Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Structure of Online Activism

Despite the tremendous amount of attention that has been paid to the internet as a tool for civic engagement, we still have little idea how “active” is the average online activist or how social networks matter in facilitating electronic protest. In this paper, we use complete records on the donation and recruitment activity of 1.2 million members of the Save Darfur “Cause” on Facebook to provide a detailed first look at a massive online social movement. While both donation and recruitment behavior are socially patterned, the vast majority of Cause members recruited no one else into the Cause and contributed no money to it-suggesting that in the case of the Save Darfur campaign, Facebook conjured an illusion of activism rather than facilitating the real thing.
Comparison of Continuous Noninvasive Blood Pressure Monitoring by TL-300 With Standard Invasive Blood Pressure Measurement in Patients Undergoing Elective Neurosurgery

Background: Intraoperative blood pressure (BP) is one of the basic vital signs monitoring. Compared with standard invasive BP measurement, TL-300 allows for a continuous and beat-to-beat noninvasive intraoperative BP monitoring. The current retrospective study compared the accuracy and precision of this noninvasive technique for continuous BP monitoring with that of standard invasive BP measurement in patients undergoing elective neurosurgery. Materials and Methods: BP records of 23 patients undergoing elective neurosurgery, measured by both noninvasive TL-300 and invasive radial arterial catheter method, were retrospectively analyzed. Variability in BP data was analyzed by using linear regressions and Bland-Altman analysis. Results: Four thousand three hundred eighty-one pairs of BP measurements from a total of 23 patients were included. The coefficient of determination of systolic, diastolic, and mean BP were 0.908, 0.803, and 0.922, respectively. And their bias was found to be 1.3±5.87 mm Hg (95% limits of agreement: −10.2 to +12.8 mm Hg), 2.8±6.40 mm Hg (95% limits of agreement: −9.8 to +15.3 mm Hg), and 1.8±4.20 mm Hg (95% limits of agreement: −6.4 to +10.1 mm Hg), respectively. Conclusions: TL-300 system is a promising noninvasive alternative to the invasive arterial catheter method for intraoperative BP monitoring, with a high accuracy and precision. With the limitation of the current retrospective study, further prospective method comparison studies are needed.
The Way They Care: An Ethnography of Social Justice Physical Education Teacher Education

Abstract The concept of teacher education (TE) for social justice has limited exploration contexts of historically Black colleges and universities, preservice teachers of color, and physical education teacher education (PETE). To address this gap, I sought to explore how social justice manifested within a historically Black PETE program. Using the ethnographic methods of interviews, observations, and artifact analysis, this article emphasizes one of many major themes that emerged from a larger ethnography—caring. Undergirded by a framework of analysis that viewed teaching and learning as highly contextual and social justice as multifaceted, the results of this study indicated that caring is a form of TE for social justice, and that although teacher educators expressed care individually, it was part of a larger institutional ethos of care.
Illegal Firearms: Access and Use by Arrestees

The arrestees who provided the information about their access to and use of firearms reflect, to a large extent, the characteristics of arrestees nationwide. However, there was variation among the 11 sites. For example, while more than half (55 percent) of all those interviewed for the study were black, the proportion ranged from a low of 16 percent to a high of 92 percent, depending on the site. Drug use displayed a similar pattern. While more than one-third overall (37 percent) tested positive for cocaine, the range from site to site was from 28 to 58 percent. In use of methamphetamine, there was considerable regional variation, with sites in the Midwest and the East having rates under 1 percent, to higher ranges (11 to 44 percent) in sites on the West coast.
Knock‐in(g) RAF for a loop

