Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What Happens to Information to be Suppressed in Working–Memory Tasks? Short and Long Term Effects

The study explored, from an individual differences point of view, what happens to information to be suppressed in a working–memory task at short and long term. In particular, it was examined whether control mechanisms of irrelevant information in working memory imply their complete elimination from working memory or just the modulation of their activation. To this end, we compared the fate of irrelevant information in groups of subjects with high and low reading comprehension (Experiments 1 and 2) and subjects with high and low working memory (Experiments 1, 2, 3, and 4). All the experiments presented a working–memory task devised by De Beni, Palladino, Pazzaglia, and Cornoldi (1998), which required participants to process lists of words, to tap when a word from a particular category was presented, and then to recall only the last items in each list. Results confirmed that participants with high reading comprehension also have higher working memory and make less intrusion errors due to irrelevant items that have to be processed but then discarded. Furthermore, it was found that participants with low working memory have slightly better implicit (Experiment 1) and explicit memory (Experiments 3 and 4) of highly activated irrelevant information. Nevertheless, in a long–term recognition test, participants with high and low reading comprehension/working memory presented a similar pattern of memory for different types of irrelevant information (Experiment 2), whereas in a short–term memory recognition test, low–span participants presented a facilitation effect in the time required for the recognition of highly activated irrelevant information (Experiment 4). It was concluded that efficient working–memory performance is related to the temporary reduction of activation of irrelevant information but does not imply its elimination from memory.
THE INFLUENCE OF MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE, PREZI PRESENTATION SOFTWARE, AND GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS TO ENHANCE THE STUDENTS' WRITING MASTERY(An Experimental Research of the First Grade Students of Nurul Islam Integrated Islamic Junior High School, Tengaran in the Academic Year of 2016/2017)

Widianto, Danang Sigit. 2017. “The Influence of Mind Mapping Technique, Prezi Presentation Software, and Graphic Organizers to Enhance the Students’ Writing (An Experimental Research of Nurul Islam Integrated Islamic Junior High School, Tengaran in the Academic Year of 2016/2017)”. A Graduating Paper. English Education Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga. Counselor: Rr. Dewi Wahyu Mustikasari, S.S. , M.Pd.
Reionization and the Abundance of Galactic Satellites

One of the main challenges facing standard hierarchical structure formation models is that the predicted abundance of Galactic subhalos with circular velocities vc ~ 10-30 km s-1 is an order of magnitude higher than the number of satellites actually observed within the Local Group. Using a simple model for the formation and evolution of dark halos, based on the extended Press-Schechter formalism and tested against N-body results, we show that the theoretical predictions can be reconciled with observations if gas accretion in low-mass halos is suppressed after the epoch of reionization. In this picture, the observed dwarf satellites correspond to the small fraction of halos that accreted substantial amounts of gas before reionization. The photoionization mechanism naturally explains why the discrepancy between predicted halos and observed satellites sets in at vc ~ 30 km s-1, and for reasonable choices of the reionization redshift (zre ~ 5-12) the model can reproduce both the amplitude and shape of the observed velocity function of galactic satellites. If this explanation is correct, then typical bright galaxy halos contain many low-mass dark matter subhalos. These might be detectable through their gravitational lensing effects, through their influence on stellar disks, or as dwarf satellites with very high mass-to-light ratios. This model also predicts a diffuse stellar component produced by large numbers of tidally disrupted dwarfs, perhaps sufficient to account for most of the Milky Way's stellar halo.
Xenopus muscle‐specific kinase: molecular cloning and prominent expression in neural tissues during early embryonic development

A muscle‐specific receptor tyrosine kinase, designated MuSK, mediates agrin‐induced aggregation of acetylcholine receptors at the vertebrate neuromuscular junction. cDNAs encoding Xenopus MuSK were isolated from embryonic cDNA libraries. The full‐length MuSK cDNA encodes for a polypeptide of 948 amino acids and possesses the features unique to mammalian MuSK, including four Ig‐like domains, C6 box, transmembrane region and an intracellular tyrosine kinase domain. Interestingly, Xenopus MuSK also contains a kringle domain similar to that previously reported for Torpedo MuSK. The overall amino acid sequence identity of Xenopus MuSK with mammalian MuSK is ≈ 65%. Northern blot analysis demonstrated the presence of three MuSK transcripts (≈ 1 kb, ≈ 3 kb and ≈ 7 kb) which were differentially expressed during development. The expression of the ≈ 7 kb MuSK transcript remained as the predominant species in adult tissues, e.g. skeletal muscle, spleen and lung. Immunocytochemical analysis with a MuSK‐specific antibody revealed that Xenopus MuSK was colocalized with AChRs at neuromuscular junctions as well as in spontaneous acetylcholine receptor hot spots of cultured muscle cells. In situ hybridization revealed prominent expression of MuSK transcripts in neural tissues and myotomal muscle during the period of neurulation and synaptogenesis. The MuSK transcript detected at abundant levels in the central nervous system (CNS) was localized to the brain, spinal cord and eye vesicles during early embryonic development. In addition, the MuSK protein in the developing eye was found to be prominently expressed during embryonic stages of 32 and 35. These findings raise an intriguing possibility that, in addition to the known function in the formation of the neuromuscular junctions, MuSK may be involved in neural development.
Theories of the Causes of Poverty

