Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
BADAWCZA I DYDAKTYCZNA flow cytometry as a modern tool in evaluation the activity of microorganisms degrading polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ( Pahs ) in bioremediation process

Environmental pollution by organic compounds can be reduced by the use of bioremediation methods e.g. bioaugmentation enhanced by the addition of biosurfactants. The aim of this study was to determine the metabolic activity of both autochthonous microorganisms and microbial consortia added into system in the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and biosurfactants (rhamnolipids) in the soil system. Metabolic activity was determined using flow cytometry. The results indicate both the competition between additional and autochthonous microorganisms after three months, as well as the dominance of additional microorganisms over native microorganisms after six months after start of the experiment. Moreover, the results do not indicate any effect of rhamnolipids on the value of %Q2.
Exploring Creative Freedom in Real Time Story Generation

Interactive storytelling systems have become very popular as they engage users in the creation of narrative. In order to explore a co-creation process where the final result is narrated while the user is playing, we have designed an interactive storytelling system that is able to generate a narration in real time while giving the user the possibility to decide what to do and where to go. The intended result is a tool that allows the author, the user and the system to co-create a narration giving the user, as the ultimate author of the resulting narration, the freedom to decide the course of the events. In this paper we focus on the structures that have been used to represent the stories and in the mechanisms designed to generate the narration so that a coherent and entertaining story can be presented to the user.
Cardinality Constrained Optimization 3 1 Introduction 1 . 1 Motivations

We study the parameterized complexity of cardinality constrained optimization problems, i.e., optimization problems that require their solutions to contain specified numbers of elements to optimize solution values. For this purpose, we consider around twenty such optimization problems, as well as their parametric duals, that deal with various fundamental relations among vertices and edges in graphs. We have almost completely settled their parameterized complexity by giving either FPT algorithms or W[1]-hardness proofs. Furthermore, we obtain faster exact algorithms for several cardinality constrained optimization problems by transforming them into problems of finding maximum (minimum) weight triangles in weighted graphs.
Section 5

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), which was established in 1964 as a result of the Industrial Training Act 1964, undertook a study of the workforce and skills needed in the East Midlands Region [3] and forecast the need for an additional 30,500 new recruits in the period 2002 to 2006 across all trades and professions, with the exception of plasterers. Overall, 63 percent of participating companies within the region said that they had experienced difficulties in recruiting skilled staff during the previous six months. More importantly, 22 percent said that they were unable to bid for a contract because of the lack of skilled staff.
pinach biomass yield and physiological response to interactive alinity and water stress

Critical shortages of fresh water throughout arid regions are forcing growers to decide among the following options, applying insufficient fresh water, causing water stress, applying saline water causing salt stress or applying some combination minimizing saline water application, causing combined water and salt stress. A comprehensive approach to manage drought and salinity is to evaluate the impact of water stress and salt stress individually and then examine their interactions on plant production. To analyze salinity and water stress responses and their interaction together on spinach growth, an experiment was conducted from April 1 to May 21, 2013, using 6 different irrigation waters at electrical conductivity (EC): 0.85, 4, 7, 9, 12, 15 dS m−1. Soil moisture was recorded by sensors and stress treatments had the following soil water matric pressure control (−45 kPa), −200 to −300 kPa, and −400 to −500 kPa. We evaluated three replicates per treatment for yield, vegetative parameters, ion composition, and physiological parameters. The results showed that the spinach yield response to salt and water stress was very different. Spinach yield initially increased with salinity and subsequently decreased only when the irrigation water was EC 9 dS m−1and above (osmotic pressure of −310 kPa). In contrast, yield decreased at the first water stress level (−230 kPa) relative to control. The additional presence of salinity stress decreased the relative yield response due to water stress. Similarly under water stress the relative yield response to increasing salinity was reduced. Although no model provided good prediction of stress response, the best predictive model (relative error) was one that considered the response to multiple stresses as the product of the response to the individual stresses. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Identification of Two Isoforms of Mouse Neuropeptide YY 1 Receptor Generated by Alternative Splicing ISOLATION

