Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Islamic Studies Teachers’ Perceptions of Using a Blended Approach for Teaching Islamic Education Modules in Primary Schools in Saudi Arabia

This study examines Islamic studies teachers’ perception of the effectiveness of using a blended learning approach in teaching Islamic education modules in girls’ primary schools. Furthermore, it investigates participants’ perspectives on whether a blended approach is suitable for teaching all Islamic education modules or if only traditional methods are ideal for teaching some of them. A mixed-methods approach was used for data collection in this study, including qualitative (lesson observations and interviews) and quantitative (online questionnaires) methods. In the data analysis phase, both a thematic analysis and a descriptive statistics analysis including factor analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was employed to facilitate the interpretation of quantitative data. The blended approach was thought to be suitable to use in teaching all subjects of the Islamic education curriculum. However, the frequency of using such method depends on the content of the lesson and the subject that teachers want it to teach. Moreover, Islamic studies teachers believed that using a blended learning approach increased their productivity when preparing for their lessons and they believed that such methods helped them to achieve curriculum objectives. On the other hand, as a result of applying a blended approach teachers may face difficulty in completing the given unit in one lesson and teachers may experience difficulty in retaking control of the class, particularly after applying one of the active learning strategies. Also, using too many examples of active learning strategies may distract students. The study also revealed that the key factors which may encourage Islamic studies teachers to use a blended approach include the nature of the curriculum and teachers’ desire and hope of achieving curriculum objectives and the availability of the teaching aids related to each unit in a student’s textbook. Teacher workload, a lack of effective training and a lack of information and communication technology (ICT) tools together with Islamic studies teachers’ fear of undermining the respected status of the academic content were thought to be some of the key obstacles that may prohibit Islamic studies teachers from applying a blended learning approach. This study provides Islamic studies teachers with a blended learning model, along with identification of some of its benefits to both teachers and students. Finally, the blended learning model may be considered a contribution to research in pedagogy, and future researchers may further develop or evaluate the effectiveness of the blended learning model for use in teaching other subjects.
Cortisol response to experimental pain in patients with chronic low back pain and patients with major depression.

OBJECTIVE Chronic pain and major depression have been associated with alterations of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) activity. Previous studies suggested that HPA activity is diminished in chronic pain but increased in depression. However, little is known about the effects of experimentally induced acute pain on cortisol secretion in patients with chronic pain and depression. METHODS On three different occasions (day 1, day 8, day 90), we repeatedly examined 20 patients with chronic low back pain without depression, 22 patients with major depression without pain, and 33 healthy subjects using heat stimuli. Pain intensity was rated by participants using a visual analog scale. Salivary cortisol was assessed prior to 10 blocks of repeated painful heat stimuli, and 45 and 60 minutes afterwards. RESULTS In repeated measures analyses of covariance adjusting for age, sex, and time of examination, we found a significant effect of group (P < 0.01) and post-hoc tests confirmed that patients with chronic pain had lower cortisol area-under-the-curve values compared with healthy controls and depressed patients at all time points (all P values <0.01). However, cortisol secretion in depressed patients did not differ from controls. CONCLUSIONS Across groups, experimental heat pain stimuli did not elicit a significant cortisol response. Chronic pain appears to be associated with low cortisol secretion. The mechanisms linking chronic pain with low cortisol deserve further study.
A Bayesian Spatial Propensity Score Matching Evaluation of the Regional Impact of Micro-Finance

A Bayesian Spatial-Propensity Score Matching estimator is proposed to measure the regional impact of microfinance on poverty reduction and women's empowerment. The impact of microfinance in Bolivia was tested with this estimator, using census and household survey data. The results suggest that microfinance was useful for poverty reduction and women’s empowerment at municipality level in Bolivia.
Teaching Practices from a Theoretical Perspective

