Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Complexity, Accountability, and School Improvement

In this article, Jennifer O'Day builds on her earlier work defining and examining the standards-based reform movement in the United States. Here, O'Day explores accountability mechanisms currently associated with standards-based reform efforts that "take the school as the unit of accountability and seek to improve student learning by improving the functioning of the school organization. " She examines such accountability mechanisms using the theoretical framework of complexity theory and focuses on how information travels through complex systems, with the understanding that information, its existence and usage, is key to improving schools. Drawing on work conducted with researchers at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), she contrasts the Chicago Public Schools' outcomes-based bureaucratic accountability approach with the combination of administrative and professional accountability found in the Baltimore City Schools. She argues that the combination of administrative and professional ac.
Perspective: Postnatal Pancreatic β Cell Growth.

Even 15 years ago, the accepted concept was that one was born with all the pancreatic b cells one ever had. Many thought that insulin resistance would lead to diabetes without change in the b cells. However, now the concept that diabetes only results when there is an inadequate functional mass of b cells has gained general acceptance. The more obvious lack of b cells is seen in type 1 diabetes as the result of autoimmune destruction of b cells. The lack in type 2 diabetes with its hallmark of peripheral insulin resistance has been less obvious to many, yet the inability of the b cells to match the increased demand for insulin can be seen as a lack of adequate functional mass. The evidence over the past decade has been compelling that in most cases the b cells can, and do, compensate for added demand, resulting from pregnancy, obesity, or insulin resistance. It is important to remember that only 15–20% of people with obesity or severe insulin resistance become diabetic; the others maintain normoglycemia due to b cell compensation. The new concept is that the b cell mass is dynamic and increases and decreases both in function and mass to maintain the glycemic level within a very narrow physiological range. The changes in mass can be in both number (hyperplasia) and individual volume of b cells (hypertrophy). When the mass cannot increase adequately, diabetes ensues. The question remains if such a compensation occurs during the several year long prediabetic phase of type 1 diabetes when b cell autoantibodies are seen. The general acceptance of the concept of dynamic rather than static b cell mass is based on clear evidence of changes in b cell mass in both normal rodents and in “designer” mice (whether transgenic with overexpression or dominate-negative function or ablation of a gene), of varying replication rates of b cells in vivo and in vitro, the presence of neogenesis or neoformation of islets postnatally and even in the adult, and physiological loss of b cells indicating turnover. Further discussion of each of these areas follows.
Stationarity region of Mm-Wave channel based on outdoor microcellular measurements at 28 GHz

The stationarity region, i.e., the area in which the statistics of a propagation channel remain constant, is an important measure of the propagation channel, and essential for efficient system design. This paper presents what is to our knowledge the first extensive measurement campaign for measuring the stationarity region of MIMO mm-wave channels. Using a novel 28 GHz phased-array sounder with high phase stability, we present results in an urban microcell LoS, and LOS to NLOS transition region scenario, for the stationarity region of shadowing, power delay profile, and the angular power spectrum. A comparison to results at cm-waves shows considerably reduced stationarity region size, which has an important impact on system design.
Adaptive mirror descent algorithm for the minimization of expected cumulative losses driven by a renewal process

The problem considered in this paper is the minimization of expected cumulative losses in a stochastic system. The losses over time horizon are formed by the values of an unknown loss function at the consecutive jump times of a renewal process. The loss is assumed to be a convex function of a vector parameter, and the only available information is represented by an oracle which provides stochastic sub-gradients of the loss function. The control objective is to minimize the expected cumulative loss over a given convex compact set. We propose an adaptive mirror descent algorithm and prove an explicit upper bound for the related regret, which is the difference between the expected cumulative losses and the minimum. Finally, to exemplify the efficiency of the method, we consider the problem of minimization of the expected cumulative losses over the standard simplex by handling a stream of losses arriving by the Erlang process, and we discuss the simulation results.
P Systems with Replicated Rewriting and Stream X-Machines (Eilenberg Machines)

