Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Hawthorne studies-a fable for our times?

‘The consumer of knowledge can never know what a dicky thing knowledge is until he has tried to produce it’. F.J. Roethlisberger, investigator at Hawthorne There is a familiar anecdote that relates, with variations, that experiments with improved factory lighting increased the productivity of workers. The outcome seemed clear until someone turned the lighting down to below baseline, whereupon output increased still further. The moral of this tale, referred to as the Hawthorne effect, is that people change their behaviour when they think you are watching it. The story relates to the first of many experiments performed at the Hawthorne works of the Western Electric Company in Chicago from November 1924 onwards. The original aim was to test claims that brighter lighting increased productivity, but uncontrolled studies proved uninterpretable. The workers were therefore divided into matched control and test groups and, to the surprise of the investigators, productivity rose equally in both. In the next experiment, lighting was reduced progressively for the test group until, at 1.4 foot-candles, they protested that they could not see what they were doing. Until then the productivity of both groups had once again risen in parallel. Two volunteers went on to demonstrate that a high output was possible at 0.06 foot-candles, equivalent to moonlight. The investigators next changed the light bulbs daily in the sight of the workers, telling them that the new bulbs were brighter. The women commented favourably on the change and increased their work-rate, even though the new bulbs were identical to those that had been removed. This and other manoeuvres showed beyond doubt that productivity related to what the subjects believed, and not to objective changes in their circumstances. These at least seem to be the main facts behind the popular legend, although these particular experiments were never written up, …
Older adults’ self-reported barriers to adherence to dietary guidelines and strategies to overcome them

Once an older adult develops type 2 diabetes, they often need to change their diet as part of the treatment. We report differences in dietary barriers and strategies to overcome them in 17 older adults without type 2. Data were gathered through 24-hour diet recalls, collected barriers and strategies in changing diet, and the health locus of control scales. Differences in barriers and strategies were partially explained by health locus of control subscales. People who believed that others (e.g. doctors) controlled their health were less likely to identify barriers or strategies to overcome them. The results contribute to training materials and decision aids.
Manganese Uptake and Efflux in Cultured Rat Astrocytes

Abstract: Astrocytes play a central role in manganese (Mn) regulation in the CNS. Using primary astrocyte cultures from neonatal rat brains, these studies demonstrate a specific highaffinity transport system for Mn2+. Saturation kinetics are clearly indicated by both l/s versus l/s plots (Km= 0.30 ± 0.03 μMM; Vmax= 0.30 ± 0.02 nmol/mg of protein/min) and plots of v versus [s]. Several divalent cations (Co2, Zn2+, and Pb2+) failed to inhibit the initial rate of 54Mn2+ uptake. In contrast, extracellular Ca2+ at 10 μM decreased 54Mn2+ uptake. Exchange with extracellular Mn2+ was not obligatory for the efflux of 54Mn2+ into extracellular medium because efflux occurred into Mn2+‐free extracellular medium, but efflux of 54Mn2+ was enhanced when astrocytes were equilibrated in the presence of unlabeled Mn2+. Efflux of 54Mn2+ was biphasic with both a rapid and a slow component. Efflux was most rapid during the first 10 min of incubation, with 27.5 ± 2.2% of 54Mn2+ transported extracellularly, and 37.2 ± 1.2% of preloaded 54Mn2+ was retained by the astrocytes at 120 min. These studies show, for the first time, that mammalian astrocytes can transport Mn via a specific transport system.
Pattern Classification with Memristive Crossbar Circuits

Abstract : Neuromorphic pattern classifiers were implemented, for the first time, using transistor-free integrated crossbar circuits with bilayer metal-oxide memristors. 106- and 108-crosspoint neuromorphic networks were trained in-situ using a Manhattan-Rule algorithm to separate a set of 33 binary images: into 3 classes using the batch-mode training, and into 4 classes using the stochastic-mode training, respectively. Simulation of much larger, multilayer neural network classifiers based on such technology has shown that their fidelity may be on a par with the state-of-the-art results.
The ESD failure mechanism of ultra-HV 700V LDMOS

