Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Sociopsychometrics of Learning Disabilities

The Boston University (BU) case illustrates how the psychometrics of ability differences interact with the concept of learning disability and with the sodopolitics of schooling and society. It also illustrates that learning disabilities advocacy will not be on a sound footing as long as the field refuses to rid itself of its IQ fetishism, refuses to jettison its fixation on aptitude-achievement discrepancy, and fails to free clinical practice from the pseudoscientific neurology that plagued the field in the 1970s. A more inclusive definition of learning disability—one that abandons discrepancy notions-and a more self-critical attitude toward its own claims would advance the field of learning disabilities and help to rid it of distractions such as the BU case.
Ancient trade routes shaped the genetic structure of horses in eastern Eurasia

Animal exchange networks have been shown to play an important role in determining gene flow among domestic animal populations. The Silk Road is one of the oldest continuous exchange networks in human history, yet its effectiveness in facilitating animal exchange across large geographical distances and topographically challenging landscapes has never been explicitly studied. Horses are known to have been traded along the Silk Roads; however, extensive movement of horses in connection with other human activities may have obscured the genetic signature of the Silk Roads. To investigate the role of the Silk Roads in shaping the genetic structure of horses in eastern Eurasia, we analysed microsatellite genotyping data from 455 village horses sampled from 17 locations. Using least‐cost path methods, we compared the performance of models containing the Silk Roads as corridors for gene flow with models containing single landscape features. We also determined whether the recent isolation of former Soviet Union countries from the rest of Eurasia has affected the genetic structure of our samples. The overall level of genetic differentiation was low, consistent with historically high levels of gene flow across the study region. The spatial genetic structure was characterized by a significant, albeit weak, pattern of isolation by distance across the continent with no evidence for the presence of distinct genetic clusters. Incorporating landscape features considerably improved the fit of the data; however, when we controlled for geographical distance, only the correlation between genetic differentiation and the Silk Roads remained significant, supporting the effectiveness of this ancient trade network in facilitating gene flow across large geographical distances in a topographically complex landscape.
Removal of half the sympathetic innervation does not reduce vasoconstrictor responses in rat tail artery

• To test whether the responses of the normal rat tail artery to supramaximal nerve stimulation depend on activating all of its innervation, half the sympathetic innervation was surgically removed (partial denervation, PD). • After PD, the amplitude of excitatory junction potentials was halved but the amplitudes of contractions of isolated segments of PD arteries were of normal amplitude. • The effects of α2‐adrenoceptor mediated auto‐inhibition of noradrenaline release and prejunctional re‐uptake of released noradrenaline were not reduced after PD. • The normal contraction amplitude could not be explained by upregulation of junctional or extra‐junctional adrenoceptors after PD, although slightly increased α2‐adrenoceptor sensitivity prolonged contraction duration, amplifying responses during continuous stimulation. • A surprising conclusion is that post‐receptor mechanisms activated by noradrenaline released from sympathetic nerves are normally saturated. If this applies to other arteries, it significantly changes understanding of their control by sympathetic nerves.
Joint User Pairing and Resource Allocation for Uplink SC-FDMA Systems

In this paper, we investigate joint user pairing and resource allocation under the practical constraints in singlecarrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) LTE uplink systems. We first introduce a joint optimal algorithm based on branch-and-bound search as a benchmark. To reduce complexity, we divide the joint optimization problem into two subproblems: user pairing and resource allocation. For these subproblems, we develop several suboptimal but low-complexity algorithms. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithms outperform the conventional one.
Optimization of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation to Reduce Muscle Fatigue during Isometric Contractions

