Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparing the Impact of Course-Based and Apprentice-Based Research Experiences in a Life Science Laboratory Curriculum

This four-year study describes the assessment of a bifurcated laboratory curriculum designed to provide upper-division undergraduate majors in two life science departments meaningful exposure to authentic research. The timing is critical as it provides a pathway for both directly admitted and transfer students to enter research. To fulfill their degree requirements, all majors complete one of two paths in the laboratory program. One path immerses students in scientific discovery experienced through team research projects (course-based undergraduate research experiences, or CUREs) and the other path through a mentored, independent research project (apprentice-based research experiences, or AREs). The bifurcated laboratory curriculum was structured using backwards design to help all students, irrespective of path, achieve specific learning outcomes. Over 1,000 undergraduates enrolled in the curriculum. Self-report survey results indicate that there were no significant differences in affective gains by path. Students conveyed which aspects of the curriculum were critical to their learning and development of research-oriented skills. Students’ interests in biology increased upon completion of the curriculum, inspiring a subset of CURE participants to subsequently pursue further research. A rubric-guided performance evaluation, employed to directly measure learning, revealed differences in learning gains for CURE versus ARE participants, with evidence suggesting a CURE can reduce the achievement gap between high-performing students and their peers.
Foreign Direct Investment, Spillovers and Absorptive Capacity: Evidence from Quantile Regressions

This paper focuses on the role of absorptive capacity in determining whether or not domestic firms benefit from productivity spillovers from FDI using establishment level data for the UK. We allow for different effects of FDI on establishments located at different quantiles of the productivity distribution by using conditional quantile regression. Overall, while there is some heterogeneity in results across sectors and quantiles, our findings clearly suggest that absorptive capacity matters for productivity spillover benefits. We find evidence for a u-shaped relationship between productivity growth and FDI interacted with absorptive capacity. We also analyse in some detail the impact of changes in absorptive capacity on establishments' ability to benefit from spillovers.
Clique-based group key assignment in Wireless Sensor Networks

Security has become the corner stone of research in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Watchdog-based-monitoring systems require pairwise-connectivity of group-members to avoid information asymmetry attacks. Existing group-key protocols in literature don't address this requirement. Although, pairwise-key protocols resolve this drawback, they are highly restrictive and impose substantial storage overhead. Additionally, messages encrypted with pairwise-keys render monitoring systems useless. In this paper, we propose CAGE – a novel, distributed, clique-based group-key protocol that strikes an optimal balance between pairwise-key and group-key protocols. We then present E-CAGE, an improvisation of CAGE that mitigates computation-time to achieve the same results as CAGE.
Determination of Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidant Activity in Leaves from Wild Rubus L. Species

Twenty-six different wild blackberry leaf samples were harvested from various localities throughout southeastern Poland. Leaf samples were assessed regarding their phenolic compound profiles and contents by LC/MS QTOF, and their antioxidant activity by ABTS and FRAP. Thirty-three phenolic compounds were detected (15 flavonols, 13 hydroxycinnamic acids, three ellagic acid derivatives and two flavones). Ellagic acid derivatives were the predominant compounds in the analyzed leaves, especially sanguiin H-6, ellagitannins, lambertianin C, and casuarinin. The content of phenolic compounds was significantly correlated with the antioxidant activity of the analyzed samples. The highest level of phenolic compounds was measured for R. perrobustus, R. wimmerianus, R. pedemontanus and R. grabowskii. The study showed that wild blackberry leaves can be considered a good source of antioxidant compounds. There is clear potential for the utilization of blackberry leaves as a food additive, medicinal source or herbal tea.
Association Between Biomarkers of Ovarian Reserve and Infertility Among Older Women of Reproductive Age

