Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Supported Employment and Natural Supports : A Critique and Analysis

This paper provides a brief but critical review of the concept of natural supports. In order to analyze what happens during extended services for supported employment, studying the workplace environment is an important indicator. It is wtihin this environment that the natural support mechanisms of coworkers and supervisors come into play. We look at how to define natural supports and the implications of the work environment quality on employee satisfaction and retention. Supports are one way to help people with disabilities become more independent and able to control the direction of their lives. In recent years, a strong shift has occurred towards designing education and human service programs to emphasize the role of supports in enhancing the success of persons with disabilities. No one person is the same, with or without a disability. Every individual needs some level of assistance to succeed. There are some people, for example, with very severe disabilities who need a great deal of support to succeed in school, work, home, and the community. The challenge is to match each person to an individualized array of supports to meet personal goals directed at living and working in the community. Ongoing supports, as defined in the amended regulations for the Federal Supported Employment Program (Federal Register, June 24, 1992, p. 28438), are those needed to support and maintain an individual with severe disability in supported employment.  Ongoing supports are activities and relationships that help a person maintain a job in the community. Supports differ for each individual and vary in type and intensity for the duration of employment. Those provided through the services of a job coach or employment specialist may be job specific or individual community supports. It is difficult typically for a person with severe disabilities to take full advantage of all the support resources available to assist him or her achieve personal education, community living, or employment goals. Just because a support is available at the workplace or in the community does not necessarily mean that he or she will automatically access it or benefit from its use. Frequently, individuals with disabilities do not know what potential supports are available, how to choose among the alternatives, or how to go about accessing a desired support. A critical factor in the use of a variety of supports is the presence of a knowledgeable resource who assists the individual with a disability identify, choose, and access needed supports at whatever level of assistance he or she prefers.
Traitement automatique de la semantique floue dans l'interrogation de bases de donnees en langage naturel

Le langage naturel s'avere etre le moyen le plus intuitif pour interroger une base de donnees. Pourtant, les imprecisions inherentes dans le langage rendent le traitement automatique tres difficile a deboucher sur un resultat satisfaisant. Les ambiguites dans les phrases interrogatives formulees pour but d'extraire des informations d'une bases de donnees proviennent surtout des adjectifs evaluatifs tels que 'bon', 'mauvais', etc . et leurs modificateurs tels que 'tres', 'plutot', etc. Nous introduisons donc la technique de la logique floue qui contribue a traiter les imprecisions de maniere precise. Nous faisons correspondre un nom a une variable linguistique, son adjectif a un sous-ensemble flou appartenant a cette variable linguistique et l'adverbe associe a un modificateur. La composition de deux predicats dans une requete peut etre traiter par les operateurs conjonctive et disjonctive de la logique floue. Grâce au mecanisme du calcul de la logique floue, l'interrogateur d'une base de donnees peut formuler ses questions instinctivement sans se preoccuper de l'echelle de valeurs contenues dans cette base.
Herpes Simplex Virus ICP27 Is Required for Virus-Induced Stabilization of the ARE-Containing IEX-1 mRNA Encoded by the Human IER3 Gene

ABSTRACT Herpes simplex virus (HSV) stifles cellular gene expression during productive infection of permissive cells, thereby diminishing host responses to infection. Host shutoff is achieved largely through the complementary actions of two viral proteins, ICP27 and virion host shutoff (vhs), that inhibit cellular mRNA biogenesis and trigger global mRNA decay, respectively. Although most cellular mRNAs are thus depleted, some instead increase in abundance after infection; perhaps surprisingly, some of these contain AU-rich instability elements (AREs) in their 3′-untranslated regions. ARE-containing mRNAs normally undergo rapid decay; however, their stability can increase in response to signals such as cytokines and virus infection that activate the p38/MK2 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. We and others have shown that HSV infection stabilizes the ARE mRNA encoding the stress-inducible IEX-1 mRNA, and a previous report from another laboratory has suggested vhs is responsible for this effect. However, we now report that ICP27 is essential for IEX-1 mRNA stabilization whereas vhs plays little if any role. A recent report has documented that ICP27 activates the p38 MAPK pathway, and we detected a strong correlation between this activity and stabilization of IEX-1 mRNA by using a panel of HSV type 1 (HSV-1) isolates bearing an array of previously characterized ICP27 mutations. Furthermore, IEX-1 mRNA stabilization was abrogated by the p38 inhibitor SB203580. Taken together, these data indicate that the HSV-1 immediate-early protein ICP27 alters turnover of the ARE-containing message IEX-1 by activating p38. As many ARE mRNAs encode proinflammatory cytokines or other immediate-early response proteins, some of which may limit viral replication, it will be of great interest to determine if ICP27 mediates stabilization of many or all ARE-containing mRNAs.
Dinâmicas populacionais na presença de poluentes no meio aquático do reservatório de Salto Grande : modelagem, aproximação e simulações computacionais

