Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Too Few Chefs in the Kitchen: An Examination of Evidence-Based Practices for Teachers in Special Education

The field of special education is in the midst of a scientific revolution that began with the passing of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2001) legislation (Slavin, 2002). There has been a longstanding dispute about how to translate research in education into practice and make the results effective in relation to increased student learning. The debate is centered on what constitutes rigorous research and what elements of a particular design employed in practice create positive student outcomes. For some time now the fields of medicine, agriculture, psychology, and economics have moved forward with their version of what “evidence” is and how it can be used in order to enhance the particular disciplines’ capability to predict and alter outcomes. There is much debate about how certain principles of experimentation in education can assist students in achieving their maximum potential. This examination of the literature and issues surrounding Evidence-based Practices (EBPs) will focus on the problems related to the current research of the field special education, how the objectives are defined for moving towards rigorous research, the opposition to this movement, and the recommendations from experts in the field. One of the more important recommendations is the need to connect with teachers in the field. We need them cooking up these interventions as well in order to best serve the students in the public school system. However, if all the chefs in this situation are cooking up different recipes and wanting the same outcome, we have a problem. The problem, which certainly warrants further examination outside this initial analysis becomes: Can the field of special education employ EBPs in practice in order to enhance student outcomes in an inclusive classroom?
A transcutaneous power transfer interface based on a multicoil inductive link

This paper presents a transcutaneous power transfer link based on a multicoil structure. Multicoil inductive links using 4-coil or 3-coil topologies have shown significant improvement over conventional 2-coil structures for transferring power transcutaneously across larger distances and with higher efficiency. However, such performance comes at the cost of additional inductors and capacitor in the system, which is not convenient in implantable applications. This paper presents a transcutaneous power transfer interface that takes advantage on a 3-coils inductive topology to achieve wide separation distances and high power transfer efficiency without increasing the size of the implanted device compared to a conventional 2-coil structure. In the proposed link, a middle coil is placed outside the body to act as a repeater between an external transmitting coil and an implanted receiving coil. The proposed structure allows optimizing the link parameters after implantation by changing the characteristics of the repeater coil. Simulation with a multilayer model of the biological tissues and measured results are presented for the proposed link.
Trends in reproductive behavior among young single women in Colombia and Peru: 1985–1999

Using “calendar” data for single women aged 15-24 from successive Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in Colombia and Peru during the 1990s, we document trends, year by year, in sexual activity, the use of contraceptives, and subsequent reproductive outcomes. We provide evidence of the important and hitherto largely untapped potential of DHS calendar data to draw complete sexual and reproductive profiles when data from various surveys are integrated. Over the period 1985–1999, young single women in both Colombia and Peru became sexually active at younger ages. The use of contraceptives, especially the use of condoms, increased but did not fully offset the rise in sexual activity, and thus the incidence of premarital conceptions rose among young single women. In both countries, sharp declines occurred in the proportion of premaritally conceived births that were reported as being wanted.
Prevalence of nematode infection and faecal egg counts in free-range laying hens: relations to housing and husbandry

1. Faecal samples from 19 commercial, 65 week old free-range egg laying flocks were examined to assess the prevalence and number of parasitic nematode eggs. Data were collected to characterise the housing, husbandry, behaviour and welfare of the flocks to examine possible relationships with the egg counts. 2. Eggs of at least one genus of nematode were present in the faeces of all 19 flocks. Heterakis eggs were detected in 17 (89%) flocks, Ascaridia in 16 (84%), Trichostrongylus in 9 (47%), and Syngamus in 6 (32%). Faecal egg counts (FEC) were greatest for Ascaridia and Heterakis. 3. For each nematode genus, there was no significant difference in FEC between organic (N = 9) and non-organic (N = 10) flocks, or between static (N = 8) and mobile (N = 11) flocks. 4. FEC were correlated with a range of housing, husbandry and management practices which varied between the nematode genus and included depth of the litter, percentage of hens using the range, and number of dead hens. Statistical analysis indicated relationships with FEC that included light intensity above the feeder, indoor and outdoor stocking density, fearfulness in the shed and on the range, distance to the nearest shelter, and swollen toes. 5. None of the FEC for any of the genera was correlated with weekly egg production or cumulative mortality. 6. Although nematode FEC were highly prevalent among the flocks, the overall lack of relation to other welfare and production measures suggests that these infections were not severe.
A new high‐aperture glycerol immersion objective lens and its application to 3D‐fluorescence microscopy

