Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The use of MAP-Works to examine adjustment and retention in undergraduate international students

Over the past several decades, United States institutions of higher education have experienced increased enrollment from international students. However, researchers have long acknowledged that many international students experience problems adjusting to life and studying in the United States, including culturally, academically, socially, and psychologically. These difficulties related to international student adjustment can easily translate into compromised academic performance, decreased mental health, and the potential for dropout. This study addressed the undergraduate international student adjustment and retention gap by examining data from MAP-WorksTM, a comprehensive student retention platform, to better understand if and how adjustment predicted undergraduate international student retention in a large, Midwestern research university in the United States. The study used data from first-year undergraduate student participants from the MAPWorksTM retention system from 2008-2011. All participants completed the MAP-WorksTM survey in the early part of the fall semester of their respective freshman years. Descriptive analysis, logistic regression analyses, and t-tests of regression weights were conducted to answer the research questions. Results of this study indicated that gender, homesickness, and social integration predicted two-year retention in undergraduate international students, while gender and basic academic behaviors predicted four-year retention in international students. No significant differences in significant predictors of retention existed between international and
Broken keys to the kingdom: Security and privacy aspects of RFID-based car keys

This paper presents an overview of the current state-of-the-art of security and privacy concerns regarding RFID-based car key applications. We will first present a general overview of the technology and its evolution before moving on to an overview and discussion of the various known security weaknesses and attacks against such systems and the associated privacy risks they introduce.
How to Display Search Results in Digital Libraries - User Study

Information retrieval systems display search results by various methods. This paper focuses on a model for displaying a list of search results by means of textual elements that utilize a new information unit that replaces the currently used information unit. This paper includes a short description of several studies that support the model. The results of the research show that we can improve effectiveness of using search results list by displaying the lines in context instead of first lines of documents. Adding optional data components such as key words and category can improve even better the effectiveness of the search.
From inhaler to lung: clinical implications of the formulations of ciclesonide and other inhaled corticosteroids

Asthma continues to be a global health problem and currently available treatments such as corticosteroids can cause unwanted side effects. Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are recommended as first-line therapy for reducing airway inflammation and have a distinct advantage over oral preparations as they provide a direct route of delivery to the lungs. However, local deposition of ICS in the oropharynx can lead to oral candidiasis, dysphonia, and pharyngitis. The pharmaceutical quality is a primary concern of any ICS asthma treatment, with a higher quality product resulting in improved efficacy and safety profiles. The particle size distribution and the spray force velocity of an ICS may directly influence lung deposition, and the spray duration of a device is another important factor when coordinating inhalation. Recent advances in ICS device and formulation technology have resulted in significant improvements in the efficacy of available asthma treatments. In particular, hydrofluoroalkane (HFA) solution technology and the development of smaller particle sizes have resulted in the production of new ICS formulations that have the ability to directly target drug delivery to the site of airway inflammation. Both the ICS formulation and the pressurized metered-dose inhaler device used to administer ciclesonide (CIC) HFA have been developed to treat the underlying chronic inflammation associated with asthma. CIC is administered as a prodrug which is activated in the lungs, leading to minimal oropharyngeal deposition. The small particle size of CIC results in the delivery of a high fraction of respirable particles to the small airways of the lungs, resulting in high lung deposition and continual dose consistency. This review summarizes how CIC administered as an HFA formulation is an effective treatment for asthma.
Inhibition of allergen-induced airway obstruction and leukotriene generation in atopic asthmatic subjects by the leukotriene biosynthesis inhibitor BAYx 1005.

BACKGROUND: Leukotriene receptor antagonists significantly blunt allergen-induced bronchoconstriction in asthmatic subjects. Inhibitors of leukotriene synthesis should theoretically provide similar protection, but conflicting results have been obtained when synthesis inhibitors have been tested in allergen challenge. BAYx 1005, a new inhibitor of leukotriene synthesis, was therefore evaluated in an allergen bronchoprovocation study. METHODS: Ten men with mild allergic asthma and bronchial hyperresponsiveness to histamine were recruited. On two different occasions each subject inhaled a single dose of allergen, previously determined to cause at least a 20% fall in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) four hours after ingestion of 750 mg BAYx 1005 or placebo in a double blind crossover design. Urinary excretion of leukotriene E4 was measured before and during the challenges. RESULTS: The mean (SE) maximal fall in FEV1 was 7.1 (1.7)% after BAYx 1005 and 21.0 (3.0)% after placebo (p < 0.001). The mean difference between treatments was 13.9 (95% CI 7.0 to 20.8) for the maximal fall in FEV1. All subjects were protected by BAYx 1005, the mean inhibition of the fall in FEV1 being 70.0 (7.0)%. The mean area under the curve (AUC) for urinary excretion of leukotriene E4 in the first two hours after the challenge was 1.7 (0.9) after placebo and 0.4 (0.6) after BAYx 1005 (difference = 1.3 (95% CI-0.1 to 2.7); p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that BAYx 1005 is a potent inhibitor of allergen-provoked leukotriene synthesis in asthmatic subjects and lend further support to the suggestion that leukotrienes are important mediators of allergen-induced bronchoconstriction.
Arsenic and respiratory cancer in man: an occupational study.

