Status Prediction for Questions Post on Technical Forums

Electromagnetic Environment Associated with Lightning Strikes to Tall Strike Objects

Tabulated chemical kinetics for efficient and detailed simulations of diesel engine combustion

The proposed paper will address itself to the changing relationship between educational theory and practice in response to the challenge of postmodernism. The formulation of universal theoretical framework to distinct universalia from accidentia both in physical and social world can be traced to the legacy of the Enlightenment. For the philosophers of Enlightenment, the whole world is nothing but a mechanical mathematical structure. Thus the events of the world can be explained, predicted and even controlled by a universal law. Cartesian mathesis universalis and Leibnitzian characteristica universalica represent the scientific ideal of the Enlightenment. The rise of modern social sciences began with the need to understand modernization following the Enlightenment ideals for transforming society. Prediction and control of social development were called for the transformation of society. The rigorous scientific theory was thus required within the context of social modernization. Within the larger context of social modernization resulted from the Enlightenment, there arose a need to establish rational educational science for predicting the changes of humanity, fully developing human perfectibility and thus creating a world better to live. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and Ernst Chritian Trapp (1745-1818) were two prominent representatives of the trend towards exact and precise educational science that, analogously to physical sciences, could offer universally valid educational knowledge. The Enlightenment scientific ideal was brought by the educational positivists in 1960's to an extreme, where the quantitative data were used to test rigorously the hypothesis and to formulate nomological theory for the prediction of educational development. Once the rigorous theory was established, it would be served as a scientific basis for identifying the one best policy and practice for all contexts. Educational practice in such a circumstance would be degenerated into technique neglecting the reflection and choice of the subject resonanting the situational changes. constitution of those things that flow upon(the body) and impinge upon it, as ancient Greek philosopher Democritus (Diels & Kranz, 1956, 68 Dem. B9) would say. The universality of knowledge claim and ahistorical epistemological foundation are refuted by postmodernists. An intensive awareness of the significance of language, discourse and socio-cultural locatedness has been arising in the making of any knowledge-claim. As J. -F. Lyotard (1984) properly observes, ”for the last forty years the «leading» sciences and technologies have had to do with language and scientific knowledge has been nothing but a kind of discourse in addition to, and in competition and conflict with another kind of knowledge-narrative knowledge”. Thus scientific knowledge has lost its monopolistic legitimation authority. If the reality is questioned and knowledge ligitimation is floating as a myriad of meaning changes, how can an avowed universally, or at least generally, valid educational theory be set up to regulate educational practice? Education is, as R. Usher and R. Edwards (1994: 24) correctly observe, ”very much the dutiful child of the Enlightenment and, as such, tends to uncritically accept a set of assumptions deriving from Enlightenment thought.” For the philosophers of Enlightenment, the whole world is nothing but a mechanical mathematical structure. Thus the events of the world can be explained, predicted and even controlled by a universal law. Cartesian mathesis universalis and Leibnitzian characteristica universalica represent the scientific ideal of the Enlightenment. The rise of modern social sciences began, as Hollinger (1994: 3) observes, with the need to understand the social and cultural transformation, specifically of modernization, following the Enlightenment ideal of perfecting social development. Within the larger context of social modernization resulted from the Enlightenment, there arose a need to establish rational educational science for predicting the changes of humanity, fully developing human perfectibility and thus creating a world better to live. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and Ernst Christian Trapp (1745-1818) were two prominent representatives of the trend towards exact and precise educational science that, analogously to physical sciences, could offer universally valid educational knowledge. The Enlightenment scientific ideal was brought by educational posititivists in the 1960s to an extreme, where the quantitative data were used to test rigorously the hypothesis and to formulate nomological theory for the prediction of educational development. Once the rigorous theory was established, it would be served as a scientific basis for identifying the one best policy and practice for all contexts. Educational practice in such a circumstance would be degenerated into technique neglecting the reflection and choice of the subject resonanting the situational changes. The process of modernization in the western world since the Enlightenment reached its zenith in the last few decades. The abstract nomologocal theories based on western rational logic and experience have been universalized to such an extreme that postmodern decentralism, aestheticism, pluralism have been disseminated in response to modern logocentrism, eurocentrism and totalianism in scientific discourse. Under the impacts of postmodern anti-foundationalism, epistemological pluralism and logic of merchantile and performativity, the relationship between educational theory and practice should be reevaluated to determine what kinds of knowledge are appropriate to actualize educational objectives with a view to emancipating humanity from inner and exterior domination and thus leading to the realization of authentic self. This paper aderesses itself to this debatable issue facing the dialectical confrontation and synthesis of modernity and postmodernity. Educational Theory and Practice of the Enlightment Legacy Education was deemed as worthy vehicle by the Enlightenment philosophers to substantiate and realize the ideals of critical reason, humanistic individual freedom and benevolent progress of that time. Towards actualizing these ideals, the establishment of rational educational science was thought essential to investigate suitable educational methods (H. Blankertz, 1982: 28-29). 1. Kant (1804: 444), as an heir of the Enlightenment, proposed first: The mechanism of educational art must be transformed into a kind of The process of modernization in the western world since the Enlightenment reached its zenith in the last few decades. The abstract nomological theories based on western rationalistic logic and experience have been universalized to such an extreme that postmodern decentralism, aestheticism, pluralism have been disseminated in response to modern logocentrism, eurocentrism and totalitarianism in scientific discourse. Under the impacts of postmodern incredulity to the totalizing metanarrtives pluralistic stance, and logic of merchantile and performativity, the relationship between educational theory and practice should be reevaluated to determine what kinds of knowledge are appropriate to actualize educational objectives with a view to emancipating humanity from inner and exterior domination and thus leading to the realization of authentic self.

