Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Examining Literacy Development: Differential Participation in Narratives and Literacy Practices in One Linguistically Diverse Kindergarten Classroom.

This research examines differential participation in three specific classroom literacy activities over an academic school and their relationship to progress on schoolbased measures of literacy progress in one urban kindergarten linguistically diverse classroom. Exploring the experiences of three kindergarten beginning English language learners through discourse analysis, the relationship between participation in classroom literacy activities and progress on specific school-based measures of literacy is explored. Findings show that the students’ differential participation in whole group reading [instruction] time, writing activity time, and narrative activity time are related to various degrees of students’ specific skill building and progress on specific school-based measures of literacy achievement. Implications from this research can be used to inform classroom teachers on student participation during daily classroom literacy activities.
The Diameter of Sparse Random Graphs

We consider the diameter of a random graph G(n,p) for various ranges of p close to the phase transition point for connectivity. For a disconnected graph G, we use the convention that the diameter of G is the maximum diameter of its connected components. We show that almost surely the diameter of random graph G(n,p) is close to lognlog(np) if np->~. Moreover if nplogn=c>8, then the diameter of G(n,p) is concentrated on two values. In general, if nplogn=c>c"0, the diameter is concentrated on at most [email protected]? 1/c"[email protected]? +4 values. We also proved that the diameter of G(n,p) is almost surely equal to the diameter of its giant component if np>3.6.
The catalytic cycle of the Escherichia coli SecA ATPase comprises two distinct preprotein translocation events

SecA is the ATP‐dependent force generator in the Escherichia coli precursor protein translocation cascade, and is bound at the membrane surface to the integral membrane domain of the preprotein translocase. Preproteins are thought to be translocated in a stepwise manner by nucleotide‐dependent cycles of SecA membrane insertion and de‐insertion, or as large polypeptide segments by the protonmotive force (Δp) in the absence of SecA. To determine the step size of a complete ATP‐ and SecA‐dependent catalytic cycle, translocation intermediates of the preprotein proOmpA were generated at limiting SecA translocation ATPase activity. Distinct intermediates were formed, spaced by intervals of ∼5 kDa. Inhibition of the SecA ATPase by azide trapped SecA in a membrane‐inserted state and shifted the step size to 2–2.5 kDa. The latter corresponds to the translocation elicited by binding of non‐hydrolysable ATP analogues to SecA, or by the re‐binding of partially translocated polypeptide chains by SecA. Therefore, a complete catalytic cycle of the preprotein translocase permits the stepwise translocation of 5 kDa polypeptide segments by two consecutive events, i.e. ∼2.5 kDa upon binding of the polypeptide by SecA, and another 2.5 kDa upon binding of ATP to SecA.
Genomic Prediction in Pea: Effect of Marker Density and Training Population Size and Composition on Prediction Accuracy

Pea is an important food and feed crop and a valuable component of low-input farming systems. Improving resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses is a major breeding target to enhance yield potential and regularity. Genomic selection (GS) has lately emerged as a promising technique to increase the accuracy and gain of marker-based selection. It uses genome-wide molecular marker data to predict the breeding values of candidate lines to selection. A collection of 339 genetic resource accessions (CRB339) was subjected to high-density genotyping using the GenoPea 13.2K SNP Array. Genomic prediction accuracy was evaluated for thousand seed weight (TSW), the number of seeds per plant (NSeed), and the date of flowering (BegFlo). Mean cross-environment prediction accuracies reached 0.83 for TSW, 0.68 for NSeed, and 0.65 for BegFlo. For each trait, the statistical method, the marker density, and/or the training population size and composition used for prediction were varied to investigate their effects on prediction accuracy: the effect was large for the size and composition of the training population but limited for the statistical method and marker density. Maximizing the relatedness between individuals in the training and test sets, through the CDmean-based method, significantly improved prediction accuracies. A cross-population cross-validation experiment was further conducted using the CRB339 collection as a training population set and nine recombinant inbred lines populations as test set. Prediction quality was high with mean Q2 of 0.44 for TSW and 0.59 for BegFlo. Results are discussed in the light of current efforts to develop GS strategies in pea.
The Influence of Socioeconomic Status on Racial/Ethnic Disparities among the ER/PR/HER2 Breast Cancer Subtypes

