Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Face recognition and lip-reading in autism

Abstract Autistic children individually matched for mental age with normal subjects were tested on memory for unfamiliar faces and on lip reading ability. The results show that autistic children are poorer than controls in memory for faces but comparable to controls in lip-reading. Autistic children show little influence on their auditory speech perception from visual speech. The results are discussed in relation to Bruce and Young's (1986) model of face recognition. The independence between facial speech and memory for faces is in accordance with this model but is only observed in autistic subjects.
Changing Perspectives: Exploring a pedagogy to examine other perspectives about stem cell research

This study explores how teachers developed and critically evaluated a range of teaching strategies that could support the discussion of a socio-scientific issue (SSI) that had the potential to be controversial. The issue was stem cell research and six New Zealand teachers of senior biology students (grades 12/13) took part in an action research project that was situational, collaborative and self-evaluative. The focus of the research was to identify communication barriers that interfered with classroom discussion and how teachers could help students cross cultural borders when they discussed SSIs that were outside their life worlds. The barriers to communication were access to relevant science knowledge, religion, language, an inability to question issues and cultural expectations of girls. Teachers trialled and adapted two discussion strategies, ‘Drawing the Line’ and ‘Diamond Ranking’ that provided a vehicle for their students to explore and discuss this issue from a range of perspectives. These discussion strategies enabled their students to take part in a dialogue where reciprocal conversation could occur because they had opportunities not only to explore their own perspectives but also other people's viewpoints.
Pharmacodynamics of S‐2150, a Simultaneous Calcium‐blocking and α1‐Inhibiting Antihypertensive Drug, in Rats

The in‐vivo pharmacodynamics of S‐2150, a newly developed dual‐blocking type antihypertensive drug, was evaluated following intravenous infusion to rats. Previous in‐vitro studies showed that the drug has two distinct mechanisms of antihypertensive effect—calcium‐channel blocking activity and α1‐adrenoceptor antagonism—which could be explained by a combination of two different pharmacodynamic models.
Equal in Christ, But Not in the World: White Conservative Protestants and Explanations of Black-White Inequality

To further understanding of Americans' explanations for racial inequality, and the implications these explanations have for reducing black-white socioeconomic inequality, we explore the role of religion. We argue that the cultural tools of a religious subculture shape the rationale for racial inequality. Examining white conservative Protestants, who comprise nearly 25 percent of white Americans, we identify religious cultural tools we call “accountable freewill individualism,” “anti-structuralism,” and “relationalism. ” Based on these, we hypothesize that white conservative Protestants explain inequality in more individualistic and less structural terms than other white Americans. We also expect them to emphasize perceived dysfunctional social relations among African Americans in their explanations. Using the 1996 General Social Survey and qualitative data from 117 in-depth interviews, these hypotheses are clearly supported. Religion, it appears, has an independent effect on explanations of racial inequality. Based on these findings, we suggest that rationales for racial inequality are not mere defenses of socioeconomic privilege, but, more fundamentally, defenses of identity, culture, and worldview.
An investigation into teachers' attitudes towards the teaching of modern foreign languages in the primary school

This research considers teachers' opinions on modern foreign language teaching in the primary school, through questionnaires in two schools and interviews with four individuals. This study found that there were mixed opinions as to the importance of teaching modern foreign languages. Although time and subject knowledge were highlighted as barriers, the majority felt the provisions in place should be continued.
Linear Permanent Magnet Oscillatory Machine: Comprehensive Modeling for Transients With Validation by Experiments

A linear and respective nonlinear state space model of a linear permanent magnet oscillatory machine is defined and then its parameters are computed from tests. The experiments were performed on two linear machine prototypes, one with interior permanent magnets and flux concentration and the other with surface permanent magnets. The finite element method model, validated on the existing prototype, shows further improvement possibilities of the interior permanent magnet machine. Dynamic tests and simulations with mechanical coupling of the two machines are used to validate the model in motion and on load. Good agreement between theory and tests in terms of various variables, including the linear position measured with a Laser-based transducer, has been observed.
The Transcriptional Complex Between the BCL2 i-Motif and hnRNP LL Is a Molecular Switch for Control of Gene Expression That Can Be Modulated by Small Molecules

