Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Am I a STEM professional? Documenting STEM student professional identity development

Post-secondary education is expected to substantially contribute to the cognitive growth and professional achievement of students studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Yet, there is limited understanding of how students studying STEM develop a professional identity. We used the lens of self-authorship to develop a model for STEM student professional identity development. We applied the model to frame our assessment of the relationship between the level of STEM students’ perceptions of their professional identities and their educational experiences, learning preferences, and comfort with faculty interactions. We found a misalignment between students’ perception of themselves as professionals and the expectations for their actions in professional situations. We also found that students engaged in learning activities similar to the activities of STEM professionals communicated higher levels of professional identity development. We provide implications for our research and directions for ongoing investigations.
A new method to produce obstructive sleep apnoea in conscious unrestrained rats

We developed a new method to produce obstructive apnoea in conscious rats. An inflatable balloon contained in a rigid Teflon tube was implanted in the trachea to allow the induction of apnoea without inducing pain. We also developed a balloon‐tipped catheter that was advanced along the trachea into the mediastinum for the measurement of intrathoracic pressure. Rats recovered well from implantation of these balloons. The tracheal implant, while deflated, did not significantly impair normal breathing (thoracic pressure swing during rest was 4.5 ± 0.4 mmHg before implantation and 5.8 ± 0.5 mmHg 4 weeks after implantation; P > 0.2; n= 7). Apnoeas of up to 16 s could be made during rapid eye movement sleep without awakening the rat. During 15 s of balloon inflation, arterial O2 saturation fell from 98 ± 0 to 80 ± 2% and partial pressure of CO2 increased from 35 ± 1 to 44 ± 1 mmHg (n= 9; P < 0.001). Intrathoracic pressure changes during the respiratory cycle increased from 6.3 ± 0.2 to 38.5 ± 6.0 mmHg (P < 0.001; n= 4), indicating increased breathing effort. Heart rate fell from 373 ± 23 to 141 ± 18 beats min−1 (P < 0.001; n= 4), and the heart beat became irregular, with few beats during expiratory effort. These responses remained intact after 60 apnoea episodes. Responses developed slightly more slowly when apnoea started at the end than at the beginning of the respiratory cycle. As these balloons last for a long time, cause few complications, allow induction of apnoea during sleep, allow induction of apnoeas that start at a fixed point in the respiratory cycle and elicit cardiorespiratory responses similar to those observed in humans, these balloons may aid investigation of both acute apnoea and chronic intermittent sleep apnoea.
Temporal sequence learning and data reduction for anomaly detection

The anomaly-detection problem can be formulated as one of learning to characterize the behaviors of an individual, system, or network in terms of temporal sequences of discrete data. We present an approach on the basis of instance-based learning (IBL) techniques. To cast the anomaly-detection task in an IBL framework, we employ an approach that transforms temporal sequences of discrete, unordered observations into a metric space via a similarity measure that encodes intra-attribute dependencies. Classification boundaries are selected from an a posteriori characterization of valid user behaviors, coupled with a domain heuristic. An empirical evaluation of the approach on user command data demonstrates that we can accurately differentiate the profiled user from alternative users when the available features encode sufficient information. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the system detects anomalous conditions quickly — an important quality for reducing potential damage by a malicious user. We present several techniques for reducing data storage requirements of the user profile, including instance-selection methods and clustering. An empirical evaluation shows that a new greedy clustering algorithm reduces the size of the user model by 70%, with only a small loss in accuracy.
Clinical accuracy of ExacTrac intracranial frameless stereotactic system.

