Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Educational innovation in politically sensitive fields: a case‐study of interview material involving the bereaved families of the Iraq Nasiriya killings of 12 November 2003

Northern Ireland schools and colleges are no strangers to the experience of political violence and inevitably the travails of the wider community feature in the curriculum matter of the school and university systems. Peace education, in various forms, has been a recurrent feature of curriculum innovation at every level of educational provision in Northern Ireland—higher, further, informal and the school sector alike. Faced with the realities of the Northern Ireland conflict, we have found that a comparative approach to politically sensitive subjects has allowed considerable progress to be made in exploring ‘real life’ issues of death, injury and human suffering, and in discussions concerning reconciliation in a society which have been plagued by ethnic violence. This ‘in practice’ article offers a brief ‘snapshot’ of a recent project we conducted in creating and teaching ‘politically sensitive’ curriculum materials with university students, including future teachers, in Northern Ireland.
Protective Factors in Forensic Mental Health: A New Frontier

The field of violence risk assessment has made substantial strides in the past four decades. In large part, these advances reflect the addition of purpose-designed risk assessment measures such as the HCR-20 and COVR as well as the contributions of prolific scholars and state of the art studies (Hodgins’ Aftercare Project; Monahan, Steadman et al.'s MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment study). However, important areas of inquiry have been left largely unexplored. The potential incremental value to be added by dynamic risk factors to historical and static factors is relatively unexamined. Yet, changeable factors offer the capacity to identify new opportunities for the prevention and management of violence risk. Similarly, the added value to be offered by a consideration of protective factors in addition to risk factors is only now emerging as a field of inquiry in adult forensic mental health. This special section is dedicated to addressing some of these limitations and provides papers describing two new measures (SAPROF and START) and empirical evidence supporting the role of protective factors in risk assessment and risk management research.
Reducing Personal Exposure to Particulate Air Pollution Improves Cardiovascular Health in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease

Background: Air pollution exposure increases cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and is a major global public health concern. Objectives: We investigated the benefits of reducing personal exposure to urban air pollution in patients with coronary heart disease. Methods: In an open randomized crossover trial, 98 patients with coronary heart disease walked on a predefined route in central Beijing, China, under different conditions: once while using a highly efficient face mask, and once while not using the mask. Symptoms, exercise, personal air pollution exposure, blood pressure, heart rate, and 12-lead electrocardiography were monitored throughout the 24-hr study period. Results: Ambient air pollutants were dominated by fine and ultrafine particulate matter (PM) that was present at high levels [74 μg/m3 for PM2.5 (PM with aerodynamic diamater <2.5 µm)]. Consistent with traffic-derived sources, this PM contained organic carbon and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and was highly oxidizing, generating large amounts of free radicals. The face mask was well tolerated, and its use was associated with decreased self-reported symptoms and reduced maximal ST segment depression (–142 vs. –156 μV, p = 0.046) over the 24-hr period. When the face mask was used during the prescribed walk, mean arterial pressure was lower (93 ± 10 vs. 96 ± 10 mmHg, p = 0.025) and heart rate variability increased (high-frequency power: 54 vs. 40 msec2, p = 0.005; high-frequency normalized power: 23.5 vs. 20.5 msec, p = 0.001; root mean square successive differences: 16.7 vs. 14.8 msec, p = 0.007). However, mask use did not appear to influence heart rate or energy expenditure. Conclusions: Reducing personal exposure to air pollution using a highly efficient face mask appeared to reduce symptoms and improve a range of cardiovascular health measures in patients with coronary heart disease. Such interventions to reduce personal exposure to PM air pollution have the potential to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events in this highly susceptible population.
The Impact of Ethical Leadership Behavior on Employee Outcomes: The Roles of Psychological Empowerment and Authenticity

The topics of authentic leadership and the ethical behavior of leaders have received significant interest in recent years due to the plethora of ethical scandals in corporations. In this paper, we developed a theoretical framework that maintains that employees' psychological empowerment mediates the relationship between leaders' ethical behaviors and employees' organizational commitment and trust in leaders. We also argue that authenticity (i.e., the consistency between leaders' true ethical intention and behavior) moderates the relationship between leaders' ethical behaviors and employee outcomes. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the proposed model for work on authentic leadership.
New approach with Muller method for Solving Profit Based Unit Commitment

This paper presents a new approach with Muller method for solving profit based unit commitment (PBUC). In deregulated environment, the generation companies (GENCOs) schedule their generators to maximize their profit rather than satisfying the power demand. The PBUC problem is solved by the proposed approach in two stages. Initially, the information of committed units is obtained by a simple approach and finally non linear programming sub problem of economic dispatch is solved by Muller method. The proposed approach has been tested on a power system with 3 and 10 generating units. Simulation results of the proposed approach have been compared with existing methods and also with traditional unit commitment. It is observed from the simulation results that the proposed algorithm provides maximum profit with less computational time compared to existing methods.
Using wearable computing solutions in real-world applications

