Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relationship Between Teacher Leaders and Teacher Attrition

This study investigates the relationship between teacher leaders and teacher attrition and its impact on students attending public schools in the United States. Teacher leadership has been recognized as being an integral part in operating schools efficiently and effectively with outcomes of success. School administrators have realized the value that teacher leaders bring into the schools. Teacher leaders can influence the schools’ climates which in turn influences the learning environments in the classrooms. Teachers are collaborative and supportive for one another and especially for beginning teachers when there are teacher leaders on the faculty. In the United States during the last decade, teacher attrition isn’t decreasing but appears to become an even more serious problem in the coming years. Approximately 40 percent of beginning teachers will leave the classroom within their first five years of teaching. Teacher attrition is even a higher percentage within schools that serve minority and low-income students. This study identifies some of major contributing factors being attributed to the high rates of teacher attrition rate. In addition, this discusses what are some of the possible approaches in reducing this high rate of teachers exiting the profession.
Ribonucleoside Analogue That Blocks Replication of Bovine Viral Diarrhea and Hepatitis C Viruses in Culture

ABSTRACT A base-modified nucleoside analogue, β-d-N4-hydroxycytidine (NHC), was found to have antipestivirus and antihepacivirus activities. This compound inhibited the production of cytopathic bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) RNA in a dose-dependant manner with a 90% effective concentration (EC90) of 5.4 μM, an observation that was confirmed by virus yield assays (EC90 = 2 μM). When tested for hepatitis C virus (HCV) replicon RNA reduction in Huh7 cells, NHC had an EC90 of 5 μM on day 4. The HCV RNA reduction was incubation time and nucleoside concentration dependent. The in vitro antiviral effect of NHC was additive with recombinant alpha interferon-2a and could be prevented by the addition of exogenous cytidine and uridine but not of other natural ribo- or 2′-deoxynucleosides. When HCV RNA replicon cells were cultured in the presence of increasing concentrations of NHC (up to 40 μM) for up to 45 cell passages, no resistant replicon was selected. Similarly, resistant BVDV could not be selected after 20 passages. NHC was phosphorylated to the triphosphate form in Huh7 cells, but in cell-free HCV NS5B assays, synthetic NHC-triphosphate (NHC-TP) did not inhibit the polymerization reaction. Instead, NHC-TP appeared to serve as a weak alternative substrate for the viral polymerase, thereby changing the mobility of the product in polyacrylamide electrophoresis gels. We speculate that incorporated nucleoside analogues with the capacity of changing the thermodynamics of regulatory secondary structures (with or without introducing mutations) may represent an important class of new antiviral agents for the treatment of RNA virus infections, especially HCV.
Energy Loss of Hydrogen- and Helium-Ion Beams in DNA: Calculations Based on a Realistic Energy-Loss Function of the Target

Abstract We have calculated the electronic energy loss of proton and α-particle beams in dry DNA using the dielectric formalism. The electronic response of DNA is described by the MELF-GOS model, in which the outer electron excitations of the target are accounted for by a linear combination of Mermin-type energy-loss functions that accurately matches the available experimental data for DNA obtained from optical measurements, whereas the inner-shell electron excitations are modeled by the generalized oscillator strengths of the constituent atoms. Using this procedure we have calculated the stopping power and the energy-loss straggling of DNA for hydrogen- and helium-ion beams at incident energies ranging from 10 keV/nucleon to 10 MeV/nucleon. The mean excitation energy of dry DNA is found to be I = 81.5 eV. Our present results are compared with available calculations for liquid water showing noticeable differences between these important biological materials. We have also evaluated the electron excitation probability of DNA as a function of the transferred energy by the swift projectile as well as the average energy of the target electronic excitations as a function of the projectile energy. Our results show that projectiles with energy ≲100 keV/nucleon (i.e., around the stopping-power maximum) are more suitable for producing low-energy secondary electrons in DNA, which could be very effective for the biological damage of malignant cells.
Physical activity and mortality in chronic kidney disease (NHANES III).

