Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Late Registration on Academic Outcomes and Retention at a Multi-Campus Community College.

THE INFLUENCE OF LATE REGISTRATION ON ACADEMIC OUTCOMES AND RETENTION AT A MULTI-CAMPUS COMMUNITY COLLEGE Kathy John Maalouf Old Dominion University, 2012 Director: Dr. Danica G. Hays In response to the increasing challenge for community colleges to uphold their mission of accessibility with an open door policy, while being held accountable for student success, higher education administrators and counselors need to have a better comprehension on the relationship among community college students, institutional enrollment policies, and academic success. The overall purpose of study was to broaden the understanding of the implications of late registration policy on community college students. Specifically, the purpose was to (1) investigate if there are statistical relationships between the demographics of community college students, registration behaviors, academic outcome, and retention (2) identify possible reasons why students register late; and (3) suggest retention strategies and initiatives to reduce the impact of late enrollment. Out of the population of 139,149 eligible courses at a multi-campus community college, approximately 9.9% of the courses were enrolled for by late registrants. The sample used in the study consisted of 12,536 late registrants and 12,516 randomly selected regular registrants. The findings suggest that non-traditional students, male students, students of color, and non-curricular students without a stated academic intent were more likely to enroll late for classes. The result of a MANOVA indicated that there was a significant main effect for registration type for both academic outcome/course grade and retention rate. The regular registrants had mean course grade of 2.22 (SD = 1.568) and a mean retention rate of . 72, SD = . 451). The late registrants had a mean course grade of 1.81 (SD = 1.607) and a mean retention rate of . 60 (SD = .489). Therefore, it may be postulated that students who register late tend to have a lower academic outcomes based on course grade and are less likely to return the subsequent semester resulting in lower retention rates. The study also identified possible reasons why community college students may register late for classes. The most frequently reported reasons for late registration were related to late decision making on attending college, financial aid processing, lack of awareness regarding the start of classes, failed plans on attending another college, delayed processing in college procedures, habits of procrastination, and family obligations. Based on the findings revealed in the study, recommendations were provided for administrators, counselors, and educators.
Meaning in life mediates the relationship between social and physical functioning and distress in cancer survivors.

OBJECTIVES Impairments in physical and social functioning are often associated with distress for the cancer survivor. Impaired functioning may also lead individuals to question previously held beliefs about meaning in life. Meaning in life was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between functioning and distress. DESIGN AND METHODS Two studies were conducted. In the cross-sectional study (I), cancer survivors (N=420) were accrued via the Internet and completed measures of social and physical functioning, meaning and distress. In the longitudinal study (II), breast cancer survivors (N=167) completed measures of functioning at 18 months, meaning at 24 months and distress at 30 months post-diagnosis. RESULTS In Study I, meaning in life was a significant, partial mediator for both of the effects of physical and social functioning impairments on heightened distress. In Study II, significant indirect effects of functioning impairments on distress through meaning were replicated even when functioning and distress were measured 1 year apart. The relationship of social functioning and distress was fully mediated by meaning in life, whereas the relationship of physical functioning and distress was partially mediated by meaning. CONCLUSIONS The negative social and physical sequelae of cancer are associated with heightened distress, and this association appears to be accounted for, in part, by patients' loss of meaning in their lives.
Chronic nicotine and smoke treatment modulate dopaminergic activities in ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens and the γ‐aminobutyric acid type B receptor expression of the rat prefrontal cortex

