Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reflexive Modernization and Beyond

The relationship between knowledge and values, experts and lay people, represents a major issue of the debate involving environment and technology. There is a growing awareness that the connection between value commitments and technical solutions, scientific expertise and lay competence, is much more entangled than once was believed. The article deals with this issue by analysing Robert Dahl's `minipopulus' and Silvio Funtowicz and Jerry Ravetz's `extended peer communities' arguments. They are subsequently inserted into the sociological debate which is, at present, considerably influenced by the reflexive modernization framework. As a result, Ulrich Beck's and Anthony Giddens' theories appear as one of four ideal-typical approaches to the social construction of the issues that can be outlined, according to the priority assigned to knowledge versus power and nature versus society. The idea of an `extended peer review' of problems and solutions is remarkably close to the deliberative democracy concept. However, the high level of uncertainty characterizing major environmental and technological questions suggests that a `strong' version of deliberative democracy, such as the Discourse Ethics proposed by Habermas, is untenable in its search for a universal, rational consensus on the normative grounds of action. Thus it is necessary to develop a `weak' interpretation of the extended peer review, exploring the possibility of fair and stable agreements on bounded, practical solutions to bounded, practical problems.
A Possible Aeronomy of Extrasolar Terrestrial Planets 1. Known Extrasolar Systems

Terrestrial planetary systems may exist around nearby stars as the Earth-sized counterparts to the many giant planets already discovered within the solar neighborhood. In this chapter we rst discuss the numerous techniques which have been suggested to search for extrasolar terrestrial planets. We then focus on the expected results from that technique in which an orbiting telescope or interferometer is used to obtain a visible or infrared spectrum of a planet, without contamination from the parent star. We show examples of such spectra for selected cases: the present Earth, the Neoproterozoic (snowball) Earth, a methane-rich Earth, and the present Mars and Venus. We conclude by discussing the implications of such spectra for the detection of life on an extrasolar terrestrial planet. The rst planet orbiting a solar-type star beyond the solar system was announced in 1995. Since then, as of October 2001, 66 planets have been found and con-rmed, orbiting 58 stars with a median distance from the sun of about 28 pc. The search database contains roughly 1200 stars. Current estimates of the frequency of massive planets range from about 3-5% to 6-7% J. Schneider, and G. Marcy, resp. , personal communication]. The number of detected planets is growing monthly, as observing techniques are reened, and as the time base of the record increases, allowing longer-period planet signatures to be extracted from the radial velocity sequences. The deenition of a planet can be a controversial issue, as is evidenced by the recent debate on whether Pluto should be classiied as a planet, or a trans-Neptunian or Kuiper-belt object. However in the case of extrasolar planets the debate centers not on the question of the low-mass end of the scale, as for Pluto, but on the high-mass end, which is the realm of the planets discovered to date. The question is, should these objects be classiied as planets, brown dwarfs, or small stars? Here we adopt the recommendation of Oppenheimer et al. 2000] for objects of solar metallicity: the minimum mass for a brown dwarf is about 13 M J (where 2 M J is the mass of Jupiter) or 0.013 M sun , suucient to allow deuterium burning; the minimum mass for a main sequence star is about 78 M J or 0.075 M sun , suucient to allow hydrogen burning. Pulsar planets, known since 1992 from variations in pulse arrival times from pulsars, are kept in a separate category …
The spiritual dimension in leadership at Dilmah Tea

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is first to report an exploratory study intended to capture the elements of a leader's spirituality; and second to examine these elements against the current discussion of spiritual leadership in general, and the transcendental leadership model in particular.Design/methodology/approach – Within a single case study scenario, the in‐depth interview method captures the elements of the leader's spirituality. Grounded theory is used to analyze the data.Findings – The findings suggest that a spiritually driven leader's high internal locus, a strong passion for giving and caring for his followers, and spirituality epitomize the concept of transcendental leadership.Research limitations/implications – The major limitation concerns generalizability of the findings. While in‐depth studies of larger samples of spiritually driven business leaders are needed, these leaders could be drawn from different cultural settings. Using different assessment tools to measure various aspects of .
Effects of short-term feeding of Bt MON810 maize on growth performance, organ morphology and function in pigs

