julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
Apocalypse Now, Never … or Forever: Venter and Medalie on the Everyday Politics of Post-Apartheid South Africa
2015-01-02

This article undertakes an analysis of the narrative temporalities and of the&#13;\\nnarratives of temporality, specifically those of apocalypse or end-times and of&#13;\\nliving-on respectively, to be found in two recent South African novels, Eben&#13;\\nVenter’s Trencherman (2008) and David Medalie’s The Shadow Follows&#13;\\n(2006). Against Venter’s hyperbolic narrative of catastrophe, which also turns&#13;\\nout to be a critique of the residual elements of the erstwhile apartheid era,&#13;\\nI posit that Medalie’s litotic and patchwork narrative offers a more appropriate&#13;\\nnarrative of the slow transformation of the post-apartheid South African polity.&#13;\\nI use Venter’s and Medalie’s oddly complementary novels as a template for&#13;\\nexploring an emergent sense of a non-teleological ‘minor narrative’ of&#13;\\nliberation in a time ‘after postcoloniality’.
Purification of nuclear localization signal-containing proteins and its application to investigation of the mechanisms of the cell division cycle
2015-01-02

The GTP bound form of the Ran GTPase (RanGTP) in the nucleus promotes nuclear import of the proteins bearing nuclear localization signals (NLS). When nuclear envelopes break down during mitosis, RanGTP is locally produced around chromosomes and drives the assembly of the spindle early in mitosis and the nuclear envelope (NE) later. RanGTP binds to the heterodimeric nuclear transport receptor importin α/β and releases NLS proteins from the receptor. Liberated NLS proteins around chromosomes have been shown to play distinct, essential roles in spindle and NE assembly. Here we provide a highly specific protocol to purify NLS proteins from crude cell lysates. The pure NLS fraction is an excellent resource to investigate the NLS protein function and identify new mitotic regulators, uncovering fundamental mechanisms of the cell division cycle. It takes 2-3 days to obtain the NLS fraction.
Access to and Accessibility of Education Throughout the Educational Trajectories of Youth in Europe
2015-01-02

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationAUTHOR BIOSDr. Marcelo Parreira do Amaral is professor of comparative and international education at the University of Muenster, Germany. His research interests are education policy and educational governance as well as a range of issues in comparative and international education such as convergence and divergence in education policies around the globe.Dr. Barbara Stauber is professor of social pedagogy at the University of Tübingen, Germany. She has been co-coordinator and partner in several research projects of the European Group for Integrated Social Research (EGRIS). Her research focuses on biographical transitions, youth culture, gender and diversity.Dr. Eduardo Barberis is a research and teaching fellow at the Department of Economics, Society and Politics—University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy. His main fields of interest are the sociology of immigration and the analysis of the local dimension of welfare policy.
Adult Stem Cells
2015-01-02

Adult stem cells are found in juvenile and adult organisms. Their characteristics are self-renewal, including proliferation, multipotency, and maintenance of their differentiation potential to repair damaged tissue after cell division. Since adult stem cells raise little ethical concerns and are easy to harvest, many in vitro assays and clinical applications have been established in recent decades. Although adult stem cells seem to be an alternative to embryonic stem cells and tailored stem cells, which generate more ethical and safety concerns, several questions still have to be answered before they can be used at a larger scale. In this chapter, we summarize the current knowledge, applications, and pitfalls regarding the use of adult stem cells.
Cognitive Enhancement to Overcome Laziness: Ethically Wrong or Just Stupid?
2015-01-02

The article “Enhancing Motivation by Use of Prescription Stimulants: The Ethics of Motivation Enhancement” by Torben Kjaersgaard (2015) argues that bioethical debates on cognitive enhancement (CE) s...
A field comparison of multiple techniques to quantify groundwater–surface-water interactions
2015-01-05

