Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diminished gene expression of cardiac heat shock proteins in pulmonary hypertensive chickens

Abstract 1. The relative expression of heat shock protein (HSP) genes (HSP60, HSP70 and HSP90) was performed using quantitative real-time PCR on tissue from the heart ventricles to investigate the effect of 3,5,3′-l-triiodothyronine (T3)-induced pulmonary hypertension in broiler chickens. 2. The ratio of the right ventricle to total ventricle (index of pulmonary hypertension) was increased in the treated groups at 12 and 42 d of age compared to controls but was significant only at 42 d. 3. The HSP genes were expressed in the right and left ventricles of control but T3-treated broilers at 12 and 42 d of age. The relative amounts of HSP60 and HSP90 gene expression in the right ventricle of treated groups were significantly increased at 12 d and decreased at 42 d of age compared to controls. 4. Variations of HSP60 and HSP90 mRNAs in the left ventricle were not significant. The relative amount of HSP70 mRNA expression in the right and left ventricles of treated groups was significantly decreased at 42 d of age compared to controls. HSP70 mRNA expression did not differ between the right and left ventricles at 12 d of age. 5. It is concluded that gene expression of HSPs (i.e. HSP60 and HSP90) was upregulated in the heart of chickens developing pulmonary hypertension syndrome, probably to delay the pathological process of disease. The right ventricle from hearts of pulmonary hypertensive chickens showed considerable reductions of HSP60, HSP70 and HSP90, which is evidence of a loss of compensatory responsiveness in dilated heart.
Global Adaptation in Networks of Selfish Components: Emergent Associative Memory at the System Scale

In some circumstances complex adaptive systems composed of numerous self-interested agents can self-organize into structures that enhance global adaptation, efficiency, or function. However, the general conditions for such an outcome are poorly understood and present a fundamental open question for domains as varied as ecology, sociology, economics, organismic biology, and technological infrastructure design. In contrast, sufficient conditions for artificial neural networks to form structures that perform collective computational processes such as associative memory/recall, classification, generalization, and optimization are well understood. Such global functions within a single agent or organism are not wholly surprising, since the mechanisms (e.g., Hebbian learning) that create these neural organizations may be selected for this purpose; but agents in a multi-agent system have no obvious reason to adhere to such a structuring protocol or produce such global behaviors when acting from individual self-interest. However, Hebbian learning is actually a very simple and fully distributed habituation or positive feedback principle. Here we show that when self-interested agents can modify how they are affected by other agents (e.g., when they can influence which other agents they interact with), then, in adapting these inter-agent relationships to maximize their own utility, they will necessarily alter them in a manner homologous with Hebbian learning. Multi-agent systems with adaptable relationships will thereby exhibit the same system-level behaviors as neural networks under Hebbian learning. For example, improved global efficiency in multi-agent systems can be explained by the inherent ability of associative memory to generalize by idealizing stored patterns and/or creating new combinations of subpatterns. Thus distributed multi-agent systems can spontaneously exhibit adaptive global behaviors in the same sense, and by the same mechanism, as with the organizational principles familiar in connectionist models of organismic learning.
Fall in association of height with intelligence and educational level.

