Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring Social Capital and Civic Engagement to Create a Framework for Community Building

Community building is emerging as an increasingly important intervention strategy for neighborhood revitalization efforts across the country. This article proposes a framework that models 5 components that the author argues comprise the community building process: resident engagement, agenda building, community organizing, community action, and communications and message development. The article is intended to make community building more comprehensible as a field of work and study and more replicable as an intervention strategy.
Testing for Shifts in Trend With an Integrated or Stationary Noise Component

We consider testing for structural changes in the trend function of a time series without any prior knowledge of whether the noise component is stationary or integrated. Following Perron and Yabu (2009), we consider a quasi-feasible generalized least squares procedure that uses a super-efficient estimate of the sum of the autoregressive parameters αwhen α=1. This allows tests of basically the same size with stationary or integrated noise regardless of whether the break is known or unknown, provided that the Exp functional of Andrews and Ploberger (1994) is used in the latter case. To improve the finite-sample properties, we use the bias-corrected version of the estimate of αproposed by Roy and Fuller (2001). Our procedure has a power function close to that attainable if we knew the true value of αin many cases. We also discuss the extension to the case of multiple breaks.
Exploiting Over-The-Air Consensus for Collision Avoidance and Formation Control in Multi-Agent Systems

This paper introduces a distributed control method for multi-agent robotic systems employing Over the Air Consensus (OTA-Consensus). Designed for agents with decoupled single-integrator dynamics, this approach aims at efficient formation achievement and collision avoidance. As a distinctive feature, it leverages OTA's ability to exploit interference in wireless channels, a property traditionally considered a drawback, thus enhancing communication efficiency among robots. An analytical proof of asymptotic convergence is established for systems with time-varying communication topologies represented by sequences of strongly connected directed graphs. Comparative evaluations demonstrate significant efficiency improvements over current state-of-the-art methods, especially in scenarios with a large number of agents.
Time-Varying Time–Frequency Complexity Measures for Epileptic EEG Data Analysis

Objective: Our goal is to use existing and to propose new time–frequency entropy measures that objectively evaluate the improvement on epileptic patients after medication by studying their resting state electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. An increase in the complexity of the signals would confirm an improvement in the general state of the patient. Methods: We review the Rényi entropy based on time–frequency representations, along with its time-varying version. We also discuss the entropy based on singular value decomposition computed from a time–frequency representation, and introduce its corresponding time-dependant version. We test these quantities on synthetic data. Friedman tests are used to confirm the differences between signals (before and after proper medication). Principal component analysis is used for dimensional reduction prior to a simple threshold discrimination. Results: Experimental results show a consistent increase in complexity measures in the different regions of the brain. These findings suggest that extracted features can be used to monitor treatment. When combined, they are useful for classification purposes, with areas under ROC curves higher than 0.93 in some regions. Conclusion: Here we applied time–frequency complexity measures to resting state EEG signals from epileptic patients for the first time. We also introduced a new time-varying complexity measure. We showed that these features are able to evaluate the treatment of the patient, and to perform classification. Significance: The time–frequency complexities, and their time-varying versions, can be used to monitor the treatment of epileptic patients. They could be applied to a wider range of problems.
CaM-kinase II dephosphorylates Thr(286) by a reversal of the autophosphorylation reaction.

Autophosphorylation of CaM-kinase II produces a form of the enzyme not requiring Ca(2+)/calmodulin for sustained activity. We report that autophosphorylated CaM-kinase II dephosphorylates itself in the presence of ADP (termed autodephosphorylation). The dephosphorylation was unaffected by phosphatase inhibitors and was nucleotide specific, occurring with ADP but not with AMP, GTP, or GDP. (32)P-ATP was produced when ADP was added to (32)P-labeled CaM-kinase II, indicating that the enzyme was undergoing dephosphorylation through a reversal of the autophosphorylation reaction. ATP addition also produced loss of (32)P from the autophosphorylated enzyme while maintaining the kinase in a phosphorylated state. This indicates that the enzyme was undergoing cycles of autophosphorylation and dephosphorylation in the activated state. Autothiophosphorylated CaM-kinase II was resistant to autodephosphorylation. Site-directed mutants were used to show that Thr(286) was the predominant site dephosphorylated. Additionally, CaM-kinase II composed of beta subunits exhibited autodephosphorylation. Ca(2+)/CaM-independent activity expressed by the autophosphorylated alpha and beta holoenzymes was reversed following autodephosphorylation.
Percursos educativos, formativos e profissionais na Síndrome de Down