PURPOSE In this paper, the authors assess the accuracy of the Brainlab ExacTrac system for frameless intracranial stereotactic treatments in clinical practice. METHODS They recorded couch angle and image fusion results (comprising lateral, longitudinal, and vertical shifts, and rotation corrections about these axes) for 109 stereotactic radiosurgery and 166 stereotactic radiotherapy patient treatments. Frameless stereotactic treatments involve iterative 6D image fusion corrections applied until the results conform to customizable pass criteria, theirs being 0.7 mm and 0.5° for each axis. The planning CT slice thickness was 1.25 mm. It has been reported in the literature that the CT slices' thickness impacts the accuracy of localization to bony anatomy. The principle of invariance with respect to patient orientation was used to determine spatial accuracy. RESULTS The data for radiosurgery comprised 927 image pairs, of which 532 passed (pass ratio of 57.4%). The data for radiotherapy comprised 15983 image pairs, of which 10 050 passed (pass ratio of 62.9%). For stereotactic radiotherapy, the combined uncertainty of ExacTrac calibration, image fusion, and intrafraction motion was (95% confidence interval) 0.290-0.302 and 0.306-0.319 mm in the longitudinal and lateral axes, respectively. The combined uncertainty of image fusion and intrafraction motion in the anterior-posterior coordinates was 0.174-0.182 mm. For stereotactic radiosurgery, the equivalent ranges are 0.323-0.393, 0.337-0.409, and 0.231-0.281 mm. The overall spatial accuracy was 1.24 mm for stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) and 1.35 mm for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). CONCLUSIONS The ExacTrac intracranial frameless stereotactic system spatial accuracy is adequate for clinical practice, and with the same pass criteria, SRT is more accurate than SRS. They now use frameless stereotaxy exclusively at their center.
Lipid Content and Cryotolerance of Bakers' Yeast in Frozen Doughs

The relationship between lipid content and tolerance to freezing at −50°C was studied in Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown under batch or fed-batch mode and various aeration and temperature conditions. A higher free-sterol-to-phospholipid ratio as well as higher free sterol and phospholipid contents correlated with the superior cryoresistance in dough or in water of the fed-batch-grown compared with the batch-grown cells. For both growth modes, the presence of excess dissolved oxygen in the culture medium greatly improved yeast cryoresistance and trehalose content (P. Gélinas, G. Fiset, A. LeDuy, and J. Goulet, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 26:2453-2459, 1989) without significantly changing the lipid profile. Under the batch or fed-batch modes, no correlation was found between the cryotolerance of bakers' yeast and the total cellular lipid content, the total sterol content, the phospholipid unsaturation index, the phosphate or crude protein content, or the yeast cell morphology (volume and roundness).
On-line interpretation of intonational meaning in L2

Despite their relatedness, Dutch and German differ in the interpretation of a particular intonation contour, the hat pattern. In the literature, this contour has been described as neutral for Dutch, and as contrastive for German. A recent study supports the idea that Dutch listeners interpret this contour neutrally, compared to the contrastive interpretation of a lexically identical utterance realised with a double peak pattern. In particular, this study showed shorter lexical decision latencies to visual targets (e.g., PELIKAAN, “pelican”) following a contrastively related prime (e.g., flamingo, “flamingo”) only when the primes were embedded in sentences with a contrastive double peak contour, not in sentences with a neutral hat pattern. The present study replicates Experiment 1a of Braun and Tagliapietra (2009) with German learners of Dutch. Highly proficient learners of Dutch differed from Dutch natives in that they showed reliable priming effects for both intonation contours. Thus, the interpretation of intonational meaning in L2 appears to be fast, automatic, and driven by the associations learned in the native language.
Capacity based nondestructive readout for complementary resistive switches

Complementary resistive switches (CRS) were recently suggested to solve the sneak path problem of larger passive memory arrays. CRS cells consist of an antiserial setup of two bipolar resistive switching cells. The conventional destructive readout for CRS cells is based on a current measurement which makes a considerable call on the switching endurance. Here, we report a new approach for a nondestructive readout (NDRO) based on a capacity measurement. We suggest a concept of an alternative setup of a CRS cell in which both resistive switching cells have similar switching properties but are distinguishable by different capacities. The new approach has the potential of an energy saving and fast readout procedure without decreasing cycling performance and is not limited by the switching kinetics for integrated passive memory arrays.
Decay-kinetics study of atomic hydrogen in a-Si:(H,O,N) and natural beryl.

