Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Improvement of Communication and Mathematical Disposition Abilities through Discovery Learning Model in Junior High School

The purpose of this study was to determine the improvement of students' mathematical communication and disposition abilities taught with discovery learning models. This study us quantitative approach with the type of experimental research and the research design us pretest and posttest design type experiments. The sample was chosen randomly from two classes of 7th grade in one of public junior high school in Sigli, Aceh. The research instrument used was mathematical communication ability test and mathematical disposition questionnaire. The data analysis of students' communication and disposition ability was done by two-way ANAVA test at a significant level of 0.05. The results showed that the improvement of students' mathematical communication and disposition skills taught with discovery learning models was better than those taught with conventional approaches. Furthermore, there was no interaction between discovery learning model and the level of students towards improving communication skills and mathematical dispositions. Therefore, the mathematics teachers can implement discovery learning models in learning to build the next polyhedron. Future researchers should conduct research at other schools in order to improve students' mathematical communication skills in mathematics learning
Ambiguity in Anaphora : Introduction

This paper presents novel psycholinguistic evidence on the factors governing pronoun resolution in German. To determine the relative influence of linear order versus grammatical function of potential referents in the German Mittelfeld on pronoun interpretation, an interpretation-preference task was run on 23 German natives. Subjects chose the preferred referent for fully ambiguous personal pronouns. The results across different verb types show that grammatical function, yet not linear order, predicts pronoun resolution in German.
Smoking and overweight determine the likelihood of developing rheumatoid arthritis

Objectives Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a prototypic chronic inflammatory disease with a debilitating course if untreated. A genetic predisposition for RA is known, and its occurrence is associated with the presence of autoantibodies in the serum and with environmental factors. It is unknown if smoking and overweight are contributory factors for developing RA in individuals with RA-specific autoantibodies in the serum. Methods Fifty-five individuals at risk for developing RA, based on the presence of RA-specific autoantibodies in the serum, who never had any evidence of arthritis upon physical examination, were followed over time. Smoking was assessed as being never or ever smoker and body mass index as <25 (normal) or ≥25 kg/m2 (overweight). Clinical endpoint was the occurrence of arthritis. Proportional hazard regression analysis was performed to investigate the potential of (combinations of) variables in predicting the onset of arthritis over time. Results After a median follow up time of 13 (IQR 6–27) months, 15 individuals (27%) developed arthritis. Smoking was associated with the development of arthritis (HR (95% CI): 9.6 (1.3 to 73.0); p=0.029). Overweight was, independently of smoking, associated with arthritis (HR (95% CI): 5.6 (1.3 to 25.0); p=0.023). The overall arthritis risk of 28% after a median of 27 months follow up increased to 60% in individuals with a smoking history combined with overweight. Conclusions This is the first prospective study showing that smoking and overweight increase the risk of development of arthritis in a cohort of autoantibody-positive individuals at risk for developing RA. These results show the importance of life style factors in development of RA and should be critically evaluated in future clinical research aimed at disease prevention.
Isolation, histopathology and antibiogram of Escherichia coli from pigeons (Columba livia)

Aim: To know the prevalence of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli among dead and/or diarrhoic pigeons in and around greater Guwahati. Materials and Methods: Samples were cultured from dead and/or diarrhoic pigeons and identification was done by standard methods. The sensitivity of the isolated E.coli strains to 15 antibiotics of human and veterinary use was also determined. Organs from those dead birds from which E.coli were recovered were processed according to the routine procedure for histopathological studies. Results: Out of 150 pigeons subjected to microbiological investigation, 91(60.67 %) samples were found positive for E. coli. The most frequently occurring serotypes were O157 (9.89%), followed by O68, O121 (7.69%), O9, O75, O131 (5.49%), O2, O13, O22 (3.30%). Antibiogram investigation of the isolates revealed that 91isolates (100%) exhibited resistance against Ampicillin followed by Nitro-furantoin (73.62%), Tetracycline (65.93 %), Oxytetracycline (62.63 %) and Streptomycin (61.54). Gross changes of some birds showed fibrinous pericarditis and perihepatitis and coligranuloma in different organs like liver and serosal surface of intestine. Microscopically, severe congestion and haemorrhages in different organs such as liver, kidney, lung and intestine. In some cases thick layer of fibrinous exudates with large number of heterophills over the surface of liver and heart with early degenerative changes as well as focal necrosis. Conclusion: The result of this study suggests that antimicrobial-resistant pathogenic E.coli is present in pigeons in and around greater Guwahati. Surveillance programs may be introduced to monitor antimicrobial resistance of pathogenic E.coli in pigeons in and around greater guwahati.
Excess Mortality Attributable to Clostridium difficile and Risk Factors for Infection in an Historic Cohort of Hospitalised Patients Followed Up in the United Kingdom Death Register