Being employed and staying employed are essential aspects in the lives of most people, above all, for those who have a disability, not only in terms of enabling autonomy, but also for maintaining a healthy level of self esteem and wellbeing. However, in order for these persons to feel that they are actually integrated and happy in their work environments, it is not enough merely to have a job. It is necessary that they feel prepared for their respective work placement and that they feel comfortable in their work environments. In light of these considerations, we deemed it important to conduct this study, the main objective of which was to uncover the level of satisfaction of workers with Down syndrome related to their professional integration (work satisfaction, satisfaction with their process of integration in active life). The sample in this investigation was made up of fourteen subjects with Down syndrome, both male and female, with ages ranging from 20 to 36 years, all living in an area extending from Lisbon to the Tejo Valley in Portugal.
Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1894) infected with the American-Asian genotype of dengue type 2 virus in Medellín suggests its possible role as vector of dengue fever in Colombia.

INTRODUCTION Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus are recognized vectors of dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika arboviruses in several countries worldwide. In Colombia, Ae. albopictus geographical distribution has increased to include highly populated cities such as Cali and Medellín. Although this species has been frequently found in urban and semi-urban zones in the country, its role as vector of the dengue fever is poorly known. OBJECTIVE To identify the presence of Ae. albopictus specimens naturally infected with dengue virus collected in Medellín. MATERIALS AND METHODS Insects were collected in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia campus in Medellín. Individuals were classified as Ae. albopictus and confirmed by DNA barcode region analysis. Mosquitoes were processed for dengue virus identification, and a fragment of the NS3 gen was sequenced and compared with DENV-2 genotypes reported in the literature. RESULTS Sequence analysis of COI indicated Ae. albopictus individuals were similar to those recently reported in Colombia, and genetically close to those from other regions worldwide. Among the pools tested one was positive for DENV-2, and the NS3 analysis indicated it belonged to the Asian-American clade. CONCLUSION We report the presence Ae. albopictus naturally infected with the Asian-American genotype of DENV-2 in Colombia. The presence of Ae. albopictus specimens carrying the most common genotype infecting humans in a highly populated city such as Medellín indicates its potential role as dengue vector in Colombia and highlights the relevance of including it in current vector surveillance strategies.
Pathway analysis of high-throughput biological data within a Bayesian network framework

MOTIVATION Most current approaches to high-throughput biological data (HTBD) analysis either perform individual gene/protein analysis or, gene/protein set enrichment analysis for a list of biologically relevant molecules. Bayesian Networks (BNs) capture linear and non-linear interactions, handle stochastic events accounting for noise, and focus on local interactions, which can be related to causal inference. Here, we describe for the first time an algorithm that models biological pathways as BNs and identifies pathways that best explain given HTBD by scoring fitness of each network. RESULTS Proposed method takes into account the connectivity and relatedness between nodes of the pathway through factoring pathway topology in its model. Our simulations using synthetic data demonstrated robustness of our approach. We tested proposed method, Bayesian Pathway Analysis (BPA), on human microarray data regarding renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and compared our results with gene set enrichment analysis. BPA was able to find broader and more specific pathways related to RCC. AVAILABILITY Accompanying BPA software (BPAS) package is freely available for academic use at http://bumil.boun. edu.tr/bpa.
Position Paper on Treatment of Hepatitis C in Romania 2017. Part Two.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a common condition with endemic prevalence in some areas of the world. In Romania, the mean prevalence is about 3%. New treatments have become available on the market in recent years and new drugs are in the pipeline. A re-evaluation of HCV therapy was considered mandatory. The Romanian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology undertook this task for the practitioners of this country. METHODOLOGY A group of recognized experts was created who screened the available literature and the major available guidelines. A list of items requiring attention was created and these were discussed and rated. Decisions were taken by consensus. RECOMMENDATIONS We present here the second part of the Society's recommendations for chronic HCV infection treatment. An agreement between experts was reached regarding the therapy of the special categories of patients infected with HCV, complications and monitoring of the therapy, follow-up of the patients who reached sustained virologic response and re-treatment of the patients with therapy failure. CONCLUSIONS This Position Paper represents a guide for the assessment and the therapy of HCV infection. The recommendations are in concordance with other guidelines but are applied to real-life conditions in Romania.
Sex differences in mortality among young children in the Sahel.

