Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
‘Real Rape’, Law Reform and The Role of Research: The Evolution of the Victorian Crimes (Rape) Act 1991

This paper provides a brief history of the Victorian Crimes (Rape) Act 1991 and examines the role which social science research played in the development of this legislation. The Crimes (Rape) Act was modelled closely on a report of the Law Reform Commission of Victoria. In preparing this report, the Commission undertook a comprehensive quantitative study of rape prosecutions in Victoria, as well as drawing on empirical studies from other jurisdictions. The paper concludes that the impact of the research on the development of the legislation was limited by a number of factors: the decision-making process was relatively unstructured, involved a large number of players, was highly politicised, and had a high symbolic content. However, the collection and dissemination of reliable data did take some of the heat and hyperbole out of the debate, and thereby facilitated a more constructive dialogue. This factor alone made the research worthwhile, given that the rape law reform had in the past been a highly divisive issue in Victoria.
Novel Pathogenic Variant in TGFBR2 Confirmed by Molecular Modeling Is a Rare Cause of Loeys-Dietz Syndrome

Loeys-Dietz syndrome (LDS) is a connective tissue disorder characterized by vascular findings of aneurysm and/or dissection of cerebral, thoracic, or abdominal arteries and skeletal findings. We report a case of a novel pathogenic variant in TGFBR2 and phenotype consistent with classic LDS. The proband was a 10-year-old presenting to the genetics clinic with an enlarged aortic root (Z-scores 5-6), pectus excavatum, and congenital contractures of the right 2nd and 3rd digit. Molecular testing of TGFBR2 was sent to a commercial laboratory and demonstrated a novel, likely pathogenic, variant in exon 4, c.1061T>C, p.(L354P). Molecular modeling reveals alteration of local protein structure as a result of this pathogenic variant. This pathogenic variant has not been previously reported in LDS and thus expands the pathogenic variant spectrum of this condition.
Low-dose budesonide for maintenance of clinical remission in collagenous colitis: a randomised, placebo-controlled, 12-month trial

Objective This 1-year study aimed to assess low-dose budesonide therapy for maintenance of clinical remission in patients with collagenous colitis. Design A prospective, randomised, placebo-controlled study beginning with an 8-week open-label induction phase in which patients with histologically confirmed active collagenous colitis received budesonide (Budenofalk, 9 mg/day initially, tapered to 4.5 mg/day), after which 92 patients in clinical remission were randomised to budesonide (mean dose 4.5 mg/day; Budenofalk 3 mg capsules, two or one capsule on alternate days) or placebo in a 12-month double-blind phase with 6 months treatment-free follow-up. Primary endpoint was clinical remission throughout the double-blind phase. Results Clinical remission during open-label treatment was achieved by 84.5% (93/110 patients). The median time to remission was 10.5 days (95% CI (9.0 to 14.0 days)). The maintenance of clinical remission at 1 year was achieved by 61.4% (27/44 patients) in the budesonide group versus 16.7% (8/48 patients) receiving placebo (treatment difference 44.5% in favour of budesonide; 95% CI (26.9% to 62.7%), p<0.001). Health-related quality of life was maintained during the 12-month double-blind phase in budesonide-treated patients. During treatment-free follow-up, 82.1% (23/28 patients) formerly receiving budesonide relapsed after study drug discontinuation. Low-dose budesonide over 1 year resulted in few suspected adverse drug reactions (7/44 patients), all non-serious. Conclusions Budesonide at a mean dose of 4.5 mg/day maintained clinical remission for at least 1 year in the majority of patients with collagenous colitis and preserved health-related quality of life without safety concerns. Treatment extension with low-dose budesonide beyond 1 year may be beneficial given the high relapse rate after budesonide discontinuation. Trial registration numbers http://www.clinicaltrials. gov (NCT01278082) and http://www.clinicaltrialsregister. eu (EudraCT: 2007-001315-31).
The isolated ER-Golgi intermediate compartment exhibits properties that are different from ER and cis-Golgi

A procedure has been established in Vero cells for the isolation of an intermediate compartment involved in protein transport from the ER to the Golgi apparatus. The two-step subcellular fractionation procedure consists of Percoll followed by Metrizamide gradient centrifugation. Using the previously characterized p53 as a marker protein, the average enrichment factor of the intermediate compartment was 41. The purified fraction displayed a unique polypeptide pattern. It was largely separated from the rough ER proteins ribophorin I, ribophorin II, BIP, and protein disulfide isomerase, as well as from the putative cis-Golgi marker N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphodiester-alpha-N- acetylglucosaminidase, the second of the two enzymes generating the lysosomal targeting signal mannose-6-phosphate. The first enzyme, N- acetylglucosaminylphosphotransferase, for which previous biochemical evidence had suggested both a pre- and a cis-Golgi localization in other cell types, cofractionated with the cis-Golgi rather than the intermediate compartment in Vero cells. The results suggest that the intermediate compartment defined by p53 has unique properties and does not exhibit typical features of rough ER and cis-Golgi.
Plasma membrane insertion of the AMPA receptor GluA2 subunit is regulated by NSF binding and Q/R editing of the ion pore