Phosphorylation of the activation loop in RAF kinases has been suggested to be critical for changes in activity. The extent to which the activation segment is phosphorylated, the specific structural consequences, and the in vivo relevance have however remained elusive. In this issue of the The EMBO Journal, Köhler et al (2015) addressed these questions by generating a knock‐in mouse expressing a B‐Raf mutant with a non‐phosphorylatable activation loop. The mutant causes a range of developmental phenotypes; intriguingly, it also impairs the tumorigenic potential of a subset of BRAF mutants, suggesting potential new strategies for RAF inhibition.
Cell Cycle-Dependent Expression Dynamics of G1/S Specific Cyclin, Cellulose Synthase and Cellulase in the Dinoflagellate Prorocentrum donghaiense

Dinoflagellates undergo a typical eukaryotic cell cycle consisting of G1, S, G2, and M phases and some of the typical cell cycle related genes have been computationally identified. However, very few of these genes have been experimentally linked to the cell cycle phases. Besides, although thecate dinoflagellates are known to possess theca composed of cellulose, information on cellulose synthesis and degradation associated with the cell cycle is also limited. In this study, we isolated G1/S cyclin, cellulose synthase and cellulase encoding genes in dinoflagellate Prorocentrum donghaiense. Further, using reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), we characterized the expression profiles of the three genes throughout the cell cycle. All three showed clear expression dynamics throughout the cell cycle, with fold changes of 26, 2.4 and 9.3 for G1/S cyclin, cellulose synthase and cellulase gene, respectively. The transcript abundance of G1/S cyclin increased in late G1 phase and dropped in early S phase, indicating that this protein is involved in the G1/S transition. Throughout the cell cycle, the average transcript level of cellulose synthase was 4.5-fold higher than that of cellulase. Cellulose synthase and cellulase gene expressions showed peak transcript abundances at middle G1 phase and G2M phase, respectively, indicating the respective roles of these enzymes in the growth of newly divided cells and in cytokinesis. Our results suggest that G1/S cyclin, cellulase, and cellulose synthase genes associated with G1/S transition, G2M, and G1 phases of the cell cycle and are candidates of biomarkers for assessing growth status of P. donghaiense.
Phenotypic, ethologically based resolution of spontaneous and D2‐like vs D1‐like agonist‐induced behavioural topography in mice with congenic D3 dopamine receptor “knockout”

Uncertainty as to the functional role of the D3 dopamine receptor, due primarily to a paucity of selective agonists or antagonists, is being addressed in mice with targeted gene deletion (“knockout”) thereof. This study describes, for the first time, the phenotype of congenic D3‐null mice. Initially, 129/Sv × C57BL/6 D3‐null mice were backcrossed 14 times onto C57BL/6; they were then assessed using an ethologically based approach which resolves all topographies of behaviour within the mouse repertoire. The ethogram of D3‐null mice, on comparison with wildtypes, was characterised by no alteration in any topography of behaviour over an initial period of exploration; subsequent assessment over several hours revealed only increased rearing among females due to delayed habituation. Low doses of the selective D2‐like agonist RU 24213 (0.016–0.25 mg/kg) inhibited topographies of exploratory behaviour; this effect was diminished in D3‐null mice only when investigated following prolonged habituation, and then only for certain topographies of behaviour, primarily sniffing and rearing. High doses of RU 24213 (0.1–12.5 mg/kg) induced stereotyped sniffing and “ponderous” locomotion, while the selective D1‐like agonist SK&F 83959 (0.016–2.0 mg/kg) promoted characteristic grooming syntax; these effects did not differ materially between the genotypes. When examined topographically on an essentially congenic C57BL/6 background (<0.005% 129/Sv), the resultant phenotype indicated essential conservation of the mouse ethogram, high‐dose D2‐like stimulatory effects, and D1‐like stimulatory effects in the absence of D3 receptors. A role for D3 receptors in inhibitory processes appeared topographically circumscribed and only when baseline levels of behaviour were low. Synapse 46:19–31, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Geographical variation in calling song of the ® eld cricket