"This article studied sex differences in mortality among children aged 1-23 months in the cities of Bamako [Mali] and Bobo-Dioulasso [Burkina Faso] and in a rural area of Senegal. No significant differences between male and female mortality risks were found in any of the areas for the full age span of 1-23 months. For smaller age groups, patterns of excess female and male child mortality are evident. Excess female mortality, statistically significant in standard tests, exists among children aged 1-8 months in the Senegalese area and 6-15 months in the combined urban areas of Bamako and Bobo-Dioulasso. Excess male mortality occurs for ages 16-23 months in the city of Bamako. "
Conceptualising Curriculum Knowledge Within and Beyond the National Context

The core theme of this article is the implications of a global language for the curriculum and how it can be dealt with in terms of content knowledge and reform. First, the article conceptualises curriculum from the perspective of schooling within a geographical territory, symbolising its own cultural history and the nation as a key agent in reform. Second, it takes a closer look at current reform designs and asks how they represent equivalent but also contrasting arguments and rationales about curriculum beyond the national. Third, the article discusses implications of globalisation for curriculum pertaining to both cultivation and qualification as indispensable parts of education and schooling. The main empirical point of departure is the formal curriculum guidelines in Norway, written policy documents, expert reports and evaluation frameworks, written within the last two decades. Through the application of a new language for change, these documents advocate world-wide expectations which could harmonise curriculum across national boarders. However, the design of the reform is of core significance in standardisation processes, and highly dependent on the way matters and meanings are conceptualised in the professional semantics which accompany reform efforts within and beyond the national context.
An Automated Summarization Assessment Algorithm for Identifying Summarizing Strategies

Background Summarization is a process to select important information from a source text. Summarizing strategies are the core cognitive processes in summarization activity. Since summarization can be important as a tool to improve comprehension, it has attracted interest of teachers for teaching summary writing through direct instruction. To do this, they need to review and assess the students' summaries and these tasks are very time-consuming. Thus, a computer-assisted assessment can be used to help teachers to conduct this task more effectively. Design/Results This paper aims to propose an algorithm based on the combination of semantic relations between words and their syntactic composition to identify summarizing strategies employed by students in summary writing. An innovative aspect of our algorithm lies in its ability to identify summarizing strategies at the syntactic and semantic levels. The efficiency of the algorithm is measured in terms of Precision, Recall and F-measure. We then implemented the algorithm for the automated summarization assessment system that can be used to identify the summarizing strategies used by students in summary writing.
Color face recognition: A multilinear-PCA approach combined with Hidden Markov Models

Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) have been successfully applied to the face recognition problem. However, existing HMM-based techniques use feature (observation) vectors that are extracted only from the images' luminance component, while it is known that color provides significant information. In contrast to the classical PCA approach, Multilinear PCA (MPCA) seems to be an appropriate scheme for dimensionality reduction and feature extraction from color images, handling the color channels in a natural, “holistic” manner. In this paper, we propose an MPCA-based approach for color face recognition, that exploits the strengths of HMMs as classifiers. The proposed methodology was tested on three publicly available color databases and produced high recognition rates, compared to existing HMM-based methodologies.
A Novel Approach to Circular Edge Detection for Iris Image Segmentation

This paper details about segmentation of iris region for iris recognition as a biometrical personal identification and verification. Human iris is unique and differs from one individual to another. Just as finger prints, biomedical proves human irises are distinct. Also, iris can be easily accessed from any visual capturing device. The two dimensional structure of iris further assists the technology. This paper describes the extraction of iris region from an image of the human eye. The proposed algorithm defines a new method to segment Iris from the image. It's a new technique for circular edge detection particularly for Iris recognition. An image undergoes various operations like black and white conversion, edge detection and filtering. The fact that the intensity of iris lies between the intensities of pupil and rest of the eye is the key here to extract iris. A simple vertical and horizontal scan is done over the image to get the tangents of the circles. A mathematical analysis is done on the images to get the radius and the center of the circle and hence the inner and outer circles of the iris are drawn or Hough transform can be done using the obtained values for more accuracy. We are constructed the circles after obtaining the values.
The Relationship Between Fall Efficacy and Activity Level in Older Adults

ABSTRACT Aim: This paper aims to determine the relationship between the confidence in ability to perform activities without falling and the level of activity participation of community-dwelling older adults. Methods: Community-dwelling older adults from Korea were recruited for the study. All 61 participants were examined using the falls efficacy scale and Korean Activity Card Sort. Pearson's correlation analysis was run to examine the associations between fall-related efficacy and activity level. Results: Fall efficacy and level of instrumental activities, leisure activities, social activities, and total activity level exhibited a moderate relationship (r = .411**, .395**, .418**, .437**, p < .01). Conclusions: Individuals with low fall efficacy were excessively careful about activity performance—a tendency that may induce activity avoidance or reduction. Such avoidance and reduction to activities, in turn, enable older adults not to maintain quality of life, such as instrumental activities, leisure activities, and social activities.
Growth of ZnO Nanorods on Stainless Steel Wire Using Chemical Vapour Deposition and Their Photocatalytic Activity

