Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Writings of Lions: Narrative Inquiry of a Kenyan Couple Living in the U.S

In this study, we told the story of a Kenyan couple, B. and F. , who has left Kenya and moved to Southern California. We followed a narrative inquiry framework, using Clandinin and Connelly’s (2000) guidelines. We delineated core components of narrative inquiry research, as well as related the journey of B. and F. , who have created dual lives in both Kenya and the United States. As part of the interpretive analysis process, we integrated the first author’s experiences, both in interviewing the couple and in volunteering in Kenya in previous years. The final product is an intersection of Kenyan and American life that weaves back-and-forth between B. and F. ’s and the first author’s chronicle, and between the past and the present. Keywords: Narrative Inquiry, Kenya, Qualitative Research, Cross-cultural Using a narrative research framework, we as researchers (perhaps better described as storytellers) embark on a journey that will bring you, the reader, to Kenya and back. Kenya, a country in East Africa, has had its fair share of politics disrupted by corruption, tribal conflict, violence, and death. Kenyan families face these challenges daily. Some of them wait it out, hoping for things to improve. Some leave for good, wiping their hands of their old country. There are some families, however, who migrate and yet maintain their roots in Kenya. What happens when such a family leaves? How does the family take on the cultural values of the adopted country? What do they choose to hold on to and what do they choose to let go? This story will let us peer into the lives of one family, who has made sense of their cross-cultural life experiences as they weave back and forth between two countries. In this study, we employed the method of narrative inquiry to present the story of a family that has left Kenya and moved to Southern California. We followed Clandinin and Connelly’s (2000) narrative research framework. Based on the idea that people organize experience and make it meaningful through stories, narrative researchers examine personal experiences, family rituals, and beliefs (Daly, 2007). Over time, human beings have told such stories through orations, through pictures, and eventually through written words. The telling and retelling of myths and historical stories create a narrative. The process of listening to and re-storying these narratives is narrative inquiry. The goal of this qualitative method is to understand how people construct their storied experiences within the context of their lives (Daly, 2007). We maintain the assumption that creating stories helps people understand their lives; therefore, narrative inquiry is an effective method of understanding families’ realities (Daly, 2007). Rationale
The effect of topical corticosteroids on refractive outcome and corneal haze after photorefractive keratectomy.

BACKGROUND The effect of topical corticosteroids after excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) remains a matter of some controversy. Refractive effects may be different according to the amount of myopia and timing of instillation. METHODS Two groups of patients were studied: Study A consisted of 215 eyes (128 patients) with PRK (mean baseline myopia, -6.53 +/- 2.22 D) that received no corticosteroids (No Corticosteroid Group) unless significant regression or corneal haze appeared (Delayed Corticosteroid Group), and in Study B, we randomly assigned eyes to the Initial Corticosteroid Group (mean baseline myopia, -6.39 +/- 1.84 D) or the No/delayed Corticosteroid Group (mean baseline myopia -5.78 +/- 2.02 D). Clinical results after PRK for low-to-moderate and high myopia were compared. RESULTS In the first group, 70.9% (73 eyes) of moderately myopic eyes (mean, -4.56 +/- 1.10 D) belonged to the No Corticosteroid Group that had a mean refraction of -5.39 +/- 1.77 D. Delayed Corticosteroid Group eyes were more myopic (mean, -7.52 +/- 2.10 D), and showed more severe haze than those in the No Corticosteroid Group. In study B, only in high myopes with more than -6.00 D (mean, -7.76 +/- 1.15 D) did refraction and corneal haze outcomes show significant difference between the Initial Corticosteroid Group and the No/delayed Corticosteroid Group. CONCLUSIONS The effects of topical corticosteroids after PRK were less in moderate myopes compared to high myopes. Delayed instillation of corticosteroids did not reverse the regression or haze whereas initial instillation showed a beneficial effect on high myopes but not on moderate myopes.
Evidence that Autophosphorylation of the Major Sporulation Kinase in Bacillus subtilis Is Able To Occur in trans

