Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Education based on Acceptance and Commitment Approach in Reducing students’ Self -Defeating Behaviors: According to the educational package developed

2017/12/6 Accepted: 2018/06/11 Abstract Introduction: Self-defeating behaviors refer to the conscious and deliberate actions in spite of preliminary positive consequences, ultimately lead to a person's defeat. The present study aimed to develop an educational package based on the acceptance and commitment approach to reduce the students' educational self-defeating behaviors and determine its effectiveness. Methods: This study has been done in 2 stages using multiple methods. First stage include developing and accreditation of educational package using content analysis method and second stage using quasi experimental with pre-test and post test design with control group for determining educational curriculum efficacy. Statistical population consist of undergraduate students of Vali University of Rafsanjan in 2016-2017. 300 students were selected through random multi-stage cluster sampling . A questionnaire of knowledge and self-defeating behaviors was used for screening subjects with self-defeating behaviors. finally 40 students with self-defeating behaviors were selected and replaced in 2 groups of experimental and control group randomly each of 20 . Data were analyzed using statistical analysis and Multivariate analysis of variance through SPSS. Findings: findings showed scores of experimental group has significantly reduced in comparison with control group in educational self-defeating behavior (P<0.0001, F=557.28) also Self-defeating behaviors have been significantly reduced with pre-test and follow-up (P<0.0001, F=170.67). Conclusion: Results show that educational package based on the acceptance and commitment approach is valid and leads to decreasing Self-defeating behaviors. Overall, this research provides a protection for acceptance and commitment training in
An Investigation of Middle School Music Teachers’ Rationale and Procedure Relating to Instrumental (Band) Repertoire Selection in Southern Ontario: A Case Study.

Repertoire selection plays a crucial role in beginners’ instrumental learning, and music teachers agree that it is a challenging task. However, there is no national music curriculum and the Ontario Arts Curriculum does not provide teachers with specific repertoire-selection guidelines. Research suggests that music educators have numerous suggestions and perspectives relating to repertoire selection, based on informed expert opinions. However, empirical evidence is needed to identify the strategies and determine the individual criteria for repertoire selection. Therefore, this case study investigated inservice teachers’ rationale, strategies, and procedure for selecting instrumental (band) repertoire. Eight music teachers with 6 to 29 years of teaching experience in grade five to eight were selected and interviewed. Their experiences and perspectives were explored to determine their rationale for repertoire choices and identify the challenges and strategies associated with this selection process. The present study found that teachers face numerous challenges with respect to defining the quality and difficulty level of music, and struggle to include multicultural music in their selections. To overcome these challenges and engage their students in the learning process, participants suggested a variety of strategies, such as involving professional networking and sharing, soliciting students’ input, and using multiple sources to procure music.
Contracts for Experimentation

This paper studies contracts that incentivize information acquisition which is costly for an agent and unobservable to a principal. We show that each optimal contract pays a fraction of output, a state-dependent transfer, and a decision-dependent transfer. The fraction of output is increasing in the set of experiments available to the agent, the state-dependent transfer indexes contracts to state-wide differences in output, and the decision-dependent transfer punishes decisions that are likely to make liability limits bind.
Inhaled Lactonase Reduces Pseudomonas aeruginosa Quorum Sensing and Mortality in Rat Pneumonia

Rationale The effectiveness of antibiotic molecules in treating Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia is reduced as a result of the dissemination of bacterial resistance. The existence of bacterial communication systems, such as quorum sensing, has provided new opportunities of treatment. Lactonases efficiently quench acyl-homoserine lactone-based bacterial quorum sensing, implicating these enzymes as potential new anti-Pseudomonas drugs that might be evaluated in pneumonia. Objectives The aim of the present study was to evaluate the ability of a lactonase called SsoPox-I to reduce the mortality of a rat P. aeruginosa pneumonia. Methods To assess SsoPox-I-mediated quorum quenching, we first measured the activity of the virulence gene lasB, the synthesis of pyocianin, the proteolytic activity of a bacterial suspension and the formation of biofilm of a PAO1 strain grown in the presence of lactonase. In an acute lethal model of P. aeruginosa pneumonia in rats, we evaluated the effects of an early or deferred intra-tracheal treatment with SsoPox-I on the mortality, lung bacterial count and lung damage. Measurements and Primary Results SsoPox-I decreased PAO1 lasB virulence gene activity, pyocianin synthesis, proteolytic activity and biofilm formation. The early use of SsoPox-I reduced the mortality of rats with acute pneumonia from 75% to 20%. Histological lung damage was significantly reduced but the lung bacterial count was not modified by the treatment. A delayed treatment was associated with a non-significant reduction of mortality. Conclusion These results demonstrate the protective effects of lactonase SsoPox-I in P. aeruginosa pneumonia and open the way for a future therapeutic use.
The co‐word problem for the Higman‐Thompson group is context‐free