High‐resolution light microscopy of glycerol‐mounted biological specimens is performed almost exclusively with oil immersion lenses. The reason is that the index of refraction of the oil and the cover slip of ~1.51 is close to that of ~1.45 of the glycerol mountant, so that refractive index mismatch‐induced spherical aberrations are tolerable to some extent. Here we report the application of novel cover glass‐corrected glycerol immersion lenses of high numerical aperture (NA) and the avoidance of these aberrations. The new lenses feature a semi‐aperture angle of 68.5°, which is slightly larger than that of the diffraction‐limited 1.4 NA oil immersion lenses. The glycerol lenses are corrected for a quartz cover glass of 220 µm thickness and for a 80% glycerol‐water immersion solution. Featuring an aberration correction collar, the lens can adapt to glycerol concentrations ranging between 72% and 88%, to slight variations of the temperature, and to the cover glass thickness. As the refractive index mismatch‐induced aberrations are particularly important to quantitative confocal fluorescence microscopy, we investigated the axial sectioning ability and the axial chromatic aberrations in such a microscope as well as the image brightness as a function of the penetration depth. Whereas there is a significant decrease in image brightness associated with oil immersion, this decrease is absent with the glycerol immersion system. In addition, we show directly the compression of the optic axis in the case of oil immersion and its absence in the glycerol system. The unique advantages of these new lenses in high‐resolution microscopy with two coherently used opposing lenses, such as 4 Pi‐microscopy, are discussed.
Performance analysis of TAS/SC-based MIMO decode-and-forward relaying for multi-hop transmission over Rayleigh fading channels

We first propose transmit antenna selection/selection combining (TAS/SC) based MIMO decode-and-forward (DF) relaying networks to simultaneously employ advantages offered by multi-hop relaying and TAS/SC. To investigate the system, we further propose to approximate the distribution of the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The advantage of the proposed approximation resides mainly in the fact that it results in simple and mathematically tractable closed-form expression of the system performance metrics such as outage probability, ergodic capacity, symbol error rate and bit error rate thus offering clear insights on system behaviors. Monte-Carlo simulation results have been performed to cross-check the accuracy of the theoretical analysis showing that our proposed protocol outperforms the single-antenna-equipped multi-hop network in all range of operating SNRs. Under the constraint of spectral efficiency, the optimal number of hops is existed and a function of modulation schemes and path loss exponent.
Embracing complexity: Exploring and refining trust research

If you ever suspected that trust research might run out of topics or questions to be studied, come and visit the Journal of Trust Research’s Editorial Office where authors regularly amaze us with new issues, new contexts and new ideas they have discovered. Often the novelty does not lie so much in the fact that they address something completely unheard of, but in how they connect, dissect or recollect phenomena we would have thought are already well understood, yet apparently are not, once we take a closer look, take them somewhere else and recognise their complexity. The current journal issue showcases how much potential the extensive and diverse field of trust research (Möllering, 2017) holds for further exploration and refinement. In the following, I will preview the contents of this issue and highlight some other current developments in trust research.
Ultra short pre-seasonal subcutaneous immunotherapy and pre-coseasonal sublingual immunotherapy for pollen allergy: an evaluation of patient's preference in real life.

BACKGROUND Specific immunotherapy (SIT) efficacy and safety by subcutaneous (SCIT) and sublingual (SLIT) route is supported by literature data. Pre-coseasonal treatment is currently the more accepted option for pollen immunotherapy in terms of costs and patient's compliance. This retrospective study evaluated the patient's preference concerning subcutaneous or sublingual route in pre-coseasonal treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS We evaluated 145 patients (79 males, 66 females, age ranging from 14 to 69 years), suffering from moderate-severe rhino-conjunctivitis or mild bronchial asthma and with homogeneous characteristic according to allergic disease severity. We proposed either SLIT, with extracts by different producers, or SCIT with Pollinex 4 (Allergy Therapeutics, Worthing, UK), a product designed for ultra-short administration in 4 injections, highlighting for each kind of SIT the major practical advantages or burdens. RESULTS Of 145 patients, 72 chose Pollinex 4 SCIT and 73 chose SLIT. SCIT-treated patients received a total of 90 vaccines (18 patients had double course of SCIT). SLIT-treated patients received a total of 87 vaccines (14 patients had double course of SLIT). In the SCIT group, there were 49 males and 23 females; in the SLIT group, there were 30 males and 43 females. Mean age was 36.5 years in SCIT group and 28.5 years in SLIT group. Males preferred SCIT (49 of 72 patients) and females preferred SLIT (43 of 73 patients). No severe reaction was observed either in SCIT or SLIT group. CONCLUSION Patients are active subjects in decisional process. Trying to apply in real life the indications coming from guidelines about patient's preference is an important matter. In our patients SCIT with ultra short schedule and SLIT are similarly preferred.
Identification and characterization of virK, a virulence‐associated large plasmid gene essential for intercellular spreading of Shigella flexneri

