Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mathematics Education in the United States

This article presents a historical review of mathematics education since the late 1950s in the United States. Three themes are used to organize the literature reviewed in the article: (a) broad sociopolitical forces, particularly highly publicized educational policy statements; (b) trends in mathematics research; and (c) theories of learning and instruction. At times, these themes coincide, as was the case in the 1990s. In other cases, such as the recent push for educational accountability, these themes conflict. Nonetheless, the themes go a long way to explain the serpentine nature of reform in the United States over the last 45 years. This article also attempts to account for developments in special education as well as general education research, something that does not appear in most historical presentations of mathematics education.
Glacial-interglacial vegetation dynamics in south eastern Africa depend on sea surface temperature variations in the west Indian Ocean

Glacial-interglacial vegetation dynamics in south eastern Africa depend on sea surface temperature variations in the west Indian Ocean L. M. Dupont, T. Caley, J.-H. Kim, I. Castaneda, B. Malaizé, and J. Giraudeau MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany Université de Bordeaux 1, UMR5805, EPOC, CNRS – Bordeaux, France NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Marine Organic Biogeochemistry, Texel, The Netherlands
Remarks on markerless human motion capture using multiple images of 3D articulated human CG model

This paper proposes markerless human motion capture using a 3D articulated computer generated (CG) model of the human body. The method of estimating human body posture is based on 2D matching between human silhouettes extracted from camera images and model silhouettes projected onto the corresponding camera planes in virtual space. Candidates for human model silhouette are generated using a Monte Carlo filter-based algorithm, and the normalised core-weighted XOR distance is introduced to calculate the likelihood rate between silhouettes. Experimental results show the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method for achieving markerless human motion capture.
The Dynamic Growth Exhibition and Accumulation of Cadmium of Pak Choi (Brassica campestris L. ssp. chinensis) Grown in Contaminated Soils

The accumulation of heavy metals, especially cadmium (Cd), in leafy vegetables was compared with other vegetables. Pak choi (Brassica campestris L. ssp. chinensis) is a leafy vegetable consumed in Taiwan and its safety for consumption after growing in contaminated soils is a public concern. A pot experiment (50 days) was conducted to understand the dynamic accumulation of Cd by pak choi grown in artificially contaminated soils. The edible parts of pak choi were sampled and analyzed every 2–3 days. The dry weight (DW) of pak choi was an exponential function of leaf length, leaf width, and chlorophyll content. The accumulation of Cd increased when the soil Cd concentration was raised, but was kept at a constant level during different growth stages. Pak choi had a high bioconcentration factor (BCF = ratio of the concentration in the edible parts to that in the soils), at values of 3.5–4.0. The consumption of pak choi grown in soils contaminated at levels used in this study would result in the ingestion of impermissible amounts of Cd and could possibly have harmful effects on health.
Presynaptic facilitation of dopamine release through D,L-alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate receptors on synaptosomes from the rat striatum.

Purified synaptosomes from the rat striatum were superfused continuously with [3H]tyrosine in order to estimate the release of newly synthesized [3H]dopamine. When tested from 10(-6) to 10(-3) M, several excitatory amino acids or their analogues markedly stimulated the release of [3H]dopamine, their apparent rank order of potency being kainate greater than glutamate = D,L-alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA) greater than homocysteate greater than quisqualate greater than aspartate greater than ibotenate. N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate was without effect. In addition, in the range of concentrations of 10(-6) to 10(-3) M, the maximal response of glutamate was higher than that of kainate, AMPA or homocysteate, whereas the effects of quisqualate, aspartate and ibotenate, particularly, were of lower amplitude. In favor of the existence of glutamate receptors of the AMPA type on dopaminergic nerve terminals, the stimulatory effect of AMPA (5 x 10(-5) M) on [3H]dopamine release was antagonized by 6,7-dinitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione, 6-cyano-7-nitro-quinoxaline-2,3-dione, tau-D-glutamyl-amino-methyl-sulphonate and tau-D-glutamyl-glycine tested at 10(-4) M. 6,7-Dinitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione was the most potent, whereas L-glutamate diethylester was without effect. As expected D-2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate did not affect the AMPA-evoked response. Further experiments indicated that kainate and quisqualate stimulate the release of [3H]dopamine by acting on quisqualate/kainate or AMPA receptors. The quisqualate-evoked desensitization of AMPA receptors was prevented by concanavalin A (10(-7) M). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Improving Route Diversity through the Design of iBGP Topologies

