Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Uganda’s disability journey: Progress and challenges

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) defines disability as a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between features of a person's body and features of the society in which he or she lives (World Health Organization [WHO] 2002:2). Based on the ICF definition of disability, over a billion people worldwide and 19% of the Ugandan population are estimated to have some form of disability (Uganda Bureau of Statistics and ICF International 2012:27; World Health Organization & World Bank 2011:ix). The prevalence of disability is predicated to increase in the future due to ageing populations and an increase in chronic health conditions hence the need to urgently deal with global disability (World Health Organization & World Bank 2011:ix).
“Alternative to Prison” Programs for the Mentally Ill Offender

Abstract Mentally ill offenders represent a substantial proportion of jail and prison inmates. Despite the fact that confining mentally ill offenders can and often will exacerbate their mental illness, the quality of mental health services available to them remains poor and insufficient. Up to date, onlya few cities and counties have considered a more humane form ofcriminal punishment or alternative to incarceration for mentally ill offenders, and those cases have focused only on mentally ill offenders who were sentenced for misdemeanor crimes. This paper outlines various diversion programs and calls for governmental monetary support in order to establish, evaluate, and maintain these programs.
Product quality and pay equity between lower-level employees and top management: An investigation of distributive justice theory.

Douglas M. Cowherd University of Michigan David 1. Levine University of California, Berkeley The relationship between interclass pay equity and product quality is examined in a sample of 102 corporate business units. A small pay differential between lower-level employees and upper-echelon managers (after controlling for inputs) is theorized to lead to high product quality by increasing lower-level employees' commitment to top-management goals, effort, and cooperation. Interclass pay equity is determined by comparing the pay and inputs of hourly workers and of lower-level managers and professionals to those of the top three levels of managers. Consistent with the predictions of distributive justice theory, both measures of pay equity are positively related to business-unit product quality. '
Enhancing Urban Mobility: Integrating Ride-Sharing and Public Transit

Seamless integration of ride-sharing and public transit may offer fast, reliable, and affordable transfer to and from transit stations in suburban areas thereby enhancing mobility of residents. We investigate the potential benefits of such a system, as well as the ride-matching technology required to support it, by means of an extensive computational study.
Examining the Unexpected: Outlier Analyses of Factors Affecting Student Achievement

In this study, we predicted achievement based on a variety of school demographic and background variables and identified schools that had achievement profiles that exceeded or fell short of their expected achievement levels. We identified schools that were over-or underper-forming and surveyed parents, teachers, and administrators in an effort to isolate factors that differ across the two types of schools. Across the three sets of surveys, perceptions of parents and perceptions about parents emerged as an interesting area of difference. Although parents in the positive and negative outlier schools reported similar perceptions about parent/teacher communication, teachers and administrators in the positive outlier schools appeared to have more positive perceptions of parents. Specifically, these teachers perceived the parents in their school as being more involved in their children's education, and they encouraged high levels of parent involvement. Certainly, these more positive attitudes may help educators work more effectively with parents, building a more effective partnership to increase student achievement. Perhaps consequently, parents in the positive outlier schools reported greater satisfaction with their schools than parents in the negative outlier schools did. This study found that parental involvement and parental perceptions were key variables that helped to explain differences of the over-and underachieving schools. Thus, communication and collaboration among parents, teachers, and staff appear to be critical factors predicting the success of low-SES schools.
Register-sensitive software pipelining

We propose an integrated approach for register-sensitive software pipelining. In this approach, the heuristics proposed in the stage scheduling method of A.E. Eichenberger and E.S. Davidson (1995) are integrated with the iterative scheduling method to obtain schedules with high initiation rate and low register requirements. The performance of our integrated software pipelining method was analyzed for a large number of loops taken from a variety of scientific benchmark programs. Our studies reveal that the stage scheduling heuristics facilitate better performance benefits when applied at the scheduling time, resulting in significant performance improvement over both the stage scheduling method and the slack scheduling method.
Measuring the Impact of Teacher Professional Development: Can it be done?

SUMMARY In England and Wales, Teacher Training Agency funded professional development for teachers must be evaluated for its impact on pupils in schools. Further, it is the responsibility of the Higher Education Institution to provide evidence of impact. A case study illustrates the possibilities and difficulties of providing such evidence. The article concludes that, although this is a desirable development, ethically sound and politically correct, evaluation of impact is probably unrealistic for the majority of programmes. The evidence presented here was used by Leeds Metropolitan University in the recent inspection of its provision. The programme was rated at 'one' (the highest point) on a four-point scale for impact.
Knockdown of Long Noncoding RNA (lncRNA) Metastasis-Associated Lung Adenocarcinoma Transcript 1 (MALAT1) Inhibits Proliferation, Migration, and Invasion and Promotes Apoptosis by Targeting miR-124 in Retinoblastoma.

