Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Uncertainties in the Modelled CO2 Threshold for Antarctic Glaciation

Abstract. A frequently cited atmospheric CO2 threshold for the onset of Antarctic glaciation of ~780 ppmv is based on the study of DeConto and Pollard (2003) using an ice sheet model and the GENESIS climate model. Proxy records suggest that atmospheric CO2 concentrations passed through this threshold across the Eocene–Oligocene transition ~34 Ma. However, atmospheric CO2 concentrations may have been close to this threshold earlier than this transition, which is used by some to suggest the possibility of Antarctic ice sheets during the Eocene. Here we investigate the climate model dependency of the threshold for Antarctic glaciation by performing offline ice sheet model simulations using the climate from 7 different climate models with Eocene boundary conditions (HadCM3L, CCSM3, CESM1.0, GENESIS, FAMOUS, ECHAM5 and GISS_ER). These climate simulations are sourced from a number of independent studies, and as such the boundary conditions, which are poorly constrained during the Eocene, are not identical between simulations. The results of this study suggest that the atmospheric CO2 threshold for Antarctic glaciation is highly dependent on the climate model used and the climate model configuration. A large discrepancy between the climate model and ice sheet model grids for some simulations leads to a strong sensitivity to the lapse rate parameter.
Network Performance and Quality of Experience of Remote Access Laboratories

Remote Access Laboratories (RAL) have become important learning and teaching tools. This paper presents a performance study that targets a specific remote access architecture implemented within a universities operational environment. This particular RAL system provides globally authenticated and arbitrated remote access to virtualized computers as well as computer controlled hardware experiments. This paper presents system performance results that have been obtained utilizing both a set of automated and human subject tests. Principle objectives of the study were: To gain a better understanding of the nature of network traffic caused by experimental activity usage; to obtain an indication of user expectations of activity performance; and to develop a measure to predict Quality of Experience, based on easily measurable Quality of Service parameters. The study emulates network layer variation of access-bandwidth and round-trip-time of typical usage scenarios and contrasts against user perception results that allow classifying expected user performance. It demonstrates that failure rate is excellent measure of usability, and that round-trip-time predominantly affects user experience. Thin-client and remote desktop architectures are popular to separate the location of users and the actual data processing and use similar structures, hence results of this study to be applied in these application areas as well.
Integrating High Performance Computingand Virtual

High performance computing has become accepted as a tool that can be used to solve many large scale computational problems. Because of the complexity of the problems associated with high performance computing, visualization of the output of high performance computing applications has always been an important factor in providing a complete problem solving environment for the high performance computing user. As visualization technology advances, it is important to consider what impacts those advances will have on the integration of high performance computing and visualization. Virtual environments are the most recent, and arguably the most powerful, visualization environments in use today. In this paper we analyze the current state of the research of integrating visualization, and in particular virtual environments , with high performance computing. We also present a framework for implementing such an environment and report on the status of its implementation at the Australian National University .
Temperature gradients drive mechanical energy gradients in the flight muscle of Manduca sexta

SUMMARY A temperature gradient throughout the dominant flight muscle (dorsolongitudinal muscle, DLM1) of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta, together with temperature-dependent muscle contractile rates, demonstrates that significant spatial variation in power production is possible within a single muscle. Using in situ work-loop analyses under varying muscle temperatures and phases of activation, we show that regional differences in muscle temperature will induce a spatial gradient in the mechanical power output throughout the DLM1. Indeed, we note that this power gradient spans from positive to negative values across the predicted temperature range. Warm ventral subunits produce positive power at their in vivo operating temperatures, and therefore act as motors. Concurrently, as muscle temperature decreases dorsally, the subunits produce approximately zero mechanical power output, acting as an elastic energy storage source, and negative power output, behaving as a damper. Adjusting the phase of activation further influences the temperature sensitivity of power output, significantly affecting the mechanical power output gradient that is expressed. Additionally, the separate subregions of the DLM1 did not appear to employ significant physiological compensation for the temperature-induced differences in power output. Thus, although the components of a muscle are commonly thought to operate uniformly, a significant within-muscle temperature gradient has the potential to induce a mechanical power gradient, whereby subunits within a muscle operate with separate and distinct functional roles.
Service at UiTM Residential Hostel Cafeterias - Is it Satisfactory?