How do sexual signals vary? Signals used in reproduction show considerable intraspeci®c variation that can occur at a variety of scales. One of the most important sources of variation is geographical. Wilczynski & Ryan (1999, p. 235) state that, `Among the different levels of variation observed, geographical variation provides the best material for disentangling the myriad factors shaping the evolution and divergence of communication systems and for testing fundamental ideas about the evolution of behaviour'. Divergence in signals among populations can lead to reproductive isolation and subsequent speciation, as has been suggested for Drosophila willistoni (Gleason & Ritchie, 1998). After initial population divergence occurs in response to changes in signals, adaptation to local environmental conditions can cause further separation (Wilczynski & Ryan, 1999). Alternatively, if gene ̄ow among populations is maintained, even rapidly evolving populations with different signals can resist differentiation; some populations of guppies, for example, show no signs of reproductive isolation, apparently because sneak matings restore gene ̄ow when males from distant populations travel in search of females to fertilize (Magurran, 1998). Where gene ̄ow prevents the evolution of geographical variation in genotypes, phenotypic plasticity may result (Thompson, 1999). How does geographical separation re ̄ect genetic divergence? In a study of sexual isolation and genetic differentiation in salamanders, Tilley et al. (1990) found that geographical distance was highly correlated with ethological isolation, suggesting that both re ̄ect the gradual divergence of populations. This need not be the case, however. Evolutionary history can determine
Management of postdural puncture headache in the obstetric patient

Purpose of review The treatment of postdural puncture headache remains controversial, largely because it is insufficiently evidence based. With high rates of neuraxial block in the obstetric population likely to continue, postdural puncture headache will remain a primary cause of morbidity and increased duration of hospital stay. This review describes new reports of relevance published in 2006 and until October 2007. Recent findings New evidence justifies epidural blood patch as the treatment of choice for severe postdural puncture headache, but technical aspects such as optimal timing and volume are less clear. Symptomatic medical management remains diverse, with a multitude of therapies often advocated, despite a lack of scientific support. Reports of misdiagnosis and of complications associated with postdural puncture headache and its treatment emphasize the importance of multidisciplinary management and additional investigation, including radiological imaging, when the clinical picture warrants. Summary The key reports in this epoch have shed light on the benefits of careful assessment of postpartum headache and treatment with an epidural blood patch. New management paradigms have been suggested and serious complications continue to be reported.
Effects of proline and carbohydrates on the metabolism of exogenous proline by excised bean leaves in the dark.

Proline was metabolized when vacuum infiltrated into starved bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) leaves from plants previously in the dark for 48 hours, but an equivalent increase in protein proline was not observed. When (14)C-proline was infiltrated into starved leaves, a large percentage of the (14)C was recovered in other amino acids, organic acids, and CO(2), in addition to that recovered as protein proline. However, extensive oxidation of proline was observed only if enough proline was added to increase substantially the endogenous concentration of proline. Increasing the endogenous concentration did not affect the amount of proline that was incorporated into protein.When added to leaves from plants previously in the light of near saturating intensity for more than 16 hr, very little (14)C-proline was oxidized, even when a sufficient amount of proline was added to increase the endogenous concentration. Adding sucrose to starved leaves along with the proline slowed down the oxidation of proline. Thus, it appears that some carbohydrate or intermediate of carbohydrate metabolism may inhibit the oxidation of proline in leaves.Based on kinetics of labeling, the pathway of proline oxidation was by conversion to glutamic acid and subsequent metabolism to intermediates in the Krebs cycle and to CO(2).
Performance enhancement using nonlinear preprocessing

Describes a nonlinear preprocessing method to enhance the output performance of a network. The introduction of the nonlinear preprocessing method redistributes the distributions of input and output vectors, and makes the input and output variables more "orthogonal" that results in facilitating the network optimization. In some of the examples, this nonlinear preprocessing technique enables test set error to be reduced by a magnitude of 98%. Three applications of time-series predictions applied to evaluate the performance of the proposed method are presented.
Sustainable Traceability in the Food Supply Chain: The Impact of Consumer Willingness to Pay

