Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Working with children with autism: an interprofessional simulation-based tutorial for speech pathology and occupational therapy students

ABSTRACT There is an increasing need to include interprofessional experiences in undergraduate health education. Simulation is one methodology revered as being able to facilitate interprofessional learning opportunities in a safe, structured environment. This project aimed to develop, trial and evaluate an interprofessional simulation role-play tutorial utilising DVD resources. In total, 70 speech pathology students and 76 occupational therapy students participated in a role-play involving DVD footage and documentation to facilitate assessment planning and analysis of assessment data for a child with autism. Questionnaires asked participants to rate their perceived experiences across 13 items using a 5-point Likert scale, as well as three open-ended questions. The results revealed positive reactions to the role-play and suggested that students felt that the learning objectives had been met. Many students expressed interest in engaging in further interprofessional learning experiences. Taken in conjunction with other similar studies, interprofessional simulation-based workshops using DVD footage may provide a manageable alternative to traditional interprofessional learning modalities, in particular when incorporating clients with complex and developmental disabilities.
Teachers professional development for quality education

Quality is at the heart of education and teachers play crucial role to provide quality education. This belief encourages us to state that the quality in education depends on teachers’ role, which set scenario for the students. Every teacher has his / her own impact on his / her students. But what is it that enables the teachers to have the greatest impact? In this context there are several professional development programmes offered for the teachers in different parts of the world to build capacity of teachers so they can better serve the needs of the growing population. This paper attempts to share some of the experiences, acquired during implementation and monitoring the programme. The data provides evidences as how professional development cropped up as a result of these courses through mentors’ reflective journals, portfolios, classroom observations, group work, discussions and presentations. This paper specifically highlights the changes that took place in the school culture and pedagogical content knowledge due to the continuous guidance and support from the tutors and District Co-coordinators (DCs) through follow-up process and close monitoring system.
Option Pricing For Incomplete Markets Via Stochastic Optimization: Transaction Costs, Adaptive Control And Forecast

The problem of determining the European-style option price in incomplete markets is examined within the framework of stochastic optimization. An analytic method based on the stochastic optimization is developed that gives the general formalism for determining the option price and the optimal trading strategy (optimal feedback control) that reduces the total risk inherent in writing the option. The cases involving transaction costs, the stochastic volatility with uncertainty, stochastic adaptive process, and forecasting process are considered. A software package for the option pricing for incomplete markets is developed and the results of numerical simulations are presented.
Comments on "Throughput Analysis for Persistent CSMA Systems"

We present a brief and simple analysis of asynchronous (unslotted) 1-Persistent CSMA protocols in the worst-case star topology. The purpose is two-fold. First, we give a simple approach based on an embedded Markov chain at the beginning of subbusy periods that greatly simplifies the analysis. And second, using the above approach we give the correct analysis for 1-Persistent CSMA with collision detection, since the only available analysis of the present model [1] is in error.
Rehabilitating patients with left spatial neglect by prism exposure during a visuomotor activity.

OBJECTIVE Adaptation to prisms displacing the visual scene rightward is a therapeutic tool for left unilateral spatial neglect (USN). We aimed at comparing the effects of the classic adaptation procedure (repeated pointing toward visual targets, control treatment, C), with those of a novel adaptation method, involving ecological visuomotor activities (experimental treatment, E). METHOD In 10 right-brain-damaged USN patients, each treatment was given for 1 week, with a crossover design, for a total of 20 sessions, twice per day. USN was assessed by cancellation, reading, and drawing tasks, and by a standardized scale. Neurological severity was assessed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) stroke scale (Brott et al., 1989), disability by the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) scale. RESULTS The 2-week treatments (EC, CE) were equally effective, improving both USN, confirming previous reports (Frassinetti, Angeli, Meneghello, Avanzi, & Làdavas, 2002) and, importantly, disability. The improvement was independent of baseline performance, duration of disease, and neurological severity. Recovery took place after the first week, continued in the second week, and was stable at the follow-up of 3 months. The improvement of USN, measured by cancellation performance, and, in part, that of disability, measured through the FIM scale, were mediated by the size of the leftward aftereffects, suggesting a causal relationship between prism exposure and recovery. The E protocol was better tolerated. CONCLUSIONS Daily life visuomotor activities, associated with prism exposure, are a useful tool for rehabilitating USN patients. This new treatment may widen the compliance with prism exposure treatments and their feasibility within home-based programs.
How Should Monetary Policy Respond to Asset-Price Bubbles?

