Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does training matter? Comparing the behaviour management strategies of pre-service teachers in a four-year program and those in a one-year program

Survey-based research was conducted with Australian pre-service teachers to identify the classroom management strategies that they would employ, their confidence in employing them, and the effectiveness of the strategies. Furthermore, the study aimed to identify significant differences in these variables between pre-service teachers in the final year of a four-year teacher training course and pre-service teachers undertaking a one-year, stand-alone teaching program. The results of this study indicate that the most frequently reported strategies by all the Australian pre-service primary teachers surveyed were rewards and initial corrections. The pre-service teachers were selective in the type of corrective strategies they would employ, with a preference for relatively less intrusive reactive strategies. All of the pre-service teachers here found rewards and preventative strategies to be the most effective. The only significant differences found between the four-year trained and one-year trained pre-service teachers were around preventative strategies. Specifically, four-year trained pre-service teachers employ preventative strategies significantly more often than pre-service teachers in the one-year teaching course. Similarly, four-year trained pre-service teachers are significantly more confident in using preventative strategies than those in the one-year course. The implications of the results for teacher education programs are considered.
Variability in Execution of the Chin-Down Maneuver by Healthy Adults

Objective: The chin-down maneuver is commonly used in dysphagia management to facilitate greater airway protection. However, the literature suggests that variation in maneuver execution may threaten the effectiveness of the intervention. Our goal was to study variation in chin-down maneuver execution given a uniform instruction. Methods: Sagittal view digital video recordings were acquired from 408 healthy adults who performed sequences of reiterated water swallows in head-neutral and chin-down positions. Head angle measurements were extracted from the recordings, using markers on goggles worn by 176 participants. Results: We observed considerable variation in head angle in the head-neutral swallowing task, with a trend to greater flexion in participants over the age of 65. Male participants showed greater variation in head angle than females. Head flexion during the chin-down swallowing tasks averaged 19°, in the range reported to yield clinical benefit in radiographic studies. Conclusion: We conclude that a clear, uniform instruction is adequate to facilitate execution of the chin-down maneuver to a degree that is likely to be of clinical benefit. The variation in head angle observed in this study warrants further research, particularly regarding the relationship between anatomical cervical spine curvature and head angle influence on swallowing.
The Mini-Mental State Examination in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia and Primary Progressive Aphasia

There is little information regarding the usefulness of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for tracking progression of non-Alzheimer's disease dementias. This study examined the utility of the MMSE in capturing disease severity in the behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and primary progressive aphasia (PPA), 2 nonamnestic clinical dementia syndromes. Retrospective data from 41 bvFTD and 30 PPA patients were analyzed. bvFTD patients' change in MMSE scores over time was significantly correlated with change over time on a measure of activities of daily living. In contrast, PPA patients' MMSE scores showed greater decline over time than scores on the activities of daily living scale. Results suggest that the MMSE score, heavily dependent on language skill, overestimates dementia severity in PPA patients. However, the score may be a more accurate measure of functional impairment in bvFTD due to the influence of their executive function and attentional deficits on MMSE performance.
Teaching Sociolinguistic Variation in the Intermediate Language Classroom: Voseo in Latin America

The acquisition of sociolinguistic variation by second language learners has gained increased attention. Some research highlights the value of naturalistic exposure through study abroad while other studies point out that classroom input can facilitate the acquisition of particular features of variation. Nevertheless, said attention to the intersection of sociolinguistic variation and second language acquisition is not always reflected in curricular content and pedagogy. As one example, Spanish language classrooms often do not cover voseo, which is defined as the use of the pronoun vos or the corresponding verbal morphology, even though learners are typically presented with other types of variation in personal forms of address. This article discusses reasons why voseo is typically excluded in the language classroom, offers a rationale for its inclusion at the intermediate level that connects with the objectives of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) in Communication, Cultures, Comparisons, and Communities, and articulates a series of activities designed to help language learners recognize and respond appropriately to conversational voseo usage. The suggested learning units are framed within the interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational modes of communication and thus promote general language learning while specifically enhancing intermediate learners’ sociolinguistic awareness of this particular dialectal feature.
Thermophilic bacteria in Moroccan hot springs, salt marshes and desert soils

