Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hereditary protein S deficiency leads to ischemic stroke

Hereditary protein S (PS) deficiency is an independent risk factor for venous thromboembolism. However, the correlation between PS and arterial thrombotic disease, such as cerebral thrombosis, is not clear. The present study focused on the molecular mechanisms underlying ischemic stroke caused by a PS gene mutation in one family. The activity of antithrombin, protein C and PS in the plasma of the proband was measured, and the genes encoding PS were amplified and sequenced. The cellular localization and expression of PS were analyzed in HEK-293 cells. The proband was a 50-year-old male. Plasma PS activity of the proband was 38.9%, which was significantly decreased compared with normal levels. Sequencing analysis revealed a PROS1 c. 1486_1490delGATTA mutation on exon 12. This frameshift mutation converts Asp496 in the precursor PS into the termination codon. In addition, the PROS1 mutation was correlated with low PS activity in the family. Functional tests revealed that the mutant protein aggregated in the cytoplasm and its secretion and expression decreased. In conclusion, protein S mutation appeared to be the primary cause of thrombosis in the family of the present study. However, the correlation between PS deficiency and ischemic stroke requires further investigation.
Bridging Cognitive Science and Real Classrooms: A Video Methodology for Experimental Research

ABSTRACT We describe a new approach to the use of video-based technology for conducting controlled experiments in classroom contexts. Specifically, we describe a process for editing video recordings of live classroom lessons to create multiple versions, such that only one aspect of the lesson is systematically varied. Other aspects of the instruction are all held constant, including audio, curricular content, student participation, and other notoriously hard-to-control details of the interactional context that impact learning (e.g., gestures, affect). These edited lesson versions can be randomly assigned to students by condition within classrooms to meet a high standard for random assignment. This technology provides opportunities for deriving causal data on the efficacy of teaching practices through stimuli approximating a typical everyday classroom context.
Quality of Life and Its Related Factors in Chinese Unemployed People: A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study

With the global economic crisis and industrial restructuring, the unemployed are suffering from job loss-related stress and loss of income, which is believed to impair their mental and physical health, while coping and self-efficacy could combat the adverse effects of unemployment on health. Thus, this study aims to describe quality of life (QOL) among unemployed Chinese people and explore the associated factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted by convenience sampling, composed of 1825 unemployed people, from January 2011 to September 2011. Questionnaires pertaining to demographic characteristics, the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), the abbreviated version of the Cope Inventory (Brief COPE) and self-efficacy scales were used to collect information from unemployed people in the eastern, central, and western regions of China. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to explore the related factors of QOL. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the relations among coping, self-efficacy, and QOL. Mental QOL was significantly lower than physical QOL in Chinese unemployed people. Coping had significant effects on both physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS), while self-efficacy played the mediating role in the association between Coping and QOL. Unemployed Chinese people’s mental QOL was disrupted more seriously than their physical QOL. An increase in coping could improve QOL by promoting better management of issues brought about by unemployment. In addition, self-efficacy has the ability to reduce the impact of unemployment on QOL, through the mediating path of coping on QOL. This study highlights the need of coping skills training and self-efficacy enhancement for better management of unemployment in order to improve QOL and well-being.
The role of solar radiation in structuring the shallow benthic communities of boreal forest lakes

We have attempted to quantify the roles of physical, chemical, and biological interactions structuring the attached algal and invertebrate communities in eight boreal lakes at the Experimental Lakes Area, northwestern Ontario, varying in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations (3–9 mg L−1). Attached benthic communities on rocky, south‐facing shores were sampled at 0.1, 0.3, 0.7, and 1.5 m depths. Multivariate redundancy analysis explained 58% of the variance in algal communities and 75% of the variance in invertebrate communities. Algal composition was determined most by photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and ultraviolet radiation (UVR) fluxes, whereas the composition of associated invertebrates was driven by a combination of exposure to solar radiation and food quality and quantity. Communities on rock surfaces exposed to high solar fluxes in these lakes had very high concentrations of a photoprotective scytonemin‐like pigment (SLP‐A), and were dominated by filamentous green algae. Conversely, deeper, more shielded communities were dominated by diatoms and had low concentrations of SLP‐A. This suggests that previous paleolimnological evidence of SLP‐A increases might reflect changes in littoral attached algal communities rather than planktonic ones. Decreases in DOC concentrations as a result of climate warming will result in increased penetration of solar radiation in boreal lakes. As a result, in the event of decreased precipitation, we predict that the dominance of UVR‐resistant epilithic algae in littoral zones will occur in deeper waters than before, with coincident reductions in densities of many invertebrate taxa in algal biofilms increasingly exposed to high solar fluxes.
School-Based Kindergarten Transition Practices and Child Outcomes: Revisiting the Issue

