Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The influence of multiple environmental stressors on susceptibility to parasites: An experimental determination with oysters

A large ‐scale field experiment was used to test whether exposure to a suite of potential environmental factors (flow speed, temperature, salinity, and low dissolved oxygen) influences the level of parasitic infection of the oyster Crassostrea virginica. The parasite was the protozoan Perkinsus marinus, which has decimated populations of oysters in estuaries of North America. The environmental factors were considered stressors because they influence the physiological condition of either the host or parasite. Between December 1994 and July 1995, flow speed, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen concentration (DO), Perkinsus infection, and mortality of oysters were monitored across 24 experimental oyster reefs in the Neuse River estuary, North Carolina. Eight reef treatments were created consisting of an orthogonal combination of three factors: water depth (3 m vs. 6 m deep), reef height (2 m vs. 1 m tall), and position on reef (base vs. crest). Principal component analysis revealed that there was clear separation of environmental factors among reefs and that a majority of the variation (96.2%) among treatments could be explained by two principal component axes (PCs): one (24.3% of variation explained) was formed by flow and the other (71.9% of variation explained) by temperature, salinity, and DO. Oysters with the highest proportion of individuals infected (prevalence), highest intensity of infection, and highest mortality were located at the base of reefs, where flow speeds and food quality were lowest and sedimentation rates highest. However, there was no significant effect of hydrographic conditions on Perkinsus infection or mortality of oysters, despite large differences in mean salinity, DO, and exposure to hypoxia ‐anoxia. Temperature did not vary among treatments. Correlation of disease responses (infection prevalence and intensity, and mortality) with the first two PCs showed that these response variables were significantly (and negatively) correlated with flow only. Oysters in low flow were hypothesized to have the greatest susceptibility to Perkinsus infection because of their poor physiological condition. The restoration of oyster reefs increases reef height and thus flow speeds (by elevating oysters higher above the boundary and by actively influencing flow), thereby reducing the negative effects of disease by restoring reef morphology to its natural size.
ESTIMATING THE PARAMETERS OF SAGITTARIUS A*'s ACCRETION FLOW VIA MILLIMETER VLBI

Recent millimeter-VLBI observations of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) have, for the first time, directly probed distances comparable to the horizon scale of a black hole. This provides unprecedented access to the environment immediately around the horizon of an accreting black hole. We leverage both existing spectral and polarization measurements and our present understanding of accretion theory to produce a suite of generic radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) models of Sgr A*, which we then fit to these recent millimeter-VLBI observations. We find that if the accretion flow onto Sgr A* is well described by an RIAF model, the orientation and magnitude of the black hole's spin are constrained to a two-dimensional surface in the spin, inclination, position angle parameter space. For each of these, we find the likeliest values and their 1σ and 2σ errors to be a = 0+0.4+0.7, , and , when the resulting probability distribution is marginalized over the others. The most probable combination is a = 0+0.2+0.4, , and , though the uncertainties on these are very strongly correlated, and high probability configurations exist for a variety of inclination angles above 30° and spins below 0.99. Nevertheless, this demonstrates the ability millimeter-VLBI observations, even with only a few stations, to significantly constrain the properties of Sgr A*.
It is not easy being green: increasing sustainable public procurement behaviour

To achieve greater sustainability, governments need to continuously adapt their purchasing activities to innovations in the market. Sustainable procurement is a decision-making process in which the decisions of procurers determine if the full potential of sustainable procurement is used. The decisions and thus behaviour of procurers are therefore crucial for the successfulness of sustainable procurement. According to organizational theory, commitment to change could influence this behaviour. Hence, in the study, we examined if commitment to implement sustainable procurement increases sustainable procurement behaviour by Dutch public procurers and what determines this commitment to implement sustainable procurement are. Our study shows first that both affective commitment to implement sustainable procurement and procedural justice increase sustainable procurement behaviour. In addition, the results show that commitment to change acts as a mechanism between fit with vision, ecological sustainability attitude, procedural justice and sustainable procurement behaviour.
Human neutrophils endocytose multivalent ligands from the surface of schistosomula of Schistosoma mansoni before membrane fusion

