Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pupils’ self-regulation in physical education: the role of motivational climates and differential achievement goals

This study examined the relationship of motivational climate and differential achievement goals to meta-cognitive self-regulation, regulation of effort, help-seeking and self-handicapping in physical education (PE). The sample consisted of 273 pupils (boys n = 125; girls n = 148) attending 10th grade PE classes in Norway. Both motivational climates and achievement goals revealed expected patterns of relations to self-regulation indices. Direct climate influences as well as goal mediated influences were observed as illustrated by a direct positive influence of a mastery climate on meta-cognitive strategy use and effort regulation and by a positive performance climate effect on self-handicapping, mediated by a performance-avoid goal. A performance-avoid goal also moderated the influence of a mastery climate on effort regulation. Results lend support to the trichotomous achievement goal perspective by showing a) differential self-regulation influences of performance-approach and performance-avoid goals and b) proximal goal influences to be mediators in relations between distal climate influences and pupils’ self-regulation.
Investigating the Research Trends of Learning Organization Studies between 1979 and 2011: An Approach of the Citation Network Research

In the current knowledge society, the learning organization (LO) has received great attention as it enhances the learning capacity and competitiveness of an organization. With the popularity of the concept of the LO, related research has also increased. However, little attention has been given to the trend of and the interaction among the LO studies. This study examined the most influential articles and scholars in the academic fields, in which the LO was used as the primary research concept by analyzing articles on the LO in the SSCI indexed journal lists. In addition, the citation network and co-citation of the LO articles were investigated using citation network analysis and co-citation analysis techniques. As a result, attributes and patterns among the LO articles in SSCI journals in the past 33 years were found. The systematic connections among these articles were neither strong nor widely distributed, and few star articles have had a strong impact on the LO studies. In addition, this study determined eight sub-topics of the LO studies as the key research areas in the LO field: (a) foundations of the LO, (b) trend and application of the LO, (c) consequences of the LO, (d) systemic view of the LO, (e) expected outcomes of the LO, (f) unique characteristics of the LO, (g) holistic view of the LO, and (h) paradigm shift of the LO.
Role of bradykinin B 1 and B 2 receptors in normal blood pressure regulation

Duka, Arvi, Irena Duka, Guohong Gao, Sherene Shenouda, Irene Gavras, and Haralambos Gavras. Role of bradykinin B1 and B2 receptors in normal blood pressure regulation. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 291: E268–E274, 2006. First published February 28, 2006; doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00382. 2005. —With inhibition or absence of the bradykinin B2 receptor (B2R), B1R is upregulated and assumes some of the hemodynamic properties of B2R, indicating that both participate in the maintenance of normal vasoregulation or to development of hypertension. Herein we further evaluate the role of bradykinin in normal blood pressure (BP) regulation and its relationship with other vasoactive factors by selectively blocking its receptors. Six groups of Wistar rats were treated for 3 wk: one control group with vehicle alone, one with concurrent administration of B1R antagonist R-954 (70 g kg 1 day ) and B2R antagonist HOE-140 (500 g kg 1 day ), one with R-954 alone, one with HOE 140 alone, one with concurrent administration of both R-954 and HOE140 plus the angiotensin antagonist losartan (5 mg kg 1 day ), and one with only losartan. BP was measured continuously by radiotelemetry. Only combined administration of B1R and B2R antagonists produced a significant BP increase from a baseline of 107–119 mmHg at end point, which could be partly prevented by losartan and was not associated with change in catecholamines, suggesting no involvement of the sympathoadrenal system. The impact of blockade of bradykinin on other vasoregulating systems was assessed by evaluating gene expression of different vasoactive factors. There was upregulation of the eNOS, AT1 receptor, PGE2 receptor, and tissue kallikrein genes in cardiac and renal tissues, more pronounced when both bradykinin receptors were blocked; significant downregulation of AT2 receptor gene in renal tissues only; and no consistent changes in B1R and B2R genes in either tissue. The results indicate that both B1R and B2R contribute to the maintenance of normal BP, but one can compensate for inhibition of the other, and the chronic inhibition of both leads to significant upregulation in the genes of related vasoactive systems.
Immunostimolatory activities of Vigna mungo L. extract in male Sprague–Dawley rats

