Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Can World System Theory predict news flow on twitter? The case of government-sponsored broadcasting

ABSTRACT Social media platforms provide world governments with the opportunity to distribute news content from their broadcast channels directly to foreign publics [Wallerstein, I. (1974). The modern world system. New York: Academic Press] World System Theory, which has successfully explained and predicted the structure of international news flow, is now being challenged. Specifically, these social platforms undermined assumptions regarding the one-way flow of information toward audiences and the exclusive institutional nature of the players in the international system. This study examines the unique case of government-sponsored news media and its international news flow. It finds that while the structure of the international news flow on Twitter exhibits a hierarchical core–periphery structure, non-institutional actors (e.g. bloggers) conformed less than institutional players (e.g. governments and news media) to that structure. This study also found that non-institutional actors assumed the role of bridging news sources and audiences, a role traditionally reserved for a small minority of elite news media. The growing and diversified pool of information mediators resulted in a more fragmented network of news flow, siloed, rather than interconnected. Research findings are synthesized and analyzed in the context of international broadcasting and social media scholarship.
Early Childhood Intervention: The Social Science Base of Institutional Racism

Joan and Stephen Baratz examine the underlying assumptions of intervention programs that tacitly label Negro behavior as pathological. They suggest that the failure to recognize and utilize existing cultural forms of the lower-class Negro community to teach new skills not only dooms intervention programs such as Head Start to failure, but also constitutes a form of institutional racism. An illustration of a pathological versus cultural interpretation of Negro behavior is presented when the Baratzes contrast the interventionists' statements that describe Negro children as verbally destitute and linguistically underdeveloped with current sociolinguistic data that indicate that Negro children speak a highly developed but different variety of English from that of the mainstream standard. The cultural difference model is presented as a viable alternative to the existing genetic inferiority and social pathology models, both of which share the view of the Negro as a "sick white man. "
HER-2 expression correlates with survivin in primary invasive ductal breast cancers.

BACKGROUND The expression of HER-2 and Survivin is correlated with poor prognosis of breast cancer, but a possible interaction of these two proteins remains to be established. AIM The aim of this study is to determine the possible relationship between HER-2 and Survivin in primary invasive ductal breast cancer. METHODS Eighty-six patients diagnosed with primary invasive ductal breast cancer were enrolled in the study. Cancerous breast tissue biopsies were analyzed for the expression levels of HER-2, survivin, ERK1/2, p-ERK1/2, AKT, and p-AKT proteins by Western blot. The levels of HER-2 and survivin mRNA were also assessed by real-time quantitative reverse transcription--polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Finally, the correlation of disease state and protein or mRNA expression was analyzed using the bivariate Pearson's correlation method (two-tailed). RESULTS Western blot analysis showed a significant correlation in protein levels among HER-2, p-AKT, and survivin in the primary invasive ductal breast cancer tissues (all p<0.01). However, the levels of HER-2 protein and Survivin mRNA were not correlated (p=0.154). CONCLUSIONS HER-2 expression significantly correlates with Survivin at the protein level in primary invasive ductal breast cancer tissues, and the correlated changes might act via p-AKT, rather than at the level of transcriptional regulation.
Substance use and unsafe sex amongst homosexual men in Edinburgh

A self-reported behaviour survey using an anonymous critical incident based questionnaire was administered by trained interviewers in 1998. Five hundred and thirty-one homosexual and bisexual men were recruited from gay bars, clubs, cafes, a sauna and 'cruising ground' in central Edinburgh. The use of alcohol and recreational drugs and details of sexual activity over the preceding three months and at the last sexual encounter were recorded. Unsafe sex was defined as anal sex without the use of a condom with a partner of unknown or different HIV status. Safer sex was defined as all other types of sex, including anal sex with a condom and anal sex without a condom with a partner whose HIV status was known to be the same. Of the questionnaires completed, 506 were suitable for analysis; 29 men (6.1%) reported anal sex with a partner of unknown or different HIV status without a condom ('unsafe sex') during their last sexual encounter. A total of 53 men (10.5%) could recall an episode of unsafe sex within the last three months. Men who had used marijuana or inhaled nitrites ('poppers') less than two hours before sex, or whose sexual partners had done so, were more likely to have unsafe sex than those who had not. Although alcohol use was more likely before sex with casual partners, the use of alcohol less than 2 hours before sex was not associated with sex being unsafe.
Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Potential of the Bifurcaria bifurcata Epiphytic Bacteria

