Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Jet reorientation in active galactic nuclei: two winged radio galaxies

Winged, or X-shaped, radio sources form a small class of morphologically peculiar extragalactic sources. We present multifrequency radio observations of two such sources. We derive maximum ages since any re-injection of fresh particles of 34 and 17 Myr for the wings of 3C 223.1 and 3C 403 respectively, based on the lack of synchrotron and inverse Compton losses. On morphological grounds we favour an explanation in terms of a fast realignment of the jet axis which occurred within a few Myr. There is no evidence for merger activity, and the host galaxies are found to reside in no more than poor cluster environments. A number of puzzling questions remain about those sources: in particular, although the black hole could realign on sufficiently short time-scales, the origin of the realignment is unknown.
White Americans, the New Minority?: Non-Blacks and the Ever-Expanding Boundaries of Whiteness

We Hispanics are, finally, like other immigrant groups… Yes, the Hispanics are going to become more like the majority. Their families will be smaller, better educated, more traveled. Roots will be lost. Language will be lost. Food will be the last to go. We will be eating tacos and tortillas for a long time to come. (Cesar Chavez, cited in Morgan, 1985, pp. 79–80) The American Dream is at the expense of the American Negro. (James Baldwin, cited in Leeming, 1994)
An age–size reaction norm yields insight into environmental interactions affecting life-history traits: a factorial study of larval development in the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto

Environmental factors frequently act nonindependently to determine growth and development of insects. Because age and size at maturity strongly influence population dynamics, interaction effects among environmental variables complicate the task of predicting dynamics of insect populations under novel conditions. We reared larvae of the African malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto (s.s.) under three factors relevant to changes in climate and land use: food level, water depth, and temperature. Each factor was held at two levels in a fully crossed design, for eight experimental treatments. Larval survival, larval development time, and adult size (wing length) were measured to indicate the importance of interaction effects upon population-level processes. For age and size at emergence, but not survival, significant interaction effects were detected for all three factors, in addition to sex. Some of these interaction effects can be understood as consequences of how the different factors influence energy usage in the context of a nonindependent relationship between age and size. Experimentally assessing interaction effects for all potential future sets of conditions is intractable. However, considering how different factors affect energy usage within the context of an insect's evolved developmental program can provide insight into the causes of complex environmental effects on populations.
Oral magnesium supplementation improves insulin sensitivity and metabolic control in type 2 diabetic subjects: a randomized double-blind controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether oral magnesium supplementation (as magnesium chloride [MgCl(2)] solution) improves both insulin sensitivity and metabolic control in type 2 diabetic subjects with decreased serum magnesium levels. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This study was a clinical randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. A total of 63 subjects with type 2 diabetes and decreased serum magnesium (serum magnesium levels </=0.74 mmol/l) treated by glibenclamide received either 50 ml MgCl(2) solution (containing 50 g MgCl(2) per 1,000 ml solution) or placebo daily for 16 weeks. Chronic diarrhea, alcoholism, use of diuretic and/or calcium antagonist drugs, and reduced renal function were exclusion criteria. Homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was used as the parameter of insulin sensitivity and glucose and HbA(1c) as parameters of metabolic control. RESULTS At the end of the study, subjects who received magnesium supplementation showed significant higher serum magnesium concentration (0.74 +/- 0.10 vs. 0.65 +/- 0.07 mmol/l, P = 0.02) and lower HOMA-IR index (3.8 +/- 1.1 vs. 5.0 +/- 1.3, P = 0.005), fasting glucose levels (8.0 +/- 2.4 vs. 10.3 +/- 2.1 mmol/l, P = 0.01), and HbA(1c) (8.0 +/- 2.4 vs. 10.1 +/- 3.3%, P = 0.04) than control subjects. CONCLUSIONS Oral supplementation with MgCl(2) solution restores serum magnesium levels, improving insulin sensitivity and metabolic control in type 2 diabetic patients with decreased serum magnesium levels.
New Structural and Functional Aspects of the Type I Interferon-Receptor Interaction Revealed by Comprehensive Mutational Analysis of the Binding Interface*

