Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Dominance Concept Inventory: A Tool for Assessing Undergraduate Student Alternative Conceptions about Dominance in Mendelian and Population Genetics

Despite the impact of genetics on daily life, biology undergraduates understand some key genetics concepts poorly. One concept requiring attention is dominance, which many students understand as a fixed property of an allele or trait and regularly conflate with frequency in a population or selective advantage. We present the Dominance Concept Inventory (DCI), an instrument to gather data on selected alternative conceptions about dominance. During development of the 16-item test, we used expert surveys (n = 12), student interviews (n = 42), and field tests (n = 1763) from introductory and advanced biology undergraduates at public and private, majority- and minority-serving, 2- and 4-yr institutions in the United States. In the final field test across all subject populations (n = 709), item difficulty ranged from 0.08 to 0.84 (0.51 ± 0.049 SEM), while item discrimination ranged from 0.11 to 0.82 (0.50 ± 0.048 SEM). Internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.77, while test-retest reliability values were 0.74 (product moment correlation) and 0.77 (intraclass correlation). The prevalence of alternative conceptions in the field tests shows that introductory and advanced students retain confusion about dominance after instruction. All measures support the DCI as a useful instrument for measuring undergraduate biology student understanding and alternative conceptions about dominance.
Peripapillary retinal blood flow in normal tension glaucoma

AIMS To determine if normal tension glaucoma (NTG) patients differ from age matched controls in blood flow to the peripapillary retina, as measured with confocal scanning laser Doppler flowmetry (cSLDF; “Heidelberg retinal flowmetry”). METHODS 12 NTG patients and 12 age matched controls were compared using (a) 10 × 10 pixel boxes (the instrument default sample size), taken from the nasal and temporal peripapillary retina, (b) the average from two of these boxes, and (c) every qualifying pixel within the peripapillary retina. RESULTS Patients and controls did not differ in blood flow measured using the default sample from a single 10 × 10 pixel box, placed in either the temporal or nasal peripapillary retina, or expressed as the average from these two boxes. However, in histograms using every pixel from the peripapillary retina, NTG patients displayed significantly higher percentages of minimal flow pixels (defined as less than one arbitrary unit of flow: 30% v 19%, p <0.01), and significantly lower flow in the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile flow pixel (each p <0.05) than did age matched controls. CONCLUSION NTG is characterised by reduced blood flow in the peripapillary retina, a result suggesting that blood flow deficits accompany, and perhaps may contribute to, disease development in these patients.
MAI – JSQ : A Cross – Layer Design for Real – Time Video Streaming in Wireless Networks

We propose a cross–layer design for the real–time streaming of prerecorded video with prefetching to clients in wireless CDMA networks. Our design exploits the recently discovered temporal correlation structure of the multiple access interference (MAI) which enables accurate prediction of the MAI levels. Based on the MAI prediction, we optimize the transmissions of the video traffic so as to make judicious use of the radio resources and therefore to achieve small video playback starvation probabilities. A key component of our transmission control is the Join–the–Shortest–Queue (JSQ) scheduling, which selects the client with the smallest prefetched reserve for transmission (provided that the client’s predicted MAI is low). Our simulation results indicate that in typical scenarios, the starvation probabilities using our cross–layer design with the MAI prediction, are at least one order of magnitude smaller than of the conventional JSQ protocol with link probing at the link/MAC layer.
Full-body visible human project® female computational phantom and its applications for biomedical electromagnetic modeling

This study describes the development to date of a computational full-body human phantom based on the VHP female dataset. Its unique feature is full compatibility both with MATLAB and specialized FEM computational software packages such as ANSYS HFSS/Maxwell 3D. Applications for low-frequency and radio-frequency electromagnetic modeling are considered.
Male Saudi Arabian freshman science majors at Jazan University: Their perceptions of parental educational practices on their science achievements.

