Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increasing International Interest Requires a Quantum Leap in Methodologies for Learning World Languages

“I hate languages.I’m just not good at them, they’re not my thing. ” Why is it that so many students dislike their language classes and jump ship the second that they are no longer required to take a foreign language? According to research done by psychologist Dr. James J. Asher there is a 95% drop-out rate across the United States in traditional language classes. Many times, the only students who continue past the one or two required years of foreign language are those who go on to become teachers of the same language, and all too often they only perpetuate the cycle. Despite their pleas of ignorance, it is not the students’ inability to learn and acquire languages that is to blame; rather, it is the teaching methods that cause their reluctance, discontent, and eventual abandonment. Traditional methods often have students sitting silently as they fill out grammar and verb conjugation worksheets or monotonously repeating phrases back to the teacher. Successful language training results in an ability to communicate in the real world. Instruction must provide meaningful contexts for communicating that are interesting enough to keep the attention of students and fun enough to keep them highly motivated. TPR (Total Physical Response), and its branch-off, TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling), are innovative methods that teach students language through body movements, commands, and stories –much like how we learned our first language as infants. MTSU has been on the forefront of research and development of TPRS for the past few years and has become a hub of information and communication for instructors eager to learn how to use it in their own classroom. This summer at the ‘MTSU Summer Language Institute,’ I had the opportunity to begin learning two different languages through TPR and TPRS. This Institute is an accelerated language acquisition program developed by my mentor, Dr. Shelley Thomas. Each session is a week-long intensive course. My article will give a brief history and background of TPR and TPRS, as well as my personal experience with the methods. I will also discuss how MTSU became involved, the unique and unprecedented work that is currently taking place at MTSU, and, finally, what is happening with TPR and TPRS on an international level.
Characteristics and Prediction of RNA Editing Sites in Transcripts of the Moss Takakia lepidozioides Chloroplast

RNA editing in land plant organelles is a process primarily involving the conversion of cytidine to uridine in pre-mRNAs. The process is required for gene expression in plant organelles, because this conversion alters the encoded amino acid residues and improves the sequence identity to homologous proteins. A recent study uncovered that proteins encoded in the nuclear genome are essential for editing site recognition in chloroplasts; the mechanisms by which this recognition occurs remain unclear. To understand these mechanisms, we determined the genomic and cDNA sequences of moss Takakia lepidozioides chloroplast genes, then computationally analyzed the sequences within −30 to +10 nucleotides of RNA editing sites (neighbor sequences) likely to be recognized by trans-factors. As the T. lepidozioides chloroplast has many RNA editing sites, the analysis of these sequences provides a unique opportunity to perform statistical analyses of chloroplast RNA editing sites. We divided the 302 obtained neighbor sequences into eight groups based on sequence similarity to identify group-specific patterns. The patterns were then applied to predict novel RNA editing sites in T. lepidozioides transcripts; ∼60% of these predicted sites are true editing sites. The success of this prediction algorithm suggests that the obtained patterns are indicative of key sites recognized by trans-factors around editing sites of T. lepidozioides chloroplast genes.
‘What Part of Me Do I Leave Out?’: In Pursuit of Decolonising Practice

This article seeks to foreground the realities and lived experiences of academics who choose to work in non-traditional settings and in non-traditional ways. In doing so, the authors provide narratives to illuminate how centre/periphery encounters are played out as a politics of recognition. The authors provide a critical account of how working on the University of Sheffield's Caribbean Programme has confronted them as subaltern yet organic intellectuals with the complexities and pervasiveness of history, politics and culture where centre/periphery relations require interrogation. Through their narratives the authors seek to privilege (a) the creative, dialogic and discursive spaces in which they work; (b) the centrality of the philosophical, methodological and pedagogical opportunities these spaces provide; and (c) the strategic intervention of critical intellectuals in their work within the academy. The authors highlight sites of contestation in implementing the university's civic mission in respect of international communities. Finally, the authors offer in their interpretations of these transnational experiences an understanding of how research practice can embrace a decolonising agenda.
Using online social networking for teaching and learning: Facebook use at the University of Cape Town

Abstract Web-based learning has made learning content much more freely and instantaneously available to students who can download course notes and readings with a single mouse click. Facebook is one of many Web 2.0 tools – wikis, delicious, YouTube, podcasts – that are listed as having potential applications for teaching and learning. Moreover, it has been argued that the current generation of youth, often described as Net Geners or Digital Natives, may be resistant to traditional methods of teaching and learning. This article explores student use of Facebook at the University of Cape Town, as well as lecturer engagement with students via the new social media. Drawing on a virtual ethnography and qualitative interviews, this article shows that while there are potential positive benefits to using Facebook in teaching and learning, particularly for the development of educational micro-communities, certain challenges, including ICT literacy and uneven access, remain pertinent.
Communication and Volunteerism: The Potential Impact of Role Models