The objective of this Thesis is to show that a neuromusclar model can be used to calculate an optimized train that will impede the onset of muscle fatigue while tracking a pre-defined force reference. Implementation of a predictive force and fatigue model of a human skeletal muscle when stimulated with neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is presented herein. In this implementation, the nonlinear model is used to control muscle force to a reference. Muscle control is optimized in such a way that muscle fatigue is minimized, demonstrating potential for improvements in applications where NMES use is limited by muscle fatigue. Model parameters were identified for the able-bodied subjects and testing was performed to identify the response of the muscle to a constant frequency stimulation. An optimization algorithm was then used to compute a pulse train that will maintain an isometric contraction at a constant force for a period of time without unnecessarily fatiguing the muscle. Following each train, the fatigue of the muscle was evaluated to determine if muscle fatigue was reduced. The study has concluded that muscle fatigue was significantly reduced when an optimized train is used when compared to a constant frequency train.
Weighting and congruence: a case study based on three mitochondrial genes in pitvipers.

Weighting strategies in a total evidence approach are often conducted in order to remove homoplasy, with the implicit hope to increase congruence between data partitions. Incongruence was measured using the test of Farris et al. (J. S. Farris, M. Källersjö, A. G. Kluge, and C. Bult, 1995, Cladistics 10, 315-319) within and between three mitochondrial genes from pitvipers (Crotalinae) in partitioning each codon position for the coding genes. Incongruence between codon positions of a gene can be worse than incongruence between genes at analogous positions. Third positions of codons behave very differently in terms of incongruence from one gene to another while showing similar patterns in saturation tests. Instead of removing characters in order to discard homoplasy, which is hopeless and does not increase general congruence, we advocate for the removal of those substitutions that are incongruent with the rest. The genus Calloselasma and its sister group the genus Hypnale are the most basal Crotalinae. Asiatic pitvipers are paraphyletic, while American pitvipers are monophyletic.
EMG power spectra of intercollegiate athletes and anterior cruciate ligament injury risk in females.

PURPOSE Females have a disproportionately high incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries compared with males in analogous sports. Although the pathogenesis of this higher frequency has not been elucidated, gender differences in neuromuscular control of the knee may play an important role. This study evaluates EMG power spectra of the quadriceps and hamstring muscles during dynamic, fatiguing exercise to examine differences between male and female intercollegiate athletes. METHODS Fifty-one collegiate basketball and soccer players (25 female, 26 male) were studied. Maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) was determined for knee flexion and extension. Three consecutive 2-min bouts of isokinetic knee flexion and extension exercise were performed at 40% MVC. EMG activity in the biceps femoris and vastus medialis obliquus was recorded using bipolar surface electrodes. RESULTS MVC normalized to body weight was significantly greater in males than in females for the quadriceps (P< 0.01). Quadriceps coactivation ratios were significantly higher in females than in males during knee flexion exercises (P< 0.01). CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates differences in the EMG power spectra for females when compared with a matched group of males. Increased quadriceps coactivation in females may increase anterior tibial loads under dynamic conditions, thus placing the ACL at higher risk for injury in the female athlete.
INTESTINAL PARASITES AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN URBAN AND RURAL TANTA, GHARBIA, GOVERNORATE, EGYPT -

The parasitic infections are the result of multiple factors, such as, socioeconomic, cultural, historical, and political conditions. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of different types of parasitic infections among rural and urban school students in Tanta, Egypt. This study was done in five primary schools children in Tanta. Ages of pupils sample in urban and rural Tanta schools, ranged between 6-12 years and 820 (53.9%) pupils living in rural Tanta and 700 living in urban area. From September 2010- September 2011, 1520 stool samples were investigated for the presence of intestinal parasites. Stool specimens were examined using direct wet mount and the formal ether concentration techniques. Data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software. Four species of intestinal parasites were identified with an overall prevalence of 22.43%. The prevalence of intestinal parasite infections in rural areas in Tanta was 14% while it was 26% in urban areas. The predominant parasites involved were Entamoeba histolytica, Enterobius vermicularis, Giardia lamblia, Ascaris lumbricoides and Schistosoma mansoni with percentages 11.1%, 7.03 %, 4.46%, 0.19%, and 0.19%, respectively. The overall infection was 645 (46%) for males and 825 (54%) for females.
Breast Tumor Heterogeneity: Cancer Stem Cells or Clonal Evolution?

