Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patterns of Literacy among U.S. Students

Summary : How well do U.S. students read? In this article, Sean Reardon, Rachel Valentino, and Kenneth Shores rely on studies using data from national and international literacy assessments to answer this question. In part, the answer depends on the specific literacy skills assessed. The authors show that almost all U.S. students can “read” by third grade, if reading is defined as proficiency in basic procedural word-reading skills. But reading for comprehension—integrating background knowledge and contextual information to make sense of a text—requires a set of knowledge-based competencies in addition to word-reading skills. By the standards used in various large-scale literacy assessments, only about a third of U.S. students in middle school possess the knowledge-based competencies to “read” in this more comprehensive sense. This low level of literacy proficiency does not appear to be a result of declining performance over time. Literacy skills of nine-year-olds in the United States have increased modestly over the past forty years, while the skills of thirteen- and seventeen-year-olds have remained relatively flat. Literacy skills vary considerably among students, however. For example, the literacy skills of roughly 10 percent of seventeen-year-olds are at the level of the typical nine-year-old. This variation is patterned in part by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background. Black and Hispanic students enter high school with average literacy skills three years behind those of white and Asian students; students from low-income families enter high school with average literacy skills five years behind those of high-income students. These are gaps that no amount of remedial instruction in high school is likely to eliminate. And while the racial and ethnic disparities are smaller than they were forty to fifty years ago, socioeconomic disparities in literacy skills are growing. Nor is the low level of literacy skills particularly a U.S. phenomenon. On international comparisons, American students perform modestly above average compared with those in other developed countries (and well above average among a larger set of countries). Moreover, there is no evidence that U.S. students lose ground relative to those in other countries during the middle school years. Thus, although literacy skills in the United States are lower than needed to meet the demands of modern society, the same is true in most other developed countries.
Size and morphology of toxic oligomers of amyloidogenic proteins: a case study of human stefin B

Amyloid-induced toxicity is a well-known phenomenon but the molecular background remains unclear. One hypothesis relates toxicity to amyloid–membrane interactions, predicting that amyloid oligomers make pores into membranes. Therefore, the toxicity and membrane interaction of prefibrillar aggregates and individual oligomers of a non-pathological yet highly amyloidogenic protein human stefin B (cystatin B) was examined. By monitoring caspase-3 activity and by testing cell viability, we showed that the lag phase aggregates obtained at pH 5 and 3 were toxic to neuroblastoma cells. Of equal toxicity were the higher-order oligomers prepared at pH 7 by freeze–thaw cycles. The higher-order oligomers eluted on size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) as a broad peak comprising hexamers, octamers, 12- and 16-mers, well separated from monomers, dimers and tetramers. Only oligomers higher than the tetramers (Rh >3.5 nm) proved toxic, in contrast to dimers and tetramers. In accordance with data from SEC, dynamic light scattering and atomic force microscopy data indicate that the toxic oligomers have diameters larger than 4 nm. Critical pressure measurements showed that the toxic higher-order oligomers inserted more effectively into model lipid monolayers than dimers and tetramers. They also bound, similarly to prefibrillar aggregates, to the plasma membrane and became internalized. Taken together, our results confirm the importance of membrane interaction and perforation in the phenomenon of cytotoxicity.
Performance and optimization of a 50 kV silicon carbide photoconductive semiconductor switch for pulsed power applications

A 50 kV silicon carbide photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) is presented. The SiC PCSS device is fabricated from semi-insulating 4H-SiC in a newly-proposed rear-illuminated, radial switch structure. The improved structure reduces the peak electric field within the switch, extending the blocking voltage to over 50 kVdc. Electrostatic field simulations of the PCSS are presented along with experimental blocking curves. The PCSS demonstrated low on-state resistance, delivering over 27 MW of peak power into a 31 Ω load. Device modeling was performed to further optimize the switch for peak efficiency when illuminated with 355 nm light, a common laser wavelength. The switch structure was modified for peak operation at 355 nm and the experimental and theoretical results are compared.
Predicting Amazon ratings using Neural Networks

In this work we are comparing different approaches of predict a users numeric rating of a product review solely from the text of the review. We use three different methods, bag-of-words model and the state-of-the-art models word2vec (using RandomForests) and word2vec(using K Nearest Neighbors) using data from Amazon reviews.The three models are evaluated over the same corpus and the results, execution time and MSE are compared.
Emergence of coherent patterns of vortex stretching during reconnection: A scattering paradigm.

