Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How Task Experience Influences Students' Performance Expectancies: The Role of Certainty

The importance of performance expectancies for predicting behavior has long been highlighted in research on expectancy-value models. These models do not take into account that expectancies may vary in terms of their certainty. The study tested the following predictions: task experience leads to a higher certainty of expectancies; certainty and mean expectancies are empirically distinguishable; and expectancies held with high certainty are more accurate for predicting performance. 273 Grade 8 students reported their performance expectancy and the certainty of expectation with regard to a mathematics examination immediately before and after the examination. Actual grades on the examination were also assessed. The results supported the predictions: there was an increase in certainty between the two times of measurement; expectancies and certainty were unrelated at both times of measurement; and for students initially reporting higher certainty, the accuracy of the performance expectancy (i.e., the relation between expectancy and performance) was higher than for students reporting lower certainty. Given lower certainty, the accuracy increased after the students had experience with the examination. The data indicate that it may be useful to include certainty as an additional variable in expectancy-value models.
A pilot project of street lighting Telemanagement in a Smart Grid environment

This paper aims to demonstrate a new concept for the street lighting area in a Smart Grid environment. It presents a developed electronic device, which allows control and Telemanagement functions of the street lighting system, through a Mesh ZigBee network. Besides, it presents the achieved results with the deployment of a pilot project where high-pressure sodium lamps were replaced by LED lamps equipped with the developed device.
Motor imagery enhancement paradigm using moving rubber hand illusion system

Motor imagery (MI) has been widely used in neurorehabilitation and brain computer interface. The size of event-related desynchronization (ERD) is a key parameter for successful motor imaginary rehabilitation and BCI adaptation. Many studies have used visual guidance for enhancement/ amplification of motor imagery ERD amplitude, but their enhancements were not significant. We propose a novel ERD enhancing paradigm using body-ownership illusion, or also known as rubber hand illusion (RHI). The system was made by motorized, moving rubber hand which can simulate wrist extension. The amplifying effects of the proposed RHI paradigm were evaluated by comparing ERD sizes of the proposed paradigm with motor imagery and actual motor execution paradigms. The comparison result shows that the improvement of ERD size due to the proposed paradigm was statistically significant (p<0.05) compared with the other paradigms.
Osteology and skeletal development of Apalone spinifera (Reptilia: Testudines: Trionychidae)

Despite considerable attention that other groups of reptiles have received, few descriptions of the development and sequences of chondrification and ossification of the entire skeleton of turtles exist. Herein, the adult skeleton of the spiny softshell turtle, Apalone spinifera (Testudines: Trionychidae), is described; this description forms a basis of comparison for the embryonic skeleton and its ontogenesis. Descriptions are made on the basis of cleared and double‐stained embryos and dry skeletal postembryonic specimens. The embryonic chondrocranium of A. spinifera is described and compared to those of Emys orbicularis and Caretta caretta, the sequence of chondrification of fore‐ and hindlimbs are compared with published descriptions of Chelydra serpentina and Chrysemys picta, and the sequence of ossification of elements is compared with those of C. serpentina, Lacerta vivipara, and Alligator mississippiensis. In A. spinifera, the first elements that ossify (Stage 17) are associated with the dermatocranium and mandible, followed by elements of the dermal skull table, lower jaw, and dermal elements of the plastron. In A. spinifera, the sequence of chondrification of limb elements is similar to that of C. serpentina; however, the sequence of ossification varies greatly among Apalone, Chelydra, Lacerta, and Alligator. J. Morphol. 256:42–78, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Assessment of heavy metals in livers of cattle and chicken by spectroscopic method

Liver samples of cow, chicken, and sheep were taken for metal analysis, the results are presented for the levels of chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, lead, zinc, selenium, cobalt, nickel, and cadmium using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES). The samples were taken from the local markets in Sulaimani city, Kurdistan region of Iraq. The concentration of the above metals in the studied samples were found not to be significant (p<0.05). They are generally low, and within tolerance limit.
Moderate and strong static magnetic fields directly affect EGFR kinase domain orientation to inhibit cancer cell proliferation

