Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Les abus à l'endroit des personnes âgées en centres d'accueil publics: une étude menée à l'aide d'une méthode qualitative

ABSTRACT Elder abuse has mainly been studied in the family setting. This research looks at elder abuse in public nursing homes in Quebec. It studies the meaning that middle-management practitioners give to their work. This article shows how the method used to collect the information is directly chosen in regard to epistemological and paradigmatic concerns as well as in accordance with the questions addressed in the research. It exposes specific thoughts regarding this study done by semi-structured in-depth interviews. It presents results gathered by this method. It concludes with a reflexion on qualitative methods as ways of gaining knowledge on the human aging process. RÉSUMÉ Les abus à l'endroit des personnes âgées ont principalement été étudiés au sein des families. Cette étude porte sur les abus à l'endroit des personnes âgées en centres d'accueil publics du Québec. Il s'agit d'une étude qui s'intéresse au sens que les cadres donnent à leur pratique. Cet article montre comment les préoccupations épistémologiques et paradigmatiques ainsi que les questions précises de la recherche mènent à choisir la méthode de cueillette de l'information. Il traite des questions particulières à la dèmarche de cette recherche menée par entretiens semi-directifs. Il présente des résultats spécifiques à cette démarche. Il se termine par une réflexion de la contribution des méthodes qualitatives à l'avancement des connaissances sur le vieillissement humain.
The Use of Wait-Time in Questioning During Reading Comprehension Lessons by Secondary School Teachers in Selangor

Questioning is pivotal in reading comprehension lessons in particular and classrooms in general. One of widely used questioning strategies is wait-time. Thus this study is aimed at investigating the use of wait-time during reading comprehension lessons by two English teachers at a school in Selangor. They were selected using the purposive sampling method. The data were collected through individual-in-depth interviews. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and thereafter analysed using the process of coding and generating themes. Findings revealed that ‘duration’, ‘question type’ and ‘proficiency level’ were the themes generated with regard to the amount of wait time teachers allowed their students to have while ‘facts’, ‘cognition’, ‘communication’, ‘teacher’s perception’ and ‘response type’ were the themes that emerged for the reasons teachers used waittime during questioning. This study some implications for teachers. Teachers should learn questioning skills and specifically about the wait-time strategy as both teachers in this study were not aware of the term wait-time. In order to aid this process, the ministry of education should conduct training sessions to expose teachers to classroom questioning and the use of wait time in class. However, in this case study only two respondents were interviewed and both were females. Perhaps future researchers should select a large sample involving numerous schools in the future so the findings can be generalised to other teachers in Malaysia.
Ex Vivo SIV-Specific CD8 T Cell Responses in Heterozygous Animals Are Primarily Directed against Peptides Presented by a Single MHC Haplotype

The presence of certain MHC class I alleles is correlated with remarkable control of HIV and SIV, indicating that specific CD8 T cell responses can effectively reduce viral replication. It remains unclear whether epitopic breadth is an important feature of this control. Previous studies have suggested that individuals heterozygous at the MHC class I loci survive longer and/or progress more slowly than those who are homozygous at these loci, perhaps due to increased breadth of the CD8 T cell response. We used Mauritian cynomolgus macaques with defined MHC haplotypes and viral inhibition assays to directly compare CD8 T cell efficacy in MHC-heterozygous and homozygous individuals. Surprisingly, we found that cells from heterozygotes suppress viral replication most effectively on target cells from animals homozygous for only one of two potential haplotypes. The same heterozygous effector cells did not effectively inhibit viral replication as effectively on the target cells homozygous for the other haplotype. These results indicate that the greater potential breadth of CD8 T cell responses present in heterozygous animals does not necessarily lead to greater antiviral efficacy and suggest that SIV-specific CD8 T cell responses in heterozygous animals have a skewed focus toward epitopes restricted by a single haplotype.
What We Know—and Don't Know—About Preventing Child Maltreatment

Abstract Although child maltreatment is routinely acknowledged as a serious social problem, it remains widespread, raising questions about how prevention efforts can be improved. Following a review of theory and research relevant to prevention programming, the two dominant models of child abuse prevention-child empowerment and parent education-are examined, emphasizing both those factors that appear to contribute to program success (e.g., early intervention, sufficient time commitments, cultural sensitivity) and weaknesses in current efforts (e.g., poor implementation). Although underutilized, broader social and system-level reforms, including social policy and media initiatives, hold promise for prevention. Ways in which to leverage these tools are explored. Additional research is urged to explore assumptions on which programs are based, as well as to conduct more rigorous evaluation of current programs. The article concludes that a sustained commitment to prevention efforts aimed at child abuse and neglect is required.
When Are Mastery Goals More Adaptive? It Depends on Experiences of Autonomy Support and Autonomy.