We have observed coherent patterns of the magnitude of the normalized vortex stretching vector |ω. ⊇u|/|ω| during the «bursting» reconnection phase of the evolution of identical initially or offset vortex tubes. We propose that the intensification and reconnection of initially tubelike vortex regions be viewed as a scattering process and that the topology of vortex lines during this phase of the process contributes to limiting vortex stretching (intensification). Furthermore, we advocate the use of these patterns (some rendered in color) as signatures of turbulent intermittency in exploring massive data sets
Relationship between Faecal Bile Acids, Absorption of Fat and Vitamin B12, and Serum Lipids in Patients with Ileal Resections

Abstract. Faecal bile salt, neutral steroid and fat excretion, vitamin B12 absorption, and jejunal lipids, bile acids and cholesterol during fat digestion, serum cholesterol and cholesterol synthesis were measured in 3 patients with incomplete (IIR) and 9 patients with complete (CIR) resection of the terminal ileum. These parameters were virtually normal in IIR and in one case with CIR while in other cases they were frequently abnormal, bile salt excretion being increased up to 12‐fold. The finding that faecal bile salts correlated positively with faecal fat and cholesterol synthesis, and negatively with jejunal constituents and serum cholesterol, supports the previously unproved concept that augmented elimination of cholesterol into faeces as bile acids proportionately depletes serum cholesterol despite increased cholesterol synthesis, proportionately decreases jejunal bile salts despite markedly augmented bile acid production and proportionately impairs micellar solubilization of lipids during fat absorption, leading to steatorrhoea. Furthermore, faecal bile salts showed a positive correlation with faecal water and a negative one with the Schilling test values. Faecal bile salts are suggested to be a sensitive indicator of ileal dysfunction.
Oestrogen and progesterone receptors in breast cancer: past, present and future

Introduction `Comparisons are odious', but in some circumstances, such as the development of new methods of measurement for prognostic/predictive markers, they are essential. The paper in the December 2000 issue of Histopathology by Zafrani and colleagues reports on just such a comparison between an established biochemical and a new immunohistochemical method for the determination of steroid hormone receptors in breast carcinomas. Their prospective study was designed to validate the use of immunohistochemistry at the Institut Curie in Paris. Oestrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status was assessed by both methods on samples taken from 793 cases of primary or recurrent breast cancer, treated at the Institute between July 1997 and July 1998. Apart from the inclusion of a large number of patients, the other important aspect of the study was the use of internal quality control procedures and participation in external assessment schemes for the measurement of ER and PR, which increases confidence in the results. The hormone sensitivity of a proportion of mammary carcinomas was first recognized over 100 years ago by Beatson, a Glasgow surgeon, who achieved remissions in patients with metastatic breast cancer following oophorectomy. It took another 60 years for Elwood Jensen and colleagues to identify an oestrogen binding protein (now known as the oestrogen receptor (ER)) responsible for transmitting oestrogenic growth signals from outside a cell into its nucleus. Eleven years later, further work by Jensen correlated the clinical response of breast cancer patients to adrenalectomy with the specific binding of oestradiol in tumour tissue slices. Thus ER, closely followed by PR, became the first biological markers to be used in the management of breast cancer. Since that time considerable changes have been seen in both methods of measurement and clinical applications.
On the relation between mental representation and naming in a child with specific language impairment

