Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Designing for Improvement in Professional Development for Community College Developmental Mathematics Faculty

More than 60% of the nation’s 14 million community college students are required to complete at least one developmental mathematics class before enrolling in college-credit courses; however, 80% of them do not successfully complete any college-level mathematics course within 3 years. To address this problem, the Community College Pathways initiative was launched in 2009. A core element is the Pathways Faculty Support Program, professional development aimed at supporting faculty to develop knowledge, beliefs, skills, and practices for teaching Pathways courses. In fall 2014, a redesign of the program used improvement science methods to design an infrastructure for responsive, flexible professional development that is sensitive to varying and changing conditions, with mechanisms for identifying, designing, and testing ideas for improvement. Specifically, our team employed a user-centered design process that foregrounds the needs and work processes of Pathways faculty and a measurement system that drives the continuous improvement of the program.
Caught Between Great Powers: Oman’s Neutrality in the Saudi-Iran Rivalry

This article aims to explain the reason for Oman’s neutrality policy amid Saudi-Iran growing tension in the region. The neutral stance from Oman raised some questions about their position as a part of the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that, if following the logic of consequences, should take sides with Saudi, and put pressure on Iran due to Saudi presence in the group. Oman always promotes peace and tends to avoid confrontation when facing Saudi-Iran rivalry. By implementing explanative methods and a constructivism paradigm based on norms as a tool of analysis, and supported with secondary data, this article found out that Oman’s neutrality decision in the Saudi-Iran rivalry is largely being influenced by their domestic norms, that is Ibadism, that made them capable to avoid conflict in the region, in this case, the Saudi-Iran rivalry. Ibadism also drives them to always promote peace in the region, because this teaching is based on four main ideas, namely tolerance, just rule, acceptance of the other, and peaceful compromises. In the end, this domestic norm influenced Oman’s decision-maker’s conception of the importance of preserving stability in the region. This then becomes an important explanation about why Oman breaks with their fellow GCC members that tend to support Saudi in the rivalry with Iran and decided to follow neutrality as their main policy. Keywords: domestic norms, Ibadism, neutrality, Oman, Saudi-Iran rivalry
Misinterpreting the Meaning of the Equal Sign: A Study of Pupils in the Final Grades of Primary School in Cyprus

The objective and originality of this study was the application of a multi-faceted approach to the investigation of the understanding of the equal sign in primary school children. In the first phase of the study a large proportion of a sample of 126 final grade pupils displayed difficulties in interpreting the concept. In the second phase, all of the primary school mathematics textbooks were reviewed in terms of how they present equalities; a heavy emphasis on the typical operations-equals-answer context was found. In the final phase a sample of 226 children from the final two grades of primary schools was selected. Brief intervention with instruction on the relational meaning of the equal sign, through a specifically designed worksheet containing equations in the non-typical context and some word problems, was found to have a significant positive impact on children’s understanding after a reasonable lapse of time.
Do Out-of-Pocket Payments for Care for Children under 5 Persist Even in a Context of Free Healthcare in Burkina Faso? Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Population-Based Survey

Background: In April 2016, Burkina Faso began free healthcare for children aged from 0 to 5 years. However, its implementation faces challenges, and the goal of this study is to estimate the fees paid for this child care and to determine the causes of these direct payments. Methods: Data gathering involved 807 children aged from 0 to 5 years who had contact with the public healthcare system. The estimation of the determinants of out-of-pocket health payments involved the application of a two-part regression model. Results: About 31% of the children made out-of-pocket payments for healthcare (an average of 3407.77 CFA francs per case of illness). Of these, 96% paid for medicines and 24% paid for consultations. The first model showed that out-of-pocket payments were positively associated with hospitalization, urban area of residence, and severity of illness, were made in the East-Central and North-Central regions, and were negatively associated with the 7 to 23 month age range. The second model showed that hospitalization and severity of illness increased the amount of direct health payments. Conclusion: Children targeted by free healthcare still make out-of-pocket payments. The dysfunction of this policy needs to be studied to ensure adequate financial protection for children in Burkina Faso.
Scaly plaques in a post‐hematopoeitic stem cell transplant patient

mofetil, and methotrexate. 4 Few reports of this GVHD variant are found in the literature, mostly in the adult population. However, two cases are described in the pediatric population. 3,7 A 4-year-old male with ALL who underwent HSCT from an unrelated HLA-matched donor subsequently developed diffuse erythematous papules and plaques with whitish scales clinically similar to psoriasis on day + 60. 3 The initial biopsy was diagnostic for psoriasiform GVHD. However, the lesions worsened after oral prednisolone was tapered, following which, he had significant improvement with methotrexate. 3 An 18-month-old female with acute myeloblastic leukemia who had received a HSCT from an unrelated HLA-matched female donor, presented on day + 191 with abrupt onset of annular plaques with erythema and elevated borders with scales on the trunk and extremities. 7 Histopathology was consistent with psoriasiform GVHD. She had multiple treatments (topical steroids, PUVA, and topical tacrolimus) without improvement and subsequently developed sclerodermatous GVHD. 7 It is important to maintain clinical suspicion of this rare entity for which histopathology is the key to diagnosis. The cases reported in pediatric patients are rare and our case is a new report of cutaneous GVHD mimicking psoriasis vulgaris.
Microstructured optical fibre drawing with active channel pressurisation