In a companion paper (DOI: 10.021/ja410934b) we demonstrate that the C-rich strand of the cis-regulatory element in the BCL2 promoter element is highly dynamic in nature and can form either an i-motif or a flexible hairpin. Under physiological conditions these two secondary DNA structures are found in an equilibrium mixture, which can be shifted by the addition of small molecules that trap out either the i-motif (IMC-48) or the flexible hairpin (IMC-76). In cellular experiments we demonstrate that the addition of these molecules has opposite effects on BCL2 gene expression and furthermore that these effects are antagonistic. In this contribution we have identified a transcriptional factor that recognizes and binds to the BCL2 i-motif to activate transcription. The molecular basis for the recognition of the i-motif by hnRNP LL is determined, and we demonstrate that the protein unfolds the i-motif structure to form a stable single-stranded complex. In subsequent experiments we show that IMC-48 and IMC-76 have opposite, antagonistic effects on the formation of the hnRNP LL–i-motif complex as well as on the transcription factor occupancy at the BCL2 promoter. For the first time we propose that the i-motif acts as a molecular switch that controls gene expression and that small molecules that target the dynamic equilibrium of the i-motif and the flexible hairpin can differentially modulate gene expression.
The A Allele at rs 13419896 of EPAS 1 Is Associated with Enhanced Expression and Poor Prognosis for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Hypoxia-inducible factor-2α (HIF-2α, or EPAS1) is important for cancer progression, and is a putative biomarker for poor prognosis for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, molecular mechanisms underlying the EPAS1 overexpression are not still fully understood. We explored a role of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs13419896 located within intron 1 of the EPAS1 gene in regulation of its expression. Bioinformatic analyses suggested that a region including the rs13419896 SNP plays a role in regulation of the EPAS1 gene expression and the SNP alters the binding activity of transcription factors. In vitro analyses demonstrated that a fragment containing the SNP locus function as a regulatory region and that a fragment with A allele showed higher transactivation activity than one withG, especially in the presence of overexpressed c-Fos or c-Jun. Moreover, NSCLC patients with the A allele showed poorer prognosis than those withG at the SNP even after adjustment with various variables. In conclusion, the genetic polymorphism of the EPAS1 gene may lead to variation of its gene expression levels to drive progression of the cancer and serve as a prognostic marker for NSCLC.
Business-to-Consumer Mobile Agent-Based Internet Commerce System (MAGICS)

We present MAGICS, a mobile agent-based system for supporting business-to-consumer electronic commerce (e-commerce) or mobile commerce (m-commerce) applications. To use the system, consumers first provide their buying requirements to a proxy/agent server through a Web browser or a wireless application protocol (WAP) terminal. Having obtained the requirements, mobile agents are generated to carry out tasks for the consumers including getting offers from merchants, evaluating offers, and even completing purchases. In the case of mobile commerce, consumers can generate a mobile agent to conduct a search and evaluation in the digital marketspace before making a purchase in the physical marketplace. To make it possible to choose an offer that best satisfies the consumer's requirement(s), we present a mathematical model for evaluating multiple decision factors. To test the basic functions of the mobile agent-based Internet commerce system (MAGICS), we have built a prototype system. To minimize the average cost of a product (including the cost of sending agents), we have also developed an analytical model that can determine how many agents should be sent to compare prices. Four different price distributions and some real price information are analyzed based on the model. The analysis provides valuable insights into the design of mobile agent-based shopping applications for m-commerce, in particular, and for e-commerce, in general.
MicroRNA-15/16 Antagonizes Myb To Control NK Cell Maturation

