Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ASSOCIATION OF COURSE PERFORMANCE WITH STUDENT BELIEFS: AN ANALYSIS BY GENDER AND INSTRUCTIONAL SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT

The effect of educational technologies on learning is an area of active interest. We conducted an experiment to compare the impact of instructional software on student performance. We hypothesize that some of the impact on student performance may reflect the influence of the technology on student subject-related beliefs and that those beliefs may differ by gender. We desired to assess how course performance may be associated with student beliefs, and how the association may differ depending on instructional software environment and gender. First published May 2006 at Statistics Education Research Journal: Archives
The anionic biosurfactant rhamnolipid does not denature industrial enzymes

Biosurfactants (BS) are surface-active molecules produced by microorganisms. Their combination of useful properties and sustainable production make them promising industrial alternatives to petrochemical and oleochemical surfactants. Here we compare the impact of the anionic BS rhamnolipid (RL) and the conventional/synthetic anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) on the structure and stability of three different commercially used enzymes, namely the cellulase Carezyme® (CZ), the phospholipase Lecitase Ultra® (LT) and the α-amylase Stainzyme® (SZ). Our data reveal a fundamental difference in their mode of interaction. SDS shows great diversity of interaction toward the different enzymes. It efficiently unfolds both LT and CZ, but LT is unfolded by SDS through formation of SDS clusters on the enzyme well below the cmc, while CZ is only unfolded by bulk micelles and on average binds significantly less SDS than LT. SDS binds with even lower stoichiometry to SZ and leads to an increase in thermal stability. In contrast, RL does not affect the tertiary or secondary structure of any enzyme at room temperature, has little impact on thermal stability and only binds detectably (but at low stoichiometries) to SZ. Furthermore, all enzymes maintain activity at both monomeric and micellar concentrations of RL. We conclude that RL, despite its anionic charge, is a surfactant that does not compromise the structural integrity of industrially relevant enzymes. This makes RL a promising alternative to current synthetic anionic surfactants in a wide range of commercial applications.
Detection of Avian Influenza-DNA Hybridization Using Wavelength-scanning Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor

We designed a wavelength interrogation-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor to detect avian influenza DNA (AI-DNA). Hybridization reactions between target AI-DNA probes and capture probes immobilized on a gold surface were monitored quantitatively by measuring the resonance wavelength in the visible waveband. The experimental results were consistent with numerical calculations. Although the SPR detection technique does not require the DNA to be labeled, we also evaluated fluorescently-labeled targets to verify the hybridization behavior of the AI-DNA. Changes in resonance were found to be linearly proportional to the amount of bound analyte. A wavelength interrogation-type SPR biosensor can be used for rapid measurement and high-throughput detection of highly pathogenic AI viruses.
A Role for Apical Membrane Antigen 1 during Invasion of Hepatocytes by Plasmodium falciparum Sporozoites*

Plasmodium sporozoites are transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes and invade hepatocytes as a first and obligatory step of the parasite life cycle in man. Hepatocyte invasion involves proteins secreted from parasite vesicles called micronemes, the most characterized being the thrombospondin-related adhesive protein (TRAP). Here we investigated the expression and function of another microneme protein recently identified in Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites, apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA-1). P. falciparum AMA-1 is expressed in sporozoites and is lost after invasion of hepatocytes, and anti-AMA-1 antibodies inhibit sporozoite invasion, suggesting that the protein is involved during invasion of hepatocytes. As observed with TRAP, AMA-1 is initially mostly sequestered within the sporozoite. Upon microneme exocytosis, AMA-1 and TRAP relocate to the sporozoite surface, where they are proteolytically cleaved, resulting in the shedding of soluble fragments. A subset of serine protease inhibitors blocks the processing and shedding of both AMA-1 and TRAP and inhibits sporozoite infectivity, suggesting that interfering with sporozoite proteolytic processing may constitute a valuable strategy to prevent hepatocyte infection.
Role of Fluorescence in situ Hybridization in Sequencing the Tomato Genome

