Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of Social Networking Sites Among Shinas College of Technology Students in Oman

Introduction: Social networking sites (SNSs) have become a popular method for students to share information and knowledge and to express emotions. They enable students to exchange video files, text messages, pictures and knowledge sharing. They provide an opportunity for students to improve social networking and learning processes, which promotes knowledge in society.Purposes: This paper intends to address the factors motivating students at colleges to use SNSs, to identify the factors that motivate them in using SNSs for educational purposes and to identify the most popular SNSs among students.Design/Methodology: The study uses a questionnaire in order to discover the reasons behind the use of SNSs by students at Shinas College of Technology (ShCT) in Oman.Findings: The study found that the major reasons for frequent use of SNSs are finding information and sharing news. The study also indicated that lack of experience as well as insufficient time and IT skills are effective factors of not using SNSs. Finally, the study discovered that Google Groups, Facebook and Yahoo! 360 are the most popular SNSs used by SHCT students.Research Limitation: The study was limited to ShCT students, which is considered a small community, and the focus group was relatively small. A larger focus group in a different environment may possibly yield different results. Additionally, the list of SNSs listed in the questionnaire was based on previous studies discussed in the literature review.Originality/value: This research will be valuable for those interested in the subject of social networks and e-learning. In this area, there is a dearth of research on reasons for student use of SNSs in Oman, giving this particular research great importance to understanding the way that students interact with SNSs.
Genus-Specific Substitution Rate Variability among Picornaviruses

ABSTRACT Picornaviruses have some of the highest nucleotide substitution rates among viruses, but there have been no comparisons of evolutionary rates within this broad family. We combined our own Bayesian coalescent analyses of VP1 regions from four picornaviruses with 22 published VP1 rates to produce the first within-family meta-analysis of viral evolutionary rates. Similarly, we compared our rate estimates for the RNA polymerase 3Dpol gene from five viruses to four published 3Dpol rates. Both a structural and a nonstructural gene show that enteroviruses are evolving, on average, a half order of magnitude faster than members of other genera within the Picornaviridae family.
Characterization of the roles of Blt1p in fission yeast cytokinesis

Initiation of ring constriction and completion of cell division are delayed in blt1Δ cells because contractile rings recruit and retain less Sid2p and Mob1p. This results in slower, reduced accumulation of Clp1p phosphatase and β-glucan synthase Bgs1p at the cleavage furrow, delaying the onset of ring constriction and completion of cell division.
Flux accentuation and improved rejection in graphene-based filtration membranes produced by capillary-force-assisted self-assembly

Separation and flux performance were compared in graphene-based membranes that differed only in the method of deposition of reduced graphene oxide platelets. Membranes with higher degree of order were produced by evaporation-induced capillary-force self-assembly, which showed higher steric rejection properties while simultaneously accentuating water permeance compared to membranes produced by the traditional vacuum filtration technique. These studies attempt to establish structure–property correlations in graphene-based membranes.
An observational clinic-based study of diarrheal illness in deployed United States military personnel in Thailand: presentation and outcome of Campylobacter infection.

Campylobacter is a leading cause of traveler's diarrhea in Thailand. Since resistance to quinolones is high among Campylobacter isolates, empiric therapy with quinolones for traveler's diarrhea may be ineffective in this region. We conducted an observational study among 169 U.S. military personnel with acute diarrhea and compared their microbiologic findings to those of 77 asymptomatic personnel deployed to Thailand in May 1998. Of 146 pathogenic bacterial isolates, the most common were nontyphoidal Salmonella (n = 31), enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (n = 24), and C. jejuni/coli (n = 23). Campylobacter was strongly associated with disease (odds ratio = 5.9; 95% confidence interval = 1.3-37.3), with a more severe clinical presentation, and with a reduced functional ability at presentation (P = 0.02). In vitro resistance to ciprofloxacin was observed in 96% of the Campylobacter isolates. Sub-optimal treatment response to ciprofloxacin was observed in 17% of the cases of Campylobacter infection versus 6% due to other causes. These results highlight the importance of Campylobacter as a cause of severe traveler's diarrhea in Thailand and illustrates the ongoing problem with antibiotic-resistant strains and associated treatment problems.
Long-term Relative Survival after Diagnosis of Testicular Germ Cell Tumor