NK cells develop in the bone marrow and complete their maturation in peripheral organs, but the molecular events controlling maturation are incompletely understood. The miR-15/16 family of microRNA regulates key cellular processes and is abundantly expressed in NK cells. In this study, we identify a critical role for miR-15/16 in the normal maturation of NK cells using a mouse model of NK-specific deletion, in which immature NK cells accumulate in the absence of miR-15/16. The transcription factor c-Myb (Myb) is expressed preferentially by immature NK cells, is a direct target of miR-15/16, and is increased in 15a/16-1 floxed knockout NK cells. Importantly, maturation of 15a/16-1 floxed knockout NK cells was rescued by Myb knockdown. Moreover, Myb overexpression in wild-type NK cells caused a defective NK cell maturation phenotype similar to deletion of miR-15/16, and Myb overexpression enforces an immature NK cell transcriptional profile. Thus, miR-15/16 regulation of Myb controls the NK cell maturation program.
A Sense of Identity Does Matter in Achieving Relevance and Meaning in Our Work

There was a phrase among the Boston immigrant Irish in the latter part of the 19th century that went something like this, “I shook the hand that shook the hand that shook the hand … of the Great John L …. ” This saying was in reference to the strong sense of identity that the Boston Irish shared with one of the first of their very own to gain international recognition and fame: the heavyweight champion of the world (1882–1892), John L. Sullivan. Undoubtedly the first national sports hero and best-known American of his generation, John L. Sullivan represented the hopes and aspirations of the millions of Americans who identified with him (Isenberg, 1988). His widely heralded success story is credited for acting as a “tipping point” for many youth to forsake a life of crime.
Online Gaming for Crowd-sourcing Phrase-equivalents

We propose the use of a game with a purpose (GWAP) to facilitate crowd-sourcing of phraseequivalents, as an alternative to expert or paid crowd-sourcing. Doodling is an online multiplayer game, in which one player (drawer), draws pictures on a shared board to get the other players (guessers) to guess the meaning behind an assigned phrase. In this paper we describe the system and results from several experiments intended to improve the quality of information generated by the play. In addition, we describe the mechanism by which we take candidate phrases generated during the games and filter out true phrase equivalents. We expect that, at scale, this game will be more cost-efficient than paid mechanisms for a similar task, and demonstrate this by comparing the productivity of an hour of game play to an equivalent crowd-sourced Amazon Mechanical Turk task to produce phrase-equivalents over one week.
Alignment of skeletal muscle myoblasts and myotubes using linear micropatterned surfaces ground with abrasives

Alignment of cells plays a significant key role in skeletal muscle tissue engineering because skeletal muscle tissue in vivo has a highly organized structure consisting of long parallel multinucleated myotubes formed through differentiation and fusion of myoblasts. In the present study, we developed an easy, simple, and low‐cost method for aligning skeletal muscle cells by using surfaces with linear microscale features fabricated by grinding. Iron blocks were ground in one direction with three kinds of abrasives (9 µm diamond suspension, #400 sandpaper, and #150 sandpaper) and then used as molds to make micropatterned polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates (type I, type II, and type III). Observation of the surface topography revealed that the PDMS substrates exhibited different degree of mean roughness (Ra), 0.03 µm for type I, 0.16 µm for type II, and 0.56 µm for type III, respectively. Murine skeletal muscle cell line C2C12 myoblasts were cultured and differentiated on the patterned PDMS substrates, and it was examined whether the alignment of C2C12 myoblasts and myotubes was possible. Although the cell growth and differentiation on the three types of patterned substrates were similar to those on the flat PDMS substrate as a control, the alignment of both C2C12 myoblasts and myotubes was obviously observed on types II and III, but not on type I or the control substrate. These results indicate that surfaces ground with abrasives will be useful for fabricating aligned skeletal muscle tissues. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009;103: 631–638. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Stein Rokkan's Thick Comparisons