Interannual to Decadal Rainfall Variability over Greater Horn of Africa: Non-Stationary Teleconnections, Physical Mechanisms, and Predictability

Understanding of p53 family protein (p53, p63 and p73) networks in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), can positively influence in cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. P53 family proteins are regulating diverse cell signalling pathways at diverse conditions to determine cell fate. At each condition of cells state, how these proteins are controlling cell fate is more complexed due to the presense of several isoforms for each p53 family proteins and their multifaceted interactions. Like other solid tumours, the p53 pathway is disabled by several mechanisms in HNSCC. Despite of the convincing evidence of a high frequency of p53 mutations in HNSCC, a subset of cancers arise in the absence of mutations. The molecular mechaninsms through which p53 lacking mutations subvert its tumor supressor functions in HNSCC still remain uncertain. In fact, some cancers and established cancer cell lines are over-expressing wild type p53 protein makes questionable of p53 role as only a tumor suppressor or it has some other additional functions, even in cancer cells. For an answer of this hypothesis, we have performed detailed molecular characterization, in an invitro model of head and neck cancer, in a broad panel of 12 newly established HNSCC cell lines. In our studies, we found that some head and neck cancer cell lines are accumulating wild p53 protein hyperphosphorylated at serine15 and 392 and it leads to the over expression of DNp73, the mechanism already reported from our laboratory in HPV38 immortalized keratinocytes. To better understand the functions of accumulated wild p53 role in HPV positive and negative cancer cell lines, we have performed p53 knock down by siRNA and the results have showed that p53 knock down inhibited cell proliferation in both HPV positive and negative cancer cells. Moreover, p53 knock down induced significant morphological changes and senescence associated beta galactosidase activity in these cells. Our results pinpoint, wild-type p53 protein accumulated in transformed cell lines has an additional role in cell proliferation other than its well known tumor supressor activity. Moreover, the key role of p53 family network in modulating epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and in controlling cell proliferation and apoptosis arises the question of whether p53 family proteins status influences the efficacy of EGFR inhibitors, investigating its ability to reduce cell growth, to induce apoptosis and to modulate cell cycle and various EGFR pathwayrelated targets in head and neck cancer. Because, recently improved understanding of the pathogenesis of human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma has led to the development of new, molecular based therapeutic strategies, one of the most promising is the utilization of tyrosine kinase (TK) inhibitors, targeting EGFR. The comparison between the targets analysed and gefitinib effectiveness evidenced the absence of a clear relationship, exluding them as predictive factors for gefitinib efficacy. Our results confirmed the in vitro efficacy of an anti-EGFR approach, but other targets than those analysed here should be characterized in order to identify valid predictive factors for gefitinib utilization in head and neck cancer. We have also performed chemoresistance analysis in our invitro model of HNSCC cell lilnes and found that p53 family network has less predictive role in HNSCC chemoresistance but ABCG2, a multidrug resistance protein, has over-expressed in HNSCC.