Surface-associated marine bacteria are an interesting source of new secondary metabolites. The aim of this study was the isolation and identification of epiphytic bacteria from the marine brown alga, Bifurcaria bifurcata, and the evaluation of the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of bacteria extracts. The identification of epiphytic bacteria was determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Bacteria extracts were obtained with methanol and dichloromethane (1:1) extraction. The antioxidant activity of extracts was performed by quantification of total phenolic content (TPC), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). Antimicrobial activities were evaluated against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans. A total of 39 Bifurcaria bifurcata-associated bacteria were isolated and 33 were identified as Vibrio sp. (48.72%), Alteromonas sp. (12.82%), Shewanella sp. (12.26%), Serratia sp. (2.56%), Citricoccus sp. (2.56%), Cellulophaga sp. (2.56%), Ruegeria sp. (2.56%) and Staphylococcus sp. (2.56%). Six (15.38%) of the 39 bacteria Bifurcaria bifurcata-associated bacteria presented less than a 90% Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) match, and some of those could be new. The highest antioxidant activity and antimicrobial activity (against B. subtilis) was exhibited by strain 16 (Shewanella sp.). Several strains also presented high antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, mainly belonging to Alteromonas sp. and Vibrio sp. There were no positive results against fungi and Gram-negative bacteria. Bifurcaria bifurcata epiphytic bacteria were revealed to be excellent sources of natural antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds.
Refrigerated osteoarticular allografts to treat articular cartilage defects of the femoral condyles. A prospective outcomes study.

BACKGROUND Because of concerns about infections with the use of fresh osteoarticular allografts, osteoarticular allografts are currently stored hypothermically for a minimum of fourteen days to allow for serologic and microbiologic testing prior to implantation. Refrigerated osteoarticular allograft transplants are often used to treat symptomatic chondral and osteochondral defects in young, active patients. Chondrocyte viability has been shown to decrease substantially when allografts are stored for longer than twenty-eight days. The purpose of this study was to examine the clinical and functional outcomes of patients receiving refrigerated osteoarticular allografts between fifteen and twenty-eight days after procurement. METHODS Twenty-three consecutive patients (twenty-three knees) who underwent treatment of focal articular cartilage defects of the femoral condyles with refrigerated osteoarticular grafts were prospectively followed for an average of three years. The average age of the implanted refrigerated allografts was 20.3 days. The patients were assessed preoperatively and postoperatively with validated outcome surveys. RESULTS The mean modified Cincinnati knee ratings significantly improved from baseline to the time of the final follow-up, with an increase from 27.3 to 36.5 on the subscale rating for function (p<0.01), from 21.9 to 32.5 on the subscale rating for symptoms (p<0.03), and from 49.2 to 69.0 for the overall score (p<0.02). The mean International Knee Documentation Committee subjective score improved from 52 points at baseline to 68.5 points at the time of the final follow-up (p<0.03). A significant improvement was also found for effusions and functional testing (the single-leg hop) (p<0.001 for both). Radiographic evaluation at the time of the final follow-up revealed that twenty-two of the twenty-three grafts were in stable position with good osseous incorporation into host bone. No graft failure was encountered. CONCLUSIONS Transplantation of refrigerated osteoarticular allografts stored between fifteen and twenty-eight days provides significant functional and clinical improvement after an average follow-up of three years in patients treated for a full-thickness osteochondral defect of the femoral condyle, with similar outcomes to historical reports of patients with fresh allograft implants.
Characterizing the Difference Between Learning about Adjacent and Non-adjacent Dependencies