A new kind of ESD failure mechanism is found in the UHV 700V LDNMOS during the HBM ESD zapping event. The device is damaged by its own charges and board stored charges, not damaged by the HBM stress current. The device junction capacitor and test-board capacitor store the charges from the ESD tester before the avalanche breakdown occurring. After the avalanche breakdown, the two capacitors discharge the stored charges to give the additional currents to stress the device. This phenomenon is called the charged-capacitor model (CCM) [1].
ELKS1 and Ca2+ channel subunit &bgr;4 interact and colocalize at cerebellar synapses

The cytoskeletal matrix of the active zone and synaptic voltage-dependent calcium channels (VDCCs) are both necessary components for the organization and regulation of synaptic vesicle release. In this study, we report a novel interaction between the cytoskeletal matrix of the active zone protein, ELKS1b, and the VDCC subunit, &bgr;4, in the molecular layer of the cerebellum. We found that the two proteins coimmunoprecipitated using antibodies against each protein. Using fluorescent immunohistochemistry, we observed colocalization between ELKS1b and VDCC &bgr;4 in the molecular layer of the cerebellum, suggesting that these proteins are both present in molecular layer synapses. Analysis of a P/Q-type VDCC knockout mouse (Cacna1a-/-) revealed that the localization of the VDCC &bgr;4 subunit to the molecular layer was disrupted, although ELKS1b protein localization was not affected. These results demonstrate that these two proteins interact in vitro and colocalize in the cerebellum, and suggest that their interaction may play a role at the molecular layer synapses of the cerebellum.
Dietary fiber does not displace energy but is associated with decreased serum cholesterol concentrations in healthy children.

BACKGROUND Dietary fiber has health benefits, but fiber recommendations for children are controversial because fiber may displace energy. OBJECTIVE The objective was to longitudinally evaluate dietary fiber intake in children and to study associations between growth variables, serum cholesterol concentrations, and intakes of fiber, energy, and nutrients. DESIGN Altogether, 543 children from a prospective randomized atherosclerosis prevention trial (the Special Turku Coronary Risk factor Intervention Project; STRIP) participated in this study between the ages of 8 mo and 9 y. The intervention children (n = 264) were counseled to replace part of saturated fat with unsaturated fat. Nutrient intakes, weight, height, and serum total, HDL-, and LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were analyzed. Children were divided into 3 groups according to mean dietary fiber intake in foods: low (lowest 10%), high (highest 10%), and average (middle 80%) fiber intakes. RESULTS Fiber intake associated positively with energy intake and inversely with fat intake. Children with a high fiber intake received more vitamins and minerals than did children in other groups. In longitudinal growth analyses, weights and heights were similar in all 3 fiber intake groups, and fiber intake (g/d) associated positively with weight gain between 8 mo and 2 y. Serum cholesterol concentrations decreased with increasing fiber intakes. Children in the intervention group had a higher fiber intake than did the control children during the entire follow-up period. CONCLUSION Fiber intake did not displace energy or disturb growth between 13 mo and 9 y of age. Serum cholesterol values correlated inversely with fiber intake, which indicated that part of the cholesterol-lowering intervention effect in the STRIP project may have been explained by dietary fiber.
Do You Want to Save Your Progress?: The Role of Professional and Player Communities in Preserving Virtual Worlds

Almost since the inception of the industry, the player community has been instrumental in preserving video games and other variable media art. Drawing on a combination of primary and secondary sources of information, including the Preserving Virtual Worlds project (an academic investigation into viable models of preservation for videogames and 3D virtual worlds based on a series of archiving case studies) and the results of a game documentation survey conducted by Donahue, we examine how players are taking responsibility for collecting, managing, curating, and creating long-term access to computer games. Because our interest lies with the contact zone between players and information professionals, we also describe and analyze how we and other scholar-archivists are collaborating with or relying on the user community to preserve virtual worlds, with an eye to how these relationships might eventually be codified within a larger preservation framework. [1]
Analysis of clinical and environment Yersinia isolates in the Republic of Georgia

