Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fibre post behaviour prediction factors. A review of the literature

Introduction: The advantages of fibre posts over stainless steel posts have been demonstrated in numerous studies. For clinical success, various factors need to be taken into account in post-retained restorations. Material and Methods: A review was made of literature on fibre posts published from 2000 to February 2011, identified through searches of the PubMed/Medline databases. Results: The position of the tooth in the arch, ferrule size, proximal contact, periodontal support and restoration type are survival prediction factors that should be considered when performing post-endodontic restoration. Since fibre posts present good biomechanical behaviour as a result of their elastic modulus, which is similar to that of dentine, treatment failure occurs through decementation rather than because of root fracture, as occurs with metal posts. The shape of the post and, consequently, the thickness of the luting, can modify the retention capacity. Consequently, more anatomically-shaped posts have been developed, as have new techniques to reduce the volume of the dentine/cement interface: lateral condensation, surface remodelling or custom designs. Conclusions: Different aspects of the preparation process can be modified to assist in improving fibre post retention, but further investigation, mainly clinical, is needed to acquire a better understanding of how different factors influence the long-term clinical behaviour of the posts. Key words:Fiber post, post shape, post adaptation, post retention, endodontics.
Using Magic Board as a Teaching Aid in Third Grader Learning of Area Concepts

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of incorporating Magic Board in the instruction of concepts related to area. We adopted a non-equivalent quasi-experimental design and recruited participants from two classes of third-grade students in an elementary school in Taoyuan County, Taiwan. Magic Board was used as a teaching aid in the experimental group, and physical manipulatives were employed as teaching aids in the control group. Both groups took the Basic Area Concept Test as a pretest, followed by the Area Concept Test to evaluate retention two weeks later. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of Magic Board over that of physical manipulatives on three subscales of immediate learning performance and all four subscales of retention performance. We also discuss the implications of these results and provide recommendations for future research.
Lysine deacetylase inhibition promotes relaxation of arterial tone and C-terminal acetylation of HSPB6 (Hsp20) in vascular smooth muscle cells

There is increasing interest in establishing the roles that lysine acetylation of non nuclear proteins may exert in modulating cell function. Lysine deacetylase 8 (KDAC8), for example, has been suggested to interact with α‐actin and control the differentiation of smooth muscle cells. However, a direct role of smooth muscle non nuclear protein acetylation in regulating tone is unresolved. We sought to define the actions of two separate KDAC inhibitors on arterial tone and identify filament‐interacting protein targets of acetylation and association with KDAC8. Compound 2 (a specific KDAC8 inhibitor) or Trichostatin A (TSA, a broad‐spectrum KDAC inhibitor) inhibited rat arterial contractions induced by phenylephrine (PE) or high potassium solution. In contrast to the predominantly nuclear localization of KDAC1 and KDAC2, KDAC8 was positioned in extranuclear areas of native vascular smooth muscle cells. Several filament‐associated proteins identified as putative acetylation targets colocalized with KDAC8 by immunoprecipitation (IP): cortactin, α‐actin, tropomyosin, HSPB1 (Hsp27) and HSPB6 (Hsp20). Use of anti‐acetylated lysine antibodies showed that KDAC inhibition increased acetylation of each protein. A custom‐made antibody targeting the C‐terminal acetylated lysine of human HSPB6 identified this as a novel target of acetylation that was increased by KDAC inhibition. HSPB6 phosphorylation, a known vasodilatory modification, was concomitantly increased. Interrogation of publicly available mass spectrometry data identified 50 other proteins with an acetylated C‐terminal lysine. These novel data, in alliance with other recent studies, alert us to the importance of elucidating the mechanistic links between changes in myofilament‐associated protein acetylation, in conjunction with other posttranslational modifications, and the regulation of arterial tone.
Isolation and cultivation of Lyme disease spirochetes.

