Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structural equation modeling and its application to network analysis in functional brain imaging

The analysis of brain imaging data has recently focused on the examination of the covariances of activity among neural regions during different behaviors. We present some of the theoretical and technical issues surrounding one of these covariance‐based methods: structural equation modeling. In structural equation modeling, connections between brain areas are based on known neuroanatomy, and the interregional covariances of activity are used to calculate path coefficients representing the magnitude of the influence of each directional path. The logic behind the use of structural equation modeling stems from the suggestion that brain function is the result of changes in the covariances of activity among neural elements. The technical foundations for neural structural equation models are presented, emphasizing the ability to make inferential comparisons to evaluate the experimental changes in path coefficients. Simulated data sets were used to test the effects of omitted regions and omitted connections. The results suggested that structural modeling algorithms can give hints as to possible external influences and missing paths, but that the final decision as to model modifications requires the guidance of the researcher. The utility of anatomically based models to distinguish between the direct effect of one region on another, and indirect effects of darkness or patterned light on the metabolic activity in the rat visual system. The anatomical framework for the structural equation models revealed that the total impact of ascending thalamocortical influences was modified by corticocortical interactions. Extensions of structural equation modeling to human brain imaging experiments are presented. We conclude by suggesting that neural covariances may be a more accurate way to examine the dynamic functional organization of the central nervous system. ©1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Playful toothbrush: ubicomp technology for teaching tooth brushing to kindergarten children

This case study in UbiComp technology and design presents a "Playful Toothbrush" system for assisting parents and teachers to motivate kindergarten children to learn proper and thorough brushing skills. The system includes a vision-based motion tracker that recognizes different tooth brushing strokes and a tooth brushing game in which the child cleans a virtual, mirror picture of his/her dirty teeth by physically brushing his/her own teeth. The user study results suggest that Playful Toothbrush enhances the effectiveness of kindergarten children in brushing their teeth, as measured by number of brushing strokes, duration of brushing and thoroughness of teeth cleaning.
Assessing the Mechanical and Psychological Effects of District Magnitude

Abstract District magnitude is a central aspect of the institutional context in PR elections, and it influences parties’ and voters’ strategies. The incentives for strategic behaviour are stronger in smaller districts, as only large parties are likely to be viable. This article investigates how much the vote is affected by this characteristic of the electoral context, focusing on the 2005 and 2009 Portuguese elections. Portugal is one of the countries with the largest degree of variation in district magnitude and represents thus an ideal case for analysing district magnitude effects. Relying on data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems, this study shows a strong mechanical effect of district magnitude and a limited psychological effect.
Labour Power and Labour Process: Contesting the Marginality of the Sociology of Work

This article opens by suggesting that the decline in the sociology of work in the UK has been overstated; research continues, but in locations such as business schools. The continued vitality of the field corresponds with material changes in an increasingly globalized capitalism, with more workers in the world, higher employment participation rates of women, transnational shifts in manufacturing, global expansion of services and temporal and spatial stretching of work with advanced information communication technologies. The article demonstrates that Labour Process Theory (LPT) has been a crucial resource in the sociology of work, especially in the UK; core propositions of LPT provide it with resources for resilience (to counter claims of rival perspectives) and innovation (to expand the scope and explanator y power of the sociology of work). The ar ticle argues that the concept of the labour power has been critical to underpinning the sustained influence of labour process analysis.
Development Professionals: Reconciling Personal Values with Professional Values

This article is the result of conversations among a group of development professionals associated with the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) in Sri Lanka, around questions of the values with which we conduct our work and what this means for our practice. Prompted by the opportunity presented by the Reimagining Development initiative and in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008, specifically we asked: Is there tension between values that drive our life and those that drive the ‘development’ we promote? Is there tension between our personal aspirations and the type of development we promote for the ‘poor’? What are the implications on us as individuals and as professionals? What are the implications on the ‘targets’ of the development that we promote? The discussion that follows is based on a structured process of reflection and discussion of ideas among a purposively selected group of professionals, all institutionally linked to CEPA. The analysis of how these values are reconciled provides a useful basis to take the discussion of an alternative, value‐driven development paradigm forward.
Current strategies in reconstruction of maxillectomy defects.

