Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Later life learning experiences: listening to the voices of Chinese elders in Hong Kong

Abstract Governments’ anxieties about ageing populations are mostly concerned with the costs of welfare, care and health provision which all have to be paid for by an ever dwindling working population. However, research in later life learning indicates the significant role that lifelong learning can play in promoting mental well-being and resilience, and in assisting with maintaining personal self-confidence and self-coping strategies that prevent cognitive decline in an ageing population. This paper draws on the research with a group of Chinese elders in Hong Kong, who provide information about their experiences and views on learning in later life, including the meaning of learning, barriers to participation, learning interests, needs, motivations, and instructional preferences. Both quantitative and qualitative findings are reported to shed light on later life learning experiences, which contribute to the global understanding of later life learning and serve to inform the development of policy and practice geared to the planning and provision of opportunities to keep learning at the later stages of life.
Real-time PCR detection and frequency of 16 S rDNA mutations associated with resistance and reduced susceptibility to tetracycline in Helicobacter pylori from England and Wales

Results: From 1006 isolates of H. pylori examined, 18 showed reduced susceptibility to tetracycline. Of these, three were resistant (‡4 mg/L). Mutations in 16S rDNA were detected in 10 of the reduced susceptibility isolates: one double base mutation of A926T/A928C, one A926C, one A928C; and seven A926G. The first two polymorphisms were novel and had not been reported from clinical isolates previously. The LightCycler assay identified each of the 10 isolates with 16S rDNA mutations, but did not detect polymorphisms in 100 tetracycline-susceptible H. pylori isolates. The assay correctly determined the tetracycline susceptibility of H. pylori in 20 gastric biopsy samples.
The centrality of checkpoints for civilians during conflict

Abstract Analyses of the violence–displacement relationship motivate a disaggregation of violence into violence in residential areas (home violence) and violence along migration routes (road violence). These two forms of violence have opposite effects upon displacement, with home violence increasing displacement and road violence decreasing displacement. Yet, conflict scholarship would benefit from additional consideration of the specific activities that constitute road violence. This consideration reveals that road violence primarily involves displacement-deterring violence at checkpoints. This motivates the question: How does checkpoint violence deter displacement? Using interviews with Syrian and Somali refugees, as well as daily data on violence and displacement in Somalia, this paper argues that state and non-state armed groups create and foster uncertainty at checkpoints. Then, they use dramatic violence that is tangible to civilians through their ability to physically see, hear, and smell evidence of it as propaganda. As propaganda, the deterrent effect of checkpoint violence is amplified beyond isolated violent events. More broadly, results from quantitative analysis of the daily data on violence and displacement in Somalia indicate that uncertainty about road violence (road uncertainty) and uncertainty about home violence (home uncertainty) amplify the effects of road violence and home violence, respectively.
A study of the effects of an integrated, activity-based science curriculum on student achievement, science process skills, and science attitudes

This study investigated the effect of an integrated, activity-based science curriculum, on science achievement, science process skills, and attitudes toward science. The research involved seventh grade students using the Integrated Science (IS) curriculum as the experimental group and seventh grade students using a traditional science curriculum as the control group. The IS curriculum developed connections between different content areas of science, technology and mathematics in ways to improve science literacy for students while the traditional curriculum focused on Life Science. The instruments included the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), the South Eastern Regional Vision for Education (SERVE) Science Process Skills Test, and the SERVE Science Attitude Survey. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used for data analysis. In the experimental group, 532 seventh grade ITBS Science scores were matched to same student sixth grade scores with 450 matches obtained in the control group. The experimental group had a significantly higher ITBS Science adjusted posttest mean compared to the control group with means of 238.3 and 232.2 respectively. The effect size (f=1.026) would be considered large according to J. Cohen (1988). In the experimental group 531 Process Skill Test matches were made pretest to posttest while 398 matches were made in the control group. The experimental group adjusted posttest mean score was significantly higher than the control with means of 14.51 and 13.68 respectively. The effect size (f=.9285) was large. Differences in individual process skills were also evaluated and significant differences were found between the experimental and control groups. Students were given the SERVE Attitude Survey as a pretest and posttest. The attitude adjusted posttest means of the experimental and control groups were not significantly different.
Hot and Cold IPO Markets: Identification Using a Regime Switching Model

The market for unseasoned equity has the unusual and distinguishing feature of periods of concentrated activity in terms of both volume and underpricing. This paper formally documents the existence of such periods using a regime-switching model that dates transitions between hot and cold states. A number of hot periods are identified over a 20-year period using a variety of IPO activity measures that capture different aspects of new issue volume, proceeds and underpricing. The study further documents a leading relationship between underpricing and IPO volume of up to six months. This relationship supports the contention that the decision to issue is a function of current underpricing. Various reasons are hypothesised for this result and the paper finds supportive evidence through a VAR analysis that reveals the influence of stock market and business conditions.
Investigating the impact of the external environment on strategic information systems planning: a qualitative inquiry

