Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Surfactant protein C G100S mutation causes familial pulmonary fibrosis in Japanese kindred

Several mutations in the surfactant protein C (SP-C) gene (SFTPC) have been reported as causing familial pulmonary fibrosis (FPF). However, the genetic background and clinical features of FPF are still not fully understood. We identified one Japanese kindred, in which at least six individuals over three generations were diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. We examined the patients radiologically and histopathologically and sequenced their SFTPC and ABCA3 genes. We also established a cell line stably expressing the mutant gene. All the patients had similar radiological and histopathological characteristics. Their histopathological pattern was that of usual interstitial pneumonia, showing numerous fibroblastic foci even in areas without abnormal radiological findings on chest high-resolution computed tomography. No child had respiratory symptoms in the kindred. Sequencing of SFTPC showed a novel heterozygous mutation, c.298G>A (G100S), in the BRICHOS domain of proSP-C, which co-segregated with the disease. However, in the ABCA3 gene, no mutation was found. In vitro expression of the mutant gene revealed that several endoplasmic reticulum stress-related proteins were strongly expressed. The mutation increases endoplasmic reticulum stress and induces apoptotic cell death compared with wild-type SP-C in alveolar type II cells, supporting the significance of this mutation in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis.
Score driven asymmetric stochastic volatility models

In this paper we propose a new class of asymmetric stochastic volatility (SV) models, which specifies the volatility as a function of the score of the distribution of returns conditional on volatilities based on the Generalized Autoregressive Score (GAS) model. Different specifications of the log-volatility are obtained by assuming different return error distributions. In particular, we consider three of the most popular distributions, namely, the Normal, Student-t and Generalized Error Distribution and derive the statistical properties of each of the corresponding score driven SV models. We show that some of the parameters cannot be property identified by the moments usually considered as to describe the stylized facts of financial returns, namely, excess kurtosis, autocorrelations of squares and cross-correlations between returns and future squared returns. The parameters of some restricted score driven SV models can be estimated adequately using a MCMC procedure. Finally, the new proposed models are fitted to financial returns and evaluated in terms of their in-sample and out-of-sample performance
Teachers living with AIDS : underplaying the role of emotions in the implementation of HIV/AIDS policy in Zimbabwean primary schools

ii Declaration . iv Dedication . v Acknowledgements . vi List of Abbreviations and Acronyms . ix Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 Chapter 2: What is the status of the existing knowledge base on HIV/AIDS and teachers? 8 Chapter 3: Walking a mile in the other person’s shoes: The method . 37 Chapter 4: Telling the stories (1) Gift: Finding my joy in theatre and drama . 72 Chapter 5: Telling the stories (2) Ruva: The positive self, the ideal other . 102 Chapter 6: Telling the stories (3) Edwin: Alone in a world where no one understands . 132 Chapter 7: Teacher as role model and ideal citizen versus teacher as HIVpositive person. 151 Chapter 8: How is education possible when there is a body in the middle of the room? 166 Chapter 9: Teachers as emotional actors . 186 Appendices . 197 Appendix One: Ethical Clearance Certificate . 198 Appendix Two: Data Collection Instruments . 200
Breaking the Glass Ceiling in Oklahoma Higher Education: A Case Study of Kate Galt Zaneis, the First Woman President of a Public Four-Year College or University in the United States.

Women‘s leadership within higher education continues to be the focus of research and essays. A look into the lives of past women leaders in higher education can provide a potential ―road-map‖ for aspiring women to follow as they develop their leadership style to aid in their upward mobility. The study of the first woman to lead a public four-year college or university provides a historical perspective of women‘s leadership in higher education. Looking into the career path, challenges, mentoring activities, leadership style and traits of the first woman to serve as president of a public four-year college or university may aid in the development of future leaders and the development of mentoring programs.
Region-Specific Differences in Amyloid Precursor Protein Expression in the Mouse Hippocampus

The physiological role of amyloid precursor protein (APP) has been extensively investigated in the rodent hippocampus. Evidence suggests that APP plays a role in synaptic plasticity, dendritic and spine morphogenesis, neuroprotection and—at the behavioral level—hippocampus-dependent forms of learning and memory. Intriguingly, however, studies focusing on the role of APP in synaptic plasticity have reported diverging results and considerable differences in effect size between the dentate gyrus (DG) and area CA1 of the mouse hippocampus. We speculated that regional differences in APP expression could underlie these discrepancies and studied the expression of APP in both regions using immunostaining, in situ hybridization (ISH), and laser microdissection (LMD) in combination with quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blotting. In sum, our results show that APP is approximately 1.7-fold higher expressed in pyramidal cells of Ammon’s horn than in granule cells of the DG. This regional difference in APP expression may explain why loss-of-function approaches using APP-deficient mice revealed a role for APP in Hebbian plasticity in area CA1, whereas this could not be shown in the DG of the same APP mutants.
Measuring Efficiency from Casemix Funding in Victoria Using the Stochastic Frontier