In this paper we report on the wearIT@work project. With the wearIT@work project the European Commission and 42 partners from 16 countries invested into a new technology empowering mobile workers. The first 42 months of this project are over and industrial demonstrators, evaluations and results and an exploitation strategy are available. Beside the four application domains of maintenance, production, healthcare and emergency response further domains like cultural heritage, a rural living lab for the prevention of environmental disasters and eInclusion are first extensions to new application domains. In this paper based on the results of the third development cycle of the project results and an approach of the exploitation strategy are presented.
Black Intellectuals' Critique of Early Mental Testing: A Little-Known Saga of the 1920s

The numerous studies supporting ideologies about the innate mental inferiority of blacks and certain ethnic groups generated a backlash of rejoinders among black intellectuals of the 1920s. Responding to the denigrating inferences mental test researchers were drawing from their data, a group of black social scientists challenged these hereditarian views and argued that inferior performance by blacks on intelligence tests was a function of environment, that is, poor educational opportunities, disadvantaged home conditions, and unfamiliarity with the test items. In challenging the causal validity of the tests, they pointed to the racial bias of the researchers and testers as variables affecting the poor performance of blacks. Although these relatively few blacks encountered cultural barriers to their developing a sophisticated attack on racist ideology, they followed the tradition of earlier black intellectuals, marshalling the talents among themselves and soliciting the intellectual support of sympathetic white scholars to contravene racist hypotheses and conclusions about blacks. Their critiques and their paradoxical institutionalization of these tests in their schools and colleges, however, are an ironic twist which raises questions in the sociology of knowledge.
The General Game Playing Description Language Is Universal

The Game Description Language is a high-level, rule-based formalisms for communicating the rules of arbitrary games to general game-playing systems, whose challenging task is to learn to play previously unknown games without human intervention. Originally designed for deterministic games with complete information about the game state, the language was recently extended to include randomness and imperfect information. However, determining the extent to which this enhancement allows to describe truly arbitrary games was left as an open problem. We provide a positive answer to this question by relating the extended Game Description Language to the universal, mathematical concept of extensive-form games, proving that indeed just any such game can be described faithfully.
Genetic Vaccination against Experimental Infection with Myotropic Parasite Strains of Trypanosoma cruzi

In earlier studies, we reported that a heterologous prime-boost regimen using recombinant plasmid DNA followed by replication-defective adenovirus vector, both containing Trypanosoma cruzi genes encoding trans-sialidase (TS) and amastigote surface protein (ASP) 2, provided protective immunity against experimental infection with a reticulotropic strain of this human protozoan parasite. Herein, we tested the outcome of genetic vaccination of F1 (CB10XBALB/c) mice challenged with myotropic parasite strains (Brazil and Colombian). Initially, we determined that the coadministration during priming of a DNA plasmid containing the murine IL-12 gene improved the immune response and was essential for protective immunity elicited by the heterologous prime-boost regimen in susceptible male mice against acute lethal infections with these parasites. The prophylactic or therapeutic vaccination of resistant female mice led to a drastic reduction in the number of inflammatory infiltrates in cardiac and skeletal muscles during the chronic phase of infection with either strain. Analysis of the electrocardiographic parameters showed that prophylactic vaccination reduced the frequencies of sinus arrhythmia and atrioventricular block. Our results confirmed that prophylactic vaccination using the TS and ASP-2 genes benefits the host against acute and chronic pathologies caused by T. cruzi and should be further evaluated for the development of a veterinary or human vaccine against Chagas disease.
Conditional dendritic oscillators in a lobster mechanoreceptor neurone.