Human buffy coat cells adhering to schistosomula of Schistosoma mansoni that were preincubated in fluorochrome-conjugated concanavalin A (Con A), wheat germ agglutinin, lentil lectin, or purified IgG from a hyperimmunized rabbit, were examined by fluorescence and transmission electron microscopy and by freeze-fracture. All four fluorochrome- conjugated multivalent ligands were homogeneously distributed on the parasite surface after preincubation. Within 1-3 h after the addition of cells, large areas of nonfluorescence, 10-20 micrometer in diameter, were seen on the parasite surface. In addition, the fluorochromes were observed in granules within the cells. Electron microscope autoradiography of worms preincubated with 125I-Con A showed silver grains evenly distributed over the tegumental membrane. After the addition of cells, grains were seen over phagolysosomes in the cytoplasm of neutrophils adhering to the parasites. In addition, no grains were present over large areas of the tegumental membrane, which still retained its normal architecture, or over fusions between the neutrophil plasma membrane and the outer tegumental membrane. Rabbit IgG formed an electron-dense layer on the tegumental membrane which was endocytosed by neutrophils. Both neutrophils and eosinophils fused with the parasite in areas containing no electron-dense material on the surface. It is concluded that human neutrophils will endocytose a variety of multivalent ligands from the surface of schistosomula, which probably accounts for the failure of neutrophils to kill the parasite and acts to clear the parasite surface of both antigen and antibody. Presumably, the components of the parasite surface which have originally bound the ligands are also endocytosed since surface components labeled by galactose oxidase and NaB3H4 are taken into cells when examined by light microscope autoradiography. Finally, membrane fusion occurs in areas devoid of multivalent glands, which suggests that these ligands serve to bring the cells and parasites close together, but the actual fusigens probably reside in the lipids in the outer tegumental membrane.
Transgenerational Effects of Maternal Immune Challenge in Tree Swallows (tachycineta Bicolor)

The fact that avian eggs contain antibody of maternal origin is well documented, but only recently has this phenomenon been considered in an ecological context. We used tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) to examine the possibility of transgenerational immunity and its effect on nestling growth and immune development. We measured cell-mediated immunity with a delayed-hypersensitivity assay and antibody-mediated immunity with a hemagglutination test with sheep red blood cells (SRBCs). We tested for differences in immunocompetence and growth between nestlings from females who had been exposed to a novel antigen prior to egg laying and nestlings from unexposed females. To determine whether the effect, if any, resulted from something transferred to the eggs prior to egg laying or from subsequent changes in parental behaviour, nestlings were exchanged so that at each nest half the nestlings were from females who had been injected with SRBCs and half were from females who had not been exposed to SRBCs. Finally, brood sizes were independently manipulated to either 4 or 6 nestlings. We failed to detect maternal antibodies in any nestlings, and whether a female was exposed to SRBCs or not had no effect on the growth or cell-mediated immunity of her brood. However, nestlings in smaller broods grew better than nestlings in larger broods, though we did not find the expected differences in cell-mediated immunity. Furthermore, within each nest, nestlings whose mothers had been exposed to SRBCs grew better than nestlings whose mothers had not been exposed. These results are contrary to the idea of a simple trade-off in the allocation of resources between parasite protection and reproduction; however, they support the idea that exposure of females to parasites prior to egg laying leads to better nestling growth, and are con-gruous with the possibility of mithridatic parental care. Résumé : La présence d'un anticorps d'origine maternelle dans les oeufs des oiseaux est un fait bien connu, mais ce n'est que récemment que ce phénomène a été examiné dans un contexte écologique. Nous avons utilisé des hirondelles bicolores (Tachycineta bicolor) pour vérifier l'existence possible d'une immunité transmise d'une génération à l'autre et ses effets éventuels sur la croissance des oisillons au nid et sur le développement de leur système immunitaire. Nous avons mesuré l'immunité d'origine cellulaire au cours d'un test d'hypersensibilité retardée et l'immunité assurée par les anticorps au moyen d'un test d'hémagglutination SRBCs (globules rouges de mouton standardisés). Nous avons cherché à établir s'il y …
Voluntary and automatic orienting of attention during childhood development

Selective attention directs cognitive resources to relevant objects or events through either voluntary (top-down) or automatic (bottom-up) control. This paper analyzes voluntary and automatic orienting of attention during childhood development. Seventy-four children (6 to 10 years old) were asked to press a key in response to a visual target presented in a previously oriented position (voluntary orienting; Experiment 1) or after a peripheral unpredictable cue (automatic orienting; Experiment 2). A systematic reduction of reaction times was observed in older children in both experiments. For automatic orienting in Experiment 2, reaction times were shorter in the ipsilateral condition than in the contralateral condition. However, for older children, the differences in reaction times between these conditions decreased. This may be attributable to the appearance of Inhibition of Return as a result of the maturation of the attentional system derived from childhood development, which contributes to more effective exploration of the environment.
Training Foreign Language Learners to be Peer Responders: A Multiliteracies Approach