The aim of this paper is to show how the P systems with replicated rewriting can be modeled by X-machines (also called Eilenberg machines). In the first approach, the parallel behaviour of the regions of a P system is simulated by a sequential process involving a single X-machine. This allows the application of the X-machine testing procedures in order to prove the correctness of P systems. In the second approach, a P system is simulated by a communicating system of X-machines. Each component of such a system is an X-machine associated with a region of the given P system. The components act in parallel, as their counterparts do in a P system, and use some specific mechanism for communication and synchronisation.
Wide eyes and an open mouth enhance facial threat

Two rating experiments were conducted to examine the effect of opening the mouth and widening the eyes on ratings of facial threat. In Experiment 1, 65 participants rated faces for threat, arousal and valence (pleasantness). The faces varied in eyebrow shape (V-shaped, flat), mouth type (closed, open), eye type (wide, normal) and mouth curvature (down-turned, up-turned). In replication of previous research (Lundqvist, Esteves, & Öhman, 1999, 2004), the V-shaped eyebrow was the most important determinant of facial threat. Faces with a V-shaped eyebrow were rated as more aroused and threatening, and less pleasant than faces with a flat eyebrow. Similar, albeit weaker, effects were recorded for mouth and eye type, leading to a new hierarchical ordering of facial features for determining facial threat (eyebrow type > mouth type > eye type > mouth curvature). In Experiment 2 (n=37) the effects and ordering recorded in Experiment 1 were replicated for ratings of face of a woman and, moreover , individual features (except an up-turned mouth) increased ratings of threat compared to an expressionless control condition.
Independent Bottlenecks Characterize Colonization of Systemic Compartments and Gut Lymphoid Tissue by Salmonella

Vaccination represents an important instrument to control typhoid fever in humans and protects mice from lethal infection with mouse pathogenic serovars of Salmonella species. Mixed infections with tagged Salmonella can be used in combination with probabilistic models to describe the dynamics of the infection process. Here we used mixed oral infections with tagged Salmonella strains to identify bottlenecks in the infection process in naïve and vaccinated mice. We established a next generation sequencing based method to characterize the composition of tagged Salmonella strains which offers a fast and reliable method to characterise the composition of genome-tagged Salmonella strains. We show that initial colonization of Salmonella was distinguished by a non-Darwinian selection of few bacteria setting up the infection independently in gut associated lymphoid tissue and systemic compartments. Colonization of Peyer's patches fuels the sustained spread of bacteria into mesenteric lymph nodes via dendritic cells. In contrast, infection of liver and spleen originated from an independent pool of bacteria. Vaccination only moderately reduced invasion of Peyer's patches but potently uncoupled bacterial populations present in different systemic compartments. Our data indicate that vaccination differentially skews the capacity of Salmonella to colonize systemic and gut immune compartments and provide a framework for the further dissection of infection dynamics.
Student Bystanders in Australian Schools