Volunteers are an important subset of society who provide many services to people and organizations in need. Based on Social Learning Theory, a preliminary study was designed to investigate the role communication may play in fostering positive attitudes and behaviors in college students regarding volunteerism. Surveys completed by 321 college students were collected and the relationship between instances of communication with role models (e.g., parents, peers, religious leaders, siblings, coworkers, extended family) and participant attitudes toward and rates of volunteering were examined. Results indicated the more conversations shared between role models and participants the more likely it was that participants held positive beliefs about volunteering and volunteered at higher rates. The significance of further research into this relationship is highlighted and implications for educators and practitioners are reviewed.
Women have Farther to Fall: Gender Differences Between Normal Elderly and Alzheimer's Disease in Verbal Memory Engender Better Detection of Alzheimer's Disease in Women

Abstract We analyzed verbal episodic memory learning and recall using the Logical Memory (LM) subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale-III to determine how gender differences in AD compare to those seen in normal elderly and whether or not these differences impact assessment of AD. We administered the LM to both an AD and a Control group, each comprised of 21 men and 21 women, and found a large drop in performance from normal elders to AD. Of interest was a gender interaction whereby the women's scores dropped 1.6 times more than the men's did. Control women on average outperformed Control men on every aspect of the test, including immediate recall, delayed recall, and learning. Conversely, AD women tended to perform worse than AD men. Additionally, the LM achieved perfect diagnostic accuracy in discriminant analysis of AD versus Control women, a statistically significantly higher result than for men. The results indicate the LM is a more powerful and reliable tool in detecting AD in women than in men. (JINS, 2011, 17, 654–662)
Crosstalk between sphingolipids and vitamin D3: potential role in the nervous system

Sphingolipids are both structural and bioactive compounds. In particular, ceramide and sphingosine 1‐phosphate regulate cell fate, inflammation and excitability. 1‐α,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) is known to play an important physiological role in growth and differentiation in a variety of cell types, including neural cells, through genomic actions mediated by its specific receptor, and non‐genomic effects that result in the activation of specific signalling pathways. 1,25(OH)2D3 and sphingolipids, in particular sphingosine 1‐phosphate, share many common effectors, including calcium regulation, growth factors and inflammatory cytokines, but it is still not known whether they can act synergistically. Alterations in the signalling and concentrations of sphingolipids and 1,25(OH)2D3 have been found in neurodegenerative diseases and fingolimod, a structural analogue of sphingosine, has been approved for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. This review, after a brief description of the role of sphingolipids and 1,25(OH)2D3, will focus on the potential crosstalk between sphingolipids and 1,25(OH)2D3 in neural cells.
U.S. Supreme Court Decisions in Fourth Amendment Cases (1961–2009)

This study explores the capacity of several different theoretical perspectives to account for variation in U.S. Supreme Court Fourth Amendment decisions (whether the case outcome favored the government or the individual). The study developed measures of Richardson and Vines and Crow and Gertz commentary on legal subculture and democratic subculture concerns of the judiciary as well as negotiation/synthesis of these concerns. The study also developed and tested measures of the resource capability thesis of Galanter and the recent work of George applying social background theory to the behavior of U.S. Supreme Court justices. The findings reveal support for each of these theoretical perspectives. Implications are discussed.
Slipping and tripping: fall injuries in adults associated with rugs and carpets

Abstract: Background: Falls are a leading cause of unintentional injury among adults age 65 years and older. Loose, unsecured rugs and damaged carpets with curled edges, are recognized environmental hazards that may contribute to falls. To characterize nonfatal, unintentional fall-related injuries associated with rugs and carpets in adults aged 65 years and older. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of surveillance data of injuries treated in hospital emergency departments (EDs) during 2001–2008. We used the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-All Injury Program, which collects data from a nationally representative stratified probability sample of 66 U.S. hospital EDs. Sample weights were used to make national estimates. Results: Annually, an estimated 37,991 adults age 65 years or older were treated in U.S. EDs for falls associated with carpets (54.2%) and rugs (45.8%). Most falls (72.8%) occurred at home. Women represented 80.2% of fall injuries. The most common location for fall injuries in the home was the bathroom (35.7%). Frequent fall injuries occurred at the transition between carpet/rug and non-carpet/rug, on wet carpets or rugs, and while hurrying to the bathroom. Conclusions: Fall injuries associated with rugs and carpets are common and may cause potentially severe injuries. Older adults, their caregivers, and emergency and primary care physicians should be aware of the significant risk for fall injuries and of environmental modifications that may reduce that risk.
ISAR near-field imaging using monostatic-bistatic equivalence and plane-wave expansion

