Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
From the physical self to the social body: expressions and effects of HIV-related stigma in South Africa

This paper discusses some of the forms and consequences of HIV-related stigma in a community living in KTC, an informal settlement in South Africa, drawing on ethnographic research findings. The first section presents a dynamic form of stigma sign language that is used to label the HIV-positive ‘other’ in this community. The second section highlights some of the pernicious consequences of HIV-related stigma, including fear of disclosure and downward social mobility, and the way in which these prompt some HIV-positive people to avoid local clinics and treatment altogether, and drive others to mask or hide the fact that they are receiving medical treatment, such as antiretroviral drugs. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Elderly Recreational Vehicle Tourists: Motivations for Leisure

Relationships between motivations for leisure and participation in types of activities and demographic and socioeconomic variables were studied in 1,089 elderly recreational vehicle tourists. Subjects were drawn from a popular winter recreational vehicle tourist area and data were gathered through a self-report survey instrument. Leisure motivations investigated were: rest and relaxation, association with friends and family, physical exercise, learning experience, and self-fulfillment. Chi-square analysis indicated significant relationships between motivations and selected active and sedentary leisure activities, age, occupation, income, and per ceived health status. Little relationship was ascertained between motivations and educational level.
PRIMARY STUDENT TEACHERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF THE PARTICULATE NATURE OF MATTER AND ITS TRANSFORMATIONS DURING DISSOLVING

One-to-one interviews were administered to a sample of twenty female primary student teachers (PST), who were studying at the University of Cyprus. They were asked to describe the changes in macroscopic (colour, taste, volume, density, flammability) and microscopic (kind and movement of molecules) properties of substances when dissolving salt or sugar in water, when mixing water and alcohol, or when filtering or heating the respective water solutions. Analysis of the transcribed interviews showed that the majority of the PST exhibited perceptual rather than conceptual understanding of the particulate nature of matter and had difficulties to relate the observable macroscopic changes to the invisible molecular events (arrangement and movement of molecules). They stated instead that molecules share in observable properties of matter and combine together to give new molecules, without realising the changes in the structure and the properties of matter or without being able to distinguish physical from chemical changes. The prevalence and the diversity of the observed conceptions among PST indicate that the molecular constitution of matter is not adequately understood and that teaching materials and instructional interventions based on conceptual change should be designed and implemented both for teachers’ pre-service and in-service training, to avoid ‘diffusion’ of misconceptions within the primary classrooms. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. Eur. : 2000, 1, 249-262]
Vulvovaginal atrophy is strongly associated with female sexual dysfunction among sexually active postmenopausal women

Objective:The relationship between vulvovaginal atrophy and female sexual dysfunction is unclear. We investigated this association among sexually active postmenopausal women. Design:The Menopause Epidemiology Study is a cross-sectional, population-based study of women 40 to 65 years old in the United States chosen from a source population selected by random digit dialing and probability sampling. We focused on sexually active postmenopausal women (N = 1,480) for our analyses. Vulvovaginal atrophy was defined as one or more of the following: vaginal dryness, itching, irritation; pain on urination; or pain or bleeding on intercourse. The Arizona Sexual Experience Survey was used to define female sexual dysfunction. Sexual dysfunction subtypes for desire, arousal, and orgasm difficulties were individually scored. We evaluated demographic, behavioral, reproductive history, and medication covariates for effect modification and confounding. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between vulvovaginal atrophy and female sexual dysfunction. Results:The prevalence of vulvovaginal atrophy (57%) and female sexual dysfunction (55%) was high. Women with female sexual dysfunction were 3.84 times more likely to have vulvovaginal atrophy than women without female sexual dysfunction (95% CI: 2.99-4.94). Hot flashes modified the association between vulvovaginal atrophy and desire difficulty. Educational level modified the association between vulvovaginal atrophy and arousal difficulty. Parity modified the association between vulvovaginal atrophy and orgasm difficulty. Conclusions:This large population-based study provides evidence of an association between vulvovaginal atrophy and overall female sexual dysfunction and its subtypes. Therapies aiming to reduce symptoms of one condition may also relieve symptoms of the other.
Mitochondrial DNA content and function, childhood obesity, and insulin resistance

