Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rapid diagnosis of acute meningococcal infections by needle aspiration or biopsy of skin lesions.

OBJECTIVES--To evaluate the usefulness of Gram staining and culture of skin lesions in patients with acute meningococcal infections. DESIGN--Retrospective study. SETTING--Community hospital and intensive care unit of a teaching hospital. SUBJECTS--51 patients admitted from 1989 to 1993 with proved meningococcal infections and microbiological examination of specimens from skin lesions. INTERVENTIONS--Needle aspiration of a skin lesion before start of antibiotic treatment in 26 patients in the community hospital; punch biopsy of skin lesion after start of antibiotic treatment in 25 patients in the teaching hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Detection of meningococci by Gram staining of specimens from skin lesions according to category of infection (meningococcaemia, meningitis, meningitis with shock, or septic shock without meningitis). RESULTS--Bacteria were detected in the specimen from haemorrhagic skin lesions by culture or Gram staining, or both in 32 (63%) patients. The sensitivity of the Gram stain was 51% and did not differ significantly from its sensitivity in detecting bacteria in cerebrospinal fluid. In meningococcal sepsis, however, a Gram stained skin lesion was significantly more sensitive (72%) than Gram stained cerebrospinal fluid (22%). In patients with meningitis skin lesions gave positive results on staining more often if shock was present. The results for punch biopsy specimens were not affected by antibiotics as Gram staining gave positive results up to 45 hours after the start of treatment and culture gave positive results up to 13 hours. CONCLUSION--Microbiological examination of skin lesions is informative, especially in patients with sepsis and inconclusive results from cerebrospinal fluid, and may provide a diagnosis in such patients within 45 minutes. It differentiates well between meningitis with and without haemodynamic complications, and the result is not affected by previous antibiotic treatment.
Performance analysis of HomePlug 1.0 MAC with CSMA/CA

As demands for data communications among home/personal devices in home environments increase, various types of home-networking technologies have appeared. Among them, power line communication is one of the most promising wired home-networking technologies, because the existing power line facilities can be utilized for data transmission without deploying any new physical links. HomePlug 1.0 is the most popular power line communication technology, which has been standardized by the HomePlug power line alliance, and attempts to mitigate the effect of time- and frequency-varying channels by enhanced modulation and channel coding. Although HomePlug 1.0 has undergone field trials and simulations, its analytic model and performance was only conducted for throughput under saturation conditions. We propose a new analytic model to evaluate MAC throughput and delay of HomePlug 1.0 both under saturation and under normal traffic conditions. We verify our proposed model via simulations and evaluate the performance of HomePlug 1.0.
Emotion Modulation in Psychiatric Patients Through Music

This study explores differences in the use of music in everyday life among diagnostic groups of a psychiatric population (n = 180) in reference to a group of healthy subjects (n = 430). The results indicate that patients with mental disorders use music more for emotion modulation than healthy controls. In particular, patients with substance abuse and those with personality disorders used music mainly for cognitive problem solving and the reduction of negative activation, whereas patients with substance abuse in addition used music not often to stimulate themselves positively. Patients suffering from schizophrenia and personality disorders more often applied music for relaxation than the subjects of the reference group. Furthermore, the degree of severity of the psychiatric disorder correlated with the increased use of music for emotion modulation, i.e., for relaxation and cognitive problem solving. Thus, the results demonstrate an increased use of music for emotion modulation in patients with mental disorders in association with the severity of the disorder.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Social Work Education: Preparing Students for Practice Learning

Abstract Evaluating the effectiveness of social work education has become a topic of majorinterest in the UK in the wake of a succession of child-care tragedies that have under-minedconfidenceintheprofession.However,manykeyaspectsofsocialworkeducationremainunder-researchedand/or contestedandour knowledge of how students acquireand develop professional expertise remains limited. This paper reports on the first partof a longitudinal study aimed at developing evidence-based knowledge in this area byconsidering student perceptions at different stages of their social work education atQueen’s University Belfast. Focusing on the strengths and limitations of preparatoryteaching, and their first experience of practice learning, this article considers theimpact of demographic factors, including age, gender and experience, on how studentsexperience the learning process. The findings indicate a significant level of disjunctionbetween academic and practice learning and suggest that better integration betweenthese two domains of learning is needed if social work students are to be more effec-tively prepared for the challenges they are likely to encounter in practice.Keywords: Social work education, practice learning, preparation for practice
A Novel Feature Extraction Method for Facial Expression Recognition

