Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Turning to Teaching: Second Career Student Teachers' Intentions, Motivations, and Perceptions about the Teaching Profession

In light of predicted teacher shortages, many countries including Israel have initiated Master of Teaching programs targeting second career candidates. Their unique profile aroused our interest in examining their motives for turning to teaching and their beliefs about teachers and the teaching profession. Findings show the dominance of an altruistic motive followed by intrinsic and extrinsic ones. Candidates adhere to a middle position between viewing teaching as a technical-rational activity and a reflective practice and view "good" teachers as having a mixture of adequate personality traits, positive human relations and professional performance with an emphasis on personality traits.
Requirement Elicitation Techniques for Open Source Systems: A Review

The trend of Open Source Software development has been increased from the past few years. It has gained much attention of developers in the industry. The development of open source software systems is slightly different from traditional software development. In open source software development, requirement elicitation is a very complex and critical process as developers from different regions of the world develop the system so it’s really difficult to gather requirements for such systems. A variety of available tools, techniques, and approaches are used to perform the process of requirement elicitation. The purpose of this study is to focus on how the process of requirement elicitation is carried out for open source software and the different ways which are used to simplify the process of requirement elicitation. This paper comprehensively describes the techniques which are available and are used for requirement elicitation in open source software development. To do so, a literature survey of the existing techniques of requirement elicitation is conducted and different techniques are found that can be used for requirement elicitation in open source software systems.
Evaluation of the Antihyperlipidemic Properties of Dietary Supplements

We reviewed the published literature regarding the antihyperlipidemic effects of dietary supplements. A search of MEDLINE database, EMBASE Drugs and Pharmacology database, and the Internet was performed, and pertinent studies were identified and evaluated. References from published articles and tertiary references were used to gather additional data. Published trials indicate that red yeast rice, tocotrienols, gugulipid, garlic, and soy protein all have antihypercholesterolemic effects. These supplements, as well as ω‐3 fatty acids, also have antihypertriglyceridemic effects. In clinical trials none of the agents led to a reduction in low‐density lipoproteins greater than 25%, suggesting modest efficacy. When recommending these supplements, clinicians should keep in mind that their long‐term safety is not established and patients should be monitored closely.
Priority-based task scheduling on heterogeneous resources in the Expert Cloud

Purpose – Expert Cloud as a new class of Cloud systems provides the knowledge and skills of human resources (HRs) as a service using Cloud concepts. Task scheduling in the Expert Cloud is a vital part that assigns tasks to suitable resources for execution. The purpose of this paper is to propose a method based on genetic algorithm to consider the priority of arriving tasks and the heterogeneity of HRs. Also, to simulate a real world situation, the authors consider the human-based features of resources like trust, reputation and etc. Design/methodology/approach – As it is NP-Complete to schedule tasks to obtain the minimum makespan and the success of genetic algorithm in optimization and NP-Complete problems, the authors used a genetic algorithm to schedule the tasks on HRs in the Expert Cloud. In this method, chromosome or candidate solutions are represented by a vector; fitness function is calculated based on several factors; one point cross-over and swap mutation are also used. Findings – The obtained r.
Year : 2009 Design and Implementation of a Distributed Platform for Sharing IP Flow

Experiments using real traffic traces are of key importance in many network management research fields, such as traffic characterization, intrusion detection, and accounting. Access to such traces is often restricted due to privacy issues; research institutions typically have to sign non-disclosure agreements before accessing such traces from a network operator. Having such restrictions, researchers rarely have more than one source of traffic traces on which to run and validate their experiments. Therefore, this paper develops a Distributed Platform for Sharing IP Flows (DipSIF) based on NetFlow records between multiple institutions. It is assumed that NetFlow traces collected by each participant are archived on separate storage hosts within their premises and then made available to others using a server that acts as a gateway to the storage. Due to privacy reasons the platform presented here uses a prefix-preserving, cryptography-based, and consistent anonymization algorithm in order to comply to different regulations determining the exchange of traffic traces data. Design and Implementation of a Distributed Platform for Sharing IP Flow Records Cristian Morariu, Peter Racz, Burkhard Stiller Department of Informatics IFI, University of Zurich, Switzerland. [morariu|racz|stiller]@ifi.uzh. ch Abstract. Experiments using real traffic traces are of key importance in many network management research fields, such as traffic characterization, intrusion detection, and accounting. Access to such traces is often restricted due to privacy issues; research institutions typically have to sign non-disclosure agreements before accessing such traces from a network operator. Having such restrictions, Experiments using real traffic traces are of key importance in many network management research fields, such as traffic characterization, intrusion detection, and accounting. Access to such traces is often restricted due to privacy issues; research institutions typically have to sign non-disclosure agreements before accessing such traces from a network operator. Having such restrictions, researchers rarely have more than one source of traffic traces on which to run and validate their experiments. Therefore, this paper develops a Distributed Platform for sharing IP Flows (DipSIF) based on NetFlow records between multiple institutions. It is assumed that NetFlow traces collected by each participant are archived on separate storage hosts within their premises and then made available to others using a gateway. Due to privacy reasons the platform presented here uses a prefix-preserving, cryptography-based, and consistent anonymization algorithm in order to comply to different regulations determining the exchange of traffic traces data.
Tumour necrosis factor alpha in systemic lupus erythematosus and anti-DNA autoantibody production