The delivery of AMPA receptors to the plasma membrane is a critical step both for the synaptic delivery of these receptors and for the regulation of synaptic transmission. To directly visualize fusion events of transport vesicles containing the AMPA receptor GluA2 subunit with the plasma membrane we used pHluorin-tagged GluA2 subunits and total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy. We demonstrate that the plasma membrane insertion of GluA2 requires the NSF binding site within its intracellular cytoplasmic domain and that RNA editing of the Q/R site in the ion channel region plays a key role in GluA2 plasma membrane insertion. Finally, we show that plasma membrane insertion of heteromeric GluA2/3 receptors follows the same rules as homomeric GluA2 receptors. These results demonstrate that the plasma membrane delivery of GluA2 containing AMPA receptors is regulated by its unique structural elements.
A unified framework for protecting sensitive association rules in business collaboration

The sharing of association rules has been proven beneficial in business collaboration, but requires privacy safeguards. One may decide to disclose only part of the knowledge and conceal strategic patterns called sensitive rules. The challenge here is how to protect the sensitive rules without losing the benefit of mining. To address this problem, we propose a unified framework that combines: a set of algorithms to protect sensitive knowledge; retrieval facilities to speed up the process of knowledge protecting; and a set of metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms in terms of information loss and private information disclosure.
Cross-Cultural Generalizability of the Child Behavior Checklist Cross-Informant Syndromes.

Principal factor analysis followed by promax rotations were performed on Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores of 2,339 children randomly drawn from a sample of 4,674 clinically referred Dutch children, aged 4-18 years. Dutch syndromes were very similar in item composition to the eight CBCL cross-informant syndromes derived by T. M. Achenbach (1991 b), except for the Social Problems syndrome. Cross-national correlations ranged from.82 for the Social Problems syndrome to . 99 for the Somatic Complaints and Anxious/Depressed syndromes. Confirmatory factor analysis of the Dutch and American syndromes in a cross-validation sample of the remaining 2,335 Dutch children supported both the Dutch and the American scales to the same degree
Supporting Educational Success for Aboriginal Students: Identifying Key Influences.

Les difficultes academiques vecues par plusieurs etudiants autochtones (Premieres Nations, Metis, Inuit) au Canada ont ete bien documentees. Des indicateurs tels que la perseverance scolaire et les inscriptions post-secondaires sont habituellement beaucoup plus faibles pour un groupe d’etudiants d’origine autochtone que pour un groupe d’etudiants non autochtones. Identifier les elements facilitant leur succes est essentiel a l’amelioration de l’experience scolaire des etudiants autochtones. Par consequent, le but de cette recherche etait d’identifier les facteurs favorisant le succes academique des etudiants autochtones en se basant sur les points de vue des etudiants et des enseignants et en utilisant le modele bioecologique de Bronfenbrenner (1995). Les observations formulees par les participants soulignent l’importance des relations, du concept de soi et des attentes academiques, de la pertinence des programmes ainsi que des aspirations scolaires en tant que facteurs influencant la reussite en education.
Fabrication and Characterization of Inorganic Silver and Palladium Nanostructures within Hexagonal Cylindrical Channels of Mesoporous Carbon

Abstract: In this study, we prepared a mesoporous carbon with hexagonally packed mesopores through evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA)—with the diblock copolymer poly(ethylene oxide- b -e-caprolactone) (PEO- b -PCL) as the template (EO 114 CL 84 ), phenolic resin as the carbon precursor, hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) as the curing agent, and star octakis-PEO-functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (PEO–POSS) as the structure modifier—and subsequent carbonization. We then took the cylindrical mesoporous carbon as a loading matrix, with AgNO 3 and Pd(NO 3 ) 2 as metal precursors, to fabricate Ag nanowire/mesoporous carbon and Pd nanoparticle/mesoporous carbon nanocomposites, respectively, through an incipient wetness impregnation method and subsequent reduction under H 2 . We used transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction, small-angle X-ray scattering, N 2 isotherm sorption experiment, Raman spectroscopy, and power X-ray diffraction to investigate the textural properties of these nanometal/carbon nanocomposites. Most notably, the Raman spectra of the cylindrical mesoporous carbon, Ag/mesoporous carbon, and Pd/mesoporous carbon revealed interesting phenomena in terms of the ratios of the intensities of the D and G bands (
A Software Framework for Mapping Neural Networks to a Wafer-scale Neuromorphic Hardware System