In this work, a novel facial feature extraction method is proposed for automatic facial expressions recognition, which detecting local texture information, global texture information and shape information of the face automatically to form the facial features. First, Active Appearance Model (AAM) is used to locate facial feature points automatically. Then, the local texture information in these feature points and the global texture feature information of the whole face area are extracted based on the Local Binary Pattern (LBP) techniques, and also the shape information of the face are detected. Finally, all the information are combined together to form the feature vector. The proposed feature extraction method is tested by the JAFFE database and experimental results show that it is promising.
CFGP: a web-based, comparative fungal genomics platform

Since the completion of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome sequencing project in 1996, the genomes of over 80 fungal species have been sequenced or are currently being sequenced. Resulting data provide opportunities for studying and comparing fungal biology and evolution at the genome level. To support such studies, the Comparative Fungal Genomics Platform (CFGP; http://cfgp.snu.ac.kr), a web-based multifunctional informatics workbench, was developed. The CFGP comprises three layers, including the basal layer, middleware and the user interface. The data warehouse in the basal layer contains standardized genome sequences of 65 fungal species. The middleware processes queries via six analysis tools, including BLAST, ClustalW, InterProScan, SignalP 3.0, PSORT II and a newly developed tool named BLASTMatrix. The BLASTMatrix permits the identification and visualization of genes homologous to a query across multiple species. The Data-driven User Interface (DUI) of the CFGP was built on a new concept of pre-collecting data and post-executing analysis instead of the ‘fill-in-the-form-and-press-SUBMIT’ user interfaces utilized by most bioinformatics sites. A tool termed Favorite, which supports the management of encapsulated sequence data and provides a personalized data repository to users, is another novel feature in the DUI.
Particle swarm localization of acoustic sources in the presence of reverberation

In this work a novel approach to acoustic source localization in reverberant environments is introduced. The proposed method effectively employs particle filtering (PF) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) in an integrated framework. Source localization is viewed as a global minimization problem where the solution is searched by properly exploiting competition and cooperation among the individuals of a population. Experiments on simulated data show that the proposed strategy is fast and robust with respect to the presence of reverberation
Guided test generation for web applications

We focus on functional testing of enterprise applications with the goal of exercising an application's interesting behaviors by driving it from its user interface. The difficulty in doing this is focusing on the interesting behaviors among an unbounded number of behaviors. We present a new technique for automatically generating tests that drive a web-based application along interesting behaviors, where the interesting behavior is specified in the form of “business rules. ” Business rules are a general mechanism for describing business logic, access control, or even navigational properties of an application's GUI. Our technique is black box, in that it does not analyze the application's server-side implementation, but relies on directed crawling via the application's GUI. To handle the unbounded number of GUI states, the technique includes two phases. Phase 1 creates an abstract state-transition diagram using a relaxed notion of equivalence of GUI states without considering rules. Next, Phase 2 identifies rule-relevant abstract paths and refines those paths using a stricter notion of state equivalence. Our technique can be much more effective at covering business rules than an undirected technique, developed as an enhancement of an existing test-generation technique. Our experiments showed that the former was able to cover 92% of the rules, compared to 52% of the rules covered by the latter.
A Construct-Related Validity Study on a Korean Version of the Perceptual Learning Styles Preference Questionnaire

This study examined the factor structure of a Korean version of the Perceptual Learning Styles Preference Questionnaire. The instrument was developed to measure the learning-style preferences of students of English as a second language and English as a foreign language and has gained wide currency as a classroom diagnostic tool and survey instrument for research on second-language acquisition. Reliability estimates (Cronbach's α) for scores on the six scales hypothesized by Reid were generally not good and corroborated results in the limited number of previous studies. A confirmatory factor analysis led to the rejection of the hypothesized model, and an exploratory factor analysis suggested a three-factor model as more appropriate. It is argued that the results of this study indicate that the instrument is flawed and that the results of previous research based on it are questionable. It is also argued that the continued use of the instrument within the research trajectory of second-language acquisition be suspended until the instrument has been revised.
HDAC6 Regulates Mutant SOD1 Aggregation through Two SMIR Motifs and Tubulin Acetylation*

