Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparisons of In vitro Nitrate Reduction, Methanogenesis, and Fermentation Acid Profile among Rumen Bacterial, Protozoal and Fungal Fractions

The objectives were to compare the ability of various rumen microbial fractions to reduce nitrate and to assess the effect of nitrate on in vitro fermentation characteristics. Physical and chemical methods were used to differentiate the rumen microbial population into the following fractions: whole rumen fluid (WRF), protozoa (Pr), bacteria (Ba), and fungi (Fu). The three nitrogen substrate treatments were as follows: no supplemental nitrogen source, nitrate or urea, with the latter two being isonitrogenous additions. The results showed that during 24 h incubation, WRF, Pr and Ba fractions had an ability to reduce nitrate, and the rate of nitrate disappearance for the Pr fraction was similar to the WRF fraction, while the Ba fraction needed an adaptation period of 12 h before rapid nitrate disappearance. The WRF fraction had the greatest methane () production and the Pr fraction had the greatest prevailing concentration (p production during incubation (p-N) concentration (p production by all microbial fractions.
Identifying the What, Why, and How of an Observed Action: An fMRI Study of Mentalizing and Mechanizing during Action Observation

Humans commonly understand the unobservable mental states of others by observing their actions. Embodied simulation theories suggest that this ability may be based in areas of the fronto-parietal mirror neuron system, yet neuroimaging studies that explicitly investigate the human ability to draw mental state inferences point to the involvement of a “mentalizing” system consisting of regions that do not overlap with the mirror neuron system. For the present study, we developed a novel action identification paradigm that allowed us to explicitly investigate the neural bases of mentalizing observed actions. Across repeated viewings of a set of ecologically valid video clips of ordinary human actions, we manipulated the extent to which participants identified the unobservable mental states of the actor (mentalizing) or the observable mechanics of their behavior (mechanizing). Although areas of the mirror neuron system did show an enhanced response during action identification, its activity was not significantly modulated by the extent to which the observers identified mental states. Instead, several regions of the mentalizing system, including dorsal and ventral aspects of medial pFC, posterior cingulate cortex, and temporal poles, were associated with mentalizing actions, whereas a single region in left lateral occipito-temporal cortex was associated with mechanizing actions. These data suggest that embodied simulation is insufficient to account for the sophisticated mentalizing that human beings are capable of while observing another and that a different system along the cortical midline and in anterior temporal cortex is involved in mentalizing an observed action.
Single-disk antibiotic-sensitivity testing of staphylococci; an analysis of technique and results.

With the increasing number of antibiotics available and useful for the treatment of infectious diseases, the development of accurate and simple methods to determine the antibiotic susceptibility of micro-organisms is of increasing importance. The most widely used method at present is the paper-disk sensitivity test. The more cumbersome tube-dilution technique is valuable in special instances in which bactericidal as well as bacteriostatic end-points are needed. Other procedures, such as the plate-dilution, agarwell-diffusion, or ditch-diffusion technique, are more difficult, offer no advantages for routine use, and have been more or less abandoned. In spite of its widespread use there exists considerable variability in the performance of the disk technique, leading to a large number of confusing reports in the literature. There are two methods of performing and interpreting the test. In the first, two or three disks containing different concentrations are used for each antibiotic. The presence or absence of a
Human Actions Analysis: Templates Generation, Matching and Visualization Applied to Motion Capture of Highly-Skilled Karate Athletes

The aim of this paper is to propose and evaluate the novel method of template generation, matching, comparing and visualization applied to motion capture (kinematic) analysis. To evaluate our approach, we have used motion capture recordings (MoCap) of two highly-skilled black belt karate athletes consisting of 560 recordings of various karate techniques acquired with wearable sensors. We have evaluated the quality of generated templates; we have validated the matching algorithm that calculates similarities and differences between various MoCap data; and we have examined visualizations of important differences and similarities between MoCap data. We have concluded that our algorithms works the best when we are dealing with relatively short (2–4 s) actions that might be averaged and aligned with the dynamic time warping framework. In practice, the methodology is designed to optimize the performance of some full body techniques performed in various sport disciplines, for example combat sports and martial arts. We can also use this approach to generate templates or to compare the correct performance of techniques between various top sportsmen in order to generate a knowledge base of reference MoCap videos. The motion template generated by our method can be used for action recognition purposes. We have used the DTW classifier with angle-based features to classify various karate kicks. We have performed leave-one-out action recognition for the Shorin-ryu and Oyama karate master separately. In this case, 100% actions were correctly classified. In another experiment, we used templates generated from Oyama master recordings to classify Shorin-ryu master recordings and vice versa. In this experiment, the overall recognition rate was 94.2%, which is a very good result for this type of complex action.
Methods used to teach social work students in the field: A research report from New Zealand