Abstract Teaching practices are important for understanding and improving educational processes. They are closely linked to the teachers’ strategies for coping with challenges in their daily professional life and to their general well-being, and they shape the learning environment and influence learner motivation and achievement. This paper aimed to investigate teaching practices for professional development from the post positivist paradigm and social practice theories.This view focuses on learners as active participants in the process of acquiring knowledge. Teachers holding this view emphasize on facilitating student inquiry, prefer to give students the chance to develop solutions to problems on their own, and allow students to play an active role in instructional activities.This paper assessed practices theory in terms of the extent to which it is able to describe and explain the phenomena of professional learning and practice.This paper demonstrates that positivism provides a potentially useful epistemological tool in the discourse of the teachers’ professional development.
The Prevalence and Outcomes of Thrombocytopenia in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Three-Year Report

Neonatal thrombocytopenia is one of the most common hematologic disorders in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of thrombocytopenia and whether thrombocytopenia has an effect on the occurrence of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) ≥ grade 2 and on mortality rate. This study was carried out retrospectively in neonates admitted to NICU of Cumhuriyet University in Sivas, Turkey, between 2009 and 2012. Among 2218 neonates evaluated, 208 (9.4%) developed thrombocytopenia. The prevalence of IVH ≥ grade 2 was more in infants with thrombocytopenia (7.2%) than in those without thrombocytopenia (4.4%), although this was not statistically significant (P = .08). In univariate analysis, IVH ≥ grade 2 was higher in cases with very severe thrombocytopenia (35.7%, n = 5) than in those with mild (2.1%, n = 2), moderate (4.7%, n = 3), and severe thrombocytopenia (15.2%, n = 5) (P = .04). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that birth weight <1500 g (OR 6.2, 95% CI 3.4–9.8; P = .0001), gram-negative sepsis (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.8–4.2; P = .01), very severe thrombocytopenia (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1–2.1; P = .03), and platelet transfusion ≥2 (OR 7.3, 95% CI 4.1–12.1; P = .001) were significant risk factors for mortality. The results of our study suggest that outcomes of neonates with thrombocytopenia depend not only on platelet count but also on decreased gestational age or birth weight, prenatal factors, and sepsis.
REACHING PROVIDERS IS NOT ENOUGH TO INCREASE IUD USE: A FACTORIAL EXPERIMENT OF ‘ACADEMIC DETAILING’ IN KENYA

Summary Although the IUD is an extremely effective and low-cost contraceptive method, its use has declined sharply in Kenya in the past 20 years. A study tested the effectiveness of an outreach intervention to family planning providers and community-based distribution (CBD) agents in promoting use of the IUD in western Kenya. Forty-five public health clinics were randomized to receive the intervention for providers only, for CBD agents only, for both providers and CBD agents, or no detailing at all. The intervention is based on pharmaceutical companies’ ‘detailing’ models and included education/motivation visits to providers and CBD programmes, as well as provision of educational and promotional materials. District health supervisors were given updates on contraceptives, including the IUD, and were trained in communication and message development prior to making their detailing visits. Detailing only modestly increased the provision of IUDs, and only when both providers and CBD agents were targeted. The two detailing visits do not appear sufficient to sustain the effect of the intervention or to address poor provider attitudes and lack of technical skills. The cost per 3·5 years of pregnancy protection was US$49·57 for the detailing intervention including the cost of the IUD, compared with US$15·19 for the commodity costs of the current standard of care – provision of the injectable contraceptive depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA). The effectiveness of provider-based activities is amplified when concurrent demand creation activities are carried out. However, the cost of the detailing in comparison to the small number of IUDs inserted indicates that this intervention is not cost-effective.
Penis size interacts with body shape and height to influence male attractiveness

