bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Single-Cell Network Profiling of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from Healthy Donors Reveals Age- and Race-Associated Differences in Immune Signaling Pathway Activation
Authors: Longo Diane M. , Louie Brent , Putta Santosh , Evensen Erik , Ptacek Jason , Cordeiro James , Wang Ena , Pos Zoltan , Hawtin Rachael E. , Marincola Francesco M. , Cesano Alessandra 
Published: January 2012

Abstract
A greater understanding of the function of the human immune system at the single-cell level in healthy individuals is critical for discerning aberrant cellular behavior that occurs in settings such as autoimmunity, immunosenescence, and cancer. To achieve this goal, a systems-level approach capable of capturing the response of the interdependent immune cell types to external stimuli is required. In this study, an extensive characterization of signaling responses in multiple immune cell subpopulations within PBMCs from a cohort of 60 healthy donors was performed using single-cell network profiling (SCNP). SCNP is a multiparametric flow cytometry-based approach that enables the simultaneous measurement of basal and evoked signaling in multiple cell subsets within heterogeneous populations. In addition to establishing the interindividual degree of variation within a broad panel of immune signaling responses, the possible association of any observed variation with demographic variables including age and race was investigated. Using half of the donors as a training set, multiple age- and race-associated variations in signaling responses in discrete cell subsets were identified, and several were subsequently confirmed in the remaining samples (test set). Such associations may provide insight into age-related immune alterations associated with high infection rates and diminished protection following vaccination and into the basis for ethnic differences in autoimmune disease incidence and treatment response. SCNP allowed for the generation of a functional map of healthy immune cell signaling responses that can provide clinically relevant information regarding both the mechanisms underlying immune pathological conditions and the selection and effect of therapeutics.
Diverse Functions of Distal Regulatory Elements at the IFNG Locus
Authors: Collins Patrick L. , Henderson Melodie A. , Aune Thomas M. 
Published: January 2012

Abstract
Previous studies have identified multiple conserved noncoding sequences (CNS) at the mouse Ifng locus sufficient for enhancer activity in cell-based assays. These studies do not directly address biology of the human IFNG locus in a genomic setting. IFNG enhancers may be functionally redundant or each may be functionally unique. We test the hypothesis that each IFNG enhancer has a unique necessary function using a bacterial artificial chromosome transgenic model. We find that CNS−30, CNS−4, and CNS+20 are required at distinct stages of Th1 differentiation, whereas CNS−16 has a repressive role in Th1 and Th2 cells. CNS+20 is required for IFN-γ expression by memory Th1 cells and NKT cells. CNS−4 is required for IFN-γ expression by effector Th1 cells. In contrast, CNS−16, CNS−4, and CNS+20 are each partially required for human IFN-γ expression by NK cells. Thus, IFNG CNS enhancers have redundant necessary functions in NK cells but unique necessary functions in Th cells. These results also demonstrate that distinct CNSs are required to transcribe IFNG at each stage of the Th1 differentiation pathway.
Challenges in Teaching and Learning of English at Secondary Level Class X
Authors: Teevno Roshan Ali 
Published: January 2012

This paper describes the challenges faced by teachers and students in teaching and learning of English at secondary level. The study was limited to class x. It has been observed that in recent times the governments of Sindh and Pakistan have been providing a lot of facilities including free books and training programs for the teachers at secondary level but the teaching and learning of English is not up to mark. The participants of the study were 11 English teachers including 7 male and 4 female, 70 students including 40 male and 30 female and also; 6 English experts which include 4 male and 2 female. Teachers and students were administered questionnaires and involved in focus group discussion and experts were interviewed. It was found that teachers had no proper training of teaching English, proper facilities were not provided and curriculum was not according to the needs of students. These reasons hindered the teaching and learning process of English. This study was carried out at one of the taluka of district Naushahro Feroze Sindh Pakistan. Key words: English teacher, Learners, Challenges, Secondary level, Existing practices
Islam Hadhari’s Principles and Reward Management Practices: A Conceptual Study in Malaysian Private Organizations
Authors: Noor Wan Shakizah  Noor Wan Mohd , Daud Zulkiflee , Isa Mohd Faizal Mohd 
Published: January 2012

