Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Sociocultural Contextualization of Educational Violence: Some Reflections on Northern Education.

This position paper explores the issue of violence in northern Canadian schools and personal perceptions and reactions to the violent events. Spindler's phrase "sociocultural contextualization" is viewed as placing and examining education and the educative process within the social and cultural environment of the community served by the school. The study was based on four assumptions: (1) violence in the school is reflective of violence within the child; (2) violence within the child is reflective of violence within the home; (3) violence within the home is reflective of violence within the community; and (4) violence within the community is caused by poverty, unemployment, a sense of communal failure, and a history of pervasive social injustice. Violence is not an ethnic issue, nor is it something that develops out of culture or heritage. Until and unless the social causes of violence are addressed, relationships among children in schools will continue to be reflective of those relationships that exist within the wider community. It is a moral imperative for society to do all that is possible to insure that those communities become viable places in which to live. (EH) *********************************************************************** , Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *********************************************************************** O THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXTUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL VIOLENCE : SOME REFLECTIONS ON NORTHERN EDUCATION A paper presented to the Society for Socialist Studies at the Annual Learned Societies Conference University of Calgary Calgary, Alberta
Neuromuscular diseases associated with HIV‐1 infection

Neuromuscular disorders are common in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); they occur at all stages of disease and affect all parts of the peripheral nervous system. These disorders have diverse etiologies including HIV itself, immune suppression and dysregulation, comorbid illnesses and infections, and side effects of medications. In this article, we review the following HIV‐associated conditions: distal symmetric polyneuropathy; inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy; mononeuropathy; mononeuropathy multiplex; autonomic neuropathy; progressive polyradiculopathy due to cytomegalovirus; herpes zoster; myopathy; and other, rarer disorders. Muscle Nerve, 2009
Performance Evaluation of Five Stage VCO Ring Oscillator with Reverse Substrate Bias and SAL Technique Using Nanoscale CMOS Technology

In the present work, improved designs for five-stage voltage controlled ring oscillators (VCO) with reverse body bias and SAL technique have been presented to improve the performance parameter. First VCO design with inverter based delay cell shows frequency variation [3.9-1.89] MHz with SAL technique and Second design with varying PMOS and NMOS substrate bias from [0.6-1.1] V shows frequency variation of [6.62-3.0] GHz. The proposed five stages VCO ring oscillator is implemented in 45nm cadence virtuoso environment provides high oscillation frequency (GHz) provide less delay (0.21psec), minimum phase noise (179.1dBc/Hz) and lower leakage power (1.23pw) with reverse substrate bias technique.
SLAM With Joint Sensor Bias Estimation: Closed Form Solutions on Observability, Error Bounds and Convergence Rates

Notable problems in Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) are caused by biases and drifts in both exteroceptive and proprioceptive sensors. The impacts of sensor biases include inconsistent map estimates and inaccurate localization. Unlike Map Aided Localisation with Joint Sensor Bias Estimation (MAL-JSBE), SLAM with Joint Sensor Bias Estimation (SLAM-JSBE) is more complex as it encompasses a state space, which increases with the discovery of new landmarks and the inherent map to vehicle correlations. The properties such as observability, error bounds and convergence rates of SLAM-JSBE using an augmented estimation theoretic, state space approach, are investigated here. SLAM-JSBE experiments, which adhere to the derived constraints, are demonstrated using a low cost inertial navigation sensor suite.
Teacher Preparation for Linguistically Diverse Classrooms : A Resource for Teacher Educators

Foreword, Ken Zeichner Preface Acknowledgments Part I. Conceptual and Contextual Foundations 1. Language, Schooling, and the Preparation of Teachers for Linguistic Diversity, Tamara Lucas 2. English Language Learners in American Schools: Characteristics and Challenges, Guadalupe Valdes and Martha Castellon 3. Preparing Teachers for English Language Learners: The Policy Context, Ana Maria Villegas and Tamara Lucas Part II. Developing Teacher Expertise for Educating English Language Learners Curriculum Content 4. A Framework for Preparing Linguistically Responsive Teachers, Tamara Lucas and Ana Maria Villegas 5. "Accommodating Diversity": Preservice Teachers' Views on Effective Practices for English Language Learners, Ester J. de Jong and Candace A. Harper 6. Systemic Functional Linguistics, Teachers' Professional Development, and ELLs' Academic Literacy Practices, Meg Gebhard, Jerri Willett, Juan Pablo Jimenez, and Amy Piedra 7. "We've Let Them in on the Secret": Using SFL Theory to Improve the Teaching of Writing to Bilingual Learners, Maria Estela Brisk and Margarita Zisselsberger Program Design 8. Preparing Teachers to Reach English Language Learners: Preservice and Inservice Initiatives, Constance Walker and Karla Stone 9. Fostering Collaboration Between Mainstream and Bilingual Teachers and Teacher Candidates, Karen Sakash and Flora Rodriguez-Brown 10. The Growth of Teacher Expertise for Teaching English Language Learners: A Socioculturally-Based Professional Development Model, Aida Walqui 11. Toward Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teacher Education: The Impact of a Faculty Learning Community on Two Teacher Educators, Mileidis Gort, Wendy Glenn, and John Settlage Program Coherence 12. Toward Program-Wide Coherence in Preparing Teachers to Teach and Advocate for English Language Learners, Steven Z. Athanases and Luciana de Oliveira Conclusion 13. Toward the Transformation of Teacher Education to Prepare All Teachers for Linguistically Diverse Classrooms, Tamara Lucas, Montclair State University About the Authors Index
Combining SENSE and compressed sensing MRI With a fast iterative contourlet thresholding algorithm

