Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A comparison of computer-assisted cooperative learning with independent learning

The purpose of this study was to investigate the comparative effects of the cooperative and individualistic uses of Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) on the achievement of undergraduate Fine Arts students. The study sought further to explore the subjects' affective responses to the two different applications of Computer-Assisted Instruction. Undergraduate students in the Design Basic Studies sections at the University of Kansas were matched on the basis of pretest scores and then randomly assigned to either the Computer-Assisted Cooperative Learning (CACL) or to the Computer-Assisted Individualistic Learning (CAIL) treatment conditions. Sixty-two subjects, 37 males and 25 females, took part in this study which lasted three weeks. A pretest-posttest control group design, using ANOVA, t-test, and ANCOVA procedures, was used to test hypotheses of this study. Pretest results indicated that the two groups were initially comparable on all dependent variables. The achievement scores of the Computer-Assisted Cooperative Learning group and the Computer-Assisted Individualistic learning groups were not significantly different on the posttest. However, the results confirmed that students' knowledge increased in both groups under the respective treatments. No gender-by-treatment interaction effects were observed on the achievement test. In terms of computer attitudes, the Computer-Assisted Cooperative Learning and the Computer-Assisted Individualistic Learning groups were comparable on both pretest and posttest. Also, there was no interaction effect for sex and treatment on the computer attitude measure. In summary, the achievement effect of Computer-Assisted Instruction with cooperative learning was not significantly different than Computer Assisted Instruction with individualistic learning for students in Design Basic Studies. Moreover, it was noted that there was no significant differences in attitudes toward computer use on the posttest attitude between the two groups. The small sample size and limited duration of this study limit the generalizability of the findings.
SOCIOPOLITICAL IDEOLOGY AND ELECTROCORTICAL RESPONSE S

EEG recording and reduction • Continuous EEG collected using 128-channel EGI sys tem • Offline 1-30 Hz bandpass filtered • ERN: maximum negativity 30 to 160 ms following res ponse ( M = 77 ms) • N2: maximum negativity 200 to 350 ms following st imulus onset ( M = 284 ms) • ERPs scored at frontocentral midline sites (Fz, FC z, Cz) The medial frontal negativities (MFNs), error-relat d negativity (ERN) and No -Go N2, reflect electrocortical responses in the context of performance monitoring. In American undergraduate students, more liberal polit ica orientations were associated with enhanced MFNs [1] . Although MFNs related to a liberal-to conservative scale, an individual’s global political orientation can al so be conceptualized as multi-dimensional, composed of at titudes such as Egalitarianism and/or Right-Wing Authoritar ianism (RWA). Thus, specific attitudes within political or ientations might be uniquely related to MFNs.
FormResNet: Formatted Residual Learning for Image Restoration

In this paper, we propose a deep CNN to tackle the image restoration problem by learning the structured residual. Previous deep learning based methods directly learn the mapping from corrupted images to clean images, and may suffer from the gradient exploding/vanishing problems of deep neural networks. We propose to address the image restoration problem by learning the structured details and recovering the latent clean image together, from the shared information between the corrupted image and the latent image. In addition, instead of learning the pure difference (corruption), we propose to add a "residual formatting layer" to format the residual to structured information, which allows the network to converge faster and boosts the performance. Furthermore, we propose a cross-level loss net to ensure both pixel-level accuracy and semantic-level visual quality. Evaluations on public datasets show that the proposed method outperforms existing approaches quantitatively and qualitatively.
ClickIn: a flexible protocol for quantifying mitochondrial uptake of nucleobase derivatives

There is an increasing interest in targeting molecules to the mitochondrial matrix. Many proteins are naturally imported through the translocase complexes found in the outer and inner mitochondrial membranes. One possible means for importing molecules is therefore to use a mitochondrial pre-protein as a vector and assess what forms of molecules can be attached to the pre-protein as cargo. A major difficulty with this approach is to ensure that any chimaeric molecule does indeed access the mitochondrial matrix and does not merely associate with the mitochondrial membranes. We have recently demonstrated that click chemistry can be used both to demonstrate convincingly mitochondrial import of a peptide–peptide nucleic acid conjugate and also to quantify the mitochondrial uptake for specific synthetic conjugates. We now report an adaptation of the synthesis to facilitate simple quantification of multiple molecules and hence to calculate the efficiency of their mitochondrial import.
Why People Search for Images using Web Search Engines

