Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of fibrin formation, structure, and function

Purpose of reviewFibrinogen is the protein substrate of the multifaceted procoagulant and proinflammatory enzyme, thrombin. Fibrin, the product of thrombin's proteolytic cleavage of fibrinogen, provides biophysical and biochemical support to blood clots, and subsequent degradation of fibrin by plasmin is a critical inflammatory mediator and essential step in wound healing. As such, fibrin(ogen) lies at the nexus of vascular injury and repair. Herein, we review aspects of fibrin(ogen) formation, structure, stability, and function, focusing on novel findings within the past 2 years. Recent findingsEarly research into specific properties of fibrinogen and fibrin revealed complex kinetics by which fibrinogen is converted to a fibrin network in vitro. These findings laid important groundwork for current in-vivo studies on the role of fibrin(ogen) in hemostasis and thrombosis. Recent studies show novel mechanisms regulating fibrinogen expression, as well as novel roles of fibrinogen in infection, inflammation, and cognitive disorders. SummaryExpression of fibrinogen and interactions between fibrinogen and other proteins are essential for homeostasis. However, recent findings show abnormal fibrinogen modifications and/or increased fibrin formation and network stability promote thrombosis, as well as disorders not previously associated with coagulation. These findings highlight the increasingly important role of fibrin(ogen) in health and disease.
Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Drunk Drivers: Beyond Incarceration

Proponents of mandatory jail laws contend that alternative sanctions such as probation and fines have failed to modify behavior of those convicted of drunk driving (DWI). In order to test this proposition, we evaluated the effects of probation, fines, and jail sentences on DWI recidivism of a randomly selected DWI population at risk for 36 months. Utilizing survival time statistical analysis, the findings showed no significant differences in outcome among sanctions. As predicted, persons with a DWI history recidivated significantly sooner than first offenders. We conclude by advocating a policy of alternative sanctions to incarceration for drunk drivers.
In vivo location and mechanism of EDHF-mediated vasodilation in canine coronary microcirculation.

Responses of epicardial coronary arterioles to ACh were measured using stroboscopic fluorescence microangiography in dogs (n = 38). ACh (0.1 and 0.5 microg. kg(-1). min(-1) ic) dilated small (<100 micron, 11 +/- 2 and 19 +/- 2%, respectively) and large (>100 micron, , 6 +/- 3 and 13 +/- 3%, respectively) arterioles at baseline. Combined administration of N(omega)-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA; 1. 0 micromol/min ic) and indomethacin (10 mg/kg iv) eliminated ACh-induced dilation in large coronary arterioles but only partially attenuated that in small arterioles. Suffusion of a buffer containing 60 mM KCl (high KCl) completely abolished cromakalim-induced dilation in arterioles and in combination with L-NMMA plus indomethacin completely blocked ACh-induced dilation in small arterioles. This indicated that the vasodilation to ACh that persists in small arterioles after administration of L-NMMA and indomethacin is mediated via a hyperpolarizing factor. The ACh-induced vasodilation remaining after L-NMMA and indomethacin was completely blocked by the large-conductance potassium-channel antagonist iberiotoxin or by epicardial suffusion of miconazole or metyrapone, inhibitors of cytochrome P-450 enzymes. These observations are consistent with the view that endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor (EDHF) is a product of cytochrome P-450 enzymes and produces vasodilation by the opening of large-conductance potassium channels. We conclude that ACh-induced dilation in large coronary arterioles is mediated mainly by nitric oxide (NO), whereas, in small arterioles both NO and EDHF mediate dilation to ACh. These data provide the first direct evidence for an in vivo role of EDHF in small coronary arterioles.
X-ray follow-ups of XSSJ12270-4859: a low-mass X-ray binary with gamma ray FERMI-LAT association

XSSJ1227.0-4859 is a peculiar, hard X-ray source recently positionally associated to the Fermi-LAT source 1FGLJ1227.9-4852/2FGLJ1227.7-4853. Multi-wavelength observations have added information on this source, indicating a low-luminosity low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB), but its nature is still unclear. To progress in our understanding, we present new X-ray data from a monitoring campaign performed in 2011 with the XMM-Newton, RXTE, and Swift satellites and combine them with new gamma-ray data from the Fermi and AGILE satellites. We complement the study with simultaneous near-UV photometry from XMM-Newton and with previous UV/optical and near-IR data. The X-ray history of XSSJ1227.0-4859 over 7yr shows a persistent and rather stable low-luminosity (~6x10^33 d_{1\,kpc}^2 erg/s) source, with flares and dips being peculiar and permanent characteristics. The associated Fermi-LAT source 2FGLJ1227.7-4853 is also stable over an overlapping period of 4.7\,yr. Searches for X-ray fast pulsations down to msec give upper limits to pulse fractional amplitudes of 15-25% that do not rule out a fast spinning pulsar. The combined UV/optical/near-IR spectrum reveals a hot component at ~13\,kK and a cool one at ~4.6\,kK. The latter would suggest a late-type K2-K5 companion star, a distance range of1.4--3.6kpc and an orbital period of 7--9 h. A near-UV variability (>6\,h) also suggests a longer orbital period than previously estimated. The analysis shows that the X-ray and UV/optical/near-IR emissions are more compatible with an accretion-powered compact object than with a rotational powered pulsar. The X-ray to UV bolometric luminosity ratio could be consistent with a binary hosting a neutron star, but the uncertainties in the radio data may also allow an LMXB black hole with a compact jet. In this case it would be the first associated with a high-energy gamma-ray source.
"Parent Involvement is Like Apple Pie": A Look at Parental Involvement in Two States

