Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Resonance terahertz responses of one-periodic graphene strip grating embedded in a dielectric slab

The object of our study is the scattering and absorption of H-polarized plane wave of terahertz range by a flat grating of graphene strips embedded in a dielectric slab. In the H-case, the analysis uses the method of analytical regularization in the form of projection of the associated singular integral equation for the on-strip electric current to the set of Chebyshev polynomials, which invert the static part of the problem. In the E-case, the associated integral equation has only logarithmic singularity; we project it on the set of Legendre polynomials. As a result, in each case we obtain efficient numerical algorithm with guaranteed convergence. For arbitrary set of grating's parameters including the resonances, the accuracy of computations is controlled by the order of discretization. We study the dependences of the reflectance, transmittance, and absorbance by the graphene grating-in-slab scatterer on the strip width and frequency. We show that the strip width has effect only on the resonances on the surface-plasmon modes and does not influence the grating-mode and the slab-mode resonances in both polarizations.
Overexpressing mouse model demonstrates the protective role of Muc5ac in the lungs

MUC5AC, a major gel-forming mucin expressed in the lungs, is secreted at increased rates in response to infectious agents, implying that mucins exert a protective role against inhaled pathogens. However, epidemiological and pathological studies suggest that excessive mucin secretion causes airways obstruction and inflammation. To determine whether increased MUC5AC secretion alone produces airway obstruction and/or inflammation, we generated a mouse model overexpressing Muc5ac mRNA ∼20-fold in the lungs, using the rCCSP promoter. The Muc5ac cDNA was cloned from mouse lungs and tagged internally with GFP. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) analysis demonstrated an approximate 18-fold increase in Muc5ac protein, which formed high-molecular-weight polymers. Histopathological studies and cell counts revealed no airway mucus obstruction or inflammation in the lungs of Muc5ac-transgenic (Muc5ac-Tg) mice. Mucus clearance was preserved, implying that the excess Muc5ac secretion produced an “expanded” rather than more concentrated mucus layer, a prediction confirmed by electron microscopy. To test whether the larger mucus barrier conferred increased protection against pathogens, Muc5ac-Tg animals were challenged with PR8/H1N1 influenza viruses and showed significant decreases in infection and neutrophilic responses. Plaque assay experiments demonstrated that Muc5ac-Tg BALF and purified Muc5ac reduced infection, likely via binding to α2,3-linked sialic acids, consistent with influenza protection in vivo. In conclusion, the normal mucus transport and absence of a pulmonary phenotype in Muc5ac-Tg mice suggests that mucin hypersecretion alone is not sufficient to trigger luminal mucus plugging or airways inflammation/goblet cell hyperplasia. In contrast, increased Muc5ac secretion appears to exhibit a protective role against influenza infection.
The Danish Centre for Strategic Research in Type 2 Diabetes (DD2) study: Collection of baseline data from the first 580 patients

This paper provides an overview of the baseline data collected in the nationwide Danish Centre for Strategic Research in Type 2 Diabetes (DD2) project. The paper presents descriptive data from the first 580 patients enrolled in the DD2. The DD2 database will contain detailed interview data, clinical examination data, and urine and blood samples from up to 10,000 patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes each year, collected from general practitioners and hospital outpatient clinics in all of Denmark. Of the first DD2 patients enrolled, blood and urine samples have been obtained from 97%. The median age of the first 580 patients was 59 years and 322 (56%) were men. Median weight gain from age 20 to maximum lifetime weight was 29 kg for men and 31 kg for women, and 364 patients (63%) did not currently participate in regular sports activities. Two hundred and ninety two patients (50%) had a known family history of diabetes. Two hundred fifty (43%) of the 580 DD2 patients have also been enrolled in the Danish Diabetes Database for Adults from which additional clinical data can be obtained. Among these 250 patients (154 of whom were men, 96 women), 75 (49%) men were currently obese, and 63 (41%) were overweight, whereas 62 (65%) women were obese, and another 21 (22%) were overweight. Twenty-nine patients (12%) received insulin, 164 patients (66%) received oral antidiabetics only, and 57 (23%) received no antidiabetic treatment. Glycemic regulation was modest (the glycosylated hemoglobin A of 46% was ≥7.5%). Two thirds of the patients received antihypertensive and hypolipidemic treatment. Self-reported daily tobacco smoking (23%) and alcohol overuse (6%) seemed comparable to occurrence in the general Danish population. One quarter of the patients with newly diagnosed diabetes had a history of hospital-diagnosed comorbidity at baseline as included in the Charlson comorbidity index, in particular prior myocardial infarction (5%), cerebrovascular disease (5%), peripheral vascular disease (4%), chronic pulmonary disease (6%), and previous solid cancer (6%). In the future, the DD2 database represents a valuable source for outcome studies in type 2 diabetes.
Experiences That Impact the Recruitment and Retention of International (Non-Native Speaker of English) Student-Athletes in NCAA Division I Institutions

