globulin.

ALMOST as soon as a therapeutically useful concentrated immune globulin product became available for intramuscular use, it was obvious that a preparation that could be administered intravenously would be advantageous.1 , 2 However, many years of immunochemical research were required before a concentrated, biologically active, and safe preparation of immune globulin suitable for intravenous use became available. In the past decade, chemists have learned how to prevent protein aggregation while concentrating immune globulin. Purification can be achieved by chromatography, and stabilization of the intact immune globulin is then promoted by acidification with pepsin or the addition of sugars, amino acids, or both.
The influence of gender on collaborative projects in an engineering classroom

Using a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis, the article discusses some of the findings from a larger study on collaboration and the role of gender. We profile three student engineering teams as they participate in processes leading to the submission of a report for a team-based technical communication course. While some theorists suggest that gender can play a significant role in achieving a successful team dynamic, our study only partially supports that claim. A synopsis of two women from two predominantly male teams reveals glimpses of what the literature describes as traditional gender-linked behaviors by both men and women, but the all-female team does not conform to stereotypical patterns and their behaviors call into question the existence of these interactional styles. We suggest that factors other than gender and independent of a team's gender composition exert a greater impact on collaboration. Nevertheless, the study does caution against assigning women to predominantly male teams, since when a team's social structure is mostly male, traditional gender-linked interactional behaviors as well as manifestations of the culture of engineering are more likely to emerge. Overall, the study underlines the importance of examining specific face-to-face interactions to see how behavior is situationally produced in order to more fully understand the interactional strategies open to individuals.
Prosocial children, bullies and victims: An investigation of their sociometric status, empathy and social problem-solving strategies

This study investigates links between children's social behaviour and their sociometric status, empathy and social problem-solving strategies. Sociometric ratings were obtained from a sample of 131 9-10-year-old children drawn from two matched schools. Each child also completed a newly developed and empirically derived Social Behaviour Questionnaire. This questionnaire led to the identification of 21 prosocial children, 23 bullies and 14 victims of bullying. Children in these subgroups were then assessed on measures of empathy and social problem-solving. Prosocial children were significantly more popular than the other role groups, and bully-victims were most frequently rejected by their peers. Prosocial children also showed greater empathic awareness than either bullies or victims, but gender was the significant source of variance. Prosocial children and victims responded more constructively than did bullies to socially awkward situations, and bullies were less aware than prosocial children of the possible negative consequences of their solution strategies.
A Homogeneous Fluorescent Live-Cell Assay for Measuring 7-Transmembrane Receptor Activity and Agonist Functional Selectivity Through Beta-Arrestin Recruitment

Seven-transmembrane (7TM) receptors play an essential role in the regulation of a wide variety of physiological processes, making them one of the top target classes for pharmaceuticals. 7TM receptor function is mediated and modulated through 2 primary processes: G-protein and beta-arrestin signaling. Classically, it has been recognized that these 2 processes can interact with one another during 7TM receptor desensitization, but it has more recently been recognized that these 2 processes can also act independently of one another and can activate parallel signaling pathways. As such, the methods used to interrogate 7TM receptor signaling, both from a biological and a pharmaceutical perspective, may need to be reevaluated and the question of whether functionally selective compounds (compounds that selectively activate one pathway over another) can be rationally developed must be raised. Although numerous high-throughput screening (HTS) compatible assays exist for studying second messengers arising from G-protein signaling, far fewer HTS compatible assays exist for studying beta-arrestin recruitment. The authors report on the Tango™ 7TM receptor assay technology, a high-throughput homogeneous assay method for monitoring beta-arrestin recruitment that uses a live-cell fluorescent readout. This assay format is broadly applicable to 7TM receptors, independent of G-protein coupling and, as such, has been used to produce assays for over 70 7TM receptor targets. The authors also show how flow cytometry can be used to select clones with desired pharmacological profiles and how an inducible expression system can increase the assay window for targets with high levels of constitutive activity. Finally, they demonstrate how the Tango™ system can be used in parallel with assays aimed at second-messenger signaling to enable functional selectivity studies. (Journal of Biomolecular Screening 2009:798-810)
Beyond Stigma: Visibility and Self‐Empowerment of Persons with Congenital Limb Deficiencies

Goffman's (1963) theory of stigma holds that rejection by “normals” leads people with disabilities to adopt practices that help them to pass as normal or cover the immediate impact of their physical difference. However, such an attempt to mitigate the effects of stigma does not characterize the life histories of three adults with severe multiple congenital limb deficiences described in this paper. For them, self-display, within the context of American culture in the 1980s, is a strategy for self-empowerment in which the primary focus is the experience of the person with disabilities rather than the reactions of people who are “normal. ” Their adaptations suggest some limitations to the applicability of Goffman's theory in a changing social context.