The use of channel pressurisation in drawing microstructured optical fibres (MOFs) potentially allows for fine control of the internal structure of the fibre. By applying extra pressure inside the channels it is possible to counteract the effect of surface tension which would otherwise act to close the channels in the fibre as it is drawn. This paper extends the modelling approach of Stokes et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 755, 2014, pp. 176–203) to include channel pressurisation. This approach treats the problem as two submodels for the flow, one in the axial direction along the fibre and another in the plane perpendicular to that direction. In the absence of channel pressurisation these models decoupled and were solved independently; we show that they become fully coupled when the internal channels are pressurised. The fundamental case of a fibre with an annular cross-section (containing one central channel) will be examined in detail. In doing this we consider both a forward problem to determine the shape of fibre from a known preform and an inverse problem to design a preform such that when drawn it will give a desired fibre geometry. Criteria on the pressure corresponding to fibre explosion and closure of the channel will be given that represent an improvement over similar criteria in the literature. A comparison between our model and a recent experiment is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the modelling approach. We make use of some recent work by Buchak et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 778, 2015, pp. 5–38) to examine more complicated fibre geometries, where the cross-sectional shape of the internal channels is assumed to be elliptical and multiple channels are present. The examples presented here demonstrate the versatility of our modelling approach, where the subtleties of the interaction between surface tension and pressurisation can be revealed even for complex patterns of cross-sectional channels.
Institutional Hegemony of a Logic Within a Cross-Sector Partnership

Although some scholars propagate cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) as a panacea for addressing the grand challenges of the 21st century, scholars also acknowledge that this type of collaboration faces significant barriers since the institutional logics of partners such as business, civil society, and government potentially have contradicting interests and future visions. This inductive longitudinal case study on integrating skilled migrants into the German labor market examines the institutional work by which CSP members, particularly government actors, deliberately rein in contradictory logics to reproduce the dominant government logic, and in doing so, establish a high level of institutional coherence. In disclosing the processes by which the dominant logic maintains its hegemony, I contribute new insight into the institutional dynamics within government-sponsored CSPs. I identify various actions and I illuminate CSP tensions and dark sides.
Recent trends of in-vehicle time sensitive networking technologies, applications and challenges

With the vigorous development of automobile industry, in-vehicle network is also constantly upgraded to meet data transmission requirements of emerging applications. The main transmission requirements are low latency and certainty especially for autonomous driving. Time sensitive networking (TSN) based on Ethernet gives a possible solution to these requirements. Previous surveys usually investigated TSN from a general perspective, which referred to TSN of various application fields. In this paper, we focus on the application of TSN to the in-vehicle networks. For in-vehicle networks, we discuss all related TSN standards specified by IEEE 802.1 work group up to now. We further overview and analyze recent literature on various aspects of TSN for automotive applications, including synchronization, resource reservation, scheduling, certainty, software and hardware. Application scenarios of TSN for in-vehicle networks are analyzed one by one. Since TSN of in-vehicle network is still at a very initial stage, this paper also gives insights on open issues, future research directions and possible solutions.
Primality Testing and Sub-Exponential Factorization

This paper discusses the problems of primality testing and large number factorization. The first section is dedicated to a discussion of primality testing algorithms and their importance in real world applications. Over the course of the discussion the structure of the primality algorithms are developed rigorously and demonstrated with examples. This section culminates in the presentation and proof of the modern deterministic polynomial-time Agrawal-Kayal-Saxena algorithm for deciding whether a given n is prime. The second section is dedicated to the process of factorization of large composite numbers. While primality and factorization are mathematically tied in principle they are very different computationally. This fact is explored and current high powered factorization methods and the mathematical structures on which they are built are examined.
Stagnation Heat Transfer on a Concave Surface Cooled by Unconfined Slot Jet