Evidence suggests that the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) is upregulated in cancer tissues, and its elevated expression is associated with hyperproliferation. However, the underlying mechanisms regarding the role of MALAT1 in retinoblastoma (RB) remain unclear. This study aimed to explore the functional role of MALAT1 in RB by targeting miR-124. The results showed that the expression of MALAT1 was significantly higher in the Y79 cell line than in the ARPE-19 cell line (p < 0.01). Moreover, MALAT1 silence inhibited cell viability, migration, and invasion and promoted apoptosis in Y79 cells (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, or p < 0.001). miR-124 was upregulated by MALAT1 silence and hence was identified as a target of MALAT1 (p < 0.05 or p < 0.001). In addition, miR-124 suppression inhibited cell apoptosis and remarkably abolished the inhibitory effects of MALAT1 silence on cell viability, migration, and invasion (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, or p < 0.001). In addition, Slug was a target of miR-124 and regulated cell viability, migration, invasion, and apoptosis in Y79 cells (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, or p < 0.001). Further, Slug silence abolished miR-124 suppression-induced inactivation of the ERK/MAPK and Wnt/β-catenin pathways. Taken together, our data highlight the pivotal role of MALAT1 in RB. Moreover, the present study elucidated the MALAT1-miR-124-ERK/MAPK and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways in RB, which might provide a new approach for the treatment of RB.
An Iterative Similarity based Adaptation Technique for Cross-domain Text Classification

Supervised machine learning classification algorithms assume both train and test data are sampled from the same domain or distribution. However, performance of the algorithms degrade for test data from different domain. Such cross domain classification is arduous as features in the test domain may be different and absence of labeled data could further exacerbate the problem. This paper proposes an algorithm to adapt classification model by iteratively learning domain specific features from the unlabeled test data. Moreover, this adaptation transpires in a similarity aware manner by integrating similarity between domains in the adaptation setting. Cross-domain classification experiments on different datasets, including a real world dataset, demonstrate efficacy of the proposed algorithm over state-of-theart.
Odour recognition and segmentation by a model olfactory bulb and cortex

We present a model of an olfactory system that performs odour segmentation. Based on the anatomy and physiology of natural olfactory systems, it consists of a pair of coupled modules, bulb and cortex. The bulb encodes the odour inputs as oscillating patterns. The cortex functions as an associative memory: when the input from the bulb matches a pattern stored in the connections between its units, the cortical units resonate in an oscillatory pattern characteristic of that odour. Further circuitry transforms this oscillatory signal to a slowly varying feedback to the bulb. This feedback implements olfactory segmentation by suppressing the bulbar response to the pre-existing odour, thereby allowing subsequent odours to be singled out for recognition.
Low-dose photon irradiation induces invasiveness through the SDF-1α/CXCR4 pathway in malignant mesothelioma cells

Background Low-dose photon irradiation has repeatedly been suspected to increase a risk of promoting local recurrence of disease or even systemic dissemination. The purpose of this study was to investigate the motility of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) cell lines after low-doses of photon irradiation and to elucidate the mechanism of the detected phenotype. Methods H28 and H226 MPM cells were examined in clonogenic survival experiments and migration assays with and without various doses of photon and carbon ion irradiation. C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4), SDF-1α, β1 integrin, α3 integrin, and α5 integrin expressions were analyzed by quantitative FACS analysis, ELISA and western blots. Apoptosis was assessed via Annexin-V-staining. Results The migration of MPM cells was stimulated by both fetal bovine serum and by stromal cell-derived factor 1α (SDF-1α). Low doses of photon irradiation (1 Gy and 2 Gy) suppressed clonogenicity, but promoted migration of both H28 and H226 cells through the SDF-1α/CXCR4 pathway. Hypermigration was inhibited by the administration of CXCR4 antagonist, AMD3100. In contrast, corresponding doses of carbon ion irradiation (0.3 Gy and 1 Gy) suppressed clonogenicity, but did not promote MPM cell migration. Conclusion Our findings suggest that the co-administration of photon irradiation and the CXCR4-antagonist AMD3100 or the use of carbon ions instead of photons may be possible solutions to reduce the risk of locoregional tumor recurrence after radiotherapy for MPM.
Clinical subgingival calculus detection with a smart ultrasonic device: a pilot study.