The successful isolation and cultivation of Lyme disease spirochetes traces its lineage to early attempts at cultivating relapsing fever borreliae. Observations on the growth of Lyme disease spirochetes under different in vitro conditions may yield important clues to both the metabolic characteristics of these newly discovered organisms and the pathogenesis of Lyme disease. ImagesFIG. 1
Using Event Contexts and Matching Constraints to Monitor Software Processes

Automated monitoring of events that occur in a computer network is essential for non-intrusive software process enactment. Relevant events include modification of product artifacts like source files and documents, and execution and termination of tool invocations. Monitoring these events requires capturing the context in which they occur and constraining the monitoring to relevant events only. We introduce the concept of event context, and present constructs for using it to constrain event matching. The constructs have been implemented as an extension to an existing event monitoring system called Yeast, which serves as the event monitoring component in Provence. Provence is an open process-centered environment that monitors the actual execution of software processes, abstracted as sequences of low-level events, and maps these sequences of events into transitions in the process model enactment.
Sympathoinhibitory mechanism of moxonidine: role of the inducible nitric oxide synthase in the rostral ventrolateral medulla.

AIMS The central antihypertensive drug moxonidine lowers blood pressure (BP) through stimulating an imidazoline receptor within the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM). Nitric oxide (NO) generated by the inducible NO synthase (iNOS) in the RVLM has been suggested to be involved in tonic sympathetic inhibition. The aim of this study was to determine the role of NO generated by iNOS in mediating moxonidine-induced cardiovascular inhibition in rats. METHODS AND RESULTS In anaesthetized rats, the cardiovascular response to local or systemic injection of moxonidine was observed after treatment with the selective iNOS inhibitor S-methylisothiourea (SMT) in the brain. Using immunohistochemical staining and western blot techniques, the protein expression of iNOS in the RVLM was measured in the moxonidine-infused rats. Intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of SMT (1-100 nmol) dose-dependently attenuated the moxonidine (20 nmol, ICV)-induced decrease in BP and heart rate. Prior injection of SMT (20 and 200 pmol) into the RVLM also dose-dependently prevented the decrease in BP and renal sympathetic nerve activity evoked by RVLM microinjection of moxonidine (5 nmol) or intravenous injection of moxonidine (50 microg/kg). We further found that expression of iNOS protein following chronic ICV infusion of moxonidine (20 nmol, 2 weeks) is selectively upregulated in the RVLM but not in the nucleus tractus solitarius. CONCLUSION The present data suggest that an NO mechanism generated by iNOS in the RVLM plays an important role in mediating the sympathetic inhibition of the centrally acting drug moxonidine.
A two-year longitudinal study of deferred imitation of object manipulation in a juvenile chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus).

Changes in deferred imitation of novel actions on objects were assessed over a 2-year period in two enculturated, juvenile great apes (one chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, and one orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus). Both apes displayed deferred imitation, and both displayed improve ments in deferred imitation over the 2-year period, although the magnitude of improvement was greater for the chimpanzee. This is, to our knowledge, the first experimental demonstration of longitudinal improvements of deferred imitation in great apes. The results were interpreted as reflecting maturationally paced cognitive differences consistent with other cognitive accomplishments in these species, and as demonstrating the influence that a species-atypical rearing environment can have on cognitive abilities in juvenile great apes.
Lower bound and optimality in switched networks

We consider a queueing network in which there are constraints on which queues may be served simultaneously. Such networks, called ldquoswitched networksrdquo [3] can be used to model input-queued switches, wireless networks, or bandwidth sharing in the Internet. The scheduling algorithm for such a network specifies which queues to serve at any point in time. The performance of scheduling algorithm is determined by the induced net queue-size. The question of designing optimal scheduling algorithm with this performance metric has been of great recent interest (e.g. [1, 3, 4]). An important step in this quest is that of finding fundamental limitations of scheduling algorithms in terms of the induced queuesize. In this paper, we present a novel technique to characterize lower bound on average queue-size induced by any algorithm. Through an example, we establish the tightness of this technique for a class of problems.
Learning from Peers Tat

