Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tempering the normative demands of professional learning communities with the organizational realities of life in schools: Exploring the cognitive dilemmas faced by educational leaders

This work explores how mindful leadership practice can inform school and district leadership specifically as it occurs in professional learning communities (PLC). When school and district leaders create PLC cultures that encourage rich thinking and intentional practice, individual and organizational mindfulness is present. As leaders work to craft informed responses to the demands before them, it is argued that such mindfulness places them in a position to maximize learning from the experiences of the moment. As an organizational structure, the PLC provides school members with a location for the practice of mindful leadership. Yet, the PLC can become an end in itself, a structure that organizes participants but lacks the necessary goal orientation for actors to engage in motivating and purposeful work and create meaningful outcomes. We assert that the mindful institutionalization of PLCs orients the school toward cultural change embodied in a collective attention that orients the work of its members. We argue that to do so requires attention to deeply developed explanations of activities within the school setting, opportunities for formative, substantive data use, and on-the-ground real-time orientation to communal learning. We argue that attention to these themes would further enhance the knowledge and skill set available to PLC members.
A Dynamic Load Distribution Algorithm for Virtual Worlds

The introduction of modern communication and computation technologies has greatly changed the traditional approaches processing computationally intensive applications such as Virtual Environments (VEs). Distributed and multi-server architectures are scalable and exploit the concepts of spatial and temporal locality for handling massive Distributed VEs (DVEs). However, using these environments require special attention for scalability, consistency, load balancing, and latency. The existing mechanisms primarily developed for games have key performance issues in managing large scale virtual worlds. In our previous work (Farooq and Glauert, 2009a), we have proposed a hierarchical infrastructure named JoHNUM for the development of scalable and consistent virtual worlds. Further, we have introduced the concept of aggregate region assignment to minimise resource utilisation and distribute the load as balanced as possible among servers (Farooq and Glauert, 2009a, 2009b). This paper presents our proposed load distribution algorithm that yields regular and contiguous areas for assignment. It examines possible combinations of regions based on proposed strategies but greatly reduces the aggregation process by using different filters. It also presents a simple communication model justifying the proposed strategies and load distribution algorithm. Simulation results with an extended set of experiments show that the proposed algorithm obtains fair distribution of load and has the capability to cope with small, medium and large scale environments while minimising communication and implementation cost.
Genomic Variation of Bartonella henselae Strains Detected in Lymph Nodes of Patients with Cat Scratch Disease

ABSTRACT Bartonella henselae is the primary agent of cat scratch disease (CSD). In order to study the genetic variation of B. henselae and the correlation of the various genotypes with epidemiological and clinical findings, two seminested, groEL- and pap31-based PCR assays were carried out with specimens from 273 patients. Amplicons were sequenced to determine the genotype of the causative Bartonella species. Compared to our reference intergenic spacer region-based PCR, the groEL- and pap31-based assays were 1.7 and 1.9 times more sensitive, respectively. All 107 positive patients were infected with B. henselae; neither Bartonella clarridgeiae nor other species were detected. Based on the groEL and pap31 sequences, B. henselae amplicons were classified into two genogroups, Marseille and Houston-1, and into four variants, Marseille, CAL-1, Houston-1, and a new variant, ZF-1. Patients infected with either one or the other genogroup did not exhibit different epidemiological or clinical characteristics. Our study highlights the genotypic heterogeneity of B. henselae in patients with CSD.
In Vitro Activity of Recombinant Lysostaphin against Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Anterior Nares and Blood

ABSTRACT The in vitro activity of recombinant lysostaphin was tested against a collection of well-characterized clinical Staphylococcus aureus isolates by disk diffusion (429 isolates) and minimum bactericidal concentration (10 isolates) assays. Minimum bactericidal concentrations of 0.16 μg/ml and zones of inhibition ranging between 15 and 21 mm in diameter demonstrate that lysostaphin was highly active against all isolates tested.
High-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels and risk of cancer in HIV-infected subjects

