Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reading Amount as a Mediator of the Effects of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Reading Motivation on Reading Comprehension

This study examined the role of reading amount as a mediator of the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation on higher order reading comprehension (comprised of paragraph- and passage-level comprehension) in a sample of 159 fifth-grade elementary students. A positive association between intrinsic reading motivation and reading amount was assumed, whereas a negative contribution to reading amount was expected for extrinsic reading motivation. As control variables, lower order reading comprehension (comprised of word- and sentence-level comprehension), gender, and social desirability were taken into account. Structural equation analyses indicated that reading amount fully mediated the positive effect of intrinsic reading motivation on higher order comprehension, whereas extrinsic reading motivation exerted both indirect and direct negative effects on comprehension. Additional analyses confirmed a suppression effect and showed significant negative contributions of extrinsic reading motivation to reading amount and reading comprehension only when intrinsic reading motivation was simultaneously included as a predictor.
Complex permittivity and permeability measurements of ferrimagnets at Millimeter waves with high power sources

We present complex dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability characteristics of strontium and nickel ferrite ceramics in Q-, V-, and W-band frequency range. The measurements have been done using broad-band quasi-optical millimeter wave spectrometer with backward-wave oscillator as a high power source of coherent radiation. Dielectric and magnetic parameters of the ferrite ceramic materials have been calculated by employing the best fit of the theoretical curves to the experimental transmittance spectra.
The Effect of Instructional and Motivational Self Talk on Motor Performance in Adults and Adolescents

The present study aims at investigating the effect of instructional and motivational self talk on basketball shooting, dribbling and passing tasks in adults and adolescents. A number of 114 novice adult and adolescent participants were randomly assigned into three groups: instructional self talk, motivational self talk and control group. The assigning was carried out on each age group independently. The instructional self talk group used the phrase "wrist, center" for shooting task, "finger, target" for Passing task and "low, rhythm" for dribbling task. The motivational self talk group used the phrase "I can" for all the three tasks. The results of factorial ANOVA showed no significant difference between the effect of motivational and instructional self talk on adolescents comparing with adults in shooting task. There was no difference in Passing performance between adult and adolescent instructional self talk groups. However, there was a significant difference in passing performance between adult and adolescent motivational self talk groups. In dribbling task, instructional self talk culminated in better performance in adults comparing with adolescents. Nevertheless, motivational self talk yielded better dribbling performance in adolescents comparing with adults (P≤0.05). The results supported the task-dependent relationship between age and self talk efficacy. Therefore, based on the type of the task, different types of self talk may differently affect task performance.
The strength model of self-regulation failure and health-related behaviour

Abstract Successful self-regulation is associated with adherence to health-related behaviour in many domains. In contrast, self-regulatory failure is linked to poor adherence and drop-out. This review presents the strength model of self-control as a framework to explain self-regulation in health-related behaviour contexts. In the model, self-regulation is conceptualised as a limited resource that once depleted results in reduced capacity to further regulate the self. We provide an overview of the hypotheses of the strength model and review research applying the model to self-regulation in four health-related behaviour domains: dietary restraint and eating behaviour, alcohol consumption, smoking cessation and physical activity. Based on our review, we recommend practitioners adopt strategies to minimise self-regulatory failure in people engaging in health-related behaviours such as minimising demands on self-control resources in the early stages of uptake and eating regularly to prevent hypoglycaemia. We advocate techniques to improve self-control strength through rest and training on self-control tasks. Suggestions on how these techniques can be integrated into health-related behaviour-change interventions are provided. Recommendations for future research to identify the mechanisms underpinning self-control resource depletion, conduct further randomised controlled interventions using the model, and integrate strength model hypotheses into existing models of health-related behaviour are proposed.
Co-Induction of p75NTR and p75NTR-Associated Death Executor in Neurons After Zinc Exposure in Cortical Culture or Transient Ischemia in the Rat