International student-athletes as a group are a unique population in any institution because they bring together three characteristics that are challenging through the educational process. Among the challenges for someone who chooses to study in a different country include facing issues such as the language barrier as well as problems in adjusting to the new culture. Moreover, balancing the role as a student and as an athlete is another challenge that international studentathletes face. Earlier research leaves gaps as it is related to international (non-native speaker of English) student-athletes and their experiences, which impact their decision to study in the United States and their adjustment in the new environment. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences that impact the recruitment and retention of international (non-native speaker of English) student-athletes in NCAA Division I institutions. More specifically, the student-athlete experiences in high school were examined which influenced their decision to move to the U.S. and the challenges they faced in the new environment. The goal of this study was to create a model that could be helpful for institutions and international student-athletes to be more prepared before making the decision to study as student-athletes in the United States. This study used a qualitative research design involving narrative, phenomenological, and grounded theory approaches. First, the life stories of the participants were examined, then the essence of these experiences was developed, and finally common themes that built a theory
Managing future oil revenues in Ghana: An assessment of alternative allocation options

Contemporary policy debates on the macroeconomics of resource booms often concentrate on the short-run Dutch disease effects of public expenditure ignoring the possible long-term effects of alternative revenue-allocation options and the supply-side impact of royalty-financed public investments. In a simple model applied here, the government decides the level and timing of spending out of resource rents. This model also considers productivity spillovers over time, which may exhibit a sector bias toward domestic production or exports. A dynamic computable general equilibrium model is used to simulate the effect of temporary oil revenue inflows to Ghana. The simulations show that beyond the short-run Dutch disease effects, the relationship between windfall profits, growth and households' welfare is less straightforward than what the simple model of the resource curse suggests. The CGE model results suggest that designing a rule to smoothing in and out of oil revenues between productivity enhancing investments and an oil fund is crucial to achieving both shared growth and macroeconomic stability.
Crisis and hope: The educational hopscotch of Latin America

Introduction: Towards a Neo-Liberal Education? : Tensions and Changes in Latin-America G. Fischman, S. Ball & S. Gvortz 2. Towards a Unified Agenda for Change in Latin America Higher Education: The Role of Multilateral Agencies R. Rodriguez-Gomez & A. Alcantara 3. Two Decades of Neoliberalism in Latin America: Implications for Adult Education D. Schugurensky 3. Prioritising the Education of Marginalized Young People in Brazil: A Collaborative Approach P. Wong & R. Balestino 4. A Local Reform Goes Global: The Politics of Escuela Nueva P. McEwan & L. Benveniste 5. Neoliberalism and Educational Decentralization Policies: The Experience of the 1990s J. M. Gorostiaga Derqui 6. Searching for 'Neoliberal' Education Policies: A Comparative Analysis of Argentina and Chile M. Narodowski & M. Nores 7. Beyond Neo-Liberalism in Education: The Citizen School and the Struggle for Democracy in Porto Alegre, Brazil L. Armando Gandin & M. W. Apple 8. Teachers' Work Revisited: Mexican Teachers' Struggle for Democracy and the Anti-neoliberal Alternative S. Street 9. While Gender Sleeps: Neoliberalism's Impact on Educational Policies in Latin America N. Stromquist 10. The Northern Influence and the Columbian Education Reform of the 1990s P. Vanegas
‘Spirits, dancing in the flesh’: choreography and organisation