Breast tumors are composed of a variety of cell types with distinct morphologies and behaviors. It is not clear how this tumor heterogeneity comes about. Two popular concepts that attempt to explain this are the cancer stem cell hypothesis and the clonal evolution model. Each of these ideas has been investigated for some time, leading to the accumulation of numerous findings that are used to support one or the other. Although the two views share some similarities, they are fundamentally different notions with very different clinical implications. Analysis of the research backing each concept, along with a review of the results of our recent study investigating putative breast cancer stem cells, suggests how the cancer stem cell hypothesis and the clonal evolution model may be involved in generating breast tumor heterogeneity. An understanding of this process will allow the development of more effective ways to treat and prevent breast cancer.
Breeding CWG-R crested wheatgrass for reduced-maintenance turf

Using reduced-maintenance turfgrass as an alternative to current high-maintenance turfgrass species would conserve resources, reduce labor, and potentially reduce pollutants in the environment. CWG-R is an experimental population of crested wheatgrass [Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn. ] from Iran that has shown potential as a low-maintenance turf. The objective of this research was to estimate the genetic variation for turf traits within the CWG-R population when evaluated under a reduced-maintenance regimen. Ninety CWG-R clonal lines were established in 1998 near Logan, UT, as spaced-plant plots in a RCB design with four replicates. Maintenance of 50% ET 0 replacement, 97.74 kg of nitrogen ha -1 yr -1 , and mowing at 7.62 cm was approximately 40% lower than typical for high-input Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) turf. Critical turf traits, including spring regrowth, season-long (March-October) and mid-summer (June-July) turf quality, color, and rhizomatous spread were evaluated in 1999 and 2000. Significant genetic variation among clonal lines was evident with broad-sense heritabilities of 0.65, 0.76, 0.45, and 0.76 for spring regrowth, season-long turf quality, color, and rhizomatous spread, respectively. Several clonal lines remained green throughout the summer months and maintained acceptable turf quality and color ratings during the critical mid-summer period. The high broad-sense heritability estimates within this population indicate potential for successful improvement of critical turf traits by phenotypic selection. These results indicate that that CWG-R could be an important low-maintenance turf-type crested wheatgrass germplasm.
A thirty-year (1970-1999) study of coeliac disease in the Canterbury region of New Zealand.

AIM To determine the demography of coeliac disease (CD) in the Canterbury region of New Zealand between 1970 and 1999. METHODS The records of patients resident in the Canterbury region of New Zealand with CD proven by intestinal biopsy (Marsh Type 3 histology) between the years of 1970 and 1999 were reviewed. Overall incidence figures were calculated using population data abstracted from five-yearly census reports and, for childhood CD, from birth statistics. RESULTS Over the 30-year study period, 416 people were diagnosed as having CD. The overall incidence of newly recognised CD over this period was 2.2/100 000/year, rising from 1.4/100 000/year in the first three years of the study period (1970 to 1972) to 12.9/100 000/year in the last three years (1997 to 1999). The cumulative incidence of childhood CD (0 to 12 years) over the 30-year period was 0.40/1000 births, rising from 0/1000 births in the first three years to 1.40/1000 births in the last three years. The incidence of CD began to rise in adults in the mid 1980s and, in children, in the early 1990s. At the time of diagnosis, 11% were aged 0-9 years and 12% were aged 60 years and over. The overall female to male ratio was 2.1:1, was highest for those aged 30-39 (3.3:1), and was lowest for those aged 0-19 years (1.4:1) and for those aged 60 years and over (1.15:1). CONCLUSIONS CD is common in the Canterbury region of New Zealand in all age groups. The incidence of recognised CD rose during the study period, beginning in the mid 1980s for adults followed in the early 1990s by children. CD is most frequently recognised in women during the reproductive years of life. Factors contributing to the observed increase may include a greater awareness of CD, specific serological tests and endoscopic small-bowel biopsies.
Toward a general purpose software environment for timeline-based planning

