Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Educacion a Distancia y Educacion virtual en las Universidades

Las aceleradas transformaciones economicas, sociales y politicas generadas por el gran avance de la tecnologia informatica y comunicacional, y la dinamica de la economia posindustrial, son los elementos estrategicos que caracterizan el mundo globalizado actual, modificando nuestras formas de vivir, de producir, de organizamos y de educarnos. En este contexto la educacion a distancia y la educacion virtual se presentan como formas flexibles de formacion que pueden ser aprovechadas especialmente por las universidades con el proposito de responder a las exigencias de las nuevas realidades tanto nacionales como mundiales.
Using seedlessness-related molecular markers in grapevine breeding for seedlessness via marker-assisted selection into Muscat of Hamburg × Sultani progeny

The seedlessness-related molecular markers VMC7f2, SCC8, and SCF27 were used for the early selection of seedless individuals in the Muscat of Hamburg (seeded) × Sultani (seedless) progeny of 314 F1 hybrids. The DNA from F1 hybrids was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using 3 markers. After digestion of the SCC8 marker PCR amplification products by restriction enzyme Bgl II, 72 individuals showed homozygous SCC8+/SCC8+ alleles at the seed development inhibitor locus, 76 individuals of the progeny amplified with the SCF27 marker produced 2.0-kb bands, and 118 individuals with seedlessness-related 198-bp alleles amplified with the VMC7f2 marker were selected as seedless grapevine candidates. Based on marker-assisted selection, 190 F1 hybrids were designated as seedless grapevine candidates since they carried a minimum of 1 seedlessness-related allele, and the 124 F1 hybrids were removed from the seedless grapevine breeding studies. A total of 13 individuals that carried alleles for the 3 markers associated with seedlessness were selected as genetic resources for future studies on seedless grapevine breeding.
Odonata occurrence in caves: Active or accidentals? A new case study

Caves are environments that host unique faunas and may be important for organisms not exclusively dependent on caves. The occurrence of epigean taxa in caves is often considered accidental, but their study can provide useful information on cave colonization. Records of Odonata underground are extremely scarce. We have identified larvae of Cordulegaster bidentata in two caves, one natural and one artificial, from Lombardy in northwestern Italy. They occurred in pools near the cave entrance that have 84 lux of maximum illuminance, reached in early spring. In both caves we found a high density of larvae, and some of them were at very advanced instars. They had an important role in the cave’s trophic web, exerting a high predation pressure on larvae of the salamander Salamandra salamandra. The plasticity of some Odonata species may allow them to take advantage of underground springs.
Instrumentos y métodos para la evaluación de las actitudes relacionadas con la ciencia, la tecnología y la sociedad

Se presenta una aplicacion empirica de instrumentos y metodos para la evaluacion de las actitudes relacionadas con la ciencia, la tecnologia y la sociedad. El instrumento es una adaptacion del cuestionario de Opiniones sobre Ciencia, Tecnologia y Sociedad (VOSTS) y la metodologia de valoracion supone una nueva forma de aplicar y valorar las cuestiones, que tiene las ventajas de ser invariante, emplear toda la informacion de las cuestiones y permitir todo tipo de aplicaciones de inferencia estadistica, para la investigacion, y diagnostico, para la educacion de las actitudes en el aula.
Qualitative synthesis of isometric handgrip strength for Chinese adults

Understanding whether the handgrip strength requirements are in excess of an individual's capability is essential in preventing musculoskeletal injuries by repetitive gripping activities. However, handgrip strength varied among different populations. The purpose of this study was to synthesize the isometric handgrip strength for Chinese adults. We applied three databases, i.e., Web of Science, EMBASE, and MEDLINE, to search relevant articles by using ‘Chinese’ and ‘grip strength’ as search terms. A total of seven articles met the inclusion criteria and included in the review. The current situations of handgrip strength for Chinese adults were discussed. Moreover, several recommendations for future handgrip strength studies were proposed.
Ecogeographical variation of body size in the newt Triturus carnifex: comparing the hypotheses using an information-theoretic approach.