The photodegradation efficiency of ZnO nanoparticles in removal of organic pollutants deteriorates over time as a high percentage of the nanoparticles can be drained away by water during the wastewater treatment. This problem can be solved by growing the ZnO nanorods on stainless steel wire. In this work, ZnO nanorods were successfully grown on stainless steel wire by chemical vapour deposition. The SAED analysis indicates that ZnO nanorod is a single crystal and is preferentially grown in [0001] direction. The deconvoluted O 1s peak at 531.5 eV in XPS analysis is associated with oxygen deficient, revealing that the ZnO nanorods contain many oxygen vacancies. This observation is further supported by the finding of the small I uv/I vis ratio, that is, ~1 in the photoluminescence analysis. The growth of ZnO nanorods on stainless steel wire was governed by vapour-solid mechanism as there were no Fe particles observed at the tips of the nanorods. The photodegradation of Rhodamine B solution by ZnO nanorods followed the first-order kinetics.
A Section-Based Queueing-Theoretical Traffic Model for Congestion and Travel Time Analysis

While many classical traffic models treat the spatial extension of streets continuously or by discretization into cells of a certain length Δx, we will subdivide roads into comparatively long homogeneous road sections of constant capacity with an inhomogeneity at the end. The related model is simple and numerically efficient. It is inspired by models of dynamic queueing networks and takes into account essential features of traffic flows. Instead of treating single vehicles or velocity profiles, it focusses on flows at specific cross sections and average travel times of vehicles.
The role of optimal vortex formation in biological fluid transport

Animal phyla that require macro-scale fluid transport for functioning have repeatedly and often independently converged on the use of jet flows. During flow initiation these jets form fluid vortex rings, which facilitate mass transfer by stationary pumps (e.g. cardiac chambers) and momentum transfer by mobile systems (e.g. jet-propelled swimmers). Previous research has shown that vortex rings generated in the laboratory can be optimized for efficiency or thrust, based on the jet length-to-diameter ratio (L/D), with peak performance occurring at 3.5<L/D<4.5. Attempts to determine if biological jets achieve this optimization have been inconclusive, due to the inability to properly account for the diversity of jet kinematics found across animal phyla. We combine laboratory experiments, in situ observations and a framework that reduces the kinematics to a single parameter in order to quantitatively show that individual animal kinematics can be tuned in correlation with optimal vortex ring formation. This new approach identifies simple rules for effective fluid transport, facilitates comparative biological studies of jet flows across animal phyla irrespective of their specific functions and can be extended to unify theories of optimal jet-based and flapping-based vortex ring formation.
Recent Advances in the Generation of Antibody–Nanomaterial Conjugates

Targeted nanomedicines have significantly changed the way new therapeutics are designed to treat disease. Central to successful therapeutics is the ability to control the dynamics of protein–nanomaterial interactions to enhance the therapeutic effect of the nanomedicine. The aim of this review is to illustrate the diversity and versatility of the conjugation approaches involved in the synthesis of antibody–nanoparticle conjugates, and highlight significant new advances in the field of bioconjugation. Such nanomedicines have found utility as both advanced therapeutic agents, as well as more complex imaging contrast agents that can provide both anatomical and functional information of diseased tissue. While such conjugates show significant promise as next generation targeted nanomedicines, it is recognized that there are in fact no clinically approved targeted therapeutics on the market. This fact is reflected upon within this review, and attempts are made to draw some reasoning from the complexities associated with the bioconjugation chemistry approaches that are typically utilized. Present trends, as well as future directions of next generation targeted nanomedicines are also discussed.
Psychopathic Storytelling: The Effect of Valence on Self and Time in Psychopathic Language Use

This study used computerized textual analysis to examine the characteristics of stories about positive and negative events provided by 13 psychopathic and 38 non-psychopathic criminal offenders. Psychopathic offenders were expected to display linguistic characteristics consistent with narcissistic personality disorder and to display a greater degree of psychological distancing than non-psychopathic offenders. Their language use supported these predictions. Compared to non-psychopaths, psychopaths produced a higher rate of first person singular pronouns (―I‖), and fewer first person plural pronouns (―we‖), consistent with narcissism, and fewer past tense verbs but more present tense verbs when retelling positive stories, consistent with psychological distancing. The results suggest that a psychopath‘s narcissistic personality and psychological distancing can be detected in language production. Psychopathic Storytelling 4