Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visual–Spatial Representation, Mathematical Problem Solving, and Students of Varying Abilities

The purpose of this study was to investigate students’ use of visual imagery while solving mathematical problems. Students with learning disabilities (LD), average achievers, and gifted students in sixth grade (N= 66) participated in this study. Students were assessed on measures of mathematical problem solving and visual–spatial representation. Visual–spatial representations were coded as either primarily schematic representations that encode the spatial relations described in the problem or primarily pictorial representations that encode persons, places, or things described in the problem. Results indicated that gifted students used significantly more visual–spatial representations than the other two groups. Students with LD used significantly more pictorial representations than their peers. Successful mathematical problem solving was positively correlated with use of schematic representations; conversely, it was negatively correlated with use of pictorial representations.
Renal distal tubular handling of sodium in central fluid volume homoeostasis in preascitic cirrhosis

BACKGROUND/AIMS Patients with preascitic liver cirrhosis have an increased central plasma volume, and, for any given plasma aldosterone concentration, they excrete less sodium than healthy controls. A detailed study of the distribution of sodium reabsorption along the segments of the renal tubule, especially the distal one, is still lacking in preascitic cirrhosis. METHODS Twelve patients with Child-Pugh class A cirrhosis and nine control subjects (both groups on a normosodic diet) were submitted to the following investigations: (a) plasma levels of active renin and aldosterone; (b) four hour renal clearance of lithium (an index of fluid delivery to the loop of Henle), creatinine, sodium, and potassium; (c) dopaminergic activity, as measured by incremental aldosterone response to intravenous metoclopramide. RESULTS Metoclopramide induced higher incremental aldosterone responses, indicating increased dopaminergic activity in patients than controls, which is evidence of an increased central plasma volume (+30 min: 160.2 (68.8)v 83.6 (35.2) pg/ml, p<0.01; +60 min: 140.5 (80.3) v 36.8 (36.1) pg/ml, p<0.01). Patients had increased distal fractional sodium reabsorption compared with controls (26.9 (6.7)% v 12.5 (3.4)% of the filtered sodium load, p<0.05). In the patient group there was an inverse correlation between: (a) absolute distal sodium reabsorption and active renin (r −0.59, p<0.05); (b) fractional distal sodium reabsorption and sodium excretion (r −0.66, p<0.03). CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that in preascitic cirrhosis the distal fractional tubular reabsorption of sodium is increased and critical in regulating both central fluid volume and sodium excretion.
Populist politics, communications media and large scale societal integration

Observations of public apathy in today's electoral democracies are commonplace (Neumann, 1986). For many social scientists, low voter turnout and similar indicators are simply reasons for believing that liberal democracies will always be governed by elites, though these may shift over time. Recently, a number of authors have argued against this view, and indeed against the presumption that representative institutions are the only form of participation workable in modern, large-scale polities. Characterizing representation as a form of "thin democracy," for example, Barber (1984) has called for a move towards a "strong democracy" based on new or revitalized forms of popular participation. His proposals stress two dimensions of such participation: the renewal of community level institutions of self-rule and the development of more frequent national referenda. My argument in this paper is that the theoretical grounds on which most discussion of these issues takes place are doubly deficient. In the first place, numerical size, while a central variable, does not adequately grasp the transformation in social organization wrought during the modern era. We need to address contrasting forms of social integration as well as sizes of population. I shall adopt Habermas's (1984) distinction of system world/system integration from lifeworld/social integration for this purpose. I will argue that the current efflorescence of populist politics (of both left and right) simultaneously is a response to the split between system world and lifeworld, and is limited in an often poorly recognized way by the implications of large scale system integration. Secondly, academic discussion of representative vs. direct democracy has tended to focus on mechanisms of decision-making at the expense of attention to public discourse and the educational functions of politics. Communitarian populists (though generally not plebiscitarians) are sensitive to this, and offer proposals for improved settings for local discourse and political language less prejudicial to the values of community and tradition (Barber, 1984; Bellah, et al., 1985; Evans and Boyte, 1986). Most, however, approach this predominantly in cultural rather than social structural terms, and underestimate the limits imposed by large scale system integration. Above all, both communitarian and plebiscitarian visions tend to neglect the structural difficulties which social change has put in the way of public discourse among people significantly different from each other. Changes in cities and community patterns on the one hand, and in communications systems on the other, make it likely that no extension of community level discourse or mobilization will constitute a public discourse at the level of the state. This is a limit to communitarian politics, but not an argument against them. At the same time, the issues presented here do argue against most proposals for extensive reliance on referenda.
Rural adult education and the health transformation of pastoral women of Northern Nigeria