O foco deste trabalho e descrever o problema da poluicao no reservatorio de Salto Grande e sua interacao com tres populacoes neste meio aquatico. Mais especificamente, consideraremos tres especies de peixes predominantes neste reservatorio, sendo que uma especie e predatoria e as outras duas sao as presas em competicao. Todas elas apresentam uma dispersao espaco-temporal sem migracao, alem de uma dinâmica vital de Verhulst com competicao intraespecifica, relacoes interespecificas e interacao com o poluente. O problema e descrito por meio da equacao de difusao adveccao para o poluente com condicoes de contorno de Robin homogeneo. A modelagem computacional faz uso de ferramentas de computacao grafica junto com a parte matematica. As discretizacoes das equacoes diferenciais parciais sao feitas usando o metodo de diferencas finitas centradas para as variaveis espaciais e Crank-Nicolson para a variavel temporal; metodos de segunda ordem de aproximacao tanto no espaco quanto no tempo. Finalmente se resolve aproximadamente o sistema nao linear discretizado usando um metodo preditor corretor, obtendo assim uma simulacao computacional, a respectiva analise e saidas graficas qualitativas. Abstract
Civilian and Detainee Orthopaedic Surgical Care at an Air Force Theater Hospital

This study is a retrospective analysis of the orthopaedic care rendered to Iraqi citizens, both military and civilian, and detainees in Balad, Iraq, at an Air Force theater hospital. Defining the scope of care for this patient group and emphasizing the differences in care provided for the endemic population in contrast to the rapidly air-evacuated Coalition injured combatant are the primary focus of the study. Approximately 50% of more than 1600 trauma/combat-related injury admissions to Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Iraq, from the period of September 2, 2005 through January 18, 2006, were Iraqi citizens and detainees. The care rendered to this population differed from the care given to a rapidly air-evacuated patient in that definitive care of all combat wounds, including fracture care and soft tissue management, was the responsibility of the deployed surgeons. Open reduction and internal fixation, definitive debridement, Wound VAC placement (Vacuum-Assisted Closure Device; KCI International, San Antonio, Tex), and final soft tissue management were performed at Air Force Theater Hospital. All patients were treated according to their injuries, including detainees, who received the same level of care as any other injured patient. This article will depict examples of the civilian and detainee orthopaedic care available and performed in a war zone and how that care differed from that rendered to a rapidly evacuated American combatant. Injured Coalition combatants received high-level damage control orthopaedic care and initial debridements, with external fixation as the single most common means of long-bone fracture stabilization. Civilians and detainees seen at Balad received the same high-level care and much, if not all, of their definitive care while at Air Force Theater Hospital. The care rendered to Iraqi citizens and detainees at an Air Force theater hospital is described, with multiple case examples that reflect a high level of definitive care offered in a war zone.
Filosofía y felicidad

El presente texto aborda la pregunta por el papel social de la filosofia. El argumento se desarrolla a partir de una analogia: segun la psicologia positiva, las emociones positivas (en contraste con las negativas, que activan reacciones a retos especificos del entorno) cumplen un papel evolutivo en la medida en que activan la exploracion libre del entorno y las propias posibilidades, lo que redunda en una ampliacion del repertorio de acciones posibles del individuo. Se argumenta que la filosofia es al cuerpo social lo que la felicidad es al cuerpo individual: la exploracion de posibilidades mas alla de lo que inmediatamente se presenta como importante. Es de esta manera que la filosofia cumple un papel social que, se puede argumentar desde la teoria de sistemas, es indispensable. Como se debe llevar a cabo? La reflexion sobre la naturaleza del quehacer filosofico lleva a concluir que la filosofia no se puede hacer “por encargo”, esto es, que la exploracion filosofica debe hacerse de manera libre y desligada de afanes coyunturales; de otro modo, no puede la filosofia llevar a cabo su papel social de forma adecuada.
In vitro Antifungal Activity of Thai Herb and Spice Extracts against Food Spoilage Fungi

