Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The perceived influence of past mentoring experiences on the mentoring practices of selected female school executives

The Perceived Influence of Past Mentoring Experiences on the Mentoring Practices of Selected Female School Executives. (December 2006) Betty Diane Ashley, B.A., McNeese State University; M.Ed., McNeese State University Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. Virginia Collier Dr. Elizabeth Foster Although research on mentoring dates back to the early 1980’s, there is little research available which examines the influence of past mentoring experiences on relationships in which female school executives, in turn, serve as the mentors. This interpretive qualitative case study, based on data collected from conversational interviews with three selected female school executives, was designed to explore and investigate the past and present mentoring relationships of these female school executives to understand more clearly the influence of their past mentoring experiences. Four distinct strands of mentoring interactions emerged from the key findings of this study. The four strands include: Strand I: Career Development and Psychosocial Functions, Strand II: Attributes of Successful Mentoring Relationships, Strand III: Values of Successful Mentoring Relationships, and Strand IV: Mutual Attraction, Reciprocity, and Interpersonal Comfort. After studying the various data that were collected, it became evident that the degree of influence of past mentoring experiences is interdependent and mutually connected to the mentoring interactions of Strand IV: Mutual Attraction, Reciprocity, and Interpersonal Comfort. In these specified
The MID1 E3 Ligase Catalyzes the Polyubiquitination of Alpha4 (α4), a Regulatory Subunit of Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A)

Background: IGBP1/α4 interacts with microtubule-associated MID1 to regulate PP2A within the mTOR pathway. Results: MID1 catalyzes the polyubiquitination and degradation of α4, demonstrating for the first time a mechanism for α4 regulation. Conclusion: The tandem RING-Bbox domains are required for α4 polyubiquitination and degradation. Significance: Ectopic overexpression of IGBP1/α4 transforms cells. Ubiquitination of α4 impacts the stability and activity level of PP2A. Alpha4 (α4) is a key regulator of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and mTOR in steps essential for cell-cycle progression. α4 forms a complex with PP2A and MID1, a microtubule-associated ubiquitin E3 ligase that facilitates MID1-dependent regulation of PP2A and the dephosphorylation of MID1 by PP2A. Ectopic overexpression of α4 is associated with hepatocellular carcinomas, breast cancer, and invasive adenocarcinomas. Here, we provide data suggesting that α4 is regulated by ubiquitin-dependent degradation mediated by MID1. In cells stably expressing a dominant-negative form of MID1, significantly elevated levels of α4 were observed. Treatment of cells with the specific proteasome inhibitor, lactacystin, resulted in a 3-fold increase in α4 in control cells and a similar level in mutant cells. Using in vitro assays, individual MID1 E3 domains facilitated monoubiquitination of α4, whereas full-length MID1 as well as RING-Bbox1 and RING-Bbox1-Bbox2 constructs catalyzed its polyubiquitination. In a novel non-biased functional screen, we identified a leucine to glutamine substitution at position 146 within Bbox1 that abolished MID1-α4 interaction and the subsequent polyubiquitination of α4, indicating that direct binding to Bbox1 was necessary for the polyubiquitination of α4. The mutant had little impact on the RING E3 ligase functionality of MID1. Mass spectrometry data confirmed Western blot analysis that ubiquitination of α4 occurs only within the last 105 amino acids. These novel findings identify a new role for MID1 and a mechanism of regulation of α4 that is likely to impact the stability and activity level of PP2Ac.
Morphology and physiology of cells in slice preparations of the dorsal cochlear nucleus of mice

Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was injected into cells from which intracellular recordings were made in slices of the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) in order to correlate physiology with morphology. In general, the morphology of cells labeled intracellularly with HRP corresponded to those made with Golgi impregnations in mice and other mammals. The following cells were labeled: one granule cell, four cartwheel cells, eight fusiform cells, two other cells in the fusiform cell layer, and two tuberculoventral association cells in the deep layers of the DCN The axon of the granule cell runs parallel to isofrequency laminae with collaterals branching perpendicularly and running along the tonotopic axis. The cartwheel cells have dendrites in the molecular layer that are densely covered with spines. The axon of one cell terminates just dorsally to the cell body. Fusiform cells have the characteristic spiny, apical and smooth, basal dendrites. The basal dendrites are conspicuously oriented parallel to isofrequency laminae. Axons of the fusiform cells exit through the dorsal acoustic stria without branching. The two tuberculoventral association cells in the deep DCN have axons that terminate both in the deep DCN, within the same isofrequency lamina that contains the cell body, and in the ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN).
Structure and Functional Analysis of LptC, a Conserved Membrane Protein Involved in the Lipopolysaccharide Export Pathway in Escherichia coli*