These consistent rates of increase may be due to the increasing patient workload. Although our statistical analysis was based on crude data, the R2 values for the variables plotted indicate that between 55% and 65% of the variability in patient turnover and in tests can be attributed to a linear relation with time. We assume that the lack of correlation between the numbers of patients and requests result from the dilution of emergency cases with cold cases. Bed closures during the past three years may have altered this ratio. As there are no data linking an individual request with a particular patient the numbers of emergency cases in which haematology tests are required cannot be studied retrospectively. Decisions about the future of the out of hours haematology service require precise and more detailed information, which should include the numbers of all types of haematology tests requested for each patient episode or admission. More data than recommended in the Korner report3 could be collected for this purpose, and local feedback and analysis would be useful. Our guidelines were designed to complement control by clinical audit or education and were expected to improve communication between clinical and laboratory staff. The previous availability of tests depended partly on the experience and compliance of the medical laboratory scientific officer. The different strategies for reducing demand for tests have been described.4 The effectiveness of our guidelines lie in their reducing the numbers of tests to a reasonable minimal level. Budget holders should realise that a reduction in the number of requests for tests does not necessarily mean corresponding financial savings: medical laboratory scientific officers are paid a flat fee for each call regardless of how many tests they do in each call.5 We suggest that payments should be for sessions and unrelated to numbers of requests or calls. This would ensure fixed but fair remuneration, given that our monitoring system or its equivalent were in force. If admissions cannot be restricted adequate on call staffing or totally automated and foolproof counting equipment will be necessary as demand increases.
Optical properties of crystalline and amorphous semiconductors : materials and fundamental principles

Preface. Acknowledgments. Abbreviations and Acronyms. 1. Materials, Properties, and Basic Formulas. 2. The Reststrahlen Region. 3. The Interband Transition Region: Crystalline Materials. 4. The Interband Transition Region: Amorphous and Microcrystalline Materials. 5. At or Below the Fundamental Absorption Edge. 6. Concluding Remarks. Index.
Neoliberalism and applied linguistics

we need to keep reading and revisiting, such as Jane Mace and Deborah Brandt, as well as reminding us of the other voices which have a lot to teach us about adult literacy, such as Charles Dickens and Alice Walker. They also present us with new theory which can help us better understand literacy use and learning, for example ‘Charles Taylor’s notion of the modern social imaginary’ (Hamilton) and the concept of literacy as ‘unbidden’ (Howard). Literacy and the Practice of Writing in the 19th Century and Literacy and the Politics of Representation are of course very different books, just as the careers of these two matriarchs of adult literacy studies, Howard and Hamilton, have been very different. Literacy and the Practice of Writing in the 19th Century is a historical study, making use of – breathing life into extraordinarily rich primary sources. It is also concerned with writing in particular, not reading. Literacy and the Politics of Representation addresses literacy as both reading and writing and is more of a sociological study, or analysis, of present-day representations of literacy. It may also be that readers will approach these two books differently, greedily moving back and forth between Hamilton’s chapters while working their way through Howard’s book more slowly and steadily, from the first page to the last. Yet for all their obvious differences, both books end up telling us what literacy means, has meant and can mean to different people, in different ways. The pages of each book are full of ghost voices, spiriting up and away. Everyone should read both of these books, for this reason as for so many others. To give just one example: on page 302 of Literacy and the Practice of Writing in the 19th Century is a facsimile of a page from the diary of a man called John Ward. It was written on April the 10th, 1864 in careful, beautiful handwriting, and then, somehow, ended up on a ‘rubbish heap’ from which it was later ‘rescued’ by a person ‘feeding a furnace’. Ward writes that it has been a hard time for his mill, because the ‘American war’ and ‘I have not earned a shilling a day this last month and there are many like me my clothes and bedding is wearing out very fast and I have no means of getting any more . ’ I read this and John Ward was standing in front of me. I started worrying about how to help him; I found it –– and find it now –– a genuine mental effort to understand that this man is now long gone. His words are not; his literacy is not.
Decomposition of Nonmonotone Aggregates in Logic Programming ⋆

Aggregates in answer set programming (ASP) have recently been studied quite intensively. The main focus of previous work has been on defining suitable semantics for programs with arbitrary, potentially recursive aggregates. By now, these efforts appear to be converging. An interesting feature of the respective semantics is that for programs without disjunctive rules, the complexity of reasoning tasks increases with the presence of nonmonotone aggregate atoms. The reason is that with appropriate recursive nonmonotone aggregate atoms it is possible to simulate disjunctive rules, for which reasoning tasks are in general more complex. However, simple nonmonotone aggregates occur frequently in programs, for example, checking whether the value of an aggregate function is equal to a constant, is nonmonotone in most cases. But many of these aggregate atoms are not powerful enough to simulate disjunctions, and hence reasoning tasks are in fact less complex in these cases. In this paper we present methods for identifying “easy” nonmonotone aggregate atoms, called polynomially decomposable nonmonotone aggregate atoms, giving also a way for translating programs with polynomially decomposable nonmonotone aggregate atoms to programs without nonmonotone aggregate atoms.
Reproductive Ecology of Two Common Woody Species , Juniperus sabina and Artemisia santolinifolia , in Mountain Steppes of Southern Mongolia

