Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Indirect, physiological assessment of reproductive state and breeding chronology in free‐living birds: an example in the Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus)

1An indirect, physiological method to assess reproductive state in individuals of unknown status is described. The plasma levels of two main yolk precursors, vitellogenin (VTG) and very-low density lipoproteins (VLDL), are focused on as indices of egg production, for the characterization of fecund females. 2Data for a species where breeding chronology could be directly assessed, at the population level (Cassin’s Auklet, Ptychoramphus aleuticus), confirmed the validity of this approach: plasma VTG levels were highest during the defined egg-laying period, and the highest proportion of females were defined as ‘egg-producing’ in this period. 3Analysis of samples for Marbled Murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) caught off-nest (i.e. where all individuals were of unknown status), clearly identified a putative egg-laying phase, with a single, protracted laying period (cf. multiple-broodiness). 4Analysis of body mass confirmed our characterization of ‘egg-producing’ females: birds with elevated plasma VTG were on average 40 g heavier than other females, equivalent to the mass of the single egg (36–41 g). 5Indirect, physiological assessment of reproductive state provided valuable information on the breeding biology of Marbled Murrelets which would have been difficult to obtain in any other way (e.g. proportion of fecund females, breeding phenology, single vs multiple-clutch breeding pattern). Despite some limitations, this technique should be applicable to any oviparous vertebrate population where essential information on breeding biology cannot be obtained by more traditional methods.
"Reframing" as an Innovative Educational Technique

New learnings are inhibited by early formed paradigms. Reframing, forming new impressions, creates a new version of habitual patterns. This article presents specific reframing techniques as: Senoi dreamwork; neuro-linguistic programming; cognitive restructuring; and the Adlerian psychology technique of "turning a perceived 'negative' into a 'positive'. " It concludes with specific suggestions for educators and an example of reframing by a seventh grade teacher.
‘‘When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong’’: Resident Evil 5, Racial Representation, and Gamers

Videogames’ ability to depict cultural iconographies and characters have occasionally led to accusations of insensitivity. This article examines gamers’ reactions to a developer’s use of Africans as enemies in a survival horror videogame, Resident Evil 5. Their reactions offer insight into how videogames represent Whiteness and White privilege within the social structure of ‘‘play. ’’ Omi and Winant’s (1994) racial formation theory notes that race is formed through cultural representations of human bodies organized in social structures. Accordingly, depictions of race in electronic spaces rely upon media imagery and social interactions. Videogames construct exotic fantasy worlds and peoples as places for White male protagonists to conquer, explore, exploit, and solve. Like their precursors in science fiction, fantasy, and horror, videogame narratives, activities, and players often draw from Western values of White masculinity, White privilege as bounded by conceptions of ‘‘other,’’ and relationships organized by coercion and domination.
Segmentation of On-Line Freely Written Japanese Text Using SVM for Improving Text Recognition

This paper describes a method of producing segmentation point candidates for on-line handwritten Japanese text by a support vector machine (SVM) to improve text recognition. This method extracts multi-dimensional features from on-line strokes of handwritten text and applies the SVM to the extracted features to produces segmentation point candidates. We incorporate the method into the segmentation by recognition scheme based on a stochastic model which evaluates the likelihood composed of character pattern structure, character segmentation, character recognition and context to finally determine segmentation points and recognize handwritten Japanese text. This paper also shows the details of generating segmentation point candidates in order to achieve high discrimination rate by finding the optimal combination of the segmentation threshold and the concatenation threshold. We compare the method for segmentation by the SVM with that by a neural network (NN) using the database HANDS-Kondate_t_bf-2001–11 and show the result that the method by the SVM bring about a better segmentation rate and character recognition rate.
Rawls on International Justice

Rawls’s The Law of Peoples has not been well received. The first task of this essay is to draw (what the author regards as) Rawls’s position out of his own text where it is imperfectly and incompletely expressed. Rawls’s view, once fully and clearly presented, is less vulnerable to common criticisms than it is often taken to be. The second task of this essay is to go beyond Rawls’s text to develop some supplementary lines of argument, still Rawlsian in spirit, to deflect key criticisms made by Rawls’s critics. The overall defense given here of Rawls’s position draws on a deep theme running throughout all of Rawls’s work in political philosophy, namely, that the task of political philosophy is to mark the moral limits given by and through a commonhuman reason, itself socially and historically achieved, within which human nature must develop (and reveal itself over time) if it is to be an expression or manifestation of human freedom.
The 36-Item Short Form Health Survey: Reliability and Validity in Chinese Medical Students

