Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
School principals’ views of teacher evaluation policy: lessons learned from two empirical studies

Teacher evaluation accountability policies are emerging worldwide. This study examines principals’ perceptions of teacher evaluation in terms of commonalities and differences arising from two research projects conducted in Portugal and in the US. Perceptions of school principals in regard to a new policy on teacher evaluation as well as its perceived effects at school and conditions for its implementation will be analysed. Findings point to the challenges and successes of coping with mandated accountability measures in two different contexts. Principals balanced perceived conflicting goals, sought maintenance of positive teacher relationships and school culture and managed the tensions of policy implementation and the making sense of its effects at school. Implications of the findings are discussed.
The effects of colorectal cancer screening on health attitudes and practices.

The purpose of this study is to establish whether a negative screening result leads to complacency about health and poorer health practices. Participants were 3535 older adults, ages 55-64 years, taking part in the United Kingdom Flexible Sigmoidoscopy Trial. They were sent postal questionnaires before and after screening attendance. Eating fruit and taking exercise were both rated as more important after screening than before, whereas ratings for the importance of avoiding fatty foods and attending cervical and breast cancer screening did not change. Fruit and vegetable intake increased, exercise increased, and smoking rates decreased from before to after screening. Changes in diet, exercise, and smoking were not significantly related to screening outcome. These findings provide reassurance that screening does not lead to a less healthy lifestyle in the short term and could be used as a context in which to promote positive health behavior change.
On movement based mobility tracking strategy-a general framework

A general framework of the movement-based location update with selective paging strategy is proposed in this paper. Each time the mobile terminal revisits the last cell it had contact, its movement-counter is increased with probability p or it is frozen (stopped) with probability q or it is reset with probability r, (p+q+r=1). This paper discusses the trade-off between the location update cost and the terminal paging cost, when selective paging is implemented, in terms of the set of parameters p, q and r.
The effects of hip abduction with external rotation and reverse Trendelenburg position on the size of the femoral vein; ultrasonographic investigation

Background Femoral vein (FV) catheterization is required for critically ill patients, patients with difficult peripheral intravenous access, and patients undergoing major surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of hip abduction with external rotation (frog-leg position), and the frog-leg position during the reverse Trendelenburg position on diameter, cross-sectional area (CSA), exposed width and ratio of the FV using ultrasound investigation. Methods Ultrasonographic FV images of 50 adult subjects were obtained: 1) in the neutral position (N position); 2) in the frog-leg position (F position); 3) in the F position during the reverse Trendelenburg position (FRT position). Diameter, CSA, and exposed width of the FV were measured. Exposed ratio of the FV was calculated. Results The F and FRT positions increased diameter, CSA and exposed width of the FV significantly compared with the N position. However, the F and FRT positions had no significant effect on exposed ratio of the FV compared with the N position. The FRT position was more effective than the F position in increasing FV size. Conclusions The F and FRT positions can be used to increase FV size during catheterization. These positions may increase success rate and reduce complication rate and, therefore, can be useful for patients with difficult central venous access or at high-risk of catheter-related complication.
The General Transcription Machinery and General Cofactors