Vigna mungo L. (Fabaceae) is a popular food legume used in the traditional Indian system of medicine for the treatment of a variety of disease conditions. The objective of the study was to evaluate any immunostimulatory activities of the extract of V. mungo seeds in an animal model. The induction of any immunostimulatory effects were evaluated using measures of sheep red blood cells (SRBC)-induced humoral antibody titer, SRBC-induced delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH), neutrophil adhesion, and in vivo phagocytosis (via the carbon clearance method) after host treatment with the extract. The results here indicated that primary and secondary antibody titers in the rats were significantly increased by treatment with the V. mungo extract as compared with those noted among rats in a control group. Increases in DTH response, the percentage (%) neutrophil adhesion, and in situ phagocytosis were also observed after treatment with the extract. We summarize that the apparent immunostimulatory effect of the V. mungo seed extract might be attributed to an augmentation of humoral and cell-mediated responses, phagocytosis, and hematopoiesis in the treated rats. The findings in this study suggest that V. mungo seed extract possesses profound immunostimulatory activities. Whether such outcomes are also evidenced by consumption of the intact seeds themselves, as is most likely to be the case with humans, remains to be determined. Nonetheless, the present study provides evidence that could help explain how the traditional use of V. mungo has been successful in the treatment of various disorders in humans.
Home Environment, Talented Minority Youth, and School Achievement.

The increasing national interest in the role of minority parents in the education of their children has required an in-depth analysis of the effects of home environmental variables on student academic performance and the implications of findings from such analyses for policy and practice. Results obtained from studies on this topic generally have been inconsistent. 1 This inconsistency is said to have originated from the following: (1) invalid assumptions made about the nature and role of home environmental variables, (2) invalid assumptions about group homogeneity originating from a lack of understanding of the differences that exist among and within minority groups, (3) failure to control for the large number of variablesmost notably, socioeconomic status and race-that interact with environmental variables to affect achievement, and (4) the assumption that environmental variables are static variables that can be isolated for analysis. To the contrary, they operate in an interactive fashion with each other and with other social variables within the larger societal context. The resulting patterns have differential effects on achievement. It is now recognized that for an understanding of the home
High-Efficiency Wireless Power Transfer for Biomedical Implants by Optimal Resonant Load Transformation

Wireless power transfer provides a safe and robust way for powering biomedical implants, where high efficiency is of great importance. A new wireless power transfer technique using optimal resonant load transformation is presented with significantly improved efficiency at the cost of only one additional chip inductor component. The optimal resonant load condition for the maximized power transfer efficiency is explained. The proposed technique is implemented using printed spiral coils with discrete surface mount components at 13.56 MHz power carrier frequency. With an implantable coil having an area of 25 mm × 10 mm and a thickness of 0.5 mm, the power transfer efficiency of 58% is achieved in the tissue environment at 10-mm distance from the external coil. Compared to previous works, the power efficiency is much higher and the structure is compact with planar integration, easy to tune, and suitable for batch production, as well as biocompatible owing to no incorporation of ferromagnetic core.
Bridging the Divide Between Theory and Practice

Abstract Experiential learning approaches such as role-play have been found to be valuable methods of bridging the divide between academic knowledge and practical skills, a problem often cited in tourism and hospitality management education. Such approaches have been found to contribute towards deeper learning by enhancing students' interest, motivation, participation, knowledge and skill development. This paper reports on the implementation of an experiential learning approach designed to encourage and facilitate deeper learning approaches, with the contributing aims of providing students with a more interesting learning experience and a broader set of skills for future employment.
Serum In ﬂ ammatory Markers and Preeclampsia in Type 1 Diabetes A prospective study

OBJECTIVE d In ﬂ ammation and endothelial dysfunction have been associated with the immunobiology of preeclampsia (PE), a signi ﬁ cant cause of adverse pregnancy outcomes. The prevalence of PE is elevated several fold in the presence of maternal type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Although cross-sectional studies of pregnancies among women without diabetes have shown altered in ﬂ ammatory markers in the presence of PE, longitudinal studies of diabetic women are lacking. In maternal serum samples, we examined the temporal associations of markers of in ﬂ ammation with the subsequent development of PE in women with T1DM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS d We conducted longitudinal analyses of serum C-reactive protein (CRP), adhesion molecules, and cytokines during the ﬁ rst (mean 6 SD, 12.2 6 1.9 weeks), second (21.6 6 1.5 weeks), and third (31.5 6 1.7 weeks) trimesters of pregnancy (visits 1 – 3, respectively). All study visits took place before the onset of PE. Covariates were BMI, HbA 1c , age of onset, duration of diabetes, and mean arterial pressure. RESULTS d In women with T1DM who developed PE versus those who remained normotensive, CRP tended to be higher at visits 1 ( P = 0.07) and 2 ( P = 0.06) and was signi ﬁ cantly higher at visit 3 ( P , 0.05); soluble E-selectin and interferon- g – inducible protein-10 (IP-10) were signif-icantly higher at visit 3; interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) and eotaxin were higher and lower, respectively, at visit 2 (all P , 0.05). These conclusions persisted following adjustment for covariates. CONCLUSIONS d In pregnant women with T1DM, elevated CRP, soluble E-selectin, IL-1ra, and IP-10 and lower eotaxin were associated with subsequent PE. The role of in ﬂ ammatory factors as markers and potential mechanisms of the high prevalence of PE in T1DM merits further investigation.
BEST: Improved Prediction of B-Cell Epitopes from Antigen Sequences