OBJECTIVE To outline a contemporary review of defect classification and reconstructive options. DESIGN Review article. SETTING Tertiary care referral centers. RESULTS Although prosthetic rehabilitation remains the standard of care in many institutions, the discomfort of wearing, removing, and cleaning a prosthesis; the inability to retain a prosthesis in large defects; and the frequent need for readjustments often limit the value of this cost-effective and successful method of restoring speech and mastication. However, flap reconstruction offers an option for many, although there is no agreement as to which techniques should be used for optimal reconstruction. Flap reconstruction also involves a longer recovery time with increased risk of surgical complications, has higher costs associated with the procedure, and requires access to a highly experienced surgeon. CONCLUSION The surgeon and reconstructive team must make individualized decisions based on the extent of the maxillectomy defect (eg, the resection of the infraorbital rim, the extent of palate excision, skin compromise) and the need for radiation therapy.
Socio-economic factors in religious differentials in fertility.

Precision matching is used to test whether religious differences in fertility behavior result from socio-economic differences between the major religious groups. The 66 Jewish couples from a national sample survey of fertility are matched with Catholic and Protestant couples on duration of marriage and five socio-economic characteristics. These socio-economic controls eliminate most of the Protestant-Jewish differences for the fertility variables. However the Catholic-Jewish differentials are not reduced. Apparently the distinctive Catholic fertility pattern cannot be explained by the combination of socio-economic characteristics considered. The significance of these results is discussed. (authors)
Over-Expression of Arabidopsis EDT1 Gene Confers Drought Tolerance in Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is an important legume forage crop with great economic value. However, as the growth of alfalfa is seriously affected by an inadequate supply of water, drought is probably the major abiotic environmental factor that most severely affects alfalfa production worldwide. In an effort to enhance alfalfa drought tolerance, we transformed the Arabidopsis Enhanced Drought Tolerance 1 (AtEDT1) gene into alfalfa via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Compared with wild type plants, drought stress treatment resulted in higher survival rates and biomass, but reduced water loss rates in the transgenic plants. Furthermore, transgenic alfalfa plants had increased stomatal size, but reduced stomatal density, and these stomatal changes contributed greatly to reduced water loss from leaves. Importantly, transgenic alfalfa plants exhibited larger root systems with larger root lengths, root weight, and root diameters than wild type plants. The transgenic alfalfa plants had reduced membrane permeability and malondialdehyde content, but higher soluble sugar and proline content, higher superoxide dismutase activity, higher chlorophyll content, enhanced expression of drought-responsive genes, as compared with wild type plants. Notably, transgenic alfalfa plants grew better in a 2-year field trial and showed enhanced growth performance with increased biomass yield. All of our morphological, physiological, and molecular analyses demonstrated that the ectopic expression of AtEDT1 improved growth and enhanced drought tolerance in alfalfa. Our study provides alfalfa germplasm for use in forage improvement programs, and may help to increase alfalfa production in arid lands.
Alcohol intake and breast cancer in the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition

Alcohol intake has been associated to breast cancer in pre and postmenopausal women; however results are inconclusive regarding tumor hormonal receptor status, and potential modifying factors like age at start drinking. Therefore, we investigated the relation between alcohol intake and the risk of breast cancer using prospective observational data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Up to 334,850 women, aged 35–70 years at baseline, were recruited in ten European countries and followed up an average of 11 years. Alcohol intake at baseline and average lifetime alcohol intake were calculated from country‐specific dietary and lifestyle questionnaires. The study outcomes were the Hazard ratios (HR) of developing breast cancer according to hormonal receptor status. During 3,670,439 person‐years, 11,576 incident breast cancer cases were diagnosed. Alcohol intake was significantly related to breast cancer risk, for each 10 g/day increase in alcohol intake the HR increased by 4.2% (95% CI: 2.7–5.8%). Taking 0 to 5 g/day as reference, alcohol intake of >5 to 15 g/day was related to a 5.9% increase in breast cancer risk (95% CI: 1–11%). Significant increasing trends were observed between alcohol intake and ER+/PR+, ER−/PR−, HER2− and ER−/PR−HER2− tumors. Breast cancer risk was stronger among women who started drinking prior to first full‐time pregnancy. Overall, our results confirm the association between alcohol intake and both hormone receptor positive and hormone receptor negative breast tumors, suggesting that timing of exposure to alcohol drinking may affect the risk. Therefore, women should be advised to control their alcohol consumption.
Anti-CD3/anti-CD28 bead stimulation overcomes CD3 unresponsiveness in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES To test whether T-cell CD3 responses are altered in patients with advanced-stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and whether anti-CD3/anti-CD28 (alphaCD3/alphaCD28) bead stimulation could reverse CD3 unresponsiveness. DESIGN Anti-CD3 (alphaCD3) monoclonal antibody immobilized on tissue culture plastic was used to stimulate lymph node mononuclear cells (LNMCs) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with advanced-stage HNSCC. Proliferation, T-cell phenotype, and cytokines were measured during 8-day in vitro stimulation. Immune-enhancing properties of alphaCD3/ alphaCD28 beads were also tested on LNMCs and PBMCs. Cytotoxicity of bead-activated T cells (ATCs) was measured against autologous and allogeneic HNSCC. RESULTS Six patients were nonresponders to alphaCD3 stimulation defined by tritium (3H) incorporation of less than 3500 cpm, whereas 11 patients were responders with 3H incorporation of 3500 cpm or more. Responders produced higher levels of interleukin (IL)-12 and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) after alphaCD3 stimulation than nonresponders. No phenotypic or clinical differences were identified between groups. Stimulation with alphaCD3/alphaCD28 beads enhanced IFN-gamma and IL-2 produced by both groups. Bead ATCs were generated from PBMCs of patient 11 in the responder group and lysed (+/- SD) 100% +/-1% of autologous tumor and 49% +/-1% of allogeneic tumor. Bead ATCs from LNMCs of this patient lysed 58%+/-1% of autologous tumor and 63%+/-1% of allogeneic tumor. CONCLUSIONS A subpopulation of patients with HNSCC who are nonresponders to alphaCD3 stimulation has been identified, showing reduced proliferation and IL-12 and IFN-gamma secretion. Nonresponders stimulated with alphaCD3/alphaCD28 beads reversed immune unresponsiveness and induced a type 1 cytokine response. Bead-generated ATCs from patient 11 in the responder group lysed autologous and allogeneic HNSCC in vitro, suggesting a possible effective immunotherapeutic modality in the treatment of HNSCC.
In search of the informed citizen: What Americans know about politics and why it matters

In The Good Citizen Michael Schudson presents a history of civic life in America, arguing that the “informed citizen” model is both limited in its historical application and limiting in its expectations and hyper‐rationality. In this paper I present evidence and arguments suggesting that while the model of the informed citizen can and has been used to discount the abilities and thus the participation of citizens by expecting too much of them, ignoring the importance of a broadly and equitably informed citizenry runs the equally dangerous risk of doing so by expecting too little. While an informed public is not sufficient to democratic citizenship, it is a necessary component of it. In the end, any notion of “the good citizen” must include some notion of “the informed citizen. ”
My model checker died!: how well did it do?