Dopaminergic afferents from the mesencephalic areas, such as ventral tegmental area (VTA), synapse with the γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)‐ergic interneurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Pharmacological and electrophysiological data show that the reinforcement, the dependence‐producing properties, as well as the psychopharmacologic effects of nicotine depend to a great extent on activation of nicotinic receptors within the mesolimbocortical dopaminergic projection. To explore further the relationship between the mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons and PFC GABAergic neurons, we investigated the effects of nicotine and passive exposure to cigarette smoke on the regulation of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in VTA and substantia nigra (SNC) and dopamine (DA) D1 receptor levels in nucleus accumbens (NAc) and caudate‐putamen (CPu). Also, the simultaneous changes in GABAB receptors mRNAs in the PFC were studied. The results showed that chronic nicotine and smoking treatment differentially changed the levels of TH protein in VTA and SNC and DA D1 receptor levels in Nac and CPu. GABAB1 and GABAB2 receptor mRNA levels also showed different change patterns. Ten and thirty minutes of smoke exposure increased GABAB1 receptor mRNA to a greater extent than that of GABAB2, whereas GABAB2 was greatly enhanced after 1 hr of smoke exposure. The TH levels in VTA were closely related to DA D1 receptor levels in NAc and with GABAB receptor mRNA changes in PFC. These results suggest that the mesolimbic pathway and GABAB receptor mRNA in PFC are modulated by nicotine and cigarette smoke, implying an important role in nicotine's psychopharmacological effects. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Prospective Study of Snowkiting Injuries

Background: Snowkiting is becoming an increasingly popular extreme sport; however, its injury rates and patterns are unknown to date. Purpose: The authors surveyed the injuries in a group of snowkiters over 1 season. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: The study was conducted over the course of 1 winter season ranging from November 2009 until March 2010; 80 snowkiters were surveyed prospectively. All participants were recruited through contacts with snowkite schools, snowkiting-related web portals, or Internet-based social networks. Results: During 3929 hours of snowkiting recorded, 33 injuries occurred, of which 60.6% were mild; 21.2%, moderate; and 18.2%, severe. The calculated injury rate was 8.4 injuries per 1000 hours of exposure. Most frequently injured body sites were the back (30.3%), knee (24.2%), shoulder (21.2%), and head (21.2%). Upper extremity injuries included 2 shoulder dislocations, a clavicle fracture, and a dislocation fracture of the radial head. Injuries to the lower extremity included 3 knee sprains and 1 anterior cruciate ligament rupture. The most common injury causes were riding errors (75.8%), wind gusts (36.4%), and poor snow conditions (27.3%). When compared with experts (5.1 injuries per 1000 hours of exposure), beginners (20.8 injuries per 1000 hours of exposure) had a significantly increased risk of getting injured (odds ratio [OR] 4.11; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.34-12.64; P = .008). Athletes who used snowboards for snowkiting purposes were injured almost 3 times more frequently than their colleagues using skis (11.7 vs 4.1 injuries per 1000 hours of exposure; OR 2.85; 95% CI, 1.23-6.57; P = .010). The quick-release system (97.5%), helmet (92.5%), kite leash (83.8%), spine protector (51.3%), and shoulder protectors (20.0%) were the most commonly used protective/safety equipment. Conclusion: Snowkiting can be considered a sport carrying a high risk of injury. More caution in assessing local snow conditions and wind gust occurrences is recommended as well as considering using the help and advice of a professional instructor when beginning this action-packed sport. Injury prevention strategies should also include the further improvement of currently available safety equipment.
A linear risk-return model for enhanced indexation in portfolio optimization

Enhanced indexation (EI) is the problem of selecting a portfolio that should produce excess return with respect to a given benchmark index. In this work, we propose a linear bi-objective optimization approach to EI that maximizes average excess return and minimizes underperformance over a learning period. Our model can be efficiently solved to optimality by means of standard linear programming techniques. On the theoretical side, we investigate conditions that guarantee or forbid the existence of a portfolio strictly outperforming the index. On the practical side, we support our model with extensive empirical analysis on publicly available real-world financial datasets, including comparison with previous studies, performance and diversification analysis, and verification of some of the proposed theoretical results on real data.
Exacerbation of atherosclerosis by hypertension: potential mechanisms and clinical implications.