In this paper we study the impact of peers on coworker learning in a retail setting. Using four years of individual cosmetic sales data from a Chinese department store, we incorporate peer-based learning into a model with learning-by-doing and forgetting. We observe peer-based learning both within and across firm boundaries, identifying that the relative ability of coworkers impacts salesperson learning rate more than own experience. Using two sales tasks of different difficulty and two compensation systems, we observe evidence consistent with the presence of both active teaching and learning through observation. Our paper shows that the inter-organizational knowledge spillovers observed in past studies have micro-foundations in individual employees. Tat Y. Chan is Associate Professor of Marketing and Lamar Pierce is Associate Professor of Strategy at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis. Jia Li is Assistant Professor of Marketing at Krannert School of Management, Purdue University. Authors can be reached at chan@wustl.edu, jial@purdue.edu, or pierce@wustl.edu.
The Host Galaxies of Three Radio-loud Quasars: 3C 48, 3C 345, and B2 1425+267

Observations with the Wide-Field/Planetary Camera-2 of the Hubble Space Telescope are presented for three radio-loud quasars: 3C 48 (z = 0.367), B2 1425+267 (z = 0.366), and 3C 345 (z = 0.594). All three quasars have luminous (~4 × L*) galaxies as hosts, which are either elliptical (B2 1425+267 and 3C345) or interacting (3C 48), and all hosts are 0.5-1.0 mag bluer in V-I than other galaxies with the same overall morphology at redshifts similar to those of the quasars. The host of 3C 48 has many H II regions and a very extended tidal tail. All nine of the radio-loud quasars studied here and in a previous paper by Bahcall et al. either have bright elliptical hosts or occur in interacting systems. There is a robust correlation between the radio emission of the quasar and the luminosity of host galaxy; the radio-loud quasars reside in galaxies that are on average ~1 mag brighter than hosts of the radio-quiet quasars.
Construct validity of the physical activity questionnaire for adolescents (paq-a): maximal oxygen uptake

One hundred and seventy-eight (n=99 boys, n=79 girls) adolescents (14.2±1.9 years, 21.1±4.1 BMI) participated in this study. A PA score was estimated by PAQ-A and additionally a sport history was recorded. BMI, waist circumference (WC) and fat mass percent (FMP) were assessed by anthropometric measurements as adiposity markers. Aerobic fitness (VO2Max) was assessed by a progressive continuous test (Chester Step Test).
Essays on behavioral finance

This thesis deals with a range of topics in experimental and behavioral finance. The first part investigates the role of personal inclination in reference point employment by individuals. The second part extends this questions by focusing on the role of personality traits and demographic factors in driving reference point exhibition in decision making under risk. The third part documents the role of ambiguity in the dissemination of private information in asset markets. Finally, the last part explores differences in time discounting under risk and ambiguity.
The bilingual school – an educational model for civic equality in a divided society

Abstract The current study examines the workings of a bilingual school for Jewish and Palestinian-Israeli students and its contribution towards the goal of educating for equal citizenship in Israel’s multicultural society. The findings indicate that this school succeeds in advancing the notion of equal citizenship, as demonstrated in the fact that the school’s organisational structure and the curricular contents afford equal status to both nationalities. Findings of this study maybe relevant to other multicultural societies.
Four proofs for the Cheeger inequality and graph partition algorithms

We will give four proofs of the Cheeger inequality which relates the eigenvalues of a graph with various isoperimetric variations of the Cheeger constant. The rst is a simplied proof of the classical Cheeger inequality using eigenvectors. The second is based on a rapid mixing result for random walks by Lov asz and Simonovits. The third uses PageRank, a quantitative ranking of the vertices introduced by Brin and Page. The fourth proof is by an improved notion of the heat kernel pagerank. The four proofs lead to further improvements of graph partition algorithms and in particular the local partition algorithms with cost proportional to its output instead of in terms of the total size of the graph.
Model Prediction of Academic Performance for First Year Students