Strategic information systems planning (SISP) is a key issue to IS managers. The SISP approach employed by organizations is very much dependent on the internal and external environment. Recent research points to a gap between the manner in which IS researchers and practitioners perceive SISP. In this paper we aim to elucidate this gap by comparing the way in which researchers and practitioners view the external environment and its impact on SISP. The researcher perspective was established through literature review. For the practitioner view, data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with 7 IS professionals who had experience of SISP. The interview data was analysed using techniques borrowed from the grounded theory methodology. Through this analysis it was found that practitioners, while recognizing the impact of the general external environment on SISP, are especially cognisant of the external IT environment and its impact. Academic literature, on the other hand, tends to focus on the external business environment, with very little research conducted on the external IT environment in the context of SISP. The implications of these and other findings are discussed in the paper.
A study of the relationship between characteristic traits and Employee Engagement (A case study of nurses across Kermanshah, Iran in 2015)

Staff Engagement is an individual’s interest and enthusiasm to accomplish the specified duties, all together with his sustained profession with organizations. Accordingly, the current research aimed to delve into the relationship between the characteristical traits and Staff Engag ement among nurses employed in Kermanshah-based hospitals in 2015. In this descriptive-correlational study, 322 nurses of public hospitals in Kermanshah were picked in 2015. For information gathering, Schaufeli & Bakker’s Utrecht Staff Engagement scale and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) were used. Information was examined through descriptive analytics (Frequency, Rate, Average, and Standard Deviation) and inferential analytics (Pearson Correlation Test and Multiple Regression Analysis). Also, the 21st version of SPSS software was applied for information investigation. The results demonstrated that the greatest and smallest means of characteristical traits among nurses related to acceptance to experience (3.75 ± 0.63) and neuroticism (2.82 ± 0.55). Also, the highest and lowest means of Staff Engagement related to absorption (5.41 ± 0.76) and vigor (5.04 ± 0.86). Moreover, the outcomes of the Pearson correlation examination showed that there were important connections between the two dimensions of personality traits, i.e. neuroticism (P<0.001, r=0.172) and extraversion (P<0.001, r=0.038), and job engagement. Moreover, neuroticism had the most meaningful relationship with Staff Engagement (P<0.001, r=0.172). On the other hand, the outcomes of multiple regression analysis revealed that dutifulness and agreeableness were good predictors for job engagement. Given that the two scopes of personality traits, i.e. dutifulness and agreeableness, were closely related to work engagement, it was suggested that these dimensions were given a careful consideration in the event of employing workforce, especially nurses, with the aim of boosting the organizational productivity.
How Period Data Influence the Estimates of Recently Arrived Immigrants in the American Community Survey1

The American Community Survey (ACS) includes a “year-of-entry” question that asks the foreign born when they came “to live in the United States. ” Researchers have used these data to analyze “recent” immigrants — usually defined as arriving within the last five to 10 years — noting that the number of new arrivals is considerably lower than those who arrived in prior years and suggesting the size of the recent immigrant population may be underestimated. This paper shows the primary cause of the lower-than-expected estimates to be the ACS data collection methodology, which causes an inherent downward bias in survey-year arrivals.
Combined horizontal and vertical projection feature extraction technique for Gurmukhi handwritten character recognition

Despite the advancements in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technologies, problem of Indic script character recognition remains challenging. Especially in case of handwritten characters the challenges are even more. In this work, we focus on off-line recognition of handwritten characters of Gurmukhi, an Indic script commonly used in state of Punjab in India. As a part of this work, we collected a Gurmukhi character dataset of 3500 images. This dataset is collected from 10 writers. We propose a combined horizontal and vertical projection feature extraction scheme for recognition of Gurmukhi characters. We have tested our method on the collected dataset and achieved a high character recognition accuracy of 98.06%.
The Speech Situation Checklist: A Normative And Comparative Investigat

