Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of the introduction of bilingual learning on sixth grade educational achievement levels

Bilingualism was implemented in the Community of Madrid (Spain) more than ten years ago, through the incorporation of the English language in the teaching methods of certain schools. Since that time, various research projects have been carried out, with the objective of comparing the academic performance of students in bilingual schools with those in non-bilingual schools. The present paper makes use of primary education data from the Department of Education and Research for the Community of Madrid in an effort to analyze whether or not bilingualism results in the relative improvement of educational outcomes achieved in primary schools in the Region of Madrid, in Spain. More specifically, the data used is from sixth grade classrooms, given that, generally speaking, in this grade all schools give a standardized test which measures academic performance in Math, Science and Technology, Spanish Language Arts and English Language Arts. Our assessment makes use of a multinomial logit model, and includes the most common variables found in the research on the determination of educational outcomes (variables related to whether or not schools are bilingual, which is the main focus of this paper), as well as other less common variables considered to be relevant. These include absenteeism, satisfaction levels among families and students, and the percentage of students in second chance programs. The results show that bilingualism does not lower children performance in the subjects taught in English or in the subjects taught in Spanish. Academic performance in Mathematics, Science and Technology, and Spanish Language Arts is similar with respect to those schools which are not bilingual. However, results in English are significantly higher in bilingual schools when compared to non-bilingual schools.
Genetic involvement of a cAMP-dependent protein kinase in a G protein signaling pathway regulating morphological and chemical transitions in Aspergillus nidulans.

In the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans, a heterotrimeric G protein alpha-subunit and an RGS domain protein, encoded by fadA and flbA, respectively, regulate production of the carcinogenic metabolite sterigmatocystin (ST) and asexual spores (i.e., conidia). We investigated the genetic involvement of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (PkaA), a potential downstream target of FadA activity, in ST production and conidiation. Relative to wild type, sporulation was decreased in the pkaA overexpression strain but was not totally absent, as occurs in DeltaflbA or fadA(G42R) (fadA-dominant active) strains. Deletion of pkaA resulted in a hyper-conidiating strain with limited radial growth. This phenotype was epistatic to mutation in flbA or fadA; the double mutants DeltapkaA; DeltaflbA and DeltapkaA; fadA(G42R) recovered sporulation and their radial growth was severely restricted. PkaA overexpression also negatively regulated AflR, the ST biosynthesis-specific transcription factor, both transcriptionally and post-transcriptionally. Deletion of pkaA restored ST production in the DeltaflbA background but not in the fadA(G42R) background. These data provide genetic evidence that the FlbA/FadA signaling pathway regulating ST production and morphological development is partially mediated through PkaA.
Onset Detection in Composition Items of Carnatic Music

Complex rhythmic patterns associated with Carnatic music are revealed from the stroke locations of percussion instruments. However, a comprehensive approach for the detection of these locations from composition items is lacking. This is a challenging problem since the melodic sounds (typically vocal and violin) generate soft-onset locations which result in a number of false alarms. In this work, a separation-driven onset detection approach is proposed. Percussive separation is performed using a Deep Recurrent Neural Network (DRNN) in the first stage. A single model is used to separate the percussive vs the non-percussive sounds using discriminative training and time-frequency masking. This is then followed by an onset detection stage based on group delay (GD) processing on the separated percussive track. The proposed approach is evaluated on a large dataset of live Carnatic music concert recordings and compared against percussive separation and onset detection baselines. The separation performance is significantly better than that of HarmonicPercussive Separation (HPS) algorithm and onset detection performance is better than the state-of-the-art Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based algorithm. The proposed approach has an absolute improvement of 18.4% compared with the detection algorithm applied directly on the composition items.
Psychological distress in long-term survivors of adult-onset cancer: results from a national survey.

BACKGROUND As advances in cancer screening and treatment increase the number of long-term cancer survivors, it is important to understand the long-term psychological sequelae of the cancer experience. METHODS The 4636 respondents who identified themselves as survivors of adult-onset cancer of 5 years or more and 122 220 respondents who were never diagnosed as having cancer were identified in the 2002 to 2006 National Health Interview Survey. The primary outcome in this population-based study was serious psychological distress (SPD) defined as a K6 scale (a validated screening tool for mental illness) score of 13 or more. RESULTS Among survivors, the median age at diagnosis was 50 years, the age at interview was 66 years, and the time since diagnosis was 12 years. The prevalence of SPD was significantly higher among long-term cancer survivors than among respondents who were never diagnosed as having cancer (5.6% vs 3.0%; P < .001). After adjustment for clinical and sociodemographic variables (age, sex, race, relationship status, educational attainment, insurance status, comorbidities, smoking history, and ability to perform instrumental activities of daily living), survivors remained significantly more likely to experience SPD (adjusted odds ratio, 1.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-1.7). After adjustment for other clinical and sociodemographic variables, long-term survivors who were younger, were unmarried, had less than a high school education, were uninsured, had more comorbidities, or had difficulty performing instrumental activities of daily living were more likely to experience SPD. CONCLUSIONS Long-term survivors of adult-onset cancer are at increased risk for psychological distress. This study identifies several clinical and sociodemographic factors associated with SPD that may help target high-risk survivors for psychological screening and support.
The Influence of Chlorpromazine, Diazepam, and Droperidol On Emergence from Ketamine