Male weanling pigs (n 32) with a mean initial body weight of 7·5 kg and a mean weaning age of 28 d were used in a 31 d study to investigate the effects of feeding GM (Bt MON810) maize on growth performance, intestinal histology and organ weight and function. At weaning, the pigs were fed a non-GM starter diet during a 6 d acclimatisation period. The pigs were then blocked by weight and litter ancestry and assigned to diets containing 38·9 % GM (Bt MON810) or non-GM isogenic parent line maize for 31 d. Body weight and feed disappearance were recorded on a weekly basis (n 16/treatment), and the pigs (n 10/treatment) were killed on day 31 for the collection of organ, tissue and blood samples. GM maize-fed pigs consumed more feed than the control pigs during the 31 d study (P < 0·05) and were less efficient at converting feed to gain during days 14–30 (P < 0·01). The kidneys of the pigs fed GM maize tended to be heavier than those of control pigs (P = 0·06); however, no histopathological changes or alterations in blood biochemistry were evident. Small intestinal morphology was not different between treatments. However, duodenal villi of GM maize-fed pigs tended to have fewer goblet cells/μm of villus compared with control pigs (P = 0·10). In conclusion, short-term feeding of Bt MON810 maize to weaned pigs resulted in increased feed consumption, less efficient conversion of feed to gain and a decrease in goblet cells/μm of duodenal villus. There was also a tendency for an increase in kidney weight, but this was not associated with changes in histopathology or blood biochemistry. The biological significance of these findings is currently being clarified in long-term exposure studies in pigs.
Estimation of vessel flow and diameter during cerebral vasospasm using transcranial Doppler indices.

OBJECTIVE An important limitation of transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasonography is its inability to directly measure blood flow or vessel diameter. To extend the ability of TCD ultrasonography, indices were derived from an intensity-weighted mean of the entire Doppler spectrum. The objective of this article is to test the behavior of these indices under conditions of diameter constancy (hyper- and hypoventilation) and when vessel diameter decreases (vasospasm). METHODS A flow index (FI) was calculated by averaging several heartbeats of spectral data and calculating the first spectral moment. An area index (AI) was defined as the FI divided by the mean velocity, motivated by the knowledge that vessel flow is the product of vessel diameter and mean velocity. To test the FI and the AI under conditions of diameter constancy, middle cerebral artery Doppler signals were obtained from 20 patients during conditions of hypercarbia, hypocarbia, and normocarbia. To test the ability of these indices to evaluate a decrease in vessel diameter, signals from 41 sites on 23 arteries were obtained from patients who underwent both TCD and angiographic studies on two separate occasions after the occurrence of subarachnoid hemorrhage. The changes in the AI were compared with the arterial diameters measured from angiograms. RESULTS The FI was proportional to the mean velocity in the cohort of healthy patients (r=0.97). The AI changed by less than 3% in the same cohort. The AI predicted the direction of the diameter change in all vessels showing angiographic changes in area. Changes in the AI and the measured angiographic changes in cross-sectional areas were correlated (overall, r=0.90; with two outlines removed, r=0.86). CONCLUSION This variant of the intensity-weighted mean predicts changes in vessel cross-sectional area under conditions of changes in CO2 and cerebral vasospasm. This preliminary study suggests that careful use of this tool may provide accurate evaluation of cerebral blood flow through the large vessels and quantitative changes in diameter, which occur frequently after subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Collaborative Computing for Heterogeneous Integrated Systems

Computing systems today typically employ, in addition to powerful CPUs, various types of specialized devices such as Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Such heterogeneous systems are evolving towards tighter integration of devices for improved performance and reduced energy consumption. Compared to traditional use of GPUs and FPGAs as offload accelerators, this tight integration enables close collaboration between processors which is important for better utilization of system resources and higher performance. Programming interfaces are also adapting rapidly to tightly integrated heterogeneous platforms by introducing features such as shared virtual memory, memory coherence, and system-wide atomics, making collaborative computing among different devices even more practical. In this paper, we survey current integrated heterogeneous systems and corresponding collaboration techniques. We evaluate the impact of collaborative computing on two heterogeneous integrated systems, CPU-GPU and CPU-FPGA, using OpenCL. Finally, we discuss the limitation of OpenCL and envision what suitable programming languages for collaborative computing will look like.
Leakage loss in trench-bulge waveguides

This paper shows that leakage loss is an important loss mechanism in integrated optical trench-bulge waveguides. The propagation losses due to leakage can easily exceed 1 dB/cm in these waveguide geometries. By simply using a deeper trench or a cavity in the substrate to deposit the waveguide in, the leakage losses can be reduced dramatically.
The association of body mass index with social and economic disadvantage in women and men.

BACKGROUND Although an inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and body mass index (BMI) is well documented, broad population studies focusing on the association between BMI and various forms of disadvantage such as unemployment, low income or social isolation are rare. METHODS A nationwide, representative sample of 25-64-year-old Finnish subjects (n = 6016) was classified according to their BMI into four groups: 'thin' (BMI < 20), 'normal' (BMI 20-24.9), 'overweight' (BMI 25-29.9) and 'obese' (BMI > or = 30). Multivariable analyses using logistic regression were conducted with this BMI-grouping as an independent variable to predict social and economic disadvantage, controlling simultaneously for age, educational attainment, region of residence, and limiting long-standing illness. RESULTS In women, overweight was associated with current unemployment and obesity with long-term unemployment as well as absence of close friends outside the family circle. Both overweight and obesity were associated with low individual earnings. Obese women were also most likely to have low household disposable and individual incomes; a similar pattern was seen among thin women. A small subgroup of thin men were socially and economically disadvantaged with all our indicators whereas excess body weight was not problematic for men. CONCLUSIONS Deviant body weight is associated with social and economic disadvantage in a gender-specific and partly curvilinear way. In particular, obese women face multiple social and economic disadvantage.
Mirtazapine versus paroxetine in panic disorder: an open study

