Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Usefulness of Cube Copying for Evaluating Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease

Aims: Cube copying measures visuospatial ability, which is often impaired in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Cube copying was examined as an evaluation of cholinesterase inhibitor (ChEI) treatment in AD. Methods: Eighty-five ChEI-treated AD patients were included. Cube drawings made at prebaseline, baseline, 6 months, and 12 months were assessed. Cube drawings from 56 healthy individuals were also examined. Results : The healthy individuals remained stable in cube copying, whereas untreated AD patients deteriorated during a median period of 6 months. When treatment was given, the deterioration was interrupted. After 12 months, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) had deteriorated compared with baseline whereas cube copying was unchanged. Conclusions: The results indicate that cube copying can be used to evaluate ChEI treatment. It might also show a more long-lasting response to treatment than MMSE. Cube copying only measures a narrow cognitive function and can preferably be used with MMSE, which evaluates visuospatial ability poorly.
Designing Framing and Reflective Scaffolds to Develop Design Thinking and Transfer of Learning: Theorizing for Pre-school

Open access to formal and informal learning implies both cognitive and digital access. However, cognitive access can result only if there are suitable methods which design for generative processing (meaningful deep learning) and transfer of learning despite limited cognitive capacities. We aim to develop design thinking and increase transfer of learning through design principles, framing and metacognitive reflective scaffolds. Subsequently, we use context as a schematic construct for structuring content, providing interaction options and achieving compositional coherence. Findings indicate increase in students' intrinsic motivation, development of reflection generalizations which encompass multiple design levels with design principles as strategies and changes in students' perception towards technology-assisted learning and towards design. Significance of the study are development of scaffolds for generative designs and inclusion of design principles in describing reflection generalizations, CSCL practices and context. These are useful as seed knowledge base for increasing cognitive access to all students and the development of creativity.
Compute-and-Forward: Finding the best equation

Compute-and-Forward is an emerging technique to deal with interference. It allows the receiver to decode a suitably chosen integer linear combination of the transmitted messages. The integer coefficients should be adapted to the channel fading state. Optimizing these coefficients is a Shortest Lattice Vector (SLV) problem. In general, the SLV problem is known to be prohibitively complex. In this paper, we show that the particular SLV instance resulting from the Compute-and-Forward problem can be solved in low polynomial complexity and give an explicit deterministic algorithm that is guaranteed to find the optimal solution.
The Polygyny-Divorce Relationship: A Case Study of Nigeria.

While the relationship between polygyny and fertility has drawn the attention of many demographers little research has been done on the polygyny-divorce relationship. Using data from the Nigeria Fertility Survey of 1981/82 and proportional hazard models this paper estimates the effect of polygyny on the stability of first unions. The results indicate that a simple dichotomy of polygynous and monogamous unions may be misleading. Two-wife unions are the most stable whereas unions with three or more wives are associated with the highest rates of marital disruption. These effects are independent of childlessness marriage duration and other factors. This is a revised version of a paper originally presented at the 1991 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America. (EXCERPT)
PART II: Research Proposal Algorithms for the Simplification of Algebraic Formulae

Computer algebra (CA) or symbolic computation, as my field is known by, consists of two principal research activities, namely, the design, implementation and analysis of algebraic algorithms and, secondly, the design of programming languages, data structures and sofware environments for implementing these algorithms. The research problem that I propose to work on is the simplification problem. Let f be an algebraic expression (or formula) in n unknowns (x1, ., xn). The simplification problem is to compute amongst all expressions which are equal to f (at all values of the unknowns) one which is simplest, that is, of smallest size according to some metric. An important special case of the simplification problem is the zero-equivalence problem, that is, testing whether f(x1, ., xn) = 0. In terms of importance, I claim that simplification is the single most important functionality provided by a computer algebra system for general users, i.e., scientists and engineers using such systems to compute and manipulate formulae. To simplify an algebraic expression, some of the tools that we use include solutions to the following computational problems: (i) computing the greatest common divisor (GCD) of two polynomials, (ii) factoring a polynomial into irreducible factors, (iii) decomposing a polynomial, (iv) computing a Gröbner basis for a polynomial ideal, and (v) computing a prime(ary) decomposition of a polynomial ideal. We also use tools from linear algebra. The long term goal of this proposal is to design effective algorithms and build the best software system for solving the simplification problem. I also propose to do basic research on (i), in particular, computing GCDs of multivariate polynomials over algebraic function fields and triangular sets using modular methods.
Cultural landscapes: a bridge between culture and nature?

