Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamics of three anomalous SST events in the Coral Sea

Variability of the circulation in the Coral Sea, accompanied by large heat transport anomalies, has the potential to have detrimental impacts on underlying ecosystems, including the Great Barrier Reef. In this study we analyze the dynamics of three events, characterized by extremes in sea‐surface temperature, as simulated in an eddy‐resolving ocean reanalysis. We show that a cooling in April 1997 results from strong wind anomalies and is supported by vertical and horizontal advective heat losses. A warm event in October 1998 is attributable to a heat gain by horizontal advection. A heat budget of the mixed‐layer within a closed box shows that warm anomalies in January 2002 involve a quasi‐balance between horizontal advection and vertical entrainment with a large local heat gain through the ocean surface near‐shore that apparently caused a coral bleaching event. The dynamics of these extreme events are all quite different, with both local and remote influences.
Role of the p38 Pathway Alcohol (Ethanol) Inhibits IL-8 and TNF:

Acute ethanol (EtOH) intoxication has been identiﬁed as a risk factor for infectious complications in trauma and burn victims. However, the mechanism of this immune dysfunction has yet to be elucidated. The monocyte/macrophage production of cytokines, in particular IL-8 and TNF- a , is critical in the regulation of the acute inﬂammatory response to infectious challenge. IL-8 is a potent chemoattractant and activator of neutrophils. TNF- a , a proinﬂammatory cytokine, initiates expression of endothelial cell surface adhesion molecules and neutrophil migration. p38, a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinases, plays an important role in mediating intracellular signal transduction in endotoxin-induced inﬂammatory responses. We examined the effects of LPS and ethanol on p38 activation and the corresponding IL-8 and TNF- a production in human mononuclear cells. LPS-induced IL-8 and TNF- a production was inhibited in a similar pattern by pretreatment with either EtOH or SB202190 (1 m M), a speciﬁc inhibitor of p38 kinase. Western blot analysis, using a dual phospho-speciﬁc p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase Ab, demonstrated that EtOH pretreatment inhibited LPS-induced p38 activation. These results demonstrate that alcohol suppresses the normal host immune inﬂammatory response to LPS. This dysregulation appears to be mediated in part via inhibition of p38 activation. Inhibition of IL-8 and TNF- a production by acute EtOH intoxication may inhibit inﬂammatory focused neutrophil migration and activation and may be a mechanism explaining the increased risk of trauma- and burn-related infections. The Journal of Immunology, 1999, 162: 7441–7445. IL-8 increasing pretreatment doses of EtOH. Pretreatment with EtOH at 0.3 and 0.8% inhibited the LPS-induced increase in IL-8 mRNA by approximately 60 and 90%, respec-tively, based on OD reading of the Northern blots. The matched 28S ribosomal RNA levels were used to demonstrate equal loading.
The Role of Dispersed Information in Pricing Default: Evidence from the CDS Market

Starting in September 2007 the banking system worldwide was turned upside down; both level and volatility of banks' CDS spreads experienced an eightfold increase that can hardly be motivated by changes in fundamentals. The recent Global Games literature proposes a theory that explains banks' default without resorting to panics. We assess the empirical relevance of this literature and find that dispersion of beliefs plays a key role in affecting default risk. More precise information greatly amplifies the reaction of CDS spreads to market expectations; for highly leveraged banks, this sensitivity is four times larger if the market receives precise signals instead of imprecise ones. These findings suggest that dispersed information and higher order beliefs are essential to understand what may look like an overreaction of market participants to news. Moreover, we document a strong direct impact of dispersion of beliefs on default risk: when news is bad enough, a one standard deviation decrease in dispersion of beliefs leads to an increase in CDS spreads of 120 basis points, which is half of its standard deviation in times of crisis. Finally, we address concerns of endogeneity of market expectations by introducing a novel set of instruments whose validity requires very mild assumptions on the agents' learning process.
Peran sumber daya manusia (SDM) dalam perkembangan perbankan syariah: sebuah analisis kualitas dan kinerja pegawai