What are the intents or goals behind human interactions with image search engines? Knowing why people search for images is of major concern to Web image search engines because user satisfaction may vary as intent varies. Previous analyses of image search behavior have mostly been query-based, focusing on what images people search for, rather than intent-based, that is, why people search for images. To date, there is no thorough investigation of how different image search intents affect users» search behavior. In this paper, we address the following questions: (1)Why do people search for images in text-based Web image search systems? (2)How does image search behavior change with user intent? (3)Can we predict user intent effectively from interactions during the early stages of a search session? To this end, we conduct both a lab-based user study and a commercial search log analysis. We show that user intents in image search can be grouped into three classes: Explore/Learn, Entertain, and Locate/Acquire. Our lab-based user study reveals different user behavior patterns under these three intents, such as first click time, query reformulation, dwell time and mouse movement on the result page. Based on user interaction features during the early stages of an image search session, that is, before mouse scroll, we develop an intent classifier that is able to achieve promising results for classifying intents into our three intent classes. Given that all features can be obtained online and unobtrusively, the predicted intents can provide guidance for choosing ranking methods immediately after scrolling.
Evaluation of Nyholt’s Procedure for Multiple Testing Correction

Objective: A simple method for accounting efficiently for multiple testing of many SNPs in an association study was recently proposed by Nyholt, but its performance was not extensively evaluated. The method involves estimating an ‘effective number’ of independent tests and then adjusting the smallest observed p value using Šidák’s formula based on this number of tests. We sought to carry out an empirical and theoretical evaluation of Nyholt’s method. Methods: Nyholt’s method was applied to a sample of 31 genes typed at a total of 291 SNPs and permutation used to determine the type-I error rate for each gene. Based on our empirical results, we algebraically investigated the effective number of independent tests for a simple model of haplotype block structure. Results: The nominal 5% type I error rate varied from under 3% to over 7%, and was dependent on linkage disequilibrium. Theoretical considerations show further that the method can be very conservative in the presence of haplotype block structure. Conclusion: Although Nyholt’s approach may be useful as an exploratory tool, it is not an adequate substitute for permutation tests.
Pulsed‐Wave Tissue Doppler and Color Tissue Doppler Echocardiography: Calibration with M‐Mode, Agreement, and Reproducibility in a Clinical Setting

Background: Myocardial velocities can be measured with both pulsed‐wave tissue Doppler (PWTD) and color tissue Doppler (CTD) echocardiography. We aimed to (A) to explore which of the two methods better approximates true tissue motion and (B) to examine the agreement and the reproducibility of the two methods in a routine clinical setting. Methods: For Study A, the displacements of 63 basal myocardial segments from 13 patients were examined with M‐mode and compared with the velocity‐time integral of PWTD and CTD velocities. For Study B, the basal lateral segments from 58 patients were examined with PWTD and CTD, and the peak myocardial velocities during systole (Sm), early diastole (Em), and late diastole (Am) were measured. Results: Study A: CTD‐based measurements of displacement were 12% lower than M‐mode measurements (95% CI: −18%; −6%). PWTD velocity‐time integrals measured at the outer edge of the spectral band were 40% higher (33%; 46%) than M‐mode measurements. Study B: PWTD measurements of myocardial velocity were systematically higher than CTD measurements: Sm 7.51 versus 5.54, difference 1.97 ± 1.41 cm/sec; Em 8.74 versus 6.86, difference 1.88 ± 1.70 cm/sec; Am 7.46 versus 5.17, difference 2.29 ± 1.82 cm/sec; P < 0.001 for all. Intraobserver coefficient of variation for Sm, Em, and Am were 6%, 12%, and 12% for PWTD, 14%, 13%, and 20% for CTD. Conclusions: CTD measures numerically smaller tissue velocities than PWTD, mostly due to an overestimation of true tissue motion by PWTD. The methods have good agreement and comparable reproducibility. (ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY, Volume 26, July 2009)
In Vitro Activities of Amphotericin B, Terbinafine, and Azole Drugs against Clinical and Environmental Isolates of Aspergillus terreus Sensu Stricto

