Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Disruption of Short-Term Memory for Reinforcement by Ambient Illumination

Pigeons were trained on a delayed conditional discrimination (DCD) in which choice of one of two simultaneously presented stimuli was reinforced if the trial had been initiated by presentation of a food sample. On trials in which no sample was presented, choice of the other colour was reinforced. Illumination of the houselights during the retention interval was provided in an attempt to interfere with retention of information about the food sample which served as a conditional cue. In two experiments, retention interval illumination produced a greater disruption of DCD performance on no sample trials than on food sample trials. The finding that retention interval illumination disrupts DCD performance on no sample trials suggests that this manipulation does not affect memorial processes since there was good evidence that performance on no sample trials did not depend on remembering what happened at the outset of the trial. Furthermore, the magnitude of the disruption was larger if the illumination immediately preceded the choice stimuli than if it followed presentation of the sample stimuli. These results support the hypothesis that retention interval illumination disrupts DCD performance by interfering with discriminative control of the choice response rather than with memorial processes. In neither study did retention interval illumination impair discriminative autoshaping to keylight stimuli that immediately preceded the food sample and no sample DCD trials.
Robust Command Augmentation System Design Using Genetic Methods

Abstract : This paper describes the use of a genetic search method in the design of a command augmentation system for a high-performance aircraft. A genetic algorithm is used in the design of H(infinity) controllers for the longitudinal and lateral-directional channels by selecting the weighting functions. The integral of absolute value of error between the actual response and that of an ideal model is used as the fitness criterion, along with additional terms to penalize for cross-coupling between Ps and ny; non-minimum phase behavior, and the closed-loop infinity-norm bound, gamma. Starting from an initial population of weighting functions, the algorithm generates new functions with the goal of improving the fitness. These controllers are then evaluated in a 6 degree-of-freedom nonlinear model of the aircraft.
Substructure similarity measurement in chinese recipes

Improving the precision of information retrieval has been a challenging issue on Chinese Web. As exemplified by Chinese recipes on the Web, it is not easy/natural for people to use keywords (e.g. recipe names) to search recipes, since the names can be literally so abstract that they do not bear much, if any, information on the underlying ingredients or cooking methods. In this paper, we investigate the underlying features of Chinese recipes, and based on workflow-like cooking procedures, we model recipes as graphs. We further propose a novel similarity measurement based on the frequent patterns, and devise an effective filtering algorithm to prune unrelated data so as to support efficient on-line searching. Benefiting from the characteristics of graphs, frequent common patterns can be mined from a cooking graph database. So in our prototype system called RecipeView, we extend the subgraph mining algorithm FSG to cooking graphs and combine it with our proposed similarity measurement, resulting in an approach that well caters for specific users' needs. Our initial experimental studies show that the filtering algorithm can efficiently prune unrelated cooking graphs without affecting the retrieval performance and the similarity measurement gets a relatively higher precision/recall against its counterparts
Metabolic Events Occurring During Recovery from Prolonged Glucose Starvation in Escherichia coli

The effects of starving Escherichia coli for glucose and required amino acids were determined. The disappearance of the majority of the ribosomal population, particularly of the ribonucleic acid (RNA) moiety, was noted. The events during recovery are detailed, with emphasis placed on the timing, requirements, and control of deoxyribonucleic acid, RNA, and protein synthesis and on ribosome reassembly. Finally, the applicability of the system to the study of temperature-sensitive mutants is documented and discussed.
Analytical model for the performance evaluation of DWDM transmission systems

We present a novel analytical model to assess the signal quality in nonlinear dense wavelength-division-multiplexed (DWDM) transmission. The nonlinear impairment dependence on various system parameters is reported. The good agreement with numerical simulations indicates that the proposed model can be of significant value in the search for optimized DWDM systems.
Increased clusterin expression in Fuchs' endothelial dystrophy.

