Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Push-Pull of Policy Pressure: A Qualitative Exploration of the Experiences of Same-Sex Marriage Policies Among Non-Metropolitan GLB Individuals

This paper is a qualitative exploration of the experiences of marriage policies among people in same-sex relationships living in non-metropolitan United States areas. Although numerous studies have investigated the financial and legal costs and benefits of same-sex marriage policies, research examining experiences of the relational effects of these policies is limited. Using a grounded theory methodology, a core category, “the push-pull of policy pressure” emerged, reflecting feelings of duality expressed by participants. These included the experience of same-sex marriage debates as both strengthening and adding strain to their relationship, and the contrasting beliefs that marriage equality would and would not reduce society's homophobia. These emergent dualities suggest opposing feelings as well as nascency in participants’ experiences of same-sex marriage policies.
Automatic alignment system for optical projection printing

An automatic alignment method is described which has been applied in a projection system for pattern definition by direct step and repeat on the wafer. The method is based upon the imaging through the projection lens of relief gratings on the wafer onto gratings on the mask and photoelectric detection of the resulting Moiré signal. The alignment accuracy is better than ±0.1 µm and the method can be used for all integrated circuit processing steps. The advantages of the use of phase structures and electrooptical detection are discussed and practical results are given.
A response to eight views on terminology: Is it possible to tame the wild beast of inconsistency

It was both exciting and sobering to read the commentaries on my lead article ‘‘Meaning and purpose: A conceptual model for speech pathology terminology’’ (Walsh, 2005), and gratifying to hear from people who have influenced my thinking over the years. The range of perspectives demonstrates just how complex the issues in terminology are. Many experiences have led me to believe that our profession faces no greater challenge than our inconsistent and inappropriate terminology. Some of the respondents shared their own frustrations and examples of how inconsistent terminology has been a barrier. Kamhi (2005), Eadie (2005) and Patterson (2005) mentioned problems with the visibility of academic programs and conflicts between training and workplace terminology. Behlau (2005) suggested that our inconsistent terminology affects our relationship and credibility with other professions. The respondents expressed a general consensus that inconsistent and inappropriate terminology is a major problem. Beyond this consensus, a wide range of opinions was presented as to which area to prioritize, appropriate processes, and the feasibility of changing the situation. Most respondents remarked on the enormity of the task proposed.Many of their issues warrant a more expansive discussion than is possible in these pages, but I will respond briefly to a few points and conclude by considering whether it is possible to improve the consistency of our terminology.
A functional role for the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in non-spatial auditory cognition

Spatial and non-spatial sensory information is hypothesized to be evaluated in parallel pathways. In this study, we tested the spatial and non-spatial sensitivity of auditory neurons in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vPFC), a cortical area in the non-spatial pathway. Activity was tested while non-human primates reported changes in an auditory stimulus' spatial or non-spatial features. We found that vPFC neurons were reliably modulated during a non-spatial auditory task but were not modulated during a spatial auditory task. The degree of modulation during the non-spatial task correlated positively with the monkeys' behavioral performance. These results are consistent with the hypotheses that the vPFC is part of a circuit involved in non-spatial auditory processing and that the vPFC plays a functional role in non-spatial auditory cognition.
Changes to peptide structure, not concentration, contribute to expansion of the lowest avidity cytotoxic T lymphocytes

The efficient in vitro expansion of antigen‐specific CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) for use in adoptive immunotherapy represents an important clinical goal. Furthermore, the avidity of expanded CTL populations often correlates closely with clinical outcome. In our study, high‐avidity CTL lines could be expanded ex vivo from an antigen‐primed animal using low peptide concentration, and intermediate peptide concentrations favored the generation of lower avidity CTL. Further increases in peptide concentration during culture inhibited the expansion of all peptide‐specific CD8+ cells. In contrast, a single amino acid variant peptide efficiently generated functional CTL populations at high or low peptide concentration, which responded to wild‐type epitope with the lowest average avidity seen in this study. We propose that for some peptides, the efficient generation of low‐avidity CTL responses will be favored by stimulation with altered peptide rather than high concentrations of wild‐type epitope. In addition, some variant peptides designed to have improved binding to major histocompatibility complex class I may reduce rather than enhance the functional avidity for the wild‐type peptide of ex vivo‐expanded CTL. These observations are relevant to in vitro expansion of CTL for immunotherapy and strategies to elicit regulatory or therapeutic immunity to neo‐self‐antigen when central tolerance has eliminated high‐avidity, cognate T cells.
Using Machine Learning to Enhance Software Tools for Internet Information Management

