Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
To CBE or not to CBE: The Washington state experience

Background In July 2012, the 34 presidents, three chancellors, and State Board leaders for the community and technical colleges of Washington State created a Strategic Visioning Committee. The committee's first project was to identify ways to achieve higher educational attainment rates in the context of the Great Recession with a substantially reduced investment in higher education. The group focused on educational delivery changes that would result in a high-quality education that is more affordable by utilizing technology. Methods The approach the committee pursued was competency-based education, modeled after Western Governors University. This study examines a critical question within this context: “Can a sustainable, low-cost CBE program be built from scratch inside or across institutions that have not had grassroots faculty activity for building one? ” Results The result was the first, statewide, competency-Based, online, degree (a direct transfer associate's degree in business), developed, funded, and delivered collaboratively by six colleges and the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. Conclusion The article describes the organizational factors and challenges that the collaborating colleges experienced in reaction to the introduction and implementation of the jointly developed CBE degree.
Radionuclide‐antibody conjugates for single‐cell cytotoxicity

Radioimmunotherapy has primarily utilized high‐energy β‐particles, which are intended to kill macroscopic tumor masses. Such conjugates do not kill single cells or micrometastases efficiently. For killing single cells, it may be preferable to use radiation with a much shorter path length, such as α‐particles or Auger or conversion electrons.
A systematic approach to design and optimise streaming applications on FPGA using high-level synthesis

This paper proposes a systematic approach to help designers to optimise a given streaming application for FPGAs using High-Level Synthesis (HLS). The proposed technique specifically addresses the two main issues in a streaming application that are determining the exact amount of loop unrolling in the HLS code to increase the throughput and finding the optimum buffers' size to prevent deadlocks. To evaluate the proposed techniques two applications from the machine learning optimisation area are studied in the paper. These applications are Hessian-vector product and Conjugate Gradient (CG). The experimental results show up to 38× speed-up in throughput compared to the original streaming implementations provided by knowledgeable engineers using the dataflow, loop pipelining and FIFO channel related pragmas provided by the HLS tool. In addition, these applications show up to 2.98 GB/sec usage of memory bandwidth which is 93.1% of the total memory bandwidth available on the system. The source codes of the designs are available at https://github.com/Hosseinabady/csdfg-hls.
Daya Saing Ekspor Teh Indonesia di Pasar Teh Dunia

English The purposes of this study was to analyze competitive position of Indonesian tea in the world market using Constant Market Share (CMS) approach. The result show that export growth of Indonesian tea was lower than world tea export growth due to (1) product composition problem; (2) distribution aspect problem; and (3) low competitiveness of Indonesian tea. To increase the growth of Indonesian tea export, exporters should increase tea export in form of down-stream products as well as bulk green tea. Competitive position of Indonesian tea is lower than that other tea producing countries, except Bangladesh. Indonesian Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui posisi daya saing teh Indonesia di pasar teh dunia dengan menggunakan pendekatan Constant Market Share (CMS). Data statistik menunjukkan bahwa pertumbuhan ekspor teh Indonesia jauh di bawah pertumbuhan ekspor teh dunia. Masalah tersebut disebabkan karena (1) komposisi produk teh yang diekspor Indonesia kurang mengikuti kebutuhan pasar; (2) negara-negara tujuan ekspor teh Indonesia kurang ditujukan ke negara-negara pengimpor teh yang memiliki pertumbuhan impor teh tinggi; dan (3) daya saing teh Indonesia di pasar teh dunia yang masih lemah. Dalam rangka meningkatkan pertumbuhan ekspor teh Indonesia, diperlukan upaya untuk meningkatkan komposisi produk teh melalui peningkatan ekspor teh Indonesia dalam bentuk produk-produk hilir dan teh hijau curah. Selain itu, diperlukan upaya untuk meningkatkan pengaruh distribusi pasar. Pada aspek daya saing, posisi daya saing teh Indonesia lebih lemah dibandingkan negara-negara produsen teh lainnya, kecuali Bangladesh.
Examining Bidirectional Pathways Between Exposure to Political Violence and Adolescent Adjustment in Northern Ireland