AbstractInvestigation of the relationship between high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-c) and the risk of developing cancer in a prospective cohort of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients.The Italian Cohort of Antiretroviral-naïve Patients Foundation Cohort is an Italian multicenter observational study recruiting HIV-positive patients while still antiretroviral treatment-naïve, regardless of the reason since 1997.Patients with at least 1 HDL-c value per year since enrollment and one such value before antiretroviral treatment initiation were included. HDL-c values were categorized as either low (<39 mg/dL in males or <49 mg/dL in females) or normal. Cancer diagnoses were classified as AIDS-defining malignancies (ADMs) or non-AIDS-defining malignancies (NADMs). Kaplan–Meier curves and Cox proportional-hazards regression models were used.Among 4897 patients (13,440 person-years of follow-up [PYFU]), 104 diagnoses of cancer were observed (56 ADMs, 48 NADMs) for an overall incidence rate of 7.7 (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.3–9.2) per 1000 PYFU.Low HDL-c values at enrollment were associated with higher risk both of cancer (crude hazard ratio [HR] 1.72, 95% CI 1.16–2.56, P = 0.007) and of NADM (crude HR 2.50, 95% CI 1.35–4.76, P = 0.003). Multivariate analysis showed that the risk of cancer diagnosis was higher in patients with low HDL-c values (adjusted HR [AHR] 1.87, 95% CI 1.18–2.95, P = 0.007) in older patients, those patients more recently enrolled, and in those with low current cluster of differentiation 4+ levels, and/or high current HIV-ribonucleic acid.The multivariate model confirmed an association between HDL-c (AHR 2.61, 95% CI 1.40–4.89, P = 0.003) and risk of NADM.Low HDL-c is an independent predictor of cancer in HIV-1-infected subjects.
Political Activism Research: Studying the Evoution of Political Behavior

The study of political activism has grown significantly within the last fifty years. Political participation was always the cornerstone of research in political science, but the advent of comparative political behavior studies and quantitative analysis has paved the way for data-driven investigations of who votes, why people participate and what types of political activities citizens prefer. This article is an introduction to the main scholarship in political participation studies, its evolution since the beginning, the shift in focus from conventional activism to unconventional engagement, up to the most recent innovation of digital participation. The political behavior field has showed how citizens are not necessarily prepared to be polit-ical animals, how political interest and opportunities play a role in the levels of participation recorded and how individuals may choose newer, confrontational modes of political expression that better fit their needs. In the end, the entire development of this field of research highlights once more the relevance of political action, especially with regards to how participation has changed in Europe, over time and across borders.
OFDM peak-to-average power reduction scheme with spectral masking

Clipping and filtering can be a simple and effective method of reducing the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) for an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal. To be effective the clipping must be performed on an oversampled version of the time domain signal, but this results in out-ofband (OOB) power. It has previously been shown that the OOB signals can be filtered out using a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) based filter. However filtering causes peak regrowth, and an increase in PAPR. In this paper it is shown that if the OOB power is limited rather than completely eliminated much less peak regrowth occurs. Simulation results are presented for HIPERLAN2.
Proteochemometric Mapping of the Interaction of Organic Compounds with Melanocortin Receptor Subtypes

Proteochemometrics was applied in the analysis of the binding of organic compounds to wild-type and chimeric melanocortin receptors. Thirteen chimeric melanocortin receptors were designed based on statistical molecular design; each chimera contained parts from three of the MC1,3-5 receptors. The binding affinities of 18 compounds were determined for these chimeric melanocortin receptors and the four wild-type melanocortin receptors. The data for 14 of these compounds were correlated to the physicochemical and structural descriptors of compounds, binary descriptors of receptor sequences, and cross-terms derived from ligand and receptor descriptors to obtain a proteochemometric model (correlation was performed using partial least-squares projections to latent structures; PLS). A well fitted mathematical model (R2 = 0.92) with high predictive ability (Q2 = 0.79) was obtained. In a further validation of the model, the predictive ability for ligands (Q2lig = 0.68) and receptors (Q2rec = 0.76) was estimated. The model was moreover validated by external prediction by using the data for the four additional compounds that had not at all been included in the proteochemometric model; the analysis yielded a Q2ext = 0.73. An interpretation of the results using PLS coefficients revealed the influence of particular properties of organic compounds on their affinity to melanocortin receptors. Three-dimensional models of melanocortin receptors were also created, and physicochemical properties of the amino acids inside the receptors' transmembrane cavity were correlated to the PLS modeling results. The importance of particular amino acids for selective binding of organic compounds was estimated and used to outline the ligand recognition site in the melanocortin receptors.
reas of left perisylvian cortex mediate auditory – verbal short-term memory

