Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Successful Undergraduate Mathematicians: a study of students in two universities

As part of an ESRC-funded longitudinal study, 'Student Experiences of University Mathematics' [1], we followed a cohort of undergraduate mathematics students at two traditional universities with high ratings for research and teaching. This report centres on interpretations of successful students’ engagement with their course as gleaned from in-depth interviews, statistical data and questionnaires. We report that these first class’ students participate in their undergraduate mathematics community in many different ways and their views about mathematics are diverse. Nevertheless, these students have, in Aristotle’s terms, ‘flourished’ and we point to factors which we hypothesise contributed to ‘first class’ students’ success.
An fMRI Study of Differences in Brain Activity Among Elite, Expert, and Novice Archers at the Moment of Optimal Aiming

Objective:We investigated brain activity in elite, expert, and novice archers during a simulated archery aiming task to determine whether neural correlates of performance differ by skill level. Background:Success in shooting sports depends on complex mental routines just before the shot, when the brain prepares to execute the movement. Methods:During functional magnetic resonance imaging, 40 elite, expert, or novice archers aimed at a simulated 70-meter-distant target and pushed a button when they mentally released the bowstring. Results:At the moment of optimal aiming, the elite and expert archers relied primarily on a dorsal pathway, with greatest activity in the occipital lobe, temporoparietal lobe, and dorsolateral pre-motor cortex. The elites showed activity in the supplementary motor area, temporoparietal area, and cerebellar dentate, while the experts showed activity only in the superior frontal area. The novices showed concurrent activity in not only the dorsolateral pre-motor cortex but also the ventral pathways linked to the ventrolateral pre-motor cortex. The novices exhibited broad activity in the superior frontal area, inferior frontal area, ventral prefrontal cortex, primary motor cortex, superior parietal lobule, and primary somatosensory cortex. Conclusions:The more localized neural activity of elite and expert archers than novices permits greater efficiency in the complex processes subserved by these regions. The elite group’s high activity in the cerebellar dentate indicates that the cerebellum is involved in automating simultaneous movements by integrating the sensorimotor memory enabled by greater expertise in self-paced aiming tasks. A companion article comments on and generalizes our findings.
California residential air exchange rates and residence volumes.

UNLABELLED Air exchange rate data from two residential indoor air quality studies are presented. In the first investigation, over 500 residences in Southern California were sampled for three one-week periods from 1984 to 1985. Those data provided seasonal information for a broad range of residential characteristics in a large metropolitan area. In the second study, a probability sample of nearly 300 residences were sampled for a two-day period during the winter of 1991-1992 throughout the state of California. Air exchange rate is summarized by season, geographic area, and appliance type. Residence volumes are presented by cooking and heating appliance. The data approximately followed lognormal distributions. IMPLICATIONS Indoor air quality and human exposure models often require estimates of air exchange rate and residence volumes. Application of those models to California residences can be improved by using the data distributions provided in this manuscript. Data distributions presented for heating and cooking appliances are useful for modeling the impact of indoor sources specific for those appliance types. Measured air exchange rate is also useful for modeling energy use for heating and cooling in residences.
Presence and characteristics of sorbitol-negative Escherichia coli O157 in healthy sheep faeces

The presence of sorbitol-negative Escherichia coli O157 was investigated in healthy Awassi sheep faeces from 175 randomly selected animals in Burdur province of Turkey. Out of 175 animals, 16 (9.1%) were faecal shedding of sorbitol-negative E. coli O157. Out of the 15 flocks included in the study, 7 (47%) had at least one sheep positive for sorbitol-negative E. coli O157. The isolation rate of sorbitol-negative E. coli O157 ranged from 8.3 to 60% among the animals tested in the flocks. A total of 16 ovine sorbitol-negative E. coli O157 strains were characterized by a multiplex PCR. Results showed that 6 (37.7%) strains carried stx1 gene, 3 (18.8%) stx2 gene and 1 (6.3%) both stx1 and stx2 genes. Intimin (eaeA) gene was detected in 4 (25%) of the strains. None of the strains encoding for stx genes was positive for eaeA gene. The results demonstrate that the majority of sorbitol-negative E. coli O157 strains (62.5%) isolated from Awassi sheep in Burdur province of Turkey are Shiga toxin-producing E. coli that have a potential as human pathogens.
00 PMC : A Requirement-Aware DRAM Controller for Multi-core Mixed Criticality Systems

We propose a novel approach to schedule memory requests in mixed criticality systems (MCS). This approach supports an arbitrary number of criticality levels by enabling the MCS designer to specify memory requirements per task. It retains locality within large-size requests to satisfy memory requirements of all tasks. To achieve this target, we introduce a compact time-division-multiplexing scheduler, and a framework that constructs optimal schedules to manage requests to off-chip memory. We also present a static analysis that guarantees meeting requirements of all tasks. We compare the proposed controller against state-of-the-art memory controllers using both a case study and synthetic experiments.
Pressure Drop of Two-Phase Refrigerant-Oil Mixtures in a Small Channel

