Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Studies of Geomagnetic Pulsations Using Magnetometer Data from the CHAMP Low-Earth-Orbit Satellite and Ground-Based Stations: a Review

We review research on geomagnetic pulsations carried out using magnetic field measurements from the CHAMP low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite and ground-based stations in South Africa and Hungary. The high quality magnetic field measurements from CHAMP made it possible to extract and clearly resolve Pi2 and Pc3 pulsations in LEO satellite data. Our analyses for nighttime Pi2 pulsations are indicative of a cavity mode resonance. However, observations of daytime Pi2 pulsation events identified in ground station data show no convincing evidence of their occurrence in CHAMP data. We also studied low-latitude Pc3 pulsations and found that different types of field line resonant structure occur, namely discrete frequencies driven by a narrow band source and L-dependent frequencies driven by a broad band source.
Different rates of forgetting following study versus test trials

Two experiments investigated recall following two study conditions, (1) repeated test: a study trial followed by multiple recall trials, and (2) repeated study: multiple study trials with no tests. At a retention interval of 5 minutes, repeated study produced a higher level of recall than repeated test. When the retention interval was extended, forgetting was much more rapid in the study condition, with the repeated test manipulation leading to higher recall at an interval of 7 days. We conclude that study and test trials have different effects upon memory, with study trials promoting memory acquisition, and test trials enhancing the retrieval process itself, which protects against subsequent forgetting.
Inner and Outer School Contextual Factors Associated with Poor Performance of Grade 12 Students: A Case Study of an Underperforming High School in Mpumalanga, South Africa

Often a Grade 12 certificate is perceived as a passport to tertiary education and the minimum requirement to enter the world of work. In spite of its importance, many students do not make this milestone in South Africa. It is important to find out why so many students still fail in spite of transformation in the education system in the post-apartheid era. Given the complexity of education and its context, this study adopted a case study design to examine one historically underperforming high school in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa in 2013. The aim was to gain a understanding of the inner and outer school contextual factors associated with the high failure rate among Grade 12 students. Government documents and reports were consulted to identify factors in the district and the village surrounding the school and a student survey was conducted to identify school, home and student factors. The randomly-sampled half of the population of Grade 12 students (53) participated in the survey and quantitative data are analyzed using descriptive statistical methods. The findings showed that a host of factors is at play. The school is located in a village within a municipality which has been one of the poorest three municipalities in South Africa and the lowest Grade 12 pass rate in the Mpumalanga province. Moreover, over half of the families of the students are single parents, 43% are unemployed and the majority has a low level of education. In addition, most families (83%) do not have basic study materials such as a dictionary, books, tables, and chairs. A significant number of students (70%) are over-aged (+19 years old); close to half of them (49%) are grade repeaters. The school itself lacks essential resources, namely computers, science laboratories, library, and enough furniture and textbooks. Moreover, teaching and learning are negatively affected by the teachers’ occasional absenteeism, inadequate lesson preparation, and poor communication skills. Overall, the continuous low performance of students in this school mirrors the vicious circle of multiple negative conditions present within and outside of the school. The complexity of factors associated with the underperformance of Grade 12 students in this school calls for a multi-dimensional intervention from government and stakeholders. One important intervention should be the placement of over-aged students and grade-repeaters in suitable educational institutions for the benefit of other students. Keywords—Inner context, outer context, over-aged students, vicious circle. V.L. Nkosi is a Youth in Development (BYID) honor graduate from University of Venda, Limpopo, South Africa. P. Farhangpour (PhD) is a senior educational practitioner at Centre for Higher Education Teaching and Leaning (CHETL) at University of Venda, Limpopo, South Africa (e-mail: Parvaneh.farhangpou@univen.ac.za).
Play Among Collegiate Athletes Concussion Increases Odds of Sustaining a Lower Extremity Musculoskeletal Injury After Return

http://ajs.sagepub. com/content/early/2016/01/15/0363546515622387 The online version of this article can be found at: DOI: 10.1177/0363546515622387 published online January 19, 2016 Am J Sports Med M. Alison Brooks, Kaitlin Peterson, Kevin Biese, Jennifer Sanfilippo, Bryan C. Heiderscheit and David R. Bell Play Among Collegiate Athletes Concussion Increases Odds of Sustaining a Lower Extremity Musculoskeletal Injury After Return to
Welfare‐Enhancing Trade Unions in an Oligopoly with Excessive Entry

If input markets are competitive and output per firm declines with the number of firms (business stealing effect), there will be excessive entry into a Cournot oligopoly for a homogeneous commodity. However, input markets are often imperfectly competitive and the price of labor is determined by collective bargaining. The resulting rise in wages reduces output and profits and can deter entry. We analyze under which conditions greater bargaining power by the trade union reduces entry and raises welfare. Furthermore, we show that collective bargaining loosens the linkage between business stealing and excessive entry.
Comparison of Transfer-Learning Approaches for Response Selection in Multi-Turn Conversations