In a service provider (SP) network, routes for external destinations are distributed on iBGP sessions. This traditionally required the establishment of a full-mesh of iBGP sessions in the network. A common practice is now to make use of route reflectors (RR). Such a practice is more scalable in the number of iBGP sessions to be configured in a SP network. However, it has been shown that RRs have a negative impact on the diversity of routes available in the network. This is an important issue as routers may not be able to quickly use an alternate route in case of a route failure. In this paper we tackle the problem of route diversity in a service provider network composed of RRs. We propose an algorithm to design iBGP session topologies with improved route diversity. We rely on an initial route reflection topology. Our algorithm proposes the addition of a few iBGP sessions to some border routers of the domain. These border routers receive a large number of external routes for which routers lack diversity. We show by means of simulations that our algorithm meets its goals. In the resulting topologies, each BGP router knows at least two different ways to reach distant destinations. This is ensured as long as a prefix advertisement is received at different nodes at the border of the AS. Secondly, we observe that the number of iBGP sessions required to achieve this goal is significantly below the number of sessions required in the case of a full-mesh. Finally, the remaining lack of route diversity after the use of our design algorithm indicates that new external peering sessions should be established. In this case, our algorithm shows that diversity cannot be reached for some prefixes independently of the iBGP topology, with the current external peering sessions.
Low-power single-bit full adder cells

The single-bit full adder is one of the main components in almost all logic structures. The performance of logic structures is highly dependent on the adder cells. This paper discusses the performance of single-bit full adders and presents a performance analysis for those cells in CMOS technology. Fourteen single-bit full adders and three new adders, a total of different adder cells, are analyzed in terms of power and delay using 0.35, 0.25 and 0.18 µm TSMC CMOS technology. In addition, this paper discusses the charging-capability parameter of the adder cells, which represents the fan-out of each cell. The charging-capability parameter is capable of describing the performance of the adder cell in a large, as yet unbuilt structure. Hence, the performance analysis of the single-bit full adder relates the design to power, delay, and charging capability of the logic components.
Kamu Örgütlerinde Girişimcilik

Girisimciligi ozel sektor uygulamalari baglaminda inceleyen calismalarda girisimcilik surecini risk alma, inovasyon ve prokativite boyutlariyla ele alan bir yaklasim hakimdir. Son otuz yildir kamu yonetimi literaturunde de yer bulmaya baslamis olan girisimcilik konseptinin ozel sektorde gozlenen sureclerden farkli olmasi geregi yogun olarak tartisilmaktadir. Bu anlamda kamu orgutlerini ozel sektordekilerden ayiran yapisal, yonetsel ve kulturel niteliklerine uygun olarak gelisen girisimcilik yaklasimlarina ihtiyac duyulmakla birlikte, kamu yonetimi literaturunde bu konuda ortak bir perspektife ulasilmadigi gozlenmektedir. Bu calismada kamu hizmeti sunan geleneksel kamu orgutlerinin yapisal, yonetsel ve kulturel karakteristikleri cercevesinde girisimci aktivitilere ne denli elverisli olduklari risk alma, inovasyon ve proaktivite boyutlariyla detayli bir sekilde incelenerek, kamu yonetimi akademisyen ve uyguluyacilarina katki saglayacagi dusunulen degerlendirmeler yapilmistir.
A sandpile model for reliable actor-critic reinforcement learning