We present a simple model of the macroeconomy that includes a role for an asset-price bubble, and derive optimal monetary policy settings for two policy-makers. The first policy-maker, a sceptic, does not attempt to forecast the future possible paths for the asset-price bubble when setting policy. The second policy-maker, an activist, takes into account the complete stochastic implications of the bubble when setting policy. We examine the optimal policy recommendations of these two policy-makers across a range of plausible assumptions about the bubble. We show that the optimal monetary policy recommendations of the activist depend on the detailed stochastic properties of the bubble. There are some circumstances in which the activist clearly recommends tighter policy than that of the sceptic, while in other cases, the appropriate recommendation is to be looser than the sceptic. Other things equal, the case for ‘leaning against’ a bubble with monetary policy is stronger the lower the probability of the bubble bursting of its own accord, the larger the efficiency losses associated with big bubbles, and the higher the assumed impact of monetary policy on the bubble process.
A clinico-pathological audit of opportunistic viral infections in HIV-infected patients.

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of opportunistic viral infections in multiple tissues at postmortems of HIV-infected patients, and to relate these findings to their antemortem clinical course. DESIGN A study of viral infections in 16 tissues of HIV-positive postmortem cases, by a combination of histology and cell culture (virus isolation). Clinical details were abstracted retrospectively from patient records. PATIENTS Forty-seven consecutive autopsies, performed between 1985 and 1992. SETTING Autopsies were conducted by a single pathologist in a single London teaching hospital. RESULTS Opportunistic viral infections were detected in 72% of all cases, comprising cytomegalovirus (CMV, 66%), herpes simplex virus (11%), JC virus (6%) and adenovirus (2%). The most commonly infected tissues were lung, adrenal, gastrointestinal tract and central nervous system, although all tissue sites sampled could potentially support viral replication. Of 464 tissues tested by both histology and cell culture, histology alone detected CMV in 45 tissues and cell culture alone detected CMV in 31 tissues. We determined that CMV detection in postmortem gastrointestinal tissues and central nervous tissue was significantly associated with antemortem undiagnosed diarrhoea and encephalitis, respectively. CONCLUSION There is a high prevalence of opportunistic viral infections in late-stage HIV disease, which is best detected postmortem by the use of both histology and cell culture. Many of these infections correlate with undiagnosed symptoms antemortem. The ability of sensitive methods for virus detection to alert the clinician to such cases antemortem should be critically evaluated, as should attempts to influence the natural history of these infections by antiviral drugs. Continuing clinico-pathological audit is important for AIDS patients in order to monitor the impact of known opportunistic viral infections and to identify others which may emerge as immunosuppression becomes more profound.
Production technology, elasticity of substitution and technical efficiency of the handloom textile industry of Bangladesh

A number of translog and Cobb-Douglas frontier production models were estimated for the Bangladesh handloom textile industry to investigate its production technology and technical efficiency in production. It was found that the technical efficiency of the industry in producing cloth was only 41%. It was concluded that the industry might improve its technical efficiency by increasing its male/female labour ratio and yarn/capital ratio and decreasing its hired/family labour ratio and labour/capital ratio. The production technology of the industry was found to be characterized by a linearly homogeneous Cobb-Douglas function. The elasticity of substitution between labour and capital for the industry was found to be unity.
Projected dynamical systems modeling and computation of spatial network equilibria

In this paper, we consider the price formulation-rather than the quantity formulation ― of spatial network equilibria and introduce a projected dynamical system, whose set of stationary points corresponds to the set of solutions of the governing variational inequality problem. We then interpret the dynamical system as a tatonnement process in which the commodity prices and shipments are updated simultaneously. We propose an Euler-type method for the computation of the commodity prices and trade patterns, provide convergence results, and demonstrate that the algorithm can be implemented on massively parallel architectures. The notable feature of the algorithm is that the prices and shipments can be computed independently and in closed form. Finally, we illustrate the performance of the implemented algorithm on the Thinking Machine's CM-2 and CM-5 architectures.
Fludarabine and Cytarabine as a Sequential Infusion Regimen for Treatment of Adults with Recurrent, Refractory or Poor Prognosis Acute Leukemia

We did a retrospective analysis on the safety and efficacy of sequential infusion fludarabine and cytosine arabinoside (ara-C) in treating refractory, recurrent or poor prognosis acute leukemia in adult patients. Forty-five adult patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) or acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) received a total of 68 courses of sequential continuous infusion of fludarabine for 2 days (total dose 71.5 mg/m2) followed by 3 days of ara-C (total dose 7590 mg/m2). Thirty-nine patients had refractory or recurrent disease, and six had other adverse prognostic features. Thirty-six patients had AML, seven had ALL, and two had CML in blastic phase. Complete remission was seen in 20 patients (44%), and partial remission in 5 patients (11%), giving a total response rate of 56%, similar for both AML and ALL. Duration of response to prior therapy did not affect the response rate. All 3 patients with Philadelphia chromosome positive ALL obtained complete remission. Median remission duration was 4.7 months (range 0.6–36.6), and median overall survival was 5.0 months (0.7–40+). Median overall survival was 10.1 months in responders. Pulmonary toxicity was seen in 8 patients, of whom 2 died from adult respiratory distress syndrome. No cardiac toxicity was observed, but 3 patients had transient cerebellar toxicity. Profound myelosuppression was seen in all patients. We conclude that the sequential infusion of fludarabine and ara-C is an effective non-cardiotoxic regimen for adults with refractory, recurrent or poor prognosis acute leukemia, may be particularly useful for resistant Philadelphia chromosome positive ALL, and may warrant further investigation in this subset. Pulmonary rather than neurological toxicity may be a unique side effect of the regimen.
Purification, Reconstitution, and Characterization of KdpD, the Turgor Sensor of Escherichia coli *