This paper compares three transfer-learning approaches to response selection in dialogs, as part of the Dialog System Technology Challenge 7 (DSTC7) Track 1. In the first approach, Multi-Turn ESIM+ELMo (MT-EE), we incorporate pre-trained contextual embeddings into a sentence-pair model that was originally designed for natural language inference. In the second approach, we fine-tune the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (OpenAI GPT) model. In the third approach, we fine-tune the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model. Our results show that BERT performed best, followed by the GPT model and then the MTEE model. We also discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of each approach. The submitted result for Track 1 (MT-EE) placed second and fifth overall for the Advising and Ubuntu datasets respectively.
An anisotropic turbulent model for solar coronal heating

Context. We present a self-consistent model of solar coronal heating in which we include the dynamical effect of the background magnetic field along a coronal structure by using exact results from wave MHD turbulence. Aims. We evaluate the heating rate and the microturbulent velocity for comparison with observations in the quiet corona, active regions and also coronal holes. Methods. The coronal structures are assumed to be in a turbulent state maintained by the slow erratic motion of the magnetic footpoints. A description of the large-scale and the unresolved small-scale dynamics are given separately. From the latter, we compute exactly (or numerically for coronal holes) turbulent viscosites used in the former to self-consistently close the system and derive the heating flux expression. Results. We show that the heating rate and the turbulent velocity compare favorably with coronal observations.
Abnormal α‐Synuclein Interactions with Rab Proteins in α‐Synuclein A30P Transgenic Mice

Mutation A30P in the α-synuclein gene is a cause of familial Parkinson disease. Transgenic mice expressing wild mouse and mutant human A30P α-synuclein, Tg5093 mice (Tg), show a progressive motor disorder characterized by tremor, rigidity, and dystonia, accompanied by accumulation of α-synuclein in the soma and neurites and by a conspicuous gliosis beginning in the hippocampal formation at the age of 7 to 8 months and spreading throughout the CNS. Impaired short-term changes in synaptic strength have also been documented in hippocampal slices from Tg mice. α-synuclein aggregates of approximately 34 and 70 kDa, in addition to the band of 17 kDa, corresponding to the molecular weight of α-synuclein, were recovered in the PBS-soluble fraction of brain homogenates from Tg mice but not from brain samples from age-matched wildtype littermates. MPTP-treated Tg and wildtype mice produced α-synuclein aggregates in the PBS-, deoxycholate-, and SDS-soluble fractions. Aggregates of α-synuclein, although with different molecular weights, were also observed in rotenone- treated Tg and wildtype mice. Pull-down studies with members of the Rab protein family have shown that α-synuclein from Tg mice interacts with Rab3a, Rab5, and Rab8. This binding is not due to the amount of α-synuclein (levels of which are higher in Tg mice) and it is not dependent on the amount of Rab protein used in the assay. Rather, α-synuclein interactions with Rab proteins are due to mutant α-synuclein as demonstrated in Rab pull-down assays with recombinant of wildtype and mutant A30P human α-synuclein. Since Rab3a, Rab5, and Rab8 are important proteins involved in synaptic vesicle trafficking and exocytosis at the synapse, vesicle endocytosis, and trans-Golgi transport, respectively, it can be suggested that these functions are impaired in Tg mice. This rationale is consistent with previous data showing that short-term hippocampal synaptic plasticity is altered and that α-synuclein accumulates in the cytoplasm of neurons in Tg mice.
Nonvisual Multisensory Impairment of Body Perception in Anorexia Nervosa: A Systematic Review of Neuropsychological Studies

Background Body image distortion is a central symptom of Anorexia Nervosa (AN). Even if corporeal awareness is multisensory majority of AN studies mainly investigated visual misperception. We systematically reviewed AN studies that have investigated different nonvisual sensory inputs using an integrative multisensory approach to body perception. We also discussed the findings in the light of AN neuroimaging evidence. Methods PubMed and PsycINFO were searched until March, 2014. To be included in the review, studies were mainly required to: investigate a sample of patients with current or past AN and a control group and use tasks that directly elicited one or more nonvisual sensory domains. Results Thirteen studies were included. They studied a total of 223 people with current or past AN and 273 control subjects. Overall, results show impairment in tactile and proprioceptive domains of body perception in AN patients. Interoception and multisensory integration have been poorly explored directly in AN patients. A limitation of this review is the relatively small amount of literature available. Conclusions Our results showed that AN patients had a multisensory impairment of body perception that goes beyond visual misperception and involves tactile and proprioceptive sensory components. Furthermore, impairment of tactile and proprioceptive components may be associated with parietal cortex alterations in AN patients. Interoception and multisensory integration have been weakly explored directly. Further research, using multisensory approaches as well as neuroimaging techniques, is needed to better define the complexity of body image distortion in AN. Key Findings The review suggests an altered capacity of AN patients in processing and integration of bodily signals: body parts are experienced as dissociated from their holistic and perceptive dimensions. Specifically, it is likely that not only perception but memory, and in particular sensorimotor/proprioceptive memory, probably shapes bodily experience in patients with AN.
Research on an Improved Economic Value Estimation Model for Crop Irrigation Water in Arid Areas: From the Perspective of Water-Crop Sustainable Development