System specifications have long been expressed through automata based languages, enabling verification techniques such as model checking. These verification techniques can assess whether a property holds or not, given a system specification. However, model checking techniques suffer from the traditionally called state explosion problem, that is, models which are useful for analysis grow exponentially in size when verifying their concurrent behaviour. This state explosion problem is a serious limitation of model checking techniques, often making the application of tools that apply them infeasible, and limiting techniques to only a partial exploration of the complete state space. In this work we propose a novel approach that could help gather useful, quantified domain-related information from such incomplete explorations, leveraging on the concept of probabilistic behaviour models of the environment, for supporting dependability cases.
Exogenous FGF10 can rescue an eye‐open at birth phenotype of Fgf10‐null mice by activating activin and TGFα‐EGFR signaling

Mutant mice deficient in the fibroblast growth factor 10 (Fgf10) gene exhibit an eye‐open phenotype at birth. It has previously been shown that FGF10 has a dual role in proliferation and migration during the early and later stages of eyelid development, respectively. To verify the role of FGF10 during eyelid closure, explant culture of Fgf10‐null eyelid anlagen was performed, by which it was examined whether or not exogenous FGF10 could rescue the expression of activin βB and transforming growth factor α, known to be required for eyelid closure. We found that the expression of these genes was markedly induced while that of Shh or Ptch1, Ptch2 was not. We also observed the distribution of filamentous actin (F‐actin) after FGF10 application in the mutant eyelid explant, finding that the FGF10 protein induced F‐actin accumulation. We further examined filopodia of the eyelid leading edge cells, finding the length of the filopodia was significantly reduced in the mutant. These results verify that FGF10 promotes eyelid closure through activating activin and TGFα‐EGFR signaling.
A Comparison between the Frayer Model of Concept Attainment and the Textbook Approach to Concept Attainment.

The inability of some readers to comprehend important concepts found in printed materials has been a problem that researchers in various academic disciplines have attempted to resolve. The objective of this study was to ascertain whether the Frayer model of concept attainment, which encompasses a structured and systematic procedure for defining concepts, was superior to the method employed by many social studies textbooks in defining concepts. The results of research conducted in both educational psychology and social studies indicated that the method utilized by many social studies textbooks did not adequately provide sufficient information for the student to develop concepts about key ideas presented in printed material. In an attempt to facilitate concept comprehension, the Frayer model of concept attainment was developed as an alternative to the approach utilized by many social studies textbooks. The rationale for selecting the Frayer model of concept attainment was based upon results obtained from research related to conceptual learning. The research suggested that a process which makes explicit the relevant attributes of a concept facilitates conceptual attainment. Frayer, Frederick, and Klausmeier (1969) developed a model of conceptual attainment predicated upon these assumptions. Embodied within the comparison between the 2 methods (Frayer and textbook) for defining concepts was an additional factor, the influence organizational patterns of written material exerted on the comprehension process. Since the results of the research related to the influence organizational patterns of written material (Cromer and Wiener, 1967; Oaken, Wiener, and Cromer, 1971; and Smith and Hesse, 1969) indicated that poor readers have more difficulty than good readers in organizing material into comprehensible units. Both the structure inherent within the Frayer model and the arrangement
Promoter domains required for expression of plasmid-borne copies of the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene in virus-infected mouse fibroblasts and microinjected frog oocytes

A transient expression assay was used to measure the relative template activities of mutated tk genes in mouse L cells induced in trans by herpes simplex virus (HSV). In this assay, expression of the wild-type HSV type 1 tk gene is induced at least 200-fold by the superinfecting virus. Genetic lesions that were assayed include 5' deletions, clustered base substitutions, single base substitutions, intrapromoter inversions, and intrapromoter recombinants with the HSV type 2 tk gene. Roughly half of the mutations that were tested were found to weaken tk expression efficiency, and the remaining mutations did not alter expression. The spatial distribution of mutations that reduce expression efficiency in trans-induced mouse fibroblasts facilitated the construction of a map of promoter domains. The most gene-proximal promoter domain is located between 16 and 32 base pairs (bp) upstream of the tk mRNA cap site and contains a TATA homology. Two more distally located promoter domains were mapped to discrete locations upstream from the TATA homology. One of these distal domains is located between 47 and 79 bp upstream from the mRNA cap site, and the other is located between 84 and 105 bp upstream from the tk gene. The boundaries of these three promoter domains, with one exception, coincided with the set of domains delineated previously in a frog oocyte microinjection assay. The concordant behavior of tk promoter mutants in microinjected frog oocytes and trans-induced mouse fibroblasts leads us to propose that recognition and activation of the HSV tk promoter is mediated by cellular transcription factors that are common to frogs and mice.
Antimicrobial sensitivity of bacterial isolates from street vended fruits in Ijebu area of Ogun state, Nigeria