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school-based kindergarten transition practices and student achievement and executive functioning using recent, nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11. The analysis employed 3-level hierarchical linear models and found no relationship between the aggregate number of transition practices that a school offered and academic achievement or executive function outcomes in kindergarten. Additional analyses focused on individual transition practices as well as interaction effects with socioeconomic status, race, kindergarten entry skills, and home language of the child. The findings from this study are largely inconsistent with previous research on the topic that used older data. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed.
Dispersion analysis of photonic crystal fiber

A detailed modal analysis of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is carried out by using the finite element method (FEM) in FEMLAB environment. The effective mode index of the fundamental mode is found out and the effective mode area is calculated for different PCF structures. Finally, dispersion property of different PCF structures is numerically calculated and it is found that the dispersion profile of the PCF can be controlled by appropriately choosing diameter and pitch of air holes.
Crystal Structure, Spectroscopy, SEM Analysis, and Computational Studies of N-(1,3-Dioxoisoindolin-2yl)benzamide

The compound N-(1,3-dioxoisoindolin-2yl)benzamide, C15H10N2O3, was prepared by the heating of an ethanolic solution of 2-hydroxy-1H-isoindole-1,3(2H)-dione and 4-chloroaniline. The product was characterised using a combination of IR spectroscopy, SEM, and single crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. In addition to the experimental analysis, theoretical calculations were used to investigate the crystal structure in order to compare experimental and theoretical values. The X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the compound crystallises in the monoclinic space group with the geometric parameters of , , , and °. The crystal structure is held together by a network of N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds involving the carboxamide group.
History trajectory privacy-preserving through graph partition

With rapid development of positioning techniques and location based services (LBS), locations and traces of moving objects are collected by service providers, the data will then be published for novel applications. Although analyzing and mining trajectories is useful for mobility-related applications, new challenges of trajectory privacy leakage arise accordingly. Trajectories contain rich spatio-temporal history information that may expose users' whereabouts and other personal privacy. At present, trajectory k-anonymity which aims at anonymizing k trajectories together on all sample points is one of the most popular techniques to protect trajectory privacy. The challenge lies in how to find trajectory k-anonymity sets. In this paper, a trajectory graph is constructed to simulate spatial relations of trajectories, based on which we propose to find trajectory k-anonymity sets through graph partition, which is proven NP-complete. We then propose a greedy partition method to find trajectory k-anonymity sets, as well as yielding low information loss. We run a series of experiments on both real-world and synthetic datasets, the results show the effectiveness of our method.
Automated Communications Analysis System using Latent Semantic Analysis

This report is published in the interest of scientific and technical information exchange and its publication does not constitute the Government’s approval or disapproval of its idea or findings. When US Government drawings, specifications, or other data are used for any purpose other than a definitely related Government procurement operation, the Government thereby incurs no responsibility nor any obligation whatsoever, and the fact that the Government may have formulated, furnished, or in any way supplied the said drawings, specifications, or other data, is not to be regarded by implication or otherwise, as in any manner, licensing the holder or any other person or corporation, or conveying any rights or permission to manufacture, use or sell any patented invention that may in any way be related thereto.
On Learning Where To Look

Current automatic vision systems face two major challenges: scalability and extreme variability of appearance. First, the computational time required to process an image typically scales linearly with the number of pixels in the image, therefore limiting the resolution of input images to thumbnail size. Second, variability in appearance and pose of the objects constitute a major hurdle for robust recognition and detection. In this work, we propose a model that makes baby steps towards addressing these challenges. We describe a learning based method that recognizes objects through a series of glimpses. This system performs an amount of computation that scales with the complexity of the input rather than its number of pixels. Moreover, the proposed method is potentially more robust to changes in appearance since its parameters are learned in a data driven manner. Preliminary experiments on a handwritten dataset of digits demonstrate the computational advantages of this approach.
Near-repeat burglary patterns in Malmö: Stability and change over time