Recently, a 22 kDa protein termed p75NTR-associated death executor (NADE) was discovered to be a necessary factor for p75NTR-mediated apoptosis in certain cells. However, the possible role for p75NTR/NADE in pathological neuronal death has yet been undetermined. In the present study, we have examined this possibility in vivo and in vitro. Exposure of cortical cultures to zinc induced both p75NTR and NADE in neurons, whereas exposure to NMDA, ionomycin, iron, or H2O2 induced neither. In addition, zinc exposure increased neuronal NGF expression and its release into the medium. A function-blocking antibody of p75NTR (REX) inhibited association between p75NTR and NADE as well as neuronal death induced by zinc. Conversely, NGF augmented zinc-induced neuronal death. Caspase inhibitors reduced zinc-induced neuronal death, indicating that caspases were involved. Because reduction of NADE expression with cycloheximide or NADE antisense oligonucleotides attenuated zinc-induced neuronal death, NADE appears to contribute to p75NTR-induced cortical neuronal death as shown in other cells. Because zinc neurotoxicity may be a key mechanism of neuronal death after transient forebrain ischemia, we next examined this model. After ischemia, p75NTR and NADE were induced in degenerating rat hippocampal CA1 neurons. There was a close correlation between zinc accumulation and p75NTR/NADE induction. Suggesting the role of zinc here, injection of a metal chelator, CaEDTA, into the lateral ventricle completely blocked the induction of p75NTR and NADE. Our results suggest that co-induction of p75NTR and NADE plays a role in zinc-triggered neuronal death in vitro and in vivo.
Effect of Perceived Organizational Politics and Core Self Evaluation on Job Satisfaction

Many studies explore the effect of perception of organizational politics on job satisfaction but a very few investigate for the factors that are salient to this relationship. Perceptions of politics have been considered to be a source of stress at workplace which has detrimental consequences on the desired outcomes. Current study aims to explore the effects of perception of organizational politics (POP) and core self-evaluation (CSE) on employee job satisfaction. The present research also examines core self-evaluation as a moderator in the relationship between perception of organizational politics and job satisfaction. With a sample size of 100 respondents drawn from the health sector of 3rd largest city of Pakistan, named Faisalabad, the current study tested the main effects of POP and CSE on job satisfaction by using a self-administered survey having a total of 30 items. For analyzing the data, SPSS was used. As hypothesized, results show that perceived organizational politics had a significant negative relationship with job satisfaction but the results for CSE were not significant. Furthermore, CSE moderated the relationship of POP and job satisfaction, such that the negative relationship between perception of organizational politics and job satisfaction was weaker when core self-evaluation was high.
Problems with Identification of Children Who Are Physically Awkward Using the TOMI

This study investigated whether the TOMI (Stott, Moyes, & Henderson, 1984), a motor skills test recommended for the identification of children who are physically awkward (Sugden, 1985; Wall, Reid, & Paton, 1990), contains biased items. Findings of a study by Causgrove and Watkinson (1993) indicated that an unexpectedly high proportion of girls from Grades 3 to 6 were identified as physically awkward, and the authors suggested that the TOMI may be biased in favor of boys. In the present study, this suggestion was investigated through comparison of performances of TOMI subtest items by boys and girls from Grades 1 to 6. Chi-square analyses on each of the eight test items revealed significant performance differences between boys and girls on the two ball skills tasks of catching and throwing (p < .0001) at Age Bands 3 and 4; a significantly greater proportion of boys than girls age 9 to 12 years passed the catching and throwing tasks. A significant performance difference was also found on the tracing task at.
Social work students’ reflections on a solution-focused approach to child protection assessment: a qualitative study

Abstract This exploratory study examines how Estonian graduate social work students’ reflections of the solution-focused approach in the context of child protection assessment can change as a result of coursework in this model. Students’ responses indicate some changes in the nature of responses after the solution-focused training course, including the adoption of techniques that help to focus on solutions (e.g. miracle question and scaling questions). Following the training, students underscored the importance of changing problem-focused ‘traditional thinking’. The findings highlight a challenge in social work education, suggesting a need to target goal-directed talk throughout the social work curriculum to support competence in conducting comprehensive, strength-based assessments.
Effects of uniform extracellular DC electric fields on excitability in rat hippocampal slices in vitro

The effects of uniform steady state (DC) extracellular electric fields on neuronal excitability were characterized in rat hippocampal slices using field, intracellular and voltage‐sensitive dye recordings. Small electric fields (<|40| mV mm−1), applied parallel to the somato‐dendritic axis, induced polarization of CA1 pyramidal cells; the relationship between applied field and induced polarization was linear (0.12 ± 0.05 mV per mV mm−1 average sensitivity at the soma). The peak amplitude and time constant (15–70 ms) of membrane polarization varied along the axis of neurons with the maximal polarization observed at the tips of basal and apical dendrites. The polarization was biphasic in the mid‐apical dendrites; there was a time‐dependent shift in the polarity reversal site. DC fields altered the thresholds of action potentials evoked by orthodromic stimulation, and shifted their initiation site along the apical dendrites. Large electric fields could trigger neuronal firing and epileptiform activity, and induce long‐term (>1 s) changes in neuronal excitability. Electric fields perpendicular to the apical–dendritic axis did not induce somatic polarization, but did modulate orthodromic responses, indicating an effect on afferents. These results demonstrate that DC fields can modulate neuronal excitability in a time‐dependent manner, with no clear threshold, as a result of interactions between neuronal compartments, the non‐linear properties of the cell membrane, and effects on afferents.
Time-lapse videomicrographic analyses of contractions in mouse blastocysts.