Human resources have a very important role in a company organization especially when compared to other resources. Employee performance is a very important thing in an effort to achieve change in order to achieve its goals. This study discusses the influence of the quality of human resources on the performance of sharia banking employees in Aceh and how efforts should be made in improving the quality of sharia banking human resources in Aceh. The research method used is a mixed method (Mixed Method). Based on test variables obtained by tcount of 3.859 while t table of 2.048 the results of this calculation indicate that tcount> t table with a significance level of 0.001 or probability above α = 5%. Thus the results of statistical calculations indicate that the variable quality of human resources has a significant influence on employee performance. Which means that the higher the quality of human resources, the higher the performance of employees in Islamic banking. Efforts to improve the quality of banking Human Resources can be done through: 1) Evaluation of a sustainable Islamic economic curriculum in higher education institutions. 2) Establish a faculty / Islamic economic study program in accordance with the needs of the Islamic banking market. 3) Higher Education collaborates with Bank Indonesia to carry out Islamic economic education and training for students and employees of Islamic banks. 5) Education and training on banking to improve the quality of human resources in sharia banking is a short-term effort that can be done now. While the efforts made in the long term are by organizing education that is synergized between the education provider (college) user (bank) and the person in charge of education (government).
Mother to Offspring Transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease in Reeves’ Muntjac Deer

The horizontal transmission of prion diseases has been well characterized in bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), chronic wasting disease (CWD) of deer and elk and scrapie of sheep, and has been regarded as the primary mode of transmission. Few studies have monitored the possibility of vertical transmission occurring within an infected mother during pregnancy. To study the potential for and pathway of vertical transmission of CWD in the native cervid species, we used a small cervid model–the polyestrous breeding, indoor maintainable, Reeves’ muntjac deer–and determined that the susceptibility and pathogenesis of CWD in these deer reproduce that in native mule and white-tailed deer. Moreover, we demonstrate here that CWD prions are transmitted from doe to fawn. Maternal CWD infection also appears to result in lower percentage of live birth offspring. In addition, evolving evidence from protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) assays on fetal tissues suggest that covert prion infection occurs in utero. Overall, our findings demonstrate that transmission of prions from mother to offspring can occur, and may be underestimated for all prion diseases.
Paxillin and Hic-5 Interaction with Vinculin Is Differentially Regulated by Rac1 and RhoA

Cell migration is of paramount importance to organism development and maintenance as well as multiple pathological processes, including cancer metastasis. The RhoGTPases Rac1 and RhoA are indispensable for cell migration as they regulate cell protrusion, cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions and force transduction. However, the consequences of their activity at a molecular level within the cell remain undetermined. Using a combination of FRET, FRAP and biochemical analyses we show that the interactions between the focal adhesion proteins vinculin and paxillin, as well as the closely related family member Hic-5 are spatially and reciprocally regulated by the activity of Rac1 and RhoA. Vinculin in its active conformation interacts with either paxillin or Hic-5 in adhesions in response to Rac1 and RhoA activation respectively, while inactive vinculin interacts with paxillin in the membrane following Rac1 inhibition. Additionally, Rac1 specifically regulates the dynamics of paxillin as well as its binding partner and F-actin interacting protein actopaxin (α-parvin) in adhesions. Furthermore, FRET analysis of protein:protein interactions within cell adhesions formed in 3D matrices revealed that, in contrast to 2D systems vinculin interacts preferentially with Hic-5. This study provides new insight into the complexity of cell-ECM adhesions in both 2D and 3D matrices by providing the first description of RhoGTPase-coordinated protein:protein interactions in a cellular microenvironment. These data identify discrete roles for paxillin and Hic-5 in Rac1 and RhoA-dependent cell adhesion formation and maturation; processes essential for productive cell migration.
SPECIALIZED "TRANSFER CELLS" IN MINOR VEINS OF LEAVES AND THEIR POSSIBLE SIGNIFICANCE IN PHLOEM TRANSLOCATION

Translocation of organic substances in the phloem of higher plants has been investigated for almost a century, but remarkably little is known of the mechanisms whereby assimilates are drained from the mesophyll of photosynthesizing leaves and transferred to sieve tubes in the leaf veins. Certain modified companion cells (3, 5-7) associated with the sieve tubes of minor veins have long been suspected of having a special role in this respect (11). Indeed, the term "Uebergangszellen," introduced by Fischer in 1884 (9) to denote these densely staining cells, implies such a function. We shall employ "transfer cells" as a literal translation to preserve the physiological connotation. The present communication is concerned with a specialized type of transfer cell found in certain higher plants, and we wish to present and interpret cytological information relevant to its translocatory function. Fig. 1 shows a cross-section of a vein from a mature leaf of Pisum arvense. Two tracheary elements (x), three narrow sieve elements (s), and two types of phloem parenchyma cell are visible. One type (p) has sparse contents; the other (t) has dense contents. The latter is the transfer cell. Its nucleus is large and usually central (Fig. ). In its cytoplasm are vacuoles, chloroplasts with grana and starch grains, and numerous mitochondria with well-developed cristae (Figs. 7, 8). DictyoG. BRIARTY. From the Department of Botany,
Nonhydrostatic, Three-Dimensional Perturbations to Balanced, Hurricane-Like Vortices. Part II: Symmetric Response and Nonlinear Simulations