Tumour necrosis factor (TNFα) is a cytokine with a wide range of diverse and at times paradoxical effects. Theseinclude immunoregulatory,lymphoid organogenesisand pro-inflammatory effects. In recent years, TNFα has become a focus of interest more for its inflammatory effects in a number of chronic autoimmune diseases. This interest culminated in the successful treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's diseases and ankylosing spondylitis with blocking antibodies or soluble TNFα receptors. Paradoxically, however, TNFα also has immunomodulatory effects in some autoimmune conditions such as lupus in some mouse models of the disease and in diabetes in the none-obese diabetic mouse. The role TNFα plays in human systemic lupus erythematosus is, however, controversial. In this article we review some of the studies carried out to elucidate the effects of TNFα in lupus disease and likely mechanisms of action. Further, we discussrecent data on the likely effects of blocking TNFα on anti-DNA autoantibody production.
Balancing MCTS by Dynamically Adjusting the Komi Value

Monte-Carlo Tree Search tends to produce unstable and unreasonable results in the game of Go when used in positions with an extreme advantage or disadvantage. This is due to a poor move selection because of the low signal-to-noise ratio. Notably, it frequently occurs, when playing in a high handicap game. The handicap advantage is in some sense a disadvantage for the computer when playing against a strong human opponent. We explore and compare multiple approaches to mitigate this problem by artificially evening out the game by modifying the final game score by a variable amount of points (“dynamic komi”) before noting the result in the game tree. Moreover, we compare the performance of MCTS and the traditional tree search in the context of extreme positions and measure the effect of the dynamic komi on the actual playing strength of a state-of-art MCTS Go program. Based on our results, we formulate a conjecture on the resilience of the game search tree to changes in the evaluation function throughout the search.
Fluoroquinolone Resistance Mutations in the parC,parE, and gyrA Genes of Clinical Isolates of Viridans Group Streptococci

ABSTRACT The nucleotide sequences of the quinolone resistance-determining regions (QRDRs) of the parC and gyrA genes from seven ciprofloxacin-resistant (Cpr) isolates of viridans group streptococci (two high-level CprStreptococcus oralis and five low-level CprStreptococcus mitis isolates) were determined and compared with those obtained from susceptible isolates. The nucleotide sequences of the QRDRs of the parE and gyrBgenes from the five low-level CprS. mitisisolates and from the NCTC 12261 type strain were also analyzed. Four of these low-level Cpr isolates had changes affecting the subunits of DNA topoisomerase IV: three in Ser-79 (to Phe or Ile) of ParC and one in ParE at a position not previously described to be involved in quinolone resistance (Pro-424). One isolate did not show any mutation. The two high-level CprS. oralisisolates showed mutations affecting equivalent residue positions of ParC and GyrA, namely, Ser-79 to Phe and Ser-81 to Phe or Tyr, respectively. The parC mutations were able to transformStreptococcus pneumoniae to ciprofloxacin resistance, while the gyrA mutations transformed S. pneumoniaeonly when mutations in parC were present. These results suggest that DNA topoisomerase IV is a primary target of ciprofloxacin in viridans group streptococci, DNA gyrase being a secondary target.
Regulation of chondrocyte differentiation by the actin cytoskeleton and adhesive interactions

Chondrocyte differentiation is a multi‐step process characterized by successive changes in cell morphology and gene expression. In addition to tight regulation by numerous soluble factors, these processes are controlled by adhesive events. During the early phase of the chondrocyte life cycle, cell–cell adhesion through molecules such as N‐cadherin and neural cell adhesion molecule (N‐CAM) is required for differentiation of mesenchymal precursor cells to chondrocytes. At later stages, for example in growth plate chondrocytes, adhesion signaling from extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins through integrins and other ECM receptors such as the discoidin domain receptor (DDR) 2 (a collagen receptor) and Annexin V is necessary for normal chondrocyte proliferation and hypertrophy. Cell–matrix interactions are also important for chondrogenesis, for example through the activity of CD44, a receptor for Hyaluronan and collagens. The roles of several signaling molecules involved in adhesive signaling, such as integrin‐linked kinase (ILK) and Rho GTPases, during chondrocyte differentiation are beginning to be understood, and the actin cytoskeleton has been identified as a common target of these adhesive pathways. Complete elucidation of the pathways connecting adhesion receptors to downstream effectors and the mechanisms integrating adhesion signaling with growth factor‐ and hormone‐induced pathways is required for a better understanding of physiological and pathological skeletal development. J. Cell. Physiol. 213: 1–8, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Evaluation of fluorescence in situ hybridization to detect encapsulated Bacillus pumilus SAFR‐032 spores released from poly(methylmethacrylate)