Aim Ecogeographical variation of body size in vertebrates (e.g. Bergmann’s rule) has long been recognized. However, the patterns and causes of intra-specific ecogeographical variation of body size in ectotherms, and in amphibians in particular, are strongly debated. We identified the relationship between bioclimatic variables and body size predicted a priori by alternative hypotheses (heat balance, endurance, seasonality, starvation resistance, water availability, primary productivity, parental investment) proposed to explain ecogeographical patterns of body size in ectotherms, and we evaluated the relative support of these hypotheses in explaining variation in body size of the Italian crested newt, Triturus carnifex. Location Twenty-three populations covering the whole range of T. carnifex (Austria, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia). Methods We obtained data on body size (snout–vent length, SVL) of 2639 adult newts from direct measurements and the literature; we obtained high-resolution environmental data for the sampled localities. We used an information-theoretic approach to evaluate the support of the data for the different hypotheses. We also integrated information on population genetics in our models. Results We observed strong geographical variation of body size. The best Akaike information criterion (AIC) models showed that populations with larger body size are associated with cold climates and secondarily with high primary productivity. Furthermore, sexual dimorphism increases in cold climates, as the increase in body size was stronger for females. When taking into account population genetics, we did not find support for relationships with the other variables. Main conclusion Our results are consistent with three hypotheses proposed to explain ecogeographical variation in amphibians: heat balance, increased parental investment of females and productivity. Information theory provides the framework for comparing hypotheses rather than looking for patterns. We suggest that evaluating the support for mechanisms can provide better insights than simply assessing whether ecogeographical variation is in agreement with some ‘rule’.
Help needed in medication self-management for people with visual impairment: case-control study.

BACKGROUND Visual impairment (VI) is rising in prevalence and contributing to increasing morbidity, particularly among older people. Understanding patients' problems is fundamental to achieving optimal health outcomes but little is known about how VI impacts on self-management of medication. AIM To compare issues relating to medication self-management between older people with and without VI. DESIGN AND SETTING Case-control study with participants aged ≥65 years, prescribed at least two long-term oral medications daily, living within the community. METHOD The study recruited 156 patients with VI (best corrected visual acuity [BCVA] 6/18 to 3/60) at low-vision clinics; community optometrists identified 158 controls (BCVA 6/9 or better). Researchers visited participants in their homes, administered two validated questionnaires to assess medication adherence (Morisky; Medication Adherence Report Scale [MARS]), and asked questions about medication self-management, beliefs, and support. RESULTS Approximately half of the participants in both groups reported perfect adherence on both questionnaires (52.5% Morisky; 43.3%, MARS). Despite using optical aids, few (3%) with VI could read medication information clearly; 24% had difficulty distinguishing different tablets. More people with VI (29%) than controls (13%) (odds ratio [OR] = 2.8; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.6 to 5.0) needed help managing their medication, from friends (19% versus 10%) or pharmacists (10% versus 2.5%; OR = 4.4, 95% CI = 1.4 to 13.5); more received social service support (OR = 7.1; 95% CI = 3.9 to 12.9). CONCLUSION Compared to their peers without VI, older people with VI are more than twice as likely to need help in managing medication. In clinical practice in primary care, patients' needs for practical support in taking prescribed treatment must be recognised. Strategies for effective medication self-management should be explored.
A single-FPGA architecture for detecting heavy hitters in 100 Gbit/s ethernet links

In network traffic monitoring, a very important analysis is to find heavy hitters. That is, finding those flows that use most resources in a given network link. This information can be very useful for security or traffic management purposes. Though this analysis might seem easy to implement, since it is essentially based on counting, the fact is that doing it at 100 Gbit/s rates is far from trivial. In 100 Gbit/s Ethernet (100 GbE), up to 148 million packets per second can be received, thus making it very difficult to parse packets and maintain counters at such rate. In this paper, we leverage the integrated 100G Ethernet Subsystem available in Xilinx UltraScale devices to implement a heavy hitter detector for 100 GbE in a VCU108 evaluation kit. Thanks to the integration of the Count Sketch algorithm with a priority list and a network packet parser, the proposed architecture is able to work at line rate for average packet sizes bigger than 215 bytes. The work presents a theoretical analysis of the error, as well as the technical details of the proposed solution. The implementation has been validated using real-world traces, obtaining an average error of 1.29%.
Kobe University Repository : Kernel タイトル Tit le Adapt ive Local Informat ion Transfer in Random Boolean Networks

Living systems such as gene regulatory networks and neuronal networks have been supposed to work close to dynamical criticality, where their information-processing ability is optimal at the whole-system level. We investigate how this global information-processing optimality is related to the local information transfer at each individual-unit level. In particular, we introduce an internal adjustment process of the local information transfer and examine whether the former can emerge from the latter. We propose an adaptive random Boolean network model in which each unit rewires its incoming arcs from other units to balance stability of its information processing based on the measurement of the local information transfer pattern. First, we show numerically that random Boolean networks can self-organize toward near dynamical criticality in our model. Second, the proposed model is analyzed by a meanfield theory. We recognize that the rewiring rule has a bootstrapping feature. The stationary indegree distribution is calculated semianalytically and is shown to be close to dynamical criticality in a broad range of model parameter values.
Haematological, pathological and plasma biochemical changes in rabbits experimentally infected with Trypanosoma congolense