Many legislators and researchers are proclaiming that parental involvement assists in student academic achievement. Although the calling for more parental involvement is evident in literature, there are issues that need to be addressed within the high school. This study looks at one high school, and the issues that teachers, parents, and administrators address while discussing parental involvement.
Examining Relationships Among Perceptions of Self, Episode-Specific Evaluations, and Overall Satisfaction with a Leisure Activity

Abstract Many researchers have investigated leisure experience as a process that includes interactions with others and the environment. Interactions during leisure are known to influence the experience. Based on this tradition, the purpose of this study was to investigate how emotions might relate to interactions that an individual has during leisure experience and to examine the relationships among emotions, episode-specific evaluations, and overall satisfaction. A research model was suggested based on Affect Control Theory, the confirmation/disconfirmation paradigm, Mehrabian and Russell's 1974 approach-avoidance concept, and the sub-domain dependency theory of leisure satisfaction. Findings from analyses of experiences suggested that linkages existed among confirmation of self-identity (a goal), resulting emotions, episode-specific evaluations, and finally to overall satisfaction with a leisure activity.
An architecture for context prediction

Pervasive Computing is a new area of research with increasing prominence; it is situated at the intersection between human/computer interaction, embedded and distributed systems and networking technology. Its declared aim is a holistic design of computer systems, which is often described as the disappearance of computer technology into the periphery of daily life. One central aspect of this vision is a partial replacement of explicit, obtrusive interfaces for human/computer interaction that demand exclusive user attention with implicit ones embedded into real-world artifacts that allow intuitive and unobtrusive use. This kind of interaction with computer systems suits human users better, but necessitates an adaption of such systems to the respective context in which they are used. Context is, in this regard, understood as any information about the current situation of a person, place or object that is relevant to the user interaction. Context-based interaction, which is pursued by the design and implementation of contextsensitive systems, is therefore one of the building blocks of Pervasive Computing. Within the last five years, a number of seminal publications on the recognition of current context from a combination of different sensors have been written within this field. This dissertation tackles the next logical step after the recognition of the current context: the prediction of future contexts. The general concept is the prediction of abstract contexts to allow computer systems to proactively prepare for future situations. This kind of high-level context prediction allows an integral consideration of all ascertainable aspects of context, in contrast to the autonomous prediction of individual aspects like the geographical position of the user. It allows to consider patterns and interrelations in the user behavior which are not apparent at the lower levels of raw sensor data. The present thesis analyzes prerequisites for user-centered prediction of context and presents an architecture for autonomous, background context recognition and prediction, building upon established methods for data based prediction like the various instances of Markov models. Especial attention is turned to implicit user interaction to prevent disruptions of users during their normal tasks and to continuous adaption of the developed systems to changed conditions. Another considered aspect is the economical use of resources to allow an integration of context prediction into embedded systems. The developed architecture is being implemented in terms of a flexible software framework and evaluated with recorded real-world data from everyday situations. This examination shows that the prediction of abstract contexts is already possible within certain limits, but that there is still room for future improvements of the prediction quality.
Controlling the Emotional Bias: Performance, Late Positive Potentials, and the Effect of Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)