The present study describes the reproductive ecology of the prostrate shrub Juniperus sabina and the dwarf shrub Artemisia santolinifolia in dry mountain steppes of southern Mongolia. Whereas stands of the juniper are located at the drought limit of the genus’ distributional range, the genus Artemisia is typical of central Asian drylands. Both species produce large numbers of reproductive organs. For Juniperus sabina, however, only 2.5% of the morphologically intact seeds were found to be viable. Correspondingly, neither seedlings nor saplings were found in the field, and recruitment by reseeding happens at most rarely under the present climatic conditions. Instead, clonal growth is apparently the main mode of reproduction of the juniper. RAPDfingerprinting demonstrated that patches of J. sabina were constituted by a single genet. As mean current growth rates were between 1.8 and 6.8 cm/a, the largest patches found in the study area are estimated to have a minimum age of 769 to 2941 years. Thus, seedling establishment might have taken place under more favorable climatic conditions as they occurred e.g. 1800 yrBP, whereas in dry phases such as today survival is mainly guaranteed by clonal growth. In contrast to that, more than 90% of the achenes of Artemisia santolinifolia were found viable. Achenes are not dormant, however, increasing temperatures positively affected time needed for germination (32◦ > 20/10◦ > 8/4 ◦C). Germination is possible in both, light and darkness. The higher the osmotic stress the slower is germination and the fewer achenes remain viable. Therefore, it can be concluded that Artemisia santolinifolia seeds are well adapted to germinate under a wide variety of conditions, allowing the plant to colonize open sites rapidly and enabling it to invade further stands providing open space is available. Since both species grow in the same habitat, A. santolinifolia is a possible candidate for replacing J. sabina provided that the climatic conditions are not reversing again so that chances of sexual reproduction for juniper increase.
Caregiver-child interactions : effects of professional development on practice in Guyana

In 2010, the first Early Childhood Professional Development (ECPD) programme was introduced by the University of Guyana (UG). This two-year programme was designed for caregivers working with children in the birth to four-year-old age group. Statistical analysis of this programme suggests it is not having the desired effect in promoting caregiver-child interaction (CCI), when assessed against structural performance indicators (UG-UNICEF, 2012). Given that CCI has been cited in the last decade as one of the most critical determinants for optimising learning during early years (Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2003; Sabol et al., 2013; Siraj and Asani, 2015), discussions were held with tutors, in an attempt to address this perceived deficiency. These discussions revealed that caregivers had made significant gains despite receiving relatively low scores on assessment scales. Consequently, this study attempts to explore these small, yet potentially significant changes. The main research question considered here is: ‘How has the ECPD programme contributed to the quality of caregivers’ professional interaction practices? ’ A qualitative case study, supported by ethnographic techniques, constitutes the theoretical framework to investigate this question. To explore everyday CCI practice, eight cases were selected for observation, video-review, guided-recall and semi-structured interviews. Professionals who witnessed or supported these caregivers’ practice were also interviewed, and an examination of programme materials and delivery was conducted. Results were interpreted using a thematic analysis. The major findings are: (i) caregivers engage in challenging-type interactions; but, the intensity depends on whether interactions are aimed at ‘gaffing’ [spontaneous conversation] or ‘lesson-time’, or conducted with whole-groups or on a one-on-one basis; (ii) notable differences in CCI are accounted for by caregivers’ degree of readiness to change, and prioritisation of pedagogical thinking about practice. It can be concluded that CCI experiences are too complex and transactional to be captured by UG’s current assessment tools. Recommendations are offered to allow UG to make decisions about training strategies which are most useful, might be missing, or that could be discontinued or modified.
Coresets for $k$-Means and $k$-Median Clustering and their Applications