Two cDNA clones homologous with human neuropeptide (NP) Y-Y1 receptor have been isolated from a mouse bone marrow cDNA library. One was thought to be the cognate of the human NPY-Y1 receptor, termed Y1a receptor, and the other form, termed Y1b receptor, differed from the Y1a receptor in the seventh transmembrane domain and C-terminal tail. Analysis of the mouse genomic DNA showed that both receptors originated from a single gene. The different peptide sequences of the Y1b receptor were encoded by separate exons, hence, these receptors were generated by differential RNA splicing. High affinity binding of [I]NPY to each receptor expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and sequestration of [I]NPY after binding to each receptor were observed. In the CHO cells expressing the Y1a receptor, intracellular Ca increase, inhibition of forskolin-induced cAMP accumulation, and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation were observed by stimulation of NPY, and these responses were abolished by pretreatment with pertussis toxin. Since wortmannin completely inhibited NPY-elicited MAPK activation, we speculate that wortmannin-sensitive signaling molecule(s) such as phosphoinositide 3-kinasemay lie between pertussis toxin-sensitive G-protein and MAPK. In contrast, these intracellular signals were not detected in CHO cells expressing the Y1b receptor. Northern blots and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analyses indicated that the Y1a receptor was highly expressed in the brain, heart, kidney, spleen, skeletal muscle, and lung, whereas the Y1b receptor mRNA was not detected in these tissues. However, the Y1b receptor was expressed in mouse embryonic developmental stage (7 and 11 days), bone marrow cells and several hematopoietic cell lines. These results suggest that the Y1b receptor is an embryonic and a bone marrow form of the NPY-Y1 receptor, which decreases in the expression during development and differentiation.
El Nifio-Southern Oscillation-related ocean-atmosphere coupling in the western equatorial Pacific

Using 43 years of Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set and related data for the period 1950-1992, an examination is made into the regional dependence of ocean-atmosphere coupling in relation to the E1 Nifio-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The cross correlation between sea surface temperature (SST) and sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies over the global tropics shows two patterns of significant negative correlation consistent with a local hydrostatic response of SLP to SST: (1) the eastern Pacific, where the correlation is symmetric about and largest on the equator, and (2) the western Pacific, where symmetric regions of negative correlation are found off the equator, separated by a region of positive correlation on the equator. Anomalies within these two patterns vary out of phase with each other. While the SLP anomalies on both sides of the basin are of similar magnitude, the SST anomalies in the east are much larger than those in the west. Despite this disparity in the SST anomaly magnitudes between the eastern and western Pacific we argue that the ocean-atmosphere couplings in the western and west-central Pacific are important for ENSO. The off-equator SST anomalies in the west enhance the SLP anomalies there, and they appear to initiate easterly wind anomalies over the far western Pacific during the peak E1 Nifio phase of ENSO. As these easterlies evolve, their effect upon the ocean tends to oppose that of the westerly wind anomalies found over the west-central Pacific. These competing effects suggest a mechanism that may contribute to coupled ocean-atmosphere system oscillations. The west-central equatorial Pacific (the region separating the eastern and western patterns), while exhibiting large momentum and heat flux exchanges, shows minimum correlation between SST and SLP. Thus neither the SST and SLP anomaly magnitudes nor the correlation between them is alone indicative of ocean-atmosphere coupling, and the regional dependence for such coupling in relation to ENSO appears to be more complicated than mechanistic interpretations of ENSO would suggest.
Prostate Cancer; Metabolic Risk Factors, Drug Utilisation, Adverse Drug Reactions

Disproportionality screening analysis is acknowledged as a tool for performing signal detection in databases of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), e.g., in the European Union (EU) Drug Authority setting. The purpose of this study was to explore the possibility of decreasing false-positive signals of disproportionate reporting (SDR) by calculating the proportional reporting ratio (PRR)-by-therapeutic area (TA), while still maintaining the ability to detect relevant SDRs. In the EudraVigilance (EV) Database, output from PRR calculated with a restricted TA comparator background was compared in detail to output from conventional authority-setting PRR calculations for four drugs: bicalutamide, abiraterone, metformin, and vildagliptin, within the TAs of prostate gland disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. ADR reports per investigated drug ranged from 2,400 to 50,000. The PRR-TA's ability to detect true-positive SDRs (as acknowledged in approved labeling) was increased compared to the conventional PRR, and performed 8-31 % better than a recently proposed stricter EU-SDR definition. The PRR-TA removed false SDRs confounded by disease or disease spill-over by up to 63 %, while retaining/increasing the number of unclassified SDRs relevant for manual validation, and thereby improving the ratio between confounded SDRs (i.e., noise) and unclassified SDRs for all investigated drugs (possible signals). The performance of the PRR was improved by background restriction with the PRR-TA method; the number of false-positive SDRs decreased, and the ability to detect true-positive SDRs increased, improving the signal-to-noise ratio. Further development and validation of the method is needed within other TAs and databases, and for disproportionality analysis methods.
Notch 3 Targeting : A Novel Weapon against Ovarian Cancer Stem Cells