The screening of Thai herbs and spices was carried out to investigate their in vitro antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger, A. oryzae and Penicillium sp. by using agar well diffusion method. Of thirteen plants tested, crude ethanol extracts of three, namely Piper betel, Boesenbergia pandurata, Andrographis paniculata exhibited antifungal activity against all test microorganisms. Penicillium sp. was more resistant to the extracts than A. niger and A. oryzae. The antifungal index of the selected plant extracts with various concentrations against test fungi was measured by agar dilution assay. With the increase of the concentration, the antifungal activity also increased. A complete fungal inhibition was observed when Piper betel extract concentration exceeded 1.50% (v/v). The antifungal index from the other plants ranged from 30 to 60%.
A Conserved Subtilisin Protease Identified in Babesia divergens Merozoites*

Invasion of erythrocytes is an integral part of the Babesia divergens life cycle. Serine proteases have been shown to play an important role in invasion by related Apicomplexan parasites such as the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Here we demonstrate the presence of two dominant serine proteases in asexual B. divergens using a biotinylated fluorophosphonate probe. One of these active serine proteases (p48) and its precursors were recognized by anti-PfSUB1 antibodies. These antibodies were used to clone the gene encoding a serine protease using a B. divergens cDNA library. BdSub-1 is a single copy gene with no introns. The deduced gene product (BdSUB-1) clearly belongs to the subtilisin superfamily and shows significant homology to Plasmodium subtilisins, with the highest degree of sequence identity around the four catalytic residues. Like subtilisin proteases in other Apicomplexan parasites, BdSUB-1 undergoes two steps of processing during activation in the secretory pathway being finally converted to an active form (p48). The mature protease is concentrated in merozoite dense granules, apical secretory organelles involved in erythrocyte invasion. Anti-PfSUB1 antibodies have a potent inhibitory effect on erythrocyte invasion by B. divergens merozoites in vitro. This report demonstrates conservation of the molecular machinery involved in erythrocyte invasion by these two Apicomplexan parasites and paves the way for a comparative analysis of other molecules that participate in this process in the two parasites.
Sensitivity and specificity of the Quetelet index to assess obesity in men and women.

OBJECTIVE AND METHODS In a cross-sectional design, the sensitivity and specificity of the Quetelet Index (QI) was determined in relation to percent body fat standards. Subjects were 1280 men and 365 women asymptomatic for coronary heart disease. Contingency tables by QI quartiles were created using two sets of criteria of obesity: body fat > or = 25% and QI > or = 28 kg.m-2 for men and 30% and 27 kg.m-2 for women. Percent body fat was determined with hydrodensitometry in all subjects. RESULTS In men, sensitivity, positive, and negative predictive value of QI in relation to percent body fat was 54.5%, 91.8%, 82.7% and 73.8%, respectively. The corresponding values for women were 26.9%, 98.2%, 90.7% and 67.1%. Sensitivity of QI was 2.03 times greater for men than for women (P < 0.001). Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis suggested that an acceptable trade-off between sensitivity (91%) and specificity (47%) occurred at a QI of 24.5 kg.m-2 for men and at a QI of 22 kg.m-2 for women. CONCLUSIONS The data suggest that in an asymptomatic population, percent body fat-based QI cut-off values may misclassify the obese. A fat mass-based reference system could perhaps lead to an improved classification outcome.
INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS of the Polish Academy of Sciences

In the paper a class of families F(M) of functions defined on differentiable manifolds M with the following properties: 1F . if M is a linear manifold, then F(M) contains convex functions, 2F . F(·) is invariant under diffeomorphisms, 3F . each f ∈ F(M) is differentiable on a residual set,
Structure and Curvatures of Trajectories of a 2D Log-Gas

