Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simple Nutritional and Inflammatory Markers Associated with Bed Sores in Elderly Stroke People

Background: Bed sores are major burden to hospital care and usually associated with worse prognosis and longer hospital stay. Aims: To evaluate whether simple biochemical inflammatory and nutritional markers would differ between those with bedsores and those without in elderly stroke patients and if there is a distinction between recent bed sore stroke patients and old bed sore stroke patients as regard these biomarkers. Methods: 80 Stroke elderly patients were enrolled and divided into four groups: patients with recent stroke who developed bedsores, patients with recent stroke who did not develop bedsores, patients with old stroke who developed bedsores and patients with old stroke who did not develop bedsores. Nutritional markers (albumin, total protein, magnesium, iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), hemoglobin and cholesterol) and inflammatory markers (total leucocyte count, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and ferritin) were compared between the four groups. Results: Concerning nutritional markers, albumin (P =< 0.001), Alb/Pr ratio (P =< 0.001), TIBC (P =< 0.001) and cholesterol (P = 0.005) are lower in the acute stroke with bed sore patients versus acute stroke without bed sore. Lower albumin (P =< 0.001) is only found in comparison between chronic stroke with bed sore patients and chronic without bed sore patients. There is a difference between acute stroke with bed sore and chronic stroke with bed sore concerning albumin (P =< 0.001), TIBC (P =< 0.001) and TG (p =< 0.001). Albumin is lower while TG and TIBC are higher in those with acute stroke with bed sores. Regarding inflammatory markers, high neutrophil and ferritin (p =< 0.001) were found in acute stroke with bed sore patients versus acute stroke without bed sore. No difference was found between chronic stroke with bed sore patients and chronic stroke without bed sore patients. Acute stroke with bed sore group has higher TLC, neutrophil, neut/lymph ratio and ferritin (p =< 0.001) than chronic stroke with bed sore group. Conclusions: Acute stroke patients with bed sores are the highest group as regard inflammatory markers due to acute stroke and bed sores together. The presence of bed sore itself causes or is caused by decrease in nutritional markers especially albumin in both, acute and chronic strokes. Other markers are more evident in acute stroke patients who develop bed sore like higher ferritin and neutrophils and lower TIBC, alb/prot ratio and cholesterol. TG differs only in relation to acute stroke but not bed sore. MG was not different between the four groups.
Biomarkers of Encephalitis

The development of encephalitis presents a dilemma to the clinician as during the early stages, when treatment would be most effective, the symptoms can be nonspecific with a broad differential. Imaging tests (e.g. magnetic resonance imaging and computed axial tomography scan), blood and urine tests as well as lumbar puncture are used to isolate and identify viruses, and together with careful and continuous neurological assessment provide data that may be suggestive of viral encephalitis. In the case of post-infectious or autoimmune encephalitis, a more intense investigation is needed to generate an accurate diagnosis. In addition to imaging tests and electroencephalography, blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) need to be analyzed for evidence of inflammation and the presence of antibodies against cellular antigens. In recent years clinicians and investigators have pursued biomarkers that can aid in the diagnosis as well as prognosis and monitoring of patients with encephalitis. These biomarkers are increasingly important in the recognition and treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune central nervous system (CNS) disorders. This chapter will review the current literature of emerging biomarkers in the different types of encephalitis.
The Influence of the Backfilling Roadway Driving Sequence on the Rockburst Risk of a Coal Pillar Based on an Energy Density Criterion