It is well established that previous crime events are valuable indicators for the prediction of future crime. Near-repeat burglaries are incidents that occur in close proximity in space and time to an initial burglary. The current study analyses near-repeat victimization patterns in Malmö, Sweden’s third-largest city. The data, provided by the local police, cover a six-year time frame from 2009 to 2014. The complete dataset, as well as each year’s individual dataset, was analysed using Ratcliffe’s Near Repeat Calculator version 1.3. Results reveal significant near-repeat victimization patterns. For the full dataset, an observed/expected ratio of 2.83 was identified for the first week after an initial incident and an area of 100 metres surrounding the original burglary. Separate analyses of each individual year reveal both similarities and differences between years. Some years manifest near-repeat patterns at longer spatial and temporal distances, indicating a need for further studies on the variability of near repeats. Preventive strategies that include both private and public actors need to be intensified and focused on the first two weeks after a burglary.
Factors affecting course outcomes in introductory programming

Learning to program is difficult for many students. Although several factors that affect learning to program have been identified over the years, we are still far from a full understanding of why some students learn to program easily and quickly while others flounder. Two constructs that may affect learning to program are self-efficacy and mental models. Self-efficacy is the individual’s judgment of his or her ability to perform a task in a specific domain (Bandura 1986). A mental model is a person’s internal (mental) representation of real world objects and systems (Norman 1983). Separate research on self-efficacy and mental models has shown that both are important to knowledge acquisition and transfer. Using a path-analytic approach, this research investigates the joint effects of self-efficacy, mental model, and previous experience on learning to program in an introductory course. The results show that self-efficacy for programming is influenced by previous programming experience, and student self-efficacy increases substantially during an introductory programming course. Furthermore, students’ mental models of programming influence their self-efficacy, and both the mental model and self-efficacy have a direct effect on overall success in an introductory course.
Just Joking? investigating sexual harassment in a departmental store in Gweru, Zimbabwe

This study investigates the reasons for sexual harassment, its nature and policy implications in a departmental store in Gweru, Zimbabwe. It also analyses the costs of sexual harassment on both the individual and the organisation. The study is based on a qualitative research conducted between January and July 2008. 24 respondents (14 females and 10 males) were studied using semi structured interviews and questionnaires. Results are analysed using the Miles and Huberman (1994) approach to data analysis. Results reveal that contract employment and lack of skills create vulnerability and dependency, a situation exploited by the powerful male superiors who sexually harass their subordinate females. Sexual harassment is institutionalised at Tatenda where management refuses to acknowledge it as a problem. The reluctance of management to craft policies on sexual harassment and grievance procedures added to womenâ€™s fear of reporting sexual harassment perpetuates a culture of silence at Tatenda.
PUROMYCIN-INDUCED NECROSIS OF CRYPT CELLS OF THE SMALL INTESTINE OF MOUSE

Chemical and radioautographic analysis of the small intestine of mice injected intraperitoneally with puromycin revealed an immediate decrease of precursor incorporation into DNA and protein and a delayed decrease of precursor incorporation into RNA. In addition to this decrease of precursor incorporation, damage to the crypt cells, but not to the cells of the villus of the small intestine, was observed. Further examination of other dividing cells (spleen) and nondividing cells (liver and heart) of these mice showed again that only cells of actively dividing tissues were damaged. The metabolic inhibitors actinomycin D, cytosine arabinoside, actidione, and puromycin aminonucleoside were used in an attempt to clarify the mechanism of cell damage by puromycin. The results showed that there was no clear correlation between cell necrosis and the pattern of inhibition of synthesis of DNA, RNA, or protein.
The legal profession of China in a globalized world: innovations and new challenges

ABSTRACT The legal profession is undergoing fundamental changes; and this is the case not just in established legal markets. Based on a state-of-the-art sketch, this paper identifies and analyzes the latest innovation initiatives and alternative business models in China’s legal profession. It finds that, propelled by market demands and benefiting from technological advancements, the provision of legal services has become highly versatile today, giving rise to various alternative service providers, especially the rapidly rising online legal service portals. Because they are technically not law firms, the exclusivity requirements on lawyer ownership and legal service provision are not applicable to them. In the meantime, the competition for large corporate clients and lucrative business transactions is fierce and will continue to be so, not only within the club of big Chinese corporate law firms, but also between Chinese law firms and international law firms globally. In this course, some leading big corporate law firms in China are observed to have creatively incorporated key corporate features in running their business and compensating their partners, effectively deviating from the partnership + pure legal services regulation. Such market realities question the necessity and effect of the regulatory restrictions on law firm legal form and ownership structure, and call for an agenda for related research in the future.
Fermionic construction of partition functions for two-matrix models and perturbative Schur function expansions