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) genome is being sequenced by a consortium of laboratories in 10 countries. Seventy-seven percent of the tomato genome (DNA) is located in repeat-rich, gene-poor, pericentric heterochromatin, while 23% of the genome is located in repeat-poor, gene-rich, distal euchromatin. It is estimated that approximately 90% of tomato’s nuclear genes can be characterized by limiting the sequencing effort to euchromatin while avoiding the problems involved in sequencing the repetitive DNA in heterochromatin. Sequencing is being performed on tomato nuclear DNA cloned into bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) vectors. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is used to help direct the sequencing effort by cytologically demonstrating the location of selected BACs on tomato chromosomes. While mitotic metaphase chromosomes are too short and compact for this purpose, long pachytene chromosomes are ideal. BACs localized in euchromatin can be used confidently as anchors for the assembly of BAC contigs that extend through the euchromatic length of each chromosome arm. Another important role for FISH is identification of BACs near telomeres and near borders with pericentric heterochromatin to indicate that sequencing should not extend much further. This role of FISH is enhanced by our ability to estimate base pair distances between localized BACs and these chromosomal features. Finally, it is noteworthy that when BAC-FISH is combined with chromosomal in situ suppression (CISS) hybridization to block repeats and localize single/low copy sequences, the great majority of BACs localize to single sites. This observation is consistent with tomato being an ancient diploid.
Patients with multiple sclerosis in a war zone: coping strategies associated with reduced risk for relapse

The objective of this article is to examine the role of coping strategies in multiple sclerosis outcomes among civilians under a military attack during the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. Participants were 156 patients with relapsing—remitting multiple sclerosis. We analysed the relationships between coping and emotional distress and between coping and multiple sclerosis exacerbation. We also assessed a model of the relationship between perceived stress, event-related stress, and coping with increased risk of multiple sclerosis exacerbations using multivariate logistic regression. Ways of coping and subjective stress were evaluated by means of structured interviews using questionnaires previously validated. The more distressed our respondents were during the war, the more likely they were to employ a variety of ways of coping. Correlation coefficients between coping scores and perceived war stress ranged from 0.2 to 0.44 (p < 0.001—0.01). Correlation coefficients between the various coping scores and broader indices of distress ranged from 0.28 to 0.5 (p < 0.001). Of the remitting patients during and following the war, 47.1% reported the use of ‘direct coping and planning’, compared to 16.7% of patients who relapsed during the same period (p = 0.014). ‘Direct coping and planning’ was negatively related to exacerbation of multiple sclerosis symptoms (OR = 0.1, 95% CI = 0.02—0.5). The Nagelkerke R 2 was 0.26. Our findings point to an association between ‘direct coping and planning’ and reduced multiple sclerosis relapse rate during wartime. Further research should explore whether the employment of specific ways of coping can reduce the risk for relapse among patients with multiple sclerosis during periods of distress.
Internal Representations of the Therapeutic Relationship Among Adolescents in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy.

UNLABELLED This study examined changes in adolescents' internal representations of their relationship with their therapist and the extent to which these changes were related to changes in their representations of their relationship with their parents and to treatment outcomes. METHOD Thirty adolescents (aged 15-18 years, 70% women) undergoing psychodynamic psychotherapy participated in relationship anecdote paradigms interviews based on the core conflictual relationship theme method and completed outcome measures at the beginning of treatment and a year later. RESULTS Adolescents' positive representations of their therapists increased throughout the year of treatment, whereas their negative representations did not change. There was an association between the development of the therapeutic relationship and improvement in the perception of the relationship with parents over the course of therapy. Increases in the level of positive representations and decreases in the level of negative representations of the therapist were associated with greater satisfaction with treatment but not with the other outcome measures. These results support the centrality of the therapeutic relationship in the process of change during adolescents' psychodynamic psychotherapy. KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGE The finding that positive representations of the therapist increased throughout treatment but that negative representations remained steady suggests that therapists who treat adolescents should expect and be able to hear adolescent clients' positive and negative internal representations of themselves. Therapists need to realize that although adolescents often experience negative emotions and perceptions in therapy as in other significant relationships, this does not necessarily block the development of positive emotions. The finding that changes in the representations of the therapist are associated with changes in the representations of parents is in line with psychodynamic theory, which posits that psychotherapy facilitates new interpersonal experiences and new insights through the exploration of the therapeutic relationship. Working in the 'here and now' may eventually impact the nature of other significant relationships, particularly with parents in the case of adolescents.
Online Detection of Induction Motor's Stator Winding Short-Circuit Faults