LptC is a conserved bitopic inner membrane protein from Escherichia coli involved in the export of lipopolysaccharide from its site of synthesis in the cytoplasmic membrane to the outer membrane. LptC forms a complex with the ATP-binding cassette transporter, LptBFG, which is thought to facilitate the extraction of lipopolysaccharide from the inner membrane and release it into a translocation pathway that includes the putative periplasmic chaperone LptA. Cysteine modification experiments established that the catalytic domain of LptC is oriented toward the periplasm. The structure of the periplasmic domain is described at a resolution of 2.2-Å from x-ray crystallographic data. The periplasmic domain of LptC consists of a twisted boat structure with two β-sheets in apposition to each other. The β-sheets contain seven and eight antiparallel β-strands, respectively. This structure bears a high degree of resemblance to the crystal structure of LptA. Like LptA, LptC binds lipopolysaccharide in vitro. In vitro, LptA can displace lipopolysaccharide from LptC (but not vice versa), consistent with their locations and their proposed placement in a unidirectional export pathway.
Hepatectomy with chemoembolization for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND/AIMS Details of patient survival after resection of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma following preoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization are unknown. METHODOLOGY One hundred and forty-eight patients with solitary hepatocellular carcinomas who had undergone curative hepatic resection were divided into transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (+) and (-) groups. We estimated the risk factors of survival and disease-free survival using 148 cases and determined the risk factors that were reduced by preoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization. RESULTS Indocyanine green retention time, ductal invasion, intrahepatic metastasis, capsule formation, liver cirrhosis, and histologic stage were common significant predictors of survival and disease-free survival after hepatic resection. The 50% overall survival in the transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (+) and (-) groups was 60 and 47 months, and the 50% disease-free survival for them was 24 and 24 months, respectively (NS). The survival and disease-free survival rates were not related to whether the patients had undergone preoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, even if the procedure had rendered the tumor completely necrotic. However, in patients with intrahepatic metastasis and ductal invasion, or at an advanced disease stage, survival in the transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (+) group was significantly better than that in the transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (-) group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS In the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma with poor prognosis, hepatic resection combined with preoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization improves the postoperative survival.
Disruption of T Cell Tolerance to Self-Immunoglobulin Causes Polyclonal B Cell Stimulation Followed by Inactivation of Responding Autoreactive T Cells1

Scavenger receptor (SR)-specific delivery by maleylation of a ubiquitous self-protein, Ig, to SR-bearing APCs results in self-limiting induction of autoimmune effects in vivo. Immunization with maleyl-Ig breaks T cell tolerance to self-Ig and causes hypergammaglobulinemia, with increases in spleen weight and cellularity. The majority of splenic B cells show an activated phenotype upon maleyl-Ig immunization, leading to large-scale conversion to a CD138+ phenotype and to significant increases in CD138-expressing splenic plasma cells. The polyclonal B cell activation, hypergammaglobulinemia, and autoreactive Ig-specific T cell responses decline over a 2-mo period postimmunization. Following adoptive transfer, T cells from maleyl-Ig-immune mice taken at 2 wk postimmunization can induce hypergammaglobulinemia in the recipients, but those taken at 10 wk postimmunization cannot. Hypergammaglobulinemia in the adoptive transfer recipients is also transient and is followed by an inability to respond to fresh maleyl-Ig immunization, suggesting that the autoreactive Ig-specific T cells are inactivated peripherally following disruption of tolerance. Thus, although autoreactive T cell responses to a ubiquitous self-Ag, Ig, are induced by SR-mediated delivery to professional APCs in vivo resulting in autoimmune pathophysiological effects, they are effectively and rapidly turned off by inactivation of these activated Ig-specific T cells in vivo.
Hemifacial preferences for the perception of emotion and attractiveness differ with the gender of the one beheld

Though the left cheek appears more emotive, perceptions of attractiveness vary with gender. For the first time, this study assessed the relationship between perceptions of emotion (happiness) and attractiveness in naturalistic photographic portraits. One hundred ninety-two participants (63 male; 129 female) viewed pairs of left and right cheek poses, and made a forced-choice decision indicating which image appeared (a) more emotive and (b) more attractive (order counterbalanced). Half the images were mirror-reversed to control for perceptual biases. Results indicated a striking gender difference: for males, the left cheek appears both more emotive and more attractive; for females, preferences are subject to stronger perceptual influences, with the right cheek bias for emotion and attractiveness reversing to a left cheek bias when images are mirror-reversed. These findings suggest that if you want to show the world your “best side”, men should lead with the left but for women, the right cheek is right.
Coupling between planar microstrip patches in an array environment

