Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Materiality of Environmental Information to Users of Annual Reports

Reports on the results of a survey of various groups of annual report users as to the importance, or “materiality”, of environmental information to decisions they may wish to make. Also investigates how environmental information is ranked in importance relative to various other items of social and financial information. The user groups surveyed comprise shareholders, accounting academics, stockbrokers and financial analysts, financial institutions, environmental lobby groups, industry associations and other groups performing a review or oversight function. Reports the results which indicate that the majority of the annual report users surveyed believe environmental information to be material to their decisions, and that they seek the disclosure of this information in corporate annual reports. Although the results show that the users typically believe that environmental information is material, they further indicate that the majority of the user groups rank environmental information behind traditional financial information such as profits, net assets, cash flows, and dividend payments.
Reappraisal: The problems and prospects of studying the micropolitics of leadership in reforming schools

This analytical paper examines the themes and issues of current research and literature on the study of micropolitics in the context of leadership in educational reform. The implications of a dissociation of research and policy making on systemic reform from research on micropolitics are discussed. In particular the problems arising when macro directions meet micro realities are described as a rationale for reexamining what can be learned from the study of micropolitics. I make a case for reexamining some of the conceptual orientations that have been taken including organizational theorizing from control, natural and interpretive systems perspectives. The predominance of an emphasis on conflict rather than consensus in micropolitical studies is noted. I describe the similarity of concerns of micropolitical research with the conceptual challenges confronting those who are rethinking organizational theory who examine problems associated with macro-micro links, and those related to notions of agency and inte.
The Lysine Methyltransferase G9a in Immune Cell Differentiation and Function

G9a (KMT1C, EHMT2) is a lysine methyltransferase (KMT) whose primary function is to di-methylate lysine 9 of histone H3 (H3K9me2). G9a-dependent H3K9me2 is associated with gene silencing and acts primarily through the recruitment of H3K9me2-binding proteins that prevent transcriptional activation. Gene repression via G9a-dependent H3K9me2 is critically required in embryonic stem (ES) cells for the development of cellular lineages by repressing expression of pluripotency factors. In the immune system, lymphoid cells such as T cells and innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) can differentiate from a naïve state into one of several effector lineages that require both activating and repressive mechanisms to maintain the correct gene expression program. Furthermore, the long-term immunity to re-infection is mediated by memory T cells, which also require specific gene expression and repression to maintain a quiescent state. In this review, we examine the molecular machinery of G9a-dependent functions, address the role of G9a in lymphoid cell differentiation and function, and identify potential functions of T cells and ILCs that may be controlled by G9a. Together, this review will highlight the dynamic nature of G9a-dependent H3K9me2 in the immune system and shed light on the nature of repressive epigenetic modifications in cellular lineage choice.
Network Inference from TraceRoute Measurements: Internet Topology 'Species'

Internet mapping projects generally consist in sampling the network from a limited set of sources by using traceroute probes. This methodology, akin to the merging of spanning trees from the different sources to a set of destinations, leads necessarily to a partial, incomplete map of the Internet. Accordingly, determination of Internet topology characteristics from such sampled maps is in part a problem of statistical inference. Our contribution begins with the observation that the inference of many of the most basic topological quantities -- including network size and degree characteristics -- from traceroute measurements is in fact a version of the so-called `species problem' in statistics. This observation has important implications, since species problems are often quite challenging. We focus here on the most fundamental example of a traceroute internet species: the number of nodes in a network. Specifically, we characterize the difficulty of estimating this quantity through a set of analytical arguments, we use statistical subsampling principles to derive two proposed estimators, and we illustrate the performance of these estimators on networks with various topological characteristics.
Prostate cancer cells-osteoblast interaction shifts expression of growth/survival-related genes in prostate cancer and reduces expression of osteoprotegerin in osteoblasts.