The naming and drawing responses of a child with specific language impairment (age 5.5 years) were used to test the hypothesis that deficient storage in the mental lexicon plays a role in the naming problems associated with SLI. In confrontation- and repeated naming, the child demonstrated frequent semantic substitutions and occasional phonologic substitutions. Stochastic modelling of his repeated naming revealed storage deficits to be a source of these errors. Comparative picture naming, picture drawing allowed exploration of this storage deficit and revealed that, for some semantic naming errors, sparse semantic representations were clearly at fault but for others, sparse phonological input and output representations played a role. Phonological naming errors, in contrast, were typically associated with strong semantic representations. Clinical, theoretical, and methodological contributions of this cognitive neuropsychological case study are discussed.
Mobile devices: a tool for tourism and learning at archaeological sites

The study analyses data obtained from the implementation of public programmes that utilise mobile devices at archaeological sites. The work documents that the two main uses for such devices are augmented reality (AR) and geocaching games involving GPS equipment. The paper notes the educational opportunities presented by the use of these devices. The work concludes that the programmes achieve good general results, are well rated by users, raise interest and are motivating. However, published ratings are limited and very descriptive, and evaluation standards are poor.
让管理员管得更“宽”——Insight Control

随着IT与业务的结合日益紧密,越来越多的企业要求IT部门实现基本流程自动化,从而对业务需求进行实时或接近实时的响应。 而事实上,由于传统的IT基础设施大部分采取了静态、固化的部署方式,管理员在日益复杂的数据环境中必须手动进行越来越多的服务器协调。 有时候只需30分钟即可
Comparative evaluation of computer methods for calculating the best-fit sinusoid to the digital record of a high-purity sine wave

A comparative evaluation of programs used in the “equivalent bit” test is described. Four methods of determining the best-fit sine wave were tested using computer generated data contaminated to varying degrees with white noise. These data were supplemented with actual records of sine waves obtained using fast digitizers with 6- to 12-bit resolution and record lengths of between 512 to 16 000 words. The programs were evaluated for relative accuracy, absolute accuracy, and efficiency, both in terms of how often each method converged and also of how much computer time each method took to converge.
Regulation of protein export from the endoplasmic reticulum.

Glycosylation . Fatty Acylation of Membrane Proteins Occurs Before They Leave the ER . Movement From the ER .
In vitro metabolism of the specific endothelin-A receptor antagonist ZD4054 and clinical drug interactions between ZD4054 and rifampicin or itraconazole in healthy male volunteers

ZD4054 is an oral specific endothelin-A receptor antagonist in development for the treatment of hormone-resistant prostate cancer. Both renal and metabolic processes contribute to its overall clearance. Two preclinical in vitro studies investigated the metabolism of ZD4054 using human liver microsomes, individual cytochrome P450 (CYP) isozymes, and flavin-containing monooxygenase isoforms. Two Phase I open-label crossover volunteer studies subsequently investigated in vivo drug interactions between ZD4054 and the CYP450 inducer rifampicin or CYP3A4 inhibitor itraconazole. The most abundant metabolite produced in in vitro incubations accounted for 12.8% of radioactivity after ZD4054 was incubated with CYP3A4. No significant flavin-containing monooxygenase metabolism of ZD4054 was observed. In the in vivo studies, rifampicin co-administration reduced the area under the concentration–time curve and maximum plasma concentration of ZD4054 by 68% and 29%, respectively, whilst co-administration with itraconazole was associated with an increase in ZD4054 area under the curve of approximately 28%. While co-administration of CYP450 inducers might be associated with reduced efficacy of ZD4054, dose reduction is unlikely to be required with concomitant administration of CYP3A4 inhibitors.
Striatal projections from the cat visual thalamus

Anterograde transport methods reveal an extensive thalamostriate projection from the extrageniculate visual thalamus. These projections distribute to approximately the same regions of the striatum innervated by the corticostriate projections from over a dozen higher visual cortical areas [visual‐recipient sector; Updyke, B.V. (1993) J. Comp. Neurol. , 327, 159–193. ]. Like their cortical counterparts, the thalamostriate projections to the caudate distribute in a patchy manner that suggests potential overlap or intermingling spatial relationships between the two major afferents. All of the visually related thalamic nuclei projecting to the striatum receive ascending signals from the superior colliculus, suggesting that the constraints placed upon tectal processing by striatonigral control have important consequences for central perceptuomotor processing at the striatal and cortical levels.
A simple mounting model for consistent determination of the accuracy and repeatability of apex locators.