Abstract Objectives: The objectives of our study were to compare the mitochondrial enzyme activity between obese and non-obese children and to assess the association between mitochondrial DNA content and function and markers of metabolic syndrome. Methods: Clinical and anthropometric data of obese and normal-weight children ages 2–18 years were collected. We collected buccal swabs for mitochondrial respiratory enzymes (complex I, IV, and Citrate Synthase). In obese children only, serum levels of metabolic parameters and mitochondrial DNA from mononuclear cells were quantitated. Results: We recruited 75 obese and 65 normal-weight children. There was no difference in respiratory complex enzyme activity levels between obese and normal-weight subjects. In obese subjects, mitochondrial to nuclear DNA (mt/nDNA) ratio was significantly correlated with BMI Z-score and BMI percentile (p < 0.05, and p < 0.01, respectively), and the strength of this correlation was proportionate to the degree of obesity. We did not find any association between mt/nDNA ratio and metabolic parameters. We observed a significant positive association between complex IV activity and fasting insulin level (p < 0.05). Finally, fasting insulin explained 45% of the variation in the complex IV activity level (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Our findings indicate that mitochondrial DNA content is directly related to obesity, but not to the markers of metabolic syndrome/insulin resistance in children. Longitudinal studies involving larger samples are needed to confirm our findings and help elucidate the relationship between mitochondrial function, adiposity, and insulin resistance.
The Experience of Collaborative Assessment in e-Learning

This paper examines the various ways in which students talk about their experience and perceptions of collaborative review and assessment as it occurs in e-learning environments. Collaborative review and assessment involves the student, their peers and tutor in thoughtful and critical examination of each student's course work. The process involves two stages: review and discussion of the student's work with a view to bringing different critical yet supportive perspectives to the work. This is followed by the use of two sets of criteria to make judgements on the student's work: one set provided by the student, the other by the tutor. The purpose of collaborative assessment is to foster a learning approach to assessment and to develop a shared power relationship with students. From analysis of face-to-face interviews, examination of e-learning discussions and student-completed questionnaires, a set of analytic categories was built describing the learners' experiences of collaborative e-assessment. These categories are: (1) the appropriateness of collaborative assessment; (2) collaborative assessment as a learning event; and (3) the focus for assessment. The paper focuses on analysing and discussing these categories of experience. The research shows that a positive social climate is necessary in developing and sustaining collaborative assessment and that this form of assessment helps students to reduce dependence on lecturers as the only or major source of judgement about the quality of learning. Students develop skill and know-how about self- and peer assessment and see themselves as competent in making judgements about their own and each other's work, which are surely good lifelong learning skills.
The developmental interface between nature and nurture: A mutual influence model of child antisocial behavior and parent behaviors.

Using an adoption design to collect data on biological and adoptive parents of children adopted at birth, this study explored a possible mechanism through which heritable characteristics of adopted children evoke adoptive parent responses and lead to reciprocal influences between adoptive parent and adopted child behavior. Participants were 25 male and 20 female adoptees, 12-18 years of age, having either a biological parent with substance abuse/dependency or antisocial personality or a biological parent with no such history. The study found that psychiatric disorders of biological parents were significantly related to children's antisocial/hostile behaviors and that biological parents' psychiatric disorders were associated with adoptive parents' behaviors. This genotype-environment association was largely mediated by adoptees' antisocial/hostile behaviors. Results also suggest that the adoptee's antisocial / hostile behavior and adoptive mother's parenting practices affect each other.
The role of tactile maps in mobility training

