Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Control or Empowerment

The 1988 Education Reform Act and subsequent legislation has sought to impose on the education service of England and Wales a form of site-based planning, known as school development planning as a tool for managing school improvement. This paper identifies key problems with this approach and proposes in its place strategies for managing change and school improvement based upon North American research. It focuses in particular upon the successful school growth planning approach which has been implemented by the Halton Board of Education, and a number of other school boards in Ontario in Canada.
Neuroprotective Effects of Glyceryl Nonivamide against Microglia-Like Cells and 6-Hydroxydopamine-Induced Neurotoxicity in SH-SY5Y Human Dopaminergic Neuroblastoma Cells

Glyceryl nonivamide (GLNVA), a vanilloid receptor (VR) agonist, has been reported to have calcitonin gene-related peptide-associated vasodilatation and to prevent subarachnoid hemorrhage-induced cerebral vasospasm. In this study, we investigated the neuroprotective effects of GLNVA on activated microglia-like cell mediated- and proparkinsonian neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced neurotoxicity in human dopaminergic neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. In coculture conditions, we used lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated BV-2 cells as a model of activated microglia. LPS-induced neuronal death was significantly inhibited by diphenylene iodonium (DPI), an inhibitor of NADPH oxidase. However, capsazepine, the selective VR1 antagonist, did not block the neuroprotective effects of GLNVA. GLNVA reduced LPS-activated microglia-mediated neuronal death, but it lacked protection in DPI-pretreated cultures. GLNVA also decreased LPS activated microglia induced overexpression of neuronal nitric-oxide synthase (nNOS) and glycoprotein 91 phagocyte oxidase (gp91phox) on SH-SY5Y cells. Pretreatment of BV-2 cells with GLNVA diminished LPS-induced nitric oxide production, overexpression of inducible nitric-oxide synthase (iNOS), and gp91phox and intracellular reactive oxygen species (iROS). GLNVA also reduced cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 expression, inhibitor of nuclear factor (NF)-κB (IκB)α/IκBβ degradation, NF-κB activation, and the overproduction of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, and prostaglandin E2 in BV-2 cells. However, GLNVA augmented anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 production on LPS-stimulated BV-2 cells. Furthermore, in 6-OHDA-treated SH-SY5Y cells, GLNVA rescued the changes in condensed nuclear and apoptotic bodies, prevented the decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential, and reduced cells death. GLNVA also suppressed accumulation of iROS and up-regulated heme oxygenase-1 expression. 6-OHDA-induced overexpression of nNOS, iNOS, COX-2, and gp91phox was also reduced by GLNVA. In summary, the neuroprotective effects of GLNVA are mediated, at least in part, by decreasing the inflammation- and oxidative stress-associated factors induced by microglia and 6-OHDA.
Toxicological Properties of Potassium Bromate

Potassium bromate (KBrO3), used in both the food and cosmetics industry, and a drinking water disinfection byproduct, is a nephrotoxic chemical and rodent carcinogen. As KBrO3 is primarily an oxidizing compound, reactive oxygen and other species generated from bromate have been held responsible for the genotoxic, carcinogenic and toxic effects. Bromate induces primary DNA oxidative damage, mutations, and DNA-strand breakage, structural chromosomal aberration types of chromatid breaks and exchanges. KBrO3 induces of micronuclei in different cells in vivo. Bromate is clastogenic agent. Bromate administered in the drinking water was tumorogenic in the rat kidney, thyroid, and mesothelium and was a renal carcinogen in the male mouse. The incidence of mesotheliomas on the tunica vaginalis testis in rats was a dose-dependent manner. It was shown that KBrO3 is an effective promoter of kidney neoplasia induced by N-ethyl-N-hydroxyethylnitrosamine. There are a lot naturally occurring compounds which may be used as effective chemopreventive agents against KBrO3-mediated renal and other organ oxidative stress, toxicity and tumor promotion response.
AVSP 2001 International Conference on Auditory-Visu 90 NG EADS

