Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Why Michels’ ‘iron law of oligarchy’ is not an iron law – and how democratic organisations can stay ‘oligarchy-free’

More than 100 years ago, Robert Michels laid out his theory of the ‘iron law of oligarchy’. The main, and crucial, point Michels made is that oligarchy will always emerge; even in the case of genuine attempts to organise and run organisations in non-oligarchic or non-hierarchical ways, the iron law allegedly holds sway. This paper critically examines, and refutes, Michels’ theory on theoretical and methodological grounds. It argues that his theory is in many ways insufficient and that his dictum of the unavoidability of oligarchisation is not as compelling and cogent as stereotypical references to it might imply. Moreover, the paper shows that alternative/democratic organisations actually have a whole range of means to avoid oligarchisation.
Teacher Educators’ Practice and Vision of Good Teaching in Teacher Education Reform Context in Ghana

Teacher education in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) has been criticized for the lack of attention to learning to teach in real classrooms, which limits the opportunity for pre-service teachers to successfully introduce learner-centered pedagogy in African primary school classrooms. To address this problem, Ghana has implemented a teacher education reform since 2004 to incorporate practicum. However, the critical role of teacher educators has been overlooked by policymakers, and few studies have qualitatively investigated their practice and vision. The study draws on qualitative data from the Ghana component of the Teacher Preparation in Africa (TPA) research project to explore eight teacher educators’ practice and vision of good teaching of primary mathematics. The study found that teacher educators’ practice and vision of good teaching consist of the use of teaching and learning materials (TLMs) and small group activities following specific steps without understanding the principles of learner-centered pedagogy that could be applied in a variety of classroom contexts and mathematics topics. The study also identified the hierarchical relationship between teacher educators and school teachers as a major challenge for effective practicum, limiting the opportunity to transform teacher educators’ vision and practice of primary mathematics teaching. Recommendations for enhancing professional learning opportunities for teacher educators are offered.
Prevalence of alcohol abuse among police officers at the major barracks, Dar es salaam, Tanzania

Background: The Tanzania Police Force (TPF) has an immense responsibility in terms of providing a safe and secure environment for every individual residing in the Republic of Tanzania. Environmentally, the work is exciting and boring, challenging and tiresome, rewarding and frustrating, unpredictable and regular. Organizationally, officers may have to contend with rigid command structures, unreasonable policies and procedures, and inequitable treatment by superiors (Murtagh, 2010). These taxing working conditions add tremendous stress to the lives of police officials and increase the risk of alcohol misuse more so than other professional groups and members of the public (Govender, 2008). Police officers may deal with job related stress, by turning to hazardous alcohol consumption as a coping mechanism (Murtagh, 2010). The extent to which Tanzanian police officers drink alcohol at hazardous, harmful or dependent levels is unknown since no research has been conducted among them. Objectives: To assess the prevalence of hazardous, harmful, as well as dependent drinking among police officers. Materials and method: A cross sectional study was conducted among police officers. Data was collected using interviewer administered Alcohol Using Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire and demographic data form. Results: This study found that, the prevalence of hazardous alcohol drinking among police officers at Kilwa Road police barracks is 14.8% and levels of harmful and dependent drinking are 4.4% and 2.4% respectively. Conclusion and Recommendations: From this study it can be concluded that alcohol consumption is problematic among police officers. There is need to establish a training program for police counselors who will be able to identify police officers at risk and offer early interventions. Further studies may focus on predictors of hazardous, harmful, and dependent alcohol abuse among police so that more appropriate interventions can be put in place.
Is Board Gender Diversity a Driver of CEO Compensation? : Examining the Leadership Style of Institutional Women Directors

In this investigation, we aim at examining the influence of institutional female directors on CEO compensation. Concretely, we investigate the impact of institutional female directors as a whole, differentiating also whether institutional female directors have business ties with the firm where they sit on boards (pressure-sensitive female directors) and do not have business links (pressure-resistant female directors). We hypothesize that there is a nonlinear association, concretely quadratic, between institutional, pressure-resistant and pressuresensitive female directors on boards and CEO compensation. Our findings show that CEO compensation decreases at low levels of institutional female directors and pressure-resistant female directors on boards, but when their presence on boards increases, CEO compensation also increases. We also find that CEO compensation is not affected by pressure-sensitive female directors on boards. Hence, these findings support the premise that institutional female directors on boards cannot be considered a homogeneous group and play an important role in managerial monitoring and remuneration policies, affecting the corporate governance system.
Divergent Mechanisms Controlling Hypoxic Sensitivity and Lifespan by the DAF-2/Insulin/IGF-Receptor Pathway