Static magnetic fields (SMFs) can affect cell proliferation in a cell-type and intensity-dependent way but the mechanism remains unclear. At the same time, although the diamagnetic anisotropy of proteins has been proposed decades ago, the behavior of isolated proteins in magnetic fields has not been directly observed. Here we show that SMFs can affect isolated proteins at the single molecular level in an intensity-dependent manner. We found that Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), a protein that is overexpressed and highly activated in multiple cancers, can be directly inhibited by SMFs. Using Liquid-phase Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) to examine pure EGFR kinase domain proteins at the single molecule level in solution, we observed orientation changes of these proteins in response to SMFs. This may interrupt inter-molecular interactions between EGFR monomers, which are critical for their activation. In molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, 1-9T SMFs caused increased probability of EGFR in parallel with the magnetic field direction in an intensity-dependent manner. A superconducting ultrastrong 9T magnet reduced proliferation of CHO-EGFR cells (Chinese Hamster Ovary cells with EGFR overexpression) and EGFR-expressing cancer cell lines by ~35%, but minimally affected CHO cells. We predict that similar effects of magnetic fields can also be applied to some other proteins such as ion channels. Our paper will help clarify some dilemmas in this field and encourage further investigations in order to achieve a better understanding of the biological effects of SMFs.
A conceptual model of mobile commerce acceptance in collectivist cultures

The paper aims to develop a model that can explain the critical determinants that influencing the behavioral intention (BI) of mobile commerce (m-commerce) in collectivist cultures such as the Arab culture; particularly Jordan. The proposed model employs the technology acceptance model (TAM). TAM has been augmented with subjective norms (SN) from the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). The augmented model further decomposed SN into different levels. In addition, three variables were used to extended TAM: Personal innovativeness in IT (PIIT) from Diffusion of Innovations (DOI), Facilitating Conditions (FC) from Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) and cost derived from literature. M-commerce acceptance literature revealed the majority of the researches were conducted in developed nations. Moreover, the academic research of m-commerce acceptance in the Arab world is limited; therefore, there has been little attempt to fill the gap in understanding the antecedents of BI to accept m-commerce in the region. This conceptual model will provide a foundation for future research and a greater knowledge of the potential users of m-commerce adoption in Jordan.
Exposure to Low-Dose 56Fe-Ion Radiation Induces Long-Term Epigenetic Alterations in Mouse Bone Marrow Hematopoietic Progenitor and Stem Cells

There is an increasing need to better understand the long-term health effects of high-linear energy transfer (LET) radiation due to exposure during space missions, as well as its increasing use in clinical treatments. Previous studies have indicated that exposure to 56Fe heavy ions increases the incidence of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in mice but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Epigenetic alterations play a role in radiation-induced genomic instability and the initiation and progression of AML. In this study, we assessed the effects of low-dose 56Fe-ion irradiation on epigenetic alterations in bone marrow mononuclear cells (BM-MNCs) and hematopoietic progenitor and stem cells (HPSCs). Exposure to 56Fe ions (600 MeV, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 Gy) resulted in significant epigenetic alterations involving methylation of DNA, the DNA methylation machinery and expression of repetitive elements. Four weeks after irradiation, these changes were primarily confined to HPSCs and were exhibited as dose-dependent hypermethylation of LINE1 and SINE B1 repetitive elements [4.2-fold increase in LINE1 (P < 0.001) and 7.6-fold increase in SINE B1 (P < 0.01) after exposure to 0.4 Gy; n = 5]. Epigenetic alterations were persistent and detectable for at least 22 weeks after exposure, when significant loss of global DNA hypomethylation (1.9-fold, P < 0.05), decreased expression of Dnmt1 (1.9-fold, P < 0.01), and increased expression of LINE1 and SINE B1 repetitive elements (2.8-fold, P < 0.001 for LINE1 and 1.9-fold, P < 0.05 for SINE B1; n = 5) were observed after exposure to 0.4 Gy. In contrast, exposure to 56Fe ions did not result in accumulation of increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and DNA damage, exhibited as DNA strand breaks. Furthermore, no significant alterations in cellular senescence and apoptosis were detected in HPSCs after exposure to 56Fe-ion radiation. These findings suggest that epigenetic reprogramming is possibly involved in the development of radiation-induced genomic instability and thus, may have a causative role in the development of AML.
Primary extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma involving the stomach or duodenum or both: findings on CT and barium studies.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the CT and radiographic features of extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma involving the stomach or duodenum or both. CONCLUSION Although the radiologic findings of extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma involving the stomach or duodenum or both appear to be variable and nonspecific, some distinguishing features are poor contrast enhancement, bulky exophytic mass, and minimal peritumoral infiltration.
An Efficient PSO-based Clustering Algorithm