Studies conducted over the past decades have identified the presence of a greater amount of negative emotional reaction and speech disruption in particular speech situations among children who stutter, compared to those who do not (Brutten & Vanryckeghem, 2003b; Knudson, 1939; Meyers, 1986; Trotter, 1983). Laboratory investigations have been utilized to describe the particular situations that elicit the greatest or least amount of speech concern and fluency failures. More recently, in order to deal with the limitation of laboratory research, the use of self-report tests have gained popularity as a means of exploring the extent of negative emotional reaction and speech disruption in a wide array of speaking situations. However, the availability of such instruments for use with children has been limited. Toward this end, the Speech Situation Checklist (SSC) was designed for use with youngsters who do and do not stutter (Brutten 1965b, 2003b). Past investigations utilizing the SSC for Children have reported on reliability and validity information and provided useful normative data (Brutten & Vanryckeghem, 2003b; Trotter, 1983). Additionally, the findings from those research studies have consistently revealed statistically significant differences in speech-related negative emotional response and speech disorganization between children who do and do not stutter. However, since its initial construction, the SSC has undergone modifications and paucity of normative data for the current American form of the SSC has restricted its clinical use. To fill this void, the revised SSC for children was utilized in the present study to obtain current normative and comparative data for American grade-school stuttering and nonstuttering
Cytokine and chemokine responses in a cerebral malaria-susceptible or -resistant strain of mice to Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection: early chemokine expression in the brain.

A comparative study was carried out on cytokine and chemokine responses in a cerebral malaria (CM)-susceptible or -resistant strain of mice (C57BL/6 or BALB/c respectively) in Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection. C57BL/6 mice died by 10 days after infection when parasitemia was approximately 15-20% with cerebral symptoms, while BALB/c mice survived until week 3 after infection. Although both strains showed T(h)1-skewed responses on day 4 after infection, significantly higher levels of IFN-gamma, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and NO were observed during the course of the infection in BALB/c, suggesting that T(h)1 responses are involved in the resistance. Interestingly, in the brain, both strains expressed IFN-inducible protein of 10 kDa (IP-10) and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1 genes as early as at 24 h post-infection, whereas some differences were observed between both strains thereafter, i.e. enhanced expression of RANTES in C57BL/6, and of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha in BALB/c respectively. Moreover, the expression of IP-10 and MCP-1 genes in KT-5, an astrocyte cell line, was induced in vitro upon stimulation with a crude antigen of malaria parasites. These results suggest that the direct involvement of brain parenchymal cells takes place in response to plasmodial infection, providing a new aspect to analyze possible mechanisms of CM. This is the first report on the chemokine expression in neuroglial cells in response to malaria infection.
EULER APPROXIMATION OF NONCONVEX DISCONTINUOUS DIFFERENTIAL INCLUSIONS

In the paper we study two types of time-discretization of one sided Lipschitz dierential inclusions which right-hand side is neither upper nor lower semicontinuous. In the first one the original right-hand side is used. In the second one we use its closed graph convex regularization. It is remarkable that the both schemes give O(h 1=2 ) approximation of the solution set of the regularized dierential inclusion. In the last section we apply these results to investigate some qualitative properties of dierential inclusions in Hilbert spaces.
Sirt3, Mitochondrial ROS, Ageing, and Carcinogenesis

One fundamental observation in cancer etiology is that the rate of malignancies in any mammalian population increases exponentially as a function of age, suggesting a mechanistic link between the cellular processes governing longevity and carcinogenesis. In addition, it is well established that aberrations in mitochondrial metabolism, as measured by increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), are observed in both aging and cancer. In this regard, genes that impact upon longevity have recently been characterized in S. cerevisiae and C. elegans, and the human homologs include the Sirtuin family of protein deacetylases. Interestingly, three of the seven sirtuin proteins are localized into the mitochondria suggesting a connection between the mitochondrial sirtuins, the free radical theory of aging, and carcinogenesis. Based on these results it has been hypothesized that Sirt3 functions as a mitochondrial fidelity protein whose function governs both aging and carcinogenesis by modulating ROS metabolism. Sirt3 has also now been identified as a genomically expressed, mitochondrial localized tumor suppressor and this review will outline potential relationships between mitochondrial ROS/superoxide levels, aging, and cell phenotypes permissive for estrogen and progesterone receptor positive breast carcinogenesis.
DIETARY SURVEYS AND NUTRITIONAL EPIDEMIOLOGY South Asian individuals at high risk of type 2 diabetes have lower plasma vitamin C levels than white Europeans