Methods We compared time from hospital admission to death in a probability sample of 100 Clostridium difficile infected cases and a probability sample of 98 non-cases admitted to an English teaching hospital between 2005 and 2007 with follow up in the UK national death register using survival analysis. Results Clostridium difficile infection was associated with a 50% increased risk of death (Hazard Ratio 1.51 (95% CI: 1.05–2.19 p = 0.03) at between five to eight years in Cox Regression analysis adjusting for age, sex, Charlson comorbidity index, diagnosis of a malignant condition and insertion of a nasogastric tube during admission. Acquisition of Clostridium difficile infection was independently associated with an almost six fold higher odds of being admitted with a diagnosis of infection of any other type (OR 5.79 (2.19, 15.25) p<0.001). Conclusions Our results strongly support continued priority being given to improve prevention and treatment of Clostridium difficile infection in the English National Health Service particularly in patients admitted with an infection. Our results may be applicable to other health systems.
Comprehensive characterization, annotation and innovative use of Infinium DNA methylation BeadChip probes

Abstract Illumina Infinium DNA Methylation BeadChips represent the most widely used genome-scale DNA methylation assays. Existing strategies for masking Infinium probes overlapping repeats or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are based largely on ad hoc assumptions and subjective criteria. In addition, the recently introduced MethylationEPIC (EPIC) array expands on the utility of this platform, but has not yet been well characterized. We present in this paper an extensive characterization of probes on the EPIC and HM450 microarrays, including mappability to the latest genome build, genomic copy number of the 3΄ nested subsequence and influence of polymorphisms including a previously unrecognized color channel switch for Type I probes. We show empirical evidence for exclusion criteria for underperforming probes, providing a sounder basis than current ad hoc criteria for exclusion. In addition, we describe novel probe uses, exemplified by the addition of a total of 1052 SNP probes to the existing 59 explicit SNP probes on the EPIC array and the use of these probes to predict ethnicity. Finally, we present an innovative out-of-band color channel application for the dual use of 62 371 probes as internal bisulfite conversion controls.
Complexity, evolution and the structure of demand

This chapter argues that evolutionary economics should be founded upon complex systems theory rather than neo-Darwinian analogies concerning natural selection, which focus on supply side considerations and competition amongst firms and technologies. It suggests that conceptions such as production and consumption functions should be replaced by network representations, in which the preferences or, more correctly, the aspirations of consumers are fundamental and, as such, the primary drivers of economic growth. Technological innovation is viewed as a process that is intermediate between these aspirational networks, and the organizational networks in which goods and services are produced. Consumer knowledge becomes at least as important as producer knowledge in determining how economic value is generated. It becomes clear that the stability afforded by connective systems of rules is essential for economic flexibility to exist, but that too many rules result in inert and structurally unstable states. In contrast, too few rules result in a more stable state, but at a low level of ordered complexity. Economic evolution from this perspective is explored using random and scale free network representations of complex systems.
Improvement of Functional Properties of Wheat Gluten Using Acid Protease from Aspergillus usamii