In this paper, we utilize a conformal finite difference time domain (CFDTD) code to predict the coupling between two coplanar radiators with complete feed circuits. The CFDTD has been parallelized to operate on a Linux cluster, allowing rapid simulation of large, complex problems. A wide variety of antenna configurations have been analyzed, and two representative examples are discussed herein. The first consists of circular microstrip patches operating at C-band, while the second is comprised of rectangular Ka-band patches. Numerical coupling data are compared against both measurements and theory. Input impedance characteristics are also evaluated to determine the radiation efficiency.
Connecting Across the Divides of Race/Ethnicity

There exists an active discussion as to the effects of racial/ethnic composition on community connection. Research has suggested that racial segregation is beneficial to one’s community connection. To explore this dynamic, we investigate how an individual’s community connection is determined by the racial/ethnic segregation of his or her neighborhood, among other independent variables. We implement multilevel models using individual data from the 2008 and 2010 Public Health Management Corporation’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Household Health Survey and tract data from the 2006–2010 American Community Survey. We find that though the overall socioeconomic status of a neighborhood explains much of the variations in community connection, non-Hispanic Blacks living in predominantly White or mixed communities tend to have a weaker community connection than their counterparts in other types of neighborhood. This demonstrates that segregation and socioeconomic status explain community connection.
Predictors of remission, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder in adolescents with brief psychotic disorder or psychotic disorder not otherwise specified considered at very high risk for schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine predictors of diagnostic and symptomatic outcome in adolescents with either psychotic disorder not otherwise specified (PsyNOS) or brief psychotic disorder (BrPsy) followed in a schizophrenia prodromal program. METHODS As part of a naturalistic study of adolescents considered at clinical high risk for schizophrenia, 26 youths (mean age, 15.9 +/- 2.6 years, 65.4% male) with psychosis not fulfilling criteria for schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder and diagnosed with PsyNOS or BrPsy were evaluated for predictors of diagnostic and symptomatic outcome after at least 6 (mean, 22.8 +/- 19.4) months follow up. RESULTS Progression to schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or psychotic bipolar disorder (n = 10, 38.5%) was predicted by fulfilling criteria for schizotypal personality disorder at baseline (p = 0.046). Development of schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (n = 7, 27.0%) was associated with worse executive functioning (p = 0.029) and absence of anxiety disorders (p = 0.027). Conversely, progression to bipolar disorder (n = 4, 15.4%), with (n = 3, 11.5%) or without (n = 1, 3.8%) psychosis, was associated with the presence of anxiety disorders (p = 0.014). Remission of all psychotic as well as attenuated positive or negative symptoms (n = 5, 19.4%) was predicted by Hispanic ethnicity (p = 0.0047), an initial diagnosis of BrPsy (p = 0.014), longer duration of antidepressant treatment (p = 0.035), and better attention at baseline (p = 0.042). CONCLUSIONS Results from this preliminary study suggest that patients with PsyNOS, BrPsy, or schizotypal personality disorder features in adolescence should be followed as separate risk groups in prodromal studies of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Executive function deficits and absence of anxiety disorders may be risk markers for schizophrenia, while presence of anxiety disorders may be linked to bipolar disorder risk. After achieving full remission, patients with sudden onset of psychosis and brief episodes could once be given the option of careful, supervised treatment discontinuation. The potential salutary effect of antidepressants during the psychotic prodrome and presence of characteristics differentiating patients at risk for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder should be investigated further.
A modified cascaded multilevel converter topology for high power bidirectional inductive power transfer systems with the reduction of switching devices and power losses

Several power converters have been proposed for Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) systems to generate high frequency current to excite the primary side inductive coils/tracks. This paper proposes a modified cascaded multilevel converter (MC) topology based bidirectional IPT (BIPT) system with reduced number of power electronic components and low converter losses. The proposed topology is suitable for high power - low to medium voltage IPT applications. The simulation results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system.
Joint determination of the lot size and number of shipments for a family of integrated vendor–buyer systems considering defective products

In this paper we present two solution procedures to obtain the solution for a family of economic production quantity inventory models for an integrated vendor–buyer system considering that production system generates defective products, in which the number of shipments must be a discrete value and that the lot size can take continuous (case 1) or integer (case 2) values. These solution procedures provide a more realistic approach for solving a family of inventory models. Previous works only derive the optimal lot size considering the number of shipments as a given value or derive both the lot size and the number of shipments considering both decision variables as continuous. The number of shipments takes integer values in real life and thus it must be considered as a discrete variable. This paper revisits and solves previous inventory models considering the variables (lot size and number of shipments) according to their real-life nature.
The VP6 Protein of Rotavirus Interacts with a Large Fraction of Human Naive B Cells via Surface Immunoglobulins