Type I interferons bind to two cell surface receptors, ifnar1 and ifnar2, as the first step in the activation of several signal transduction pathways that elicit an anti-viral state and an anti-proliferative response. Here, we quantitatively mapped the complete binding region of ifnar2 on interferon (IFN)α2 by 35 individual mutations to alanine and isosteric residues. Of the six “hot-spot” residues identified (Leu-30, Arg-33, Arg-144, Ala-145, Met-148, and Arg-149), four are located on the E-helix, which is located at the center of the binding site flanked by residues on the A-helix and the AB-loop. The contribution of residues of the D-helix, which have been previously implicated in binding, proved to be marginal for the interaction with the extracellular domain of ifnar2. Interestingly, the ifnar2 binding site overlaps the largest continuous hydrophobic patch on IFNα2. Thus, hydrophobic interactions seem to play a significant role stabilizing this interaction, with the charged residues contributing toward the rapid association of the complex. Relating the anti-viral and anti-proliferative activity of the various interferon mutants with their affinity toward ifnar2 results in linear function over the whole range of affinities investigated, suggesting that ifnar2 binding is the rate-determining step in cellular activation. Dose-time analysis of the anti-viral response revealed that shortening the incubation time of low-level activation cannot be compensated by higher IFN doses. Considering the strict dependence of the cellular response on affinity, these results suggest that for maintaining transcription of IFN-responsive genes over a longer time period, low but continuous signaling through the IFN receptor is essential.
Tumor board in gynecologic oncology

Objective This study evaluates the influence of a weekly tumor conference on the management of patient care in a gynecologic oncology service. Methods The study utilizes all patients discussed in the gyncologic oncology tumor conference at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) from January 1, 1998, to January 1, 2001. Patient's information (age, race, cancer site, stage, new cancer versus recurrent) was abstracted from the minutes and attendant log of the tumor board. We compared the pathology and diagnosis for each patient as stated both before and after presentation at the tumor board. A discrepancy is defined as a change in tumor site, stage, or treatment, resulting from findings discussed at tumor board meetings. Major discrepancy is defined as changes that affect patient care. Minor discrepancy is defined as changes that do not affect patient care. Results During the study period, a total of 459 cases were discussed (391 new cancer, 68 recurrent cancer). At each tumor conference, we discussed a mean of 3.7 cases (range 1–9, standard deviation 1.68). Thirty-two cases (6.9%) showed discrepancies with 23 major discrepancies and nine minor discrepancies. As a result of the tumor board, the two most common therapeutic changes were the addition of chemotherapy and surgery. Conclusions In this study, a gynecologic oncology tumor board added clinical information available to pathologists, thereby alters final diagnosis and affects patient medical care.
Single-particle imaging of macromolecules by cryo-electron microscopy.

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) of biological molecules in single-particle (i.e., unordered, nonaggregated) form is a new approach to the study of molecular assemblies, which are often too large and flexible to be amenable to X-ray crystallography. New insights into biological function on the molecular level are expected from cryo-EM applied to the study of such complexes "trapped" at different stages of their conformational changes and dynamical interactions. Important molecular machines involved in the fundamental processes of transcription, mRNA splicing, and translation are examples for successful applications of the new technique, combined with structural knowledge gained by conventional techniques of structure determination, such as X-ray crystallography and NMR.
Fast features reduction of radio maps for real-time fingerprint-based wireless positioning systems

In fingerprint-based wireless positioning, a high number of wireless access points solicits feature reduction to obtain a compact radio map for accurate real-time positioning. Although principal component analysis (PCA) can be used to reduce dimensionality, PCA is computationally expensive. Additionally, PCA maps the data to a new space where physical meaning of the original features is lost. Presented is a faster features reduction approach using fast orthogonal search which selects the most informative features in the original space. The algorithm is applied to select the most informative access points in a radio map for accurate real-time wireless positioning. Experiments demonstrate the proposed method's superior performance to PCA in terms of speed and slightly better performance in terms of accuracy.
Differential Female Access to Males with Large Throat Patches in the Asian Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica gutturalis

