Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ENTREPRENEURIAL SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND LOCALLY INITIATED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE NONMETROPOLITAN UNITED STATES

A community embeddedness perspective hypothesizes that nonmetropolitan localities high on entrepreneurial social infrastructure (ESI) are more successful at implementing economic development projects than those lacking ESI. ESI is a format for converting social capital into organizational forms that facilitate collective action. Logistic regres- sion revealed that localities with projects were more likely to have an unbiased news- paper, multiple contributions by financial institutions to community projects, and more external linkages. Project communities place more emphasis on citizen involvement through civic organizations than through local government. Community-based patterns of interactions and organization are associated with successful collective economic development action. Building on ideas about community embeddedness and collective action, this article addresses the relationship between entrepreneurial social infrastructure (ESI) and eco- nomic development. The central hypothesis is that communities and counties with more ESI are more likely to have successfully implemented a recent economic development project than localities lacking in ESI. The analysis is based upon a national random sample of nonmetropolitan places and counties. The concept of entrepreneurial social infrastructure was developed by the senior researchers' in order to better understand why some communities remain economically vital while others do not. Location factors (John Batie, and Norris 1988) and theories of leadership have not provided adequate explanations of community vitality. For instance, one careful evaluation of leadership training programs in Montana and Pennsylvania, using a quasi-experimental design, showed an increase in organizational membership and leadership roles for program graduates compared to a matched sample of nonparticipants in such programs (Cook, Howell, and Weir 1985). However, we found no studies that
The role of sex steroids in the formation of sex-differentiated concentrations of corticosteroid-binding globulin in rats.

The role of sex steroids in the programming of the level of serum corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) in the rat has been studied at different stages of ontogenesis. The CBG content in the serum of mature female rats was 2.5 times higher than that in male rats. Sexual dimorphism of CBG content was absent in immature animals of 3-4 weeks of age. Castration of mature rats led to a 40-50% increase in CBG content. The CBG concentration in mature females or castrated adult males treated with testosterone propionate (TP; 3 mg/day for 4 days) was decreased by 40-50% compared with vehicle-treated rats. Oestradiol injection (1 microgram/day for 4 days) had no influence on CBG levels in mature male and ovariectomized adult female rats. Immature rats were castrated on days 1, 7, 14, 21, 28 or 35 of age and the CBG level was determined at 10-12 weeks of age. The CBG content of rats castrated up to day 28 of age was 2.5 times higher than that in mature males and did not differ from that in mature females. The CBG content of male rats castrated on day 35 of age was the same as that of adult castrated males. The CBG level in castrated rats treated with TP (1.25 mg for days 1-3 or 300 micrograms/day for 5 days after castration at day 7 up to day 26) did not differ from that in controls (i.e. vehicle-treated rats). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Selective anergy of V beta 8+ T cells in human immunodeficiency virus- infected individuals

We have analyzed the V beta usage by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals in response to an in vitro stimulation with the superantigenic erythrogenic toxin A (ETA) of Streptococcus pyogenes. ETA amplifies specifically CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from control donors expressing the V beta 8 and the V beta 12 elements. When peripheral T cells from asymptomatic HIV-infected individuals were stimulated with ETA, there was a complete lack of activation of the V beta 8+ T cell subset, whereas the V beta 12+ T cell subset responded normally to the superantigen. This V beta- specific anergy, which was also observed in response to staphylococcal enterotoxin E (SEE), affected both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and represented an intrinsic functional defect rather than a specific lack of response to bacterial superantigens since it was also observed after a stimulation with V beta 8 monoclonal antibodies. The V beta 8 anergic T cells did not express interleukin 2 receptors (IL-2Rs) and failed to proliferate in response to exogenous IL-2 or IL-4, suggesting that this anergy was not a reversible process, at least by the use of these cytokines. The unresponsiveness of the V beta 8 T cell subset is frequent since it was found in 56% of the patients studied, and comparison of the clinical status of responder vs. anergic patients indicated that the only known common factor between them was HIV infection. In addition, it is noteworthy that the anergy of the V beta 8 subset may be a very early phenomenon since it was found in a patient at Centers for Disease Control stage I of the disease. These data provide evidence that a dominant superantigen may be involved in the course of HIV infection and that the contribution of HIV has to be considered.
Configuration de l'architecture des compétences : une approche par les thèmes architecturaux

Cet article s’interesse au processus de formation de l’architecture des ressources et competences de la firme. Une revue approfondie de la litterature academique nous a permis d’identifier les principaux themes federateurs d’une architecture creatrice de valeur. La vision strategique du dirigeant constitue un premier theme. D’autres themes architecturaux doivent neanmoins etre consideres dans un souci de maximisation de la valeur generee par l’architecture globale : il s’agit des fonctionnalites offertes au client, de l’innovation et de l’efficience.
Delay discounting predicts behavioral sensitization to ethanol in outbred WSC mice.