Compelling evidence from many animal taxa indicates that male genitalia are often under postcopulatory sexual selection for characteristics that increase a male’s relative fertilization success. There could, however, also be direct precopulatory female mate choice based on male genital traits. Before clothing, the nonretractable human penis would have been conspicuous to potential mates. This observation has generated suggestions that human penis size partly evolved because of female choice. Here we show, based upon female assessment of digitally projected life-size, computer-generated images, that penis size interacts with body shape and height to determine male sexual attractiveness. Positive linear selection was detected for penis size, but the marginal increase in attractiveness eventually declined with greater penis size (i.e., quadratic selection). Penis size had a stronger effect on attractiveness in taller men than in shorter men. There was a similar increase in the positive effect of penis size on attractiveness with a more masculine body shape (i.e., greater shoulder-to-hip ratio). Surprisingly, larger penis size and greater height had almost equivalent positive effects on male attractiveness. Our results support the hypothesis that female mate choice could have driven the evolution of larger penises in humans. More broadly, our results show that precopulatory sexual selection can play a role in the evolution of genital traits.
Visualization of beta‐amyloid peptide (Aβ) phagocytosis by human mononuclear phagocytes: dependency on Aβ aggregate size

Previous studies from this laboratory have shown that human monocytes exposed to beta‐amyloid peptide (Aβ) exert a graded neurotoxic response in an organotypic brain culture paradigm. Moreover, this toxicity can be reduced by compounds that inhibit cell motility and phagocytosis, suggesting that internalization of Aβ may be a requirement for neurotoxic action. To confirm that Aβ is indeed phagocytosed by monocytes and to further lay the groundwork for resolving the possible linkage between this process and neurotoxicity, we examined Aβ:monocyte interactions using immunocytochemistry and fluorescence histochemistry followed by confocal microscopy and three‐dimensional image reconstruction. Internalization of Aβ was detected by 24 hr following exposure of monocytes to the purified peptide, and the relative efficacy of this process appeared to be influenced by the size of the Aβ aggregates. Specifically, smaller aggregates were observed to be more efficiently internalized, while larger Aβ masses tended to reside only on the monocyte surface, apparently bound to several monocytes at once. Both colchicine and cytochalasin D, cytoskeletal perturbants that block phagocytosis, caused Aβ to accumulate in deep pits within monocytes and inhibited complete envelopment by monocyte cytoplasm. These results suggest that monocytes can indeed phagocytose aggregates of Aβ and that this process may be critical in activating these cells to a neurocytopathic state. Accordingly, interference of Aβ phagocytosis by monocytes or monocyte‐derived cells may be a novel target for therapeutic action. J. Neurosci. Res. 59:522–527, 2000 © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Comparison of image registration based measures of regional lung ventilation from dynamic spiral CT with Xe-CT.

PURPOSE Regional lung volume change as a function of lung inflation serves as an index of parenchymal and airway status as well as an index of regional ventilation and can be used to detect pathologic changes over time. In this paper, the authors propose a new regional measure of lung mechanics-the specific air volume change by corrected Jacobian. The authors compare this new measure, along with two existing registration based measures of lung ventilation, to a regional ventilation measurement derived from xenon-CT (Xe-CT) imaging. METHODS 4DCT and Xe-CT datasets from four adult sheep are used in this study. Nonlinear, 3D image registration is applied to register an image acquired near end inspiration to an image acquired near end expiration. Approximately 200 annotated anatomical points are used as landmarks to evaluate registration accuracy. Three different registration based measures of regional lung mechanics are derived and compared: the specific air volume change calculated from the Jacobian (SAJ); the specific air volume change calculated by the corrected Jacobian (SACJ); and the specific air volume change by intensity change (SAI). The authors show that the commonly used SAI measure can be derived from the direct SAJ measure by using the air-tissue mixture model and assuming there is no tissue volume change between the end inspiration and end expiration datasets. All three ventilation measures are evaluated by comparing to Xe-CT estimates of regional ventilation. RESULTS After registration, the mean registration error is on the order of 1 mm. For cubical regions of interest (ROIs) in cubes with size 20 mm × 20 mm × 20 mm, the SAJ and SACJ measures show significantly higher correlation (linear regression, average r(2) = 0.75 and r(2) = 0.82) with the Xe-CT based measure of specific ventilation (sV) than the SAI measure. For ROIs in slabs along the ventral-dorsal vertical direction with size of 150 mm × 8 mm × 40 mm, the SAJ, SACJ, and SAI all show high correlation (linear regression, average r(2) = 0.88, r(2) = 0.92, and r(2) = 0.87) with the Xe-CT based sV without significant differences when comparing between the three methods. The authors demonstrate a linear relationship between the difference of specific air volume change and difference of tissue volume in all four animals (linear regression, average r(2) = 0.86). CONCLUSIONS Given a deformation field by an image registration algorithm, significant differences between the SAJ, SACJ, and SAI measures were found at a regional level compared to the Xe-CT sV in four sheep that were studied. The SACJ introduced here, provides better correlations with Xe-CT based sV than the SAJ and SAI measures, thus providing an improved surrogate for regional ventilation.
The multivariate techniques in evaluation of unemployment analysis of Polish regions