Actor-Critic algorithms have been increasingly researched for tackling challenging reinforcement learning problems. These algorithms are usually composed of two distinct learning processes, namely actor (a.k.a, policy) learning and critic (a.k.a, value function) learning. Actor learning is heavily dependent on critic learning; particularly unreliable critic learning due to its divergence can significantly affect the effectiveness of actor-critic algorithms. To address this issue, many successful algorithms have been developed recently with the aim of improving the accuracy of value function approximation. However, these algorithms introduce extra complexities to the learning process and may actually increase the difficulty for effective learning. Thus, in this research, we consider a simpler approach to improving the critic learning reliability. This approach requires us to seamlessly integrate an adapted Sandpile Model with the critic learning process so as to achieve desirable self-organizing property for reliable critic learning. Following this approach, we propose a new actor-critic learning algorithm. Its effectiveness and learning reliability have been further evaluated experimentally. As strongly demonstrated in the experiment results, our new algorithm can perform much better than traditional actor-critic algorithms. Meanwhile, correlation analysis further suggests that a strong correlation exists in between learning reliability and effectiveness. This finding may be important for future development of powerful reinforcement learning algorithms.
Liver protein targets of hepatotoxic 4-bromophenol metabolites.

The hepatotoxicity of bromobenzene (BB) is directly related to the covalent binding of both initially formed epoxide and secondary quinone metabolites to at least 45 different liver proteins. 4-Bromophenol (4BP) is a significant BB metabolite and a precursor to reactive quinone metabolites; yet, when administered exogenously, it has negligible hepatotoxicity as compared to BB. The protein adducts of 4BP were thus labeled as nontoxic [Monks, T. J., Hinson, J. A. , and Gillette, J. R. (1982) Life Sci. 30, 841-848]. To help identify which BB-derived adducts might be related to its cytotoxicity, we sought to identify the supposedly nontoxic adducts of 4BP and eliminate them from the BB target protein list. Administration of [(14)C]-4BP to phenobarbital-induced rats resulted in covalent binding of 0.25, 0.33, and 0.42 nmol equiv 4BP/mg protein in the mitochondrial, microsomal, and cytosolic fractions, respectively. These values may be compared to published values of 3-6 nmol/mg protein from a comparable dose of [(14)C]-BB. After subcellular fractionation and 2D electrophoresis, 47 radioactive spots on 2D gels of the mitochondrial, microsomal, and cytosolic fractions were excised, digested, and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Twenty-nine of these spots contained apparently single proteins, of which 14 were nonredundant. Nine of the 14 are known BB targets. Incubating freshly isolated rat hepatocytes with 4BP (0.1-0.5 mM) produced time- and concentration-dependent increases in lactate dehydrogenase release and changes in cellular morphology. LC-MS/MS analysis of the cell culture medium revealed rapid and extensive sulfation and glucuronidation of 4BP as well as formation of a quinone-derived glutathione conjugate. Studies with 7-hydroxycoumarin, (-)-borneol, or D-(+)-galactosamine showed that inhibiting the glucuronidation/sulfation of 4BP increased the formation of a GSH-bromoquinone adduct, increased covalent binding of 4BP to hepatocyte proteins, and potentiated its cytotoxicity. Taken together, our data demonstrate that protein adduction by 4BP metabolites can be toxicologically consequential and provide a mechanistic explanation for the failure of exogenously administered 4BP to cause hepatotoxicity. Thus, the probable reason for the low toxicity of 4BP in vivo is that rapid conjugation limits its oxidation and covalent binding and thus its toxicity.
A two-stage pipelined cyclic ADC for X/Gamma spectroscopy

The paper presents a cyclic analog to digital converter (ADC) used for gamma spectroscopy. The 10-bit ADC has an input signal range /spl plusmn/0.8V with the resolution near 1mV. The cyclic architecture greatly simplifies the design of comparators in conventional successive approximation ADCs for such a high-resolution requirement. To reach a sampling rate above 1MHZ, we applied a two-stage pipeline technique. Simulation tests indicate that the design can achieve a signal to noise ratio about 56dB with the maximum DNL about 0.8LSB. The unit-gain bandwidth of operational amplifiers and the mismatching of passive components mainly limit the accuracy and the differential non-linearity (DNL) of the proposed ADC. We applied the sliding scale technique with a 6-bit slider to reduce such effects and to improve DNL further down to about 2%. The design is implemented using modern 0.35um 2P4M CMOS integrated circuit technology. The overall circuit power consumption is less than 100 mW with a 3V power supply, which is well suited for portable measurement and remote sensing applications.
A 0.06-mm2 double-sampling single-OTA 2nd-order ΔΣ modulator in 0.18-μm CMOS technology