A model is constructed to study the statistical properties of irregular trajectories of a log-gas whose positions are those of the complex eigenvalues of the unitary Ginibre ensemble. It is shown that statistically the trajectories form a structure that reveals the eigenvalue departure positions. It is also shown that the curvatures of the ensemble of trajectories are Cauchy distributed.
Optimization of rotor shape for constant torque characteristic of IPM motor

This paper deals with optimal design of notch and flux barrier in order to improve the characteristics of constant torque while minimizing the cogging torque. The position and width of the notch was calculated using the Fast Fourier Transform. The optimized model using the notch and barrier demonstrated a 60% decrease in the cogging torque, a 75.3% decrease in the torque ripple, and a 3% increase in the operating torque when compared with the basic model. Thus, the operating characteristics were significantly improved.
THE NATURE OF THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN FLOCCULENT CELLS IN THE FLOCCULATION OF SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE.

The flocculation of a strain of brewers' yeast was absolutely dependent upon the presence of calcium; a concentration of 200 mm-CaCl2 was sufficient to ensure almost complete flocculation. No other metal could replace calcium; several metals aggregated potentially flocculent cells but also aggregated non-flocculent cells. Sodium ions antagonized the action of the calcium. The effects of pH value and esterification suggested that carboxyl groups were involved. The flocs had a ‘melting temperature’ of 50–60° and were dispersed by urea, suggesting that hydrogen bonds were also present. Non-flocculent yeast was aggregated when the dielectric constant of the medium was decreased by the addition of organic solvents, but this aggregation was also dependent on the presence of traces of calcium. Conversely, increase of the dielectric constant of the medium, by adding formamide, dispersed flocculent yeast. Certain specific sugars also dispersed flocculent yeast. It is suggested that flocculent yeast cells are linked by salt bridges formed by calcium atoms joined with two carboxyl groups in the surfaces of different cells and that this structure is stabilized by hydrogen bonds formed between complementary patterns of carbohydrate hydrogens and hydroxyls in the cell surfaces.
The clinical need for undergraduate urology

Urologists have highlighted the lack of urological exposure amongst undergraduate students, voicing concerns that it may adversely affect patient care in the future, particularly with a global aging population. 4,5 This viewpoint has been mirrored by newly qualifi ed doctors, as only 9.7 per cent of UK foundation trainees (junior doctors) deemed their undergraduate urological exposure adequate. 4 This article refl ects upon the importance of this issue and also discusses our experience of an outcomebased teaching plan to address this need.
Infective endocarditis in the grown-up congenital heart (GUCH) population.

AIMS Infective endocarditis accounts for 4% of admissions to a specialized unit for grown-up congenital heart patients. This study defines lesions susceptible to infection, antecedent events, organisms, outcome and surgical treatment in a group of such patients. METHODS AND RESULTS The grown-up congenital heart disease database was searched for all patients aged 13 years and above with adequate documentation of infective endocarditis retrospectively between 1983-1993 and thereafter between 1993-1996. There were 185 patients (214 episodes) divided into Group I: 128 patients unoperated or palliated and Group II: 57 patients after definitive repair and/or valve repair/replacement. In Group I, the commonest affected sites were ventricular septal defect in 31 (24%), left ventricular outflow tract in 22 (17%) and mitral valve in 17 (13%) and in Group II, left ventricular outflow tract in 20 (35%), repaired Fallot in 11 (19%), and atrioventricular defects in eight (14%). Infective endocarditis was not seen in secundum atrial septal defects before or after closure; in closed ventricular septal defects and ducts without left-sided valve abnormality; in isolated pulmonary stenosis; in unrepaired Ebstein: or after Fontan-type or Mustard operations. Surgery was performed in 39 patients: as an emergency in 17, and for failed medical therapy in 22. Only 87 (41%) of patients had a predisposing event: dental procedure or sepsis were the commonest events in Group I (33%) and cardiac surgery in Group II (50%). Streptococci species were found in 54% of Group I patients and in 45% of Group II. Staphylococci aureus was commoner in Group II (25%) compared to Group I (14%). Mean time from the onset of symptoms to diagnosis was 60 and 29 days in Groups I and II, respectively. Eight (4%) patients died as a result of septicaemia related to emergency or repeated surgery and Staphylococcus aureus infection. Recurrent attacks occurred in 21 (11%) patients. CONCLUSION Reparative surgery does not prevent endocarditis except for closure of a ventricular septal defect and duct. Delay in diagnosis is serious since it contributes to mortality, although the overall mortality % is not high. Specific lesions are not affected so prophylaxis is probably unnecessary in those anomalies.
VISCOSIDAD EXTENSIONAL BIAXIAL EN ESPAGUETI COCIDO Y SU RELACIÓN CON FIRMEZA