The rockburst hazard has always been an important issue affecting the safety production of coal mines in China. The unreasonable sequencing of roadway driving can lead to the dynamic instability of coal pillars, which subsequently causes rockburst accidents in roadway backfilling mining engineering and poses a serious threat to the safety of the mines. Roadway backfilling mining technology is an effective approach with which to mine corner residual coal resources under buildings, railways, and rivers. An energy density criterion is established and programmed with FISH language using numerical analysis software for the rockburst risk evaluation of coal pillars. On this basis, a numerical simulation model is established based on four scheme types, namely, the sequential mining, one-roadway interval mining, two-roadway interval mining, and three-roadway interval mining schemes. The influence of the backfilling roadway driving sequence on coal pillar stability is investigated, and the change law of vertical stress and energy density factor of coal pillars in different driving sequences in roadway backfilling mining technology are analyzed. According to the research results, the maximum energy density factor value of 21,172 J/m4 for coal pillars in one-roadway interval mining is the lowest among the different schemes. Therefore, the one-roadway interval mining scheme is the optimal choice in roadway backfilling mining technology. The results can be treated as an important basis for the prevention and treatment of coal pillar instability and rockburst in roadway backfilling mining technology.
Teacher Training for Political Science PhD Students in Europe Determinants of a Tool for Enhanced Teaching in Higher Education

In this paper we examine the state of teacher training for political science PhD candidates in the European Union and make a comparison with the situation in the United States. We investigate the determinants of supply and demand of teacher training. On the supply side, we suggest that research orientation and quality assurance are factors that might enhance institutional willingness to provide training. On the demand side, we examine the influence of gender, career plans, year of study, and career status on student motivation to undergo teacher training. We find that about half of EU institutions offering PhD programs also provide some form of teacher training; this closely follows American trends. We also uncover that while research orientation has a significant positive effect on the willingness of universities to provide training in pedagogy, quality assurance does not. Of the four factors we put forward as potential influences on student demand for teacher training, only future plans have a significant effect. We argue that similarities in the situation of teacher training in the United States and the European Union make transatlantic dialogue in graduate education worthwhile. Moreover, the positive impact of teacher training on the quality of teaching and learning as well as the positive valuation of training by more than two-thirds of PhD students in our sample makes us conclude that teacher training should be more widely available.
Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences with Public Capital

This paper offers new evidence on the sources of cross-country income differences by investigating the role public capital in development accounting. I explicitly measure private and public capital stocks, and I find large differences in both types of capital across countries. Moreover, differences in private capital are larger than the ones I find for total capital for the richest and poorest countries. The methodology I use implies a share of public capital in output of at most 10%. My findings indicate that differences in capital stocks can not account for a substantial part of the observed dispersion in income across countries.
MEAN-FIELD SELF-ORGANIZED CRITICALITY

The authors consider a variant of directed percolation in which the set of nodes is itself dependent on the progress of the percolation process. For the mean-field model studied, the system is driven to its critical point from a broad range of initial conditions. An advantage of the model is its explicit and easy solvability.
Organic carbon burial following the middle Eocene climatic optimum in the central western Tethys

We present trace metal geochemistry and stable isotope records for the middle Eocene Alano di Piave section, NE Italy, deposited during magnetochron C18n in the marginal Tethys Ocean. We identify a $\sim$ 500 kyr long carbon isotope perturbation event we infer to be the middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) confirming the northern hemisphere expression and global occurrence of MECO. Interpreted peak climatic conditions are followed by the rapid deposition of two organic rich intervals ($\le$3\% TOC) and contemporaneous positive $\delta^{13}$C excursions. These two intervals are associated with increases in the concentration of sulphur and redox-sensitive trace metals, and low concentrations of Mn, as well as coupled with the occurrence of pyrite. Together these changes imply low, possibly dysoxic, bottom water O$_{2}$ conditions promoting increased organic carbon burial. We hypothesize that this rapid burial of organic carbon lowered global {\it p}CO$_{2}$ following the peak warming and returned the climate system to the general Eocene cooling trend.
Hidden Costs of Hidden Debt

We argue that salience—the extent to which a cost is visible and difficult to ignore—may have economically significant effects on homeowners’ borrowing behavior, through a bias toward less salient but more expensive loans. We first use a simple model to show that the presence of some biased consumers in the market will affect equilibrium prices. Next, we show that market data support the predictions of the model. We conduct several robustness checks to address unobserved heterogeneity. The observed effect is large. We finally report a survey evidence consistent with this bias.
Prospective Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Perspectives and Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching

This study investigated the relationship between prospective secondary mathematics teachers’ perspectives and their mathematical knowledge for teaching in action. Data from two prospective teachers’ practice-teachings, one in geometry and one in algebra, their lesson plans and self-reflections were analyzed with Teacher Perspectives and Knowledge Quartet frameworks. Results showed that prospective teachers who thought of mathematics and mathematics learning as dependent on the knower, corresponding with a progressive incorporation perspective, had demonstrated all the codes in Knowledge Quartet Framework. These results suggest that, once prospective teachers are given opportunities to develop a progressive incorporation perspective on mathematics, mathematics learning, and mathematics teaching during methods and practice teaching courses, this might conrtibute to the developments in their mathematical knowledge for teaching in action, independent of the particular concept they teach. Suggestions for developing a progressive incorporation perspective during methods and practice teaching courses are given.
Constraining regional scale fault architecture in the southern New England Orogen: integration of seismic, multiscale edges and surface mapping

Regional scale fault structures are considered a first order control on hydrothermal ore systems. Recognition and delineation of such features is essential for search space reduction and project selection in exploration. The New England Orogen in northeastern New South Wales has significant potential for the discovery of new hydrothermal ore systems. However, limits to interpretation of broad scale geophysics in the region and limited exposure for ground-based mapping have hampered the recognition of the first order fault architecture in many areas. As part of the Geological Survey of New South Wales 3D mapping program, we aim to further the understanding of strike extensive and depth penetrative regional scale fault architecture in the southern New England Orogen. The workflow for constraining the regional 3D fault architecture involves integrating a limited number of deep seismic lines with broader gravity and magnetic wavelet-based multiscale edges. All the geophysical data sets are further constrained by the Geological Survey of New South Wales’ seamless geology mapping and surface structural orientation data. The work to date demonstrates correlation between the lateral position of multiscale edges and their dip inferred from upward continuation, with steeper dipping structures interpreted in seismic lines. Strike orientations of edges, or systematic breaks in edges, are broadly consistent with structural orientations previously recognised in mapping, but often not at the true regional scale as suggested by edge continuity. Known hydrothermal ore systems in the southern New England Orogen display a strong correlation with the deeply penetrating edges.
Characterization of the role of Smu1 in nuclear localization of splicing factors in the mammalian temperature-sensitive mutant

A temperature-sensitive (ts) mutant of the CHO-K1 cell line, tsTM18, grows at 340C but not at 390C. Smu1 is the gene responsible for ts defects of tsTM18 cells. Previously, we found that the Smu1 ts defect altered the localization (as indicated by enlargement of speckles) of SRSF1 (SF2/ASF) in tsTM18 cells cultured at 390C, suggesting a functional association between Smu1 and SRSF1. Speckles are subnuclear structures that may function as storage/assembly/ modification compartments to supply splicing factors to active transcription sites. The effect of the ts defect of Smu1 on the localization of other factors related to splicing has not been characterized yet. The mechanisms underlying the enlargement of speckles of SRSF1 remain unclear. In the present study, we found that the ts defect of Smu1 affected the nuclear localization of a splicing factor, SRSF2 (SC35), and factors involved in the exon-exon junction complex, Y14 and ALY. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis revealed that the ts defect of Smu1 affected alternative splicing of endogenous Clk1/ Sty and SRSF2 genes. Mammalian Clk family kinases are shown to phosphorylate serine/arginine (SR) proteins in vitro and SRSF1 in vivo. RT-PCR analysis of Clk1/Sty showed an accumulation of the truncated form lacking kinase activity in tsTM18 cells incubated at 39? C. These data indicate that an accumulation of kinase-negative Clk1/Sty may lead to alteration of the localization of factors related to splicing resulting in the enlargement of speckles.
E-TOOLS TO ASSIST EFL LEARNERS' WRITING SKILL: WIKIS, WEBLOGS, AND PODCASTS