Timeline-based Planning and Scheduling applications have been successfully deployed in various contexts. Often such applications use specific solving algorithms and cannot be easily applied for solving different kind of problems. Then, an open research issue for such planning modeling is the one of creating a software infrastructure with a controllable search engine. In this regard, this paper presents an attempt to synthesize such a software environment. The Extensible Planning and Scheduling Library (EPSL) evolves from the Timeline Representation Framework (APSI-TRF), a software environment supported by the European Space Agency. Goal of EPSL is to obtain a software architecture having the flexibility to focus on specific problem solving aspects. The paper is an initial report on this effort: it introduces the whole idea, then focuses on the definition of suitable heuristic functions, and presents experiments related to two domains generated by current applications.
Masonry Walls under Membrane or Bending Loading Cases: Experiments and Discrete Element Analysis

This research is conducted to gauge the efficiency of the discrete element method (DEM) to reproduce the behaviour of masonry walls submitted to in plane or membrane loading, and out of plane or bending loading cases. The efficiency of the DEM is estimated for all nonlinear behaviour, from the appearance of cracks and associated stress redistributions, cracks propagation, until the failure mechanism related to the ultimate load. The robustness is also evaluated, knowing that different geometrical configuration and loading cases are considered which permits the effects of the main parameters to be gauged such as geometrical dimensions of the walls, the nature and size of the built blocks, as well as the loading case. Several experimental tests are simulated, some from the literature, and the others were conducted in our laboratory. The numerical simulation investigation using the discrete element method is conducted using the 3DEC code. For all the cases, a quite good agreement between the numerical and the experimental results was obtained, which confirms the efficiency and robustness of the DEM method for the quasistatic loading configurations here considered. There is good correlation between the experiments and the simulations for the main characteristics, such as the crack localisation, the bearing capacity of the structure and the failure mode.
Chromosome aberrations in human lymphocytes induced by fission neutrons.

The dose-response relationships of dicentrics and excess acentrics were analysed after exposure of human lymphocytes to a mixed fission neutron-gamma-ray beam. From the analysis of exclusively first division cells a linear-quadratic relation was obtained for dicentrics with the ratio of linear and quadratic components, zeta, equal to 2.76 Gy. Over the range of doses studied (0.04-1.97 Gy) intratrack events therefore predominated. This also applied to acentrics which were linearly related to dose. At the lowest level of observed effect and dose, r.b. e. values with respect to 60Co gamma-rays of up to about 11 were derived for dicentrics and acentrics. With increasing neutron dose the r.b. e. decreased.
Assessing a Tornado Climatology from Global Tornado Intensity Distributions

Recent work demonstrated that the shape of tornado intensity distributions from various regions worldwide is well described by Weibull functions. This statistical modeling revealed a strong correlation between the fit parameters c for shape and b for scale regardless of the data source. In the present work it is shown that the quality of the Weibull fits is optimized if only tornado reports of F1 and higher intensity are used and that the c–b correlation does indeed reflect a universal feature of the observed tornado intensity distributions. For regions with likely supercell tornado dominance, this feature is the number ratio of F4 to F3 tornado reports R(F4/F3) 0.238. The c–b diagram for the Weibull shape and scale parameters is used as a climatological chart, which allows different types of tornado climatology to be distinguished, presumably arising from supercell versus nonsupercell tornadogenesis. Assuming temporal invariance of the climatology and using a detection efficiency function for tornado observations, a stationary climatological probability distribution from large tornado records (U.S. decadal data 195099) is extracted. This can be used for risk assessment, comparative studies on tornado intensity distributions worldwide, and estimates of the degree of underreporting for areas with poor databases. For the 1990s U.S. data, a likely tornado underreporting of the weak events (F0, F1) by a factor of 2 can be diagnosed, as well as asymptotic climatological c,b values of c 1.79 and b 2.13, to which a convergence in the 1950–99 U.S. decadal data is verified.
On the role of item similarity in retrieval-induced forgetting