Mastery goals are generally considered the most adaptive achievement goals. In 2 studies, we tested whether, in line with self-determination theory, participants’ experiences of autonomy support and autonomy would affect the relations between mastery goals and psychological outcomes. In Study 1 (an experiment), 117 college students, randomly assigned to 3 groups (autonomy-supportive, autonomy-suppressive, neutral), adopted an intrapersonal-competence standard to improve graphic quality of handwriting. Results showed that mastery goals led to more positive emotional experiences when given in an autonomy-supportive context relative to the other two. Study 2 extended the research to natural settings and learners’ motives among 7th and 8th graders (n = 839) responding to questionnaires about a specific class. Results revealed stronger relations of mastery goals with interest and enjoyment and with behavioral engagement when students perceived their level of choice (experience of autonomy) as high rather than low. We therefore propose that research on achievement goals should consider both the contexts and the motives accompanying the goals.
Irritable Brain Caused by Irritable Bowel? A Nationwide Analysis for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Risk of Bipolar Disorder

Objective We explored the association between IBS and the development of bipolar disorder, and the risk factors for bipolar disorders in patients with IBS. Methods We identified patients who were newly diagnosed with IBS between 2000 and 2010 in the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. We also identified a comparison matched cohort without IBS. The occurrence of new-onset bipolar disorder was evaluated in both cohorts. Results The IBS cohort consisted of 30,796 patients and the comparison cohort consisted of 30,796 matched patients without IBS. The incidence of bipolar disorder (incidence rate ratio, 2.63, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.10–3.31, P < . 001) was higher in the IBS patients than in the matched cohort. Multivariate matched regression models indicated that autoimmune diseases (HR 1.52, 95% CI 1.07–2.17, P = .020), and asthma (HR 1.45, 95% CI 1.08–1.95, P = .013) were independent risk factors for the development of bipolar disorder in the IBS patients. Conclusion IBS may increase the risk of developing subsequent bipolar disorder. Additional prospective studies are required to confirm these findings.
Divergence based Learning Vector Quantization

We suggest the use of alternative distance measures for similarity based classification in Learning Vector Quantization. Divergences can be employed whenever the data consists of non-negative normalized features, which is the case for, e.g., spectral data or histograms. As examples, we derive gradient based training algorithms in the framework of Generalized Learning Vector Quantization based on the so-called CauchySchwarz divergence and a non-symmetric Renyi divergence. As a first test we apply the methods to two different biomedical data sets and compare with the use of standard Euclidean distance.
Effect of Food Restriction on Energy Expenditure of Monosodium Glutamate-Induced Obese Rats

The neonatal administration of monosodium glutamate (MSG) to rodents leads to obesity in the adult animal, characterized by increased fat storages. Chronic food restriction is known to induce reduction in body energy expenditure, as an adaptive mechanism to save energy. Our purpose was to examine whether obesity can alter the mechanism of energy conservation in food-restricted animals. Newborn female Wistar rats were injected either MSG (obese) or saline (control). At the age of 90 days, the animals were fed daily ad libitum (control and MSG) or restricted (50%) (control-restricted and MSG-restricted). After 30 days the animals were sacrificed and the energy balance was determined by calorimetric analysis. Some parameters of energy balance and body composition were affected by MSG treatment as well as food restriction. The percent reduction of the energy expenditure and fat content in MSG-restricted animals was lower than control-restricted animals, when compared with their respective ad libitum groups. These results indicate that all food-restricted animals were able to develop the mechanism of energy conservation, regardless of the obesity, but it was less efficient in MSG-obese animals.
Gedächtnisdiagnostik mit der Wechsler Memory Scale – Fourth Edition

Ergebnisse zur Validierung der neuen Wechsler Memory Scale-IV (Deutsche Version) werden anhand von drei klinischen Stichproben (Depression, Hirnschadigung, Demenz; N = 165) vorgestellt. Fur alle drei Gruppen zeigen sich signifikante Unterschiede mit hohen Effektstarken zu den parallelisierten gesunden Kontrollgruppen. Wahrend die Patienten mit Demenz global sehr niedrige Ergebnisse zeigten, sind die Leistungen der Patienten mit Depression im unteren Durchschnittsbereich und die der Patienten mit Hirnschadigung weichen um 1,5 bis 2 Standardabweichungen nach unten ab. Damit zeigen sich erste Befunde, dass die WMS-IV nicht nur zwischen klinischen und nicht klinischen Gruppen trennen kann, sondern auch storungsbezogene Abstufungen von Gedachtnisbeeintrachtigungen darstellen kann.
Molecular targets of chromatin repressive mark H3K9me3 in primate progenitor cells within adult neurogenic niches