AIM To develop a precise and simple mounting model (MM) for evaluating apex locators and to compare the repeatability of the MM with a conventional visual method (VM). METHODOLOGY Electronic working length determination was performed in 32 maxillary central incisors using two methods: (i) the MM method and (ii) a conventional VM. The MM utilizes a micrometer to determine the distance travelled by the measuring file during working length determination. In the VM, the length of the measuring file (representing the working length) is determined visually using a caliper and a microscope at 6x magnification. Each measurement was repeated once. The repeatability of each method was evaluated by calculating the coefficient of repeatability. RESULTS The coefficient of repeatability, which includes 95% of the differences between repeated measurements, was 0.04 mm for MM compared with 0.9 mm for VM. The measurement error of MM was significantly lower than VM (0.02 and 0.4 mm respectively). There was a statistically significant difference between the means of absolute difference in repeated measurements: MM 0.01 mm (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.01; 0.02 mm) compared with VM 0.4 mm (95% CI: 0.3; 0.5 mm). CONCLUSION The new MM had superior repeatability in comparison with the conventional method where visual interpretation is a source of inaccurate measurement.
Digitally-assisted, ultra-low power circuits and systems for medical applications

In recent years, trends in the medical industry have created a growing demand for a variety of implantable medical devices. At the same time, advances in integrated circuits techniques, particularly in CMOS, have opened possibilities for advanced implantable systems that are very small and consume minimal energy. Minimizing the volume of medical implants is important as it allows for less invasive procedures and greater comfort to patients. Minimizing energy consumption is imperative as batteries must last at least a decade without replacement. Two primary functions that consume energy in medical implants are sensor interfaces that collect information from biomedical signals, and radios that allow the implant to communicate with a base-station outside of the body. The general focus of this work was the development of circuits and systems that minimize the size and energy required to carry out these two functions. The first part of this work focuses on laying down the theoretical framework for an ultra-low power radio, including advances to the literature in the area of super-regeneration. The second part includes the design of a transceiver optimized for medical implants, and its implementation in a CMOS process. The final part describes the design of a sensor interface that leverages novel analog and digital techniques to reduce the system's size and improve its functionality. This final part was developed in conjunction with Marcus Yip. Thesis Supervisor: Joel L. Dawson Title: Associate Professor Thesis Supervisor: Anantha P. Chandrakasan Title: Professor
On the computation of the direct kinematics of parallel manipulators using polynomial networks

Polynomial learning networks are proposed in this paper to solve the forward kinematic problem for a planar three-degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator with revolute joints. These networks rapidly learn complex nonlinear functions based on a database mapping. The networks learn the forward kinematics of the manipulator based on examples of the transformation. The obtained networks are then used to follow a test trajectory. For comparison purposes, a neural network approach using backpropagation is also used for this problem. The results show that, in this application, polynomial networks learn much faster and exhibit less error than neural networks.
Multiple sensor fusion for 3D navigation for unmanned autonomous vehicles

The paper presents a multiple sensor fusion for robust navigation based on Covariance Intersection (CI). The motivation of the approach described in this paper is a sensor based navigation with improved performance. The improved performance is quantified by explicit bounds of position estimate of the vehicle. The proposed algorithm results in 3D navigation and is based on the data fusion of the position and the orientation of the vehicle obtained from two different sources of sensor systems. Combining the measurements from different sources compensates for each other's limitations. Therefore the resulting performance of the sensor system is much improved than the individual sensor system.
A Quantitative Study of the Pathological Lesions in the Neocortex and Hippocampus of Twelve Patients with Corticobasal Degeneration

