Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Some Evidence of the Development of L2 Reading-into-Writing Skills at Three Levels

While an integrated format has been widely incorporated into high-stakes writing assessment, there is relatively little research on studentsâ€™ cognitive processing involved in integrated reading-into-writing tasks. Even research which reviews how the reading-into-writing construct is distinct from one level to the other is scarce. Using a writing process questionnaire, we examined and compared test takersâ€™ cognitive processes on integrated reading-into-writing tasks at three levels. More specifically, the study aims to provide evidence of the predominant reading-into-writing processes appropriate at each level (i.e., the CEFR B1, B2, and C1 levels). The findings of the study reveal the core processes which are essential to the reading-into-writing construct at all three levels. There is also a clear progression of the reading-into-writing skills employed by the test takers across the three CEFR levels. A multiple regression analysis was used to examine the impact of the individual processes on predicting the writersâ€™ level of reading-into-writing abilities. The findings provide empirical evidence concerning the cognitive validity of reading-into-writing tests and have important implications for task design and scoring at each level.
Inaugural Article: A default mode of brain function

A baseline or control state is fundamental to the understanding of most complex systems. Defining a baseline state in the human brain, arguably our most complex system, poses a particular challenge. Many suspect that left unconstrained, its activity will vary unpredictably. Despite this prediction we identify a baseline state of the normal adult human brain in terms of the brain oxygen extraction fraction or OEF. The OEF is defined as the ratio of oxygen used by the brain to oxygen delivered by flowing blood and is remarkably uniform in the awake but resting state (e.g., lying quietly with eyes closed). Local deviations in the OEF represent the physiological basis of signals of changes in neuronal activity obtained with functional MRI during a wide variety of human behaviors. We used quantitative metabolic and circulatory measurements from positron-emission tomography to obtain the OEF regionally throughout the brain. Areas of activation were conspicuous by their absence. All significant deviations from the mean hemisphere OEF were increases, signifying deactivations, and resided almost exclusively in the visual system. Defining the baseline state of an area in this manner attaches meaning to a group of areas that consistently exhibit decreases from this baseline, during a wide variety of goal-directed behaviors monitored with positron-emission tomography and functional MRI. These decreases suggest the existence of an organized, baseline default mode of brain function that is suspended during specific goal-directed behaviors.
Anticipation of emotionally aversive visual stimuli activates right insula

Understanding the neural substrates of anticipation is required for a comprehensive model of the ways in which anxiety influences information processing. While it is apparent that the insula and medial frontal cortex are involved in processing anticipation of physical (i.e., painful) stimuli, their role in processing anticipation of aversive affective stimuli has yet to be determined. Twenty-eight healthy non-phobic volunteers observed aversive affective images (spiders and snakes) that were preceded by an auditory signal. The insula, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and parahippocampal gyrus activated during anticipation of aversive affective images. These findings indicate that common neural circuitry is involved in the anticipation of (and, perhaps, the subjective experience of anticipating) aversive affective and noxious physical stimuli.
Direct treatment comparison of DAbigatran and RIvaroxaban versus NAdroparin in the prevention of venous thromboembolism after total knee arthroplasty surgery: design of a randomised pilot study (DARINA)