We present a new method to improve the performance of the combination of sensitivity encoding (SENSE) and compressed sensing (CS) based on the fast iterative contourlet thresholding algorithm (FICOTA). The proposed method, dubbed as FICOTA-SENSE, separates FICOTA reconstruction and SENSE reconstruction into two sequential steps and successfully inherits the effectiveness of FICOTA. Experimental results validate that FICOTA-SENSE can provide superior performance on reconstruction quality and representation of curve-like features.
Pathophysiology of the Small Airways in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by a persistent airflow limitation that is usually progressive and associated with an enhanced chronic inflammatory response in the airways and the lung to noxious particles or gases. From a pathological point of view, COPD is characterized by two distinct and frequently coexisting aspects: small airway abnormalities and parenchymal destruction (or emphysema). When pathological changes are localized in lung parenchyma, they will contribute to airflow limitation by reducing the elastic recoil of the lung through parenchymal destruction, as well as by reducing the elastic load applied to the airways through destruction of alveolar attachments. Conversely, when pathological changes involve the small airways, they will contribute to airflow limitation by narrowing and obliterating the lumen and by actively constricting the airways, therefore increasing the resistance. In this article we will review the structural abnormalities in small airways and their relationship with the disordered pulmonary function in COPD, in the attempt to disentangle the mechanisms contributing to the development and progression of airflow limitation in smokers. We will start by describing the normal structure of the small airways, and then observe the main pathological alterations that accumulate in this site and how they parallel pulmonary function derangement.
Using Task and Data Models for user Interface Declarative Generation

User interfaces for data systems has been a technical and human interaction research question since a long time and today these user interfaces require dynamic automation and run-time generation to properly deal with on a large-scale. This paper proposes a framework, i.e., a methodological process, a meta-model and a computer software to drive the automatic database user interface design and code behind generation from both the task model and data model combined together. This includes both the user interface and the sound and complete data update, definition and manipulation.
An approach to comprehensive trust management in multi-agent systems with credibility

Security is a substantial concept in multi-agent systems where agents dynamically enter and leave the system. Different models of trust have been proposed to assist agents in deciding whether to interact with requesters who are not known (or not very well known) by the service provider. To this end, in this paper we progress our work on security for agent-based systems, which is embedded in service providerpsilas trust evaluation of the counter part. Agents are autonomous software equipped with advanced communication (using public dialogue game-based protocols and private strategies on how to use these protocols) and reasoning capabilities. The service provider agent obtains reports provided by trustworthy agents (regarding to direct interaction histories) and referee agents (in the form of recommendations) and combines a number of measurements, such as number of interactions and timely relevance, to provide an overall estimation of a particular agentpsilas likely behavior. Requesting this agent, called the target agent, to provide the number of interactions it had with each agent, the service provider penalizes the agents who lied about having information for trust evaluation process. In addition, after a periodic time, the actual behavior of the target agent is compared against the information provided by others. This comparison leads to both adjusting the credibility of the contributing agents in trust evaluation and improving the system trust evaluation by minimizing the estimation error. Overall the proposed framework is shown to assist agents effectively perform the trust estimation of interacting agents.
From Communication to Implementation - A framework for understanding and reducing unintentional complexity in software development processes

Since the invention of “software engineering” in 1968, software development has been suffering from efficiency problems. Software development is bridging the gap between verbally formulated requirements and programming languages. This work equates development with communication. Communication efforts refer to either essential or accidental complexity. This work hypothesizes that accidental complexity is inherent in implementation processes. However, it can be mitigated. This paper discusses an implementation framework that attacks accidental complexity. The framework is tested in an experiment in order to study the hypothesized efficiency gains in a daily programming task. Finally, this work discusses potential reasons for the existence of accidental complexity in software development.
SimTester: a controllable and observable testing framework for embedded systems