Organisms and their cells vary greatly in their tolerance of low oxygen environments (hypoxia). A delineation of the determinants of hypoxia tolerance is incomplete, despite intense interest for its implications in diseases such as stroke and myocardial infarction. The insulin/IGF-1 receptor (IGFR) signaling pathway controls survival of Caenorhabditis elegans from a variety of stressors including aging, hyperthermia, and hypoxia. daf-2 encodes a C. elegans IGFR homolog whose primary signaling pathway modulates the activity of the FOXO transcription factor DAF-16. DAF-16 regulates the transcription of a large number of genes, some of which have been shown to control aging. To identify genes that selectively regulate hypoxic sensitivity, we compared the whole-organismal transcriptomes of three daf-2 reduction-of-function alleles, all of which are hypoxia resistant, thermotolerant, and long lived, but differ in their rank of severities for these phenotypes. The transcript levels of 172 genes were increased in the most hypoxia resistant daf-2 allele, e1370, relative to the other alleles whereas transcripts from only 10 genes were decreased in abundance. RNAi knockdown of 6 of the 10 genes produced a significant increase in organismal survival after hypoxic exposure as would be expected if down regulation of these genes by the e1370 mutation was responsible for hypoxia resistance. However, RNAi knockdown of these genes did not prolong lifespan. These genes definitively separate the mechanisms of hypoxic sensitivity and lifespan and identify biological strategies to survive hypoxic injury.
The response dynamics of rabbit retinal ganglion cells to simulated blur

Abstract Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are highly sensitive to changes in contrast, which is crucial for the detection of edges in a visual scene. However, in the natural environment, edges do not just vary in contrast, but edges also vary in the degree of blur, which can be caused by distance from the plane of fixation, motion, and shadows. Hence, blur is as much a characteristic of an edge as luminance contrast, yet its effects on the responses of RGCs are largely unexplored. We examined the responses of rabbit RGCs to sharp edges varying by contrast and also to high-contrast edges varying by blur. The width of the blur profile ranged from 0.73 to 13.05 deg of visual angle. For most RGCs, blurring a high-contrast edge produced the same pattern of reduction of response strength and increase in latency as decreasing the contrast of a sharp edge. In support of this, we found a significant correlation between the amount of blur required to reduce the response by 50% and the size of the receptive fields, suggesting that blur may operate by reducing the range of luminance values within the receptive field. These RGCs cannot individually encode for blur, and blur could only be estimated by comparing the responses of populations of neurons with different receptive field sizes. However, some RGCs showed a different pattern of changes in latency and magnitude with changes in contrast and blur; these neurons could encode blur directly. We also tested whether the response of a RGC to a blurred edge was linear, that is, whether the response of a neuron to a sharp edge was equal to the response to a blurred edge plus the response to the missing spatial components that were the difference between a sharp and blurred edge. Brisk-sustained cells were more linear; however, brisk-transient cells exhibited both linear and nonlinear behavior.
Group Testing With Random Pools: Optimal Two-Stage Algorithms

We study the group testing of a set of N items each of which is defective with probability p. We focus on the double limit of small defect probability, p ≪ 1, and large number of variables, N ≫ 1, taking either p → 0 after N → ∝ or p = 1/Nβ with β ∈ (0,1/2). In both settings the optimal number of tests which are required to identify with certainty the defectives via a two-stage procedure, T̅(N, p), is known to scale as Np |log p|. Here we determine the sharp asymptotic value of T̅(N,p)/(Np|log p|) and construct a class of two-stage algorithms over which this optimal value is attained. This is done by choosing a proper bipartite regular graph (of tests and variable nodes) for the first stage of the detection. Furthermore we prove that this optimal value is also attained on average over a random bipartite graph where all variables have the same degree and the tests connected to a given variable are randomly chosen with uniform distribution among all tests. Finally, we improve the existing upper and lower bounds for the optimal number of tests in the case p = 1/Nβ with β ∈ [1/2,1).
The non-equilibrium phase transition of the pair-contact process with diffusion

The pair-contact process 2A ? 3A, 2A ? with diffusion of individual particles is a simple branching-annihilation process which exhibits a phase transition from an active to an absorbing phase with an unusual type of critical behaviour which had not been seen before. Although the model has attracted considerable interest during the past few years, it is not yet clear how its critical behaviour can be characterized and to what extent the diffusive pair-contact process represents an independent universality class. Recent research is reviewed and some standing open questions are outlined.
Growth dynamics of Phaeocystis antarctica-dominated plankton assemblages from the Ross Sea