ABSTRACT The body in organisations has received considerable scholarly attention, whilst the moving body and the ‘flesh’ has largely been overlooked. ‘Flesh’ for Merleau-Ponty connects the body and the world and supposes not an immobile, but moving body. We explore flesh as a movement-related, kinaesthetic phenomenon through a movement/dance-based method and interviews with professionals from a hospitality/service organisation. We apply the notion of ‘choreography’ from dance studies, composed of the elements of ‘writing’ (graphós) and ‘movement’ (chorós). Our findings show that fleshly movement interaction creates invisible structures, or choreographies, that are inscribed into bodies and tacitly confine organisational interaction (‘writing’). Bodies learn to relate to each other through perceptual interpenetration and kinaesthetic empathy and co-create the choreography (‘moving’). Fleshly movement interaction is a submission to choreographies fulfilling the organisational need to reproduce bodies capable of carrying out certain movement imperatives, which however provides momentary openings through the use of kinaesthetic empathy.
[Biochemical characterization of the optic nerve in mice overexpressing the P53 gen. Oxidative stress assays].

PURPOSE The tumour inhibitor p53 gene has the ability of triggering proliferation arrest and cellular death by apoptosis subsequent to several factors, among them oxidative stress. The p53 protein is a major regulator of gene expression. Using genetically manipulated mice carrying an extra copy of gene p53 (transgenic mice super p53) versus control mice, we have investigated the generation of reactive oxygen species and antioxidant activity in the optic nerve of mice in relation to p53 availability. METHODS We studied two groups of 12-month-old mice of the strain C57BL/6: 1) super p53 group (Sp53) and 2) wild-type control group (CG). Mice were anesthetized in ether atmosphere and the eyeball and retrobulbar optic nerves were excised, washed, soaked in PBS, and stored in liquid nitrogen at -85 degrees C until processing. Three-four optic nerves from the same group were placed in an eppendorf tube, homogenized and enzymatic-colorimetric methods used to determine oxidative and antioxidant activities and the nitric oxide synthesis. RESULTS A significant increase in free radical formation (via lipid peroxidation; p<0.001), antioxidant activity (p<0.001) and nitric oxide synthesis (p<0.001) was found in the optic nerves from transgenic super p53 mice compared to respective controls. CONCLUSION The presence of an extra copy of the p53 gene correlated with redox status in the mouse optic nerve. This transgenic mouse could be useful as an experimental model to study cell resistance to neurodegenerative processes in relation to oxidative stress and to apoptosis induction, such as glaucomatous optic neuropathy or age-related macular degeneration.
Image Quality and Diagnostic Performance of a Digital PET Prototype in Patients with Oncologic Diseases: Initial Experience and Comparison with Analog PET

We report our initial clinical experience for image quality and diagnostic performance of a digital PET prototype scanner with time-of-flight (DigitalTF), compared with an analog PET scanner with time-of-flight (GeminiTF PET/CT). Methods: Twenty-one oncologic patients, mean age 58 y, first underwent clinical 18F-FDG PET/CT on the GeminiTF. The scanner table was then withdrawn while the patient remained on the table, and the DigitalTF was inserted between the GeminiTF PET and CT scanner. The patients were scanned for a second time using the same PET field of view with CT from the GeminiTF for attenuation correction. Two interpreters reviewed the 2 sets of PET/CT images for overall image quality, lesion conspicuity, and sharpness. They counted the number of suggestive 18F-FDG–avid lesions and provided the TNM staging for the 5 patients referred for initial staging. Standardized uptake values (SUVs) and SUV gradients as a measure of lesion sharpness were obtained. Results: The DigitalTF showed better image quality than the GeminiTF. In a side-by-side comparison using a 5-point scale, lesion conspicuity (4.3 ± 0.6), lesion sharpness (4.3 ± 0.6), and diagnostic confidence (3.4 ± 0.7) were better with DigitalTF than with GeminiTF (P < 0.01). In 52 representative lesions, the lesion maximum SUV was 36% higher with DigitalTF than with GeminiTF, lesion–to–blood-pool SUV ratio was 59% higher, and SUV gradient was 51% higher, with good correlation between the 2 scanners. Lesions less than 1.5 cm showed a greater increase in SUV from GeminiTF to DigitalTF than those lesions 1.5 cm or greater. In 5 of 21 patients, DigitalTF showed an additional 8 suggestive lesions that were not seen using GeminiTF. In the 15 restaging patients, the true-negative rate was 100% and true-positive rate was 78% for both scanners. In the 5 patients for initial staging, DigitalTF led to upstaging in 2 patients and showed the same staging in the other 3 patients, compared with GeminiTF. Conclusion: DigitalTF provides better image quality, diagnostic confidence, and accuracy than GeminiTF. DigitalTF may be the most beneficial in detecting small tumor lesions and disease staging.
Determinants of Credit Demand by Smallholder Farmers in Kenya