The diversity of thermophilic bacteria was investigated in four hot springs, three salt marshes and 12 desert sites in Morocco. Two hundred and forty (240) thermophilic bacteria were recovered, identified and characterized. All isolates were Gram positive, rod-shaped, spore forming and halotolerant. Based on BOXA1R-PCR and 16S rRNA gene sequencing, the recovered isolates were dominated by the genus Bacillus (97.5%) represented by B. licheniformis (119), B. aerius (44), B. sonorensis (33), B. subtilis (subsp. spizizenii (2) and subsp. inaquosurum (6)), B. amyloliquefaciens (subsp. amyloliquefaciens (4) and subsp. plantarum (4)), B. tequilensis (3), B. pumilus (3) and Bacillus sp. (19). Only six isolates (2.5%) belonged to the genus Aeribacillus represented by A. pallidus (4) and Aeribacillus sp. (2). In this study, B. aerius and B. tequilensis are described for the first time as thermophilic bacteria. Moreover, 71.25%, 50.41% and 5.41% of total strains exhibited high amylolytic, proteolytic or cellulolytic activity respectively.
Maximum Entropy Approaches to Living Neural Networks

Understanding how ensembles of neurons collectively interact will be a key step in developing a mechanistic theory of cognitive processes. Recent progress in multineuron recording and analysis techniques has generated tremendous excitement over the physiology of living neural networks. One of the key developments driving this interest is a new class of models based on the principle of maximum entropy. Maximum entropy models have been reported to account for spatial correlation structure in ensembles of neurons recorded from several different types of data. Importantly, these models require only information about the firing rates of individual neurons and their pairwise correlations. If this approach is generally applicable, it would drastically simplify the problem of understanding how neural networks behave. Given the interest in this method, several groups now have worked to extend maximum entropy models to account for temporal correlations. Here, we review how maximum entropy models have been applied to neuronal ensemble data to account for spatial and temporal correlations. We also discuss criticisms of the maximum entropy approach that argue that it is not generally applicable to larger ensembles of neurons. We conclude that future maximum entropy models will need to address three issues: temporal correlations, higher-order correlations, and larger ensemble sizes. Finally, we provide a brief list of topics for future research.
Two-Class Weather Classification

Given a single outdoor image, this paper proposes a collaborative learning approach for labeling it as either sunny or cloudy. Never adequately addressed, this twoclass classification problem is by no means trivial given the great variety of outdoor images. Our weather feature combines special cues after properly encoding them into feature vectors. They then work collaboratively in synergy under a unified optimization framework that is aware of the presence (or absence) of a given weather cue during learning and classification. Extensive experiments and comparisons are performed to verify our method. We build a new weather image dataset consisting of 10K sunny and cloudy images, which is available online together with the executable.
Spectromicroscopy of electronic phase separation in K x Fe 2 − y Se 2 superconductor

Structural phase separation in AxFe2−ySe2 system has been studied by different experimental techniques, however, it should be important to know how the electronic uniformity is influenced, on which length scale the electronic phases coexist, and what is their spatial distribution. Here, we have used novel scanning photoelectron microscopy (SPEM) to study the electronic phase separation in KxFe2−ySe2, providing a direct measurement of the topological spatial distribution of the different electronic phases. The SPEM results reveal a peculiar interconnected conducting filamentary phase that is embedded in the insulating texture. The filamentary structure with a particular topological geometry could be important for the high Tc superconductivity in the presence of a phase with a large magnetic moment in AxFe2−ySe2 materials.
Pulmonary capillaritis : the association with progressive irreversible airflow limitation and hyperinflation

We report two patients with systemic necrotizing vasculitis (microscopic polyarteritis) and associated recurrent pulmonary capillaritis, in whom progressive irreversible airway dysfunction began approximately 10 yr after disease onset. Their course was characterized by repeated episodes of diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, glomerulonephritis, palpable purpura, and splinter hemorrhages. The lung revealed intraalveolar hemorrhage, neutrophilic infiltration and cellular fragmentation, fibrinoid necrosis of the alveolar interstitium, and parenchymal hemosiderin deposits. No medium-sized vessel involvement, granulomatous inflammation, or bronchiolar obliteration were seen. Renal biopsies revealed focal segmental necrotizing glomerulonephritis, and a cutaneous biopsy in one case showed a leukocytoclastic vasculitis. Immunofluorescent studies of lung and kidney showed minimal or no immunoreactivity. The clinical course and serologic tests did not support another systemic vasculitis, connective tissue disease, or anti.
Mammalian bone palaeohistology: a survey and new data with emphasis on island forms

