Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An analysis of assistive technology supports and services offered in postsecondary educational institutions

The National Center for the Study of Postsecondary Education Supports (NCSPES) at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa-Center on Disability Studies (CDS) conducted a study that consisted of one survey distributed twice (the second distribution was two years after the first) to a national sample of approximately 1,600 Disability Support Coordinators working in postsecondary educational institutions. The survey focused on the types and frequency of educational supports, accommodations, and services offered to students with disabilities attending two- and four-year postsecondary institutions. This article reports on the findings from two sections of the survey: one, that asked the respondents to address their institutions capacity to offer assistive technology (AT) supports, accommodations, and services as needed by students with disabilities; and another that addressed the availability of distance learning access opportunities. A comparison of findings, over the two-year period, is presented and includes a significant increase in all types of AT supports, accommodations, and services other than AT evaluations; and an increase in the provision of distance learning access opportunities.
The Information Content of Analyst Forecasts – An Econometric Analysis of Informational Leadership

We measure the information content of monthly analyst consensus forecasts for one-year-forward earnings per share (EPS) based on two well-established price discovery measures drawn from the area of market micro-structure research. Employing a 36-year sample of large American companies listed in the S&P 100 Index, we compute (i) Hasbrouck’s information shares and (ii) Gonzalo and Granger’s common factor components to measure the relative share that the capital market and the analysts have in the process of price discovery. We find that while analysts do not lead the capital market, they have a small but significant share in the process of price discovery, amounting to 4.5% (Hasbrouck) or 18.0% (Gonzalo and Granger) on average. This share varies significantly in the cross-section. We identify a company’s analyst coverage as an explanatory factor: The larger the coverage, the lower is the analysts’ information share. This finding can be explained by analysts’ herding behavior, which lowers the information content of their estimates. JEL Classification: G12, G14, G17, G2, C32, C53, D82
The comparative role of consanguinity in infant and childhood mortality in Pakistan

As part of the 1990/1991 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, data were collected on the outcome of 26408 births to 6611 women, with mortality rates investigated at specific age intervals during the first 5 years of life. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to examine the comparative roles of consanguineous marriage and a number of demographic and socioeconomic factors, including the sex of the child, maternal age, maternal education, birth interval and birth order, as determinants of early death. The results indicate that, even after controlling for these non‐genetic variables, inbreeding at the level of first cousin exerted a significant adverse effect on survival in four of the five age intervals examined, neonatal, post‐neonatal, infant and under 5 years.
A real-valued genetic algorithm for gemstone cutting

In this paper we present a genetic algorithm for solving the gemstone cutting problem. The goal of this problem is to find the largest faceted cut design which fits inside a given rough gemstone. We propose a fast algorithm for finding the largest scaling factor of a faceted cut, once its center and orientation angles are given, as well as a real-valued genetic algorithm for finding the cut having the largest volume. Finally we present experimental results obtained using a set of 50 scanned gemstones and compare the results with similar ones from the literature.
Reducing restraint use for older adults in acute care.

Although no evidence shows that restraints are effective for maintaining safety, preventing disruption of treatment, or controlling behavior, they're still commonly used in acute care facilities (especially in critical care) in the United States, where the reported prevalence of their use ranges from 7.4% to 17%. [1–3] They may be used to protect patients from falls or to prevent them from inadvertently removing tubes and other devices. [4] Older adults are three times more likely to be restrained during an acute hospital admission than younger patients, even though this practice is associated with poor outcomes. [1] (See Adverse effects of physical restraints.)
Inter-Vehicle Communication Protocols for Multimedia Transmission

—Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VAN ETs) could achieve flexible communication among vehicles and with infrastructure. VANET provides multi-hop transmission to cover all intended receivers. This multi-hop capability has the potential to increase safety, efficiency and convenience of transportation system. Multi-hop transmission enhances a range of applications including traffic safety and comfort of every day road travel. In most of the envisioned applications, information to all or specific group vehicles inside a certain region is needed to be delivered. These applications rely on unicast, broadcast and geocast approaches. This study presents a review of recent routing protocols for both text and video data transmission. In particular, this paper focuses on quality based comparison of routing protocols for video data streaming over VAN ET. S ome of routing challenges for video streaming and text dissemination over VAN ET are also discussed.
RBPJ, the Major Transcriptional Effector of Notch Signaling, Remains Associated with Chromatin throughout Mitosis, Suggesting a Role in Mitotic Bookmarking

Mechanisms that maintain transcriptional memory through cell division are important to maintain cell identity, and sequence-specific transcription factors that remain associated with mitotic chromatin are emerging as key players in transcriptional memory propagation. Here, we show that the major transcriptional effector of Notch signaling, RBPJ, is retained on mitotic chromatin, and that this mitotic chromatin association is mediated through the direct association of RBPJ with DNA. We further demonstrate that RBPJ binds directly to nucleosomal DNA in vitro, with a preference for sites close to the entry/exit position of the nucleosomal DNA. Genome-wide analysis in the murine embryonal-carcinoma cell line F9 revealed that roughly 60% of the sites occupied by RBPJ in asynchronous cells were also occupied in mitotic cells. Among them, we found that a fraction of RBPJ occupancy sites shifted between interphase and mitosis, suggesting that RBPJ can be retained on mitotic chromatin by sliding on DNA rather than disengaging from chromatin during mitotic chromatin condensation. We propose that RBPJ can function as a mitotic bookmark, marking genes for efficient transcriptional activation or repression upon mitotic exit. Strikingly, we found that sites of RBPJ occupancy were enriched for CTCF-binding motifs in addition to RBPJ-binding motifs, and that RBPJ and CTCF interact. Given that CTCF regulates transcription and bridges long-range chromatin interactions, our results raise the intriguing hypothesis that by collaborating with CTCF, RBPJ may participate in establishing chromatin domains and/or long-range chromatin interactions that could be propagated through cell division to maintain gene expression programs.
Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein-Expressing Glia in the Mouse Lung

Autonomic nerves regulate important functions in visceral organs, including the lung. The postganglionic portion of these nerves is ensheathed by glial cells known as non-myelinating Schwann cells. In the brain, glia play important functional roles in neurotransmission, neuroinflammation, and maintenance of the blood brain barrier. Similarly, enteric glia are now known to have analogous roles in gastrointestinal neurotransmission, inflammatory response, and barrier formation. In contrast to this, very little is known about the function of glia in other visceral organs. Like the gut, the lung forms a barrier between airborne pathogens and the bloodstream, and autonomic lung innervation is known to affect pulmonary inflammation and lung function. Lung glia are described as non-myelinating Schwann cells but their function is not known, and indeed no transgenic tools have been validated to study them in vivo. The primary goal of this research was, therefore, to investigate the relationship between non-myelinating Schwann cells and pulmonary nerves in the airways and vasculature and to validate existing transgenic mouse tools that would be useful for studying their function. We focused on the glial fibrillary acidic protein promoter, which is a cognate marker of astrocytes that is expressed by enteric glia and non-myelinating Schwann cells. We describe the morphology of non-myelinating Schwann cells in the lung and verify that they express glial fibrillary acidic protein and S100, a classic glial marker. Furthermore, we characterize the relationship of non-myelinating Schwann cells to pulmonary nerves. Finally, we report tools for studying their function, including a commercially available transgenic mouse line.
Phosphorylation of Pyrimidine Deoxynucleoside Analog Diphosphates