Bullying in schools typically occurs with student bystanders present. How and why bystanders react as they do was examined with primary (n=200) and secondary (n=200) students attending Australian state coeducational schools. They viewed a video depicting bullying incidents and recorded how they thought they would respond as bystanders. Responses were about equally divided between those who would help the victim directly and those that would ignore what was happening. A lesser proportion reported they would get a teacher; a small number were inclined to assist the bully. Explanations for these reactions were examined using both quantitative and qualitative descriptive methods and suggestions are made about how teachers can promote better bystander behaviour in schools.
Novel Mechanism of Antibiotic Resistance Originating in Vancomycin-Intermediate Staphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACT As an aggressive pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus poses a significant public health threat and is becoming increasingly resistant to currently available antibiotics, including vancomycin, the drug of last resort for gram-positive bacterial infections. S. aureus with intermediate levels of resistance to vancomycin (vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus [VISA]) was first identified in 1996. The resistance mechanism of VISA, however, has not yet been clarified. We have previously shown that cell wall thickening is a common feature of VISA, and we have proposed that a thickened cell wall is a phenotypic determinant for vancomycin resistance in VISA (L. Cui, X. Ma, K. Sato, et al., J. Clin. Microbiol. 41:5-14, 2003). Here we show the occurrence of an anomalous diffusion of vancomycin through the VISA cell wall, which is caused by clogging of the cell wall with vancomycin itself. A series of experiments demonstrates that the thickened cell wall of VISA could protect ongoing peptidoglycan biosynthesis in the cytoplasmic membrane from vancomycin inhibition, allowing the cells to continue producing nascent cell wall peptidoglycan and thus making the cells resistant to vancomycin. We conclude that the cooperative effect of the clogging and cell wall thickening enables VISA to prevent vancomycin from reaching its true target in the cytoplasmic membrane, exhibiting a new class of antibiotic resistance in gram-positive pathogens.
PARTITIONING SPARSE MATRICES WITH EIGENVECTORS OF GRAPHS*

The problem ofcomputing a small vertex separator in a graph arises in the context ofcomputing a good ordering for the parallel factorization of sparse, symmetric matrices. An algebraic approach for computing vertex separators is considered in this paper. It is shown that lower bounds on separator sizes can be obtained in terms of the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix associated with a graph. The Laplacian eigenvectors of grid graphs can be computed from Kronecker products involving the eigenvectors ofpath graphs, and these eigenvectors can be used to compute good separators in grid graphs. A heuristic algorithm is designed to compute a vertex separator in a general graph by first computing an edge separator in the graph from an eigenvector of the Laplacian matrix, and then using a maximum matching in a subgraph to compute the vertex separator. Results on the quality of the separators computed by the spectral algorithm are presented, and these are compared with separators obtained from other algorithms for computing separators. Finally, the time required to compute the Laplacian eigenvector is reported, and the accuracy with which the eigenvector must be computed to obtain good separators is considered. The spectral algorithm has the advantage that it can be implemented on a mediumsize multiprocessor in a straightforward manner. Key words, graph partitioning, graph spectra, Laplacian matrix, ordering algorithms, parallel orderings, sparse matrix, vertex separator AMS(MOS) subject classifications. 65F50, 65F05, 65F15, 68R10
Adherens Junction Distribution Mechanisms during Cell-Cell Contact Elongation in Drosophila

During Drosophila gastrulation, amnioserosa (AS) cells flatten and spread as an epithelial sheet. We used AS morphogenesis as a model to investigate how adherens junctions (AJs) distribute along elongating cell-cell contacts in vivo. As the contacts elongated, total AJ protein levels increased along their length. However, genetically blocking this AJ addition indicated that it was not essential for maintaining AJ continuity. Implicating other remodeling mechanisms, AJ photobleaching revealed non-directional lateral mobility of AJs along the elongating contacts, as well as local AJ removal from the membranes. Actin stabilization with jasplakinolide reduced AJ redistribution, and live imaging of myosin II along elongating contacts revealed fragmented, expanding and contracting actomyosin networks, suggesting a mechanism for lateral AJ mobility. Actin stabilization also increased total AJ levels, suggesting an inhibition of AJ removal. Implicating AJ removal by endocytosis, clathrin endocytic machinery accumulated at AJs. However, dynamin disruption had no apparent effect on AJs, suggesting the involvement of redundant or dynamin-independent mechanisms. Overall, we propose that new synthesis, lateral diffusion, and endocytosis play overlapping roles to populate elongating cell-cell contacts with evenly distributed AJs in this in vivo system.
Online Sharing of Physical Activity: Does It Accelerate the Impact of a Health Promotion Program?