The interest in mammalian palaeohistology has increased dramatically in the last two decades. Starting in 1849 via descriptive approaches, it has been demonstrated that bone tissue and vascularisation types correlate with several biological variables such as ontogenetic stage, growth rate, and ecology. Mammalian bone displays a large variety of bone tissues and vascularisation patterns reaching from lamellar or parallel-fibred to fibrolamellar or woven-fibred bone, depending on taxon and individual age. Here we systematically review the knowledge and methods on cynodont and mammalian bone microstructure as well as palaeohistology and discuss potential future research fields and techniques. We present new data on the bone microstructure of two extant marsupial species and of several extinct continental and island placental mammals. Extant marsupials display mainly parallel-fibred primary bone with radial and oblique but mainly longitudinal vascular canals. Three juvenile specimens of the dwarf island hippopotamid Hippopotamus minor from the Late Pleistocene of Cyprus show reticular to plexiform fibrolamellar bone. The island murid Mikrotia magna from the Late Miocene of Gargano, Italy displays parallel-fibred primary bone with reticular vascularisation and strong remodelling in the middle part of the cortex. Leithia sp. , the dormouse from the Pleistocene of Sicily, is characterised by a primary bone cortex consisting of lamellar bone and a high amount of compact coarse cancellous bone. The bone cortex of the fossil continental lagomorph Prolagus oeningensis and three fossil species of insular Prolagus displays mainly parallel-fibred primary bone and reticular, radial as well as longitudinal vascularisation. Typical for large mammals, secondary bone in the giant rhinocerotoid Paraceratherium sp. from the Late Oligocene of Turkey is represented by dense Haversian bone. The skeletochronological features of Sinomegaceros yabei, a large-sized deer from the Pleistocene of Japan closely related to Megaloceros, indicate a high growth rate. These examples and the synthesis of existing data show the potential of bone microstructure to reveal essential information on life history evolution. The bone tissue and the skeletochronological data of the sampled island species suggest the presence of various modes of bone histological modification and mammalian life history evolution on islands to depend on factors of island evolution such as island size, distance from mainland, climate, phylogeny, and time of evolution.
Distributed Model Predictive Control of Switched Nonlinear Systems with Scheduled Mode Transitions

A method for the design of distributed model predictive control (DMPC) systems for a class of switched nonlinear systems for which the mode transitions take place according to a prescribed switching schedule is presented. Under appropriate stabilizability assumptions on the existence of a set of feedback controllers that can stabilize the closed-loop switched, nonlinear system, a cooperative DMPC architecture using Lyapunov-based model predictive control (MPC) in which the distributed controllers carry out their calculations in parallel and communicate in an iterative fashion to compute their control actions is designed. The proposed DMPC design is applied to a nonlinear chemical process network with scheduled mode transitions and its performance and computational efficiency properties in comparison to a centralized MPC architecture are evaluated through simulations. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59:860-871, 2013
Mutants Defective in Rad1-Rad10-Slx4 Exhibit a Unique Pattern of Viability During Mating-Type Switching in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Efficient repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) requires the coordination of checkpoint signaling and enzymatic repair functions. To study these processes during gene conversion at a single chromosomal break, we monitored mating-type switching in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains defective in the Rad1-Rad10-Slx4 complex. Rad1-Rad10 is a structure-specific endonuclease that removes 3′ nonhomologous single-stranded ends that are generated during many recombination events. Slx4 is a known target of the DNA damage response that forms a complex with Rad1-Rad10 and is critical for 3′-end processing during repair of DSBs by single-strand annealing. We found that mutants lacking an intact Rad1-Rad10-Slx4 complex displayed RAD9- and MAD2-dependent cell cycle delays and decreased viability during mating-type switching. In particular, these mutants exhibited a unique pattern of dead and switched daughter cells arising from the same DSB-containing cell. Furthermore, we observed that mutations in post-replicative lesion bypass factors (mms2Δ, mph1Δ) resulted in decreased viability during mating-type switching and conferred shorter cell cycle delays in rad1Δ mutants. We conclude that Rad1-Rad10-Slx4 promotes efficient repair during gene conversion events involving a single 3′ nonhomologous tail and propose that the rad1Δ and slx4Δ mutant phenotypes result from inefficient repair of a lesion at the MAT locus that is bypassed by replication-mediated repair.
Roles of leptin in prenatal and perinatal brain development

ABSTRACT Leptin is a hormone that reduces food intake and increases energy expenditure by acting on the arcuate nucleus in the hypothalamus. Recent studies indicated that the neuronal circuit related to food intake in the hypothalamus is formed in the neonatal period and that leptin is necessary for the formation of this circuit. Our studies have further suggested that leptin may act on the fetal cerebral cortex, including the cingulate cortex, which is involved in motor and cognitive processes, and that leptin may affect maintenance and differentiation of neural stem cells, glial‐restricted progenitor cells and/or neuronal lineage cells. These recent studies showed that leptin not only has homeostatic functions in adults, but also regulates brain development in the prenatal and neonatal periods. These findings suggest that leptin is related to formation of the normal brain structure and regenerative potency of neural cells as well as the predisposition to homeostatic dysfunction, low locomotor activity or impairment of cognitive function.
Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase II Alters Structural Plasticity and Cytoskeletal Dynamics in Drosophila