I I with interest the comprehensive review by Chobanian and Alexander 1 on potential mechanisms and clinical implications of the development of atherosclerosis in patients with hypertension. A further mechanism for the "exacerbation of atherosclerosis" in patients with hypertension that was not addressed in an otherwise excellent review is the prothrombotic (or thrombogenic) state in hypertension. The process of atherosclerosis (atherogenesis) is closely related to thrombogenesis, and accumulated evidence does suggest that patients with hypertension demonstrate rheological and coagulation abnormalities that are indicative of a prothrombotic or hypercoagulable state. 2-5 Such abnormalities are thought to explain why, despite the arterial tree being exposed to high pressures, the complications associated with hypertension (such as heart attacks and strokes) are paradoxically thrombotic rather than hemorrhagic. 2 Hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy, who are at particularly high risk for cardiovascular complications, exhibit additional abnormalities of clotting factors that have been related to
Lung function in woodsmoke-exposed Guatemalan children following a chimney stove intervention

Rationale Household air pollution (HAP) from solid fuel combustion is a major contributor to the global burden of disease, with considerable impact from respiratory infections in children. The impact of HAP on lung function is unknown. Objectives The Childhood Exposure to Respirable Particulate Matter (CRECER) prospective cohort study followed Guatemalan children who participated in the Randomised Exposure Study of Pollution Indoors and Respiratory Effects (RESPIRE) trial of a chimney stove intervention to determine the effect of early childhood HAP exposure on growth of lung function. Methods RESPIRE households with pregnant women or infant children were randomised to receive a chimney stove at the beginning or at the end of the 18-month trial. During CRECER, a subset of these children, as well as children from households with newly installed stoves, were followed with spirometry beginning at age 5. Biomass smoke exposure was measured using personal carbon monoxide tubes. Two-stage regression models were employed to analyse associations with lung function growth. Measurements and main results Longitudinal peak expiratory flow (PEF) and FEV1 data were available for 443 and 437 children, respectively, aged 5–8 (mean follow-up 1.3 years). Decreases in PEF growth of 173 mL/min/year (95% CI −341 to −7) and FEV1 of 44 mL/year (95% CI −91 to 4) were observed with stove installation at 18 months compared with stove installation at birth in analyses adjusted for multiple covariates. No statistically significant associations were observed between personal HAP exposure and lung function. Conclusions A significant decrease in PEF growth and a large non-significant decrease in FEV1 growth were observed with later stove installation. Additional studies including longer follow-up and cleaner stoves or fuels are needed.
Developmental topographical disorientation and decreased hippocampal functional connectivity

Developmental topographical disorientation (DTD) is a newly discovered cognitive disorder in which individuals experience a lifelong history of getting lost in both novel and familiar surroundings. Recent studies have shown that such a selective orientation defect relies primarily on the inability of the individuals to form cognitive maps, i.e., mental representations of the surrounding that allow individuals to get anywhere from any location in the environment, although other orientation skills are additionally affected. To date, the neural correlates of this developmental condition are unknown. Here, we tested the hypothesis that DTD may be related to ineffective functional connectivity between the hippocampus (HC; known to be critical for cognitive maps) and other brain regions critical for spatial orientation. A group of individuals with DTD and a group of control subjects underwent a resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) scan. In addition, we performed voxel‐based morphometry to investigate potential structural differences between individuals with DTD and controls. The results of the rsfMRI study revealed a decreased functional connectivity between the right HC and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in individuals with DTD. No structural differences were detected between groups. These findings provide evidence that ineffective functional connectivity between HC and PFC may affect the monitoring and processing of spatial information while moving within an environment, resulting in the lifelong selective inability of individuals with DTD to form cognitive maps that are critical for orienting in both familiar and unfamiliar surroundings. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A pmrA Constitutive Mutant Sensitizes Escherichia coli to Deoxycholic Acid

