Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chemical composition of extremely metal-poor stars in the Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy

Context. Individual stars in dwarf spheroidal galaxies around the Milky Way Galaxy have been studied both photometrically and spectroscopically. Extremely metal-poor stars among them are very valuable because they should record the early enrichment in the Local Group. However, our understanding of these stars is very limited because detailed chemical abundance measurements are needed from high resolution spectroscopy. Aims. To constrain the formation and chemical evolution of dwarf galaxies, metallicity and chemical composition of extremely metal-poor stars are investigated. Methods. Chemical abundances of six extremely metal-poor ([Fe/H] < -2.5) stars in the Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy are determined based on high resolution spectroscopy (R=40 000) with the Subaru Telescope High Dispersion Spectrograph. Results. (1) The Fe abundances derived from the high resolution spectra are in good agreement with the metallicity estimated from the Ca triplet lines in low resolution spectra. The lack of stars with [Fe/H] ≲ -3 in Sextans, found by previous estimates from the Ca triplet, is confirmed by our measurements, although we note that high resolution spectroscopy for a larger sample of stars will be necessary to estimate the true fraction of stars with such low metallicity. (2) While one object shows an overabundance of Mg (similar to Galactic halo stars), the Mg/Fe ratios of the remaining five stars are similar to the solar value. This is the first time that low Mg/Fe ratios at such low metallicities have been found in a dwarf spheroidal galaxy. No evidence for over-abundances of Ca and Ti are found in these five stars, though the measurements for these elements are less certain. Possible mechanisms to produce low Mg/Fe ratios, with respect to that of Galactic halo stars, are discussed. (3) Ba is under-abundant in four objects, while the remaining two stars exhibit large and moderate excesses of this element. The abundance distribution of Ba in this galaxy is similar to that in the Galactic halo, indicating that the enrichment of heavy elements, probably by the r-process, started at metallicities [Fe/H] ≲ -2.5, as found in the Galactic halo.
Interactive Analysis Using Voronoi Diagrams: Algorithms to Support Dynamic Update from a Generic Triangle‐based Data Structure

This paper describes a series of dynamic update methods that can be applied to a family of Voronoi diagram types, so that changes can be updated incrementally, without the usual recourse to complete reconstruction of their underlying data structure. More efficient incremental update methods are described for the ordinary Voronoi diagram, the farthest‐point Voronoi diagram, the order‐k Voronoi diagram and the ordered order‐k Voronoi diagram. A discussion is also given of one case where incremental update is not practical, that of the multiplicatively weighted Voronoi diagram. Update methods rely on a previously reported generic, triangle‐based data structure (Gahegan and Lee 2000) from which local topology can be dynamically reconstructed following changes to the underlying pointset. An application, which implements these ideas, is available for download via the Internet as proof of concept. Results show that the algorithmic complexity of dynamic update methods vary considerably according to the Voronoi type, but offer in all cases (except the multiplicatively weighted Voronoi diagram) a substantial increase in performance, enabling Voronoi methods to address larger pointsets and more complex modelling problems without incurring too great a computational burden.
Effects of breastfeeding in children of women taking antiepileptic drugs

Background: Breastfeeding is known to have beneficial effects, but there is concern that breastfeeding during antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy may be harmful to cognitive development. Animal and human studies have demonstrated that some AEDs can adversely affect the immature brain. However, no investigation has examined effects of breastfeeding during AED therapy on subsequent cognitive abilities in children. Methods: The Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs Study is an ongoing prospective multicenter observational investigation of long-term effects of in utero AED exposure on cognition. Between 1999 and 2004, we enrolled pregnant women with epilepsy who were taking a single AED (carbamazepine, lamotrigine, phenytoin, or valproate). We recently reported on differential AED effects on age 3 year cognitive outcomes. In this report, we focus on the effects of breastfeeding during AED therapy on age 3 cognitive outcomes in 199 children. Results: A total of 42% of children were breastfed. IQs for breastfed children did not differ from nonbreastfed children for all AEDs combined and for each of the 4 individual AED groups. Mean adjusted IQ scores (95% confidence intervals) across all AEDs were breastfed = 99 (96–103) and nonbreastfed = 98 (95–101). Power was 95% to detect a half SD IQ effect in the combined AED analysis, but was inadequate within groups. Conclusions: This preliminary analysis fails to demonstrate deleterious effects of breastfeeding during AED therapy on cognitive outcomes in children previously exposed in utero. However, caution is advised due to study limitations. Additional research is needed to confirm this observation and extend investigations to other AEDs and polytherapy.
Evolution of Envelope Sequences from the Genital Tract and Peripheral Blood of Women Infected with Clade A Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1

