Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of Imazapyr and Glyphosate in the Control of Non‐Native Phragmites australis

The cosmopolitan common reed (Phragmites australis) has been expanding into previously unoccupied wetland habitats throughout North America. This invasion by a non‐native haplotype of Phragmites has become a major concern due to a reduction in plant diversity, reduction of faunal biodiversity, and changes in ecosystem structure. A randomized complete block design was used to compare the efficacy of two herbicides, glyphosate (Rodeo, Dow AgroSciences, IN, U.S.A.) and imazapyr (Habitat, BASF Corporation, NC, U.S.A.), on 1‐ha Phragmites monoculture in a shallow borrow pit. Six foliar experimental treatments were applied consisting of (1) 2% glyphosate formulation, June application; (2) 2% glyphosate formulation, September application; (3) 2% imazapyr formulation, June application; (4) 2% imazapyr formulation, September application; (5) 5% imazapyr formulation, June application; and (6) 5% imazapyr, September application. Experimental plots were monitored yearly for two years after treatment. Relative importance values (RIV) were determined to assess the efficacy of herbicide treatments. We report that imazapyr foliar application is statistically superior to glyphosate in reducing Phragmites RIV, with no significant differences between the 2 and 5% formulations. Both herbicides are more effective in reducing Phragmites RIV if applied early in the growing season (June). No significant differences in non‐Phragmites plant recolonization were observed between herbicide treatments over the two‐year time course. These results suggest that imazapyr is superior in reducing Phragmites RIV, and that earlier applications of herbicides may be more effective on Phragmites. However, managers must note that adjacent nontarget plant species may be negatively affected by earlier treatments.
Setup error and motion during deep inspiration breath-hold breast radiotherapy measured with continuous portal imaging

Background. The position and residual motion of the chest wall of breast cancer patients during treatment in deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) were investigated. Material and methods. The study included 58 left-sided breast cancer patients treated with DIBH three-dimensional (3D) conformal radiotherapy in 15 or 25 fractions. The DIBH levels were monitored using an external marker block placed on the chest, either shifted 5 cm to the right at the level of the xiphoid process (Group 1, 27 consecutive patients) or placed medially on the inferior part of the sternum (Group 2, 31 consecutive patients). At every third treatment fraction, continuous portal images were acquired. The time-resolved chest wall position during treatment was compared with the planned position to determine the inter-fraction setup errors and the intra-fraction motion of the chest wall. Results. The DIBH compliance was 95% during both recruitment periods. A tendency of smaller inter-fraction setup errors and intra-fraction motion was observed for group 2 (medial marker block position). However, apart from a significantly reduced inter-field random shift (σ = 1.7 mm vs. σ = 0.9 mm, p = 0.005), no statistically significant differences between the groups were found. In a combined analysis, the group mean inter-fraction setup error was M = − 0.1 mm, with random and systematic errors of σ = 1.7 mm and Σ = 1.4 mm. The group mean inter-field shift was M = 0.0 (σ = 1.3 mm and Σ = 1.1 mm) and the group mean standard deviation of the intra-field motion was 0.5 mm. The absolute setup error had a maximum of 16.3 mm, exceeding 5 mm in 2.2% of the imaged fields. Conclusion. Compared to free breathing treatments, the primary benefit of the DIBH technique was the separation of the heart from the target rather than more accurate targeting. Despite a small gating window, occasional large errors in the chest wall position were observed for some patients, illustrating limitations of the external marker block as surrogate in a broad patient population.
The Essential Handbook of Social Anxiety for Clinicians