A contentious issue in memory research is whether verbal short-term memory (STM) depends on a neural system specifically dedicated to the temporary maintenance of information, or instead relies on the same brain areas subserving the comprehension and production of language. In this study, we examined a large sample of adults with acquired brain lesions to identify the critical neural substrates underlying verbal vailable online xxx eywords: hort-term memory anguage esion STM and the relationship between verbal STM and language processing abilities. We found that patients with damage to selective regions of left perisylvian cortex – specifically the inferior frontal and posterior temporal sectors – were impaired on auditory–verbal STM performance (digit span), as well as on tests requiring the production and/or comprehension of language. These results support the conclusion that verbal STM and language processing are mediated by the same areas of left perisylvian cortex.
Seroprevalence of rickettsial infections and Q fever in Bhutan

Background With few studies conducted to date, very little is known about the epidemiology of rickettsioses in Bhutan. Due to two previous outbreaks and increasing clinical cases, scrub typhus is better recognized than other rickettsial infections and Q fever. Methodology A descriptive cross-sectional serosurvey was conducted from January to March 2015 in eight districts of Bhutan. Participants were 864 healthy individuals from an urban (30%) and a rural (70%) sampling unit in each of the eight districts. Serum samples were tested by microimmunofluorescence assay for rickettsial antibodies at the Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory. Results Of the 864 participants, 345 (39.9%) were males and the mean age of participants was 41.1 (range 13–98) years. An overall seroprevalence of 49% against rickettsioses was detected. Seroprevalence was highest against scrub typhus group (STG) (22.6%) followed by spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsia (15.7%), Q fever (QF) (6.9%) and typhus group (TG) rickettsia (3.5%). Evidence of exposure to multiple agents was also noted; the commonest being dual exposure to STG and SFG at 5%. A person’s likelihood of exposure to STG and SFG rickettsia significantly increased with age and farmers were twice as likely to have evidence of STG exposure as other occupations. Trongsa district appeared to be a hotspot for STG exposure while Punakha district had the lowest STG exposure risk. Zhemgang had the lowest exposure risk to SFG rickettsia compared to other districts. People living at altitudes above 2000 meters were relatively protected from STG infections but this was not observed for SFG, TG or QF exposure. Conclusion This seroprevalence study highlights the endemicity of STG and SFG rickettsia in Bhutan. The high seroprevalence warrants appropriate public health interventions, such as diagnostic improvements and clinical treatment guidelines. Future studies should focus on vector profiles, geospatial, bio-social and environmental risk assessment and preventive and control strategies.
Secure Data Preservers for Web Services

We examine a novel proposal wherein a user who hands off her data to a web service has complete choice over the code and policies that constrain access to her data. Such an approach is possible if the web service does not require raw access to the user's data to implement its functionality; access to a carefully chosen interface to the data suffices. Our data preserver framework rearchitects such web services around the notion of a preserver, an object that encapsulates the user's data with code and policies chosen by the user. Our framework relies on a variety of deployment mechanisms, such as administrative isolation, software-based isolation (e.g., virtual machines), and hardware-based isolation (e.g., trusted platform modules) to enforce that the service interacts with the preserver only via the chosen interface. Our prototype implementation illustrates three such web services, and we evaluate the cost of privacy in our framework by characterizing the performance overhead compared to the status quo.
Voltage and Temperature-Aware SSTA Using Neural Network Delay Model