The Australian state of Victoria experienced a fundamental change in public hospital funding in 1993 with the introduction of casemix funding using diagnosis related groups. One of the primary drivers of this altered funding regime was to introduce a mechanism by which public hospitals could be compared for costs. Cost comparisons would then create an incentive for efficiency improvements because efficient hospitals would attract increased funding. This paper applies stochastic frontier estimation of a production function to panel data for the period 92/93 to 95/96 in order to establish whether, in fact, efficiency improvements were realised over this period. The results show that there was no significant change to individual hospital efficiency levels.
Impact of Early Growth on Postprandial Responses in Later Life

Background Low birth weight and slow growth during infancy are associated with increased rates of chronic diseases in adulthood. Associations with risk factors such as fasting glucose and lipids concentrations are weaker than expected based on associations with disease. This could be explained by differences in postprandial responses, which, however, have been little studied. Our aim was to examine the impact of growth during infancy on postprandial responses to a fast-food meal (FF-meal) and a meal, which followed the macro-nutrient composition of the dietary guidelines (REC-meal). Methodology/Principal Findings We recruited 24 overweight 65–75 year-old subjects, 12 with slow growth during infancy (SGI-group) and 12 with normal early growth. All the subjects were born at term. The study meals were isocaloric and both meals were consumed once. Plasma glucose, insulin, triglycerides (TG) and free fatty acids (FFA) were measured in fasting state and over a 4-h period after both meals. Subjects who grew slowly during infancy were also smaller at birth. Fasting glucose, insulin or lipid concentrations did not differ significantly between the groups. The TG responses were higher for the SGI-group both during the FF-meal (P = 0.047) and the REC-meal (P = 0.058). The insulin responses were significantly higher for the SGI-group after the FF-meal (P = 0.036). Glucose and FFA responses did not differ significantly between the groups. Conclusions Small birth size and slow early growth predict postprandial TG and insulin responses. Elevated responses might be one explanation why subjects who were small at birth and experiencing slow growth in infancy are at an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in later life.
Feature selection in pulmonary function test data with machine learning methods

Pulmonary function test has vital importance in diagnosis and treatment of lung diseases. With this test, several parameters are measured such as forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) of patients. These parameters indicate different types of lung disorders. Main constraint in diagnosis is to selection of important parameters among test results. In this study, five results of pulmonary function test (PFT) are evaluated with machine learning methods and feature selections with test results are achieved. Feature selections are performed with using Naive bayes, support vector machine (SVM), linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and k-nearest neighbor classifier (k-NN) methods. The test results of 436 patients are obtained from Atatürk Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital in Ankara/Turkey. SVM method has a highest performance values with 89,6% accuracy, 87,4 % specificity, 71,6% sensitivity respectively. Thus, it is found with feature selection that importance order of test results are FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, PEF ve FEF25/75 respectively. In this study, obtained performance values are higher than most of studies in the literature.
Efficient Multidimensional Searching Routines

The problem of Music Information Retrieval can often be formalized as “searching for multidimensional trajectories”. It is well known that string-matching techniques provide robust and effective theoretic solutions to this problem. However, for low dimensional searches, especially queries concerning a single vector as opposed to a series of vectors, there are a wide variety of other methods available. In this work we examine and benchmark those methods and attempt to determine if they may be useful in the field of information retrieval. Notably, we propose the use of KD-Trees for multidimensional near-neighbor searching. We show that a KD-Tree is optimized for multidimensional data, and is preferred over other methods that have been suggested, such as the K-Tree , the box-assisted sort and the multidimensional quick-sort .
Initial validation of a web-based self-administered neuropsychological test battery for older adults and seniors