Recently, politics of education in Nigeria have shifted from urban to rural literacy, which led to the development of programmes such as the nomadic women’s adult education programme. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the programme’s implementation strategies, and the extent to which the health educational objectives have been achieved and practised by the Fulani pastoral women. A qualitative narrative research design was used to collect social data from the participants. The choice of design considered the cultural interactive patterns and gender socialization process of the women’s ethnic group. The data collection process involved focus‐group interviews and participant observations, while data analysis included translation and transcription of the oral to text data, followed by categorization and coding processes which resulted in major expected and ‘ordinary’ themes. Triangulation as a validity procedure was used to corroborate the stories of the women study participants. The study major findings revealed that the objectives of the programme have been achieved in the area of personal health empowerment, knowledge and practices that minimized reproductive morbidities, fostered better family planning practices, healthier food and nutritional practices, improved hygienic and sanitation practices, and child healthcare first‐aid therapies. Excerpts from the women’s ‘voices’ are cited to support their health transformational claims. The paper concludes by elucidating major learner challenges, as well as suggesting administrative remedies that will minimize these, serve as a guide for future policy reforms and research and help sustain the transformational health practices of the women.
Morphological studies of stimulated adrenergic axon varicosities in the mouse vas deferens

The postganglionic axons of sympathetic neurons innervating the mouse vas deferens were stimulated transmurally in vitro by passing square pulses between two platinum electrodes. The ultrastructural appearance of the adrenergic nerve terminals was compared to samples fixed immediately after 30 min of stimulation and in samples allowed to recover for 2 h before fixation. The contralateral vasa deferentia served as controls, and these were incubated in Krebs solution for the same period as stimulated muscles. For each of four experiments, the mean number of large and small dense-core vesicles per square micrometer was calculated, as were the mean area and perimeter of the axon varicosities in each group. It was found that the number of small vesicles per square micrometer decreased by 60% during the stimulation period, but returned almost to control levels 2 h later. Large vesicles did not change in number during the stimulation or recovery periods. The proportion of vesicles containing cores was also determined for each group and found to decline just after stimulation in the small vesicle population, but to remain constant in the large vesicle population. The core depletion was partly reversed after 2 h. The vesicle recovery process was studied by use of the extracellular tracer horseradish peroxidase (HRP). When HRP was present in the extracellular space during stimulation, large numbers of vesicles contained the marker after recovery from stimulation. Thus, it is proposed that adrenergic axon varicosities recycle vesicle membrane through the plasma membrane in a manner similar to that already described for cholinergic nerve terminals.
Designing Web Technologies for Local Governance Reform: Good Management or Good Democracy?

This article examines the extent to which innovative applications of Web technology might advance local governance reform. Synthesizing theories from communications, public policy, urban political science, and political philosophy, it develops a theoretical framework for local governance reform that emphasizes two dimensions: entrepreneurial (good management) versus participatory (good democracy). The entrepreneurial model envisions the city primarily as a local service provider, while the participatory model stresses the civic character of cities. A structured content analysis of 270 municipal Web sites in California is then analyzed to examine the extent to which applications of Internet technology support these models of reform. We conclude that most municipal Web sites lack a clear mission and provide few of the features that might effect meaningful improvements to local governance. The few that promote a particular approach appear more likely to support an entrepreneurial than a participatory model of reform. Only a few exemplary sites provide a rich array of information and structure communications channels in a fashion that might improve democratic processes.
Detection of falls using accelerometers and mobile phone technology.

OBJECTIVES to study the sensitivity and specificity of fall detection using mobile phone technology. DESIGN an experimental investigation using motion signals detected by the mobile phone. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS the research was conducted in a laboratory setting, and 18 healthy adults (12 males and 6 females; age = 29 ± 8.7 years) were recruited. MEASUREMENT each participant was requested to perform three trials of four different types of simulated falls (forwards, backwards, lateral left and lateral right) and eight other everyday activities (sit-to-stand, stand-to-sit, level walking, walking up- and downstairs, answering the phone, picking up an object and getting up from supine). Acceleration was measured using two devices, a mobile phone and an independent accelerometer attached to the waist of the participants. RESULTS Bland-Altman analysis shows a higher degree of agreement between the data recorded by the two devices. Using individual upper and lower detection thresholds, the specificity and sensitivity for mobile phone were 0.81 and 0.77, respectively, and for external accelerometer they were 0.82 and 0.96, respectively. CONCLUSION fall detection using a mobile phone is a feasible and highly attractive technology for older adults, especially those living alone. It may be best achieved with an accelerometer attached to the waist, which transmits signals wirelessly to a phone.
Blood Temperature Profiles of Diving Elephant Seals