Histone 3 Lysine 9 (H3K9) methylation is known to be associated with pericentric heterochromatin and important in genomic stability. In this study, we show that trimethylation at H3K9 (H3K9me3) is enriched in an adult neural stem cell niche- the subventricular zone (SVZ) on the walls of the lateral ventricle in both rodent and non-human primate baboon brain. Previous studies have shown that there is significant correlation between baboon and human regarding genomic similarity and brain structure, suggesting that findings in baboon are relevant to human. To understand the function of H3K9me3 in this adult neurogenic niche, we performed genome-wide analyses using ChIP-Seq (chromatin immunoprecipitation and deep-sequencing) and RNA-Seq for in vivo SVZ cells purified from baboon brain. Through integrated analyses of ChIP-Seq and RNA-Seq, we found that H3K9me3-enriched genes associated with cellular maintenance, post-transcriptional and translational modifications, signaling pathways, and DNA replication are expressed, while genes involved in axon/neuron, hepatic stellate cell, or immune-response activation are not expressed. As neurogenesis progresses in the adult SVZ, cell fate restriction is essential to direct proper lineage commitment. Our findings highlight that H3K9me3 repression in undifferentiated SVZ cells is engaged in the maintenance of cell type integrity, implicating a role for H3K9me3 as an epigenetic mechanism to control cell fate transition within this adult germinal niche.
Distributed testing of cloud computing applications using the TTCN-3-based Jata test framework

With a new technology, such as cloud computing, new challenges are introduced to software engineering. This paper investigates the challenges of software testing in elastic cloud computing environments as well as the applicability of concepts of the Conformance Testing Methodology and Framework (CTMF) and the open-source test framework Jata for distributed testing of cloud computing applications. Jata provides concepts from the standardised test language Testing and Test Control Notation version 3 (TTCN-3) to implement distributed test cases directly in Java. As the main contribution, a case study of testing a distributed cloud application has been conducted. It reveals that there are specific considerations to be made to deal with the elastic nature of a cloud environment which advises automated run-time configuration of the test cases to adjust to the current environment.
Using Hedges to Enhance a Disease Outbreak Report Text Mining System

Identifying serious infectious disease outbreaks in their early stages is an important task, both for national governments and international organizations like the World Health Organization. Text mining and information extraction systems can provide an important, low cost and timely early warning system in these circumstances by identifying the first signs of an outbreak automatically from online textual news. One interesting characteristic of disease outbreak reports --- which to the best of our knowledge has not been studied before --- is their use of speculative language (hedging) to describe uncertain situations. This paper describes two uses of hedging to enhance the BioCaster disease outbreak report text mining system.
A study about the existence of the leverage effect in Stochastic Volatility models

The empirical relationship between the return of an asset and the volatility of the asset has been well documented in the financial literature. Named the leverage effect or sometimes risk-premium effect, it is observed in real data that, when the return of the asset decreases, the volatility increases and vice-versa. Consequently, it is important to demonstrate that any formulated model for the asset price is capable to generate this effect observed in practice. Furthermore, we need to understand the conditions on the parameters present in the model that guarantee the apparition of the leverage effect. In this paper we analyze two general specifications of stochastic volatility models and their capability of generating the perceived leverage effect. We derive conditions for the apparition of leverage effect in both of these stochastic volatility models. We exemplify using stochastic volatility models used in practice and we explicitly state the conditions for the existence of the leverage effect in these examples.
Low Doses of Curcuma longa Modulates Cell Migration and Cell–Cell Adhesion

Cell invasion and metastasis are involved in clinical failures in cancer treatment, and both events require the acquisition of a migratory behavior by tumor cells. Curcumin is a promising natural product with anti‐proliferative activity, but its effects on cell migration are still unclear. We evaluated the effects of curcumin on the proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and cell–cell adhesion of keratinocyte, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), and fibroblast cell lines, as well as in a xenograft model of OSCC. Curcumin (2 μM) decreased cell proliferation in cell lines with mesenchymal characteristics, while cell death was detected only at 50 μM. We observed that highly migratory cells showed a decrease on migration speed and directionality when treated with 2 or 5 μM of curcumin (50% and 40%, respectively, p < 0.05). Using spheroids, we observed that curcumin dose dependently decreased cell–cell adhesion, especially on tumor‐derived spheroids. Also, in a xenograft model with patient‐derived OSCC cells, the administration of curcumin decreased tumor growth and aggressiveness when compared with untreated tumors, indicating the potential antitumor effect in oral cancer. These results suggest that lower doses of curcumin can influence several steps involved in tumorigenesis, including migration properties, suggesting a possible use in cancer therapy. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Future of Peace Support Operations: Strategic Peacekeeping and Success