Hydrolysis parameters (temperature, E/S ratio, pH, and time) for acid protease (from Aspergillus usamii) hydrolysis of wheat gluten were optimized by response surface methodology (RSM) using emulsifying activity index (EAI) as the response factor. A temperature of 48.9°C, E/S ratio of 1.60%, pH 3.0, hydrolysis time of 2.5 h was found to be the optimum condition to obtain wheat gluten hydrolysate with higher EAI. The solubility of wheat gluten was greatly improved by hydrolysis and became independent of pH over the studied range. Enzymatic hydrolysis resulted in dramatically increase in EAI, water and oil holding capacity. Molecular weight distribution results showed that most of the peptides above 10 kDa have been hydrolyzed into smaller peptides. The results of FTIR spectra and disulfide bond (SS) and sulfhydryl (SH) content suggested that a more extensional conformation was formed after hydrolysis, which could account for the improved functional properties.
Junk Bonds: How High Yield Securities Restructured Corporate America

This is a study of the high yield bond market, popularly called `junk bonds. ' Glenn Yago has studied how companies that use junk bond financing compare in economic performance with their industry averages. This book shows that, contrary to what might be assumed, especially in view of the mixed reputation junk bonds have, the performance of these companies was superior in the vast majority of cases.
Paleoclimate studies of minerogenic sediments using annually resolved textural parameters

We obtained quantitative multivariate data from each varve of a minerogenic lacustrine sequence from the Canadian High Arctic, using an image analysis technique applied to thin‐sections. The information on each varve from the uppermost core section was compared with a 35 yr meteorological dataset. Snowmelt intensity, which is an index reflecting the energy available for sediment transport, correlates well with the median grain‐size measured for each varve, as well as with the weight of the 10–20 and 20–60 μm fractions. The proportion of fine silt also correlates with low intensity summer precipitation. This methodology allows us to decipher the climatic control on sedimentary processes and yield a new perspective for constructing models which link climate to sediments that contain few biological remains. This model can then be used to infer paleoclimate with annual resolution from the downcore grain‐size analysis.
Alien Roadside Species More Easily Invade Alpine than Lowland Plant Communities in a Subarctic Mountain Ecosystem

Effects of roads on plant communities are not well known in cold-climate mountain ecosystems, where road building and development are expected to increase in future decades. Knowledge of the sensitivity of mountain plant communities to disturbance by roads is however important for future conservation purposes. We investigate the effects of roads on species richness and composition, including the plant strategies that are most affected, along three elevational gradients in a subarctic mountain ecosystem. We also examine whether mountain roads promote the introduction and invasion of alien plant species from the lowlands to the alpine zone. Observations of plant community composition were made together with abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic factors in 60 T-shaped transects. Alpine plant communities reacted differently to road disturbances than their lowland counterparts. On high elevations, the roadside species composition was more similar to that of the local natural communities. Less competitive and ruderal species were present at high compared with lower elevation roadsides. While the effects of roads thus seem to be mitigated in the alpine environment for plant species in general, mountain plant communities are more invasible than lowland communities. More precisely, relatively more alien species present in the roadside were found to invade into the surrounding natural community at high compared to low elevations. We conclude that effects of roads and introduction of alien species in lowlands cannot simply be extrapolated to the alpine and subarctic environment.
Temperature dependency of MOSFET device characteristics in 4H- and 6H-silicon carbide (SiC)

An analytical model for lateral MOSFET that includes the effects of temperature variation in 4H- and 6H-SiC poly-type is presented in this paper. The model includes the effect of temperature variation on the threshold voltage, the carrier mobility, the body leakage current, and the drain and source contact region resistances. MOSFET device behavior in 4H-SiC is also simulated and compared with 6H-SiC material system.
Methodological Innovation in Practice-Based Design Doctorates

This article presents a selective review of recent design PhDs that identify and analyse the methodological innovation that is occurring in the field, in order to inform future provision of research training. Six recently completed design PhDs are used to highlight possible philosophical and practical models that can be adopted by future PhD students in design. Four characteristics were found in design PhD methodology: innovations in the format and structure of the thesis, a pick-and-mix approach to research design, situating practice in the inquiry, and the validation of visual analysis. The article concludes by offering suggestions on how research training can be improved. By being aware of recent methodological innovations in the field, design educators will be better informed when developing resources for future design doctoral candidates and assisting supervision teams in developing a more informed and flexible approach to practice-based research.
Increased urinary N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase activity in children with hydronephrosis.