$\renewcommand{\Re}{{\rm I\! \hspace{-0.025em} R}} \newcommand{\eps}{{\varepsilon}} \newcommand{\Coreset}{{\mathcal{S}}} $ In this paper, we show the existence of small coresets for the problems of computing $k$-median and $k$-means clustering for points in low dimension. In other words, we show that given a point set $P$ in $\Re^d$, one can compute a weighted set $\Coreset \subseteq P$, of size $O(k \eps^{-d} \log{n})$, such that one can compute the $k$-median/means clustering on $\Coreset$ instead of on $P$, and get an $(1+\eps)$-approximation. As a result, we improve the fastest known algorithms for $(1+\eps)$-approximate $k$-means and $k$-median clustering. Our algorithms have linear running time for a fixed $k$ and $\eps$. In addition, we can maintain the $(1+\eps)$-approximate $k$-median or $k$-means clustering of a stream when points are being only inserted, using polylogarithmic space and update time.
Development of memory and the hippocampus: comparison of food-storing and nonstoring birds on a one-trial associative memory task

Food-storing birds, for example, marsh tits, Parus palustris, use memory to retrieve stored food and have a larger hippocampus relative to the rest of the telencephalon than do species that store little or no food such as the blue tit, P. caeruleus. The difference between food storers and nonstorers in relative hippocampal volume occurs after the young birds have fledged from the nest and is dependent upon some aspect of memory for retrieving caches of stored food. To test whether or not species differences in memory and volumetric changes in the hippocampus could be triggered by experience of memory tasks other than retrieval of stored food, groups of hand-raised marsh tits and blue tits were tested between days 35 and 192 posthatch on a one-trial associative memory task in which they were rewarded in phase II for returning to the feeder where they had eaten part of a peanut 20 min earlier. No species differences were found when the peanut was visible in phase I, but when the peanut was hidden in phase I, marsh tits performed better than blue tits, irrespective of whether or not they had had previous experience of storing and retrieving food. In dissociation trials (transformed array of feeders), marsh tits with food-storing experience responded preferentially to spatial cues, whereas blue tits responded equally to both spatial position and object- specific cues. These species differences are also found in wild-caught adults. However, marsh tits without food-storing experience responded equally to both spatial position and object-specific cues, which suggests that experience of storing and/or retrieving caches is required in order for marsh tits to develop the spatial preference seen in adult food storers. Both marsh tits with experience of the one-trial associative memory task and those that had also had food-storing experience had larger relative hippocampal volumes than did controls, independent of age. Of the marsh tits trained on the one-trial associative memory task, there was no difference between those that had had food-storing experience and those that had not. However, in blue tits, there was no effect of experience on relative hippocampal volume. No volumetric differences were observed in ectostriatum, which served as a control brain region. The results suggest that some aspect of memory for retrieving food (whether or not stored by the bird) directly influences growth of the hippocampal region in marsh tits, the food- storing species, but not in blue tits, the nonstoring species.
The European Union and the public sphere: A communicative space in the making?