BACKGROUND Alcoholic individuals discount the value of future rewards more steeply than social drinkers, which is viewed as symptomatic of higher levels of impulsivity. However, the mechanisms underlying this difference are unknown. This study examined 2 hypotheses about the relationship between discounting and ethanol's effects in mice: (1) steep discounters are less sensitive to the initial stimulant-like effects of ethanol and (2) steep discounters exhibit greater behavioral adaptation to stimulant effects with repeated ethanol exposure. METHODS An adjusting amount procedure was used to assess discounting as a function of delay in ethanol-naïve genetically heterogeneous WSC mice. Mice chose between a small amount of sucrose solution delivered immediately and 19.5 microL delivered following a delay (0, 2, 4, 8, or 12 seconds, varied between sessions). Within sessions, the amount (microL) of immediate sucrose was adjusted until animals became indifferent between the immediate and specific delayed reward. Hyperbolic discount functions were fitted to quantify the degree of delay discounting. Then, in a within-subjects design over 13 days, mice received a pattern of daily injections of saline or ethanol, and after certain treatments their locomotor activity was assessed for 15 minutes. RESULTS Animals with steeper discount functions (greater impulsivity) tended to exhibit less locomotor stimulation on their initial exposure to ethanol. However, steeper discounting was positively associated with increases in locomotor activity after repeated exposure (sensitization), indicating that steep discounters showed higher levels of sensitization to the stimulating effects of ethanol. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest 2 behavioral effects of ethanol, associated with an increased risk for alcohol abuse, that are associated with variations in delay discounting.
CD117 Expression in Fibroblasts-Like Stromal Cells Indicates Unfavorable Clinical Outcomes in Ovarian Carcinoma Patients

The stem cell factor (SCF) receptor CD117 (c-kit), is widely used for identification of hematopoietic stem cells and cancer stem cells. Moreover, CD117 expression in carcinoma cells indicates a poor prognosis in a variety of cancers. However the potential expression in tumor microenvironment and the biological and clinical impact are currently not reported. The expression of CD117 was immunohistochemically evaluated in a serial of 242 epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cases. Thirty-eight out of 242 cases were CD117 positive in fibroblast-like stromal cells and 22 cases were positive in EOC cells. Four cases were both positive in fibroblast-like stromal cells and EOC cells for CD117. CD117 expression in fibroblast-like stromal cells in ovarian carcinoma was closely linked to advanced FIGO stage, poor differentiation grade and histological subtype (p<0.05), and it was significantly associated with poor overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) (Kaplan-Meier analysis; p<0.05, log-rank test). CD117 expression in ovarian carcinoma cells was not associated with these clinicopathological variables. The CD117 positive fibroblast-like stromal cells were all positive for mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (MSC) marker CD73 but negative for fibroblast markers fibroblast activation protein (FAP) and α smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), indicating that the CD117+/CD73+ fibroblast-like stromal cells are a subtype of mesenchymal stem cells in tumor stroma, although further characterization of these cells are needed. It is concluded herewith that the presence of CD117+/CD73+ fibroblast-like stromal cells in ovarian carcinoma is an unfavorable clinical outcome indication.
Improving phonotactic language recognition with acoustic adaptation

In recent evaluations of automatic language recognition systems, phonotactic approaches have proven highly effective [1][2]. However, as most of these systems rely on underlying ASR techniques to derive a phonetic tokenization, these techniques are potentially susceptible to acoustic variability from non-language sources (i.e. gender, speaker, channel, etc.). In this paper we apply techniques fromASR research to normalize and adapt HMM-based phonetic models to improve phonotactic language recognition performance. Experiments we conducted with these techniques show an EER reduction of 29% over traditional PRLM-based approaches.
Sparse representation of MER signals for localizing the Subthalamic Nucleus in Parkinson's disease surgery

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of Subthalamic Nucleus (STN) is the best method for treating advanced Parkinson's disease (PD), leading to striking improvements in motor function and quality of life of PD patients. During DBS, online analysis of microelectrode recording (MER) signals is a powerful tool to locate the STN. Therapeutic outcomes depend of a precise positioning of a stimulator device in the target area. In this paper, we show how a sparse representation of MER signals allows to extract discriminant features, improving the accuracy in identification of STN. We apply three techniques for over-complete representation of signals: Method of Frames (MOF), Best Orthogonal Basis (BOB) and Basis Pursuit (BP). All the techniques are compared to classical methods for signal processing like Wavelet Transform (WT), and a more sophisticated method known as adaptive Wavelet with lifting schemes (AW-LS). We apply each processing method in two real databases and we evaluate its performance with simple supervised classifiers. Classification outcomes for MOF, BOB and BP clearly outperform WT and AW-LF in all classifiers for both databases, reaching accuracy values over 98%.
Disability and diversity – a difference too far?