This paper aimed to construct an improved economic value estimation model (EVIW model) to assess the economic value of water, which plays an important role in the sustainable development of crop planting and irrigation design, especially in arid areas lacking water resources. Firstly, the current EVIW model was based upon improvements and adjustments to the cost-benefit analysis models of previous researchers. Then, to elaborate the whole process of estimation, an empirical study based on the data of Yanqi Basin was conducted. Subsequently, in order to verify the accuracy of the EVIW model, the economic value of irrigation water in this study area was estimated for a second time using the benefit sharing coefficient method. It was concluded that the estimated results of the current EVIW model are in good agreement with those of the traditional benefit sharing coefficient model. The estimation results of the economic value of irrigation water were found to be highly acceptable in terms of accuracy and scientific rigor.
Modulation of Specific and Allergy-Related Immune Responses by Helminths

Helminths are master regulators of host immune responses utilising complex mechanisms to dampen host protective Th2-type responses and favour long-term persistence. Such evasion mechanisms ensure mutual survival of both the parasite and the host. In this paper, we present recent findings on the cells that are targeted by helminths and the molecules and mechanisms that are induced during infection. We discuss the impact of these factors on the host response as well as their effect in preventing the development of aberrant allergic inflammation. We also examine recent findings on helminth-derived molecules that can be used as tools to pinpoint the underlying mechanisms of immune regulation or to determine new anti-inflammatory therapeutics.
A Method for Learning Representations of Signed Networks

Recently there has been significant interest in low dimensional representations of graphs that can then be exploited by machine learning and data mining techniques. The geometric relationships within these learned representations should reflect those between nodes in the original graph. Most work has concentrated on unsigned graphs, which only model positive relationships. However, such techniques can be inadequate for signed graphs, which model both positive and negative relationships. In this work in progress paper, we present a method StEM (Signed neTwork Embedding Model) for learning representations of signed networks that achieves improved performance on tasks such as visualization, node classification and signed link prediction.
Developing Online Shopping Intention among People: Bangladesh Perspective

Electronic commerce is now a means for business growth and expansion in relation to both small and large firms irrespective of their geographical locations. Bangladesh is still far from development of such e-commerce specially B2C (Business to Consumer) e-commerce. This paper sets out to develop a conceptual but contextually grounded B2C online shopping customer intention model in Bangladesh perspective. We undertake a review of the e-commerce and other literatures in order to arrive at our conceptual model. The paper showed that online purchase intention and its continuity depend on attitude of customer that ultimately influenced by trust or belief on online shopping, subjective norms that depend on social and media role, control variables and some support facilities. This conceptual framework provides good theoretical platform for empirical grounded research on electronic commerce in Bangladesh.
Can Drug Users be Effective Change Agents?? Yes, But Much Still Needs to Change

The answer to the question of whether drug users can be effective change agents is yes, although the extent to which they are successful as change agents depends on whether they are acting to change their individual behaviors, the behavior of other drug users, or the laws and policies that negatively impact their health. Drug users have been successful in reducing their individual risk behaviors, and controlling and managing their drug use while still actively using drugs. They have also been successful in advocating risk reduction among their drug using peers. The success of drug users in changing policies that increase their risk for contracting HIV and other diseases, and improving their lives has been more mixed. In spite of these successes, drug use continues to be criminalized and viewed as a moral failure rather than an illness in the belief that drug users are incapable of change. This essay addresses the major myths still common to misunderstanding drug users and behavior change. These attitudes, in turn, limit drug users’ ability to effectively act to improve their lives.
Training Quantized Nets: A Deeper Understanding

Currently, deep neural networks are deployed on low-power portable devices by first training a full-precision model using powerful hardware, and then deriving a corresponding low-precision model for efficient inference on such systems. However, training models directly with coarsely quantized weights is a key step towards learning on embedded platforms that have limited computing resources, memory capacity, and power consumption. Numerous recent publications have studied methods for training quantized networks, but these studies have mostly been empirical. In this work, we investigate training methods for quantized neural networks from a theoretical viewpoint. We first explore accuracy guarantees for training methods under convexity assumptions. We then look at the behavior of these algorithms for non-convex problems, and show that training algorithms that exploit high-precision representations have an important greedy search phase that purely quantized training methods lack, which explains the difficulty of training using low-precision arithmetic.
Role of atherosclerosis, clot extent, and penumbra volume in headache during ischemic stroke