PURPOSE To investigate the differential expression of the glycoprotein clusterin/apoJ (CLU) in normal and Fuchs' endothelial dystrophy (FED) corneal endothelium and to compare the expression of various forms of CLU in normal and FED tissue. METHODS FED and pseudophakic bullous keratopathy (PBK) corneal buttons were removed during transplantation, and normal corneas were obtained from tissue banks. Human corneal endothelial cells and Descemet's membrane (HCEC-DM) complex was dissected from the stroma. Proteins were separated on 2-D gels and subjected to comparative proteomic analysis. Relative expression of presecretory CLU (pre-sCLU), secretory (s)CLU, and nuclear (n)CLU were compared between normal and FED HCEC-DM by Western blot analysis. Expression of CLU mRNA was compared by using RT-PCR. Subcellular localization of CLU was compared in corneal wholemounts from normal eyes and eyes with FED by immunocytochemistry followed by confocal microscopy. RESULTS Proteomic analysis revealed an apparent increase in CLU expression in FED HCEC-DM compared with the normal control. Western blot analysis demonstrated that pre-sCLU protein expression was 5.2 times higher in FED than in normal samples (P = 3.52E-05), whereas the mature form modified for secretion (sCLU) was not significantly elevated (P = 0.092). Expression of nCLU protein was significantly elevated in FED (P = 0.013). RT-PCR analysis revealed that CLU mRNA was significantly increased (P = 0.002) in FED samples, but not in PBK samples. CLU also had a distinctive localization in FED samples with enhanced intracellular staining around the guttae and in the nuclei of endothelial cells. CONCLUSIONS CLU expression is markedly elevated in FED-affected tissue, pointing to a yet undiscovered form of dysregulation of endothelial cell function involved in FED pathogenesis.
Language shift among the Armenians of Jordan

This paper examines the language situation among Armenians in Jordan, a small minority group inhabiting the country for the last 100 years. The Armenians of Jordan are assumed to be experiencing a kind of shift in their speech. The main aim of this study is to gauge the shift and to highlight the sociodemographic factors enhancing it. The data were collected with the help of a number of Armenian assistants, by means of questionnaires and interviews. The results of the study show that Arabic is used mainly in most social domains. However, the Armenian language is found to be used in very restricted situations and by a very small number of people, particularly the elderly. The paper proves that the Armenians of Jordan are experiencing a gradual shift toward Arabic that may lead on their part to language loss. By calibrating the ®ndings of this study against those of Dweik's (2000) work on the Jordanian-Chechens, another minority group inhabiting the country for 100 years too, it has been shown that the Chechens are much more faithful to their language than the Armenians. The distinction between them is accounted for in terms of the size of each group, demographic concentration, and types of occupation held by each of them, among other sociopsychological factors.
Neighborhood environment and loss of physical function in older adults: evidence from the Alameda County Study.

Research suggests that neighborhood environment may influence functional health at an older age. This study examined the association between neighborhood problems and incidence of overall and lower-extremity functional loss. A total of 883 participants in the Alameda County Study who were aged 55 years and older and functionally healthy were questioned in 1994 and 1995 as part of an ongoing cohort study. Participants rated the severity of six neighborhood problems: traffic, noise, crime, trash and litter, lighting, and public transportation. Seventeen percent reported multiple neighborhood problems. Functional loss was measured by self-report of severe difficulty with physical tasks (e.g., climbing stairs, lifting 10 pounds (4.54 kg)). After 1 year, 6.1% developed overall functional loss, and 3.9% developed lower-extremity functional loss. Regression models adjusted for demographic, socioeconomic, health, and behavioral risk factors. Compared with those who reported nonproblem neighborhoods, those who reported multiple-problem neighborhoods were at increased risk of overall functional loss (odds ratio = 2.23, 95% confidence interval: 1.08, 4.60) and lower-extremity functional loss (odds ratio = 3.12, 95% confidence interval: 1.15, 8.51). Neighborhood problems associated with the largest increase in risk were excessive noise, inadequate lighting, and heavy traffic. Older people who reported problematic neighborhood environments had a greater risk of functional deterioration over 1 year compared with those in better neighborhoods.
Research on Language and Communications in Children Who Have Severe Handicaps: A Review and Some Implications for Intervention.