ABSTRACT The development of viral diversity during the course of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection may significantly influence viral pathogenesis. The paradigm for HIV-1 evolution is based primarily on studies of male cohorts in which individuals were presumably infected with a single virus variant of subtype B HIV-1. In this study, we evaluated virus evolution based on sequence information of the V1, V2, and V3 portions of HIV-1 clade A envelope genes obtained from peripheral blood and cervical secretions of three women with genetically heterogeneous viral populations near seroconversion. At the first sample following seroconversion, the number of nonsynonymous substitutions per potential nonsynonymous site (dn) significantly exceeded substitutions at potential synonymous sites (ds) in plasma viral sequences from all individuals. Generally, values of dn remained higher than values of ds as sequences from blood or mucosa evolved. Mutations affected each of the three variable regions of the envelope gene differently; insertions and deletions dominated changes in V1, substitutions involving charged amino acids occurred in V2, and sequential replacement of amino acids over time at a small subset of positions distinguished V3. The relationship among envelope nucleotide sequences obtained from peripheral blood mononuclear cells, plasma, and cervical secretions was evaluated for each individual by both phylogenetic and phenetic analyses. In all subjects, sequences from within each tissue compartment were more closely related to each other than to sequences from other tissues (phylogenetic tissue compartmentalization). At time points after seroconversion in two individuals, there was also greater genetic identity among sequences from the same tissue compartment than among sequences from different tissue compartments (phenetic tissue compartmentalization). Over time, temporal phylogenetic and phenetic structure was detectable in mucosal and plasma viral samples from all three women, suggesting a continual process of migration of one or a few infected cells into each compartment followed by localized expansion and evolution of that population.
Perception Of Change Management In Nigerian Universities

Organizational management are concerned with the effect of both radical and sudden changes can have on individual relationship with the organization and the organization as a whole. In line with this, the study attempt to assess employees’ perception of change management in Nigerian universities by investigating the relationship between change management and employee commitment on one hand, success and failure of change initiatives and employees’ readiness and resistance to change initiatives on the other hand respectively. 180 questionnaires were administered to employees of three universities in south west region of Nigeria. Data obtained was analysed using descriptive statistics while hypotheses were tested using correlation and regression analysis. The result of the findings revealed a strong and direct relationship between change management and employee commitment, success and failure of change programmes has a positive and significant relationship with employee readiness and resistance to change respectively in Nigerian universities. This paper therefore make useful recommendations to universities and other organisations among which include although, employee might resist change, organization should try their best to properly manage the resistance as it can be beneficial to the employees and the educational organizations at large.
The Influence of Instructional Time on Student Achievement in Grades 3, 4, and 5 in Language Arts and Mathematics on the 2011 New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK)

The purpose of this cross-sectional, non-experimental, explanatory quantitative research study was to determine the strength and direction of the relationship between instructional time and student achievement in Grades 3, 4, and 5 on the 2011 New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge in Language Arts Literacy (LAL) and Mathematics. The unit of analysis was school. The sample included all public elementary schools in the state of New Jersey with students who participated in the NJASK 3-5 LAL and Mathematics assessments for the 2010-2011 school year. The independent or predictor variable of interest was instructional time, which is defined as the exact amount of time a school dedicates to instruction during a normal school day controlling for educator, student, and school variables. Student variables included student attendance, student mobility, and Limited English Proficiency. Educator variables included educator attendance, educator mobility, and credentials of the educators and administrators at the school. Other school level variables included economically disadvantaged students receiving special education services and total size of the student population for that school. The variable of interest, total instructional time, was not a statistically significant predictor of student achievement in Grades 3, 4, and 5 on the 2011 NJASK for Language Arts Literacy and Mathematics. The variable that proved to be the most significant predictor of student achievement in Grades 3, 4, and 5 on the 2011 NJASK for Language Arts Literacy and Mathematics was socioeconomic status or economically disadvantaged. Other variables that were found to be statistically significant predictors of student achievement included the percentage of faculty with a higher degree and the percentage of students with disabilities, which were statistically significant predictors of student achievement for students in Grades 3, 4, and 5 on the LAL NJASK, as well as for Grades 4 and 5 on the Mathematics NJASK.
The static quark potential in 2+1 flavour Domain Wall QCD from QCDOC

We report our present status of on-going project on the measurement of the static quark potential in 2+1 flavour domain wall QCD with various improved gauge actions and couplings. Lattice spacing determined from Sommer scale on these ensembles are from 1.6 GeV to 2.0 GeV for $16^3 \times 32$ lattice with fifth dimension size 8. We also examine size of discretization error from scaling of a pair of dimensionless quantities, $(r_0 m_\pi)^2$ and $r_0 m_\rho$, and found small scaling violation.
System integration by request-driven GALS design