About the Editors. List of Contributors. Preface. Chapter 1. Constructs of Social Anxiety (W. Ray Crozier, and Lynn E. Alden). SECTION ONE: ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT. Introduction The Development of Social Anxiety (W. Ray Crozier and Lynn E. Alden). Chapter 2. Biological and Environmental Contributions to Childhood Shyness: A Diathesis-Stress Model (Louis A. Schmidt, Cindy P. Polak, and Andrea L. Spooner). Chapter 3. Behavioral Inhibition: Physiological Correlates (Peter J. Marshall and Joan Stevenson-Hinde). Chapter 4. Origins of the Self-Conscious Child (Michael Lewis). Chapter 5. A Behavioral Inhibition, Social Withdrawal, and Parenting (Kim B. Burgess, Kenneth H. Rubin, Charissa S. L. Cheah, and Larry J. Nelson). SECTION TWO: CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES AND INTERVENTIONS. Introduction Social Anxiety as a Clinical Condition (Lynn E. Alden and W. Ray Crozier). Chapter 6. Social Phobia in Children and Adolescents: Nature and Assessment (Ronald M. Rapee and Lynne Sweeney). Chapter 7. Social Anxiety in Children and Adolescents: Psychological Treatments (Lynne Sweeney and Ronald M. Rapee). Chapter 8. Interpersonal Perspectives on Social Phobia (Lynn E. Alden). Chapter 9. A Cognitive Perspective on Social Phobia (David M. Clark ). Chapter 10. Social Anxiety, Social Phobia, and Avoidant Personality (Thomas Widiger). Chapter 11. Social Anxiety and Depression (Rick E. Ingram, Wiveka Ramel, Denise Chavira, and Christine Scher). Chapter 12. Cognitive-Behavioral Group Treatment for Social Phobia (Meredith E. Coles, Trevor A. Hart, and Richard G. Heimberg). Chapter 13. Psychopharmacological Treatments: An Overview (Sean D. Hood and David J. Nutt). Author Index. Subject Index.
Age-Matched Normal Values and Topographic Maps for Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Measurements by Xe-133 Inhalation

The relationship between normal aging and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) computed as initial slope index (ISI) by Fourier method was investigated in 105 right-handed healthy volunteers (132 measurements) by Xe-133 inhalation method, and age-matched normal values were calculated. Mean brain ISI values showed significant negative correlation with advancing age (r = −0.70, p < 0.001), and the regression line and its 95% confidence interval was Y = −0.32 (X-19) + 63.5 ± 11.2 (19 § x g 80). Regional ISI values also showed significant negative correlations for the entire brain (p < 0.001). The regional reductions of ISI values with advancing age were significantly greater in the regional distribution of the middle cerebral arteries bilaterally, compared with regions in the distribution of the other arteries (p < 0.05). Therefore, measured rCBF values for patients must be compared to age-matched normal values for mean hemispheric and each region examined. Two kinds of topographic maps, brain map showing rCBF compared to age-matched normal values and showing hemispheric differences were made by dividing patient's values by the 95% confidence limits for age-matched normal values and displaying laterally index calculated as follows, respectively. These maps were useful for evaluating significantly decreased or increased regions and regional hemispheric differences. Stroke Vol 15, No 2, 1984
Speech monitoring and phonologically-mediated eye gaze in language perception and production: a comparison using printed word eye-tracking

The Perceptual Loop Theory of speech monitoring assumes that speakers routinely inspect their inner speech. In contrast, Huettig and Hartsuiker (2010) observed that listening to one's own speech during language production drives eye-movements to phonologically related printed words with a similar time-course as listening to someone else's speech does in speech perception experiments. This suggests that speakers use their speech perception system to listen to their own overt speech, but not to their inner speech. However, a direct comparison between production and perception with the same stimuli and participants is lacking so far. The current printed word eye-tracking experiment therefore used a within-subjects design, combining production and perception. Displays showed four words, of which one, the target, either had to be named or was presented auditorily. Accompanying words were phonologically related, semantically related, or unrelated to the target. There were small increases in looks to phonological competitors with a similar time-course in both production and perception. Phonological effects in perception however lasted longer and had a much larger magnitude. We conjecture that this difference is related to a difference in predictability of one's own and someone else's speech, which in turn has consequences for lexical competition in other-perception and possibly suppression of activation in self-perception.
Media and body image in adolescence: the body in discussion