ABSTRACT Entry into sporulation in Bacillus subtilis is governed by a multicomponent phosphorelay, a complex version of a two-component system which includes at least three histidine kinases (KinA to KinC), two phosphotransferases (Spo0F and Spo0B), and a response regulator (Spo0A). Among the three histidine kinases, KinA is known as the major sporulation kinase; it is autophosphorylated with ATP upon starvation and then transfers a phosphoryl group to the downstream components in a His-Asp-His-Asp signaling pathway. Our recent study demonstrated that KinA forms a homotetramer, not a dimer, mediated by the N-terminal domain, as a functional unit. Furthermore, when the N-terminal domain was overexpressed in the starving wild-type strain, sporulation was impaired. We hypothesized that this impairment of sporulation could be explained by the formation of a nonfunctional heterotetramer of KinA, resulting in the reduced level of phosphorylated Spo0A (Spo0A∼P), and thus, autophosphorylation of KinA could occur in trans. To test this hypothesis, we generated a series of B. subtilis strains expressing homo- or heterogeneous KinA protein complexes consisting of various combinations of the phosphoryl-accepting histidine point mutant protein and the catalytic ATP-binding domain point mutant protein. We found that the ATP-binding-deficient protein was phosphorylated when the phosphorylation-deficient protein was present in a 1:1 stoichiometry in the tetramer complex, while each of the mutant homocomplexes was not phosphorylated. These results suggest that ATP initially binds to one protomer within the tetramer complex and then the γ-phosphoryl group is transmitted to another in a trans fashion. We further found that the sporulation defect of each of the mutant proteins is complemented when the proteins are coexpressed in vivo. Taken together, these in vitro and in vivo results reinforce the evidence that KinA autophosphorylation is able to occur in a trans fashion. IMPORTANCE Autophosphorylation of histidine kinases is known to occur by either the cis (one subunit of kinase phosphorylating itself within the multimer) or the trans (one subunit of the multimer phosphorylates the other subunit) mechanism. The present study provided direct in vivo and in vitro evidence that autophosphorylation of the major sporulation histidine kinase (KinA) is able to occur in trans within the homotetramer complex. While the physiological and mechanistic significance of the trans autophosphorylation reaction remains obscure, understanding the detailed reaction mechanism of the sporulation kinase is the first step toward gaining insight into the molecular mechanisms of the initiation of sporulation, which is believed to be triggered by unknown factors produced under conditions of nutrient depletion.
Practical issues of implementation of linear state estimator in WECC

Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) measure voltage and current phasors at the same time and relative to the same angle reference, so that it is feasible to use a Linear State Estimator (LSE) to provide a full system solution from these measurements. This paper explores the practical issues of LSE implementation using a phasor measurement system in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) system. This project started with the Virginia Tech LSE algorithm and enhanced it to handle some special issues like series capacitor and multiple line segments in one transmission line. This development and some lessons learned are presented in this paper. The LSE application was tested with simulated PMU data and recorded field PMU data with good results. The LSE showed it is able to solve at the rate of 60 frames per second.
Role of the HIV-1 Matrix Protein in Gag Intracellular Trafficking and Targeting to the Plasma Membrane for Virus Assembly

Human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) encodes a polypeptide called Gag that is able to form virus-like particles in vitro in the absence of any cellular or viral constituents. During the late phase of the HIV-1 infection, Gag polyproteins are transported to the plasma membrane (PM) for assembly. In the past two decades, in vivo, in vitro, and structural studies have shown that Gag trafficking and targeting to the PM are orchestrated events that are dependent on multiple factors including cellular proteins and specific membrane lipids. The matrix (MA) domain of Gag has been the focus of these studies as it appears to be engaged in multiple intracellular interactions that are suggested to be critical for virus assembly and replication. The interaction between Gag and the PM is perhaps the most understood. It is now established that the ultimate localization of Gag on punctate sites on the PM is mediated by specific interactions between the MA domain of Gag and phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P2], a minor lipid localized on the inner leaflet of the PM. Structure-based studies revealed that binding of PI(4,5)P2 to MA induces minor conformational changes, leading to exposure of the myristyl (myr) group. Exposure of the myr group is also triggered by binding of calmodulin, enhanced by factors that promote protein self-association like the capsid domain of Gag, and is modulated by pH. Despite the steady progress in defining both the viral and cellular determinants of retroviral assembly and release, Gag’s intracellular interactions and trafficking to its assembly sites in the infected cell are poorly understood. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of the structural and functional role of MA in HIV replication.
Object recognition based on modified invariant moments

We present a novel method for object recognition in noise free and noisy environments, based on modified invariant moments and minimum norm. First, the modified invariant moments of different objects are extracted by using invariant moments. Then the norms of feature vectors are computed by using norm theory of functional analysis. Finally, classification and recognition object are accomplished according to the computed results, furthermore, objects do not need to be trained in the paper. The algorithm is simple and the recognition rate is rather high. Moreover, the objects with noise are able to be recognized correctly. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is invariant to the translation, rotating and scaling of objects. So the efficiency is proved in the paper.
Learning Probabilistic Features for Robotic Navigation Using Laser Sensors

SLAM is a popular task used by robots and autonomous vehicles to build a map of an unknown environment and, at the same time, to determine their location within the map. This paper describes a SLAM-based, probabilistic robotic system able to learn the essential features of different parts of its environment. Some previous SLAM implementations had computational complexities ranging from O(Nlog(N)) to O(N 2), where N is the number of map features. Unlike these methods, our approach reduces the computational complexity to O(N) by using a model to fuse the information from the sensors after applying the Bayesian paradigm. Once the training process is completed, the robot identifies and locates those areas that potentially match the sections that have been previously learned. After the training, the robot navigates and extracts a three-dimensional map of the environment using a single laser sensor. Thus, it perceives different sections of its world. In addition, in order to make our system able to be used in a low-cost robot, low-complexity algorithms that can be easily implemented on embedded processors or microcontrollers are used.
Psychological autopsy studies of suicide: a systematic review

