Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Awakened Heart of the Mindful Teacher: A Contemplative Exploration.

This dissertation is a contemplative narration of my lived experience of bringing mindfulness into my teaching. The dissertation first portrays the process of entering into the dialogic space of mindfulness as a Buddhist concept intersecting with the scientific, educational, and public domains. I then describe the contemplative reflection process I used to explore my incorporation of mindfulness into my teaching praxis. From this, I wrote contemplative reflections during a year and half. In this way, I tried to embody mindfulness in my methodology. I used the same process to contemplate these reflections to deepen my understanding and identify themes. The two main themes I arrived at are an openhearted quality (bodhichitta) and a newfound openness that resulted from bringing mindfulness to my professional spaces. I illustrate these themes through six contemplative narratives that portray my heightened consciousness of how my embodiment of mindfulness has influenced my classroom presence and opened my heart. Each contemplative reflection narrates the quality of open awareness towards my own and others’ emotions – good and bad. Each narrative also includes a reflective aspect that explores the themes that emerged. My contemplative reflections illustrate how mindfulness helped me stay open to both the joy and the pain of teaching. Mindfulness practices also provided me with the social and emotional awareness and tools to confront the highly emotional and sometimes volatile space of public schools. My contemplative reflections depict the lived experience of mindfully working through the positive and negative experiences of daily life in public school. Coming from the place of an open heart makes teaching much more rich and full of joy, but at the same time also makes the painful parts of teaching and working in a public, bureaucratic institution more palpable. However, by using my mindfulness practices to delve into that pain, I felt my connection to others, which brought about compassion and a desire to help.
Stability and structure of analytical MHD jet formation models with a finite outer disk radius

Context. Finite radius accretion disks are a strong candidate for launching astrophysical jets from their inner parts and disk-winds are considered as the basic component of such magnetically collimated outflows. Numerical simulations are usually employed to answer several open questions regarding the origin, stability and propagation of jets. The inherent uncertainties, however, of the various numerical codes, applied boundary conditions, grid resolution, etc., call for a parallel use of analytical methods as well, whenever they are available, as a tool to interpret and understand the outcome of the simulations. The only available analytical MHD solutions to describe disk-driven jets are those characterized by the symmetry of radial self-similarity. Those exact MHD solutions are used to guide the present numerical study of disk-winds. Aims. Radially self-similar MHD models, in general, have two geometrical shortcomings, a singularity at the jet axis and the nonexistence of an intrinsic radial scale, i.e. the jets formally extend to radial infinity. Hence, numerical simulations are necessary to extend the analytical solutions towards the axis and impose a physical boundary at finite radial distance. Methods. We focus here on studying the effects of imposing an outer radius of the underlying accreting disk (and thus also of the outflow) on the topology, structure and variability of a radially self-similar analytical MHD solution. The initial condition consists of a hybrid of an unchanged and a scaled-down analytical solution, one for the jet and the other for its environment. Results. In all studied cases, we find at the end steady two-component solutions. The boundary between both solutions is always shifted towards the solution with reduced quantities. Especially, the reduced thermal and magnetic pressures change the perpendicular force balance at the “surface” of the flow. In the models where the scaled-down analytical solution is outside the unchanged one, the inside solution converges to a solution with different parameters. In the models where the scaled-down analytical solution is inside the unchanged one, the whole two-component solution changes dramatically to stop the flow from collapsing totally to the symmetry axis. Conclusions. It is thus concluded that truncated exact MHD disk-wind solutions that may describe observed jets associated with finite radius accretion disks, are topologically stable.
Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

The legacy of the first twenty years of the Charter for lesbians and gay men is a contradictory one of victories and defeats. At the level of doctrine, strategy, and politics, both the victories and defeats have been precarious and contradictory. While gaining formal equality rights, lesbians and gay men have not been able to secure rights to sexual freedom. And while formal equality has displaced the heteronormativity that denied legal recognition and subjectivity to lesbians and gay men, this formal equality has come at a cost. Lesbians and gay men are being reconstituted in law: some are being newly constituted as legal citizens while others are being re-inscribed as outlaws. The first twenty years of the Charter is a legacy of transgression and normalization; these new legal subjects are both challenging dominant modes of legal subjectivity and its insistence of heterosexuality, while being absorbed into them. The legacy of the first twenty years of the Charter for lesbians and gay men is a contradictory one of victories and defeats. At the level of doctrine, strategy, and politics, both the victories and defeats have been precarious and contradictory. While gaining formal equality rights, lesbians and gay men have not been able to secure rights to sexual freedom. And while formal equality has displaced the heteronormativity that denied legal recognition and subjectivity to lesbians and gay men, this formal equality has come at a cost. Lesbians and gay men are being reconstituted in law: some are being newly constituted as legal citizens while others are being re-inscribed as outlaws. The first twenty years of the Charter is a legacy of transgression and normalization; these new legal subjects are both challenging dominant modes of legal subjectivity and its insistence of heterosexuality, while being absorbed into them. Marriage immemorial been firmly grounded in our legal tradition, one that is a reflection of long-standing philosophical and religious traditions. But its ultimate d'etre transcends all of these and is firmly anchored in the biological and social realities that heterosexual couples have the unique ability to procreate, that most children are the product of those relationships, and that they are generally cared for and nurtured by those who live in that relationship. In this sense, marriage is by nature heterosexual.23
The Importance of Website Innovation on Students' Satisfaction of University Websites