2 Abstract: Students are sandwiched between the intensity of time to be devoted to their studies and to pursue their nutritional requirements. Hence, they are pressured to patronize the university's food service as an alternative source to for food and beverages. This study empirically examines students' acceptance level and satisfaction on the service delivery attributes at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) hostel cafeterias. Through self-reported experiences on three dimensions of service delivery attributes, students who reside in UiTM Shah Alam hostels, namely Kolej Seroja, Kolej Anggerik and Kolej Perindu went through a questionnaire survey. Results revealed that food and beverages and service attributes are the major determinants looked at by students when dining at UiTM hostel cafeterias and they had the same expectations as other restaurant customers. They expect decent food and beverages with an acceptable degree of service. Nevertheless, their expectations were not met. In conclusion, UiTM as an educational institution should have more systematic procedures in combating the above mentioned issues for the benefit of students as stakeholders and at the same time boost confidence among parents or guardians. Therefore, the students' expressions on these attributes have directly given significant impact not only to them but also to the operators as well as UiTM as a whole.
The sound-board account of reasoning: A one-system alternative to dual-process theory

ABSTRACT In order to explain the effects found in the heuristics and biases literature, dual-process theories of reasoning claim that human reasoning is of two kinds: Type-1 processing is fast, automatic, and associative, while Type-2 reasoning is slow, controlled, and rule based. If human reasoning is so divided, it would have important consequences for morality, epistemology, and philosophy of mind. Although dual-process theorists have typically argued for their position by way of an inference to the best explanation, they have generally failed to consider alternative hypotheses. Worse still, it is unclear how we might test dual-process theories. In this article, I offer a one-system theory, which I call the Sound-Board Account of Reasoning, according to which there is one reasoning system which is flexible, allowing the properties used to distinguished Type-1 and Type-2 reasoning to cross-cut one another. I empirically distinguish my theory from the two dominant versions of dual-process theory (parallel-competitive and default-interventionist dual-process theory) and argue that my theory’s predictions are confirmed over both of these versions of dual-process theory.
An extension of Rachlin's commitment model to obese and normal weight adults

Behavior therapists are employing self-control techniques to reduce the frequency of behavior such as overeating and smoking. Self-control becomes necessary when a person is faced with a choice between two incompatible responses. One response (lack of self-control) leads to immediate reinforcement, and the other response (self-control) is followed by delayed reinforcement. One class of techniques involved in self-control is stimulus control. Using stimulus control, a person sets up the environment to avoid the difficult choice situation and thus respond in accordance with the long term contingencies. Rachlin's term for stimulus control is "commitment strategy. " Prior research on the commitment model used pigeons and children as subjects. The present study investigated the applicability of Rachlin's commitment model to normal-weight and obese adults.
Birth weight and risk of neuroblastoma: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Neuroblastoma is the most common solid tumour in infancy but its aetiology is largely unknown. Prenatal factors might play a key role in its pathogenesis. Previous studies investigated whether birth weight is associated with risk of neuroblastoma, with conflictive results. We conducted a meta-analysis to quantitatively summarize the published evidence. METHODS Results from 10 case-control studies and one cohort study (1966 to December 2008) were included, involving a total of 3004 children with neuroblastoma. We constructed random-effects and fixed-effects models, performed 'pool-first' analyses, assessed heterogeneity and publication bias and performed sensitivity and influence analyses. RESULTS High birth weight (>4000 g) was associated with increased risk of neuroblastoma [odds ratio (OR) 1.19; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04-1.36]. Results for high birth weight were highly homogenous (I(2) = 0%). Low birth weight (<2500 g) was also related to increased risk of neuroblastoma (OR 1.24; 95% CI 1.0-1.55), but results were more heterogeneous (I(2 )= 30%). No evidence for particularly influential studies or for publication bias was found. However, sensitivity analysis indicated the presence of bias in studies on the association with low birth weight. Above 2500 g each 1000-g increase in birth weight was associated with a 13% (95% CI 3-25) increase in risk of neuroblastoma. CONCLUSIONS This meta-analysis shows that high birth weight is highly reproducibly associated with increased risk of neuroblastoma. The association with low birth weight was found to be less robust and deserves further studies.
Cardiac autonomic neuropathy associated alteration of sympatho-vagal balance through the tone entropy analysis of heart periods

This study presents the usefulness of tone-entropy (T-E) analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) using short term ECG recordings (∼20 minutes) for screening the degree of severity (mild, definite and severe) of cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN). Tone reflects sympathovagal balance whose validity has been already examined on typical physiological cases. Entropy which is the autonomic regularity activity was evaluated though Shannon entropy of HRV. Both indexes were defined on a distribution of successive variations of heart periods. The results showed that the tone was high and the entropy was low in the definite group compared with the early and normal group. When the result was plotted in two-dimensional T-E space, it revealed a curve-linear relation between the tone and entropy. The findings could form the basis of a cheap and non-invasive test for screening CAN in patients with or without diabetes.
Professional discourses and resistance to change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how resistance to change might be a consequence of differences in professional discourse of professional groups working together in a change program.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses discourse analysis and rubrics to study the implementation of a new ICT system for an airline. Data for this case study were collected in semi‐structured interviews, desk research, participant observations and a diagnostic workshop.Findings – The data suggest that the non‐aligned interaction between different professional discourses can be a source of resistance to change, in addition to other well‐known sources of resistance to change in the change management literature. Future research regarding change management should incorporate linguistics and discourse analysis. Investigating resistance to change could be done comprehensively, paying attention to differences in professional cultures in cross‐functional (project) teams. A managerial implication of the stud.
Working Paper Series Equalizing Superstars : The Internet and the Democratization of Education