Cultural landscapes are intended to increase awareness that heritage places (sites) are not isolated islands and that there is an interdependence of people, social structures, and the landscape and associated ecological systems. The paper explores whether the recognition of the 1992 World Heritage Cultural Landscape categories, the IUCN Protected Landscapes and the 2005 merging of cultural and natural criteria for World Heritage purposes have been effective in bridging the gap between culture and nature philosophically and in practice. With particular reference to opportunities presented in the Asia-Pacific region, where traditionally culture and nature are not regarded as separate, people are part of nature, the paper will further critically review the nature–culture link and its implications for North American-style national parks where cultural associations may not be seen to be necessary or even desirable. It suggests the imperative of highlighting and respecting in heritage nominations and inscriptions deep cultural associations of traditional communities with natural sites and implications for management to protect cultural and biological diversity and the need for thematic studies.
Using a priori knowledge to align sequencing reads to their exact genomic position

The use of a priori knowledge in the alignment of targeted sequencing data is investigated using computational experiments. Adapting a Needleman–Wunsch algorithm to incorporate the genomic position information from the targeted capture, we demonstrate that alignment can be done to just the target region of interest. When in addition use is made of direct string comparison, an improvement of up to a factor of 8 in alignment speed compared to the fastest conventional aligner (Bowtie) is obtained. This results in a total alignment time in targeted sequencing of around 7 min for aligning approximately 56 million captured reads. For conventional aligners such as Bowtie, BWA or MAQ, alignment to just the target region is not feasible as experiments show that this leads to an additional 88% SNP calls, the vast majority of which are false positives (∼92%).
Unidimensional Versus Domain Representative Parceling of Questionnaire Items: An Empirical Example

Two alternative methods for parceling questionnaire items for use in confirmatory analyses are presented. The first method requires that parcels must (a) pass a minimum standard of reliability and (b) provide indications of unidimensionality to be retained for analysis. The second method requires that parcels be equally representative of the multiple aspects of a domain. The parcels may then serve as adequate indicators for the general construct. The latter method is consistent with the rationale underlying aggregation of measures, a procedure currently recommended for improving the psychometric properties of behavioral measures of personality. The two methods for parceling and a comparison are illustrated with an empirical example.
Effect of tryptophan insertions on the properties of the human group IIA phospholipase A2: mutagenesis produces an enzyme with characteristics similar to those of the human group V phospholipase A2.

An important characteristic of the human group IIA secreted phospholipase A(2) (IIA PLA(2)) is the extremely low activity of this enzyme with phosphatidylcholine (PC) vesicles, mammalian cell membranes, and serum lipoproteins. This characteristic is reflected in the lack of ability of this enzyme to bind productively to zwitterionic interfaces. Part of the molecular basis for this lack of activity is an absence of tryptophan, a residue with a known preference for residing in the interfacial region of zwitterionic phospholipid bilayers. In this paper we have replaced the eight residues that make up the hydrophobic collar on the interfacial binding surface of the enzyme with tryptophan. The catalytic and interfacial binding properties of these mutants have been investigated, particularly those properties associated with binding to and hydrolysis of zwitterionic interfaces. Only the insertion of a tryptophan at position 3 or 31 produces mutants that significantly enhance the activity of the human IIA enzyme against zwitterionic interfaces and intact cell membranes. Importantly, the ability of the enzyme mutants to hydrolyze PC-rich interfaces such as the outer plasma membrane of mammalian cells was paralleled by enhanced interfacial binding to zwitterionic interfaces. The corresponding double tryptophan mutant (V3,31W) displays a specific activity on PC vesicles comparable to that of the human group V sPLA2. This enhanced activity includes the ability to interact with human embryonic kidney HEK293 cells, previously reported for the group V enzyme [Kim, Y. J., Kim, K. P., Rhee, H. J., Das, S. , Rafter, J. D. , Oh, Y. S. , and Cho, W. (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 9358-9365].
Transformation of human osteoblasts to anchorage-independent growth by insoluble nickel particles.

Nickel compounds are well established by epidemiologic studies as human carcinogens. Although the carcinogenicity of nickel compounds has been studied in experimental animals and in a variety of cultured mammalian cells, there are only sporadic reports of nickel-induced transformation of human cells. In attempts to study the mechanisms of nickel-induced carcinogenesis in human cells, an immortalized human osteoblastic cell line (HOS) that could not grow in soft agar or form tumors in athymic nude mouse was repeatedly treated with a water-soluble nickel compound (NiCl2) or a less water-soluble nickel compound crystalline (NiS). After three rounds of NiS treatment, there was an increase in anchorage-independent (AI) colony formation. This was not found in untreated or NiCl2-treated cells. Ten AI colonies obtained from NiS-treated cells were isolated. All of these clones showed changes in cell morphology, including the appearance of uniform polygon shape, growth in multilayers, and heavy staining with Giemsa. Most of these clones were retested for their ability to grow in soft agar and showed growth efficiencies of 5 to 50%. It has been shown by other investigators that aggregate growth is well correlated with tumorigenic potential in viral or chemical transformants of HOS cells. Four of seven tested NiS-transformed clones were able to form large aggregates compared to their untransformed counterparts, and continued to proliferate in aggregate form when they were plated on 0.9% agar. Current investigations focus on the molecular and genetic changes induced by nickel compounds in these human cells. ImagesFigure 1.
Static and dynamic under-frequency load shedding: a comparison