ABSTRACT In eukaryotes, the core promoter serves as a platform for the assembly of transcription preinitiation complex (PIC) that includes TFIIA, TFIIB, TFIID, TFIIE, TFIIF, TFIIH, and RNA polymerase II (pol II), which function collectively to specify the transcription start site. PIC formation usually begins with TFIID binding to the TATA box, initiator, and/or downstream promoter element (DPE) found in most core promoters, followed by the entry of other general transcription factors (GTFs) and pol II through either a sequential assembly or a preassembled pol II holoenzyme pathway. Formation of this promoter-bound complex is sufficient for a basal level of transcription. However, for activator-dependent (or regulated) transcription, general cofactors are often required to transmit regulatory signals between gene-specific activators and the general transcription machinery. Three classes of general cofactors, including TBP-associated factors (TAFs), Mediator, and upstream stimulatory activity (USA)-derived positive cofactors (PC1/PARP-1, PC2, PC3/DNA topoisomerase I, and PC4) and negative cofactor 1 (NC1/HMGB1), normally function independently or in combination to fine-tune the promoter activity in a gene-specific or cell-type-specific manner. In addition, other cofactors, such as TAF1, BTAF1, and negative cofactor 2 (NC2), can also modulate TBP or TFIID binding to the core promoter. In general, these cofactors are capable of repressing basal transcription when activators are absent and stimulating transcription in the presence of activators. Here we review the roles of these cofactors and GTFs, as well as TBP-related factors (TRFs), TAF-containing complexes (TFTC, SAGA, SLIK/SALSA, STAGA, and PRC1) and TAF variants, in pol II-mediated transcription, with emphasis on the events occurring after the chromatin has been remodeled but prior to the formation of the first phosphodiester bond.
Prevalence of affirmative responses to questions of food insecurity: International Polar Year Inuit Health Survey, 2007–2008

Objectives. Assess the prevalence of food insecurity by region among Inuit households in the Canadian Arctic. Study design. A community-participatory, cross-sectional Inuit health survey conducted through face-to-face interviews. Methods. A quantitative household food security questionnaire was conducted with a random sample of 2,595 self-identified Inuit adults aged 18 years and older, from 36 communities located in 3 jurisdictions (Inuvialuit Settlement Region; Nunavut; Nunatsiavut Region) during the period from 2007 to 2008. Weighted prevalence of levels of adult and household food insecurity was calculated. Results. Differences in the prevalence of household food insecurity were noted by region, with Nunavut having the highest prevalence of food insecurity (68.8%), significantly higher than that observed in Inuvialuit Settlement Region (43.3%) and Nunatsiavut Region (45.7%) (p≤0.01). Adults living in households rated as severely food insecure reported times in the past year when they or other adults in the household had skipped meals (88.6%), gone hungry (76.9%) or not eaten for a whole day (58.2%). Adults living in households rated as moderately food insecure reported times in the past year when they worried that food would run out (86.5%) and when the food did not last and there was no money to buy more (87.8%). Conclusions. A high level of food insecurity was reported among Inuit adults residing in the Canadian Arctic, particularly for Nunavut. Immediate action and meaningful interventions are needed to mitigate the negative health impacts of food insecurity and ensure a healthy Inuit population.
Catch rates and demographics of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) captured from the Charleston, South Carolina, shipping channel during the period of mandatory use of turtle excluder devices (TEDs)

Trawling was conducted in the Charleston, South Carolina, shipping channel between May and August during 2004–07 to evaluate loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) catch rates and demographic distributions. Two hundred and twenty individual loggerheads were captured in 432 trawling events during eight sampling periods lasting 2–10 days each. Catch was analyzed by using a generalized linear model. Data were fitted to a negative binomial distribution with the log of standardized sampling effort (i.e., an hour of sampling with a net head rope length standardized to 30.5 m) for each event treated as an offset term. Among 21 variables, factors, and interactions, five terms were significant in the final model, which accounted for 45% of model deviance. Highly significant differences in catch were noted among sampling periods and sampling locations within the channel, with greatest catch furthest seaward consistent with historical observations. Loggerhead sea turtle catch rates in 2004–07 were greater than in 1991–92 when mandatory use of turtle excluder devices was beginning to be phased in. Concurrent with increased catch rates, loggerheads captured in 2004–07 were larger than in 1991–92. Eighty-five percent of loggerheads captured were ≤75.0 cm straight-line carapace length (nuchal notch to tip of carapace) and there was a 3.9:1 female-to-male bias, consistent with limited data for this location two decades earlier. Only juvenile loggerheads ≤75.0 cm possessed haplotypes other than CC-A01 or CC-A02 that dominate in the region. Six rare and one un-described haplotype were predominantly found in June 2004.
Analgesic drug administration and attitudes about analgesia in cattle among bovine practitioners in the United States.