There has been a lack of debate between and frameworks for theories of the causes of poverty. This article proposes that most theories of poverty can be productively categorized into three broader families of theories: behavioral, structural, and political. Behavioral theories concentrate on individual behaviors as driven by incentives and culture. Structural theories emphasize the demographic and labor market context, which causes both behavior and poverty. Political theories contend that power and institutions cause policy, which causes poverty and moderates the relationship between behavior and poverty. I review each theory's arguments, contributions, and challenges. Furthermore, I explain how to integrate, classify studies into, and distinguish between theories. Ultimately, I argue that poverty research would benefit from more explicit theory and theoretical debate, as well as greater interdisciplinarity and integration between studies of the United States, rich democracies, and developing countries.
The long run consequences of M&A: An empirical application

Mergers and acquisitions are frequently justified in terms of value creation or efficiency improvements. Nevertheless, the evidence is not consistent with the existence of benefits in terms of the costs, productivity, profitability or market value of the firms involved. A distinguishing feature of extant research is that it focuses on the assessment of the consequences of mergers around the time in which the operation takes place, limiting the possibility of observing a complete integration between the merged firms. In this context, the objective of this paper is to evaluate the effects of mergers and acquisitions on the long-run productivity of Spanish Savings Banks. Our results show that productivity improvements are found when we consider a long observation window.
Surveying Middle-Grades Teachers' Reasoning About Fraction Arithmetic in Terms of Measured Quantities

We report a novel survey that narrows the gap between information about teachers' knowledge of fraction arithmetic provided, on the one hand, by measures practical to administer at scale and, on the other, by close analysis of moment-to-moment cognition. In particular, the survey measured components that would support reasoning directly with measured quantities, not by executing computational algorithms, to solve problems. These components—each of which was grounded in past research—were attention to referent units, partitioning and iterating, appropriateness, and reversibility. A second part of the survey asked about teachers' professional preparation and history. We administered the survey to a national sample of in-service middle-grades mathematics teachers in the United States and received responses from 990 of those teachers. We analyzed responses to items in the first part of the survey using the log-linear diagnostic classification model to estimate each teacher's profile of strengths and weaknesses with respect to the four components of reasoning. We report on the diversity of profiles that we found and on relationships between those profiles and various aspects of teachers' professional preparation and history. Our results provide insight into teachers' knowledge resources for enacting standards-based instruction in fraction arithmetic and an example of new possibilities for mathematics education research afforded by recent advances in psychometric modeling.
Effects of Rician faded and log-normal shadowed signals on spectrum efficiency in microcellular radio

An assessment of spectrum efficiency for a microcellular land mobile radio system is presented by considering the desired signal as (fast) Rician fading with (slow) log-normal shadowing and cochannel interfering signals as uncorrelated (fast) Rayleigh fading superimposed over (slow) log-normal shadowing. Spectrum efficiency is defined in terms of reuse distance, i.e., cluster size, traffic intensity, bandwidth of the system, and area of a cell by considering cochannel interference probability. The expression for cochannel interference probability is derived using appropriate path-loss law for microcells for four different cases: Rician plus log-normal desired signal and Rayleigh plus log-normal interfering signals; Rician desired signal and Rayleigh fading plus log-normal shadowing interfering signals; Rician desired signal and Rayleigh interfering signals; and both desired and interfering signals as Rician fading. The performance of a microcellular system is compared with that of a conventional macrocellular system. >
Towards a Nanoscale Artificial Cortex 1

This paper presents an approach to predicting the feasibility of artificial brains in the future. We focus on biomimetic neural models and electronic circuits that implement those models. Complexities in modeling biological neural tissue are discussed. Estimates are given for the size of artificial neural systems based on CMOS technology in 2021, without considering interconnections. We propose some solutions to the problem of interconnecting neurons. However, the best solution to this issue is an ongoing research topic.
Do academic motivation and personality influence which students benefit the most from peer-assisted study sessions?