Introduction Two novel agents, dabigatran and rivaroxaban, recently gained market authorisation for prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) after hip and knee arthroplasty. However, safety data of the new oral anticoagulants with a long-term use of 42 days are not available for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Furthermore, there are no clinical trials comparing dabigatran and/or rivaroxaban with nadroparin, which is used in most Dutch departments of orthopaedic surgery. Our aim is to compare the 42-day use of dabigatran and rivaroxaban versus nadroparin after TKA in a clinical explorative pilot study by assessing the incidence of major bleeding and clinically relevant non-major bleeding using a standardised model of bleeding definitions. Methods and analysis A randomised open-label pilot study was conducted. Patients ≥18 years and weighing more than 40 kg who were scheduled for a primary elective TKA were included. Patients were randomly assigned to three groups. Patients took either a daily oral dose of dabigatran etexilate 220 mg (n=50), 10 mg of oral rivaroxaban (n=50) or subcutaneous nadroparin 0.3 ml (n=50) for 42 days. The primary safety outcome measure was the incidence of bleeding events. Major bleeding events and clinically relevant non-major bleeding events were defined according to accepted guidelines. The secondary measures of this study were the occurrence of VTE, time until the bleeding event, compliance, duration of hospital stay, rehospitalisation, outpatient clinic visits and interventions following complications. Additionally, coagulation monitoring, knee flexion range of motion and Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score were evaluated. Dissemination The results of this trial provided insight into the validity of design for an adequately powered multicentre study investigating the safety of the new oral anticoagulants compared with nadroparin, an anticoagulant applied for prevention of VTE after knee arthroplasty in the Dutch situation. Trial registration number ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01431456.
Stimulation of Pressure on Liquid Concept in Stad Learning Model to Improve Rational Thinking Skills and Learning Outcomes of Students

The research aims to determine the effect of using cooperative learning model type STAD on learning science to students’ performance in rational thinking skills and learning outcome. The point of view of this influence is seen from the presence or absence of improvement rational thinking skills activity of cognitive learning outcomes after treatment. The research used experimental method with the design One Shot Case Study and took place in SMPN 3 Gorontalo. The data obtained were students’ performance in rational thinking skill and learning outcome gathered by observation sheet of students’ activity and test sheet. The result show that increase in average score of students’ performance in rational thinking in the third meeting compared to the first meeting by indicators of information digging, information processing, problem solving, and conclusion formulating. The overall result shows that the students’ performance in rational thinking skills achieves good criteria; additionally, the students’ learning outcomes achieve average score of 83.81, categorized as B (good). Penelitian ini bertujuan melihat pengaruh penggunaan model kooperatif tipe STAD pada pembelajaran IPA terhadap kecakapan berfikir rasional dan hasil belajar kognitif siswa. Pengaruh ini dilihat dari ada atau tidaknya peningkatan aktivitas kecakapan berfikir rasional dan hasil belajar kognitif siswa setelah diberikan perlakuan. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode eksperimen dengan desain One Shot Case Study yang dilaksanakan di SMP Negeri 3 Gorontalo. Data yang diperoleh berupa aktivitas kecakapan berfikir rasional siswa dan hasil belajar kognitif yang dijaring dengan menggunakan lembar pengamatan aktivitas siswa dan lembar tes. Hasil yang diperoleh menunjukkan terjadi peningkatan rerata skor aktivitas siswa untuk kecakapan berfikir rasional pada pertemuan ketiga bila dibandingkan dengan pertemuan pertama untuk masing-masing indikator menggali informasi, mengolah informasi, memecahkan masalah dan membuat kesimpulan. Hasil penelitian secara keseluruhan menunjukkan perolehan dengan kriteria sangat baik untuk kecakapan berfikir rasional siswa, dan untuk hasil belajar kognitif siswa diperoleh rerata skor sebesar 83.81 dengan predikat B (baik).
Evaluation of Long-Dated Investments Under Uncertain Growth Trend, Volatility and Catastrophes

Because of the uncertainty about how to model the growth process of our economy, there is still much confusion about which discount rates should be used to evaluate actions having long-lasting impacts, as in the contexts of climate change, social security reforms or large public infrastructures for example. We characterize efficient discount rates when the growth of log consumption follows a random walk with uncertain parameters. We examine different models in which the parametric uncertainty affects the trend and the volatility of growth, or the frequency of catastrophes. This uncertainty implies that the term structures of the risk free discount rate and of the aggregate risk premium are respectively decreasing and increasing. It also implies that the discount rate is increasing with maturity if the beta of the investment is larger than half of relative risk aversion. Another important consequence of parametric uncertainty is that the risk premium is not proportional to the beta of the investment. Finally, we apply our findings to the evaluation of climate change policy. We argue in particular that the beta of actions to mitigate climate change is relatively large, so that the term structure of the associated discount rates should be increasing.
Vsx1 Regulates Terminal Differentiation of Type 7 ON Bipolar Cells