To clarify the role of arsenic in human carcinogenesis, the mortality experience of 8,047 white male smelter workers exposed to arsenic trioxide during 1938-63 was studied and compared with that of the white male population of the same States. Smelter workers had an excess total mortality, due mainly to malignant neoplasms of the respiratory system and diseases of the heart. The threefold increase in respiratory cancer was analyzed in relation to the length of employment and degree of exposure to arsenic, sulfur dioxide, and other elements in the smelter. The excess of respiratory cancer was as high as eightfold among employees who worked more than 15 years and who were heavily exposed to arsenicj it showed a gradient in proportion to the degree of exposure to arsenic and sulfur dioxide. The findings support the hypothesis that inhaled arsenic is a respiratory carcinogen in man, but an inRuence of sulfur dioxide or unidentified chemicals, varying concomitantly with arsenic exposure, cannot be discounted. -J Nat Cancer Inst 42: 1045-1052,1969.
THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS SUCCESS : AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION IN THE MALAYSIAN ELECTRONIC-GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Information system success has been widely discussed in the past two decades. As systems and technologies are being improved and developed, discussions on their effectiveness and evaluation on their success have been continuously debated by researchers, scholars and practitioners throughout the years. Besides the major concern of IS effectiveness, factors influencing IS effectiveness are also important. One of these factors is organizational factor. Using perceptual measures, this study aims to investigate the influence of organizational factors on IS success. Survey questionnaires were gathered from 201 users from four central agencies located at the central administration complex in Putrajaya. Six items were identified to influence IS success. They are top management support, decisionmaking structure, management style, managerial IT knowledge, goal alignment, and resources allocation. The study also identified four IS success dimensions; systems quality, information quality, perceived usefulness, and user satisfaction. The study found that the IS success variables are significantly and highly correlated. The study also found all the organizational factors are significantly correlated to the four IS success factors investigated; the system quality, information quality, perceived usefulness and user satisfaction. Further analyses also found goal alignment as the highest predictor of IS success, followed by management style and centralization. However, surprisingly, top management support was among the least predictors of IS success and its influence on IS success is insignificant. In short, it was clear that the significant relationship between the organizational factors concerned and IS success dimensions evidently indicate the importance of these seven factors in ensuring successful information systems. The empirical evidence also support organizational factors as one of the important antecedent factors of IS success.
Image Segmentation using Graphical Models: A Survey

-This paper presents a survey of image segmentation techniques using Graphical Models. Image Segmentation is a technique that partitioned the digital image into multiple unique regions or sets of homogeneous pixels is called image segmentation. Segmentation should stop as object of interest in an application is isolated. The ultimate goal is to make the image more simplified and that to get more meaningful to analyze. In this paper, several segmentation techniques using graphical models like PGM, Bayesian Networks Unified Graphical Models etc., are taken from the literature are reviewed. In this paper, the main aim is to understand the Graphical Model based approaches for image segmentation.
Quantification noise in single cell experiments

In quantitative single-cell studies, the critical part is the low amount of nucleic acids present and the resulting experimental variations. In addition biological data obtained from heterogeneous tissue are not reflecting the expression behaviour of every single-cell. These variations can be derived from natural biological variance or can be introduced externally. Both have negative effects on the quantification result. The aim of this study is to make quantitative single-cell studies more transparent and reliable in order to fulfil the MIQE guidelines at the single-cell level. The technical variability introduced by RT, pre-amplification, evaporation, biological material and qPCR itself was evaluated by using RNA or DNA standards. Secondly, the biological expression variances of GAPDH, TNFα, IL-1β, TLR4 were measured by mRNA profiling experiment in single lymphocytes. The used quantification setup was sensitive enough to detect single standard copies and transcripts out of one solitary cell. Most variability was introduced by RT, followed by evaporation, and pre-amplification. The qPCR analysis and the biological matrix introduced only minor variability. Both conducted studies impressively demonstrate the heterogeneity of expression patterns in individual cells and showed clearly today's limitation in quantitative single-cell expression analysis.
The management of brain edema in brain tumors