Abstract This paper presents a critical discussion of some contemporary literature on the language development of, and problems in communication for, persons with severe handicaps. For meaning to be transmitted from one person to another requires a social interactive context. These transactional exchanges begin very early in a child's life and carry particular implications for caregivers and therapists. Some implications of this literature for intervention are suggested.
Discursive Representation

Democracy can entail the representation of discourses as well as persons or groups. We explain and advocate discursive representation; explore its justifications, advantages, and problems; and show how it can be accomplished in practice. This practice can involve the selection of discursive representatives to a formal Chamber of Discourses and more informal processes grounded in the broader public sphere. Discursive representation supports many aspects of deliberative democracy and is especially applicable to settings such as the international system lacking a well-defined demos.
Historical biogeography in the age of complexity: expansion and integration

HISTORICAL BIOGEOGRAPHY HAS RECENTLY EXPERIENCED A SIGNIFICANT ADVANCEMENT IN THREE INTEGRATED AREAS. THE FIRST IS THE ADOPTION OF AN ONTOLOGY OF COMPLEXITY, REPLACING THE TRADITIONAL ONTOLOGY OF SIMPLICITY, OR A PRIORI PARSIMONY; SIMPLE AND ELEGANT MODELS OF THE BIOSPHERE ARE NOT SUFFICIENT FOR EXPLAINING THE GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES AND THEIR POST-SPECIATION MOVEMENTS, PRODUCING EVOLUTIONARY RADIATIONS AND COMPLEX MULTI-SPECIES BIOTAS. THE SECOND IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A POWERFUL METHOD FOR PRODUCING AREA CLADOGRAMS FROM COMPLEX DATA, ESPECIALLY CASES OF RETICULATED AREA RELATIONSHIPS, WITHOUT LOSS OF INFORMATION. THAT METHOD, CALLED PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS FOR COMPARING TREES (PACT), IS DESCRIBED HEREIN. THE THIRD ELEMENT IS THE REPLACEMENT OF THE MODEL OF MAXIMUM VICARIANCE WITH THE MODEL CALLED THE TAXON PULSE HYPOTHESIS. USING PACT ANALYSIS FOR A DATA SET OF 33 DIFFERENT CLADES OCCURRING IN 9 DIFFERENT AREAS OF ENDEMISM IN MEXICO, I SHOW HOW TAXON PULSES CAN BE DETECTED. FINALLY, I SHOW HOW PACT RESULTS CAN BE USED TO PROVIDE A PHYLOGENETIC CONTEXT FOR ANALYSES OF SPECIES-AREA RELATIONSHIPS.
Research Approaches for Improved Pro-Poor Control of Zoonoses

Background Developing countries face difficulties in sustainably utilizing tools to effectively implement control measures for zoonoses. This is mainly due to dispersed and heterogeneous smallholder livestock systems, predominance of informal markets, poor infrastructure and lack of resources to deliver information, interventions, and regulations. In addition, developing countries lack an evidence base for planning and targeting control efforts. Zoonotic infections are receiving more and more international attention as diseases of neglected and impoverished communities, at the intersection between livestock production, human health, and poverty. Objective To review research innovations and trends that can help identify and test targeted control strategies for zoonoses tailored to poor communities, focusing particularly on Africa. Methods Review of recommendations of relevant working groups and scientific literature. Results New and innovative research approaches promise to better capture the impact of zoonoses from a societal perspective and the perspective of poor livestock owners through more comprehensive frameworks that consider benefits of the control of zoonoses to the public health, livestock, and private sectors. It is challenging to better assure food safety in informal markets. Risk-based approaches with participatory elements provide a framework in which stakeholders can decide an appropriate level of protection to balance the needs for safe food, cheap food, and pro-poor economic growth. Appropriate information for all stakeholders and capacity-building of national and regional authorities is an important element of this process. New diagnostic tools that are accurate and easily used in developing-country health centers and markets can assist in reporting of cases, detection of patients, and testing of control strategies. Conclusions A research agenda on zoonoses of the livestock sector should be interdisciplinary and participatory and include intersectoral collaborations, notably between the livestock and public health sectors.
A retrospective model of oocyte competence: global mRNA and housekeeping transcripts are not associated with in vitro developmental outcome