Notch signaling is frequently activated in ovarian cancer (OC) and contributes to the proliferation and survival of cultured OC cells as well as to tumor formation and angiogenesis in xenograft models. Several studies demonstrate that Notch3 expression renders cancer cells more resistant to carboplatin, contributing to chemoresistance and poor survival of OC-bearing patients. This suggests that Notch3 can represent both a biomarker and a target for therapeutic interventions in OC patients. Although it is still unclear how chemoresistance arises, different lines of evidence support a critical role of cancer stem cells (CSCs), suggesting that CSC targeting by innovative therapeutic approaches might represent a promising tool to efficiently reduce OC recurrence. To date, CSC-directed therapies in OC tumors are mainly targeted to the inhibition of CSC-related signaling pathways, including Notch. As it is increasingly evident the involvement of Notch signaling, and in particular of Notch3, in regulating stem-like cell maintenance and expansion in several tumors, here we provide an overview of the current knowledge of Notch3 role in CSC-mediated OC chemoresistance, finally exploring the potential design of innovative Notch3 inhibition-based therapies for OC treatment, aimed at eradicating tumor through the suppression of CSCs.
Recovery management and recovery-oriented systems of care: scientific rationale and promising practices.

This monograph is written for those on the frontlines of addiction treatment. It is written for the addition service professionals, the clinical supervisors, and the clinical and administrative directors whose daily decisions widen or narrow the doorways of entry to long-term recovery for those they serve. You are being asked in this monograph to take a searching and fearless professional inventory of addiction treatment as currently practiced by yourself and others. This monograph is also written to the policymakers, purchasers of care, monitors, and evaluators of addiction treatment. You are being asked to look at the scientific and system-performance data that support growing calls for â? orecovery-focused systems transformationâ?  and to explore new approaches to funding and monitoring local addiction treatment programs. This monograph is also written for the new generation of recovery advocates and recovery support specialists who are collectively calling for a reconnection between addiction treatment and the larger and more enduring process of addiction recovery.
Development of a Second Generation of Plasticized Sulfur ( Sulphlex ) Binder

Plasticized sulfur binders are an alternative to asphalt concrete. Researchers at Texas A&M University and Matrecon, Inc., have studied plasticized sulfur binders for S years from both a chemical and an engineering viewpoint. Part of their research has been aimed at the development of a second generation of binders with Improved low-temperature properties. Two second-generation plasticized sulfur formulations were identified as possessing low-temperature engineering properties that are much improved over the first-generation formulations. The J-integral, a measure of the energy required to Induce crack growth, was found to be an excellent and sensitive parameter by which to evaluate the low-temperature fracture susceptibility of the plasticized sulfur binders. A strong relationship was found between the critical energy required to Indicate crack growth, J1c, and the glass transition temperature of the plasticized sulfur binders. The secondgeneration binders presented are evaluated based on creep compliance, controlled stress and controlled displacement fatigue, glass transition temperature, and the J 1c·
Robust and Precise 3 D-Modeling of Traffic Scenes based on Dense Stereo Vision

Dense stereo vision is a key technology for natural scene understanding. Recent progress in real-time dense stereo provides high quality depth information for (almost) every pixel of an image. Based on this information the traffic environment can be modeled precisely and competely. This includes a vertical modeling of the driving corridor, the determination of the free space in front of the car and the representation of all vertical obstacles delimiting that freespace. We propose so called “stixels” to represent the 3D scene efficiently. Distance and height of each stixel are determined by the parts of the obstacle it aproximates. The stixel representation is designed to act as the common basis for the scene understanding tasks of driver assistance and autonomous systems. We show that the inherent spatial integration delivers depth information with an unprecedented accuracy.
Corneal Organ Culture Model for Assessing Epithelial Responses to Surfactants

The main goal of the present study was to investigate the response of cultured bovine corneas to the application of irritant substances and its potential use for predicting ocular irritancy in humans. We hypothesized that chemicals causing eye irritation may induce disruption of epithelial tight junctions and trigger cell stress responses modulated via transcription factors such as AP-1 and NF-kB. A simple air-lifted corneal organ culture system was used as an ex vivo model for ocular irritancy test. The effects of two surfactants, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and benzalkonium chloride (BAK), on corneal epithelial permeability and DNAbinding activity of AP-1 and NF-kB were studied in cultured bovine corneas. Both SDS and BAK induced tight junction disruption and increased permeability of corneal epithelium assessed using surface biotinylation in a concentrationand time-dependent manner. An increase in DNA-binding activity measured using electrophoretic mobility shift assay was observed when cultured corneas were treated with surfactants at concentrations causing minimal to mild ocular irritation, indicating epithelial cell stress response. Furthermore, exposure of cultured corneas to SDS or BAK at concentrations causing severe ocular irritancy resulted in a decrease in DNA-binding activity of these transcription factors in epithelial cells. These results indicate that the combination of corneal organ culture and measurements of corneal epithelial permeability and DNA-binding activity of stress-response transcription factors following chemical exposure has the potential to be used as a mechanistically based alternative to in vivo animal testing.
Optic nerve head image analysis for glaucoma progression detection