In software for embedded systems, the frequent use of interrupts for timing, sensing, and I/O processing can cause concurrency faults to occur due to interactions between applications, device drivers, and interrupt handlers. This type of fault is considered by many practitioners to be among the most difficult to detect, isolate, and correct, in part because it can be sensitive to execution interleavings and often occurs without leaving any observable incorrect output. As such, commonly used testing techniques that inspect program outputs to detect failures are often ineffective at detecting them. To test for these concurrency faults, test engineers need to be able to control interleavings so that they are deterministic. Furthermore, they also need to be able to observe faults as they occur instead of relying on observable incorrect outputs. In this paper, we introduce SimTester, a framework that allows engineers to effectively test for subtle and non-deterministic concurrency faults by providing them with greater controllability and observability. We implemented our framework on a commercial virtual platform that is widely used to support hardware/software co-designs to promote ease of adoption. We then evaluated its effectiveness by using it to test for data races and deadlocks. The result shows that our framework can be effective and efficient at detecting these faults.
Exercise training increases total systemic arterial compliance in humans.

Using a noninvasive technique we have investigated the effect of 4 wk of exercise training on total systemic arterial compliance (SAC) in 13 previously sedentary young males. SAC is assessed from simultaneous measurements of ascending aortic blood velocity using Doppler velocimetry and surrogate estimates of aortic root pressure obtained by applanation tonometry of the right carotid artery. Subsequent calibration of the pressure waveform is by linear interpolation against brachial arterial pressures measured sphygmomanometrically. Exercise training increased the overall mean maximum oxygen consumption (VO2 max) by 5.1 ml.min-1 x kg-1 (95% confidence limits 1.30-8.80, P < 0.01) and decreased mean systolic blood pressure by 8.4 mmHg [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.9-13.9, P < 0.01]. Mean SAC increased by 0.26 units (95% CI 0.10-0.43, P < 0.01) with the regional stiffness of the aortic arch (measured echocardiographically using the beta-index) showing a complementary decrease of 1.03 (95% CI -2.25-0.19, P < 0.05). Assuming a logarithmic arterial volume-pressure relationship, we were able to dissociate the change in SAC due to the exercise training-induced decrease in blood pressure from that due to change in the intrinsic compliance of the systemic arteries. Our results indicate that 1) exercise training increases SAC; 2) that the increase in SAC is greater than that due to changes in blood pressure and is likely to include a component due to change in intrinsic arterial compliance; and 3) that the induced change in SAC is linearly related to change in VO2 max.
A Study on Coexistence Capability Evaluations of the Enhanced Channel Hopping Mechanism in WBANs

As an important coexistence technology, channel hopping can reduce the interference among Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs). However, it simultaneously brings some issues, such as energy waste, long latency and communication interruptions, etc. In this paper, we propose an enhanced channel hopping mechanism that allows multiple WBANs coexisted in the same channel. In order to evaluate the coexistence performance, some critical metrics are designed to reflect the possibility of channel conflict. Furthermore, by taking the queuing and non-queuing behaviors into consideration, we present a set of analysis approaches to evaluate the coexistence capability. On the one hand, we present both service-dependent and service-independent analysis models to estimate the number of coexisting WBANs. On the other hand, based on the uniform distribution assumption and the additive property of Possion-stream, we put forward two approximate methods to compute the number of occupied channels. Extensive simulation results demonstrate that our estimation approaches can provide an effective solution for coexistence capability estimation. Moreover, the enhanced channel hopping mechanism can significantly improve the coexistence capability and support a larger arrival rate of WBANs.
Azelnidipine Decreases Sympathetic Nerve Activity Via Antioxidant Effect in the Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla of Stroke-prone Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

The long-acting dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker, azelnidipine, is suggested to inhibit sympathetic nerve activity. We previously demonstrated that oxidative stress in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) activates sympathetic nerve activity. The aim of the present study was to determine whether oral administration of azelnidipine inhibits sympathetic nerve activity and if so to determine whether the effect is mediated by antioxidant effect in the RVLM. Azelnidipine, hydralazine, or vehicle was orally administered for 28 days to stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats. Reductions in systolic blood pressure were similar in azelnidipine and hydralazine groups. Heart rate was significantly higher in the hydralazine group than in the control, but not altered in the azelnidipine group. Urinary norepinephrine excretion as an indicator of sympathetic nerve activity was significantly lower in the azelnidipine group, whereas it was significantly higher in the hydralazine group than in the control. Levels of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase activity were significantly lower in the azelnidipine group than in control. Superoxide dismutase activity was significantly increased in the azelnidipine group more than in the control. These results suggest that azelnidipine decreases an indicator of sympathetic nerve activity by antioxidant effect mediated through inhibition of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase activity and activation of superoxide dismutase in the RVLM of stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats.
An ulra-low-energy/frame multi-standard JPEG co-processor in 65nm CMOS with sub/near-threshold power supply.