One of the promises of web-based education is to help students take control of their learning pace as the basic requirement of language learning is being life-long. The purpose of the present study was to find out which of the e-tools -- weblogs, wikis, or podcasts -- can better help EFL learners excel in their writing skill. To this end, 156 Iranian sophomore students majoring in English and studying at Islamic Azad University, Abadeh and Shiraz Branches and the Zand Institute of Higher Education were selected based on random sampling as participants. As the design of the study was a pre-experimental one, there were three experimental groups involved but no control group. Before the instruction, the participants were given an essay writing test, whose results were used to divide them into three groups. Two of the groups received in-class instruction and were assigned out-of-class activities through weblogs and wikis. The third group received the instruction through podcasts. The treatment lasted for two and a half months and at the end, another essay writing test was given to all groups. A two-way ANOVA for the comparison of the participants' gain scores indicated that using the tools available on the Internet could lead to improvement in the EFL students writing abilities, and gender was not a determining factor. The study reveals the fact that web tools, in general, and blogs, wikis, and podcasts, in particular, can foster EFL students’ writing skills and teachers can use them as supplements in their language instruction.
The origin of the Bentonite deposits of Tashtab Mountains (Central Iran): Geological, Geochemical, and Stable Isotope evidences

Bentonite deposits of economic interest are widespread in Tashtab Mountains (Khur), east of Isfahan province, Iran. Several bentonite deposits have been developed in this area as a result of Eocene volcanic alteration. These deposits are classified as Khur bentonite horizon. XRD analyses reveal that alteration products consist of Na-montmorillonite, kaolinite, quartz, calcite, and crystobalite. The studied volcanic rocks predominantly consist of andesite and basalts, which have developed in back arc basin. Field studies demonstrate that there are many active faults that have had a significant role in transporting great volumes of silicic liquids to the surface and precipitated as geode, jasperoid and silicic veins. Alteration of volcanic parent rocks to bentonite is accompanied by gains and losses of some elements. The concentration of major and trace elements displays variable reduction in analogy to the parent rock. Most of the Large Ion Lithophile Elements (LILEs) are markedly depleted; Nb, U, Cr, Ni and V. The aforementioned elements have relatively decreased, whereas Al, Ti and Zr are rather immobile. Cesium is essentially derived from hydrothermal fluids and incorporated in bentonite structure. Both argillic and silicic zones are enriched in Cs. The chondrite–normalized Rare Earth Element (REE) patterns show similar trends in the andesite-basalt as well as bentonite and silicic zone. Slight depletion of REE’s, and in particular heavy REE’s, is observed in the bentonite samples in comparison with the unaltered rocks. Hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope results indicate a meteoric source of fluids responsible for transformation of volcanic rocks into bentonite at a temperature of about 83°C. The hydrothermal fluids have reached the surface by fault system activity, and silicic liquids have escaped frequently in a sedimentary basin, caused probably by Miocene compressive stresses.
The role of Echinacea extract to protect the damage effects of gammaradiation on some biochemical constituents in male albino rats

The present study was designed to determine the possible protective effects of E. purpurea extracts (EPE) against gamma (g-) radiation exposure (6Gy) induced biochemical alterations and oxidative tissue damage (liver and testes) in male rats given EPE (100 mg/kg/day for 8 weeks) prior to g-irradiation. It has been found that g-irradiation led to hepatic and testicular oxidative stress with concomitant increase in liver function enzymes. Serum lipid profile and hormone level has also been found altered. Rats dosed with EPE before exposure to g-rays showed significantly less severe damage and remarkable improvement in all of the measured parameters when compared to irradiated rats. It could be concluded that EPE attenuates the deleterious effects of radiation-induced biochemical disorders and tissue damage (liver and testes).
Talbot-enhanced, maximum-visibility imaging of condensate interference

