Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Study on Adoption of Port Community Systems According to Organization Size

Port community systems (PCS), which are networks which link up the port with all the companies that use it, play a crucial role for the competitive power of the port. Although these systems have promising benefits for the users, a lot of companies are reluctant to adopt them. Previous studies state severe resistance of the port users which causes failure of the projects or delays and additional costs. Thus this research aims to develop a model for determining the factors affecting PCS and to find out the factors affecting the user acceptance of port community systems through a questionnaire survey targeting land and sea carrier companies located in Busan Port region. Also the differences between large and small companies were seized by grouping analysis. According to the results, factors related to PCS adopter appeared to be the most important factors and most of the users considered perceive PCS as a tool for port and customs-related document submission, rather than a means for added value creation. On the basis of results several suggestions were made for better PCS adoption.
Co-culture of bone marrow stem cells and macrophages indicates intermediate mechanism between local inflammation and innate immune system in diabetic periodontitis

Diabetic periodontitis (DP), which has been shown to cause alveolar bone loss, is among the most common complications associated with diabetes. The precise mechanisms underlying alveolar bone loss in patients with DP remain unclear. Therefore, the present study established a co-culture system of bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) and macrophages, in order to investigate the potential mechanisms underlying DP-associated alveolar bone loss in vitro. In addition, Porphyromonas gingivalis (PG) periodontal infection and high glucose levels were used to induce DP in mice. The present study evaluated the protein expression levels of various chemokines and the migration of BMSCs and macrophages. The protein expression levels of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and 2, c-Jun N-terminal kinase and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) were significantly increased in the BMSCs exposed to high glucose and PG, which may have been due to the activation of MAPK. In addition, DP induction in mice was associated with the release of chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2) from BMSCs and the secretion of chemokine (C-C Motif) receptor 2 (CCR2) and tumor necrosis factor-α from macrophages, which was associated in turn with enhanced adhesion and chemotaxis of macrophages. The results of the present study suggested that DP led to the upregulation of CCL2 in the periodontal tissues and enhanced macrophage infiltration via the CCL2/CCR2 axis, which in turn promoted alveolar bone loss.
Application of Clustering Methods for Analysing of TTCN-3 Test Data Quality

The use of the standardised testing notation, testing and test control notation (TTCN-3) language has increased continuously over the last years. Many test suites of large sizes covering different domains exist. Therefore, it becomes important to provide the TTCN-3 community with methods and tools to evaluate the quality of tests. This paper presents the idea of evaluating the quality of the test data stimuli by using a data clustering method and measuring the coverage related to data clusters. A cluster contains stimuli which are considered similar for the system under test (SUT) behaviour; that means that each stimuli within a cluster should provide similar results from the test point of view.
SIMULATING RATIOS OF NORMALIZING CONSTANTS VIA A SIMPLE IDENTITY: A THEORETICAL EXPLORATION

Let pi(w) ,i =1 , 2, be two densities with common support where each density is known up to a normalizing constant: pi(w )= qi(w)/ci . W e have draws from each density (e.g., via Markov chain Monte Carlo), and we want to use these draws to simulate the ratio of the normalizing constants, c1/c2. Such a compu- tational problem is often encountered in likelihood and Bayesian inference, and arises in fields such as physics and genetics. Many methods proposed in statistical and other literature (e.g., computational physics) for dealing with this problem are based on various special cases of the following simple identity: c1 c2 = E2(q1(w)α(w)) E1(q2(w)α(w)) . Here Ei denotes the expectation with respect to pi (i =1 , 2), and α is an arbitrary function such that the denominator is non-zero. A main purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical study of the usefulness of this identity, with focus on (asymptotically) optimal and practical choices of α. Using a simple but informa- tive example, we demonstrate that with sensible (not necessarily optimal) choices of α, we can reduce the simulation error by orders of magnitude when compared to the conventional importance sampling method, which corresponds to α =1 /q2. We also introduce several generalizations of this identity for handling more compli- cated settings (e.g., estimating several ratios simultaneously) and pose several open problems that appear to have practical as well as theoretical value. Furthermore, we discuss related theoretical and empirical work.
Heart Rate Variability following Concussion in Youth Athletes: An Observational Pilot Study

