Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autonomous language learning in Iranian context: To what extent do students take responsibility for their learning?

This study was conducted to investigate the views of Iranian university students regarding responsibility and decision making ability related to autonomous language learning and the practice of autonomous activities inside and outside the classroom. The study also investigated whether or not male and female students differ regarding responsibility and ability views. In order to reach these aims, a questionnaire by Chan, Humphreys, and Spratt (2002) was used and distributed among 133 Law major students at the Law Department of University of Guilan. The results indicated that although students considered their ability level as average, they believed that the responsibility of managing and planning aspects of their learning should be held to their teachers. The findings also showed that gender did not play any role in students’ views regarding their responsibility and ability. The results of this study have some implications for course designers, material developers, and teachers to be informed of students’ responsibility views. They can take this information into account before promoting the learner autonomy.
Necessary and sufficient conditions for the stabilizability of a class of LTI distributed observers

Consider that an autonomous LTI plant is given and that a network of local observers assesses the output vector of the plant. Each local observer in the network is LTI and measures a portion of the output vector. Each local observer computes a state estimate using its measurements and the state estimates of other local observers shared according to a preselected neighborhood structure. This paper proposes an update rule that is a natural generalization of consensus, and for which we determine necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of parameters that lead to asymptotic omniscience of the state of the plant at all local observers.
Sex Differences in Cognition are Stable Over a 10-Year Period in Adulthood and Old Age

ABSTRACT Sex differences in declarative memory and visuospatial ability are robust in cross-sectional studies. The present longitudinal study examined whether sex differences in cognition were present over a 10-year period, and whether age modified the magnitude of sex differences. Tests assessing episodic and semantic memory, and visuospatial ability were administered to 625 nondemented adults (initially aged 35–80 years), participating in the population-based Betula study at two follow-up occasions. There was stability of sex differences across five age groups and over a 10-year period. Women performed at a higher level than men on episodic recall, face and verbal recognition, and semantic fluency, whereas men performed better than women on a task-assessing, visuospatial ability. Sex differences in cognitive functions are stable over a 10-year period and from 35 to 90 years of age.
The Role of Demographic, Criminal, and Psychiatric Variables in Examiners' Predictions of Restorability to Competency to Stand Trial

According to the U.S Supreme Court decision in Jackson v. Indiana, mental health professionals must determine if a defendant has “substantial” probability of regaining competency through treatment in the “foreseeable” future. Previous research suggests that examiners are relatively poor at predicting which defendants will regain competency given the low base rate of defendants unable to be restored to competency. In addition, few studies have used multivariate statistics to examine the inter-correlations among predictor variables and restorability predictions. The purpose of this study was to utilize multivariate statistics to determine whether a set of predictor variables (demographic, criminal, and psychiatric variables) could accurately predict a defendant's classification as restorable or not restorable. The analyses suggest that none of the three sets of predictor variables—demographic, criminal, and psychiatric—taken alone significantly outperforms the other. However, psychiatric variables performed slightly better than demographic and criminal variables in correctly classifying unrestorable defendants. Ultimately, an equation with two variables—previous criminal history and a current violent charge—was found to be statistically the most optimal combination of predictors accounting for the most variance. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health
Low-Complexity Iterative Detection for Large-Scale Multiuser MIMO-OFDM Systems Using Approximate Message Passing