Introduction Open studies suggest that mirtazapine has efficacy in panic disorder treatment. We designed an open study that evaluates changes induced by mirtazapine compared with paroxetine in panic disorder. Methodology Patients 18–65 years old consecutively referred to a psychiatry liaison service with panic disorder (DSM-IV criteria) were offered either mirtazapine or paroxetine treatment. Results There were statistically significant reductions from baseline to week 3 and from week 3 to 8 for mirtazapine and paroxetine groups for: number of panic attacks, Beck Anxiety or Depression Inventory (BAI, BDI) Clinical Global Impresion (CGI) of panic disorder severity and CGI of panic disorder response (these variables were evaluated by the patient, the clinician or a blind evaluator). Responders at week 3 (BAI decrease of 50%) were 83% for the mirtazapine group and 84% for the paroxetine group. Responders at week 8 (number of panic attacks equal to 0) were 77% for the mirtazapine group and 73% for the paroxetine group Statistically significant differences between mirtazapine and paroxetine were found for number of panic attacks at weeks 3 and 8 and BAI at week 3, suggesting a faster response for mirtazapine. Responders at week 8 maintained a no recurrence figure of 95% at follow-up 6 months later. Panic disorder either with or without comorbid depression improved in both groups of treatment. Discussion Our study supports the hypothesis that mirtazapine has efficacy in the treatment of panic disorder either with or without comorbid depression.
Colorimetric assay of HIV-1 Tat protein and peptide

Colorimetric analysis has been used to determine the biomolecules interaction in a solution with that can be indicated from color changes that can be observed either by spectrophotometer or naked eyes. Gold nanoparticles (GNP) which originally exist as pink color solution will aggregate and turn to purple color when mixed with salt solution. It was used as the basic solution and it mixed with aptamer probe and when NaCl salt solution was added to the mixture, the color changes was observed from pink to purple in the presence of HIV-1 Tat protein target. GNP are capable of adsorbing small oligonucleotides due to their propensity for electrostatic attractions, hydrophobic absorption, and covalent binding. In this experiment, GNP adsorbed the aptamer probe covering its surface preventing salt solution from interacting with GNP. Colorimetric detection is use to prove the interaction that happened in the mixing solution of aptamer and protein by observing the color changes with the presence of target and measuring the absorbance of wavelength of the solution. The wavelength shift has been observed due to changes in color. The value of wavelength for GNP observed was 522nm and shifted in wavelength can be observed in the presence of tat protein at 531.83nm while for tat peptide at 529.84nm.
Prophecy, Authenticity, Oppositional Models: Writers and Politics in Africa

pling with in this paper. How do we integrate disciplines to analyze and more fully understand the present dynamic reality in African societies and nations? The supposed modern situation seems almost like the traditional structures in the overlapping of what are presented in academic studies as separate institutions to be studied in different departments. Religion, literature, social studies, economics, and political science all seem interconnected by large contemporary themes of social justice, human rights, the state, democracy, and development. Religious, literary, and political prophets also are engaged in and are affected by the same problems of imperialism: hence my concern with resistance and models of opposition. I find it necessary to broaden the scope of my concern with prophecy and opposition in Africa to cross disciplines and histories. Focusing on the issue of gender, I draw comparisons of leadership from religion, literature, and politics, as tradition and modernity are juxtaposed in the context of capitalism, globalization, and the struggle for culture and self-determination.
Developments in Multidimensional Item Response Theory

This Special Issue of APM is devoted to current developments in multidimensional item response theory (MIRT). It consists of eight papers that present applications of MIRT models to practical testing problems. Six are in this issue and two will be published in the March 1997 issue. The goal of this Special Issue is to provide the testing community with innovative MIRT techniques that can be used to better comprehend and explain the assessment process. It is hoped that measurement specialists will use these psychometric tools to gain greater insight into what their tests are measuring and subsequently create more valid and reliable instruments. The first paper by Ackerman introduces different ways to examine MIRT analyses graphically. Focusing primarily on the two-dimensional compensatory MIRT model, graphical examples include item response surfaces, information vectors, centroid plots of conditional latent trait distributions, and pictorial representation of maximum likelihood estimation of trait level in a two-dimensional latent trait space. Stout, Roussos, and Nandakumar guide the testing practitioner through antalgorithmic approach to assessing the dimensionality of-item response data. Several different analytic procedures including DIMTEST, HCA, PROX, and DETECT developed by Stout and his students are discussed. Examples of these procedure on real data are provided. Intimately tied to the issue of dimensionality is the issue of differential item functioning (DIF). The third paper by Roussos and Stout identifies a multidimensional-based guide to detect DIF. This new paradigm unifies the substantive and statistical DIF approaches using a mathematically rigorous conceptualization of DIF. The authors encourage greater integration of DIF analyses with the overall test development process. The next paper by van der Linden further examines test construction methodology from a multidimensional perspective. Several cases of multidimensional test assembly that utilize a linear programming model are reviewed.
Validity of diagnostic codes and liver‐related laboratory abnormalities to identify hepatic decompensation events in the Veterans Aging Cohort Study

