Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monochromatic paths and monochromatic sets of arcs in 3-quasitransitive digraphs

We call the digraph D an m-coloured digraph if the arcs of D are coloured with m colours. A directed path is called monochromatic if all of its arcs are coloured alike. A set N of vertices of D is called a kernel by monochromatic paths if for every pair of vertices of N there is no monochromatic path between them and for every vertex v / ∈ N there is a monochromatic path from v to N . We denote by A(u) the set of arcs of D that have u as the initial vertex. We prove that if D is an m-coloured 3-quasitransitive digraph such that for every vertex u of D, A(u) is monochromatic and D satisfies some colouring conditions over one subdigraph of D of order 3 and two subdigraphs of D of order 4, then D has a kernel by monochromatic paths.
CLIC1 null mice demonstrate a role for CLIC1 in macrophage superoxide production and tissue injury

We generated and studied CLIC1 null (C1KO) mice to investigate the physiological role of this protein. C1KO and matched wild‐type (WT) mice were studied in two models of acute toxic tissue injury. CLIC1 expression is upregulated following acute injury of WT kidney and pancreas and is absent in C1KOs. Acute tissue injury is attenuated in the C1KOs and this correlates with an absence of the rise in tissue reactive oxygen species (ROS) that is seen in WT mice. Infiltration of injured tissue by inflammatory cells was comparable between WT and C1KOs. Absence of CLIC1 increased PMA‐induced superoxide production by isolated peritoneal neutrophils but dramatically decreased PMA‐induced superoxide production by peritoneal macrophages. CLIC1 is expressed in both neutrophils and macrophages in a peripheral pattern consistent with either plasma membrane or the cortical cytoskeleton in resting cells and redistributes away from the periphery following PMA stimulation in both cell types. Absence of CLIC1 had no effect on redistribution or dephosphorylation of Ezrin/ERM cytoskeleton in macrophages. Plasma membrane chloride conductance is altered in the absence of CLIC1, but not in a way that would be expected to block superoxide production. NADPH oxidase redistributes from an intracellular compartment to the plasma membrane when WT macrophages are stimulated to produce superoxide and this redistribution fails to occur in C1KO macrophages. We conclude that the role of CLIC1 in macrophage superoxide production is to support redistribution of NADPH oxidase to the plasma membrane, and not through major effects on ERM cytoskeleton or by acting as a plasma membrane chloride channel.
Managing Capital Market Reactions to Corporate Social Resposibility

We develop a model of the process linking corporate social responsibility to capital market responses. The model recognizes that corporate social responsibility behaviours and the disclosure of information about those behaviours can impact on capital market processes, have cash flow consequences for the firm and affect the discount rate used by investors to value that stream of cash flows. We use this model to review the literature on this relationship and to identify continuing gaps in our knowledge.
A Covariance Estimator for GEE with Improved Small‐Sample Properties

Summary. In this paper, we propose an alternative covariance estimator to the robust covariance estimator of generalized estimating equations (GEE). Hypothesis tests using the robust covariance estimator can have inflated size when the number of independent clusters is small. Resampling methods, such as the jackknife and bootstrap, have been suggested for covariance estimation when the number of clusters is small. A drawback of the resampling methods when the response is binary is that the methods can break down when the number of subjects is small due to zero or near‐zero cell counts caused by resampling. We propose a bias‐corrected covariance estimator that avoids this problem. In a small simulation study, we compare the bias‐corrected covariance estimator to the robust and jackknife covariance estimators for binary responses for situations involving 10–40 subjects with equal and unequal cluster sizes of 16–64 observations. The bias‐corrected covariance estimator gave tests with sizes close to the nominal level even when the number of subjects was 10 and cluster sizes were unequal, whereas the robust and jackknife covariance estimators gave tests with sizes that could be 2–3 times the nominal level. The methods are illustrated using data from a randomized clinical trial on treatment for bone loss in subjects with periodontal disease.
The meaning of “the public interest” in communications policy—part II: Its implementation in early broadcast law and regulation

