Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Concept-Mapping Strategy on the Attitude of Senior Secondary School Students of Varied Ability Levels in Algebra in Kogi State, Nigeria

T his study investigated the effect of concept-mapping strategy on the attitude of secondary school students of different ability levels towards algebra in Kogi State, Nigeria. A quasi-experimental-control design comprising pretest and posttest was used and sample consisted of two hundred and forty (240) SS II students from six intact classes in six schools selected by multistage cluster sampling procedure from all senior secondary schools with a total population of 19215 SS II students in Kogi state Nigeria. These subject were divided into three ability levels: low, medium and high. One (1) hypothesis was formulated to direct the study. Algebraic Attitude Questionnaire (AAQ) was used to collect data from the sampled schools. Data collected were analyzed using Friedman Test and post hoc testing using Dunn Bonferroni analysis at P level of significance . The result indicated that there are significant differences in the attitude mean rank responses in algebra among low, medium and high ability level students exposed to concept-mapping strategy and those exposed to conventional lecture method such that: the difference in the attitude mean rank responses in algebra between subject in each of the three ability levels exposed to concept-mapping strategy before and after treatment is significant among others. Based on the research findings, it was concluded that: Concept-mapping strategy has significant effect in developing the high, medium and low ability level student’s attitude positively towards algebra. It is therefore recommended among others that the use of concept-mapping strategy for teaching mathematics should be encouraged in Nigeria senior secondary schools to develop high, medium and low ability level students’ attitude positively towards algebra.
Agrin binds α-synuclein and modulates α-synuclein fibrillation

Recent studies have begun to investigate the role of agrin in brain and suggest that agrin's function likely extends beyond that of a synaptogenic protein. Particularly, it has been shown that agrin is associated with the pathological lesions of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and may contribute to the formation of beta-amyloid (Abeta) plaques in AD. We have extended the analysis of agrin's function in neurodegenerative diseases to investigate its role in Parkinson's disease (PD). Alpha-synuclein is a critical molecular determinant in familial and sporadic PD, with the formation of alpha-synuclein fibrils being enhanced by sulfated macromolecules. In the studies reported here, we show that agrin binds to alpha-synuclein in a heparan sulfate-dependent (HS-dependent) manner, induces conformational changes in this protein characterized by beta-sheet structure, and enhances insolubility of alpha-synuclein. We also show that agrin accelerates the formation of protofibrils by alpha-synuclein and decreases the half-time of fibril formation. The association of agrin with PD lesions was also explored in PD human brain, and these studies shown that agrin colocalizes with alpha-synuclein in neuronal Lewy bodies in the substantia nigra of PD brain. These studies indicate that agrin is capable of accelerating the formation of insoluble protein fibrils in a second common neurodegenerative disease. These findings may indicate shared molecular mechanisms leading to the pathophysiology in these two neurodegenerative disorders.
Judgment Language Matters: Towards Judgment Language Informed Vector Space Modeling

A common evaluation practice in the vector space modeling (VSM) literature is to measure models’ ability to predict human judgments about lexical semantic relations between word pairs. Most existing evaluation sets, however, consist of scores collected for English word pairs only, ignoring the potential impact of the judgment language in which word pairs are presented on the human scores. In this paper we translate two prominent evaluation sets, wordsim353 (association) and SimLex999 (similarity), from English to Italian, German and Russian and collect scores for each dataset from crowdworkers fluent in its language. Our analysis reveals that human judgments are strongly impacted by the judgment language. Moreover, we show that the predictions of monolingual VSMs do not necessarily best correlate with human judgments made with the same language used for model training, suggesting that models and humans are affected differently by the language they use when making semantic judgments. Finally, we show that for a large number of judgment languages, multilingual VSM combination results in improved correlations with human judgments, suggesting that multilingualism may partially compensate for the judgment language effect on human judgments.1
Foreign Culture in English Curriculum in Saudi Arabia: A Teacher’s Voice

The education system plays crucial roles in the development of nations and societies. Curriculum development is a key component of the education process which involves alignment with the goals and objectives of teaching English as a foreign or second language in a particular context. The present article provides a personal narrative about the experience of developing an English language curriculum in the school-based Saudi Arabian context. The narrative represents a teacher’s voice during a curriculum development process, and also examines the discussion of different voices represented by teachers and decision makers during several workshops held to discuss the integration of cultural aspects into English textbooks. The narrative points out that the majority of teachers and decision makers were reluctant to incorporate foreign culture for several reasons, such as geopolitically sensitive contexts of the foreign culture. Other teachers were afraid of the impact of foreign culture on their own. The narrative calls for better inclusion of appropriate cultural aspects in order to enhance the students’ cultural competence so that they can interact effectively with people of different cultures.
High‐frequency observations of melt effects on snowpack stratigraphy, Kahiltna Glacier, Central Alaska Range