It is currently fashionable to herald “managing diversity” as an approach which signals a new dawn for equal opportunities. Within the management of diversity is a new, more positive approach to employee “‘difference” which prescribes the valuation of individuality and the abandonment of group based equality initiatives. In principle the focus on individuals suggests this approach lends itself particularly well to disabled employees who constitute a more heterogeneous group than women and ethnic minorities. The article evaluates this in the light of debates traditionally located within gender literatures and applies them to survey data gathered from UK HRM managers which details the disability equality initiatives adopted by their organisations. It argues that differences between disabled groups and those constituted on the basis of gender or race, together with differences amongst disabled people renders the group based and the managing diversity approach to equality largely rhetorical.
Evaluating professional development that prepares teachers to integrate academic skills into technical curricula

The purpose of this evaluation study was to determine whether career and technical education teachers were using the integration strategies that were presented to them in a professional development course. The integration strategies are strategies that teachers can use to integrate reading, writing and mathematics into their technical curricula. The ultimate goal of the professional development course is to help teachers improve academic achievement in career and technical education students; however, the first step in reaching this goal is to explore how teachers feel about integrating these basic academic skills into their technical subject matter and to determine whether they are using the strategies that were taught in the professional development course. A survey instrument was developed adapting Hall and Hord’s levels‐of‐use concept to show teachers’ behaviors associated with use of integration strategies in their practice. This survey was administered via the web to 100 course participants with a response of 44%. The results indicated that while teachers believed the integration strategies would increase student achievement, they were not routinely using them in their practice. The evaluators discuss potential reasons for this finding and make recommendations for improving the professional development program.
Diabetes literacy: health and adult literacy practitioners in partnership

This paper describes pedagogy in a series of 'diabetes literacy' programs involving culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. The programs were jointly delivered in local community sites, including neighbourhood centres and public housing halls, by qualified nutritionists from a public health service and adult literacy teachers from a technical and further education (TAFE) institute. The programs were funded by the Australian Government as an adult literacy innovative project, and they were considered innovative because the concept of 'diabetes literacy' is relatively new, and in the Australian health literacy context, the work of health professionals in a team with adult literacy teachers and other organisational partners is undeveloped and rarely documented. The main focus of the paper is on how these two partners managed to work together effectively within an integrated literacy approach focusing on the situated health needs of selected CALD communities.
Teacher leadership and professional development: examining links between two concepts central to school improvement

Teacher leadership has gained attention in recent years as a plausible means by which educational reform and instructional improvement can be accomplished through ongoing, site-based professional development for teachers. This article reviews and draws conclusions across the research literature on professional development and teacher leadership to examine a conceptual connection: professional development leads to teacher leadership, which leads to further professional development for the teachers enacting leadership and their colleagues. The article draws heavily on recent work done in the United States, but also includes international perspectives. Insights on the literature and implications for professional development policy are also discussed.
From Doing Work to Talking Work: Renegotiating Knowing, Doing, and Identity

This paper considers the ways in which work is changing in two very different sites: a gaming machine factory and a metropolitan teaching hospital. In addition, the paper explores the implications of these changes for our own work as researchers and discourse analysts. In comparing the hospital and the factory, and in relating these sites to academia, we aim to bring out commonalities between what is happening to workers in factory occupations and those who work as expert professionals. We will argue that, in the contemporary workplace, workers across a variety of sites are being confronted with having to renegotiate their knowing, their doing, and their worker identity. Drawing on empirical evidence, we focus on how factory employees deploy a team building device called 'Problem Solving Plus', and on how different clinicians co-formulate a multi-disciplinary 'Clinical Pathway', to demonstrate that these two phenomena represent discursive strategies that require both kinds of workers to produce discourse that goes outside the boundaries of their conventional worker habitus. As new discourse practices, these two phenomena are central to reconstituting occupational and professional work and knowledge, and to problematizing identity. The paper concludes that these strategies are part of a new textualization of work (Darville 1995; Jackson 2000), and represent what the might term the 'reflexivization' of worker identity.
2 with Radiological Damage Association TRAF 1 Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Study Further Replicates the Investigation of Rheumatoid Arthritis Genetic Susceptibility Markers in the