ABSTRACT Many best practice models exist that describe successful approaches to reward management which influence by the cultural, legal, organizational and administrative challenges in Islamic world. Thus, the decision in setting and designing reward programs in raising productivity through human effort has always been controversial. Studies that were undertaken in numerous countries have shown varying degrees of success of such practices. Even though there is a substantial amount of foreign literature on this subject, there is a paucity of information concerning the extent of such application in Malaysia. As Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country, Islam, through national culture influences organizations. This paper is an attempt to provide further insights into the theory and practice of reward management in the local context as Malaysia is implementing Islam Hadhari’s principles in the country. The study adopts a qualitative approach. A tentative research model is developed first, based on an extensive literature review. The qualitative field study then is carried out to explore the perceptions of reward management in the Malaysian private organizations from the Islamic perspective. Twelve Malaysian private organizations of various sizes are studied via interviews with key personnel. The paper will also contribute theoretically and practically by providing direction and suggestions in designing and implementing the reward programs for the private organizations in the Malaysian environment. KEYWORDS: Reward management, Islam Hadhari, Culture
The Extent of Application of the Principles of the Organizational Justice and Its Relationship to the Organizational Commitment of the Faculty Members at the University of Jordan
Authors: Arabiyat Bashir , Balqaa Al. , Issa  Al-Saleem Basma Tlelan 
Published: January 2012

Abstract This study aimed at identifying the extent of application of principles of the organizational justice and its relation to the organizational commitment of the faculty instructors of the University of Jordan. To achieve the objective of the study, a questionnaire was designed to collect data from the study sample. The study sample consisted of (183) faculty instructors of the University of Jordan. The study found that the extent of application of the principles of the organizational justice was medium, and the organizational commitment of the faculty instructors was high. It was found that there was a significant statistical relation to the application of the principles of the organizational justice for the faculty Instructors who had a commitment their organization. Finally, the researchers recommend the need to work on further studies on different variables related to this study. Key Words: Organizational Justice, Organizational Commitment.
Retention and Employee Satisfaction: A Case Study in Long Term Care
Authors: Fuqua Ronald M. 
Published: January 2012

Abstract This case study presents comparisons between employee satisfaction and retention data in two long term care companies. Strategic and operational management decisions and differences in race, sex, age, length of service and hourly pay rates are examined and indicate that management and organizational differences contribute to variations in employee satisfaction and retention. This case allows analysis of the possible causes for the variations and what actions would best respond to these differences.
Organizational Climate Prevailing in Al-Balqa Applied University / Faculty of Princess Alia University from the Viewpoint of the Faculty Members: Case Study
Authors: Arabiyat Bashir 
Published: January 2012

Abstract This study aimed at investigating the prevailing organizational climate at Al-Balqa Applied University \ faculty of princess Alia University from the viewpoint of the faculty members. The study population consisted of all faculty members at the faculty of princess Alia University whom count (80) individual. In order to collect the study data, a questionnaire was designed based on previous studies. The study showed that the overall mean for the organizational climate prevailing in Al-Balqa Applied University / Faculty of Princess Alia University from the Viewpoint of the Faculty Members has reached (3.32) and standard deviation (1.00), with a degree of importance of moderate. Results also showed that the field of personal relationships came in the first rank; while the field of affiliation ranked last. The study recommended creating an effective system of incentives in the university, in order to improve the satisfaction of faculty members for their jobs, which contribute to a organizational climate, which facilitates work processes, achieving the objectives of the university. Key Words: Organizational Climate, Al-Balqa Applied University, Faculty of Princess Alia University, Faculty Members
Analysis of Employee Engagement and its Predictors
Authors: Mani Vijaya 
Published: January 2012