This paper discusses the issues involved in the application of machine learning techniques to the management of Internet-based information. We present a general architecture, and describe how this has been instantiated in several different applications. The first three of these systems provide assistance to a user sorting incoming mail, reading USENET news or identifying World-Wide Web pages of interest; the final system constructs a personalised on-line newspaper, assembled from documents gathered by a Web robot. A number of machine learning techniques have been used in the construction of these systems; some comparative results are presented.
Philosophical perspectives on constructivist views of learning

At present, soda1 constructivists agree on little more than the important assumption that knowledge is a social product. Beyond this, there is little agreement about proems. Different viewpoints about what it means to negotiate meaning and what the object of that negotiation ought to be (i.e., strategies/skills versus big ideas) reflect different assumptions about learning and the nature of truth. We examine these assumptions by contrasting three underlying world views: mechanistic-information processing, organismic-radical constructivism, and Deweyan contextualism or transactional realism. This third world view, we argue, is most consistent with idea-based social constructivism.
EFFECT OF REPRODUCTIVE RATE ON MINIMUM HABITAT REQUIREMENTS OF FOREST‐BREEDING BIRDS

A major challenge facing conservation biologists and wildlife managers is to predict how fauna will respond to habitat loss. Different species require different amounts of habitat for population persistence, and species' reproductive rates have been identified as one of the major factors affecting these habitat-amount requirements. The purpose of this study was to test the prediction that species with higher reproductive rates require less habitat for population persistence than species with lower reproductive rates. We used 41 species of forest breeding birds to test for a relationship between the annual reproductive output and the amount of forest cover at which each species has a 50% probability of presence in the landscape. To look at the presence of species over landscapes with varying amounts of forest cover, we combined two large-scale independent data sets: the North American Breeding Bird Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) digital data. Species presence/absence information was determined over a 10-year window for 779 circular landscapes that surround each Breeding Bird Survey route in the central and eastern USA region. Annual reproductive rates were obtained from the literature. There was a significant negative (interspecies) relationship between the estimated minimum habitat amount at which there was a 50% probability of presence in the landscape and annual reproductive output (F1,39 = 7.71, P = 0.008, r2 = 0.16). This is the first direct test for a negative relationship between minimum habitat requirements and annual reproductive rates.
Insertion of Transposon Tn917 Derivatives into the Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis Chromosome

Two transposition vectors, pTV32 and pLTV1, containing transposon Tn917 derivatives TV32 and LTV1, respectively, were introduced into Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis MG1614. It was found that pTV32 and pLTV1 replicate and that TV32 and LTV1 transpose in this strain. A protocol for production of a collection of Tn917 insertions in L. lactis subsp. lactis was developed. The physical locations of TV32 on the chromosomal SmaI fragments of 62 independent transpositions were established by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. These transpositions could be divided into at least 38 different groups that exhibited no Tn917-dominating hot spots on the L. lactis subsp. lactis chromosome. A total of 10 of the 62 transpositions resulted in strains that express β-galactosidase. This indicates that there was fusion of the promoterless lacZ of the Tn917 derivatives to a chromosomal promoter. Thus, the Tn917-derived transposons should be powerful genetic tools for studying L. lactis subsp. lactis.
Career outcome of employees: The mediating effect of mentoring

Mentoring is a crucial aspect of personal learning and is an effective approach for forwarding career development. In this study we examined the mediating effect of mentoring systems on the relationship between personal learning and career outcome of employees in Taiwanese companies. Using a survey conducted with 246 employees, we analyzed the effect of personal learning on career outcome. The results showed that employees’ personal learning and mentoring had a significant positive effect on their career development. Further analysis demonstrated that mentoring mediated the effect between personal learning and career outcome. In conclusion, mentoring mechanisms can have a sustained influence on personal learning and career outcome.
Vascular site hemostasis in percutaneous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy.

Bleeding is a well described complication of percutaneous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support (ECMO). In an effort to prevent ongoing percutaneous-cannula blood loss, we tried multiple methods to achieve hemostasis and obtained the best results with QuikClot ® Combat Gauze TM (Z-Medica Corp, Wallingford, CT). This product is made of kaolin, white alumina silicate clay, which initiates activation of the intrinsic clotting cascade. We reviewed our experience in 21 ECMO patients and found 5 patients who required 17 applications of QuikClot ® Combat Gauze TM to percutaneous catheter insertion sites and demonstrated a significant reduction in both localized bleeding complications and the need for blood transfusion. QuikClot Combat Gauze TM , used for the dual purpose of a dressing and hemostatic agent, is a simple valuable method to control pericatheter bleeding in the ECMO population with demonstrated cost savings and clinical utility.
Procedure for stability analysis of gene selection from cross-site gene expression data