Objective: To investigate the role of large vessel atherosclerosis, blood clot extent, and penumbra volume in relation to headache in ischemic stroke patients. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we performed noncontrast CT, CT angiography (CTA), and CT perfusion (CTP) in 284 participants from the Dutch Acute Stroke Study and Leiden Stroke Cohort within 9 hours after ischemic stroke onset. We collected headache characteristics prospectively using a semi-structured questionnaire. Atherosclerosis was assessed by evaluating presence of plaques in extracranial and intracranial vessels and by quantifying intracranial carotid artery calcifications. Clot extent was estimated by the clot burden score on CTA and penumbra volume by CTP. We calculated risk ratios (RRs) with adjustments (aRR) for possible confounders using multivariable Poisson regression. Results: Headache during stroke was reported in 109/284 (38%) participants. Headache was less prevalent in patients with than in patients without atherosclerosis in the extracranial anterior circulation (35% vs 48%; RR 0.72; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.54–0.97). Atherosclerosis in the intracranial arteries was also associated with less headache, but this association was not statistically significant. Penumbra volume (aRR 1.08; 95% CI 0.63–1.85) and clot extent (aRR 1.02; 95% CI 0.86–1.20) were not related with headache. Conclusions: Headache in the early phase of ischemic stroke tends to occur less often in patients with atherosclerosis than in patients without atherosclerosis in the large cerebral arteries. This finding lends support to the hypothesis that vessel wall elasticity is a necessary contributing factor in the occurrence of headache during acute ischemic stroke.
THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF TWO INFLUENTIAL EARLY CHILDHOOD INTERVENTIONS

A growing literature establishes that high-quality early childhood interventions that enrich the environments of disadvantaged children have substantial long-run impacts on a variety of social and economic outcomes. Much less is known about their effects on health. This paper examines the longterm health impacts of two of the oldest and most widely cited U.S. early childhood interventions evaluated by the method of randomization with long term follow-up: the Perry Preschool Project (PPP) and the Abecedarian Project (ABC). We document that the boys randomly assigned to the treatment group of the PPP have significantly lower prevalence of behavioral risk factors in adulthood compared to those randomized to the control condition, while those who received the ABC intervention enjoy better physical health. Estimated effects are much weaker for girls. Our permutation-based inference procedure accounts for the small sample sizes of the ABC and PPP interventions, for the multiplicity of the hypotheses tested, and for non-random attrition from the panel follow-ups. We conduct a dynamic mediation analysis to shed light on the mechanisms producing the estimated treatment effects. We document a significant role played by enhanced childhood traits, above and beyond experimentally enhanced adult socioeconomic status. Overall, our results show the potential of early life interventions for preventing disease and promoting health.
TNF-alpha and TNF-alpha receptor-1 in the retina of normal and glaucomatous eyes.

PURPOSE To determine the expression and localization of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and TNF-alpha receptor-1 in the retina of normal and glaucomatous eyes. METHODS Using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization, retinal expression and localization of TNF-alpha and TNF-alpha receptor-1 were studied in retina sections from 20 eyes of donors with glaucoma, and 20 eyes of age-matched normal donors. RESULTS According to immunohistochemistry, the intensity of the immunostaining and the number of labeled cells for TNF-alpha or its receptor were greater in retina sections of glaucomatous eyes than in control eyes of age-matched normal donors. In situ hybridization showed that mRNA signals for TNF-alpha or TNF-alpha receptor-1 were similarly more intense in glaucomatous eyes than in age-matched control eyes. Both protein and mRNA of TNF-alpha or TNF-alpha receptor-1 were predominantly localized to the inner retinal layers. Double-immunofluorescence labeling demonstrated that retinal immunostaining for TNF-alpha was predominantly positive in the glial cells, whereas immunostaining for TNF-alpha receptor-1 was mainly positive in the retinal ganglion cells. CONCLUSIONS Upregulation of TNF-alpha and its receptor-1 in glaucomatous retina suggest that TNF-alpha-mediated cell death is involved in the neurodegeneration process of glaucoma.
Baseline characteristics of the omega‐3 fatty acids (Fish oils) and Aspirin in Vascular access OUtcomes in REnal Disease (FAVOURED) study

The Fish oils and Aspirin in Vascular access OUtcomes in REnal Disease (FAVOURED) trial investigated whether 3 months of omega‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, either alone or in combination with aspirin, will effectively reduce primary access failure of de novo arteriovenous fistulae. This report presents the baseline characteristics of all study participants, examines whether study protocol amendments successfully increased recruitment of a broader and more representative haemodialysis cohort, including patients already receiving aspirin, and contrasts Malaysian participants with those from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (UK).