A novel request-driven globally asynchronous locally synchronous (GALS) technique for the system integration of complex digital blocks is proposed. For this new GALS technique, an asynchronous wrapper compliant is developed and evaluated. This proposed GALS technique is applied to a baseband processor compatible with the wireless LAN standard IEEE 802.11a. The developed GALS baseband processor chip is fabricated and measured. Besides improvements of the system integration process, a 5 dB reduction in electromagnetic interference, 30% reduction in instantaneous supply current variation, and similar dynamic power consumption as in the synchronous baseband processor is achieved. Modern mobile communication devices contain highly complex digital structures. An ever-increasing system com- plexity is leading to growing challenges in the area of system integration, power management and noise reduction. In order to cope with these problems, different methods have been proposed. One of the most promising techniques at present is the globally asynchronous locally synchronous (GALS) methodology for system integration. The GALS methodology was first proposed over twenty years ago by Chapiro (1) , and in the last few years has regained in popularity with several new methods being developed. A GALS circuit consists of several modules. Each module works synchronously and is surrounded by an asynchronous wrapper (AW) that has an asynchronous interface to other modules. Together, a wrapper and its enclosed module form a GALS block. Most GALS propo- sals are based on a pausible clocking scheme as can be seen in the works of Muttersbach (2) , Moore et al. (3) , and Bormann and Cheung (4) . Those GALS proposals
Tangles, tears and messy conversations: using a media discussion group to explore notions of strong women

Abstract In this article, we discuss the experiences of six female secondary-school students participating in a media group that encouraged critical discussion and analysis of gender, particularly with respect to notions of strong women in popular media texts. Throughout the study, the participants viewed various forms of media and critically discussed gender representations. We describe the ways that we encouraged critical discussion that prompted the participants to challenge dominant perspectives and develop personal positions regarding gendered representations in popular media. Many discussions were convoluted and often contradictory. Throughout these debates, however, moments emerged in which participants identified complexities associated with gendered representations of strong women as related to privilege, beauty ideals and autonomy. We identify these moments as messy yet critical, requiring the researchers to challenge participants’ postfeminist notions of strong women. We emphasize the importance of ongoing dialogue and the potential of media for encouraging discussion.
Dietary Acculturation： Definition, Process, Assessment, and Implications

Over the past few decades, changes in patterns of behavior (e.g., diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity) have led to major changes in health status, characterized by increases in obesity, Type II diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers. This epidemiologic transition is largely the result of rapid increases in immigration to developed countries and rural-urban migration within developing countries, which is usually accompanied by environmental and lifestyle changes. In particular, adoption of “Western” dietary patterns, which tend to be high in fat and low in fruits and vegetables, is of concern since diet is a potent contributor to chronic disease risk. However, until recently, the process by which immigrants and rural-urban migrants adopt the dietary practices predominant in their new environments, known as dietary acculturation, has received very little research attention. Dietary acculturation is multidimensional, dynamic, and complex, and varies considerably depending on a variety of personal, cultural, and environmental characteristics. Therefore, to intervene successfully on the negative aspects of dietary acculturation, it is important to understand the process and identify factors that predispose and enable it to occur. The purpose of this article is to provide a practical model for understanding and investigating the effect of dietary acculturation on food and nutrient intake. Thus, this report 1) gives an overview of acculturation, 2) defines dietary acculturation and presents a model for how it occurs, 3) discusses measurement issues around dietary acculturation,4) reviews the literature on dietary acculturation in Korean Americans; 4) suggests a paradigm for acculturation research; and 5) offers some recommendations for future research in this area.
Baxter's Q-operator for the homogeneous XXX spin chain

Applying the Pasquier-Gaudin procedure we construct Baxter's Q operator for the homogeneous XXX model as an integral operator in the standard representation of SL(2). The connection between the Q operator and the local Hamiltonians is discussed. We show that Lipatov's duality symmetry operator arises naturally as the leading term of the asymptotic expansion of the Q operator for large values of the spectral parameter.
Prognostic value of the Time Related Autonomic Balance Indicator for risk evaluation of cardiovascular events in patients with ischemic heart disease

The study comprised patients with unstable angina (UA), morning (MMI) and non-morning myocardial infarction (NMMI). The heart autonomic balance (HAB) circadian changes were assessed by time related autonomic balance indicator - a non-parametric criterion for estimating the balance by HRV indices from ECG recordings in rest and by parasympathetic or sympathetic stimulation. The results indicated that: i) in patients with UA the sympathetic part in HAB is more time-dependent than in healthy subjects; the vagal circadian characteristic is normal and thus secures a favorable long-term prognosis; ii) in patients with MMI circadian characteristics of HAB consist of sympathetic hyper-activity and normal parasympathetic tone. The sympathetic dysfunction is the reason for the morning peak of CVE; iii) in patients with NMMI the circadian nature of the sympathetic activity is preserved, but the parasympathetic activity are almost absent.
A deep learning approach for seamless integration of cognitive skills for humanoid robots