Background/Rationale: Concussion is of great concern within the pediatric sport population due to its high prevalence and potential impact on neurological development. There is a need for additional inexpensive and objective measures for concussion assessment and management. Heart rate variability (HRV), an objective marker of physiological stress can be used as a measure of stress capacity and may fill this gap. Methods & Analyses: Participants included 29 healthy youth athletes (21 females; 8 males). The variables of interest in this thesis are postconcussion symptoms, concussion status, and time and frequency domain HRV measures. Results: There was a main effect of PCS-I on measures of HRV in the mixed model analysis, whereby, increased post-concussion symptoms were associated with higher heart rate variability. Conclusion: Changes in HRV were associated with an increase in post-concussion symptom inventory scores. These preliminary data may guide future research in determining a physiological marker of stress post-concussion.
The effect of the use of self-regulated learning strategies on college students' performance and satisfaction in physical education

Page iii DECLARATION iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURES ix CHAPTER ONE: Introduction 1 1. 1. Current Problems of Physical Education 3 1. 2. Implications 4 1. 3. Significance of the Study 4 1. 4. Delimitations 5 1. 5. Definition of Terms 5 CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review 7 2. 1. The Research Trends of Physical Education 7 2. 2. Attempts to Solve the Education Problems 8 2. 3. Physical Education and Its Contribution 9 2. 4. The Concept of Self-regulated Learning 18 2. 5. Self-regulated Learning Theories 19 2. 6. Cognitive Motivation 21 2. 7. The Importance of Self-regulated Learning for Physical Education. 31 2. 8. A summary of the Review of Literature 35 CHAPTER THREE: Theoretical Framework 37 3. 1. Self-regulated Teaching Strategies 37 3. 2. Operationalising the Self-regulated Strategies 44 3. 3 Accounting for Individual Differences in Students’ Entry Characteristics 47 3. 4. Conceptual Framework 48 3. 5. Research Questions and Hypotheses 49 CHAPTER FOUR: Materials and Methods 50 4. 1. Study Participants 50 4. 2. Ethical Approval 50 4. 3. Procedures of Data Gathering 50 4. 4. Experimental Design and Study Variables 51 4, 5. Development of Questionnaire, Tennis Skill Test and Monitoring
Mesenchymal stem cell–conditioned medium prevents radiation-induced liver injury by inhibiting inflammation and protecting sinusoidal endothelial cells

Current management of radiation-induced liver injury is limited. Sinusoidal endothelial cell (SEC) apoptosis and inflammation are considered to be initiating events in hepatic damage. We hypothesized that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory actions during hepatic irradiation, acting via paracrine mechanisms. This study aims to examine whether MSC-derived bioactive components are protective against radiation-induced liver injury in rats. MSC-conditioned medium (MSC-CM) was generated from rat bone marrow–derived MSCs. The effect of MSC-CM on the viability of irradiated SECs was examined by flow cytometric analysis. Activation of the Akt and ERK pathways was analyzed by western blot. MSC-CM was also delivered to Sprague–Dawley rats immediately before receiving liver irradiation, followed by testing for pathological features, changes in serum hyaluronic acid, ALT, and inflammatory cytokine levels, and liver cell apoptosis. MSC-CM enhanced the viability of irradiated SECs in vitro and induced Akt and ERK phosphorylation in these cells. Infusion of MSC-CM immediately before liver irradiation provided a significant anti-apoptotic effect on SECs and improved the histopathological features of injury in the irradiated liver. MSC-CM also reduced the secretion and expression of inflammatory cytokines and increased the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines. MSC-derived bioactive components could be a novel therapeutic approach for treating radiation-induced liver injury.
Antiretroviral Treatment in Resource-Limited Settings 2012

Just over 30 years after the beginning of the HIV epidemic, there is evidence that the global response is starting to catch up with the epidemic, at least in some places. This scaling up and treatment response has made enormous progress in providing access to care for HIV-infected persons, even in the least developed countries (LDCs). This special issue examines the current state of HIV care in resource-poor settings. The papers included in this issue examine questions central to expanded treatment in resource-poor settings such as access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), adherence and retention, management of HIV-associated cancers and opportunistic infections (OIs), and treatment complications. The issue also addresses arenas where progress has been slower than anticipated, such as the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) and the need for more effective tuberculosis (TB) integration and TB treatment campaigns for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).
Postmortem Diagnostic Investigation of Disease in Free-Ranging Marine Turtle Populations: A Review of Common Pathologic Findings and Protocols

Over the past few decades, there have been increasing numbers of reports of diseases in marine turtles. Furthermore, in recent years, there have been documented instances of apparently new diseases emerging in these species of which the etiology and/or pathogenesis remain unknown. These instances i) raise concern for the survival of marine turtles, and ii) question the health and stability of the benthic marine environments in which turtles live. Knowledge of common disease processes and pathologic changes in lesions, along with a standardized approach to postmortem and sample collection are required to document and understand the host-agent-environment interactions in marine turtle health. This review combines, for the first time, a standardized approach to the postmortem of marine turtles for veterinary clinicians, with a concurrent descriptive review of the gross and microscopic pathologic changes in lesions commonly seen.
Closing the Gap: Young People's Views on Learning at School