Seven virulence loci have been identified by Tn5 insertion mutagenesis on the large 230 kb plasmid (pMYSH6000) of Shigella flexneri 2a. In this study, we used Tn10 insertion mutagenesis and identified a novel virulence locus on pMYSH6000 responsible for bacterial spread. Characterization of the invading bacteria of the Tn10 insertion mutants in the epithelial cells revealed that the bacteria were capable of at least some intracellular spreading but not intercellular spreading. Immunoblot analysis of lysates of the Tn10 insertion mutants with a VirG‐specific antipeptide antibody revealed diminished levels of the 116 kDa VirG protein. The virG mRNA in the mutants, however, was expressed at the same level as that in the wild type. The DNA region required for the virulence phenotype was localized to a 1.6 kb DNA sequence in the Sal I‐K fragment on the plasmid, and thus the locus was designated virK. Expression of virK in Escherichia coli using a T7 RNA polymerase‐dependent promoter system yielded a 36 kDa protein. The nucleotide sequence of 1642 bp encoding VirK function was determined, and an open reading frame encoding 316 amino acid residues was shown to encode the VirK protein. The virK region was highly conserved among the large virulence plasmids of shigellae and enteroinvasive Escherichia coli. These results suggest that VirK function is an essential virulence determinant for shigellae Involved in the expression of virG gene product at post‐transcriptional level.
Head movement in normal subjects during simulated brain imaging.

OBJECTIVE Videotape images of 30 volunteers were used to classify and measure head movements that may occur during brain imaging. METHODS A simple videotape setup was designed to record simultaneously the lateral and vertex views of the subject's head. Volunteer subjects were positioned for brain imaging and their heads were videotaped for 2 hr. Head movement was identified and measured. RESULTS All subjects demonstrated angular movement within the transaxial plane (rotation of the head). There was angular movement in the sagittal plane and translation of the transaxial plane. There was no movement of the coronal plane, nor was there any translational movement of the sagittal plane. CONCLUSION The most dominant head movement was rotation. The effects of other factors such as height, weight, age, smoking habits, and caffeine and alcohol intake could not be determined with this sample size.
Undergraduate research in nursing and health sciences: Curriculum design from first principles

Background/Objective: Multidisciplinary learning within the framework of undergraduate education has recently been recognised as essential in developing an integrated and resilient healthcare system for the future. This inquiry seeks to derive common learning outcomes for a new multidisciplinary foundation research methods unit for undergraduate health sciences students. Methods: An outcomes-based design was used to determine the learning outcomes from first principles. All academics across multiple health disciplines at a regional university in Australia were invited to a series of meetings to brainstorm a set of common graduate capabilities and the scaffolds required to achieve them. Meetings were carefully documented and agreed to by consensus after member checking. A thematic analysis was undertaken to identify emergent themes. The capabilities themes were checked for alignment with the institutional graduate attributes and the thresholds of learning outcomes (TLOs) set out by the Australian Government Office of Learning and Teaching.Results: Three broad theoretical constructs emerged from the thematic analysis for the graduate capabilities: (i) health practitioners as evidence consumers (i.e. knowledge translation); (ii) health practitioners as evidence producers, (i.e. knowledge creation) and; (iii) ethical practice.Conclusions: This study derived a set of learning outcomes from first principles, while applying an outcomes-based curriculum design methodology. This may be a useful approach for finding common learning outcomes within a multidisciplinary health educational framework. Such structures and processes may not only help to provide students with a solid foundation for learning content that they have in common with other disciplines, but may also to facilitate interprofessional communication in future practice.
Orofacial cleft risk is increased with maternal smoking and specific detoxification-gene variants.

Maternal smoking is a recognized risk factor for orofacial clefts. Maternal or fetal pharmacogenetic variants are plausible modulators of this risk. In this work, we studied 5,427 DNA samples, including 1,244 from subjects in Denmark and Iowa with facial clefting and 4,183 from parents, siblings, or unrelated population controls. We examined 25 single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 16 genes in pathways for detoxification of components of cigarette smoke, to look for evidence of gene-environment interactions. For genes identified as related to oral clefting, we studied gene-expression profiles in fetal development in the relevant tissues and time intervals. Maternal smoking was a significant risk factor for clefting and showed dosage effects, in both the Danish and Iowan data. Suggestive effects of variants in the fetal NAT2 and CYP1A1 genes were observed in both the Iowan and the Danish participants. In an expanded case set, NAT2 continued to show significant overtransmission of an allele to the fetus, with a final P value of . 00003. There was an interaction between maternal smoking and fetal inheritance of a GSTT1-null deletion, seen in both the Danish (P=.03) and Iowan (P=.002) studies, with a Fisher's combined P value of <. 001, which remained significant after correction for multiple comparisons. Gene-expression analysis demonstrated expression of GSTT1 in human embryonic craniofacial tissues during the relevant developmental interval. This study benefited from two large samples, involving independent populations, that provided substantial power and a framework for future studies that could identify a susceptible population for preventive health care.
Long-Term Effect of High-Dose Dexamethasone with or without Low-Dose Dexamethasone Maintenance in Untreated Immune Thrombocytopenia