The co‐word problem of a group G generated by a set X is defined as the set of words in X which do not represent 1 in G. We introduce a new method to show that a permutation group has context‐free co‐word problem. This method is used to show that the Higman–Thompson groups, and therefore the Houghton groups, have context‐free co‐word problem. We also give some examples of groups that have an easier co‐word problem. We call this property semi‐deterministic context‐free. The second Houghton group belongs to this class.
A New Approach for the Modification of Paper Surface Properties Using Polyoxometalates

A new approach for the chemical modification of the surface of paper based on the application of colloidal mixtures containing cationic starch and polyoxometalates on uncoated base paper is presented. Polyoxometalates with the Keggin-type structure and physical properties similar to those presented by coating pigments, namely H3PW12O40·23H2O, H4SiW12O40·24H2O, and K7PW11O39·9H2O, have been used in order to improve the quality of inkjet printing. The analysis of the different samples by FTIR-ATR spectroscopy showed the presence of the polyoxometalates (and the cationic starch) on the top surface of the paper. In addition, the determination of surface energy parameters, namely the polar component (σsp) and the dispersive component (σsd) of the surface energy, by contact angle measurements revealed that, for the new samples, the polar component level was much higher than that of the uncoated base paper. The quality of inkjet printing, evaluated by parameters such as the gamut area and the optical density, was considerably improved by these surface treatments.
P3 event-related potential amplitude and the risk for disinhibitory disorders in adolescent boys.

BACKGROUND The children of parents who abuse alcohol typically show reduced amplitude of the P3 event-related potential wave. We determined if this effect was present in a population-based sample of older adolescent boys, whether it was associated with paternal antisocial personality and drug use, and whether it appeared in youth with childhood externalizing and substance use disorders. METHODS A statewide sample of 502 male youth, identified from Minnesota birth records as members of twin pairs, had their P3 amplitude measured, using a visual oddball paradigm when they were approximately 17 years old. Structured clinical interviews covering attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and substance use disorders were administered in person to the youth and his parents at the time of the P3 assessment and again to the youth 3 years later. RESULTS Reduced P3 was associated with disorders and paternal risk for disorders, reflecting a behavioral disinhibition spectrum that included attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, antisocial personality disorder, alcoholism, nicotine dependence, and illicit drug abuse and dependence. Reduced P3 at age 17 predicted the development of substance use disorders at age 20. Most effect sizes associated with these group differences exceeded 0.70, indicating medium to moderately large group differences. Maternal alcoholism and substance use during pregnancy were unrelated to P3 amplitude in offspring. CONCLUSION Small amplitude P3 may indicate genetic risk for a dimension of disinhibiting psychiatric disorders, including childhood externalizing, adult antisocial personality disorder, and substance use disorders.
Can User Choice Alter Experimental Findings in Human–Computer Interaction?: Similarity Attraction Versus Cognitive Dissonance in Social Responses to Synthetic Speech

In this study, the effect of the user choice on social responses to computer-synthesized speech is investigated. Three previous findings about social responses to computer-synthesized speech (i.e., social identification, proximate source orientation, and similarity attraction) were tested using the choice paradigm. Social identification and proximate source orientation effects were found even when users had chosen a computer voice at their discretion. In addition, the primacy effect in the user choice prevailed: Participants were more likely to select whatever voice that they heard first between two options. The similarity attraction effect, however, was negated by the cognitive dissonance effect after user choices. The robustness of social responses, its implications for human–computer interaction, and the importance of the user choice in voice-interface designs are discussed.
Diamond and biology

A summary of photo- and electrochemical surface modifications applied on single-crystalline chemical vapour deposition diamond films is given. The covalently bonded formation of amine and phenyl linker molecular layers is characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), cyclic voltammetry and field-effect transistor characterization experiments. Amine and phenyl layers are very different with respect to formation, growth, thickness and molecular arrangement. We deduce a sub-monolayer of amine linker molecules on diamond with approximately 10% coverage of 1.5×1015 cm−2 carbon bonds. Amine is bonded only on initially H-terminated surface areas. In the case of electrochemical deposition of phenyl layers, multilayer properties are detected with three-dimensional nitrophenyl growth properties. This leads to the formation of typically 25 Å thick layers. The electrochemical bonding to boron-doped diamond works on H-terminated and oxidized surfaces. After reacting such films with heterobifunctional cross-linker molecules, thiol-modified ss-DNA markers are bonded to the organic system. Application of fluorescence and AFM on hybridized DNA films shows dense arrangements with densities up to 1013 cm−2. The DNA is tilted by an angle of approximately 35° with respect to the diamond surface. Shortening the bonding time of thiol-modified ss-DNA to 10 min causes a decrease in DNA density to approximately 1012 cm−2. Application of AFM scratching experiments shows threshold removal forces of approximately 75 and 45 nN for the DNA bonded to the phenyl and the amine linker molecules, respectively. First, DNA sensor applications using Fe(CN6)3−/4− mediator redox molecules and DNA field-effect transistor devices are introduced and discussed.
Forecasting Air Temperatures Using Time Series Models and Neural-based Algorithms