This study investigates the seamless integration of cognitive skills, such as visual recognition, attention switching, action preparation and generation for a humanoid robot. In our preliminary study [1], the deep dynamic neural network model was introduced to process spatio-temporal visuomotor patterns. In the current study, we extended the previous model further to enhance its capability of handling sequential visuomotor information as well as forming visuomotor representation. We conducted synthetic robotic experiments in which a robot learned goal-directed actions of reaching to grasp objects under two different experimental settings. In the first experiment, a task of reaching to grasp objects was conducted under parameterized visual occlusion condition for the purpose of examining the memory capability in the model. In the second experiment, the action of reaching to grasp objects was incorporated with visual recognition of human gesture patterns with using the working memory. The experimental results revealed that the proposed model was able to generalize its reaching and grasping skills in the novel situations. Furthermore, the analysis using the dimensionality reduction technique on neuron activation verified that the proposed model was capable of manipulating high dimensional spatio-temporal visuomotor patterns by forming their dynamic link to the actional intention developed in the higher level of the model via iterative learning.
Impact of Polymorphic Variants on the Molecular Pharmacology of the Two-Agonist Conformations of the Human β1-Adrenoceptor

β-blockers are widely used to improve symptoms and prolong life in heart disease primarily by inhibiting the actions of endogenous catecholamines at the β1-adrenoceptor. There are two common naturally occurring polymorphisms within the human β1-adrenoceptor sequence: Ser or Gly at position 49 in the N-terminus and Gly or Arg at position 389 in the C-terminus and some clinical studies have suggested that expression of certain variants may be associated with disease and affect response to treatment with β-blockers. The β1-adrenoceptor also exists in two agonist conformations - a high affinity catecholamine conformation and a low affinity secondary agonist conformation. Receptor-effector coupling and intracellular signalling from the different conformations may be affected by the polymorphic variants. Here, we examine in detail the molecular pharmacology of the β1-adrenoceptor polymorphic variants with respect to ligand affinity, efficacy, activation of the different agonist conformations and signal transduction and determine whether the polymorphic variants do indeed affect this secondary conformation. Stable cell lines expressing the wildtype and polymorphic variants were constructed and receptor pharmacology examined using whole cell binding and intracellular secondary messenger techniques. There was no difference in affinity for agonists and antagonists at the human wildtype β1-adrenoceptor (Ser49/Gly389) and the polymorphic variants Gly49/Gly389 and Ser49/Arg389. Furthermore, the polymorphic variant receptors both have two active agonist conformations with pharmacological properties similar to the wildtype receptor. Although the polymorphism at position 389 is thought to occur in an intracellular domain important for Gs-coupling, the two agonist conformations of the polymorphic variants stimulate intracellular signalling pathways, including Gs-cAMP intracellular signalling, in a manner very similar to that of the wildtype receptor.
The Ultraviolet-Far-Infrared Energy Budget of the Gravitationally Lensed Lyman Break Galaxy MS 1512-CB58

A 2 hr service-mode SCUBA observation of the gravitationally lensed Lyman break galaxy MS 1512-cB58 (hereafter cB58) resulted in a 3 σ upper limit of 3.9 mJy at 850 μm. A comparison of this upper limit with values expected from rest-UV–optical measurements of extinction suggests that the dust temperature (Td) and/or emissivity index (β) in cB58 may be substantially higher than is seen in local galaxies, or that the attenuation curve in cB58 may be even gentler than the already quite mild SMC dust law. If dust temperature Td and emissivity index β in cB58 are similar to those seen in local IRAS-selected galaxies, then cB58's dust mass is Md ≲ 107.7 M⊙, and its star formation rate is SFR ≲ 10 M⊙ yr-1 (for q0 = 0.1, H0 = 75 km s-1 Mpc-1). This SFR upper limit is lower than the star formation rate measured from Hα, thus giving further support to the notion that (Td, β) values in cB58 are higher than those seen in local galaxies. It thus appears that our understanding of dust in this extensively studied Lyman break galaxy is poor, and observations at other wavelengths are needed to better understand dust at high redshift. Such observations can be provided by the upcoming SIRTF mission for which cB58's expected flux densities are calculated.
Could experience modulate imagery of limb movements? : a case in individuals with spinal cord injury

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