OBJECTIVE Hydronephrosis leads to deterioration of renal function. As urinary N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (U-NAG) activity is considered a sensitive marker of renal tubular impairment, our aim was to measure U-NAG in children with hydronephrosis and to look for a relationship among selected clinical parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS We studied 31 children (22 boys and 9 girls, mean age 2.3 +/- 2.5 years) with hydronephrosis grade 1-4 that had U-NAG/creatinine ratio (U-NAG/Cr) measured. RESULTS The U-NAG/Cr was significantly higher in patients with hydronephrosis compared to reference data (p = 0.002). There was no difference in U-NAG/Cr between children with unilateral and bilateral hydronephrosis (p = 0.51). There was no significant difference in U-NAG/Cr between children with grades 1-3 (pooled data) and grade 4, respectively (p = 0.89). There was no correlation between U-NAG/Cr and the grade of hydronephrosis (r = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS U-NAG/Cr is increased in children with hydronephrosis grade 1-4, and there is no relationship with the grade of hydronephrosis. U-NAG is a useful marker of renal tubular dysfunction, however its relationship with the degree of kidney damage in patients with hydronephrosis should be considered as doubtful.
From Equivocality to Reflexivity in Biodiversity Protection

This article focuses on the silent conversations by individual change makers reflecting on their concerns in relation to their social and natural worlds. We investigate the internal and external deliberations that informants have by using a qualitative theory-building approach in the empirical context of a biodiversity protection issue field in Finland. We conduct 27 interviews with individual change makers representing three types of organizations: government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and businesses. We seek to understand how change makers advancing biodiversity protection reflexively manage the uncertainty and equivocality they face in the interstitial issue field in the course of their change efforts. Our results show that change makers engage in three iterative actions around the issue of biodiversity: filtering, modeling, and translating. They therefore find nuanced ways to convey the biodiversity issue to their stakeholders and, in this way, promote the engagement of other organizational and individual actors in its protection.
Decidability problems in Set/Hyperset Theory and an application to algorithm verication

It is known that the Axiom of Infinity can be stated, relative to the standard ZermeloFraenkel-von Neumann set theory ZF, as an assertion of very low structural complexity: namely, one which involves only universal restricted quantifiers, i.e., belongs to the Bernays-Schönfinkel-Ramsey class BSR. We will exhibit, in Part I, two similar assertions of existence of infinite sets [POT09]: both belonging to BSR, incompatible with ZF’s Axiom of Foundation, but satisfiable in a context such as Aczel’s theory of hypersets. Well beyond these pages, our aim is to enhance into a satisfiability decision algorithm for the BSR class over ill-founded sets the recently discovered semi-decision algorithm for the BSR class over well-founded sets. The latter was achieved by showing that any well-founded infinite model of a BSR formula admits a finite representation in terms of a hereditarily finite family of hypersets (with urelements). As we are about to see, this finite representability result has no straightforward counterpart over the enlarged domain of ill-founded sets. This may be a clue that the collection of satisfiable BSR formulae requires, for hyperset theory—if decidable at all in that context—, a significantly more challenging decision algorithm than for ZF. An application of a decision algorithm, MLSS, for a fragment of ZF set theory has been in the construction of the proof verifier ÆtnaNova/Referee. In Part II, we report on using this proof-verification system to formalize issues regarding the satisfiability of CNF-formulae of propositional logic [OT08]. We specify an “archetype” version of the Davis-Putnam-Logemann-Loveland algorithm through the THEORY of recursive functions based on a well-founded relation, and prove it to be correct.
Q/R Site Editing Controls Kainate Receptor Inhibition by Membrane Fatty Acids