Educational resources distributed via the Internet are rapidly proliferating. One prominent concern associated with these potentially transformative developments is that, as many of the leading technologies of the last several decades have been, these new sweeping technological changes will be highly disequalizing, creating superstar teachers, a wider gulf between different groups of students and potentially a winner-take-all educational system. In this paper, we argue that, these important concerns notwithstanding, a major impact of the superstars created by web-based educational technologies will be the democratization of education: not only will educational resources be more equally distributed, but also lower-skilled teachers will be winners from this technology. At the root of our results is the observation that for web-based technologies to exploit the comparative advantage of skilled lecturers, they will need to be complemented with opportunities for face-to-face discussions with instructors, and web-based lectures will increase the quantity and quality of teaching services complementary to such instruction, potentially increasing the marginal product and wages of lower-skill teachers.
Examining the Perceived Influence of a Comprehensive Youth Development Program for Promoting Black Male High School Persistence

ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . iv DEDICATION . v LIST OF TABLES . xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . xiii CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY . 1 Background . 1 The Cost of Dropping Out . 2 Unique Challenges for Black Youth . 3 Designing an Effective Intervention . 4 Statement of the Problem . 7 Purpose of the Study . 9 Significance of the Study . 10 Research Objectives . 10 Theoretical Framework . 11 Limitations . 14 Delimitations . 15 Definitions of Terms . 15 Summary . 16 vii CHAPTER II – REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE. 18 Youth Development Processes . 19 Human Capital Theory . 19 Social Capital Theory . 21 Relational Developmental Systems Theory . 23 Developing Strength to Overcome Adversity . 26 Youth Resilience . 26 Risk Factors . 28 Protective Factors. 30 Protective Mechanisms . 32 Positive Youth Development . 35 Youth Development Complexity . 42 Mentoring to build Social and Human Capital . 43 Mentoring Youth . 44 Addressing Minority Challenges . 49 Summary . 54 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY . 56 Research Overview . 56 Research Design. 57 Population . 61 viii Sample Description . 62 Sample Location . 63 Sample Recruitment . 64 Sample Size . 66 Researcher’s Role . 66 Institutional Review Board Approval . 68 Data Collection . 69 Pilot Study . 70 Interview Plan . 70 Data Analysis . 72 Trustworthiness . 76 Ethical Considerations . 77 Summary . 78 CHAPTER IV – RESULTS . 79 Participant Demographics . 79 Participant Summary . 81 Antonio . 81 Cameron . 82 Kevin . 83 Lacey . 84 ix Robert . 85 Tyler . 85 Theme Outline . 86 Analysis Results . 87 Summary . 100 CHAPTER V – FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS . 101 Study Summary . 101 Study Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations . 101 Finding 1: Personal connections are crucial for youth coping with adversity. 102 Conclusion 1: A CYDP can provide support for coping. 102 Recommendation 1: Youth programs should provide opportunities to build meaningful, long-term connections between youth, peers, and adults. 103 Finding 2: Youth need to be stretched with challenging assignments and demanding expectations for results. 103 Conclusion 2: A CYDP can provide challenges that youth thought were beyond their abilities. 104 Recommendation 2: Youth programs must challenge members to take on activities and produce results they do not think they can achieve. 104 Finding 3: Adversity risk influence varies with individual perception of risk. 105 Cultural Discontinuity . 105
RGS7/Gβ5/R7BP complex regulates synaptic plasticity and memory by modulating hippocampal GABABR-GIRK signaling

In the hippocampus, the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA shapes the activity of the output pyramidal neurons and plays important role in cognition. Most of its inhibitory effects are mediated by signaling from GABAB receptor to the G protein-gated Inwardly-rectifying K+ (GIRK) channels. Here, we show that RGS7, in cooperation with its binding partner R7BP, regulates GABABR-GIRK signaling in hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Deletion of RGS7 in mice dramatically sensitizes GIRK responses to GABAB receptor stimulation and markedly slows channel deactivation kinetics. Enhanced activity of this signaling pathway leads to decreased neuronal excitability and selective disruption of inhibitory forms of synaptic plasticity. As a result, mice lacking RGS7 exhibit deficits in learning and memory. We further report that RGS7 is selectively modulated by its membrane anchoring subunit R7BP, which sets the dynamic range of GIRK responses. Together, these results demonstrate a novel role of RGS7 in hippocampal synaptic plasticity and memory formation. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.02053. 001
A comparison of hyperspectral data and worldview-2 images to detect impervious surface