Application d'une methode procedant par les donnees experimentales, a l'etude de la cinetique de relaxation (decay) de l'hydrogene atomique interstitiel dans Si:(H,O,N) amorphe irradie par des rayons-X et dans le beryl naturel irradie par un rayonnement UV. On considere (suppose) que l'hydrogene atomique interstitiel est produit par l'irradiation radiolytique des molecules R−H et piege aux sites interstitiels des deux materiaux. L'elevation de la temperature libere l'hydrogene atomique qui est rapidement: soit repiege, recombine avec le radical R laisse dans la matrice; soit combine avec d'autres atomes d'hydrogene formant ainsi des molecules H 2 . Les parametres associes aux processus de non piegeage et de recombinaison se trouvent obeir a la loi d'Arrhenius. D'autre part, les parametres de repiegeage et de deformation de H 2 sont egalement ajustes a une fonction proportionnelle a (T 1/2 −T o 1/2 ) ou To est une constante
Agenesis of the right lobe of the liver

Agenesis of the right lobe of the liver is an extremely rare congenital anomaly, usually accompanied by additional anomalies such as a retrohepatically or suprahepatically located gallbladder. in this report we present a new case of agenesis of the right lobe of the liver with the Chiliaditi syndrome and a subdiaphragmatic hydatid cyst, diagnosed by CT and CT-cholangiography.
Self-Referential Cognition and Empathy in Autism

Background Individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have profound impairments in the interpersonal social domain, but it is unclear if individuals with ASC also have impairments in the intrapersonal self-referential domain. We aimed to evaluate across several well validated measures in both domains, whether both self-referential cognition and empathy are impaired in ASC and whether these two domains are related to each other. Methodology/Principal Findings Thirty adults aged 19-45, with Asperger Syndrome or high-functioning autism and 30 age, sex, and IQ matched controls participated in the self-reference effect (SRE) paradigm. In the SRE paradigm, participants judged adjectives in relation to the self, a similar close other, a dissimilar non-close other, or for linguistic content. Recognition memory was later tested. After the SRE paradigm, several other complimentary self-referential cognitive measures were taken. Alexithymia and private self-consciousness were measured via self-report. Self-focused attention was measured on the Self-Focus Sentence Completion task. Empathy was measured with 3 self-report instruments and 1 performance measure of mentalizing (Eyes test). Self-reported autistic traits were also measured with the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Although individuals with ASC showed a significant SRE in memory, this bias was decreased compared to controls. Individuals with ASC also showed reduced memory for the self and a similar close other and also had concurrent impairments on measures of alexithymia, self-focused attention, and on all 4 empathy measures. Individual differences in self-referential cognition predicted mentalizing ability and self-reported autistic traits. More alexithymia and less self memory was predictive of larger mentalizing impairments and AQ scores regardless of diagnosis. In ASC, more self-focused attention is associated with better mentalizing ability and lower AQ scores, while in controls, more self-focused attention is associated with decreased mentalizing ability and higher AQ scores. Increasing private self-consciousness also predicted better mentalizing ability, but only for individuals with ASC. Conclusions/Significance We conclude that individuals with ASC have broad impairments in both self-referential cognition and empathy. These two domains are also intrinsically linked and support predictions made by simulation theory. Our results also highlight a specific dysfunction in ASC within cortical midlines structures of the brain such as the medial prefrontal cortex.
High Dimensional Indexing in Image Databases with Adaptive Cluster Distance Bounding

We consider approaches for exact similarity search in a high dimensional space of correlated features representing image datasets, based on principles of clustering and vector quantization. We develop an adaptive cluster distance bound based on separating hyperplanes, that complements our index in selectively retrieving clusters that contain data entries closest to the query. This bound enables efficient spatial filtering, with a relatively small pre-processing storage overhead and is applicable to Euclidean and Mahalanobis similarity measures. Keywords— Cluster, Indexing, Image databases.
Carbon nanotube based biomedical agents for heating, temperature sensoring and drug delivery

Due to their extraordinary physical and chemical properties carbon nanotubes reveal promising potential as biomedical agents for heating, temperature sensoring and drug delivery on the cellular level. Filling carbon nanotubes with tailored materials realises nanoscaled containers in which the active content is encapsulated by a protecting carbon shell. We describe different synthesis routes and show the structural and magnetic properties of carbon nanotubes. In particular, the filling with magnetic materials offers the potential for hyperthermia applications while the insertion of NMR active substances allows the usage as markers and sensors. The potential of carbon nanotubes for biomedical applications is highlighted by hyperthermia studies which prove their applicability for local in situ heating. In addition we have shown that a non-invasive temperature control by virtue of a carbon-wrapped nanoscaled thermometer and filling with anti-cancer drugs is possible.
Differential Susceptibility of Pediatric Sarcoma Cells to Oncolysis by Conditionally Replication-Competent Herpes Simplex Viruses