Safe operation of a power system requires that system frequency is kept within a specified range. When the generation is insufficient due to disturbances, the frequency might fall under the minimum allowable value which may lead to system blackout if not properly counteracted. This frequency decline may be corrected by shedding certain amount of load so that the system is back into balanced state. In this paper several under-frequency load shedding schemes are reviewed. Comparison are made between static scheme which shed a fixed, predetermined amount of load at each stage and a dynamic system which shed the load by taking into account the size of the disturbance and the voltage and frequency characteristics. Simulations were done on a five buses power system to obtain the amount of load shed, minimum under-frequency, number of stages and completion time. Results from the dynamic scheme appear to give a better frequency recovery.
Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Reputation

Holding people answerable for their actions captures the essence of accountability, which is one of the most fundamental constructs in the organizational sciences and, unfortunately, one about which little is known. This study formulated and tested a model that sought to explicate the intermediate linkages between accountability and job performance and satisfaction. Specifically, the hypothesized model suggests that accountability affects organizational citizenship behavior, which in turn influences job performance and satisfaction through personal reputation. Three alternative models were also examined, but the hypothesized model demonstrated the best fit to the data. Strengths and limitations of the study, directions for future research, and implications for practice are discussed.
Enjoying Negative Emotions in Fictions

There is a puzzle going back to Aristotle and Augustine that has sometimes been called the "paradox of tragedy": how is it that nonmasochistic, nonsadistic people are able to enjoy watching or reading about fictional situations which are filled with suffering? The problem here actually extends beyond tragedy to our enjoyment of horror films and other fictional depictions of situations which we would not enjoy in real life. What is it about fiction that turns intensely unpleasant situations into situations we can enjoy? Of the many solutions proposed to this puzzle, I shall mention just four. Aristotle held that in viewing tragedy we experience negative emotions — pity and fear — but get pleasure from the experience nonetheless because we are thereby purged of excess pity and fear. For Aristotle, too, there is a pleasure which tragedy shares with fiction in general, the delight we take in representations.1 Hume put more weight on this latter delight. Our pleasure in tragedy, he said, is based on our appreciation of the skill with which the literary or other artist has depicted the unpleasant scenes.2 Susan Feagin has recently located the pleasure we take in tragic art not in our direct responses to the work, which are "unpleasant experiences," she says, but in our meta-response of moral self-congratulation at these responses.3 The fourth solution to our puzzle is really a dissolution: it consists of denying that we actually feel fear, pity, and other negative emotions in our experience of fiction. The guiding principle here is that in order to have some emotion toward a situation, we must believe that it is a real situation. This principle is articulated in an influential article by Kendall Walton, though he does not apply it to our puzzle.4
Experimental Analysis of the Factors Determining Obedience of Four-Year-Old Children to Adult Females.

LANDAUER, T. K. ; CARLSMITH, J. MERRILL; and LEPPER, MARK. Experimental Analysis of the Factors Determining Obedience of Four-Year-Old Children to Adult Females. CHmLD DEVELOPMENT, 1970, 41, 601-611. The problem was to assess the relative importance of several potential factors in producing natural variation in child obedience between 1 adult-child dyad and another. Nursery school children were asked to perform tasks by their own and other mothers. There was essentially no consistency across children in the ability of mothers to command obedience; being obeyed by 1 child did not predict being obeyed by another. There was only slight, marginally significant consistency across mothers in the tendency of children to obey; obeying 1 mother did not strongly predict obedience to another. However, obedience was strongly determined by the preexisting relationship between adult and child; 44 of 52 children were less obedient to their own mothers.
Professional Correctness: Literary Studies and Political Change

The discipline of literary criticism is strictly defined, and the most pressing issues of the late 20th-century - racism, violence against women and homosexuals, cultural imperialism and the like - are located outside its domain. Stanley Fish raises a provocative challenge in this text to those who try to turn literary studies into an instrument of political change, arguing that when literary critics try to influence society at large by addressing social and political issues, they cease to be literary critics at all. Those people interested in the debate over the place of cultural studies in the field of literary criticism, or the more general question of whether academics can become the "public intellectuals" many aspire to be, may be interested to read Fish's unconventional argument for restoring discipline to the academy.
Latitudinal and voltinism compensation shape thermal reaction norms for growth rate