d-Nucleoside analogs, which are in the natural configuration, as well as the l-nucleoside analogs, are clinically relevant antiviral and anticancer agents. Metabolism of l-nucleoside analog diphosphates to the triphosphates, however, remains unexplored. Studies with recombinant nm23-H1 and -H2 isoforms indicated that l-nucleoside analog diphosphates were not phosphorylated by their nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDPK) activity. Therefore, roles of creatine kinase, 3-phosphoglycerate kinase, and pyruvate kinase were evaluated using preparations from commercial sources and human HepG2 cells. Phosphorylation of l-OddC, l-SddC,l-Fd4C, l-FMAU, and l-ddC were compared with d-deoxynucleoside analogs, AraC, dFdC, andd-FMAU, and d-dideoxynucleoside analogs, ddC and d4T. Results based on preparations from HepG2 cells showed thatl-nucleoside analog diphosphates were selectively phosphorylated by 3-phosphoglycerate kinase, whereas,d-deoxynucleoside analog diphosphates were phosphorylated by NDPK. Interestingly, ddCDP and d4TDP were substrates for creatine kinase, but were not phosphorylated by NDPK. In conclusion, it is proposed that specificity of the phosphorylating enzymes toward the nucleoside analog diphosphates is dependent on the configuration of the analog (l or d) and the presence or absence of 3′-hydroxyl group in the sugar moiety. The enzymatic process of phosphorylation of l- and d-nucleoside analog diphosphates is different in cells.
Genome Sequence of Galbibacter marinum Type Strain ck-I2-15

ABSTRACT Galbibacter marinum strain ck-I2-15T was isolated from an arsenite-resistant consortium enriched from the deep sea sediment of a hydrothermal vent field on the Southwest Indian Ocean Ridge. Here, we present the draft genome of strain ck-I2-15T, which contains 3,572,447 bp with a G+C content of 37.04% and contains 3,099 protein-coding genes and 38 tRNA genes.
From one-to-one to one-to-many

Pre-service teacher librarians in the United States often are en route from careers as classroom teachers and view field experiences as needless repetitions of student teaching. Meaningful internships can be pivotal in helping students explore potential roles, build collegial networks, and gain valuable on-the-job insight. For an educator in transition from a single classroom to a manyfaceted school library, field practica can provide crucial opportunities to shift to the organizational, collaborative mindset outlined in Information Power, the U.S. school library guidelines (1998). This paper presents an instrumental case study gathered as part of an ongoing study of practicum experiences.
On the data gathering capacity and latency in wireless sensor networks

In this paper, we investigate the fundamental properties of data gathering in wireless sensor networks, in terms of both capacity and latency. We consider a scenario in which s(n) out of n total network nodes have to deliver data to a set of d(n) sink nodes at a constant rate λ(n, s(n), d(n)). The goal is to characterize the maximum achievable rate, and the latency in data delivery. We present a simple data gathering scheme that achieves asymptotically optimal data gathering capacity and latency with arbitrary network deployments when d(n) = 1, and for most scaling regimes of s(n) and d(n) when d(n) > 1 in case of square grid and random node deployments. Differently from most previous work, our results and the presented data gathering scheme do not sacrifice energy efficiency to the need of maximizing capacity and minimizing latency. Finally, we consider the effects of a simple form of data aggregation on data gathering performance, and show that capacity can be increased by a factor f(n) with respect to the case of no data aggregation, where f(n) is the node density. To the best of our knowledge, the ones presented in this paper are the first results showing that asymptotically optimal data gathering capacity and latency can be achieved in arbitrary networks in an energy efficient way.
Electrophoretic coating of amphiphilic chitosan colloids on regulating cellular behaviour

In this communication, we report a facile nanotopographical control over a stainless steel surface via an electrophoretic deposition of colloidal amphiphilic chitosan for preferential growth, proliferation or migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Atomic force microscopy revealed that the colloidal surface exhibited a deposition time-dependent nanotopographical evolution, wherein two different nanotopographic textures indexed by ‘kurtosis’ (Rkur) value were easily designed, which were termed as ‘sharp’ (i.e. high peak-to-valley texture) surface and ‘flat’ (i.e. low peak-to-valley texture) surface. Cellular behaviour of VSMCs and HUVECs on both surfaces demonstrated topographically dependent morphogenesis, adherent responses and biochemical properties in comparison with bare stainless steel. The formation of a biofunctionalized surface upon a facile colloidal chitosan deposition envisions the potential application towards numerous biomedical devices, and this is especially promising for cardiovascular stents wherein a new surface with optimized texture can be designed and is expected to create an advantageous environment to stimulate HUVEC growth for improved healing performance.
Interacción humano computadora en usuarios con discapacidades visuales