Although retinal bipolar cells represent a morphologically well defined population of retinal interneurons, very little is known about the developmental mechanisms that regulate their processing. Furthermore, the identity of specific bipolar cell types that function in distinct visual circuits remains poorly understood. Here, we show that the homeobox gene Vsx1 is expressed in Type 7 ON bipolar cells. In the absence of Vsx1, Type 7 bipolar cells exhibit proper morphological specification but show defects in terminal gene expression. Vsx1 is required for the repression of bipolar cell-specific markers, including Calcium-binding protein 5 and Chx10. This contrasts its genetic requirement as an activator of gene expression in OFF bipolar cells. To assess possible ON signaling defects in Vsx1-null mice, we recorded specifically from ON-OFF directionally selective ganglion cells (DSGCs), which cofasciculate with Type 7 bipolar cell terminals. Vsx1-null ON-OFF DSGCs received more sustained excitatory synaptic input, possibly due to Type 7 bipolar cell defects. Interestingly, in Vsx1-null mice, the directionally selective circuit is functional but compromised. Together, these findings indicate that Vsx1 regulates terminal gene expression in Type 7 bipolar cells and is necessary for proper ON visual signaling within a directionally selective circuit.
Correlation of Visuospatial Ability and EEG Slowing in Patients with Parkinson's Disease

Background. Visuospatial dysfunction is among the first cognitive symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD) and is often predictive for PD-dementia. Furthermore, cognitive status in PD-patients correlates with quantitative EEG. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the correlation between EEG slowing and visuospatial ability in nondemented PD-patients. Methods. Fifty-seven nondemented PD-patients (17 females/40 males) were evaluated with a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery and a high-resolution 256-channel EEG was recorded. A median split was performed for each cognitive test dividing the patients sample into either a normal or lower performance group. The electrodes were split into five areas: frontal, central, temporal, parietal, and occipital. A linear mixed effects model (LME) was used for correlational analyses and to control for confounding factors. Results. Subsequently, for the lower performance, LME analysis showed a significant positive correlation between ROCF score and parietal alpha/theta ratio (b = .59, p = .012) and occipital alpha/theta ratio (b = 0.50, p = .030). No correlations were found in the group of patients with normal visuospatial abilities. Conclusion. We conclude that a reduction of the parietal alpha/theta ratio is related to visuospatial impairments in PD-patients. These findings indicate that visuospatial impairment in PD-patients could be influenced by parietal dysfunction.
TeV gamma-rays from the Northern sky pulsar wind nebulae

We estimate the TeV γ-ray fluxes expected from the population of young pulsars in terms of the self-consistent time-dependent hadronic–leptonic model for the high-energy processes inside the pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe). This radiation model is based on the hypothesis of Arons and collaborators who postulate that leptons are accelerated inside the nebulae as a result of resonant scattering on heavy nuclei, which in turn are accelerated in the pulsar wind region or the pulsar inner magnetosphere. Our aim is to find out which PWNe on the northern hemisphere are the best candidates for detection at energies above 60 GeV and 200 GeV by the next generation of low-threshold Cherenkov telescopes.
The SAURON project – XII. Kinematic substructures in early-type galaxies: evidence for discs in fast rotators