The aim of this paper was to obtain a model to predict new students' academic performance taking into account socio-demographic and academic variables. The sample contained records of first semester students at a School of Engineering from a range of students' generations. The data was divided into three groups: students who passed none or up to two courses (low), students who passed three or four courses (middle), and students who passed all five courses (high). By using data mining techniques, the Naïve Bayes classifier and the Rapid miner software, we obtained a model of almost 60% accuracy. This model was applied to predict the academic performance of the following generation. After checking the results of the predictions, 50% were classified as correct. However, we observed that, for students of certain engineering majors of high and low groups, the model's accuracy was higher than 70%.
Mobile information access: A study of emerging search behavior on the mobile Internet

It is likely that mobile phones will soon come to rival more traditional devices as the primary platform for information access. Consequently, it is important to understand the emerging information access behavior of mobile Internet (MI) users especially in relation to their use of mobile handsets for information browsing and query-based search. In this article, we describe the results of a recent analysis of the MI habits of more than 600,000 European MI users, with a particular emphasis on the emerging interest in mobile search. We consider a range of factors including whether there are key differences between browsing and search behavior on the MI compared to the Web. We highlight how browsing continues to dominate mobile information access, but go on to show how search is becoming an increasingly popular information access alternative especially in relation to certain types of mobile handsets and information needs. Moreover, we show that sessions involving search tend to be longer and more data-rich than those that do not involve search. We also look at the type of queries used during mobile search and the way that these queries tend to be modified during the course of a mobile search session. Finally we examine the overlap among mobile search queries and the different topics mobile users are interested in.
A Variable Regularization Matrix Normalized Subband Adaptive Filter

The normalized subband adaptive filter (NSAF) proposed by Lee and Gan is promising. However, there exists the conflicting requirement of fast convergence rate and low misadjustment for the NSAF. In this letter, we propose a variable regularization matrix NSAF (VRM-NSAF) to address this problem. The optimal selection of the regularization matrix is derived by the largest decrease of the mean-square deviation (MSD). Simulation results comparing the proposed VRM-NSAF with the original NSAF are presented to show the advantage of this method, including both fast convergence rate and low misadjustment.
Acute effects of cadmium on the pregnant rat and embryo-fetal development.

In rats, of the Wistar-Porton strain, a single intravenous injection of 1.25 mg Cd2+ between days 9 and 15 of gestation results in a high incidence (80% of hydrocephalus, together with other malformations in the fetuses, examined on day 20. This dose is critical, since 1.1 mg Cd2+/kg is not teratogenic, while 1.35 mg Cd2+/kg kills all the embryos. Intravenous injection of Cd2+ to the pregnant rat on day 12 causes a dose-dependent inhibition of placental Zn2+ transport. At the teratogenic dose, Zn2+ transport is inhibited by about 75% at 4 hr. Thereafter, inhibition decreases with time but is still significant at 48 hr. At 20 hr after administration of Cd2+ the embryonic concentration of Zn2+ is depressed by 33%. In the whole embryo the activity of the Zn2+-dependent thymidine kinase is inhibited by about 60% at 4 hr and at 20 hr the DNA concentration is reduced significantly. Placental transport of 14C-leucine and 14C-uridine, as well as the embryonic incorporation of these precursors into protein and RNA is unaffected at least at short times after the administration of Cd2+. It is possible therefore, that the teratogenic effects of Cd2+ may be related to the inhibition of DNA synthesis in the embryo. ImagesFIGURE 1.FIGURE 2.
A new mirror-based extrinsic camera calibration using an orthogonality constraint