N SPITE of an extensive pretesting proI gram, ketamine has not settled comfortably in the daily practice of anesthesia. After an early phase of enthusiasm, caution regarding its use has been voiced in recent literature.1-3 Moderate and rather favorable cardiovascular and respiratory effects, no apparent organ damage, ease of administration, and a wide margin of safety constitute sufficient advantages to assure it a place in clinical practice. Undesirable side effects have been recognized but are diminishing with increasing refinement in its use.
The interactions of diet-induced obesity and organophosphate flame retardant exposure on energy homeostasis in adult male and female mice

ABSTRACT Previously, sex-dependent alterations in energy homeostasis were reported in adult mice fed a standard chow attributed to exposure to a mixture of organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) via estrogen receptors (ERα). In this study, adult male and female mice (C57BL/6J; Taconic) were treated with the same mixture of OPFRs (1 mg/kg each of tricresyl phosphate (TCP), triphenyl phosphate (TPP), and tris(1-3-dichloro-2propyl)phosphate (TDCPP)) for 7 weeks on a low-fat diet (LFD, 10% kcal fat) or a high fat (HFD, 45% kcal fat) in a diet-induced obesity model. Consistent with our previous observations, OPFRs altered weight gain in males, differentially with diet, while females remained unaffected. OPFR treatment also revealed sex-dependent perturbations in metabolic activity. During the night (approximately 0100–0400 hr), males exhibited elevated activity and oxygen consumption, while in females these parameters were decreased, irrespective of diet. OPFR disrupted feeding behavior and abolished diurnal water intake patterns in females while increasing nighttime fluid consumption in males. Despite no marked effect of OPFRs on glucose or insulin tolerance, OPFR treatment altered circulating insulin and leptin in females and ghrelin in males. Data indicate that adult OPFR exposure might influence, and perhaps exacerbate, the effects of diet-induced obesity in adult mice by altering activity, ingestive behavior, and metabolism.
Analysis and Optimization of Switched Capacitor Power Conversion Circuits With Parasitic Resistances and Inductances

For a switched-capacitor converter (SCC) built by discrete components, its performance is inevitably influenced by parasitic resistances and stray inductances. A basic SCC unit including parasitic resistances and stray inductances behaves as an RLC series circuit operated in charging and discharging states alternatively. Hard-switching SCC with small Q factor, due to the small stray inductance, is analyzed based on overdamping RLC circuit theory. And the underdamping RLC series network is used to analyze soft-switching SCC whose Q factor is greater than 0.5. New mathematical equations are derived to evaluate the impact of parasitic resistances and inductances on the performance of SCCs. Following that, the corresponding design methodologies are proposed for both hard- and soft-switching SCCs. The effectiveness of the proposed analysis and design methods are experimentally demonstrated by a 300-W double-mode SCC prototype.
What's New in Limb Lengthening and Deformity Correction.

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Cotargeting of XPO1 Enhances the Antileukemic Activity of Midostaurin and Gilteritinib in Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a hematopoietic stem-cell-derived leukemia with often successive derived driver mutations. Late onset acquisition of internal tandem duplication in FLT3 (FLT3-ITD) at a high variant allele frequency often contributes to full transformation to a highly proliferative, rapidly progressive disease with poor outcome. The FLT3-ITD mutation is targetable with approved FLT3 small molecule inhibitors, including midostaurin and gilteritinib. However, outside of patients receiving allogeneic transplant, most patients fail to respond or relapse, suggesting alternative approaches of therapy will be required. We employed genome-wide pooled CRISPR knockout screening as a method for large-scale identification of targets whose knockout produces a phenotypic effect that enhances the antitumor properties of FLT3 inhibitors. Among the candidate targets we identified the effect of XPO1 knockout to be synergistic with midostaurin treatment. Next, we validated the genetic finding with pharmacologic combination of the slowly reversible XPO1 inhibitor selinexor with midostaurin and gilteritinib in FLT3-ITD AML cell lines and primary patient samples. Lastly, we demonstrated improved survival with either combination therapy compared to its monotherapy components in an aggressive AML murine model, supporting further evaluation and rapid clinical translation of this combination strategy.
A Stretch of 17 Amino Acids in the Prosaposin C Terminus Is Critical for Its Binding to Sortilin and Targeting to Lysosomes