Background: The role of HDAC6 in mutant SOD1 aggregation and ALS etiology is unclear. Results: HDAC6 interacted with mutant SOD1 via two SMIR motifs, and HDAC6 knockdown promoted aggregation of mutant SOD1. Conclusion: Mutant SOD1 can modulate HDAC6 activity and increase tubulin acetylation, which, in turn, facilitates mutant SOD1 aggregation. Significance: HDAC6 deficiency might be a converging point of various subtypes of ALS. Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) is a tubulin deacetylase that regulates protein aggregation and turnover. Mutations in Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) linked to familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) make the mutant protein prone to aggregation. However, the role of HDAC6 in mutant SOD1 aggregation and the ALS etiology is unclear. Here we report that HDAC6 knockdown increased mutant SOD1 aggregation in cultured cells. Different from its known role in mediating the degradation of poly-ubiquitinated proteins, HDAC6 selectively interacted with mutant SOD1 via two motifs similar to the SOD1 mutant interaction region (SMIR) that we identified previously in p62/sequestosome 1. Expression of the aggregation-prone mutant SOD1 increased α-tubulin acetylation, and the acetylation-mimicking K40Q α-tubulin mutant promoted mutant SOD1 aggregation. Our results suggest that ALS-linked mutant SOD1 can modulate HDAC6 activity and increase tubulin acetylation, which, in turn, facilitates the microtubule- and retrograde transport-dependent mutant SOD1 aggregation. HDAC6 impairment might be a common feature in various subtypes of ALS.
An RFID Based Location Finding and Tracking with Guidance

This paper tackles an RFID based location finding and tracking system. The system is an integral part of a navigation aid being developed for guiding visually disabled people in a store. The aid is composed of a portable hardware interface unit, a standalone RFID unit, and a central processing unit. The units interact via wireless communication to locate the position of the user in a known indoor environment and tracking his/her movement. An active RFID tag helps to estimate the location of a user and the user is guided to follow a route accordingly, via a tactile compass. The system uses RF signal strengths and is based on Bayes decision theory. Initial simulation results with the system prove promising for location finding and tracking, especially when the tracked person is guided by a system.
Monoclonal Antibodies with Identical Fc Sequences Can Bind to FcRn Differentially with Pharmacokinetic Consequences

The neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) is a key determinant of IgG homeostasis. It binds to the Fc domain of IgG in a strictly pH-dependent manner and protects IgG from lysosomal degradation. The impact of FcRn salvage pathway on IgG monoclonal antibody (mAb) pharmacokinetics (PK) has been well established. In this report, a set of mAbs with wild-type human Fc sequences but different Fab domains were used to examine the potential impact of Fab domain on in vitro FcRn binding and in vivo PK. We were surprised to find that mAbs with the same wild-type human Fc sequences but different Fab domains were shown to bind FcRn with considerable differences in both the binding at acidic pH and the dissociation at neutral pH, suggesting that the Fab domain may also have an impact on FcRn interaction. For these mAbs, no relationship between the FcRn binding affinity at acidic pH and in vivo PK was found. Instead, an apparent correlation between the in vitro FcRn dissociation at neutral pH and the in vivo PK in human FcRn mice, nonhuman primates and humans was observed. Our results suggested that the Fab domain of mAbs can affect their interaction with FcRn and thus their pharmacokinetic properties and that in vitro FcRn binding/dissociation assays can be a useful screening tool for pharmacokinetic assessment of mAbs with wild-type Fc sequences.
Distinctive Roles for α7*- and α9*-Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors in Inflammatory and Autoimmune Responses in the Murine Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis Model of Multiple Sclerosis

Previous studies have demonstrated immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory effects of nicotine, including in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model in mice of some forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Other studies using knock-out (KO) mice have implicated nicotinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptors containing α7, α9, or β2 subunits (α7*-, α9*- or β2*-nAChR) in different, disease-exacerbating or disease-ameliorating processes. These outcomes are in harmony with gene expression analyses showing nAChR subunit mRNA in many classes of immune system cell types. Consistent with influences on disease status, predictable effects of nAChR subunit (and subtype) KO, or of nicotine exposure, are seen on immune cell numbers and distribution and on cytokine levels or other markers of immunity, inflammation, demyelination, and axonal degradation. Providing support for our hypotheses about distinctive roles for nAChR subtypes in EAE, here we have used direct and adoptive EAE induction and a nAChR subunit gene double knock-out (DKO) strategy. Immune cell expression of nAChR α9 subunits as protein is demonstrated by immunostaining of isolated CD4+, CD8+, CD11b+ and CD11c+ cells from wild-type (WT) mice, but not in cells from nAChR α9 subunit KO animals. Nicotine exposure is protective against directly-induced EAE in WT or α7/α9 DKO animals relative to effects seen in WT/vehicle-treated mice, but, remarkably, EAE is exacerbated in vehicle-treated α7/α9 DKO mice. Brain lesion volume and intra-cranial inflammatory activity similarly are higher in DKO/vehicle than in WT/vehicle-treated animals, although nicotine’s protective effects are seen in each instance. By contrast, in adoptive transfer studies, disease severity is attenuated and disease onset is delayed in recipients of splenocytes from WT animals treated with nicotine rather than with vehicle. Moreover, protection as seen in nicotine-treated WT animals is the same in recipients of splenocytes from nAChR α7/α9 DKO mice irrespective of their exposure to nicotine or vehicle. When combined with previous observations, these findings are consistent with disease exacerbation (or even induction) being mediated at least in part via α9*-nAChR in peripheral immune cells. They also suggest protective roles of central nervous system (CNS) α7*-nAChR. The results suggest that both α7*- and α9*-nAChR are potential targets of therapeutic ligands to modulate inflammation and autoimmunity.
Network Coding-Aware Queue Management for TCP Flows Over Coded Wireless Networks

