Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adapting the Self-Determined Learning Model for Instruction of College Students With Disabilities

As the number of students with disabilities who are entering postsecondary education continues to rise, the need for their adequate preparation to successfully complete programs of study is a critical concern. A common characteristic of students who successfully enter and complete programs of study in postsecondary settings is that of having self-determination skills. This article discusses the results of a pilot study that implemented the self-determined learning model of instruction, modified for use in postsecondary education settings. Evaluation results are discussed with implications for further research.
A Novel Multiple Instance Learning Method Based on Extreme Learning Machine

Since real-world data sets usually contain large instances, it is meaningful to develop efficient and effective multiple instance learning (MIL) algorithm. As a learning paradigm, MIL is different from traditional supervised learning that handles the classification of bags comprising unlabeled instances. In this paper, a novel efficient method based on extreme learning machine (ELM) is proposed to address MIL problem. First, the most qualified instance is selected in each bag through a single hidden layer feedforward network (SLFN) whose input and output weights are both initialed randomly, and the single selected instance is used to represent every bag. Second, the modified ELM model is trained by using the selected instances to update the output weights. Experiments on several benchmark data sets and multiple instance regression data sets show that the ELM-MIL achieves good performance; moreover, it runs several times or even hundreds of times faster than other similar MIL algorithms.
Gene Expression Changes Associated with Resistance to Intravenous Corticosteroid Therapy in Children with Severe Ulcerative Colitis

Background and Aims Microarray analysis of RNA expression allows gross examination of pathways operative in inflammation. We aimed to determine whether genes expressed in whole blood early following initiation of intravenous corticosteroid treatment can be associated with response. Methods From a prospectively accrued cohort of 128 pediatric patients hospitalized for intravenous corticosteroid treatment of severe UC, we selected for analysis 20 corticosteroid responsive (hospital discharge or PUCAI ≤45 by day 5) and 20 corticosteroid resistant patients (need for second line medical therapy or colectomy, or PUCAI >45 by day 5). Total RNA was extracted from blood samples collected on day 3 of intravenous corticosteroid therapy. The eluted transcriptomes were quantified on Affymetrix Human Gene 1.0 ST arrays. The data was analysed by the local-pooled error method for discovery of differential gene expression and false discovery rate correction was applied to adjust for multiple comparisons. Results A total of 41 genes differentially expressed between responders and non-responders were detected with statistical significance. Two of these genes, CEACAM1 and MMP8, possibly inhibited by methylprednisolone through IL8, were both found to be over-expressed in non-responsive patients. ABCC4 (MRP4) as a member of the multi-drug resistance superfamily was a novel candidate gene for corticosteroid resistance. The expression pattern of a cluster of 10 genes selected from the 41 significant hits were able to classify the patients with 80% sensitivity and 80% specificity. Conclusions Elevated expression of several genes involved in inflammatory pathways was associated with resistance to intravenous corticosteroid therapy early in the course of treatment. Gene expression profiles may be useful to classify resistance to intravenous corticosteroids in children with severe UC and assist with clinical management decisions.
Transactivation of Src, PDGF receptor, and Akt is involved in IL‐1β‐induced ICAM‐1 expression in A549 cells

