Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RELATIONSHIPS AMONG MULTIPLE-CHOICE REASONING ITEMS AND A CONSTRUCTED-RESPONSE GENERATING-EXPLANATIONS TASK

The potential benefits of computer-based testing include the ability to present a wider variety of item formats and to tailor tests for specific purposes. In this study we examined the relationships among revised reasoning items that had more varied formats than the traditional items, a constructed-response generating-explanations task, and the current GRE General Test. In addition we examined the relationship of these measures to other indicators of achievement. A computer-based test of the revised reasoning items and the generating-explanations task was administered to a sample of examinees who previously had taken a paper-and-pencil version of the GRE General Test. The revised reasoning item types had acceptable psychometric characteristics and were correlated highly with the current logical reasoning items as well as with items on the GRE verbal measure. The generating-explanations task was only marginally related to the GRE measures and to the revised reasoning items and was more strongly related to ideational fluency measures. Factor analytic results suggest that if the revised reasoning items were added to the analytical measure, the correlation between the verbal measure and the analytical measure would increase. A better fitting factor model resulted when some of the current and the revised reasoning items were included in the verbal measure. The relationship of the generating-explanations task and the analytical measure to other indicators of achievement varied for type of achievement and for broad major undergraduate fields of study. The implications of these results for understanding the nature of the skills assessed by different tasks and formats, and for long-term modifications in the GRE General Test, are discussed.
Evaluation of cabergoline and buserelin efficacy for oestrous induction in the bitch.

The purpose of this work was to compare two different protocols of oestrous induction, using either a dopamine agonist (cabergoline) or a GnRH agonist (buserelin) in anoestrus bitches. The clinical trial involved 22 Beagle bitches, randomly allotted to two treatment groups: group A (n = 12) was orally administered cabergoline (Galastop(R); Centralvet-Vetem, Milan, Italy; 5 microg/kg SID), until the onset of cytological oestrus or for a maximum of 30 days and group B (n = 10) was treated with buserelin acetate, (Suprefact(R); Aventis Pharma, Milan, Italy), administered subcutaneously t.i. d. , at 1.5 microg/kg for 11 days and 0.75 microg/kg for the following 3 days. Blood samples were collected twice a week to measure progesterone and prolactin concentration. Both cabergoline and buserelin produced a significant early decline in prolactin concentration (p < 0.01), but the effect of cabergoline lasted longer. Progesterone concentration was significantly affected by buserelin administration, showing a significant increase (p < 0.01) from day 3 to day 6 of treatment. Cabergoline confirmed its effectiveness in inducing oestrus as 10 of 12 bitches responded to the treatment, were mated and whelped. On the contrary, oestrus was observed in only three of 10 buserelin-treated bitches and in two of them 7 and 13 days after the end of treatment. These same two bitches accepted mating and conceived. The results suggest that in a clinical setting, dopaminergic treatment is the treatment of choice as it yields more consistent results and involves a much easier administration protocol.
Klassifikation von Verlaufskurven in der Depressionsbehandlung