In response to K+ availability or medium osmolality, the sensor kinase KdpD and the response regulator KdpE control the expression of the kdpFABC operon, coding for the high affinity K+-translocating Kdp ATPase ofEscherichia coli. The stimulus for KdpD to undergo autophosphorylation is believed to be a change in turgor or some effect thereof, reflecting the role of K+ as an important cytoplasmic osmotic solute. The membrane-bound sensor kinase KdpD was overproduced as a fusion protein containing six contiguous histidine residues two amino acids before the C terminus. This KdpD-His6 protein was functional in vitro andin vivo. KdpD-His6 was purified from everted membrane vesicles by solubilization with the zwitterionic detergent lauryldimethylamine oxide followed by nickel chelate chromatography and ion exchange chromatography to >99% homogeneity. The solubilized protein was not active with respect to autophosphorylation, but retained the ability to bind 2-azido-ATP. KdpD-His6 was reconstituted into proteoliposomes in a unidirectional inside-out orientation as revealed by ATP accessibility and protease susceptibility. Purified and reconstituted KdpD-His6exhibited autokinase activity, and the phosphoryl group could be transferred to KdpE. Furthermore, KdpD-His6 was found to be the only protein that mediates dephosphorylation of KdpE∼P.
Electron Microscopic Evaluations of Clot Morphology During Thrombelastography®

In this study, we characterized clot morphology with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) at time points corresponding to the commonly used thrombelastography (TEG®) variables, illustrating the correlation of the physical clot formation with TEG® tracings. The first channel of the TEG® analyzer was used to obtain the tracings of clot formation, while the sub-samples for the SEM were obtained from the second TEG® channel. Different types of samples were examined, including whole blood, abciximab-treated whole blood, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), and abciximab-treated PRP. The SEM images were obtained at reaction time, different amplitudes (5–30 mm), maximum amplitude (MA), and at amplitude 60 min after MA. In the whole blood, coarse fibrin and activated platelets were observed at reaction time and fibrin strands progressively became more solid and intertwined at amplitude 10 mm and thereafter. Red blood cells were surrounded with fibrin strands at amplitude 30 mm and were tightly packed by fibrin strands at MA. In abciximab-treated whole blood, red blood cell shape was maintained at MA. The process of fibrin formation and platelet activation was also examined in PRP. Abciximab did not block platelet shape change, although the blockage of fibrin binding to platelets was shown on the TEG® analyzer. In summary, we have shown structural changes of the forming clot in relation to TEG® variables.
Hiding human thymidine kinase 1 from APC/C‐mediated destruction by thymidine binding

Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) is a key cyto‐solic enzyme in the salvage pathway for dTTP synthesis. In mitotic exit, human TK1 (hTK1) is degraded via the anaphase‐promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C)‐Cdh1 pathway to limit dTTP production. In this study, we show that thymidine binding stabilizes hTK1 during growth arrest. By in vitro degradation, ubiquitination, and Cdh1 binding analyses, we provide direct evidence that thymidine binding protects wild‐type hTK1 protein from APC/C‐Cdh1‐mediated destruction. In contrast, mutant‐type hTK1 protein defective in thymidine binding ability could still be polyubiquitinated by APC/C‐Cdh1 in the presence of thymidine. These results suggest that the status of thymidine binding to hTK1 protein determines its susceptibility to degradation due to APC/C targeting. Our in vivo experimental data also demonstrated that thymidine treatment abolished Cdh1/proteasome‐responsive suppression of hTK1 ex‐pression. Moreover, exposure of mitotic‐arrested K562 cells to thymidine (100 μM) stabilized endogenous TK1, causing nucleotide imbalance in the early G1 phase and an increase of S phase accumulation. In conclusion, thymidine is not only a substrate of TK1 but also acts as its expression regulator by modulating its proteolytic control during mitotic exit, conferring a feed‐forward regulation of dTTP formation. —Ke, P.‐Y. , Hu, C. ‐M. , Chang, Y. ‐C. , Chang, Z. ‐F. Hiding human thymidine kinase 1 from APC/C‐mediated destruction by thymidine binding. FASEB J. 21, 1276–1284 (2007)
Dog Detective - An Experience of Game-Based Ubiquitous Learning in Elementary School Science Experiment Class