We analysed two-dimensional maps of 48 early-type galaxies obtained with the SAURON and OASIS integral-field spectrographs using kinemetry, a gene ralisation of surface photometry to the higher order moments of the line-of-sight velocity distribution (LOSVD). The maps analysed include: reconstructed image, mean velocity, velocity dispersion, h3 and h4 GaussHermite moments. Kinemetry is a good method to recognise structures otherwise missed by using surface photometry, such as embedded disks and kinematic sub-components. In the SAURON sample, we find that 31% of early-type galaxies are sin gle component systems. 91% of the multi-components systems have two kinematic subcomponents, the rest having three. In addition, 29% of galaxies have kinematically decoupled components, nuclear components with significant kinematic twists. We differentiate betwee n slow and fast rotators using velocity maps only and find that fast rotating galaxies contain disks with a large range in mass fractions to the main body. Specifically, we find that the velo city maps of fast rotators closely resemble those of inclined disks, except in the transition r egions between kinematic subcomponents. This deviation is measured with the kinemetric k5/k1 ratio, which is large and noisy in slow rotators and about 2% in fast rotators. In terms of E/S0 classification, this means that 74% of Es and 92% of S0s have components with disk-like kinematics. We suggest that differences in k5/k1 values for the fast and slow rotators arise from their differ ent intrinsic structure which is reflected on the velocity maps. For the majority of fa st rotators, the kinematic axial ratios are equal to or less than their photometric axial rati os, contrary to what is predicted with isotropic Jeans models viewed at different inclinations. T he position angles of fast rotators are constant, while they vary abruptly in slow rotators. Velocity dispersion maps of face-on galaxies have shapes similar to the distribution of light. Veloci ty dispersion maps of the edge-on fast rotators and all slow rotators show differences which can only be partially explained with isotropic models and, in the case of fast rotators, often req uire additional cold components. We constructed local (bin-by-bin) h3 V/σ and h4 V/σ diagrams from SAURON observations. We confirm the classical anti-correlation of h3 and V/σ, but we also find that h3 is almost zero in some objects or even weakly correlated with V/σ. The distribution of h4 for fast and slow rotators is mildly positive on average. In general, fast rot ators contain flattened components characterised by a disk-like rotation. The difference betw een slow and fast rotators is traceable throughout all moments of the LOSVD, with evidence for different intrinsic shapes and orbital contents and, hence, likely different evolutionary paths.
Rapid lineage accumulation in a non-adaptive radiation: phylogenetic analysis of diversification rates in eastern North American woodland salamanders (Plethodontidae: Plethodon)

Adaptive radiations have served as model systems for quantifying the build-up of species richness. Few studies have quantified the tempo of diversification in species-rich clades that contain negligible adaptive disparity, making the macroevolutionary consequences of different modes of evolutionary radiation difficult to assess. We use mitochondrial-DNA sequence data and recently developed phylogenetic methodologies to explore the tempo of diversification of eastern North American Plethodon, a species-rich clade of woodland salamanders exhibiting only limited phenotypic disparity. Lineage-through-time analysis reveals a high rate of lineage accumulation, 0.8 species per million years, occurring 11–8 million years ago in the P. glutinosus species group, followed by decreasing rates. This high rate of lineage accumulation is exceptional, comparable to the most rapid of adaptive radiations. In contrast to classic models of adaptive radiation where ecological niche divergence is linked to the origin of species, we propose that phylogenetic niche conservatism contributes to the rapid accumulation of P. glutinosus-group lineages by promoting vicariant isolation and multiplication of species across a spatially and temporally fluctuating environment. These closely related and ecologically similar lineages persist through long-periods of evolutionary time and form strong barriers to the geographic spread of their neighbours, producing a subsequent decline in lineage accumulation. Rapid diversification among lineages exhibiting long-term maintenance of their bioclimatic niche requirements is an under-appreciated phenomenon driving the build-up of species richness.
Using Factor Analysis to Attribute Health Impacts to Particulate Pollution Sources