ABSTRACT Immunity to human group A rotavirus (RV), a major cause of viral gastroenteritis in infants, involves B lymphocytes that provide RV-specific antibodies. Additionally, some arguments suggest that naive B cells could be implicated in the first steps of the immune response against RV. The aim of our study was to analyze the interaction of VP6 and VP7 RV capsid proteins with human B cells depending on the immune status of the individual, i.e., naive or RV experienced. For this purpose, a two-color virus-like particle flow cytometry assay was devised to evaluate the blood B-lymphocyte reactivity to VP6 and VP7 proteins from healthy RV-exposed adults, recently infected infants, and neonates at birth. Both VP6 and VP7 interactions with B cells were mediated by surface immunoglobulins and probably by their Fab portions. VP7-reactive B lymphocytes were mainly detected from RV-experienced patients and almost exclusively in the CD27-positive memory cell fraction. Conversely, VP6-reactive B lymphocytes were detected at similar and high frequencies in adult, infant, and neonate samples. In adult samples, VP6 reacted with about 2% of the CD27-negative (CD27neg) naive B cells. These results demonstrated that the VP6 RV protein interacted with a large fraction of naive B lymphocytes from both adults and neonates. We propose that naive B cell-VP6 interaction might influence the strength and quality of the acquired immune response and should be considered for elaborating RV vaccine strategies.
Linear Precoder Optimization for MIMO Systems with Joint Power Constraints

This paper considers linear precoder optimization problems for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. In addition to the conventionally used sum-power constraint, maximum eigenvalue constraint on the precoding matrix is also considered so as to account for power limitations imposed on each antenna by the linearity of its own power amplifier in practical implementations. A framework employing directional derivative is developed to obtain optimal precoder designs for different criteria including maximizing the information rate and minimizing the sum of mean-square error (MSE). It turns out that power allocations in such situations are piecewise linear in sum-power space. The piecewise linear property allows us to generate the entire path of solution through finding out a finite number of breakpoints. A Homotopy-type algorithm is then proposed to obtain the solution for an arbitrary sum-power constraint. The number of breakpoints to be determined in our exact piecewise linear solution is in fact only about two times of the number of transmit antennas, so that our method is super fast and outperforms existing approximate solutions in the literature in both effectiveness and efficiency. Simulated experiments are performed to verify our theoretical analysis.
THE MEANING OF HEALTH: PERSPECTIVES OF ANGLO AND LATINO OLDER WOMEN

This qualitative study, utilizing the dimensional analysis approach, was conducted to generate a substantive theory about the description and meaning of functional health from the perspectives of older Anglo and Latino women. Through focus group interviews with older Anglo and Latino women and data analysis, the investigators learned that the women's perceptions of functional health were vastly different. As planners and providers, we usually are trained in a health culture that is predominantly based on White, middle-class values. This ethnocentrism can act as a barrier leading us to disregard the notion that concepts such as health are not universally perceived. Findings from this study may enable us to achieve a closer approximation of the real experiences of our clients and to sensitize us to different world views.
Platelet-Released Growth Factors Modulate the Secretion of Cytokines in Synoviocytes under Inflammatory Joint Disease

The etiology and pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are marked by a complex interplay of various cell populations and is mediated by different signaling pathways. Traditionally, therapies have primarily focused on pain relief, reducing inflammation and the recovery of joint function. More recently, however, researchers have discussed the therapeutic efficacy of autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP). The main objective of this work is to examine the influences of platelet-released growth factor (PRGF) on human synoviocytes under inflammatory conditions. Additionally, it is checked to which extend treatment with platelet concentrate influences the release of cytokines form synoviocytes. For this purpose, an in vitro RA model was created by stimulating the cells with the TNF-α. The release of cytokines was measured by ELISA. The cytokine gene expression was analyzed by real-time PCR. It has been observed that the stimulation concentration of 10 ng/ml TNF-α resulted in a significantly increased endogenous secretion and gene expression of IL-6 and TNF-α. The anti-inflammatory effect of PRGF could be confirmed through significant reduction of TNF-α and IL-1β. An induced inflammatory condition seems to cause PRGF to inhibit the release of proinflammatory cytokines. Further study is required to understand the exact effect mechanism of PRGF on synoviocytes.
ASSESSMENT OF CHANGES IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF EMERGING ECONOMIES IN THE CONTEXT OF DEVELOPED ECONOMIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

e present article has focused on the theoretical and practical aspects of the measurement of quality of life by the quality of life index (IQOL). A special focus of the present article is placed on complexity of quality of life measurement. In the article, an integrated Quality of Life Measurement Model and IQOL are formulated on the basis of theoretical assumptions and synthesis of factors of external and internal environments of quality of life and indicators re"ecting them. e Quality of Life Measurement Model presented in the article has been empirically tested assessing quality of life in 20 purposefully selected developed and emerging economies of the European Union during the period #om 2005 till 2013. e newly created IQOL is one of the ambitions to promote the methodological background for business and political actors and improvement of the quality of life in emerging economies.