Objective: The 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) is widely validated and popularly used in assessing the subjective quality of life (QOL) of patients and the general public. The aim of the study is to assess the psychometric properties of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) in medical students in mainland of China. Methods: The reliability and validity of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire were assessed by conducting a cross-sectional study of Chinese medical students in December 2011. All 1358 3rd year and 4th year medical students from 46 classes at China Medical University were investigated. Results: The overall Cronbach's α coefficient of the SF-36 questionnaire was 0.791, while the respective Cronbach's α coefficients for each of the seven dimensions were > 0.70, except where the social function dimension was 0.631. Results showed that the SF-36 questionnaire was reliable and valid. Conclusion: In general, this study provides evidence that the SF-36 questionnaire is suitable measures for assess the QOL of medical students in China.
Metodologia ativa de ensino na formação do enfermeiro: inovação na atenção básica

Aim: to report the experience of applying an active methodology of teaching and learning with nursing students in primary health care. Method: experience report. Eight students and one teacher participated, in a morning of practical activity of a health unity in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The methodology was applied in eight distinct, sequential and complementary phases. Results: the students were initially stimulated to represent a situation of health/disease and seek support at the Health Centre as users, posteriorly they observed the facility structure and socialized the individual experiences. During the whole process, the students were stimulated to reflect and share their experiences, to discuss the functioning of the service and the professionals’ roles. Final Considerations: it was an important experience in different ways of teaching and learning that involved both teachers and students
Next-Generation Fibers for Space-Division-Multiplexed Transmissions

This paper reviews the most recent advances on next-generation fibers for space-division-multiplexed transmissions. These fibers can be classified into different categories, depending on the way the inherent crosstalk issue is addressed, and have thus different characteristics and limitations. Comparisons of their performances and insights in their different potentials are also provided.
Performance analysis of two-branch transmit diversity block coded OFDM systems in timevarying multipath rayleigh fading channels

Based on Alamouti code, Lee et al. proposed two-branch transmit diversity OFDM systems, namely, space-time block coded OFDM (STBC-OFDM) and space-frequency block coded OFDM (SFBC-OFDM). However, they employed the simple maximum-likelihood (SML) detector, which was designed under the assumption that the channel is static over the duration of a space-time/frequency codeword. Therefore, STB-COFDM/SFBC-OFDM suffers from the high time/frequency-selectivity of the wireless mobile fading channel. In our work, in addition to the original SML detector, three novel detectors, proposed by Vielmon et al., are applied to improve the two-branch TDBC-OFDM systems. Additionally, assuming sufficient cyclic prefix (CP), the performances of all systems in spatially uncorrelated time-varying multipath Rayleigh fading channels are evaluated by theoretical derivation and computer simulation, as well. Numerical results have revealed that significant performance improvement can be achieved even when the systems are operated in highly selective channels.
New global update mechanism of ant colony system for retinal vessel segmentation

This paper proposes two improvements of the ant clustering-based segmentation; first by applying new heuristic function of the ant colony system based on probability theory. Second by selecting any one of new two global update mechanisms of the ant colony system. These improvements evaluation is performed in the domain of automatic retinal blood vessels segmentation. The automatic segmentation of blood vessels in retinal images is vital process for early diagnosis and treatment of many diseases especially diabetic retinopathy since it's the main cause of blindness over the world. The improved ant colony system based segmentation algorithm is tested on publicity available STARE database of retinal images in terms of the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. The experimental results obtained, show that the proposed improvements are promising.
Seeing the Shadow of the Self: Studies on Workplace Deviance

textabstractWhy do good people do bad things? The assumption that underlies the research presented in this dissertation is that only some of those who engage in organizational deviance are individuals of dubious morality, and that most of the organizational deviants are good people who are merely trying to make a living. What then drives these people to engage in deviance? The research presented in this dissertation answers this question. Three studies delve into the processes that underlie especially collective forms of deviance that are committed out of other reasons than monetary gain seeking. Each study does so from a different perspective. The first study examines intra-individual drives that unconsciously entice people to commit deviance. The second study advances managerial practices that coerce people into committing deviance, and the third study examines forces in the social context that have that same result. The findings suggest that good people indeed have a shady side capable of doing bad things for the sole reason of doing a good job, earning a living and leading a happy life. This dissertation adds to the growing body of research that focuses on the processes underlying the development of deviance in organizations. It also informs management about how to better prevent organizational deviance.
Change in Thigh Muscle Cross-Sectional Area Through Administration of an Anabolic Steroid During Routine Stroke Rehabilitation in Hemiplegic Patients