Recently, particle swarm optimization (PSO) has become one of the most popular approaches to clustering problems because it can provide a higher quality result than deterministic local search method. The problem of PSO in solving clustering problems, however, is that it is much slower than deterministic local search method. This paper presents a novel method to speed up its performance for the partitional clustering problem—based on the idea of eliminating computations that are essentially redundant during its convergence process. In addition, the multistart strategy is used to improve the quality of the end result. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, we compare it with several state-of-the-art methods in solving the data and image clustering problems. Our simulation results indicate that the proposed method can reduce from about 60% up to 90% of the computation time of the k-means and PSO-based algorithms to find similar or even better results.
An Effective Approach to Vertical Partitioning for Physical Design of Relational Databases

Vertical partitioning can be used to enhance the performance of relational database systems by reducing the number of disk accesses. The authors identify the key parameters for capturing the behavior of an access plan and propose a two-step methodology consisting of a query analysis step to estimate the parameters and a binary partitioning step which can be applied recursively. The partitioning uses an integer linear programming technique to minimize the number of disk accesses. Significant performance benefit would be achieved for join if the partitioned (inner) relation could fit into the memory buffer under the inner-outer loop join method, or if the partitioned relation could fit into the sort buffer under the sort-merge join method, but not the original relation. For cases where a segment scan or a cluster index scan is used, vertical partitioning of the relation with the algorithm described is still often found to lead to substantial performance improvement. >
Visual Fitness of Public Vehicle Drivers in Southeast of Iran

Background: Although visual impairment of drivers is a very important risk factor for car accident, a few published papers have explored this issue in Iran. This study aims to evaluate the visual fitness of public vehicle drivers in Kerman province, southeast of Iran. Methods: A total of 4,003 public vehicle drivers were examined by one ophthalmologist for visual fitness in Kerman province between January 2009 and June 2010. Data are presented as Mean±SD or percentage, and with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Pearson Chi-square and McNemmar tests along with crude odds ratio (OR) were used to compare vision deficit between groups. Results: Almost 361 drivers (9.0%; 95% CI: 8.1-9.9) had insufficient vision to drive public vehicles before the refractive errors (RE) correction and this number, was reduced to 68 drivers (1.7%; 95% CI: 1.3-2.1) after the correction. A number of them including 200 drivers (5.0%; 95% CI: 4.3-5.7) had insufficient vision to drive personal vehicles before the correction and this was reduced to 30 thereafter (0.8%; 95% CI: 0.5-1.0). We also found out that the vision status got worse with aging, and RE was the most prevalent cause of sight defects. Conclusion: It seems that visual fitness of public vehicle drivers is a point of real concerns which might somewhat explain the high rate of car accidents in Iran.
Postmortem detection of Neisseria Meningitidis in a case of Waterhouse- Friderichsen syndrome from fulminant meningococcal disease in an adult patient

Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome (WFS) from meningococceal sepsis is a rare life-threatening condition which generally occur during infancy and childhood with a high mortality rate (from 10-30% up to 95%). It is very rare in the adult population, usually with pathological risk factors of invasive meningococcal infection. In such fatalities, the condition may rapidly progress into septic shock and disseminated intravascular coagulation with skin lesions (known as “purpura fulminans”) and early recognition and therapy is often difficult owing to the unspecific findings at onset. The purpose of this case report is to present an unusual case of WFS from fulminant meningococceal disease with no meningeal involvement in a previously healthy adult patient, unexpectedly associated with dysmegakaryocytopoiesis findings in bone marrow. The conclusive diagnosis was due to the detection of Neisseria Meningitidis in cerebrospinal fluid despite a postmortem interval of four days and the long cadaver
Genetic Variation in Toll-Like Receptor Signalling and the Risk of Inflammatory and Immune Diseases

There has been growing interest in the role of host genetic factors in humans and susceptibility to infectious and inflammatory diseases. Genetic variation in Toll-like receptors (TLRs), key innate immune receptors or their signalling molecules, have been described. Variation in certain TLRs has been linked to disease susceptibility. This genetic variation can result in an altered immune response to pathogenic challenge as well as exorbitant immune activation and inflammation, and thus may influence the pathogenesis or outcome of disease. Examples include variants of TLR4 in sepsis, malaria, inflammatory bowel disease and atherosclerosis; variants in TLR2 in tuberculosis and asthma; a variant in Mal (a key signal for TLR2 and TLR4) in malaria, tuberculosis and systemic lupus erythematosus; and variants in the kinase IRAK4 in pyogenic infections. These associations provide us with a validation for the role of TLRs in human disease, and also suggest possible strategies to limit or boost TLR function in the effort to develop new therapies.
Acetylsalicylic acid and ammonium-induced somatic embryogenesis and enhanced plumbagin production in suspension cultures of Plumbago rosea L.

SummarySomatic embryogenesis was induced from suspension cultures (derived from leaf callus) of an important medicinal plant, Plumbago rosea L. While acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) alone induced embryogenesis, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) failed to elicit a similar response. This is the first time that ASA-induced somatic embryogenesis has been reported in cultured cells. Optimal embryogenic response per culture was observed in Murashige and Skoog’s medium containing a combination of ASA (8.32 μM) and IAA (5.06 μM). but 1-naphthaleneacetic acid and indole-3-butyric acid individually did not induce somatic embryogenesis. Increase in the concentration of ammonium enhanced the number of embryos formed per culture. Accumulation of plumbagin, an important naphthoquinone and a medicinal compound, was three times higher in embryogenic compared to non-embryogenic suspensions.
Blood pressure-lowering effects of biofeedback treatment in hypertension: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

To examine the blood pressure-lowering effects of biofeedback treatment in patients with essential hypertension, a meta-analysis was conducted on studies published between 1966 and 2001. A total of 22 randomized controlled studies with 905 essential hypertensive patients were selected for review. Compared with clinical visits or self-monitoring of blood pressure (non-intervention controls), biofeedback intervention resulted in systolic and diastolic blood pressure reductions that were greater by 7.3 mmHg (for systole; 95% confidence interval: 2.6 to 12.0) and 5.8 mmHg (for diastole; 95% confidence interval: 2.9 to 8.6). Compared with sham or non-specific behavioral intervention controls, the net reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressures by biofeedback intervention were 3.9 (95% confidence interval: -0.3 to 8.2) and 3.5 (-0.1 to 7.0) mmHg, respectively. The results of multiple regression analysis also indicated that biofeedback intervention decreased systolic and diastolic blood pressures more than non-intervention controls (p < 0.001), but not more than sham or non-specific behavioral intervention controls (p > 0.05), when controlling for the effects of initial blood pressures. When biofeedback intervention types were classified into two types, simple biofeedback and relaxation-assisted biofeedback, only the relaxation-assisted biofeedback significantly decreased both systolic and diastolic blood pressures (p < 0.05) compared with those in sham or non-specific behavioral intervention controls. The results suggested that biofeedback was more effective in reducing blood pressure in patients with essential hypertension than no intervention. However, the treatment was only found to be superior to sham or non-specific behavioral intervention when combined with other relaxation techniques. Further studies will be needed to determine whether biofeedback itself has an antihypertensive effect beyond the general relaxation response.
Dynamical equilibrium of avalanches on a rough plane