Hypothermia‐induced reductions in metabolic rate have been proposed to suppress metabolism and prolong the duration of aerobic metabolism during dives of marine mammals and birds. To determine whether core hypothermia might contribute to the repetitive long‐duration dives of the northern elephant seal Mirounga angustirostris, blood temperature profiles were obtained in translocated juvenile elephant seals equipped with a thermistor and backpack recorder. Representative temperature (the y‐intercept of the mean temperature vs. dive duration relationship) was 37.2° ± 0.6°C (n = 3 seals) in the extradural vein, 38.1° ± 0.7°C (n = 4 seals) in the hepatic sinus, and 38.8° ± 1.6°C (n = 6 seals) in the aorta. Mean temperature was significantly though weakly negatively related to dive duration in all but one seal. Mean venous temperatures of all dives of individual seals ranged between 36° and 38°C, while mean arterial temperatures ranged between 35° and 39°C. Transient decreases in venous and arterial temperatures to as low as 30°–33°C occurred in some dives >30 min (0.1% of dives in the study). The lack of significant core hypothermia during routine dives (10–30 min) and only a weak negative correlation of mean temperature with dive duration do not support the hypothesis that a cold‐induced Q10 effect contributes to metabolic suppression of central tissues during dives. The wide range of arterial temperatures while diving and the transient declines in temperature during long dives suggest that alterations in blood flow patterns and peripheral heat loss contribute to thermoregulation during diving.
Quench in high-temperature superconducting motor field coils: experimental results

The results of quench tests on high-temperature superconducting motor coils are presented. These results clearly demonstrate that the quench process is characterized by a current level, referred to as the "quench current", above which the cooling system cannot maintain the winding temperature. The result will be an unstable growth in winding temperature in a process commonly referred to as a winding quench
Uplink scheduling for Machine-to-Machine communications in LTE-based cellular systems

Cellular systems are expected to play a fundamental role in the future Machine-to-Machine (M2M) networks, which could inherit crucial benefits from the former, such as ubiquitous coverage and global internetworking. However, unique features of M2M communications, such as the larger number of connected devices and the diversity of applications, require specific enhancements to these cellular systems. Because of the nature of most of M2M applications, a large number of uplink transmissions is expected, rendering uplink scheduling as an essential issue towards supporting M2M communications via cellular networks. We propose two scheduling schemes for the uplink of LTE-based cellular systems, which take into account both the channel conditions and the maximum allowed delay of each device requesting to be served. In contrast to other scheduling algorithms no classes of devices are formed, but the exact delay constraint of each device is considered, approaching the requirements of M2M communications in a more realistic way. This way, the number of effectively served requests increases, while it becomes possible to exploit the exact delay constraints in order to put the devices in sleep modes, until next transmissions. It is also shown that dividing the devices into a limited number of QoS classes deteriorates the system's performance.
Emotional openness as a predictor of college students' attitudes toward seeking psychological help.

Fear of emotions is hypothesized to be a primary reason for individuals' negative attitudes toward seeking psychological treatment. This study examined the effects of emotional openness and other potential predictors of attitudes toward seeking psychological help in a sample of 311 college students. Results of simultaneous multiple regression analyses indicated that gender (male), perception of stigma, discomfort with emotions, and lower psychological distress accounted for 25% of variance in attitudes toward seeking psychological help. The implications of the findings and recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of public education efforts are discussed.
TACKLING ORGANISATIONAL DISILLUSIONMENT THROUGH MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT

The Concept of Disillusionment Many of us will have suffered temporary disillusionment about an aspect of our life. When in love, for example, or when supporting a particular religious or political doctrine or party, one can readily become disillusioned if the focus of one's love or support brings about unwanted outcomes instead of promised ones. In the long run, the benefits of temporary disillusionment, in the form of “lessons” to guide subsequent projects, are often felt to outweigh the costs, in the form of emotional pain, even if these costs are high owing to the energy invested in the illusion. In contrast, chronic disillusionment appears to offer no benefits, since, for the sufferer whose life space is engulfed by hopelessness, change seems impossible and learning pointless.
Integrated cross-domain object storage in working memory: Evidence from a verbal–spatial memory task

Working-memory theories often include domain-specific verbal and visual stores (e.g., the phonological and visuospatial buffers of Baddeley, 1986), and some also posit more general stores thought to be capable of holding verbal or visuospatial materials (Baddeley, 2000; Cowan, 2005). However, it is currently unclear which type of store is primarily responsible for maintaining objects that include components from multiple domains. In these studies, a spatial array of letters was followed by a single probe identical to an item in the array or differing systematically in spatial location, letter identity, or their combination. Concurrent verbal rehearsal suppression impaired memory in each of these trial types in a task that required participants to remember verbal–spatial binding, but did not impair memory for spatial locations if the task did not require verbal–spatial binding for a correct response. Thus, spatial information might be stored differently when it must be bound to verbal information. This suggests that a cross-domain store such as the episodic buffer of Baddeley (2000) or the focus of attention of Cowan (2001) might be used for integrated object storage, rather than the maintenance of associations between features stored in separate domain-specific buffers.
Sense of Belongingness Among Filipino Elderly: The Use of Doodles in Geriatrics Research