Contraction has been observed in cultured blastocysts of many mammals, but little is known about the features of the contraction and its physiological role in blastocysts. The author analyzed contractions of a large number of cultured mouse blastocysts by time-lapse videomicrography. The results revealed that blastocysts repeated contractions of different degrees during the expanded stage from 10 h after blastocoel formation, and that the number of contractions was greater during the hatching period than in the periods pre- and post-hatching. The results also showed that the time needed for both contraction and re-expansion to the size before contraction tended to lengthen in blastocysts severely contracted. It was inferred that contractions of blastocysts occur physiologically in relation to myosin light chain kinase, but not due to an increase in permeability between trophectoderm cells in association with their division, or the influence of culture. Furthermore, it was inferred that re-expansion of contracted blastocysts occurs due to active transport and accumulation of Na(+) from the trophectoderm cells into blastocoelic fluid as a result of the action of Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase activated in the membrane of trophectoderm cells. Our results suggested that contractions are also present in blastocysts developed in vivo, and that weak contractions (less than 20% volume reduction) play an important role in hatching, whereas strong contractions (20% or more volume reduction) have the effect of inhibiting hatching. From our results on contractions of various blastocysts, it seems possible to evaluate the developmental ability of embryos, i.e. embryo quality, based on contractions of blastocysts.
The dual targeting of EGFR and ErbB2 with the inhibitor Lapatinib corrects high glucose-induced apoptosis and vascular dysfunction by opposing multiple diabetes-induced signaling changes

Abstract The epidermal growth factor receptors, EGFR and EGFR2 (ErbB2), appear important mediators of diabetes-induced vascular dysfunction. We investigated whether targeted dual inhibition of EGFR and ErbB2 with Lapatinib would be effective in treating diabetes-induced vascular dysfunction in a rat model of type 1 diabetes. In streptozotocin-induced diabetes, chronic 4-week oral or acute, ex vivo, administration of Lapatinib prevented the development of vascular dysfunction as indicated by the attenuation of the hyper-reactivity of the diabetic mesenteric vascular bed (MVB) to norephinephrine without correcting hyperglycemia. Chronic in vivo or acute ex vivo Lapatinib treatment also significantly attenuated diabetes-induced increases in phosphorylation of EGFR, ErbB2, ERK1/2, AKT, ROCK2 and IkB-alpha as well as normalized the reduced levels of phosphorylated FOXO3A, and eNOS (Ser1177) in the diabetic MVB. Similar results were observed in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) cultured in high glucose (25 mM) treated with Lapatinib or small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting the ErbB2 receptor. Lapatinib also prevented high glucose-induced apoptosis in VSMC. Thus, Lapatinib corrects hyperglycemia-induced apoptosis and vascular dysfunction with concomitant reversal of diabetes or high glucose-induced signaling changes in EGFR/ErbB2 and downstream signaling pathways implying that targeted dual inhibition of EGFR/ErbB2 might be an effective vasculoprotective treatment strategy in diabetic patients.
Determinants of the competing outcomes of intrauterine infection, abruption, or spontaneous preterm birth after preterm premature rupture of membranes*

Abstract Objective: Patients with PPROM are at risk for a variety of outcomes, including chorioamnionitis (CA), placental abruption (PA), or preterm labor (PTL). Competing risk regression can analyze a cohort’s risk of individual outcomes while accounting for ongoing deliveries secondary to competing events. Methods: A secondary analysis of the subjects from MFMU BEAM study of neuroprotection after preterm birth (BEAM) with conservative PPROM management. Deliveries were categorized as: PA, CA, PTL, “elective” or “indicated”. The association between outcomes of PA, CA or PTL and clinical predictors of twins, ethnicity, parity, gestational age at rupture, bleeding, contractions, cervical dilation, preterm birth history, weight, and genitourinary infections were evaluated via competing risk regression. Result: 1970 subjects were included. The significance and directionality of predictors varied according to specific outcomes. Patients with twins had an increased PTL hazard (1.85) though reductions in CA- (0.66) or PA-specific (0.56) hazards. Decreased latency in African-Americans was almost entirely due to an increased CA hazard (1.44) without a significant association with PTL. Increasing gestational age at membrane rupture was associated with a decreasing hazard of CA although increasing hazard of PTL. Conclusions: For patients with PPROM, the hazards associated with different clinical predictors vary according to exact outcomes.
The Illinois Early Childhood Teacher Reserve Pool Study