In this paper, we use the concept of game-based learning and ubiquitous learning to help science experiment learning in elementary school. After the experiment we found the scores of two groups are almost the same but the behavior and attitude toward the science experiment are quite different. Student who learning in the formal ubiquitous learning environment thinks experiment progress is an extension of learning but experiment set think it is part of game. We discuss these phenomenons happened in the experiment and conclude some issues for future researches.
Climate risk management in river-based tilapia cage culture in northern Thailand

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse how fish farmers manage climate-related risks and explore possible ways to strengthen risk management under current and future climate. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 662 fish farmers in sites across Northern Thailand were interviewed about risks to the profitability of their fish farms and ways such risks were managed. Nonlinear canonical correlation analysis was used to relate risk factors to management practices at farm and river levels. In total, 68 in-depth interviews with farmers and other stakeholders provided additional information on climate risk management practices. Findings – Farmers use a combination of adjustments to rearing practices, cropping calendars and financial and social measures to manage those risks, which they perceive as being manageable. Many risks are season, river and place specific; implying that the risk profiles of individual farms can vary substantially. Individual risks are often addressed through multiple practic.
Fiscal Fatigue, Fiscal Space and Debt Sustainability in Advanced Economies

How high can public debt rise without compromising fiscal solvency? We answer this question using a stochastic ability-to-pay model of sovereign default in which risk-neutral investors lend to a government that displays "fiscal fatigue," because its ability to increase primary balances cannot keep pace with rising debt. As a result, the government faces an endogenous debt limit beyond which debt cannot be rolled-over. Using data for 23 advanced economies over 1970-2007, we find evidence of a fiscal reaction function with these features, and use it to compute "fiscal space," defined as the difference between projected debt ratios and debt limits.
The All-Pairs Min Cut Problem and the Minimum Cycle Basis Problem on Planar Graphs

The all-pairs min cut (APMC) problem on a normegative weighted graph is the problem of finding, for every pair of nodes, the min cut separating the pair. It is shown that on planar graphs, the APMC problem is equivalent to another problem, the minimum cycle basis (MCB) problem, on the dual graph. This is shown by characterizing the structure of MCBs on planar graphs in several ways. This leads to a new algorithm for solving both of these problems on planar graphs. The complexity of this algorithm equals that of the best algorithm for either problem, but is simpler.
Object Tracking via Temporal Consistency Dictionary Learning

Sparse representation-based methods have been successfully applied to visual tracking. However, complex and inefficient optimization limits their deployment in practical tracking scenarios. In this paper, we propose a temporal consistency dictionary learning tracking algorithm to enable efficient dictionary learning and tracking executive. First, we present an objective function which introduces the fixed dictionary and variance dictionary to reconstruct the object’s appearance. In particular, the proposed method takes the temporal consistency into account by adding a regularization term into the objective function to constrain the difference of object appearance at adjacent frames. Then the optimization problem is solved in an iteration way. Moreover, the proposed method can encode the object’s local structural information, and the local patches from the same candidate altogether for a global appearance representation. Second, we develop an effective observation likelihood function based on the proposed model. It takes the influence of patches with large reconstruction errors into consideration, thereby, alleviating the drifting of the object. Finally, we present an appearance updating strategy to adapt to the object’s appearance variations by the online dictionary learning. Experimental evaluations on the TB50 and TB100 datasets show that the proposed tracking method outperforms sparse representation related visual tracking as well as other state-of-the-art tracking methods.
Stem Cell Therapy for the Inner Ear

In vertebrates, perception of sound, motion, and balance is mediated through mechanosensory hair cells located within the inner ear. In mammals, hair cells are only generated during a short period of embryonic development. As a result, loss of hair cells as a consequence of injury, disease, or genetic mutation, leads to permanent sensory deficits. At present, cochlear implantation is the only option for profound hearing loss. However, outcomes are still variable and even the best implant cannot provide the acuity of a biological ear. The recent emergence of stem cell technology has the potential to open new approaches for hair cell regeneration. The goal of this review is to summarize the current state of inner ear stem cell research from a viewpoint of its clinical application for inner ear disorders to illustrate how complementary studies have the potential to promote and refine stem cell therapies for inner ear diseases. The review initially discusses our current understanding of the genetic pathways that regulate hair cell formation from inner ear progenitors during normal development. Subsequent sections discuss the possible use of endogenous inner ear stem cells to induce repair as well as the initial studies aimed at transplanting stem cells into the ear.