Importance Despite lack of evidence of their utility, biomarkers of ovarian reserve are being promoted as potential markers of reproductive potential. Objective To determine the associations between biomarkers of ovarian reserve and reproductive potential among women of late reproductive age. Design, Setting, and Participants Prospective time-to-pregnancy cohort study (2008 to date of last follow-up in March 2016) of women (N = 981) aged 30 to 44 years without a history of infertility who had been trying to conceive for 3 months or less, recruited from the community in the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, area. Exposures Early-follicular-phase serum level of antimüllerian hormone (AMH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and inhibin B and urinary level of FSH. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcomes were the cumulative probability of conception by 6 and 12 cycles of attempt and relative fecundability (probability of conception in a given menstrual cycle). Conception was defined as a positive pregnancy test result. Results A total of 750 women (mean age, 33.3 [SD, 3.2] years; 77% white; 36% overweight or obese) provided a blood and urine sample and were included in the analysis. After adjusting for age, body mass index, race, current smoking status, and recent hormonal contraceptive use, women with low AMH values (<0.7 ng/mL [n = 84]) did not have a significantly different predicted probability of conceiving by 6 cycles of attempt (65%; 95% CI, 50%-75%) compared with women (n = 579) with normal values (62%; 95% CI, 57%-66%) or by 12 cycles of attempt (84% [95% CI, 70%-91%] vs 75% [95% CI, 70%-79%], respectively). Women with high serum FSH values (>10 mIU/mL [n = 83]) did not have a significantly different predicted probability of conceiving after 6 cycles of attempt (63%; 95% CI, 50%-73%) compared with women (n = 654) with normal values (62%; 95% CI, 57%-66%) or after 12 cycles of attempt (82% [95% CI, 70%-89%] vs 75% [95% CI, 70%-78%], respectively). Women with high urinary FSH values (>11.5 mIU/mg creatinine [n = 69]) did not have a significantly different predicted probability of conceiving after 6 cycles of attempt (61%; 95% CI, 46%-74%) compared with women (n = 660) with normal values (62%; 95% CI, 58%-66%) or after 12 cycles of attempt (70% [95% CI, 54%-80%] vs 76% [95% CI, 72%-80%], respectively). Inhibin B levels (n = 737) were not associated with the probability of conceiving in a given cycle (hazard ratio per 1-pg/mL increase, 0.999; 95% CI, 0.997-1.001). Conclusions and Relevance Among women aged 30 to 44 years without a history of infertility who had been trying to conceive for 3 months or less, biomarkers indicating diminished ovarian reserve compared with normal ovarian reserve were not associated with reduced fertility. These findings do not support the use of urinary or blood follicle-stimulating hormone tests or antimüllerian hormone levels to assess natural fertility for women with these characteristics.
Financially Eligible Pell Grant Community College Students’ Perceptions of Institutional Integration

There is a wealth of literature on the integration of university students increasing retention and ultimate completion, yet much less is known about the connections or disconnections that exist for community college students. Therefore, I interviewed financially eligible Pell Grant community college students (n = 62) about their connections to their institutions, and I subsequently conducted a thematic analysis of the data. Students’ experiences of integration ranged from feeling they created a family to perceiving unfair treatment. Overwhelmingly, students felt connected to their community college. However, some students who were not meeting satisfactory academic progress described a disconnection to their community college. The results indicate a need to reevaluate the satisfactory academic progress criteria and develop an integration model specific for low-income community college students.
Chronic Low Dosing of Phosphodiesterase Type 5 Inhibitor for Erectile Dysfunction

Oral phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors have provided non-invasive, effective, and well-tolerated treatments for patients with erectile dysfunction (ED). However, many patients with ED are unresponsive to 'on-demand' PDE5 inhibitors. In addition, the lack of spontaneity and naturalness of the on-demand regimen could be a reason for decreased compliance with PDE5 inhibitors. Recently, tadalafil and udenafil were approved for low-dose daily administration for the treatment of ED. Since the introduction of the concept of daily administration of PDE5 inhibitors, several reports have supported the potential benefits of this therapy for disease modification, improvement of the treatment response in difficult-to-treat populations, spontaneity, and safety, although further research is needed to better address these hypotheses. In this article, we reviewed the daily administration of PDE5 inhibitors in terms of pharmacokinetics, safety, efficacy, and distinct features.
The Incorporation of Control Principles into Access Control Policies