The UK has been criticised for its inequitable education system, as student outcomes are strongly linked to parental socio-economic status. Children and young people experiencing poverty are less likely than their better off peers to leave school with good grades, which can perpetuate disadvantage in later life. The attainment gap between children and young people experiencing poverty and their better off peers in the UK is widening, despite an increasing media and policy focus in this area. Poverty-related educational inequality is a complex area and there is no conclusive evidence in what works to reduce its effects. While there is a plethora of research on the impact of poverty on education, very little of it includes the voice of children and young people and/or the psychological impact of poverty on learning. The importance of hearing the views of children and young people is central to educational psychology, as is social justice and facilitating access to the curriculum for all students. The barriers presented by the experience of poverty to learning are thus vital for educational psychologists to address. This study used qualitative methods to explore the learning journey of Key Stage 3 (age 12-13) young people experiencing poverty in an English coastal borough. Questions from the Little Box of Big Questions 2 were used as a tool in semi-structured interviews, in addition to questions devised by the researcher. Young people discussed aspects of their lives that enabled them to learn at school, and aspects that presented barriers to learning. The research used Positive Psychology, taking a strengths based approach to explore the skills young people thought they brought to education, skills they would like to develop, and how they could be supported in this. The study has highlighted themes that, if addressed, could potentially raise the attainment of children and young people experiencing poverty.
Zeta Functions and ‘Kontsevich Invariants’ on Singular Varieties

Abstract Let $X$ be a nonsingular algebraic variety in characteristic zero. To an effective divisor on $X$ Kontsevich has associated a certain motivic integral, living in a completion of the Grothendieck ring of algebraic varieties. He used this invariant to show that birational (smooth, projective) Calabi-Yau varieties have the same Hodge numbers. Then Denef and Loeser introduced the invariant motivic (Igusa) zeta function, associated to a regular function on $X$ , which specializes to both the classical $p$ -adic Igusa zeta function and the topological zeta function, and also to Kontsevich's invariant. This paper treats a generalization to singular varieties. Batyrev already considered such a ‘Kontsevich invariant’ for log terminal varieties (on the level of Hodge polynomials of varieties instead of in the Grothendieck ring), and previously we introduced a motivic zeta function on normal surface germs. Here on any $\mathbb{Q}$ -Gorenstein variety $X$ we associate a motivic zeta function and a ‘Kontsevich invariant’ to effective $\mathbb{Q}$ -Cartier divisors on $X$ whose support contains the singular locus of $X$ .
A MIMO-ANN system for increasing data rates in organic visible light communications systems

This paper presents the first ever experimental demonstration of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) visible light communications system employing four silicon (Si) light emitting diodes (LEDs) and four organic photodetectors (OPDs) as transmitters and receivers, respectively. The proposed link is relatively low cost and it employs the on-off keying (OOK) modulation format offering a data rate of 200 kb/s without the need for equalization, which is a significant increase compared with previous non-equalized systems. In order to speed up date rates further, we implement an artificial neural network (ANN) to classify the signal and correct the error induced by the matrix inversion at the receiver, allowing a gross bit rate of 1.8 Mb/s in the best case.
A novel framework for semi-automatic video object segmentation

A novel framework for semi-automatic video object segmentation is proposed to facilitate user interaction and improve the performance of the system. The proposed framework scans the video sequence more than once, featured as multi-pass scan. In each pass, the sub-shots detected by a self-supervisor are processed under a novel bi-directional auto-tracking algorithm that depends on not only temporal but also spatial information and is capable of dealing with occlusion/disocclusion. In order to merge the two results obtained by bi-directional tracking, an online learner is introduced. These new features make the proposed framework flexible, efficient and able to extract video objects with pixel accuracy. The results for several MPEG test sequences show that this scheme performs well in practice.
Immune response of the Caribbean sea fan, Gorgonia ventalina, exposed to an Aplanochytrium parasite as revealed by transcriptome sequencing