Author(s): Turpin, Kristen M. | Abstract: This study proposes a method for implementing trained peer response within the multiliteracies framework and then qualitatively examines its effectiveness. Three factors are considered: (1) the extent to which peer response training engaged learners in all four knowledge processes; (2) the quality of peer-to-peer feedback; and (3) students’ attitudes about peer response. Findings suggest that collaborative genre analysis moves students through various knowledge processes and equips them to apply literacy-based understandings, knowledge, and skills during peer response. In general, students provided constructive, actionable comments to their peers and reported numerous benefits of both giving and receiving peer feedback. Implications for future research and practice will be of interest to instructors who want to implement peer response as well as curriculum designers who are building literacy-oriented language programs.
Formation and eruption of Sun-aligned arcs at the polar cap-auroral oval boundary

This paper reports on results from a study of the poleward edge of the auroral oval in the morning sector using a comprehensive blend of in situ and ground-based measurements. Three rockets, equipped to measure electric and magnetic fields, energetic particles, and plasma density flew into an auroral display whose dynamical features were recorded with a digital image intensified all-sky camera as well as with an incoherent scatter radar. In addition, a number of DMSP satellite measurements bracketed that launch time. Evidence is presented here that in a condition of declining magnetic activity Sun-aligned arcs are injected into the polar cap at velocities {approximately}7 km/s from locations of periodic brightening along the morningside of the auroral oval. The multipoint in situ measurements allow some separation of temporal and spatial effects and strongly suggest a poleward contraction of the convection pattern of about 0.25{degrees} INVL in 70 s. The most equatorward of the two brightest arcs studied erupted into a region which already was characterized by strong sunward convection. The most poleward, however, pushed into a region that had been convecting in an antisunward direction at velocities exceeding 1 km/s less than 2 min earlier, and it is likely that sunwardmore » convection subsequently pertained poleward of that arc as well. The authors believe that these events mark the reconfiguration of the magnetosphere into a system characterized by a smaller polar cap. 34 refs., 14 figs.« less
The Unresponsive Partner: Roles of Social Status, Auditory Feedback, and Animacy in Coordination of Joint Music Performance

We examined temporal synchronization in joint music performance to determine how social status, auditory feedback, and animacy influence interpersonal coordination. A partner’s coordination can be bidirectional (partners adapt to the actions of one another) or unidirectional (one partner adapts). According to the dynamical systems framework, bidirectional coordination should be the optimal (preferred) state during live performance. To test this, 24 skilled pianists each performed with a confederate while their coordination was measured by the asynchrony in their tone onsets. To promote social balance, half of the participants were told the confederate was a fellow participant – an equal social status. To promote social imbalance, the other half was told the confederate was an experimenter – an unequal social status. In all conditions, the confederate’s arm and finger movements were occluded from the participant’s view to allow manipulation of animacy of the confederate’s performances (live or recorded). Unbeknownst to the participants, half of the confederate’s performances were replaced with pre-recordings, forcing the participant into unidirectional coordination during performance. The other half of the confederate’s performances were live, which permitted bidirectional coordination between performers. In a final manipulation, both performers heard the auditory feedback from one or both of the performers’ parts removed at unpredictable times to disrupt their performance. Consistently larger asynchronies were observed in performances of unidirectional (recorded) than bidirectional (live) performances across all conditions. Participants who were told the confederate was an experimenter reported their synchrony as more successful than when the partner was introduced as a fellow participant. Finally, asynchronies increased as auditory feedback was removed; removal of the confederate’s part hurt coordination more than removal of the participant’s part in live performances. Consistent with the assumption that bidirectional coupling yields optimal coordination, an unresponsive partner requires the other member to do all the adapting for the pair to stay together.
The Association of Serum IL-33 and sST2 with Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases in women. The main cause of death from breast cancer is its metastases at distant sites in the body. Interleukin-33 (IL-33) is a cytokine of the IL-1 family and found overexpressed in various cancers. The aim of the present study was to explore the association of serum IL-33 and sST2 with breast cancer. Here, the serum levels of Interleukin-33 (IL-33) and sST2 were found significantly higher in breast cancer patients than in healthy volunteers. Serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), metalloproteinase-11 (MMP-11), and platelet-derived growth factor-C (PDGF-C) were also greater in breast cancer patients compared to healthy volunteers. We found that serum levels of IL-33 or sST2 were positively correlated with the serum levels of VEGF, MMP-11, and PDGF-C. Moreover, breast cancer dataset downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas showed that patients with higher level of MMP-11 or PDGF-C expression had shorter survival time than those with lower level of these proteins. In conclusion, IL-33 and sST2 may serve as noninvasive diagnosis markers for breast cancer. IL-33 and sST2 were significantly associated with MMP-11 or PDGF-C which indicated poor prognosis of breast cancer patients.
THE EFFECT OF APPLYING COLLABORATIVE STRATEGY READING (CSR)TOWARD STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AT THE EIGHTH GRADE OF MTs HUBBULWATHAN DURI