Purpose Attenuated viruses derived from herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 that kill tumor cells (oncolysis) are currently in clinical trials for selected cancers, primarily carcinomas and gliomas. The authors sought to determine if pediatric sarcoma cells are also sensitive to HSV-mediated oncolysis. Materials and Methods The authors tested a panel of ten cell lines derived from rhabdomyosarcoma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, and a secondary malignant fibrous histiocytoma for survival after exposure to attenuated HSV vectors. The viruses used included NV1020, haploid for the neurovirulence gene ICP34.5, and G207, deleted for both ICP34.5 and ribonucleotide reductase but expressing the &bgr;-galactosidase reporter gene. G207 transduction was determined by measuring &bgr;-galactosidase expression. Results Sarcoma cells differed in their sensitivity to viral oncolysis but were relatively consistent by histologic type. Rhabdomyosarcoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma cells were most sensitive while osteosarcoma cells were intermediately sensitive to oncolysis by both HSV recombinants. Although Ewing sarcoma cells showed efficient viral entry and gene transfer, these cells were the least susceptible to oncolysis by HSV. Conclusions Conditionally replication-competent HSV-derived vectors may be useful for the treatment of rhabdomyosarcoma and osteosarcoma, but may not be as efficacious for treating Ewing sarcoma until the mechanism of resistance is defined and circumvented.
Global change, life‐history complexity and the potential for evolutionary rescue

Most organisms have complex life cycles, and in marine taxa, larval life‐history stages tend to be more sensitive to environmental stress than adult (reproductive) life‐history stages. While there are several models of stage‐specific adaptation across the life history, the extent to which differential sensitivity to environmental stress (defined here as reductions in absolute fitness across the life history) affects the tempo of adaptive evolution to change remains unclear. We used a heuristic model to explore how commonly observed features associated with marine complex life histories alter a population's capacity to cope with environmental change. We found that increasing the complexity of the life history generally reduces the evolutionary potential of taxa to cope with environmental change. Our model also predicted that genetic correlations in stress tolerance between stages, levels of genetic variance in each stage, and the relative plasticity of different stages, all interact to affect the maximum rate of environmental change that will permit species persistence. Our results suggest that marine organisms with complex life cycles are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic global change, but we lack empirical estimates of key parameters for most species.
“I Am Very, Very Proud of Myself”: Improving Youth Activity Levels Using Self-Determination Theory in Program Development

Many adolescents are not meeting recommended levels for physical activity. Increasing physical activity among urban African American youth is both a challenge and a public health priority. Most research in community-based interventions has taken a didactic approach, focusing on skill and knowledge development alone, with inconclusive results. This 10-week progressive activity intervention with adolescents in an urban faith community introduced a self-determination theory (SDT) approach with the aim of promoting the adoption of self-management skills necessary for sustaining activity. Components of SDT included relatedness, competence, and autonomy. Together with didactics, aligning activities with participant interests, and using existing social structures for health message delivery, the approach led to high satisfaction ratings for the three components of SDT along with improved skills, knowledge, and outcomes in cardiovascular fitness. Understanding and utilizing approaches that enhance enjoyment, personal choice, confidence, and social affiliation may lead to more lasting healthy activity behaviors and attitudes than didactic approaches alone in this and other adolescent populations. The SDT is reviewed in the context of this youth intervention.
Hygiene and “The Indian Problem”: Ethnicity and Medicine in Bolivia, 1910–1920