For more than a half‐century, as the cornerstone of federal broadcasting and telecommunications policy, the public interest standard has always been subject to some debate. Questions have regularly been raised about its meaning and the extent of the authority it implies for regulation, particularly in the deregulatory environment of the 1980s and 1990s. Part I of this study demonstrated how a deep reading of the pre‐broadcasting state and federal regulatory history reveals that interpretations of the public interest standard that have emphasized broad, diverse, public service programming have entailed a misunderstanding of its real, underlying meaning. This part of the study shows how another definition—i.e., that the public would be best served by protecting economic viability and technological advancement for private industry broadcasters—developed as the predominant doctrine before adoption of the Radio Act of 1927 and Communications Act of 1934, and how that theme came to be the applied interpretation.
Dynamic Drawing of Clustered Graphs

This paper presents an algorithm for drawing a sequence of graphs that contain an inherent grouping of their vertex set into clusters. It differs from previous work on dynamic graph drawing in the emphasis that is put on maintaining the clustered structure of the graph during incremental layout. The algorithm works online and allows arbitrary modifications to the graph. It is generic and can be implemented using a wide range of static force-directed graph layout tools. The paper introduces several metrics for measuring layout quality of dynamic clustered graphs. The performance of our algorithm is analyzed using these metrics. The algorithm has been successfully applied to visualizing mobile object software
The Role of Macros in Tractable Planning over Causal Graphs

The complexity of existing planners is bounded by the length of the resulting plan, a fact that limits planning to domains with relatively short solutions. We present a novel planning algorithm that uses the causal graph of a domain to decompose it into subproblems and stores subproblem plans in memory as macros. In many domains, the resulting plan can be expressed using relatively few macros, making it possible to generate exponential length plans in polynomial time. We show that our algorithm is complete, and that there exist special cases for which it is optimal and polynomial. Experimental results demonstrate the potential of using macros to solve planning domains with long solution plans.
Learning Together with Parents of Children with Disabilities: Bringing Parent-Professional Partnership Education to a New Level

When parents and professionals work well together the results are dramatic (Epstein & Sanders, 2006). Parent/professional partnerships have been credited with improving outcomes for children and enhancing satisfaction for both parents and professionals (Epstein, 2005; Forlin & Hopewell, 2006). Family involvement in preservice programs is minimal and often limited to parent panels or parent involvement in a class activity such as an interview (Epstein & Salinas, 2004). Preservice students who have had multiple opportunities to interact with families, over a variety of settings, have greater chances of developing family-centered dispositions and skill sets and are more likely to generalize these skill sets to the job (Murray & Mandell, 2004; Sheldon & Van Voorhis, 2004). The special education personnel preparation program at Bowling Green State University developed the Intensive Extensive Collaborative Learning Program (IECLP) to provide students with opportunities to interact with parents of children with disabilities in a college course to develop knowledge, abilities and dispositions for parent partnerships.
Tropomyosin isoforms and reagents

Tropomyosins are rod-like dimers which form head-to-tail polymers along the length of actin filaments and regulate the access of actin binding proteins to the filaments. The diversity of tropomyosin isoforms, over 40 in mammals, and their role in an increasing number of biological processes presents a challenge both to experienced researchers and those new to this field. The increased appreciation that the role of these isoforms expands beyond that of simply stabilizing actin filaments has lead to a surge of reagents and techniques to study their function and mechanisms of action. This report is designed to provide a basic guide to the genes and proteins and the availability of reagents which allow effective study of this family of proteins. We highlight the value of combining multiple techniques to better evaluate the function of different Tm isoforms and discuss the limitations of selected reagents. Brief background material is included to demystify some of the unfortunate complexity regarding this multi-gene family of proteins including the unconventional nomenclature of the isoforms and the evolutionary relationships of isoforms between species. Additionally, we present step-by-step detailed experimental protocols used in our laboratory to assist new comers to the field and experts alike.
Student Models that Invite the Learner In: The SMILI: () Open Learner Modelling Framework