As Illinois races to staff the hundreds of early childhood classrooms that will require certifi ed teachers under the state’s bold movement toward universal pre-Kindergarten for all 3- and 4-year olds, it has one distinct advantage: the state has long awarded a certifi cation geared specifi cally towards teaching children aged birth through Grade 3. As a result, there are thousands of individuals who are already qualifi ed to teach early childhood education, and many who are not currently doing so. This potential reserve pool—its characteristics and the conditions under which they might be willing to teach in an Illinois early childhood center—is the focus of this report. 1 Using the state’s Teacher Certifi cation Information System and Teacher Service Record databases (under an agreement with the Illinois State Board of Education), we identifi ed about 5,400 early childhood-certified individuals who were not working in Illinois public schools in 2002-03. We drew a random sample of 4,000 of these individuals to represent the potential reserve pool of qualifi ed teachers. We used both a web survey and a paper follow-up survey, obtaining a 46% response rate, to gauge the viability of the potential reserve pool. We found no bias in response rates, so we are able 1 We focus specifi cally on early childhood centers because they are the most likely settings for expansion of the state’s early childhood block grant program, and with the understanding that they are more diffi cult to staff than public school settings. Thus, it is probable that individuals willing to consider working in early childhood centers would also be willing to consider working in public schools. Executive Summary
The Toxicity and Detoxifying Mechanism of Cycloxaprid and Buprofezin in Controlling Sogatella furcifera (Homoptera: Delphacidae)

The effects of cycloxaprid (a modified neonicotinoid insecticide) and buprofezin (a thiadiazine insecticide) on mortality of the white-backed planthopper (WBPH), Sogatella furcifera, were determined in laboratory assays. Cycloxaprid killed WBPH nymphs and adults but buprofezin killed only nymphs, and cycloxaprid acted faster than buprofezin. One day after infestation, mortality of third-instar nymphs was >65% with cycloxaprid at 125 mg liter−1 but was <38% with buprofezin at 148 mg liter−1. By the 4th day after infestation, however, control of nymphs by the two insecticides was similar, and cycloxaprid at 125 mg liter−1 caused ≥80% mortality of adults but buprofezin at 148 mg liter−1 (the highest rate tested) caused almost no adult mortality. LC50 values for cycloxaprid were lowest with nymphs, intermediate with adult males, and highest with adult females. Although buprofezin was slower acting than cycloxaprid, its LC50 for nymphs 5 d after infestation was 3.79-fold lower than that of cycloxaprid. Mean carboxylesterase (CarE) specific activity of nymphal WBPH treated with cycloxaprid and buprofezin was higher than that of control, but there was no significant difference between cycloxaprid and control (no insecticide), and it was significantly higher for buprofezin than those of cycloxaprid and control. For glutathione S-transferase and mixed function oxygenase, the specific activity of nymphal WBPH treated with buprofezin was significantly higher than those of cycloxaprid and control, too.
Young People, Music and Political Participation : From the Cultural Politics to the Political Cultures of Young People

This study of young people's participation in politics seeks to investigate some of the areas where music and politics intersect in the lives of young people. From a broad interest in young people's participation, the relationship between young people, music and political participation will be explored. An initial account of the relationship between music and young people's political participation in advanced industrial capitalist societies such as Australia will be established. This relationship has previously received little academic attention. Dominant views of young people that suggest they are not interested in politics, or that they are irrelevant to political decision-making, deny young people's ability to participate. The established literature in the field of young people's political participation is limited in that it operates within a narrow framework which excludes most young people's activities and behaviours. It is apparent that many young people are excluded from formal political participation in contemporary advanced industrial societies. It is thus hoped that this study may help inform future research into the political participation of young people, through the identification of a broader framework for the understanding of young people's participation and politics. In the absence of in-depth fieldwork this project is heavily based upon a critical analysis of current and past literature in fields of study including youth studies, cultural studies, music, politics, civic identity, social movements and the various spaces between these fields. Knowledge of events and activities is also drawn from journalistic accounts and less formal sources such as music websites, flyers and album sleeves. Through reconsidering the dominant discourses and theoretical frameworks within which young people's political participation is conceptualised, a broader conception of political participation is offered. The significance of young people's own perspectives of politics and participation is emphasised. The importance of considering both local and global influences upon the form and content of young people's political participation is stressed.