One of the challenges in the design of large-scale multiuser MIMO-OFDM systems is developing low-complexity detection algorithms. To achieve this goal, we leverage message passing algorithms over the factor graph that represents the multiuser MIMO-OFDM systems and approximate the original discrete messages with continuous Gaussian messages through the use of the minimum Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence criterion. Several signal processing techniques are then proposed to achieve near-optimal performance at low complexity. First, the principle of expectation propagation is employed to compute the approximate Gaussian messages, where the symbol belief is approximated by a Gaussian distribution and then the approximate message is calculated from the Gaussian approximate belief. In addition, the approximate symbol belief can be computed by the a posteriori probabilities fed back from channel decoders, which reduces the complexity dramatically. Second, the first-order approximation of the message is utilized to further simplify the message updating, leading to an algorithm that is equivalent to the AMP algorithm proposed by Donoho Finally, the message updating is further simplified using the central-limit theorem. Compared with the single tree search sphere decoder (STS-SD) and the iterative (turbo) minimum mean-square error based soft interference cancellation (MMSE-SIC) in the literature through extensive simulations, the proposed message passing algorithms can achieve a near-optimal performance while the complexity is decreased by tens of times for a 64 × 64 MIMO system. In addition, it is shown that the proposed message passing algorithms exhibit desirable tradeoffs between performance and complexity for a low-dimensional MIMO system.
House Price Dynamics: Fundamentals and Expectations

We investigate whether expectations that are not fully rational have the potential to explain the evolution of house prices and the price-to-rent ratio in the United States. First, a stylized asset-pricing model solved under rational expectations is used to derive a fundamental value for house prices and the price–rent ratio. Although the model can explain the sample average of the price–rent ratio, it does not generate the large and persistent fluctuations observed in the data. Then, we consider a rational bubble solution, an extrapolative expectations solution and a near rational bubble solution. In this last solution agents extrapolate the future from the latest realizations and the degree of extrapolation is stronger in good times than in bad times, generating waves of over-optimism. We show that under this solution the model not only is able to match key moments of the data but can also replicate the run up in the U.S. house prices observed over the 2000–2006 period and the subsequent sharp downturn.
Tunable particles alter macrophage uptake based on combinatorial effects of physical properties

Abstract The ability to tune phagocytosis of particle‐based therapeutics by macrophages can enhance their delivery to macrophages or reduce their phagocytic susceptibility for delivery to non‐phagocytic cells. Since phagocytosis is affected by the physical and chemical properties of particles, it is crucial to identify any interplay between physical properties of particles in altering phagocytic interactions. The combinatorial effect of physical properties size, shape and stiffness was investigated on Fc receptor mediated macrophage interactions by fabrication of layer‐by‐layer tunable particles of constant surface chemistry. Our results highlight how changing particle stiffness affects phagocytic interaction intricately when combined with varying size or shape. Increase in size plays a dominant role over reduction in stiffness in reducing internalization by macrophages for spherical particles. Internalization of rod‐shaped, but not spherical particles, was highly dependent on stiffness. These particles demonstrate the interplay between size, shape and stiffness in interactions of Fc‐functionalized particles with macrophages during phagocytosis.
Rule-based treatment for acquired phonological dyslexia

In the context of a multiple-baseline design, this study demonstrated the positive effects of behavioural treatment using grapheme to phoneme correspondence rules to treat a patient with phonological dyslexia 17 years after stroke onset. Treatment used repeated exposure to real and nonsense word stimuli embodying the regularities of two grapheme to phoneme correspondence rules (GPCR) with hierarchical cueing and knowledge of results. Results revealed a pattern of performance that increased beyond baseline variability and coincided in time with the institution of treatment. Generalization of these treatment effects occurred to words requiring knowledge of other GPCR and to an independent processing based reading measure.
Serum Cytokine Analysis in a Positive Chemoprevention Trial: Selenium, Interleukin-2, and an Association with Squamous Preneoplastic Disease