In recent years, the learner models of some adaptive learning environments have been opened to the learners they represent. However, as yet there is no standard way of describing and analysing these 'open learner models'. This is, in part, due to the variety of issues that can be important or relevant in any particular learner model. The lack of a framework to discuss open learner models poses several difficulties: there is no systematic way to analyse and describe the open learner models of any one system; there is no systematic way to compare the features of open learner models in different systems; and the designers of each new adaptive learning system must repeatedly tread the same path of studying the many diverse uses and approaches of open learner modelling so that they might determine how to make use of open learner modelling in their system. We believe this is a serious barrier to the effective use of open learner models. This paper presents such a framework, and gives examples of its use to describe and compare adaptive educational systems.
Apolipoprotein A-I and A-I mimetic peptides: a role in atherosclerosis

Cardiovascular disease remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the westernized world. Atherosclerosis is the underlying cause of most cardiovascular diseases. Atherosclerosis is a slowly evolving chronic inflammatory disorder involving the intima of large and medium sized arteries that is initiated in response to high plasma lipid levels, especially LDL. Cells of both the innate and adaptive immunity are involved in this chronic inflammation. Although high plasma LDL levels are a major contributor to most stages of the evolution of atherosclerosis, HDL and its major protein apoA-I possess properties that attenuate and may even reverse atherosclerosis. Two major functions are the ability to induce the efflux of cholesterol from cells, particularly lipid-loaded macrophages, in the artery wall for transfer to the liver, a process referred to as reverse cholesterol transport, and the ability to attenuate the pro-inflammatory properties of LDL. The removal of cellular cholesterol from lipid-loaded macrophages may also be anti-inflammatory. One of the most promising therapies to enhance the anti-atherogenic, anti-inflammatory properties of HDL is apoA-I mimetic peptides. Several of these peptides have been shown to promote cellular cholesterol efflux, attenuate the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines by macrophages, and to attenuate the pro-inflammatory properties of LDL. This latter effect may be related to their high affinity for oxidized lipids present in LDL. This review discusses the functional properties of the peptides and their effect on experimental atherosclerosis and the results of initial clinical studies in humans.
MOTIFS: a monitoring tool for integrated farm sustainability

Indicator-based monitoring tools are frequently applied for sustainability assessments, also in agriculture. However, many indicators focus on a rather restricted number of sustainability aspects such as economy or ecology. Moreover the choice of the indicator is rarely explained. The aim of our study was to develop an indicator-based monitoring tool for integrated farm sustainability — i.e. taking into account economic and ecological and social aspects — based on a supported vision of sustainable agriculture and using a set of relevant indicators. Hereby, specific attention was paid to aspects of communication and user-friendliness. Four methodological steps were considered: (i) translating the major principles of a supported vision of sustainable Flemish agriculture into concrete and relevant themes; (ii) designing indicators to monitor progress towards sustainability for each of those themes; (iii) aggregating the indicators into an integrated farm sustainability monitoring tool and (iv) applying the monitoring tool on a practical farm, as a first attempt at end-use validation. Stakeholder participation and expert consulting played an important part in each of these methodological steps. As a case study, the methodology was applied to Flemish dairy farms. As a result, we developed MOTIFS, a user-friendly and strongly communicative indicator-based monitoring tool that allows the measurement of progress towards integrated sustainable dairy farming systems and fits within a well-founded methodological framework. MOTIFS is based on the equality of the economic, ecological and social sustainability dimensions, and this equality is inherently built into the system. Through the applied methodology, we founded the selected themes and indicators and we avoided using indicators that are not relevant to the problem at hand.
It Isn't as Simple as It Seems: Understanding and Treating Psychopathy