Citation for published version (APA): Pu, Y. , Pineda de Gyvez, J., Corporaal, H. , & Ha, Y. (2009). An ulra-low-energy/frame multi-standard JPEG coprocessor in 65nm CMOS with sub/near-threshold power supply. In Proceedings of the IEEE International SolidState Circuits Conference 2009, ISSCC 2009, 8-12 February 2009, San Francisco, CA, USA (pp. 146-147a). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. https://doi.org/10.1109/ISSCC.2009. 4977350
Monitoring quality-of-experience for operational cellular networks using machine-to-machine traffic

It is crucial for cellular data network operators to understand the service quality perceived by its customers. The state-of-art systems deployed in cellular networks mostly report service quality aggregated on cell site level, which is typically an aggregation of tens or hundreds of customers depending on the locations of the cell sites. In this paper, we propose to enhance the measurement of customer-perceived service quality by leveraging M2M devices as sensors in the field, which provide an unprecedented opportunity for cellular network operators to measure what end-users experience with better accuracy and coverage. Our approach is to identify a set of M2M devices which are stationary and communicate continuously over the cellular network over an indefinite period of time. We use these M2M devices to estimate the customer-perceived service quality during cell site outages. We implement our methodology as a system called M2MScan and evaluate M2MScan with both synthetic outages and real outages from a large-scale operational cellular network. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that employs M2M devices to measure the service quality perceived by customers in operational cellular networks at a large scale.
Astrocytes are very sensitive to develop innate immune responses to lipid‐carried short interfering RNA

Short interfering RNA (siRNA) inhibits the synthesis of specific proteins through RNA interference (RNAi). However, siRNA can induce innate immune responses that are mediated by toll‐like receptors (TLRs) in cells of the immune system. Here, we sought to evaluate whether siRNA can induce such responses in glial cells. We examined the effects of various siRNA sequences prepared with lipids (oligofectamine). Lipid‐siRNA induced variable degrees of silencing‐independent nonspecific effects, e.g. increased Stat1 and Cox‐2 expression and release of IL‐6 and IP‐10 in primary astroglia. This was prevented through chemical modification of siRNA by nucleoside 2′‐O‐methylation, without impairing specific gene silencing. Lipid‐siRNA also induced nonspecific responses in purified astroglia, but not in microglia, or 3T3 cells. The highest TLR7 and TLR3 mRNA expression was found in microglia and purified astroglia, respectively. Accordingly, the TLR3 agonist poly(I:C) (PIC) induced higher release of IFN‐β in primary and purified astroglia than in microglia. As siRNA, PIC induced IP‐10, Stat1, VCAM‐1, and Cox‐2 and increased TLR3 mRNA expression. The effects of lipid‐siRNA in purified astrocytes were attenuated after silencing TLR3 or TLR7 expression, and by the PKR inhibitor 2‐aminopurine. Furthermore, lipid‐siRNA induced the expression of RIG‐I. In contrast, siRNA devoid of lipids did not enter the astrocytes, did not silence gene expression, and did not induce Stat1 or Cox‐2. The results show that, in astroglia, lipid‐siRNA induces innate immune responses that are mediated, at least in part, by intracellular mechanism dependent on TLR7, TLR3, and helicases. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Increasing impact of obesity on serum lipids and lipoproteins in young adults. The Bogalusa Heart Study.

Obesity is an important determinant of serum lipids and lipoproteins in adults. Since obesity begins early in life, the impact of obesity of serum lipid and lipoprotein levels was examined in 3311 children and young adults (ages 5 to 26 years) from a totally biracial community. Study subjects were grouped according to race, sex, and age categories (5 to 10 years, 11 to 16 years, 17 to 22 years, and 23 to 26 years), excluding females using oral contraceptives or who were pregnant. Overall, associations increase with age, being most prominently noted in white males. The strong positive relation of ponderosity to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was indicated in the older age groups with correlation coefficients ranging from r = -. 09 in the youngest black males to r = . 47 in white males aged 17 to 22 years. A negative association was noted between ponderosity and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol with correlation coefficients ranging from r = . 08 in black females aged 17 to 22 years to r = -. 39 in the oldest white males. Similar results were seen using subscapular skin-fold thickness as a measure of central obesity. Overweight was defined as exceeding 20% above the National Health Anthropometric and Nutritional Examination Survey II survey 50th percentiles. The prevalence of overweight individuals increased with age, being most prominent in black females. The percent(s) of hypercholesterolemic cases, based on the National Cholesterol Education Program criteria, likewise increased with age. A marked proportion of older white males were classified as borderline high and high for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. A regression model using subscapular skinfold to predict serum lipids and lipoproteins within each age group indicated a consistent increase in the adverse nature of the lipid profile. Intervention and education programs aimed at reducing obesity at younger ages are recommended to reduce serum lipid and lipoprotein levels developing in young adulthood.