PURPOSE Prostate cancer specifically metastasizes to bone where it leads to bone formation. We previously reported that coculturing MDA PCa 2b prostate cancer cells with primary mouse osteoblasts (PMOs) induced PMO proliferation and differentiation. An osteoblastic reaction was also observed in vivo after injection of MDA PCa 2b cells into the bones of severe combined immunodeficient disease mice. The aim of this study was to identify the sequence of events that leads to these osteoblastic lesions in vivo and, using this in vitro model, to define the contributions of various genes and cellular pathways in the pathophysiology of osteoblastic bone metastases of prostate cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND RESULTS We show histological evidence of de novo bone formation as early as 2 weeks after injection of MDA PCa 2b cells in the bone of severe combined immunodeficient disease mice. In vitro, we show that PMOs induce MDA PCa 2b proliferation, suggesting a synergistic paracrine loop between these cells and PMOs. Endothelin (ET)-1, which is a mitogen for several cell types, is produced by all prostate cancer cell lines tested, and Atrasentan, an antagonist of ET-1 receptor A, partially reversed PMO proliferation induced by MDA PCa 2b cells. ET-1 is known to be comitogenic with a number of growth factors, including insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I. In this study, we report that IGF-binding protein (IGFBP)-3 transcripts (that regulate levels of free IGF) are down-regulated in prostate cancer cells cocultured with PMO, whereas prostate-specific antigen (a protease known to cleave IGFBP-3) is detected in the 150-400 ng/ml range. Accordingly, IGFBP-3 has antiproliferative effects in PMOs, which were attenuated in our in vitro system. Taken together, our studies also implicate the IGF axis to play a role in this model of bone metastases. Secondly, the transcript level of mouse double minute 2 (a protein that regulate p53) was increased in prostate cancer cells grown with PMOs. The p53-dependent and -independent oncogenic activities of mouse double minute 2 suggest that osteoblasts induce a survival advantage in prostate cancer cells. Lastly, we show that expression of osteoprotegerin is decreased and of receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand is increased in PMOs cultured in the presence of MDA PCa 2b cells, two events associated with osteoclast activation and bone resorption. CONCLUSIONS Our results provide evidence that multiple and distinct molecular events affecting both bone formation and bone resorption concur to the increase bone mass in prostate cancer bone metastases. These data also provide a rationale for developing therapeutic strategies designed to target these molecular changes.
18F-FDG PET for the diagnosis and grading of soft-tissue sarcoma: a meta-analysis.

UNLABELLED PET using (18)F-FDG is increasingly used for the diagnosis and grading of tumors. Several studies have been performed that evaluate the diagnostic and grading performance of (18)F-FDG PET for soft-tissue sarcoma, but each study has had a limited sample size. Therefore, we undertook a comprehensive meta-analysis of the evidence. METHODS Relevant studies were identified from MEDLINE and EMBASE. Diagnostic and grading performance were evaluated for qualitative visualization; standard uptake value (SUV, cutoffs of 2.0 and 3.0); and metabolic rate of glucose (MRG, cutoff of 6.0 micro mol/100 g/min). Quantitative data synthesis included independent weighting of sensitivity and specificity, construction of summary receiver operating characteristic curves, and pooled analyses. RESULTS The meta-analysis included 15 studies with 441 soft-tissue lesions (227 malignant, 214 benign). For diagnosis of malignant versus benign lesions, typical pairs of sensitivity and specificity estimates from the summary receiver operating characteristic curves were 92% and 73% for qualitative visualization; 87% and 79% for SUV 2.0; 70% and 87% for SUV 3.0; and 74% and 73% for MRG 6.0. Diagnostic performance was similar for primary and recurrent lesions. By qualitative interpretation, (18)F-FDG was positive in all intermediate/high-grade tumors (95% confidence interval [CI], 97.3%-100%), 74.4% (95% CI, 58.6%-85.9%) of low-grade tumors, and 39.3% (95% CI, 29.1%-50.3%) of benign lesions (including 11 of 12 inflammatory lesions). Using an SUV cutoff of 2.0, respective rates were 89.4% (95% CI, 79.4%-95.6%), 33.1% (95% CI, 15.6%-55.3%), and 19.1% (95% CI, 10.6%-30.5%). Limited data on comparisons with MRI and CT showed no differences against (18)F-FDG PET in diagnosing recurrent and metastatic disease. CONCLUSION (18)F-FDG PET has very good discriminating ability in the evaluation of both primary and recurrent soft-tissue lesions. (18)F-FDG PET may be helpful in tumor grading but offers inadequate discrimination between low-grade tumors and benign lesions.
Participation for better or for worse

The increasing emphasis on participation in education offers the starting point for this paper. Participation appears to be a strategic notion in a particular problematisation of education: this is installed through certain ways of speaking and writing (discourse) and through certain procedures, instruments and techniques that are proposed and developed in different places and spaces (technology). Participation is thereby claimed to empower individuals and to emancipate the child or the student from dominant regimes of power, including liberating them from oppressive traditional educational practices. Foucault's concept of governmentality, which offers us a specific understanding of power, helps us to analyse the discourse and technology of participation in a different way: participation comes to be seen not as an increase in freedom and empowerment, but as an element in a particular mode of government or power. According to this analysis the plea for practices of participation appears as an interpellation or call, governing the way that people act and behave, and encouraging them to think of themselves in a very specific way. We characterise this in terms of immunisation.
Analysis-by-synthesis method for whisper-speech reconstruction