Gillett and Huang (2013) claim that “research on the relationship between upbringing and the genesis of psychopathy and ASPD [antisocial personality disorder] . incorporates a local context and the artifacts within it as part of the psychopath’s cognitive machinery and invites us to examine the brain plus adaptive context (B + Ca) as the unit of cognitive adaptation” (3). However, we must distinguish ASPD, as defined by the DSM–IV (American Psychological Association 2000), and psychopathy, as defined by Hare’s checklist (Hare 1991). (Psychopathy is not a DSM-recognized disorder.) The symptomology and symptoms can overlap, but one is not a subset of the other (see Hare 1996). In particular, ASPD is defined primarily in terms of behaviors, but psychopathy is defined by personality traits as well. As a result, those with ASPD are identified by the sorts of trouble they get into, while it is entirely possible that a psychopath could go unnoticed and undetected for the entirety of his or her life. Most patients diagnosed with ASPD do not meet the criteria for psychopathy, while most psychopaths who come into contact with the criminal justice system do meet the criteria for ASPD. However, those who do not also do not typically meet ASPD criteria. The most important differentiator between psychopathy and ASPD is that psychopaths appear to be incapable of feeling empathy and processing many types of emotional stimuli, but those with ASPD exhibit neither deficit. (DSM–V, due out in May 2013, was supposed to fix the relative sloppiness of the ASPD diagnosis and unite these two syndromes under one umbrella. At last update, however, all proposed revisions to the classifications of personality disorders were voted down.) If we just focus on psychopathy, the developmental picture becomes considerably murky. While Blair (e.g., 2006) does argue for a developmental approach to understanding psychopathy, he is also very clear in his analysis that social and environmental factors do not shape psychopathy’s unfolding: “As yet, the environmental influences on the emergence of psychopathy remain unclear. The genetics studies. [suggest] relatively little influence” (421). He further notes that “while positive parenting techniques are associated with reduced antisocial behavior levels in healthy children, they have no impact on the level of antisocial behavior expressed by children who present with the emotional dysfunction associated with psychopathy”
Muscarinic and Nicotinic Modulation of Thalamo-Prefrontal Cortex Synaptic Pasticity In Vivo

The mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus (MD) is a rich source of afferents to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Dysfunctions in the thalamo-prefrontal connections can impair networks implicated in working memory, some of which are affected in Alzheimer disease and schizophrenia. Considering the importance of the cholinergic system to cortical functioning, our study aimed to investigate the effects of global cholinergic activation of the brain on MD-mPFC synaptic plasticity by measuring the dynamics of long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD) in vivo. Therefore, rats received intraventricular injections either of the muscarinic agonist pilocarpine (PILO; 40 nmol/µL), the nicotinic agonist nicotine (NIC; 320 nmol/µL), or vehicle. The injections were administered prior to either thalamic high-frequency (HFS) or low-frequency stimulation (LFS). Test pulses were applied to MD for 30 min during baseline and 240 min after HFS or LFS, while field postsynaptic potentials were recorded in the mPFC. The transient oscillatory effects of PILO and NIC were monitored through recording of thalamic and cortical local field potentials. Our results show that HFS did not affect mPFC responses in vehicle-injected rats, but induced a delayed-onset LTP with distinct effects when applied following PILO or NIC. Conversely, LFS induced a stable LTD in control subjects, but was unable to induce LTD when applied after PILO or NIC. Taken together, our findings show distinct modulatory effects of each cholinergic brain activation on MD-mPFC plasticity following HFS and LFS. The LTP-inducing action and long-lasting suppression of cortical LTD induced by PILO and NIC might implicate differential modulation of thalamo-prefrontal functions under low and high input drive.
A Coherent Well-founded Model for Hybrid MKNF Knowledge Bases