Background: Long-term relative survival (RS) data for testicular germ cell tumor (TGCT) patients are scarce. We aimed to analyze long-term RS among TGCT patients diagnosed in Norway, between 1953 and 2012. Methods: Data sources were the Cancer Registry of Norway and the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry. TGCT patients diagnosed during 1953 to 2012 were classified by time of diagnosis, histology, age, and disease extent at diagnosis. Estimates for RS were obtained, and a test comparing overall RS was performed. Corresponding data were obtained for men diagnosed with localized malignant melanoma before age 50. Results: A total of 8,736 TGCT patients were included. RS generally continued to decline with increasing follow-up time, particularly beyond 15 to 30 years, unlike in localized malignant melanoma. Although RS was generally higher for seminomas, the continuing decline was more pronounced than for nonseminomas, even when diagnosed with localized disease. TGCT patients diagnosed before 1980 or after age 40 had lower RS. Conclusions: Although TGCT RS has improved in recent decades, it continues to decline even beyond 30 years of follow-up, regardless of disease extent at diagnosis. The main cause is probably treatment-induced late effects, particularly affecting seminoma patients. The continued use of adjuvant radiotherapy in seminomas until year 2000 is suspected as a culprit. Impact: Long-term TGCT survivors should be closely monitored for the development of late comorbidity. The challenge is to reduce negative consequences of previous and current TGCT treatment on RS while maintaining the excellent cure rates. Further research on causes of long-term morbidity and mortality among TGCT survivors is warranted. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 25(5); 773–9. ©2016 AACR.
Gender and sexual orientation: Why the different age preferences?

marriages men with higher occupational status actually marry women who are independently judged to be more physically attractive (Elder 1969; Taylor & Glenn 1976; Udry & Eckland 1984). Taken together, the results suggest that people high in "mate value" actually shift their preferences so they are more exacting on precisely the dimensions that are typically desired by members of their sex (Buss 1994; Symons 1979). That is, since it is known that men universally desire women who are young and physically attractive and women universally desire men who possess status and resources (Buss 1989; Kenrick & Keefe 1992), those men who have the qualities that women desire increase their standards for these preferred attributes and actually succeed in fulfilling their desires. The findings on marriages between attractive women and resourceful men suggest that women who have what men want are best able to fulfill their desires for high-status men. A clear next step in this line of research is to study whether women who vary in mate value evaluate their standards and shift accordingly to be more exacting about their sex-typical desires. The empirical predictions are straightforward. Identifying psychological mechanisms of this sort mechanisms that assess one's own qualities (undoubtedly through social input from potential mates and from surrounding intrasexual competitors) and then calibrate one's desires accordingly would help explain individual differences in mate preferences and mating strategies. I take issue, however, with Waller's implication that such "proximal mechanisms . lie outside the purview of evolutionary consideration. " The term "proximate mechanisms" is misleading because it implies that there is another set of mechanisms ("ultimate mechanisms"? ). This distinction does not make sense to me. Neither humans nor any other species has two sets of mechanisms, one proximate and the other ultimate. Rather, the key issues from an evolutionary perspective are: (1) what is the nature of the mechanisms humans possess? and (2) what causal process produced those mechanisms (i.e., what selective process accounts for a particular adaptive solution). Since evolution by selection is the only known causal process powerful enough to produce complex organic mechanisms (be they physiological, neurological, anatomical, or psychological), I am at a loss as to how to consider mechanisms "outside the purview of evolutionary consideration' (unless, perhaps, one is invoking "incidental byproducts" or "random effects"; if the former, then it is incumbent upon the theorist to delineate the adaptation of which the mechanism under study is a byproduct; if randomness is invoked, it is unlikely to show qualities characteristic of adaptation, such as complexity, precision, efficiency, and reliability). If Waller is not invoking creationism or divine intervention as the source of these mechanisms, it is not clear what other causal process he is implying for the origins of our psychological mechanisms.
Effects of Informing Learners About the Dangers of Making Overconfident Judgments of Learning

Learners often insufficiently monitor their comprehension, which results in overconfident judgments of learning and underachievement. In the 3 present experiments, we investigated whether insufficient comprehension monitoring is due in part to the fact that learners are not sufficiently aware of the benefit of comprehension monitoring and thus scarcely engage in this process. As an intervention, we informed learners about the likely negative consequences of failing to monitor their comprehension. Specifically, we informed them about the high frequency of and the detrimental consequences that result from making overconfident judgments of learning. In Experiment 1 we found that for university students, this intervention increased their engagement in comprehension monitoring, led to more cautious judgments of learning, and fostered the acquisition of conceptual knowledge in a subsequent learning phase in which they received instructional explanations relating to a new topic. By contrast, this intervention was less beneficial for 13- to 15-year-old high school students: Although the intervention increased their comprehension monitoring and led to more cautious judgments of learning, it did not foster the acquisition of conceptual knowledge from the subsequent explanations (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, we varied whether 13- to 15-year-old high school students received (a) information about the frequency of and the detrimental consequences that result from making overconfident judgments of learning and (b) information about effective regulation strategies. The results of this experiment suggest that the limited beneficial effect found in Experiment 2 could be attributed to a lack of knowledge regarding effective regulation strategies for this age group.
A graphical sensitivity analysis for clinical trials with non‐ignorable missing binary outcome