Abstract This paper is the second part of a study on the dynamics of nonhydrostatic perturbations to dry, balanced, atmospheric vortices modeled after tropical cyclones. In Part I, the stability and evolution of asymmetric perturbations were presented. This part is devoted to the stability and evolution of symmetric perturbations—particularly those that are induced by the wave–mean flow interactions of asymmetric perturbations with the symmetric basic-state vortex. The linear model shows that the vortices considered in Part I are stable to symmetric perturbations. Furthermore, the model can be used to derive the steady, symmetric response to stationary symmetric forcing, similar to the results from quasi-balanced dynamics as originally presented by Eliassen. The secondary circulations that develop act to oppose the effects of the forcing, but also to warm the core and intensify the vortex. The model is also used to simulate the response to impulsive symmetric forcings, that is, symmetric perturbations. Mu.
Childhood personality as a harbinger of competence and resilience in adulthood

Abstract This study examined the significance of childhood Big Five personality traits for competence and resilience in early adulthood. Resilience was defined in terms of adaptive success in age-salient developmental tasks despite significant adversity throughout childhood/adolescence. The Project Competence Longitudinal Study tracked 205 young people from childhood (around age 10) to emerging adulthood (EA, age 20) and young adulthood (YA, age 30; 90% retention). Multimethod composites were created for personality traits, adversity exposure, and adult outcomes of academic achievement, work, rule-abiding conduct, friendship, and romantic relationships. Regressions showed significant main effects of childhood personality predicting adult outcomes, controlling for adversity, with few interaction effects. In person-focused analyses, the resilient group in EA and YA (high competence, high adversity) showed higher childhood conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness and lower neuroticism than the maladaptive group (low competence, high adversity). The competent (high competence, low adversity) and resilient groups showed similar childhood traits. Turnaround cases, who changed from the maladaptive group in EA to the resilient group in YA, exhibited higher childhood conscientiousness than persistently maladaptive peers. Findings suggest that children on pathways to success in adulthood, whether facing low or high adversity, have capacities for emotion regulation, empathy and connection, dedication to schoolwork, and mastery and exploration.
Filtering for Texture Classification: A Comparative Study

In this paper, we review most major filtering approaches to texture feature extraction and perform a comparative study. Filtering approaches included are Laws masks (1980), ring/wedge filters, dyadic Gabor filter banks, wavelet transforms, wavelet packets and wavelet frames, quadrature mirror filters, discrete cosine transform, eigenfilters, optimized Gabor filters, linear predictors, and optimized finite impulse response filters. The features are computed as the local energy of the filter responses. The effect of the filtering is highlighted, keeping the local energy function and the classification algorithm identical for most approaches. For reference, comparisons with two classical nonfiltering approaches, co-occurrence (statistical) and autoregressive (model based) features, are given. We present a ranking of the tested approaches based on extensive experiments.
On the transient nature of localized pipe flow turbulence

The onset of shear flow turbulence is characterized by turbulent patches bounded by regions of laminar flow. At low Reynolds numbers localized turbulence relaminarizes, raising the question of whether it is transient in nature or becomes sustained at a critical threshold. We present extensive numerical simulations and a detailed statistical analysis of the lifetime data, in order to shed light on the sources of the discrepancies present in the literature. The results are in excellent quantitative agreement with recent experiments and show that turbulent lifetimes increase super-exponentially with Reynolds number. In addition, we provide evidence for a lower bound below which there are no meta-stable characteristics of the transients, i.e. the relaminarization process is no longer memoryless.
A CONCISE EXAMINATION OF THE ARTIFICIAL BATTLE BETWEEN NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE SPEAKER TEACHERS OF ENGLISH IN TURKEY

This paper serves as a theoretical commentary on the debate regarding native and non-native speaker teachers of English as it draws from the discussions in the literature, as well as from personal experience. The author, a nonnative English teacher himself, points out the possible pros and cons of being a native and non-native speaker teacher of English, and emphasizes the need for these two groups of teachers to embrace each other and to work in a partnership. The custom-made cold war with extreme competition between these groups is criticized for the benefit of language teaching workplaces where success is inevitable.
No evidence of mass segregation in massive young clusters