Due to the linear formulation of their algorithms, many inverse synthetic aperture radar imaging systems are known to produce artifacts in case of monostatic setups with multiple interactions at the scatterer. Bistatic systems, where transmitting and receiving antennas are separated, may avoid this problem and are therefore of high interest. Considering relatively small bistatic angles, it is shown in this contribution how near-field samples from irregular measurement surfaces can be used for these setups by employing the monostatic-bistatic equivalence theorem. A numerical example is given.
Detecting Silent Pauses in Speech

In this study, we introduce pause detection (PD) as a new tool for studying the on-line integration of lexical and semantic information during speech comprehension. When listeners were asked to detect 200-ms pauses inserted into the last words of spoken sentences, their detection latencies were influenced by the lexical-semantic information provided by the sentences. Listeners took longer to detect a pause when it was inserted within a word that had multiple potential endings, rather than a unique ending, in the context of the sentence. An event-related potential (ERP) variant of the PD procedure revealed brain correlates of pauses as early as 101 to 125 ms following pause onset and patterns of lexical-semantic integration that mirrored those obtained with PD within 160 ms of pause onset. Thus, both the behavioral and the electro-physiological responses to pauses suggest that lexical and semantic processes are highly interactive and that their integration occurs rapidly during speech comprehension.
Analysis and Comparison of Calculation Methods for Physical Explosions of Compressed Gases

Due to the complexity of the involved physical phenomena and to the lack of an adequate amount of reliable experimental data, a number of different models and calculation procedures for estimating the physical consequences following the physical explosion of a compressed gas are presently reported in the literature. However, in many cases, only generic information about the main hypotheses adopted is provided and no guidelines about their accuracy, or range of applicability, are usually available. In the present paper the physical explosion of a compressed gas, released after the catastrophic rupture of its containment system, is addressed. The analysis is carried out by means of two of the most commonly used calculation procedures, which have been applied to a number of study cases, characterized by different substances, volume, geometrical configuration, and operating conditions. The obtained results are presented and compared. The analysis shows that, in all cases, the two methods give rise to different results, independently of the involved chemical, vessel size and shape and operating conditions. The dependence of the results on the main input parameters is highlighted in order to give a preliminary guideline in the selection of the proper calculation method for each specific study case.
Fish Consumption and Incidence of Stroke: A Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies

Background and Purpose— Results from observational studies on fish consumption and risk of stroke are inconsistent. We quantitatively assessed the relationship between fish intake and incidence of stroke using a meta-analysis of cohort studies. Methods— We searched the Medline and Embase databases (1966 through October 2003) and identified 9 independent cohorts (from 8 studies) that provided a relative risk (RR) and corresponding 95% CI for total or any type of stroke in relation to fish consumption. Pooled RR and 95% CI of stroke were estimated by variance-based meta-analysis. Results— Compared with those who never consumed fish or ate fish less than once per month, the pooled RRs for total stroke were 0.91 (95% CI, 0.79 to 1.06) for individuals with fish intake 1 to 3 times per month, 0.87 (95% CI, 0.77 to 0.98) for once per week, 0.82 (95% CI, 0.72 to 0.94) for 2 to 4 times per week, and 0.69 (95% CI, 0.54 to 0.88) for ≥5 times per week (P for trend= 0.06). In stratified analyses of 3 large cohort studies with data on stroke subtypes, the pooled RRs across 5 categories of fish intake were 1.0, 0.69 (95% CI, 0.48 to 0.99), 0.68 (95% CI, 0.52 to 0.88), 0.66 (95% CI, 0.51 to 0.87), and 0.65 (95% CI, 0.46 to 0.93) for ischemic stroke (P for trend= 0.24); and 1.0, 1.47 (95% CI, 0.81 to 2.69), 1.21 (95% CI, 0.78 to 1.85), 0.89 (95% CI, 0.56 to 1.40), and 0.80 (95% CI, 0.44 to 1.47) for hemorrhagic stroke (P for trend= 0.31). Conclusions— These results suggest that intake of fish is inversely related to risk of stroke, particularly ischemic stroke. Fish consumption as seldom as 1 to 3 times per month may protect against the incidence of ischemic stroke.
Answering patients' needs: oral alternatives to intravenous therapy.