Glaucoma is a leading cause of visual disability across the world and when diagnosed the glaucoma patient will spend the rest of their life receiving treatment in managed clinical care. In the glaucoma clinic, retinal and optic nerve head (ONH) imaging can be used to help the clinician to manage patient treatment appropriately. By providing high resolution images of the optic nerve head structures and identifying changes therein related to disease onset and progression, an objective measure can be obtained as to how well or badly treatment is preventing further disease damage. This thesis contributes to the field of glaucoma progression detection by the analysis of clinical imaging data using confocal scanning laser tomography (CSLT). Primarily it is an investigation of how best to appraise and optimise current algorithms which aim to detect these glaucomatous structural changes in the optic nerve head. This is done by addressing how the performance of these methods can be best assessed in the absence of a gold standard for glaucomatous structural progression. Glaucoma expert assessment of photographs of the optic disc is the current clinical standard of assessing glaucomatous damage evident in the ONH. This is used in this thesis to act as a reference standard by which these algorithms can be compared. In addition, the statistical principles underpinning trend detection techniques are also investigated along with the performance of these techniques to detect trends in CSLT data in the presence of different types of measurement noise and image quality. A new computer model is developed and validated to simulate stable series of CSLT images, with realistic variability, which can be used to benchmark the false-positive rates of current and future progression algorithms. In conclusion, the main results reported in this thesis show that uncertainties involved in expert assessment of change in ONH photographs limits this as a reference standard for structural change in glaucoma. In addition, since stability in clinical datasets is uncertain, simulation using modelled series is shown to provide a new benchmark for comparing methods of progression detection.
THE PROCESS OF PEER COACHING

Twenty-two elementary and middle school teachers were studied over the course of a school year as they implemented cooperative learning structures in their classrooms. Twelve of the teachers did peer coaching and 10 did not. The teachers participated in 2 days of staff development to learn six specific cooperative structures and to learn and practice a metod of peer coaching. Qualitative data-gathering and analysis methods were used. Content analysis of both oral and written discourses investigated the process of peer coaching in the implementation of cooperative learning structures. Results indicated that the process of peer coaching did affect the implementation of cooperative learning structures. Peer coaching appeared to encourage teachers to reflect on their teaching, to take risks, and to change. Of the teachers who participated in the original staff development on cooperative learning, only eight used the nc4 structures at a level of use which focused on the students rather than on the teacher; all of these teachers had participated in the peer coaching, indicating that the coaching process facilitated the successful transfer of a new strategy from the workshop environment to the classroom. (Contains 31 references.) (JB) **************************************************"-Ak*A;%************* Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *************************************************************** THE PROCESS OF PEER COACHING co IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF kel tn COOPERATIVE LEARNING STRUCTURES co Mona S. Wineburg, Ph.1). Maryland State Department of Education PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOUCATIONAT RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER ! ERIC, U loCuMont has been :epredheed as lecehmd ikah the pet.r. an or e,yath /ahhe ofichnahhg O Mama , flanges have hem. , made th amme,e temia qualay Pntr111, hi ',WI% Or Op1.1011, ',1111(1. 1. 111, 'A0,111.0111 do no) net esSaM} . eiNeSent "OM OF Ill imsMoPaper Presented at the National Conference of the American Educational Research Association San Francisco, California April 18-22, 1995
Bayesian inference in finite population sampling under measurement error model †

The paper considers empirical Bayes (EB) and hierarchical Bayes (HB) predictors of the finite population mean under a linear regression model with measurement errors. We discuss how to calculate the mean squared prediction errors of the EB predictors using jackknife methods and the posterior standard deviations of the HB predictors based on the Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. A simulation study is provided to illustrate the results of the preceding sections and compare the performances of the proposed procedures.
Stock Market Valuation of the Tradeoff Between R & D and Advertising Intensities During an Economic Downturn

This paper examines the association between stock returns and earnings changes of firms that have made different tradeoffs with respect to R&D and advertising spending during an economic downturn. During the 2000-2002 bear market that was associated with a downturn in the U.S. economy, we find the coefficient that relates stock returns and earnings changes to be significantly greater for firms that increased their advertising expenditures and decreased their R&D expenditures than for firms that increased their R&D expenditures and decreased their advertising expenditures. Our results suggest that investors perceive that an increased emphasis on advertising can enable firms to stem earnings erosion that can potentially occur during an economic downturn.