Large-volume experiments were conducted using natural seawater assemblages collected in the southern Ross Sea during austral spring 1994 and summer 1995 to assess the carbon and nitrogen exchanges among phytoplankton, bacteria and dissolved organic carbon pools, and to compare the elemental partitioning in these experimental enclosures with those observed in situ. Large concentrations of particulate matter were produced in these enclosures, which were at all times dominated by the colonial haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica. Particulate organic carbon concentrations exceeded 200 pm01 1-' at the end of the experiment. Bacterial carbon comprised only a small (<l %) fraction of the particulate carbon, but bacteria grew at 0.15 to 0.3 d-' and were not limited by bactenovores. Nutrient levels decreased concomitantly with POC increases, and nitrate was reduced to undetectable levels. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) levels remained low (less than 50 PM) while nutnents were present, but increased dramatically (to more than 200 pM) after nitrate was depleted. Growth rates calculated from changes in particulate matter concentrat~ons were slightly below the predicted maximum based on temperature. Fleld studies, however, showed no depletion of nitrate, similar levels of particulate organic carbon to those found during exponential growth, low levels of DOC, and relatively low levels of bacterial biomass. It appears that P. antarctica in the Ross Sea does not produce large amounts of DOC during nutrient-replete growth; furthermore, because macronutrients are rarely, if ever, depleted where P. antarctica is dominant in the Ross Sea, it is likely that much of the carbon generated during its growth remains in the particulate pool.
The development of a non-verbal communication based tool to measure engagement in those who are unable to self-report.

Objective: Music is widely known as a promising beneficial non-pharmacological approach for individuals with dementia. Although considerable research has been conducted on the relationship between music and health outcomes, this has tended to rely solely on self-report questionnaires. No research has observed aspects of engagement via video-recording. Aim: To see if it is viable to develop a non-verbal based method of measuring engagement in those who cannot self-report. A secondary study will aim to validate this tool. Method: 27 residents from Longlands Care Home attended 10 Live Music Now sessions; 3 of which were video-recorded and all behaviours were measured. Qualitative interviews were conducted with residents, staff and musicians. In the secondary study 12 students from the University of Essex observed a video-recorded live music performance; all behaviours were recorded and measured. Students completed engagement and mood questionnaires post intervention. Results: All behaviours were accounted for and analysed, engagement scores were computed. Results showed the tool was sensitive enough to detect a change and pick up small differences in engagement. The qualitative analysis suggested explanations as to how and why the implementation was successful. Results from the secondary study validated the new method of measuring engagement due to significant positive correlations with other verified measures of engagement. Conclusion: It has been viable to create a new method of measuring engagement which was sensitive enough to detect changes in engagement in those who cannot self-report. The tool was later validated when results were compared to those of verified measures of engagement.
Drug Resistance in Salmonella Typhimurium and its Implications*

A rise in Salmonella typhimurium infection was observed in calves in Britain during 1964–6, follwing the adoption of the intensive farming method. A single phage type of S. typhimurium, type 29, was incriminated as the major pathogen. Attempts to treat and control the disease with a range of antibiotics were ineffective, but resulted in the acquisition of transferable multiple drug resistance by type 29. The transmission of drug-resistant type 29, directly or indirectly, from bovines to man resulted in many human infections. Transferable drug resistance reaching man from enterobacteria of animal origin may ultimately enter specifically human pathogens. Infections such as that caused by type 29 can be eliminated, not by the massive use of antibiotics but by improvement in conditions of animal husbandry and reduction in the opportunities for the initiation and spread of the disease. A reappraisal is needed of the methods of using antibiotics to determine how these methods can be improved, in order to conserve the long-term efficacy of the antibiotics.
Comprehensive Identification and Annotation of Cell Type-Specific and Ubiquitous CTCF-Binding Sites in the Human Genome

Chromatin insulators are DNA elements that regulate the level of gene expression either by preventing gene silencing through the maintenance of heterochromatin boundaries or by preventing gene activation by blocking interactions between enhancers and promoters. CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF), a ubiquitously expressed 11-zinc-finger DNA-binding protein, is the only protein implicated in the establishment of insulators in vertebrates. While CTCF has been implicated in diverse regulatory functions, CTCF has only been studied in a limited number of cell types across human genome. Thus, it is not clear whether the identified cell type-specific differences in CTCF-binding sites are functionally significant. Here, we identify and characterize cell type-specific and ubiquitous CTCF-binding sites in the human genome across 38 cell types designated by the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) consortium. These cell type-specific and ubiquitous CTCF-binding sites show uniquely versatile transcriptional functions and characteristic chromatin features. In addition, we confirm the insulator barrier function of CTCF-binding and explore the novel function of CTCF in DNA replication. These results represent a critical step toward the comprehensive and systematic understanding of CTCF-dependent insulators and their versatile roles in the human genome.
A Review of Data Mining Techniques for Result Prediction in Sports