Background. The eight ER/PR/HER2 breast cancer subtypes vary widely in demographic and clinicopathologic characteristics and survival. This study assesses the contribution of SES to the risk of mortality for blacks, Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and American Indians when compared with white women for each ER/PR/HER2 subtype. Methods. We identified 143,184 cases of first primary female invasive breast cancer from the California Cancer Registry between 2000 and 2012. The risk of mortality was computed for each race/ethnicity within each ER/PR/HER2 subtype. Models were adjusted for tumor grade, year of diagnosis, and age. SES was added to a second set of models. Analyses were conducted separately for each stage. Results. Race/ethnicity did not contribute to the risk of mortality for any subtype in stage 1 when adjusted for SES. In stages 2, 3, and 4, race/ethnicity was associated with risk of mortality and adjustment for SES changed the risk only in some subtypes. SES reduced the risk of mortality by over 45% for American Indians with stage 2 ER+/PR+/HER2− cancer, but it decreased the risk of mortality for blacks with stage 2 triple negative cancer by less than 4%. Conclusions. Racial/ethnic disparities do not exist in all ER/PR/HER2 subtypes and, in general, SES modestly alters these disparities.
Organizational perspective of CRM implementation factors in hospital

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) projects implementation have been popular in the organizations and during three consecutive years, CRM related issues were in the top nine lists most concern for the chief executive officers in the USA because failure rate of IT project implementation is quite high. In reality, there have been many failed CRM projects. According to previous literatures, failure rate is between 30% and 70%. Although many investigations had been done on Critical Success Factors (CSF) and were produced long list of CSFs and Critical failure factors (CFF), but guidance in this era is very little and need more study. Specifically, more powerful theoretical models of CRM system implementation are needed for managers to get better understanding of the success factors. To this end, current article focused on organizational CRM implementation success factors in hospital and proposed a model to clarify the potential risk by reviewing and introducing effective success factors for implementing CRM. This paper zoomed on the organizational factors and software and patient factors are considered for further work. Practical investigations are needed to validate proposed model.
On the causal link between carbon dioxide and air pollution mortality

Greenhouse gases and particle soot have been linked to enhanced sea‐level, snowmelt, disease, heat stress, severe weather, and ocean acidification, but the effect of carbon dioxide (CO2) on air pollution mortality has not been examined or quantified. Here, it is shown that increased water vapor and temperatures from higher CO2 separately increase ozone more with higher ozone; thus, global warming may exacerbate ozone the most in already‐polluted areas. A high‐resolution global‐regional model then found that CO2 may increase U.S. annual air pollution deaths by about 1000 (350–1800) and cancers by 20–30 per 1 K rise in CO2‐induced temperature. About 40% of the additional deaths may be due to ozone and the rest, to particles, which increase due to CO2‐enhanced stability, humidity, and biogenic particle mass. An extrapolation by population could render 21,600 (7400–39,000) excess CO2‐caused annual pollution deaths worldwide, more than those from CO2‐enhanced storminess.
Cognitive impairments in patients with schizophrenia displaying preserved and compromised intellect.

BACKGROUND Although intellectual and neurocognitive deficits accompany schizophrenia, there are inconsistencies in the literature concerning issues of intellectual decline, premorbid deficits, a modal deficit pattern, and preserved abilities. METHODS A battery of neuropsychological tests was administered once to 117 consecutively admitted patients with chronic schizophrenia and a group of 27 healthy control subjects to examine patterns of premorbid and current intellect (measured by means of reading scores and IQ, respectively) and the attendant cognitive profiles in schizophrenia using classification methods based on clinically derived (IQ levels) and atheoretical (cluster) techniques. RESULTS Sixty patients (51%) with schizophrenia who displayed a general intellectual decline of 10 points or greater from estimated premorbid levels also exhibited deficits of executive function, memory, and attention. Twenty-eight patients (23%) with consistently low estimated premorbid intellect and current intellectual levels who displayed no evidence of IQ decline exhibited language and visual processing deficits in addition to deficits present in the intellectually declining group. The remaining 29 patients (25%) who displayed average estimated premorbid intellectual levels did not show IQ decline and exhibited a cognitive profile similar to normal, with the exception of executive function and attention impairment. Atheoretical analyses support the findings from clinically derived subgroups. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that IQ decline, although modal in schizophrenia, is not universally characteristic and that executive function and attention deficits may be core features of schizophrenia, independent of IQ variations.
Gender Equality and Sentencing Outcomes: An Examination of State Courts

The current study examined whether measures of structural gender equality conditioned the effects of defendant gender on incarceration decisions. Using data from the State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) database, multilevel logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between both case- and county-level variables on incarceration decisions on a sample of defendants sentenced in state courts. Results indicated that women were less likely to be sentenced to prison than men, but there was no gender difference for jail and noncustodial sentences; however, the structural gender equality measures exerted only slight influences over sentencing outcomes.
The Role of Sub-damped Lyman-alpha Absorbers in the Cosmic Evolution of Metals