With an increased volume of melt on many of the world's glaciers, study of how meltwater affects the properties of glacial snowpack becomes essential to our understanding of how glaciers will respond to climate change. We address this problem by studying how snow properties changed on sub‐daily timescales on the Kahiltna Glacier, Alaska, between May 26 and June 10, 2010. During this period, we dug 1.8‐m‐deep snow pits twice daily to record the stratigraphy of melt layers, snow hardness, grain size, and density and sampled for hydrogen isotopic composition (δD) on four occasions. From these data, we show that 65% of the melted surface snow infiltrates and refreezes in the snowpack. This leads to a densification of the snow, a 729% increase in volume of melt layers, and a homogenization of isotopic and physical snow properties. From visual and stratigraphic observations, we show that meltwater flow within the snowpack is conducted primarily along lenses and pipes, where melt layers later form, but that more homogeneous capillary‐based flow is also important. Finally, we show using isotope ratios that post‐depositional alteration is exacerbated with increased melt extent, using the δD profile below a volcanic ash layer as a case study. In the future, similar studies would benefit from this high‐frequency monitoring approach to assessing snowpack evolution, as it allows for a greater understanding of short duration processes. New directions for study would include longer‐term monitoring efforts over a wider spatial snow pit network. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Identification of magnetic properties for cutting edge of electrical steel sheets

Electrical steel sheets of motors and generators are usually shaped to the final form by punching. The punching and other cutting processes generate large plastic deformations and residual stresses. These are known to deteriorate the magnetic properties of the edge region. However, the characterization of this deterioration in the form of magnetic properties is missing. The main aim of this paper is to a method to identify the magnetic properties of the edge region based on experimental results. This approach is demonstrated by using previously presented test results for magnetic properties of rectangular strips. The width of these strips is varied, and thus, the share of the edge region to the whole can be used as a variable. Based on this variation a simple model is developed and the model parameters fitted to the experimental results. The correspondence between the calculated and experimental results is good.
Mechanisms Underlying Methamphetamine-Induced Dopamine Transporter Complex Formation

Repeated, high-dose methamphetamine (METH) administrations cause persistent dopaminergic deficits in rodents, nonhuman primates, and humans. In rats, this treatment also causes the formation of high-molecular mass (greater than approximately 120 kDa) dopamine transporter (DAT)-associated complexes, the loss of DAT monomer immunoreactivity, and a decrease in DAT function, as assessed in striatal synaptosomes prepared 24 h after METH treatment. The present study extends these findings by demonstrating the regional selectivity of DAT complex formation and monomer loss because these changes in DAT immunoreactivity were not observed in the nucleus accumbens. Furthermore, DAT complex formation was not a consequence limited to METH treatment because it was also caused by intrastriatal administration of 6-hydroxydopamine. Pretreatment with the D2 receptor antagonist, eticlopride [S-(-)-3-chloro-5-ethyl-N-[(1-ethyl-2-pyrrolidinyl)methyl]-6-hydroxy-2-methoxybenzamide hydrochloride], but not the D1 receptor antagonist, SCH23390 [R(+)-7-chloro-8-hydroxy-3-methyl-1-phenyl-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-3-benzazepine hydrochloride], attenuated METH-induced DAT complex formation. Eticlopride pretreatment also attenuated METH-induced DAT monomer loss and decreases in DAT function; however, the attenuation was much less pronounced than the effect on DAT complex formation. Finally, results also revealed a negative correlation between METH-induced DAT complex formation and DAT activity. Taken together, these data further elucidate the underlying mechanisms and the functional consequences of repeated administrations of METH on the DAT protein. Furthermore, these data suggest a multifaceted role for D2 receptors in mediating METH-induced alterations of the DAT and its function.
Reliable scale estimation and correction for monocular Visual Odometry

Recovering absolute scale (i.e. metric information) from monocular vision system is a very challenging problem yet is highly desirable for vision-based autonomous driving. This paper proposes a new method for scale recovery, based on the idea of knowing camera height (relative to ground-plane). While this idea of using known camera height is not new in this context, existing implementations of this idea suffer significantly from severe numerical instability arisen in the ground plane homography decomposition stage. Our novel contribution of this work is to alleviate this issue by a divide and conquer approach, i.e. decomposing the motion parameters in the homography from the structure parameters of the ground plane. We also describe a robust procedure to correct scale drift in the monocular visual odometry system. Experimental results on KITTI standard benchmark dataset [1] and our self-collected driving dataset both show significant improvements.
Geographic Variation in Adaptation at the Molecular Level: A Case Study of Plant Immunity Genes