Many studies of human sequential pattern learning demonstrate that learners detect adjacent and non-adjacent dependencies in many kinds of sequences. However, it is often assumed that the computational mechanisms behind extracting these dependencies are the same. We replicate the seminal finding that adults are capable of learning dependencies between non-adjacent words (Gomez, 2002). When we eliminate the positional information about the statistical structures by embedding the structure in phrases, learners can no longer learn the dependencies. Our methods allow us to study the learning mechanisms that are more representative of the patterns in natural languages, and show that when directly compared, adjacent and non-adjacent dependencies are not equally learnable. We suggest that learning non-adjacent dependencies in language involves a different computational mechanism from learning adjacent dependencies.
Perpetrator Type Moderates the Relationship Between Severity of Intimate Partner Violence and Recidivism

The present study investigated the predictive utility of violence severity ratings on recidivism based on behavior-based subtypes (family only [FO] violent and generally violent [GV]) of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators. Participants consisted of 328 men between the ages of 17 to 72 sentenced to probation in Lake County, Illinois between 2006 and 2008. The relationship between ratings of violence severity for the arresting event, based on victims’ and perpetrators’ accounts to responding police officers, and domestic violence recidivism for a 3-year postprobation completion/termination period was examined. Utilizing victims’ accounts, the Kaplan–Meier log rank test revealed a significant main effect for violence severity. In addition, perpetrator type moderated the relationship between violence severity and postprobation recidivism, such that a positive association was found for GV men but not for FO violent men. Results corroborate the predictive utility of assessing violence severity at the arresting event, particularly within GV men of IPV.
Nontuberculous Mycobacteria, Fungi, and Opportunistic Pathogens in Unchlorinated Drinking Water in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT The multiplication of opportunistic pathogens in drinking water supplies might pose a threat to public health. In this study, distributed unchlorinated drinking water from eight treatment plants in the Netherlands was sampled and analyzed for fungi, nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), and several opportunistic pathogens by using selective quantitative PCR methods. Fungi and NTM were detected in all drinking water samples, whereas Legionella pneumophila, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and Aspergillus fumigatus were sporadically observed. Mycobacterium avium complex and Acanthamoeba spp. were not detected. Season had no influence on the occurrence of these organisms, except for NTM and S. maltophilia, which were present in higher numbers in the summer. Opportunistic pathogens were more often observed in premise plumbing water samples than in samples from the distribution system. The lowest number of these organisms was observed in the finished water at the plant. Thus, fungi, NTM, and some of the studied opportunistic pathogens can multiply in the distribution and premise plumbing systems. Assimilable organic carbon (AOC) and/or total organic carbon (TOC) had no clear effects on fungal and NTM numbers or on P. aeruginosa- and S. maltophilia-positive samples. However, L. pneumophila was detected more often in water with AOC concentrations above 10 μg C liter−1 than in water with AOC levels below 5 μg C liter−1. Finally, samples that contained L. pneumophila, P. aeruginosa, or S. maltophilia were more frequently positive for a second opportunistic pathogen, which shows that certain drinking water types and/or sampling locations promote the growth of multiple opportunistic pathogens.
Explaining Adoption and Use of Payment Instruments by U.S. Consumers

The way that consumers make payments is changing rapidly and attracts important current policy interest. This paper develops and estimates a structural model of adoption and use of payment instruments by U.S. consumers. We use a cross-section of data from the Survey of Consumer Payment Choice, a new survey of consumer behavior. We evaluate substitution and income effects. Our simulations shed light on the consumer response to the 2011 regulation of interchange fees on debit cards imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act, as well as the proposed settlement between Visa and MasterCard and the Department of Justice that would allow merchants to surcharge the use of payment cards.
Rrp 17 p Is a Eukaryotic Exonuclease Required for 5 0 End Processing of Pre-60 S Ribosomal RNA