In the first decades of the twentieth century, Bolivian intellectuals and politicians debated how the country's Indian population should be incorporated into social and political life as the nation became increasingly integrated internally and forged stronger links to the world market. Public health was central to this discussion because of elite fears of contagion due to greater contact between Indians and non-Indians and the realization that if Indians were to be productive members of society, then their physical well-being had to be considered. This study examines the proposals of two Bolivian doctors, Jaime Mendoza and Nestor Morales, for improving the health of the native population in the context of the larger national debate about ethnicity and citizenship.
The DynDom3D Webserver for the Analysis of Domain Movements in Multimeric Proteins

DynDom3D is a program for the analysis of domain movements in multimeric proteins. Its inputs are two structure files that indicate a possible domain movement, but the onus has been on the user to process the files so that there is the necessary one-to-one equivalence between atoms in the two atom lists. This is often a prohibitive task to carry out manually, which has limited the application of DynDom3D. Here we report on a webserver with a preprocessor that automatically creates an equivalence between atoms using sequence alignment methods. The processed structure files are passed to DynDom3D and the results are presented on a webpage that includes molecular graphics for easy visualization.
Effect of erythropoietin on cardiovascular prognosis parameters in hemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND Renal anemia is an important determinant for left ventricular hypertrophy in dialysis patients and an independent prognosis parameter for the cardiovascular survival in dialysis patients. In addition, an autonomic dysfunction is associated with the uremic state and influences the cardiovascular risk in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). METHODS We investigated in this prospective longitudinal study the effect of hemoglobin normalization by a chronic treatment with recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) on cardiovascular prognosis parameters in 23 patients on chronic hemodialysis with renal anemia (hemoglobin concentration < or =10.5 g/dL) and echocardiographically proven left ventricular hypertrophy. We studied muscle sympathetic nerve activity measured by microneurography; cardiopulmonary baroreflex activity by lower-body negative pressure (LBNP-) testing; left ventricular structure and mass index (LVMI) by echocardiography; blood pressure by 24-hour readings; peripheral blood flow and vascular resistance by plethysmography before (U1) and after 7 months of chronic rhEPO treatment (U2). RESULTS In the anemic state, mean (+/- SD) muscle sympathetic nerve activity in ESRD was elevated (U1 rest, 34 +/- 13 bursts per minute) and cardiopulmonary baroreflex response during LBNP markedly lacking (U1 -15 mm Hg, 34 +/- 13 bursts per minute) reflecting a severely impaired autonomic function. Normalization of the hemoglobin concentration by chronic rhEPO treatment (U1, 10.5 +/- 0.9 g/dL versus U2, 13.4 +/- 3.1 g/dL, P <0.001) did not influence sympathetic nerve activity (U2, 34 +/- 15 bursts per minute, NS) and cardiopulmonary baroreflex sensitivity did not change (U2 -15 mm Hg, 37 +/- 16 bursts per minute, NS). LVMI decreased significantly after chronic treatment with rhEPO (U1, 134 +/- 26 g/m2 versus U2, 97 +/- 25 g/m2, P < 0.001) and left ventricular geometry developed from an asymmetric to a symmetric configuration (U1, relative wall thickness 0.58 versus U2, 0.43, P < 0.001). Under treatment with rhEPO, 24-hour systolic and diastolic blood pressure did not increase (systolic U1, 132 +/- 4 mm Hg versus U2, 128 +/- 3 mm Hg, NS, and diastolic U1, 76 +/- 2 mm Hg versus U2, 73 +/- 2 mm Hg, NS). Peripheral blood flow (U1, 6.1 +/- 3.3 mL/100 mL/min versus U2, 6.2 +/- 0.6 mL/100 mL/min, NS) as well as forearm vascular resistance (U1, 15.7 +/- 3.3 mm Hg/mL/100 mL versus U2, 14.9 +/- 3.1 mm Hg/mL/100 mL, NS) did not change by chronic rhEPO treatment. CONCLUSION Normalization of hemoglobin by chronic rhEPO treatment in dialysis patients has beneficial cardiovascular effects with regression of left ventricular hypertrophy and improvement of left ventricular geometry. However, a reduction of sympathetic overactivity or a resetting of baroreceptor sensitivity by a rhEPO treatment in dialysis patients in the medium-term could not be demonstrated. The reason for this may be the complex and multifactorial pathomechanism of autonomic dysfunction and cardiovascular disease in ESRD.