OBJECTIVE To determine current attitudes and practices related to pain and analgesia in cattle among US veterinarians in bovine practice and to identify factors associated with these attitudes and practices. DESIGN Web-based survey. Sample-3,019 US members of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) with e-mail addresses. PROCEDURES Veterinarians were invited via e-mail to participate in a Web-based survey. Respondents replied to questions related to pain and analgesia and supplied personal, professional, and demographic information. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed, and associations among various factors were examined. RESULTS 666 surveys (25.5% response rate) were analyzed. Among common procedures and medical conditions of cattle listed on the survey, castration of dairy calves < 6 months old was subjectively estimated as causing the least pain; abdominal surgery, toxic mastitis, and dehorning of calves > 6 months old were assessed as causing the greatest pain. Respondents reported not providing analgesic drugs to approximately 70% of calves castrated at < 6 months of age. The most commonly administered analgesics were NSAIDs, local anesthetics, and α(2)-adrenergic receptor agonists. Significant associations were detected among respondent characteristics and pain ratings, percentages of cattle treated, and opinions regarding analgesia. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results provide information on current attitudes and practices related to pain and analgesia in cattle among US veterinarians in bovine practice and can be considered in the development of policies and protocols for pain management in cattle. These data can be compared with those of future studies to examine changes over time.
Simulation-based medical teaching and learning

One of the most important steps in curriculum development is the introduction of simulation- based medical teaching and learning. Simulation is a generic term that refers to an artificial representation of a real world process to achieve educational goals through experiential learning. Simulation based medical education is defined as any educational activity that utilizes simulation aides to replicate clinical scenarios. Although medical simulation is relatively new, simulation has been used for a long time in other high risk professions such as aviation. Medical simulation allows the acquisition of clinical skills through deliberate practice rather than an apprentice style of learning. Simulation tools serve as an alternative to real patients. A trainee can make mistakes and learn from them without the fear of harming the patient. There are different types and classification of simulators and their cost vary according to the degree of their resemblance to the reality, or ‘fidelity’. Simulation- based learning is expensive. However, it is cost-effective if utilized properly. Medical simulation has been found to enhance clinical competence at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. It has also been found to have many advantages that can improve patient safety and reduce health care costs through the improvement of the medical provider's competencies. The objective of this narrative review article is to highlight the importance of simulation as a new teaching method in undergraduate and postgraduate education.
Potential of Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Skeletal Muscle-Derived Satellite Cells for Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Mediated Transgenesis in Arbas Cashmere Goats

Somatic cell nuclear transfer is used to generate genetic models for research and new, genetically modified livestock varieties. Goat fetal fibroblast cells (gFFCs) are the predominant nuclear donors in Cashmere goat transgenic cloning, but have disadvantages. We evaluated the potential of goat adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (gADSCs) and goat skeletal muscle-derived satellite cells (gMDSCs) for somatic cell nuclear transfer, evaluating their proliferation, pluripotency, transfection efficiency and capacity to support full term development of embryos after additive gene transfer or homologous recombination. gADSCs and gMDSCs were isolated by enzyme digestion and differentiated into neurocytes, myotube cells and insulin-producing cells. Neuron-specific enolase, fast muscle myosin and insulin expression were determined by immunohistochemistry. Following somatic cell nuclear transfer with donor cells derived from gADSCs, gMDSCs and gFFCs, transfection and cloning efficiencies were compared. Red fluorescent protein levels were determined by quantitative PCR and western blotting. 5-Methylcytosine, H4K5, H4K12 and H3K18 were determined immunohistochemically. gADSCs and gMDSCs were maintained in culture for up to 65 passages, whereas gFFCs could be passaged barely more than 15 times. gADSCs and gMDSCs had higher fluorescent colony forming efficiency and greater convergence (20%) and cleavage (10%) rates than gFFCs, and exhibited differing H4K5 histone modification patterns after somatic cell nuclear transfer and in vitro cultivation. After transfection with a pDsRed2-1 expression plasmid, the integrated exogenous genes did not influence the pluripotency of gADSCs–pDsRed2-1 or gMDSCs–pDsRed2-1. DsRed2 mRNA expression by cloned embryos derived from gADSCs–pDsRed2-1 or gMDSCs–pDsRed2-1 was more than twice that of gFFCs–pDsRed2-1 embryos (P<0.01). Pregnancy rates of gADSCs–pDsRed2-1 and gMDSCs–pDsRed2-1 recipients were higher than those of gFFCs–pDsRed2-1 recipients (P<0.01). With their high proliferative capacity and transfection efficiency, gADSCs and gMDSCs are a valuable cell source for breeding new, genetically modified varieties of livestock by somatic cell nuclear transfer.
Seasonality of reported tuberculosis cases from 2006 to 2010 in Wuhan, China

