Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparing the Pedagogical Thinking of More Successful and Less Successful Adult ESL Instructors Using Stimulated Recall

Comparing the Pedagogical Knowledge of Successful and Less Successful Adult ESL Instructors Using Stimulated Recall Jason P. Roberts Department of Teacher Education Master of Arts This paper reports a study that examined the pedagogical knowledge (knowledge and beliefs related to the act of teaching) of two more successful and two less successful adult ESL instructors during planning teaching and post teaching reflection. The verbal reports of their teaching were compared to previous studies (Gatbonton, 2000, 2008; Mullock, 2006) that used stimulated recall to categorize adult ESL instructors’ pedagogical thoughts during their instruction. The comparison showed that the previous categories were inadequate to cover the data. Additional codes were added in order to codify all the data after which patterns and themes emerged that overarched the previous categories. The five pattern themes among the four participants included academic focus, comprehension, engagement, language management, and student centered. The two more successful teachers each had one specific pattern theme whose fundamental focus was on student learning. These themes dominated the more successful teachers’ pedagogical foci while the other four themes were subservient to that dominant theme. Like the more successful teachers all five pattern themes were present in the planning and reflection of the less successful teachers. However, the protocols of the less successful Adult ESL teachers did not exhibit a central theme or pedagogical focus that orchestrated and directed the movement of their pedagogical thoughts among the remaining pattern themes. This lack of a dominant theme meant that the pedagogical foci of these teachers moved from one theme to another without a consistent orientation toward a central goal. The conflicted or divided nature of the pedagogical thinking of these less successful teachers may contribute to the reduction in the learning of students in their classes.
Arabidopsis PIZZA Has the Capacity to Acylate Brassinosteroids

Brassinosteroids (BRs) affect a wide range of developmental processes in plants and compromised production or signalling of BRs causes severe growth defects. To identify new regulators of plant organ growth, we searched the Arabidopsis FOX (Full-length cDNA Over-eXpressor gene) collection for mutants with altered organ size and isolated two overexpression lines that display typical BR deficient dwarf phenotypes. The phenotype of these lines, caused by an overexpression of a putative acyltransferase gene PIZZA (PIZ), was partly rescued by supplying exogenous brassinolide (BL) and castasterone (CS), indicating that endogenous BR levels are rate-limiting for the growth of PIZ overexpression lines. Our transcript analysis further showed that PIZ overexpression leads to an elevated expression of genes involved in BR biosynthesis and a reduced expression of BR inactivating hydroxylases, a transcriptional response typical to low BR levels. Taking the advantage of relatively high endogenous BR accumulation in a mild bri1-301 background, we found that overexpression of PIZ results in moderately reduced levels of BL and CS and a strong reduction of typhasterol (TY) and 6-deoxocastasterone (6-deoxoCS), suggesting a role of PIZ in BR metabolism. We tested a set of potential substrates in vitro for heterologously expressed PIZ and confirmed its acyltransferase activity with BL, CS and TY. The PIZ gene is expressed in various tissues but as reported for other genes involved in BR metabolism, the loss-of-function mutants did not display obvious growth phenotypes under standard growth conditions. Together, our data suggest that PIZ can modify BRs by acylation and that these properties might help modulating endogenous BR levels in Arabidopsis.
The contact process on scale-free networks evolving by vertex updating

We study the contact process on a class of evolving scale-free networks, where each node updates its connections at independent random times. We give a rigorous mathematical proof that there is a transition between a phase where for all infection rates the infection survives for a long time, at least exponential in the network size, and a phase where for sufficiently small infection rates extinction occurs quickly, at most polynomially in the network size. The phase transition occurs when the power-law exponent crosses the value four. This behaviour is in contrast with that of the contact process on the corresponding static model, where there is no phase transition, as well as that of a classical mean-field approximation, which has a phase transition at power-law exponent three. The new observation behind our result is that temporal variability of networks can simultaneously increase the rate at which the infection spreads in the network, and decrease the time at which the infection spends in metastable states.
Cbl-b-dependent Coordinated Degradation of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Signaling Complex*