We present a linear three-dimensional modeling paradigm for lips and face, that captures the audiovisual speech activity of a given speaker by only six parameters. Our articulatory models are constructed from real data (front and profile images), using a linear component analysis of about 200 3D coordinates of fleshpoints on the subject's face and lips. Compared to a raw component analysis, our construction approach leads to somewhat more comparable relations across subjects: by construction, the six parameters have a clear phonetic/articulatory interpretation. We use such a speaker’s specific articulatory model to regularize MPEG-4 facial articulation parameters (FAP) and show that this regularization process can drastically reduce bandwidth, noise and quantization artifacts. We then present how analysis-by-synthesis techniques using the speaker-specific model allows the tracking of facial movements. Finally, the results of this tracking scheme have been used to develop a text-to-audiovisual speech system.
LEADER ATTRIBUTIONS AND EVALUATIONS - EFFECTS OF LOCUS OF CONTROL, SUPERVISORY CONTROL, AND TASK CONTROL

Abstract This article describes a laboratory study which tested some of the core propositions of the attributional model of leader-subordinate relations and examined some extensions to the model. It was expected that internal-external locus of control (LOC), supervisory control, and task control would moderate the attribution-evaluation process. Further, supervisors whose LOC was situationally congruent were expected to base their judgements on personal information, while supervisors in other situations were expected to prefer base-rate information. One hundred twenty-eight subjects participated in the study, supervising work groups under varying conditions of supervisory and task control. Results supported the attributional model, but provided only limited support for the congruency hypothesis. Subjects appeared to have responded to subordinate performance in an impressionistic fashion, related to on-the-spot decision-making.
The Effects of Remifentanil on Cerebral Capacity in Awake Volunteers

Remifentanil, a short-acting potent &mgr;-opioid agonist proposed for intraoperative analgesia but also for postoperative pain therapy, has not been investigated with regard to the effects of the drug on cerebral capacity in awake humans. We assessed cerebral capacity noninvasively by means of phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging measurement of systolic cerebrospinal fluid peak velocity in the aqueduct of Sylvius before and during infusion of remifentanil (0.1 &mgr;g · kg−1 · min−1 IV) in normocapnic humans. Remifentanil had no significant effect on systolic cerebrospinal fluid peak velocity as compared with baseline (mean ± SD): baseline, −4.3 ± 1.3 cm/s versus remifentanil (0.1 &mgr;g · kg−1 · min−1): −4.7 ± 1.0 cm/s. Small-dose remifentanil (0.1 &mgr;g · kg−1 · min−1) did not influence cerebral capacity in healthy, awake volunteers free of intracranial pathology. Implications: Knowledge about the influence of remifentanil on cerebral capacity is crucial before routine use of the drug in neuroanesthesia. Thus, we assessed the influence of remifentanil on cerebral capacity noninvasively by means of phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging measurement of systolic cerebrospinal fluid peak velocity in the aqueduct of Sylvius in humans.
On the Overuse and Misuse of Mediation Analysis: It May Be a Matter of Timing

Kenny (2008) credited Hyman (1955) with originally discussing mediation analysis under the name elaboration. Of importance, Hyman's elaboration required a time-ordered relationship among variables, such that the mediator must always intervene in time between the predictor and outcome. However, in the modern discussions of mediation (e.g., Baron & Kenny, 1986; Preacher & Hayes, 2004), this crucial point about time-ordered relationships appears to be underemphasized. This article shows that by employing a conceptual timing criterion for all mediation analyses, the overuse of this technique can be curbed, and, simultaneously, researchers will understand when mediation analyses are appropriate across the behavioral and medical science literatures.
CDC39, an essential nuclear protein that negatively regulates transcription and differentially affects the constitutive and inducible HIS3 promoters.

