Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parental Accounts of Home-Based Literacy Processes: Contexts for Infants and Toddlers with Developmental Delays

The early childhood years are critical for literacy development, and there is evidence that the home environments of young children with delays or disabilities are not as rich in literacy opportunities as those of their typically developing peers. The purpose of this study was to obtain information about how parents of infants and toddlers with mild developmental delays viewed literacy processes occurring within their homes and how they may be influencing their children. Interviews and home tours were conducted with 10 families who had a child between the ages of 12 and 36 months with a mild delay and who were receiving services from the state birth-to-three program. Transcripts were qualitatively analyzed with the assistance of QSR NUD*IST computer software. Thematic analysis revealed that parents' understanding of "literacy" included more than simply reading to their children. Parents valued literacy skills, both for themselves and their children, and made available a variety of literacy-related artifacts and opportunities for their children. Parent-child storybook reading and computer usage were discussed more frequently relative to writing/drawing opportunities and usually were deemed more developmentally appropriate. Older siblings often seemed to be more successful at gaining and maintaining younger children's interest in literacy-related activities than the parents or teachers. Parents believed their children were capable individuals, but many felt it was "too soon" to estimate how the children would cope with future obstacles to reading and writing. Implications for researchers and early interventionists are discussed.
Imaging and analysis of nanowires

We used vapor‐liquid‐solid (VLS) methods to synthesize discrete single‐element semiconductor nanowires and multicomposition nanowire heterostructures, and then characterized their structure and composition using high‐resolution electron microscopy (HRTEM) and analytical electron microscopy techniques. Imaging nanowires requires the modification of the established HRTEM imaging procedures for bulk material to take into consideration the effects of finite nanowire width and thickness. We show that high‐resolution atomic structure images of nanowires less than 6 nm in thickness have lattice “streaking” due to the finite crystal lattice in two dimensions of the nanowire structure. Diffraction pattern analysis of nanowires must also consider the effects of a finite structure producing a large reciprocal space function, and we demonstrate that the classically forbidden 1/3 {422} reflections are present in the [111] zone axis orientation of silicon nanowires due to the finite thickness and lattice plane edge effects that allow incomplete diffracted beam cancellation. If the operating conditions are not carefully considered, we found that HRTEM image delocalization becomes apparent when employing a field emission transmission electron microscope (TEM) to image nanowires and such effects have been shown to produce images of the silicon lattice structure outside of the nanowire itself. We show that pseudo low‐dose imaging methods are effective in reducing nanowire structure degradation caused by electron beam irradiation. We also show that scanning TEM (STEM) with energy dispersive X‐ray microanalysis (EDS) is critical in the examination of multicomponent nanowire heterostructures. Microsc. Res. Tech. 64:373–389, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
BDI Agents & Constraint Logic

Using Constraint Logic Programming and a data model approach, we provide an agent with a flexible way to plan and direct its actions and to manipulate and represent its knowledge. We use techniques from the KRAFT project to provide the agent with a sophisticated reasoning and deliberation process. We explore the declarative use of constraints within a BDI Agent framework to represent knowledge as complex quantified constraints and apply these techniques to a courier scenario where cooperating agents communicate, delegate and exchange desires and information using Generalised Partial Global Planning mechanisms to solve a given set of tasks.
‘Occupy Israel’: A Tale of Startling Success and Hopeful Failure

In between the Arab Spring and the US Occupy movement, Israel has had its share in demonstrating the people's power against unjust authority in general and socioeconomic wrongs in particular. This paper analyzes the context, rapid growth and yet swift abatement of the Israeli protest-tent summer of 2011. I argue that the reasons for the shortly lived Israeli protest summer related more to difficulties in coping with intra-movement challenges, framing alignment and a relatively ‘closed’ political environment, and less to the omnipresent security complex and militarized political culture, which has repeatedly been suppressing other episodes in Israel's history.
ADCS Prevention Instrument Project: Quality of Life Assessment (QOL)

Information about quality of life (QOL) is valuable in evaluating pharmaceutical agents but it is not adequately assessed in many dementia drug trials. In prevention trials, following participants to conversion to AD requires QOL scales appropriate for both normal and cognitively impaired individuals. Our objective was to evaluate the utility of several scales for subject or informant QOL assessment: Quality of Life-AD; Quality of Life Activity Inventory; SF-36; SF-12 (a shortened version of the SF-36); and Satisfaction with Life Scale. Measurements were collected from 644 subject-study partner pairs, half of whom completed the instruments at the clinic and half at home. Three-month test-retest data were collected. Scales administered at home or in clinic did not differ significantly. Subject self-ratings showed a wide range for all scales. Test-retest intraclass coefficients ranged from 0.67 to 0.77. Moderately high interscale associations suggest that the scales are measuring common aspects of QOL but are not equivalent. Furthermore, they differed with respect to associations with demographic variables and QOL determinants. We conclude that the QOL scores at baseline show sufficient range and reliability to suggest they will have utility in tracking QOL through conversion to dementia.
Identification of structural motifs in the E2 glycoprotein of Chikungunya involved in virus–host interaction