The main objective of this paper is to develop a new technique for detecting turn-to-turn short-circuit faults in one or two stator phases of an induction motor. Hence, modeling a turn-to-turn short-circuit fault in more than one phase and a phase-to-ground fault is the first novelty of this paper for calculating phase currents under faulty conditions. This strategy uses the extracted features from the corresponding three-phase current pattern in 3-D space. Identification of faulty phases and of the severity of the fault is the outcome of this technique. This technique is also capable of detecting a phase-to-ground fault. This method just requires current sensors that are available in most drive systems to provide good controllability, and details of the machine design are not necessary. Experimental results are included to show the ability of the proposed strategy for detecting and locating phase/phases under different faults and load conditions.
AN EXPLORATION OF THE DEMOTIVATIONAL FACTORS AFFECTING TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE OF EFL LEARNERS IN GULF COUNTRIES

Motivation is instrumental in successfully carrying out any activity while demotivation is a detrimental force that impedes the progress of any action or activity which has widely unveiled its diverse manifestations to EFL learners across the globe. Based on the reviewing of previous works and contexts, the present study aims at investigating the demotivational factors that significantly hamper learning of Arab EFL learners in classrooms in gulf countries. The work utilized triangulation in the use of research methods, i.e. both qualitative and quantitative methods overlap each other: (i) structured interview of experienced EFL (3 male and 4 female) teachers, with maximum open ended questions exhibit qualitative dimension of the study; (ii) opinionnaire developed with closed ended questions by employing Likert’s five point scale, represents quantitative perspectives of the work. The data was collected to investigate teacher’s teaching style and practices in EFL classrooms; teacher’s behavior and method of teaching; mismatches between the curriculum and the level and needs of the learners; crowded classes, use of unauthentic material; students’ inadequate elementary knowledge of four language skills and their lack of determination of goals and objectives to learn English language. All thesefactors call attention of the policy makers to revise and redesign the educational policies up to secondary level education. Keywords: Motivation, Demonization, EFL, Teaching and Learning of English as a Foreign Language
Beliefs and practices to prevent drowning among Vietnamese-American adolescents and parents

Objective: To determine the beliefs, attitudes and practices regarding water safety among Vietnamese-Americans through focus group interviews. Participants: 15 teenagers (aged 15–19 years) and 20 parents participated, and reported similar attitudes, beliefs and practices regarding water activities. Participants identified a lack of familiarity with water activities and few swimming skills, noting that these activities are not perceived as recreational sports among the Vietnamese. They reported recreating at open water sites because they are free and available, and attributed drowning to fate. Vietnamese youth swim unsupervised, responding to peer pressure despite lack of skills. Participants had negative attitudes toward life jackets using, swimming pools and lessons, because of the costs, but would attend lessons in Vietnamese. They identified schools and Vietnamese media as means of delivering injury-prevention messages. Conclusions: Decreasing drowning among Vietnamese-Americans requires changing the knowledge, attitudes and safety practices with programs and messages in Vietnamese, as well as targeting the dominant culture.
From primary progressive aphasia to corticobasal syndrome: two clinical and rCBF functional reports

We describe two cases, both presenting with a 2-year history of isolated language disorders, one compatible with logopenic variant and the other with non-fluent variant of primary progressive aphasia (PPA). Afterwards, each developed a corticobasal syndrome (CBS) with alien limb phenomenon and a multi-domain cognitive impairment. Regional cerebral perfusion (rCBF) study using 99mTc-ECD single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) revealed hypoperfusion patterns consistent with these aphasia types and with the presence of limb apraxia. We report two cases of PPA variants associated with CBS and we suggest that SPECT rCBF correlates can be useful in making a differential diagnosis within the PPA spectrum.
Epstein–Barr virus in the multiple sclerosis brain: a controversial issue—report on a focused workshop held in the Centre for Brain Research of the Medical University of Vienna, Austria