Previous research investigating the relationship between peer-assisted study sessions (also called supplemental instruction or peer-assisted learning) and academic performance has a number of concerns. These include the lack of inclusion of important variables such as academic motivation and personality. This study (N = 233) investigated how motivation, personality, and control variables (prior subject attempts, number of university semesters completed, prior academic achievement) have an impact on the relationship between peer-assisted study sessions attendance and academic performance for psychology students. The results indicated that peer-assisted study sessions attendance predicted academic performance when controlling for academic motivation, personality, and control variables; however, the magnitude of the relationship was almost halved (r = .27 to ß = .13). Peer-assisted study sessions attendance mediated the relationship between neuroticism (κ2 = .04) and prior academic achievement (κ2 = .05) and academic performance, indicating that participants with these characteristics benefit from the sessions. Finally, adjunct peer-assisted study sessions focused on assessment items appear to be a large part of its efficacy in this sample.
Biotechnological Products and Process Engineering H 2 -producing Bacterial Communities from a Heat-treated Soil Inoculum

Hydrogen gas (∼60% H 2) was produced in a continuous flow bioreactor inoculated with heat-treated soil, and fed synthetic wastewater containing glucose (9.5 g l −1). The pH in the bioreactor was maintained at 5.5 to inhibit consumption of H 2 by methanogens. The objective of this study was to characterize bacterial communities in the reactor operated under two different hydraulic retention times (HRTs of 30-h and 10-h) and temperatures (30°C and 37°C). At 30-h HRT, the H 2 production rate was 80 ml h −1 and yield was 0.91 mol H 2 / mol glucose. At 10-h HRT, the H 2 production rate was more than 5 times higher at 436 ml h −1 , and yield was 1.61 mol H 2 /mol glucose. Samples were removed from the reactor under steady-state conditions for PCR-based detection of bacterial populations by ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (RISA). Populations detected at 30-h HRT were more diverse than at 10-h HRT and included representatives of Bacillaceae, Clostridiaceae, and Entero-bacteriaceae. At 10-h HRT, only Clostridiaceae were detected. When the temperature of the 10-h HRT reactor was increased from 30°C to 37°C, the steady-state H 2 production rate increased slightly to 463 ml h −1 and yield was 1.8 mol H 2 /mol glucose. Compared to 30°C, RISA fingerprints at 37°C from the 10-h HRT bioreactor exhibited a clear shift from populations related to Clos-tridium acidisoli (subcluster Ic) to populations related to Clostridium acetobutylicum (subcluster Ib).
A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents

ABSTRACT While becoming inextricable to our daily lives, online social media are blamed for increasing mental health problems in younger people. This systematic review synthesized evidence on the influence of social media use on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. A search of PsycINFO, Medline, Embase, CINAHL and SSCI databases reaped 13 eligible studies, of which 12 were cross-sectional. Findings were classified into four domains of social media: time spent, activity, investment and addiction. All domains correlated with depression, anxiety and psychological distress. However, there are considerable caveats due to methodological limitations of cross-sectional design, sampling and measures. Mechanisms of the putative effects of social media on mental health should be explored further through qualitative enquiry and longitudinal cohort studies.
Proactive Customer Service Performance: Relationships With Individual, Task, and Leadership Variables

Despite the increasing interest in specific forms of proactive employee behavior in domains such as career development and organizational change, little research has investigated proactive behavior in the realm of customer service. Based on a review of the literatures on proactive behavior, customer service, and job performance, this study investigated relationships between a relevant set of individual and situational predictor variables and proactive customer service performance (i.e., individual service employees' self-started, long-term-oriented, and persistent service behavior that goes beyond explicitly prescribed requirements). Field survey data from 186 supervisor-subordinate dyads working in a large financial services organization demonstrated that proactive service performance, as rated by supervisors, was factorially distinct from prescribed task performance. Multiple regression analysis revealed that proactive service performance was significantly and positively associated with employee ratings of trait personal initiative, affective organizational commitment, task complexity, and participative leadership. The task and leadership variables explained incremental variance in proactive service performance beyond the individual predictors.
Profile of Central and Effector Memory T Cells in the Progression of Chronic Human Chagas Disease