Groundwater–surface-water (GW-SW) interactions in streams are difficult to quantify because of heterogeneity in hydraulic and reactive processes across a range of spatial and temporal scales. The challenge of quantifying these interactions has led to the development of several techniques, from centimeter-scale probes to whole-system tracers, including chemical, thermal, and electrical methods. We co-applied conservative and smart reactive solute-tracer tests, measurement of hydraulic heads, distributed temperature sensing, vertical profiles of solute tracer and temperature in the stream bed, and electrical resistivity imaging in a 450-m reach of a 3rd-order stream. GW-SW interactions were not spatially expansive, but were high in flux through a shallow hyporheic zone surrounding the reach. NaCl and resazurin tracers suggested different surface–subsurface exchange patterns in the upper 2⁄3 and lower 1⁄3 of the reach. Subsurface sampling of tracers and vertical thermal profiles quantified relatively high fluxes through a 10- to 20-cm deep hyporheic zone with chemical reactivity of the resazurin tracer indicated at 3-, 6-, and 9-cm sampling depths. Monitoring of hydraulic gradients along transects with MINIPOINT streambed samplers starting ∼40 m from the stream indicated that groundwater discharge prevented development of a larger hyporheic zone, which progressively decreased from the stream thalweg toward the banks. Distributed temperature sensing did not detect extensive inflow of ground water to the stream, and electrical resistivity imaging showed limited large-scale hyporheic exchange. We recommend choosing technique(s) based on: 1) clear definition of the questions to be addressed (physical, biological, or chemical processes), 2) explicit identification of the spatial and temporal scales to be covered and those required to provide an appropriate context for interpretation, and 3) maximizing generation of mechanistic understanding and reducing costs of implementing multiple techniques through collaborative research.
Assessment of two e‐learning methods teaching undergraduate students cephalometry in orthodontics
2015-01-05

Abstract Aim Cephalometry is important for orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning and is part of the core curriculum for training dentists. Training involves identifying anatomical landmarks. The aim of this investigation was to assess whether e‐learning improves learning efficiency; a programme specifically designed for this purpose was compared to commercially available software. Methods Thirty undergraduate students underwent traditional training of cephalometry consisting of lectures and tutorials. Tracing skills were tested immediately afterwards (T0). The students were then randomly allocated to three groups: 10 students served as control ( CF ); they were asked to improve their skills using the material provided so far. Ten students were given a program specifically designed for this study that was based on a power point presentation ( PPT ). The last group was given a commercially available program that included teaching elements ( SW ). The groups were tested at the end the six week training (T1). The test consisted of tracing 30 points on two radiographs and a point score improvement was calculated. The students were interviewed after the second test. Results Both e‐learning groups improved more than the traditional group. Improvement scores were four for CF ; 8.6 for PPT and 2.8 for SW . For PPT all participants improved and the student feedback was the best compared to the other groups. For the other groups some candidates worsened. Conclusions Blended learning produced better learning outcomes compared to using a traditional teaching method alone. The easy to use Power Point based custom software produced better results than the commercially available software.
Oxygen Transfer in a Fluctuating Capillary Fringe: Impact of Microbial Respiratory Activity
2015-01-05

Laboratory‐scale flow‐through experiments in a sand‐filled chamber were performed to investigate the impact of aerobically growing Escherichia coli HB101‐K12 on oxygen transfer across the capillary fringe (CF) to oxygen‐depleted groundwater. In the experiments, both the effects of different nutrient concentrations and transient flow conditions were tested. The results of biotic experiments under oligotrophic and eutrophic conditions (6.8 g organic C L −1 ) were compared with those of an abiotic experiment. Moreover, in each experiment steady‐state and transient conditions were considered, the latter induced by changing the water‐table height. Growth of E. coli was quantified by cell counting in effluent samples and could be monitored due to intracellular production of the green fluorescent protein (GFP). Under eutrophic conditions, highest cell densities and strongest cell attachment were observed in the transition region of the CF. In this region, intensive bacterial respiration decreased oxygen concentrations relatively quickly, causing a steep oxygen gradient that resulted in a higher oxygen flux across the unsaturated–saturated interface. Under oligotrophic conditions, this effect was considerably reduced, but was still detectable. Due to oxygen supply from entrapped air, bacterial growth was slightly enhanced within the upper, newly formed CF region, directly after raising the water table. After lowering the water table to the initial height only a minor microbial impact on oxygen transfer was noticed, even under eutrophic conditions, because of the fast diffusion of oxygen in the (partially) air‐filled pore spaces. Bacteria that remained in the transition region of the CF grew to higher densities due to better oxygen supply.
Differential changes in self-reported aspects of interoceptive awareness through 3 months of contemplative training
2015-01-06

Interoceptive body awareness (IA) is crucial for psychological well-being and plays an important role in many contemplative traditions. However, until recently, standardized self-report measures of IA were scarce, not comprehensive, and the effects of interoceptive training on such measures were largely unknown. The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) questionnaire measures IA with eight different scales. In the current study, we investigated whether and how these different aspects of IA are influenced by a 3-months contemplative intervention in the context of the ReSource project, in which 148 subjects engaged in daily practices of “Body Scan” and “Breath Meditation.” We developed a German version of the MAIA and tested it in a large and diverse sample (n = 1,076). Internal consistencies were similar to the English version (0.56–0.89), retest reliability was high (rs: 0.66–0.79), and the MAIA showed good convergent and discriminant validity. Importantly, interoceptive training improved five out of eight aspects of IA, compared to a retest control group. Participants with low IA scores at baseline showed the biggest changes. Whereas practice duration only weakly predicted individual differences in change, self-reported liking of the practices and degree of integration into daily life predicted changes on most scales. Interestingly, the magnitude of observed changes varied across scales. The strongest changes were observed for the regulatory aspects of IA, that is, how the body is used for self-regulation in daily life. No significant changes were observed for the Noticing aspect (becoming aware of bodily changes), which is the aspect that is predominantly assessed in other IA measures. This differential pattern underscores the importance to assess IA multi-dimensionally, particularly when interested in enhancement of IA through contemplative practice or other mind–body interventions.
Movement and Agreement in Right‐Node‐Raising Constructions
2015-01-06