In the following paper, a method for the real-time conversion of whispers to normal phonated speech through a code excited linear prediction analysis-by-synthesis codec is discussed. This approach uses a template of a speakerpsilas normal phonated speech for extraction of excitation parameters such as pitch and gain, and then injects these estimated excitations into whispered signal to synthesize normal-sounding speech through the CELP codec. Furthermore, since restoring pitch to whispered speech requires some considerations of quality and accuracy, spectral enhancements are required in terms of formant shifting (LSPs modification) and pitch injection based on voiced/unvoiced decision. Spectral shifting is accomplished through line-spectral pair adjustment. Implementing such methods by using the popular CELP codec allows integration of the technique with any modern speech applications and devices. Subjective testing results are presented to determine the effectiveness of the technique.
Influence of rearing and lay risk factors on propensity for feather damage in laying hens

1. Feather pecking is one of the major problems facing the egg industry in non-cage systems and is set to become even more of an issue with the European Union ban on the keeping of laying hens in barren battery cages which comes into force in 2012 and the prospect of a ban on beak-trimming. Reducing feather pecking without resorting to beak treatment is an important goal for the poultry industry. 2. We report here a longitudinal study that included over 335 500 birds from 22 free range and organic laying farms. Accelerated failure time models and proportional hazards models were used to examine the effects of a wide range of factors (management, environment and bird) on development of substantial feather damage in lay. Particular emphasis was placed on risk factors during rear and on practices that could feasibly be changed or implemented. 3. The age at which a flock exhibits substantial feather damage could be predicted both by factors in the environment and by early symptoms in the birds themselves. Factors that were associated with earlier onset of severe feather damage included the presence of chain feeders, raised levels of carbon dioxide and ammonia, higher sound and light levels, particularly in younger birds. Increased feather damage (even very slight) in birds at 17–20 weeks of age was also highly predictive of the time of onset of severe feather damage during lay. Increased feed intake also indicated that a flock was at risk of early severe feather damage. 4. Birds that stayed on the same farm for rearing and lay showed later onset of serious feather damage than those that experienced a change in farm from rearing to lay. However, an increased number of changes between rearing and lay (feeder type, drinker type, light intensity etc) was not associated with earlier onset of serious feather damage. Further research needs to be done on the role of the transition from rearing to lay as a risk factor for FP in lay.
Single‐dose half‐body irradiation for palliation of multiple bone metastases from solid tumors: Final radiation therapy oncology group report

This is the final analysis of Protocol #78–10 which explored increasing single‐doses of half‐body irradiation (HBI) in patients with multiple (symptomatic) osseous metastases. When given as palliation, HBI was found to relieve pain in 73% of the patients. In 20% of the patients the pain relief was complete; over two thirds of all patients achieved better than 50% pain relief. The HBI pain relief was dramatic with nearly 50% of all responding patients doing so within 48 hours and 80% within one week from HBI treatment. Furthermore, the pain relief was long‐lasting and continued without need of retreatment for at least 50% of the remaining patient's life. These results compare favorably with those obtained by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) using several conventional daily fractionated schemes on similar patients in a prior study (RTOG #74–02). HBI achieves pain relief sooner and with less evidence of pain recurrence in the irradiated area than conventionally treated patients. The most effective and safest of the HBI doses tested were 600 rad for the upper HBI and 800 rad for the lower or mid‐HBI. Increasing doses beyond these levels did not increase pain relief, duration of relief, or achieved a faster response; however, the increase in dose was associated with a definite increase in toxicity. Single‐dose HBI was well tolerated with no fatalities seen among 168 treated patients. A comprehensive premedication program has proven to decrease the acute radiation syndrome to very acceptable levels. There were excellent responses found in practically all tumors treated, but especially breast and prostate among which over 80% of all patients experienced pain relief, 30% in a complete fashion. Single‐dose HBI emerges as one of the safest, fastest, and more effective palliative tools for intractable cancer pain in modern radiation oncology. Cancer 58:29–39, 1986.
Hearing impairment, working life conditions, and gender