AIM We have recently tested a surface detection system based on a conventional dental ultrasonic scaler in vitro. The aim of the present study was to investigate sensitivity and the specificity of the detection device in vivo. MATERIAL AND METHODS Subgingival buccal surfaces of 63 arbitrarily selected periodontally compromised teeth were scanned intra-orally, while the supragingival positions of the insert, along with the corresponding signals of the detection system, were saved as separate files. After extraction, the surface detection results were evaluated by re-positioning the inserts' position on the tooth in vitro and comparing the detection results with visual findings. RESULTS On the scanned tooth surfaces, there were 44 calculus spots, which covered 22.3% of all scanned surfaces (prevalence). The calculus-free surface was divided into "spots" mathematically. The device correctly classified 40 calculus and 125 cementum spots, whereas four calculus and 28 cementum spots were classified incorrectly. Calculus and cementum were discriminated with a sensitivity of 91% and a specificity of 82%. The positive and negative predictive values were 0.59 and 0.97. CONCLUSION The surface detection device was able to clinically differentiate cementum and calculus in vivo. Therefore, this method may support the decision of whether continued subgingival scaling could damage the cementum.
Thalamic Activation Modulates the Responses of Neurons in Rat Primary Auditory Cortex: An In Vivo Intracellular Recording Study

Auditory cortical plasticity can be induced through various approaches. The medial geniculate body (MGB) of the auditory thalamus gates the ascending auditory inputs to the cortex. The thalamocortical system has been proposed to play a critical role in the responses of the auditory cortex (AC). In the present study, we investigated the cellular mechanism of the cortical activity, adopting an in vivo intracellular recording technique, recording from the primary auditory cortex (AI) while presenting an acoustic stimulus to the rat and electrically stimulating its MGB. We found that low-frequency stimuli enhanced the amplitudes of sound-evoked excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) in AI neurons, whereas high-frequency stimuli depressed these auditory responses. The degree of this modulation depended on the intensities of the train stimuli as well as the intervals between the electrical stimulations and their paired sound stimulations. These findings may have implications regarding the basic mechanisms of MGB activation of auditory cortical plasticity and cortical signal processing.
TiO2 nanoparticles induce oxidative DNA damage and apoptosis in human liver cells

Abstract Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs), widely used in consumer products, paints, pharmaceutical preparations and so on, have been shown to induce cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and carcinogenic responses in vitro and in vivo. The present study revealed that TiO2 NPs induce significant (p < 0.05) oxidative DNA damage by the Fpg-Comet assay even at 1 µg/ml concentration. A corresponding increase in the micronucleus frequency was also observed. This could be attributed to the reduced glutathione levels with concomitant increase in lipid peroxidation and reactive oxygen species generation. Furthermore, immunoblot analysis revealed an increased expression of p53, BAX, Cyto-c, Apaf-1, caspase-9 and caspase-3 and decreased the level of Bcl-2 thereby indicating that apoptosis induced by TiO2 NPs occurs via the caspase-dependent pathway. This study systematically shows that TiO2 NPs induce DNA damage and cause apoptosis in HepG2 cells even at very low concentrations. Hence the use of such nanoparticles should be carefully monitored.
The associations of cardiorespiratory fitness, adiposity and sports participation with arterial stiffness in youth with chronic diseases or physical disabilities

Background The evidence on the associations of cardiorespiratory fitness, body adiposity and sports participation with arterial stiffness in children and adolescents with chronic diseases or physical disabilities is limited. Methods Altogether 140 children and adolescents with chronic diseases or physical disabilities participated in this cross-sectional study. Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed using maximal exercise test with respiratory gas analyses either using shuttle run, shuttle ride, or cycle ergometer test. Cardiorespiratory fitness was defined as peak oxygen uptake by body weight or fat-free mass. Body adiposity was assessed using waist circumference, body mass index standard deviation score and body fat percentage. Sports participation was assessed by a questionnaire. Aortic pulse wave velocity and augmentation index were assessed by a non-invasive oscillometric tonometry device. Results Peak oxygen uptake/body weight (standardised regression coefficient β −0.222, 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.386 to −0.059, P = 0.002) and peak oxygen uptake/fat-free mass (β −0.173, 95% CI −0.329 to −0.017, P = 0.030) were inversely and waist circumference directly (β 0.245, 95% CI 0.093 to 0.414, P = 0.002) associated with aortic pulse wave velocity. However, the associations of the measures of cardiorespiratory fitness with aortic pulse wave velocity were attenuated after further adjustment for waist circumference. A higher waist circumference (β −0.215, 95% CI −0.381 to −0.049, P = 0.012) and a higher body mass index standard deviation score (β 0.218, 95% CI −0.382 to −0.054, P = 0.010) were related to lower augmentation index. Conclusions Poor cardiorespiratory fitness and higher waist circumference were associated with increased arterial stiffness in children and adolescents with chronic diseases and physical disabilities. The association between cardiorespiratory fitness and arterial stiffness was partly explained by waist circumference.
Occupational Exposure to Pesticides and Pregnancy Outcomes in Gardeners and Farmers: A Study Within the Danish National Birth Cohort