Separation of Duties: By partitioning critical transactions and assigning sub-tasks to different entities we prevent any one person from performing the whole transaction, thus reducing the risk of any error or fraud. Delegation: Delegation is an important part of any working organisation, since the main task of management is to get work done through the efforts of other people. Delegation of authority can be seen as a specialisation of tasks and responsibilities, through which a superior delegates or transmits pieces of authority downward in the organisational chain along with the obligation to perform specific duties.
Secondhand smoke exposure among young adults in a developing country – a Jordanian case

Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure is a potentially preventable environmental pollutant that remains a major global public health concern. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to assess secondhand smoke exposure, knowledge, attitudes, and avoidance behaviors, as well as policy agreements related to SHS among young adult university students in the northern part of Jordan. A convenience sample of 800 university students from three public universities participated in the present study. They completed four questionnaires: the Sociodemographic Questionnaire, the Household SHS Exposure Questionnaire, the Knowledge and Attitudes Toward SHS Exposure Questionnaire, and the Avoidance of SHS Exposure Scale. Findings showed that SHS exposure among nonsmoking university students was 96%. In addition, the mean hours of exposure per day was 4.64 hours (standard deviation = 4.28), and the mean days of exposure per week was 5.14 days (standard deviation = 2.1). Based on the students reported high hours of exposure, our results suggest that even though a student has knowledge of the dangers of SHS and suitable avoidance behaviors, he or she is unable to avoid SHS. Advocacy for effective interventions to avoid exposure to SHS should be initiated for Jordanian society as a whole.
Diminished Rev-Mediated Stimulation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Protein Synthesis Is a Hallmark of Human Astrocytes

ABSTRACT Astrocytes are target cells for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in the central nervous system with attenuated virus replication in vivo and in vitro. In infected astrocytes, viral gene expression is restricted mainly to nonstructural (early) viral components like Nef, suggesting inhibition of Rev-dependent posttranscriptional processes in these cells. Because of the heterogeneity of astrocytic cells, the objective of this study was to determine whether restriction of HIV-1 Rev-associated activities is a common property of human astrocytes. To this end, we compared the trans activation capacity and intracellular distribution of Rev in four astrocytoma cell lines previously shown to be infectible by HIV-1 and in primary human fetal astrocytes from different sources with Rev-permissive nonglial control cell lines. In all astrocytic cell cultures, the Rev response was reduced to about 10% of that of Rev-permissive control cells. Rev was apparent both in cytoplasmic and in nuclear compartments of living astrocytes, in contrast to the typical nuclear and/or nucleolar localization of Rev in permissive control cells. Nuclear accumulation of Rev in astrocytes was restored by blocking export of Rev. Thetrans activation capacity and nuclear localization of Tat were not affected in astrocytes. These results demonstrate that inhibition of Rev-dependent posttranscriptional regulation of HIV-1 is a hallmark of human astrocytes and may contribute to suppression of HIV-1 production in these HIV-1 reservoirs. Astrocytes constitute the first example of a human cell type showing an impaired Rev response, indicating that posttranscriptional control of HIV-1 gene expression can be modulated in a cell-dependent manner.
The Environmental Dependence of the Infrared Luminosity and Stellar Mass Functions

We investigate the dependence of the galaxy infrared luminosity function (LF) and the associated stellar mass function (SMF) on environment and spectral type using photometry from the Two Micron All Sky Survey and redshifts from the Las Campanas Redshift Survey for galaxies brighter than MJ < -19 + 5 log h. In the field environment, the LFs of galaxies with emission lines have much steeper faint-end slopes (αJ = -1.39) than those of galaxies without emission lines (αJ = -0.59). In the cluster environment, however, even the non-emission-line galaxies have a steep faint-end LF (αJ = -1.22). There is also a significant (95%) difference between the overall cluster and field LFs, ΔαJ = -0.34 and ΔM*J = -0.54. All these variations are more pronounced in the SMFs, which we compute by relating the strength of the 4000 Å break in the optical spectra to a stellar mass-to-light ratio.
Comparative Studies on Some Metrics for External Validation of QSPR Models

Quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models used for prediction of property of untested chemicals can be utilized for prioritization plan of synthesis and experimental testing of new compounds. Validation of QSPR models plays a crucial role for judgment of the reliability of predictions of such models. In the QSPR literature, serious attention is now given to external validation for checking reliability of QSPR models, and predictive quality is in the most cases judged based on the quality of predictions of property of a single test set as reflected in one or more external validation metrics. Here, we have shown that a single QSPR model may show a variable degree of prediction quality as reflected in some variants of external validation metrics like Q²(F1), Q²(F2), Q²(F3), CCC, and r²(m) (all of which are differently modified forms of predicted variance, which theoretically may attain a maximum value of 1), depending on the test set composition and test set size. Thus, this report questions the appropriateness of the common practice of the "classic" approach of external validation based on a single test set and thereby derives a conclusion about predictive quality of a model on the basis of a particular validation metric. The present work further demonstrates that among the considered external validation metrics, r²(m) shows statistically significantly different numerical values from others among which CCC is the most optimistic or less stringent. Furthermore, at a given level of threshold value of acceptance for external validation metrics, r²(m) provides the most stringent criterion (especially with Δr²(m) at highest tolerated value of 0.2) of external validation, which may be adopted in the case of regulatory decision support processes.
Send Orders of Reprints at Reprints@benthamscience.net Phylogenetic Analysis of Brassica Rapa Math-domain Proteins

The MATH (meprin and TRAF-C homology) domain is a fold of seven anti-parallel-helices involved in protein protein interaction. Here, we report the identification and characterization of 90 MATH-domain proteins from the Brassica rapa genome. By sequence analysis together with MATH-domain proteins from other species, the B. rapa MATH-domain proteins can be grouped into 6 classes. Class-protein has one or several MATH domains without any other recognizable domain; Class-protein contains a MATH domain together with a conserved BTB (Broad Complex, Tramtrack, and Bric-a-Brac) domain; Class-protein belongs to the MATH/Filament domain family; Class-protein contains a MATH domain frequently combined with some other domains; Class-protein has a relative long sequence but contains only one MATH domain; Class-protein is characterized by the presence of Peptidase and UBQ (Ubiquit-inylation) domains together with one MATH domain. As part of our study regarding seed development of B. rapa, six genes are screened by SSH (Suppression Subtractive Hybridization) and their expression levels are analyzed in combination with seed developmental stages, and expression patterns suggested that Bra001786, Bra03578 and Bra036572 may be seed development specific genes, while Bra001787, Bra020541 and Bra040904 may be involved in seed and flower organ development. This study provides the first characterization of the MATH domain proteins in B. rapa.
PREDNISOLONE DOES NOT REDUCE WITHDRAWAL HEADACHE: A RANDOMIZED, DOUBLE-BLIND STUDY

PREDNISOLONE DOES NOT REDUCE WITHDRAWAL HEADACHE: A RANDOMIZED, DOUBLE-BLIND STUDY To the Editor: We read the article by Bøe and colleagues with interest.1 The purpose of diagnosing medication overuse headache (MOH) is to treat with medication withdrawal and improve headaches. Despite the International Headache Society (IHS) diagnostic criteria, MOH can only be diagnosed retrospectively based on headache improvement after medication withdrawal. As a group, the subjects studied experienced only minimal headache improvement after medication withdrawal. Therefore, as a group, they did not have MOH. There is no purpose in withdrawing them from medication or prescribing them prednisolone.
Iranian EFL Student-Teachers' Multiple Intelligences and Their Self-Efficacy: Patterns and Relationships