The aim of this article is to discuss the influences of the media on the images that come from the contemporary models of valuing the adolescence age and the organization of the youth´s people body image. The term adolescence age, in this sense, refers to the process of valuing characteristics typical of adolescents, such as the appropriation and construction of a body identity and the experimentation with new body references. Based on this discussion, we intend to propose analysis about the youth in contemporaneity and their ways of possible constructions of a body image that promotes the subject’s welfare when relating to others. This study presents a theoretical discussion, in a speculative way, from classical authors that discuss adolescence as Aberstury and Knobel, as well as Kehl and others.
Differential Release of Endogenous 5‐Hydroxytryptamine, Substance P., and Neurokinin A from Rat Ventral Spinal Cord in Response to Electrical Stimulation

Abstract: The release of endogenous 5‐hydroxytryptamine (5‐HT), substance P (SP), and neurokinin A (NKA) from superfused tissue slices of rat ventral lumbar spinal cord, where SP and NKA coexist with 5‐HT in terminals of descending bulbospinal neurons, was investigated. Electrical field stimulation was performed using square‐wave pulses of 2‐ms duration and 30 mA stimulus intensity. The following four different patterns of stimulation were used: 2 Hz continuous, 20 Hz continuous, 20 Hz intermittent, and 50 Hz intermittent. 5‐HT was measured in the slice superfusates by HPLC with electrochemical detection. SP and NKA were measured by radioimmunoassay. The release of 5‐HT was significantly enhanced using all stimulation paradigms and the evoked release of 5‐HT per pulse was independent of the stimulation frequency. The release was found to be calcium dependent and there was no increase in the efflux of 5‐hydroxyindoleacetic acid in response to stimulation. At 2 Hz (continuous), no significant increase in the release of SP was observed. Stimulation at higher frequencies yielded a significant increase in the release of SP per pulse. At 20 Hz, the release was increased by 73% (continuous) and 74% (intermittent), and at 50 Hz (intermittent) by 175% of basal efflux. The evoked release of NKA was also frequency dependent. At 2 Hz (continuous), no significant increase in the release of NKA was observed. At 20 Hz (intermittent), the evoked release per pulse was increased by 33% and at 50 Hz (intermittent) by 53% compared with the basal efflux of NKA. The results suggest that coexisting neurotransmitters/neuromodulators in the spinal cord may be released in different proportions depending on the stimulation frequency and that only 5‐HT is released when the nerve terminal is activated by low‐frequency stimulation.
Evidence for synergistic modulation of early information processing by nicotinic and muscarinic receptors in humans

Impairments in early information processing are a hallmark feature of diverse neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Several lines of evidence implicate a dysfunction of the cholinergic system in these disorders, particularly in AD where there is known degeneration in major cholinergic pathways. Inspection time (IT), a measure of early visual information processing speed, has been shown to be sensitive to cholinergic manipulation. The current study employed the IT task to (1) examine the independent roles of nicotinic and muscarinic receptors in modulating information processing and (2) investigate the interaction of nicotinic and muscarinic receptor systems in modulating information processing. Twelve healthy participants completed a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled study under four drug conditions; (1) placebo, (2) mecamylamine (15 mg; oral), (3) scopolamine (0.4 mg, s.c.), (4) mecamylamine (15 mg)+scopolamine (0.4 mg). IT measures were examined at baseline and 2.5 h post drug administration. Selective blockade of nicotinic receptors with mecamylamine did not significantly impair IT, whereas selective blockade of muscarinic receptors with scopolamine produced a significant but small impairment in IT. Combined blockade of both receptor types with scopolamine and mecamylamine produced a large impairment in IT performance. The results indicate that both nicotinic and muscarinic receptors are involved in modulating IT, and that the two systems may function synergistically to modulate early visual information processing. These findings suggest that functional abnormalities in both nicotinic and muscarinic systems may underlie deficits in early visual information processing seen in disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Review on the methods of automatic liver segmentation from abdominal images