Latitudinal variation in thermal reaction norms of key fitness traits may inform about the response of populations to climate warming, yet their adaptive nature and evolutionary potential are poorly known. We assessed the contribution of quantitative genetic, neutral genetic and environmental effects to thermal reaction norms of growth rate for populations of the damselfly Ischnura elegans. Among populations, reaction norms differed primarily in elevation, suggesting that time constraints associated with shorter growth seasons in univoltine, high‐latitude as well as multivoltine, low‐latitude populations selected for faster growth rates. Phenotypic divergence among populations is consistent with selection rather than drift as QST was greater than FST in all cases. QST estimates increased with experimental temperature and were influenced by genotype by environment interactions. Substantial additive genetic variation for growth rate in all populations suggests that evolution of trait means in different environments is not constrained. Heritability of growth rates was higher at high temperature, driven by increased genetic rather than environmental variance. While environment‐specific nonadditive effects also may contribute to heritability differences among temperatures, maternal effects did not play a significant role (where these could be accounted for). Genotype by environment interactions strongly influenced the adaptive potential of populations, and our results suggest the potential for microevolution of thermal reaction norms in each of the studied populations. In summary, the observed latitudinal pattern in growth rates is adaptive and results from a combination of latitudinal and voltinism compensation. Combined with the evolutionary potential of thermal reaction norms, this may affect populations’ ability to respond to future climate warming.
Die voorspelling van die akademiese prestasie van studente in 'n universiteitsoorbruggingsprogram

This article attempted to predict the academic achievement of 452 educationally disadvantaged students who completed the Career Preparation Programme (CPP) at the University of the Orange Free State during 1998. The mean percentage mark obtained during the bridging year (the bridging year mean) and the mean percentage mark computed for the combination of the bridging year and first year at university (the combined mean) served as criteria in separate multiple regression analyses. The predictor variables consisted of various cognitive and biographical variables. English as home language, obtaining a bursary and residing in a hostel, were predictive of significantly higher bridging year means and combined means than were other home languages, the absence of a bursary and residing elsewhere. Together the biographical variables accounted for 30,49% and 27,74% of the variance in the bridging year mean and the combined mean, respectively. All cognitive variables, however, could together only account for 4,44% and 6,51% of the corresponding means, respectively. The only cognitive variable that significantly predicted the bridging year mean was students' matriculation marks. South African Journal of Higher Education Vol.15(1) 2001: 180-189
Knowing and Learning as Networking

This article attempts to build on contemporary views emanating from the sociology of science and technology and cognitive science regarding cognition as situated and distributed, and knowing and learning as residing in heterogeneous networks of relationships between the social and material world. The main argument presented here is that most studies of organizational learning are underpinned by individual cognitivist metaphors and rely on a topographic view of organizations, conceived as containers of knowledge and a locale of learning. Instead, we propose socio-technical networks as the unit of analysis, and advocate a network view of organizations, conceived as a set of interlocking and shifting relations with porous and fluid boundaries. Finally, we will argue that the broader institutional context has important structuring consequences for situated practices, both for formal organizational practices as well as for informal, intra-and extra-organizational practices linking individuals to wider occupational communities.
Microencapsulation of hydroxyzine HCl by thermal phase separation: in vitro release enhancement and in vivo pharmacodynamic evaluation

The systemic effect of hydroxyzine hydrochloride following its oral administration or topical application is associated with non compliant anticholinergic effect. Subsequently, the present study aims to prepare microcapsules loaded with hydroxyzine hydrochloride enabling its controlled release into the skin and reducing the side effect of its systemic absorption. The microcapsules were prepared by thermal phase separation method using ethyl cellulose/cyclohexane. Optimization of the formulation parameters was carried out by: (1) varying the type and the concentration of the coacervation inducer with microcapsules prepared with three different core: wall ratios, (2) by using ethyl cellulose with two different viscosities, (3) and by the addition of pore inducers such as pregelatinized starch and sucrose in order to enhance the drug release. Microcapsules of 99% encapsulation efficiency were prepared using 1% w/v polyisobutylene, and 1:0.1 core: wall ratio. The highest percent of drug is released after 9 h from microcapsules prepared using 1:0.1 core :wall ratio. Almost 100% drug was released after 3 h, from the same microcapsules prepared with pregelatinized starch that acts as a core coated with the drug. The pharmacodynamic effect of the chosen preparation was tested on the shaved back of histamine sensitized rabbits. Histopathological studies were driven for the detection of the healing of inflamed tissues.