With the emergence of voltage scaling as one of the most powerful power reduction techniques, it has been important to support voltage scalable statistical static timing analysis (SSTA) in deep submicrometer process nodes. In this paper, we propose a single delay model of logic gate using neural network which comprehensively captures process, voltage, and temperature variation along with input slew and output load. The number of simulation programs with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) required to create this model over a large voltage and temperature range is found to be modest and 4&times; less than that required for a conventional table-based approach with comparable accuracy. We show how the model can be used to derive sensitivities required for linear SSTA for an arbitrary voltage and temperature. Our experimentation on ISCAS 85 benchmarks across a voltage range of 0.9-1.1 V shows that the average error in mean delay is less than 1.08% and average error in standard deviation is less than 2.85%. The errors in predicting the 99% and 1% probability point are 1.31% and 1%, respectively, with respect to SPICE. The two potential applications of voltage-aware SSTA have been presented, i.e., one for improving the accuracy of timing analysis by considering instance-specific voltage drops in power grids and the other for determining optimum supply voltage for target yield for dynamic voltage scaling applications.
Insulin Resistance Increases the Risk of Contrast-Induced Nephropathy in Patients Undergoing Elective Coronary Intervention

We assessed the influence of insulin resistance (IR) on the development of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) in patients (n = 719) undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Patients were divided into diabetes mellitus (DM = 242), nondiabetic IR (IR = 120), and nondiabetic insulin sensitivity (IS = 357) groups according to medical history and homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance index. Serum creatinine (SCr) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were measured before and 72 hours after PCI. There were no differences in SCr and eGFR among the groups before PCI; SCr increased and eGFR decreased significantly in the DM and IR groups post-PCI (P < .001). The incidence of CIN in the IR group was as high as in the DM group and were both significantly higher than in the IS group (6.7% vs 8.7% vs 2.2%, P < .05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed DM (odds ratio [OR] = 1.19, 95%CI = 1.08-1.510, P < .001), HOMA-IR (OR = 1.39, 95%CI = 1.23-1.58, P < 0.001), and eGFR (OR = 0.88, 95%CI = 0.84-0.92, P < .001) were independent risk factors in predicting CIN. Screening IR patients and taking appropriate prophylactic strategy before PCI may reduce the incidence of CIN.
The Rab21-GEF activity of Varp, but not its Rab32/38 effector function, is required for dendrite formation in melanocytes

ETOC: Varp contains two Rab-signaling domains—VPS9/Rab21-GEF domain and ANKR1/Rab32/38 effector domain—whose functional relationship had not previously been determined. It is shown that the Rab21-GEF activity of Varp, but not its Rab32/38 effector function, is required for forskolin-induced dendrite formation in melanocytes.
High-abundance polypeptides of the human plasma proteome comprising the top 4 logs of polypeptide abundance.

BACKGROUND Plasma contains thousands of proteins, but a small number of these proteins comprise the majority of protein molecules and mass. CONTENT We surveyed proteomic studies to identify candidates for high-abundance polypeptide chains. We searched the literature for information on the plasma concentrations of the most abundant components in healthy adults and for the molecular mass of the mature polypeptide chains in plasma. Because proteomic studies usually dissociate proteins into polypeptide chains or detect short peptide segments of proteins, we summarized data on individual peptide chains for proteins containing multiple subunits or polypeptides. We collected data on about 150 of the most abundant polypeptides in plasma. The abundant polypeptides span approximately the top 4 logs of concentration in plasma, from 650 to 0.06 micromol/L on a molar basis or from about 50,000 to 1 mg/L mass abundance. CONCLUSIONS Data on the concentrations of the high-abundance peptide chains in plasma assist in understanding the composition of plasma and potential approaches for clinical laboratory or proteomic analysis of plasma proteins. Development of more extensive databases regarding the plasma concentrations of proteins in health and diseases would promote diagnostic and proteomic advances.
Physicochemical and morphological characterizations of glyceryl tristearate/castor oil nanocarriers prepared by the solvent diffusion method