This article reports the findings of research conducted in three schools of social work in New Zealand on 'methods' used to teach social work students in the field. Students were polled before the first placement ( N = 80) to find how 'effective' they rated a range of teaching methods. This was followed up by a post-placement student survey ( N = 77) to ascertain the extent to which these same methods were employed by field educators. Pre- and post-placement student results were compared with the effectiveness ratings that field educators ( N = 130) gave to each method. Field educator and student pre-placement ratings listed most methods as being effective or very effective. Post-placement student survey results suggest consistent incongruity between the effectiveness ratings given to each 'method' by field educators, and the degree to which field educators actually utilised the methods with students during the field placement. Students report that methods enabling the direct observation of their practice were amongst those least used in the field.
Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) Scores of Lower-Socioeconomic African American and Latino Methadone Maintenance Patients

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) was administered to 229 lower-socioeconomic, methadone maintenance (MM) patients. Valid profiles were obtained from 160 subjects (70%). These indicated that the psychometric characteristics of the PAI were similar to those for the original standardization samples, except that internal consistency for the drug scale and three of seven nonclinical scales were only marginal. Comparisons of the PAI data with data obtained from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule and the Addiction Severity Index generally provided support for concurrent validity. The group's scores were found to differ significantly from those of a normative standardization sample on all scales, from those of a clinical standardization sample on a number of scales, and from a sample of drug dependent patients on just several scales. Few differences were found between the men and women MM subjects. On the other hand, Latino subjects, particularly the men, reported more symptomatology than African Americans.
Nearly-Isotonic Regression

We consider the problem of approximating a sequence of data points with a “nearly-isotonic,” or nearly-monotone function. This is formulated as a convex optimization problem that yields a family of solutions, with one extreme member being the standard isotonic regression fit. We devise a simple algorithm to solve for the path of solutions, which can be viewed as a modified version of the well-known pool adjacent violators algorithm, and computes the entire path in O(n log n) operations (n being the number of data points). In practice, the intermediate fits can be used to examine the assumption of monotonicity. Nearly-isotonic regression admits a nice property in terms of its degrees of freedom: at any point along the path, the number of joined pieces in the solution is an unbiased estimate of its degrees of freedom. We also extend the ideas to provide “nearly-convex” approximations.
Delivery of the Sox9 gene promotes chondrogenic differentiation of human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells in an in vitro model

SRY-related high-mobility-group box 9 (Sox9) gene is a cartilage-specific transcription factor that plays essential roles in chondrocyte differentiation and cartilage formation. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of genetic delivery of Sox9 to enhance chondrogenic differentiation of human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs). After they were isolated from human umbilical cord blood within 24 h after delivery of neonates, hUC-MSCs were untreated or transfected with a human Sox9-expressing plasmid or an empty vector. The cells were assessed for morphology and chondrogenic differentiation. The isolated cells with a fibroblast-like morphology in monolayer culture were positive for the MSC markers CD44, CD105, CD73, and CD90, but negative for the differentiation markers CD34, CD45, CD19, CD14, or major histocompatibility complex class II. Sox9 overexpression induced accumulation of sulfated proteoglycans, without altering the cellular morphology. Immunocytochemistry demonstrated that genetic delivery of Sox9 markedly enhanced the expression of aggrecan and type II collagen in hUC-MSCs compared with empty vector-transfected counterparts. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis further confirmed the elevation of aggrecan and type II collagen at the mRNA level in Sox9-transfected cells. Taken together, short-term Sox9 overexpression facilitates chondrogenesis of hUC-MSCs and may thus have potential implications in cartilage tissue engineering.
Multilevel analyses of organizational change and working conditions in public and private sector