The purpose of this article is to examine differences and similarities in working conditions and health status between men and women with hearing impairments. This article is based on a material collected with a comprehensive questionnaire, looking at psycho‐social work environments and health status and answered by a total of 406 patients at two audiological clinics in Sweden. Examination of the data reveals a pattern of unfavourable conditions for hearing‐impaired persons/employees when compared to a reference group without auditory impairments. Hearing‐impaired women frequently find themselves in extremely trying situations. Health status is worse for those who are hearing impaired as compared to the reference group, especially for hearing impaired women The concept “double workload”; is discussed as a possible notion for further theoretical development of the issues discussed in this article.
Causal Thinking and Ethnographic Research

In the history of modern sociology, no generation has failed to worry about how to conceptualize cause and effect. While different eras have adopted different languages, both theorists and methodologists have repeatedly argued about what can be said and how it should be said, often replaying debates of past eras. Nevertheless, the past two decades have seen a preponderance of activity that, while speaking to long-standing issues, can be said to have substantially refined our thinking about the relationship between cause and effect. At least three separate perspectives—each with a particular orientation, core assumptions, and understanding of objectives—have become particularly salient. One perspective is the counterfactual model of causality, which is typically employed by quantitative sociologists in the analysis of large-sample, observational data. Developed by statisticians and econometricians to understand when a cause can be said convincingly to have produced an effect, the counterfactual, or potential outcomes, model conceives of causes as treatments; it seeks to compare what happens to an individual ðor organization, group, or other entityÞ experiencing the treatment to what would have happened had the person not experienced the treatment. Since no one can both experience and not experience a treatment at the same time, the purpose of analysis is to estimate treatment effects on average for populations ðsee Rubin 1974; Heckman 2005; Pearl 2009Þ. A recent review of the methodological literature on this topic by Morgan and Winship ð2007Þ has become a handbook for many quantitative sociologists worried about making proper causal inferences. A core assumption of the counterfactual perspective is that sociologists should focus on understanding the effects of a given cause ðe. g. , what are the effects of recessions? Þ rather than the causes of a given effect ðe. g. , what causes revolutions to occur? Þ, since questions of the latter sort are difficult to answer convincingly. Gelman ð2011Þ recently referred to this distinction
Blockade of NMDA Receptors in the Anterior Forebrain Impairs Sensory Acquisition in the Zebra Finch (Poephila guttata)

Juvenile zebra finches (Poephila guttata) learn song in two stages: during sensory acquisition, they memorize the song of an adult tutor, and during sensorimotor learning, they alter their vocalizations to match the stored song model. Like many other forms of neural plasticity and memory formation, vocal learning in zebra finches is impaired by pharmacological blockade of NMDA receptors, but the relevant NMDA receptors have not yet been localized. During song development, one neural region that has been implicated specifically in song learning, the IMAN, exhibits an increased density of NMDA receptors as well as decreased binding affinity for the NMDA antagonist MK-801. To test the hypothesis that sensory acquisition requires activation of NMDA receptors in or near the IMAN we infused the NMDA receptor antagonist amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (AP5; 2.5 micrograms 0.1 microliter) directly into the anterior forebrain. Birds receiving AP5 infusions prior to each of 10 tutoring sessions copied significantly less of their tutor's song than did sham-operated birds, saline-infused birds, birds that received AP5 infusions on nontutoring days, or birds that received AP5 infusions into the cerebellum. Furthermore, infusions of AP5 in the anterior forebrain did not impair young birds' ability to discriminate zebra finch from canary song. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that NMDA receptor activation in the anterior forebrain is necessary for the memorization of song material during avian vocal learning. This is also the first report that song-related regions of the anterior forebrain contribute to sensory acquisition specifically.
Making the invisible visible: how a voluntary organization is learning from its work with groups and communities

Abstract Many organizations find it a challenge to measure and evaluate the impact of complex organizational interventions. In this second of a two-part article (part one, ‘Connecting through Communities: How a Voluntary Organization Is Influencing Healthcare Policy and Practice’, appeared in the last issue of this journal), the authors relate how UK-based charity Macmillan Cancer Relief has been experimenting with a new approach to evaluating how it works through learning communities of health professionals as well as patients and carers in order to benefit people living with cancer. Traditional evaluation methods rarely capture the intangible, qualitative results of this kind of work, much of which consists of groups of people learning by talking to one another about their experiences. Yet it is important to find ways of tracking the value of investments made in such processes as otherwise the investment may not be sustained and the relationships and knowledge developed may be lost. The approach described here, which has come to be known within Macmillan as the ‘learning framework’, aims to make visible the normally invisible patterns and ripple effects of working through communities of practice. This method of evaluation is collaborative, ‘emergent’ or iterative, and narrative-based.