Background. The psychological autopsy method offers the most direct technique currently available for examining the relationship between particular antecedents and suicide. This systematic review aimed to examine the results of studies of suicide that used a psychological autopsy method. Method. A computer aided search of MEDLINE, BIDS ISI and PSYCHLIT, supplemented by reports known to the reviewers and reports identified from the reference lists of other retrieved reports. Two investigators systematically and independently examined all reports. Median proportions were determined and population attributable fractions were calculated, where possible, in cases of suicide and controls. Results. One hundred and fifty-four reports were identified, of which 76 met the criteria for inclusion; 54 were case series and 22 were case–control studies. The median proportion of cases with mental disorder was 91% (95% CI 81–98%) in the case series. In the case–control studies the figure was 90% (88–95%) in the cases and 27% (14–48%) in the controls. Co-morbid mental disorder and substance abuse also preceded suicide in more cases (38%, 19–57%) than controls (6%, 0–13%). The population attributable fraction for mental disorder ranged from 47–74% in the seven studies in which it could be calculated. The effects of particular disorders and sociological variables have been insufficiently studied to draw clear conclusions. Conclusions. The results indicated that mental disorder was the most strongly associated variable of those that have been studied. Further studies should focus on specific disorders and psychosocial factors. Suicide prevention strategies may be most effective if focused on the treatment of mental disorders.
tPA by telephone: Extending the benefits of a comprehensive stroke center

The use of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in community hospitals has been limited by a lack of neurologic support. The authors developed a telephone network to support community emergency departments (EDs) in the use of tPA. Their experience demonstrates equivalent results for patients treated by telephone and those treated in-house. Their number of tPA-treated patients increased 72%. Requirements included willingness of community EDs to use tPA and willingness of the stroke center to provide support.
Atmospheric global dust cycle and iron inputs to the ocean

Since iron is an important micronutrient, deposition of iron in mineral aerosols can impact the carbon cycle and atmospheric CO2. This paper reviews our current understanding of the global dust cycle and identifies future research needs. The global distribution of desert dust is estimated from a combination of observations of dust from in situ concentration, optical depth, and deposition data; observations from satellite; and global atmospheric models. The anthropogenically influenced portion of atmospheric desert dust flux is thought to be smaller than the natural portion, but is difficult to quantify due to the poorly understood response of desert dust to changes in climate, land use, and water use. The iron content of aerosols is thought to vary by a factor of 2, while the uncertainty in dust deposition is at least a factor of 10 in some regions due to the high spatial and temporal variability and limited observations. Importantly, we have a limited understanding of the processes by which relatively insoluble soil iron (typically ∼0.5% is soluble) becomes more soluble (1–80%) during atmospheric transport, but these processes could be impacted by anthropogenic emissions of sulfur or organic acids. In order to understand how humans will impact future iron deposition to the oceans, we need to improve our understanding of: iron deposition to remote oceans, iron chemistry in aerosols, how desert dust sources will respond to climate change, and how humans will impact the transport of bioavailable fraction of iron to the oceans.
Interconnect tuning strategies for high-performance ICs

Interconnect tuning is an increasingly critical degree of freedom in the physical design of high-performance VLSI systems. By interconnect tuning, we refer to the selection of line thicknesses, widths and spacings in multi-layer interconnect to simultaneously optimize signal distribution, signal performance, signal integrity, and interconnect manufacturability and reliability. This is a key activity in most leading-edge design projects, but has received little attention in the literature. Our work provides the first technology-specific studies of interconnect tuning in the literature. We center on global wiring layers and interconnect tuning issues related to bus routing, repeater insertion, and choice of shielding/spacing rules for signal integrity and performance. We address four basic questions. (1) How should width and spacing be allocated to maximize performance for a given line pitch? (2) For a given line pitch, what criteria affect the optimal interval at which repeaters should be inserted into global interconnects? (3) Under what circumstances are shield wires the optimum technique for improving interconnect performance? (4) In global interconnect with repeaters, what other interconnect tuning is possible? Our study of question (4) demonstrates a new approach of offsetting repeater placements that can reduce worst-case cross-chip delays by over 30% in current technologies.
Recognising structure in laser scanning point clouds