The adiabatic pressure drop of two-phase flow of refrigerant-oil mixtures in a small rectangular channel (dh=148.0 microns) has been investigated. Tests have been performed with R134a with varying concentrations of a POE 32 oil. Pressure drop tests of pure refrigerant in these size channels have found reasonable agreement to the homogeneous pressure drop models, although flow visualization studies show that such flows are not always in regimes that can be considered homogeneous. The fluid properties of the liquid phase (density, viscosity, etc.) are difficult to characterize because they are governed by the amount of refrigerant that remains dissolved in the oil. Fluid property data measured for this refrigerant-oil pair is used to determine the actual properties of the liquid phase. A separated flow model that was developed from pressure drop of four different pure refrigerants to account for the varying fluid properties (Field and Hrnjak 2006) was compared to the data with the actual liquid phase properties, showing moderate success especially in the high quality region.
p21-activated Kinase Regulates Endothelial Permeability through Modulation of Contractility*

Endothelial cells lining the vasculature have close cell-cell associations that maintain separation of the blood fluid compartment from surrounding tissues. Permeability is regulated by a variety of growth factors and cytokines and plays a role in numerous physiological and pathological processes. We examined a potential role for the p21-activated kinase (PAK) in the regulation of vascular permeability. In both bovine aortic and human umbilical vein endothelial cells, PAK is phosphorylated on Ser141 during the activation downstream of Rac, and the phosphorylated subfraction translocates to endothelial cell-cell junctions in response to serum, VEGF, bFGF, TNFα, histamine, and thrombin. Blocking PAK activation or translocation prevents the increase in permeability across the cell monolayer in response to these factors. Permeability correlates with myosin phosphorylation, formation of actin stress fibers, and the appearance of paracellular pores. Inhibition of myosin phosphorylation blocks the increase in permeability. These data suggest that PAK is a central regulator of endothelial permeability induced by multiple growth factors and cytokines via an effect on cell contractility. PAK may therefore be a suitable drug target for the treatment of pathological conditions where vascular leak is a contributing factor, such as ischemia and inflammation.
Arrhythmic risk stratification by programmed ventricular stimulation in Brugada syndrome: the end of the debate?

One of the most controversial issues debated by cardiac electrophysiologists during the past decade has been whether programmed ventricular stimulation (PVS) plays any role in the arrhythmic risk stratification of the Brugada syndrome (BrS). 1–5 The results of the multicenter study published in 2003 by the Brugada brothers were unequivocal.6 In a study involving 408 BrS individuals with no previous cardiac arrest, inducibility of ventricular fibrillation (VF) was found to be a marker of poor prognosis: individuals with inducible VF had a 6 times higher risk of having sudden death because of VF during the subsequent 2 years compared with the patients with noninducible VF. Subsequent multicenter studies from Europe7,8 and Japan,9,10 as well as 2 meta-analyses studies,11,12 failed to confirm these results,6 leading to downgrade in class indication of PVS for risk stratification from IIa in 200513 to IIb in 2013.14 However, in the latest reported meta-analysis of the prognostic value of PVS in BrS, Fauchier et al15 found that PVS actually may be useful in patients with syncope and in asymptomatic patients. The strength of that meta-analysis when compared with the first 2 reported11,12 is that it distinguished the prognostic role of PVS according to the initial clinical presentation (syncope versus asymptomatic). However, this meta-analysis did not include the results of PRogrammed ELectrical stimUlation preDictive valuE registry8 because that study did not provide data discriminating between these 2 patient groups. Article see p 777 In this issue of Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology , Sieira et al16 analyzed the experience of Pedro Brugada laboratories in Belgium (Alst and Brussels) during the past 20 years. They reported a cohort of 404 patients with type 1 Brugada ECG (spontaneous in …
The Experimental Design Ability Test (EDAT)

Higher education goals include helping students develop evidence based reasoning skills; therefore, scientific thinking skills such as those required to understand the design of a basic experiment are important. The Experimental Design Ability Test (EDAT) measures students' understanding of the criteria for good experimental design through their open-ended response to a prompt grounded in an everyday life science problem. Using a straightforward scoring rubric to analyze student responses, the EDAT provides for consistent and rapid evaluation. Minimal student and classroom time is required to administer the EDAT and it can be used in a pre-/posttest format to measure gains. Significantly, the EDAT is content and terminology independent, and requires minimal quantitative skills. Our findings indicate that the EDAT is sensitive to improvements in experimental design ability, as only students in our sample who participated in a redesigned introductory biology course that included explicit instruction and experiences using the scientific method, made significant gains in their experimental design ability.
Rule Monitoring Ability Predicts Event-Based Prospective Memory Performance in Individuals with TBI