A double-sampling single-OTA second-order ΔΣ modulator occupying a small silicon area of only 0.06 mm2 is presented. The modulator employs a feedforward architecture incorporating a novel two-path summer and a compensator design in a double-sampling single-OTA switched-capacitor circuit. A new inherently linear mismatch-insensitive three-level DAC is implemented to further reduce the quantization noise. Operating with a 1-V supply, the second-order modulator achieves an effective sampling frequency of 1.024 MHz when clocked at 512 kHz due to its double-sampling operation while consuming a power of 17 μW. The dynamic range achieved is 67.6 dB over a signal bandwidth of 16 kHz at an oversampling ratio of 32.
The Serial Safety Net: Efficient Concurrency Control on Modern Hardware

Concurrency control (CC) algorithms must trade off strictness for performance, with serializable schemes generally paying high cost---both in runtime overhead such as contention on lock tables, and in wasted efforts by aborting transactions---to prevent anomalies. We propose the serial safety net (SSN), a serializability-enforcing certifier for modern hardware with substantial core count and large main memory. SSN can be applied with minimal overhead on top of various CC schemes that offer higher performance but admit anomalies, e.g., snapshot isolation and read committed. We demonstrate the efficiency, accuracy and robustness of SSN using a memory-optimized OLTP engine with different CC schemes. We find that SSN is a promising approach to serializability with low abort rates and robust performance for various workloads.
The sequencing of social movements

Conventional accounts of protest cycles posit a demonstration effect-successful protests incite other constituencies to activism. The author offers an alternative theory that builds on population ecology models of organizational behavior. He argues that the expansion of social movement organizations, or organizational density, is also an essential component of protest cycles. Multivariate analyses of the effects of civil rights protest and organizational growth on feminist protest and organizational foundings between 1955 and 1985 demonstrate that organizational density promotes the diffusion of protest. Protest also engenders activism by others, but only under favorable political conditions. This implies that an enduring organizational niche and political allies in power are necessary for protest to spread beyond single movements and create protest opportunities for other challengers
Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus (KSHV) Latency-Associated Nuclear Antigen Regulates the KSHV Epigenome by Association with the Histone Demethylase KDM3A

ABSTRACT Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) latent genomes are tethered to host histones to form a minichromosome also known as an “episome. ” Histones, which are core components of chromatin, are heavily modified by various histone-targeting enzymes. Posttranslational modifications of histones significantly influence accessibility of transcriptional factors and thus have profound effects on gene expression. Recent studies showed that epigenetic marks on the KSHV episome are well organized, exemplified by the absence of histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9) methylation, a heterochromatic histone mark, from immediate early and latent gene promoters in naturally infected cells. The present study revealed a mechanistic insight into KSHV epigenome regulation via a complex consisting of LANA and the H3K9me1/2 histone demethylase JMJD1A/KDM3A. This complex was isolated from HeLa cell nuclear extracts stably expressing LANA and was verified by coimmunoprecipitation analyses and with purified proteins. LANA recruitment sites on the KSHV genome inversely correlated with H3K9me2 histone marks in naturally infected cells, and methylation of H3K9 significantly inhibited LANA binding to the histone H3 tail. Chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with KSHV tiling arrays identified the recruitment sites of the complex, while depletion of LANA expression or overexpression of a KDM3A binding-deficient mutant decreased KDM3A recruitment to the KSHV genome. Finally, ablation of KDM3A expression from latently KSHV-infected cells significantly inhibited KSHV gene expression, leading to decreased KSHV replication during reactivation. Taken together, our results suggest that LANA may play a role in regulation of epigenetic marks on the KSHV genome, which is in part through association with the histone demethylase KDM3A.
Evaluation of SLE Susceptibility Genes in Malaysians