Cognitive control of emotional processing is essential for adaptive human behavior. Biased attention toward emotionally salient information is critically linked with affective disorders and is discussed as a promising treatment target. Anodal (activity enhancing) transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been shown to increase healthy and impaired cognitive control over emotional distraction and is therefore widely used for the investigation and experimental treatment of this disorder. In this study, event-related potential (ERP) were recorded parallel to tDCS to track its online effects. Healthy volunteers (n = 87) performed a delayed working memory paradigm with emotional salient and neutral distractors during stimulation with different intensities (sham, 0.5, 1, 1.5 mA). Measuring the late positive potential (LPP), an ERP that indexes attention allocation, we found that a valence-specific increase of the early portion of the LPP (eLPP, 250–500 ms) was associated with less emotional distraction in the sham group. Of note, stimulation with tDCS exerted an intensity related effect on this correlation. The later part of the LPP (lLPP, 500–1000 ms) was found to be correlated with reaction time, regardless of valence. General effect of tDCS on LPPs and task performance were not observed. These findings demonstrate that ERP recordings parallel to tDCS are feasible to investigate the neuronal underpinnings of stimulation effects on executive functions. Furthermore, they support the notion that the LPP induced by a distractive stimulus during a working memory task mirrors the additional allocation of neuronal resources with a specific sensitivity of the early LPP for highly arousing negative stimuli. Finally, together with the variable magnitude and direction of the emotional bias, the lack of systematic modulations of LPPs and behavior by tDCS further underlines the important influence of the individual brain activity patterns on stimulation effects both on the behavioral and neurophysiological level.
NEPI: using independent simulators, emulators, and testbeds for easy experimentation

Evaluating new network protocols, applications, and architectures uses many kinds of experimentation environments: simulators, emulators, testbeds, and sometimes, combinations of these. As the functionality and complexity of these tools increases, mastering and efficiently using each of them is becoming increasingly difficult. In this paper, we consider how to make it easier to use multiple tools separately and together to improve the productivity of network researchers. We show how a single object model which encompasses every aspect of a typical experimentation workow can be used to completely describe experiments to be run within very different experimentation environments. Although Nepi is still in early design and prototyping stage, we expect that its ability to describe and automate easily complex mixed experiments will enable further experimentation with heterogenous networks.
The Star Wars Arms Race in College Athletics

This study focuses on a “star wars arms race” concerning escalating head coaches’ salaries in the biggest of the big-time college sports in the United States, football and men’s basketball. Data are presented from six seasons since 2003 testing the assumption that paying top salaries to coaches assures or improves success on the field and in the rankings. The data concerning rankings and mobility into and out of the “Top 25” for teams with the top-paid football and men’s basketball coaches show that institutions paying the highest salaries to head coaches of these sports are not assured of having highly ranked teams. Policy issues and implications of the star wars arms race for college sports and higher education institutions are discussed.
Direct evidence that mitochondrial iron accumulation occurs in Friedreich ataxia

Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is due to mutations in the FRDA gene (FRDA). When the gene homologous to FRDA is knocked out in yeast, there is accumulation of iron in mitochondria and reduced respiratory function. So far, there is only indirect evidence to support the hypothesis that FRDA is due to accumulation of mitochondrial iron leading to increased production of free radicals. We show here that mitochondrial iron is significantly higher in fibroblasts from patients with FRDA than in control fibroblasts. This is the first direct evidence that the findings in yeast are reproducible in cells from patients with FRDA. Ann Neurol 1999;45:673–675
Review : Social Science Information and its Users

Science. Previously worked in p ublic libraries and the BBC Reference Library. Has recently coi-npleted a documcntaiy for BBC Radio. &dquo;Hoiv do social scientists communicate research results? &dquo;, &dquo;How do they make use of such sources of information as are available to them? &dquo; Qucstions like rhcsc receive a great deal of attention nowadays, not only from librarians and information scientists (who were the first to explore these fields) but also from psychologists and sociologist who are, to an increasing extent, getting in on the
About Being Mununga (Whitefulla): making covert group racism visible

The main focus of this paper is to expose what goes on between Mununga (White people) in Australia that contributes to the maintenance of racism in hidden and often unconscious ways. Mununga racism in Australia commonly occurs as normal, shared, social activity amongst ordinary, decent, Mununga folk, and it is covert and linked to colonial beliefs and practices. In this context, Mununga are co-opted by their own society to oppress others, particularly Blekbala (Indigenous people). However, some challenge that custom and strive to step outside their prevailing social practices. The processes of being co-opted into and challenging colonial practices are explored through the counter-narratives of Mununga allies who are engaged in the work of anti-racism and decolonization. Using an outsider Blekbala perspective with the help of Mununga insider perspectives, I put forward a description and critique of these covert, social practices under the themes of ‘Making, unmaking and remaking the Mununga self’, ‘Deep shared understandings’, ‘Violence, silence and benevolence’, ‘Unconstrained Mununga talk’ and ‘Turning things around’. This is a Black story of White on White. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Monitoring Student Engagement for Intercollegiate Athletics Program Review.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the impact that athletics participation in both revenue and non‐revenue intercollegiate sport had on the engagement of students as measured by the National Survey of Student Engagement. In addition, the study reported results to the institution's athletics department for application as a tool for program review.Design/methodology/approach – The study employed a factorial design using self‐reported data from a cooperating institution. The independent variables examined were participation in intercollegiate athletics (athletes vs non‐athletes) and the sport type (revenue sports vs non‐revenue sports). Measures of student engagement were the dependent variables in the study.Findings – Descriptive analysis revealed that athletes were as engaged as their non‐athlete peers and suggested that revenue sport participants were not as engaged as their non‐revenue sport counterparts. Univariate ANCOVA analyses uncovered significant differences between both categories .
Practical considerations when supporting transitions for pupils with speech, language and communication needs