Chikungunya fever is one of the reemerging vector-borne diseases. It has become a major global health problem especially in the developing countries. There are no vaccines or specific antiviral drugs available to date. This study reports small molecule inhibitors of envelope glycoprotein 2 (E2 glycoprotein) which are predicted based on Chikungunya virus–host interactions. E2 glycoprotein of Chikungunya virus interacts at 216 residue of the host receptor protein which plays a vital role in initiating infection. Understanding the structural aspects of E2 glycoprotein is crucial to develop specific inhibitors to prevent the virus binding from host receptors. In silico method was adopted to predict the sequence motifs of envelope protein, as the method like yeast two hybrid system is laborious, time consuming, and costly. The E2 glycoprotein structure of the Indian isolate was modeled using two templates (2XFC and 3JOC) and then validated. The class III PDZ domain binding motif was found to be identified at 213–216 amino acids. The corresponding peptide structures which recognize the PDZ domain binding motif were identified by the literature search and were used for generating five point pharmacophore model (ADDDR) containing acceptor, donor and aromatic ring features. Databases such as Asinex, TosLab and Maybridge were searched for the matches for the predicted pharmacophore model. Two compounds were identified as lead molecules as their glide score is > 5 kcal/mol. Since the pharmacophore model is developed based on Chikungunya virus–host interaction, it can be used for designing promising antiviral lead compounds for the treatment of Chikungunya fever.An animated Interactive 3D Complement (I3DC) is available in Proteopedia at http://proteopedia.org/w/Journal:JBSD:21
Ten Hypotheses about Tolerance toward Minorities among Latin American Adolescents

Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, race, mental and/or physical disability, religious background, HIV/AIDS status, and ethnic origin affects the well-being of minorities and society in general. Recent research in North America underscores the importance of contact with diverse networks, intergroup discussions, a social dominance orientation, religious beliefs, and the school climate, among other factors, to explain tolerance for minorities. Theoretical and empirical work in Latin America is less extensive and has been limited by the lack of quantitative data. This article evaluates 10 different hypotheses about tolerance, using data from eighth-grade students in six Latin American countries that participated in the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study in 2009. Overall, the results provide support for most hypotheses. Notably, countries with relatively more positive views of minorities tend to exhibit very small differences in tolerance attitudes among students of varying socio-demographic characteristics and, apparently, also more effective mechanisms for promoting tolerance through schools.
Differential Biofilm Formation and Motility Associated with Lipopolysaccharide/Exopolysaccharide-Coupled Biosynthetic Genes in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

ABSTRACT Stenotrophomonas maltophilia WR-C is capable of forming biofilm on polystyrene and glass. The lipopolysaccharide/exopolysaccharide-coupled biosynthetic genes rmlA, rmlC, and xanB are necessary for biofilm formation and twitching motility. Mutants with mutations in rmlAC and xanB display contrasting biofilm phenotypes on polystyrene and glass and differ in swimming motility.
Cost-effectiveness of novel first-line treatment regimens for tuberculosis.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of novel first-line treatment regimens for tuberculosis (TB). DESIGN Using decision analysis, we projected the costs and effectiveness, from the health care perspective, of treating a patient cohort in the public sector for active TB without known or suspected resistance to first-line drugs. We compared standard (6-month) treatment to hypothetical regimens of equal efficacy, higher cost and shorter duration. RESULTS For every 100 TB patients treated, replacing standard treatment with shorter-course regimens would avert an estimated 2-4 failures/relapses, 0.2-0.4 deaths and 8-14 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), or 6-11% of all DALYs suffered. We identified three primary determinants of cost-effectiveness: drug price, continuation phase treatment delivery costs and deaths averted through fewer relapses. In a high treatment cost scenario (similar to Brazil), averted delivery costs outweighed higher drug costs, making novel regimens cost-saving. In a low treatment cost scenario (similar to the Philippines), a 4-month regimen with a drug price of $1/day cost $66 per patient, or $840 per DALY averted, and became cost-saving if the drug price dropped below $0.37/day. CONCLUSION Although they avert a small proportion of total DALYs, novel, shorter-course first-line regimens for TB are likely to be cost-effective or cost-saving in most settings.
Cluster-Based Resource Management in OFDMA Femtocell Networks With QoS Guarantees