SUMMARY We investigated the seasonality of tuberculosis (TB) in Wuhan, China, to evaluate the increased risk of disease transmission during each season and to develop an effective TB control strategy. We applied spectral analysis to the weekly prevalence data of sputum smear positive (SSP) and sputum smear negative (SSN) pulmonary TB reported from 2006 to 2010. Cases of both SSP and SSN feature 1·0- and 0·5-year periodic modes. The least squares method was used to fit curves to the two periodic modes for SSP and SSN data. The curves demonstrated dominant peaks in spring similar to cases reported previously for other locations. Notably for SSP, dominant peaks were also observed in summer. The spring peaks of SSP and SSN were explained in terms of poorly ventilated and humid rooms and vitamin D deficiency. For the summer peaks of SSP, summer influenza epidemics in Wuhan may contribute to the increase in TB prevalence.
UAPRIORI: AN ALGORITHM FOR FINDING SEQUENTIAL PATTERNS IN PROBABILISTIC DATA

Uncertainty in various domains implies the necessity for data mining techniques and algorithms that can handle uncertain datasets. Many studies on uncertain datasets have focused on modeling, query ranking, discovering frequent patterns, classification models, clustering, etc. However despite the existing need, not many studies have considered uncertainty in sequential data. This paper introduces UAprioriAll, a method to mine frequent sequences in the presence of uncertainty in transactions. UAprioriAll scales linearly in time relative to the size of the dataset.
Analysis of a real-world HTTP segment streaming case

Today, adaptive HTTP segment streaming is a popular way to deliver video content to users. The benefits of HTTP segment streaming include its scalability, high performance and easy deployment, especially the possibility to reuse the already deployed HTTP infrastructure. However, current research focuses merely on client side statistics like for example achieved video qualities and adaption algorithms. To quantify the properties of such streaming systems from a service provider point of view, we have analyzed both sender and receiver side logging data provided by a popular Norwegian streaming provider. For example, we observe that more than 90% of live streaming clients send their requests for the same video segment with an inter-arrival time of only 10 seconds. Moreover, the logs indicate that the server sends substantially less data than is actually reported to be received by the clients, and the origin server streams data to less clients than there really are. Based on these facts, we conclude that HTTP segment streaming really makes use of the HTTP cache infrastructure without the need to change anything in the parts of Internet that are not controlled by the streaming provider.
Understanding the Information Age: The Uneasy Relations between Sociology and Cultural Studies in Britain

In the United Kingdom there has been a discernable shift away from interest in the Information Society towards concern with the character of Cyberspace and Virtuality. In key ways this reorientation reflects the rise of Cultural Studies and its impatience with aspects of Sociology. This article explores aspects of the relations between these two subject areas and difficulties in understanding and explaining contemporary change. It is suggested that Cultural Studies has outpaced Sociology in its response to recent changes.
Die Manifestierung von Geschlechterstereotypen in Metaphern der deutschen Jugendsprache