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a clinically heterogeneous autoimmune disease with strong genetic and environmental components. Our objective was to replicate 25 recently identified SLE susceptibility genes in two distinct populations (Chinese (CH) and Malays (MA)) from Malaysia. We genotyped 347 SLE cases and 356 controls (CH and MA) using the ImmunoChip array and performed an admixture corrected case-control association analysis. Associated genes were grouped into five immune-related pathways. While CH were largely homogenous, MA had three ancestry components (average 82.3% Asian, 14.5% European, and 3.2% African). Ancestry proportions were significantly different between cases and controls in MA. We identified 22 genes with at least one associated SNP (P < 0.05). The strongest signal was at HLA-DRA (P Meta = 9.96 × 10−9; P CH = 6.57 × 10−8, P MA = 6.73 × 10−3); the strongest non-HLA signal occurred at STAT4 (P Meta = 1.67 × 10−7; P CH = 2.88 × 10−6, P MA = 2.99 × 10−3). Most of these genes were associated with B- and T-cell function and signaling pathways. Our exploratory study using high-density fine-mapping suggests that most of the established SLE genes are also associated in the major ethnicities of Malaysia. However, these novel SNPs showed stronger association in these Asian populations than with the SNPs reported in previous studies.
Is being gifted always an advantage? Peer relations and self-concept of gifted students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between identified gifted adolescents and adolescents not identified as gifted in terms of social acceptance and self-concept (peer relations, academic, and general). In addition, we aimed to investigate the differences between two groups of students identified according to different identification criteria (i.e. intelligence test and teacher assessment), and whether the relationship between students’ giftedness and the indicators of their social adjustment was moderated by gender. A total of 404 Slovenian elementary school students (191 males; 47%, 213 females; 53%) participated in the study; among them 85 (21%) were identified as gifted. No significant differences were found between gifted and non-gifted students in positive sociometric nominations and social preference; gifted students received less negative nominations and had lower social impact, but were assessed as more socially accepted by their teachers. Gifted students reported higher academic and general but not peer relations self-concept. No differences in social acceptance and self-concept were found between the groups of gifted students identified with regard to different identification criteria. In addition, we found significant interaction effects between gender and giftedness for peer relations self-concept. The results indicate the importance of investigating individual differences among gifted students in future studies.
Back contact monocrystalline thin-film silicon solar cells from the porous silicon process

We develop a back contact monocrystalline thin-film silicon solar cell using the porous silicon process. Laser processes are applied for all structuring steps. Thus no photolithography or other masking techniques are required. A single evaporation step is used to metallize the cell. Laser scribing is used for contact separation. The cell has a planar front surface, an area of 79.2 cm2 and a cell thickness of 30 µm. We reach an efficiency of 13.5 %. The open-circuit voltage is 633 mV and the short-circuit current density is 28.7 mA/cm2.
The Dusty Environment of Quasars: Far-Infrared Properties of Optical Quasars

We present Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) far-IR photometry of a complete subsample of optically selected bright quasars belonging to two complete surveys selected through multicolor (U, B, V, R, I) techniques. The ISOPHOT camera on board the ISO satellite was used to target these quasars at wavelengths of 7.3, 11.5, 60, 100, and 160 μm. Almost two-thirds of the objects were detected at least in one ISOPHOT band. The detection rate is independent of the source redshift, very likely because of the negative K-correction of the far-IR thermal emission. More than a half of the optically selected QSOs show significant emission between 4 and 100 μm in the quasar rest frame. These fluxes have a very likely thermal origin, although in a few objects an additional contribution from a nonthermal component is plausible in the long-wavelength bands. In a color-color diagram these objects span a wide range of properties, from AGN-dominated to ULIRG-like. The far-IR composite spectrum of the quasar population presents a broad far-IR bump between 10 and 30 μm and a sharp drop at λ > 100 μm in the quasar rest frame. The amount of energy emitted in the far-IR is on average a few times larger than that emitted in the blue, and the ratio LFIR/LB increases with the bolometric luminosity. Objects with fainter blue magnitudes have larger ratios between the far-IR (λ > 60 μm) fluxes and the blue-band flux, which is attributed to extinction by dust around the central source. No relation between the blue absolute magnitude and the dust color temperature is seen, suggesting that the dominant source of FIR energy could be linked to a concurrent starburst rather than to gravitational energy produced by the central engine.