In many developing countries, official credit programmes have been used as important components of rural development. However, the failure to properly identify the credit needs of the target groups has been blamed for the limited success experienced in many of such credit programmes in the developing countries. With the use of farm level cross sectional data from Nakuru district of Kenya, this article analyses the significance of institutional lending terms and conditions in determining farmers‘ demand for credit. The results show that such terms and conditions significantly, but negatively, influence farmers’ demand for institutional credit, effectively discouraging them from seeking such credit. The insignificance of interest rate in determining demand for credit, reinforces the use of nonprice credit rationing in allocating credit funds to farmers. The article proposes the use of a market rate of interest as a means for reducing such rationing and increasing the access of more small scale farmers to credit.
Phase I trial of oral fenretinide in children with high-risk solid tumors: a report from the Children's Oncology Group (CCG 09709).

PURPOSE To determine the maximal tolerated dosage (MTD) of oral fenretinide given as intact capsules for 7 days, repeated every 21 days, in children with high-risk solid tumors. METHODS Children 21 years of age or younger received daily doses from 350 mg/m2 to 3,300 mg/m2 (divided into two or three doses), with pharmacokinetics during course one. The MTD was defined as zero to one of six patients with dose-limiting toxicity (DLT), with at least two of three or two of six DLT at next higher dose. RESULTS Fifty-four patients, age 2 years to 20 years (median, 9 years), were treated: neuroblastoma (n = 39), Ewing sarcoma (n = 5), and other (n = 10). Prior therapy included autologous stem cell transplantation (n = 42), 13-cis-RA (n = 35), and 9-cis-RA (n = 1). One of four patients at 1,050 mg/m2 with prior liver transplant had grade 3 ALT/abdominal pain/nausea/dehydration and grade 4 AST/emesis. At 1,860 mg/m2, one of seven patients had grade 3 hypoalbuminemia/hypophosphatemia. At 2,475 mg/m2, one of eight patients had grade 3 alkaline phosphatase; three of five patients had DLT at 3,300 mg/m2: grade 3 AST/ALT (n = 1), grade 4 bilirubin/grade 3 AST/ALT (n = 1), pseudotumor cerebri (n = 1). Pseudotumor cerebri also occurred at 600 mg/m2 and 800 mg/m2. There was one complete response and 13 patients with stable disease (SD) for 8 or more courses in 30 assessable neuroblastoma patients. SD for 8 or more courses was seen in one of five Ewing sarcoma patients and one melanoma patient. Mean N-4-hydroxyphenyl retinamide plasma level (day 7, steady-state concentration) was 9.9 mumol/L at MTD. CONCLUSION The pediatric MTD of oral capsular fenretinide was 2,475 mg/m2 per day, which achieved levels active against neuroblastoma in vitro with minimal toxicity. Response data support a phase II trial in neuroblastoma.
Cadmium, Copper, Lead, and Zinc in Five Toothed Whale Species of the Mediterranean Sea