Accurate identification of immunogenic regions in a given antigen chain is a difficult and actively pursued problem. Although accurate predictors for T-cell epitopes are already in place, the prediction of the B-cell epitopes requires further research. We overview the available approaches for the prediction of B-cell epitopes and propose a novel and accurate sequence-based solution. Our BEST (B-cell Epitope prediction using Support vector machine Tool) method predicts epitopes from antigen sequences, in contrast to some method that predict only from short sequence fragments, using a new architecture based on averaging selected scores generated from sliding 20-mers by a Support Vector Machine (SVM). The SVM predictor utilizes a comprehensive and custom designed set of inputs generated by combining information derived from the chain, sequence conservation, similarity to known (training) epitopes, and predicted secondary structure and relative solvent accessibility. Empirical evaluation on benchmark datasets demonstrates that BEST outperforms several modern sequence-based B-cell epitope predictors including ABCPred, method by Chen et al. (2007), BCPred, COBEpro, BayesB, and CBTOPE, when considering the predictions from antigen chains and from the chain fragments. Our method obtains a cross-validated area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for the fragment-based prediction at 0.81 and 0.85, depending on the dataset. The AUCs of BEST on the benchmark sets of full antigen chains equal 0.57 and 0.6, which is significantly and slightly better than the next best method we tested. We also present case studies to contrast the propensity profiles generated by BEST and several other methods.
Social Capital in the Field of Power: The Case of Norway

This paper analyses social capital structures in the field of power, based on data from the Norwegian Power and Democracy Survey on elites. Separating between objectified, institutionalised, embodied, and inherited social capital, and inspired by Bourdieu's approach, we analyse the relations between social capital and the other forms of capital by way of specific multiple correspondence analysis and ascending hierarchical cluster analysis. First, we find that the level of institutionalised social capital varies from one fraction of the Norwegian elite to another. Secondly, the range of networks established through previous work experiences is related to field seniority. Thirdly, the positions of highest endogamy are situated in the religious field, and to a lesser extent, in the scientific field, and in the juridical field. Finally, the ‘core of the core’ is defined by actors who are strongly interconnected inside what is called ‘the tripartite system’, with a high level of multipositionality and intersectorial connections.
Power Conflict: Struggles for Intragroup Control and Dominance

Title of Dissertation: POWER CONFLICT: STRUGGLES FOR INTRAGROUP CONTROL AND DOMINANCE Kirsten Michelle Keller, Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Dissertation Directed By: Professor Michele J. Gelfand Department of Psychology There has been a considerable amount of research at the individual level of analys is examining strivings for power and influence within an organizational context. H owever, research has largely yet to examine how these individual motives and behaviors designed to garne r power may translate to processes at the interpersonal and group level, and in partic ular, the extent to which they may result in conflicts or power struggles between individuals. Theref ore, the goal of this dissertation was to delineate and explore a construct of power conflic t using both qualitative and quantitative methods in two complementary studies. In the first study of this dissertation, I conducted an inductive, qualitative ex amination of power conflict designed to provide an in depth exploration of different types or manife st tions of power conflict. Using data obtained from 58 semi-structured interviews with em ployees across 23 different bank branches, this study explored how conflicts over power are enacte d within context, including key actions and motives. In addition, this study explored potential ante cedents and consequences of power conflict in an effort to begin developing a nomological netw ork. In Study 2, I then built upon these qualitative results by using survey data from 131 bank branches to empirically establish power conflict as an important fourth factor of int agroup conflict, along with the already established task, relationship, and process fac tor . In support of this, the confirmatory factor analysis results provide evidence that power confli ct is a distinct factor of intragroup conflict and is distinct from the potentially related cons truct of dominating conflict management strategies. I also test a portion of the nomological netw ork developed through the qualitative study by examining the relationship of power conflict to s everal group level antecedents and consequences. Regression results indicate that groups with higher mean levels of extraversion, lower mean levels of agreeableness, and that are p redominantly female tend to have higher levels of power conflict. In contrast, groups that have high lear ning goal orientation climates tend to have lower levels of power conflict. In terms of consequences, power conflict was significantly related to branch stress and greater branc h turnover above and beyond the other three conflict types. POWER CONFLICT: STRUGGLES FOR INTRAGROUP CONTROL AND DO MINANCE
Racemic Ketamine Decreases Muscle Sympathetic Activity but Maintains the Neural Response to Hypotensive Challenges in Humans