Detection and mapping the impervious surface accurately is one of the important tasks in urban remote sensing. In this study, airborne hyperspectral data and Worldview-2 image were used to classify urban area . The main goal of this study are to compare the hyperspectral data and worldview 2 images and shows the potential of worldview 2 images for detection the impervious surface from the same area. Support vector machine was used as the classification method in both images. The result shows that the hyperspectral data is more accurate for detection of the materials in urban area especially roof type. The overall accuracy is 78% with 0.72 Kappa coefficients but on the other hand the overall accuracy of worldview 2 image is 72% with 0.65 Kappa coefficients. Thus finally based on the result the airborne hyperspectral data is more suitable for detecting the impervious surface in more detail but still there are some limitations. Furthermore the worldview 2 image shows good potential for detection the impervious surface in detail.
Synergistic effects of p53 activation via MDM2 inhibition in combination with inhibition of Bcl-2 or Bcr-Abl in CD34+ proliferating and quiescent chronic myeloid leukemia blast crisis cells

The Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase regulates several Bcl-2 family proteins that confer resistance to apoptosis in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cells. Given p53's ability to modulate the expression and activity of Bcl-2 family members, we hypothesized that targeting Bcr-Abl, Bcl-2, and p53 concomitantly could have therapeutic benefits in blast crisis (BC) CML and in quiescent CML CD34+ cells that are insensitive to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI). We examined the effects of the MDM2 inhibitor nutlin3a and its combination with the dual Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL inhibitor ABT-737, and the Bcr-Abl inhibitor nilotinib on BC CML patient samples. We found that in quiescent CD34+ progenitors, p53 expression is significantly lower, and MDM2 is higher, compared to their proliferating counterparts. Treatment with nutlin3a induced apoptosis in bulk and CD34+CD38− cells, and in both proliferating and quiescent CD34+ progenitor CML cells. Nutlin3a synergized with ABT-737 and nilotinib, in part by inducing pro-apoptotic, and suppressing anti-apoptotic, Bcl-2 proteins. Nilotinib inhibited the expression of Bcl-xL and Mcl-1 in BC CML cells. These results demonstrate that p53 activation by MDM2 blockade can sensitize BC CML cells, including quiescent CD34+ cells, to Bcl-2 inhibitor- and TKI-induced apoptosis. This novel strategy could be useful in the therapy of BC CML.
The Effect of Movies on Inference the Meanings of Vocabulary: Turkish L2 Learners of English

The present study aimed to investigate the potential effect of inferring the meaning from visual context in the acquisition of the vocabulary with second language adult learners of English (L2 learners). Firstly, due to being interesting, rich in terms of vocabulary and not boring, an English movie "The King's Speech" was chosen. An offline vocabulary test was prepared in order to decide which words (from the mentioned movie) were unknown by the subjects, then including 20experimental sentences and 40 fillers. After that, the same vocabularies were presented in the context as “The King’s Speech” movie with 6 episodes was screened on the projector in the classroom, and each of them was almost 20 minutes. What is expected from the L2 learners is to infer the meaning of the unknown vocabularies most correctly in the visual and audial context. After six session of watching the movie, all participants were requested to answer the multiple-choice vocabulary post-test. The results have showed that most of the participants are better at inferring the meanings in questions after visual context sessions.
Three-dimensional acetabular orientation measurement in a reliable coordinate system among one hundred Chinese

Determining three-dimensional (3D) acetabular orientation is important for several orthopaedic scenarios, but the complex geometries of both pelvis and acetabulum make measurements of orientation unreliable. Acetabular orientation may also differ between the sexes or racial groups. We aimed to (1) establish and evaluate a novel method for measuring 3D acetabular orientation, (2) apply this new method to a large population of Chinese subjects, and (3) report relevant characteristics of native acetabular orientation in this population. We obtained computed tomography scans taken for non-orthopaedic indications in 100 Chinese subjects (50 male, 50 female). A novel algorithm tailored to segmentation of the hip joint was used to construct 3D pelvic models from these scans. We developed a surface-based method to establish a reliable 3D pelvic coordinate system and software to semi-automatically measure 3D acetabular orientation. Differences in various acetabular orientations were compared within and between subjects, between male and female subjects, and between our subjects and subjects previously reported by another group. The reported method was reliable (intraclass correlation coefficient >0.999). Acetabular orientations were symmetrical within subjects, but ranged widely between subjects. The sexes differed significantly in acetabular anteversion (average difference, 3.0°; p < 0.001) and inclination (1.5°; p < 0.03). Acetabular anteversion and inclination were substantially smaller among our Chinese subjects than previously reported for American subjects. Thus, our method was reliable and sensitive, and we detected sex differences in 3D acetabular orientation. Awareness of differences between the sexes and races is the first step towards better reconstruction of the hip joint for all individuals and could also be applied to other orthopaedic scenarios.