Automatic liver segmentation from abdominal images is challenging on the aspects of segmentation accuracy, automation and robustness. There exist many methods of liver segmentation and ways of categorisingthem. In this paper, we present a new way of summarizing the latest achievements in automatic liver segmentation. We categorise a segmentation method according to the image feature it works on, therefore better summarising the performance of each category and leading to finding an optimal solution for a particular segmentation task. All the methods of liver segmentation are categorized into three main classes including gray level based method, structure based method and texture based method. In each class, the latest advance is reviewed with summary comments on the advantages and drawbacks of each discussed approach. Performance comparisons among the classes are given along with the remarks on the problems existed and possible solutions. In conclusion, we point out that liver segmentation is still an open issue and the tendency is that multiple methods will be employed together to achieve better segmentation performance.
Globalisation as a Challenge to Islamic Cultural Identity

Globalisation is a dynamic process which impacts differentially on various cultures around the world. It permeates cultural boundaries and in the process results in the spread of western ideologies and values across the world. This article strongly argues that globalisation poses a challenge to Islamic cultural identity due to several reasons: (a) globalisation promotes media to propagate the hegemony of Western culture, (b) it regenerates local culture to replace it with the Americanised secular one, and (c) it challenges the collective Islamic ways of life, values, behavioural patterns, and principles. However, scholars have argued that globalisation promotes cultural integration by removing cultural barriers and stimulating a healthy cultural exchange. Such arguments have encouraged American cultural hegemony globally. Conversely, as a result of cultural exchange, the dominant American culture is being manipulated in the Muslim world, replacing Islamic culture. Thus, Islamic culture is being seriously challenged by globalisation. Therefore, Muslims around the world require awareness of the dreadful consequences of cultural globalisation, and the strength to retain the absolute Islamic cultural trait prescribed by God.
The metacommunity concept: a framework for multi-scale community ecology

The metacommunity concept is an important way to think about linkages between different spatial scales in ecology. Here we review current understanding about this concept. We first investigate issues related to its definition as a set of local communities that are linked by dispersal of multiple potentially interacting species. We then identify four paradigms for metacommunities: the patch-dynamic view, the species-sorting view, the mass effects view and the neutral view, that each emphasizes different processes of potential importance in metacommunities. These have somewhat distinct intellectual histories and we discuss elements related to their potential future synthesis. We then use this framework to discuss why the concept is useful in modifying existing ecological thinking and illustrate this with a number of both theoretical and empirical examples. As ecologists strive to understand increasingly complex mechanisms and strive to work across multiple scales of spatio-temporal organization, concepts like the metacommunity can provide important insights that frequently contrast with those that would be obtained with more conventional approaches based on local communities alone.
TEMPORAL PROCESSES IN TOPICAL MENTAL ACCOUNTING

The present study deals with temporal processes which are essential for decision making in topical mental account (Thaler, 1999). The experiment focuses on temporal processes (zeroprobability barrier and aging of proposition) in future time mode. It was found that the decision outcome is sensitive to both of the above. The results revealed a classical framing effect (Kahneman, Tversky, 1984) for the present and future time modes. The elimination of the framing effect for the past time mode (Polunin, 2009) was replicated and it was also found for the future time mode when aging predefines a decision outcome. The current results and the temporal processes described earlier (Polunin, 2009) provide the reasoning for an introduction of multiple temporal processes influencing a decision outcome in topical mental account.
RhoA is activated during respiratory syncytial virus infection.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an important human pathogen that can cause severe and life-threatening respiratory infections in infants and immunocompromised adults. We have recently shown the RSV F glycoprotein, which mediates viral fusion and entry, interacts with the cellular protein RhoA in two-hybrid and in vitro binding assays. Whether this interaction occurs in living cells remains an open question. However, because RhoA signaling is associated with many cellular functions relevant to RSV pathogenesis such as actin cytoskeleton organization, expression of proinflammatory cytokines, and smooth muscle contraction, we asked whether RhoA activation occurred during RSV infection of HEp-2 cells. We found that the amount of isoprenylated and membrane-bound RhoA in RSV-infected cultures was increased. Further evidence of RhoA activation was demonstrated by downstream signaling activity mediated by RhoA. There was an increase in p130(cas) phosphorylation during RSV infection, which was prevented by Y-27632, a specific inhibitor of Rho kinase, or lovastatin, an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor that reduces the synthesis of groups needed for isoprenylation. In addition, RSV infection of HEp-2 cells resulted in an increase in the formation of actin stress fibers. Pretreatment of HEp-2 cells with Clostridium botulinum C3 exotoxin, an enzyme that specifically ADP-ribosylates and inactivates RhoA, prevented RSV-induced stress fiber formation. These observations indicate that RhoA and subsequent downstream signaling events are activated during RSV infection, which has implications for RSV pathogenesis.
Social Theory: An Introduction