Typically, thousands of gene expression levels are recorded for a group of patients, leading to the situation where the number of features far exceeds the number of examples. To combat this, researchers would want to combine gene expression data collected at different sites into one data set to reduce the magnitude of the difference between the number of features (genes) and examples (samples). This makes gene selection a critical component of any process to build models using gene expression data. For instance, in the domain of ordering cancer patients based on survival time, one might assume that utilizing genes related to cancer development and progression will allow the best model to be built. In this paper, we explore two different gene selection techniques and examine how well the genes selected compare between methods. We also check gene set consistency between data sets collected using the same protocols at different research institutions. It is shown that gene selection can result in very different sets given different training data.
Towards Automatic Verb Acquisition from VerbNet for Spoken Dialog Processing

This paper presents experiments on using VerbNet as a resource for understanding unknown verbs encountered by a spoken dialog system. Coverage of unknown verbs in a corpus of spoken dialogs about computer purchasing is assessed, and two methods for automatically integrating representations of verbs found in VerbNet are explored. The first identifies VerbNet classes containing verbs already defined in the system, and generates representations for unknown verbs in those classes, modelled after the existing system representation. The second method generates representations based on VerbNet alone. The second method performs better, but gaps in coverage and differences between the two verb representation systems limit the success of automatic acquisition.
Analysis of the THR4 region on chromosome III of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The gene encoding theonine synthase (THR4) from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was cloned by complementation of a thr4 mutant. This gene was also found on a lambda clone (5239) consisting of a fragment of chromosome III inserted in the vector lambda MG3. The THR4 gene encodes a protein of 514 amino acids (M.W. 58 kDa), which has extensive homologies with E. coli threonine synthase (thrC) and B. subtilis threonine synthase. The 5′ flanking region of the gene contains three regulatory sequences. [TGACT(C)] for the general amino acid control (GCN).
Genetic Analysis Reveals an Unexpected Role of BMP7 in Initiation of Ureteric Bud Outgrowth in Mouse Embryos

Background Genetic analysis in the mouse revealed that GREMLIN1 (GREM1)-mediated antagonism of BMP4 is essential for ureteric epithelial branching as the disruption of ureteric bud outgrowth and renal agenesis in Grem1-deficient embryos is restored by additional inactivation of one Bmp4 allele. Another BMP ligand, BMP7, was shown to control the proliferative expansion of nephrogenic progenitors and its requirement for nephrogenesis can be genetically substituted by Bmp4. Therefore, we investigated whether BMP7 in turn also participates in inhibiting ureteric bud outgrowth during the initiation of metanephric kidney development. Methodology/Principal Findings Genetic inactivation of one Bmp7 allele in Grem1-deficient mouse embryos does not alleviate the bilateral renal agenesis, while complete inactivation of Bmp7 restores ureteric bud outgrowth and branching. In mouse embryos lacking both Grem1 and Bmp7, GDNF/WNT11 feedback signaling and the expression of the Etv4 target gene, which regulates formation of the invading ureteric bud tip, are restored. In contrast to the restoration of ureteric bud outgrowth and branching, nephrogenesis remains aberrant as revealed by the premature loss of Six2 expressing nephrogenic progenitor cells. Therefore, very few nephrons develop in kidneys lacking both Grem1 and Bmp7 and the resulting dysplastic phenotype is indistinguishable from the one of Bmp7-deficient mouse embryos. Conclusions/Significance Our study reveals an unexpected inhibitory role of BMP7 during the onset of ureteric bud outgrowth. As BMP4, BMP7 and GREM1 are expressed in distinct mesenchymal and epithelial domains, the localized antagonistic interactions of GREM1 with BMPs could restrict and guide ureteric bud outgrowth and branching. The robustness and likely significant redundancy of the underlying signaling system is evidenced by the fact that global reduction of Bmp4 or inactivation of Bmp7 are both able to restore ureteric bud outgrowth and epithelial branching in Grem1-deficient mouse embryos.
Effectiveness of amniotic membrane transplantation combined with mitomycin C in the treatment of pterygium: a meta-analysis.

AIM To evaluate the recurrence rate and safety of amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) augmented with mitomycin C (MMC) compared with amniotic membrane transplantation alone during the pterygium excision. METHODS We took a meta-analysis on this program. Pertinent studies were selected through extensive searches of the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CBMdisc, CNKI. Pooled estimates were carried out in RevMan software v.4. 2. RESULTS Six trials reported postoperative recurrence rate of pterygium, included 882 eyes, three trials reported the complications. The results of meta-analysis showed that recurrence rate of AMT plus MMC group was 5.41%, AMT alone group was 16.89%, RR was 0.32, 95%CI ranged from 0.19 to 0.56, Z was 4.06, P<0.001. Two trials reported early complication as punctata keratitis, the incidence rate of AMT plus MMC group and AMT alone group were 17.14% and 0.00%, RR was 12.11, 95%CI ranged from 1.62 to 90.76. CONCLUSION Amniotic membrane transplantation with MMC was associated with lower recurrence rate compared with amniotic membrane transplantation alone in pterygium excision, whether accompanied a higher risk with adverse events need more investigation.
Cytoskeletal remodeling during growth cone-target interactions