Objective. The TRAF1 genetic region conferring susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been reported to associate with radiological damage. We aimed to test RA genetic susceptibility markers for association with a continuous measure of radiological damage over time using longitudinal modeling techniques. Methods. Sixty-seven RA susceptibility variants were genotyped in 474 patients in the Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Study (ERAS) using Sequenom MassArray technology. Correlation between genetic markers and Larsen score was assessed longitudinally using zero-inflated negative binomial regression to include repeat measurements in the same individual at different timepoints. Genetic markers associated with radiological damage in ERAS were tested using the same modeling techniques on previously published data from the Norfolk Arthritis Register (NOAR). Results. The single marker associated longitudinally with Larsen score in ERAS (p = 0.02) and in NOAR (p = 0.04) was rs2900180 at the TRAF1 locus. Analysis of individual timepoints in ERAS showed that rs2900180 displays its effect primarily on the extent of Larsen score early in the disease course. Combined longitudinal analysis of the 2 cohorts suggests further association of several loci with Larsen score (KIF5A, PTPN22, AFF3, TAGAP) and therefore a significant accumulation of RA severity markers among RA susceptibility markers (p = 0.016). Conclusion. The marker rs2900180 is associated with the extent of radiological damage in the ERAS cohort. This represents the second independent study correlating rs2900180 at the TRAF1 locus with radiological severity in RA. Replication in a large dataset is required to establish the role of other RA susceptibility loci in disease severity. (First Release Dec 15 2012; J Rheumatol 2013; 40:144–56; doi:10.3899/jrheum.121034)
Individual and developmental differences in children's understanding of the fantasy‐reality distinction

This research investigates children's understanding of the fantasy-reality distinction. Expt 1 addressed the influence of cognitive availability on children's beliefs about pretend entities by comparing 4- to 7-year-old children's responses to prompted pretence or non-pretence tasks with both their unprompted behaviour and their verbal justifications. The results suggest that there are individual and developmental differences in children's susceptibility to fantasy-reality confusion. Expt 2 was designed to further investigate children's unprompted behaviours by adding a second (pre-task) period when the children were observed in the experimenter's absence. In this study, the developmental differences and the relationship between children's prompted and unprompted behaviours were no longer obtained, suggesting that children's unprompted behaviours may be differently motivated depending on preceding events. The pattern of results across the two experiments suggests an interaction between individual and developmental differences in the effects of increased cognitive availability on children's beliefs about the fantasy-reality distinction.
Performance Evaluation of TCP Implementations in OBS Networks

Since TCP traffic is and may remain as the most popular traffic type in the Internet, it is important to evaluate the performance of TCP in networks employing optical burst switching (OBS), a promising paradigm for the next generation Optical Internet. This work is the first comprehensive study of the TCP performance in OBS networks. Our results provide valuable insights into the interactions between the TCP congestion control mechanism and OBS-specific mechanisms such as burst assembly/disassembly and buffer-less burst switching. In particular, we identify various factors that result in TCP throughput gains and penalties, and determine optimal burst assembly times to be used in OBS networks. In addition, TCP throughput models are developed for the three most popular TCP implementations, i.e., SACK, Reno and New-Reno, and are validated through simulations.
Time Perspective and Correlates of Wellbeing

This study investigated correlates of five time perspectives (TPs) and the Balanced Time Perspective (BTP) construct proposed by Zimbardo and colleagues. Two hundred and sixty Scottish participants completed the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI: Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999), Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky and Lepper, 1999) and Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (Brown and Ryan, 2003). The most prevalent TP profile was moderate to high scores on all five TPs of the ZTPI. BTP participants were significantly happier and more mindful. Happiness and mindfulness were positively correlated but a future TP did not correlate with subjective happiness.
Recent developments and concepts in the cryopreservation of spermatozoa and the assessment of their post-thawing function.

New research on the cooling and cryopreservation of mammalian spermatozoa is reviewed in the context of the older literature. Cryoinjury to a variety of cell organelles is regarded as being due to the two major stresses of cryopreservation, i.e., the change in temperature, and the formation and dissolution of ice and its consequences. Since the cryopreservation process involves departure of the cells from and return to body temperature, both cold shock and warm shock are included as potential stresses to be considered, as well as the stages involving cooling below the freezing point of the medium. The causes of cryoinjury are reconsidered and new concepts concerning the influence of osmotic stress are presented. Heterogeneity of the sperm population is discussed in the context of the success with which spermatozoa can be cryopreserved between and within ejaculates and individuals. The functional state of frozen and thawed spermatozoa is examined on the basis of published results of structural and functional tests of sperm competence. The hypothesis is advanced that cryopreserved mammalian spermatozoa are in a state resembling capacitation, which accounts for their relatively reduced longevity and their readiness to undergo egg penetration without incubation. The importance of this to the utilization of cryopreserved spermatozoa is examined, and proposals are made for new avenues of research to overcome these problems.