2 Abstract: In today's highly developed academic societies, universities have recognized the importance of having websites to be able to benefit from appropriate academic communications. In addition, students' satisfaction from a university website shows to some extent university's web success. The purpose of this study is to investigate the importance of university's website innovation and to propose a satisfaction model. The survey was conducted among 270 university students. Results of the empirical analysis revealed that greater innovation has a significant impact on users' trust and satisfaction. More than that, innovation is the most important factor influencing the satisfaction. Also students' trust increases as they perceive the system is usable. Finally, trust has a positive influence on satisfaction.
In vivo strains in the femur of river cooter turtles (Pseudemys concinna) during terrestrial locomotion: tests of force-platform models of loading mechanics

SUMMARY Previous analyses of ground reaction force (GRF) and kinematic data from river cooter turtles (Pseudemys concinna) during terrestrial walking led to three primary conclusions about the mechanics of limb bone loading in this lineage: (1) the femur was loaded in a combination of axial compression, bending and torsion, similar to previously studied non-avian reptiles, (2) femoral shear stresses were high despite the possession of a reduced tail in turtles that does not drag on the ground and (3) stress-based calculations of femoral safety factors indicated high values in bending and torsion, similar to other reptiles and suggesting that substantial `overbuilding' of limb bones could be an ancestral feature of tetrapods. Because force-platform analyses produce indirect estimates of bone loading, we sought to validate these conclusions by surgically implanting strain gauges on turtle femora to directly measure in vivo strains during terrestrial walking. Strain analyses verified axial compression and bending as well as high torsion in turtle femora, with peak axial strains comparable to those of other non-avian reptiles at similar walking speeds but higher peak shear strains approaching 2000 μϵ. Planar strain analyses showed patterns of neutral axis (NA) of femoral bending orientations and shifting generally consistent with our previous force-platform analyses of bone stresses, tending to place the anterior and dorsal aspects of the femur in tension and verifying an unexpected pattern from our force studies that differs from patterns in other non-avian reptiles. Calculated femoral safety factors were 3.8 in torsion and ranged from 4.4 to 6.9 in bending. Although these safety factors in bending were lower than values derived from our stress-based calculations, they are similar to strain-based safety factors calculated for other non-avian reptiles in terrestrial locomotion and are still high compared with safety factors calculated for limb bones of birds and mammals. These findings are consistent with conclusions drawn from our previous models of limb bone stresses in turtles and suggest that not only are turtle limb bones `overbuilt' in terms of resisting the loads that they experience during locomotion but also, across tetrapod lineages, elevated torsion and high limb bone safety factors may be primitive features of limb bone design.
Ego lane estimation using vehicle observations and map information

An ego vehicle localization algorithm must be able to estimate where the vehicle is on the road. This is typically performed with a positioning filter that operates in global coordinates. Herein, we take a different approach, by splitting the localization problem into two parts: in-lane localization and ego lane estimation. The paper addresses the latter problem. For this, we have developed theory and algorithms which, based on information about the positions of surrounding vehicles, give the probability of being in each of the current number of lanes. The object positions are provided by one or several low-cost on-board perception sensors. The derived Bayesian filter is evaluated on real data from a prototype self-driving car. Preliminary results show that when other vehicles are present, the proposed method is able to estimate the lane of travel with high probability.
Homologous ligands accommodated by discrete conformations of a buried cavity