In this paper, we are interested in improving the performance of TCP flows over wireless networks with a given constructive intersession network coding scheme. We are motivated by the observation that TCP does not fully exploit the potential of the underlying network coding opportunities. In order to improve the performance of TCP flows over coded wireless networks, without introducing changes to TCP itself, we propose a network-coding aware queue management scheme (NCAQM) that is implemented at intermediate network coding nodes and bridges the gap between network coding and TCP rate control. The design of NCAQM is grounded on the network utility maximization (NUM) framework and includes the following mechanisms. NCAQM: 1) stores coded packets at intermediate nodes in order to use the buffer space more efficiently; 2) determines what fraction of the flows should be coded together; and 3) drops packets at intermediate nodes so that it matches the rates of parts of different TCP flows that are coded together. We demonstrate, via simulation, that NCAQM significantly improves TCP throughput compared to TCP over baseline queue management schemes.
Situated Learning and Identity Development in a Korean Older Adults’ Computer Classroom

Situated learning theory understands learning to be a sociocultural activity, and individuals experience identity development as they participate in communities of practice. The purpose of this study was to understand how Korean older adults’ computer learning in a classroom is a situated activity and how this learning influences older adults’ identities. Eleven sessions of an intermediate course for older adults were observed, and 10 older computer learners were interviewed. This study revealed that social interactions, learning tools, the physical setting, and Korean culture were embedded in the course and shaped the learning processes. This study also found that the participants’ learning in the community of practice in the classroom as well as the larger community of general computer users influenced their identity.
Implications of Autonomy for the Expressiveness of Policy Routing

Thousands of competing autonomous systems must cooperate with each other to provide global Internet connectivity. Each autonomous system (AS) encodes various economic, business, and performance decisions in its routing policy. The current interdomain routing system enables each AS to express policy using rankings that determine how each router in the AS chooses among different routes to a destination, and filters that determine which routes are hidden from each neighboring AS. Because the Internet is composed of many independent, competing networks, the interdomain routing system should provide autonomy, allowing network operators to set their rankings independently, and to have no constraints on allowed filters. This paper studies routing protocol stability under these conditions. We first demonstrate that ldquonext-hop rankings,rdquo commonly used in practice, may not ensure routing stability. We then prove that, when providers can set rankings and filters autonomously, guaranteeing that the routing system will converge to a stable path assignment imposes strong restrictions on the rankings ASes are allowed to choose. We discuss the implications of these results for the future of interdomain routing.
On the conceptual tag refinement

Social tagging is a well known approach of assigning keywords to (web) documents in order to share the personal meaning of users about the content. However, the ambiguity of the assigned keywords hinders the knowledge sharing process. In this paper we present an approach for supporting tagging process by interpreting the keywords (tags) using a conceptual Tag model, which leads to a semantic tagging process. Moreover, the approach introduces the tag refinement process that proposes extensions of given tags in order to help the user to better express his/her "tagging" need. We present several evaluation studies in order to demonstrate the efficiency of the approach.
Charter Schools and Students With Disabilities

Fifteen years after the first charter school legislation was passed, the number of charter schools opening in the United States each year continues to grow. In 2000, research was conducted to examine the extent and quality of service to students with disabilities in Texas's charter schools. Descriptive statistics and structured interviews were used to identify areas of strength and weakness in special education service provision. This article describes a replication of that study, reviews the initial findings, and presents data that shed light on changes that have occurred in the interim.