Zusammenfassung. Theoretischer Hintergrund: Die Einteilung von Therapieverlaufen depressiver Patienten in unterschiedliche Verlaufstypen ist von grosem theoretischen und v.a. auch praktischen Wert, da eine fruhzeitige Zuordnung therapeutische Konsequenzen nach sich ziehen konnte. Fragestellung: Ermoglichen neuere Ansatze aus der latenten Wachstumskurvenanalyse (“growth mixture modeling“ - GMM) eine Unterteilung in verschiedene Verlaufstypen? Ergeben sich Vorteile bei der Pradiktion der Entlasssymptomatik gegenuber einfachen klinischen Erfolgskriterien? Methode: Die Verlaufsdaten von n = 304 depressiven Patienten uber acht Wochen hinweg werden mit zwei verschiedenen GMM-Ansatzen (semiparametrisch und parametrisch) in unterschiedliche Trajektorienklassen klassifiziert. Auserdem werden die Patienten nach einfachen klinischen Erfolgskriterien unterteilt. Ergebnisse: Im parametrischen Ansatz ergab sich eine Losung mit vier Verlaufsklassen. Der semiparametrische Ansatz favorisierte eine analoge Losung mit siebe.
Blood pressure in obese and overweight children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND The prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents has increased dramatically in the last few decades. Primary hypertension, a known secondary complication among obese adults, has been considered rare in children. OBJECTIVES To investigate the prevalence of hypertension and its relation to body mass index (BMI) in obese children aged 9-17 years in Israel. METHODS Weight, height, BMI, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) (twice) were measured in children attending general and pediatric endocrine clinics. Obesity was defined as BMI > or = 95th percentile and overweight as BMI > or = 85th percentile. Pre-hypertension and hypertension were defined as systolic and/or diastolic BP > or = 90th percentile for age, gender and height and BP > or = 95th percentile respectively. In children with pre-hypertension or hypertension, repeated measurements were performed. RESULTS We evaluated 264 children of whom 152 had BMI > or = 85th percentile (study group). Their mean age was 12.5 years. The prevalence of elevated BP (both pre-hypertension and hypertension) in the study group was 44.1% and 31% at the first and second measurements respectively, compared to 11.6% and 1.9% in the normal-weight group. Hypertension was documented in 17.2% of the study group at the second measurement. CONCLUSIONS Elevated BP was diagnosed in 31% of overweight and obese children and adolescents. Increased awareness and early diagnosis and treatment are essential.
Towards a Better Way to Die with Chemotherapy: Role of Heat Shock Protein Exposure on Dying Tumor Cells

The ultimate goal of most anti-tumor therapies is to kill tumor cells. While most of the attention in cancer therapy has been towards enhancing the death of tumor cells, the effect of dying tumors on the immune system has been less studied. Recent studies have suggested that cell death induced by different agents may have distinct consequences for the immune system. One of the immunogenic signals may be the expression of heat shock proteins on dying tumor cells under certain settings. For example, bortezomib (a proteasome inhibitor) induces the expression of heat shock protein 90 (hsp90) on the surface of dying human myeloma tumor cells. Recognition of such tumor cells by antigen presenting dendritic cells leads to the generation of anti-tumor T cells. Harnessing the properties of some anti-tumor agents to induce immunogenic death of tumor cells may facilitate the recruitment of adaptive immunity and promote the durability of anti-tumor effects.
On the Definition of Concepts in Component Based Software development

This report defines commonly used terms within the area of Component Based Software Development (CBSD). We define the concepts “components”, “objects”, “contracts”, “interfaces”, “patterns” and “frameworks”. We also discuss a number of important relations between some of the concepts. We found that there seem to be some variations as to what the different terms really mean in different situations and by different authors. However, a general line of definitions has been extracted in which there is for instance, a clear distinction between a component and an object. The relation between patterns and frameworks is mentioned. Frameworks as defined in UML and Catalysis is further described from a formal point of view, and finally a similarity between frameworks and contracts is discussed.
The Effects of Community Colleges: Aid or Hindrance to Socioeconomic Attainment?.

The community college is both important and controversial. It now enrolls 36 percent of all students in college. But there is much debate over whether it aids or hinders its students' socioeconomic attainment. This paper aims to measure the community college's effects and to explain how those effects are produced. In the first section, I critically synthesize research comparing the effects of community colleges and the effects of other postsecondary institutions on educational attainment and economic success. I conclude that baccalaureate aspirants entering community colleges attain less educationally and economically than comparable students entering four-year colleges. But community-college entrants seeking only subbaccalaureate vocational training seem to get more education than if they had entered a four-year college. However, the research allows no conclusion on which type of institution best promotes the economic success of subbaccalaureate aspirants. In the second section of the paper, I develop a model of the factors that impede the educational attainment of community-college entrants who aspire to a baccalaureate.
An Empirical Study of File-System Fragmentation in Mobile Storage Systems