The Center for Infectious Diseases Control, Georgian Ministry of Health, isolated 2,493 Yersinia enterocolitica and Y. enterocolitica-like strains, 22 Y. pestis strains, and 21 Y. pseudotuberculosis strains from 130,574 clinical and environmental samples. Analysis of 100 Y. enterocolitica and Y. enterocolitica-like strains showed none to be within traditional pathogenic biogroups or serogroups, and none carried genetic markers for virulence. However, some strains were enterotoxigenic in infant mice, while others were associated with prolonged carriage in adult mice.
The Giemsa Stain: Its History and Applications

Gustav Giemsa was born in Germany in 1867, worked mainly as a chemist, and died in 1948. The staining method, which carries his name, was designed primarily for the demonstration of parasites in malaria, but it was also employed in histology because of the high-quality staining of the chromatin and the nuclear membrane, the metachromasia of some cellular components, and the different qualities of cytoplasmic staining depending on the cell type. The use of methylene azure and its mixture with methylene blue to form an eosinate made stable the stain and its results. Giemsa's stain is regarded as the world's standard diagnostic technique for malaria's plasmodium, and it is also the basic stain for classifying lymphomas in the Kiel classification.
Smart divide: Paradigm shift in digital divide in South Korea

There is still much controversy about whether the broad dissemination of smart devices is closing or deepening the digital divide. However, it certainly is clear that the adoption of smart devices has fundamentally evolved the traditional digital divide. This research empirically identified the existence and factors making up the smart divide, which is the evolving digital divide generated by the use of smart devices. After analysing the effects of smart devices, it has identified that the smart divide is being generated among the traditional information-haves not only by external factors such as gender and economic status, but also by an internal factor which is the literacy of smart devices. The smart divide, instead of generating a dichotomic divide, rather is evolving a multilayered interdigitated segmentation within groups of people who own smart devices. In addition, it is a future-oriented divide because it is tied to the opportunities to get information through more information channels on smart devices.
Initiating layers architecture design for Software Product Line

Product Line Architecture is the key success of Software Product Line Engineering. Product Line Architecture prepares the design of architectures for members of product line. Architecture design is the most essential activities of a Product Line Architecture development. It prepares the corner stone of variability decision. The architecture design need to produce specific architecture from product members' assets in a Software Product Line. Representing variability explicitly is the most challenging one. Moreover, the architecture must cope to the diversity of products, and take the behaviour into account. This paper introduces some approaches to address the architecture design problems. Features' grouping with specific concern is the starting point. Then, models the component and interaction element composition, based on its capability. This paper also introduces logics that link the interaction element and component. Using layers, the product line architecture can be established.
Five-year survival and costs of care in metastatic colorectal cancer: conventional versus monoclonal antibody-based treatment protocols

Aim: To evaluate the costs and survival estimates of metastatic colorectal carcinoma patients treated with conventional cytostatic protocols and adjuvant monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Methods: Retrospective randomized case series and cost-of-illness analysis was used. Metastatic colorectal carcinoma cases (62) were randomly selected from the archive of the largest university military hospital in Southeastern Europe. Results: A 6-month longer survival was attributed to mAbs (p = 0.581). Conventional protocols incurred €5137 (95% CI: €3758–€6517) versus €22,113 (95% CI: €16,201–€28,025) total direct medical costs in mAb-based group. ICER of €32,108 per life year gained attributable to mAbs three-fold exceeded informal willingness to pay threshold of Serbia. Conclusion: mAbs adjuvant protocols had modest positive impact on 5-year survival rates. Costs were driven by targeted biologicals, but significantly higher costs of care were recorded in mAb-treated group in other domains, as well. More selective prescription and reimbursement criteria should be applied to increase cost–effectiveness of targeted oncology agents.
Self- and Conspecific Discrimination Between Unparasitized and Parasitized Green Peach Aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae), by Aphelinus asychis (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae)