Metastatic colorectal cancer has traditionally been treated with i.v. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), with or without leucovorin (LV). 5-FU is administered as either an i.v. bolus or a protracted infusion. Although schedules using the latter method offer efficacy benefits (objective response rate, time to disease progression), protracted infusion schedules are often associated with medical complications, inconvenience, high costs, and poor quality of life. Issues such as quality of life and convenience have influenced treatment decisions, but the availability of oral fluoropyrimidines represents a new development in this domain. Studies have confirmed that the majority of patients prefer oral to i.v. chemotherapy. Questionnaire-based studies have also demonstrated a preference for home-based rather than hospital-/clinic-based therapy. This preference was one of the driving forces behind the development of the oral fluoropyrimidines capecitabine (Xeloda) and uracil plus tegafur (UFT). Oral agents offer patients a more convenient treatment option that can be administered at home, providing patients with a greater sense of control over their therapy, while avoiding the medical complications and psychological distress associated with venous access. This article highlights some of the problems associated with i.v. therapy and reviews the available data on patient preference, including results of a recent, randomized, phase II study. It also provides a critical evaluation of the efficacy and safety profiles of the only two oral fluoropyrimidines approved for prescription, capecitabine and UFT/LV (UFT/LV not available in Germany and the U.S.), compared with those of two infused, 5-FU-based regimens. Finally, the results of an interactive debate exploring the opinions of approximately 400 oncologists on the issues of oral versus i.v. therapy are presented.
On the State of the Union

An overlapping generations model of marriage and divorce is constructed to analyze family structure and intergenerational mobility. Agents differ by sex, marital status, and human capital. Single agents meet in a marriage market and decide whether to accept or reject proposals to wed. Married couples must decide whether to separate or not. Parents invest in their children depending on their wherewithal. A simulated version of the theoretical prototype can generate an equilibrium with a significant number of female‐headed families and a high degree of persistence in income across generations. To illustrate the model's mechanics, the effects of two antipoverty policies, namely child support and welfare, are investigated.
Two distinct types of ON directionally selective ganglion cells in the rabbit retina

Mammalian retinas contain about 20 types of ganglion cells that respond to different aspects of the visual scene, including the direction of motion of objects in the visual field. The rabbit retina has long been thought to contain two distinct types of directionally selective (DS) ganglion cell: a bistratified ON‐OFF DS ganglion cell that responds to onset and termination of light, and an ON DS ganglion cell, which stratifies only in the ON layer and responds only to light onset. This division is challenged by targeted recordings from rabbit retina, which indicate that ON DS ganglion cells occur in two discriminably different types. One of these is strongly tracer‐coupled to amacrine cells; the other is never tracer‐coupled. These two types also differ in branching pattern, stratification depth, relative latency, and transience of spiking. The sustained, uncoupled ON DS cell ramifies completely within the lower cholinergic band and responds to nicotine with continuous firing. In contrast, the transient, coupled ON DS ganglion cell stratifies above the cholinergic band and is not positioned to receive major input from cholinergic amacrine cells, consistent with its modest response to the cholinergic agonist nicotine. Much data have accrued that directional responses in the mammalian retina originate via gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) release from the dendrites of starburst amacrine cells (Euler et al., 2002 ). If there is an ON DS ganglion cell that does not stratify in the starburst band, this suggests that its GABA‐dependent directional signals may be generated by a mechanism independent of starburst amacrine cells. J. Comp. Neurol. 519:2509–2521, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Learning from Errors: Error-Related Neural Activity Predicts Improvements in Future Inhibitory Control Performance

Failure to adapt performance following an error is a debilitating symptom of many neurological and psychiatric conditions. Healthy individuals readily adapt their behavior in response to an error, an ability thought to be subserved by the posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC). However, it remains unclear how humans adaptively alter cognitive control behavior when they reencounter situations that were previously failed minutes or days ago. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined neural activity during a Go/No-go response inhibition task that provided the opportunity for participants to learn from their errors. When they failed to inhibit their response, they were shown the same target stimulus during the next No-go trial, which itself could occur up to 20 trials after its initial presentation. Activity within the pMFC was significantly greater for initial errors that were subsequently corrected than for errors that were repeated later in the display sequence. Moreover, pMFC activity during errors predicted future responses despite a sizeable interval (on average 12 trials) between an error and the next No-go stimulus. Our results indicate that changes in cognitive control performance can be predicted using error-related activity. The increased likelihood of adaptive changes occurring during periods of recent success is consistent with models of error-related activity that argue for the influence of outcome expectancy (Holroyd and Coles, 2002; Brown and Braver, 2005). The findings may also help to explain the diminished error-related neural activity in such clinical conditions as schizophrenia, as well as the propensity for perseverative behavior in these clinical groups.