Cbl proteins function as ubiquitin protein ligases for the activated epidermal growth factor receptor and, thus, negatively regulate its activity. Here we show that Cbl-b is ubiquitinated and degraded upon activation of the receptor. Epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced Cbl-b degradation requires intact RING finger and tyrosine kinase binding domains and requires binding of the Cbl-b protein to the activated EGF receptor (EGFR). Degradation of both the EGFR and the Cbl-b protein is blocked by lysosomal and proteasomal inhibitors. Other components of the EGFR-signaling complex (i.e. Grb2 and Shc) are also degraded in an EGF-induced Cbl-b-dependent fashion. Our results suggest that the ubiquitin protein ligase function of Cbl-b is regulated by coordinated degradation of the Cbl-b protein along with its substrate. Furthermore, the data demonstrate that Cbl-b mediates degradation of multiple proteins in the EGFR-signaling complex.
Exploring health risks and resilience in a rural population in the context of environment-related diseases, Ngara, Tanzania

Public health ‘expert’ knowledge and technical ‘solutions’ to environment-related diseases are often embedded in biomedical perspectives that emphasise objectivity and rationality. However, such perspectives tend to sidestep the ways in which knowledge and solutions are shaped by social and cultural contexts. Public health interventions have therefore been evaluated in terms of the ‘failure’ of their intended recipients to ‘comply’ with them and in relation to public ‘misperceptions’ of risks to their health. This research was developed in an attempt to understandhow social and cultural beliefs and perceptions mediate health and the way that they contribute to, escalate or reduce risks to health. The study explores these attributes in the context of two issues: firstly, environment-related health risks pertaining to malaria and diarrheal diseases, and secondly residents’ perceptions and views of public health interventions and programmes. The research was carried out in two villages in rural northern Tanzania to explore the complexities of villagers’ behaviours in their everyday lives in order to help understand common public health concerns such as: why do some public health programmes succeed and others fail? Why do some individuals who know how to protect themselves against a particular disease choose not do so? And why are control and prevention of preventable infectious diseases problematic? The study employed an ethnographic approach based on a socio-cultural perspective. Focus groups and interviews were the main tools for data collection, and analysis was done inductively through development of key themes. Research findings show that social and cultural values, especially in relation to social capital, frame health-related risks in such a way as to shape the vulnerability and resilience of citizens to environment related illnesses. The thesis demonstrates a number of ways in which adherence to socio-cultural norms and practices takes precedence over potential concerns about risks to individual health.
Voice quality as a marker of ethnicity in New Zealand: From acoustics to perception†

This study is the first acoustic analysis of voice quality in the two main ethnic dialects of New Zealand English. In a production experiment, narratives from 36 speakers were analyzed and H1-H2 spectral tilt measures were calculated for each vowel. The results provide instrumental evidence for impressionistic claims about the differing voice quality features of the two main ethnic groups, showing that Maori English speakers are creakier than European New Zealanders. A perception experiment was also carried out to determine the perceptual salience of voice quality for the identification of speaker ethnicity. The results of regression analyses confirm that listeners are sensitive to the phonation differences, and are able to rely on phonation cues in an ethnic dialect identification task. The study demonstrates the role of voice quality as a critical sociolinguistic variable, and highlights the importance of listeners’ previous dialect exposure in terms of sensitivity to prosodic cues. Ko tēnei pūrongo te tirohanga tuatahi ki ētahi āhuatanga o te reo e puta ana i te korokoro o ngā kaikōrero o ngā reo ā-iwi e rua o te Reo Pākehā i Aotearoa. I tētahi whakamātau i āta tirohia ngā oropuare o ētahi kōrero nō ngā kaikōrero 36, ā, kua tatauria ngā ine H1-H2 e kīia ana ko te spectral tilt. Ko ngā putanga he taunakitanga mō ngā whakaaro o te tāngata e pā ana ki te rerekētanga o ngā reo o te hunga Pākehā me te hunga Māori, e whakaatu hoki ana he kekē atu te reo o ngā mea e kōrero ana i te ‘Māori English’ i te reo e kōrerohia ana e te iwi Pākehā. He whakamātau whakarongo i whakahaerehia kia kite mena he āwhina tēnei āhuatanga o te reo kia mōhio te kaiwhakarongo ko wai te iwi o te kaikōrero. Ko ngā whakaputanga o ngā tatauranga e kī ana kei te tino mārama tēnei āhuatanga o te reo e puta ana i te korokoro o te tāngata, ā, ka taea ēnei rerekētanga te whakamahi kia whakawehea te tangata Māori i te tangata Pākehā. Nā tēnei ka kitea he āhuatanga motuhake te reo o te korokoro, ā, he mea nui hoki mena kua tino wāia te kaiwhakarongo ki ngā reo ā-iwi. [Māori]
Influence of surface passivation on the friction and wear behavior of ultrananocrystalline diamond and tetrahedral amorphous carbon thin films