Observations of low mean metallicity of damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) quasar absorbers at all redshifts studied appear to contradict the predictions for the global mean interstellar metallicity in galaxies from cosmic chemical evolution models. On the other hand, a number of metal-rich sub-DLA systems have been identified recently, and the fraction of metal-rich sub-DLAs appears to be considerably larger than that of metal-rich DLAs, especially at z<1.5. In view of this, here we investigate the evolution of metallicity in sub-DLAs. We find that the mean Zn metallicity of the observed sub-DLAs may be higher than that of the observed DLAs, especially at low redshifts, reaching a near-solar level at z<~ 1. This trend does not appear to be an artifact of sample selection, the use of Zn, the use of N_{HI}-weighting, or observational sensitivity. While a bias against very low metallicity could be present in the sub-DLA sample in some situations, this cannot explain the difference between the DLA and sub-DLA metallicities at low z. The primary reason for the difference between the DLAs and sub-DLAs appears to be the dearth of metal-rich DLAs. We estimate the sub-DLA contribution to the total metal budget using measures of their metallicity and comoving gas density. These calculations suggest that at z<~ 1, the contribution of sub-DLAs to the total metal budget may be several times that of DLAs. At higher redshifts also, there are indications that the sub-DLAs may contribute significantly to the cosmic metal budget.
Novel Piezoelectric Paper‐Based Flexible Nanogenerators Composed of BaTiO3 Nanoparticles and Bacterial Cellulose

A piezoelectric paper based on BaTiO3 (BTO) nanoparticles and bacterial cellulose (BC) with excellent output properties for application of nanogenerators (NGs) is reported. A facile and scalable vacuum filtration method is used to fabricate the piezoelectric paper. The BTO/BC piezoelectric paper based NG shows outstanding output performance with open‐circuit voltage of 14 V and short‐circuit current density of 190 nA cm−2. The maximum power density generated by this unique BTO/BC structure is more than ten times higher than BTO/polydimethylsiloxane structure. In bending conditions, the NG device can generate output voltage of 1.5 V, which is capable of driving a liquid crystal display screen. The improved performance can be ascribed to homogeneous distribution of piezoelectric BTO nanoparticles in the BC matrix as well as the enhanced stress on piezoelectric nanoparticles implemented by the unique percolated networks of BC nanofibers. The flexible BTO/BC piezoelectric paper based NG is lightweight, eco‐friendly, and cost‐effective, which holds great promises for achieving wearable or implantable energy harvesters and self‐powered electronics.
Supervised Descent Method for Solving Nonlinear Least Squares Problems in Computer Vision

Many computer vision problems (e.g., camera calibration, image alignment, structure from motion) are solved with nonlinear optimization methods. It is generally accepted that second order descent methods are the most robust, fast, and reliable approaches for nonlinear optimization of a general smooth function. However, in the context of computer vision, second order descent methods have two main drawbacks: (1) the function might not be analytically differentiable and numerical approximations are impractical, and (2) the Hessian may be large and not positive definite. To address these issues, this paper proposes generic descent maps, which are average "descent directions" and rescaling factors learned in a supervised fashion. Using generic descent maps, we derive a practical algorithm - Supervised Descent Method (SDM) - for minimizing Nonlinear Least Squares (NLS) problems. During training, SDM learns a sequence of decent maps that minimize the NLS. In testing, SDM minimizes the NLS objective using the learned descent maps without computing the Jacobian or the Hessian. We prove the conditions under which the SDM is guaranteed to converge. We illustrate the effectiveness and accuracy of SDM in three computer vision problems: rigid image alignment, non-rigid image alignment, and 3D pose estimation. In particular, we show how SDM achieves state-of-the-art performance in the problem of facial feature detection. The code has been made available at www.humansensing. cs.cmu. edu/intraface.
Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell-secreted IL-8 promotes the angiogenesis and growth of colorectal cancer

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have recently been shown to home to tumors and contribute to the formation of the tumor-associated stroma. In addition, MSCs can secrete paracrine factors to facilitate tumor progression. However, the involvement of MSC-derived cytokines in colorectal cancer (CRC) angiogenesis and growth has not been clearly addressed. In this study, we report that interleukin-8 (IL-8) was the most highly upregulated pro-angiogenic factor in MSCs co-cultured with CRC cells and was expressed at substantially higher levels in MSCs than CRC cells. To evaluate the effect of MSC-derived IL-8 on CRC angiogenesis and growth, we used MSCs that expressed small hairpin (interfering) RNAs (shRNA) targeting IL-8 (shIL-8-MSCs). We found that MSC-secreted IL-8 promoted human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) proliferation and migration, tube-formation ability and CRC cell proliferation. Additionally, in vivo studies showed that MSCs promoted tumor angiogenesis partially through IL-8. Taken together, these findings suggest that IL-8 secreted by MSCs promotes CRC angiogenesis and growth and can therefore serve as a potential novel therapeutic target.
Role of Cholesterol in Formation and Function of a Signaling Complex Involving αvβ3, Integrin-Associated Protein (Cd47), and Heterotrimeric G Proteins