This paper is aimed at calibrating the relative posture and position, i.e. extrinsic parameters, of a stationary camera against a 3D reference object which is not directly visible from the camera. We capture the reference object via a mirror under three different unknown poses, and then calibrate the extrinsic parameters from 2D appearances of reflections of the reference object in the mirrors. The key contribution of this paper is to present a new algorithm which returns a unique solution of three P3P problems from three mirrored images. While each P3P problem has up to four solutions and therefore a set of three P3P problems has up to 64 solutions, our method can select a solution based on an orthogonality constraint which should be satisfied by all families of reflections of a single reference object. In addition we propose a new scheme to compute the extrinsic parameters by solving a large system of linear equations. These two points enable us to provide a unique and robust solution. We demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method against a state-of-the-art by qualitative and quantitative evaluations using synthesized and real data.
The Antimicrobial Effect of Lactobacillus Casei Culture Supernatant Against Multiple Drug Resistant Clinical Isolates of Shigella Sonnei and Shigella Flexneri in Vitro

Backgrounds Shigellosis remains an important public health problem in developing countries with S. sonnei and S. flexneri in US, Europe and in Asian countries being of importance. Objectives This study evaluates the protective effect of Lactobacillus casei cell-free culture supernatants (CFCS) against multiple drug resistance (MDR) clinical samples of Shigella sonnei and Shigella flexneri in vitro. Materials and Methods S. sonnei and S . flexneri was identified by common microbiological and serological methods. Antibiogram with 18 antibiotics were tested for 34 positive cultures by disc diffusion method. The Samples showed considerable resistance to antibiotics. Antimicrobial effects of CFCS were tested against S. sonnei and S. flexneri by agar-well assay and broth micro dilution methods. In addition, the antimicrobial activity remained active treatment after adjust pH 7, adding Proteinase K and heating for L. casei. Results The results implicate that L. casei strongly inhibits the development of pathogen samples. In contrast, via the disc diffusion method 4 out of 18 antibiogram have shown complete resistance against the pathogen samples. In addition, the natures of antimicrobial properties have been tested in different conditions such as various pH, temperature and presence of proteinase K. The MIC50 (minimum inhibitory concentration) and MIC90 of CFCS of L. casei were determined, for S. sonnei were 2.25 and 10.5, for S . flexneri were 5.25 and 5.25 respectively. The results have shown a significant resistance pattern by these four antibiotics in this case. Conclusions The data indicates that. L. casei highly resistant against to antibiotics, heat, Proteinase K and so many activities against MDR Shigella pathogenic strains . L. casei is the best probiotics candidate.
Perception of Self-motion and Presence in Auditory Virtual Environments

Apart from inducing a high sense of presence, creating a sensation of self-motion is often a key issue of many Virtual Reality applications. However, self-motion perception (vection) has been primarily investigated for visual stimuli. This study explored the possibility of inducing vection by realistic auditory stimuli. Furthermore, influence of various audio design parameters on auditoryinduced vection was studied. The results suggest that sound source characteristic is a primary determinant of auditoryinduced vection, especially for an environment with only a single sound source. However, it was also found that the type of sound source may play less of a role when the environment contains multiple sound sources. Auditoryinduced vection is also depending on whether or not room acoustic cues are included in the simulation. It is however likely that it is the interaction between type of sound source and the environment that is important.
Edit metric decoding: a new hope

In this position paper we examine preliminary results of a new type of general error correction decoder for Edit Metric Codes. The Single Classifier Machine Decoder uses the concept of Side Effect Machines(SEMs) created via Genetic Algorithms(GAs) in order to create a mapping from the Edit Metric to the Euclidean Metric to create a decoder. By not having to measure the edit distance to every codeword the decoder has a far smaller runtime complexity. Fuzzy versions are also examined which reduce the number of times the Levenshtein or Edit distance must be calculated. Codes of the form (n, M, d)4 are targeted due to their suitability for bioinformatics problems. A (12, 55, 7)4 code is used as an example of the process.