In previous study, interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β) has been shown to induce ICAM‐1 expression through MAPKs and NF‐κB in A549 cells. In addition to these pathways, transactivation of non‐receptor tyrosine kinase (Src), PDGF receptors (PDGFRs), and phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K)/Akt has been implicated in the expression of inflammatory genes. Here, we further investigated whether these different mechanisms participating in IL‐1β‐induced ICAM‐1 expression in A549 cells. We initially observed that IL‐1β‐induced ICAM‐1 promoter activity was attenuated by the inhibitors of Src (PP1), PDGFR (AG1296), PI3‐K (LY294002 and wortmannin), and Akt (SH‐5), revealed by reporter gene assay, Western blotting, and RT‐PCR analyses. The involvement of Src and PI3‐K/Akt in IL‐1β‐induced ICAM‐1 expression was significantly attenuated by transfection of A549 cells with dominant negative plasmids of Src, p85 and Akt, respectively. Src, PDGFR, and PI3K/Akt mediated the effects of IL‐1β because pretreatment with PP1, AG1296, and wortmannin also abrogated IL‐1β‐stimulated Src, PDGFR, and Akt phosphorylation, respectively. Moreover, pretreatment with p300 inhibitor (curcumin) also blocked ICAM‐1 expression. We further confirmed that p300 was associated with ICAM‐1 promoter which was dynamically linked to histone H4 acetylation stimulated by IL‐1β, determined by chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. Association of p300 and histone‐H4 to ICAM‐1 promoter was inhibited by LY294002. Up‐regulation of ICAM‐1 enhanced the adhesion of neutrophils onto A549 cell monolayer exposed to IL‐1β, which was inhibited by PP1, AG1296, LY294002, wortmannin, and helenalin. These results suggested that Akt phosphorylation mediated through transactivation of Src/PDGFR promotes the transcriptional p300 activity and eventually leads to ICAM‐1 expression induced by IL‐1β. J. Cell. Physiol. 211: 771–780, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Using Quasiarithmetic Means in a Sequential Decision Procedure

We study in this paper the following sequential decision procedure. First, the members of a group show their opinions on all the members, regarding a specific attribute. Taking into account this information, quasiarithmetic means and a family of thresholds, a subgroup of individuals is selected: those members whose collective assessments (obtained through a quasiarithmetic mean) reach a specific threshold. After that, only the assessments of this qualified subgroup are taken into account emerging a new subgroup with the aggregation phase. We analyze when this recursive procedure converges providing a final subgroup of qualified members.
Engaged Scholarship: Action Design Research for New Software Product Development

Action Design Research (ADR) has been termed a new research method for generating prescriptive design knowledge through building and evaluating ensemble IT artifacts in an organizational setting. This paper demonstrates the use of the ADR methodology in a New Software Product Development (NSPD) environment. The main argument of this paper is to investigate whether ADR facilitates engaged scholarship among IS academics and practitioners in a high pressure environment such is NSPD. Due to increased pressure on organizations to reduce costs and their time to market, the NSPD environment is increasingly not conducive to engaged scholarship. Finding an arrangement where researchers and practitioners can successfully develop both theory and artifact concurrently and in relative harmony is often crucial to the success of the new product and/or to the rigor of the research outcomes. The paper makes a contribution by providing a demonstration of successful research-practitioner engagement through the use of ADR.
Sequence-non-specific effects of RNA interference triggers and microRNA regulators