1. The European Union and the public sphere: a communicative space in the making? John Erik Fossum and Philip Schlesinger PART I: Communicative practices and a European public sphere Philip Schlesinger and John Erik Fossum 2. Conceptualizing European public spheres: general, segmented and strong publics Erik Oddvar Eriksen 3. The public sphere and European democracy: mechanisms of democratization in the transnational situation Klaus Eder 4. A fragile cosmopolitanism: on the unresolved ambiguities of the European public sphere Philip Schlesinger PART II: Assessing Europe's general public(s) Philip Schlesinger and John Erik Fossum 5. 'Quo vadis Europe? ' Quality newspapers struggling for European unity Hans-Jorg Trenz 6. Political communication, European integration and the transformation of national public spheres: a comparison of Britain and France Paul Statham 7. The European void: the democratic deficit as a cultural deficiency Abram de Swaan 8. Political integration in Europe and the need for a common political language Lars Chr. Blichner 9. EU enlargement, identity and the public sphere Maria Heller and Agnes Renyi 10. Religion and the European public sphere Francois Foret and Philip Schlesinger 11. The public sphere in European constitution-making John Erik Fossum and Hans-Jorg Trenz PART III: Institutional conditions and the European context John Erik Fossum and Philip Schlesinger 12. European commissioners and the prospects of a European public sphere: information, representation and legitimacy Andy Smith 13. Transparency, audiences and the evolving role of the EU Council of Ministers Deirdre Curtin 14. Transnationalising the public sphere? The European Parliament, promises and anticipations Ulrike Liebert 15. Conclusion Philip Schlesinger and John Erik Fossum Bibliography
Stochastic Finance : A Numeraire Approach

Introduction Elements of Finance Price Arbitrage Time Value of Assets, Arbitrage and No-Arbitrage Assets Money Market, Bonds, and Discounting Dividends Portfolio Evolution of a Self-Financing Portfolio Fundamental Theorems of Asset Pricing Change of Measure via Radon-Nikodym Derivative Leverage: Forwards and Futures Binomial Models Binomial Model for No-Arbitrage Assets Binomial Model with an Arbitrage Asset Diffusion Models Geometric Brownian Motion General European Contracts Price as an Expectation Connections with Partial Differential Equations Money as a Reference Asset Hedging Properties of European Call and Put Options Stochastic Volatility Models Foreign Exchange Market Interest Rate Contracts Forward LIBOR Swaps and Swaptions Term Structure Models Barrier Options Types of Barrier Options Barrier Option Pricing via Power Options Price of a Down-and-In Call Option Connections with the Partial Differential Equations Lookback Options Connections of Lookbacks with Barrier Options Partial Differential Equation Approach for Lookbacks Maximum Drawdown American Options American Options on No-Arbitrage Assets American Call and Puts on Arbitrage Assets Perpetual American Put Partial Differential Equation Approach Contracts on Three or More Assets: Quantos, Rainbows and "Friends" Pricing in the Geometric Brownian Motion Model Hedging Asian Options Pricing in the Geometric Brownian Motion Model Hedging of Asian Options Reduction of the Pricing Equations Jump Models Poisson Process Geometric Poisson Process Pricing Equations European Call Option in Geometric Poisson Model Levy Models with Multiple Jump Sizes Appendix: Elements of Probability Theory Solutions to Selected Exercises References Index
Prevention of urinary tract infections with vitamin D supplementation 20,000 IU per week for five years. Results from an RCT including 511 subjects

Abstract Background: In observational studies vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased risk of infections, whereas the effect of vitamin D supplementation in randomized controlled trials is non-conclusive. Methods: Five hundred and eleven subjects with prediabetes were randomized to vitamin D3 (20,000 IU per week) versus placebo for five years. Every sixth month, a questionnaire on respiratory tract infections (RTI) (common cold, bronchitis, influenza) and urinary tract infection (UTI) was filled in. Results: Mean baseline serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) level was 60 nmol/L. Two hundred and fifty-six subjects received vitamin D and 255 placebo. One hundred and sixteen subjects in the vitamin D and 111 in the placebo group completed the five-year study. Eighteen subjects in the vitamin D group and 34 subjects in the placebo group reported UTI during the study (p < 0.02), whereas no significant differences were seen for RTI. The effect on UTI was most pronounced in males. The effect of vitamin D on UTI was unrelated to baseline serum 25(OH)D level. Conclusion: Supplementation with vitamin D might prevent UTI, but confirmatory studies are needed.
The parkin gene is not involved in late-onset Parkinson's disease.

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