Abstract Numerous studies have demonstrated that prospective memory (PM) abilities are impaired following traumatic brain injury (TBI). PM refers to the ability to remember to complete a planned action following a delay. PM post-TBI has been shown to be related to performance on neuropsychological tests of executive functioning and retrospective episodic memory (RM). However, the relative influence of impairments in RM versus executive functioning on PM performance post-TBI remains uninvestigated. In the current study, PM and neuropsychological test performance were examined in 45 persons with a history of moderate to severe TBI at least 1 year before enrollment. Regression analyses examined the relative contributions of RM and executive functioning in the prediction of PM performance on the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT). Results indicated that scores on tests of delayed RM and rule monitoring (i.e., ability to avoid making errors on executive measures) were the strongest predictors of PM. When the interaction between RM impairment and rule monitoring was examined, a positive relationship between PM and rule monitoring was found only in TBI participants with impaired RM. Results suggest that PM performance is dependent upon rule monitoring abilities only when RM is impaired following TBI. (JINS, 2014, 20, 1–11)
Immunohistochemical Localization of Haptoglobin in Porcine Lungs

The extravasation of erythrocytes into the lower respiratory tract occurs in numerous lung injuries and may lead to oxidative damages in lung tissues. Haptoglobin (Hp), the major haemoglobin‐binding protein, is known to reduce lung injury associated with exposure to blood in mice. In pigs, Hp is a major acute phase protein and its serum concentrations are elevated in various infections of the respiratory tract. However, information on the porcine Hp response towards inflammatory stimuli is restricted to blood. We herein investigated the presence of Hp in lung tissues from pigs with acute and chronic bronchopneumonia via immunohistochemistry. Hp was localized in airway epithelial cells and immigrated leucocytes whereas in alveolar epithelial cells there was no distinct signal. Unaltered lungs showed less Hp‐positive cells compared with lungs from pigs with acute or chronic bronchopneumonia.
Parametric Weighted Filter: An Efficient Dynamic Manipulation of Signature Files

The retrieval capabilities of the signature file access method have become very attractive for data processing applications dealing with both formatted and unformatted data. Multimedia databases should also take advantage of this method, provided convenient storage structures for organizing signature files are available. In this paper a high performance dynamic signature file organization is proposed, combining the latest developments in storage structures (dynamic partitioning schemes) with the classical multilevel organizations in an efficient and effective way. We call the method the parametric weighted filter (PWF) and the performance analysis shows its superiority over previous methods. Finally, refinements are proposed that can further improve the scheme and that are worth further investigation.
Anabolic sensitivity of postprandial muscle protein synthesis to the ingestion of a protein-dense food is reduced in overweight and obese young adults.

BACKGROUND Excess body fat diminishes muscle protein synthesis rates in response to hyperinsulinemic-hyperaminoacidemic clamps. However, muscle protein synthetic responses after the ingestion of a protein-dense food source across a range of body mass indexes (BMIs) have not been compared. OBJECTIVE We compared the myofibrillar protein synthetic response and underlying nutrient-sensing mechanisms after the ingestion of lean pork between obese, overweight, and healthy-weight adults. DESIGN Ten healthy-weight [HW; BMI (in kg/m2): 22.7 ± 0.4], 10 overweight (OW; BMI: 27.1 ± 0.5), and 10 obese (OB; BMI: 35.9 ± 1.3) adults received primed continuous l-[ring-13C6]phenylalanine infusions. Blood and muscle biopsy samples were collected before and after the ingestion of 170 g pork (36 g protein and 3 g fat) to assess skeletal muscle anabolic signaling, amino acid transporters [large neutral and small neutral amino acid transporters (LAT1, SNAT2) and CD98], and myofibrillar protein synthesis. RESULTS At baseline, OW and OB groups showed greater relative amounts of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) protein than the HW group. Pork ingestion increased mTORC1 phosphorylation only in the HW group (P = 0.001). LAT1 and SNAT2 protein content increased during the postprandial period in all groups (time effect, P < 0.05). Basal myofibrillar protein synthetic responses were similar between groups (P = 0.43). However, myofibrillar protein synthetic responses (0-300 min) were greater in the HW group (1.6-fold; P = 0.005) after pork ingestion than in the OW and OB groups. CONCLUSIONS There is a diminished myofibrillar protein synthetic response to the ingestion of protein-dense food in overweight and obese adults compared with healthy-weight controls. These data indicate that impaired postprandial myofibrillar protein synthetic response may be an early defect with increasing fat mass, potentially dependent on altered anabolic signals, that reduces muscle sensitivity to food ingestion. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02613767.
Similarities and Differences in Affective and Cognitive Origins of Food Likings and Dislikes