Employee Engagement has emerged as a critical driver of Business Success today. Engagement has the potential to significantly affect Employee Retention, Productivity, and loyalty. The study attempts to investigate the level of Employee Engagement and its predictors among the Executive level employees of a reputed Banking and Insurance Software Company in Tamil Nadu, India. The research is based on the primary data collected from 200 executives on a number of parameters related to Employee Engagement and its potential predictors. The research concluded that the level of employee engagement in the organization is quite satisfactory. Four Factors namely Employee Welfare, Empowerment, Employee Growth and Interpersonal Relationships were found to be the predictors of Employee Engagements. Key Words: Employee Engagement, Empowerment, Interpersonal relations, Employee Growth, Employee Welfare, Retention
Understanding Role of Private Sector in the Development of School Education in Pakistan
Authors: Qaisrani Nasim , Mughal Shahid Hussain , Solangi Ghulam Mohuyuddin , Faiz Sumaira , Soomro Abdul Qadeer 
Published: January 2012

AbstractSuccessive governments in Pakistan responded differently to the role of private sector in the educational development of this country. From 1947 till 1971, private sector was very much active in the promotion of education in the country. But it was also criticized on several grounds, some of these allegations include:Low status of TeachersLow academic standardsUnequal distribution of educational facilities among various sections of the society i.e. between male and female and urban and rural areas;More emphasis on liberal arts subjects as compared to scientific and technical programsKeeping in view of these factors, Educational Policy of 1972 recommended the nationalization of private schools and a complete ban was imposed on the establishment of new schools in the private sector. After a period of seven years, the educational policy of 1979 again recommended the establishment of new schools in the private sector. At present, a large number of institutions from primary to university level are working in this country in the private sector.
The Study of Indicators of Effective Lecturers from the Viewpoint of Students (Case Study: University of Payame Noor of Kurdistan)
Authors: Shahmohammadi Anwar , Ahmadi Yaaghob , Mahdiaraghi Maryam 
Published: January 2012

The high education state need to determine the indicators to evaluating their trainers function that one of the basic problems in universities is lack of indicators of effective lecturers. One of the most important methods to determine these indicators is public poll students. This study is done due to determining the indicators of effective lecturers in student’s viewpoint of Payame Noor University in Kurdistan province at 20010-2011 academic years. This study is done in the measuring method and it is statistical society for all of Payame Noor University students in Kordestan province that 360 people among Sanandaj, Saghez and Ghorveh College are collected as sample using of cluster–sampling method. Data collecting tools was inquiries that were made by researcher. The various methods such as descriptive statistic were used to analyze the data. In student’s opinion the indicators of teaching methods, communication, knowledge-seeking, personal characteristic have allocated the most important indicators’ of effective lecturers to itself. Regarding to achieve results, it seems necessary that country’s directors notice to the planning of workshops for lecturers and available indicators at the time of evaluation of lecturers. Kay words: Effective lecturer's, Effective Teaching, Payame Noor University, Qualities lecturer, Effectiveness Method.
Protein‐Assisted Synthesis of Double‐Shelled CaCO3 Microcapsules and Their Mineralization with Heavy Metal Ions
Authors: Li Xuan Qi , Feng Zhiwei , Xia Yinyan , Zeng Hua Chun 
Published: January 2012

AbstractCalcium carbonate (CaCO3) is one of the most abundant and important biominerals in nature. Due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability and nontoxicity, CaCO3 has been investigated extensively in recent years for various fundamental properties and technological applications. Inspired by basic wall structures of cells, we report a protein‐assisted approach to synthesize CaCO3 into a double‐shelled structural configuration. Due to varying reactivities of outer and inner shells, the CaCO3 microcapsules exhibit different sorption capacities and various resultant structures toward different kinds of heavy metal ions, analogical to biologically controlled mineralization (BCM) processes. Surprisingly, three mineralization modes resembling those found in BCM were found with these bacterium‐like “CaCO3 cells”. Our investigation of the cytotoxicity (MTT assay protocol) also indicates that the CaCO3 microcapsules have almost no cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells, and they might be useful for future application of detoxifying heavy metal ions after further study.
Consensus of multi‐agent systems with nonlinear dynamics and sampled‐data information: a delayed‐input approach
Authors: Wen Guanghui , Duan Zhisheng , Yu Wenwu , Chen Guanrong 
Published: January 2012