Chinchilla x New Zealand white cross breed rabbits (N=24) were challenged with strain of T. congolense. The infections were characterized by intermittent pyrexia, undulating parasitaemia, anorexia and emaciation. The major haematological changes observed were anaemia that was macrocytic normochromic at the first week of the infection and later became normochromic normocytic till the end of the experiment and leucopaenia that is characterized by neutropaenia, eosinopaenia and lymphocytosis. Plasma biochemical changes include hypoglycaemia, elevated total protein and plasma cholesterol. There were significant (p<0.05) elevation of Alkaline phospatase (ALP), Aspertate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin and fluctuating changes in the levels of plasma Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and urea. Gross pathological changes include congested and oedematous lungs, mucoid enteritis, hepatomegaly and splenomegaly. Histopathological changes include mild congestion of the splenic pulp, mild venous congestion of the liver, pulmonary congestion, acute bronchopneumonia, severe emphysema of the lung, and focal centrilobular necrosis and periportal mononuclear cell aggregation in the kidney. This study shed light on the dynamics of haematological alteration and distortion of architectural frame work of various tissues of rabbits experimentally infected with T. congolense and suggested that rabbit is susceptible to T. congolense and could act as reservoir for trypanosomosis of ruminants and domesticated dogs used for hunting. Keywords: Trypanosoma congolense, haematology, serum enzymes and pathology.
Diet and exercise for preeclampsia prevention in overweight and obese pregnant women: systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Objective: To investigate the effect of diet and/or exercise in overweight or obese pregnant women on the risk of preeclampsia (PE). Methods: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials examining the effect of diet and/or exercise interventions in overweight and obese pregnant women on the risk of PE and hypertensive disorders. We completed a literature search through PubMed, Embase, Cinahl, Web of science, Cochrane CENTRAL Library from their earliest entries to November 2017 and from references of other systematic reviews. No language restrictions were applied. Relative risks (RR) with random effect were calculated with their 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: There were 23 eligible trials (7236 participants), including 11 (5023 participants) investigating the effect of diet and three (387 participants) investigating the effect of exercise on risk of PE, 14 (4345 participants) investigating the effect of diet, five (884 participants) investigating the effect of exercise and one (304 participants) investigating the effect of diet and exercise on risk of hypertensive disorders. Most studies were considered to be at low risk of bias for random sequence allocation and incomplete outcome data but at high risk of bias for blinding of participant and personnel. The heterogeneity of the studies on PE was low (I2 = 0–11%), but the heterogeneity of the studies on hypertensive disorders was variable (I2 = 0–53%). In women randomized to diet and/or exercise, compared to expectant management, there was no significant difference in the risk of PE (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.80–1.27; p = .96) or hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (RR 0.87, 95% CI 0.70–1.06; p = .17). In the intervention group, compared to expectant management, gestational weight gain was significantly lower (−1.47 kg, 95% CI −1.97 to −0.97; p < .00001). Metaregression weighted by the size of the studies showed no significant association between gestational weight gain and the risk of PE or hypertensive disorders (p = .314 and p = .124, respectively). Conclusions: Diet and exercise in overweight or obese pregnant women are beneficial in reducing gestational weight gain. However, these interventions do not reduce the risk of PE or hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer: ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline Update.

Purpose In 2016, ASCO published a guideline to assist in clinical decision making in metastatic pancreatic cancer for initial assessment after diagnosis, first- and second-line treatment options, palliative and supportive care, and follow-up. The purpose of this update is to incorporate new evidence related to second-line therapy for patients who have experienced disease progression or intolerable toxicity during first-line therapy. Methods ASCO convened an Expert Panel to conduct a systematic review of the literature on second-line therapy published between June 2015 and January 2018. Recommendations on other topics covered in the 2016 Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer Guideline were endorsed by the Expert Panel. Results Two new studies were found that met the inclusion criteria. Recommendations For second-line therapy, gemcitabine plus nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel should be offered to patients with first-line treatment with FOLFIRINOX (leucovorin, fluorouracil, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin), an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) of 0 to 1, and a favorable comorbidity profile; fluorouracil plus nanoliposomal irinotecan can be offered to patients with first-line treatment with gemcitabine plus NAB-paclitaxel, an ECOG PS of 0 to 1, and a favorable comorbidity profile; fluorouracil plus irinotecan or fluorouracil plus oxaliplatin may be offered when there is a lack of availability of fluorouracil plus nanoliposomal irinotecan; gemcitabine or fluorouracil should be offered to patients with either an ECOG PS of 2 or a comorbidity profile that precludes other regimens. Testing select patients for mismatch repair deficiency or microsatellite instability is recommended, and pembrolizumab is recommended for patients with mismatch repair deficiency or high microsatellite instability tumors. Endorsed recommendations from the 2016 version of this guideline for computed tomography, baseline performance status and comorbidity profile, defining goals of care, first-line therapy, and palliative care are also contained within the full guideline text. Additional information is available at www.asco. org/gastrointestinal-cancer-guidelines .
Human Macrophages Escape Inhibition of Major Histocompatibility Complex-Dependent Antigen Presentation by Cytomegalovirus and Drive Proliferation and Activation of Memory CD4+ and CD8+ T Cells