Recently, neural network models have been popular and found useful for forecasting a wide variety of time series data in many disciplines. This is due to their favorable modeling properties of simplicity, fault and noise tolerance and their capability to adapt to process changes. Nevertheless, applications in climatology have been less widespread than other disciplines such as economics. In this study, feed-forward neural-network (FFNN) and autoregression (AR) time series models are used in forecasting the annual air temperature time series data in Jordan. The performance of the two predictors was compared using out-of-sample forecasts. The test period was shifted through the whole available time. As demonstrated by the forecasting experiments, the FFNN models gave better forecasts and were able to identify the dynamics of the temperature time series and gave more realistic forecasts. Both predictors showed a cooling trend in annual air temperatures for the coming 10 years.
Online censorship and digital surveillance: the relationship between suppression technologies and democratization across countries

ABSTRACT Using country- and multi-level analyses, we dissect how internet censorship and surveillance obstruct democratization, providing the first cross-national tests of online surveillance effects. Across 63 countries, online government monitoring is negatively associated with democratization, while internet censorship exhibits no additional effect. We theorize that suppression technologies erode democratic progress by thwarting collective action and examine how they affect individual-level disruptive political participation in a sub-sample of 21 countries. Together, these results suggest the need for greater scrutiny of countries that use suppression technologies. Political implications are discussed.
Social Inequalities and Mortality in Europe – Results from a Large Multi-National Cohort

Background Socio-economic inequalities in mortality are observed at the country level in both North America and Europe. The purpose of this work is to investigate the contribution of specific risk factors to social inequalities in cause-specific mortality using a large multi-country cohort of Europeans. Methods A total of 3,456,689 person/years follow-up of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) was analysed. Educational level of subjects coming from 9 European countries was recorded as proxy for socio-economic status (SES). Cox proportional hazard model's with a step-wise inclusion of explanatory variables were used to explore the association between SES and mortality; a Relative Index of Inequality (RII) was calculated as measure of relative inequality. Results Total mortality among men with the highest education level is reduced by 43% compared to men with the lowest (HR 0.57, 95% C.I. 0.52–0.61); among women by 29% (HR 0.71, 95% C.I. 0.64–0.78). The risk reduction was attenuated by 7% in men and 3% in women by the introduction of smoking and to a lesser extent (2% in men and 3% in women) by introducing body mass index and additional explanatory variables (alcohol consumption, leisure physical activity, fruit and vegetable intake) (3% in men and 5% in women). Social inequalities were highly statistically significant for all causes of death examined in men. In women, social inequalities were less strong, but statistically significant for all causes of death except for cancer-related mortality and injuries. Discussion In this European study, substantial social inequalities in mortality among European men and women which cannot be fully explained away by accounting for known common risk factors for chronic diseases are reported.
Lexical Analysis on Writing Interference of Medical Students

One of the impacts that can be observed on language differences during learning English is interference. Indonesian medical students have problem with writing; what they said did not reflect what they meant to. This descriptive analysis study identified the interference on medical students while doing writing activity in the class. Four students were chosen randomly as the subjects to give their written diagnosis. The analysis was done on basis of lexical interference after categorizing formal error on their writing. The result showed that error distributions were omissions, coinage, claque, misselection, borrowing, misordering and overinclusion, where the most prominent was omission. This problem may happen due to first language, language learning process and the English words themselves. The strategy of writing instruction can be started from vocabulary understanding to minimize writing errors.
The diagnosis and management of mild cognitive impairment: a clinical review.