Summary Oocyte developmental competence depends on maternal stores that support development throughout a transcriptionally silent period during early embryogenesis. Previous attempts to investigate transcripts associated with oocyte competence have relied on prospective models, which are mostly based on morphological criteria. Using a retrospective model, we quantitatively compared mRNA among oocytes with different embryo development competence. A cytoplasm biopsy was removed from in vitro matured oocytes to perform comparative analysis of amounts of global polyadenylated (polyA) mRNA and housekeeping gene transcripts. After parthenogenetic activation of biopsied oocytes, presumptive zygotes were cultured individually in vitro and oocytes were classified according to embryo development: (i) blocked before the 8-cell stage; (ii) blocked between the 8-cell and morulae stages; or (iii) developed to the blastocyst stage. Sham-manipulated controls confirmed that biopsies did not alter development outcome. Total polyA mRNA amounts correlate with oocyte diameter but not with the ability to develop to the 8-cell and blastocyst stages. The last was also confirmed by relative quantification of GAPDH, H2A and Hprt1 transcripts. In conclusion, we describe a novel retrospective model to identify putative markers of development competence in single oocytes and demonstrate that global mRNA amounts at the metaphase II stage do not correlate with embryo development in vitro.
Infections in Hip and Knee Arthroplasty: Challenges to and Chances for the Microbiological Laboratory

Comprehensive algorithms have been devised to improve the management of periprosthetic joint infections of the hip and the knee (Gomez & Patel, 2011a, 2011b; Peel et al., 2011). There is still no single best method for diagnosis, as stressed for instance in a guideline published recently by the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) (Della Valle et al., 2010). An important reason for this is lacking consensus on how to define arthroplasty infection accurately. Nevertheless, it is beyond dispute that microbiologic techniques play a key role in assessment for these infections. The chapter consists of three sections. Firstly, a general introduction to the special nature of arthroplasty infection is given, which highlights the necessity of reliable microbiological diagnostics. Secondly, a critical appraisal of the various technical and interpretive aspects of microbiologic procedures is featured. Thirdly, our own diagnostic approaches are presented, and a prospect on probable useful developments in the future is offered.
Effektivität des „Verhaltenstrainings in der Grundschule“ zur Förderung sozialer Kompetenz und Reduktion von Verhaltensproblemen

Zusammenfassung Diese Studie untersucht die Effektivitat des schulbasierten Praventionsprogramms Verhaltenstraining in der Grundschule zur Verbesserung sozialer Kompetenzen und Verminde¬rung von Verhaltensproblemen bei Dritt- und Viertklasslern. 21 Klassen (N = 372) an 12 Schulen in Bremen und Niedersachsen nahmen als Trainings- oder Kontrollklassen an der quasi-experimentellen Studie teil. Datenerhebungen wurden mittels Lehrer- und Schulerbefragungen vor Beginn und nach Abschluss des Trainings durchgefuhrt. Zwischen Pra- und Posttest nahmen bei der Trainings- im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe sozial-emotionale Probleme ab. Zudem verbesserte sich das Sozialverhalten bei einem Teil der Trainingsgruppe signifikant. Geschlechtsspezifische Effekte konnten beim Sozialverhalten nachgewiesen werden: Jungen profitierten starker vom Training als Madchen. Implikationen fur die Praxis werden aufgezeigt und Grenzen der Studienbefunde diskutiert.
Nurturing Rich General Education Courses

This article describes the effective system that resulted from revising Guilford College’s general education curriculum. The system consists of the following steps: naming and operationalizing clear academic principles, establishing detailed sets of criteria for general education categories, screening course proposals rigorously, assessing courses in light of the criteria, and creating an effective feedback loop.
Marina Stoyanova, Unique focus: Languages without multiple wh-questions (Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 123). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2008. Pp. vii+184.