Coral reef communities are undergoing marked declines due to a variety of stressors including disease. The sea fan coral, Gorgonia ventalina, is a tractable study system to investigate mechanisms of immunity to a naturally occurring pathogen. Functional studies in Gorgonia ventalina immunity indicate that several key pathways and cellular components are involved in response to natural microbial invaders, although to date the functional and regulatory pathways remain largely un-described. This study used short-read sequencing (Illumina GAIIx) to identify genes involved in the response of G. ventalina to a naturally occurring Aplanochytrium spp. parasite. De novo assembly of the G. ventalina transcriptome yielded 90,230 contigs of which 40,142 were annotated. RNA-Seq analysis revealed 210 differentially expressed genes in sea fans exposed to the Aplanochytrium parasite. Differentially expressed genes involved in immunity include pattern recognition molecules, anti-microbial peptides, and genes involved in wound repair and reactive oxygen species formation. Gene enrichment analysis indicated eight biological processes were enriched representing 36 genes, largely involved with protein translation and energy production. This is the first report using high-throughput sequencing to characterize the host response of a coral to a natural pathogen. Furthermore, we have generated the first transcriptome for a soft (octocoral or non-scleractinian) coral species. Expression analysis revealed genes important in invertebrate innate immune pathways, as well as those whose role is previously un-described in cnidarians. This resource will be valuable in characterizing G. ventalina immune response to infection and co-infection of pathogens in the context of environmental change.
Elementary Reading Coaches In Florida: A Study Of Their Background, Experiences, Coaching Activities, Time, And Other Factors Related To Reading Achievement

The focus of this research was to investigate and clarify the daily work lives of elementary reading coaches in central Florida by studying their background, academic and professional experiences. The beliefs and perceptions of the reading coaches on factors that influence reading achievement were examined. The responses from 96 participating elementary reading coaches were used to investigate (a) the relationship between demographic information, professional experiences, and academic background of the reading coach, (b) the percentage of time reading coaches engaged in specific coaching activities, and (c) the linkage between coaching activities and change in the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test developmental scale scores. Data from a web-based survey and personal interviews were used to collect pertinent data to understand the daily work lives of the elementary reading coaches and bring awareness to perceptions, successes and hindrances to the role and the impact on reading achievement. Descriptive statistics were used to present demographic, professional and academic information about the reading coaches. Multiple regression analyses were performed using time allocated to coaching activities and the change in reading achievement to determine existing relationships. Developmental scale score change was examined from the baseline year to the third year. Qualitative analyses were used to determine reading coach themes from the survey responses. Participant profiles, calling on the tenets of case study methodology, were developed based on the triangulated data. Narrative descriptions of coaching data for the participant profiles were organized by years of teaching experience of the reading coach.
Exploring genome wide bisulfite sequencing for DNA methylation analysis in livestock: a technical assessment

Recent advances made in “omics” technologies are contributing to a revolution in livestock selection and breeding practices. Epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation are important determinants for the control of gene expression in mammals. DNA methylation research will help our understanding of how environmental factors contribute to phenotypic variation of complex production and health traits. High-throughput sequencing is a vital tool for the comprehensive analysis of DNA methylation, and bisulfite-based strategies coupled with DNA sequencing allows for quantitative, site-specific methylation analysis at the genome level or genome wide. Reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) and more recently whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) have proven to be effective techniques for studying DNA methylation in both humans and mice. Here we report the development of RRBS and WGBS for use in sheep, the first application of this technology in livestock species. Important technical issues associated with these methodologies including fragment size selection and sequence depth are examined and discussed.
Top 10 Replicated Findings From Behavioral Genetics

In the context of current concerns about replication in psychological science, we describe 10 findings from behavioral genetic research that have replicated robustly. These are “big” findings, both in terms of effect size and potential impact on psychological science, such as linearly increasing heritability of intelligence from infancy (20%) through adulthood (60%). Four of our top 10 findings involve the environment, discoveries that could have been found only with genetically sensitive research designs. We also consider reasons specific to behavioral genetics that might explain why these findings replicate.
The Intention–Behavior Gap

Bitter personal experience and meta-analysis converge on the conclusion that people do not always do the things that they intend to do. This paper synthesizes research on intention–behavior relations to address questions such as: How big is the intention–behavior gap? When are intentions more or less likely to get translated into action? What kinds of problems prevent people from realizing their intentions? And what strategies show promise in closing the intention–behavior gap and helping people do the things that they intend to do?
Fun and feedback at the press of a button

A common phenomenon across disciplines and universities is that students complain that they do not receive enough feedback, even when student evaluation forms indicate satisfaction in other areas such as teacher competency and enthusiasm. On the other side, but less considered, is the lack of feedback that teachers receive as they struggle to get students to participate and engage with the learning process. While technology does not offer an automatic solution, keypad-based automatic response systems do offer the potential to let both parties know how well the learning outcomes are being achieved in a timely and cost-effective manner. We have just completed two years of pilot trialling of such technology at our university in the Computing and Physics Departments. This paper reports our experiences together with the findings of others.