The article considers gender-based substandard metaphors with stereotypical background in the German youth language. The aim of the publication is to highlight the peculiarities in metaphorical representation of males/females relating to their appearance, character, behavioral and intellectual characteristics. The substandard metaphors with a reference to male/female correlate with the conceptual metaphors grounded in sensory-motor experience. It can be concluded that the metaphors in the youth language verbalize gender stereotypes existing in society. The substandard metaphors that refer to persons of both sexes challenging traditional gender stereotypes and falling into the category of ‘deviant other’ have negative connotation.
ON THE EDGE: ACOUSTIC CUES TO LAYERED PROSODIC DOMAINS

Prosodic structure encodes the grouping of words into hierarchically layered prosodic constituents, including the prosodic word, intermediate phrase (ip) and intonational phrase (IP). This paper investigates the phonetic encoding of prosodic structure from a corpus of scripted broadcast news speech in American English through analysis of the acoustic correlates of prosodic boundary and their interaction with phrasal stress (pitch-accent) at three levels of prosodic structure: Word, ip, and IP. Evidence for acoustic effects of prosodic boundary is shown in measures of duration local to the domain-final rime. These findings provide strong evidence for prosodic theory, showing acoustic correlates of a 3-way distinction in boundary level.
ORAL PROPIONYL ERYTHROMYCIN IN TREATING EARLY SYPHILIS.

Field and laboratory studies, which form bases for effec¬ tive sampling and interpretation of radiological data, are discussed, and the accumulation of nuclides by aquatic organisms is described. These studies emphasize the multi-disciplinary aspects of radiological surveys of aquatic environments, and serve as guides for monitoring such environments.
Regulation of Mu Opioid Receptor Trafficking, Signaling, and Recycling in Neurons

Author(s): Yu, Yunhua Joy | Advisor(s): von Zastrow, Mark E | Abstract: Mu opioid receptors (MOR) expressed in the central nervous system mediate a widerange of physiological effects ranging from analgesia to addiction. Much remainsunknown as to how these receptors are regulated by drugs at the neuronal level. This wasaddressed using both epitope-tagged and endogenous MORs expressed in multipleneuronal populations. In contrast to observations of MOR trafficking in heterologous celllines, morphine drove robust and rapid internalization of MORs in medium spiny neuronsof the striatum. Both trafficking and signaling of MORs can be significantly altered byco-activation of another G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR), the neurokinin1 receptor(NK1R). Co-activation of NK1Rs expressed on the same neuron significantly diminishedthe extent to which opioid drugs were able to drive MOR endocytosis. Both mutationaldisruption of high affinity βarrestin binding to NK1Rs and overexpression of βarrestinprevented this cell autonomous and non-reciprocal inhibition of MOR endocytosis,suggesting that competition for cytoplasmic βarrestins plays a major role in NK1Rmediatedinhibition of MOR endocytosis. Additionally, this interaction produced areduced opioid-induced desensitization of adenylyl cyclase signaling in striatal neurons.After internalization, rapid and efficient recycling of MORs in neurons was found todepend on a specific sorting sequence in the cytoplasmic tail of the receptor, which waspreviously identified to drive MOR recycling in non-neural cells. Although this sortingsequence is functionally interchangeable with the recycling sequence of another signalingreceptor, the β2 adrenergic receptor (β2AR), the kinetics of exocytic insertion into theplasma membrane during recycling differed between the two receptors. These resultsidentify a novel function of sequence-directed recycling in mediating rapid local deliveryof signaling receptors to the somatodendritic plasma membrane.
Balancing load in stream processing with the cloud

Stream processing systems must handle stream data coming from real-time, high-throughput applications, for example in financial trading. Timely processing of streams is important and requires sufficient available resources to achieve high throughput and deliver accurate results. However, static allocation of stream processing resources in terms of machines is inefficient when input streams have significant rate variations—machines remain underutilised for long periods of average load. We present a combined stream processing system that, as the input stream rate varies, adaptively balances workload between a dedicated local stream processor and a cloud stream processor. This approach only utilises cloud machines when the local stream processor becomes overloaded. We evaluate a prototype system with financial trading data. Our results show that it can adapt effectively to workload variations, while only discarding a small percentage of input data.