Aims. We investigate the validity of the mass segregation indicators commonly used in analysing young stellar clusters. Methods. We simulate observations by constructing synthetic seeing-limited images of a 1000 massive clusters (10 4 M� ) with a standard IMF and a King-density distribution function. Results. We find that commonly used indicators are highly sensitive to sample incompleteness in observational data and that radial completeness determinations do not provide satisfactory corrections, rendering the studies of radial properties highly uncertain. On the other hand, we find that, under certain conditions, the global completeness can be estimated accurately, allowing for the correction of the global luminosity and mass functions of the cluster. Conclusions. We argue that there is currently no observational evidence of mass segregation in young compact clusters since there is no robust way to differentiate between true mass segregation and sample incompleteness effects. Caution should then be exercised when interpreting results from observations as evidence of mass segregation.
On the meaning of customer satisfaction : A study in the context of retail banking

Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright, please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
Considering the Community: How One Rural Superintendent Perceives Community Values and Their Effect on Decision-Making

In rural Oklahoma, the role of the superintendent is often vastly different than that of superintendents in large cities. The superintendent is the leader of the school district, which is typically the community’s largest employer. There are a few examples of superintendents who embrace this sometimes overwhelming responsibility and who are often seen as pillars of ethics, leadership and morality in the community. Dale Carter is one example of this type of superintendent. Mr. Carter has been employed by Kenawee Public Schools since 1969. During his tenure he has been a teacher, coach, principal and superintendent. This case study will examine how Carter has considered community values when making decisions and how the integration of those values along with his personal and professional values have allowed him to lead a rural school district.
Tired and Apprehensive: Anxiety Amplifies the Impact of Sleep Loss on Aversive Brain Anticipation

Anticipation is an adaptive process, aiding preparatory responses to potentially threatening events. However, excessive anticipatory responding and associated hyper-reactivity in the amygdala and insula are integral to anxiety disorders. Despite the co-occurrence of sleep disruption and anxiety disorders, the impact of sleep loss on affective anticipatory brain mechanisms, and the interaction with anxiety, remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that sleep loss amplifies preemptive responding in the amygdala and anterior insula during affective anticipation in humans, especially for cues with high predictive certainty. Furthermore, trait anxiety significantly determined the degree of such neural vulnerability to sleep loss: individuals with highest trait anxiety showed the greatest increase in anticipatory insula activity when sleep deprived. Together, these data support a neuropathological model in which sleep disruption may contribute to the maintenance and/or exacerbation of anxiety through its impact on anticipatory brain function. They further raise the therapeutic possibility that targeted sleep restoration in anxiety may ameliorate excessive anticipatory responding and associated clinical symptomatology.
Sustained anxiety increases amygdala-dorsomedial prefrontal coupling: a mechanism for maintaining an anxious state in healthy adults.

BACKGROUND Neuroimaging research has traditionally explored fear and anxiety in response to discrete threat cues (e.g., during fear conditioning). However, anxiety is a sustained aversive state that can persist in the absence of discrete threats. Little is known about mechanisms that maintain anxiety states over a prolonged period. Here, we used a robust translational paradigm (threat of shock) to induce sustained anxiety. Recent translational work has implicated an amygdala-prefrontal cortex (PFC) circuit in the maintenance of anxiety in rodents. To explore the functional homologues of this circuitry in humans, we used a novel paradigm to examine the impact of sustained anticipatory anxiety on amygdala-PFC intrinsic connectivity. METHODS Task-independent fMRI data were collected in healthy participants during long-duration periods of shock anticipation and safety. We examined intrinsic functional connectivity. RESULTS Our study involved 20 healthy participants. During sustained anxiety, amygdala activity was positively coupled with dorsomedial PFC (DMPFC) activity. High trait anxiety was associated with increased amygdala-DMPFC coupling. In addition, induced anxiety was associated with positive coupling between regions involved in defensive responding, and decreased coupling between regions involved in emotional control and the default mode network. LIMITATIONS Inferences regarding anxious pathology should be made with caution because this study was conducted in healthy participants. CONCLUSION Findings suggest that anticipatory anxiety increases intrinsic amygdala-DMPFC coupling and that the DMPFC may serve as a functional homologue for the rodent prefrontal regions by sustaining anxiety. Future research may use this defensive neural context to identify biomarkers of risk for anxious pathology and target these circuits for therapeutic intervention.
Bayesian learning for time-varying linear prediction of speech

We develop Bayesian learning algorithms for estimation of time-varying linear prediction (TVLP) coefficients of speech. Estimation of TVLP coefficients is a naturally underdeter-mined problem. We consider sparsity and subspace based approaches for dealing with the corresponding underdetermined system. Bayesian learning algorithms are developed to achieve better estimation performance. Expectation-maximization (EM) framework is employed to develop the Bayesian learning algorithms where we use a combined prior to model a driving noise (glottal signal) that has both sparse and dense statistical properties. The efficiency of the Bayesian learning algorithms is shown for synthetic signals using spectral distortion measure and formant tracking of real speech signals.