1. Intra‐ and extracellular recordings were made from in vitro preparations of the lobster (Homarus gammarus) stomatogastric nervous system to study the nature and origin of pacemaker‐like activity in a primary mechanoreceptor neurone, the anterior gastric receptor (AGR), whose two bilateral stretch‐sensitive dendrites ramify in the tendon of powerstroke muscle GM1 of the gastric mill system. 2. Although the AGR is known to be autoactive, we report here that in 20% of our preparations, rather than autogenic tonic discharge, the receptor fired spontaneously in discrete bursts comprising three to ten action potentials and repeating at cycle frequencies of 0.5‐2.5 Hz in the absence of mechanical stimulation. Intrasomatic recordings revealed that such rhythmic bursting was driven by slow oscillations in membrane potential, the frequency of which was voltage sensitive and dependent upon the level of stretch applied to the receptor terminals of the AGR. 3. Autoactive bursting of the AGR originated from an endogenous oscillatory mechanism in the sensory dendrites themselves, since (i) during both steady, repetitive firing and bursting, somatic and axonal impulses were always preceded 1:1 by dendritic action potentials, (ii) hyperpolarizing the AGR cell body to block triggering of axonal impulses revealed attenuated somatic spikes that continued to originate from the two peripheral dendrites, (iii) the timing of burst firing could be phase reset by brief electrical stimulation of either dendrite, and (iv) spontaneous bursting continued to be expressed by an AGR dendrite after physical isolation from the GM1 muscle and the stomatogastric nervous system. 4. Although a given AGR in vitro could switch spontaneously from dendritic bursting to tonic firing and vice versa, exogenous application of micromolar (or less) concentrations of the neuropeptide F1 (TNRNFLRFamide) to the dendritic membrane could rapidly and reversibly switch the receptor firing pattern from repetitive firing to the bursting mode. Exposure of the somatic and axonal membrane of the AGR to F1 was without effect, as were applications of other neuroactive substances such as serotonin, octopamine and proctolin. 5. We conclude that, as for many oscillatory neurones of the central nervous system, the intrinsic activity pattern of this peripheral sensory neurone may be dynamically conferred by extrinsic modulatory influences, presumably according to computational demands. Moreover, the ability of the AGR to behave as an endogenous burster imparts considerable integrative complexity since, in this activity mode, sensory coding not only occurs through the frequency modulation of on‐going dendritic bursts but also via changes in the duration of individual bursts and their inherent spike frequencies.
Inferior vena cava stenosis-induced sinusoidal obstructive syndrome after living donor liver transplantation

The sinusoidal obstructive syndrome (SOS) is a complication that usually follows hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. It is also known as veno-occlusive disease, which is a rare complication of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Herein, we reported a 34 year-old female patient presenting SOS after LDLT. Its underlying cause was presumed to be associated with liver abscess and subsequent inferior vena cava stenosis. SOS led to graft failure, thus requiring retransplantation with a deceased donor liver graft. The underlying causes of SOS are complex pathologic entity with multifactorial etiology. It is likely that its multifactorial etiology includes a decrease of hepatic venous outflow that is caused by graft liver infection and inferior vena cava stenosis.
GPU-Based Background Illumination Correction for Blue Screen Matting

Separation of foreground objects from an almost constant backing color for video applications is still a common problem ([1]). For non-realtime situations there is a wide variety of different powerful mathematical approaches that can deal with most of the matting problems. For SD/HD studio realtime keyers most solutions are not applicable due to their algorithm complexity or high effort in user interaction. Excellent hardware keyers, such as Ultimattetrade work on most occasions, but even under controlled lighting in a blue-/greenscreen matting problems may occur, or creativity is limited by necessary lighting conditions. As a preprocessing algorithm for traditional chroma keying systems, we present a simple background illumination correction based approach for avoiding matting problems due to uneven or poor lit blue-/greenscreens. Using the computational power of GPU computing (GPGPU [2]) the presented algorithm is realtime capable and offers an improvement for achievable mattes quality.
İLKÖĞRETİM ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN VATAN OLGUSUNA İLİŞKİN ALGILARININ BELİRLENMESİ

The study aimed towards presenting the metaphors created by middle school 6th year students related to the concept of “homeland” was held with the phenomenology method. The study was held in 5 middle schools connected to the Directorate of National Education in Nigde with a total of 164 students. The students who took part in the study created 46 different metaphors in total. When the metaphors that the students created are observed, it can be seen that metaphors on “family, mother, father and parents” were the most created metaphors. It can be said that particularly due to their age, students related the concept of homeland which they see as a supreme existence-value, with their parents whom they can't even imagine losing. Because, parents are indispensible due to the students’ age. Home and heart metaphors which stand out in other categories are also in a position which supports the situation. Alongside these, metaphors for “flag and love” being frequently created metaphors also prove that the students associate the concept of homeland with something positive. The created metaphors having positive meanings and there not being any room for negative definitions can be proof that students have no negative thoughts related to the concept of homeland. All of these situations arising can be proof of the Turkish society structure placing sacred meanings on the concept of homeland. As soon as a child is born in a Turkish society, the desire for them to be a “dutiful child to the homeland-society” is at the forefront. When they are sent to do their military service, the application of henna is related to this situation and it is embedded in the belief that the child is sacrificed to the homeland after God. The thought in the desire for a dutiful child in every prayer is related to this situation.
Algorithm-based fault tolerance for floating-point operations in massively parallel systems

Considers the applicability of algorithm-based fault tolerance (ABFT) to massively parallel scientific computation. Existing ABFT schemes can provide effective fault tolerance at a low cost for computation on matrices of moderate size; however, the methods do not scale well to floating-point operations on large systems. The authors propose the use of a partitioned linear encoding scheme to provide scalability. Matrix algorithms employing this scheme are presented and compared to current ABFT schemes with respect to numerical stability and hardware/time overhead. The partitioned scheme is shown to provide scalable linear codes with improved numerical properties with only s small increase in hardware and time overhead. The partitioned approach prevents overflow in encoding and can preserve the reflectivity of codes, while guarding against roundoff error in encoding. The sharper bound on numerical encoding error allows the method to provide more complete fault coverage. <<ETX>>
The activity‐dependent plasticity of segmental and intersegmental synaptic connections in the lamprey spinal cord