ABSTRACT The antifungal susceptibilities of 40 clinical and environmental isolates of A. terreus sensu stricto to amphotericin B, terbinafine, itraconazole, and voriconazole were determined in accordance with CLSI document M38-A2. All isolates had itraconazole and voriconazole MICs lower than epidemiologic cutoff values, and 5% of the isolates had amphotericin B MICs higher than epidemiologic cutoff values. Terbinafine showed the lowest MICs. No significant differences were found when MICs of clinical and environmental isolates were compared.
Does Reacting to the Past Increase Student Engagement? An Empirical Evaluation of the Use of Historical Simulations in Teaching Political Theory

ABSTRACT Within the teaching of political theory, an assumption is emerging that Reacting to the Past simulations are an effective tool because they encourage greater student engagement with ideas and history. While previous studies have assessed the advantages of simulations in other political science subfields or offered anecdotal evidence of their effectiveness in political theory courses, less attention has been paid to the empirical assessment of simulations in political theory. This study uses data — in the form of presimulation and postsimulation surveys, as well as focus groups — collected from two political theory courses in order to gauge levels of student engagement inside and outside of the classroom. We ask if students’ levels of engagement increase during the simulation in their political theory courses. We also explore the mechanisms involved in driving higher levels of student engagement during the simulation. We conclude by arguing that it is the liminal nature of the Reacting to the Past simulations that most likely explains increased levels of student engagement.
Separable Roles for Attentional Control Sub-Systems in Reading Tasks: A Combined Behavioral and fMRI Study

Attentional control is important both for learning to read and for performing difficult reading tasks. A previous study invoked 2 mechanisms to explain reaction time (RT) differences between reading tasks with variable attentional demands. The present study combined behavioral and neuroimaging measures to test the hypotheses that there are 2 mechanisms of interaction between attentional control and reading; that these mechanisms are dissociable both behaviorally and neuro-anatomically; and that the 2 mechanisms involve functionally separable control systems. First, RT evidence was found in support of the 2-mechanism model, corroborating the previous study. Next, 2 sets of brain regions were identified as showing functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygen level-dependent activity that maps onto the 2-mechanism distinction. One set included bilateral Cingulo-opercular regions and mostly right-lateralized Dorsal Attention regions (CO/DA+). This CO/DA+ region set showed response properties consistent with a role in reporting which processing pathway (phonological or lexical) was biased for a particular trial. A second set was composed primarily of left-lateralized Frontal-parietal (FP) regions. Its signal properties were consistent with a role in response checking. These results demonstrate how the subcomponents of attentional control interact with subcomponents of reading processes in healthy young adults.
Unexpected Structural and Functional Consequences of the R33Q Homozygous Mutation in Cardiac Calsequestrin: A Complex Arrhythmogenic Cascade in a Knock In Mouse Model

Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is an inherited arrhythmogenic disorder characterized by life threatening arrhythmias elicited by physical and emotional stress in young individuals. The recessive form of CPVT is associated with mutation in the cardiac calsequestrin gene (CASQ2). We engineered and characterized a homozygous CASQ2R33Q/R33Q mouse model that closely mimics the clinical phenotype of CPVT patients. CASQ2R33Q/R33Q mice develop bidirectional VT on exposure to environmental stress whereas CASQ2R33Q/R33Q myocytes show reduction of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) calcium content, adrenergically mediated delayed (DADs) and early (EADs) afterdepolarizations leading to triggered activity. Furthermore triadin, junctin, and CASQ2-R33Q proteins are significantly decreased in knock-in mice despite normal levels of mRNA, whereas the ryanodine receptor (RyR2), calreticulin, phospholamban, and SERCA2a-ATPase are not changed. Trypsin digestion studies show increased susceptibility to proteolysis of mutant CASQ2. Despite normal histology, CASQ2R33Q/R33Q hearts display ultrastructural changes such as disarray of junctional electron-dense material, referable to CASQ2 polymers, dilatation of junctional SR, yet normal total SR volume. Based on the foregoings, we propose that the phenotype of the CASQ2R33Q/R33Q CPVT mouse model is portrayed by an unexpected set of abnormalities including (1) reduced CASQ2 content, possibly attributable to increased degradation of CASQ2-R33Q, (2) reduction of SR calcium content, (3) dilatation of junctional SR, and (4) impaired clustering of mutant CASQ2.
Spectrum of Wind-Driven Baroclinic Fluctuations of the Ocean in the Midlatitudes