Abstract Natural selection imposed by interacting species frequently varies among geographic locations and can lead to local adaptation, where alternative phenotypes are found in different populations. Little is known, however, about whether geographically variable selection acting on traits that mediate species interactions is consistent or strong enough to influence patterns of nucleotide variation at individual loci. To investigate this question, we examined patterns of nucleotide diversity and population structure at 16 plant innate immunity genes, with putative functions in defending plants against pathogens or herbivores, from six populations of teosinte (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis). Specifically, we tested whether patterns of population structure and within-population diversity at immunity genes differed from patterns found at nonimmunity (reference) loci and from neutral expectations derived from coalescent simulations of structured populations. For the majority of genes, we detected no strong evidence of geographically variable selection. However, in the wound-induced serine protease inhibitor (wip1), which inhibits the hydrolysis of dietary proteins in insect herbivores, one population showed unusually high levels of genetic differentiation, very low levels of nucleotide polymorphism, and was fixed for a novel replacement substitution in the active site of the protein. Taken together, these data suggest that wip1 experienced a recent selective sweep in one geographic region; this pattern may reflect local adaptation or an ongoing species-wide sweep. Overall, our results indicate that a signature of local adaptation at the molecular level may be uncommon—particularly for traits that are under complex genetic control.
Association of NOD1, CXCL16, STAT6 and TLR4 gene polymorphisms with Malaysian patients with Crohn’s disease

Crohn’s disease (CD) is a prominent type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract. CD is known to have higher prevalence in the Western countries, but the number of cases has been increasing in the past decades in Asia, including Malaysia. Therefore, there is a need to investigate the underlining causes of CD that may shed light on its prevention and treatment. In this study, genetic polymorphisms in NOD1 (rs2075820), CXCL16 (rs2277680), STAT6 (rs324015) and TLR4 (rs4986791) genes were examined in a total of 335 individuals (85 CD patients and 250 healthy controls) with PCR-RFLP approach. There was no significant association observed between NOD1 rs2075820 and STAT6 rs324015 with the onset of CD in the studied cohort. However, the G allele of CXCL16 rs2277680 was found to have a weak association with CD patients (P = 0.0482; OR = 1.4310). The TLR4 rs4986791 was also significantly associated to CD. Both the homozygous C genotype (P = 0.0029; OR = 0.3611) and C allele (P = 0.0069; OR = 0.4369) were observed to confer protection against CD. On the other hand, the heterozygous C/T genotype was a risk genotype (P = 0.0015; OR = 3.1392). Further ethnic-stratified analysis showed that the significant associations in CXCL16 rs2277680 and TLR4 rs4986791 were accounted by the Malay cohort. In conclusion, the present study reported two CD-predisposing loci in the Malay CD patients. However, these loci were not associated to the onset of CD in Chinese and Indian patients.
Effect of incorporation of soy flour to wheat flour on nutritional and sensory quality of biscuits fortified with mushroom

The research study was conducted to evaluate the quality characteristics of soy-mushroom-enriched biscuits which could be used as a protein supplemented cereal snack food. In this study, wheat flour was replaced with soy flour at different levels that is 20% (T3), 15% (T2), and 10% (T1) and without soy flour was kept as control (To). Mushroom was added in both biscuits. Biscuits were analyzed for chemical and sensory parameters. Protein content of soy flour-supplemented biscuits increased from 11.07% to 17.86% as compared to control along with a significant increased in fat (17.36–20.89%), fiber (0.48–0.92%), iron (1.56–1.99 mg/100 g), and energy value (463–485 Kcal/g). Ash content also increased but not significantly. Results from chemical analyses and organoleptic evaluation indicate that good quality biscuits can be prepared by substituting wheat flour with 15% soy flour and addition of mushroom powders may affect the backing quality. Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM) of the Bangladeshi population can be reduced through the development of biscuits in this way.
In Vitro Assessment of the Antibacterial Potential of Silver Nano-Coatings on Cotton Gauzes for Prevention of Wound Infections

Multidrug-resistant organisms are increasingly implicated in acute and chronic wound infections, thus compromising the chance of therapeutic options. The resistance to conventional antibiotics demonstrated by some bacterial strains has encouraged new approaches for the prevention of infections in wounds and burns, among them the use of silver compounds and nanocrystalline silver. Recently, silver wound dressings have become widely accepted in wound healing centers and are commercially available. In this work, novel antibacterial wound dressings have been developed through a silver deposition technology based on the photochemical synthesis of silver nanoparticles. The devices obtained are completely natural and the silver coatings are characterized by an excellent adhesion without the use of any binder. The silver-treated cotton gauzes were characterized through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) in order to verify the distribution and the dimension of the silver particles on the cotton fibers. The effectiveness of the silver-treated gauzes in reducing the bacterial growth and biofilm proliferation has been demonstrated through agar diffusion tests, bacterial enumeration test, biofilm quantification tests, fluorescence and SEM microscopy. Moreover, potential cytotoxicity of the silver coating was evaluated through 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide colorimetric assay (MTT) and the extract method on fibroblasts and keratinocytes. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was performed in order to determine the silver release in different media and to relate the results to the biological characterization. All the results obtained were compared with plain gauzes as a negative control, as well as gauzes treated with a higher silver percentage as a positive control.
Selective Participation of Somatodendritic HCN Channels in Inhibitory But Not Excitatory Synaptic Integration in Neurons of the Subthalamic Nucleus