This study represents a multiplex cytokine analysis of serum from a 10-month randomized, controlled trial of 238 subjects that investigated the effects of selenomethionine and/or celecoxib in subjects with mild or moderate esophageal squamous dysplasia. The original chemoprevention study found that, among those with mild dysplasia, selenomethionine treatment favorably altered dysplasia grade. The current analysis found that selenomethionine downregulated interleukin (IL)-2 by 9% (P = 0.04), whereas celecoxib downregulated IL-7 by 11% (P = 0.006) and upregulated IL-13 by 17% (P = 0.008). In addition, an increase in IL-7 tertile from baseline to t10 was significantly associated with an increase in dysplasia grade, both overall [odds ratio (OR), 1.47; P = 0.03] and among those with mild dysplasia at t0 (OR, 2.53; P = 0.001). An increase in IL-2 tertile from baseline to t10 was also nonsignificantly associated with worsening dysplasia for all participants (OR, 1.32; P = 0.098) and significantly associated with worsening dysplasia among those with mild dysplasia at baseline (OR, 2.0; P = 0.01). The association of increased IL-2 with worsening dysplasia remained significant in those on selenomethionine treatment who began the trial with mild dysplasia (OR, 2.52; P = 0.03). The current study shows that selenomethionine supplementation decreased serum IL-2 levels, whereas celecoxib treatment decreased IL-7 levels and increased IL-13 levels during a 10-month randomized chemoprevention trial. An increase in IL-2 or IL-7 was associated with increased severity of dysplasia over the course of the trial, especially in those who began the trial with mild dysplasia. The favorable effect of selenomethionine on esophageal dysplasia in the original trial may have been mediated in part by its effect in reducing the levels of IL-2. Cancer Prev Res; 3(7); 810–7. ©2010 AACR.
'It's like you can't be a whole person, a mother who studies'. Lifelong learning: Mature women students with caring commitments in social work education

Lifelong learning forms a key part of the social inclusion agendas of the UK government and the European community. There is growing debate about the role that higher education has to play in lifelong learning. At a time when social work education is undergoing major changes we need to engage in this debate. In this article I examine the barriers to education faced by one excluded group, mature women carers. Based on my experience in teaching on a DipSW programme designed specifically for students with caring commitments and from a study of transfer of learning by mature women carers, I argue for the importance of programme design in creating access to and success in social work education for this student group.
PDTC, metal chelating compound, induces G1 phase cell cycle arrest in vascular smooth muscle cells through inducing p21Cip1 expression: Involvement of p38 mitogen activated protein kinase

Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC), a metal chelating compound, is known to induce cell death in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). However, the molecular mechanism for PDTC‐induced VSMC death is not well understood. Addition of PDTC reduced cell growth and DNA synthesis on VSMC in low density conditions. However, in serum depleted medium, PDTC did not affect the cell viability, suggesting that certain factors in serum may mediate the cytotoxic effect of PDTC. Several metal chelators prevented the cell death induced by PDTC. In a serum‐deprived condition, addition of exogenous metals, copper, iron, and zinc, restored the cytotoxic effect of PDTC. These data indicate that metals such as copper, iron, and zinc in serum may mediate the cytotoxic effect of PDTC. At low VSMC density in 10% FBS, treatment of PDTC, which induced a cell‐cycle block in G1‐phase, induced down‐regulation of cyclins and CDKs and up‐regulation of the CDK inhibitor p21 expression, whereas up‐regulation of p27 or p53 by PDTC was not observed. Finally, we determined PDTC‐mediated signaling pathway involved in VSMC death. Among relevant pathways, PDTC induced marked activation of p38MAPK and JNK. Expression of dominant negative p38MAPK and SB203580, a p38MAPK specific inhibitor, blocked PDTC‐dependent p38MAPK, growth inhibition, and p21 expression. These data demonstrate that the p38MAPK pathway participates in p21 induction, which consequently leads to decrease of cyclin D1/cdk4 and cyclin E/cdk2 complexes and PDTC‐dependent VSMC growth inhibition. In conclusion, an understanding of the molecular mechanisms of PDTC in VSMC provides a theoretical basis for clinical approaches using antioxidant therapies in atherosclerosis. J. Cell. Physiol. 198: 310–323, 2004© 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Dysexecutive Functioning in Mild Cognitive Impairment: Derailment in Temporal Gradients