Heat transfer at the stagnation point on a concave surface and on a flat plate subjected to unconfined slot jet impingement is characterized and compared at a fixed jet Reynolds number of ReB=20,000. The concave surface diameter-to-slot width ratio is fixed at 9.0, whereas the slot exit-to-target surface distance, H/B, varies from 0.5 to 20.0. In particular, the nonmonotonic variation of heat transfer at the stagnation point with H/B is fluidically explained. The present results clarify that the deflection zone formed on the target surface as a result of the jet impingement leads to the upstream shift of the peak in turbulence strength that exactly coincides with the peak of heat transfer at the stagnation point. With the concave surface, the impinging jet deflected radially on the surface is re-entrained into the incoming jet due to the curvature, which causes the shortening of the potential core of the slot jet and the longitudinal upstream shift of the peak in turbulence strength compared with the flat.
Exploitation of a Type 1 Toxin–Antitoxin System as an Inducible Counter-Selective Marker for Genome Editing in the Acetogen Eubacterium limosum

Targeted mutations in the anaerobic methylotroph Eubacterium limosum have previously been obtained using CRISPR-based mutagenesis methods. In this study, a RelB-family toxin from Eubacterium callanderi was placed under the control of an anhydrotetracycline-sensitive promoter, forming an inducible counter-selective system. This inducible system was coupled with a non-replicative integrating mutagenesis vector to create precise gene deletions in Eubacterium limosum B2. The genes targeted in this study were those encoding the histidine biosynthesis gene hisI, the methanol methyltransferase and corrinoid protein mtaA and mtaC, and mtcB, encoding an Mttb-family methyltransferase which has previously been shown to demethylate L-carnitine. A targeted deletion within hisI brought about the expected histidine auxotrophy, and deletions of mtaA and mtaC both abolished autotrophic growth on methanol. Deletion of mtcB was shown to abolish the growth of E. limosum on L-carnitine. After an initial selection step to isolate transformant colonies, only a single induction step was required to obtain mutant colonies for the desired targets. The combination of an inducible counter-selective marker and a non-replicating integrative plasmid allows for quick gene editing of E. limosum.
A Self-learning Robust Swing-up algorithm

A novel swing-up algorithm for an inverted pendulum under a restricted cart track length is introduced. The algorithm achieves the swing-up task by means of a control law that uses a finite input set. The algorithm neither knows nor uses values of cart and pendulum masses, or pendulum length. In the swing-up process, it self-learns a weight that is used in normalizing the energy injected to the pendulum. This weight makes it possible for the algorithm to determine the number of sampling periods needed to reach the upright equilibrium state. Also, by predicting the multi-step ahead cart position, it gives rise to a control law that keeps the cart within the track and makes the pendulum reach the neighbourhood of the upright equilibrium state in a smooth manner. The validity and robustness of the swing-up algorithm are verified through laboratory experiments.
Hospitalizations Are Increasing in Distal Upper Extremity Fractures

Introduction Distal upper extremity (DUE) fractures are common and include bony fractures of the wrist, hand, and finger. DUE fractures can require hospital admission for clinical observation or surgical fixation. The trend of hospitalization rate for these injuries may more accurately predict future staffing needs, required resources, and expected revenue for orthopedic surgery hand services. The purpose of this study is to determine the trend of hospitalization percentage from 2009 to 2018 for patients presenting to the United States (US) emergency departments (EDs) with DUE fractures. Methods The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) was utilized to collect data from 138,700 patients with wrist, hand, or finger fractures presenting to the US EDs between 2009 and 2018. A total of 752 patients were excluded for ages less than two years old or no sex entry. The unadjusted and adjusted (age, sex, race, and fracture location) hospitalization rates across years were evaluated using binary logistic regression. Results From 2009 to 2018, 137,948 DUE fractures were reported, of which 4749 (3.4%) were hospitalized. Wrist fractures accounted for the highest amount (2953) and the highest proportion of hospitalized patients (62.2%). Higher hospitalization rates were seen among patients 40 years and older (p < 0.05). Together, the DUE fracture hospitalization rate increased significantly (p < 0.05) in 2016 (OR = 1.215, 95% CI = 1.070-1.380), 2017 (OR = 1.154, 95% CI = 1.016-1.311), and 2018 (OR = 1.154, 95% CI = 1.279-1.638) from 2009. The adjusted results showed hospitalization rate statistically increased (p < 0.05) in 2016 (OR = 1.184, 95% CI = 1.040-1.346) and 2018 (OR = 1.389, 95% CI = 1.225-1.575) compared to 2009. An inconsistent increase in hospitalization rate was seen across locations of fracture: wrist (2012, 2013, 2018), hand (2018), and finger (2016, 2018). Conclusions The hospitalization rate of patients with DUE fractures increased in 2016 and 2018 from 2009. These data may predict a need to increase future staffing and resources for orthopedic surgery hand services as hospitals resume pre-pandemic practices.
The Relationship of Ketogenic Diet with Neurodegenerative and Psychiatric Diseases: A Scoping Review from Basic Research to Clinical Practice