Integrin-associated protein (CD47) is a multiply membrane spanning member of the immunoglobulin superfamily that regulates some adhesion-dependent cell functions through formation of a complex with αvβ3 integrin and trimeric G proteins. Cholesterol is critical for the association of the three protein components of the supramolecular complex and for its signaling. The multiply membrane spanning domain of IAP is required for complex formation because it binds cholesterol. The supramolecular complex forms preferentially in glycosphingolipid-enriched membrane domains. Binding of mAb 10G2 to the IAP Ig domain, previously shown to be required for association with αvβ3, is affected by both the multiply membrane spanning domain and cholesterol. These data demonstrate that cholesterol is an essential component of the αvβ3/IAP/G protein signaling complex, presumably acting through an effect on IAP conformation.
An interactive assistant for the definition of proof certificates

The Foundational Proof Certificate (FPC) approach to proof evidence offers a flexible framework for the formal definition of proof semantics, described through its relationship to focused proof systems. The certificates thus produced by tools are executable when interpreted on top of a suitable logic engine, and can therefore be independently verified by trusted proof checkers. The fundamental obstacle encountered here lies in translating the proof evidence produced by a tool in the terms of a formal definition in the system. These formal definitions are akin to domain-specific languages (in which proofs can be written) programmed in the assembly language of the underlying proof systems: a delicate task for which both expert knowledge and great care are needed. To facilitate broader adoption, we begin to explore techniques that abstract away part of this complexity and bring the FPC framework closer to a user-friendly, programmable platform in which a wide range of high-level certificate definitions can be easily encoded.
New robust controller design for voltage source inverters in microgrids

Renewable energy sources such as Solar, wind etc. have gained a lot of interest and application in the recent years, as they can provide electric power on a large scale and are environment friendly. The advancement in the technology of these renewable energy systems has been investigated now a days with a lot of interest. An integral component of the power electronics system that interfaces a renewable energy source to the main power grid is the voltage source inverter (VSI). The purpose served by VSI is converting the DC output of the power source to smooth sinusoidal AC for connection to the main grid. A controller also needs to be designed for the VSI to regulate its output voltage and/or output power. Several issues relevant to the control design have been extensively addressed including vulnerability of the system to parameter variation and uncertainty. In this research work we propose, to design a new robust reference tracking controller, its application and, implementation. The robust controller should be designed such that systems performance in presence of uncertainty improves in comparison to the existing control methods. We will develop the robust control law based on the results presented in a recent research work. To achieve reference tracking, the controller will be augmented with an integral controller. Simulation results will be provided at the end to show good reference tracking performance and significant improvement in the performance of the system in the presence of uncertainty.
Management of Venous Thromboembolisms: Part I. The Consensus for Deep Vein Thrombosis.

UNLABELLED Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a potentially catastrophic condition because thrombosis, left untreated, can result in detrimental pulmonary embolism. Yet in the absence of thrombosis, anticoagulation increases the risk of bleeding. In the existing literature, knowledge about the epidemiology of DVT is primarily based on investigations among Caucasian populations. There has been little information available about the epidemiology of DVT in Taiwan, and it is generally believed that DVT is less common in Asian patients than in Caucasian patients. However, DVT is a multifactorial disease that represents the interaction between genetic and environmental factors, and the majority of patients with incident DVT have either inherited thrombophilia or acquired risk factors. Furthermore, DVT is often overlooked. Although symptomatic DVT commonly presents with lower extremity pain, swelling and tenderness, diagnosing DVT is a clinical challenge for physicians. Such a diagnosis of DVT requires a timely systematic assessment, including the use of the Wells score and a D-dimer test to exclude low-risk patients, and imaging modalities to confirm DVT. Compression ultrasound with high sensitivity and specificity is the front-line imaging modality in the diagnostic process for patients with suspected DVT in addition to conventional invasive contrast venography. Most patients require anticoagulation therapy, which typically consists of parenteral heparin bridged to a vitamin K antagonist, with variable duration. The development of non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants has revolutionized the landscape of venous thromboembolism treatment, with 4 agents available,including rivaroxaban, dabigatran, apixaban, and edoxaban. Presently, all 4 drugs have finished their large phase III clinical trial programs and come to the clinical uses in North America and Europe. It is encouraging to note that the published data to date regarding Asian patients indicates that such new therapies are safe and efficacious. Ultimately, our efforts to improve outcomes in patients with DVT rely on the awareness in the scientific and medical community regarding the importance of DVT. KEY WORDS Combination therapy; Hypertension; α1-blocker.