Abstract This paper discusses the following type of right‐node‐raising construction (Ross ): Coordinate structures in which elements that are interpreted in only one conjunct have moved across material that is interpreted as part of both conjuncts. I show that there are constructions of this type that simultaneously exhibit noncanonical plural agreement with two singular DP s and a ban on collective predicates in the same environment, which suggests contradictory conclusions. I argue that these properties follow from an approach to right‐node raising that allows multiple instances of sharing within the same tree (see Gračanin‐Yuksek , ; de Vries ). I propose an analysis of such plural agreement that treats it on analogy with agreement with conjoined singular DP s. I argue that, for the constructions with noncanonical plural agreement that I discuss, the present analysis is superior over a backward‐deletion analysis and a (non‐multidominance‐based) across‐the‐board movement analysis.
The First Partnership Experience and Personality Development
2015-01-06

Personality development in young adulthood has been associated with the experience of a number of new social roles. However, the causal interpretation of these findings is complicated by the fact that it is not possible to randomize young adults by their life experiences. To address this problem in the context of the first partnership experience, we applied propensity score matching to a sample of initially inexperienced singles and followed them across 4 years. Using matched samples, results indicated that the first partnership experience relatively robust increased life satisfaction. The first partnership experience between the ages of 23 and 25 (but not in other ages) was also related to higher self-esteem, extraversion, and conscientiousness and to lower neuroticism. The discussion highlights the effect of the first partnership on the development of a mature personality and the potential for propensity score matching to make useful contributions to social and personality research.
Insulin Action in the Human Brain: Evidence from Neuroimaging Studies
2015-01-06

Thus far, little is known about the action of insulin in the human brain. Nonetheless, recent advances in modern neuroimaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI ) or magnetoencephalography ( MEG ), have made it possible to investigate the action of insulin in the brain in humans, providing new insights into the pathogenesis of brain insulin resistance and obesity. Using MEG , the clinical relevance of the action of insulin in the brain was first identified, linking cerebral insulin resistance with peripheral insulin resistance, genetic predisposition and weight loss success in obese adults. Although MEG is a suitable tool for measuring brain activity mainly in cortical areas, fMRI provides high spatial resolution for cortical as well as subcortical regions. Thus, the action of insulin can be detected within all eating behaviour relevant regions, which include regions deeply located within the brain, such as the hypothalamus, midbrain and brainstem, as well as regions within the striatum. In this review, we outline recent advances in the field of neuroimaging aiming to investigate the action of insulin in the human brain using different routes of insulin administration. fMRI studies have shown a significant insulin‐induced attenuation predominantly in the occipital and prefrontal cortical regions and the hypothalamus, successfully localising insulin‐sensitive brain regions in healthy, mostly normal‐weight individuals. However, further studies are needed to localise brain areas affected by insulin resistance in obese individuals, which is an important prerequisite for selectively targeting brain insulin resistance in obesity.
Pain sensitivity and tactile spatial acuity are altered in healthy musicians as in chronic pain patients
2015-01-06

Extensive training of repetitive and highly skilled movements, as it occurs in professional classical musicians, may lead to changes in tactile sensitivity and corresponding cortical reorganization of somatosensory cortices. It is also known that professional musicians frequently experience musculoskeletal pain and pain-related symptoms during their careers. The present study aimed at understanding the complex interaction between chronic pain and music training with respect to somatosensory processing. For this purpose, tactile thresholds (mechanical detection, grating orientation, two-point discrimination) and subjective ratings to thermal and pressure pain stimuli were assessed in 17 professional musicians with chronic pain, 30 pain-free musicians, 20 non-musicians with chronic pain, and 18 pain-free non-musicians. We found that pain-free musicians displayed greater touch sensitivity (i.e., lower mechanical detection thresholds), lower tactile spatial acuity (i.e., higher grating orientation thresholds) and increased pain sensitivity to pressure and heat compared to pain-free non-musicians. Moreover, we also found that musicians and non-musicians with chronic pain presented lower tactile spatial acuity and increased pain sensitivity to pressure and heat compared to pain-free non-musicians. The significant increment of pain sensitivity together with decreased spatial discrimination in pain-free musicians and the similarity of results found in chronic pain patients, suggests that the extensive training of repetitive and highly skilled movements in classical musicians could be considered as a risk factor for developing chronic pain, probably due to use-dependent plastic changes elicited in somatosensory pathways.
A Palaeodietary Study of Stable Isotope Analysis from a High‐status Burial in the Copper Age: The Montelirio Megalithic Structure at Valencina de la Concepción–Castilleja de Guzmán, Spain
2015-01-06