Tactile maps can have both immediate and long term benefits in helping visually impaired children to find their way through their environment and to acquire spatial abilities. In a series of studies (1991-92), reported in this article, the authors established that young visually impaired children can understand and use tactile maps. The children adopted a variety of strategies for acquiring information from a map, some of which were more effective than others. In the final study, it was established that training in a simple strategy can improve children's performance in a map task.
Transformer-Based seven-level inverter with single-dc supply for renewable energy applications

This paper puts forward a single-DC source based seven-level inverter for harvesting energy from renewable sources. Three single-phase transformers with cascaded outputs are powered from the switching power circuit resulting in then generation of multilevel at the output of the inverter. The proposed configuration can generate output voltage having levels of magnitude (−3VDC, −2VDC, −VDC, 0, VDC, 2VDC, 3VDC) from the DC supply (VDC). Structurally this topology exhibits the advantage of fewer power devices in comparison to conventional inverter for the generation of same number of output voltage levels. Simple logic gate based gating pulse generation scheme is suggested obviating the need for complex pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) scheme. Simulation results confirming the viability and effectiveness of the proposed inverter are presented.
Mixed Infection and the Genesis of Influenza Virus Diversity

ABSTRACT The emergence of viral infections with potentially devastating consequences for human health is highly dependent on their underlying evolutionary dynamics. One likely scenario for an avian influenza virus, such as A/H5N1, to evolve to one capable of human-to-human transmission is through the acquisition of genetic material from the A/H1N1 or A/H3N2 subtypes already circulating in human populations. This would require that viruses of both subtypes coinfect the same cells, generating a mixed infection, and then reassort. Determining the nature and frequency of mixed infection with influenza virus is therefore central to understanding the emergence of pandemic, antigenic, and drug-resistant strains. To better understand the potential for such events, we explored patterns of intrahost genetic diversity in recently circulating strains of human influenza virus. By analyzing multiple viral genome sequences sampled from individual influenza patients we reveal a high level of mixed infection, including diverse lineages of the same influenza virus subtype, drug-resistant and -sensitive strains, those that are likely to differ in antigenicity, and even viruses of different influenza virus types (A and B). These results reveal that individuals can harbor influenza viruses that differ in major phenotypic properties, including those that are antigenically distinct and those that differ in their sensitivity to antiviral agents.
Parental Alcoholism and Percieved Levels of Family Health Among College Freshmen

This study investigated the influence of parental alcoholism on 593 freshman students at an urban, non-residential, southeastern university to determine how collegiate children of alcoholics (COAs), problem drinkers, and non-alcoholics (nonCOAs) differed in their perceptions of family health as indicated by the Family of Origin Scale (FOS). These three groups of offspring differed significantly in their perception of family health as measured by the scale's constructs of autonomy and intimacy and on various items within each construct. Children of alcoholics and problem drinkers scored lower on each construct and its related items, indicating that COAs perceived their families as less healthy when compared to the perceptions of children of non-alcoholics.
Depression And Cognitive Self-Statements Of Learning Disabled And Seriously Emotionally Disturbed Adolescents

Prevalence and severity of depression and related negative cognitive self-statements were assessed in a sample of 465 junior and senior high school learning disabled (LD) and seriously emotionally disturbed (SED) adolescents receiving special education services in public school resource room programs. Twenty-one percent of the adolescents sampled experienced severe depressive symptomatology. Some senior high females exhibited a more negative cognitive style than their male peers, although no differences were found at the junior high level. There were no differences in severity of depressive symptomatology and related dysfunctional cognitive self-statements between LD and SED students. Results indicate that depression is a prevalent condition among many LD and SED adolescents, a finding that warrants increased attention among special educators. Implications for expanding school-based identification and intervention procedures are discussed.
Molecular Mechanism of Oxidative Stress Perception by the Orp1 Protein*