The aging population of the world has dramatically been increasing thereby creating the need to assess and address the emotional feelings of the elderly. The intent of this qualitative study was to capture the essence or the lebenswelt of the Filipino elderly's sense of belongingness. This was accomplished by capitalizing on the power of conscious doodling and elicitation interviews with a select group of elderly persons confined in a government-run institution. A sample of 40 elderly (17 men and 23 women) aged 60 to 85 years voluntarily participated in this study. Interview proceedings were tape-recorded and were later on transcribed. Following the typological coding approach, the doodles and data transcriptions were categorized and thematised into three distinct levels of feelings and emotions. Interestingly, the three thematic levels of the elderly's sense of belongingness include Plain, Plateau, and Pinnacle. The first level, called Plain, encompasses the feelings of abandonment and avolition; the second level of Plateau describes their feelings of adaptation, association, and assurance; while the third level, termed as Pinnacle, highlights their feelings of acceptance, antiphony, assimilation, and attachment and actualization. Notably, the emerged sense of belongingness by both male and female genders has generally similar patterns before and during admission in the nursing home, except for some differences.
Pre-service education for primary school English teachers in Indonesia: policy implications

Although English is only an extra-curricular subject at primary level in Indonesia, expectations over the improved quality of the teachers are exceptionally high . This is the case in the past few years in which the low proficiency of primary English teachers and their lack of teaching competencies have repeatedly been pointed out as major constraints. Unfortunately, it remains unclear whether this problem is attributed to the delivery of pre-service education in preparing primary school English teachers. This paper gathered data from teachers, language teacher educators, primary school principals, members of educational boards, and educational consultants. The data were analysed using Grounded Theory in order to examine the adequacy of pre-service education in Indonesia to prepare primary school English teachers as well as factors that contribute to its efficacy or lack thereof. The findings of the study demonstrate the need for specific preparation for primary school English teachers as well as further training for teacher educators. This present study is highly relevant to Indonesia and other Asian countries where teacher efficacy is a major concern.
L-Type Ca2+ Channel Sparklets Revealed by TIRF Microscopy in Mouse Urinary Bladder Smooth Muscle

Calcium is a ubiquitous second messenger in urinary bladder smooth muscle (UBSM). In this study, small discrete elevations of intracellular Ca2+, referred to as Ca2+ sparklets have been detected in an intact detrusor smooth muscle electrical syncytium using a TIRF microscopy Ca2+ imaging approach. Sparklets were virtually abolished by the removal of extracellular Ca2+ (0.035±0.01 vs. 0.23±0.07 Hz/mm2; P<0.05). Co-loading of smooth muscle strips with the slow Ca2+ chelator EGTA-AM (10 mM) confirmed that Ca2+ sparklets are restricted to the cell membrane. Ca2+ sparklets were inhibited by the calcium channel inhibitors R-(+)-Bay K 8644 (1 μM) (0.034±0.02 vs. 0.21±0.08 Hz/mm2; P<0.05), and diltiazem (10 μM) (0.097±0.04 vs. 0.16±0.06 Hz/mm2; P<0.05). Ca2+ sparklets were unaffected by inhibition of P2X1 receptors α,β-meATP (10 μM) whilst sparklet frequencies were significantly reduced by atropine (1 μM). Ca2+ sparklet frequency was significantly reduced by PKC inhibition with Gö6976 (100 nM) (0.030±0.01 vs. 0.30±0.1 Hz/mm2; P<0.05), demonstrating that Ca2+ sparklets are PKC dependant. In the presence of CPA (10 μM), there was no apparent change in the overall frequency of Ca2+ sparklets, although the sparklet frequencies of each UBSM became statistically independent of each other (Spearman's rank correlation 0.2, P>0.05), implying that Ca2+ store mediated signals regulate Ca2+ sparklets. Under control conditions, inhibition of store operated Ca2+ entry using ML-9 (100 μM) had no significant effect. Amplitudes of Ca2+ sparklets were unaffected by any agonists or antagonists, suggesting that these signals are quantal events arising from activation of a single channel, or complex of channels. The effects of CPA and ML-9 suggest that Ca2+ sparklets regulate events in the cell membrane, and contribute to cytosolic and sarcoplasmic Ca2+ concentrations.