Abstract Aphelinus asychis Walker (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) is a solitary koinobiont endoparasitoid, which parasitizes the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae). Host discrimination is the ability of a parasitoid to distinguish between unparasitized and parasitized hosts, so parasitoids can avoid wasting eggs and time. We determined the influence of host density (5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 aphids per experienced parasitoid during a 24-h period) on egg distribution, and tested the effects of different time intervals (0, 24, 48, and 72 h) between successive ovipositions on host discrimination between unparasitized and self- or conspecific-parasitized aphids. The results demonstrated that superparasitism decreased with increasing host density. Egg distributions were nonrandom at all host densities, and the observed number of self-superparasitized hosts was lower than expected at all host densities. At 0-h interval, most parasitoids used only antennation to examine and reject parasitized aphids, which might be associated with an external marker. At longer time intervals (≥24 h), A. asychis most often used antennation followed by ovipositor insertion to examine and reject previously parasitized aphids, probably responding to an internal, from chemical substances injected during the first oviposition or changes in host quality associated with parasitism. The results showed that host discrimination in A. asychis was mediated by two consecutive cues, the first external and the second internal, with the relevancy of each depending on the time interval between two ovipositions. Consequently, A. asychis was able to discriminate between unparasitized and self- or conspecific-parasitized M. persicae, but always engaged in some superparasitism.
Mechanisms and implications of programmed translational frameshifting

While ribosomes must maintain translational reading frame in order to translate primary genetic information into polypeptides, cis‐acting signals located in mRNAs represent higher order information content that can be used to fine‐tune gene expression. Classes of signals have been identified that direct a fraction of elongating ribosomes to shift reading frame by one base in the 5′ (−1) or 3′ (+1) direction. This is called programmed ribosomal frameshifting (PRF). Although mechanisms of PRF differ, a common feature is induction of ribosome pausing, which alters kinetic partitioning rates between in‐frame and out‐of‐frame codons at specific ‘slippery’ sequences. Many viruses use PRF to ensure synthesis of the correct ratios of virus‐encoded proteins required for proper viral particle assembly and maturation, thus identifying PRF as an attractive target for antiviral therapeutics. In contrast, recent studies indicate that PRF signals may primarily function as mRNA destabilizing elements in cellular mRNAs. These studies suggest that PRF may be used to fine‐tune gene expression through mRNA decay pathways. The possible regulation of PRF by noncoding RNAs is also discussed. WIREs RNA 2012 doi: 10.1002/wrna.1126
Inclusive Technology for Rural Development: Rural Call Centre in Orissa, India

This is a research work on usage of information and communication technology to address the loopholes in the existing system in rural India and suggest an improved way of catering to basic utility services to common people for betterment of their life. The work links all utility related discrete businesses on a common platform and creates a win-win situation for all stakeholders. The model proposed is trying to use mobile phones as a universal communication tool while providing social services in a rural call centre. The work also addresses the relative ranking of services in rural areas based on baseline survey as rural people spend 80% of their expense on obtaining health, transport, and education related information by frequent visits to urban areas. If this model is implemented then it will save time, cost and transport expenses on frequent visit and customer will enjoy the information, tips, and emergency guide line.
A review of tositumomab and I131 tositumomab radioimmunotherapy for the treatment of follicular lymphoma

The CD20 antigen has become a major therapeutic target in the management of follicular and other Bcell non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. The murine monoclonal antibody, tositumomab, on binding CD20, is able to induce antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, complement-dependent cytotoxicity and apoptosis. In addition, when radioiodinated, the antibody exploits the tumour’s sensitivity to ionising radiation by direct targeting of the malignant cell. Tositumomab and Iodine (I131) tositumomab (Bexxar®, GlaxoSmithKline, Philadelphia, PA, USA) is administered in two steps. The dosimetric step determines individual patient pharmacokinetics, allowing a patient- specific dose to be calculated. This is followed by the therapeutic step, with administration of the therapeutic dose between 7 and 14 days after the dosimetric dose. Over a decade’s worth of experience in clinical trials has determined the efficacy and safety of the regimen in a variety of clinical ci-rcumstances; establishment of exactly where the regimen fits amongst the algorithm for the management of follicular lymphoma continues.
Algorithms for statistical translation of spoken language