Background Cardiovascular stimulation and increased catecholamine plasma concentrations during ketamine anesthesia have been attributed to increased central sympathetic activity as well as catecholamine reuptake inhibition in various experimental models. However, direct recordings of efferent sympathetic nerve activity have not been performed in humans. The authors tested the hypothesis that racemic ketamine increases efferent muscle sympathetic activity (MSA) and maintains the muscle sympathetic response to hypotensive challenges. Methods Muscle sympathetic activity was recorded by microneurography in the peroneal nerve of six healthy subjects before and during anesthesia with racemic ketamine (2 mg/kg intravenously plus 30 &mgr;g · kg−1 · min−1). Catecholamine plasma concentrations, heart rate, and blood pressure were also determined. Muscle sympathetic neural responses to a hypotensive challenge were assessed by injection of sodium nitroprusside (2–10 &mgr;g/kg) before and during ketamine anesthesia. In the final step, increased arterial pressure observed during ketamine anesthesia was adjusted to preanesthetic baseline by sodium nitroprusside infusion (1–6 &mgr;g · kg−1 · min−1). Results Ketamine significantly decreased MSA burst frequency (mean ± SD, 18 ± 9 bursts/min to 9 ± 8 bursts/min) and burst incidence (26 ± 11 bursts/100 heart beats to 9 ± 6 bursts/100 heart beats). However, when increased mean arterial pressure (85 ± 8 mmHg to 121 ± 20 mmHg) was normalized to the awake baseline by sodium nitroprusside, MSA recovered (25 ± 18 bursts/min; 23 ± 14 bursts/100 heart beats). During ketamine anesthesia, both epinephrine (15 ± 10 pg/ml to 256 ± 193 pg/ml) and norepinephrine (250 ± 105 pg/ml to 570 ± 270 pg/ml) plasma concentrations significantly increased, as did heart rate (67 ± 13 beats/min to 113 ± 15 beats/min). Hypotensive challenges similarly increased MSA both in the awake state and during ketamine anesthesia. Conclusions During increased arterial blood pressure associated with ketamine, sympathetic discharge to muscle blood vessels decreases at the same time that plasma concentrations of norepinephrine increase. When this increase in arterial blood pressure is reversed, MSA during ketamine is not changed from preketamine baseline recordings. Finally, hypotensive challenges still evoke an unchanged sympathetic reflex response. Thus, our results do not support the assumption that ketamine anesthesia increases sympathetic nerve activity in a generalized fashion.
Review and Extension of Suitability Assessment Indicators of Weather Model Output for Analyzing Decentralized Energy Systems

Electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E) is gaining more and more influence in traditional energy and electricity markets in Europe and around the world. When modeling RES-E feed-in on a high temporal and spatial resolution, energy systems analysts frequently use data generated by numerical weather models as input since there is no spatial inclusive and comprehensive measurement data available. However, the suitability of such model data depends on the research questions at hand and should be inspected individually. This paper focuses on new methodologies to carry out a performance evaluation of solar irradiation data provided by a numerical weather model when investigating photovoltaic feed-in and effects on the electricity grid. Suitable approaches of time series analysis are researched from literature and applied to both model and measurement data. The findings and limits of these approaches are illustrated and a new set of validation indicators is presented. These novel indicators complement the assessment by measuring relevant key figures in energy systems analysis: e.g., gradients in energy supply, maximum values and volatility. Thus, the results of this paper contribute to the scientific community of energy systems analysts and researchers who aim at modeling RES-E feed-in on a high temporal and spatial resolution using weather model data.
Erythropoietin restores the anemia-induced reduction in cyclophosphamide cytotoxicity in rat tumors.

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of anemia prevention by recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) treatment on the cytotoxicity of cyclophosphamide in solid experimental tumors. Anemia was induced using a single dose of carboplatin (50 mg/kg i.v.) resulting in a long-lasting reduction (30%) of the hemoglobin concentration. In a second group, the development of anemia was prevented by rHuEPO (1000 IU/kg) administered s.c. three times/week starting 7 days before carboplatin application. Four days after carboplatin treatment, tumors (DS-sarcoma of the rat) were implanted s.c. onto the hind food dorsum. Neither carboplatin nor rHuEPO treatment influenced tumor growth rate per se. When tumors were treated with a single dose of cyclophosphamide (60 mg/kg i.p.) 5 days after implantation, a growth delay with a subsequent regrowth of the tumors was observed. In the anemia group, the growth delay was significantly shorter compared with nonanemic controls (13.3 days versus 8.6 days). In the group where anemia was prevented by rHuEPO treatment, growth delay was comparable with that of nonanemic controls (13.3 days). These results suggest that chemotherapy-induced anemia reduces cytotoxicity of cyclophosphamide in tumors, whereas correction of anemia by rHuEPO treatment (epoetin alpha) increases the sensitivity, probably as a result of an improved oxygen supply to tumor tissue.