Recently, operators have resorted to femtocell networks to enhance indoor coverage and increase system capacity. Nevertheless, to successfully deploy such solution, efficient resource-allocation algorithms and interference mitigation techniques should be deployed. The new applications delivered by operators require large amounts of network bandwidth. Although, some customers may want to pay more in exchange for a better quality of service (QoS), some others need fewer resources and can be charged accordingly. Hence, we consider an orthogonal frequency-division multiple-access (OFDMA) femtocell network serving both QoS-constrained high-priority (HP) and best-effort (BE) users. Our objective is to satisfy a maximum number of HP users while serving BE users as well as possible. This multiobjective optimization problem is NP-hard. For this aim, we propose in this paper a new resource-allocation and admission control algorithm, which is called QoS-based femtocell resource allocation (Q-FCRA), based on clustering and taking into account QoS requirements. We show through extensive network simulations that our proposal outperforms two state-of-the-art schemes [centralized-dynamic frequency planning (C-DFP) and distributed random access (DRA)] and our previous proposal, i.e., femtocell resource allocation (FCRA), in both low- and high-density networks. The results concern the throughput satisfaction rate, spectrum spatial reuse, the rate of rejected users, fairness, and computation and convergence time.
A New Hope in Immunotherapy for Malignant Gliomas: Adoptive T Cell Transfer Therapy

Immunotherapy emerged as a promising therapeutic approach to highly incurable malignant gliomas due to tumor-specific cytotoxicity, minimal side effect, and a durable antitumor effect by memory T cells. But, antitumor activities of endogenously activated T cells induced by immunotherapy such as vaccination are not sufficient to control tumors because tumor-specific antigens may be self-antigens and tumors have immune evasion mechanisms to avoid immune surveillance system of host. Although recent clinical results from vaccine strategy for malignant gliomas are encouraging, these trials have some limitations, particularly their failure to expand tumor antigen-specific T cells reproducibly and effectively. An alternative strategy to overcome these limitations is adoptive T cell transfer therapy, in which tumor-specific T cells are expanded ex vivo rapidly and then transferred to patients. Moreover, enhanced biologic functions of T cells generated by genetic engineering and modified immunosuppressive microenvironment of host by homeostatic T cell expansion and/or elimination of immunosuppressive cells and molecules can induce more potent antitumor T cell responses and make this strategy hold promise in promoting a patient response for malignant glioma treatment. Here we will review the past and current progresses and discuss a new hope in adoptive T cell therapy for malignant gliomas.
You, Me, or Her

We examined how university leaders described what and who needed to change in order to increase the representation of female faculty in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) departments. Thirty-one (28 men and 3 women) STEM departmental chairs and deans at a large, public university participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were examined using both qualitative and quantitative procedures. Analysis focused on participants’ descriptions of responsibility for changes related to gender equity. Using the distinction of high versus low responsibility, themes were examined for their qualitative characteristics as well as their frequency. Leaders who exhibited high personal responsibility most frequently saw themselves as needing to change and also named their male colleagues as concurrently responsible for diversity. Conversely, leaders who exhibited low personal responsibility most frequently described female faculty as responsible and described women’s attitudes and their “choice” to have a family as obstacles to gender diversity in STEM. We argue that the dimensions of high and low responsibility are useful additions to discussions of leadership, workplace diversity initiatives, and gender equity more broadly. To this end, we provide several methodological tools to examine these subtle, yet essential, aspects of how diversity and change efforts are imagined and discussed.
Predictability of gun crimes: a comparison of hot spot and risk terrain modelling techniques

The current study was designed to assess the possible differences in the accuracy and precision of two methodological mapping techniques as predictors of future gun crimes in Little Rock, AR: (1) risk terrain modelling (RTM) and (2) nearest neighbour hierarchical (Nnh), a traditional hot spot technique, which relies on past crime to predict where future crime is likely to occur. Data from the Little Rock Police Department, the Little Rock Treasury Department and the 2000 census were used to examine Nnh hot spot and RTM methods of gun crime prediction. The RTM incorporated measures of crime generators and crime attractors, while Nnh hot spots were constructed from 2008 gun crime data. The two measures were compared using their predictive accuracy index (PAI) and recapture rate index (RRI) values. Six of the seven social and physical environmental measures in the RTM significantly predicted future gun crime locations and the Nnh hot spots predicted 7% of future gun crime. PAI and RRI values suggested the RTM was more precise than the Nnh hot spot technique and the Nnh hot spot technique was more accurate than the RTM technique. Relying on one spatial prediction technique may create problems with accuracy and reliability. Multiple techniques may be needed to fully assess the phenomenon. Accuracy is a potential limitation of RTM when compared to other techniques, however, RTM is more reliable than Nnh hot spots due to the inclusion of the environmental backcloth. The findings were discussed in relation to crime prediction and policing efforts.
NEAR-INFRARED VARIABILITY IN THE ORION NEBULA CLUSTER