This article investigates the impact of transitions upon pupils aged 11–14 with speech, language and communication needs, including specific language impairment and autism. The aim is to identify stress factors, examine whether these affect any subgroups in particular and suggest practical strategies to support pupils through transitions. Stress factors discussed include homework, bullying, independent learning and social situations. The compared subgroups include pupils with diagnosis of SLI and autism, those receiving free school meals and those not, and pupils achieving at different National Curriculum levels. The sample is too small to be representative or generalisable but some recommendations for practice are given.
(Un)ambiguous optimal control

The phenomenon of using control actions to communicate is called signaling. Signaling is often beneficial in decentralized control problems with imperfect communication between agents. Seemingly simple control problems with signaling are often mathematically challenging. Humans, however, lack high-speed communication channels and routinely employ signaling strategies during cooperative movements. This paper presents a computationally tractable two-player problem that models several salient features of signaling problems arising in both decentralized control and human experiments. The problem consists of a signaler that reaches towards one of two possible targets, and an observer that decides on the target location based on noisy measurements of the movement. The signaler trades off control costs, such as energy, with informativeness for the observer. Two variants, the unambiguous case and the ambiguous case, are presented. In the unambiguous case, the signaler makes movements that are easy to distinguish, while in the ambiguous case, the signaler maximizes similarity of the movements. An approximation method for nonlinear systems is presented. When applied to a three-link arm model, the control scheme reproduces qualitative signaling phenomena observed in human reaching experiments.
Successful Mainstreaming in Elementary Science Classes: A Qualitative Study of Three Reputational Cases

The overall purpose of this investigation was to identify variables meaningfully associated with mainstreaming success in science classes, across grade levels, and across categories of disability. Subsequent to 2 years’ collaborative work with teachers, we studied, over a school year, three science classes in which students with disabilities were successfully included. Associated building and district-level practices were also examined. Evidence gathered included observational field notes, student and teacher products, videotaped records, curriculum materials, and interviews with students, teachers, and administrators. Seven variables were identified that were common to all settings and independent of grade level or disability category. Most of these served also to enhance the shared experience of all students in the science classes. Implications for mainstreaming and for science education are discussed.
Mutations of Oncoprotein 18/Stathmin Identify Tubulin-Directed Regulatory Activities Distinct from Tubulin Association

ABSTRACT Oncoprotein 18/stathmin (Op18) is a recently identified phosphorylation-responsive regulator of the microtubule (MT) system. It was originally proposed that Op18 specifically regulates dynamic properties of MTs by associating with tubulin, but it has subsequently been proposed that Op18 acts simply by sequestering of tubulin heterodimers. We have dissected the mechanistic action of Op18 by generation of two distinct classes of mutants. One class has interruptions of the heptad repeats of a potential coiled-coil region of Op18, and the other involves substitution at all four phosphorylation sites with negatively charged Glu residues. Both types of mutation result in Op18 proteins with a limited decrease in tubulin complex formation. However, the MT-destabilizing activities of the coiled-coil mutants are more severely reduced in transfected leukemia cells than those of the Glu-substituted Op18 derivative, providing evidence for tubulin-directed regulatory activities distinct from tubulin complex formation. Analysis of Op18-mediated regulation of tubulin GTPase activity and taxol-promoted tubulin polymerization showed that while wild-type and Glu-substituted Op18 derivatives are active, the coiled-coil mutants are essentially inactive. This suggests that Op18-tubulin contact involves structural motifs that deliver a signal of regulatory importance to the MT system.
A SHORT TEST OF CONSUMER DECISION-MAKING STYLES

A container of prismatic shape, in particular with a square ground plan shape, has a bottom, a base frame, and side walls extending upwardly therefrom, wherein a front side wall is pivotably journalled for opening the container, and wherein the container is furthermore equipped with a pressing device provided for compressing the filling material. At its lower side, the front side wall is rigidly connected to the bottom, and the unit thus formed is journalled on the front side of the container so as to be outwardly pivotable. The pressing device is comprised of a pressing lid and a toggle lever mechanism provided for pressing down the pressing lid and actuatable by a hand lever.