The yeast HIS3 promoter region contains two functionally distinct TATA elements, TC and TR, that are responsible respectively for initiation from the +1 and +13 sites. Both TC and TR support basal HIS3 transcription and require the TATA binding protein TFIID, but only TR responds to transcriptional activation by GCN4 and GAL4. By selecting for yeast strains that increase transcription by a GCN4 derivative with a defective activation domain, we have isolated a temperature‐sensitive mutation in CDC39, a previously defined gene implicated in cell‐cycle control and the pheromone response. This cdc39‐2 mutation causes increased basal transcription of many, but not all genes, as well as increased transcriptional activation by GCN4 and GAL4. Surprisingly, basal HIS3 transcription from the +1 initiation site is strongly increased, while initiation from the +13 site is barely affected. Thus, unlike acidic activator proteins that function through TR, CDC39 preferentially affects transcription mediated by TC. CDC39 is an essential gene that encodes a very large nuclear protein (2108 amino acids) containing two glutamine‐rich regions. These observations suggest that CDC39 negatively regulates transcription either by affecting the general RNA polymerase II machinery or by altering chromatin structure.
Mansonella ozzardi infection in Bolivia: prevalence and clinical associations in the Chaco region.

A cross-sectional survey carried out in the Chaco region of Bolivia showed that 26% (77 of 296) and 0.7% (2 of 298) of the rural population of the Camiri and Villa Montes areas, respectively, harbored Mansonella ozzardi microfilariae (mf). No significant differences were observed between sexes. The lowest prevalence (9%) was in the 0-14-year-old age group, with no children <11 months of age infected. The prevalence increased sharply in the 25-34-year-old age group (32%), and continued increasing in the older age classes. Microfilaremia, ranging from 1 to 305 mf/20 microl of blood, was lowest in 0-14-year-old children (geometric mean concentration = 1.1 mf/20 microl), and increased with age (>100 mf/20 microl in people >44 years old). An expected increasing sensitivity with the blood volume examined was observed. No significant association between clinical symptoms (fever, skin rash, pruritus, headache, lymphedema, elephantiasis, and articular pain) and microfilaremia was observed.
One-Trial Object Recognition by Rats

Four experiments examined the ability of rats to solve problems analogous to those used with primates, where they were required to remember an object seen on a single trial. In the first experiment, rats were rewarded for selecting the novel of two goal boxes in a Y-maze (nonmatching). Different pairs of goal boxes were used for every trial within a session in order to increase the salience of the positive stimulus and to exclude the use of odour trails. The animals rapidly learnt this one-trial object recognition task and performed well above chance after retention intervals as long as 120 sec. A control experiment confirmed that the rats could not use spatial cues to solve the task. A third experiment showed that rats could also learn to select the familiar of two boxes in a one-trial test of object matching. In the final experiment the rats were unable to acquire a win–stay/lose–shift strategy when tested in a comparable manner.
Adjuvant Activity of Various Diesel Exhaust and Ambient Particles in Two Allergic Models