IMPORTANCE Cognitive decline is a common and feared aspect of aging. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is defined as the symptomatic predementia stage on the continuum of cognitive decline, characterized by objective impairment in cognition that is not severe enough to require help with usual activities of daily living. OBJECTIVE To present evidence on the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of MCI and to provide physicians with an evidence-based framework for caring for older patients with MCI and their caregivers. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION We searched PubMed for English-language articles in peer-reviewed journals and the Cochrane Library database from inception through July 2014. Relevant references from retrieved articles were also evaluated. FINDINGS The prevalence of MCI in adults aged 65 years and older is 10% to 20%; risk increases with age and men appear to be at higher risk than women. In older patients with MCI, clinicians should consider depression, polypharmacy, and uncontrolled cardiovascular risk factors, all of which may increase risk for cognitive impairment and other negative outcomes. Currently, no medications have proven effective for MCI; treatments and interventions should be aimed at reducing cardiovascular risk factors and prevention of stroke. Aerobic exercise, mental activity, and social engagement may help decrease risk of further cognitive decline. Although patients with MCI are at greater risk for developing dementia compared with the general population, there is currently substantial variation in risk estimates (from <5% to 20% annual conversion rates), depending on the population studied. Current research targets improving early detection and treatment of MCI, particularly in patients at high risk for progression to dementia. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Cognitive decline and MCI have important implications for patients and their families and will require that primary care clinicians be skilled in identifying and managing this common disorder as the number of older adults increases in coming decades. Current evidence supports aerobic exercise, mental activity, and cardiovascular risk factor control in patients with MCI.
The Electoral Sweet Spot: Low‐Magnitude Proportional Electoral Systems

Can electoral rules be designed to achieve political ideals such as accurate representation of voter preferences and accountable governments? The academic literature commonly divides electoral systems into two types, majoritarian and proportional, and implies a straightforward trade-off by which having more of an ideal that a majoritarian system provides means giving up an equal measure of what proportional representation (PR) delivers. We posit that these trade-offs are better characterized as nonlinear and that one can gain most of the advantages attributed to PR, while sacrificing less of those attributed to majoritarian elections, by maintaining district magnitudes in the low to moderate range. We test this intuition against data from 609 elections in 81 countries between 1945 and 2006. Electoral systems that use low-magnitude multimember districts produce disproportionality indices almost on par with those of pure PR systems while limiting party system fragmentation and producing simpler government coalitions.
Census Data and its Use in the Study of Residential Inequality

At the time of this writing, it was still unclear whether the citizenship question will be included in the 2020 census. On June 6, civil rights lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union sued the U.S. Department of Commerce to try to stop the U.S. Census Bureau from adding the citizenship question to the 2020 decennial census. This situation is an important reminder of the impact that the U.S. government and larger political system have on our research as urban scholars. Given the lack of clarity on whether the citizenship question will be included on the 2020 census, I would like to focus my response to John Logan’s essay on other important issues that he discusses, particularly as to how they relate to residential inequality, a core area of urban sociology. Logan’s essay focuses on the use of census tracts as proxies for neighborhoods, the reliability of census data, and the value of census data at the aggregate level when merged with individual-level data. The data and the issues that he covers are extremely critical to the study of residential inequality in metropolitan America. My response to his essay focuses on the importance of the use of census tracts and decennial census data, as compared to data from the American Community Survey (ACS), in the study of residential inequality. Then I will focus on two aspects of the 2020 census that are not given as much attention in Logan’s essay-–questions on race and Hispanic origin and new response categories in the relationship question. The two questions on race and Hispanic origin will remain similar to previous decennial censuses, despite the fact that tests have revealed that making Hispanic origin a separate category within the race question and eliminating the Hispanic origin question was shown to yield higher quality data (Porter and Snipp 2018; U.S. Census Bureau 2017a). For the first time in decennial census history, individuals in same-sex relationships will be able to explicitly identify themselves as such through the relationship question on the 2020 census (U.S. Census Bureau 2018). I discuss the implications that the data yielded by these questions will have for the study of residential inequality.
Proteinuria, pancytopenia and hypoxaemic respiratory failure in a 28-year-old female

A previously healthy 28-yr-old Caucasian female presented to the emergency department with a 1-week history of generalised body swelling that was followed by pleuritic chest pain radiating to the patient’s back. She had mild shortness of breath, cough and palpitations, but no fever, chills, nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea. No medications were taken except oral contraceptives. She denied any history of tobacco or alcohol use, recent travel or sick contacts. The patient’s vital signs were as follows: 1) blood pressure 135/94 mmHg; 2) body temperature 39.4°C; 3) respiratory rate 16 breaths·min-1; 4) pulse 105 beats·min-1; and 5) oxygen saturation 95%, while breathing room air. Her physical examination was remarkable for decreased breath sounds diffuse with minimal crackles, as well as facial swelling and pitting oedema of the lower extremities. Pertinent laboratory results of the blood tests performed on admission are shown in table 1⇓. View this table: Table 1— Laboratory results of the blood tests After significant respiratory distress, requiring noninvasive positive pressure ventilation, the patient was admitted to the intensive care unit and was started empirically on i.v. ceftriaxone, azithromycin and furosamide. Over the next few days, she remained febrile with worsening hypoxaemia. Her white blood cell count dropped to 2.2×109 cells·L-1 with a haemoglobin level of 90 g·L-1 and platelet count of 82×109 cells·L-1. …