RNA reagents of diverse lengths and structures, unmodified or containing various chemical modifications are powerful tools of RNA interference and microRNA technologies. These reagents which are either delivered to cells using appropriate carriers or are expressed in cells from suitable vectors often cause unintended sequence-non-specific immune responses besides triggering intended sequence-specific silencing effects. This article reviews the present state of knowledge regarding the cellular sensors of foreign RNA, the signaling pathways these sensors mobilize and shows which specific features of the RNA reagents set the responsive systems on alert. The representative examples of toxic effects caused in the investigated cell lines and tissues by the RNAs of specific types and structures are collected and may be instructive for further studies of sequence-non-specific responses to foreign RNA in human cells.
Exploring the Variable Sky with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We quantify the variability of faint unresolved optical sources using a catalog based on multiple SDSS imaging observations. The catalog covers SDSS stripe 82, which lies along the celestial equator in the southern Galactic hemisphere (22h24m < αJ2000.0 < 04h08m, -1.27° < δJ2000.0 < +1.27°, ∼290 deg2), and contains 34 million photometric observations in the SDSS ugriz system for 748,084 unresolved sources at high Galactic latitudes (b < -20°) that were observed at least four times in each of the ugri bands (with a median of 10 observations obtained over ∼6 yr). In each photometric bandpass we compute various low-order light-curve statistics, such as rms scatter, χ2 per degree of freedom, skewness, and minimum and maximum magnitude, and use them to select and study variable sources. We find that 2% of unresolved optical sources brighter than g = 20.5 appear variable at the 0.05 mag level (rms) simultaneously in the g and r bands (at high Galactic latitudes). The majority (2 out of 3) of these variable sources are low-redshift (<2) quasars, although they represent only 2% of all sources in the adopted flux-limited sample. We find that at least 90% of quasars are variable at the 0.03 mag level (rms) and confirm that variability is as good a method for finding low-redshift quasars as the UV excess color selection (at high Galactic latitudes). We analyze the distribution of light-curve skewness for quasars and find that it is centered on zero. We find that about one-fourth of the variable stars are RR Lyrae stars, and that only 0.5% of stars from the main stellar locus are variable at the 0.05 mag level. The distribution of light-curve skewness in the g - r versus u - g color-color diagram on the main stellar locus is found to be bimodal (with one mode consistent with Algol-like behavior). Using over 600 RR Lyrae stars, we demonstrate rich halo substructure out to distances of 100 kpc. We extrapolate these results to the expected performance by the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and estimate that it will obtain well-sampled, 2% accurate, multicolor light curves for ∼2 million low-redshift quasars and discover at least 50 million variable stars.
Probing the slope of cluster mass profile with gravitational Einstein rings : application to Abell 1689

The strong lensing modelling of gravitational 'rings' formed around massive galaxies is sensitive to the amplitude of the external shear and convergence produced by nearby mass condensations. In current wide-field surveys, it is now possible to find out a large number of rings, typically 10 gravitational rings per square degree. We propose here, to systematically study gravitational rings around galaxy clusters to probe the cluster mass profile beyond the cluster strong lensing regions. For cluster of galaxies with multiple arc systems, we show that rings found at various distances from the cluster centre can improve the modelling by constraining the slope of the cluster mass profile. We outline the principle of the method with simple numerical simulations and we apply it to three rings discovered recently in Abell 1689. In particular, the lens modelling of the three rings confirms that the cluster is bimodal, and favours a slope of the mass profile steeper than isothermal at a cluster radius ~300 kpc . These results are compared with previous lens modelling of Abell 1689 including weak lensing analysis. Because of the difficulty arising from the complex mass distribution in Abell 1689, we argue that the ring method will be better implemented on simpler and relaxed clusters.
Glutathione peroxidase 4 inhibits Wnt/β-catenin signaling and regulates dorsal organizer formation in zebrafish embryos

The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays pivotal roles in axis formation during embryogenesis and in adult tissue homeostasis. Glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) is a selenoenzyme and participates in the reduction of peroxides. Its synthesis depends on the availability of the element selenium. However, the roles of GPX4 in vertebrate embryonic development and underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. Here, we show that maternal loss of zebrafish gpx4b promotes embryonic dorsal organizer formation, whereas overexpression of gpx4b inhibits the development of the dorsal organizer. Depletion of human GPX4 and zebrafish gpx4b (GPX4/gpx4b) increases, while GPX4/gpx4b overexpression decreases, Wnt/β-catenin signaling in vivo and in vitro. Functional and epistatic studies showed that GPX4 functions at the Tcf/Lef level, independently of selenocysteine activation. Mechanistically, GPX4 interacts with Tcf/Lefs and inhibits Wnt activity by preventing the binding of Tcf/Lefs to the promoters of Wnt target genes, resulting in inhibitory action in the presence of Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Our findings unravel GPX4 as a suppressor of Wnt/β-catenin signals, suggesting a possible relationship between the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and selenium via the association of Tcf/Lef family proteins with GPX4. Summary: The selenoenzyme Gpx4 regulates Wnt signaling and hence zebrafish axis formation by preventing the binding of Tcf/Lefs to the promoters of Wnt target genes, independently of selenocysteine activation.
pH and temperature dual-sensitive liposome gel based on novel cleavable mPEG-Hz-CHEMS polymeric vaginal delivery system