In this contribution we will provide the reader with outcomes of the development of a novel software framework for an unique wafer-scale neuromorphic hardware system. The hardware system is described in an abstract manner, followed by its software framework which is in the focus of this paper. We then introduce the benchmarks applied for process evaluation and provide examples of the achieved results.
Sunitinib in the therapy of malignant paragangliomas: report on the efficacy in a SDHB mutation carrier and review of the literature

SUMMARY Metastatic pheochromocytomas (PHEOs) and paragangliomas (sPGLs) are rare neural crest-derived tumors with a poor prognosis. About 50% of them are due to germ-line mutations of the SDHB gene. At present, there is no cure for these tumors. Their therapy is palliative and represented by different options among which antiangiogenic drugs, like sunitinib, have been hypothesized to be effective especially in malignant SDHB mutated tumors. We report the effects of sunitinib therapy in a SDHB mutation carrier affected by a malignant sPGL. During 101 weeks of therapy at different doses, sunitinib was able to cause a partial response and then a stable disease for a total of 78 weeks. This favorable response is the longest, out of the 35 so far reported in the literature, registered in a patient treated exclusively with sunitinib but, similarly to the other responses, the effect was limited in time. From our analysis of the scanty data present in the literature, the effect of sunitinib does not seem to be different among wild-type patients and those carrying a cluster 1 germ-line mutation. Sunitinib seems able to slow the disease progression in some patients with malignant PHEO/PGL and therefore may represent a therapeutic option, although randomized controlled studies are needed to assess its efficacy definitively in the treatment of these aggressive tumors.
Project rescue: challenges in responding to the unexpected

This paper provides an overview of Project RESCUE, which aims to enhance the mitigation capabilities of first responders in the event of a crisis by dramatically transforming their ability to collect, store, analyze, interpret, share and disseminate data. The multidisciplinary research agenda incorporates a variety of information technologies: networks; distributed systems; databases; image and video processing; and machine learning, together with subjective information obtained through social science. While the IT challenges focus on systems and algorithms to get the right information to the right person at the right time, social science provides the right context. Besides providing an overview of the nature of RESCUE research activities the paper highlights challenges of particular interest to the internet imaging community.
How do L1 and L2 reading differ? Evidence from Think Aloud protocols

"DISCIPLINES," AS HOBBS HAS WRITten, "are defined by what they consider given and what they take to be problematic" (p. 21). A crucial issue for investigators in the field of second/foreign language reading is whether the reading process is fundamentally different in the native language (Li) as opposed to the nonnative language (L2). In the research reported here, we used data collected from Think Aloud protocols to determine how two groups of adult subjects, who were proficient native language readers, approached reading in their L1 and in their L2. First, we briefly review some of the discussion about differences between Li and L2 reading. Second, we present the method, analytic techniques, and results of our study. Third, we suggest additional research questions raised by our findings. Finally, based upon results of this study of native readers of English and French, we propose that L2 reading researchers adopt a broader context within which to evalute the performance of subjects from cultures with diverging literacy practices. '
Dietary Mannoheptulose Does Not Significantly Alter Daily Energy Expenditure in Adult Labrador Retrievers

Mannoheptulose (MH), a sugar found in avocados that inhibits glycolysis in vitro, has been preliminarily investigated as a novel food ingredient for dogs. This study aimed to determine the effects of dietary MH, delivered as an extract of un-ripened avocado, on energy expenditure (EE) in healthy adult Labrador Retriever dogs (total of 12 dogs, 26.99 ± 0.634 kg, 4.9 ± 0.2 y). The study was a double-blind, cross-over with each dog receiving both dietary treatments, control (CON) and MH (400 mg/kg of diet; 6 mg/kg BW), in random order. Resting and post-prandial (10 h) EE and respiratory quotient (RQ) were determined by indirect calorimetry (d 42). The following day, body composition was assessed using dual X-ray absorptiometry. Continuous activity monitoring was conducted using an Atical® accelerometer (d 43–47). A vastus lateralis muscle biopsy was obtained prior to the morning meal (d 49) and 4 h after consumption of their meal (d 56) to determine the protein content and phosphorylation of 5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK). Diet did not affect body weight, resting EE or skeletal muscle AMPK phosphorylation. Dogs fed MH had significantly lower post-prandial RQ (p = 0.02) and ratio of fat to lean body mass (p = 0.02). Physical activity during light time periods (but not dark) was lower in dogs fed MH (p < 0.05) during weekends, but not on weekdays. These results suggest that MH affects energy balance of adult dogs, but that these effects are not dose dependent and not due to physical activity.
Global Transcriptional Response of Bacillus subtilis to Treatment with Subinhibitory Concentrations of Antibiotics That Inhibit Protein Synthesis