-bonded, nearly hydrogen-free carbon-based materials can exhibit extremely low friction and wearin the absence of any liquid lubricant, but this physical behavior is limited by the vapor environment. The effectof water vapor on friction and wear is examined as a function of applied normal force for two such materials inthin ﬁlm form: one that is fully amorphous in structure (tetrahedral amorphous carbon, or ta-C) and one that ispolycrystalline with
PACAP modulates L‐type Ca2+ channel currents in vascular smooth muscle cells: involvement of PKC and PKA

The effect of pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) on the L‐type Ca2+ channel current (L‐channel current) was studied in smooth muscle cells prepared from the rat tail artery. PACAP caused an increase in the amplitude of the L‐channel current. The maximal increase (56%) occurred at a PACAP concentration of 1 X 10−8 M; higher concentrations resulted in a smaller increase. Investigation into the intracellular mecha‐nisms of PACAP action revealed that the increase in L‐channel currents was blocked by calphostin C and bisindolylmaleimide IV [protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors] and mimicked by 4β‐phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate (PMA), an activator of PKC. PACAP was also found to cause translocation of PKC, suggesting that the increase in the current by PACAP was due to PKC. In contrast, activation of cAMP‐dependent protein kinase (PKA) by 8‐bromo‐cAMP caused an inhibition of the L‐channel current. A high concentration of PACAP (1 times 10−6 M) had no effect on the L‐channel current. The null effect of PACAP on the L‐channel current could be converted to an increase by Rp‐cAMPs, a cAMP antagonist, and a decrease by calphostin C. PACAP also increased cAMP accumulation. These observations indicate the effect of PACAP on the L‐channel current represents the integration of two signaling mechanisms that involve the activation of PKA and PKC. —Chik, C. L. , Li, B. , Ogiwara, T. , Ho, A. K. , Karpinski, E. PACAP modulates L‐type Ca2+ channel currents in vascular smooth muscle cells: involvement of PKC and PKA. FASEB J. 10, 1310‐1317 (1996)
Rate Approximation: A New Paradigm for Multiuser MIMO Downlink Communications

In this paper we present a new paradigm for multiuser MIMO downlink communications called Rate Approximation with significant impact on the upcoming LTE standard. Rate Approximation combines flexibility and robustness needed for reliable communications with the terminal in the downlink and taking advantage of the channel state information. The scheme responds to two major developments in the recent literature: One observation is that it is not so important to approximate the channel but rather the rate itself. The second observation is that a fixed codebook at the transmitter is often better when simultaneously the channel state information is more accurate. Both observations are incorporated in the new scheme where the transmit and feedback codebook are strictly separated and user rates are brought to the base station subject to a controlled uniform error. The new metric is amenable to further numerical optimization. Analysis and simulations show the superior performance of the scheme and, furthermore, a strong impact on upcoming cooperative schemes is expected.
Understanding and Evaluating Educational Research