Research background: The labour market situation is considered to be the most widely discussed part of economic development. However, it should be noted that the unemployment situation of young people (aged 15–24 years) in Poland in general terms seems to be problematic. Overall, the unemployment rate among young people in Poland is significantly higher than the overall unemployment rate in the EU. Moreover, the situation varies greatly across the regions. Purpose of the article: Using multivariate techniques as a theoretical framework, the main goal of the paper is to identify groups of Polish regions that share similar patterns regarding unemployment among young people. To reach this goal, first a set of labour market indicators were selected. Next, the authors compared the labour market situation of young people between the Polish regions in 2005 and in 2014. Finally, the conclusions regarding the conducted analysis are explored. Methods: The initial calculation is based on the concept of the taxonomic measure developed by Hellwig. The final method used to create clusters of objects (across 16 voivodeships of Poland) is cluster analysis. A segmentation of the voivodeships is observed for the years 2005 and 2014, based on selected indicators to determine the labour market situation. The data was gathered from the databases of the Central Statistical Office of Poland and Eurostat. Findings & Value added: Through the exploration of the advantages of multivariate methods, the nature of youth unemployment is revealed in more detail. Indeed, dendrogram analysis divided the voivodeships into five groups, which are characterized by similar features associated with the labour market. It was found that the groups which emerged in 2005 have a different composition of regions than in 2014; this difference seems to be connected with the economic crisis.
Nature, decay, and spiraling of the effects of fear-inducing arguments and HIV counseling and testing: a meta-analysis of the short- and long-term outcomes of HIV-prevention interventions.

OBJECTIVE To examine the long-term efficacy of both fear-inducing arguments and HIV counseling and testing at encouraging and maintaining knowledge about HIV transmission and prevention, as well as condom use. DESIGN Analyses were conducted with a sample of 150 treatment groups and 34 controls and included measures of change at an immediate follow-up and a delayed follow-up. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The main outcome measures were perceived risk of HIV infection, knowledge about HIV, and condom use. RESULTS Results indicated that receiving fear-inducing arguments increased perceptions of risk at the immediate follow-up but decreased knowledge and condom use, whereas resolving fear via HIV counseling and testing decreased perceptions of risk and increased knowledge and condom use at both the immediate and delayed follow-ups. The effects on perceived risk [corrected] decreased over time, but the effects on knowledge [corrected] condom use became more pronounced. CONCLUSION Inducing fear is not an effective way to promote HIV-relevant learning or condom use either immediately following the intervention or later on. However, HIV counseling and testing can provide an outlet for HIV-related anxiety and, subsequently, gains in both knowledge and behavior change immediately and longitudinally.
Human Papillomavirus Distribution in Cervical Tissues of Different Morphology as Determined by Hybrid Capture Assay and PCR