We report on two experiments designed to examine how the similarity of retrieval-practised and not-retrieval-practised items influences the amount of retrieval-induced forgetting. Participants studied categorised item lists with each category consisting of exemplars from two different semantic subcategories. Using both the retrieval practice paradigm (Experiment 1) and the output interference paradigm (Experiment 2) we found that the retrieval of a subset of the studied items impaired the subsequent recall of the nonpractised items if the two types of items were fairly dissimilar to each other (same category but different subcategory) but did not induce impairment if the two types of items were highly similar (same category and subcategory). These results indicate that a high degree of similarity of practised and nonpractised items can eliminate retrieval-induced forgetting. They also suggest that forgetting in the retrieval practice paradigm and forgetting in the output interference paradigm are mediated by the same mechanisms. The relation of the present results to other very recent findings about the role of item similarity in retrieval-induced forgetting in discussed.
IgG2 inhibits HIV-1 internalization by monocytes, and IgG subclass binding is affected by gp120 glycosylation

Objectives:To determine the effect of IgG2 opsonization on internalization of HIV-1 virus-like particles (VLPs) by monocytes and to determine the effect of gp120 glycosylation on IgG subclass binding. Design:Fc-Fc&ggr; receptor (Fc&ggr;R) interactions are important in antibody-mediated protection from lentivirus infection. Such interactions are influenced by IgG subclass, with IgG2 having low affinity to most Fc&ggr;Rs. We determined the impact of IgG2 on internalization of antibody-opsonized VLPs. It is also known that gp120 glycans affect the binding and function of anti-gp120 antibodies. We determined whether binding of each IgG subclass to recombinant gp120 (rgp120) was similarly impacted by gp120 glycosylation. Methods:Green fluorescent protein (GFP) containing VLPs were opsonized with IgG and IgG2-depleted IgG from individuals vaccinated with rgp120 during the Vax004 vaccine trial. Opsonized VLPs were incubated with peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors (n = 46), and percentages of GFP+ monocytes were determined by flow cytometry. IgG subclass binding of pooled and individual sera to rgp120 and to deglycosylated (PNGase-treated) rgp120 was determined by ELISA. Results:IgG2 elicited by rgp120 vaccination inhibited internalization of antibody-opsonized HIV-1 VLPs by monocytes from healthy individuals (P = 2.8 × 10−5). We also found that both IgG2 and IgG4 bound more poorly to enzymatically deglycosylated rgp120 than to unchanged rgp120. On the contrary, IgG1 and IgG3 bound slightly better to deglycosylated rgp120. Conclusion:Vaccine-induced IgG2 may adversely affect a potentially important antiviral antibody activity, and altering Env glycans might provide the means to bias the subclass response in a favorable direction.
Discriminative reranking for SMT using various global features

In this paper, we propose to use various global features for discriminative reranking in an SMT framework. We employ an online large-margin based training algorithm for the structural output support vector machines based on the margin infused relaxed algorithm. Besides the standard features used, such as decoder's scores, source and target sentences, alignments and part-of-speech tags, we include sentence type probabilities, posterior probabilities and back translation features for reranking. These features have been proved to be useful in other approaches in statistical machine translation but it is the first attempt to apply them in reranking. Our experimental results using 160K BTEC corpus show an improvement of 1–4 BLEU percentage points on Japanese/Chinese to English translation.
Mathematical conservation ecology: A one-predator-two-prey system as case study

A method is presented to analyse the long-term stochastic dynamics of a biological population that is at risk of extinction. From the full ecosystem the method extracts the minimal information to describe the long-term dynamics of that population by a stochastic logistic system. The method is applied to a one-predator-two-prey model. The choice of this example is motivated by a study on the near-extinction of a porcupine population by mountain lions whose presence is facilitated by mule deer taking advantage of a change in land use. The risk of extinction is quantified by the expected time of extinction of the population.