This introduction to social theory addresses key issues in sociological, political, and cultural analysis through the unifying theme of social conflict, cohesion, and consent. Structured around the major theorists in the field, Joseph examines such thinkers as Marx and Engels, Gramsci, Durkheim, Parsons, Weber, The Frankfurt School, and Foucault. Through their ideas, core social concepts and key features of modern society are introduced, including structure and agency, ideology, discourse and legitimation, the state, the economy, and civil society. Dealing with both contemporary social debates and established theoretical approaches, Social Theory serves as a uniquely useful introduction for both politics and sociology students.
Altered expression of RET proto-oncogene product in prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia and prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND The RET proto-oncogene encodes a protein that belongs to the tyrosine kinase growth factor receptor family. Germline point mutations in RET are found in individuals with multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) syndromes, and gene rearrangements have been reported in papillary thyroid cancers. We recently identified transcripts of the RET proto-oncogene in human prostate cancer xenografts and prostate cancer cell lines by means of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses. The purpose of this study was to investigate Ret protein expression in human prostate tissue. METHODS Ret protein expression was evaluated immunohistochemically in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded whole-prostate sections. The prostate specimens were obtained from 30 patients with prostate cancer after radical prostatectomies. Ret protein expression was compared in tumor foci and benign prostatic tissue. Medullary thyroid carcinoma tissue associated with an MEN syndrome and papillary thyroid cancer tissue served as positive controls. RESULTS Ret appeared to be overexpressed in high-grade (histopathologically advanced) prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) and prostate cancer when compared with its expression level in benign prostatic secretory epithelium. In addition, there was an apparent increase in Ret protein expression with decreased cellular differentiation, i.e., increasing Gleason pattern. CONCLUSION Expression of the RET proto-oncogene in benign prostatic epithelium, high-grade PIN, and histopathologically advanced prostate cancer suggests that RET may play a role in the growth of both benign and neoplastic prostate epithelial cells.
Moving ERP Systems to the Cloud - Data Security Issues

This paper brings to light data security issues and concerns for organizations by moving their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to the cloud. Cloud computing has become the new trend of how organizations conduct business and has enabled them to innovate and compete in a dynamic environment through new and innovative business models. The growing popularity and success of the cloud has led to the emergence of cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) ERP systems, a new alternative approach to traditional on-premise ERP systems. Cloud-based ERP has a myriad of benefits for organizations. However, infrastructure engineers need to address data security issues before moving their enterprise applications to the cloud. Cloud-based ERP raises specific concerns about the confidentiality and integrity of the data stored in the cloud. Such concerns that affect the adoption of cloud-based ERP are based on the size of the organization. Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) gain the maximum benefits from cloud-based ERP as many of the concerns around data security are not relevant to them. On the contrary, larger organizations are more cautious in moving their mission critical enterprise applications to the cloud. A hybrid solution where organizations can choose to keep their sensitive applications on-premise while leveraging the benefits of the cloud is proposed in this paper as an effective solution that is gaining momentum and popularity for large organizations.