Las interfaces de usuarios convencionales, tanto en dispositivos de escritorio como en móviles, están basadas fuertemente en un paradigma de comunicación visual. Este modelo de interfaces ha dado como resultado una diversa oferta de aplicaciones, tanto en juegos, como en aplicaciones de escritorio, aplicaciones móviles, etc. Sin embargo, cuando se considera un usuario que no dispone de una capacidad visual o la misma se encuentra seriamente disminuida, es muy limitada la oferta de aplicaciones; legando, en algunos dominios, a ser nula. La planificación, diseño y desarolo de interfaces de usuarios con discapacidades visuales plantea un escenario difícil pero no imposible de resolver. Esta línea de investigación tiene como objetivo contribuir a la definición de la teoría de base en Interacción Humano Computadora (IHC) aplicada a personas con discapacidades visuales y en el proceso generar software orientado a este tipo de usuario. Palabras clave: Interacción Humano Computadora, Discapacidades Visuales, IHC, HCI, Human Computer Interaction.
Non-Uniform Hierarchical Pyramid Stereo for Large Images

This paper addresses the stereo correspondence problem where the images are large enough to make stereo matching difficult. In order to reduce the problem size, we propose a new non-uniform hierarchical scheme with the ability to handle different coarseness levels simultaneously. Our framework, based on a maximum flow formulation, allows a much better localization of object boundaries where large depth discontinuities are present. The uniform decomposition fails to localize precisely such borders because it makes the assumption that surfaces are smooth in order to correct the errors from one coarseness level to the next. Our disparity estimation accurately localizes large depth discontinuities and then focus on increasing the resolution of smooth surfaces. Results on synthetic and real images demonstrate the validity of our framework.
[Capabilities of current tomographic technologies in the diagnosis of midfacial injuries and posttraumatic deformities].

OBJECTIVE To study the diagnostic capabilities of cone-beam and multislice spiral computed tomography (CT) in patients with midfacial injuries and posttraumatic deformities. MATERIAL AND METHODS Fifty patients with midfacial injuries sustained in different periods underwent clinical and radiation examination involving an analysis of the bone and soft tissue structural images obtained with multispiral and cone-beam CT techniques, by applying maximally informative studies protocols. RESULTS Cone-beam and multislice spiral CT showed the same informative value in detecting bone traumatic changes and a low informative one in identifying comorbidity. CONCLUSION The findings permit one to recommend cone-beam CT for diagnosis and preoperative planning in patients with midfacial injury and posttraumatic deformities only when multislice spiral CT cannot be performed.
Rogue Regime: Kim Jong Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea

What happens when a dictator wins absolute power and isolates a nation from the outside world? In a nightmare of political theory stretched to madness and come to life, North Korea's Kim Jong Il made himself into a living god, surrounded by lies and flattery and beyond criticism. As over two million of his subjects starved to death, Kim Jong Il roamed between palaces staffed by beautiful girls and stocked with expensive international delicacies. Outside, the steel mills shut down, the trains stopped running, the power went out, and the hospitals ran out of medicine. When the population threatened to revolt, Kim imposed a reign of terror, deceived the United Nations, and plundered the country's dwindling resources to become a nuclear power. Now this tiny bankrupt nation is using her nuclear capability to blackmail the United States. Veteran correspondent Jasper Becker takes us inside one of the most secretive countries in the world, exposing the internal chaos, blind faith, rampant corruption, and terrifying cruelty of its rulers. Becker details the vain efforts to change North Korea by actors inside and outside the country and the dangers this highly volatile country continues to pose. This unique land, ruled by one family's megalomania and paranoia, seems destined to survive and linger on, a menace to its own people and to the rest of the world. But should the nations of the world allow this regime to survive? That's the question with which this book concludes.
A Comprehensive Breath Plume Model for Disease Transmission via Expiratory Aerosols