Examination of Saudi Arabian educational practices is scarce, but increasingly important, especially in light of the country’s pace in worldwide mathematics and science rankings. The purpose of the study is to understand and evaluate parental influence on male children’s science education achievements in Saudi Arabia. Parental level of education and participant’s choice of science major were used to identify groups for the purpose of data analysis. Data were gathered using five independent variables concerning parental educational practices (attitude, involvement, autonomy support, structure and control) and the dependent variable of science scores in high school. The sample consisted of 338 participants and was arbitrarily drawn from the science-based colleges (medical, engineering, and natural science) at Jazan University in Saudi Arabia. The data were tested using Pearson’s analysis, backward multiple regression, one way ANOVA and independent t-test. The findings of the study reveal significant correlations for all five of the variables. Multiple regressions revealed that all five of the parents’ educational practices indicators combined together could explain 19% of the variance in science scores and parental attitude toward science and educational involvement combined accounted for more than 18% of the variance. Analysis indicates that no significant difference is attributable to parental involvement and educational level. This finding is important because it indicates that, in Saudi Arabia, results are not consistent with research in Western or other Asian contexts. This dissertation is approved for Recommendation to the Graduate Council. Dissertation Director: _______________________________________ Dr. Michael Wavering Dissertation Committee: _______________________________________ Dr. Felicia Lincoln _______________________________________ Dr. Mounir Farah _______________________________________ Dr. Freddie Bowles DISSERTATION DUPLICATION RELEASE I hereby authorize the University of Arkansas Libraries to duplicate this dissertation when needed for research and/or scholarship. Agreed __________________________________________ Essa Alrehaly Refused __________________________________________ Essa Alrehaly
Measuring slepton spin at the LHC

A new method is presented for measuring the spin of selectrons and smuons at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), using an angular variable which is sensitive to the polar angle in direct slepton pair production. This variable, cos θ*ll, is invariant under boosts along the beam axis, so it can be used at the LHC despite the fact that the longitudinal boost of the centre-of-mass frame cannot be determined. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that, using this method, the LHC can distinguish between the supersymmetric production angular distribution and phase space, or between supersymmetry and the production angular distribution of universal extra dimensions. An integrated luminosity of about 100 to 300 fb−1 provides sufficient statistics to measure the slepton spin for points which had left-handed slepton masses in the range 202 to 338 GeV, and right-handed sleptons in the range 143 to 252 GeV. Good sensitivity was found in the `bulk' and `stau co-annihilation' regions of the cMSSM favoured by cosmological relic density measurements. Various systematic uncertainties are investigated, and some methods for reducing them are discussed.
MOOCs for Universities and Learners - An Analysis of Motivating Factors

Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a recent introduction to the palette of educational offerings yet in a short time they have become the subject of massive interest and hype. There are those that predict that these free courses are the first ripple in the coming wave of disruption that the web and on-line education will cause to traditional universities. However University investments in producing MOOCs are increasing exponentially and at the same time learners are enthusiastically registering in their tens of thousands for these courses. This paper describes some research into the motivations for universities to create MOOCs and the motivations of learners in registering and completing them. Our results show a spectrum of motivations for universities, and the need for individual universities to be clear of where they sit in that spectrum. For students we see that motivations can vary significantly across cultures.
Placebo found equivalent to amoxicillin for treatment of acute bronchitis in Nairobi, Kenya: a triple blind, randomised, equivalence trial

Background: Antibiotic treatment is not recommended for acute bronchitis in immunocompetent patients in industrialised countries. Whether these recommendations are relevant to the developing world and to immunocompromised patients is unknown. Design, setting and participants: Randomised, triple blind, placebo controlled equivalence trial of amoxicillin compared with placebo in 660 adults presenting to two outpatient clinics in Nairobi, Kenya, with acute bronchitis but without evidence of chronic lung disease. Main outcome measure: The primary study end point was clinical cure, as defined by a ⩾75% reduction in a validated Acute Bronchitis Severity Score by 14 days; analysis was by intention to treat with equivalence defined as ⩽8% difference between study arms. Results: Clinical cure rates in the amoxicillin and placebo arms were 81.7% and 84.0%, respectively (difference 2.3%, 95% CI −8.6% to 4.0%). Of 131 HIV infected subjects (19.8%), cure rates for those randomised to amoxicillin (77.2%) and placebo (83.8%) differed by 6.6% (95% CI −21.7% to 8.6%). Among HIV uninfected subjects, the difference in cure rates was 1.6% (95% CI −8.5% to 5.3%). Potential drug side effects were similar in the two arms. No subjects required hospitalisation or died. Conclusion: Antibiotic treatment of acute bronchitis is unhelpful, even in populations with a high prevalence of HIV infection.
Boundary conditions: The path integral approach

The path integral approach to quantum mechanics requires a substantial generalisation to describe the dynamics of systems confined to bounded domains. Nonlocal boundary conditions can be introduced in Feynman's approach by means of boundary amplitude distributions and complex phases to describe the quantum dynamics in terms of the classical trajectories. The different prescriptions involve only trajectories reaching the boundary and correspond to different choices of boundary conditions of selfadjoint extensions of the Hamiltonian. One dimensional particle dynamics is analysed in detail.
Renormalisation of gravitational self interaction for wiggly strings