ABSTRACT Global gene expression patterns of Bacillus subtilis in response to subinhibitory concentrations of protein synthesis inhibitors (chloramphenicol, erythromycin, and gentamicin) were studied by DNA microarray analysis. B. subtilis cultures were treated with subinhibitory concentrations of protein synthesis inhibitors for 5, 15, 30, and 60 min, and transcriptional patterns were measured throughout the time course. Three major classes of genes were affected by the protein synthesis inhibitors: genes encoding transport/binding proteins, genes involved in protein synthesis, and genes involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates and related molecules. Similar expression patterns for a few classes of genes were observed due to treatment with chloramphenicol (0.4× MIC) or erythromycin (0.5× MIC), whereas expression patterns of gentamicin-treated cells were distinct. Expression of genes involved in metabolism of amino acids was altered by treatment with chloramphenicol and erythromycin but not by treatment with gentamicin. Heat shock genes were induced by gentamicin but repressed by chloramphenicol. Other genes induced by the protein synthesis inhibitors included the yheIH operon encoding ABC transporter-like proteins, with similarity to multidrug efflux proteins, and the ysbAB operon encoding homologs of LrgAB that function to inhibit cell wall cleavage (murein hydrolase activity) and convey penicillin tolerance in Staphylococcus aureus.
Interaction of Escherichia coli RNA Polymerase σ70 Subunit with Promoter Elements in the Context of Free σ70, RNA Polymerase Holoenzyme, and the β′-σ70 Complex*

Promoter recognition by RNA polymerase is a key point in gene expression and a target of regulation. Bacterial RNA polymerase binds promoters in the form of the holoenzyme, with the σ specificity subunit being primarily responsible for promoter recognition. Free σ, however, does not recognize promoter DNA, and it has been proposed that the intrinsic DNA binding ability is masked in free σ but becomes unmasked in the holoenzyme. Here, we use a newly developed fluorescent assay to quantitatively study the interactions of free σ70 from Escherichia coli, the β′-σ complex, and the σ70 RNA polymerase (RNAP) holoenzyme with non-template strand of the open promoter complex transcription bubble in the context of model non-template oligonucleotides and fork junction templates. We show that σ70, free or in the context of the holoenzyme, recognizes the −10 promoter element with the same efficiency and specificity. The result implies that there is no need to invoke a conformational change in σ for recognition of the −10 element in the single-stranded form. In the holoenzyme, weak but specific interactions of σ are increased by contacts with DNA downstream of the −10 element. We further show that region 1 of σ70 is required for stronger interaction with non-template oligonucleotides in the holoenzyme but not in free σ. Finally, we show that binding of the β′ RNAP subunit is sufficient to allow specific recognition of the TG motif of the extended −10 promoter element by σ70. The new fluorescent assay, which we call a protein beacon assay, will be instrumental in quantitative dissection of fine details of RNAP interactions with promoters.
An Automated Crisis Online

An experimental automated dialogue system that plays the role of a crisis hotline dispatcher is currently developed. Besides controlling the communication flow, this system is able to retrieve information about crisis situations from user’s input. It offers a natural user interaction by the ability to perceive and respond to human emotions. The system has an emotion recognizer that is able to recognize the emotional loading from user’s linguistic content. The recognizer uses a database that contains selected keywords on a 2D “arousal” and “valence” scale. The output of the system provides not only the information about the user’s emotional state but also an indication of the urgency of his/her information regarding to crisis. The dialogue system is able to start a user friendly dialogue, taking care of the content, context and emotional loading of user’s utterances.
The Relationships of Cross-Cultural Adjustment with Dispositional Learning Orientation and Goal Setting: A Longitudinal Analysis

In this article, the authors posit that dispositional learning orientation and self-set goal level are two critical motivational antecedents to cross-cultural adjustment. They collected longitudinal field data from 117 sojourning international undergraduate students. Regression results indicate that self-set academic and socialinteraction goal levels are positively related to academic and social adjustment, respectively. A dispositional learning orientation is positively related to academic and social adjustment but the relationship is mediated by the self-set goal level. They discuss contributions to and implications for cross-cultural adjustment research.
Efficient channel assignment method for multimedia traffic in wireless mesh networks

In wireless mesh networks, the availability of spectrum should be utilized efficiently because the exchanging of traffic rate of multimedia applications is increasing day to day. The traffic of multimedia content may degrade the network performance in terms of high packet loss and throughput degradation because of asynchronous behavior between the sender and the receiver. The proposed Efficient Channel Reservation and Assignment (EchRA) results in successful originating and handing off of multimedia call transmissions using the four dimensional Markov chain process. The EChRA algorithm, proposed in this paper, achieves the maximum throughput performance considering the parameters of blocking probability, dropping probability, and synchronized dwell time between the source and destination. The quality of service is guaranteed by sharing the available slots and by using efficient queuing model to service the incoming and handoff calls, and henceforth, the successful completion of handoff calls rate is increased. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.