Intersexual selection results from several processes, such as differential allocation and differential access, in addition to mating skews by mate choice. These processes can contribute to the evolution, maintenance, and geographic differentiation of male ornamentation, although the importance of these processes in male ornamentation remains poorly understood. The Asian barn swallow Hirundo rustica gutturalis is a socially monogamous songbird that exhibits biparental care and has red throat patches twice as large as those of the nominate H. r. rustica. Our previous study showed that females paired to males with large throat patches had higher reproductive output in terms of multiple broods, although the underlying process resulting in selection for a large throat patch remained unclear. In the present study, we analyzed differential female access to males with large throat patches in H. r. gutturalis. We observed that males with large throat patches acquired older and fatter females, independent of male age class. In addition, females that mated to males with large throat patches returned to the study site more compared with others, indicating the high viability of these females, supporting differential access but not differential allocation. No other measures of male ornaments (i.e., tail length, white tail spots, or throat color value) were linked to female qualities. As these female qualities were associated with female reproductive output, males with large throat patches would obtain reproductive advantages, as found in our previous study. The current findings suggest the importance of differential access for the evolution of a large throat patch in this subspecies.
Meaning not measurement

Purpose – Events research is witnessing a gradual increase in experience‐related studies, reflecting a challenge to the dominance of positivist, quantitative‐based studies. This purpose of this paper is to support a paradigm shift to effect a more balanced examination of events within the existing body of literature.Design/methodology/approach – A search of events‐related publications in both events and non‐events journals is conducted in order to identify the level of use of the ethnographic approach by researchers in event studies. The literature on qualitative methods and on ethnography in particular is also examined, in a bid to show how ethnography can be used and how it is specifically suited to inquiry into the consumer experience of events and festivals.Findings – Ethnography is advocated as an appropriate research approach to the events field, and this paper details the extensive potential that this approach offers. Drawing from the wider literature on ethnography, a rationale for an alternative .
A Public Peace Process: Sustained Dialogue to Transform Racial and Ethnic Conflicts

Preface: A Personal Essay: The Human and Intellectual Roots of Sustained Dialogue Acknowledgements Introduction: The Challenges of Conflict and Peace in the Citizens' Century The Peace Process: A Conceptual Framework Changing Conflictual Relationships Citizens' Politics in Civil Society International Relationships across Permeable Borders The Dialogue Process Sustained Dialogue: A Public Peace Process The Inter-Tajik Dialogue Baton Rouge: Dialogue on Race Relations: William Jefferson Day, Jan Bernard, Fred Jeff Smith Bridging the Abyss: Palestinian-Israeli Women's Dialogues Galia Golan and Zahira Kamal Evaluating Sustained Dialogue Sustained Dialogue: A Public Space for Learning Appendix: Sustained Dialogue in Practice Suggested Readings
‘No, Facebook isn’t distracting me, I can study at night’ ICT habits and boundary management among Estonian secondary pupils

The topic of this article is the use of information and communication technologies (computers, tablets, and mobile phones) in adolescents and boundary management between mental domains (school and home domain). More specifically, how do Estonian secondary pupils perceive and manage mental boundaries between school work and leisure activities in environments with ubiquitous access to ICT. Building on a mixed methods study consisting of a web survey with structured, closed-ended questions and of focus groups, this study shows that the pupils use ICT for leisure and school work to a great extent, both at school and at home, enabling learning outside of schools as well as leisure activities within schools. The study also shows how the pupils use ICT to integrate and segment school work and leisure activities, at home and in school; and although shifting between mental domains and different genres of participation may have positive effects on pupils’ learning lives, the pupils’ problematic experiences of navigating between domains must be addressed to understand the complexity of living and learning in the e-society.
Does Religious Education Have a Future?: Pedagogical and Policy Prospects