SUMMARYThis paper is concerned with the problem of consensus in directed networks of multiple agents with intrinsic nonlinear dynamics and sampled‐data information. A new protocol is induced from a class of continuous‐time linear consensus protocols by implementing data‐sampling technique and a zero‐order hold circuit. On the basis of a delayed‐input approach, the sampled‐data multi‐agent system is converted to an equivalent nonlinear system with a time‐varying delay. Theoretical analysis on this time‐delayed system shows that consensus with asymptotic time‐varying velocities in a strongly connected network can be achieved over some suitable sampled‐data intervals. A multi‐step procedure is further presented to estimate the upper bound of the maximal allowable sampling intervals. The results are then extended to a network topology with a directed spanning tree. For the case of the topology without a directed spanning tree, it is shown that the new protocol can still guarantee the system to achieve consensus by appropriately informing a fraction of agents. Finally, some numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results and the dependence of the upper bound of maximal allowable sampling interval on the coupling strength. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Study of Fracture Mechanisms at Cyclic Fatigue of Steels Used in Nuclear Reactors I
Authors: Eterashvili Tamaz , Dzigrashvili Temur 
Published: January 2012

AbstractThis study deals with the possible reasons of nucleation and propagation of macrocracks, mesocracks, and microcracks in stainless austenitic steels after low‐cycle fatigue tests at room temperature. It is shown that macrocracks in these steels are formed only after completion of 20–30% of cycles of total deformation. Statistical analysis showed that the average length of slip bands and that of microcomponents of a macrocrack are equal, and they are always parallel to each other, that indicates their crystallographic character. Macrocracks preferably propagate through the grains with no apparent signs of plastic deformation and through isolated mesocracks, but not through mesocracks and grain boundaries.
Deriving dense linear algebra libraries
Authors: Bientinesi Paolo , Gunnels John A. , Myers Margaret E. , Quintana-Ortí Enrique S. , Rhodes Tyler , van de Geijn Robert A. , Van Zee Field G. 
Published: January 2012

Abstract

Starting in the late 1960s computer scientists including Dijkstra and Hoare advocated goal-oriented programming and the formal derivation of algorithms. The chief impediment to realizing this for loop-based programs was that
a priori
determination of loop-invariants, a prerequisite for developing loops, was a task too complex for any but the simplest of operations. Around 2000, these techniques were for the first time successfully applied to the domain of high-performance dense linear algebra libraries. This has led to a multitude of papers (mostly published in the ACM Transactions for Mathematical Software), a system for the mechanical derivation of algorithms, and a high-performance linear algebra library, , that includes more than a thousand variants of algorithms for more than a hundred linear algebra operations. To our knowledge, this success story has unfolded with limited awareness on the part the formal methods community. This paper reports on ten years of experience and is meant to raise that awareness.
Minimal invasive pyeloplasty technique with vertical surgical approach: An alternative to laparoscopic pyeloplasty
Authors: Şahin Coşkun , Kalkan Mehmet , Uzun Hakkı 
Published: January 2012

AbstractThis retrospective clinical study presents pyeloplasty results following a muscle‐splitting dissection, with mini‐flank incision, using instruments held in a vertical position. Between 2004 and 2010, dismembered pyeloplasty (Anderson‐Hynes) was performed in 37 cases (32 males and 5 females) with an average age of 26 years (range, 20–56 years). The technique was carried out through a window opened by separating the lateral abdominal muscles. Operation duration, length of incision, postoperative pain, complications, and radiological and clinical results were discussed. The operation duration was between 50 and 90 minutes (average = 65 minutes), the incisional length 5 and 7 cm (average = 5.2 cm), and visual pain scale was 4.1 ± 3.1 and 3.3 ± 3.4 at 4 and 24 hours after the operation, respectively. The duration of hospitalization was between 30 and 120 hours (average = 42 hours). In a retrospective analysis of our study, one case was reoperated on, following recurrence with obstruction, there were 9 cases with prolonged dilation in response to diuretics and 29 cases with complete recovery. Pyeloplasty operations, with a vertical surgical approach through smaller incisions and muscle separation, offered shorter periods of hospitalization, less postoperative pain, acceptable cosmetic results and higher rates of functional recovery.
Petrology of Precambrian metaultramafites of the Gridino high-pressure complex (Karelia)
Authors: Morgunova A.A. , Perchuk A.L. 
Published: January 2012