The absence of validated methods to identify hepatic decompensation in cohort studies has prevented a full understanding of the natural history of chronic liver diseases and impact of medications on this outcome. We determined the ability of diagnostic codes and liver‐related laboratory abnormalities to identify hepatic decompensation events within the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS).
Cognitive and communicative function : The effects of chronological age and "handicap age"

Abstract Three classes of cognitive tests (short-term memory, long-term memory access/recall, and verbal ability) and one class of communicative tests (visual speech-reading) were administered to 49 hearing-impaired and 69 normal hearing subjects, varying in age between 23 and 75 years. It was found that when dB-loss and “handicap age” were partialled out, the negative effects of cognitive ageing remained: Speed in accessing alphanumeric symbols from long-term memory and as rehearsal speed correlated substantially with chronological age. Discriminant analyses revealed a communality between the discrimination of old from young subjects, and skilled from less skilled speech-readers: Visual decoding skill and rehearsal speed constituted the common discriminators. Departing from this result, an age-dependent componential model of visual speech-reading is delineated. with particular reference to the assumption that a temporally early lexical access system is crucial to the decoding of lip movements.
Digitalcommons@university of Nebraska -lincoln Estimates of Genetic Parameters for Direct and Maternal Effects on Embryonic Survival in Swine Estimates of Genetic Parameters for Direct and Maternal Effects on Embryonic Survival in Swine'jj

Survival of 16,838 potential embryos was determined by counting corpora lutea and fetuses at 50 d of gestation for 1,081 litters by 225 sires. These data, coded as 1 or 0 depending on whether an ovulation was represented by a fetus, were used to estimate direct and maternal additive genetic variances and their covariance for embryonic survival. Data were from fist-parity gilts of a Large White-Landrace composite population subdivided into two lines, one selected for an index of ovulation rate and embryonic survival for seven generations and a contemporary control line. Variance components were obtained by ANOVA and expectations of covariances among relatives and by derivative-free restricted maximum likelihood (Din in an animal model. As a trait of the embryo, heritability of direct effects obtained with ANOVA was 3.8%, heritability of maternal effects was 1.5%, and the genetic correlation between them was-. 51. After adjustment of embryonic swival for ovulation rate, lower estimates of each parameter were obtained with ANOVA. Heritability of embryonic survival as a trait of the dam was 9 to 10%. Estimates of heritability of both direct and maternal effects obtained with DFREML were < 1% and the genetic correlation between them was-. 64. When survival of embryos from only those dams with 15 or more ovulations was analyzed, heritability of maternal effects was 4.4%. Estimates of common environmental effects on embryonic survival ranged from 5 to 7%.
Detection and sequencing of rotavirus among sudanese children

Abstract Introduction Diarrheal diseases are a big public health problem worldwide, particularly among developing countries. The current study was conducted to detect and characterize group A rotavirus among admitted children with gastroenteritis to the pediatric hospitals, Sudan. Methods A total of 755 stool samples were collected from Sudanese children with less than 5 years of age presenting with acute gastroenteritis during the period from April to September 2010. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to Detection of Rotavirus antigens. Ribonucleic acid (RNAs) were extracted from rotavirus-positive stool samples using (QIAamp® Viral RNA Mini Kit). (Omniscript® Reverse Transcription kit) was used to convert RNA to complementary Deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA). The cDNAs were used as template for detection of VP4-P (P for Protease-sensitive) and VP7-G (G for Glycoprotein) genotyping of Rotavirus using nested PCR and sequencing. Results Out of the 755 stool samples from children with acute gastroenteritis, 121 were positive for rotavirus A. Among 24 samples that were sequenced; the VP7 predominant G type was G1 (83.3%), followed by G9 (16.7%). Out of these samples, only one VP4 P[8] genotype was detected. Conclusion As a conclusion the VP7 predominant G type was G1, followed by G9 whereas only one VP4 genotype was detected and showed similarity to P[8] GenBank strain. It appears that the recently approved rotavirus vaccines in Sudan are well matched to the rotavirus genotypes identified in this study, though more studies are needed.