In a field study, 355 French-Canadian adults (Caucasians; 119 men, 236 women; average age of 40) freely stated the food item they liked and disliked the most, the reasons for their attitude and the context of their last consumption of these two food items. Content analysis revealed that the origins of food likes and dislikes are at the same time very similar and very different. They are similar in terms of the overwhelming influence of affective factors, in particular sensory experience, in the formation of both positive and negative attitudes toward food. Similarity between origins of food likes and dislikes in the same subjects is higher when they are from affective sources than when they are from cognitive sources. Food likes and dislikes are also similar in terms of the high salience of the social dimension in subjects' memories of consumption contexts. Results also show that food likes and dislikes also differ in many ways. Subjects can more easily elicit attitude bases and consumption contexts for food likes than they do for food dislikes. Beside taste as their common and most frequent base, results show that dislikes originate from more specific (e.g. texture, smell, appearance) and more intense sensory experiences than likes. Further, physiological consequences that contribute to food likes and dislikes are not the same: likes originate from positive nutritional value whereas dislikes follow from negative physiological responses, in particular nausea. Also, specific factors contribute uniquely to likes and dislikes. Functional aspects (e.g. flexibility, preparation) were the second most important reasons for food likes while having almost no influence on dislikes. In contrast, food symbolism was the third most important reason for food dislikes with almost no effect on food likes.
Ethnic intermarriage in times of social change: The case of latvia

We gain insight into the dynamics of ethnic intermarriage in times of social change by studying marriages between Latvians and Russians (including Belarussians and Ukrainians) that occurred in Latvia before and after independence from the Soviet Union. Before independence, ethnic intermarriage was already rather common, involving about 17% of the marriages annually. Since independence, intermarriage between Russians and Latvians has increased substantially. Part of this increase can be explained by selective emigration, but at least half of it may be due to integrative processes. Although there were more marriages between Russian men and Latvian women before independence, the gender pattern reversed after independence. Intermarriage levels were the highest among the less educated, children of mixed couples, partners with similar educational levels, and people in the countryside.
Dispelling Myths About Dissociative Identity Disorder Treatment: An Empirically Based Approach

Objective: Some claim that treatment for dissociative identity disorder (DID) is harmful. Others maintain that the available data support the view that psychotherapy is helpful. Method: We review the empirical support for both arguments. Results: Current evidence supports the conclusion that phasic treatment consistent with expert consensus guidelines is associated with improvements in a wide range of DID patients’ symptoms and functioning, decreased rates of hospitalization, and reduced costs of treatment. Research indicates that poor outcome is associated with treatment that does not specifically involve direct engagement with DID self-states to repair identity fragmentation and to decrease dissociative amnesia. Conclusions: The evidence demonstrates that carefully staged trauma-focused psychotherapy for DID results in improvement, whereas dissociative symptoms persist when not specifically targeted in treatment. The claims that DID treatment is harmful are based on anecdotal cases, opinion pieces, reports of damage that are not substantiated in the scientific literature, misrepresentations of the data, and misunderstandings about DID treatment and the phenomenology of DID. Given the severe symptomatology and disability associated with DID, iatrogenic harm is far more likely to come from depriving DID patients of treatment that is consistent with expert consensus, treatment guidelines, and current research.
Possible mechanism for flocculation interactions governed by gene FLO1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A model is proposed for the mechanism of flocculation interactions in yeasts in which flocculent cells have a recognition factor which attaches to alpha-mannan sites on other cells. This factor may be governed by the expression of the single, dominant gene FLO1. Isogenic strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, differing only at FLO1 and the marker genes ade1 and trp1, were developed to examine the components involved in flocculene. Electron microscopy and concanavalin Aferritin labeling of aggregated cells showed that extensive and intense interactions between cell wall mannan layers mediated cell aggregation. The components of the mannan layer essential for flocculence were Ca2+ ions, alpha-mannan carbohydrates, and proteins. By studying the divalent cation dependence at various pH values and in the presence of competing monovalent cations, flocculation was found to be Ca2+ dependent; however, Mg2+ and Mn2+ ions substituted for Ca2+ under certain conditions. Reversible inhibition of flocculation by concanavalin A and succinylated concanavalin A implicated alpha-branched mannan carbohydrates as one essential component which alone did not determine the strain specificity of flocculence, since nonflocculent strains interacted with and competed for binding sites on flocculent cells. FLO1 may govern the expression of a proteinaceous, lectin-like activity, firmly associated with the cell walls of flocculent cells, which bind to the alpha-mannan carbohydrates of adjoining cells. It was selectively and irreversibly inhibited by proteolysis and reduction of disulfide bonds. The potential of this system as a model for the genetic and biochemical control of cell-cell interactions is discussed.