It is shown that for any elastic string model with energy density $U$ and tension $T$, the divergent contribution from gravitational self interaction can be allowed for by an action renormalisation proportional to $(U-T)^2$. This formula is applied to the important special case of a bare model of the transonic type (characterised by a constant value of the product $UT$) that represents the macroscopically averaged effect of shortwavelength wiggles on an underlying microscopic model of the Nambu-Goto type (characterised by $U=T$).
A NOTE ON ESTIMATED COEFFICIENTS IN RANDOM EFFECTS PROBIT MODELS

This note points out to applied researchers what adjustments are needed to the coefficient estimates in a random effects probit model in order to make valid comparisons in terms of coefficient estimates and marginal effects across different specifications. These adjustments are necessary because of the normalisation that is used by standard software in order to facilitate easy estimation of the random effects probit model.
A merger tree with microsolar mass resolution: application to γ-ray emission from subhalo population

The hierarchical growth of dark matter haloes, in which galaxies are hosted, has been studied and modelled using various approaches. In this paper, we use a modified version the Sheth & Lemson algorithm for a A cold dark matter power spectrum, and model the growth of a Milky Way sized halo with microsolar mass resolution, corresponding to the typical Jeans mass for a dark matter Weakly Interacting Massive Particle with mass of 100 GeV. We then compute the unevolved subhalo mass function and build up a Milky Way halo placing and evolving its satellites. This subhalo population is used to study the γ-ray emission from dark matter annihilation. In this case, the subhaloes which populate the host halo have been computed considering only progenitor haloes accreted by the main branch of the tree, so as to correctly treat the embedding of sub-subhaloes inside subhaloes. Each subhalo will indeed host at the present-time sub-subhaloes accreted when it was an isolated system. In order to compute the sub-subhalo population of a Milky Way dwarf galaxy, like Draco, and to study its γ-ray emission, we first estimate the Draco virial mass at merging redshift z m and then we run the merger tree from z m following the halo down to the dark matter Jeans mass. We then study the effect on the Fermi Large Area Telescope (GLAST) detectability for both subhaloes in the Milky Way and in Draco, and we show how subhaloes cannot be responsible for the boost factor needed for detection.
Extracting Representative Arguments from Dictionaries for Resolving Zero Pronouns

We propose a method to alleviate the problem of referential granularity for Japanese zero pronoun resolution. We use dictionary definition sentences to extract ‘representative’ arguments of predicative definition words; e.g. ‘arrest’ is likely to take police as the subject and criminal as its object. These representative arguments are far more informative than ‘person’ that is provided by other valency dictionaries. They are auto-extracted using both Shallow parsing and Deep parsing for greater quality and quantity. Initial results are highly promising, obtaining more specific information about selectional preferences. An architecture of zero pronoun resolution using these representative arguments is described.
A cytomegaloviral protein reveals a dual role for STAT2 in IFN-γ signaling and antiviral responses

A mouse cytomegalovirus (MCMV) gene conferring interferon (IFN) resistance was identified. This gene, M27, encodes a 79-kD protein that selectively binds and down-regulates for signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-2, but it has no effect on STAT1 activation and signaling. The absence of pM27 conferred MCMV susceptibility to type I IFNs (α/β), but it had a much more dramatic effect on type II IFNs (γ) in vitro and in vivo. A comparative analysis of M27+ and M27 − MCMV revealed that the antiviral efficiency of IFN-γ was partially dependent on the synergistic action of type I IFNs that required STAT2. Moreover, STAT2 was directly activated by IFN-γ. This effect required IFN receptor expression and was independent of type I IFNs. IFN-γ induced increasing levels of tyrosine-phosphorylated STAT2 in M27− MCMV-infected cells that were essential for the antiviral potency of IFN-γ. pM27 represents a new strategy for simultaneous evasions from types I and II IFNs, and it documents an unknown biological significance for STAT2 in antiviral IFN-γ responses.
Immigration, national identity and political trust in European democracies

ABSTRACT This article argues that discrepancies between individual-level conceptualisations of national identity and official government approaches to national identity, as reflected in policies towards migrants, contribute to reduced levels of political trust in Europe. Public opinion data matched with contextual data measuring immigrant incorporation policies are used to investigate this proposition. The findings indicate that individuals who take a more exclusive approach to national identity but live in political systems that are comparatively more welcoming of immigrant incorporation into the national political system tend to be the least trusting of their political systems, and this is closely followed by those individuals who adopt a more inclusive form of identity but live in countries that are relatively less welcoming in their treatment of immigrants. Where individual identity and immigrant incorporation are both inclusive, trust tends to be relatively high.
Nurses' perceptions of climate and environmental issues: a qualitative study.