RNA editing within the pore loop controls the pharmacology and permeation properties of ion channels formed by neuronal AMPA and kainate receptor subunits. Genomic sequences for the glutamate receptor 2 (GluR2) subunit of AMPA receptors and the GluR5 and GluR6 subunits of kainate receptors all encode a neutral glutamine (Q) residue within the channel pore that can be converted by RNA editing to a positively charged arginine (R). Receptors comprised of unedited subunits are permeable to calcium and display inwardly rectifying current-voltage relationships, because of blocking of outward current by intracellular polyamines. In contrast, receptors that include edited subunits conduct less calcium, resist polyamine block, and have relatively linear current-voltage relationships. We showed previously that cis-unsaturated fatty acids, including arachidonic acid and docosahexanoic acid, exert a potent block of native kainate receptors as well as homomeric recombinant receptors formed by transfection of heterologous cells with cDNA for the GluR6(R) subunit. Here, we show that fatty acid blockade of recombinant homomeric and heteromeric kainate receptors is strongly dependent on editing at the Q/R site. Recombinant channels that include unedited subunits exhibit significantly weaker block than channels made up of fully edited subunits. Inhibition of fully edited channels is equivalent at voltages from -70 to +40 mV and is noncompetitive, consistent with allosteric regulation of channel function.
Maternal Mild Thyroid Hormone Insufficiency in Early Pregnancy and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Children.

IMPORTANCE Maternal thyroid hormone insufficiency during pregnancy can affect children's cognitive development. Nevertheless, the behavioral outcomes of children exposed prenatally to mild thyroid hormone insufficiency are understudied. OBJECTIVE To examine whether exposure to maternal mild thyroid hormone insufficiency in early pregnancy was related to symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children at 8 years of age. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The study was embedded within the Generation R, a population-based birth cohort in the Netherlands. Children in the Generation R Study are followed up from birth (April 1, 2002, through January 31, 2006) until young adulthood. Of the 4997 eligible mother-child pairs with data on maternal thyroid levels (excluding twins), 3873 pairs of children and caregivers (77.5%) visited the Generation R research center for in-depth assessments and were included in the main analyses. Data collection in Generation R started December 1, 2001 (enrollment of pregnant women), and is ongoing. For this study, we used the data that were collected until January 1, 2014. Data analyses started on January 31 and finished June 30, 2014. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Maternal hypothyroxinemia, characterized by low levels of free thyroxine coexisting with reference thyrotropin levels, and children's symptoms of ADHD. Maternal thyroid hormone levels (thyrotropin, free thyroxine, thyroid peroxidase antibodies) were measured at a mean (SD) of 13.6 (1.9) weeks of gestation. Children's ADHD symptoms were assessed at 8 years of age using the Conners' Parent Rating Scale-Revised Short Form; higher scores indicate more ADHD symptoms (possible range, 0-36). RESULTS Maternal hypothyroxinemia (n = 127) in early pregnancy was associated with higher scores for ADHD symptoms in children at 8 years of age after adjustments for child and maternal factors (ie, sex, ethnicity, maternal age, maternal educational level, and income) (increase in ADHD scores, 7% [95% CI, 0.3%-15%]). The results remained essentially unchanged when women with elevated levels of thyroid peroxidase antibodies were excluded from the analyses (increase in ADHD scores, 8% [95% CI, 1%-16%]). Additional adjustment for children's IQ or comorbid autistic symptoms attenuated the association (increase in ADHD scores adjusted for autistic symptoms, 7% [95% CI, 1%-15%]; increase in ADHD scores adjusted for IQ, 6% [95% CI, 1%-14%]). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Children exposed to maternal hypothyroxinemia in early pregnancy had more ADHD symptoms, independent of confounders. This finding suggests that intrauterine exposure to insufficient thyroid hormone levels influences neurodevelopment in offspring.