1. Introduction to Reading Educational Research. 2. Quantitative Nonexperimental Designs. Differing Opinions on Testing between Preservice and Inservice Teachers, Kathy E. Green. The Impact of Alternate Assessments: A Statewide Teacher Survey, Harold L. Kleinert, Sarah Kennedy, and Jacqueline Farmer Kearns. Classroom Teachers' and Music Specialists' Perceived Ability to Implement the National Standards for Music Education, Susan J. Byo. Relationship between Parents, Peers, Morality, and Theft in an Adolescent Sample, Beth Judy and Eileen Nelson. College Success of Students from Three High School Settings, Joe Sutton and Rhonda Galloway. 3. Quantitative Experimental Designs. Motivational Effects on Test Scores of Elementary Students, Steven M. Brown and Herbert J. Walberg. Effects of a Children's Book and a Traditional Textbook on Fifth-Grade Students' Achievement and Attitudes Toward Social Studies, C. Warren McKinney and H. Jon Jones. Effects of Cooperative Learning among Hispanic Students in Elementary Social Studies, Judith R. Lampe, Gene E. Rooze, and Mary Tallent-Runnels. Grade Distributions, Grading Procedures, and Students' Evaluations of Instructors: A Justice Perspective, Jasmine Tata. 4. Qualitative Designs. Building Bridges to Student Engagement: Communicating Respect and Care for Students in Urban High Schools, Donetta Cothran and Catherine D. Ennis. Rites of Passage among Women Reentering Higher Education, Nancy P. Redding and William D. Dowling. How Does the Textbook Contribute to Learning in a Middle School Science Class? , Marcy P. Driscoll, Mahnaz Moallem, Walter Dick, and Elizabeth Kirby. 5. Action/Practitioner Research. Effects of Curriculum Alignment Versus Direct Instruction on Urban Children, George Brent and Nicholas DiObilda. Improving the Grades of Student Athletes: A Study of Attitudes, Expectations, and Academic Performance, Henry Davis and Jim Guthrie.
Surface Potential and Drain Current Analytical Model of Gate All Around Triple Metal TFET

The impact of triple metal with unalike work functions on the gate all around (GAA) tunnel FET is studied for the first time in this paper. An analytical model is introduced for surface potential and drain current of GAA triple metal tunnel FET with circular cross section, by using Poisson’s equation and Kane’s model. The modeling results are in good agreement with Synopsys 3-D TCAD results, thereby corroborating our analysis. The different metal work functions assist to create the potential barrier in the channel region to suppress the reverse tunneling from the drain side and also provides a more band bending at source end which revamp the drive current.
Developing a Highly Stable PLGA-mPEG Nanoparticle Loaded with Cisplatin for Chemotherapy of Ovarian Cancer

Background Cisplatin is a potent anticancer drug, but its clinical application has been limited due to its undesirable physicochemical characteristics and severe side effects. Better drug formulations for cisplatin are highly desired. Methodology/Principal Findings Herein, we have developed a nanoparticle formulation for cisplatin with high encapsulation efficiency and reduced toxicity by using cisplatin-crosslinked carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) core nanoparticles made from poly(lactide-co-glycolide)-monomethoxy-poly(polyethylene glycol) copolymers (PLGA-mPEG). The nanoparticles have an average diameter of approximately 80 nm measured by transmission electron microscope (TEM). The encapsulation efficiency of cisplatin in the nanoparticles is up to 72%. Meanwhile, we have also observed a controlled release of cisplatin in a sustained manner and dose-dependent treatment efficacy of cisplatin-loaded nanoparticles against IGROV1-CP cells. Moreover, the median lethal dose (LD50) of the cisplatin-loaded nanoparticles was more than 100 mg/kg by intravenous administration, which was much higher than that of free cisplatin. Conclusion This developed cisplatin-loaded nanoparticle is a promising formulation for the delivery of cisplatin, which will be an effective therapeutic regimen of ovarian cancer without severe side effects and cumulative toxicity.
Antigen-independent determinants of cadaveric kidney transplant failure.