The peak in influenza incidence during wintertime in temperate regions represents a longstanding, unresolved scientific question. One hypothesis is that the efficacy of airborne transmission via aerosols is increased at lower humidities and temperatures, conditions that prevail in wintertime. Recent work with a guinea pig model by Lowen et al. indicated that humidity and temperature do modulate airborne influenza virus transmission, and several investigators have interpreted the observed humidity dependence in terms of airborne virus survivability. This interpretation, however, neglects two key observations: the effect of ambient temperature on the viral growth kinetics within the animals, and the strong influence of the background airflow on transmission. Here we provide a comprehensive theoretical framework for assessing the probability of disease transmission via expiratory aerosols between test animals in laboratory conditions. The spread of aerosols emitted from an infected animal is modeled using dispersion theory for a homogeneous turbulent airflow. The concentration and size distribution of the evaporating droplets in the resulting “Gaussian breath plume” are calculated as functions of position, humidity, and temperature. The overall transmission probability is modeled with a combination of the time-dependent viral concentration in the infected animal and the probability of droplet inhalation by the exposed animal downstream. We demonstrate that the breath plume model is broadly consistent with the results of Lowen et al., without invoking airborne virus survivability. The results also suggest that, at least for guinea pigs, variation in viral kinetics within the infected animals is the dominant factor explaining the increased transmission probability observed at lower temperatures.
Lung development: orchestrating the generation and regeneration of a complex organ

The respiratory system, which consists of the lungs, trachea and associated vasculature, is essential for terrestrial life. In recent years, extensive progress has been made in defining the temporal progression of lung development, and this has led to exciting discoveries, including the derivation of lung epithelium from pluripotent stem cells and the discovery of developmental pathways that are targets for new therapeutics. These discoveries have also provided new insights into the regenerative capacity of the respiratory system. This Review highlights recent advances in our understanding of lung development and regeneration, which will hopefully lead to better insights into both congenital and acquired lung diseases.
Arabinofuranosyl-terminated and mannosylated lipoarabinomannans from Mycobacterium tuberculosis induce different levels of interleukin-12 expression in murine macrophages

Lipoarabinomannan (LAM) is a major surface lipoglycan of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In the present study, we demonstrated that arabinofuranosyl-terminated LAM (AraLAM) derived from a rapidly growing Mycobacterium sp. , but not extensively mannosylated LAM derived from the Erdman strain, is capable of inducing interleukin-12 (IL-12) expression in murine macrophages. Since IL-12 is known to drive the differentiation of naive T cells toward T-helper type 1 (Th1) cell development, AraLAM may be an effective adjuvant in vaccines and immunotherapies that need Th1 responses.
A simple digital architecture for a harmonic-cancelling sine-wave synthesizer

Sine-wave synthesizers are a core requirement in many electronic applications, such as communication systems, and test and verification of analog/mixed-signal electronic systems. In sine-wave synthesizers, there exists a compromise between output spectral purity and hardware complexity. Harmonic-cancelling sine-wave synthesizers (HCSSs) allow spectrally pure signal synthesis at low hardware cost, compared to conventional sine-wave synthesis approaches. In this paper, we propose a digital HCSS hardware architecture, which is simpler, more hardware efficient and more programmable compared to state of the art HCSSs. The proposed architecture has been verified through a prototype built from an FPGA and discrete components. Prototype results demonstrate 51.9 dBc spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) and an output frequency range from 100 Hz to 100 kHz.