Drosophila dendritic arborization (da) neurons contain subclasses of neurons with distinct dendritic morphologies. We investigated calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) regulation of dendritic structure and dynamics in vivo using optically transparent Drosophila larvae. CaMKII increases the dynamic nature and formation of dendritic filopodia throughout larval development but only affects neurons that normally contain dendritic filopodia. In parallel, we examined the effects of Rac1 activity on dendritic structure to explore signaling specificity. In contrast to CaMKII activity, Rac1 does not alter filopodia stability but instead causes de novo filopodia formation on all da neurons. Although both mediators increase cytoskeletal turnover, measured by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching experiments, only CaMKII increases the dynamic nature of dendritic filopodia. CaMKII signaling thus appears to use mechanisms and machinery distinct from Rac1 signaling. This study illustrates a molecular means of uncoupling cytoskeletal regulation from morphological regulation. Our results suggest that Drosophila dendritic filopodia may share some cytoskeletal regulatory mechanisms with mammalian dendritic filopodia. Furthermore, general dendrite cytoskeletal compartmentalization is conserved in multipolar neurons.
Actions speak loudly with words: unpacking collaboration around the table

The potential of tabletops to enable groups of people to simultaneously touch and manipulate a shared tabletop interface provides new possibilities for supporting collaborative learning. However, findings from the few studies carried out to date have tended to show small or insignificant effects compared with other technologies. We present the Collaborative Learning Mechanisms framework used to examine the coupling of verbal interactions and physical actions in collaboration around the tabletop and reveal subtle mechanisms at play. Analysis in this way revealed that what might be considered undesirable or harmful interactions and intrusions in general collaborative settings, might be beneficial for collaborative learning. We discuss the implications of these findings for how tabletops may be used to support children's collaboration, and the value of considering verbal and physical aspects of interaction together in this way.
Plasma adiponectin is an independent predictor of type 2 diabetes in Asian indians.

OBJECTIVE Adiponectin, secreted by fat cells, has regulatory functions on energy metabolism. Its low levels are predictive of future development of diabetes. Because no studies on the regulatory role of adiponectin in glucose homeostasis in Asian Indians exist, this analysis was performed to determine the prospective association of adiponectin and diabetes in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Baseline values of plasma adiponectin, results of anthropometry, fasting and 2-h plasma glucose levels, HbA(1c), results of lipid profile, and insulin resistance were analyzed in 91 subjects with IGT (53 men and 38 women) in a primary prevention study. Reassessment of glucose tolerance was performed during 1-year review. The predictive nature of adiponectin for development of diabetes was assessed using univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses. A control group comprising healthy, normoglycemic individuals was used for comparison. RESULTS At follow-up, diabetes had developed in 25 of the 91 study subjects. The mean baseline adiponectin level was lower in the diabetic subjects than in the nondiabetic subjects (11.3 +/- 5.5 vs. 16.7 +/- 7.6 micro g/ml, P = 0.0017). Low adiponectin level was a strong predictor of future development of diabetes, and HbA(1c) also showed a positive predictive association. Women had higher adiponectin levels (16.4 +/- 6.1 micro g/ml) than men (13.9 +/- 7.6 micro g/ml) (P = 0.035). CONCLUSIONS In Asian Indians, low plasma adiponectin level was predictive of future development of diabetes.
Simulation Training in Central Venous Catheter Insertion: Improved Performance in Clinical Practice

Purpose To determine whether simulation training of ultrasound (US)-guided central venous catheter (CVC) insertion skills on a partial task trainer improves cannulation and insertion success rates in clinical practice. Method This prospective, randomized, controlled, single-blind study of first- and second-year residents occurred at a tertiary care teaching hospital from January 2007 to September 2008. The intervention group (n = 90) received a didactic and hands-on, competency-based simulation training course in US-guided CVC insertion, whereas the control group (n = 95) received training through a traditional, bedside apprenticeship model. Success at first cannulation and successful CVC insertion served as the primary outcomes. Secondary outcomes included reduction in technical errors and decreased mechanical complications. Results Blinded independent raters observed 495 CVC insertions by 115 residents over a 21-month period. Successful first cannulation occurred in 51% of the intervention group versus 37% of the control group (P = .03). CVC insertion success occurred for 78% of the intervention group versus 67% of the control group (P = .02). Simulation training was independently and significantly associated with success at first cannulation (odds ratio: 1.7; 95% confidence interval: 1.1–2.8) and with successful CVC insertion (odds ratio: 1.7; 95% confidence interval: 1.1–2.8)—both independent of US use, patient comorbidities, or resident specialty. No significant differences related to technical errors or mechanical complications existed between the two groups. Conclusions Simulation training was associated with improved in-hospital performance of CVC insertion. Procedural simulation was associated with improved residents' skills and was more effective than traditional training.