Influence on health behavior from peers is well known and it has been shown that participants in an online physical activity promotion program are generally more successful when they share their achievements through an online community. However, more detailed insights are needed into the mechanisms that explain the influence of a community on physical activity level (PAL). This paper discusses a detailed analysis of a data set of participants in an online physical activity promotion program. The analysis focuses on a method to compare community members with non-community members that eliminates to a large extent factors that dilute the community effect. We create statistical models that describe the PAL increase at the end of the program. A comparison of these models shows that community members not only have a higher PAL at the start of the program, but also that the PAL increase is significantly greater compared to non-community members. The results further support the hypothesis that stimulating participants to share their achievements with peers makes physical activity programs more successful to help people achieve a healthy activity level.
The Emerging Roles of Forkhead Box (FOX) Proteins in Osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma is the most common bone cancer primarily occurring in children and young adults. Over the past few years, the deregulation of a superfamily transcription factors, known as forkhead box (FOX) proteins, has been demonstrated to contribute to the pathogenesis of osteosarcoma. Molecular mechanism studies have demonstrated that FOX family proteins participate in a variety of signaling pathways and that their expression can be regulated by multiple factors. The dysfunction of FOX genes can alter osteosarcoma cell differentiation, metastasis and progression. In this review, we summarized the evidence that FOX genes play direct or indirect roles in the development and progression of osteosarcoma, and evaluated the emerging role of FOX proteins as targets for therapeutic intervention.
Sleep paralysis episode frequency and number, types, and structure of associated hallucinations

Sleep paralysis (SP) episodes are often accompanied by vivid hallucinoid experiences that have been found to fall into three major categories thought to be organized according to intrinsic rapid eye movement (REM) processes. Prior research has, however, combined data for individuals with varying degrees of experience with SP episodes, rendering interpretations of the source of this structure ambiguous. The present study of 5799 current SP experients compares the nature and structure of the hallucinations of novice SP experients with those reporting varying numbers of episodes. Both qualitative and quantitative differences were found in reported hallucinations as a function of episode frequency, although the underlying three‐factor structure of the hallucinoid experiences was highly similar for all groups. Novice experients’ reports were, however, characterized by clearer differentiation of factors, likely because of a tendency of experienced SP experients to conflate experiences across episodes. Age and age of onset of SP episodes were associated with differences in the variety and types of hallucinations but not their underlying structure. Earlier onset of SP episodes was also associated with more frequent episodes. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that the basic form and patterning of hallucinatory experiences is a result of intrinsic processes, independent of prior experience, likely associated with underlying REM neurophysiology.
Editorial: unravelling the mystery of the aetiology of eosinophilic oesophagitis

The rise in the prevalence of eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE) in the last 30 years has been remarkable. The most popular and global explanation is the ‘hygiene hypothesis’, which holds that because the environment in developing countries has become more sterile, the human immune systems are exposed to a smaller variety of antigens in early life and tolerance is less likely to develop. In developing countries, poor hygiene, family crowding and low socioeconomic conditions are common with early exposure to bacterial diarrhoeas, Helicobacter pylori, and hepatitis A infections. This stimulates Th-1 cytokines, inhibiting the Th-2 mediated allergic responses, which represent the main pathogenesis of EoE. In contrast, EoE is most common in the white population of industrialised countries which are also seeing an increase in other Th-2-mediated allergic diseases including asthma, atopic eczema and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis. Prior to this study, several population-based studies of pathology samples have reported an inverse relationship between H. pylori and EoE. 4 The best and largest by Dellon et al. used a US commercial pathology database analysing 56 301 patients with normal oesophageal biopsies, 5767 with mucosal eosinophilia and 11 170 had H. pylori infection. Oesophageal eosinophilia was inversely related with H. pylori [odds ratio (OR) 0.77; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.69–87]. Importantly, a dose– response trend was observed for the degree of mucosal eosinophilia (≥15 eosinophils to ≥90 eosinophils) and increasing clinical suspicion for EoE and decreasing prevalence of H. pylori infection. However, neither database study could assure the patients with mucosal eosinophilia meet current consensus criteria for EoE. The current German report in 58 well-documented EoE patients completes the validation of this association. When compared to 116 age and sex-matched controls, the EoE patients had 3/58 (5.2%) with serologic evidence of H. pylori infection and 5/58 (8.6%) reported prior H. pylori eradication compared with a 37.9% seroprevalence in the controls. This inverse association between EoE and H. pylori was very strong (OR 0.24; 95% CI 0.11–0.50). However, eradication of H. pylori is just one of the pieces of a complex puzzle being associated with the EoE epidemic. Other postulated potential aetiologic risk factors actively being investigated include aeroallergens, cold or arid climates, population density (urban vs. rural locations), north–south gradient, relationship with early exposure to proton pump inhibitors or early life factors including exposure to antibiotics, birth by caesarean section, premature birth and short duration of breast feeding.
Proactive and reactive aggression in early adolescence as precursors to anti- and prosocial behavior in young adults