Both airborne and terrestrial laser scanners are used to capture large point clouds of the objects under study. Although for some applications, direct measurements in the point clouds may already suffice, most applications require an automatic processing of the point clouds to extract information on the shape of the recorded objects. This processing often involves the recognition of specific geometric shapes or more general smooth surfaces. This paper reviews several techniques that can be used to recognise such structures in point clouds. Applications in industry, urban planning, water management and forestry document the usefulness of these techniques. 1 This paper was written while the first author was with the Delft University of Technology.
Reconstructive Breast Surgery following Mastectomy for Breast Cancer: A Review

Breast cancer treatment has become increasingly less ‘invasive’ over the last several decades.There has been an increased detection and treatment rate due to the initiation of clear guidelines, screening programmes, and specialist centres offering a multi-disciplinary team approach.Breast conserving therapy remains the gold standard for surgical breast cancer treatment with the aim being to preserve shape and if possible size. However, many women either opt for ormust undergo mastectomy, thus reconstruction surgery must be offered. This article provides a brief overview of various breast reconstruction techniques.
Architecture for protecting critical secrets in microprocessors

We propose "secret-protected (SP)" architecture to enable secure and convenient protection of critical secrets for a given user in an on-line environment. Keys are examples of critical secrets, and key protection and management is a fundamental problem - often assumed but not solved /sup n/derlying the use of cryptographic protection of sensitive files, messages, data and programs. SP-processors contain a minimalist set of architectural features that can be built into a general-purpose microprocessor to provide protection of critical secrets and their computations, without expensive or inconvenient auxiliary hardware. SP-architecture also requires a trusted software module, a few modifications to the operating system, a secure I/O path to the user, and a secure installation process. Unique aspects of our architecture include: decoupling of user secrets from the devices, enabling users to securely access their keys from different networked computing devices; the use of symmetric master keys rather than more costly public-private key pairs; and the avoidance of any permanent or factory-installed device secrets.
Usefulness of real-time PCR assay targeting lipL32 gene for diagnosis of human leptospirosis in Uruguay.

INTRODUCTION Assays based on DNA amplification can provide information that contributes to the initial management of patients with leptospirosis. However, these have not been adopted in Uruguay. Our aim was to evaluate the performance of the lipL32 real-time PCR (qPCR) for diagnosis of leptospirosis. METHODOLOGY We analyzed by microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and lipL32 qPCR serum samples from 183 patients with suspected leptospirosis. To establish the analytical sensitivity of the qPCR, experimentally spiked samples with known amounts of Leptospira interrogans were analyzed. RESULTS The analytical sensitivity of the qPCR was 102 leptospires/mL. In 98 patients MAT results were negative meanwhile 85 showed positive reactions, revealing acute infections. Twenty six acute-phase sera of these 85 patients showed a positive signal by qPCR (diagnostic sensitivity 30%). In these patients the average time between onset of symptoms and collection of the first sample was 8 days. In patients with negative results for qPCR and positive MAT results (n=59) the average interval between onset of symptoms and collection of the first sample was 13 days. The qPCR did not yield false positive results. CONCLUSIONS The qPCR had a lower diagnostic sensitivity than MAT and a higher cost. However, it allowed to make an early diagnosis in 26 patients. In patients with confirmed acute infections and negative results by qPCR, more than 8 days had elapsed between the onset of the illness and extraction of the first serum sample. Our data support that the qPCR from sera have clinical utility within the first week of illness.
Pixel T2 distribution in functional magnetic resonance images of muscle.

Increases in skeletal muscle (1)H-NMR transverse relaxation time (T2) observed by magnetic resonance imaging have been used to map whole muscle activity during exercise. Some studies further suggest that intramuscular variations in T2 after exercise can be used to map activity on a pixel-by-pixel basis by defining an active T2 threshold and counting pixels that exceed the threshold as "active muscle. " This implies that motor units are nonrandomly distributed across the muscle and, therefore, that the distribution of pixel T2 values ought to be substantially broader after moderate exercise than at rest or after more intense exercise, since moderate-intensity exercise should recruit some motor units, and hence some pixels, but not others. This study examined the distribution of pixel T2 values in three muscles (quadriceps, anterior tibialis, and biceps/brachialis) of healthy subjects (5 men and 2 women, 18-46 yr old) at rest, after exercise to fatigue (50% 1 repetition maximum at 20/min to failure = Max), and at 1/2Max (25% 1 repetition maximum, same number of repetitions as Max). Although for each muscle there was a linear relationship between exercise intensity and mean pixel T2, there was no significant difference in the variance of pixel T2 between 1/2Max and Max exercise. There was a modest (10-43%) increase in variance of pixel T2 after both exercises compared with rest, but this was consistent with a Monte Carlo simulation of muscle activity that assumed a random distribution of motor unit territories across the muscle and a random distribution of muscle cells within each motor unit's territory. In addition, 40% of the pixel-to-pixel muscle T2 variations were shown to be due to imaging noise. The results indicate that magnetic resonance imaging T2 cannot reliably map active muscle on a pixel-by-pixel basis in normal subjects.