Nowadays, mobile devices have become the necessities of everyday life. However, users may notice that after a long period of usage, mobile devices will start experiencing sluggish response. In this paper, by conducting an empirical study of filesystem fragmentation on several aged mobile devices, we found that: 1) Files may suffer from severe fragmentation, and database files are among the most severely fragmented files; 2) Filesystem fragmentation does affect the performance of mobile devices, and the impact varies from devices to devices. Conventional defragmentation schemes do not work well on mobile devices because they do not consider the characteristics specific to mobile storage. Two pilot solutions were then suggested to enhance file defragmentation for mobile devices.
Brazilian judges in-between professionalism, gender and difference

Abstract This paper analyzes how Brazilian judges experience difference, focusing on how professionalism, gender, generation and diversity intersect in identity formation among women and men who are judges in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. In attempting to avoid attaching one fixed meaning to the concept of difference, we work with Avtar Brah's typology; this in turn enables us to capture how difference is perceived and experienced by our interviewees. Our results provide a look at how the specificities of the professionalization process influence the composition of the two courts we have studied (one at state and another at federal level), and how they increase or reduce the gender stratification within these careers. Being a judge is experienced through difference, in particular as the ‘Other' to those outside the career, and wherein identification is intersected by questions of gender, sexuality and generation. Although professionalism establishes boundaries between ‘us' and ‘them', it is also diluted through the ways in which the above-mentioned social markers and attributes permeate the self and professional groups. We interviewed 18 judges (women and men) from the São Paulo State Courts (Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo) and 10 judges from the Regional Federal Courts (Tribunal Regional Federal) from the São Paulo circuit.
Template-free detection of macromolecular complexes in cryo electron tomograms

Motivation: Cryo electron tomography (CryoET) produces 3D density maps of biological specimen in its near native states. Applied to small cells, cryoET produces 3D snapshots of the cellular distributions of large complexes. However, retrieving this information is non-trivial due to the low resolution and low signal-to-noise ratio in tomograms. Current pattern recognition methods identify complexes by matching known structures to the cryo electron tomogram. However, so far only a small fraction of all protein complexes have been structurally resolved. It is, therefore, of great importance to develop template-free methods for the discovery of previously unknown protein complexes in cryo electron tomograms. Results: Here, we have developed an inference method for the template-free discovery of frequently occurring protein complexes in cryo electron tomograms. We provide a first proof-of-principle of the approach and assess its applicability using realistically simulated tomograms, allowing for the inclusion of noise and distortions due to missing wedge and electron optical factors. Our method is a step toward the template-free discovery of the shapes, abundance and spatial distributions of previously unknown macromolecular complexes in whole cell tomograms. Contact: alber@usc.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Culm Age and Rhizome Affects Night-Time Water Recharge in the Bamboo Phyllostachys pubescens

Bamboo species—the only herbaceous trees—have unique structural and physiological characteristics that differ from those of other tree taxa. However, the role of night-time water use in bamboo is poorly understood and has rarely been investigated. We studied the day- and night-time sap flow response to culm age and rhizome structure in three age levels (juvenile, mature, and senescent) of Phyllostachys pubescens growing in the Nankun Mountain Natural Reserve, South China. We found that sap flow density and whole-tree hydraulic conductance decreased with culm age. After cutting of rhizome, the day-time sap flow and night-time water recharge decreased obviously. In addition, night-time water recharge accounted for the largest proportion (up to 30%) of total daily transpiration in normal senescent bamboos. Therefore, our study indicates that the connected rhizome system and night-time water recharge played a significant role in water compensation during the day and at night in bamboos. Night-time water recharge is especially critical to senescent bamboos, given their weaker transpiration due to the lower whole-tree hydraulic conductance, and consequently, they are more dependent on night-time water recharge for fulfilling their whole-day water consumption needs.
An open-access endoscopy screen correctly and safely identifies patients for conscious sedation

