Translating tolerogenic therapies to the clinic – where do we stand?

Manipulation of the immune system to prevent the development of a specific immune response is an ideal strategy to improve outcomes after transplantation. A number of experimental techniques exploiting central and peripheral tolerance mechanisms have demonstrated success, leading to the first early phase clinical trials for tolerance induction. The first major strategy centres on the facilitation of donor-cell mixed chimerism in the transplant recipient with the use of bone marrow or haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The second strategy, utilising peripheral regulatory mechanisms, focuses on cellular therapy with regulatory T cells. This review examines the key studies and novel research directions in the field of immunological tolerance

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CONTEXT: INVESTIGATING IN-SERVICE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS FOR SYRIAN TEACHERS OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE DURING TIMES OF MILITARY CONFLICT

The purpose of this study is to research how teaching practices and in-service professional development of English language teachers’ in Syria have been affected during times of military conflict: what impact English language teachers in Syria perceive the professional development programs they are required to attend have on their teaching and the learning environments they provide for their students, and how this perceived impact relates to the country’s current military conflict; and to explore the ways that teachers can be assisted to enhance their in-service professional development in a country experiencing a military conflict. Thus, by probing these two issues, this study provides the foundation for the initiation of pedagogical change based on a systematic approach towards in-service teacher training programs, exploring the training needs of teachers in light of the current military conflict, and on the Syrian teachers of English as a Foreign Language own perspectives on both these programs and their in-class practices. The importance of this research grows from the scarcity of empirical data on the EFL Syrian teachers’ previous or current practices in their classrooms and in regard to the in-service training they have received. In order to comprehensively address the complexity of the research questions, a mixed method research design using both quantitative and qualitative methods was applied. This allowed for triangulation of data, in order to achieve greater validity and reliability in the study. The methods were designed to be closely related to each other to ensure a fully integrated research design. The questions were investigated through a mixed method approach using a structured survey and teachers’ journal-logs. Concept mapping of teachers’ responses to the open-ended question in the survey served as a check on researcher bias and allowed respondents in the survey population to identify and name clusters of the participants’ responses. The research revealed that the designers of the in-service development programs for Syrian teachers of English as a Foreign Language overlooked the fact that public education is a system in permanent interaction with various individuals with different needs, facing different challenges in different environments. The survey respondents did not believe that the Ministry of Education’s approaches to engage the EFL teachers and their students have been effective. The study revealed that Syrian EFL teachers were not trained to recognize or deal with classroom issues related to or affected by the military conflict. In more general terms, teacher respondents were skeptical about centralized in-service development programs. Therefore, there is a need for a design structured upon the micro attributes and analysis of the specific EFL teachers’ needs in the context of their actual classroom environment. This can occur by involving the teachers in what needs to be included in the programs. This research adds to both international literature on the theme of education in conflict areas in general, and to Syrian EFL teaching during times of military conflict in particular. This research is unique in that it was conducted and completed while the military conflict was still ongoing, unlike most retrospective studies that are conducted after conflicts have been resolved. Another distinctive element of this research, methodologically speaking, is that up to this date, there has not been any empirical research that has examined Syrian in-service EFL programs or their effectiveness from the EFL teachers’ perspectives prior or during The study provides a solid foundation for a systematic redesign of Syrian EFL in-service development programs in a manner that addresses both the teachers’ needs and the students’ language-learning needs while taking into consideration the immediate class environment and broader military conflict

Effect of Social Status on the Behavior and Neurophysiology of Crayfish

Adaptation to changing social conditions is important for many social animals. Here, the effects of social experience on the behavior and neurophysiology of the red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, were studied. Evidence is presented that shows juvenile crayfish interact and form social order, and their behavior patterns shift in accordance to social status. Dominant animals maintain a high level of aggressive behavior, while subordinates shift their behavior pattern from aggressive to submissive behavior. Adult male crayfish show similar behavior pattern during dominance formation. However, this work demonstrates that male crayfish adopt a unique strategy to signify the formation of a social order expressed in the form of pseudocopulation. Pseudocopulation between male crayfish signifies the acceptance of the social status and leads to the reduction of aggression of dominants and enhances the survival of subordinate animals. I investigated the long-term effects of social status on the behavioral and physiological responses of crayfish to unexpected sensory touch. I discovered that animals of different social experience display different orienting responses that correlate with in vivo electromyographic recordings from the legs’ depressor muscle. The status-dependent response patterns observed in vivo are retained in a reduced, in vitro, preparation that lacks descending input from the brain. The role of serotonin (5-HT) was investigated in mediating the motor output patterns of the depressor nerve. Putative serotonergic innervations of the depressor nerve were identified that originate from serotonergic neurons located in the first abdominal ganglion. Selective stimulation of the ipsilateral 5-HT neuron enhances the response of the depressor nerve to sensory stimulation. Application of 5-HT modestly increased the tonic firing activity of the depressor nerve in social isolates and subordinates but significantly decreased the activity in dominants. This work illustrates that the formation of a dominance relationship significantly and immediately alters the behavior of the participants. As the social relationship matures, the social experience that develops affects the underlying neurophysiology that mediates the behavior. It will be of great interest in future studies to identify not only the effects rather the mechanisms of how social experience induces physiological changes