Introduction: Computerized neuropsychological tests are effective in assessing different cognitive domains, but are often limited by the need of proprietary hardware and technical staff. Web-based tests can be more accessible and flexible. We aimed to investigate validity, effects of computer familiarity, education, and age, and the feasibility of a new web-based self-administered neuropsychological test battery (Memoro) in older adults and seniors. Method: A total of 62 (37 female) participants (mean age 60.7 years) completed the Memoro web-based neuropsychological test battery and a traditional battery composed of similar tests intended to measure the same cognitive constructs. Participants were assessed on computer familiarity and how they experienced the two batteries. To properly test the factor structure of Memoro, an additional factor analysis in 218 individuals from the HUNT population was performed. Results: Comparing Memoro to traditional tests, we observed good concurrent validity (r = .49–.63). The performance on the traditional and Memoro test battery was consistent, but differences in raw scores were observed with higher scores on verbal memory and lower in spatial memory in Memoro. Factor analysis indicated two factors: verbal and spatial memory. There were no correlations between test performance and computer familiarity after adjustment for age or age and education. Subjects reported that they preferred web-based testing as it allowed them to set their own pace, and they did not feel scrutinized by an administrator. Conclusions: Memoro showed good concurrent validity compared to neuropsychological tests measuring similar cognitive constructs. Based on the current results, Memoro appears to be a tool that can be used to assess cognitive function in older and senior adults. Further work is necessary to ascertain its validity and reliability.
Evaluating SPARQL-to-SQL Translation in Ontop

In this paper we evaluate the performance of the SQL queries generated by ontop, a system that uses a formal approach to translate and optimize SPARQL queries and R2RML mappings. We show that the performance of ontop’s SQL queries is superior to that of the performance of well known systems that rely on SQL to execute SPARQL, and superior to to that of well-known triple stores. We highlight some of the techniques and factors that allow for this.
Hand Orientation during Reach-to-Grasp Movements Modulates Neuronal Activity in the Medial Posterior Parietal Area V6A

Reach-to-grasp actions involve several components of forelimb movements needed to direct the hand toward the object to be grasped, and to orient and preshape the hand according to the object axis and shape. Area V6A, which represents a node of the dorsomedial frontoparietal circuits, has so far been implicated only in directing the arm toward different spatial locations. The present results confirm this finding and demonstrate, for the first time, that during reach-to-grasp, V6A neurons are also modulated by the orientation of the hand. In the present work the object to be grasped was a handle that could have different orientations. Reach-to-grasp movements were executed in complete darkness while gazing at a small fixation point. The majority of the tested cells (76/142; 54%) turned out to be sensitive to the orientation of the handle. Neurons could be modulated during preparation or execution of reach-to-grasp movements. The most represented cells were those modulated by hand orientation both during preparatory and movement periods. These data show that reaching and grasping are processed by the same population of neurons, providing evidence that the coordination of reaching and grasping takes place much earlier than previously thought, i.e., in the parieto-occipital cortex. The data here reported are in agreement with results of lesions to the medial posterior parietal cortex in both monkeys and humans, and with recent imaging data in humans, all of them indicating a functional coupling in the control of reaching and grasping by the medial parietofrontal circuit.
Tracer Exchange vs. Net Uptake of Glucose through Human Red Cell Surface

Previous kinetic studies of net sugar movements through the human erythrocyte surface (in response to concentration gradients) have led to postulation of a special "carrier" system for transfer of monosaccharides in these cells. But alternatively some sort of non-specific depression of cell permeability at high sugar concentrations has been suggested as a possible basis for the saturation kinetics and the competitive phenomena observed. New theoretical calculations show that these two interpretations predict entirely different orders of magnitude for the relative rate of tracer glucose exchange at such high sugar levels. Therefore, the speeds of gross chemical equilibration and of tracer glucose equilibration were compared by means of serial analyses on quickly separated cells and media, in thick red cell suspensions. Glucose was first added to glucose-free suspensions, and its entry into the cells followed; then C14-glucose was added after attainment of chemical equilibrium, and the tracer equilibration similarly followed. The speed of the tracer movement in relation to the speed of net uptake was on the order of 50 to 100 times greater than would be found in an uncomplicated diffusion process, regardless of what depressant effect might be occasioned by the high sugar levels. In contrast, the comparative rates observed are predicted by the previously proposed facilitated-diffusion mobile-carrier model for monosaccharide transfer, if the glucose-carrier complex is assigned a dissociation constant (at 20°C.) in the neighborhood of 1 mM.
Cohesion Analysis in Linux Kernel

It is widely accepted that strong coupling such as common coupling should be used with caution among modules. Linux kernel is analyzed in terms of these common coupling instances and the results show the presence of excessive common coupling among modules. It is mentioned that unless the kernel is restructured with a bare minimum of common coupling, it would be exceedingly difficult to maintain kernel in the near future. We attribute this problem to the lack of data abstractions in the kernel. To support our argument, we have analyzed the cohesion in the Linux kernel both at the module level (file level) and function level. Although the cohesion at the function level is high, low cohesion prevails at the module level indicating the lack of focus on data abstractions at the module level. We believe that this is an inherent drawback in procedural paradigm where functionality is considered first rather than data. Hence, we suggest to migrate the kernel to object-oriented paradigm to minimize coupling among modules and increase cohesion within the modules. As performance is one of the prime concerns for an OS kernel, object oriented features can be introduced in the kernel in an incremental fashion using the technique of object-oriented wrappers.
Modeling the HTML DOM and browser API in static analysis of JavaScript web applications