Activity‐dependent synaptic plasticity has been proposed as a contributory factor in the patterning of rhythmic network activity. However, its role has not been examined in detail. Here, paired or triple intracellular recordings have been made from identified neurons in the lamprey locomotor network to examine the potential relevance of activity‐dependent synaptic plasticity in segmental and intersegmental spinal networks. Segmental inputs from glutamatergic excitatory interneurons (EIN) to ipsilateral glycinergic crossed caudal (CC) interneurons were facilitated or depressed during spike trains at 5–20 Hz. Connections between EINs were depressed. Glycinergic inputs from small ipsilateral inhibitory interneurons were depressed in motor neurons, but were facilitated in CC interneurons. Excitatory inputs from small crossing interneurons to motor neurons were depressed, whereas inhibitory inputs were unaffected. With the exception of connections between EINs, significant effects occurred with stimulation that mimicked interneuron spiking during network activity. Intersegmental EIN synaptic properties were also investigated. EIN inputs did not differ significantly when examined from zero to four segments rostral to motor neurons or CC interneurons. However, caudally located EINs evoked greater activity‐dependent facilitation than did rostral EINs. Whilst the amplitude or plasticity of EIN inputs in the rostral or mid‐trunk regions of the spinal cord did not differ, EINs in the caudal trunk region evoked greater facilitation. Synaptic transmission between locomotor network neurons thus exhibits activity‐dependent plasticity in response to physiologically relevant stimulation. Activity‐dependent plasticity could thus contribute to the patterning of the rhythmic network output.
Morphogenesis and physiogenesis of the retino-tectal connection in the chicken. II. the retino-tectal synapses

The preceding paper (Eager 1976) was concerned with the development of retinal ganglion cells and the maturation of photoreceptors. Here we discuss the formation of retino-tectal synapses as studied in terms of both morphology and physiology. The early response characteristics of the first and second postsynaptic tectal cells were also studied. The first retino-tectal synapses, sparse in number, were found with the electron microscope on the eleventh day of incubation. Strict criteria for their identification were employed. At the same stage postsynaptic potentials could be recorded for the first time. These potentials could be recognized as postsynaptic by the application of various techniques: combined ortho- and antidromic stimulation, variation of stimulus intensities, surface mapping, field potential profiles, and application of double shocks of varying intervals. From day twelve onward single unit recordings were also possible and confirmed these results. We were able to establish that morphological criteria for recognition of optic nerve synapses are also criteria for when they start to function. Tectal cells first respond with long-lasting repetitive discharges. Only a few days later the response burst has become shorter and is followed by post-excitatory inhibition. When retino-tectal synapses start to function the excitation is not confined to the superficial tectal cells, but reaches deeper neurons which are possibly tectal output cells. The results of this and the preceding paper (Eager 1976) indicate that the development of the retino-tectal connection in the chicken differs from that in the frog in several fundamental respects.
Aligning Lay and Specialized Passages in Comparable Medical Corpora

While the public has increasingly access to medical information, specialized medical language is often difficult for non-experts to understand and there is a need to bridge the gap between specialized language and lay language. As a first step towards this end, we describe here a method to build a comparable corpus of expert and non-expert medical French documents and to identify similar text segments of lay and specialized language. Among the top 400 pairs of text segments retrieved with this method, 59% were actually similar and 37% were deemed exploitable for further processing. This is encouraging evidence for the target task of finding equivalent expressions between these two varieties of language.
In vitro susceptibilities of Malaysian clinical isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii and Cryptococcus gattii to five antifungal drugs

The in vitro susceptibilities of Malaysian clinical isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii and C . gattii to five antifungal drugs (amphotericin B, flucytosine, fluconazole, itraconazole and ketoconazole) were determined using the Etest method. None of the Malaysian isolates was resistant to amphotericin B and ketoconazole. Isolates resistant to flucytosine, fluconazole and itraconazole were observed in this study. Minimum inhibition concentrations (MICs) of ≥32 μg ml−1 against flucytosine, ≥64 μg ml−1 against fluconazole and ≥1 μg ml−1against itraconazole were noted in four (8.3%), two (4.2%) and one (2.1%) isolates respectively. There was no significant difference in the MICs for both Cryptococcus species (P > 0.05), indicating that C. gattii was as susceptible as var. grubii to all the antifungal drugs tested. No significant difference in the MICs for both Cryptococcus species collected from 1980 to 1990 and 2002 to 2004 were observed (P > 0.05).