This article addresses the sustainable traceability issue in the food supply chain from the sourcing perspective in which consumer willingness to pay for traceability is considered. There are two supplier types: traceable suppliers, which are costly but can carry a precise recall in food safety events, and non-traceable suppliers, which are less expensive but may suffer a higher cost in food safety events. A portion of consumers display traceability consciousness, and are willing to pay a premium for traceable food products. Four possible strategies in a transparent food supply chain and three sourcing strategies in a nontransparent food supply chain are identified and we determine when each strategy is optimal. We show that efforts to improve traceability that focus on consumers, by increasing their willingness to pay for traceability or expanding the portion of traceability consciousness consumers, may lead to an unintended consequence, such as a decrease in the provision of traceable food products. However, efforts that focus on revealing and penalizing the buyer always lead to a higher provision of traceable food products. We further find that efforts focusing on eliminating the information asymmetry may not be helpful for sustainable traceability in the food supply chain.
New Methodology for the Design of Efficient Binary Addition Circuits in QCA

The quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) approach is an attractive emerging technology suitable for the development of ultradense low-power high-performance digital circuits. Even though several solutions have been proposed recently for binary addition circuits, the design of efficient adders in QCA still poses several challenges since, most often, designers tend to implement strategies and methodologies close to those consolidated for the CMOS logic design. In this paper, we propose a new design method that exploits in original ways the properties of auxiliary propagate and generates signals to reduce the number of majority gates required to implement adders in QCA and/or the addition time. Three new formulations of basic logic equations frequently used in the designs of fast binary adders are proposed. To evaluate the potential advantage of the new strategy, two examples of application of the aforementioned method are discussed in this paper.
Joint intra-individual variability simulation based on UCM hypothesis

In the framework of human movement simulation, several models have been proposed to predict the redundant upper limb movements during functional tasks. Taking into account anthropometric parameters and age, these models are aimed at predicting the inter-individual variability (Wang 1999). To date, few of them have addressed the question of the intra-individual variability simulation due to sensory-motor noise and external perturbations. It seems interesting to take this parameter into account in order to simulate an extended range of behaviours from the same set of data. Recent advances in motor control propose an interesting interpretation of the intra-individual variability. They state that the variability of parameters describing the state of the redundant musculoskeletal system (joint angles, forces or muscles electromyographic activity) called elemental variables (EV) might be organised to let the value of a functionally important variable (called task variable or TV) relatively unchanged, e.g. end effector trajectory (Scholz and Schoner 1999; Latash et al. 2007). The hypothesis is proposed that the central nervous system (CNS) defines a subset of the EV called the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) such that variability in this subset leaves the level of the TV unchanged. Variance within the UCM is called VUCM or GEV for goal equivalent variance (Scholz and Schoner 1999). If a task variable is functionally important then the CNS should only restrict the variance in the orthogonal subset (VORT) to the UCM, also called NGEV (for nongoal equivalent variance). This paradigm has been used successfully to test whether a particular TV is important regarding a motor task by comparing the relative amount of VUCM to VORT (Tseng et al. 2003; de Freitas et al. 2008; Jacquier-Bret et al. 2009). Linking the concept of the UCM to the simulation of variability during a functional task and taking inspiration from the work of Goodman and Latash (Goodman et al. 2005), the aim of this paper is to propose a model of the intra-individual joint level variability of upper-limb posture. Another interest of such a model is its simplicity and the fact that it relies on the Jacobian model that is a well-known tool to simulate the human arm movements.
Diagnostic Approach to Constipation in Children

Constipation is a common paediatric problem. It is relevant to the practice of both general paediatricians and paediatric gastroenterologists and accounts for 3% and 25% of outpatient visits respectively (Levine, 1975; Taitz et al., 1986). International prevalence rates range from 0.7% to 29.6% which is similar for males and females (van den Berg et al., 2006). The broad range of reported prevalence is related to differing criteria for defining constipation but may also reflect genuine differences between ethnic populations and socioeconomic influences.
Immunoparesis in IgM gammopathies as a useful biomarker to predict disease progression