Ademas de la firmeza, es importante contar con otras medidas objetivas de la calidad del espagueti cocido; Es por ello que se planeo un experimento donde se uso espagueti comercial, se sometio a tres tiempos de cocimiento (9.5, 12.5 y 15.5 min) y de reposo (0, 2 y 5 h). Se midio la viscosidad extensional biaxial y la firmeza en espagueti, determinando ademas la relacion entre ambas. Para medir la viscosidad extensional biaxial en espagueti, se utilizo el metodo de compresion uniaxial con lubricacion a una velocidad de deformacion de 0.3 mm-min-1. La firmeza del espagueti fue medida en el analizador de textura TA-XT2. Se observo que tanto la viscosidad extensional biaxial como la firmeza disminuyen significativamente con el tiempo de cocimiento y con el de reposo. Los perfiles de comportamiento de la viscosidad extensional biaxial y la firmeza fueron similares, tanto para los tiempos de cocimiento como para los de reposo. Se encontro una correlacion altamente significativa (r = 0.83) entre los valores de viscosidad extensional biaxial y firmeza. Esto indica que los cambios en la calidad del espagueti cocido mostrados en la medicion de firmeza tambien fueron detectados por la viscosidad extensional biaxial, la cual podra servir como una nueva y util medicion complementaria de la calidad del espagueti cocido.
Extraction d’informations à partir de corpus dégradés

Nous présentons une méthode automatique d’extraction d’information à partir d’un corpus mono-domaine de mauvaise qualité, sur lequel il est impossible d’appliquer les méthodes classiques de traitement de la langue naturelle. Cette approche se fonde sur la construction d’une ontologie semi-formelle (modélisant les informations contenues dans le corpus et les relations entre elles). Notre méthode se déroule en trois phases : 1) la normalisation du corpus, 2) la construction de l’ontologie, et 3) sa formalisation sous la forme d’une grammaire. L’extraction d’information à proprement parler exploite un étiquetage utilisant les règles définies par la grammaire. Nous illustrons notre démarche d’une application sur un corpus bancaire.
Survival outcomes and prognostic factors in mycosis fungoides/Sézary syndrome: validation of the revised International Society for Cutaneous Lymphomas/European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer staging proposal.

PURPOSE We have analyzed the outcome of mycosis fungoides (MF) and Sézary syndrome (SS) patients using the recent International Society for Cutaneous Lymphomas (ISCL)/European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) revised staging proposal. PATIENTS AND METHODS Overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and risk of disease progression (RDP) were calculated for a cohort of 1,502 patients using univariate and multivariate models. RESULTS The mean age at diagnosis was 54 years, and 71% of patients presented with early-stage disease. Disease progression occurred in 34%, and 26% of patients died due to MF/SS. A significant difference in survival and progression was noted for patients with early-stage disease having patches alone (T1a/T2a) compared with those having patches and plaques (T1b/T2b). Univariate analysis established that (1) advanced skin and overall clinical stage, increased age, male sex, increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and large-cell transformation were associated with reduced survival and increased RDP; (2) hypopigmented MF, MF with lymphomatoid papulosis, and poikilodermatous MF were associated with improved survival and reduced RDP; and (3) folliculotropic MF was associated with an increased RDP. Multivariate analysis established that (1) advanced skin (T) stage, the presence in peripheral blood of the tumor clone without Sézary cells (B0b), increased LDH, and folliculotropic MF were independent predictors of poor survival and increased RDP; (2) large-cell transformation and tumor distribution were independent predictors of increased RDP only; and (3) N, M, and B stages; age; male sex; and poikilodermatous MF were only significant for survival. CONCLUSION This study has validated the recently proposed ISCL/EORTC staging system and identified new prognostic factors.