In the framework of an EU study entitled "Respiratory Allergy and Inflammation Due to Ambi-ent Particles" (RAIAP), various collected particulate matter samples were to be tested for their adjuvant potency in two animal models of allergy. A pollen allergy model in the Brown Norway (BN) rat and an ovalbumin model in the BALB/c mouse were used in this study to compare the discriminatory value of these two models and to evaluate them for later studies of collected RAIAP-samples. Two different sources of diesel exhaust particles (DEP I and DEP II ), a residual oil fly ash source (ROFA), and two sources of ambient particles (Ottawa dust, EHC-93, and road tunnel dust, RTD) were tested. Rats were sensitized intratracheally with Timothy grass pollen (Phleum pratense, 200 µl, 10 mg/ml) on d 0, challenged on d 21, and examined on d 25. Mice were sensitized intranasally at d 0 and 14, challenged intranasally at d 35, 38, and 41 (50 µl, 0.4 mg ovalbumin/ml), and examined at d 42. Particulate matter (PM) was administered either during the sensitization phase only or during the sensitization and challenge phases (for mice only) or during the challenge phase only. In the pollen model, only DEP I , but not DEP II , ROFA, EHC-93, and RTD, stimulated the immunoglobulin (Ig) E and IgG1 response in serum to pollen allergens. In addition to this adjuvant effect noted, no other biomarkers in lung or bronchoalve-olar lavage (BAL) revealed adjuvant activity in the pollen model. In the BAL of BN rats exposed to a combination of pollen and PM, the percentages of eosinophilic granulocytes were decreased compared to the BAL of BN rats immunized with pollen only. In the ovalbumin model, the IgE levels in serum were increased in mice after coexposure to ovalbumin and PM (including DEPI , DEPII , ROFA, EHC-93, and RTD) in the sensitization phase but not after coexposure during the challenge phase only. The inflammatory response was greater in the lung, predominantly the influx of eosinophilic granulocytes, as was observed by both histopathological examination and BAL analysis. In addition, BAL levels of inflammatory interleukin (IL)-4 were increased. Based on the IgE antibody response to ovalbumin, the ovalbumin model ranked the adjuvant capacity of the particles in the following order: RTD > ROFA > EHC-93 > DEPI > DEPII . In conclusion, the ovalbumin model is a sensitive system to detect adjuvant activity of airborne particles, whereas the pollen-induced allergy model in rat was less sensitive.
Efficiency of human skeletal muscle in vivo: comparison of isometric, concentric, and eccentric muscle action.

The purpose of this study was to estimate the efficiency of ATP utilization for concentric, eccentric, and isometric muscle action in the human tibialis anterior and extensor digitorum longus in vivo. A dynamometer was used to quantitate muscle work, or tension, while simultaneous 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance data were collected to monitor ATP, phosphocreatine, inorganic phosphate, and pH. The relative efficiency of the actions was estimated in two ways: steady-state effects on high-energy phosphates and a direct comparison of ATP synthesis rates with work. In the steady state, the cytosolic free energy dropped to the lowest value with concentric activity, followed by eccentric and isometric action for comparative muscle tensions. Estimates of ATP synthesis rates revealed a mechanochemical efficiency [i.e., ATP production rate/work (both in J/s)] of 15.0 +/- 1.3% in concentric and 34.7 +/- 6.1% in eccentric activity. The estimated maximum ATP production rate was highest in concentric action, suggesting an activation of energy metabolism under these conditions. By using direct measures of metabolic strain and ATP turnover, these data demonstrate a decreasing metabolic efficiency in human muscle action from isometric, to eccentric, to concentric action.
A new look at resits: are they simply a second chance?

The article challenges common practice in relation to resits of ignoring the main assessment results and making high‐stakes decisions on the basis of resit results alone. Implications for institutions, students and educators are discussed. The proposal is that not all resits should be treated equally and that, in some circumstances, more robust decisions can be made by combining resit results with the results from the main assessment.
Default Prediction Around the World: The Effect of Constraints on Pessimistic Trading

We examine how constraints on pessimistic trading affect the ability to assess a firm’s likelihood of default using publicly available sources of information. Using cross-country differences in short selling as our primary empirical proxy for the ability of market participants to trade pessimistically, our results indicate that a dynamic multiperiod logit model accurately predicts 18 percentage points more actual occurrences of default in countries where short-selling is widely practiced. We find little evidence that short selling restrictions reduce the proportion of inaccurately classified non-default observations. These associations are further identified using time-series variation in the introduction of put option trading. Finally, in countries that face significant pessimistic trading constraints, we document that the direct incorporation of accounting information leads to a greater improvement in default prediction accuracy, particularly where financial reporting transparency is relatively high.
Human SEC13Rp functions in yeast and is located on transport vesicles budding from the endoplasmic reticulum