This article uses the concept of "strategic peacekeeping" to understand peace support operations situated at a midpoint in the spectrum between observation missions, classic peacekeeping, and peace enforcement. Attempts to integrate enforcement measures into peace operations are not inherently contradictory and self-defeating, as some recent critics have suggested. Rather, they may be inevitable and necessary. Drawing on evidence from peace operations in the Republic of the Former Yugoslavia, two arguments are defended. First, the types of operation that require the possible mixing of consent and force to achieve success differ from traditional peacekeeping missions at the strategic level. For this reason, the term strategic peacekeeping is used to refer to situations in which an international force is inserted into a continuing conflict to assist in creating the conditions for conflict termination without taking sides in the conflict. Second, a strategic peacekeeping operation rests on particular conditions for success. These are not so much the consent of the conflicting parties, or the use of force alone, but the challenges of maintaining sufficient support (or a suitable absence of opposition) in the eyes of different audiences both in the host state and further afield. This should be understood as a process of legitimation.
When Formal Sanctions Encourage Violent Offending: How Violent Peers and Violent Codes Undermine Deterrence

Research focusing on deterrence has stressed the negative relationship between perceived formal sanctions and criminal behavior, ignoring the possibility that in some populations formal sanctions may serve to increase offending under some conditions. Utilizing a sample of 300 homeless street youths, the study explores if violent peers, violent values, and the culture of the street moderates the association between perceived legal sanctions and violent offending. The results suggest that violent peers, violent values, and the culture of the street condition the perceived certainty of punishment so that it leads to higher levels of violence. Further, the culture of the street conditions the relationship between perceived severity of punishment and violence. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.
Comparison of speaker verification performance for adult and child speech

Although speaker verification is an established area of speech technology, previous studies have been restricted to adult speech. This paper investigates speaker verification for children’s speech, using the PF-STAR children’s speech corpus. A contemporary GMM-based speaker verification system, using MFCC features and maximum score normalization, is applied to adult and child speech at various bandwidths using comparable test and training material. The results show that the Equal Error Rate (EER) for child speech is almost four times greater than that for adults. A study of the effect of bandwidth on EER shows that for adult speaker verification, the spectrum can be conveniently partitioned into three frequency bands: up to 3.5-4kHz, which contains individual differences in the part of the spectrum due to primary vocal tract resonances, the region between 4kHz and 6kHz, which contains further speaker-specific information and gives a significant reduction in EER, and the region above 6kHz. These finding are consistent with previous research. For young children’s speech a similar pattern emerges, but with each region shifted to higher frequency values.
Helicity sensitive terahertz radiation detection by dual-grating-gate high electron mobility transistors

We report on the observation of a radiation helicity sensitive photocurrent excited by terahertz (THz) radiation in dual-grating-gate (DGG) InAlAs/InGaAs/InAlAs/InP high electron mobility transistors (HEMT). For a circular polarization the current measured between source and drain contacts changes its sign with the inversion of the radiation helicity. For elliptically polarized radiation the total current is described by superposition of the Stokes parameters with different weights. Moreover, by variation of gate voltages applied to individual gratings the photocurrent can be defined either by the Stokes parameter defining the radiation helicity or those for linear polarization. We show that artificial non-centrosymmetric microperiodic structures with a two-dimensional electron system excited by THz radiation exhibit a dc photocurrent caused by the combined action of a spatially periodic in-plane potential and spatially modulated light. The results provide a proof of principle for the application of DGG HEMT for all-electric detection of the radiation's polarization state.
Selection of a Platform for Mutation Detection

New mutation detection technologies must keep pace by becoming more cost‐effective while offering improved technical sensitivity and higher throughput capacity. In recent years, the number of mutation detection platforms available to the clinical researcher has grown to a point where it is difficult to keep track of all available options as well as their benefits and pitfalls. This unit provides an entry point for a variety of researchers who wish to analyze samples for known or novel mutations and need to determine which platform is most suited for their particular needs. A practical guide is provided in this unit, including a brief overview, information on assay parameters, design and cost considerations, as well as platform flexibility and scalability of the assay. Although the focus here is on applications involving human disease, many of these platforms can be easily adapted to the study of other organisms. Curr. Protoc. Hum. Genet. 56:7.15. 1‐7.15. 30. © 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
A constructivist mobile learning environment supported by a wireless handheld network

There is a need to incorporate constructivist environments in the pedagogical practice. A constructivist learning environment allows students to build up their own knowledge (based on previous one) while working jointly among them in a reflexive process directed by the teacher. Wireless interconnected handhelds can introduce a space that favours constructivism and collaboration in order to achieve creation of new knowledge. We have developed a constructivist learning environment supported by handhelds, for the teaching of reading for first graders. This environment was compared to an equivalent constructivist environment without technological support, obtaining significant different learning results.