Reorganization of the cytoskeleton of neuronal growth cones in response to environmental cues underlies the process of axonal guidance. Most previous studies addressing cytoskeletal changes during growth cone pathfinding have focused on the dynamics of a single cytoskeletal component. We report here an investigation of homophilic growth cone- target interactions between Aplysia bag cell neurons using digitally enhanced video microscopy, which addresses dynamic interactions between actin filaments and microtubules. After physical contact of a growth cone with a physiological target, mechanical coupling occurred after a delay; and then the growth cone exerted forces on and displaced the target object. Subsequent to coupling, F-actin accumulation was observed at the target contact zone, followed by preferential microtubule extension to the same site. After successful target interactions, growth cones typically moved off highly adhesive poly-L- lysine substrates into native target cell surfaces. These events were associated with modulation of both the direction and rate of neurite outgrowth: growth cone migration was typically reoriented to a trajectory along the target interaction axis and rates of advance increased by about one order of magnitude. Directed microtubule movements toward the contact site appeared to be F-actin dependent as target site-specific microtubule extension and bundling could be reversibly randomized by micromolar levels of cytochalasin B in a characteristic manner. Our results suggest that target contacts can induce focal F-actin assembly and reorganization which, in turn, guides target site-directed microtubule redistribution.
A sea-of-gates style FPGA placement algorithm

The placement objectives for field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) is to achieve 100% routability within the architectural constraints. We present a hierarchical placement approach for a sea-of-gates style FPGA. The global placement phase minimizes congestion estimates of the global routing regions and satisfies all constraints at a coarser level. The detailed placer seeks to maximize the routability of the FPGA by considering factors which cause congestion at the detailed routing level and to precisely satisfy all of the constraints. Despite having limited knowledge about the gate level architectural details, we have achieved a 90% reduction in the number of unrouted nets in comparison to an industrial tool (the only other tool) developed specifically for this architecture. <<ETX>>
The formation and maintenance of the definitive endoderm lineage in the mouse: involvement of HNF3/forkhead proteins.

Little is known about genes that govern the development of the definitive endoderm in mammals; this germ layer gives rise to the intestinal epithelium and various other cell types, such as hepatocytes, derived from the gut. The discovery that the rat hepatocyte transcription factor HNF3 is similar to the Drosophila forkhead gene, which plays a critical role in gut development in the fly, led us to isolate genes containing the HNF3/forkhead (HFH) domain that are expressed in mouse endoderm development. We recovered mouse HNF3 beta from an embryo cDNA library and found that the gene is first expressed in the anterior portion of the primitive streak at the onset of gastrulation, in a region where definitive endoderm first arises. Its expression persists in axial structures derived from the mouse equivalent of Hensen's node, namely definitive endoderm and notochord, and in the ventral region of the developing neural tube. Expression of the highly related gene, HNF3 alpha, appears to initiate later than HNF3 beta and is first seen in midline endoderm cells. Expression subsequently appears in notochord, ventral neural tube, and gut endoderm in patterns similar to HNF3 beta. Microscale DNA binding assays show that HNF3 proteins are detectable in the midgut at 9.5 days p.c. At later stages HNF3 mRNAs and protein are expressed strongly in endoderm-derived tissues such as the liver. HNF3 is also the only known hepatocyte-enriched transcription factor present in a highly de-differentiated liver cell line that retains the capacity to redifferentiate to the hepatic phenotype. Taken together, these studies suggest that HNF3 alpha and HNF3 beta are involved in both the initiation and maintenance of the endodermal lineage. We also discovered a novel HFH-containing gene, HFH-E5.1, that is expressed transiently in posterior ectoderm and mesoderm at the primitive streak stage, and later predominantly in the neural tube. HFH-E5.1 is highly similar in structure and expression profile to the Drosophila HFH gene FD4, suggesting that HFH family members have different, evolutionarily conserved roles in development.
Declining Labor Shares and Heterogeneous Firms

There is evidence that labor’s share of income has been declining in many countries since the 1980s. While theoretical explanations for declining labor shares use models with representative firms, this paper proposes a model in which firms can be heterogeneous in terms of capital-intensity, market power, ownership, and productivity. Using theoretical insights from Azmat, Manning and Van Reenen (2012), Blanchard and Giavazzi (2003) and Karabarbounis and Neiman (2014) and econometric methods from De Loecker and Warzynski (2012), we find that the rightward shift in the distribution of market power for private firms, the rightward shift in the distribution of capital intensity for all firms, and the declining political pressure on state owned firms to protect jobs have all contributed to the decline in labor shares in China’s manufacturing sector.