We describe three approaches to statistical translation and present experimental results. The statistical translation approach uses two types of information: a translation model and a language model. The language model used is a bigram or general m-gram model. The translation model is decomposed into a lexical model and an alignment model. There are three approaches that are presented and tested in detail: the quasi-monotone alignment approach, the inverted alignment approach, and the alignment template approach. For each of these three approaches, a suitable search method is presented. The system has been tested on a limited-domain spoken-language task for which a bilingual corpus is available: the Verbmobil task (German-English, 7000-word vocabulary). We present experimental results for each of the three approaches. The experimental tests were performed on both the text transcription and the speech recognizer output.
Infarction of superior cerebellar artery presenting as cerebellar symptoms.

BACKGROUND MRI of the brain has facilitated the diagnosis of cerebellar infarction in the territory of the superior cerebellar artery (SCA). We analyzed the data on patients with SCA infarction who presented with only cerebellar symptoms in an attempt to define its underlying pathophysiology. SUMMARY OF REPORT Ten patients with SCA infarction who presented with cerebellar symptoms were studied by brain MRI, angiography, and underlying pathology. Brain MRI demonstrated an infarct in the SCA territory in the anterior rostral cerebellum of all patients. None had abnormalities in the brain stem. In four patients, a hemorrhagic infarct was present in the same region. Cerebral angiography revealed no obvious SCA occlusion or atherosclerotic vascular disease in any patient. Eight of the 10 patients had heart disease, such as atrial fibrillation or old myocardial infarction. The presumed diagnosis was occlusion of the SCA in its periphery due to cardiogenic embolism. CONCLUSIONS When a patient presents with only cerebellar symptoms and has cerebellar infarction demonstrated by brain MRI, the SCA branch is probably occluded by cardiogenic embolism.
Activated microglial cells migrate towards sites of excitotoxic neuronal injury inside organotypic hippocampal slice cultures

The aim of this study was to analyse microglial reactions to excitotoxic N‐methyl‐d‐aspartic acid (NMDA)‐induced degeneration of rat dentate and hippocampal neurons in vitro. We used a migration model combining the techniques of microglial single cell culture and organotypic hippocampal slice culture (OHSC). Site‐specific oxidative damage in OHSCs was induced by pretreatment with 50 μm NMDA. Neuronal injury determined by propidium iodide (PI) uptake included the hippocampal cell layers of the dentate gyrus (DG) and the cornu ammonis (CA). Fluorescence‐prelabelled microglial cells with ameboid morphology were transferred onto the OHSC and migrated predominantly to the prelesioned cell layers of DG and CA when compared with unlesioned areas of the OHSC. In NMDA pretreated slices, microglial cells clustered around degenerating granule cells in the DG and pyramidal cells in the CA. This effect was significantly inhibited in unlesioned slice cultures and in NMDA‐exposed cultures that were pretreated with the NMDA‐antagonist MK‐801. Our observations suggest that microglia – attracted by the presence of stimuli provided by NMDA‐induced neuronal death – migrate specifically towards these lesioned neurons.
Finding Associations in Composite Data Sets: The CFARM Algorithm

In this paper, a composite fuzzy association rule mining mechanism CFARM, directed at identifying patterns in datasets comprised of composite attributes, is described. Composite attributes are defined as attributes that can take simultaneously two or more values that subscribe to a common schema. The objective is to generate fuzzy association rules using "properties" associated with these composite attributes. The exemplar application is the analysis of the nutrients contained in items found in grocery data sets. The paper commences with a review of the back ground and related work, and a formal definition of the CFARM concepts. The CFARM algorithm is then fully described and evaluated using both real and synthetic data sets.