Objective:The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of administration of an anabolic steroid (AS) without the addition of specific training in stroke patients by measuring the cross-sectional area (CSA) of the thigh. Design:Twenty-six hemiplegic stroke patients during subacute rehabilitation were randomly assigned to a metenolone enanthate (ME) administration group or a control group (CT group). In the ME group, ME (100 mg) was injected intramuscularly weekly for 6 wks in the ME group. The CSA of the bilateral thigh muscles was measured using computed tomography. Motor subscore of the Functional Independence Measure (FIM-M) was assessed before the experimental period. Results:At the end of 6 wks, the CSA increase in the ME group (13.4%, affected side; 14.5%, unaffected side) was significantly larger than that in the CT group (3.3%, affected side; 5.2%, unaffected side). Correlation coefficients between the initial FIM-M score and the CSA increase at 6 wks were −0.754 for the affected side and −0.567 for the unaffected side in the ME group and 0.199 for the affected side and 0.431 for the unaffected side in the CT group. Conclusions:ME administration is effective for improving muscle CSA and, thus, muscle strengthening in stroke rehabilitation. The CSA increase in the ME group was most prominent in patients with a low initial FIM-M score.
MEDIATION EFFECT OF JOB STRESS IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH AND JOB SATISFACTION

Organizational health and job satisfaction are two significant organizational variables that are interrelated in that the degree of organizational health determines the level of satisfaction employees feel towards their jobs. The stress levels employees have in organizations also influence their perceptions towards organizational health. The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between organizational health, teachers' job stress and job satisfaction. The population of the study consists of 65 primary school English teachers working in Gaziantep province in 2011-2012 academic year. The data collected were analyzed by hierarchical multiple linear regression method. The results showed that job stress negatively affects job satisfaction. According to the results of mediation test, job stress was found to be the moderator variable in relationships between organizational health level and employees' job satisfaction. The results also indicated that employees' organizational health perceptions significantly predict their job satisfaction and that there is a negative significant relationship between job stress and organizational health.
Entropy vs. Majorization: What Determines Complexity?

The evolution of a microcanonical statistical ensemble of states of isolated systems from order to disorder as determined by increasing entropy, is compared to an alternative evolution that is determined by mixing character. The fact that the partitions of an integer N are in one-to-one correspondence with macrostates for N distinguishable objects is noted. Orders for integer partitions are given, including the original order by Young and the Boltzmann order by entropy. Mixing character (represented by Young diagrams) is seen to be a partially ordered quality rather than a quantity (See Ruch, 1975). The majorization partial order is reviewed as is its Hasse diagram representation known as the Young Diagram Lattice (YDL). Two lattices that show allowed transitions between macrostates are obtained from the YDL: we term these the mixing lattice and the diversity lattice. We study the dynamics (time evolution) on the two lattices, namely the sequence of steps on the lattices (i.e., the path or trajectory) that leads from low entropy, less mixed states to high entropy, highly mixed states. These paths are sequences of macrostates with monotonically increasing entropy. The distributions of path lengths on the two lattices are obtained via Monte Carlo methods, and surprisingly both distributions appear Gaussian. However, the width of the path length distribution for diversity is the square root of the mixing case, suggesting a qualitative difference in their temporal evolution. Another surprising result is that some macrostates occur in many paths while others do not. The evolution at low entropy and at high entropy is quite simple, but at intermediate entropies, the number of possible evolutionary paths is extremely large (due to the extensive branching of the lattices). A quantitative complexity measure associated with incomparability of macrostates in the mixing partial order is proposed, complementing Kolmogorov complexity and Shannon entropy.
Animal nutrition with feeds from genetically modified plants

Plant breeders have made and will continue to make important contributions toward meeting the need for more and better feed and food. The use of new techniques to modify the genetic makeup of plants to improve their properties has led to a new generation of crops, grains and their by-products for feed. The use of ingredients and products from genetically modified plants (GMP) in animal nutrition properly raises many questions and issues, such as the role of a nutritional assessment of the modified feed or feed additive as part of safety assessment, the possible influence of genetically modified (GM) products on animal health and product quality and the persistence of the recombinant DNA and of the ‘novel’ protein in the digestive tract and tissues of food-producing animals. During the last few years many studies have determined the nutrient value of GM feeds compared to their conventional counterparts and some have additionally followed the fate of DNA and novel protein. The results available to date are reassuring and reveal no significant differences in the safety and nutritional value of feedstuffs containing material derived from the so-called 1st generation of genetically modified plants (those with unchanged gross composition) in comparison with non-GM varieties. In addition, no residues of recombinant DNA or novel proteins have been found in any organ or tissue samples obtained from animals fed with GMP. These results indicate that for compositionally equivalent GMP routine-feeding studies with target species generally add little to nutritional and safety assessment. However, the strategies devised for the nutritional and safety assessment of the 1st generation products will be much more difficult to apply to 2nd generation GMP in which significant changes in constituents have been deliberately introduced (e.g., increased fatty acids or amino acids content or a reduced concentration of undesirable constituents). It is suggested that studies made with animals will play a much more important role in insuring the safety of these 2nd generation constructs.
The amino acid metabolite homocysteine activates mTORC1 to inhibit autophagy and form abnormal proteins in human neurons and mice