Developers of JavaScript web applications have little tool support for catching errors early in development. In comparison, an abundance of tools exist for statically typed languages, including sophisticated integrated development environments and specialized static analyses. Transferring such technologies to the domain of JavaScript web applications is challenging. In this paper, we discuss the challenges, which include the dynamic aspects of JavaScript and the complex interactions between JavaScript, HTML, and the browser. From this, we present the first static analysis that is capable of reasoning about the flow of control and data in modern JavaScript applications that interact with the HTML DOM and browser API. One application of such a static analysis is to detect type-related and dataflow-related programming errors. We report on experiments with a range of modern web applications, including Chrome Experiments and IE Test Drive applications, to measure the precision and performance of the technique. The experiments indicate that the analysis is able to show absence of errors related to missing object properties and to identify dead and unreachable code. By measuring the precision of the types inferred for object properties, the analysis is precise enough to show that most expressions have unique types. By also producing precise call graphs, the analysis additionally shows that most invocations in the programs are monomorphic. We furthermore study the usefulness of the analysis to detect spelling errors in the code. Despite the encouraging results, not all problems are solved and some of the experiments indicate a potential for improvement, which allows us to identify central remaining challenges and outline directions for future work.
Improved robust ℋ ∞ control for neutral systems via discretised Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional

This paper deals with the robust stability analysis and robust control synthesis with guaranteed performance index for time-invariant uncertain neutral systems based on linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The novelty is to extend the discretisation technique introduced by K. Gu for an appropriate parameter-dependent Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional. Then, the approach proposed improves the previous criteria from the literature that treats robust stability and control for uncertain neutral systems. The main strategy used to derive the obtained conditions is to introduce slack variables allowing one to decouple the system matrices from the Lyapunov functional matrices, without including additional dynamics. Two numerical examples are performed to support the theoretical predictions. The first example deals with stability analysis and the other illustrates how the proposed approach may provide a better solution for the ℋ ∞ guaranteed cost control problem when compared with others available in the literature.
Study on metal-triggered callose deposition in roots of maize and soybean

Callose plays important roles in a variety of processes of plant development, and/or in a response to a range of biotic and abiotic stresses. In the current work we have studied and compared the effect of lead, cadmium and arsenic on accumulation of newly formed callose deposits in the roots of maize and soybean. We observed formation of characteristic callose deposits in the root cell walls, probably associated with plasmodesmata, depending on the type of metal and the plant species investigated. Further, the callose turnover was analysed by measuring of total callose content as well as activities of total β-(1,3)-glucanases in roots. The latter enzymes are responsible for callose depletion, and their possible role during metal stress has previously been proposed. However, neither of these biochemical values appeared to be sufficiently reliable for scoring the altered callose turnover (including local deposits) in plant tissue. The microscopical observations are discussed in light of the biochemical data obtained.
Comparison of argumentation skill in science and non-science undergraduate students

This research is aimed to evaluate and compare the argumentation skill in science and non-science students. This research is quantitative research which involved two classes including 30 science students who taught human physiology subject and 30 social and humanities students who taught curriculum development subject. Both classes using blended learning with “argueweb” for online learning and debate for offline learning. The data collected from argumentation score using argumentation observation sheet. The data collected then to analyze descriptively and statistically using t-test. The result showed that there are differences between argumentation skill in science and non-science students. There are differences in quality of argumentation in science and non-science students. Science students showed good and clear backing with so many evidences. While non-science students provide strong and arguable warrant. Thus the quality of both science and non-science students argumentation need improvement to achieve better argument and learning outcomes.
Performance Analysis Of Resource Scheduling In LTE Femtocells Networks

3GPP has introduced LTE Femtocells to manipulate the traffic for indoor users and to minimize the charge on the Macro cells. A key mechanism in the LTE traffic handling is the packet scheduler which is in charge of allocating resources to active flows in both the frequency and time dimension. So several scheduling algorithms need to be analyzed for femtocells networks. In this paper we introduce a performance analysis of three distinct scheduling algorithms of mixed type of traffic flows in LTE femtocells networks. The particularly study is evaluated in terms of throughput, packet loss ratio, fairness index and spectral efficiency