Three groups of adolescents who were 14 years old in 1974 were formed on the basis of peer nominations and teacher ratings in an ongoing longitudinal study: 1) reactively aggressive (REA) individuals who displayed reactive, that is, self-defensive aggression but not proactive aggression (43 boys, 35 girls); 2) proactively aggressive (PROA) individuals who attacked another person without a reason (56 boys, 35 girls); and 3) nonaggressive (NONA) individuals who were low in proactive and reactive aggression (48 boys, 45 girls). The groups were compared at ages 8, 14, and 27 in variables representing the constructs of a two-dimensional model of emotional and behavioral regulation. The REA Ss were characterized by higher self-control, especially constructiveness, at each age and better adult adjustment than the PROA Ss. The PROA males were prone to externalizing problems and criminality in adulthood, whereas the PROA females were prone to internalizing problems and neuroticism in adulthood. Both exhibited conduct problems in adolescence, and became heavy users of alcohol in adulthood. The PROA Ss had more children at age 27 than the other Ss.
Data-driven patient segmentation using K-means clustering: the case of hip fracture care in Ireland

Machine learning continues to forge the future of decision making in a broad diversity of domains including healthcare. Data-driven methods are increasingly geared towards leveraging evidence-based insights from large volumes of patient data. In this context, this paper embraces a mere data-driven approach for the segmentation of patients with application to hip fracture care in Ireland. Using K-Means clustering, elderly patients are grouped based on the similarity of age, length of stay (LOS) and elapsed time to surgery. We utilise a dataset retrieved from the Irish Hip fracture Database (IHFD) covering the period of two years (2013--2014). Our results suggest the presence of three coherent clusters of patients. Through cluster analysis, possible correlations are explored in relation to patient characteristics, care-related factors, and patient outcomes. For instance, the study inspects the potential impact of time to surgery on patient outcomes (e.g. LOS) within the discovered clusters of patients. Furthermore, the clusters are visually interpreted in a demographic context with respect to the structure of the healthcare system in Ireland. Broadly, the study is claimed to serve useful purposes for healthcare executives in Ireland for developing more patient-centred care strategies.
Driving midgut‐specific expression and secretion of a foreign protein in transgenic mosquitoes with AgAper1 regulatory elements

The Anopheles gambiae adult peritrophic matrix protein 1 (AgAper1) regulatory elements were used to drive the expression of phospholipase A2 (PLA2), a protein known to disrupt malaria parasite development in mosquitoes. These AgAper1 regulatory elements were sufficient to promote the accumulation of PLA2 in midgut epithelial cells before a blood meal and its release into the lumen upon blood ingestion. Plasmodium berghei oocyst formation was reduced by ∼80% (74–91% range) in transgenic mosquitoes. Blood‐seeking behaviour and survival of AgAper1‐PLA2 transgenic mosquitoes were comparable to sibling wild‐type mosquitoes, while fertility was substantially lower. Ultrastructural studies suggest that decreased fitness is a consequence of internal damage to midgut epithelial cells.