Distribution of various types of genital human Papillomavirus (HPV) in smears from histologically classified cervical lesions was determined by hybrid capture assay (HCA) and was compared with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system using general primers (GP) in first and type specific primers (TS) in a second step. The overall agreement of high-risk HPV by HCA and the more sensitive GP/TS PCR was 80.6% (204 of 253, kappa value 0.6). Human Papillomavirus frequency by GP/TS PCR was 14–20% higher compared with HCA (p = 0.02–0.004) independent of morphology. Only one sample was positive by HCA and negative by GP/TS PCR. A significantly higher frequency was found using HCA and GP/TS PCR in smears from histologically proven cervical intraepithelial lesions (CIN) II/III compared with CIN I, tissues with minimal changes (metaplasia, cervicitis, or lack of glycogenization), or normal morphology (61% and 81% vs 8–15% and 24–34%, p ≤ 0.001). Semi-quantitative estimate of HPV DNA copies by GP-PCR coincided with estimated virus load by quantitative HCA and was significantly higher in patients with CIN II/III compared with CIN I (p < 0.001). Thus, the GP-PCR may be used to monitor the amount of HPV DNA copies in clinical samples. A direct correlation between morphologic changes and HPV detection as well as virus load was found by HCA and the more sensitive GP/TS PCR.
FGF5 is expressed in melanoma and enhances malignancy in vitro and in vivo

Although FGF5 mRNA was previously found expressed in some melanoma cell lines in contrast to normal human melanocytes, neither its contribution to melanoma growth nor its expression in melanoma tissue has been investigated. Here we demonstrate that ectopic overexpression of FGF5 in human melanoma cells with low endogenous FGF5 expression increased clonogenicity and invasion but not short-term growth in vitro. Silencing of FGF5 in melanoma cells with high endogenous FGF5 expression had the opposite effect on clonogenicity. FGF overexpression led to increased signaling along the MAPK and NFAT axis but had no effect on STAT3 signaling. In an in vivo experiment in immunocompromised mice, human melanoma xenografts overexpressing FGF5 showed enhanced tumor growth, a higher Ki-67 proliferation index, decreased apoptosis and enhanced angiogenesis. Immunohistochemistry performed on a tissue microarray demonstrated FGF5 protein expression in more than 50% of samples of melanoma and benign nevi. These data suggest that FGF5 has oncogenic potential in melanoma cells and contributes to melanoma growth in a subset of patients. This highlights the importance of further evaluating FGF5 as potential biomarker and therapy target in melanoma.
Study on the Transmission of Multi-Ridge Waveguides based on Finite Element Method

Finite element method is introduced to analyze the transmission of multi-ridge waveguide, solves the cutoff wavelength of the dominant mode and field pattern of the typical model size in double ridge waveguides, triple ridge waveguides and quintupling ridge waveguides, analyzes the changes of the transmission by changed the multiple of ridges, the ridge width, the ridge height and the distance between ridges. Some computational data and figures are presented.
Model estimation of claim risk and premium for motor vehicle insurance by using Bayesian method

Risk models need to be estimated by the insurance company in order to predict the magnitude of the claim and determine the premiums charged to the insured. This is intended to prevent losses in the future. In this paper, we discuss the estimation of risk model claims and motor vehicle insurance premiums using Bayesian methods approach. It is assumed that the frequency of claims follow a Poisson distribution, while a number of claims assumed to follow a Gamma distribution. The estimation of parameters of the distribution of the frequency and amount of claims are made by using Bayesian methods. Furthermore, the estimator distribution of frequency and amount of claims are used to estimate the aggregate risk models as well as the value of the mean and variance. The mean and variance estimator that aggregate risk, was used to predict the premium eligible to be charged to the insured. Based on the analysis results, it is shown that the frequency of claims follow a Poisson distribution with parameter values λ is 5.827. While a number of claims follow the Gamma distribution with parameter values p is 7.922 and θ is 1.414. Therefore, the obtained values of the mean and variance of the aggregate claims respectively are IDR 32,667,489.88 and IDR 38,453,900,000,000.00. In this paper the prediction of the pure premium eligible charged to the insured is obtained, which amounting to IDR 2,722,290.82. The prediction of the claims and premiums aggregate can be used as a reference for the insurance company's decision-making in management of reserves and premiums of motor vehicle insurance.