Prosaposin, the precursor of four lysosomal cofactors required for the hydrolysis of sphingolipids, is transported to the lysosomes via the alternative receptor, sortilin. In this study, we identified a specific domain of 17 amino acids within the C terminus of prosaposin involved in binding to this sorting receptor. We generated six prosaposin deletion constructs and examined the effect of truncation by coimmunoprecipitation and con-focal microscopy. The experiments revealed that the first half of the prosaposin C terminus (aa 524–540), containing a saposin-like motif, was required and necessary to bind sortilin and to transport it to the lysosomes. Based on this result, we introduced twelve site-directed point mutations within the first half of the C terminus. Although the interaction of prosaposin with sortilin was pH dependent, the mutation of hydrophilic amino acids that usually modulate pH-dependent protein interactions did not affect the binding of prosaposin to sortilin. Conversely, a tryptophan (W530) and two cysteines (C528 and C536) were essential for its interaction with sortilin and for its transport to the lysosomes. In conclusion, our investigation demonstrates that a saposin-like motif within the first half of the prosaposin C terminus contains the sortilin recognition site.
Analysing the effect of area of residence over the life course in multilevel epidemiology

Background: In this paper we present multilevel models of individuals’ residential history at multiple time points through the life course and their application and discuss some advantages and disadvantages for their use in epidemiological studies. Methods: Literature review of research using longitudinal multilevel models in studies of neighbourhood effects, statistical multilevel models that take individuals’ residential history into account, and the application of these models in the Oslo mortality study. Results: Measures of variance have been used to investigate the contextual impact of membership to collectives, such as area of residence, at several time points. The few longitudinal multilevel models that have been used suggest that early life area of residence may have an effect on mortality independently of residence later in life although the proportion of variation attributable to area level is small compared to individual level. The following multilevel models have been developed: simple multilevel models for each year separately, a multiple membership model, a cross-classified model, and finally a correlated cross-classified model. These models have different assumptions regarding the timing of influence through the life course. Conclusions: To fully recognise the origin of adult chronic diseases, factors at all stages of the life course at both individual and area level needs to be considered in order to avoid biased estimates. Important challenges in making life course residential data available for research and assessing how changing administrative coding over time reflect contextual impact need to be overcome before these models can be implemented as normal practice in multilevel epidemiology.
Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic Model of the Testosterone Effects of Triptorelin Administered in Sustained Release Formulations in Patients with Prostate Cancer

The objectives of the current work were to develop a predictive population pharmacokinetic (PK)/pharmacodynamic (PD) model for the testosterone (TST) effects of triptorelin (TRP) administered in sustained-release (SR) formulations to patients with prostate cancer and determine the minimal required triptorelin serum concentration (CTRP_min) to keep the testosterone levels of the patients below or equal to the level of castration (TST ≤0.5 ng/ml). A total of eight healthy male volunteers and 74 patients with prostate cancer received one or two doses of triptorelin injected subcutaneously or intramuscularly. Five different triptorelin formulations were tested. Pharmacokinetic (serum concentration of triptorelin) and pharmacodynamic (TST levels in serum) data were analyzed by using the population approach with NONMEM software (http://www.iconplc.com/technology/products/nonmem/). The PK/PD model was constructed by assembling the agonist nature of triptorelin with the competitive reversible receptor binding interaction with the endogenous agonist, a process responsible for the initial and transient TST flare-up, and triggering down-regulation mechanisms described as a decrease in receptor synthesis. The typical population values of KD, the receptor equilibrium dissociation constant of triptorelin, and CTRP_min to keep 95% of the patients castrated were 0.931 and 0.0609 ng/ml, respectively. The semimechanistic nature of the model renders the predictions of the effect of triptorelin on TST possible regardless the type of SR formulation administered, while exploring different designs during the development of new delivery systems.
Real-Time Wind Noise Detection and Suppression with Neural-Based Signal Reconstruction for Mult-Channel, Low-Power Devices

Active wind noise detection and suppression techniques are a new and essential paradigm for enhancing ASR-based functionality with smart glasses, in addition to other wearable and smart devices in the broader IoT (Internet of things). In this paper, we develop two separate algorithms for wind noise detection and suppression, respectively, operational in a challenging, low-energy regime. Together, these algorithms comprise a robust wind noise suppression system. In the first case, we advance a real-time wind detection algorithm (RTWD) that uses two distinct sets of low-dimensional signal features to discriminate the presence of wind noise with high accuracy. For wind noise suppression, we employ an additional algorithm - attentive neural wind suppression (ANWS) - that utilizes a neural network to reconstruct the wearer speech signal from wind-corrupted audio in the spectral regions that are most adversely affected by wind noise. Finally, we test our algorithms through real-time experiments using low-power, multi-microphone devices with a wind simulator under challenging detection criteria and a variety of wind intensities.
Frequency Trimming for MEMS Resonator Oscillators

This paper presents various frequency trimming methodologies with the focus on silicon based micromechanical resonators. The techniques include mechanical trimming and pure electronic trimming. The experimental results showed the frequency accuracy have reached 2.6 ppm for mechanical trimming and lppm for electronic trimming. Furthermore, the technique of digital electronic trimming resolved the temperature compensation issues for MEMS resonators at the same time.
A SHORT METHOD FOR THE ESTIMATION OF OESTRIOL IN URINE *

IMPROVED techniques for the estimation of oestrogens in urine have led to a greater understanding of the function of the human ovary as well as to providing valuable information about the viability of the foetus during pregnancy (Kellar, Matthew, Mackay, Brown and Roy, 1959; Frandsen and Stakemann, 1963a). Brown (1955) developed a reliable method for the estimation of oestrone, oestradiol-17 /3 and oestriol in urine and since then several modifications have been made (Brown, Bulbrook and Greenwood, 1957; Salokangas and Bulbrook, 1961). However, these methods are still somewhat time consuming for routine clinical purposes and due to the increased interest in the excretion of oestriol during pregnancy and the need to assess ovarian function after treatment with human gonadotrophins (Crooke, Butt, Palmer, Bertrand, Carrington, Edwards and Anson, 1964) a shortened procedure has been developed. The purpose of this paper is to describe the modifications made and to compare the sensitivity, precision and accuracy with the original method of Brown.
Feature extraction and automatic detection of martian impact craters from 3D meshes

In this paper, we propose a novel feature extraction algorithm based on curvature analysis over the 3D data and the grayscale information extracted from the images. The performance of the method is tested on 3D mesh data, provided by Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) and compared to benchmark research work. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve better accuracy in comparison with other crater detection methods and have smaller computational complexity.
Comparative performance evaluation of garbage collection algorithms

This thesis shows that object-level, trace-driven simulation can facilitate evaluation of language runtime systems and reaches new conclusions about the relative performance of important garbage collection algorithms. In particular, I reach the unexpected conclusion that mark-and-sweep garbage collection, when augmented with generations, shows comparable CPU performance and much better reference locality than the more widely used copying algorithms. In the past, evaluation of garbage collection algorithms has been limited by the high cost of implementing the algorithms. Substantially different algorithms have rarely been compared in a systematic way. With the availability of high-performance, low-cost workstations, trace-driven performance evaluation of these algorithms is now economical. This thesis describes MARS, a runtime system simulator that is driven by operations on program objects, and not memory addresses. MARS has been attached to a commercial Common Lisp system and eight large Lisp applications are used in the thesis as test programs. To illustrate the advantages of the object-level tracing technique used by MARS, this thesis compares the relative performance of stop-and-copy, incremental, and mark-and-sweep collection algorithms, all organized with multiple generations. The comparative evaluation is based on several metrics: CPU overhead, reference locality, and interactive availability. Mark-and-sweep collection shows slightly higher CPU overhead than stop-and-copy collection (5%), but requires significantly less physical memory to achieve the same page fault rate (30-40%). Incremental collection has very good interactive availability, but implementing the read barrier on stock hardware incurs a substantial CPU overhead (30-60%). In the future, I will use MARS to investigate other performance aspects of sophisticated runtime systems.
Architectures for Java-based bioinformatics applications

Bioinformatics projects are currently under way at numerous universities and in industry. These projects typically involve processing large amounts of biological data and comparison of biological signals or sequences. Much of the existing work in bioinformatics software is based on such languages and platforms as Perl and Unix. This paper, proposes software architectures in Java to support biological applications allowing access of biological data using server‐side Java programs on the Internet. The architecture follows the standards of unified modeling language (UML). UML architecture diagrams are presented for the Java‐based bioinformatics applications. In addition, an overview of the Bio‐Soft project under way at The Biomedical Research Institute (BRI) of the University of Wisconsin‐Parkside is provided, which includes research and instructional software for bioinformatics applications.