In this study we investigated the molecular mechanism by which the Orp1 (Gpx3) protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae senses and reacts with hydrogen peroxide. Upon exposure to H2O2 Orp1Cys36 forms a disulfide-bonded complex with the C-terminal domain of the Yap1 protein (Yap1-cCRD). We used 4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole to identify a cysteine sulfenic acid (Cys-SOH) modification that forms on Cys36 of Orp1Cys36 upon exposure to H2O2. Under similar conditions, neither Cys82 of Orp1Cys82 nor Cys598 of Yap1 forms Cys-SOH. A homology-based molecular model of Orp1 suggests that the structure of the active site of Orp1 is similar to that found in mammalian selenocysteine glutathione peroxidases. Proposed active site residues Gln70 and Trp125 form a catalytic triad with Cys36 in the Orp1 molecular model. The remainder of the active site pocket is formed by Phe38, Asn126, and Phe127, which are evolutionarily conserved residues. We made Q70A and W125A mutants and tested the ability of these mutants to form Cys-SOH in response to H2O2. Both mutants were unable to form Cys-SOH and did not form a H2O2-inducible disulfide-bonded complex with Yap1-cCRD. The pKa of Cys36 was determined to be 5.1, which is 3.2 pH units lower than that of a free cysteine (8.3). In contrast, Orp1 Cys82 (the resolving cysteine) has a pKa value of 8.3. The pKa of Cys36 in the Q70A and W125A mutants is also 8.3, demonstrating the importance of these residues in modulating the nucleophilic character of Cys36. Finally, we show that S. cerevisiae strains with ORP1 Q70A and W125A mutations are less tolerant to H2O2 than those containing wild-type ORP1. The results of our study suggest that attempts to identify novel redox-regulated proteins and signal transduction pathways should focus on characterization of low pKa cysteines.
FlashView: An Interactive Visual Explorer for Raw Data

New data has been generated in an unexpected high speed. To get insight of those data, data analysts will perform a thorough study using state-of-the-art big data analytical tools. Before the analysis starts, a preprocessing is conducted, where data analyst tends to issue a few ad-hoc queries on a new dataset to explore and gain a better understanding. However, it is costly to perform such ad-hoc queries on large scale data using traditional data management systems, e.g., DBMS, because data loading and indexing are very expensive. In this demo, we propose a novel visual data explorer system, FlashView, which omits the loading process by directly querying raw data. FlashView applies approximate query processing technique to achieve real-time query results. It builds both in-memory index and disk index to facilitate the data scanning. It also supports tracking and updating multiple queries concurrently. Note that FlashView is not designed as a replacement of full-fledged DBMS. Instead, it tries to help the analysts quickly understand the characteristics of data, so he/she can selectively load data into the DBMS to do more sophisticated analysis.
Arguments and Evidence Against a Younger Dryas Impact Event

We present arguments and evidence against the hypothesis that a large impact or airburst caused a significant abrupt climate change, extinction event, and termination of the Clovis culture at 12.9 ka. It should be noted that there is not one single Younger Dryas (YD) impact hypothesis but several that conflict with one another regarding many significant details. Fragmentation and explosion mechanisms proposed for some of the versions do not conserve energy or momentum, no physics-based model has been presented to support the various concepts, and existing physical models contradict them. In addition, the a priori odds of the impact of a >4 km comet in the prescribed configuration on the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the specified time period are infinitesimal, about one in 10 15 . There are three broad classes of counterarguments. First, evidence for an impact is lacking. No impact craters of the appropriate size and age are known, and no unambiguously shocked material or other features diagnostic of impact have been found in YD sediments. Second, the climatological, paleontological, and archeological events that the YD impact proponents are attempting to explain are not unique, are arguably misinterpreted by the proponents, have large chronological uncertainties, are not necessarily coupled, and do not require an impact. Third, we believe that proponents have misinterpreted some of the evidence used to argue for an impact, and several independent researchers have been unable to reproduce reported results. This is compounded by the observation of contamination in a purported YD sample with modern carbon.
Estereotipos y expresión emocional. Con cara de ira pareces competente y con cara triste pareces sociable