This review focuses on pathophysiology, clinical signs, and imaging of brain edema associated with intracranial tumors and its treatment. Brain edema in brain tumors is the result of leakage of plasma into the parenchyma through dysfunctional cerebral capillaries. The latter type of edema (ie, vasogenic edema) and the role of other types in brain tumors is discussed. Vascular endothelial growth factor-induced dysfunction of tight junction proteins probably plays an important role in the formation of edema. Corticosteroids are the mainstay of treatment of brain edema. When possible, corticosteroids should be used in a low dose (eg, 4 mg dexamethasone daily) to avoid serious side effects such as myopathy or diabetes. Higher doses of dexamethasone (16 mg/day or more), sometimes together with osmotherapy (mannitol, glycerol) or surgery, may be used in emergency situations. On tapering, one should be aware of the possible development of corticosteroid dependency or withdrawal effects. Novel therapies include vascular endothelial growth factor receptor inhibitors and corticotropin releasing factor, which should undergo further clinical testing before they can be recommended in practice.
M108. Formal Thought Disorder in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

ideation and behavior (VIB) and that this is especially the case for SMI patients with comorbid substance use disorders. That said, the rank order of SMI groups in terms of prevalence of VIB, whether the rates of VIB in SMI groups exceeds the rates of VIB in people with only substance use disorders, and which demographic factors increase VIB risk under different circumstances for people with SMI is unclear. Methods: To address these questions, we analyzed the intake records of 63 572 patients diagnosed with serious mental illnesses (ie, schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and unipolar depression), substance use disorders, and non-SMI psychiatric disorders. Raw prevalence rates for VIB were established and compared for each group, and a series of logistic regression analyses were performed to determine their impact on VIB under differing circumstances. Results: Our results revealed that patients with SMI conditions had higher rates of VIB than patients with non-SMI psychopathology and patients with substance use pathology, patients with SMI and comorbid substance use pathology were responsible for the majority of VIB within each SMI condition, and men with SMI conditions had higher prevalence rates of VIB than females. Additionally, we found that for every SMI diagnosis, younger age was related to greater risk for VIB, and where race and gender were found to significantly alter risk for VIB, African American race and female gender were related to greater risk. Conclusion: Our results suggest that SMI conditions are a significant risk factor for VIB, however, the prevalence rates of and relative risk for VIB varied markedly across SMI groups and as such, suggest that in the study of VIB in SMI, researchers should not collapse across these conditions.
AUTOMATICALLY ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF AN OPTIMIZATION-BASED MULTIGRID METHOD

Many large nonlinear optimization problems are based upon discretizations of underlying function spaces. Optimization-based multigrid methods—that is, multigrid methods based on solving coarser versions of an optimization problem—are designed to solve such discretized problems efficiently by taking explicit advantage of the family of discretizations. The methods are generalizations of more traditional multigrid methods for solving partial differential equations. These multigrid methods are a powerful tool, but they are not appropriate for all optimization problems. We discuss techniques whereby the multigrid method can assess the properties of the optimization problem, with the goal of automatically determining whether the optimization problem is well suited for the multigrid-type algorithm.
Expression of SLC2A9 Isoforms in the Kidney and Their Localization in Polarized Epithelial Cells

Background Many genome-wide association studies pointed out that SLC2A9 gene, which encodes a voltage-driven urate transporter, SLC2A9/GLUT9 (a.k.a. URATv1), as one of the most influential genes for serum urate levels. SLC2A9 is reported to encode two splice variants: SLC2A9-S (512 amino acids) and SLC2A9-L (540 amino acids), only difference being at their N-termini. We investigated isoform-specific localization of SLC2A9 in the human kidney and role of N-terminal amino acids in differential sorting in vitro. Methodology/Principal Findings Isoform specific antibodies against SLC2A9 were developed and human kidney sections were stained. SLC2A9-S was expressed in the apical side of the collecting duct while SLC2A9-L was expressed in the basolateral side of the proximal tubule. GFP fused SLC2A9s were expressed in MDCK cells and intracellular localization was observed. SLC2A9-S was expressed at both apical and basolateral membranes, whereas SLC2A9-L was expressed only at the basolateral membrane. Although SLC2A9-L has a putative di-leucine motif at 33th and 34th leucine, deletion of the motif or replacement of leucine did not affect its subcellular localization. When up to 16 amino acids were removed from the N-terminal of SLC2A9-S or when up to 25 amino acids were removed from the N-terminal of SLC2A9-L, there was no change in their sorting. Deletion of 20 amino acids from SLC2A9-S was not expressed in the cell. More than 30 amino acids deletion from SLC2A9-L resulted in expression at both apical and basolateral membranes as well as in the lysosome. When amino acids from 25th and 30th were changed to alanine in SLC2A9-L, expression pattern was the same as wild-type. Conclusions/Significance SLC2A9-L was expressed in the basolateral membrane of kidney proximal tubules in humans and this isoform is likely to responsible for urate reabsorption. N-terminal amino acids unique to each isoform played an important role in protein stability and trafficking.
Translation and body-part terms: The case of Cheshm 'eye' in Persian