This monograph, based on the author’s doctoral dissertation, is a comparative investigation of the lack of multiple wh-questions in four unrelated languages, Somali, Berber, Italian and Irish. It aims at providing a typological specification of languages that do not license multiple wh-questions within the typological system developed for languages that do. In this aim, the investigation starts from an overview of the strategies employed by multiple wh-question languages (i.e. multiple wh-fronting, multiple whin-situ, a mixture of both) and relates them to the strategy of question formation employed by non-multiple wh-question languages, viz. single whfronting. The questions addressed are the following:
Advances in the measurement of red blood cell deformability: A brief review

Red blood cells (RBCs) exhibit a unique deformability, which enables them to change shape reversibly in response to an external force. The deformability of RBCs allows them to flow in microvessels while transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide. In this review, we discussed the major determinants of RBC deformability, which include cell geometry, internal viscosity, rheological properties of the membrane, osmotic pressure, calcium, nitric oxide, temperature, ageing, and depletion of adenosine triphosphate. Additionally, we highlighted the various methods and techniques used to measure RBC deformability. Individual cell analyses (pipette aspiration and optical tweezers) and bulk cell analyses (ektacytometry, multiple channels) were described and compared. Finally, we reviewed the correlation between RBC deformability and clinical outcomes such as diabetic microangiopathy.
Postural assessment of patients with non-conventional knee endoprosthesis

Objective: To investigate the correlation between the sagittal and frontal alignment and possible postural asymmetries found in patients submitted to total knee stent placement for osteosarcoma. Methods: Twenty two individuals were divided into two groups according to tumor location: femur group (13 patients) and tibia group (nine patients), who were evaluated through postural analysis software (SAPO). Results: No statistically significant difference was found between groups, supporting previous result showing that both groups present the same postural asymmetries. Conclusion: We conclude that both groups have the same postural imbalances, especially the knee of the affected limb that presents hyperextension and center of gravity shifted anteriorly and laterally to the non-affected limb, indicating changes in weight bearing and influencing the gait pattern and balance. Level of Evidence II, Prospective Comparative Study.
Greedy Sparsity-Promoting Algorithms for Distributed Learning

This paper focuses on the development of novel greedy techniques for distributed learning under sparsity constraints. Greedy techniques have widely been used in centralized systems due to their low computational requirements and at the same time their relatively good performance in estimating sparse parameter vectors/signals. The paper reports two new algorithms in the context of sparsity-aware learning. In both cases, the goal is first to identify the support set of the unknown signal and then to estimate the nonzero values restricted to the active support set. First, an iterative greedy multistep procedure is developed, based on a neighborhood cooperation strategy, using batch processing on the observed data. Next, an extension of the algorithm to the online setting, based on the diffusion LMS rationale for adaptivity, is derived. Theoretical analysis of the algorithms is provided, where it is shown that the batch algorithm converges to the unknown vector if a Restricted Isometry Property (RIP) holds. Moreover, the online version converges in the mean to the solution vector under some general assumptions. Finally, the proposed schemes are tested against recently developed sparsity-promoting algorithms and their enhanced performance is verified via simulation examples.
Three Educational Scenarios for the Future: lessons from the sociology of knowledge

This review draws on social realist approaches in the sociology of knowledge and in light of them constructs three scenarios for the future of education in the next decades. The primary focus of the review is on one of the most crucial questions facing educational policy makers- the relationship between school and everyday or common sense knowledge. The different possibilities for how the school/nonschool knowledge boundaries might be approached are expressed in three scenarios - 'boundaries as given', 'a boundary-less world’ and the idea of ‘boundary maintenance as a condition for boundary crossing’. The educational implications of each are explored and the review makes the case for the third scenario. The factors likely to make one or other scenario dominate educational policy in the next 20-30 years are also considered.