Among Nordic social scientists during the postwar period. Stein Rokkan made the clearly most important contribution to comparative historical sociology. This article distinguishes three phases of his work: a phase of early experiences in the 1950s, followed by two mature phases in the 1960s and 1970s. In both these phases Rokkan wanted to explain the diversity of European political systems, but in the second mature phase he developed a much broader framework to analyse the economic, territorial and cultural contexts of Europe's political developments. The methodology of his conceptual maps and his model of Europe is discussed in some detail. It is argued that in his mature work. Rokkan increasingly departed both from variables-oriented sociology and mainstream positivist methodology. The notion of theory implied by his mature work corresponds best to the notion found among critics of variables-oriented sociology, and it converges with the notions of grounded theory and thick description as developed in interactionist schools of sociology.
The CXC Chemokine Receptor 2, CXCR2, Is the Putative Receptor for ELR+ CXC Chemokine-Induced Angiogenic Activity1

We have previously shown that members of the ELR+ CXC chemokine family, including IL-8; growth-related oncogenes α, β, and γ; granulocyte chemotactic protein 2; and epithelial neutrophil-activating protein-78, can mediate angiogenesis in the absence of preceding inflammation. To date, the receptor on endothelial cells responsible for chemotaxis and neovascularization mediated by these ELR+ CXC chemokines has not been determined. Because all ELR+ CXC chemokines bind to CXC chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2), we hypothesized that CXCR2 is the putative receptor for ELR+ CXC chemokine-mediated angiogenesis. To test this postulate, we first determined whether cultured human microvascular endothelial cells expressed CXCR2. CXCR2 was detected in human microvascular endothelial cells at the protein level by both Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry using polyclonal Abs specific for human CXCR2. To determine whether CXCR2 played a functional role in angiogenesis, we determined whether this receptor was involved in endothelial cell chemotaxis. We found that microvascular endothelial cell chemotaxis in response to ELR+ CXC chemokines was inhibited by anti-CXCR2 Abs. In addition, endothelial cell chemotaxis in response to ELR+ CXC chemokines was sensitive to pertussis toxin, suggesting a role for G protein-linked receptor mechanisms in this biological response. The importance of CXCR2 in mediating ELR+ CXC chemokine-induced angiogenesis in vivo was also demonstrated by the lack of angiogenic activity induced by ELR+ CXC chemokines in the presence of neutralizing Abs to CXCR2 in the rat corneal micropocket assay, or in the corneas of CXCR2−/− mice. We thus conclude that CXCR2 is the receptor responsible for ELR+ CXC chemokine-mediated angiogenesis.
Adolescent Alcohol and Marijuana Use: Concordance Among Objective-, Self-, and Collateral-Reports

SUMMARY The association of and difference between urinalysis, self- and parent collateral-report of alcohol and substance use at baseline, 3- and 9-month follow-up was assessed for 88 male and female adolescents from a treatment study. While urinalyses rates were higher than self and collateral-report, urinalyses and self-report did not differ significantly at follow-up. Associations between urinalyses and self-report were highest (r = .64, .69), followed by youth-/collateral report (.49, .55), and urinalyses/collateral-report (.28, .43). Change in youth subjective substance use was associated with collateral subjective perceptions of use at follow-up. Higher false-negatives render collateral less reliable than self-report but necessary in the assessment process.
Cloning of an Enterococcus faecalis endocarditis antigen: homology with adhesins from some oral streptococci

Serum from a patient with Enterococcus faecalis endocarditis was used to identify the gene efaA cloned in Lambda ZapII in Escherichia coli. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed a 924-bp open reading frame encoding a protein with a predicted molecular weight of 34,768. The amino acid sequence of EfaA shows 55 to 60% homology to a group of streptococcal proteins, FimA from Streptococcus parasanguis, SsaB from Streptococcus sanguis, ScaA from Streptococcus gordonii, and PsaA from Streptococcus pneumoniae. Members of this group have been shown to be adhesins, and we hypothesize that EfaA may function as an adhesin in endocarditis.
Cost consideration in the clinical guidance documents of physician specialty societies in the United States.