OBJECTIVE To determine the association of various antigen-independent factors with long-term cadaveric kidney transplant failure. DESIGN Cohort analytic study. SETTING Kidney transplant centers (N=131) in the United States. PATIENTS A total of 31 515 patients who received cadaveric kidney transplants between October 1987 and December 1991. Patients with unknown or uninterpretable vital status or graft survival time (n=264 [0.8%]) were excluded. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Graft failure, estimated at 2 extremes, depending on whether the death of a patient with a functioning graft was censored ("censored graft failure") or not ("uncensored graft failure"). RESULTS During the 62-month study period, 5883 patients required the reinstitution of dialysis because of graft failure, 2404 patients died with graft failure, and 2041 patients died with a functioning graft. The relative risks of censored and uncensored graft failure were significantly associated with donor age, sex, and race and recipient body surface area, after adjusting for recipient age, sex, race, diabetes, cold ischemia time, panel cross-reactivity, pretransplant blood transfusions, previous renal transplantation, functional status, and HLA antigen mismatch. CONCLUSIONS In cadaveric kidney transplantation, selected demographic and anthropometric factors are significantly related to long-term graft outcomes, even after adjusting for well-known antigen-dependent risk factors. These results support the hypothesis that the supply of viable donor nephrons and the physiologic demands of the transplant recipient are important determinants of long-term graft failure. Antigen-independent factors such as donor age should be incorporated into organ allocation algorithms to optimize equity and efficiency.
Generating Multi-label Discrete Patient Records using Generative Adversarial Networks

Access to electronic health record (EHR) data has motivated computational advances in medical research. However, various concerns, particularly over privacy, can limit access to and collaborative use of EHR data. Sharing synthetic EHR data could mitigate risk. In this paper, we propose a new approach, medical Generative Adversarial Network (medGAN), to generate realistic synthetic patient records. Based on input real patient records, medGAN can generate high-dimensional discrete variables (e.g., binary and count features) via a combination of an autoencoder and generative adversarial networks. We also propose minibatch averaging to efficiently avoid mode collapse, and increase the learning efficiency with batch normalization and shortcut connections. To demonstrate feasibility, we showed that medGAN generates synthetic patient records that achieve comparable performance to real data on many experiments including distribution statistics, predictive modeling tasks and a medical expert review. We also empirically observe a limited privacy risk in both identity and attribute disclosure using medGAN.
Can Prospect Theory Explain the Disposition Effect? A New Perspective on Reference Points

There has been recent debate about whether prospect theory can explain the disposition effect. Using both theory and simulation, this paper shows that prospect theory often predicts the disposition effect when lagged expected final wealth is the reference point under the principle of preferred personal equilibrium, regardless of whether the reference point is updated or not. When initial wealth is the reference point, however, there is often no disposition effect. Models that use a reference point with no lag under the principle of preferred personal equilibrium or that determine the reference point using the principle of disappointment aversion cannot explain why the investor bought a stock in the first place. Reference point adjustment weakens the disposition effect, leads to more aggressive initial stock purchase strategies, and predicts history dependence in stock holding. This paper was accepted by John List, behavioral economics.
Stability of Rotating Liquid Films

We consider a modified Young-Laplace-Gauss variational formulation that incorporates a van der Waals potential of adhesion and gives equilibrium configurations of a liquid in contact with a solid and a gas. This model is used to compute the shape of the liquid-gas interface in a coaxial cylindrical container, a configuration like that of the main liquid helium tank in Gravity Probe B and the satellite test of equivalence principle (STEP) space experiments. We derive the Euler-Lagrange equations and study their rotationally symmetric solutions. Then we compute the second variation and analyse the stability of several configurations. In particular, we prove the existence of a Plateau-Rayleigh instability and curvature-driven instability for very small volume configurations