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Sec13p is required for intracellular protein transport from the ER to the Golgi apparatus, and has also been identified as a component of the COPII vesicle coat structure. Recently, a human cDNA encoding a protein 53% identical to yeast Sec13p has been isolated. In this report, we apply the genetic assays of complementation and synthetic lethality to demonstrate the conservation of function between this human protein, designated SEC13Rp, and yeast Sec13p. We show that two reciprocal human/yeast fusion constructs, encoding the NH2-terminal half of one protein and the COOH-terminal half of the other, can each complement the secretion defect of a sec13-1 mutant at 36 degrees C. The chimera encoding the NH2-terminal half of the yeast protein and the COOH-terminal half of the human protein is also able to complement a SEC13 deletion. Overexpression of either the entire human SEC13Rp protein or the chimera encoding the NH2-terminal half of the human protein and the COOH-terminal half of the yeast protein inhibits the growth of a sec13- 1 mutant at 24 degrees C; this growth inhibition is not seen in a wild- type strain nor in other sec mutants, suggesting that the NH2-terminal half of SEC13Rp may compete with Sec13-1p for a common target. We show by immunoelectronmicroscopy of mammalian cells that SEC13Rp (like the putative mammalian homologues of the COPII subunits Sar1p and Sec23p) resides in the region of the transitional ER. We also show that the distribution of SEC13Rp is not affected by brefeldin A treatment. This report presents the first demonstration of a putative mammalian COPII component functioning in yeast, and highlights a potentially useful approach for the study of conserved mammalian proteins in a genetically tractable system.
Roughness and color evaluation of wood polymer composites filled by household waste of mate-tea.

This study presents the preparation of polypropylene composites filled with mixtures of household waste of mate-tea and wood particles to increase the economic value chain of mate-tea, especially in Latin America. Filler mixtures in proportions ranging from 0 to 60% depending on the type of particle were used. The polypropylene matrix was fixed at 40% and roughness surface and color evaluation were performed. The highest mean roughness (Ra) was observed for the composite with 30:30% proportion of filler mixture, which denotes the difficulty of homogenizing a mixture of fillers with different shapes and dimensions. Nevertheless, even with higher roughness for composites with a balanced blend of filler, this does not imply the presence of large peaks and valleys. In general, all the composites presented a dark color. Variation of color composites was more evident for higher proportions of household waste of mate-tea.
Getting to know you: How we learn new faces

Previous work has shown an advantage for matching the internal features of familiar faces in contrast to an advantage for the external features of unfamiliar faces. In the current experiment, we tracked this shift towards an internal feature advantage as subjects were familiarized with a set of initially unfamiliar faces. They were asked to learn a set of 24 faces from video images and complete a face matching task on 3 consecutive days. Half of the faces were learned from moving images while the others were learned from static images to determine whether movement was necessary to produce the internal advantage found when matching familiar faces. We found that by the end of the 3 days, performance on the internal features had improved and was equivalent to performance on the external features. In contrast, matching of the external features remained at a relatively constant level across the experiment. Faces were learned equally well from moving and static images suggesting that movement is not necessary to promote learning of the internal features.
Indirect Current Control Based Seamless Transfer of Three-phase Inverter in Distributed Generation

The distributed generation (DG) should supply continuous power to the local critical load, even in the condition of utility outage. And many efforts have been made for the three-phase inverter in the DG to transfer between the islanding mode and the grid-tied mode seamlessly. This paper proposes a transfer strategy based on indirect current control for the three-phase inverter in the DG, which is composed mainly of two cascaded feedback loops, i.e., capacitor voltage loop and external grid current loop, in synchronous reference frame. In the grid-tied mode, the grid current is controlled by regulating the capacitor voltage. When islanding happens, the reference of the voltage loop is fixed by the limiter. As the local load is located in parallel with the filter capacitor in the proposed strategy, the load voltage is always controlled by the capacitor voltage loop directly, and the quality of the load voltage can be guaranteed. Besides, the performance of the capacitor voltage loop is further improved by introducing an inner capacitor current loop. Moreover, the steady state and transient state of the system, including the output of the limiter, are comprehensively analyzed, and then the compensators and limiters are designed. Finally, the proposed control strategy is verified by the simulation and experimental results.