In the midlatitudes, the thermocline depth variations are largely due to Rossby waves of first baroclinic mode forced by stochastic wind stress. The frequency spectrum of this oceanic response is investigated with a simple model, with emphasis on the impact of (i) the horizontal mixing, (ii) the zonal variations of the forcing, and (iii) the nonlinearity due to variations of the Rossby wave celerity in function of the thermocline depth. Horizontal mixing, which acts here as a frequency-dependent Newtonian damping, smoothes the singularities of the spectrum computed in a linear nondissipative case and slightly increases the slope of the spectrum at periods shorter than 10 yr. Considering a wind stress with a continuous spectrum also smoothes the response spectrum and modifies the power at decadal and interdecadal frequency: it alters its dependence on the distance from the eastern boundary. A spectral peak appears when the forcing has a dominant zonal scale, but this peak disappears in more realistic cases. The nonlinearity included in Rossby wave celerity induces energy transfers from decadal frequency to annual frequency, thereby whitening the frequency spectrum at periods ranging from 0.5 to 5 yr. These features lead to a better agreement with GCM simulations and observations.
RODES software for dose assessment of rats and mice contaminated with radionuclides

In order to support animal experiments of chronic radionuclides intake with realistic dosimetry, voxel-based three-dimensional computer models of mice and rats of both sexes and three ages were built from magnetic resonance imaging. Radiation transport of mono-energetic photons of 11 energies and electrons of 7 energies was simulated with MCNPX 2.6c to assess specific absorbed fractions (SAFs) of energy emitted from 13 source regions and absorbed in 28 target regions. RODES software was developed to combine SAF with radiation emission spectra and user-supplied biokinetic data to calculate organ absorbed doses per nuclear transformation of radionuclides in source regions (S-factors) and for specific animal experiments with radionuclides. This article presents the design of RODES software including the simulation of the particles in the created rodent voxel phantoms. SAF and S-factor values were compared favourably with published results from similar studies. The results are discussed for rodents of different ages and sexes.
Nitrosopumilus maritimus genome reveals unique mechanisms for nitrification and autotrophy in globally distributed marine crenarchaea

Ammonia-oxidizing archaea are ubiquitous in marine and terrestrial environments and now thought to be significant contributors to carbon and nitrogen cycling. The isolation of Candidatus “Nitrosopumilus maritimus” strain SCM1 provided the opportunity for linking its chemolithotrophic physiology with a genomic inventory of the globally distributed archaea. Here we report the 1,645,259-bp closed genome of strain SCM1, revealing highly copper-dependent systems for ammonia oxidation and electron transport that are distinctly different from known ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. Consistent with in situ isotopic studies of marine archaea, the genome sequence indicates N. maritimus grows autotrophically using a variant of the 3-hydroxypropionate/4-hydroxybutryrate pathway for carbon assimilation, while maintaining limited capacity for assimilation of organic carbon. This unique instance of archaeal biosynthesis of the osmoprotectant ectoine and an unprecedented enrichment of multicopper oxidases, thioredoxin-like proteins, and transcriptional regulators points to an organism responsive to environmental cues and adapted to handling reactive copper and nitrogen species that likely derive from its distinctive biochemistry. The conservation of N. maritimus gene content and organization within marine metagenomes indicates that the unique physiology of these specialized oligophiles may play a significant role in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nitrogen.
Action recognition by dense trajectories