Translating body-part terms from one language to another presents a significant challenge due to the fact that such terms are usually associated with cultural conceptualisations, such as those of emotions and mental activities, which in many cases vary across languages. A literal translation of a body-part term from SL to TL, therefore, may alter the conceptual basis of the term, which may have significant semantic or pragmatic implications. This paper focuses on the case of cheshm ‘eye’ in Persian, a body-part term that is predominantly associated with emotions, including love, envy, and greed, as well as character traits such as naivety or wilfulness. The analysis of some Persian expressions that are associated with the body-part term ‘eye’ reveal significant differences with the connotation of ‘eye’ in English. For example, the conceptualisation of understanding is seeing, is not a dominant conceptualisation in everyday use of language by Persian speakers. There are, however, some words which do refer to the process of visual perception and which are mainly used in association with thinking. These expressions seem to be reminiscent of a historical cultural conceptualisation that can be traced back to the Pahlavi language, the major form of Middle Persian. The observations made in this paper call for a cultural-conceptual level of analysis, as a step in the general process of translating from one language to another.
Extended-enterprise systems' impact on enterprise risk management

Purpose – This article aims to focus on raising awareness of the limitations of traditional “enterprise‐centric” views of enterprise risk management that ignore the risks that are inherited from key business and supply chain partners. In essence, enterprise systems implementations have allowed organizations to couple their operations more tightly with other business partners, particularly in the area of supply chain management, and in the process enterprise systems applications are redefining the boundaries of the entity in terms of risk management concerns and the scope of financial audits. Design/methodology/approach – The prior literature that has begun to explore aspects of assessing key risk components in these relationships is reviewed with an eye to highlighting the limitations of what is understood about risk in interorganizational relationships. This analysis of the prior research establishes the basis for the logical formation of a framework for future enterprise risk management research in the area of e‐commerce relationships. Findings – Conclusions focus on the overall framework of risks that should be considered when interorganizational relationships are critical to an enterprise's operations and advocate an “extended‐enterprise” view of enterprise risk management. Research limitations/implications – The framework introduced in this paper provides guidance for future research in the area of interorganizational systems control and risk assessment. Practical implications – The framework further highlights areas of risk that auditors and corporate risk managers should consider in assessing the risk inherited through interorganizational relationships. Originality/value – The paper highlights the need to shift from an enterprise‐centric view of risk management to an extended‐enterprise risk management view.
Empirical Survey: Experimentation and Implementations of High Speed Protocol Data Transfer for GRID

Many TCP protocol variants have demonstrated better performance in simulation and several limited network experiments. However, practical use in real applications of these protocols is still very limited because of the implementation and installation difficulties. On the other hand, users who need to transfer bulk data (e.g., ingrid/cloud computing) usually turn to application level solutions where these variants do not fair well. Among protocols considered in the application level solutions are UDP-based protocols, such as UDT (UDP-based DataTransport Protocol). UDT is considered one of the most recently developed new transport protocols with congestion control algorithms. It was developed to support next generation high-speed networks, including wide area optical networks. It is considered a state-of-the-art protocol, which promptly addresses various infrastructure requirements for transmitting data in high-speed networks. Its development, however, creates new vulnerabilities because like many other protocols, it is designed to rely solely on existing security mechanisms for existing protocols such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Some of these security mechanisms cannot be used to absolutely protect UDT, just as security mechanisms devised for wired networks cannot be used to protect unwired ones. Both the recently developed UDT and the decades-old TCP/UDP lack a well-thought-out security architecture that addresses problems in today’snetworks. In this paper, we extend our previous work and implement our developed security methodology that can assist network and security investigators, designers, and users who consider and incorporate security when implementing UDT across wide area networks. These can support security architectural designs of UDP-based protocols as well as assist in the future development of other state-of-the-art fast data transfer protocols.