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) persistently infects 40–90% of the human population but in the face of a normal immune system, viral spread and dissemination are efficiently controlled thus preventing clinically signs and disease. HCMV-infected hosts produce a remarkably large amount of HCMV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells that can even reach 20–50% of total T memory cells in the elderly. How HCMV may elicit such large and long-lasting T-cell responses in the absence of detectable viremia has not been elucidated yet. Additionally, HCMV is known to encode several gene products that potently inhibit T-cell recognition of infected cells. The best characterized are the four immune evasive US2, US3, US6, and US11 genes that by different mechanisms account for major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and class II degradation and intracellular retention in infected cells. By infecting M1 and M2 human macrophages (Mφ) with the wild-type HCMV strain TB40E or a mutant virus deleted of the four immune evasive genes US2, US3, US6, and US11, we demonstrated that human Mφ counteract the inhibitory potential of the US2-11 genes and remain capable to present peptides via MHC class I and class II molecules. Moreover, by sorting the infected and bystander cells, we provide evidence that both infected and bystander Mφ contribute to antigen presentation to CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. The T cells responding to TB40E-infected Mφ show markers of the T effector memory compartment, produce interferon-γ, and express the lytic granule marker CD107a on the cell surface, thus mirroring the HCMV-specific T cells present in healthy seropositive individuals. All together, our findings reveal that human Mφ escape inhibition of MHC-dependent antigen presentation by HCMV and continue to support T cell proliferation and activation after HCMV infection. Taking into account that Mφ are natural targets of HCMV infection and a site of viral reactivation from latency, our findings support the hypothesis that Mφ play crucial roles for the lifelong maintenance and expansion of HCMV-committed T cells in the human host.
A Rationale for Critical Pedagogy in EFL: The Case of Tajikistan.

As EFL programs become more prevalent throughout the world, the cultural implications of English teaching are more often debated. These cultural considerations are extremely relevant in Islamic cultures, where English education can be viewed as contributing to the influence of Western Christian or secular pedagogy. This potential clash of approaches to teaching and learning should be critically addressed by EFL instructors. One method of doing so is introducing reading instruction with critical pedagogy. The article will illustrate how critical pedagogy and critical literacy instruction were implemented in a reading program in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. As a former member of the Soviet Union, the system of education in Tajikistan was developed with Soviet, atheistic ideals of education which clashed with those of local students and teachers. Thus, a critical approach to facilitating English reading clubs was introduced to allow students to mold the curriculum and discussions in ways that reflected their diverse cultural values. A key goal of the program was to promote student-led dialogue about texts that examined authors’ motives and messages. The rationale for text selection and judging culturally relevant texts will be addressed as a model for other EFL programs and practitioners.
Jointly Optimize Data Augmentation and Network Training: Adversarial Data Augmentation in Human Pose Estimation

Random data augmentation is a critical technique to avoid overfitting in training deep models. Yet, data augmentation and network training are often two isolated processes in most settings, yielding to a suboptimal training. Why not jointly optimize the two? We propose adversarial data augmentation to address this limitation. The key idea is to design a generator (e.g. an augmentation network) that competes against a discriminator (e.g. a target network) by generating hard examples online. The generator explores weaknesses of the discriminator, while the discriminator learns from hard augmentations to achieve better performance. A reward/penalty strategy is also proposed for efficient joint training. We investigate human pose estimation and carry out comprehensive ablation studies to validate our method. The results prove that our method can effectively improve state-of-the-art models without additional data effort.
Highly Ordered Three-Dimensional Ni-TiO2 Nanoarrays as Sodium Ion Battery Anodes

Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) represent an effective energy storage technology with potentially lower material costs than lithium ion batteries. Here, we show that the electrochemical performance of SIBs, especially rate capability, is intimately connected to the electrode design at the nanoscale by taking anatase TiO2 as an example. Highly ordered three-dimensional (3D) Ni-TiO2 core–shell nanoarrays were fabricated using nanoimprited AAO templating technique and directly used as anode. The nanoarrays delivered a reversible capacity of ∼200 mAh g–1 after 100 cycles at the current density of 50 mAh g–1 and were able to retain a capacity of ∼95 mAh g–1 at the current density as high as 5 A g–1 and fully recover low rate capacity. High ion accessibility, fast electron transport, and excellent electrode integrity were shown as great merits to obtain the presented electrochemical performance. Our work demonstrates the possibility of highly ordered 3D heterostructured nanoarrays as a promising electrode design fo.