Background and aims: Open-access scheduling is highly utilized for facilitating generally low-risk endoscopies. Preprocedural screening addresses sedation requirements; however, procedural safety may be compromised if screening is inaccurate. We sought to determine the reliability of our open-access scheduling system for appropriate use of conscious sedation. Methods: We prospectively and consecutively enrolled outpatient procedures booked at an academic center by open-access using screening after in-office gastroenterology (GI) consultation. We collected the cases inappropriately booked for conscious sedation and compared the characteristics for significant differences. Results: A total of 8063 outpatients were scheduled for procedures with conscious sedation, and 5959 were booked with open-access. Only 78 patients (0.97%, 78/8063) were identified as subsequently needing anesthesiologist-assisted sedation; 44 (56.4%, 44/78) were booked through open-access, of which chronic opioid (47.7%, 21/44) or benzodiazepine use (34.1%, 15/44) were the most common reasons for needing anesthesiologist-assisted sedation. Patients on chronic benzodiazepines required more midazolam than those not on chronic benzodiazepines (P = .03) of those patients who underwent conscious sedation. Similarly, patients with chronic opioid use required more fentanyl than those without chronic opioid use (P = .04). Advanced liver disease and alcohol use were common reasons for patients being booked after in-office consultation and were significantly higher than those booked with open-access (both P < .01). Conclusions: We observed that the majority of patients can be triaged for conscious sedation using a multi-tiered screening process. Importantly, few patients (<1.0%) were inappropriately booked for conscious sedation. The most common reasons for considering anesthesiologist-assisted sedation were chronic opioid, benzodiazepine and/or alcohol use and advanced liver disease. This suggests that these entities could be included in screening processes for open-access scheduling.
Review: Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Scleroderma: Effective Immunomodulatory Therapy for Patients With Pulmonary Involvement

As seen from both patients’ and physicians’ points of view, there is wide agreement that systemic sclerosis (SSc) is one of the autoimmune disorders with the highest morbidity and mortality rates. In this review, we will follow the evolution of a new approach to its treatment. Support for using hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for SSc arose from seminal studies of genetic and antigen‐induced experimental models of autoimmune disease that demonstrated that high‐dose immunosuppression followed by either allogeneic (same species) or autologous (self) bone marrow transplantation (BMT) could prevent and even reverse damage from autoimmune diseases. Three decades after these initial preclinical observations, our understanding of the therapeutic potential of immune restoration following autologous HSCT has deepened, and the clinical evidence for its application in scleroderma has broadened. In this review we will examine the outcome of conventional therapy for scleroderma lung disease; detail the techniques, toxicities, and results of HSCT for SSc; and explore the biology of immune restoration following autologous transplantation. We will compare the design and outcomes of randomized trials comparing HSCT with cyclophosphamide (CYC) treatment and formulate criteria for the timely referral of patients with scleroderma lung disease for HSCT.
Leadership in Australia and Its Organizational Outcomes

Current changes in Australian and world economic and social climates have implications for business leadership, particularly at the middle and senior management levels. Surveys business executives attending a well‐known Australian management college during 1991 and 1992 and provides an overview of how leadership responds to and interprets these changes. Identifies five main leadership attributes, namely: vision and creativity; setting and achieving objectives; confident decision making; team building; and charisma. Associates these attributes with 16 organizational outcomes such as: organization innovation, direction setting and motivated workforce, among others. The overall results indicate that further research is needed to examine the extent to which team building and charisma as leadership attributes interact with and predict organization outcomes. Also discusses the practical implications of the findings.
Selection for cryptic coloration in a visually heterogeneous habitat