The activity patterns of subthalamic nucleus (STN) neurons are intimately linked to motor function and dysfunction and arise through the complex interaction of intrinsic properties and inhibitory and excitatory synaptic inputs. In many neurons, hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels play key roles in intrinsic excitability and synaptic integration both under normal conditions and in disease states. However, in STN neurons, which strongly express HCN channels, their roles remain relatively obscure. To address this deficit, complementary molecular and cellular electrophysiological, imaging, and computational approaches were applied to the rat STN. Molecular profiling demonstrated that individual STN neurons express mRNA encoding several HCN subunits, with HCN2 and 3 being the most abundant. Light and electron microscopic analysis showed that HCN2 subunits are strongly expressed and distributed throughout the somatodendritic plasma membrane. Voltage-, current-, and dynamic-clamp analysis, two-photon Ca2+ imaging, and computational modeling revealed that HCN channels are activated by GABAA receptor-mediated inputs and thus limit synaptic hyperpolarization and deinactivation of low-voltage-activated Ca2+ channels. Although HCN channels also limited the temporal summation of EPSPs, generated through two-photon uncaging of glutamate, this action was largely shunted by GABAergic inhibition that was necessary for HCN channel activation. Together the data demonstrate that HCN channels in STN neurons selectively counteract GABAA receptor-mediated inhibition arising from the globus pallidus and thus promote single-spike activity rather than rebound burst firing.
Cheap Talk, Efficiency and Egalitarian Cost Sharing in Joint Projects

Rarely, if ever, do parties contemplating a joint project commit resources without engaging in non-binding discussions on who does what. Here we argue that such noncommittal discussions may be essential to complete a joint project. We make this point by identifying an interesting class of situations where the private information of the two parties is such that, absent prior discussions, the project is never undertaken. However, with a prior stage of communication, all ex-ante and interim efficient equilibria exhibit a simple structure besides leading to the project's completion with a positive probability. What is more, the equilibrium outcome that maximizes the sum of players' ex-ante welfare is curiously egalitarian - whenever the project is completed, each party contributes toward exactly half the cost, independent of her private information.
Subgrid variability and stochastic downscaling of modeled clouds: Effects on radiative transfer computations for rainfall retrieval

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) Goddard Profiling (GPROF) rainfall retrieval algorithm is an inversion type algorithm, which uses numerical cloud models and radiative transfer schemes to simulate the brightness temperatures that the TMI would see, thereby allowing one to relate hydrometeor profiles to brightness temperature. The variability in modeled hydrometeor fields is known to have an important effect on simulated brightness temperatures, and while the TMI instrument sees all the variability down to scales of a few meters, cloud models are typically run at resolutions of 1–3 km. This paper is an illustrative investigation into the importance of subgrid variability (scales below 1–3 km), which is ignored when simulating brightness temperatures. Previous studies on the importance of subgrid variability have been based on comparisons of simulated brightness temperatures computed from hydrometeor fields of a high resolution model and spatially aggregated hydrometeor fields from the same model run. It is argued that numerical cloud models have reduced small-scale variability due to model artifacts such as computational mixing, and this may lead to an underestimation of the importance of including subgrid variability. To address this problem, stochastic downscaling developed in a wavelet-based framework is used to reintroduce the variability reduced by computational mixing. In particular, a high resolution model is spatially aggregated (i.e., upscaled) over the scales affected by computational mixing and stochastically downscaled back to the original resolution of the model. The higher degree of variability introduced by the downscaling (which is a closer approximation to the variability observed in hydrometeor concentrations as compared to that produced by high resolution models) is found to result in larger biases in estimated brightness temperature. This points to the potential for a significant source of bias in microwave-sensed precipitation retrievals that requires further study.
Non-uniqueness of solutions of 1-norm support vector classification in dual form

Most of previous research efforts on support vector machines (SVMs) were directed toward efficient implementations and practical applications. In this work, we concentrate on a different aspect of SVMs. Specifically, we investigate the non-uniqueness of SVM solutions. The key features of this work include (1) we concentrate on the cases where the dual solutions are not unique, whereas the primal solutions are unique; (2) our test for non-uniqueness can be directly applied to data points without solving the SVC optimization problem, namely, the non-uniqueness information is obtained before any numerical optimization procedure is employed.