The aim was to investigate organizational impact on working conditions and to explore the associations between sector, different types of organizational change, and working conditions. A strategic selection was made of representative staff members from 72 work sites. Data pertaining to organizational factors were collected from managers, and to working conditions from employees. Multilevel analyses were performed, with 10 aspects of self-reported and expert assessed psychosocial and ergonomic/physical working conditions as the dependent variables, and patterns of organizational change and sector as the explanatory variables. The results showed that the variance in working conditions was significantly attributed to organizational level (16 – 65% of the variance), and that both the pattern of change and the sector were important. Organizations that had not undergone change provided the best work conditions. The “standardizing” and “market-adjusting” patterns of change had deleterious effects, while the “lean” and “centralizing” patterns led to dual outcomes. Organizational change was perceived as having more negative consequences in the public sector than in the private sector. The results indicate that organizational change contributes to increased differentiation of working conditions, as different types of changes congregate in specific areas of the labour market and affect groups of employees differently.
Volunteer client attachment moderates the relationship between trainee therapist attachment and therapist interventions

Abstract This study explored the association between attachment security of therapists (alone and in interaction with clients' attachment) and therapist interventions in early sessions of short-term psychotherapy. Trainee therapists and volunteer clients (N=24) in short-term therapy completed the Experiences in Close Relationship Scale (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998) as a measure of adult romantic attachment orientations. Therapist interventions were identified and related to client and therapist attachment orientation. Results indicated that in early therapy sessions client attachment moderated the relationship between therapist attachment and therapist interventions. Specifically, avoidantly attached therapists intervened with more directive interventions when clients were high in attachment avoidance.
Does physical exercise reduce anxious emotions ? A meta-analysis

Abstract Habitual physical exercise is almost universally accepted as being a protective behavior for physical and mental health. Despite the heterogeneity of research results, reviewers conclude, that mental health benefits of physical activity include reductions in state and trait anxiety. These effects are believed to be independent of age, gender and further personal and situational characteristics. To clarify the inconsistent results a meta-analysis was conducted. Twenty studies published between 1980 and 1990 were found that provided 22 independent effect-sizes based on 1,306 subjects. Using the Schmidt-Hunter-procedure, a population effect-size of rw = − . 15 resulted. This coefficient is comparatively small and not significantly different from zero. According to various tests the data set has to be considered as heterogeneous. Subsequent meta-analyses aimed at identifying possible moderators such as age, sex, etc. There is evidence for a marginal anxiolytic effect of physical exercise in middle-age.
Test review: GEPT: General English Proficiency Test

Length and administration: Test duration ranges from 1 hour 45 minutes at the Elementary level to 3 hours 50 minutes at the Superior level. All four levels below superior (Elementary, Intermediate, HighIntermediate, Advanced) are administered in two stages, with receptive skills tested first, and productive skills only assessed if test takers pass the receptive part.1 Tests for the three lower levels are administered twice a year, the Advanced level is tested once a year, and the Superior level is only tested on request by a sponsoring institution. The Elementary and Intermediate levels are administered at 18 locations throughout Taiwan, the High-Intermediate level in eight locations, and the Advanced level in two locations (Taipei only for the second stage).
Syntactic Simplification for Improving Content Selection in Multi-Document Summarization

In this paper, we explore the use of automatic syntactic simplification for improving content selection in multi-document summarization. In particular, we show how simplifying parentheticals by removing relative clauses and appositives results in improved sentence clustering, by forcing clustering based on central rather than background information. We argue that the inclusion of parenthetical information in a summary is a reference-generation task rather than a content-selection one, and implement a baseline reference rewriting module. We perform our evaluations on the test sets from the 2003 and 2004 Document Understanding Conference and report that simplifying parentheticals results in significant improvement on the automated evaluation metric Rouge.
Lexical influences on single word repetition in acquired spoken output impairment: A cross language comparison

Background: Among the many factors that may affect speech production, phonological neighbourhood density (ND) and phonotactic probability (PROB) have displayed effects on speech and language performance in healthy speakers. What is not clear is if they show an effect in impaired speech output after stroke and if they do, whether this effect is facilitatory or inhibitory. Aims: To determine whether ND and/or PROB play a role in speech production accuracy in acquired output impairment after stroke. To compare the performance of English vs German speakers on a matched set of words in order to tease out language‐specific and language‐independent factors affecting impaired speech output. Methods & Procedures: Seven English and seven German native speakers with acquired output impairment after stroke repeated in their respective languages 509 real words that are (near) homophones across German and English (e.g., leader–Lieder; vine–Wein). Responses were transcribed phonetically and scored as correct or incorrect. Results & Outcomes: There was a small correlation between accuracy on near‐homophones between English and German speakers (r = .201; p < .001). Correlating accuracy for speakers combined across both languages with language‐independent factors (i.e., number of phonemes, syllables, clusters) showed significant independent effects of number of phonemes and clusters in the target, but multiple regressions did not show an effect of number of syllables. Within‐language correspondence was greater than between‐language correspondence (9.4% vs 4%; p < .00001). Correlating differences in accuracy in English/German with differences in language‐specific factors (i.e., word and syllable frequency, PROB, ND) multiple regression displayed a significant independent effect of the target's word frequency but not of the target's ND, PROB, or syllable frequency. Conclusions: The small but significant correlation between accuracy on (near) homophones for English and German speakers suggests there are language‐independent determinants of production accuracy, whereas greater within‐language correspondence indicates language‐specific determinants of performance. Only word frequency appears to have a significant (facilitatory) effect on response accuracy. Neither ND nor PROB had a significant effect on response accuracy in this study. The results are discussed in light of theoretical and methodological issues within the study.
A case study of beginning science teachers’ subject matter (SMK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of teaching chemical reaction in Turkey