Significance Many medicinal chemistry programs change ligands incrementally to explore protein binding and to optimize binding affinity. How a protein accommodates such a growing ligand series has received remarkably little structural attention. Here we investigate eight congeneric ligands that grow by single-methylene additions, determining their protein-bound structures by X-ray crystallography, to investigate how a protein accommodates these changes. Rather than changing conformation smoothly to complement the ever-larger ligands, the protein site adopts a few discrete conformations as it expands. Inspection of the few other homologous series in the Protein Data Bank suggests that such discrete conformational adaptations to ligand binding are common, and may be an important consideration in ligand design. Conformational change in protein–ligand complexes is widely modeled, but the protein accommodation expected on binding a congeneric series of ligands has received less attention. Given their use in medicinal chemistry, there are surprisingly few substantial series of congeneric ligand complexes in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). Here we determine the structures of eight alkyl benzenes, in single-methylene increases from benzene to n-hexylbenzene, bound to an enclosed cavity in T4 lysozyme. The volume of the apo cavity suffices to accommodate benzene but, even with toluene, larger cavity conformations become observable in the electron density, and over the series two other major conformations are observed. These involve discrete changes in main-chain conformation, expanding the site; few continuous changes in the site are observed. In most structures, two discrete protein conformations are observed simultaneously, and energetic considerations suggest that these conformations are low in energy relative to the ground state. An analysis of 121 lysozyme cavity structures in the PDB finds that these three conformations dominate the previously determined structures, largely modeled in a single conformation. An investigation of the few congeneric series in the PDB suggests that discrete changes are common adaptations to a series of growing ligands. The discrete, but relatively few, conformational states observed here, and their energetic accessibility, may have implications for anticipating protein conformational change in ligand design.
An SVM based scoring evaluation system for fluorescence microscopic image classification

This paper proposes a scoring evaluation system to the fluorescence microscopic image classification based on the support vector machine (SVM). We define the similarity scores for each testing sample based on its relative distance to the SVM separating hyperplanes and the training clustering centers in the feature space. The method proposed calculates similarity scores through a two-stage process that converts the SVM's classification results to a quantitative description. The scores can precisely reflect how similar a testing sample to all the categories and provide a reference to further investigation of fluorescence microscopic images.
Impact of CYP1A1 Polymorphisms on Susceptibility to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Meta-Analysis

Objective. Several studies have evaluated the association between CYP1A1 polymorphisms and the susceptibility of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with inconclusive results. We performed the first comprehensive meta-analysis to summarize the association between CYP1A1 polymorphisms and COPD risk. Method. A systematic literature search was conducted (up to April 2015) in five online databases: PubMed, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WeiPu, and WanFang databases. The strength of association was calculated by odds ratio (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). Results. Seven case-control studies with 1050 cases and 1202 controls were included. Our study suggested a significant association between the MspI polymorphism and COPD risk (CC versus TC + TT: OR = 1.57, CI: 1.09–2.26, P = 0.02; CC versus TT: OR = 1.73, CI: 1.18–2.55, P = 0.005). For the Ile/Val polymorphism, a significant association with COPD risk was observed (GG versus AG + AA: OR = 2.75, CI: 1.29–5.84, P = 0.009; GG versus AA: OR = 3.23, CI: 1.50–6.93, P = 0.003; AG versus AA: OR = 1.39, CI: 1.01–1.90, P = 0.04). Subgroup analysis indicated a significant association between the MspI variation and COPD risk among Asians (CC versus TC + TT: OR = 1.70, CI: 1.06–2.71, P = 0.03; CC versus TT: OR = 1.84, CI: 1.11–3.06, P = 0.02). Conclusion. The MspI and Ile/Val polymorphisms might alter the susceptibility of COPD, and MspI polymorphism might play a role in COPD risk among Asian population.
The genotype 3-specific hepatitis C virus core protein residue phenylalanine 164 increases steatosis in an in vitro cellular model

Background and aims: The prevalence and severity of liver steatosis are higher in patients infected with genotype 3 hepatitis C virus (HCV) than in patients infected with other genotypes. HCV core protein is known to affect lipid metabolism, inducing lipid droplet accumulation both in vitro and in vivo. An in vitro cellular model was used to investigate whether an HCV core protein with residues specific to genotype 3 increased this phenomenon. Methods: Sequence comparisons for HCV core protein domain II, which is known to interact with lipid droplets, identified the phenylalanine (F) residue at position 164 as the only residue specific to genotype 3. The area covered by lipid droplets in sections of cells producing a wild-type genotype 1a HCV core protein was compared with that in cells producing a Y164F mutant protein. Results: Cumulative lipid droplet area was significantly greater in sections of cells producing the Y164F mutant HCV core protein than in cells producing the wild-type protein (p<0.001). The frequency of cell sections containing more than 3 μm2 of lipid droplets, in particular, was higher for the mutant than for the wild-type protein. Conclusion: The data provide a molecular explanation for HCV genotype 3-specific lipid accumulation. This difference between genotypes may be due to phenylalanine having a higher affinity for lipids than tyrosine (Y). These observations provide useful information for further studies of the mechanisms involved in HCV-induced steatosis.
On drag forces and jet quenching in strongly-coupled plasmas