A new representation of the 2N fold integrals appearing in various two-matrix models that admit reductions to integrals over their eigenvalues is given in terms of vacuum state expectation values of operator products formed from two-component free fermions. This is used to derive the perturbation series for these integrals under deformations induced by exponential weight factors in the measure, expressed as double and quadruple Schur function expansions, generalizing results obtained earlier for certain two-matrix models. Links with the coupled two-component KP hierarchy and the two-component Toda lattice hierarchy are also derived.
Supplementary Figures Supplementary Figure 1. Overview of Refolding and Misfolding for I27i27 and I27i28 Tandem Repeats Observed in Previous Single-molecule Fret Experiments. 1 A. Transfer Efficiency Histogram of Never-unfolded

I27I27, with only the native state present at E  0.38, shown alongside a representative structure of the protein, with the residues labelled with fluorescent dyes indicated as orange spheres. b. Histogram of I27I27 after refolding by dilution from high GdmCl concentration, showing the formation of a long-lived misfolded population at E  0.9, displayed with a representative structure of this species based on Gō-like simulations. c. Histogram of I27I28 after refolding: the low sequence identity between the two naturally neighbouring domains prevents formation of the stable misfolded states seen in b. The structure shown is based on I27-I27. The area shaded in gray indicates the population of molecules lacking an active acceptor fluorophore (" donor-only "). Data taken from ref.
Profile of microRNA in Giant Panda Blood: A Resource for Immune-Related and Novel microRNAs

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the world’s most beloved endangered mammals. Although the draft genome of this species had been assembled, little was known about the composition of its microRNAs (miRNAs) or their functional profiles. Recent studies demonstrated that changes in the expression of miRNAs are associated with immunity. In this study, miRNAs were extracted from the blood of four healthy giant pandas and sequenced by Illumina next generation sequencing technology. As determined by miRNA screening, a total of 276 conserved miRNAs and 51 novel putative miRNAs candidates were detected. After differential expression analysis, we noticed that the expressions of 7 miRNAs were significantly up-regulated in young giant pandas compared with that of adults. Moreover, 2 miRNAs were up-regulated in female giant pandas and 1 in the male individuals. Target gene prediction suggested that the miRNAs of giant panda might be relevant to the expressions of 4,602 downstream genes. Subseuqently, the predicted target genes were conducted to KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathway analysis and we found that these genes were mainly involved in host immunity, including the Ras signaling pathway, the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and the MAPK signaling pathway. In conclusion, our results provide the first miRNA profiles of giant panda blood, and the predicted functional analyses may open an avenue for further study of giant panda immunity.
Research of Image Denoising Based on Edge Preservation

In this paper, a new algorithm for removing noise from digital images, based on the Stationary Wavelet Transform and Mathematic Morphology, is proposed. The level-dependent thresholding scheme is used to extract the multiscale edge. And apply the dilation operation to expand the edge location information, for the sake of preserving the important wavelet coefficient and its neighborhood coefficients. This process will improve the preservation of edges significantly while maintaining the smoothness on non-edge regions. It demonstrated through simulations with images contaminated by additive white Gaussian noise that this algorithm produced acceptable results, both visually and in terms of signal-to-noise-ratio.
Constraining the Mass Profiles of Stellar Systems: Schwarzschild Modeling of Discrete Velocity Data Sets

We present a new Schwarzschild orbit superposition code designed to model discrete data sets composed of velocity measurements of individual kinematic tracers in a dynamical system. This constitutes an extension of previous implementations that can only address continuous data in the form of (the moments of) velocity distributions, thus avoiding potentially important losses of information due to data binning. The code can handle any combination of velocity components, i.e., only line-of-sight velocities, only proper motions, or both. The code determines the combination of orbital mass weights as a function of the three integrals of motion E, Lz, and I3 that best reproduces, in a maximum likelihood sense, the available kinematic and photometric observations in a given axisymmetric gravitational potential. The fully numerical approach ensures considerable freedom on the form of the distribution function f(E, Lz, I3) , avoiding restrictive assumptions about the degree of orbital (an)isotropy. We describe the implementation of the discrete code and present a series of performance tests based on the modeling of simulated data sets generated from a known distribution function. Exploring pseudo-data sets with varying degrees of overall rotation and different inclinations on the sky, we study the results as a function of relevant observational variables such as the size of the data set and the type of velocity information available. The discrete Schwarzschild code recovers the original orbital structure, mass-to-light ratio, and inclination of the input data sets to satisfactory accuracy. The code will be valuable, e.g., for modeling stellar motions in Galactic globular clusters and the motions of individual stars, planetary nebulae, or globular clusters in nearby galaxies. This can shed new light on the total mass distributions of these systems, with central black holes and dark halos being of particular interest.