Introduction: The politics and discourse of RE Section 1. Representations of religion and education: critical enquiries 1. The global context of religion and belief 2. The conflicted context of education Section 2. Diagnosing RE's pedagogy, provenance and politics 3. The heart of the enterprise: a pedagogical problem 4. Phenomenology and anthropology: the advocacy of religion as an approach to RE 5. Discourse and dissonance in contemporary paradigms of RE 6. The politics of English RE: a portrait of disfunctionality Section 3. The case for a radical transformation of RE 7. The doors of pedagogical perception: pedagogy as existential stance 8. Towards an educational economy of religions 9. Between education and catastrophe: The futures of RE
Digital signatures for flows and multicasts

We present chaining techniques for signing/verifying multiple packets using a single signing/verification operation. We then present flow signing and verification procedures based upon a tree chaining technique. Since a single signing/verification operation is amortized over many packets, these procedures improve signing and verification rates by one to two orders of magnitude compared to the approach of signing/verifying packets individually. Our procedures do not depend upon reliable delivery of packets, provide delay-bounded signing, and are thus suitable for delay-sensitive flows and multicast applications. To further improve our procedures, we propose several extensions to the Feige-Fiat-Shamir digital signature scheme to speed up both the signing and verification operations, as well as to allow "adjustable and incremental" verification. The extended scheme, called eFFS, is compared to four other digital signature schemes (RSA, DSA, ElGamal, Rabin). We compare their signing and verification times, as well as key and signature sizes. We observe that (i) the signing and verification operations of eFFS are highly efficient compared to the other schemes, (ii) eFFS allows a tradeoff between memory and signing/verification time, and (iii) eFFS allows adjustable and incremental verification by receivers.
The incidence of violence and acquaintance rape in dating relationships among college men and women.

Among college students, a high percentage of women and men have experienced violence and acquaintance rape in their dating relationships. (Abstract Adapted from Source: Journal of College Student Development, 1988. Copyright © 1988 by The Johns Hopkins University Press) College Student Research Dating Violence Incidence and Prevalence Dating Violence Offender Dating Violence Victim Date Rape Rape Incidence and Prevalence Rape Victim Rape Offender Sexual Assault Incidence and Prevalence Sexual Assault Victim Sexual Assault Offender Adult Male Adult Female Adult Offender Adult Violence Adult Victim Acquaintance Rape Partner Violence Violence Against Women Female Victim Female Offender Female Violence Male Victim Male Violence Male Offender Adult Dating Violence 06-04
Foveal slope measurements in diabetic retinopathy: Can it predict development of sight-threatening retinopathy? Sankara Nethralaya Diabetic Retinopathy Epidemiology and Molecular Genetics Study (SN-DREAMS II, Report no 8)

Aim: The aim was to assess the foveal slope configuration in subjects with type 2 diabetes in a population-based study. Materials and Methods: A subset of 668 subjects from Sankara Nethralaya Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) Epidemiology and Molecular Genetics Study II, a population-based study, were included in the current study. All the subjects underwent comprehensive ophthalmic evaluation including spectral domain optical coherence tomography. Foveal thickness was assessed in five central early treatment DR study quadrants from the three-dimensional scan and foveal slope was calculated in all the four quadrants. Results: Subjects with sight-threatening DR (STDR) had significantly shallow foveal slope in inferior quadrant (STDR: 7.33 ± 6.26 vs. controls: 10.31 ± 3.44; P = 0.021) when compared to controls and in superior (STDR: 7.62 ± 5.81 vs. no DR: 9.11 ± 2.82; P = 0.033), inferior (STDR: 7.33 ± 6.26 vs. no DR: 8.81 ± 2.81; P = 0.048), and temporal quadrants (STDR: 6.69 ± 5.70 vs. no DR: 7.97 ± 2.33; P = 0.030) when compared to subjects with no DR. Foveal slope was significantly shallow among the older age groups in subjects with no DR (P < 0.001) and non-STDR (P = 0.027). Average foveal slope in the diabetic subjects was independently and significantly correlated with increase in age (r = −0.241; P < 0.001) and central subfield thickness (r = −0.542; P < 0.001). Conclusion: Changes in foveal slope were seen with increasing age; however, in diabetes these segmental slope changes can be seen in late DR (STDR).
Cystic breast lesions by conventional ultrasonography: sonographic subtype-pathologic correlation and BI-RADS Assessment