Nowadays, in line with trends in language teaching that follow the use of student-centered teaching/testing activities, there is growing consensus that students differ in their multiple intelligences. Furthermore, self-efficacy is one of the determining factors of success for people almost in any context. Assuming that the multiple intelligences profiles in tandem with self-efficacy of teachers may jointly work in shaping the efficiency and effectiveness of their teaching careers, this study investigated the relationship between Iranian EFL student-teachers’ multiple intelligences and their self-efficacy. Thirty five male and female EFL student-teachers from private language schools in Urmia completed Multiple Intelligences (McKenzie 1999) and the Teachers’ Senses of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk-Hoy, 2001) questionnaires. A positive large correlation was found between total multiple intelligence and total self-efficacy of the student-teachers. The amount of R square in regression analysis indicated that teachers’ self-efficacy is accounted for by their multiple intelligences, and intrapersonal intelligence played a pivotal role in predicting self-efficacy of these teachers. The most frequently used and favored abilities were found to be intrapersonal and existential intelligences. Concerning self-efficacy sub-scales, teachers most reported to be self-efficacious in instructional strategies and student engagement. This study suggests that language teachers can benefit from multiple intelligences training programs and can apply the principles in their own classes in order to enhance the quality of the materials they deliver.
HMM-Based Emphatic Speech Synthesis Using Unsupervised Context Labeling

This paper describes an approach to HMM-based expressive speech synthesis which does not require any supervised labeling process for emphasis context. We use appealing-style speech whose sentences were taken from real domains. To reduce the cost for labeling speech data with an emphasis context for the model training, we propose an unsupervised labeling technique of the emphasis context based on the difference between original and generated F0 patterns of training sentences. Although the criterion for the emphasis labeling is quite simple, subjective evaluation results reveal that the unsupervised labeling is comparable to the labeling conducted carefully by a human in terms of speech naturalness and emphasis reproducibility. Index Terms: HMM-based speech synthesis, expressive speech, emphasis expression, unsupervised labeling, F0 generation
Dendritic Cell Vaccination Combined with CTLA4 Blockade in Patients with Metastatic Melanoma

Purpose: Tumor antigen–loaded dendritic cells (DC) are believed to activate antitumor immunity by stimulating T cells, and CTL-associated antigen 4 (CTLA4)–blocking antibodies should release a key negative regulatory pathway on T cells. The combination was tested in a phase I clinical trial in patients with advanced melanoma. Experimental Design: Autologous DC were pulsed with MART-126-35 peptide and administered with a dose escalation of the CTLA4-blocking antibody tremelimumab. Sixteen patients were accrued to five dose levels. Primary end points were safety and immune effects; clinical efficacy was a secondary end point. Results: Dose-limiting toxicities of grade 3 diarrhea and grade 2 hypophysitis developed in two of three patients receiving tremelimumab at 10 mg/kg monthly. Four patients had an objective tumor response, two partial responses and two complete responses, all melanoma free between 2 and 4 years after study initiation. There was no difference in immune monitoring results between patients with an objective tumor response and those without a response. Exploratory gene expression analysis suggested that immune-related gene signatures, in particular for B-cell function, may be important in predicting response. Conclusion: The combination of MART-1 peptide–pulsed DC and tremelimumab results in objective and durable tumor responses at the higher range of the expected response rate with either agent alone. (Clin Cancer Res 2009;15(19):6267–76)
An Empirical Investigation of the Consequences of Technostress: Evidence from China

With the growing adoption of information technology in organizations, technostress has become a problem that can no longer be ignored. Despite the fact that this form of stress emanates from excessive dependence on technologies, prior studies investigated its consequences mostly from job-centric points of view. The current study argues that technostress consequences are multi-faceted and lead to not only job-centric but also IT-centric detriments. It proposes a model that theoretically ties together the immediate reactions and extensive consequences of technostress for users. Using a survey of 221 Chinese knowledge workers, it was found that the negative influences of technostress expand far beyond what have been identified in prior research. Putting in a broader perspective, it can be detrimental to both the employee's job satisfaction and global attitude towards using information and communications technologies. Theoretical and pragmatic implications are also discussed.