Many clinical trials are analysed using an intention‐to‐treat (ITT) approach. A full application of the ITT approach is only possible when complete outcome data are available for all randomized subjects. In a recent survey of clinical trial reports including an ITT analysis, complete case analysis (excluding all patients with a missing response) was common. This does not comply with the basic principles of ITT since not all randomized subjects are included in the analysis. Analyses of data with missing values are based on untestable assumptions, and so sensitivity analysis presenting a range of estimates under alternative assumptions about the missing‐data mechanism is recommended. For binary outcome, extreme case analysis has been suggested as a simple form of sensitivity analysis, but this is rarely conclusive. A graphical sensitivity analysis is proposed which displays the results of all possible allocations of cases with missing binary outcome. Extension to allow binomial variation in outcome is also considered. The display is based on easily interpretable parameters and allows informal examination of the effects of varying prior beliefs. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Computed tomographic screening for lung cancer.

International Early lung Cancer action Program Investigators; Henschke CI, Yankelevitz DF, libby DM, Pastmantier MW, smith JP, Miettinen os. survival of patients with stage I lung cancer detected on Ct screening. N Engl J Med 2006;355(17):1763–71. Can annual spiral computed tomographic (CT)
Methodological Issues in Assessing the Incidence of Peritoneal Dialysis-Associated Peritonitis in Children

♦ Objectives To evaluate the distribution of peritonitis incidence and assess the usefulness of patient-specific peritonitis rates in children. ♦ Design 49 children on automated peritoneal dialysis (PD) followed during a 2-year observation period. ♦ Setting Single-center, academic children's hospital. ♦ Patients 49 children aged 2 months to 18 years; 24 prevalent, 25 incident during the observation period. Cumulative observation time was 639 patient-months. ♦ Main Outcome Measures Cohort-specific peritonitis incidence, median patient-specific peritonitis incidence, mean peritonitis incidence by gamma-Poisson (negative binomial) modeling, peritonitis-free survival by Kaplan–Meier life-table analysis. ♦ Results 68 new peritonitis episodes and 21 relapses occurred in 27 patients. The distribution of patient-specific peritonitis incidence was bimodal, with a large group experiencing no or very few episodes, and another cluster around 1 episode per 6 – 9 months. Overall cohort-specific peritonitis incidence was 1.28, median subject-specific incidence 0.99, and mean incidence according to negative binomial modeling 1.04 (95% confidence interval 1.02 – 1.06) episodes per patient-year. Median peritonitis-free survival time was 6.9 months. In those patients who developed peritonitis, subject-specific peritonitis incidence was inversely correlated with patient age (r = –0.42, p < 0.05) and duration of chronic PD at last observation (r = –0.42, p < 0.05). ♦ Conclusions Since the distribution of peritonitis in children is non-Gaussian, the average risk of peritonitis is more accurately expressed by the median of the individual subject-specific peritonitis rates or by the mean incidence estimate obtained by the negative binomial distribution model. The assignment of a personal peritonitis risk to each patient permits risk factor analysis by routine statistical methods, even in smaller populations.
The Working Alliance in Clients' Eyes:A Qualitative Analysis

The working alliance has been a focus of psychotherapy research for several decades in the western literature.Although theorists differ somewhat in their conceptualizations of the alliance,most of them agree that the core of this construct is the collaboration between therapist and client that emphasizes the contributions of both participants.Most of our knowledge in this field derives from theorists' hypotheses,and clients' perspective is often neglected.In fact,it was often assumed that clients use the same conceptual dimensions as therapists do to rate the collaborative processes in psychotherapy.This assumption,however,has been challenged by reported low correlation between client-therapist alliance ratings and by results of qualitative studies that show divergence between clients' and therapists' perspectives.Moreover,the literature regarding clients' actual experiences of the alliance is sparse.In an attempt to examine clients' perspectives in viewing working alliance and the cultural adaptability of western alliance theories to Chinese culture,the present study sought to delineate the alliance from Chinese clients' perspective via a qualitative approach and addressed the concordance between clients' perceptions and theoretician-derived views of the alliance.Twenty clients at a university counseling center consented to participate in the study.Clients were interviewed by phone about their experiences of being collaborative with their therapists and their opinions about what is important to this collaborative process in counseling.Data were analyzed by a research team using Consensual Qualitative Research(CQR)(Hill et al.,2005;Hill,Thompson, Williams,1997). CQR requires that research team members reach consensus about the classification and the meaning of data through three steps,namely,domain coding,core ideas,and cross subject analysis.Six domains with regard to the collaborative process in counseling emerged from the data:bond,task,engagement,collaboration pattern,development,and influencing factors.Bond is the emotional and personal aspect of the client-therapist relationship,which serves as the emotional base for collaborative work.Task refers to the activities and things client and therapist need to do during the collaborative process,which is the content of the collaborative work.Engagement implies the degree to which client and therapist devote themselves to the process,lending an impetus to the collaboration.These three domains can be viewed as components of working alliance and the other three as descriptions of major features of the alliance.The study results suggest that the working alliance is perceived by Chinese clients to include bond,task,and engagement.This finding is comparable to current theories of alliance in the western literature and advances conceptualizations of the alliance especially when culture differences are concerned.
Sitagliptin attenuates metformin-mediated AMPK phosphorylation through inhibition of organic cation transporters