Recent epidemiological and immunological studies provide evidence for an association between Epstein–Barr virus infection and multiple sclerosis, suggesting a role of Epstein–Barr virus infection in disease induction and pathogenesis. A key question in this context is whether Epstein–Barr virus-infected B lymphocytes are present within the central nervous system and the lesions of patients with multiple sclerosis. Previous studies on this topic provided highly controversial results, showing Epstein–Barr virus reactivity in B cells in the vast majority of multiple sclerosis cases and lesions, or only exceptional Epstein–Barr virus-positive B cells in rare cases. In an attempt to explain the reasons for these divergent results, a workshop was organized under the umbrella of the European Union FP6 NeuroproMiSe project, the outcome of which is presented here. This report summarizes the current knowledge of Epstein–Barr virus biology and shows that Epstein–Barr virus infection is highly complex. There are still major controversies, how to unequivocally identify Epstein–Barr virus infection in pathological tissues, particularly in situations other than Epstein–Barr virus-driven lymphomas or acute Epstein–Barr virus infections. It further highlights that unequivocal proof of Epstein–Barr virus infection in multiple sclerosis lesions is still lacking, due to issues related to the sensitivity and specificity of the detection methods.
The effect of bidialectal literacy on school achievement

The Norwegian language has two written standards, Bokmål (majority variety) and Nynorsk (minority variety), and children receive their schooling in one or other of them. Pupils schooled in Nynorsk acquire the Bokmål variety simultaneously through extracurricular exposure and thus develop what may be termed bidialectal literacy. In this study, we correlate, at municipal level, the results from Norwegian standardized national tests in reading, arithmetic, and English from four cohorts of eighth graders (2009–2012), with available statistics on language of instruction and socio-economic status. The finding is that municipalities with Nynorsk pupils have better than average results in national tests once socio-economic factors are taken into consideration. We suggest that this may be seen as an effect of the ‘bilingual advantage’ in cognitive development and that such advantage may arise even in the case of closely related linguistic varieties.
Southwest Oncology Group study S0413: a phase II trial of lapatinib (GW572016) as first-line therapy in patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer

Background: Lapatinib (GW572016) is a dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/ErbB2), which are reported as overexpressed in 15%–45% of gastric cancers, making them potential targets. Patients and methods: The primary objective of this study was to assess response rate. Secondary objectives included overall survival (OS), toxicity, and the relationship of EGFR, ErbB2, and markers of angiogenesis with clinical outcome. Lapatinib was administered to chemonaive metastatic gastric cancer patients at a dose of 1500 mg orally daily for 28 days. Results: The study enrolled 47 patients from February 2005 until May 2006. Four patients (9%) had a confirmed partial response (PR), 1 (2%) had an unconfirmed PR, and 10 (23%) had stable disease. Median (95% confidence interval) time to treatment failure was 1.9 (1.6–3.1) months and OS was 4.8 (3.2–7.4) months. Significant adverse events: one grade 4 cardiac ischemia/infarction, one grade 4 fatigue, and one grade 4 emesis. One treatment-related death was due to central nervous system ischemia. An exploratory analysis of markers revealed gene expression of HER2, interleukin (IL)-8 and genomic polymorphisms IL-8, and vascular endothelial growth factor correlated with OS. Conclusions: Lapatinib is well tolerated, with modest single-agent activity in advanced/metastatic gastric cancer patients. Potential molecular correlatives were identified which warrant further validation.
Behavioural intention to adopt mobile banking among the millennial generation

Purpose The purpose of this paper was to examine the intention to adopt mobile banking services among Generation Y consumers using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. Design/methodology/approach The paper investigated responses from a particular sub-group of Generation Y consumers that is college or university students. The final sample collected was 347 cases, representing a response rate of 90.4 per cent. Two sets of analyses were performed: multiple regression analyses testing the extended UTAUT model and a mediated regression analysis testing the intervening effect of performance expectancy (PE) on the relationship between effort expectancy (EE) and behavioural intention. Findings Multiple regression analysis revealed PE as the strongest predictor, followed by EE, perceived risk and social influence. The prediction model explained 68.3 per cent of the variance in intention to adopt mobile banking. Mediation analysis supported a partial mediation effect of PE on the relationship between EE and intention to adopt mobile banking. Research limitations/implications This study examined respondents’ intention to adopt mobile banking instead of their actual behaviour. Understanding behavioural intention is essential, but it may not accurately represent actual behaviour. In addition, results from this study may not be generalisable to the whole population of Generation Y college or university students due to selection bias and a lack of information concerning the sampling frame. Practical implications This research identifies the factors that affect the intention to adopt mobile banking among the Generation Y college or university students. Bank operators can use the findings to improve their marketing strategies and services offered to make them more attractive and competitive to students to speed up the mobile banking adoption rate. Originality/value This study is one of the few local studies that introduce a practical model of extended UTAUT by including perceived risk to understand the mobile banking adoption intention among millennial generation.