Research on social ecologies of political violence has been largely confined to cross-sectional tests of the impact of political violence on child adjustment, limiting perspectives on more nuanced causal pathways, including tests of reciprocal relations between exposure to political violence and child adjustment. Based on a four-wave longitudinal study, this research breaks new ground in assessing bidirectional relations between exposure to political violence in the form of experience with sectarian antisocial behavior and adolescents’ adjustment problems. The study included 999 mother–adolescent dyads selected from working-class neighborhoods in Belfast ranked in the bottom quartile in terms of social deprivation in Northern Ireland, with approximately 35–40 families recruited to participate from each neighborhood. Across the four annual waves of data, adolescents (52% female) were 12.18 (SD = 1.82), 13.24 (SD = 1.83), 13.62 (SD = 1.99), and 14.66 (SD = 1.96) years old. Cross-lagged path models were tested through R package lavaan with full information maximum likelihood. Reflecting a reciprocal pathway, adjustment problems related to higher reports of experience with sectarian antisocial behavior 1 year later. Boys’ experience with sectarian antisocial behavior related to greater adjustment problems 1 year later, but this reciprocal path did hold for the girls. These findings offer promising directions toward better modeling of dynamic relations between exposure to political violence and adolescent adjustment over time.
The Prevalence, Severity, and Distribution of Childhood Food Allergy in the United States

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to better estimate the prevalence and severity of childhood food allergy in the United States. METHODS: A randomized, cross-sectional survey was administered electronically to a representative sample of US households with children from June 2009 to February 2010. Eligible participants included adults (aged 18 years or older) able to complete the survey in Spanish or English who resided in a household with at least 1 child younger than 18 years. Data were adjusted using both base and poststratification weights to account for potential biases from sampling design and nonresponse. Data were analyzed as weighted proportions to estimate prevalence and severity of food allergy. Multiple logistic regression models were constructed to identify characteristics significantly associated with outcomes. RESULTS: Data were collected for 40 104 children; incomplete responses for 1624 children were excluded, which yielded a final sample of 38 480. Food allergy prevalence was 8.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 7.6–8.3). Among children with food allergy, 38.7% had a history of severe reactions, and 30.4% had multiple food allergies. Prevalence according to allergen among food-allergic children was highest for peanut (25.2% [95% CI: 23.3–27.1]), followed by milk (21.1% [95% CI: 19.4–22.8]) and shellfish (17.2% [95% CI: 15.6–18.9]). Odds of food allergy were significantly associated with race, age, income, and geographic region. Disparities in food allergy diagnosis according to race and income were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that the prevalence and severity of childhood food allergy is greater than previously reported. Data suggest that disparities exist in the clinical diagnosis of disease.
Low TLR4 Expression by Liver Dendritic Cells Correlates with Reduced Capacity to Activate Allogeneic T Cells in Response to Endotoxin1

Signaling via TLRs results in dendritic cell (DC) activation/maturation and plays a critical role in the outcome of primary immune responses. So far, no data exist concerning TLR expression by liver DC, generally regarded as less immunostimulatory than secondary lymphoid tissue DC. Because the liver lies directly downstream from the gut, it is constantly exposed to bacterial LPS, a TLR4 ligand. We examined TLR4 expression by freshly isolated, flow-sorted C57BL/10 mouse liver DC compared with spleen DC. Real-time PCR revealed that liver CD11c+CD8α− (myeloid) and CD11c+CD8α+ (“lymphoid-related”) DC expressed lower TLR4 mRNA compared with their splenic counterparts. Lower TLR4 expression correlated with reduced capacity of LPS (10 ng/ml) but not anti-CD40-stimulated liver DC to induce naive allogeneic (C3H/HeJ) T cell proliferation. By contrast to LPS-stimulated splenic DC, these LPS-activated hepatic DC induced alloantigen-specific T cell hyporesponsiveness in vitro, correlated with deficient Th1 (IFN-γ) and Th2 (IL-4) responses. When higher LPS concentrations (≥100 ng/ml) were tested, the capacity of liver DC to induce proliferation of T cells and Th1-type responses was enhanced, but remained inferior to that of splenic DC. Hepatic DC activated by LPS in vivo were inferior allogeneic T cell stimulators compared with splenic DC, whereas adoptive transfer of LPS-stimulated (10 ng/ml) liver DC induced skewing toward Th2 responses. These data suggest that comparatively low expression of TLR4 by liver DC may limit their response to specific ligands, resulting in reduced or altered activation of hepatic adaptive immune responses.
Working memory recall precision is a more sensitive index than span.