We present experimental results on avalanches which are triggered in a metastable static layer on a rough inclined plane. We observe that despite the continuous increase in mass of a perturbation while it runs down, the flow reaches a dynamical equilibrium where the fronts evolve at constant speed and the mass is spread. The head front is found to be a shock wave with a crest, and its transient acceleration phase is studied. In contrast, the rear front grows in a self-similar manner from the beginning. An instability is observed which breaks thin flowing layers down into solitary waves.
Molecular docking, QSAR and ADMET based mining of natural compounds against prime targets of HIV

AIDS is one of the multifaceted diseases and this underlying complexity hampers its complete cure. The toxicity of existing drugs and emergence of multidrug-resistant virus makes the treatment worse. Development of effective, safe and low-cost anti-HIV drugs is among the top global priority. Exploration of natural resources may give ray of hope to develop new anti-HIV leads. Among the various therapeutic targets for HIV treatment, reverse transcriptase, protease, integrase, GP120, and ribonuclease are the prime focus. In the present study, we predicted potential plant-derived natural molecules for HIV treatment using computational approach, i.e. molecular docking, quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR), and ADMET studies. Receptor-ligand binding studies were performed using three different software for precise prediction – Discovery studio 4.0, Schrodinger and Molegrow virtual docker. Docking scores revealed that Mulberrosides, Anolignans, Curcumin and Chebulic acid are promising candidates that bind with multi targets of HIV, while Neo-andrographolide, Nimbolide and Punigluconin were target-specific candidates. Subsequently, QSAR was performed using biologically proved compounds which predicted the biological activity of compounds. We identified Anolignans, Curcumin, Mulberrosides, Chebulic acid and Neo-andrographolide as potential natural molecules for HIV treatment from results of molecular docking and 3D-QSAR. In silico ADMET studies showed drug-likeness of these lead molecules. Structure similarities of identified lead molecules were compared with identified marketed drugs by superimposing both the molecules. Using in silico studies, we have identified few best fit molecules of natural origin against identified targets which may give new drugs to combat HIV infection after wet lab validation.
Trypanosomes change their transferrin receptor expression to allow effective uptake of host transferrin

In its mammalian host, Trypanosoma brucei covers its iron requirements by receptor‐mediated uptake of host transferrin (Tf). The Tf‐receptor (Tf‐R) is a heterodimeric membrane protein encoded by expression site‐associated gene (ESAG) 6 and 7 located promoter‐proximal in a polycistronic expression site (ES). Each of the 20 ESs encodes a slightly different Tf‐R; these differences strongly affect the binding affinity for Tfs of different hosts. The Tf‐R encoded in the 221 ES has a low affinity for dog Tf. Transfer of trypanosomes with an active 221 ES to dilute dog serum leads to growth arrest, which they can overcome by switching to another ES encoding a Tf‐R with higher affinity for dog Tf. Here we show that trypanosomes can also adapt to dilute dog serum without switching but by replacing the ESAG7 gene in the 221 ES by one from another ES, by deleting ESAG7 from the 221 ES with concomitant upregulation of transcription of ESAG7 in ‘silent’ ESs, by grossly overproducing the 221 Tf‐R or by combinations of these alterations. Our results illustrate the striking genetic flexibility of trypanosomes.