Street vended fruits are fruits which are sold by street vendors and require no further processing like peeling, slicing and washing before consumption. A total of seventy-five (75) samples of sliced fruits: pineapples (20), pawpaw (25), watermelons (15) and coconut (15) were purchased from different vendors in Ijebu area of Ogun State and pour plate method was used to analyze the samples to determine their microbiological safety. Identification of gram negative, oxidase negative bacteria was done using API 20E kit and the conventional biochemical testing for gram positive bacteria. Antibiotic sensitivity test was carried out by disc diffusion method. The microbial load for pawpaw was in the range of 2.6-8.0 × 10 5 cfu/ml, Pineapple 1.2 - 2.3 ×10 5 cfu/ml, Coconut 0.5 - 5.6 × 10 5 cfu/ml and watermelon 3.0 - 9.3 × 10 5 cfu/ml Bacteria isolated include Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus sp, Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus spp, Streptococcus spp , E. coli, Bacillus cereus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Serratia plymuthica, Serratia ficaria, Proteus mirabilis and Enterococcus faecalis. Antibiotic sensitivity test carried out on the isolates revealed that many of the bacteria showed an intermediate to sensitive reaction to most of the antibiotics tested. All the gram positive bacteria were sensitive to Ciprofloxacin, Streptomycin, Cloxacillin and most were resistant to cefuroxime. All the gram negative isolates were sensitive to chloramphenicol. K. pneumoniae was resistant to pefloxacin and co-trimoxazole. S. plymuthica was sensitive to all the antibiotics. Transmission of resistant bacteria is a potential concern with unhygienic handling of sliced fruits. Better handling process and health education is crucial to preventing spread of resistant bacteria and food poisoning through these otherwise commonly consumed fruits.
AAEM minimonograph #25: Single‐fiber electromyography

Single‐fiber electromyography (SFEMG) is a selective recording technique in which a needle electrode with a small recording surface in the side is used to identify action potentials from individual muscle fibers. The SFEMG parameters of greatest clinical use are fiber density (FD) and neuromuscular jitter. FD reflects the local organization of muscle fibers within the motor unit; jitter reflects the safety factor of neuromuscular transmission at individual neuromuscular junctions. SFEMG can be of great value in demonstrating or excluding abnormalities in mild or questionable disease of nerve, muscle, or the neuromuscular junction. The neuromuscular jitter may be measured during nerve stimulation, which is particularly useful in uncooperative patients or when it is desirable to control the firing rate precisely, or during voluntary muscle activation, which is less subject to technical artifact. The SFEMG findings may not be specific to a particular diseases, but they frequently increase understanding of the disease process by demonstrating abnormal neuromuscular transmission or rearrangement of muscle fibers within the motor unit, which complements information from more conventional EMG examinations. © 1996 American Association of Electrodiagnostic Medicine. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Antibiotic treatment of children with community‐acquired pneumonia: Comparison of penicillin or ampicillin versus cefuroxime

Adherence to current guidelines for treatment of non‐complicated community‐acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children, recommending penicillin or ampicillin as first‐line treatment, has been poor. Our objective was to examine whether cefuroxime confers an advantage over penicillin or ampicillin for the treatment of children hospitalized with non‐complicated CAP.