Delayed adjustment tasks have recently been developed to examine working memory (WM) precision, that is, the resolution with which items maintained in memory are recalled. However, despite their emerging use in experimental studies of healthy people, evaluation of patient populations is sparse. We first investigated the validity of adjustment tasks, comparing precision with classical span measures of memory across the lifespan in 114 people. Second, we asked whether precision measures can potentially provide a more sensitive measure of WM than traditional span measures. Specifically, we tested this hypothesis examining WM in a group with early, untreated Parkinson's disease (PD) and its modulation by subsequent treatment on dopaminergic medication. Span measures correlated with precision across the lifespan: in children, young, and elderly participants. However, they failed to detect changes in WM in PD patients, either pre- or post-treatment initiation. By contrast, recall precision was sensitive enough to pick up such changes. PD patients pre-medication were significantly impaired compared to controls, but improved significantly after 3 months of being established on dopaminergic medication. These findings suggest that precision methods might provide a sensitive means to investigate WM and its modulation by interventions in clinical populations.
Arabidopsis ASA1 Is Important for Jasmonate-Mediated Regulation of Auxin Biosynthesis and Transport during Lateral Root Formation[W][OA]

Plant roots show an impressive degree of plasticity in adapting their branching patterns to ever-changing growth conditions. An important mechanism underlying this adaptation ability is the interaction between hormonal and developmental signals. Here, we analyze the interaction of jasmonate with auxin to regulate lateral root (LR) formation through characterization of an Arabidopsis thaliana mutant, jasmonate-induced defective lateral root1 (jdl1/asa1-1). We demonstrate that, whereas exogenous jasmonate promotes LR formation in wild-type plants, it represses LR formation in jdl1/asa1-1. JDL1 encodes the auxin biosynthetic gene ANTHRANILATE SYNTHASE α1 (ASA1), which is required for jasmonate-induced auxin biosynthesis. Jasmonate elevates local auxin accumulation in the basal meristem of wild-type roots but reduces local auxin accumulation in the basal meristem of mutant roots, suggesting that, in addition to activating ASA1-dependent auxin biosynthesis, jasmonate also affects auxin transport. Indeed, jasmonate modifies the expression of auxin transport genes in an ASA1-dependent manner. We further provide evidence showing that the action mechanism of jasmonate to regulate LR formation through ASA1 differs from that of ethylene. Our results highlight the importance of ASA1 in jasmonate-induced auxin biosynthesis and reveal a role for jasmonate in the attenuation of auxin transport in the root and the fine-tuning of local auxin distribution in the root basal meristem.
Motivation for physical activity among Norwegian youth : does context matter?