The cadmium, lead, copper, and zinc levels were measured in six organs (lung, liver, kidney, skin, muscle, and bone) from 18 specimens of toothed whales, belonging to five species, found stranded along the Corsican coast between November 1993 and December 1998. The five species examined were the bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus, the common dolphin Delphinus delphis, the striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba, the pilot whale Globicephala melas, and the Risso's dolphin Grampus griseus. The values obtained demonstrate that there is a great variability in the accumulation of toxic metals. A comparison of the values with those obtained in other geographical regions also demonstrates an extensive variability in metal levels. The presence of metals in the stomach contents of three of the individuals studied shows that the food source is responsible for a significant input of pollutants to the whales. Measured pollutant levels in whales are thus the result of an accumulation occurring throughout the animal's life.
The tools of teacher evaluation : what should be used in teacher evaluation from the teachers’ perspective.

This paper presents a study that was conducted to investigate the tools of teacher evaluation. The focus is on what teachers state about such tools in terms of what should be used when they are evaluated. Teachers were asked by questionnaire about their support of observation, students’ achievement, self-evaluation, peer-evaluation, student evaluation and portfolios. The sample consisted of 599 teachers and heads of departments from nine primary schools in three different educational districts in Kuwait. The most favoured approach was observation, and the least favoured was student evaluation. Nevertheless, the results show that teachers support the use of several tools in their evaluation.
An empirical analysis of the fiscal impacts of changes in tax revenue multiplicity: Focusing on Florida county case

This study investigates the fiscal impacts of changes in tax revenue multiplicity on Florida counties, with a particular focus on number of local consumption taxes. In analyzing fiscal impacts, a robust standard error model approach in fixed-effects model is employed. The major findings are as follows. The number of local consumption taxes, a measure of tax revenue multiplicity, is found to be associated with larger government budget sizes and higher total tax burdens. The research findings contribute a longitudinal perspective to the literature about the fiscal implications of changes in tax revenue multiplicity. This study also has practical implications for tax policy. Financial officials and taxpayers are often interested in having more multiple sourced tax revenue structures to export their tax burdens and increase their budget size. However, taxpayers and financial officials should know that a more multiple sourced tax revenue structure is likely to increase their total tax burdens.
The Tea Party in American Politics

The Tea Party has come to prominence in the last several years as a force to be reckoned with in American politics. The Tea Party movement has affected major electoral races, publicly supporting some candidates and renouncing others, leading to placement of Tea Party-supporting representatives in Congress and losses by some highly favored opponents of the Tea Party. The movement relies on a great amount of support from Republicans, yet acts in ways that could classify it as an independent movement. In order to answer the question of what, exactly, the Tea Party movement is, and what it has the potential to become, this article examines survey data to compare attitudes and beliefs between Tea Party supporters and the rest of the population. The data point to a classification of the Tea Party as a faction of the Republican Party, with the potential for support independent of the major parties as a possible third party in the future.
Structured Domain Adaptation

In many real-world applications, labeled data are either expensive or too scarce to be used to train an accurate classifier. Therefore, it is worth exploring and often essential to make full use of existing resources. Domain adaptation is one of the most promising techniques of leveraging an existing well-labeled source domain and a limited labeled target domain. With the aim of better understanding new or unknown domains through well-labeled ones, this paper proposes an efficient and powerful algorithm, named structured domain adaptation (SDA), which transfers knowledge across two domains. Specifically, SDA aims to seek a discriminate subspace shared by two domains where the well-learned knowledge of the source domain can be transferred to the target domain. In SDA, samples from both domains are combined together to reveal more shared information across two domains. Furthermore, an iteratively structured matrix <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$H$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is learned to bridge the domain shift so that the marginal and conditional distributions are mitigated. Since the target is labeled to a limited extent or even totally unlabeled, we adopt pseudolabels of the target data to optimize <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$H$ </tex-math></inline-formula> iteratively so that a reconstruction coefficient matrix is learned in order to guarantee local awareness. Our approach is robust to outliers as it applies an <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ell _{2,1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-norm on the error term. SDA can work in either an unsupervised or a semisupervised manner. Extensive experiments on five data sets including faces, objects, digits, and visual events, demonstrate that SDA outperforms several state-of-the-art approaches with significant advantages. Notably, SDA can even achieve 100% accuracy on several popular benchmarks.