To assess potential interactions between sitagliptin and metformin, we sought to characterize the in vitro inhibitory potency of sitagliptin on the uptake of MPP+ and metformin, representative substrates for OCTs, and to evaluate the pharmacological pathways that may be affected by the combination of metformin and sitagliptin. Among the OATs and OCTs screened, OAT3-mediated salicylate uptake and OCT1- and OCT2-mediated MPP+ uptake were inhibited by sitagliptin. The Ki values of sitagliptin for OCT1- and OCT2-mediated metformin uptake were 34.9 and 40.8 μM, respectively. As OCT1 is the gate protein for metformin action in the liver, we investigated whether sitagliptin-mediated OCT1 inhibition affected metformin-induced activation of AMPK signalling. Treatment with sitagliptin in MDCK-OCT1 and HepG2 cells resulted in a reduced level of phosphorylated AMPK, with Ki values of 38.8 and 43.3 μM, respectively. These results suggest that the inhibitory potential of sitagliptin on OCT1 may attenuate the first step of metformin action, that is, the phosphorylation of AMPK. Nevertheless, the likelihood of a drug–drug interaction between sitagliptin and metformin is believed to be remote in usual clinical setting.
Accuracy for optical diagnosis of colorectal polyps in clinical practice.

BACKGROUND Optical diagnostic involves predicting polyp histopathology from its endoscopic characteristics. It is only recommended for diminutive polyps ( < or = 5 mm) and for predictions made with high confidence. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the accuracy of optical imaging in clinical practice and to assess if optical diagnosis is useful for predicting future colonoscopy surveillance intervals without waiting for histopathological analysis. METHODS consecutive > 18 years patients were enrolled in this prospective study. Colonoscopies were performed by five expert endoscopists who previously participated in an ex-vivo training. Colonoscopes CF-H180AL and CF-Q180AL were used together with Exera II (Olympus Medical System, Tokyo, Japan) processors. Each polyp was characterized in real time using white light and Narrow Band Imaging. Accuracy of optical diagnosis (S, E, NPV, PPV) and correlation between surveillance interval based on optical diagnosis and histopathological analysis were calculated. RESULTS 311 colon polyps < 10 mm (216 diminutive) in 195 patients were analyzed. Accuracy of optical diagnostics for predictions made with high confidence: Diminutive polyps(sensitivity 0.59, specificity 0.92, NPV 0.48); polyps < 10 mm (sensitivity 0.73, specificity 0.88, NPV 0.50). An optical diagnosis based surveillance recommendation was given to 90 patients. Concordance with histopathology based recommendation was 92.2% according to the European guideline and 93.3% according to the ESGE guideline. CONCLUSIONS Optical diagnostics can be used to predict future surveillance intervals immediately after colonoscopy. However, in this study, based on clinical practice, the accuracy of optical imaging is below the recommended standards.
The Direct and Indirect Effects of Knowledge-worker's Perceived Organizational Support to Their Job Performance

This paper investigated 512 knowledge-workers' perceived organizational support and job performance in order to explore and test the different comparative model of direct and indirect effects about the effects of Perceived Organizational Support to job performance.The results indicated that job satisfaction and affective commitment have the effect of mediation in the relationship of perceived organizational support and job performance,however the direct effects of perceived organizational support were much greater than the indirect effects.Comments and application have also been discussed in the paper.
Neural mechanisms underlying semantic and orthographic processing in Chinese –English bilinguals

Brain activation underlying language processing in Chinese–English bilinguals was examined using fMRI in an orthographic search and a semantic classification task. In both tasks, brain areas activated by Chinese characters and English words were very similar to tasks examining Chinese reading using Chinese pinyin (an alphabetic Chinese script) and Chinese characters. However, the degree of later-alization was different, with English words (second language) causing much more right hemisphere activation than Chinese characters (native language). These differences support the hypothesis that second language usage causes more right hemisphere activation than native language usage.