recently reported results of applying factor analysis to data taken in six cities from 1979 to 1988, identifying airborne particle sources potentially affecting daily mortality. These authors sought relationships between source groups and risk measures using source tracer elements, Se (coal combustion), Pb (light-duty motor vehicle sources), and Si (crustal—soil dispersion). Combined data analyses of this kind may overlook the complexity of source contributions, which have common tracer elements. In one of the cities, Boston, for example, the authors found coal combustion was an important source of mortality risk. For the city of Boston, the authors attribute coal combustion largely to distant upwind regional sources. The emphasis on coal combustion is confounded by the presence of major local sources of residual oil combustion, which contribute V, Se, and S (sulfur as sulfate) to the source apportionment. Evaluation of the source identification using single-element tracer analysis indicates that the detailed chemical composition or profile of major local sources needs to be taken into account in these investigations to minimize misclassification of airborne particle sources with potential adverse health effects.
Textbook Evaluation: A Case Study of Iranian Teacher and Student Perspectives

Textbooks are fundamental mediums to guide the process of teaching and learning. There is a significant attention toward aspects of a textbook to qualify for these ends. This study aims at investigating a descriptive survey to evaluate teachers’ and students’ attitudes on the Pre-University English textbook in Iranian High Schools. It determines the pedagogical value of the textbook according to student’s needs. To this end,30 teachers and 156 students, randomly selected, participated in the research. The textbook evaluation was conducted through the questionnaire developed by Litz (2005). The checklist considered seven main criteria: practical consideration, layout and design, activities, skills, language type, subject and content and overall consensus. The results revealed that both teachers’ and students’ perceptions about the textbook were almost positive in general. However, teachers stated that the textbook lacksskill appropriacy. Students believed that the textbook was not suitable regarding activities, skills, and the overall consensus.
A comparison of magnetization transfer ratio, magnetization transfer rate, and the native relaxation time of water protons related to relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Magnetization transfer (MT) imaging and measurements of the magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) have extended our capability to depict and characterize pathologic changes associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). We wanted to investigate whether the analysis of other MT parameters, such as magnetization transfer rate (k(for)) and relative measure of water content (T1(free)), adds insight into MS-related tissue changes. METHODS Quantitative MT imaging by use of phase acquisition of composite echoes was performed in nine patients with clinically definite relapsing-remitting MS and eight healthy control subjects on a 1.5-T MR system. We analyzed a total of 360 regions of interest and compared control white matter with various types of lesions and normal-appearing white matter in MS. RESULTS We found a strong correlation between the MTR and k(for), but this relation was non-linear. A slight but significant reduction of the MTR in normal-appearing white matter of patients with MS was attributable to a reduced transfer rate only, whereas a lower MTR was associated with both a reduction of k(for) and an increase of T1(free) in regions of dirty white matter. Moreover, areas such as edema and T1-isointense lesions had a similar MTR but could be differentiated on the basis of Tl(free). CONCLUSION Estimates of k(for) and T1(free) appear to complement MTR measurements for the understanding of MT changes that occur with different types of MS abnormalities in the brain.
Rethinking Approach and Avoidance in Achievement Contexts: The Perspective of Dynamical Systems

An integrative model of approach and avoidance goals in achievement contexts is proposed based on the concepts and principles of nonlinear dynamical systems. These goals are conceptualized as self-organizing systems in which information relevant to competence expectancies and perceptions of benefit and threat for the self is integrated with respect to either a single coherent state (static integration) or 2 conflicting coherent states (dynamic integration). Mathematical equations depict the emergence of approach and avoidance attractor dynamics from the proposed integration process. The model specifies the conditions under which states of goal involvement will display patterns of resistance (stability), oscillation between approach and avoidance (instability), or reversal (nonlinear change). As a result, this model of approach and avoidance goals equips previous dynamical models of self-regulation with greater social–cognitive substance. It also provides a parsimonious account of achievement motivation and resolves lingering inconsistencies and uncertainties in the achievement goal literature. Moreover, the dynamical systems approach, on which the model is based, provides a heuristic framework for generating new predictions regarding the ebb and flow of approach and avoidance in achievement contexts.