Abstract Background: The management of IgM monoclonal gammopathies undetermined significance (IgM-MGUS) and Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia (WM) may be challenging. Modern immunoassays that quantify specific monoclonal heavy and light chain immunoglobulins are promising for their use in these applications. Methods: Ninety consecutive patients (39 IgM-MGUS, 32 indolent WM [iWM], and 19 WM) seen between January 2007 and March 2014 were analyzed. Heavy/light chain (HLC) and serum free light chains assays (FLC) were determined at diagnosis to study their utility as biomarkers in IgM monoclonal gammopathies. Results: The HLC involved to uninvolved IgM ratios (iHLC/uHLC) showed a progressive increase when going from IgM-MGUS, to iWM and to WM (p=0.002). Furthermore, an iHLC/uHLC>62 identified a group of iWM patients with a shorter time-to-progression (TTP) (108 vs. 133 months, p=0.033). Separate analysis of the involved and uninvolved components showed that only the suppression of the uninvolvedimmunoglobulin was predictive of shorter TTP (HR=3.04, p=0.03) suggesting that it could be the majorcontributor to the prognostic value of the Hevylite assay. Additionally, a multivariate analysis showed that immunosuppression (either classical immunoparesis or Hevylite immunosuppression) was an independent prognostic factor (p=0.016) reinforcing its relevance in the disease mechanism. Finally, monoclonal sFLC levels were highest in WM patients, with 83% presenting values>60 mg/L. Conclusions: The results suggest that the levels of immunosuppression and/or the iHLC/uHLC ratio of IgM immunoglobulins measured by Hevylite are associated with greater disease activity which significantly impacts in the outcome of WM patients and may also help in the differentiation of IgMMGUS from iWM.
Learning to Adapt by Minimizing Discrepancy

We explore whether useful temporal neural generative models can be learned from sequential data without back-propagation through time. We investigate the viability of a more neurocognitively-grounded approach in the context of unsupervised generative modeling of sequences. Specifically, we build on the concept of predictive coding, which has gained influence in cognitive science, in a neural framework. To do so we develop a novel architecture, the Temporal Neural Coding Network, and its learning algorithm, Discrepancy Reduction. The underlying directed generative model is fully recurrent, meaning that it employs structural feedback connections and temporal feedback connections, yielding information propagation cycles that create local learning signals. This facilitates a unified bottom-up and top-down approach for information transfer inside the architecture. Our proposed algorithm shows promise on the bouncing balls generative modeling problem. Further experiments could be conducted to explore the strengths and weaknesses of our approach.
In Vitro Studies with Methylproamine

New analogues of the minor groove binding ligand Hoechst 33342 have been investigated in an attempt to improve radioprotective activity. The synthesis, DNA binding, and in vitro radioprotective properties of methylproamine, the most potent derivative, are reported. Experiments with V79 cells have shown that methylproamine is ∼100-fold more potent than the classical aminothiol radioprotector WR1065. The crystal structures of methylproamine and proamine complexes with the dodecamer d(CGCGAATTCGCG)2 confirm that the new analogues also are minor groove binders. It is proposed that the DNA-bound methylproamine ligand acts as a reducing agent by an electron transfer mechanism, repairing transient radiation-induced oxidizing species on DNA.
A HMM approach to residual estimation for high resolution voice conversion

Voice conversion systems aim to process speech from a source speaker so it would be perceived as spoken by a target speaker. This paper presents a procedure to improve high resolution voice conversion by modifying the algorithm used for residual estimation. The proposed residual estimation algorithm exploits the temporal dependencies between residuals in consecutive speech frames using a hidden Markov model. A previous residual estimation technique based on Gaussian mixtures is used as comparison. Both algorithms are subjected to tests to measure perceived identity conversion and converted speech quality. It was found that the proposed algorithm generates converted speech with significantly better quality without degraded identity conversion performance with respect to the baseline, working particularly well for female target speakers and cross-gender conversions.