Neste estudo, nanocarreadores lipidicos foram preparados a partir do triestearato de glicerila e oleo de ricino em diferentes proporcoes pela tecnica de difusao do solvente a quente. Estearato de PEG-660 ou Poloxamer 188 e lecitina de soja foram usados como surfactante e cossurfactante, respectivamente. Caracteristicas estruturais e fisico-quimicas das particulas foram investigadas por meio de espalhamento de luz dinâmico (DLS), calorimetria exploratoria diferencial (DSC), espalhamento de raios X a altos ângulos (WAXS), microscopia de forca atomica (AFM) e microscopia eletronica de transmissao (TEM e cryo-TEM). A analise por DLS indicou que particulas menores foram obtidas quando o lipidio liquido foi usado sozinho para obter as nanoemulsoes (NEs). Tecnicas microscopicas (TEM e cryo-TEM) mostraram que as NEs apresentaram formas esfericas, enquanto as nanoparticulas lipidicas solidas (NLSs) e os carreadores lipidicos nanoestruturados (CLNs) apresentaram formas mais complexas. As NLSs exibiram estrutura cristalina lamelar, enquanto os CLNs exibiram uma estrutura mista composta de fase cristalina lamelar em contato com compartimento oleoso. Estes experimentos contribuem para um melhor entendimento da capacidade de incorporacao e liberacao de farmacos destes nanocarreadores. In this study, drug delivery nanocarriers based on glyceryl tristearate and castor oil at different ratios were prepared by the hot solvent diffusion method. PEG 660-stearate or Poloxamer 188 and soybean lecithin were used as surfactant and co-surfactant, respectively. Structural and physicochemical characteristics of the particles were investigated by means of dynamic light scattering (DLS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM and cryo-TEM). DLS data indicated that smaller particles were obtained when the liquid lipid was used alone to prepare nanoemulsions (NEs). TEM and cryo-TEM images showed that NEs presented spherical particles, whereas solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) presented more complex shapes. SLNs exhibited lamellar crystal structure, while NLCs displayed a hybrid structure composed of a lamellar crystalline phase in contact with a liquid oil compartment. These experiments contribute to a better understanding of the structure and release performance of these drug carrier systems.
Directional control of cell motility through focal adhesion positioning and spatial control of Rac activation

Local physical interactions between cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) influence directional cell motility that is critical for tissue development, wound repair, and cancer metastasis. Here we test the possibility that the precise spatial positioning of focal adhesions governs the direction in which cells spread and move. NIH 3T3 cells were cultured on circular or linear ECM islands, which were created using a microcontact printing technique and were 1 μm wide and of various lengths (1 to 8 μm) and separated by 1 to 4.5 μm wide nonadhesive barrier regions. Cells could be driven proactively to spread and move in particular directions by altering either the interisland spacing or the shape of similar‐sized ECM islands. Immunofluorescence microscopy confirmed that focal adhesions assembled preferentially above the ECM islands, with the greatest staining intensity being observed at adhesion sites along the cell periphery. Rac‐FRET analysis of living cells revealed that Rac became activated within 2 min after peripheral membrane extensions adhered to new ECM islands, and this activation wave propagated outward in an oriented manner as the cells spread from island to island. A computational model, which incorporates that cells preferentially protrude membrane processes from regions near newly formed focal adhesion contacts, could predict with high accuracy the effects of six different arrangements of micropatterned ECM islands on directional cell spreading. Taken together, these results suggest that physical properties of the ECM may influence directional cell movement by dictating where cells will form new focal adhesions and activate Rac and, hence, govern where new membrane protrusions will form. — Xia N. , Thodeti, C. K. , Hunt, T. P., Xu, Q. , Ho, M. , Whitesides, G. M. , Westervelt, R. , Ingber D. E. Directional control of cell motility through focal adhesion positioning and spatial control of Rac activation. FASEB J. 22, 1649–1659 (2008)