A Classification Rules Mining Method based on Dynamic Rules' Frequency

Rule based classification or rule induction (RI) in data mining is an approach that normally generates classifiers containing simple yet effective rules. Most RI algorithms suffer from few drawbacks mainly related to rule pruning and rules sharing training data instances. In response to the above two issues, a new dynamic rule induction (DRI) method is proposed that utilises two thresholds to minimise the items search space. Whenever a rule is generated, DRI algorithm ensures that all candidate items' frequencies are updated to reflect the deletion of the rule’s training data instances. Therefore, the remaining candidate items waiting to be added to other rules have dynamic frequencies rather static. This enables DRI to generate not only rules with 100% accuracy but rules with high accuracy as well. Experimental tests using a number of UCI data sets have been conducted using a number of RI algorithms. The results clearly show competitive performance in regards to classification accuracy and classifier size of DRI when compared to other RI algorithms

Constrained Dynamic Rule Induction Learning

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.One of the known classification approaches in data mining is rule induction (RI). RI algorithms such as PRISM usually produce If-Then classifiers, which have a comparable predictive performance to other traditional classification approaches such as decision trees and associative classification. Hence, these classifiers are favourable for carrying out decisions by users and hence they can be utilised as decision making tools. Nevertheless, RI methods, including PRISM and its successors, suffer from a number of drawbacks primarily the large number of rules derived. This can be a burden especially when the input data is largely dimensional. Therefore, pruning unnecessary rules becomes essential for the success of this type of classifiers. This article proposes a new RI algorithm that reduces the search space for candidate rules by early pruning any irrelevant items during the process of building the classifier. Whenever a rule is generated, our algorithm updates the candidate items frequency to reflect the discarded data examples associated with the rules derived. This makes items frequency dynamic rather static and ensures that irrelevant rules are deleted in preliminary stages when they don’t hold enough data representation. The major benefit will be a concise set of decision making rules that are easy to understand and controlled by the decision maker. The proposed algorithm has been implemented in WEKA (Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis) environment and hence it can now be utilised by different types of users such as managers, researchers, students and others. Experimental results using real data from the security domain as well as sixteen classification datasets from University of California Irvine (UCI) repository reveal that the proposed algorithm is competitive in regards to classification accuracy when compared to known RI algorithms. Moreover, the classifiers produced by our algorithm are smaller in size which increase their possible use in practical applications

Political and Economic Relations between United States of America and Jordan (1990-2019)

The Kingdom of Jordan is a key U.S. partner in the Middle East. Although the United States and Jordan have never been linked by a formal treaty, the two countries have cooperated on a number of regional and international issues over the years. The research is based on a major hypothesis that, the presence of local, regional and international factors have affected the Jordanian-American relations and made them take the nature of mutual cooperation between the two countries. This research essentially contributes to deepen the understanding among those interested in politics of Jordan, in identifying the factors affecting Jordanian-American relations, and on the dimensions of the American position on all Arab issues in order to overcome negative impacts and give a strong impetus to the relations between the two parties. This research also provides an opportunity for the interested researchers and scholars of the local, regional and international affairs to familiarize themselves with the nature of Jordanian-American relations at this very important stage. The main goal is to reveal the main aspects that underpin Jordanian-American relations. The research problem revolves around a central question and which elucidates the nature of Jordanian-American relation

Contributing Causes of Injury or Death in Grain Entrapment, Engulfment, and Extrication

Objectives: Grain entrapments and engulfments are one of most common hazards associated with grain storage facilities, with over 1,140 such entrapments/engulfments documented since the 1970s. The objective of the study was to determine the factors that contribute to injury or death in grain entrapment, engulfment, and extrication cases. Methods: A literature review, including data contained in the Purdue Agricultural Confined Spaces Incident Database (PACSID), was conducted to determine the conditions that the body experiences during an entrapment or engulfment in grains and during extrication efforts. Results: Based on the review, the conditions a human body faces during an entrapment, engulfment, or extraction can be split into two broad categories—environmental and physiological/psychological. The environmental factors depend on the grain’s properties, depth of entrapment or engulfment, position of the victim’s body, and characteristics of the storage unit, which include the grain’s lateral pressure, vertical pressure, and weight, as well as friction, oxygen availability and diffusion rate, and grain temperature. The physiological and psychological factors are related to the individual’s age and physical and psychological conditions, and manifest themselves in terms of oxygen consumption, asphyxiation (including aspiration, lack of oxygen, compression or splinting of the thorax), blood flow, and heart rate. Conclusion: Of all the above factors, a review of fatality data contained in the PACSID indicate that aspiration, asphyxiation, grain weight, and lateral pressure are most likely the primary cause of death for most entrapment victims. Research gaps found by this study include an understanding of the impact of lateral pressure on lung expansion and oxygen availability and consumption rate, and the need for more case studies to accurately determine cause of death

Scar Assessment Tools: How Do They Compare?

Healing after dermal injury is a complex but imperfect process that results in a wide range of visible scars. The degree of disfigurement is not the sole determinant of a scar's effect on patient well-being, with a number of other factors being critical to outcome. These include cosmetic appearance, symptoms such as itch and pain, functional loss, psychological or social problems, and quality of life. An accurate assessment of these domains can help clinicians measure outcomes, develop, and evaluate treatment strategies. A PubMed literature search was performed up to 31st March 2020. Ten objective scar measurements, four Clinician-Reported Outcome Measures (CROMs), six Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), and one combined measure were evaluated for their reliability, clinical relevance, responsiveness to clinical change, and feasibility. Many quantitative tools were limited in their clinical relevance and feasibility, whereas few qualitative CROMs and PROMs have undergone rigorous assessment. This review examines currently available assessment tools, focusing primarily on subjective scar measurements (CROMs, PROMs), and offers a perspective on future directions in the field