Individuals of South Asian origin are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes; the relationship between this risk and diet remains to be investigated fully. Furthermore, fruit and vegetable intake remains low throughout the world and previous data suggest that intake is associated with risk of diabetes. The aim of this research study was to compare plasma vitamin C concentrations, measured as a biomarker for fruit and vegetable intake, in South Asian and white European individuals. Participants recruited as part of the Let ’ s Prevent Diabetes Study provided samples for the quanti ﬁ cation of plasma vitamin C. We compared vitamin C levels by ethnicity using multiple regression, both unadjusted and adjusted for confounders, including glycaemic status. Mean plasma vitamin C was signi ﬁ cantly lower in the South Asian participants compared with white European participants (34.5 ( SD 19 · 8) v. 39 · 9 ( SD 22 · 1) µmol/l, respectively; P ≤ 0 · 0001). Signi ﬁ cantly fewer South Asian individuals consumed ﬁ ve portions of fruit and vegetables per d, as determined by a plasma vitamin C concentration of ≥ 50 µmol/l (23 · 2 % ( n 58) v. 31 · 4 % ( n 558); P = 0 · 01). Vitamin C re ﬂ ects habitual fruit and vegetable consumption; thus results suggest that South Asians have lower fruit and vegetable intake. However, it cannot be excluded that vitamin C is utilised differently. Dietary advice speci ﬁ cally targeting the South Asian population should be developed.
A HIERARCHICAL MODEL OF APPROACH AND AVOIDANCE ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION

A hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation was proposed and tested in a college classroom. Mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals were assessed and their antecedents and consequences examined. Results indicated that mastery goals were grounded in achievement motivation and high competence expectancies; performance-avoidance goals, in fear of failure and low competence expectancies; and performance-approach goals, in ach.ievement motivation, fear of failure, and high competence expectancies. Mastery goals facilitated intrinsic motivation, performance-approach goals enhanced graded performance, and performanceavoidance goals proved inimical to both intrinsic motivation and graded performance. The proposed model represents an integration of classic and contemporary approaches to the study of achievement motivation. Achievement motivation is a ubiquitous feature of daily life. In the classroom, at the workplace, and on the ballfield individuals strive to be competent in their effortful activities. In the past decade, many theorists have utilized a social-cognitive, achievement goal approach in accounting for individuals' competence-relevant strivings. "Achievement goal" is commonly defined as the purpose of task engagement (Maehr, 1989), and the specific type of goal adopted is posited to create a framework for how individuals interpret, experience, and act in their achievement pursuits (Dweck, 1986; Nicholls, 1989). Achievement goal theorists commonly identify two distinct orientations toward competence: a performance goal focused on the demonstration of competence relevant to others, and a mastery goal focused on the development of competence and task mastery (Ames & Archer, 1987; for similar conceptualizations with different nomenclature see Dweck, 1986; NichoUs, 1984). The adoption of a performance goal is hypothesized to produce susceptibility to a "helpless" pattern of responses in achievement settings (e.g., a preference for easy or difficult tasks, withdrawal of effort in the face of failure, and decreased task enjoyment), whereas the adoption of a mastery goal is presumed to lead to a "mastery" motivational pattern (e.g., a preference for moderately challenging tasks, persistence in the face of failure, and enhanced task enjoyment; Ames, 1992; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Nicholls, 1989). Most achievement goal theorists conceptualize both perfor
Biologically Inspired Object Categorization in Cluttered Scenes

Humans have the ability to recognize objects in a cluttered scene in 100 s of milliseconds. Computer algorithms operate at a much lower performance level compared to humans. Furthermore, it has proven to be particularly difficult to develop algorithms to recognize all objects in a category, such as, all cat faces vs dog faces, because of the large in-class variability. The distinguishing features can vary significantly among different objects in the same class. A similar case can be made for other categories, such as, cars, human faces, etc. In this paper we approach this problem using a model of the human visual system. The human visual system can be divided into two major pathways, commonly called the 'what' and 'where' pathways. The 'what' pathway recognizes an object in a scene, but not its specific location. In this paper we present a biologically inspired hierarchical 'what' neural network that can successfully classify objects into categories.
Prenatal morphine exposure alters the layer II/III pyramidal neurons morphology in lateral secondary visual cortex of juvenile rats

Altered cortical neuronal morphology and juvenle behavior manifestation by prenatal morphine exposure were well documented. However, this developmental morphine exposure affect the lateral secondary visual area (V2L), which may be critically involved in the multisensory of auditory and visual stimulus, remained poorly understood. To clarify the neuronal architecture changes possibly occurring in the V2L, Golgi‐Cox staining was used in this study to count dendritic length and the spine density of the layer II/III pyramidal neurons in the V2L of the juvenile rats (postnatal day 25, PND25) prenatally exposed to morphine (gestation days 11–18). Quantitative analysis showed that prenatal morphine exposure decreased the total length, branch number, and spine density of the layer II/III pyramidal neurons in the V2L, and selectively altered the total length of the basal dendrites but not of the apical dendrites. The findings may provide the mechanistic understanding of the behavioral changes in the children whose mothers abuse opiates during pregnancy. Synapse 63:1154–1161, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.