Objective: We conducted a follow-up study to examine whether exposure to pesticides during pregnancy had an adverse effect on pregnancy outcomes among Danish gardeners and farmers. Methods: Using data from the National Birth Cohort in Denmark, we identified 226 pregnancies of gardeners and 214 pregnancies of farmers during 1997 through 2003. Work activities and exposure to pesticides were reported in an interview (around 16 weeks of gestation). Totally, 62,164 other workers in the cohort served as a reference group. Pregnancy outcomes were obtained by linkage to the national registers. Cox regression was applied to analyze late fetal loss and congenital malformations, and logistic regression was used to analyze preterm birth and small for gestational age. Results: There were no significant differences in the studied pregnancy outcomes between gardeners or farmers and all other workers, except for an increased risk of very preterm birth for gardeners and a favorable birth weight for farmers. With the exception of biologic approach used in gardening, neither work activities nor exposure to pesticides showed a significant increased risk of adverse birth outcomes among gardeners or farmers. Conclusions: Our data suggest little effect of occupational exposures to pesticides on pregnancy outcomes among gardeners or farmers in Denmark. The results may not apply to other countries.
Parent education interventions: Results from a national study in Portugal

Parenting education programmes are becoming widespread practices and are being recognized by the scientific community as promising interventions for preventing child maltreatment. However, a diversity of programme objectives and implementation conditions can be related to different outcomes in parental competencies and child adjustment. In this paper we present data concerning the effects of different parent education interventions developed in Portugal. Five hundred one participants participating in 56 interventions were evaluated using a pre- and post-test design. Analyses were designed to determine the participant and programme characteristics that were associated with intervention outcomes, as indicated by univariate and covariate test results and respective effect sizes. After controlling for pre-test results, significant and positive intervention effects were found for parental stress, effective parenting attitudes (i.e., empathic responding, use of punitive discipline, and endorsement of parental roles), perception of the informal social support network and child behavioural and emotional difficulties. These positive outcomes are associated with some parental characteristics (educational level and child protection referrals) as well as with a number of programme characteristics (e.g., length of programme, existence of a manual, transportation, specific training in the programme). Discussion is focused on the positive effects of interventions and the role of the identified moderating factors as well as their implications for the development of parent education programmes.
Online robust image alignment via iterative convex optimization

In this paper we study the problem of online aligning a newly arrived image to previously well-aligned images. Inspired by recent advances in batch image alignment using low rank decomposition [16], we treat the newly arrived image, after alignment, as being linearly and sparsely reconstructed by the well-aligned ones. The task is accomplished by a sequence of convex optimization that minimizes the l\-norm. After that, online basis updating is pursued in two different ways: (1) a two-stage incremental alignment for joint registration of a large image dataset which is known a prior, and (2) a greedy online alignment of dynamically increasing image sequences, such as in the tracking scenario. In (1), we first sequentially collect basis images that are easily aligned by checking their reconstruction residuals, followed by the second stage where all images are re-aligned one-by-one using the collected basis set. In (2), during the tracking process, we dynamically enrich the image basis set by the new target if it significantly distinguishes itself from existing basis images. While inheriting the benefits of sparsity, our method enjoys the great time efficiency and therefore be capable of dealing with large image set and real time tasks such as visual tracking. The efficacy of the proposed online robust alignment algorithm is verified with extensive experiments on image set alignment and visual tracking, in reference with state-of-the-art methods.
Mothers’ Narratives of Their Involvement With Child Welfare Services

Centering on practice within child welfare systems, this article focuses on four representative narratives derived from 32 in-depth qualitative interviews with women who experienced intimate partner violence and involvement with the child welfare system in Manitoba and British Columbia, Canada. Narrative analysis was used to explore the content of mothers’ stories to understand how they position themselves against their child welfare workers’ understanding of them as “failed” mothers. This article concludes with recommendations to enhance practice with mothers who are involved with child welfare systems
Quantum Hall conductance of two-terminal graphene devices

Measurement and theory of the two-terminal conductance of monolayer and bilayer graphene in the quantum Hall regime are compared. We examine features of conductance as a function of gate voltage that allow monolayer, bilayer, and gapped samples to be distinguished. In particular, we analyze the distortions of quantum Hall plateaus and the conductance peaks and dips at the charge-neutrality point, which can be used to identify the incompressible densities. These results are compared to recent theory and possible origins of the discrepancy are discussed.