Feature trajectories have shown to be efficient for representing videos. Typically, they are extracted using the KLT tracker or matching SIFT descriptors between frames. However, the quality as well as quantity of these trajectories is often not sufficient. Inspired by the recent success of dense sampling in image classification, we propose an approach to describe videos by dense trajectories. We sample dense points from each frame and track them based on displacement information from a dense optical flow field. Given a state-of-the-art optical flow algorithm, our trajectories are robust to fast irregular motions as well as shot boundaries. Additionally, dense trajectories cover the motion information in videos well. We, also, investigate how to design descriptors to encode the trajectory information. We introduce a novel descriptor based on motion boundary histograms, which is robust to camera motion. This descriptor consistently outperforms other state-of-the-art descriptors, in particular in uncontrolled realistic videos. We evaluate our video description in the context of action classification with a bag-of-features approach. Experimental results show a significant improvement over the state of the art on four datasets of varying difficulty, i.e. KTH, YouTube, Hollywood2 and UCF sports.
Paid employment, life events, social support, and mental health in working-class mothers.

Working-class mothers with dependent children are at relatively high risk for mental health problems. Although paid employment has not been found to influence the mental health of mothers in general, there is some evidence that working-class mothers do benefit. In a community survey of 193 working-class mothers, we tested for direct effects of employment and examined these effects in interaction with life event stress, social support, and the presence of a preschool child. Subject selection minimized confounding among these variables. No overall effect of paid employment or preschool children was found. Mothers who had suffered a severely stressful life event in the previous year had higher levels of psychiatric symptomatology. Employment reduced this risk when social support was available but, in the absence of social support, was associated with high symptom levels.
Thermodynamic study of gaseous vanadium phosphates by high-temperature mass spectrometry.

Knowledge of the structures of gaseous oxyacid salts of the M(m) XO(n) type is of interest for understanding the nature of chemical bonds. Gaseous VPO(2) and VPO(3) have been identified by Knudsen effusion mass spectrometry during the vaporization of mixtures of V(2)O(3) and alkali earth phosphates from molybdenum and tungsten effusion cells. The structures and molecular parameters of the gaseous vanadium phosphates under study were determined using quantum chemical calculations. On the basis of equilibrium constants measured for gas-phase reactions, the standard formation enthalpies were determined to be -273 ± 17 and -615 ± 16 kJ·mol(-1) for VPO(2) and VPO(3), respectively.
Supercritical carbon dioxide extract of Physalis peruviana induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human lung cancer H 661 cells

Physalis peruviana L. (PP) is a popular folk medicine used for treating cancer, leukemia, hepatitis, rheumatism and other diseases. In this study, our objectives were to examine the total flavonoid and phenol content of different PP extracts (aqueous: HWEPP; ethanolic: EEPP; supercritical carbon dioxide: SCEPP-0, SCEPP-4 and SCEPP-5) and their antiproliferative effects in human lung cancer H661 cells. Among all the extracts tested, results showed that SCEPP-5 possessed the highest total flavonoid (226.19 ± 4.15 mg/g) and phenol (100.82 ± 6.25 mg/g) contents. SCEPP-5 also demonstrated the most potent inhibitory effect on H661 cell proliferation. Using DNA ladder and flow cytometry analysis, SCEPP-5 effectively induced H661 cell apoptosis as demonstrated by the accumulation of Sub-G1 peak and fragmentation of DNA. SCEPP-5 not only induced cell cycle arrest at S phase, it also up-regulated the expression of pro-apoptotic protein (Bax) and down-regulated the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP). Furthermore, the apoptotic induction in H661 cells was found to associate with an elevated p53 protein expression, cytochrome c release, caspase-3 activation and PARP cleavage. Taken together, these results conclude that SCEPP-5 induced cell cycle arrest at S phase, and its apoptotic induction could be mediated through the p53-dependent pathway and modification of Bax and XIAP proteins expression. The results have also provided important pharmacological backgrounds for the potential use of PP supercritical fluid extract as products for cancer prevention. 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.