Abstract
Along with eclogitized gabbro and gabbronorite bodies, boudinaged metaultramafites such as garnet-pyroxene rocks and orthopyroxenites were revealed in the Archean plagiogneiss strata of the Gridino complex. The garnet-pyroxene rock crope out as a boudin on Vysokii Island. The early stage of the rock evolution is documented by inclusions of diabantite (Fe-Si chlorite), a mineral that occurs in metasomatized peridotites. Diabantite was found in all rock-forming minerals in paragenesis with mineral phases enriched in REE (Ce, Nd, La, etc.), U, and Th. The confinement of ore phases to the inclusion rims and the development of two systems of cracks, radial and concentric, around the inclusions in pyroxenes point to the transformation of the inclusions after their trapping. Thermobarometric studies of the crystal cores revealed that the anhydrous paragenesis garnet + orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene, which replaced the chlorite-bearing rock, formed at ~690 ºC and ~17 kbar. The rims of the rock-forming minerals reflect isothermal decompression to ~12 kbar, which was followed by decompression cooling to ~650 ºC and ~9 kbar with the formation of regressive amphibole-garnet-pyroxene paragenesis. The giant-grained orthopyroxenites compose chains of boudinaged bodies on Izbnaya Luda Island. The orthopyroxene crystals host abundant amphibole, quartz, biotite, and pyrite inclusions pointing to amphibolite metamorphism at the early stage of the rock evolution. There are two types of amphibole: magnesian hornblende and anthophyllite. The hornblende is a primary mineral, whereas the low-temperature anthophyllite forming rims around the quartz inclusions was produced at the regressive stage of metamorphism. There are no indicators of the PT-conditions of the peak metamorphism in the orthopyroxenite. The reaction enstatite + quartz + H2O = anthophyllite allows deciphering water activity of anthophyllite formation, a ≤ 0.5.
Interblock zones of the northwestern Baikal rift: results of geological and geophysical studies along the Bayandai Village–Cape Krestovskii profile
Authors: Seminskii K. Zh. , Kozhevnikov N.O. , Cheremnykh A.V. , Pospeeva E.V. , Bobrov A.A. , Olenchenko V.V. , Tugarina M.A. , Potapov V.V. , Burzunova Yu. P. 
Published: January 2012

Abstract
The structure of the Earth’s crust at the junction of the Siberian craton and Sayan–Baikal Fold Belt was studied along the Bayandai Village–Cape Krestovskii profile (85 km long) by a set of geological and geophysical methods: structural survey, interpretation of long-distance photographs, emanation survey, electrical prospecting with self-potential (SP) and direct-current (DC) resistivity profiling, magnetotelluric sounding, magnetic survey, and hydrogeochemical sampling of water objects. Interpretation of the data refined the main features of the tectonic structure of western Cisbaikalia and revealed the disruption pattern and hierarchic zone–block structure of the Earth’s crust. The Obruchev fault system (≈50 km wide), which is the northwestern shoulder of the Baikal Rift, is the main interblock zone of the studied region. It consists of the Morskoi, Primorskii, and Prikhrebtovyi interblock zones, traced from depths of tens of kilometers and widening near the surface owing to superior structures. The studies gave an insight into the regularities in the occurrence of interblock zones and the criteria for their identification in different geologic-geophysical fields. An efficient complex of methods for mapping the Earth’s crust zone–block structure is proposed.