IMPORTANCE Despite increasing concerns regarding the cost of health care, the consideration of costs in the development of clinical guidance documents by physician specialty societies has received little analysis. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the approach to consideration of cost in publicly available clinical guidance documents and methodological statements produced between 2008 and 2012 by the 30 largest US physician specialty societies. DESIGN Qualitative document review. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Whether costs are considered in clinical guidance development, mechanism of cost consideration, and the way that cost issues were used in support of specific clinical practice recommendations. RESULTS Methodological statements for clinical guidance documents indicated that 17 of 30 physician societies (57%) explicitly integrated costs, 4 (13%) implicitly considered costs, 3 (10%) intentionally excluded costs, and 6 (20%) made no mention. Of the 17 societies that explicitly integrated costs, 9 (53%) consistently used a formal system in which the strength of recommendation was influenced in part by costs, whereas 8 (47%) were inconsistent in their approach or failed to mention the exact mechanism for considering costs. Among the 138 specific recommendations in these guidance documents that included cost as part of the rationale, the most common form of recommendation (50 [36%]) encouraged the use of a specific medical service because of equal effectiveness and lower cost. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Slightly more than half of the largest US physician societies explicitly consider costs in developing their clinical guidance documents; among these, approximately half use an explicit mechanism for integrating costs into the strength of recommendations. Many societies remain vague in their approach. Physician specialty societies should demonstrate greater transparency and rigor in their approach to cost consideration in documents meant to influence care decisions.
Boosting factor estimation for LTE control channel

This paper considers the problem of unknown boosting factor estimation for Long Term Evolution (LTE) downlink control channel, whose signal can be boosted or deboosted for power control. The boosting factor needs be estimated and utilized to deploy advanced receiver algorithms. We first show that an iterative algorithm can be used to find the solution for this estimation problem. However, the use of iterative algorithms poses numerous modem implementation challenges. For this reason, we investigate non-iterative estimation of the boosting factor and propose a novel approach based on joint estimation of the boosting factor and modulation symbols. The main idea of the proposed scheme is to utilize various techniques such as bias reduction and approximate dimension reduction and improve the estimation performance of this baseline method. The simulation results show that the proposed non-iterative algorithm can achieve near optimal performance close to that of the maximum likelihood (ML) solution for a wide range of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
“I don’t have much of an ethnic background” Exploring Changes in Dispositions towards Diversity in Preservice Teachers

Abstract As national populations grow more diverse, the need for preservice programs to prepare teachers with knowledge, skills and dispositions to cater for this diversity in ways that improve the academic outcomes of underachieving students becomes increasingly critical. However, the literature on teacher education shows that historically, teacher education programs have addressed diversity with add-on or piecemeal approaches, with little success. Previous research suggests that many preservice teachers enter and exit standalone cultural diversity courses unchanged, often reinforcing their stereotypical perceptions of self and others in the process. Through analysis of excerpts taken from student assessment, this article explores reported changes in dispositions towards diversity in preservice teachers enrolled in one standalone course about identity. The students undertook this course during the first semester of their degree at a university located in an outer suburb of an Australian city.
Local excitation of resonance modes in the Sub-THz planar resonators by AC Josephson effect

An excitation of various resonance modes in a square open-loop resonator were studied by Josephson spectroscopy. Copper resonator with square side sizes 234 μm and 173 μm correspondingly and 5 μm cut width was explored. Using different arrangements of the resonator against planar bicrystal Josephson junction from YBa2Cu3O7−x a number of resonances was observed in a frequency range from 60 GHz to 350 GHz. These resonances correspond to excitation of fundamental magnetic mode at frequency of 71 GHz, even plazmonic mode at frequency of 151 GHz and unhybridized plazmonic mode at frequency of 230 GHz. Experimental results were corroborated by the results of numerical simulation.