The molecular mechanisms leading to and responsible for age‐related, sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) remain largely unknown. It is well documented that aging patients with elevated levels of the amino acid metabolite homocysteine (Hcy) are at high risk of developing AD. We investigated the impact of Hcy on molecular clearance pathways in mammalian cells, including in vitro cultured induced pluripotent stem cell‐derived forebrain neurons and in vivo neurons in mouse brains. Exposure to Hcy resulted in up‐regulation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) activity, one of the major kinases in cells that is tightly linked to anabolic and catabolic pathways. Hcy is sensed by a constitutive protein complex composed of leucyl‐tRNA‐synthetase and folliculin, which regulates mTOR tethering to lysosomal membranes. In hyperhomocysteinemic human cells and cystathionine β‐synthase‐deficient mouse brains, we find an acute and chronic inhibition of the molecular clearance of protein products resulting in a buildup of abnormal proteins, including β‐amyloid and phospho‐Tau. Formation of these protein aggregates leads to AD‐like neurodegeneration. This pathology can be prevented by inhibition of mTORC1 or by induction of autophagy. We conclude that an increase of intracellular Hcy levels predisposes neurons to develop abnormal protein aggregates, which are hallmarks of AD and its associated onset and pathophysiology with age. —Khayati, K. , Antikainen, H. , Bonder, E. M. , Weber, G.F. , Kruger, W.D. , Jakubowski, H. , Dobrowolski, R. The aminoacidmetabolite homocysteine activates mTORC1 to inhibit autophagy and form abnormal proteins in human neurons and mice. FASEB J. 31, 598–609 (2017). www.fasebj. org
CONTRIBUTION OF BONE MARROW CELLS AND LACK OF EXPRESSION OF THYMOCYTES IN GENETIC CONTROLS OF IMMUNE RESPONSES FOR TWO IMMUNOPOTENT REGIONS WITHIN POLY-(PHE,GLU)-POLY-PRO--POLY-LYS IN INBRED MOUSE STRAINS

Previous cellular studies on the genetic regulation of immunological responsiveness for two immunopotent regions within the branched chain synthetic polypeptide (Phe, G)-Pro--L demonstrated a direct correlation between the number of detectable immunocompetent splenic precursor cells and the response patterns of SJL, DBA/1, and F1 mice (21). In order to establish the cellular origin(s) of the genetic defect, the present study first demonstrated that thymus and bone marrow cell cooperation was required for (Phe, G)- and Pro--L-specific immune responses. Secondly, limiting dilution experiments, in which several graded and limiting inocula of marrow cells were mixed with a non-limiting number of 108 thymocytes and injected into irradiated, syngeneic recipients, indicated that the low responsiveness of the SJL and DBA/1 strains to the (Phe, G) and Pro--L specificities, respectively, could be attributed to a reduced number of precursor cells found in bone marrow. About five times more marrow precursors were detected in SJL mice for Pro--L than for (Phe, G), whereas about five times as many precursor cells were estimated for (Phe, G) as for Pro--L in the DBA/1 strain. These differences are similar to those obtained using spleen cells from unimmunized SJL and DBA/1 donors (21), and indicate that these genetically determined variations in responsiveness can be accounted for by differences in the frequencies of monospecific populations of immunocompetent cells present in bone marrow. In contrast, limiting dilution transfers of thymocytes or thymus-derived cells with an excess of syngeneic marrow cells resulted in equally frequent (Phe, G) and Pro--L responses for both SJL ad DBA/1 strains. This finding in conjunction with the observation that the generation of (Phe, G)- and Pro--L-specific responses were associated in individual recipients injected with limiting inocula of thymocytes indicated that a single population of thymocytes was stimulated by (Phe,G)-Pro--L. Therefore, it is improbable that the thymic population of immunocompetent cells contributes to expression of these genetically controlled defects.
Land Ownership and Black Economic Development

every family farmer in America is . experiencing hardship. Many are facing the inevitable loss of land that has been in their families for generations. The situation for black farmers however, is far more serious than that faced by their white counterparts. In addition to difficult economic conditions, black farmers still have to contend with the age old problem of discrimination. At a time when money is extremely tight, the black farmer finds it almost impossible to borrow enough to develop a successful operation. Where once it was too little too late, today two out of ten black farmers receive nothing at all. Primarily because of this lack of access to capital, nearly one-third of all black farmers went out of business during the period from 1982-1987, according to the Department of Agriculture. Other alarming statistics relating to black farmers include: