Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Education, Language, and Identity Amongst Students at a South African University

This article reports on a study of language and cultural identity of mother-tongue Zulu students at an English-medium South African university. The data consist of focus group interviews, questionnaires, and student opinions in essays. Findings include a strong identification of the participants with the Zulu language and Zulu culture, and a view of English variously as a language of settlers that participants are forced to speak for instrumental reasons, or, more positively, as a language useful for education and as a lingua franca. Stigmatisation of those who speak English “too much” was evident. Other findings are that although participants had been educated at nominally English-medium schools, classroom instruction for many was likely to have been in Zulu, with English used only for written work. After 1 year at university, however, students could articulate a clear idea of the kind of writing demanded by university study.
Bifurcation analysis of the regulatory modules of the mammalian G1/S transition

MOTIVATION Mathematical models of the cell cycle can contribute to an understanding of its basic mechanisms. Modern simulation tools make the analysis of key components and their interactions very effective. This paper focuses on the role of small modules and feedbacks in the gene-protein network governing the G1/S transition in mammalian cells. Mutations in this network may lead to uncontrolled cell proliferation. Bifurcation analysis helps to identify the key components of this extremely complex interaction network. RESULTS We identify various positive and negative feedback loops in the network controlling the G1/S transition. It is shown that the positive feedback regulation of E2F1 and a double activator-inhibitor module can lead to bistability. Extensions of the core module preserve the essential features such as bistability. The complete model exhibits a transcritical bifurcation in addition to bistability. We relate these bifurcations to the cell cycle checkpoint and the G1/S phase transition point. Thus, core modules can explain major features of the complex G1/S network and have a robust decision taking function.
Clinical validation of renin monoclonal antibody-based sandwich assays of renin and prorenin, and use of renin inhibitor to enhance prorenin immunoreactivity.

Newly developed IRMAs to measure the plasma concentrations of renin and prorenin were validated for clinical use and compared with a classical enzyme kinetic assay. The IRMAs involve two monoclonal antibodies, one that reacts equally well with renin and prorenin and one that recognizes renin well but prorenin only minimally. Prorenin reactivity with the second antibody was enhanced by adding the renin inhibitor, Remikiren, to plasma. The complex of prorenin with this active-site ligand undergoes a conformational change, whereby prorenin is converted into a form that cannot be differentiated from renin by the IRMA. The linear working range of the assay was 4.0-3000 mU/L. The concentration of prorenin was calculated by subtracting the assay result obtained without Remikiren (i.e., renin) from the result obtained with Remikiren (i.e., renin plus prorenin). No more than 2% of prorenin present in plasma was detected as renin. The interassay CVs for renin quantification were 18%, 13%, and 8% at low, medium, and high concentrations, respectively. The interassay CV for calculated prorenin was 8% at both low and high concentrations. The IRMA results were highly correlated with those of an enzyme kinetic assay in healthy subjects; in patients with such conditions as primary hyperaldosteronism, renovascular hypertension, and low-, medium-, and high-renin essential hypertension; and in women undergoing gonadotropin stimulation.
Positive and Negative Reciprocity in Clientelism : An Experimental Evidence

Clienetelism, or vote-buying, is an old research topic in political science but it still attracts many scholars for diverse reasons. Nevertheless, most of the scholars still share the idea that private transfers compensate a loss in utility resultant from changing vote behavior. Recently, there are a few scholars who suggest, alternatively, that a voter may vote for a politician in order to reward provision of a private transfer, which corresponds to positive reciprocity. However, no rigorous empirical evidence has been established for positive reciprocity. This paper also studies such alternative role of private transfers but it makes two novel contributions. First, the paper provides experimental evidence for positive reciprocity. Additionally, the paper finds that private transfers can work through negative reciprocity in that if a politician does not provide a private transfer, a voter votes for another in order to punish the negligent politician even though the deviation is not in the voter’s self-interest. ∗Ph.D. candidate, Politics Department, New York University. Email address: hc665@nyu.edu. I am grateful to Eric Dickson, Rebecca Morton, and Leonard Wantchekon for their support and advice. I also thank Benjamin Pasquale and Shana Warren for their help in conducting the experiment. The experiment was programmed and conducted with the software z-Tree (Fischbacher 2007). The Center for Experimental Social Science (CESS), New York University, provided its lab as well as funds for the experiment
Population-Attributable Risk Estimates for Campylobacter Infection, Australia

Gillespie (1) questions whether we should have treated consumption of cooked chicken as a contributing factor in estimating population-attributable risk (PAR) for Campylobacter infection because it was not a significant risk factor (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.4, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.0–1.9, p = 0.06). Although on strict statistical grounds Gillespie is correct, we believe that consumption of cooked chicken warrants consideration as a risk factor on the basis of biological plausibility, possible misclassification of the “cooked” status of chicken eaten by study participants, and previous empirical evidence.
Causal Attribution to Salient Stimuli