ABSTRACT An Escherichia coli mutant was isolated and shown to be polymyxin B resistant. Mapping and sequence analysis revealed a missense mutation at codon 53 within the pmrA (basR) gene that results in a G-to-V substitution. Fusions of promoters from the pmrC, yibD, and pmrH genes with the lacZ reporter showed that they were constitutively expressed in pmrA53 cells. In pmrA+ strains, these promoters were induced by iron and zinc, while a ΔpmrA mutation blocked induction. The PmrA regulon regulates genes whose products remodel the composition and charge of lipid A and hence the barrier properties of the outer membrane. Along these lines, the pmrA53 mutant was also found to be hypersensitive to the anionic bile detergent deoxycholic acid.
Emerging Electronic Partnerships: Antecedents and Dimensions of EDI Use from the Supplier's Perspective

The diffusion of network technologies and the developing interest in emerging organizational forms suggest that researchers ought to pay more attention to the development of "electronic partnerships. " This preliminary investigation tests a theoretical framework relating two pivotal themes, power and trust, to the use of electronic data interchange (EDI). Separate models were tested incorporating two dimensions of EDI use: volume of transactions and diversity of EDI transaction sets. The relationships among supplier dependence, customer power, and EDI use were different for volume and diversity, suggesting unique conditions that predict each dimension. Interestingly, power was negatively related to the volume of EDI transactions indicating that, while electronic networks may facilitate easier exchanges, they may not necessarily lead to increases in the frequency of exchanges. The relationships among commitment, trust, and EDI use were also different for volume and diversity. Trust was related to diversity but not volume. Moreover, trust was related to increases in diversity of EDI use, in contrast to power, which was negatively related to diversity. This latter finding may offer an important prescription for managers who seek to expand the effective use of EDl and for IT researchers who need to focus on the role of trust in supporting information exchange between electronic partners.
Optimal distribution network reconfiguration using dynamic fuzzy based genetic algorithm

Optimal reconfiguration of power distribution systems is a complex combinatorial optimization problem with the purpose of identifying a radial network that optimizes given objectives. In this paper, a dynamic fuzzy-based genetic algorithm is presented to find an optimal configuration for the distribution networks that minimizes the total power loss of the network. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by its application on a 33-bus distribution system. The simulation results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed method compared to the classic genetic algorithm based methods.
Obesity and breast cancer

This inspiring book becomes one that is very booming. After published, this book can steal the market and book lovers to always run out of this book. And now, we will not let you run out any more to get this book. Why should be obesity and breast cancer? As a book lover, you must know that enjoying the book to read should be relevant to how you exactly need now. If they are not too much relevance, you can take the way of the inspirations to create for new inspirations.
Short Sale Restriction,Heterogeneous Beliefs and Stock Price Crash in China

Based on Hong and Stein(2003)heterogeneous beliefs model,this paper employs Conditional Logit with Fixed Effect(CLFE) model to investigate the relationship between heterogeneous beliefs and the crash of individual stocks in the Chinese stock markets with short sale restriction.The results indicate that the crash phenomenon is more likely to occur when the more serious heterogeneous beliefs exist among investors.We suggest that the crash phenomenon will decrease and the market will be more stable if we take the measures to reduce differences of opinion among investors and the relaxation of short sales.
Domains, Amino Acid Residues, and New Isoforms of Caenorhabditis elegans Diacylglycerol Kinase 1 (DGK-1) Important for Terminating Diacylglycerol Signaling in Vivo*

Diacylglycerol kinases (DGKs) inhibit diacylglycerol (DAG) signaling by phosphorylating DAG. DGK-1, the Caenorhabditis elegans ortholog of human neuronal DGKθ, inhibits neurotransmission to control behavior. DGK-1, like DGKθ, has three cysteine-rich domains (CRDs), a pleckstrin homology domain, and a kinase domain. To identify DGK domains and amino acid residues critical for terminating DAG signaling in vivo, we analyzed 20 dgk-1 mutants defective in DGK-1-controlled behaviors. We found by sequencing that the mutations included nine amino acid substitutions and seven premature stop codons that impair the physiological functions of DGK-1. All nine amino acid substitutions are in the second CRD, the third CRD, or the kinase domain. Thus, these domains are important for the termination of DAG signaling by DGK-1 in vivo. Seven of the substituted amino acid residues are present in all human DGKs and likely define key residues required for the function of all DGKs. An ATP-binding site mutation expected to inactivate the kinase domain retained very little physiological function, but we found two stop codon mutants predicted to truncate DGK-1 before its kinase domain that retained significantly more function. We detected novel splice forms of dgk-1 that can reconcile this apparent conflict, as they skip exons containing the stop codons to produce DGK-1 isoforms that contain the kinase domain. Two of these isoforms lack an intact pleckstrin homology domain and yet appear to have significant function. Additional novel isoform(s) account for all of the DGK-1 function necessary for one behavior, dopamine response.
Pituitary Expression of CTLA-4 Mediates Hypophysitis Secondary to Administration of CTLA-4 Blocking Antibody