Abstract This palaeodietary study presents carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data from human and faunal skeletal remains from the Copper Age settlement of Valencina de la Concepción–Castilleja de Guzmán, located in Seville, Spain. Montelirio, the only Valencina–Castilleja human group from which we have obtained reliable palaeodietary results, had a diet based on C 3 terrestrial resources, including both plants and animals. The protein component of the diet consisted mainly of meat, milk and dairy products from livestock as well as C 3 plant protein from cereals and pulses. This study compares data from Montelirio, the Copper Age group from Valencina–Castilleja, with the published data from other Iberian Late Neolithic–Copper Age (LN‐CA) societies. This comparison reveals a homogeneous diet with some exceptions. Overall, the LN‐CA diet in the Iberian Peninsula consisted mainly of animal proteins from meat, milk and dairy products from livestock as well as C 3 plant sources from the characteristic agriculture of the societies of these periods. This study also demonstrates the minor use of aquatic resources from the Neolithic to the Copper Age period in the Iberian Peninsula. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.
Novel fetal and maternal sonographic findings in confirmed cases of Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome
2015-01-06

Abstract Objective The objective of the study was to examine the prenatal anomalies in fetuses with Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome (BWS). Methods The study included a retrospective assessment of 12 pregnancies that were seen at three tertiary referral centres (Universities of Tübingen, Bonn, and Cologne/Germany). The genetic mutation, the results of the second trimester ultrasound examination, and the outcome of the pregnancies are shown. Biometric data were transformed into z ‐values. Results Median gestational age at the time of examination was 22.6 (range 19.0–29.7) weeks of gestation. In all cases, the head circumference (HC) and the femur length (FL) were within the normal range, but the HC‐FL ratio was above the 95th centile in 75% of the cases. An exomphalos, macroglossia, and visceromegaly were observed in 67%, 50%, and 83% of the cases, and in 58% and 83%, there were polyhydramnios and placentamegaly respectively. The fetal pancreas was identified in three quarters of the cases. A third of the women had large, overstimulation‐like ovaries, although each pregnancy was conceived naturally. In four cases, beta‐human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) levels were measured and mean hCG levels were 498 106 IU/L. Discussion Besides exomphalos, BWS should be considered if there is macroglossia, a distinct growth pattern, pancreatic hyperplasia, placentamegaly, and substantially increased levels of beta‐hCG. © 2015 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.
Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) neurofeedback as a treatment for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)â€”a pilot study
2015-01-07

In this pilot study near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) neurofeedback was investigated as a new method for the treatment of Attention Deficit-/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Oxygenated hemoglobin in the prefrontal cortex of children with ADHD was measured and fed back. 12 sessions of NIRS-neurofeedback were compared to the intermediate outcome after 12 sessions of EEG-neurofeedback (slow cortical potentials, SCP) and 12 sessions of EMG-feedback (muscular activity of left and right musculus supraspinatus). The task was either to increase or decrease hemodynamic activity in the prefrontal cortex (NIRS), to produce positive or negative shifts of SCP (EEG) or to increase or decrease muscular activity (EMG). In each group nine children with ADHD, aged 7-10 years, took part. Changes in parents' ratings of ADHD symptoms were assessed before and after the 12 sessions and compared within and between groups. For the NIRS-group additional teachers' ratings of ADHD symptoms, parents' and teachers' ratings of associated behavioral symptoms, childrens' self reports on quality of life and a computer based attention task were conducted before, 4 weeks and 6 months after training. As primary outcome, ADHD symptoms decreased significantly 4 weeks and 6 months after the NIRS training, according to parents' ratings. In teachers' ratings of ADHD symptoms there was a significant reduction 4 weeks after the training. The performance in the computer based attention test improved significantly. Within-group comparisons after 12 sessions of NIRS-, EEG- and EMG-training revealed a significant reduction in ADHD symptoms in the NIRS-group and a trend for EEG- and EMG-groups. No significant differences for symptom reduction were found between the groups. Despite the limitations of small groups and the comparison of a completed with two uncompleted interventions, the results of this pilot study are promising. NIRS-neurofeedback could be a time-effective treatment for ADHD and an interesting new option to consider in the treatment of ADHD.