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with impaired physical activity. However, it is unclear whether the associations of physical activity with mortality are modified by the presence of CKD. Therefore, we examined the effects of CKD on the associations of physical activity with mortality. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS This was an observational study of 15,368 adult participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III; 5.9% had CKD (eGFR < 60 ml/min per 1.73 m(2)). Based on the frequency and intensity of leisure time physical activity obtained by a questionnaire, participants were divided into inactive, insufficiently active, and active groups. Time to mortality was examined in Cox models, taking into account the complex survey design. RESULTS Inactivity was present in 13.5% of the non-CKD and 28.0% of the CKD groups (P < 0.001). In two separate multivariable Cox models, compared with the physically inactive group, hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of mortality for insufficiently active and active groups were 0.60 (0.45 to 0.81) and 0.59 (0.45 to 0.77) in the non-CKD subpopulation and 0.58 (0.42 to 0.79) and 0.44 (0.33 to 0.58) in the CKD subpopulation. These hazard ratios did not differ significantly between the CKD and non-CKD subpopulations (P > 0.3). CONCLUSIONS Physical inactivity is associated with increased mortality in CKD and non-CKD populations. As in the non-CKD population, increased physical activity might have a survival benefit in the CKD population.
Neoliberal Urban Transformations in Indian Cities: Paradoxes and Predicaments

This article attempts to understand state practices of restructuring of urban space and modes of governance, the role and strategies of the different actors involved and their participatory implications related to neoliberal urban transformation in Indian cities. Intergovernmental competition and inter-party conflict have constrained India’s attempts towards ‘state rescaling’, marked by incomplete devolution of authority and resources to the cities. In contrast to decentralization, a new networked form of local governance restructures and shifts the authority and resources from the municipality to the private sector, civil society groups or other agencies or branches within governments. These forms have institutionalized highly insulated and discretionary processes of decision-making to serve interest and priorities of upper-and middle-class population. Powers of the municipal officials and elected representatives have been weakened. Such political discursive processes and practices have rendered urban poor and their interests invisible within transformative cities. All these necessitate grounded deeper evaluations of such policies that are celebrated as technically sound and efficient or promote ‘good governance’.
Utilization of Uniformly Labeled 13C‐Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in the Synthesis of Long‐Chain Fatty Acids and Cholesterol Accumulating in the Neonatal Rat Brain

Abstract: Polyunsaturated fatty acids are needed for normal neonatal brain development, but the degree of conversion of the 18‐carbon polyunsaturated fatty acid precursors consumed in the diet to their respective 20‐and 22‐carbon polyunsaturates accumulating in the brain is not well known. In the present study, in vivo 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to monitor noninvasively the brain uptake and metabolism of a mixture of uniformly 13C‐enriched 16‐and 18‐carbon polyunsaturated fatty acid methyl esters injected intragastrically into neonatal rats. In vivo NMR spectra of the rat brain at postnatal days 10 and 17 had larger fatty acid signals than in uninjected controls, but changes in levels of individual fatty acids could not be distinguished. One day after injection of the U‐13C‐polyunsaturated fatty acid mixture, 13C enrichment (measured by isotope ratio mass spectrometry) was similar in brain phospholipids, free fatty acids, free cholesterol, and brain aqueous extract; 13C enrichment remained high in the phospholipids and cholesterol for 15 days. 13C enrichment was similar in the main fatty acids of the brain within 1 day of injection but 15 days later had declined in all except arachidonic acid while continuing to increase in docosahexaenoic acid. These changes in 13C enrichment in brain fatty acids paralleled the developmental changes in brain fatty acid composition. We conclude that, in the neonatal rat brain, dietary 16‐and 18‐carbon polyunsaturates are not only elongated and desaturated but are also utilized for de novo synthesis of long‐chain saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol.
Linguistic coordinate transformations for complex fuzzy sets

Complex fuzzy sets were introduced as a model for the fuzzification of the complex domain. This model projects the two-dimensional features of the complex domain, apparent in mathematical analysis, to the linguistic domain. One important operation that surfaced as a result of using complex fuzzy sets was the linguistic coordinate transformations. In this paper, the linguistic coordinate transformations are investigated through an application to the design of second order adaptive microelectromechanical systems. It is shown that using complex fuzzy sets together with the linguistic coordinate transformations, the adaptive control may be implemented in one linguistic coordinate system and the linguistic outputs may then be transformed to another for further operations. As in the case of the example, it is demonstrated that this transformation could result in a reduction of the complexity of a given problem.
A prescription-based automatic medical diagnosis system using a stacking method