Background Chronic Chagas disease presents several different clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic to severe cardiac and/or digestive clinical forms. Several studies have demonstrated that immunoregulatory mechanisms are important processes for the control of the intense immune activity observed in the chronic phase. T cells play a critical role in parasite specific and non-specific immune response elicited by the host against Trypanosoma cruzi. Specifically, memory T cells, which are basically classified as central and effector memory cells, might have a distinct migratory activity, role and function during the human Chagas disease. Methodology/Principal Findings Based on the hypothesis that the disease severity in humans is correlated to the quality of immune responses against T. cruzi, we evaluated the memory profile of peripheral CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes as well as its cytokine secretion before and after in vitro antigenic stimulation. We evaluated cellular response from non-infected individuals (NI), patients with indeterminate (IND) or cardiac (CARD) clinical forms of Chagas disease. The expression of CD45RA, CD45RO and CCR7 surface molecules was determined on CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes; the pattern of intracellular cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-10) synthesized by naive and memory cells was determined by flow cytometry. Our results revealed that IND and CARD patients have relatively lower percentages of naive (CD45RAhigh) CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. However, statistical analysis of ex-vivo profiles of CD4+ T cells showed that IND have lower percentage of CD45RAhigh in relation to non-infected individuals, but not in relation to CARD. Elevated percentages of memory (CD45ROhigh) CD4+ T cells were also demonstrated in infected individuals, although statistically significant differences were only observed between IND and NI groups. Furthermore, when we analyzed the profile of secreted cytokines, we observed that CARD patients presented a significantly higher percentage of CD8+CD45RAhigh IFN-γ-producing cells in control cultures and after antigen pulsing with soluble epimastigote antigens. Conclusions Based on a correlation between the frequency of IFN-γ producing CD8+ T cells in the T cell memory compartment and the chronic chagasic myocarditis, we propose that memory T cells can be involved in the induction of the development of the severe clinical forms of the Chagas disease by mechanisms modulated by IFN-γ. Furthermore, we showed that individuals from IND group presented more TCM CD4+ T cells, which may induce a regulatory mechanism to protect the host against the exacerbated inflammatory response elicited by the infection.
Using a real-time, tracking microphone array as input to an HMM speech recognizer

A major problem for speech recognition systems is relieving the talker of the need to use a close-talking, head-mounted or a deskstand microphone. A likely solution is the use of an array of microphones that can steer itself to the talker and can use a beamforming algorithm to overcome the reduced signal-to-noise ratio due to room acoustics. This paper reports results for a tracking, real-time microphone-array as an input to an HMM-based connected alpha-digits speech recognizer. For a talker in the very near field of the array (within a meter), performance approaches that of a close-talking microphone input device. The effects of both the noise reducing steered array and the use of a maximum a posteriori (MAP) training step are shown to be significant. Here, the array system and the recognizer are described, experiments are presented, and the implications of combining these two systems discussed.
Job satisfaction among chain community pharmacists: results from a pilot study

Objective The objectives of this study were to obtain pilot data concerning the job satisfaction of Tucson area retail chain setting and to identify the facets of community practice that have the greatest contribution to job satisfaction Methods This was a cross-sectional study of chain pharmacists in the Tucson area. The Warr-Cook-Wall questionnaire of job satisfaction was used to evaluate community pharmacists’ satisfaction with their current position. This study used Rasch analysis to assess the validity and reliability of the questionnaire. The Rasch scores obtained for each respondent were used as a dependent variable in univariate and bivariate analyses to evaluate differences in job satisfaction. Results A total of 32 pharmacists responded from 129 chain community pharmacies in the cities of Tucson, Marana and Oro Valley, Arizona. The mean (SD) Rasch score for job satisfaction was 0.93 (2.1). Results from bivariate analysis indicate that pharmacists in the Tucson area with practice experience outside community pharmacy were less satisfied with their job compared to those without experience outside community pharmacy (p<0.01). Conclusions This pilot evaluation suggests that having pharmacy experience outside community practice affects pharmacist job satisfaction. Additionally, findings from this study indicate that there is reliability and validity evidence to support the use of the modified Warr-Cook-Wall questionnaire for assessing overall job satisfaction in chain community pharmacy practice.
Effect of Income Diversification on Poverty Reduction and Income Inequality in Rural Nigeria: Evidence from Rice Farming Households

The desire to increase household income and insure against agricultural production risk has led rural households to increasingly diversify their income sources. Yet the potential roles of income diversification on poverty reduction particularly among the rural farmers have not been adequately examined in Nigeria. Therefore, in order to fill this gap and complement other studies on income diversification, this study examined the effect of income diversification on poverty reduction among the rice farming households in Nigeria. Using the primary data collected from 600 randomly selected smallholder rice farmers in Nigeria and adopting the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) poverty measures the study observed that farmers that participated in Non-Farm Wage Employment (NFWE) were better off than those in the Farm Related Employment (FRE) and the Non-Farm Self Employment (NFSE). The findings of this study revealed that diversification of income should be given more focus and attention by policy makers in the efforts to reduce poverty among smallholder farmers in rural Nigeria. Farmers should be encouraged to participate more in farmers’ organization, the issue of access to land in the rural areas should be thoroughly examined and gender equity in access to productive resources should also be looked into.