7 Introduction . 8 Aims and hypotheses . 14 Methods . 15 Results . 17 Discussion . 22 Conclusions and implications . 25 References . 27 2. Theory and Methods . 34 2.
Remote mobile health service utilization post 2005 Kashmir–Pakistan earthquake

Aims Limited published studies have examined patient characteristics and disease patterns served by mobile clinics in remote areas post natural disaster. By comparing users of a remote mountainous stationary clinic and a mobile helicopter outreach clinic in Neelam Valley, 4 months post Pakistan–Kashmir earthquake, this study aims to: (i) compare the demographic and disease profile of health service users, (ii) examine how acute and chronic disease patterns vary with clinical settings, and (iii) discuss the potential implications to mobile emergency clinical service planning acute phase of natural disaster in remote areas. Methods Cross-sectional, retrospective record-based study in two remote clinical settings in Neelam Valley, Kashmir–Pakistan. Patients who presented to clinics from 21 January to 20 February, and whose diagnoses were available, were included in the study. Descriptive statistics and χ2 significance tests were conducted. Results Different users and disease profiles were found between mobile and stationary clinics. While older age, female sex, living further way from clinics, earthquake-related trauma, wound and gastrointestinal infections were found to be more significantly associated with mobile clinic users, stationary clinics patients tended to be younger, living closer to the clinic site, and disease profiles were predominantly chronic in nature. Conclusion In addition to the provision of acute and chronic medical clinical service, mobile clinics operating during post acute emergency phase of natural disaster in remote areas should be sex sensitive, with highly trained and experienced staff as well as the capacity to provide trauma care.
Three-level NPC inverter with novel voltage equalization for PV grid interface suitable for partially shaded conditions

In a conventional grid connection of Photovoltaic (PV) system, a number of PV modules are connected in series and integrated to grid through a conventional two level inverter. Due to the impact of partial shading and module mismatch, such systems have a much lower yield compared to their maximum potential. To address this problem, direct connection of PV source to a three-level diode clamped inverter is considered in this paper, resulting in a single stage power conversion. A novel auxiliary converter is proposed that allows the two split halves of the PV source to be directly connected to the two dc-link capacitors, with each half operating at it's respective Maximum Power Point (MPP). This auxiliary converter can be rated for less power converter compare to the inverter capacity. The unequal MPP voltage of these split PV panels may cause detrimental effect on output current of inverter. To address this power quality issue, a modified switching algorithm is discussed to achieve voltage equalization across the split DC-Links of the multilevel inverter. Though the case of a split PV source (with two halves) has been considered, the proposed scheme is equally valid for a PV array split into more than two parts that may be suitable for a higher level Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) inverter. The proposed auxiliary converter and algorithm are evaluated and verified by simulation in MATLAB-Simulink.
Real time quantitative PCR.

We have developed a novel "real time" quantitative PCR method. The method measures PCR product accumulation through a dual-labeled fluorogenic probe (i.e., TaqMan Probe). This method provides very accurate and reproducible quantitation of gene copies. Unlike other quantitative PCR methods, real-time PCR does not require post-PCR sample handling, preventing potential PCR product carry-over contamination and resulting in much faster and higher throughput assays. The real-time PCR method has a very large dynamic range of starting target molecule determination (at least five orders of magnitude). Real-time quantitative PCR is extremely accurate and less labor-intensive than current quantitative PCR methods.
Utility of repeat testing of critical values: a Q-probes analysis of 86 clinical laboratories.