This research was designed to answer the question of which direction the restructuring of financial regulators should take – consolidation or fragmentation. This research began by examining the need for financial regulation and its related costs. It then continued to describe what types of regulatory structures exist in the world; surveying the regulatory structures in 15 jurisdictions, comparing them and discussing their strengths and weaknesses. This research analyzed the possible regulatory structures using three methodological tools: Game-Theory, Institutional-Design, and Network-Effects. The incentives for regulatory action were examined in Chapter Four using game theory concepts. This chapter predicted how two regulators with overlapping supervisory mandates will behave in two different states of the world (where they can stand to benefit from regulating and where they stand to lose). The insights derived from the games described in this chapter were then used to analyze the different supervisory models that exist in the world. The problem of information-flow was discussed in Chapter Five using tools from institutional design. The idea is based on the need for the right kind of information to reach the hands of the decision maker in the shortest time possible in order to predict, mitigate or stop a financial crisis from occurring. Network effects and congestion in the context of financial regulation were discussed in Chapter Six which applied the literature referring to network effects in general in an attempt to conclude whether consolidating financial regulatory standards on a global level might also yield other positive network effects. Returning to the main research question, this research concluded that in general the fragmented model should be preferable to the consolidated model in most cases as it allows for greater diversity and information-flow. However, in cases in which close cooperation between two authorities is essential, the consolidated model should be used.

The goal of this study was to investigate risk factors for developing dry sockets in patients after dental extractions. Data were collected directly from electronic dental records (EDR) and were utilized for selecting dry socket cases and controls to conduct a nested case-control study. Case-control matching was based on sex, age range, maxilla-mandible location, and anterior-posterior location. From 83 self-reported health survey questions, 7 questions were found to have predictive potential based on a significant chi-squared test. Stepwise conditional logistic regression showed a statistically significant association between the development of dry socket and a history of serious illness (OR=1.4; 95% CI:1.02-1.95), cancer (OR=2.6; 95% CI:1.13-5.83), and frequent mouth sores (OR=1.9; 95% CI:1.09-3.33). These results corroborated previous reports on potential involvement of impaired immune response in dry socket development. EDR may be an important source for uncovering predictive factors that play a role in prevention and management of oral health.

dairy cattle breeding programs worldwide, because potentially increases genetic gains and lowers costs. A question is how efficient is this technology for developing breeding programs in dairy populations with small numbers of recorded cows. An additional question is whether the incorporation of foreign genetic evaluations is a way to overcome some limitations in these populations Predicted genetic gain from use of genomic selection and foreign genetic evaluations in a small Holstein population Hugo H. Montaldo*1; Adriana Garcia-Ruiz1; Felipe de Jesus Ruiz-Lopez3; Sergio Ivan Roman-Ponce3