Resumen El objetivo de esta investigación es comprobar si la atribución de rasgos estereotípicos depende del tipo de expresión facial emocional que exhiben los individuos. Para ello, realizamos una investigación con 443 participantes a los que se pidió que atribuyeran rasgos de competencia y sociabilidad a fotos de caras de hombres y mujeres expresando diferentes emociones básicas. Los resultados muestran que las emociones negativas, ira y repugnancia, se relacionan con competencia mientras que miedo, tristeza y sorpresa se relacionan con sociabilidad. La alegría no presenta diferencias de atribución entre ambas dimensiones. Además, los resultados muestran que la asociación entre expresión emocional y competencia versus sociabilidad es independiente del género de la persona que expresa la emoción.
‘The Age of Wood’: Fuel and Fighting in French Forests, 1940–1944

Through a case study focusing on southeastern France, this article traces the history of French forests during World War II. For the Vichy regime the forest was not only a vital source of replacement products in a time of severe shortages, but also a habitat that could symbolize elements of Vichy's reactionary worldview. However, from late 1942 onward, resistance movements began physically and imaginatively to reclaim the forest from Vichy, turning it into a space of revolt and subversion. German and Italian occupation challenged French control of the forest, undermining Vichy's production drive, and turning forests into sites of armed conflict. By arguing that forests were an integral component of France's wartime history, this essay contributes to both the established historiography on Vichy France and the emerging literature on environmental histories of war.
Increased Adherence and Expression of Virulence Genes in a Lineage of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Commonly Associated with Human Infections

Background Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7, a food and waterborne pathogen, can be classified into nine phylogenetically distinct lineages, as determined by single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping. One lineage (clade 8) was found to be associated with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which can lead to kidney failure and death in some cases, particularly young children. Another lineage (clade 2) differs considerably in gene content and is phylogenetically distinct from clade 8, but caused significantly fewer cases of HUS in a prior study. Little is known, however, about how these two lineages vary with regard to phenotypic traits important for disease pathogenesis and in the expression of shared virulence genes. Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we quantified the level of adherence to and invasion of MAC-T bovine epithelial cells, and examined the transcriptomes of 24 EHEC O157:H7 strains with varying Shiga toxin profiles from two common lineages. Adherence to epithelial cells was >2-fold higher for EHEC O157:H7 strains belonging to clade 8 versus clade 2, while no difference in invasiveness was observed between the two lineages. Whole-genome 70-mer oligo microarrays, which probe for 6088 genes from O157:H7 Sakai, O157:H7 EDL 933, pO157, and K12 MG1655, detected significant differential expression between clades in 604 genes following co-incubation with epithelial cells for 30 min; 186 of the 604 genes had a >1.5 fold change difference. Relative to clade 2, clade 8 strains showed upregulation of major virulence genes, including 29 of the 41 locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) pathogenicity island genes, which are critical for adherence, as well as Shiga toxin genes and pO157 plasmid-encoded virulence genes. Differences in expression of 16 genes that encode colonization factors, toxins, and regulators were confirmed by qRT-PCR, which revealed a greater magnitude of change than microarrays. Conclusions/Significance These findings demonstrate that the EHEC O157:H7 lineage associated with HUS expresses higher levels of virulence genes and has an enhanced ability to attach to epithelial cells relative to another common lineage.
8.2: Factors Affecting Image Quality Preferences

Image quality plays a key role in consumer purchasing decisions. In this study we manipulated image quality of videos using a consumer product that enhances digital video images in real time. Videos were presented on two HDTVs, enhanced by varying amounts and subjects made pairwise comparisons. Our results showed two distinct preference groups “Sharp” and “Smooth” in our study subjects. Preferences for enhancement depended on the video content, particularly the presence or absence of a human face.