Bacillus pumilus SAFR‐032 spores originally isolated from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory spacecraft assembly facility clean room are extremely resistant to UV radiation, H2O2, desiccation, chemical disinfection and starvation compared to spores of other Bacillus species. The resistance of B. pumilus SAFR‐032 spores to standard industrial clean room sterilization practices is not only a major concern for medical, pharmaceutical and food industries, but also a threat to the extraterrestrial environment during search for life via spacecraft. The objective of the present study was to investigate the potential of Alexa‐FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization with Alexa Fluor® 488 labeled oligonucleotide) method as a molecular diagnostic tool for enumeration of multiple sterilant‐resistant B. pumilus SAFR‐032 spores artificially encapsulated in, and released via organic solvent from, a model polymeric material: poly(methylmethacrylate) (Lucite, Plexiglas). Plexiglas is used extensively in various aerospace applications and in medical, pharmaceutical and food industries. Alexa‐FISH signals were not detected from spores via standard methods for vegetative bacterial cells. Optimization of a spore permeabilization protocol capitalizing on the synergistic action of proteinase‐K, lysozyme, mutanolysin and Triton X‐100 facilitated efficient spore detection by Alexa‐FISH microscopy. Neither of the Alexa‐probes tested gave rise to considerable levels of Lucite‐ or solvent‐associated background autofluorescence, demonstrating the immense potential of Alexa‐FISH for rapid quantification of encapsulated B. pumilus SAFR‐032 spores released from poly(methylmethacrylate).
Subcellular relocalization of a long‐chain fatty acid CoA ligase by a suppressor mutation alleviates a respiration deficiency in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

We have isolated an extragenic suppressor, FAM1‐1, which is able to restore respiratory growth to a deletion of the CEM1 gene (mitochondrial beta‐keto‐acyl synthase). The sequence of the suppressor strongly suggests that it encodes a long‐chain fatty acid CoA ligase (fatty‐acyl‐CoA synthetase). We have also cloned and sequenced the wild‐type FAM1 gene, which is devoid of suppressor activity. The comparison of the two sequences shows that the suppressor mutation is an A‐‐>T transversion, which creates a new initiation codon and adds 18 amino acids to the N‐terminus of the protein. This extension has all the characteristics of a mitochondrial targeting sequence, whilst the N‐terminus of the wild‐type protein has none of these characteristics. In vitro mitochondrial import experiments show that the N‐terminal half of the suppressor protein, but not of the wild‐type, is transported into mitochondria. Thus, we hypothesize that the suppressor acts by changing the subcellular localization of the protein and relocating at least some of the enzyme from the cytosol to the mitochondria. These results support the hypothesis that some form of fatty acid synthesis, specific for the mitochondria, is essential for the function of the organelle.
Switched model predictive control for performance enhancement

This article presents a switched model predictive control (MPC) algorithm for non-linear discrete time systems where the weights on the state and control variables in the cost function to be minimised depend on the current value of the state. In so doing, with a reduced computational burden one can easily include, in the problem formulation, a number of control specifications, such as the requirement to avoid critical regions in the state space or to reduce as much as possible the use of some actuators in other zones of the state space. The proposed MPC method has stability properties and is applied for control of a thermal system. The reported simulation results witness its favourable characteristics with respect to a standard MPC implementation.
The role of thyroid hormones in placental and fetal central nervous system development

Thyroid hormones are critical to growth and development of the human fetus. In particular, the fetal central nervous system is extremely sensitive to the actions of the active ligand, tri-iodothyronine (T3). The placenta is the organ during pregnancy that allows transport between the mother and her baby by close interaction of the maternal and fetal circulations. Endogenous fetal thyroid hormone production does not occur until the beginning of the second trimester. However, there appears to be transplacental transport of thyroid hormones to the fetus earlier in gestation and organs, such as the central nervous system, appear to be exquisitely sensitive to their actions. The content of this Thesis describes my work, published in peer reviewed papers over the last fifteen years. It outlines the molecular mechanisms controlling the delivery and actions of thyroid hormones to the fetus.
MRBS : A Comprehensive MapReduce Benchmark Suite