The amount of data being collected and stored is huge and is expanding at a vivid pace at both the national and international level. Health care organizations correspondingly generate a large volume of information every day. The health care industry is rich in information but it needs to discover hidden relationships and patterns in this data. This paper intends to use data mining techniques to discover knowledge in a dataset that was provided by a research center in Tehran. By analyzing the drugs that were bought by each patient, this paper aims to predict what kind of physician each patient has referred to and what kind of disease they are suffering from. The dataset includes details such as sex, age and the names of the drugs prescribed for each patient. For labeling the instances, a group of pharmacy students and professors has determined each patient's disease. A number of experiments have been performed to compare the performance of different data mining techniques for predicting the diseases and the results illustrate that the proposed Stacking Model has higher accuracy compared to other techniques such as k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN), Naïve Bayes, Decision Tree etc.
Conventional SLA and chemically modified SLA implants in patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus--a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential for a chemically modified Sand blasted, Large grit, Acid etched (SLA) surface, compared with a conventional SLA surface, to enhance implant healing and integration in poorly controlled diabetic patients, a group previously demonstrated to have compromises and delays in implant stabilization during the metabolically active healing period following implant placement. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study enrolled 24 patients with type 2 diabetes, baseline HbA1c levels between 7.5-11.4%, and a minimum of two posterior mandibular tooth sites at least 4 months following extraction and appropriate for implant placement. Each patient, at a randomly selected site, received an implant with the conventional SLA surface; at the second site, the patient received an implant with the chemically modified SLA (modSLA) surface. Thus, 48 study implants were placed. Implant stability was assessed using Resonance Frequency Analysis (RFA). Readings were taken from the buccal and proximal directions for each implant. Implant stability (ISQ) was assessed at the time of surgical placement (baseline) and 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 16 weeks following implant placement. RESULTS No significant differences in implant stability were observed between conventional SLA implants and modSLA implants, and the time courses of implant stabilization following implant placement were similar for the two implant types. Baseline ISQ and minimum ISQ was slightly higher in subjects with higher HbA1c levels, but were similar during 12-16 weeks following implant placement. Forty-seven (98%) of the 48 implants were determined to be successfully osseointegrated and continued to restoration. CONCLUSION Implant stabilization was similar for the conventional SLA and chemically modified SLA implants in type 2 diabetic patients with relatively poor glycemic control. Furthermore, this study demonstrated clinically successful implant placement even in poorly controlled diabetic patients.
Adaptive differentiation of Plasmodium falciparum populations inferred from single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) conferring drug resistance and from neutral SNPs.

BACKGROUND Theoretical and experimental data support the geographic differentiation strategy as a valuable tool for detecting loci under selection. In the context of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, few populations have been studied, with limited genomic coverage. METHODS We examined geographic differentiation in P. falciparum populations on the basis of 12 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 4 genes encoding drug resistance determinants, 5 SNPs in 2 genes encoding antigens, and a set of 17 putatively neutral SNPs dispersed on 13 chromosomes. We sampled 326 parasite isolates representing 7 P. falciparum populations from regions with varied levels of malaria transmission (Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mayotte, Haiti, and the Philippines). RESULTS Frequencies of drug resistance alleles varied considerably among populations (mean F(ST), 0.52). In contrast, allele frequencies varied significantly less for antigenic and neutral SNPs (mean F(ST), 0.16 and 0.24, respectively). This contrasting pattern was more pronounced when only the African populations were considered. Signature of selection was detected for most of the resistant SNPs but not for the antigenic SNPs. CONCLUSION These data further validate the utility of geographic differentiation for identifying loci under strong positive selection, such as drug resistance loci. This study also provides frequencies of molecular makers of resistance in some overlooked populations.
Introducing More IFRS Principles of Disclosure – Will the Poor Disclosers Improve?

Abstract The current paper was prepared for the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Research Forum 2017 and evaluates the effects of introducing more principles of disclosure as part of the IASB Disclosure Initiative. We perform a literature review of academic research on how entities have complied with disclosure requirements in the past. The review shows high levels of non-compliance and high volatility across entities, including poor disclosers being far below the average. We find no clear pattern of higher compliance for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) with more reliance on disclosure principles as compared to specific requirements (i.e. IFRS 7, IFRS 8), but note the methodological problem of measuring compliance with disclosure principles. Academic research suggests that the degree of compliance depends on entities’ incentives for providing or withholding information in combination with local conditions for primary users, auditors and regulators. Based on our review, we argue that increased reliance on entities to act in ‘good faith’ when complying with disclosure requirements, in capital-market contexts where entities may be in high-incentive situations and have low costs of non-compliance, is potentially risky in terms of how well the Standards protect primary users from poor disclosers. More emphasis is needed on ensuring that the disclosure requirements are enforceable and auditable in order to secure a certain minimum level of disclosure.
Contributions of Indian conservative dentists and endodontists to the Medline database during 1996–2009: A bibliometric analysis