Considerable research has revealed that perceivers of a social interaction tend to attribute causality to the stimulus person who is salient. The present research tested the hypothesis that the control which salient persons exert upon perceivers' attentional focus yields the perception that these people also exert control in the social interaction in which they are engaged. To this end, subjects' visual fixation while watching a televised interaction between two actors as well as subjects' causal attributions for the actors' behavior were recorded. The duration of visual fixation upon an actor was greater when that actor was salient by virtue of a striped shirt, a leg brace, or red hair than when the actor was not salient. While the effects of salience upon the duration of visual fixation paralleled its effects upon causal attributions, the intercorrelations between visual fixation measures and causal attributions provided no support for the hypothesis that increased duration of attention to salient stimuli mediates the tendency to perceive them as causal.
Global network analysis of phenotypic effects: Protein networks and toxicity modulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Using genome-wide information to understand holistically how cells function is a major challenge of the postgenomic era. Recent efforts to understand molecular pathway operation from a global perspective have lacked experimental data on phenotypic context, so insights concerning biologically relevant network characteristics of key genes or proteins have remained largely speculative. Here, we present a global network investigation of the genotype/phenotype data set we developed for the recovery of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae from exposure to DNA-damaging agents, enabling explicit study of how protein–protein interaction network characteristics may be associated with phenotypic functional effects. We show that toxicity-modulating proteins have similar topological properties as essential proteins, suggesting that cells initiate highly coordinated responses to damage similar to those needed for vital cellular functions. We also identify toxicologically important protein complexes, pathways, and modules. These results have potential implications for understanding toxicity-modulating processes relevant to a number of human diseases, including cancer and aging.
Representing Urban Decline

Throughout the postwar period, urban theorists and popular commentators in the United States developed a perspective on older industrial cities that emphasized their decline. Almost any student of U.S. urbanization now can easily recount the historical events that explain why these cities became less and less desirable to households and businesses. Such explanations, though, frequently lack a consideration of the instability of the language of urban decline and the narratives through which interpretations of decline are conveyed. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the disorderly nature of the concept of urban decline through a presentation and analysis of various narrative frameworks in which it is commonly presented.
3D mesh video retrieval: A survey

This survey addresses methodologies for 3D mesh video retrieval including 3D mesh video action/motion retrieval and 3D mesh video facial expression recognition. They all involve retrieval procedures and, consequently, classification methods in order to identify similar actions/motions and facial expressions. The approaches are primarily categorized according to the 3D model representation that they use and their feature extraction and classification methods. Comparative data for the most promising methods is given, mainly on publicly available datasets.
The influence of item difficulty on the relationship between eyewitness confidence and accuracy

Research indicates that the confidence eyewitnesses express in information heavily influences both the investigative process and the credence which jurors give to eyewitness testimony. However, studies in this area suggest that there is either no relationship or only a small positive relationship between eyewitness confidence and accuracy. Nevertheless, it is argued here that researchers may have paid insufficient attention to the issue of item difficulty, and have used statistical procedures that fail to consider highly accurate responses with low variance. In an attempt to address these issues, two experiments were conducted which measured confidence–accuracy in response to information seen in video films. In each case questions were used that ranged in difficulty. Higher confidence–accuracy correlations than are usually reported were found in both experiments. Furthermore, when participants were ‘absolutely certain’ that a piece of information was correct, they almost invariably were accurate.
Serotonin release from the neuronal cell body and its long-lasting effects on the nervous system

Serotonin, a modulator of multiple functions in the nervous system, is released predominantly extrasynaptically from neuronal cell bodies, axons and dendrites. This paper describes how serotonin is released from cell bodies of Retzius neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) of the leech, and how it affects neighbouring glia and neurons. The large Retzius neurons contain serotonin packed in electrodense vesicles. Electrical stimulation with 10 impulses at 1 Hz fails to evoke exocytosis from the cell body, but the same number of impulses at 20 Hz promotes exocytosis via a multistep process. Calcium entry into the neuron triggers calcium-induced calcium release, which activates the transport of vesicle clusters to the plasma membrane. Exocytosis occurs there for several minutes. Serotonin that has been released activates autoreceptors that induce an inositol trisphosphate-dependent calcium increase, which produces further exocytosis. This positive feedback loop subsides when the last vesicles in the cluster fuse and calcium returns to basal levels. Serotonin released from the cell body is taken up by glia and released elsewhere in the CNS. Synchronous bursts of neuronal electrical activity appear minutes later and continue for hours. In this way, a brief train of impulses is translated into a long-term modulation in the nervous system.
Tutors and Students without Faces or Places

L'article compare l'enseignement en presence reelle et l'enseignement individuel sur internet en faisant l'hypothese que l'apprentissage via internet devrait etre considere comme un pis aller. Toutefois la question de la relation entre ces deux modes est posee : jusqu'a quel point l'un alimente-t-il ou renforce-t-il l'autre? L'auteur en arrive a l'idee qu'idealement l'education pourrait integrer le melange des deux.
Social Learning of an Artificial Fruit Task in Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus apella)

Social learning in 11 human-raised capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) was investigated using an artificial fruit that was designed as an analogue of natural foraging problems faced by primates. Each subject observed a human model open each of 3 principal components on the fruit in 1 of 2 alternative ways ("morphs"). The capuchin monkeys reproduced, to differing extents, the alternative techniques used for opening 1 component of the task (poking vs. pulling while twisting out a pair of smooth plastic bolts) but not the other 2. From the subjects' actions on the bolt latch, independent coders could recognize which morph they had witnessed, and they observed a degree of matching to the demonstrator's act consistent with simple imitation or object movement reenactment (A learns from watching B how an object, or parts of an object, move). Thus, these capuchins were capable of more complex social learning than has been recently ascribed to monkeys.
Long-range activation of FKBP51 transcription by the androgen receptor via distal intronic enhancers

Androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand-controlled transcription factor frequently deregulated in prostate carcinomas. Since there is scarce information on the action of AR on the chromatin level, we have elucidated the molecular mechanisms underlying the androgen-dependent regulation of immunophilin FKBP51 in prostate cancer cells. In comparison to the canonical AR target PSA, FKBP51 is more rapidly and strongly induced by androgen, with the regulation occurring merely at the transcriptional level. FKBP51 locus harbors 13 in silico-predicted androgen response elements (AREs), with most of them located downstream from transcription start site (TSS) and capable of binding AR in vitro. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays in VCaP and LNCaP prostate cancer cells indicate that activation of the locus by the AR relies on four major intronic sites, with the compound ARE-containing sites ≥90 kb downstream from the TSS playing critical roles. Binding of agonist-loaded AR onto these sites in vivo was accompanied with significant recruitment of RNA polymerase II and BRM-containing chromatin remodeling complexes to the FKBP51 locus, which resulted in changes in the histone density of the locus. Our results indicate that very distal AREs act as genuine and robust enhancers, highlighting the importance of long-range regulation of transcription by the AR.
Globalizing Development in Tanzania

This article explores the social processes through which projects and programmes in international development become standardized in the context of global social policies. The striking similarity in development projects in diverse settings occurs despite the introduction of participatory planning methodologies which are intended to constitute the mechanism through which beneficiaries can become involved in the design and implementations of interventions which affect them. An anthropological account of stakeholder workshops in the development sector of Tanzania shows how the workshops facilitated by those defining themselves as development professionals create the social space of projects as envisioned in documentation and how the management models which inform development planning create development, not as failure as other anthropological accounts would have it, but as success in relation to the achievement of their planned objectives.
Fingerprint Classification Based on Depth Neural Network

Fingerprint classification is an effective technique for reducing the candidate numbers of fingerprints in the stage of matching in automatic fingerprint identification system (AFIS). In recent years, deep learning is an emerging technology which has achieved great success in many fields, such as image processing, natural language processing and so on. In this paper, we only choose the orientation field as the input feature and adopt a new method (stacked sparse autoencoders) based on depth neural network for fingerprint classification. For the four-class problem, we achieve a classification of 93.1 percent using the depth network structure which has three hidden layers (with 1.8% rejection) in the NIST-DB4 database. And then we propose a novel method using two classification probabilities for fuzzy classification which can effectively enhance the accuracy of classification. By only adjusting the probability threshold, we get the accuracy of classification is 96.1% (setting threshold is 0.85), 97.2% (setting threshold is 0.90) and 98.0% (setting threshold is 0.95). Using the fuzzy method, we obtain higher accuracy than other methods.
A Keygraph Classification Framework for Real-Time Object Detection

In this paper, we propose a new approach for keypoint-based object detection. Traditional keypoint-based methods consist in classifying individual points and using pose estimation to discard misclassifications. Since a single point carries no relational features, such methods inherently restrict the usage of structural information to the pose estimation phase. Therefore, the classifier considers purely appearance-based feature vectors, thus requiring computationally expensive feature extraction or complex probabilistic modelling to achieve satisfactory robustness. In contrast, our approach consists in classifying graphs of keypoints, which incorporates structural information during the classification phase and allows the extraction of simpler feature vectors that are naturally robust. In the present work, 3-vertices graphs have been considered, though the methodology is general and larger order graphs may be adopted. Successful experimental results obtained for real-time object detection in video sequences are reported.
Extreme Sports as a facilitator of ecocentricity and positive life changes

Abstract Extreme sports and extreme sports participants have been most commonly explored from a negative perspective, for example the ‘need to take unnecessary risks’. This study reports on findings that indicate a more positive experience. A phenomenological method was used via unstructured interviews with 15 extreme sports participants and other first hand accounts. The extreme sports included B.A.S.E. jumping, big wave surfing, extreme skiing, waterfall kayaking, extreme mountaineering and solo rope-free climbing. Results indicate that participating in activities that involve a real chance of death, fear and the realisation that nature in its extreme is far greater and more powerful than humanity triggers positive life changes, and an eco-centric standpoint.
Current Immunotherapeutic Strategies to Enhance Oncolytic Virotherapy

Oncolytic viruses (OV) represent a promising strategy to augment the spectrum of cancer therapeutics. For efficacy, they rely on two general mechanisms: tumor-specific infection/cell-killing, followed by subsequent activation of the host’s adaptive immune response. Numerous OV genera have been utilized in clinical trials, ultimately culminating in the 2015 Food and Drug Administration approval of a genetically engineered herpes virus, Talminogene laherparepvec (T-VEC). It is generally accepted that OV as monotherapy have only modest clinical efficacy. However, due to their ability to elicit specific antitumor immune responses, they are prime candidates to be paired with other immune-modulating strategies in order to optimize therapeutic efficacy. Synergistic strategies to enhance the efficacy of OV include augmenting the host antitumor response through the insertion of therapeutic transgenes such as GM-CSF, utilization of the prime-boost strategy, and combining OV with immune-modulatory drugs such as cyclophosphamide, sunitinib, and immune checkpoint inhibitors. This review provides an overview of these immune-based strategies to improve the clinical efficacy of oncolytic virotherapy.
A Moorean paradox of desire

Moore's paradox is a paradox in which certain kinds of belief or assertion, such as a belief that ‘it is raining and I do not believe that it is raining’, are irrational despite involving no obvious contradiction in what is believed. But is there a parallel paradox involving other kinds of attitude, in particular desire? I argue that certain kinds of desire would be irrational to have for similar, distinctive reasons that having Moorean beliefs would be irrational to have. Hence, I argue that such desires, a desire that ‘one have a particular desire that was frustrated’ or a desire that ‘some state of affairs obtain about which one was indifferent’, are a parallel Moorean paradox of desire. I further argue that this analogous paradox has implications for practical reasoning, in particular by presenting a problem for instrumentalism about the objects of desire.
MMSE analysis of certain large isometric random precoded systems

Linear precoding consists in multiplying by a N/spl times/K matrix a K-dimensional vector obtained by serial to parallel conversion of a symbol sequence to be transmitted. We analyse the performance of MMSE receivers for certain large random isometric precoded systems on fading channels. Using new tools, borrowed from the so-called free probability theory, it can be shown that the signal to interference plus noise ratio at the equalizer output converges almost surely to a deterministic value depending on the probability distribution of the channel coefficients when N/spl rarr/+/spl infin/ and K/N/spl rarr//spl alpha//spl les/1. These asymptotic results are used to optimally balance the redundancy introduced between linear precoding and classical convolutional coding, while preserving a simple MMSE equalization scheme at the receiver.
Distinct Time Effects of Vaccination on Long-Term Proliferative and IFN-γ–producing T Cell Memory to Smallpox in Humans

Residual immunity to the smallpox virus raises key questions about the persistence of long-term immune memory in the absence of antigen, since vaccination ended in 1980. IFN-γ–producing effector–memory and proliferative memory T cells were compared in 79 vaccinees 13–25 yr after their last immunization and in unvaccinated individuals. Only 20% of the vaccinees displayed both immediate IFN-γ–producing effector–memory responses and proliferative memory responses at 6 d; 52.5% showed only proliferative responses; and 27.5% had no detectable vaccinia-specific responses at all. Both responses were mediated by CD4 and CD8 T cells. The vaccinia-specific IFN-γ–producing cells were composed mainly of CD4Pos CD45RANeg CD11aHi CD27Pos and CCR7Neg T cells. Their frequency was low but could be expanded in vitro within 7 d. Time since first immunization affected their persistence: they vanished 45 yr after priming, but proliferative responses remained detectable. The number of recalls did not affect the persistence of residual effector–memory T cells. Programmed revaccination boosted both IFN-γ and proliferative responses within 2 mo of recall, even in vaccinees with previously undetectable residual effector–memory cells. Such long-term maintenance of vaccinia-specific immune memory in the absence of smallpox virus modifies our understanding of the mechanism of persistence of long-term memory to poxviruses and challenges vaccination strategies.