Background In this study, a pH and temperature dual-sensitive liposome gel based on a novel cleavable hydrazone-based pH-sensitive methoxy polyethylene glycol 2000-hydrazone-cholesteryl hemisuccinate (mPEG-Hz-CHEMS) polymer was used for vaginal administration. Methods The pH-sensitive, cleavable mPEG-Hz-CHEMS was designed as a modified pH-sensitive liposome that would selectively degrade under locally acidic vaginal conditions. The novel pH-sensitive liposome was engineered to form a thermogel at body temperature and to degrade in an acidic environment. Results A dual-sensitive liposome gel with a high encapsulation efficiency of arctigenin was formed and improved the solubility of arctigenin characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The dual-sensitive liposome gel with a sol-gel transition at body temperature was degraded in a pH-dependent manner, and was stable for a long period of time at neutral and basic pH, but cleavable under acidic conditions (pH 5.0). Arctigenin encapsulated in a dual-sensitive liposome gel was more stable and less toxic than arctigenin loaded into pH-sensitive liposomes. In vitro drug release results indicated that dual-sensitive liposome gels showed constant release of arctigenin over 3 days, but showed sustained release of arctigenin in buffers at pH 7.4 and pH 9.0. Conclusion This research has shed some light on a pH and temperature dual-sensitive liposome gel using a cleavable mPEG-Hz-CHEMS polymer for vaginal delivery.
Characterization of Nasal Potential Difference in cftr Knockout and F508del-CFTR Mice

Background Treatments designed to correct cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) defects must first be evaluated in preclinical experiments in the mouse model of cystic fibrosis (CF). Mice nasal mucosa mimics the bioelectric defect seen in humans. The use of nasal potential difference (VTE) to assess ionic transport is a powerful test evaluating the restoration of CFTR function. Nasal VTE in CF mice must be well characterized for correct interpretation. Methods We performed VTE measurements in large-scale studies of two mouse models of CF—B6;129 cftr knockout and FVB F508del-CFTR—and their respective wild-type (WT) littermates. We assessed the repeatability of the test for cftr knockout mice and defined cutoff points distinguishing between WT and F508del-CFTR mice. Results We determined the typical VTE values for CF and WT mice and demonstrated the existence of residual CFTR activity in F508del-CFTR mice. We characterized intra-animal variability in B6;129 mice and defined the cutoff points for F508del-CFTR chloride secretion rescue. Hyperpolarization of more than -2.15 mV after perfusion with a low-concentration Cl- solution was considered to indicate a normal response. Conclusions These data will make it possible to interpret changes in nasal VTE in mouse models of CF, in future preclinical studies.
Integrated and Adaptive Management of Water Resources: Tensions, Legacies, and the Next Best Thing

Integrated water resources management (IWRM) and adaptive management (AM) are two institutional and management paradigms designed to address shortcomings within water systems governance; the limits of hierarchical water institutional arrangements in the case of IWRM and the challenge of making water management decisions under uncertainty in the case of AM. Recently, there has been a trend to merge these paradigms to address the growing complexity of stressors shaping water management such as globalization and climate change. However, because many of these joint approaches have received little empirical attention, questions remain about how they might work, or not, in practice. Here, we explore a few of these issues using empirical research carried out in Brazil. We focus on highlighting the potentially negative interactions, tensions, and trade-offs between different institutions/ mechanisms perceived as desirable as research and practice attempt to make water systems management simultaneously integrated and adaptive. Our examples pertain mainly to the use of techno-scientific knowledge in water management and governance in Brazil's IWRM model and how it relates to participation, democracy, deliberation, diversity, and adaptability. We show that a legacy of technical and hierarchical management has shaped the integration of management, and subsequently, the degree to which management might also be adaptive. Although integrated systems may be more legitimate and accountable than top-down command and control ones, the mechanisms of IWRM may be at odds with the flexible, experimental, and self-organizing nature of AM.
Massively-multicellular alignment with the self-aggregate of air bubbles