Background: Analysis of publication trends will guide the policy framers, administrators, and dentists to frame future policies and design programs for the development of scientific and technological policies in the field of dentistry. Aims and Objectives: This study was undertaken to assess the trends in Indian Conservative dentists and endodontists’ Publication in PubMed-Medline database during 1996–2009. Materials and Methods: Using the time limitation of publication date limit of 1st January 1996 to 31st December 2009, all articles where authors’ affiliation had the words Dental AND India were selected. From this collection of articles, the following were noted down: year of publication, number of authors, name of the journal, reach of the journal, status of the journal, specialty of the first, state of origin, and type of research. From this database, the performance of department of conservative dentistry and endodontics was analyzed. Results: The number of articles published by conservative dentists and endodontists was 124. Among them, 63 got published in international journals and 61 in Indian journals. A majority of 33 journals were published in Indian Journal of Dental Research followed by 25 in the Journal of Conservative Dentistry. Out of these articles, 66 were on the basis of original research done by the authors. Nearly 45.2% of the published articles were from the institutes in Tamil Nadu, followed by Karnataka (30.6%), and Maharashtra (8.1%). Although the overall distribution of the publication trends seems to be constant from 1996 to 2006, there seems to be boom in the publication trend since 2007.
Strategies used by critical care nurses to identify, interrupt, and correct medical errors.

BACKGROUND Medical errors are common in intensive care units. Nurses are uniquely positioned to identify, interrupt, and correct medical errors and to minimize preventable adverse outcomes. Nurses are increasingly recognized as playing a role in reducing medical errors, but only recently have their error-recovery strategies been described. OBJECTIVES To describe error-recovery strategies used by critical care nurses. METHODS Data were collected by audio taping focus groups with 20 nurses from 5 critical care units at 2 urban university medical centers and 2 community hospitals on the East and West coasts of the United States. Transcript content was analyzed as recommended by Krueger and Casey. RESULTS Analysis of focus group data revealed that nurses in critical care settings use 17 strategies to identify, interrupt, and correct errors. Nurses used 8 strategies to identify errors: knowing the patient, knowing the "players," knowing the plan of care, surveillance, knowing policy/procedure, double-checking, using systematic processes, and questioning. Nurses used 3 strategies to interrupt errors: offering assistance, clarifying, and verbally interrupting. Nurses used 6 strategies to correct errors: persevering, being physically present, reviewing or confirming the plan of care, offering options, referencing standards or experts, and involving another nurse or physician. CONCLUSIONS These results reflect the pivotal role that critical care nurses play in the recovery of medical errors and ensuring patient safety. Several error-recovery strategies identified in this study were also reported by emergency nurses, providing further empirical support for nurses' role in the recovery of medical errors as proposed in the Eindhoven model.
Biochemical evolution II: origin of life in tubular microstructures on weathered feldspar surfaces.

Mineral surfaces were important during the emergence of life on Earth because the assembly of the necessary complex biomolecules by random collisions in dilute aqueous solutions is implausible. Most silicate mineral surfaces are hydrophilic and organophobic and unsuitable for catalytic reactions, but some silica-rich surfaces of partly dealuminated feldspars and zeolites are organophilic and potentially catalytic. Weathered alkali feldspar crystals from granitic rocks at Shap, north west England, contain abundant tubular etch pits, typically 0.4-0.6 microm wide, forming an orthogonal honeycomb network in a surface zone 50 microm thick, with 2-3 x 10(6) intersections per mm2 of crystal surface. Surviving metamorphic rocks demonstrate that granites and acidic surface water were present on the Earth's surface by approximately 3.8 Ga. By analogy with Shap granite, honeycombed feldspar has considerable potential as a natural catalytic surface for the start of biochemical evolution. Biomolecules should have become available by catalysis of amino acids, etc. The honeycomb would have provided access to various mineral inclusions in the feldspar, particularly apatite and oxides, which contain phosphorus and transition metals necessary for energetic life. The organized environment would have protected complex molecules from dispersion into dilute solutions, from hydrolysis, and from UV radiation. Sub-micrometer tubes in the honeycomb might have acted as rudimentary cell walls for proto-organisms, which ultimately evolved a lipid lid giving further shelter from the hostile outside environment. A lid would finally have become a complete cell wall permitting detachment and flotation in primordial "soup. " Etch features on weathered alkali feldspar from Shap match the shape of overlying soil bacteria.