In the current world, sports produce considerable statistical information about each player, team, games, and seasons. Traditional sports science believed science to be owned by experts, coaches, team managers, and analyzers. However, sports organizations have recently realized the abundant science available in their data and sought to take advantage of that science through the use of data mining techniques. Sports data mining assists coaches and managers in result prediction, player performance assessment, player injury prediction, sports talent identification, and game strategy evaluation. The present study reviews previous research on data mining systems to predict sports results and evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of each system.
Arithmetic School Readiness of Preschoolers with Hearing Impairment

The study aimed to examine the difficulties of children with hearing impairment in acquiring arithmetic skills at the preschool stage. Two groups of children, one with hearing impairment and another who were typically developing were assessed on a ‘Pre-Arithmetic School Readiness Test’. The test that was developed as a part of the current study elicited responses for questions presented through the visual and auditory modality, for questions that required open and closed set responses. The findings of ANOVA, MANOVA and independent t-test indicated that the children with hearing impairment performed poorer than the typically developing children in three of the four sub-categories of the test (auditory-open, auditory-closed, & visual-open). The only sub-section where the children with hearing impairment performed better was the visual-closed sub-category. While the children with hearing impairment performed similar to the typically developing children on tasks involving number concepts and shapes, they performed poorer on fundamental operation of addition and subtraction. The test was found to be sensitive to the difficulties of the children with hearing impairment in acquiring arithmetic concepts as it differentiated the performance of the two participant groups.
The influence of practicum supervisors’ facilitation styles on student teachers’ reflective thinking during collective reflection

Abstract Student teachers’ reflective thinking is closely associated with learning and improving practice. Novice student teachers require adequate support to reflect more deeply. The role of ‘others’ in collective reflection and knowledge generation as an outcome creates a platform for deep reflection, addressing both the processes and premises of reflective thinking. Facilitation styles of practicum supervisors could influence the level of student teachers’ reflective thinking during collective reflection. This is a case study using purposeful sampling involving a Malaysian teacher training institution that conducted an undergraduate early childhood programme in collaboration with a UK university. Sources of evidence were interviews, direct observations and documents. Data collected were analysed using both inductive and deductive methods. It was found that facilitation styles influence the depth of student teachers’ reflective thinking during group dialogic reflection. A continuum of facilitation styles from collaborative to instructive typologies was constructed. The implications of these findings are discussed.
A sensitive search for CO J=1-0 emission in 4C41.17 : high-excitation molecular gas at z = 3.8

We report sensitive imaging observations of the CO J = 1-0 line emission in the powerful high-redshift radio galaxy 4C 41.17 (z = 3.8) with the NRAO Very Large Array (VLA), conducted in order to detect the large concomitant H 2 gas reservoir recently unveiled in this system by De Breuck et al.(2005) via the emission of the high excitation J = 4-3 line. Our observations fail to detect the J = 1-0 line but yield sensitive lower limits on the R 43 = (4 - 3)/(1 - 0) brightness temperature ratio of R 43 ∼ 0.55 - 1.0 for the bulk of the H 2 gas mass. Such high ratios are typical of the high-excitation molecular gas phase fueling the star formation in local starbursts, but quite unlike these objects, much of the molecular gas in 4C 41.17 seems to be in such a state, and thus participating in the observed starburst episode. The widely observed and unique association of highly excited molecular gas with star forming sites allows CO line emission with large (high-J)/(low-J) intensity ratios to serve as an excellent marker of the spatial distribution of star formation in distant dust-obscured starbursts, unaffected by extinction.
Clinical and Immunologic Characteristics of Patients With ANCA-Associated Glomerulonephritis Combined With Membranous Nephropathy

Abstract The concurrent antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated glomerulonephritis (ANCA-GN) and membranous nephropathy (MN) have been increasingly documented, mainly in case studies and case series; however, the differences of clinical and pathologic characteristics as well as outcomes between ANCA-GN patients with and without MN remain unclear. The current study investigated the clinical and immunologic features of patients with combined ANCA-GN and MN in a large cohort. Twenty-seven of 223 patients had combined ANCA-GN and MN; they had significantly higher levels of initial serum creatinine, higher Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score and poorer renal outcome than ANCA-GN patients without MN (P < 0.05). ANCA-GN patients with MN could recognize the light chain of myeloperoxidase more frequently than those without MN (P < 0.05). The prevalence of circulating anti-PLA2R antibodies and glomerular PLA2R deposits was significantly lower in patients with combined ANCA-GN and MN than that in patients with idiopathic MN (P < 0.05). Compared with the idiopathic MN patients, the patients with combined ANCA-GN and MN had significantly higher recognition frequency of immunoglobulin (Ig) G2 and IgG3, and significantly lower recognition frequency of IgG4 (P < 0.05). Patients with combined ANCA-GN and MN had distinct clinical features and a different pathogenesis of MN.