AIM The aim of this study was to explore nurses' perceptions of climate and environmental issues and examine how nurses perceive their role in contributing to the process of sustainable development. BACKGROUND Climate change and its implications for human health represent an increasingly important issue for the healthcare sector. According to the International Council of Nurses Code of Ethics, nurses have a responsibility to be involved and support climate change mitigation and adaptation to protect human health. DESIGN This is a descriptive, explorative qualitative study. METHODS Nurses (n = 18) were recruited from hospitals, primary care and emergency medical services; eight participated in semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews and 10 participated in two focus groups. Data were collected from April-October 2013 in Sweden; interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using content analysis. RESULTS Two main themes were identified from the interviews: (i) an incongruence between climate and environmental issues and nurses' daily work; and (ii) public health work is regarded as a health co-benefit of climate change mitigation. While being green is not the primary task in a lifesaving, hectic and economically challenging context, nurses' perceived their profession as entailing responsibility, opportunities and a sense of individual commitment to influence the environment in a positive direction. CONCLUSIONS This study argues there is a need for increased awareness of issues and methods that are crucial for the healthcare sector to respond to climate change. Efforts to develop interventions should explore how nurses should be able to contribute to the healthcare sector's preparedness for and contributions to sustainable development.
Reliability and validity of Secondary School Students' Life Skills Scale

Objective To test the reliability and validity of Secondary School Students' Life Skills Scale which was drew up,in order to promote an effective evaluation tool for life skills in China.Methods A total of 4 990 students from 20 junior schools and 20 high schools in Beijing city,Shanghai city,Inner Mongolia,Xinjiang and Shaanxi province were sampled with convenient cluster sampling to test the reliability and validity of the scale.Results Cronbach's α of the total scale was 0.946,of the 8 subscales was 0.626-0.844,Split-half coefficient was 0.814,which showed the reliability of the scales was accurate;The correlated coefficients between total scale and 8 subscales were 0.619-0.865(P0.01),the 8 factors could explain 54.47 % of total scale variances,which showed good content validity;the scale also had good discrimination structure.Conclusion Secondary School Students' Life Skills Scale has good reliability and validity,as a primary scale,several titles needs to be revised and further improvements,then it can be used as an evaluation tool for life skills in China.
Iterative Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Cointegrating Vectors 1

This paper introduces an iterative method to estimate the cointegrating vectors in the error correction models. The method provides the asymptotically efficient estimators for the cointegrating vectors if iterated once or more. If it is iterated until convergence, we may obtain the maximum likelihood estimator by Johansen. For all values of 1 ≤ k ≤ ∞, the k-step iterative estimators are asymptotically equivalent, and as efficient as the maximum likelihood estimator. Their finite sample performances are, however, quite different for different values of k, most notably for the two extreme cases k = 1 and k = ∞. The finite-step iterative estimators generally perform better in small samples than the infinite-step iterative estimator, i.e., the maximum likelihood estimator. In particular, the former are much more robust than the latter, which is known to occasionally yield some extreme outliers in samples of relatively small size. Our iterative procedure indeed can be very useful in detecting the occurrences of outliers for the maximum likelihood estimator, since its realized values tend to deviate largely from those of the finite-step iterative estimators when the extreme outliers are produced. The proposed method is very flexible and can be easily implemented for the cointegrated models that are specified in an arbitrary structural form. First Draft: December 2003 This Version: January 2005
Role of the Transcriptional Corepressor Bcor in Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation and Early Embryonic Development

Bcor (BCL6 corepressor) is a widely expressed gene that is mutated in patients with X-linked Oculofaciocardiodental (OFCD) syndrome. BCOR regulates gene expression in association with a complex of proteins capable of epigenetic modification of chromatin. These include Polycomb group (PcG) proteins, Skp-Cullin-F-box (SCF) ubiquitin ligase components and a Jumonji C (Jmjc) domain containing histone demethylase. To model OFCD in mice and dissect the role of Bcor in development we have characterized two loss of function Bcor alleles. We find that Bcor loss of function results in a strong parent-of-origin effect, most likely indicating a requirement for Bcor in extraembryonic development. Using Bcor loss of function embryonic stem (ES) cells and in vitro differentiation assays, we demonstrate that Bcor plays a role in the regulation of gene expression very early in the differentiation of ES cells into ectoderm, mesoderm and downstream hematopoietic lineages. Normal expression of affected genes (Oct3/4, Nanog, Fgf5, Bmp4, Brachyury and Flk1) is restored upon re-expression of Bcor. Consistent with these ES cell results, chimeric animals generated with the same loss of function Bcor alleles show a low contribution to B and T cells and erythrocytes and have kinked and shortened tails, consistent with reduced Brachyury expression. Together these results suggest that Bcor plays a role in differentiation of multiple tissue lineages during early embryonic development.