MapReduce is a promising programming model for distributed data processing. Extensive research has been conducted on the scalability of MapReduce, and several systems have been proposed in the literature, ranging from job scheduling to data placement and replication. However, realistic benchmarks are still missing to analyze and compare the effectiveness of these proposals. To date, most MapReduce techniques have been evaluated using microbenchmarks in an overly simplified setting, which may not be representative of real-world applications. This paper presents MRBS, a comprehensive benchmark suite for evaluating the performance of MapReduce systems. MRBS includes five benchmarks covering several application domains and a wide range of execution scenarios such as data-intensive vs. compute-intensive applications, or batch applications vs. online interactive applications. MRBS allows to characterize application workload and dataload, and produces extensive high-level and low-level performance statistics. We illustrate the use of MRBS with Hadoop clusters running on Amazon EC2. Keywords-Benchmark; Performance; MapReduce; Hadoop; Cloud Computing
The interstitial system of the trigeminal spinal tract projects to the red nucleus in mice

We studied projections from the interstitial system of the spinal trigeminal tract (InSy-S5T) to the red nucleus of the mouse with retrograde tracers (fluorogold and latex microbeads impregnated with rhodamine and fluorescein). Injections in the magnocellular part of the red nucleus caused labeling of cells in the rostral, intermediate, and caudal paratrigeminal nucleus (Pa5), dorsal paramarginal nucleus (PaMD), insular trigemeo-lateral cuneate nucleus (I5CuL), and the trigeminal extension of the parvocellular reticular formation (5RPC). All projections were bilateral, but contralateral projections were stronger. The number of retrogradely labeled cells in the InSy-S5T in 3-, 6-, and 12-month-old mice was similar. Injections restricted to the parvocellular red nucleus did not label the nuclei of the InSy-S5T. This projection from the InSy-S5T to the red nucleus may mediate modulation of the facial muscles by pain and other sensory information.
Extracting spatial relations from document for geographic information retrieval

Geographic information retrieval (GIR) is developed to retrieve geographical information from unstructured text (commonly web documents). Previous researches focus on applying traditional information retrieval (IR) techniques to GIR, such as ranking geographic relevance by vector space model (VSM). In many cases, these keyword-based methods can not support spatial query very well. For example, searching documents on “debris flow took place in Hunan last year”, the documents selected in this way may only contain the words “debris flow” and “Hunan” rather than refer to “debris flow actually occurred in Hunan”. Lack of spatial relations between thematic activates (debris flow) and geographic entities (Hunan) is the key reason for this problem. In this paper, we present a kernel-based approach and apply it in support vector machine (SVM) to extract spatial relations from free text for further GIS service and spatial reasoning. First, we analyze the characters of spatial relation expressions in natural language and there are two types of spatial relations: topology and direction. Both of them are used to qualitatively describe the relative positions of spatial objects to each other. Then we explore the use of dependency tree (a dependency tree represents the grammatical dependencies in a sentence and it can be generated by syntax parser) to identify these spatial relations. We observe that the features required to find a relationship between two spatial named entities in the same sentence is typically captured by the shortest path between the two entities in the dependency tree. Therefore, we construct a shortest path dependency kernel for SVM to complete the task. The experiment results show that our dependency tree kernel achieves significant improvement than previous method.
RNA-Processing Genes Control Sensory Neuron Function In Drosophila Melanogaster

The goal of this study was to identify genes involved in regulating the function of class IV multidendritic neurons (nociceptors) integral to the detection of thermal, mechanical, and photic stimuli. We used Drosophila melanogaster larvae as a model organism, which exhibit a distinct and quantifiable response to noxious stimuli termed nocifensive escape locomotion (NEL). We systematically knocked down putative RNA-processing genes with a previously identified role in dendrite development and/or alternative splicing by crossing a ppk-GAL4;UAS-dicer2 fly strain with RNAi lines targeting genes of interest. Using ppk as our driver limits expression to nociceptors and dicer2 promotes increased expression of RNAi transcripts. We then tested progeny for changes in nocifensive response latency relative to wild-type larvae using a thermal nociception assay. Twenty-five genes were identified for which knockdown resulted in either a significant increase or decrease in response latency, indicating a potential defect. Follow-up assays validated seven genes with an insensitive phenotype and two with a hypersensitive phenotype. Additionally, our results have confirmed that behavioral defects do not correlate with defects in dendrite morphology. Finally, a complex role for translation initiation factors was revealed, suggesting the potential for a nociception-specific and possibly IRES-mediated translation mechanism involving eIFG2 and eIF4E3.
Genetic polymorphisms in the tumour necrosis factor locus in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Summary. Genetic polymorphisms in the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) locus influence the outcome of non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). We investigated whether these polymorphisms might contribute to the clinical course of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Genomic DNA from 214 childhood ALL patients was analysed. Patients with a high‐risk haplotype were older than patients with low‐risk haplotype (P = 0·024). No statistically significant associations were found between TNF haplotype and sex, WBC counts, central nervous system involvement, immunophenotype, response to chemotherapy, and event‐free survival. These data suggest that genetic polymorphisms in the TNF locus have a limited effect on the outcome of childhood ALL.