This paper describes a case study focusing on the subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and beliefs about science teaching of student teachers in Turkey at the start of their university education. The topic of interest was that of teaching chemical reactions in secondary chemistry education. A written test was developed which used the research literature on potential student misconceptions with regard to different aspects of chemical reactions. Thirty beginning science student teachers were tested, with an additional eight interviews from the student teachers in the same sample. The interviews focused on student teachers’ views about how to best teach chemical reactions in lower secondary chemistry classes. The results revealed deficits in the subject matter knowledge of the student teachers. It also became obvious that the teachers in this sample held very traditional and teacher-centred beliefs when it came to chemistry teaching at the secondary level. Their teaching attitudes were geared mainly towards the acquisition of facts by pupils, and often ignored the development of process-oriented skills. Implications for science teacher education are discussed.
Cardiac Perception Enhances Stress Experience

In the present study we aimed to investigate the impact of the ability to perceive bodily changes as indexed by the perception of one’s heartbeat (cardiac perception) on emotional experience when being confronted with a mental stressor. To induce stress, participants high and low in cardiac perception performed a computerized mental arithmetic test while listening to a white noise increasing in volume. Emotional experience and heart rate were assessed as indices of stress response. Our results show that participants high in cardiac perception reported more negative emotions during the stress period compared to participants low in cardiac perception, though heart rate did not differ between the groups. Our findings suggest that cardiac perception moderates the stress experience by enhancing the perceived emotion. Thus we were able to demonstrate that cardiac perception contributes as a factor explaining the variance in individuals’ emotional response to a stressor.
Rating Protocol Design for Extortion and Cooperation in the Crowdsourcing Contest Dilemma

Crowdsourcing has emerged as a paradigm for leveraging human intelligence and activity to solve a wide range of tasks. However, strategic workers will find enticement in their self-interest to free-ride and attack in a crowdsourcing contest dilemma game. Hence, incentive mechanisms are of great importance to overcome the inefficiency of the socially undesirable equilibrium. Existing incentive mechanisms are not effective in providing incentives for cooperation in crowdsourcing competitions due to the following features: heterogeneous workers compete against each other in a crowdsourcing platform with imperfect monitoring. In this paper, we take these features into consideration, and develop a novel game-theoretic design of rating protocols, which integrates binary rating labels with differential pricing to maximize the requester's utility, by extorting selfish workers and enforcing cooperation among them. By quantifying necessary and sufficient conditions for the sustainable social norm, we formulate the problem of maximizing the revenue of the requester among all sustainable rating protocols, provide design guidelines for optimal rating protocols, and design a low-complexity algorithm to select optimal design parameters which are related to differential punishments and pricing schemes. Simulation results demonstrate how intrinsic parameters impact on design parameters, as well as the performance gain of the proposed rating protocol.
Real-time bus arrival information system-an empirical evaluation

Waiting time uncertainty is one of the main determinants of public transport reliability and overall level-of-service. The dissemination of real-time information concerning vehicle arrivals is often considered an important measure to reduce unreliability. Moreover, the prediction of downstream vehicle trajectories could also benefit real-time control strategies. In order to adequately analyze the performance of real-time bus arrival information system, the generated predictions have to be compared against empirical bus arrival data. A conventional real-world bus arrival prediction scheme is formulated and applied on the trunk lines network in Stockholm. This scheme was found to systematically underestimate the remaining waiting time by 6.2% on average. Prediction error accuracy and reliability varies considerably over time periods, along the route and as a function of the prognosis horizon. The difference between passengers' waiting time expectations derived from the timetable and real-time information is equivalent to 30% of the average waiting time.