Background: The ketogenic diet (KD) has become widespread for the therapy of epileptic pathology in childhood and adulthood. In the last few decades, the current re-emergence of its popularity has focused on the treatment of obesity and diabetes mellitus. KD also exerts anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties, which could be utilized for the therapy of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. Purpose: This is a thorough, scoping review that aims to summarize and scrutinize the currently available basic research performed in in vitro and in vivo settings, as well as the clinical evidence of the potential beneficial effects of KD against neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. This review was conducted to systematically map the research performed in this area as well as identify gaps in knowledge. Methods: We thoroughly explored the most accurate scientific web databases, e.g., PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, to obtain the most recent in vitro and in vivo data from animal studies as well as clinical human surveys from the last twenty years, applying effective and characteristic keywords. Results: Basic research has revealed multiple molecular mechanisms through which KD can exert neuroprotective effects, such as neuroinflammation inhibition, decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, decreased amyloid plaque deposition and microglial activation, protection in dopaminergic neurons, tau hyper-phosphorylation suppression, stimulating mitochondrial biogenesis, enhancing gut microbial diversity, restoration of histone acetylation, and neuron repair promotion. On the other hand, clinical evidence remains scarce. Most existing clinical studies are modest, frequently uncontrolled, and merely assess the short-term impacts of KD. Moreover, several clinical studies had large dropout rates and a considerable lack of compliance assessment, as well as an increased level of heterogeneity in the study design and methodology. Conclusions: KD can exert substantial neuroprotective effects via multiple molecular mechanisms in various neurodegenerative and psychiatric pathological states. Large, long-term, randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trials with a prospective design are strongly recommended to delineate whether KD may attenuate or even treat neurodegenerative and psychiatric disease development, progression, and symptomatology.
Use of Botulinum Toxin as a Treatment of Hemiplegic Shoulder Pain Syndrome: A Randomized Trial

Objective: The primary objective of this paper is to assess whether the use of 200 units of abobotulinum in the pectoralis major and subscapularis muscles modifies the pain complaint assessed using the visual analog scale in subjects with shoulder pain after the onset of spastic hemiplegia due to cerebrovascular disease when compared to the application of a placebo to the same muscles. Design: A prospective, double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled clinical trial study in two different rehabilitation centers. Setting: Two distinct outpatient neurological rehabilitation services. Participants: Patients older than 18 years who were included presented upper limb spasticity resulting from ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke and a diagnosis of Painful Hemiplegic Shoulder Syndrome (PHSS) that was independent of motor dominance. Interventions: Patients were divided into two groups, one of them underwent the application of botulinum toxin (TXB-A) in the pectoralis major and subscapularis muscles, at a total dose of 400 U. Main Outcome Measure: Patients were assessed for a change in pain using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for at least 13 mm. Results: An improvement in pain and spasticity levels in both groups, more intense in the toxin group, but without statistical significance. The comparison between the groups showed a reduction in pain by VAS (p = 0.52). Conclusions: The use of botulinum toxin in the subscapularis and pectoralis major muscles resulted in a reduction in shoulder pain in spastic hemiplegic patients without statistical significance.
Transition to Robotic Total Knee Arthroplasty With Kinematic Alignment is Associated With a Short Learning Curve and Similar Acute-Period Functional Recoveries

Background Robotic instruments are increasingly being used in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The adoption of robotics has allowed surgeons a new level of precision and facilitated the adoption of a kinematic approach in TKA. We sought to examine one surgeon’s transition from a traditional mechanical alignment technique to a modified kinematic approach by comparing short-term recovery outcomes of robotic TKA patients with those who underwent traditionally instrumented TKAs. Methodology We examined six-week and six-month postoperative data from 99 traditionally instrumented, mechanically aligned and 66 kinematically aligned robotic TKA patients between January 2021-October 2021 and October 2021-April 2022, respectively. Robotic surgery was performed with VELYS™ (DePuy Synthes, Warsaw, IN, USA) a semi-active, imageless, table-affixed, robotic TKA solution. Results Robotic and traditionally instrumented TKAs did not differ significantly in any functional outcome measures examined, including pain scores, use of assistive devices, or range of motion at six weeks postoperatively. Robotic TKA patients had a better range of motion in knee flexion than traditional TKA patients at six months postoperatively. There were no differences in surgical complications or rates of manipulation under anesthesia within one year postoperatively. Robotic surgery tourniquet times exhibited a steep drop off and equaled traditional methods after only two robotic surgeries were performed. Conclusions Transition to a kinematic, semi-active, robotic TKA demonstrated encouraging results by demonstrating acute-period recovery of function consistent with the current standard of care, as well as a better range of motion at six months postoperatively. The learning curve of this new-to-market device was shorter than previous research on the transition to robotic TKA. Clear advantages of transitioning to robotic instrumentation by any specific functional measure are yet to be elucidated. Further randomized trials are necessary to characterize long-term outcomes.