Abstract Libon et al. (2010) provided evidence for three statistically determined clusters of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI): amnesic (aMCI), dysexecutive (dMCI), and mixed (mxMCI). The current study further examined dysexecutive impairment in MCI using the framework of Fuster's (1997) derailed temporal gradients, that is, declining performance on executive tests over time or test epoch. Temporal gradients were operationally defined by calculating the slope of aggregate letter fluency output across 15-s epochs and accuracy indices for initial, middle, and latter triads from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Mental Control subtest (Boston Revision). For letter fluency, slope was steeper for dMCI compared to aMCI and NC groups. Between-group Mental Control analyses for triad 1 revealed worse dMCI performance than NC participants. On triad 2, dMCI scored lower than aMCI and NCs; on triad 3, mxMCI performed worse versus NCs. Within-group Mental Control analyses yielded equal performance across all triads for aMCI and NC participants. mxMCI scored lower on triad 1 compared to triads 2 and 3. dMCI participants also performed worse on triad 1 compared to triads 2 and 3, but scored higher on triad 3 versus triad 2. These data suggest impaired temporal gradients may provide a useful heuristic for understanding dysexecutive impairment in MCI. (JINS, 2012, 18, 20–28)
Profiling the Personal: Configuration of Teenage Biographies to Employment Norms

Schoolchildren at the ages of 15 and 16 routinely complete documents called Records of Achievement (ROA) that can be used for reference purposes and presented/adapted to potential employers. This article examines the content of the personal statements of these documents to illustrate the way personal qualities, lifestyles and experiences are reflected upon, adapted and marketed in the current employment setting. The value of exercises such as ROAs is questioned, not in terms of whom they exclude, but for the underlying rationale of self-objectification as a means to remain competitive/’employable’. The elaborate ways that students highlight the value of their experiences is presented through different categories of identification with and orientation to an employment market characterized by an ‘enterprise culture’ and neo-liberal socio-economic framework.
A Three-Dimensional Reconstructive Study of Pelvic Cavity in the New Zealand Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

The present study has been performed to reveal biometrical aspects and diameter-related differences in terms of sexes regarding pelvic cavity via three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction by using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) images of pelvic cavity of the New Zealand rabbit. A total of 16 adult New Zealand rabbits, including 8 males and 8 females, were used in this study. Under anesthesia, the images obtained from MDCT were stacked and overlaid to reconstruct the 3D model of the pelvic cavity using 3D modeling software (Mimics 13.1). Measurements, such as the conjugate, transverse, and vertical diameters of the pelvic cavity, and the pelvic inclination were calculated and analyzed statistically. Biometrical differences of the pelvic diameters in New Zealand rabbits of both sexes were shown clearly. It was concluded that the pelvic diameters revealed by 3D modeling techniques can shed light on medical students who take both anatomy training and gynecological applications. The authors hope that the synchronization of medical approaches may give rise to novel diagnostic and therapeutic developments related to pelvic cavity.
Phylogenetic relationship of Hepatozoon blood parasites found in snakes from Africa, America and Asia

SUMMARY The blood parasites from the genus Hepatozoon Miller, 1908 (Apicomplexa: Adeleida: Hepatozoidae) represent the most common intracellular protozoan parasites found in snakes. In the present study, we examined 209 individuals of snakes, from different zoogeographical regions (Africa, America, Asia and Europe), for the occurrence of blood parasites using both molecular and microscopic examination methods, and assess phylogenetic relationships of all Hepatozoon parasites from snakes for the first time. In total, 178 blood smears obtained from 209 individuals, representing 40 species, were examined, from which Hepatozoon unicellular parasites were found in 26 samples (14·6% prevalence). Out of 180 samples tested by molecular method polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the presence of parasites was observed in 21 individuals (prevalence 11·6%): 14 snakes from Africa belonging to six genera (Dendroaspis, Dispholidus, Mehelya, Naja, Philothamnus and Python), five snakes from Asia from the genus Morelia and two snakes from America, from two genera (Coluber and Corallus). The intensity of infection varied from one to 1433 infected cells per 10 000 erythrocytes. Results of phylogenetic analyses (Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood) revealed the existence of five haplotypes divided into four main lineages. The present data also indicate neither geographical pattern of studied Hepatozoon sp. , nor congruency in the host association.
UIMarks: quick graphical interaction with specific targets