This study proposes a cell manipulation method with aggregated air bubbles on cell culture medium. This method requires no additional regents nor devices, except for normal cell-culture materials such as cell culture dishes and pipettes. Bubbles generated by pipetting were spontaneously aggregated with regularity on the whole surface and used as a mask for avoiding cell adhesion after cell-seeding. The diameter of bubbles was able to be controlled by the size of micro-pipette tips. Seeded cells spread to the whole area along the bubble gap. This technique is a surface-tension-driven self-assembly-based method. Using this technique, millions of living cells were successfully aligned into a hexagonal pattern within 300 μm in pattern width on the whole surface of dish for less than 2 h.
An Efficient Mesh Deformation Approach Based on Radial Basis Functions in an Unstructured Flow Solver

An efficient parallelized mesh deformation algorithm has been implemented in an unstructured CFD solver based on the Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) method. This method requires no grid connectivity information, which allows the method to be easily implemented in unstructured CFD solvers in parallel fashion. To reduce the computational cost of the RBF method, a Greedy Algorithm is employed to vastly reduce the number of surface basis points. The test cases show that this method can effectively handle vary large mesh deformations of three-dimensional complex geometries due to their translations, rotations and deformations while maintaining a good mesh quality.
Microemulsions: A potential novel drug delivery system

Microemulsions are defined as clear, transparent, thermodynamically stable, isotropic mixtures of oil and water, frequently in combination with a co-surfactant. Recently microemulsion formulations are widely used for the delivery of hydrophilic as well as lipophilic drug as drug carriers due to their improved drug solubilisation capacity, long shelf life, ease of preparation and improvement of bioavailability. In this present review, we will discuss about the various advantages of microemulsion in pharmaceuticals, along with its preparation, classification, evaluation parameters and research work carried out on microemulsions.
Efficient Implementation of the Well-founded and Stable Model Semantics

An implementation of the well-founded and stable model semantics for range-restricted function-free normal programs is presented. It includes two modules: an algorithm for implementing the two semantics for ground programs and an algorithm for computing a grounded version of a range-restricted function-free normal program. The latter algorithm does not produce the whole set of ground instances of the program but a subset which is sufficient in the sense that no stable models are lost. The implementation of the stable model semantics for ground programs is based on bottom-up backtracking search. It works in linear space and employs a powerful pruning method based on an approximation technique for stable models which is closely related to the well-founded semantics. The implementation includes an efficient algorithm for computing the well-founded model of a ground program. The implementation has been tested extensively and compared with a state of the art implementation of the stable model semantics, the SLG system. In tests involving ground programs it clearly outperforms SLG.
Robust control of time-delay power systems: A descriptor system approach

In this paper, state feedback load frequency control (LFC) for multi-area power systems with communication delay is considered. Based on Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and descriptor system approach, new stability criterion for multi-area power system is obtained. The proposed state feedback controller can achieve better performance in the presence of large load changes. To illustrate the availability of the proposed approach, the method presented in this paper is applied to a two control area power systems with time delay and load disturbance.
Evolutionary Growth Perceptrons

The combination of genetic algorithms and parallel processing can be very powerful when applied to the design and learning of Multilayer Perceptron neural networks. It is well known that the definition of Multilayer Perceptron neural networks is a very difficult task that could become, to a large extent, a process of trial and error. Also, the learning process of Multilayer Perceptron neural networks can be very slow, putting in danger the performance of countless applications. Therefore techniques for automating the design of neural networks are clearly of interest and the use of parallel processing is essential in minimizing the time required on the learning process. Furthermore, the use of cooperation in the genetic algorithm allows the interaction of different populations, avoiding local minima and helping in the search of the ideal solution. Finally, the use of exclusive evolution behavior on each copy of the genetic algorithm running in each task helped in enhancing the diversity of populations and the search for the fit solution.