Background: To tackle the problems associated with high-dose dexamethasone (HD-DXM) in patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Aim: To compare the efficacy of HD-DXM with or without low-dose dexamethasone maintenance in untreated ITP patients. Results: Dexamethasone (40 mg/day) was given in 4-day pulses every 14 days for 3 cycles in 61 patients with ITP. Among them, 30 cases were given dexamethasone (0.035 mg/kg per day) for maintenance between pulsed HD-DXM and after 3 HD-DXM courses (HD-DXM-M group) and another 31 cases did not receive dexamethasone maintenance (HD-DXM-nM group). The control group comprised the patients who received prednisone (prednisone group). The following results were obtained: (1) at the end of the 3rd cycle, the overall response rate (ORR) was higher in the HD-DXM group than in the prednisone group; (2) the ORR of the HD-DXM group peaked after the 3rd cycle; (3) the ORR after each course was higher in the HD-DXM-M group than in the HD-DXM-nM group; (4) in the 12th month after HD-DXM discontinuation, the relapse rate of the HD-DXM-M group was lower than that of the other groups (prednisone and HD-DXM-nM). Conclusion: Treatment with 3 cycles of HD-DXM pulses with low-dose dexamethasone maintenance is an effective method for untreated ITP.
The Human Protein Atlas—a tool for pathology

Tissue‐based diagnostics and research is incessantly evolving with the development of new molecular tools. It has long been realized that immunohistochemistry can add an important new level of information on top of morphology and that protein expression patterns in a cancer may yield crucial diagnostic and prognostic information. We have generated an immunohistochemistry‐based map of protein expression profiles in normal tissues, cancer and cell lines. For each antibody, altogether 708 spots of tissues and cells are analysed and the resulting images and data are presented as freely available in the Human Protein Atlas (www.proteinatlas.org). The new version 4 of the atlas, including more than 5 million images of immunohistochemically stained tissues and cells, is based on 6122 antibodies, representing 5011 human proteins encoded by approximately 25% of the human genome. The gene‐centric database includes a putative classification of proteins in various protein classes, both functional classes, such as kinases or transcription factors and project‐related classes, such as candidate genes for cancer or cardiovascular diseases. For each of the internally generated antibodies, the exact antigen sequence is presented, together with a visualization of application‐specific validation data, including a protein array assay, western blot analysis, immunohistochemistry and, in most cases, immunofluorescent‐based confocal microscopy. The updated version also includes new search algorithms to allow complex queries regarding expression profiles, protein classes and chromosome location. Thus, the presented Human Protein Atlas provides a resource for pathology‐based biomedical research, including protein science and biomarker discovery. Copyright © 2008 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Influence of Dynamic Compression on Directional Hearing in the Horizontal Plane

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of dynamic compression on directional hearing in the frontal horizontal plane. Design: Compression schemes with various compression ratios and attack times were created by using a digital signal processor. The influence of compression on isolated interaural level differences (ILDs) and interaural time differences (ITDs) was examined in discrimination experiments. The combination of ILDs and ITDs was investigated with measurements of localization based on head-related transfer functions. Five normal listeners and seven hearing-impaired subjects participated in the study. Results: Dynamic compression revealed substantial effects on discrimination of ILDs but not on ITDs. With higher compression ratios and shorter attack times, just-noticeable differences for ILDs increased. Lateralization via head-related transfer functions was predominantly affected by compression in the higher frequency range because for lower frequencies, interaural time cues dominate over interaural level cues. The effect of compression was similar for normal and hearing-impaired listeners, but the latter performed worse on almost all tasks, especially with ITD discrimination at 4000 Hz. Conclusions: The influence of compression ratio and attack time could be shown for ILDs, but the effect was rather small, at least for the low compression ratios commonly used in hearing aids. The influence further decreased when attack time was prolonged. The dramatic impairment of the discrimination of ITDs with the hearing-impaired subjects in the high-frequency range suggests that they primarily rely on ILD cues.