This paper reports on the design and evaluation of UIMarks, a system that lets users specify on-screen targets and associated actions by means of a graphical marking language. UIMarks supplements traditional pointing by providing an alternative mode in which users can quickly activate these marks. Associated actions can range from basic pointing facilitation to complex sequences possibly involving user interaction: one can leave a mark on a palette to make it more reachable, but the mark can also be configured to wait for a click and then automatically move the pointer back to its original location, for example. The system has been implemented on two different platforms, Metisse and OS X. We compared it to traditional pointing on a set of elementary and composite tasks in an abstract setting. Although pure pointing was not improved, the programmable automation supported by the system proved very effective.
Addressing the 'Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education' with Internet-enhanced Education

This paper evaluates the use of the Internet to enhance learning and to promote good practice in undergraduate education according to Chickering and Gamson's (1991) principles. Results from a survey of 236 geography students over the past 2 years indicate that the Internet can facilitate good educational practices. Students believe use of email encouraged student-faculty contact. Active learning is encouraged, but is not overwhelmingly favoured by students. Prompt feedback is facilitated. Students also believe the Internet materials allow more efficient use of time in and out of the classroom, and enhance their learning .
Cockroaches as Reservoirs and Vectors of Drug Resistant Salmonella spp.

Cockroaches were collected from hospitals, houses and poultry sheds in various parts of Isfahan (Iran) and identified to species. In total, seven species of cockroaches in seven genera were identified: Blatta lateralis, Polyphaga aegyptiaca, Arenivaga roseni and Parcoblatta spp. Three species Periplaneta americana, Blattella germanica and Supella longipalpa (Blattidae and Blattellidae) were more abundant than the others. In another study, forty cockroaches were collected from hospitals in two experiments and were studied for the presence of Salmonella spp. Salmonella (Black colonies on SS agar with urease negative) were isolated from about 70 percent of the cockroaches collected from hospitals. Some of the isolated Salmonella were resistant to antibacterial drugs in a susceptibility test. Isolation of Salmonella from cockroaches collected from hospitals suggests that cockroaches act as natural reservoirs of Salmonella. A second study was conducted to determine if individual B. germanica could transfer Salmonella from an infected food source and then infects uncontaminated colony members. The results showed that the inoculation of 10 6 CFU of Salmonella into cockroaches via their food could infect the uncontaminated cockroaches. These contaminated cockroaches transfer infection to other colony members. Salmonella is stable in cockroaches for more than 10 months. Iran.
LEISURE AND THE RETIRED PROFESSOR: OCCUPATION MATTERS

ABSTRACT Little attention has been given to the leisure activities of retired professors, whose activity patterns in retirement may be different from those of other occupational groups because of their lifetime commitment to work. This interview study uses both quantitative and qualitative data to investigate: (a) the leisure and professional activities of retired professors; (b) the anticipated leisure activities of older employed professors; and (c) the relationship between sociodemographic factors and leisure activities of professors in retirement. Respondents were 54 retired (response rate 83%) and 17 employed (response rate 94%) professors aged 70–74 from a major research university. Content analysis of the tape-recorded open-ended questions indicated that volunteer activity, travel, exercise or sports, and work around the house or garden were the most commonly described leisure activities of retirees. A large majority of retirees (70%) also continued professional activities. Travel and exercise or sports were the most frequently planned activity for employed respondents. Correlational analysis revealed little relationship between sociodemographic factors and leisure activities in retirement. Implications for retirement education and leisure programming are discussed.