We compute the drag force experienced by a heavy quark that moves through plasma in a gauge theory whose dual description involves arbitrary metric and dilaton fields. As a concrete application, we consider the cascading gauge theory at temperatures high above the deconfining scale, where we obtain a drag force with a non-trivial velocity dependence. We compare our results with the jet-quenching parameter for the same theory, and find qualitative agreement between the two approaches. Conversely, we calculate the jet-quenching parameter for = 4 super-Yang-Mills with an R-charge density (or equivalently, a chemical potential), and compare our result with the corresponding drag force.
Selecting the Best Spanning Tree to Reduce the Interference of a wireless sensor network using Genet

The interference reduction is one of the most important problems in the field of wireless sensor networks. Wireless sensor network elements are small mobile receiver and transmitters. The energy of processor and other components of each device is supplied by a small battery with restricted energy. One of the meanings that play an important role in energy consumption is the interference of signals. The interference of messages through a wireless network, results in message failing and transmitter should resend its message, thus the interference directly affect on the energy consumption of transmitter. This paper presents an algorithm which suggests the best spanning tree for the input distribution of the nodes in the plane how the interference of the network aims the minimum value
Supportive Contact and LGBT Collective Action: The Moderating Role of Membership in Specific Groups

A growing body of literature suggests that positive cross-group contact between members of advantaged and disadvantaged groups can undermine disadvantaged group members’ collective action engagement. It has also been proposed that supportive contact (i.e., positive contact with advantaged group members who express explicit support for social change) may be a special form of contact that might increase, rather than reduce collective action engagement among disadvantaged group members. In the present research, we tested this proposition by asking Gay (N = 96) and Lesbian (N = 100) Australians to recall a previous positive interaction with a heterosexual friend who was either very supportive or somewhat supportive of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) rights (i.e., equal marriage, adoption, and surrogacy rights). Results revealed that the effect of supportive contact on collective action intentions depended on the participants’ specific disadvantaged group membership. For Gay men, those who recalled supportive contact reported greater collective action intentions. The opposite pattern emerged for Lesbian women. These findings suggest that supportive contact has the power to enhance or undermine collective action intentions among the disadvantaged. Which of these occurs appears to depend on the specific disadvantaged group to which one belongs. The psychological underpinnings of these effects, the theoretical implications, and future research directions are discussed.
Show me the invisible: visualizing hidden content

Content on computer screens is often inaccessible to users because it is hidden, e.g., occluded by other windows, outside the viewport, or overlooked. In search tasks, the efficient retrieval of sought content is important. Current software, however, only provides limited support to visualize hidden occurrences and rarely supports search synchronization crossing application boundaries. To remedy this situation, we introduce two novel visualization methods to guide users to hidden content. Our first method generates awareness for occluded or out-of-viewport content using see-through visualization. For content that is either outside the screen's viewport or for data sources not opened at all, our second method shows off-screen indicators and an on-demand smart preview. To reduce the chances of overlooking content, we use visual links, i.e., visible edges, to connect the visible content or the visible representations of the hidden content. We show the validity of our methods in a user study, which demonstrates that our technique enables a faster localization of hidden content compared to traditional search functionality and thereby assists users in information retrieval tasks.
Social and Cultural Determinants of HIV Risk among Young Jamaican Men Who Have Sex with Men

Rates of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are disproportionately high among young people living in the Caribbean, and particularly on the Island of Jamaica. The population of Jamaica consists of approximately 2.9 million people; with an annual growth rate of about 0.73%, and an adult HIV prevalence rate of 1.8% (UNAIDS, 2010). Thirty-eight percent of the HIV infections in Jamaica occur among men who have sex with other men (MSM) and the reported HIV infections cluster predominantly in two major metropolitan areas: Kingston (St. Andrew) and Montego Bay (St. James). Same-sex sexual behaviors are considered a criminal offense in Jamaica. Consequently, MSM in Jamaica experience high rates of verbal and physical violence, ranging from beatings, to brutal armed attacks, to murder. These forms of violence and discrimination are often viewed as socially acceptable. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences and views of Jamaican men who have sex with men (JMSM) regarding their cultural and social environment and how that environment affects the options available to them to reduce HIV risk, or to remain healthy if they are HIV positive. Another purpose of this study was to explore strategies that JMSM have used to manage HIV risk in this environment. A qualitative descriptive research design was used to study 30 JMSM predominantly from the Kingston and St. Andrew areas in Jamaica. Data were generated through semi-structured individual interviews (n =20) and one focus group interview (n=10). Quantitative instruments were administered to gather basic demographic