Introduction Appropriate categorization is very important because the clinical management of each subtype of cystic breast lesions (CBLs) differs. The purpose was to evaluate the sonographic subtype-pathologic correlation, and to identify the effectiveness of the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS)-ultrasound (US) for differentiation of benign and malignant CBLs. Material and methods A database from December 1, 2007 and November 30, 2009 was identified in the Department of Diagnostic Ultrasound, Rui Jin Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. Those patients with palpable or clinical symptomatic breast masses were associated with a cystic component in lesions on breast US. All patients underwent a subsequent fine-needle/core-needle biopsy or surgical excision. The sonographic findings were analyzed according to the BI-RADS-US, and were categorized by two different methods of subtype categorization compared with the pathologic results. Results Ninety-nine breast cystic lesions in 83 women were included, among whom 16 patients were identified with bilateral cystic lesions. The total malignancy rate of CBLs was 14.1% (95% confidence interval 7.3–21.0%). Among 99 CBLs, 14 malignant lesions were associated with sonographic appearances of complex cystic lesions, while the remaining subtypes were benign. Shape, margin, echo pattern, orientation, calcification, and vascularity were statistically significantly different between the benign and malignant lesions (p = 0.010, p = 0.004, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p = 0.036, and p < 0.001, respectively) (degrees of freedom = 1). Conclusions By comparison of the two different methods of subtype categorization of CBLs, the appropriate 5-variety classification should be suggested. The BI-RADS-US was useful for differentiating benign from malignant cystic lesions.
Reactive Oxygen Species: A Double-Edged Sword in Reproduction

Antioxidants are compounds that protect cells against the damaging effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as singlet oxygen, superoxide, peroxyl radicals, hydroxyl radicals and peroxynitrite. Oxidative damage occurs to cells in vivo and in vitro from exposure to free radicals generated by exogenous agents (e.g., radiation, chemicals, hyperoxia) and endogenous processes such as normal cellular metabolism. An imbalance between antioxidants and ROS results in oxidative stress, leading to cellular damage. Oxidative stress (OS) has been linked to cancer, ageing, atherosclerosis, ischemic injury, inflammation, and neurodegenerative diseases. Under extreme oxidative conditions, or if the antioxidant protective mechanisms of cells are compromised, cellular injury and death may occur. Early mammalian embryos are susceptible to damage from reactive oxygen species, and they increase the production of oxygen free radicals when cultured in vitro. ROS generation results from mitochondrias oxidative phosphorylation. The electrons will leak from the inner mitochondrial membranes, being transferred by the oxygen molecule, resulting in an unpaired electron in the orbit. This leaking results in the generation of the superoxide molecules. ROS can also be generated by the cytoplasmic NADPH-oxidase, cytochrome p450 enzymes and the xanthine oxidoreductase enzymes. The excess of OS can have negative effects on the cellular environment and can result in impaired cellular growth in the embryo or apoptosis resulting in embryo fragmentation. Similarly to what happens in females, oxidative energy production in males is inevitably associated with the generation of ROS excessive concentrations of which can lead to cellular pathology. It has been established that ROS can function as signaling molecules and evidence is emerging that sperm may generate low and controlled concentrations of ROS, specifically O2-H2O2, as well as other species such as nitric oxide (NO), which, in his turn, act to mediate the processes of capacitation, hyperactivation and acrosome reaction crucial to the acquisition of fertilizing ability. In the present review the most important antioxidants and their mechanisms of action related to animal reproduction, are discussed.