As far as recent developments in economic theory are concerned, "Behavioral Economics" constitutes one of the most promising frontiers in the last ten years, as the Nobel Prize for Economics recently won by the social psychologist Daniel Kahneman and the prestigious John Bates Clark Medal granted to the young economist Matthew Rabin testify. It is then worth asking the following questions: what is, exactly, Behavioral Economics? What are the reasons behind its recent success? This survey aims at providing a first answer, both directly and indirectly, to such questions, by illustrating the main contributions developed within such ambitious research program. Behavioral Economics aims at increasing the explanatory and predictive power of economic analysis through an increase in the degree of realism of the assumptions at the basis of economic models, i.e. by means of a greater and greater integration between economics and psychology (but also between economics and social sciences such as, for example, cultural anthropology). While standard economics assumes that agents are driven by well-defined and stable preferences and act rationally, psychology reveals that it is often the case that such assumptions cannot be taken as an adequate and satisfactory description of human behavior. In this light, Behavioral Economics focuses on markets where some (if not all) economic agents involved make choices which appear to substantially deviate from traditional economic predictions. In this survey we focus on the following two fields of studies within Behavioral Economics: a first field deals with the main cognitive limitations affecting economic behavior (Sections 2 and 3), whereas a second one is related to the role of the so called "social preferences" (Section 4). Both areas aim at incorporating the major results obtained both experimentally and empirically into formal economic analysis. Within the first area, it is assumed, analogously to neoclassical models, that agents act according to the self-interest hypothesis, but also that "rational" behavior is affected by several cognitive limitations (in line with classical contributions on bounded rationality; see, in particular, Simon 1978; 1979; 1992). By contrast, the second area departs from the neoclassical approach by introducing modifications at motivational level. Unlike traditional analyses, social preferences studies focus, at both theoretical and experimental level, on interaction scenarios where players act not on classic selfish preferences but on different types of social preferences. In other words, it is still assumed that individual behavior is rational, but also that various forms of non-selfish rationality get into the picture. In particular, behavioral choices by individual agents (as well as their objective functions) can be (either positively or negatively) affected by "other players'" preferences, intentions, material outcomes and/or behaviors.

The use of mice lacking type I or both type I and type II interferon responses in research on hemorrhagic fever viruses. Part 2: Vaccine efficacy studies

The genomes of all eukaryotic organisms are packaged into nucleosomes, which are the fundamental units of chromatin, each composed of approximately 147 base pairs of DNA wrapped around a histone octamer. Because 70-90% of the eukaryotic genome is packaged into nucleosomes they modulate accessibility of DNA to transcription factors (TFs) and play an important role in regulation of transcription. This thesis is devoted to the mathematical modeling of effects which are caused by direct competition between nucleosomes and transcription factors. The contents of the thesis are organized as follows: in chapter 1 we introduce experimental methods and recent discoveries which have been made in chromatin biology. In chapter 2 we introduce a thermodynamic biophysical model for calculating nucleosome and transcription factor occupancies. We also introduce the statistical positioning effect and how it may affect the binding of transcription factors. In chapter 2 we mostly address a question of how competition with transcription factors can affect nucleosome positioning. We first examine nucleosome experimental data and address the question of reproducibility of the data across different experiments carried out in several labs. Then, we introduce a new method for the quality assessment of the prediction of the model and use it to optimize parameters of the model to fit experimental data. We focus on how transcription factors can explain observed in vivo nucleosome positioning and which transcription factors play crucial roles in establishing nucleosome patterns at the promoters of genes. In chapter 3 we address a question of how nucleosomes and promoter architecture affect binding of TFs. We model binding of TFs in the context of chromatin to a cluster of binding sites and investigate what features of the binding site cluster determine the main characteristics of TF binding. Finally, we study how TFBSs in real genomes are positioned relative to each other and show that there are certain biases in spacing between TFBSs, probably due to effects caused by competition with nucleosomes.