The density of ballooned neurons (BN), tau-positive neurons with inclusion bodies (tau+ neurons), and tau-positive plaques (tau+ plaques) was determined in sections of the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobe in 12 patients with corticobasal degeneration (CBD). No significant differences in the mean density of BN and tau+ neurons were observed between neocortical regions. In the hippocampus, the densities of BN were significantly lower than in the neocortex, and densities of tau+ neurons were greater in sectors CA1 and CA2, compared with CA3 and CA4. Tau+ plaques were present in one or more brain regions in six patients. Significantly more BN were recorded in the lower (laminae V/VI) compared with the upper cortex (laminae I/II/III) but tau+ neurons were equally frequent in the upper and lower cortex. No significant correlations were observed between the densities of BN and tau+ neurons, but the densities of BN in the superior temporal gyrus and tau+ plaques in the frontal cortex were positively correlated with age. A principal components analysis (PCA) suggested that differences in the density of tau+ neurons in the frontal and motor cortex were the most important sources of variation between patients. In addition, one patient with a particularly high density of tau+ neurons in the hippocampus appeared to be atypical of the patient group studied. The data support the hypothesis that, although clinically heterogeneous, CBD is a pathologically distinct disorder.
DNA repair genes polymorphisms in multiple myeloma: no association with XRCC1 (Arg399Gln) polymorphism, but the XRCC4 (VNTR in intron 3 and G-1394T) and XPD (Lys751Gln) polymorphisms is associated with the disease in Turkish patients

Abstract Objective: This study aims to investigate the association between the polymorphisms in DNA repair genes (XPD, XRCC1, and XRCC4) and clinical parameters in patients with multiple myeloma (MM), their effects on prognosis and their roles in susceptibility to MM. Patients and methods: Sixty patients, diagnosed with MM and 70 individuals as the healthy control group were included in the study. Gene polymorphisms were detected with the polymerase chain reaction and/or polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism method. When the genotype frequencies of XPD (Llys751Gln) and XRCC1 (Arg399Gln) genes were examined in the patient and control groups, no significant difference was detected, while a significant association was found in XRCC4 (VNTR in intron 3 and G-1394T) polymorphisms. A significant association was found in the MM patients group for AA genotype and event-free survival (EFS) in terms of XPD (751) gene polymorphism (P = 0·047). When VNTR intron 3 polymorphism was compared for genotype frequency, DD genotype was found to be significantly low (P = 0·012) in the patient group, whereas GG and TT genotypes were found to be significantly lower in the patient group for the genotype frequency XRCC4 (G-1394T) polymorphism when compared to the control group (P = 0·015, P = 0·010, respectively). Results: These data provide support for the hypothesis that a common variation in the genes encoding XRCC4 DNA repair proteins may contribute to susceptibility to myeloma. These findings require further validation in independent populations.
Retrospective Observational Study to Investigate Sinerga, a Multifactorial Nutritional Product, and Bacterial Extracts in the Prevention of Recurrent Respiratory Infections in Children

In this retrospective observational clinical study, 167 children, aged 3 to 7 years, of both sexes, with a clinical history of recurrent respiratory infections, administered with bacterial extracts of first and second generation or Sinerga a nutritional product containing palmitoylethanolamide, bovine colostrum, phenylethylamine and the new generation of probiotic kluyveromyces FM B0399, were observed. The goal of the study was to compare the supplementation with Sinerga with the supplementation with bacterial extracts, for the effect on the frequency of episodes of respiratory infection that had resulted in a prescription for antibiotics. The study focused retrospectively on the months from March 2013 to November 2012. The results showed a greater reduction in the frequency of respiratory infections with antibiotic therapy in the group of children supplemented with Sinerga than in the group treated with bacterial extracts. In particular, it was observed that 49.3% of the children supplemented with Sinerga, against 5% of those supplemented with extracts, had no infectious episodes requiring the administration of an antibiotic. 100% of subjects supplemented with Sinerga have had no more than two episodes of respiratory infection, while this condition, in the cohort treated with bacterial extracts, was observed in only 51 % of cases.