With the advent of the Semantic Web, the question becomes important how to best combine open-world based ontology languages, like OWL, with closed-world rules paradigms. One of the most mature proposals for this combination is known as Hybrid MKNF knowledge bases [11], which is based on an adaptation of the stable model semantics to knowledge bases consisting of ontology axioms and rules. In this paper, we propose a well-founded semantics for such knowledge bases which promises to provide better efficiency of reasoning, which is compatible both with the OWL-based semantics and the traditional well-founded semantics for logic programs, and which surpasses previous proposals for such a well-founded semantics by avoiding some issues related to inconsistency handling.
Leadership Styles, Workplace Politics and Moral Identity of Ugandan Public Procurement Staff

The study predicts the moral identity of Ugandan public procurement staff using situational factors like leadership styles, social interactions, organizational politics and personal isomorphism, largely ignored in documented empirical literature. This study builds upon previous studies which assert that much remains to be learned about moral identity. Data were collected from staff handling the public procurement function in 105 randomly selected procuring and disposing entities (PDEs). Data relating to the study constructs were collected using self-administered questionnaires and an interview guide. The study established that workplace factors singularly and/or interactively predict moral identity of procurement staff in PDEs in Uganda. These findings have both policy and managerial implications which we discuss and present in this article.
The long-term maintenance treatment of schizophrenic out-patients with depot flupenthixol.

SummaryAfter initial stabilisation, flupenthixol decanoate injections were given to 134 outpatient schizophrenics over a period of 28 months. Thirty percent showed extrapyramidal side-effects and 8% severe depression. Persistent anergia and hypomania were also seen. There was a significant reduction in adapted Wing's scale scores over 6 months in the first 56 patients. Severe and unpredictable extra-pyramidal side-effects were less frequent than with fluphenazine, the relapse rate among aggressive paranoid schizophrenics tending to be higher with flupenthixol. Flupenthixol-treated patients seemed more active, sociable and able to communicate than phenothiazine-treated patients, which helped in their rehabilitation. No toxic effects were seen. Flupenthixol is considered to be an effective anti-psychotic and suitable for out-patient stabilisation and maintenance therapy.
Benefits of Matching Accommodative Demands to Vergence Demands in a Binocular Head-Mounted Display: A Study on Stereo Fusion Times

Current head-mounted displays (HMDs) provide only a fixed lens focus. Viewers have to decouple their accommodation and vergence responses when viewing stereoscopic images presented on an HMD. This study investigates the time taken to fuse a pair of stereoscopic images displayed on an HMD when the accommodative demand is matched to the vergence demand. Four testing conditions exhausting the factorial combinations of accommodative demands (2.5 D and 0.5 D) and vergence demands (2.5 MA and 0.5 MA) were investigated. The results indicate that viewers take a significantly shorter amount of time to fuse a pair of stereoscopic images (i.e., fusion time) when the accommodative demand and the stereoscopic depth cues match. Further analysis suggests that an unnatural demand for the eyes to verge toward stereoscopic images whose stereo depth is farther than the accommodative demand is associated with significantly longer fusion time. This study evaluates the potential benefits of using a dynamically adjustable lens focus in future designs of HMDs.
The Effectiveness of Intervention Programmes for Children of Divorce - a Meta-Analysis

This study in the form of a meta-analysis evaluates the overall effectiveness of intervention programmes for children of divorce. A total of 23 studies were analysed (total study population N = 1 615). The average effect size (ES) of all programmes was d = 0.43 based on a homogeneous set of data. The best results were attained by interventions applied during the first two years after the separation/divorce (d = 0.99) at the age of 9-12 years (d = 0.50) with no more than ten sessions (d = 0.66), each lasting about 60-75 minutes (d = 0.61). Group size was not so relevant, but there is a tendency for groups of medium size to be more efficient than small groups. The results were found to be dependent on the methodological quality of the studies, and the method of operationalisation used. The results are discussed in terms of possibilities for improving and further developing intervention programmes for children of divorce (eg by selecting risk groups).