This paper focuses on a problem which has been the object of numerous studies centered mainly on Germanic languages, and which concerns general linguistics : determining to what extent the meaning of a derivative can be predicted from the meaning of the base. The author attempts to answer this question by taking the Romagnese dialect as an example. By observing 232 Romagnol deverbatives (corresponding to pairs of verbs derived from a single noun with variations in the prefix), it was possible to establish that the meaning of 76% of them can be predicted from the base noun. The main causes of idiosyncrasy are : flaws in the lexical system (homonymy, polysemy), the phenomenon of transference of denomination (metaphor, metonymy), chance events linked to the history of lexicon (modification of originally regular meaning, introduction of units from other systems, etc.). This relatively high rate of readability seems to correct the somewhat chaotic view on derivation proposed by English and American linguists and to accord with the conclusions of scholars (Rainer, Corbin) who have measured the semantic predictability of derivatives in Romance languages

The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of therapeutic drugs can greatly vary among individuals. For example, it is sometimes necessary to alter the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia from the standard protocol. Genetic variation is one important factor, which can exert a wide range of effects on sensitivities and responses to therapeutic agents. Thiopurine S-methyl transferase (TPMT) is a useful test for predicting 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) sensitivity in Caucasians. However, it is not effective for predicting the 6-MP therapeutic responses of Japanese patients because the frequency of TPMT deficiency is lower in the Japanese population (approximately 1% versus approximately 10% in Caucasians). Recently, NUDT15 polymorphisms have been reported to be predictive factors contributing to responsiveness to thiopurine therapy in Asians. The associations between genetic variants and therapeutic responses have been reported in Western countries. However, questions remain about whether results studying other races are applicable to Japanese due to differences in genetic variant frequencies among races. To provide personalized therapy based on genetic factors, we need to ascertain the relationships between genetic variants and therapeutic responses in Japanese childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia cases.

Multidimensional talent models represent the current state of the art. However, it remains unclear how these different dimensions interact. Based on current theories of human development, person-oriented approaches seem to be particularly appropriate for talent research. The present study adopts this approach by looking at how a holistic system consisting of the different dimensions motivation, motor behaviour and the stage of development goes along with athletic performance. For this purpose, it has to be examined which patterns were formed by the constructs net hope (Elbe et al., 2003), motor abilities (3 motor tests; Honer et al., 2014), technical skills (3 motor tests; Honer et al., 2014) and the so far achieved percentage of the predicted adult height (Mirwald et al, 2002) and how these patterns are related to subsequent sporting success. 119 young elite football players were questioned and tested three times at intervals of one year, beginning at the age of 12. At the age of 15, the performance level the players had reached was examined (national, regional or no talent card). At all three measuring points, four patterns were identified which displayed partial structural and high individual stability. As expected, the players showing values above average in all factors were significantly more likely to advance to the highest performance level (Odds ratio = 2.2, p < .01). Physically strong, precocious developed players though having some technical weaknesses, have good chances to reach the middle performance level (OR = 1.6, p = .01). Players showing values under average, have an one and a half times higher probability to advance to the lowest performance level (p < .01). The results point to the importance of holistic approaches for the prediction of performance among promising football talents in the medium-term and thus provide valuable clues for their selection and promotion.

Context: High-resolution animal movement data are becoming increasingly available, yet having a multitude of trajectories alone does not allow us to easily predict animal movement. To answer ecological and evolutionary questions at a population level, quantitative estimates of a species' potential to act as a link between patches, populations, or ecosystems are of importance. Objectives: We introduce an approach that combines movement-informed simulated trajectories with an environment-informed estimate of their ecological likelihood. With this approach, we estimated connectivity at the landscape level throughout the annual cycle of bar-headed geese (Anser indicus) in its native range. Methods: We used a tracking dataset of bar-headed geese to parameterise a multi-state movement model and to estimate temporally explicit habitat suitability within the species' range. We simulated migratory movements between range fragments, and estimated their ecological likelihood. The results are compared to expectations derived from published literature. Results: Simulated migrations matched empirical trajectories in key characteristics such as stopover duration. The estimated likelihood of simulated migrations was similar to that of empirical trajectories. We found that the predicted connectivity was higher within the breeding than in wintering areas, corresponding to previous findings for this species. Conclusions: We show how empirical tracking data and environmental information can be fused to make meaningful predictions about future animal movements. These are temporally explicit and transferable even outside the spatial range of the available data. Our integrative framework will prove useful for modelling ecological processes facilitated by animal movement, such as seed dispersal or disease ecology.