We studied selection by predators for cryptic prey coloration in a visually heterogeneous habitat that consists of two microhabitats. It has been suggested that the probability of escaping detection in such habitats might be optimized by maximizing crypsis in one of the microhabitats. However, a recent model indicates that a coloration that compromises the requirements of different microhabitats might sometimes be the optimal solution. To experimentally study these hypotheses, we allowed great tits (Parus major L.) to search for artificial prey items in two different microhabitats (background boards): small patterned and large patterned. On each board there was one prey item that was either small–patterned, large–patterned or medium–patterned and thus compromised. Search time was used as the measure of crypsis and was on average longer on the large–patterned than on the small–patterned background. On the small–patterned background, the small–patterned prey was more cryptic than the compromised prey, which was in turn more cryptic than the large–patterned prey. On the large–patterned background, the small–patterned prey was least cryptic, but the compromised prey did not differ significantly from the large–patterned prey. The compromised coloration had lower predation risk than the matching colorations. This indicates that in some conditions a compromised coloration might be the best strategy for the prey and has important implications for the study of animal coloration.
Resource Allocation and Receiver Localization for Underlay CRs Using Interference Tweets

Cognitive radio network provides re-utilization of unused portions of the licensed spectrum. Such that primary users do not affect harmful interference from the transmission of secondary users. Therefore, to analyze the effect of interference across primary user and their minimization have become an important criterion in cognitive network. This paper attempts to provide localization technique based on Bayesian approach gives exact location of primary user. The conventional localization technique provides information related to coverage region of primary user so we cannot estimate accurate location. Secondary users opportunistically share a fixed spectrum resource with different probability of interference constraints. The proposed algorithm shows increased network utility with optimize performance of secondary network. KeywordsCognitive radio network; cross layer optimization; receiver localization; interference tweet. __________________________________________________*****_________________________________________________
Epidemiology of Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Egypt.

Hepatitis C virus constitutes an epidemic in Egypt having the highest prevalence in the world of 14.7%. The reasons behind this unique epidemic may be dated back to iatrogenic role of parenteral antischistosom al therapy campaigns to control endemic schistosomiasis. Other routes of infection are contributing to the ongoing HCV transmission. The prevalent genotype in Egypt is type 4 (73%), the origin, evolution, and dynamics are difficult to determine. Risk facto rs for acquiring HCV infection include: History of antischistosomal injection treatment before 1986, old age, male gender, and residence in rural areas. Other risk factors include; injection therapy, blood transfusion prior to 1994, exposure to various facility - based medical procedures, and occupational transmission among health care workers. In community settings, a set of risk factors, mostly related to prevailing social and cultural conditions, are responsible for maintaining the high rates of HCV tra nsmission. Chronic HCV is the main cause of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer in Egypt and, indeed, one of the top five leading causes of death. It kills an estimated 40,000 Egyptians a year. Mini - review Article
Mosquito Species Composition and Plasmodium vivax Infection Rates on Baengnyeong-do (Island), Republic of Korea

Vivax malaria is a significant military and civilian health threat in the north of the Republic of Korea (ROK). The island of Baengnyeong-do is the westernmost point of the ROK and is located close to the southwestern coast of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Mosquitoes were collected using a black light trap on Baengnyeong-do, and Anopheles spp. were assayed by PCR, to identify the species, and screened for sporozoites of Plasmodium vivax. Of a subsample of 257 mosquitoes, Anopheles lesteri was the most frequently collected (49.8%), followed by Anopheles sinensis (22.6%), Anopheles pullus (18.7%), Anopheles kleini (7.8%), and Anopheles belenrae (1.2%). The overall sporozoite rate was 3.1%, with the highest rates observed in An. kleini (15.0%), An. sinensis (5.2%), and An. lesteri (1.6%). No sporozoite positive An. pullus or An. belenrae were observed. The results extend our knowledge of the distribution and potential role in malaria transmission of An. kleini, An. lesteri, and An. sinensis, for an area previously considered to be at a low risk for contracting vivax malaria.