CTLA-4 blocking antibody induces secondary hypophysitis by binding to CTLA-4 antigen and initiating a type II hypersensitivity reaction. Inflammation Is the Pits Ipilimumab—an antibody that blocks the immune cell inhibitory receptor CTLA-4—has been used successfully as a form of cancer immunotherapy. However, some patients treated with ipilimumab develop secondary hypophysitis—inflammation of the pituitary gland. Iwama et al. now report that this side effect may be an on-target effect on CTLA-4–expressing cells in the pituitary gland. The authors noticed that advanced cancer patients treated with ipilimumab expressed autoantibodies to the pituitary gland. What’s more, pituitary cells expressed CTLA-4. Therefore, they developed a murine model of secondary hypophysitis by repetitive injections of antibodies to CTLA-4. They found that injection of the CTLA-4 antibody resulted in complement deposition on hormone-secreting cells in the pituitary, and suggest a direct effect of ipilimumab in secondary hypophysitis. Hypophysitis is a chronic inflammation of the pituitary gland of unknown (primary forms) or recognizable (secondary forms) etiology, such as the use of ipilimumab in cancer immunotherapy. Ipilimumab, which blocks the T cell inhibitory molecule CTLA-4 (cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4), induces hypophysitis in about 4% of patients through unknown mechanisms. We first established a model of secondary hypophysitis by repeated injections of a CTLA-4 blocking antibody into SJL/J or C57BL/6J mice, and showed that they developed lymphocytic infiltration of the pituitary gland and circulating pituitary antibodies. We next assessed the prevalence of pituitary antibodies in a cohort of 20 patients with advanced melanoma or prostate cancer, 7 with a clinical diagnosis of hypophysitis, before and after ipilimumab administration. Pituitary antibodies, negative at baseline, developed in the 7 patients with hypophysitis but not in the 13 without it; these antibodies predominantly recognized thyrotropin-, follicle-stimulating hormone–, and corticotropin-secreting cells. We then hypothesized that the injected CTLA-4 antibody could cause pituitary toxicity if bound to CTLA-4 antigen expressed “ectopically” on pituitary endocrine cells. Pituitary glands indeed expressed CTLA-4 at both RNA and protein levels, particularly in a subset of prolactin- and thyrotropin-secreting cells. Notably, these cells became the site of complement activation, featuring deposition of C3d and C4d components and an inflammatory cascade akin to that seen in type II hypersensitivity. In summary, the study offers a mechanism to explain the pituitary toxicity observed in patients receiving ipilimumab, and highlights the utility of measuring pituitary antibodies in this form of secondary hypophysitis.
Forecasting and Countermeasure on 2020 China Grain Supply and Demand

Based on analysis and forecasting on grain consumption influencing factors,production influencing factors and import influencing factors,the supply and demand of main sorts of grain in China is forecasted respectively,including paddy,wheat,corn and soybean.In 2020,grain consumption quantity,grain production quantity and grain import quantity of China is 693 million tons,644 million tons and 49 million tons respectively.For grain security in future,new stratagem on food security should be implemented,grain import circumstance and global grain security.Father mechanism should be improved,and early warning and regulation on grain production capacity should be paid attention to systemically.