The aim of this study is to find out the effectiveness of applying Collaborative Strategy Reading (CSR) on students’ reading comprehension. The research design was pre-experimental by giving pre-test and post-test to the class. It involved 36 participants of MTs Hubbulwathan Duri. Two research questions were posted in this study in order to find out the significant effect of using CSR on students’ reading comprehension. Pretest and posttest were administered in this study and paired sample t-test was used to analyze the data. The research finding shows that there was significant effect of using CSR on students’ reading comprehension. CSR contributed by 80,76 after giving post-test to the students with level of significant is 2.060. So, it can make inference that CSR can be applied in teaching reading comprehension especially at MTs Hubbulwathan Duri. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui keefektifan penerapan Collaborative Strategy Reading (CSR) pada pemahaman membaca siswa. Desain penelitian pra-eksperimental dilakukan dengan memberikan pre-test dan post-test ke kelas. Penelitian ini melibatkan 36 peserta MTs Hubbulwathan Duri. Dua pertanyaan penelitian dalam penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui pengaruh signifikan menggunakan CSR terhadap pemahaman membaca siswa. Pretest dan posttest diberikan dalam penelitian ini dan paired sample t-test digunakan untuk menganalisis data. Temuan penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ada pengaruh signifikan menggunakan CSR pada pemahaman membaca siswa. CSR yang disumbangkan oleh 80,76 setelah memberikan post-test kepada siswa dengan tingkat signifikan adalah 2,060. Jadi, dapat disimpulkan bahwa CSR dapat diterapkan dalam pengajaran membaca pemahaman terutama di MTs Hubbulwathan Duri
How do members of a multidisciplinary team involved in running a therapeutic playgroup understand their role in the work

The aim of this study is to investigate how a multidisciplinary Therapeutic Playgroup within a Children’s Centre functions, and the role of a child psychotherapist working in that setting. The playgroup studied is located in a deprived local urban community with a large population of young children. The founding members of the service recognised that historically there had been a low take up rate of professional services for young children. When an experienced and long-serving child psychotherapist left the service, the team requested that a child psychotherapist replace her, and I joined the team, while still in my fourth year of training. Reflecting on my own experience, and what I learned about my predecessor’s contribution, I became interested in the specific role of a child psychotherapist in this setting. I investigated how the Therapeutic Playgroup operated, what were the origins and the history of the model, and how this had developed over time. I used a qualitative approach; this included interviewing staff members and recording my observations of their work. I became a participant-observer, continuing my professional work in the service, but with an additional research agenda. During the data collection, the Children’s Centre, and the Therapeutic Playgroup within which it was situated, was confronted with diminishing budgets, redundancies and uncertainty surrounding whether it would remain open. The impact of these changes on the staff group is explored in the study. Researching how the team had operated during less turbulent times revealed a leadership function in operation. The team consisted of people who were committed and who invested in the ‘mission’ of the institution. From the data, ideas are formed about a type of emotional ‘experience’ that a child psychotherapist can provide, which describes a distinctive professional contribution to this work.
Faster, Cheaper, Better { a Hybridization Methodology to Develop Linear Algebra Software for GPUs

In this chapter, we present a hybridization methodology for the development of linear algebra software for GPUs. The methodology is successfully used in MAGMA – a new generation of linear algebra libraries, similar in functionality to LAPACK, but extended for hybrid, GPU-based systems. Algorithms of interest are split into computational tasks. The tasks' execution is scheduled over the computational components of a hybrid system of multicore CPUs with GPU accelerators using StarPU – a runtime system for accelerator-based multicore architectures. StarPU enables to express parallelism through sequential-like code and schedules the different tasks over the hybrid processing units. The productivity becomes then fast and cheap as the development is high level, using existing software infrastructure. Moreover, the resulting hybrid algorithms are better performance-wise than corresponding homogeneous algorithms designed exclusively for either GPUs or homogeneous multicore CPUs.
Les immigrés en France : une situation qui évolue

Depuis 1975, la part des immigres dans la population est restee stable, mais l'immigration a beaucoup change : les entrees pour motif familial ont augmente, la population immigree s'est feminisee et les immigres proviennent de pays de plus en plus lointains
Same-sex attraction in heterosexually partnered men: Reasons, rationales and reflections

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to review the phenomenon of same-sex attraction in married men. As well as looking at a variety of reasons that gay and bisexual men provide for getting married, the author describes a model that incorporates a variety of possible theoretical explanations. Finally, practical implications for therapists are provided, focusing on identity development and support.