Nearly two centuries ago Talbot first observed the fascinating effect whereby light propagating through a periodic structure generates a “carpet” of image revivals in the near field. Here we report the first observation of the spatial Talbot effect for light interacting with periodic Bose–Einstein condensate interference fringes. The Talbot effect can lead to dramatic loss of fringe visibility in images, degrading precision interferometry; however, we demonstrate how the effect can also be used as a tool to enhance visibility, as well as extend the useful focal range of matter-wave detection systems by orders of magnitude. We show that negative optical densities arise from matter-wave induced lensing of detuned imaging light—yielding Talbot-enhanced single-shot interference visibility of >135% compared to the ideal visibility for resonant light.
Effects of Mixed Application of Chemical Fertilizer and Liquid Swine Manure on Agronomic Characteristics, Yield and Feed Value of Corn Hybrid for Silage in Paddy Field Cultivation

This study was performed out to investigate the influence of the mixed application of chemical fertilizer (CF) and liquid swine manure (LSM) on the growth characteristics, dry matter yield, amino acids, minerals, and free sugars in cultivating silage corn on paddy soils. The field experiment was designed in a randomized block design of 3 repetitions with CF 100% treatment (C), CF 70% + LSM 30% treatment (T1), CF 50% + LSM 50% treatment (T2), CF 30% + LSM 70% treatment (T3), and LSM 100% treatment (T4). At this time, the application of LSM was based solely on the nitrogen. Ear length, ear circle, stem diameter, and stem hardness of the silage corn did not show significant differences between treatments. Fresh yield, dry matter yield and TDN yield were highest in T3, whereas the lowest in C treatment (p T2 > C > T4 > T3 treatment (p T3 > T4 > T2 > C treatment (p<0.05). Based on the above results, suggests that the mixed application of chemical fertilizer 30 50% and LSM 50~70% (T2 and T3) is the most effective, considering the yield performance and the content of sugar degree and free sugar affecting silage.
Climatological Characteristics of Historical and Future High-Wind Events in Alaska

High winds cause waves, storm surge, erosion and physical damage to infrastructure and ecosystems. However, there have been few evaluations of wind climatologies and future changes, especially change in high-wind events, on a regional basis. This study uses Alaska as a regional case study of climatological wind speed and direction. Eleven first-order stations across different subregions of Alaska provide historical data (1975-2005) for the observational climatology and for the calibration of Coupled Model Inter comparison Project (CMIP5) simulations, which in turn provide projections of changes in winds through 2100. Historically, winds exceeding 25 and 35 knots are most common in the Bering Sea coastal region of Alaska, followed by northern Alaska coastal areas. Autumn and winter are the seasons of most frequent high-wind occurrences in the coastal sites, while there is no distinct seasonal peak at the interior stations where high-wind events are less frequent. An examination of the sea level pressure pattern associated with the highest-wind event at each station reveals the presence of a strong pressure gradient associated with an extratropical cyclone in most cases. Northern coastal regions of Alaska are projected to experience increased frequencies of high-wind events during the cold season, especially late autumn and early winter, when reduced sea ice cover in the late century will leave coastal regions increasingly vulnerable to flooding and erosion.
Third order optical nonlinearity of graphene

We perform a perturbative calculation of the third order optical conductivities of doped graphene, using approximations valid around the Dirac points and neglecting effects due to scattering and electron–electron interactions. In this limit analytic formulas can be constructed for the conductivities. We discuss in detail the results for third harmonic generation, the Kerr effect and two-photon carrier injection, parametric frequency conversion, and two-color coherent current injection. We find a complicated dependence on the chemical potential and photon energies. The linear dispersion causes resonances over a wide range of photon energies, and it is possible to obtain large optical nonlinearities by tuning the chemical potential.