Marlene Oeffinger,1 Daniel Zenklusen,2 Angelica Ferguson,1 Karen E. Wei,1 Aziz El Hage,3 David Tollervey,3 Brian T. Chait,1 Robert H. Singer,2 and Michael P. Rout1,* 1Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA 2Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA 3Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JR, UK *Correspondence: rout@rockefeller.edu DOI 10.1016/j.molcel. 2009.11. 011
STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

This study determined the science high school students’ perceptions on the aspects of climate change. It involved randomly selected 122 science high school students who took the researchermade multiple choice climate change test. In each item, the students circled their choice, provided brief explanation about their answer, and determined the source of information about the concept. The answers were coded to determine the students’ climate change perceptions. The results showed that the students hold more correct perceptions on the basic concepts and causes of climate change but they have more lack of perceptions on the effects, mitigations and adaptations. Furthermore, the students had alternative perceptions and they had poor knowledge and comprehension on the aspects of climate change. Significant differences were found on the correct perceptions of male and female students on climate change mitigations. Similarly, significant differences were observed in the correct and alternative perceptions of first and second year students on the basic concepts of climate change. Information from the media and from home/community was related to the lack of perception and alternative perceptions on climate change basic concepts, effects, and mitigations.
A STUDY OF SELF-AWARENESS, SELF-EFFICACY, AND SOJOURNER ADJUSTMENT OVER TIME

Title of Dissertation: A STUDY OF SELF-AWARENESS, SELF-EFFICACY, AND SOJOURNER ADJUSTMENT OVER TIME Bradley R. Brenner, Doctor of Philosophy, 2003 Dissertation Directed by: Professor Robert W. Lent Department of Counseling and Personnel Services Most models of intercultural adjustment rely on the assumption that adjustment changes systematically over the course of a sojourn. However, studies in the intercultural transitions literature generally have not found evidence of systematic change, most likely hampered by their cross-sectional methodology. In the present study, changes in psychological and sociocultural intercultural adjustment were examined using data collected over time. Two additional constructs, intercultural adjustment self-efficacy beliefs and self-awareness, also were studied for their change over the course of a sojourn. Intercultural adjustment self-efficacy beliefs also were examined for their temporal precedence over intercultural adjustment. Moreover, intercultural adjustment self-efficacy was tested as a possible moderator in the relationship between selfawareness and adjustment. To examine the process and progression of intercultural adjustment, 52 U.S. university study abroad students reported their intercultural experiences. They provided responses to measures just prior to departure, and again at one-month intervals during their first three months overseas. Latent growth modeling with factor means estimation was the primary method of data analysis, while path analysis was used as a secondary method. It was found that sociocultural adjustment, intercultural adjustment self-efficacy, and self-awareness changed in a systematic fashion. The trajectory of sociocultural adjustment was found to be similar to a “U”curve, self-efficacy demonstrated upward growth, and self-awareness was found to be similar to an inverted “U”-curve. No systematic change in psychological adjustment was found. Self-efficacy beliefs were shown to demonstrate temporal precedence over changing sociocultural beliefs. Lastly, intercultural adjustment self-efficacy was shown to moderate the relationship between self-awareness and sociocultural adjustment, such that the relationship between self-awareness and sociocultural adjustment was stronger at higher versus lower levels of intercultural adjustment self-efficacy. Future areas of research, both in the international and domestic spheres were discussed, as well as the implications of the current study for counseling interventions and its limitations. A STUDY OF SELF-AWARENESS, SELF-EFFICACY, AND SOJOURNER ADJUSTMENT OVER TIME by Bradley R. Brenner Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2003 Advisory Committee: Professor Robert Lent, Chair Professor Ruth Fassinger Professor Margaretha Lucas Professor Marylu McEwen Professor Karen O’Brien
Low expression of CD39 on regulatory T cells as a biomarker for resistance to methotrexate therapy in rheumatoid arthritis