Using UKIRT on Mauna Kea, we have carried out a new near-infrared J, H, K monitoring survey of almost a square degree of the star-forming Orion Nebula Cluster with observations on 120 nights over three observing seasons, spanning a total of 894 days. We monitored ∼15,000 stars down to J ≈ 20 ? > using the WFCAM instrument, and have extracted 1203 significantly variable stars from our data. By studying variability in young stellar objects (YSOs) in the H – K, K color–magnitude diagram, we are able to distinguish between physical mechanisms of variability. Many variables show color behavior indicating either dust-extinction or disk/accretion activity, but we find that when monitored for longer periods of time, a number of stars shift between these two variability mechanisms. Further, we show that the intrinsic timescale of disk/accretion variability in young stars is longer than that of dust-extinction variability. We confirm that variability amplitude is statistically correlated with evolutionary class in all bands and colors. Our investigations of these 1203 variables have revealed 73 periodic AA Tau type variables, many large-amplitude and long-period ( P > 15 ? > days) YSOs, including three stars showing widely spaced periodic brightening events consistent with circumbinary disk activity, and four new eclipsing binaries. These phenomena and others indicate the activity of long-term disk/accretion variability processes taking place in young stars. We have made the light curves and associated data for these 1203 variables available online.
The effects of different initial restrictive pressures used to reduce blood flow and thigh composition on tissue oxygenation of the quadriceps

Abstract Blood flow restriction training technique can be affected by several factors resulting in changes in responses to training; therefore it is necessary to investigate and reveal detailed information about this novel training technique. Participants had their thigh size, thickness of subcutaneous fat, and regional bone free muscle mass measured prior to testing. A Near-Infrared Spectrometer was used to measure tissue oxygenation and a cardiovascular profiling system was utilised to measure stroke volume and heart rate. Initial restrictive pressure of 30, 50, and 70 mmHg were set in random order on three separate days, and then six target pressures were sequentially applied. Tissue oxygenation decreased significantly as both initial restrictive pressure and target pressures increased, but the magnitude of decreases was stronger with higher initial restrictive pressure. There were significant negative correlations between tissue oxygenation and leg lean body mass, total lean body mass, and thigh circumference when initial restrictive pressure was set at 30 mmHg. The findings indicated that changes in initial restrictive pressure affected the amount of venous return verified by the decreases in tissue oxygenation and stroke volume. In addition, thigh composition and size had a significant impact on the effects of initial restrictive pressure.
Collision-free path planning of industrial cooperating robots for aircraft fuselage production

Due to rising energy costs aircraft should have a lower kerosine consumption. To achieve this aircraft manufacturers increase the usage of high performance, lightweight materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP). At the moment production needs a lot of manual steps. However the airplane structures to be built e.g. a fuselage, are up to 30m long. It is strongly recommended to automate these processes. To build these parts automatically the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has developed and built a large (30m × 15m × 7 m) robotic facility where multiple robots which move on linear axes share the same workspace. The sharing is important because the production process requires that the robots cooperate. Intelligent methods are necessary to generate collision-free paths for these robots.
Radio-over-fiber as the energy efficient backhaul option for mobile base stations

The power consumption of mobile base stations remains the biggest contributor in the telecommunication networks. RoF has been recognized as a solution to realize energy-efficient base station architecture. In this paper, we investigate the base station power consumption per square meter for five different RoF transmission schemes. Results show that: (1) baseband-over-fiber transmission scheme is the most energy inefficient scheme in both rural and urban areas; (2) for rural areas using macro base stations (transmitting power above 40 dBm), digitized RF/IF-over-fiber technique have advantage in terms of energy consumption; (3) for urban areas using micro base stations (transmitting power less than 25 dBm), analog RF/IF-over-fiber are the most energy-efficient schemes.
Beliefs of and attitudes toward political advertising: An exploratory investigation

The major goals of this study were to identify voters' belief structures about political advertising, develop a scale to measure beliefs, and examine how the identified beliefs are related to overall attitudes toward political advertising. The reliabilities, factor structure, and validity tests indicate that five belief dimensions—information, veracity, cynicism, money politics, and entertainment—have sound and stable properties. The scale demonstrates that voters assess political advertising at the instrumental level (e.g., information, veracity, and entertainment) as well as the institutional level (e.g., cynicism and money politics). The results showed that not all beliefs predicted overall attitudes. Furthermore, the results indicated that political involvement was a significant factor in influencing both beliefs and attitudes. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.