CONTEXT A common laboratory practice is to repeat critical values before reporting the test results to the clinical care provider. This may be an unnecessary step that delays the reporting of critical test results without adding value to the accuracy of the test result. OBJECTIVES To determine the proportions of repeated chemistry and hematology critical values that differ significantly from the original value as defined by the participating laboratory, to determine the threshold differences defined by the laboratory as clinically significant, and to determine the additional time required to analyze the repeat test. DESIGN Participants prospectively reviewed critical test results for 4 laboratory tests: glucose, potassium, white blood cell count, and platelet count. Participants reported the following information: initial and repeated test result; time initial and repeat results were first known to laboratory staff; critical result notification time; if the repeat result was still a critical result; if the repeat result was significantly different from the initial result, as judged by the laboratory professional or policy; significant difference threshold, as defined by the laboratory; the make and model of the instrument used for primary and repeat testing. RESULTS Routine, repeat analysis of critical values is a common practice. Most laboratories did not formally define a significant difference between repeat results. Repeated results were rarely considered significantly different. Median repeated times were at least 17 to 21 minutes for 10% of laboratories. Twenty percent of laboratories reported at least 1 incident in the last calendar year of delayed result reporting that clinicians indicated had adversely affected patient care. CONCLUSION Routine repeat analysis of automated chemistry and hematology critical values is unlikely to be clinically useful and may adversely affect patient care.
The Associations of Genetic Variants in E-cadherin Gene With Clinical Outcome of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Objective The E-cadherin protein plays major roles in tumor progression, invasion, and metastasis. Polymorphisms located in the E-cadherin gene (CDH1) may contribute to increased risks of specific cancers. In this study, we evaluated the associations between genetic variants in CDH1 and the clinical outcomes of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Materials and Methods We assessed the −160C/A and −347G/GA polymorphisms in the promoter region, as well as the 3′-UTR +54C/T polymorphism of E-cadherin, in 257 patients with EOC by ligase detection reaction–polymerase chain reaction. Results Multivariate analysis showed that patients with EOC with the CDH1 −347GA/GA genotype had shorter progression-free survival and overall survival (hazard ratio [HR], 2.16; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06–4.40 and HR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.01–4.19, respectively) compared to those carrying the G/G genotype. Likewise, the patients with the CDH1 −160A/A genotype had a shorter progression-free survival than those with the C/C genotype (HR, 4.12; 95% CI, 1.43–111.88). No significant association was detected between the CDH1 3′-UTR +54C/T polymorphism and survival of the patients with EOC. Conclusions The CDH1 −347GA/GA and −160A/A genotypes may be prognostic markers that can help to identify patients at increased risk of invasive/metastatic cancer in northern China.
Institutional Ownership Stability and Dividend Payout Policy

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the link between institutional ownership stability and dividend payout ratio. ,First, the authors estimate the propensity of a firm to pay dividend. Next, the authors perform panel fixed-effect regressions of dividend payouts on institutional ownership stability variables. The authors also compare institutional ownership between dividend paying and non-dividend paying investee firms. The authors analyze the dividend preferences of different types of institutional owners. Finally, the authors examine the cross-sectional variation in the volatility of dividend payouts. ,The authors find that stable and large institutional owners favor dividend paying companies. There also exists a positive association between ownership persistence and dividend payout. Conversely, firms that change their dividend payout frequently are associated with larger deviations in institutional ownership. Additionally, the presence of pressure-sensitive institutional investors (i.e. investors that also hold business ties with the investee firm) is significantly linked to dividend payout policy. Conversely, pressure-insensitive investors use alternative forms of monitoring instead of requiring investee firms to pay dividends, which serve to reduce agency conflicts. ,This paper considers the preferences of long-term stable institutional investors in their selection of dividend paying firms.
Assessing the Impacts of a Training Program for Women in Peru: Are There Social Networking Effects?

The general goal of this study is to assess the impacts on women’s economic and social participation of a peer-to-peer training program in Canete Province, Peru. We use a quasi-experimental methodology applied to treatment and control groups. The study evaluates three areas of potential effects: (i) participation and returns from economic activities (use of time, labour market participation, family business, savings); (ii) indicators of women’s autonomy, family cohesion and social participation; and (iii) living standards. The impacts we found are mixed. We only detected robust impacts on the propensity to engage in savings and participate in local social organizations by treated women. The channels behind these impacts require more specific research, but we hypothesize that it may be related to expanded social networking. We observe a few specific impacts related to autonomy (negative) and family cohesion (positive), which can be linked to the religious nature of the program. We evaluate differentiated effects by some features of the treatment group as self-assessment of economic usefulness by women as well as trainers’ education and age. In terms of policy, we consider that peer-to-peer programs of this type may have limited impacts in terms of broad development goals like increased income, labour participation and business activity by women, but these can also show some advantages for expanding women’s social networking and access to savings and local organizations. Improved peer-to-peer programs more clearly linked to the economic advancement of women may be more efficient in achieving broader development goals.