Significance Methotrexate (MTX) is the first-line therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, about 40% of patients are resistant to MTX. Furthermore, MTX resistance is only apparent after a prolonged continuous MTX treatment (>3 mo), by which time the disease of the nonresponders would have aggravated. Thus, there is a considerable unmet need for a biomarker to select MTX-resistant patients and place them immediately on alternative therapy. We found here that the low density of CD39 on peripheral regulatory T cells in RA patients is a rapid, convenient, and reliable (P < 0.01) biomarker for MTX resistance. Our findings also provide previously unrecognized information on aspects of immune regulation in RA and the mechanism of action of MTX. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by joint destruction and severe morbidity. Methotrexate (MTX) is the standard first-line therapy of RA. However, about 40% of RA patients are unresponsive to MTX treatment. Regulatory T cells (Tregs, CD4+CD25+FoxP3+) are thought to play an important role in attenuating RA. To investigate the role of Tregs in MTX resistance, we recruited 122 RA patients (53 responsive, R-MTX; 69 unresponsive, UR-MTX) and 33 healthy controls. Three months after MTX treatment, R-MTX but not UR-MTX showed higher frequency of peripheral blood CD39+CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ Tregs than the healthy controls. Tregs produce adenosine (ADO) through ATP degradation by sequential actions of two cell surface ectonucleotidases: CD39 and CD73. Tregs from UR-MTX expressed a lower density of CD39, produced less ADO, and had reduced suppressive activity than Tregs from R-MTX. In a prospective study, before MTX treatment, UR-MTX expressed a lower density of CD39 on Tregs than those of R-MTX or control (P < 0.01). In a murine model of arthritis, CD39 blockade reversed the antiarthritic effects of MTX treatment. Our results demonstrate that MTX unresponsiveness in RA is associated with low expression of CD39 on Tregs and the decreased suppressive activity of these cells through reduced ADO production. Our findings thus provide hitherto unrecognized mechanism of immune regulation in RA and on mode of action of MTX. Furthermore, our data suggest that low expression of CD39 on Tregs could be a noninvasive biomarker for identifying MTX-resistant RA patients.
Motor equivalence evidenced by articulatory modelling

We present a method for the analysis of motor equivalence on two French corpuses, evidenced by articulatory modelling. This processing enables us to make out the individual actions of each degree of freedom of the vocal tract. We intend to define the phonetic types we are studying with a combination of degrees of freedom recruited. Such a characterisation makes it possible to account for coarticulatory processes in a coherent way.This method brings to light compensatory strategies, striking strategies of preservation of vocalic configurations in some consonants by one speaker only, and a large divergence in the strategies used by the two speakers.
Time Perception Mechanisms at Central Nervous System

The five senses have specific ways to receive environmental information and lead to central nervous system. The perception of time is the sum of stimuli associated with cognitive processes and environmental changes. Thus, the perception of time requires a complex neural mechanism and may be changed by emotional state, level of attention, memory and diseases. Despite this knowledge, the neural mechanisms of time perception are not yet fully understood. The objective is to relate the mechanisms involved the neurofunctional aspects, theories, executive functions and pathologies that contribute the understanding of temporal perception. Articles form 1980 to 2015 were searched by using the key themes: neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, theories, time cells, memory, schizophrenia, depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and Parkinson’s disease combined with the term perception of time. We evaluated 158 articles within the inclusion criteria for the purpose of the study. We conclude that research about the holdings of the frontal cortex, parietal, basal ganglia, cerebellum and hippocampus have provided advances in the understanding of the regions related to the perception of time. In neurological and psychiatric disorders, the understanding of time depends on the severity of the diseases and the type of tasks.