Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship among Self-perceived Oral Competence, Communication Apprehension, and Iranian EFL Learners’ Willingness to Communicate: Cooperative teaching in focus

Speaking is deemed by many scholars as a fundamental skill in second language (L2) learning. From the myriad of factors playing a role in willingness to communicate (WTC) in a foreign language, communication apprehension and self-perceived competence have attracted a good deal of interest in recent decades. Furthermore, it is generally agreed that cooperative teaching can enhance learners' linguistic and psychological variables. To unravel the aforementioned dilemmas, 60 male and female EFL learners within the age range of 19 to 25(i.e., 30 each) were selected out of 100 participants via double sampling from several English institutes in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan province and were assigned equally to an experimental and a control group. Subsequently, the treatment started where the experimental group was taught based on cooperative teaching, while the control group received conventional treatment. Before and after the treatment, three questionnaires (WTC, communication apprehension and self-perceived competence) were given to all the participants in three different phases. After collecting the data, they were analyzed descriptively. Finally, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was run. The findings of the study highlighted that there is a negative correlation between communication apprehension and WTC as well as a positive correlation between self-perceived competence and WTC of Iranian EFL learners in post intervention. The findings further indicated that cooperative teaching can influence learners' WTC, self-perceived competence and communication apprehension.
Yoga as Therapy in Psychiatric Disorders: Past, Present, and Future

Complementary and alternative medical treatment, yoga therapy in particular, is being increasingly used for treating psychiatric disorders. Although some claim that such a time-tested practice, yoga, does not need validation, standards of contemporary medical practice make it necessary to test these treatments through modern evidence-based research methods. This paper discusses yoga as a therapy in medical and psychiatric disorders, the challenges that it faces in becoming accepted by the general medical community, and directions for future research in this area.
Effect of Helicobacter pylori Infection on Serum Lipid Profile

Background Some studies suggest a significant relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and atherogenesis; but the mechanism of the relationship is almost unknown. The current study aimed at evaluating the relationship between H. pylori infection and serum lipid profile. Patients and Methods The current study was conducted on 2573 patients, from 2008 to 2015. The serum anti-Helicobacter pylori antibody titer and serum lipid profile were assessed in the study population; data were statistically analyzed by SPSS version 16. P values < 0.05 were considered significant. Results In the current study, 66.5% of the cases were serologically positive for H. pylori. Among male cases, the level of low density lipoprotein (LDL) was higher in patients with H. pylori infection, compared with that of the ones without the infection (P = 0.03); although level of triglyceride (TG) was higher and the level of high density lipoprotein (HDL) was lower in the cases with H. pylori infection; there was no statistically significant difference between the cases with and without H. pylori infection regarding the level of HDL and TG. Among female cases, the level of TG was significantly lower in patients with H. pylori infection, compared with that of the ones without the infection (P = 0.001); but there was no significant difference between the cases with and without H. pylori infection regarding the level of LDL and HDL. The mean fasting blood sugar (FBS) in the cases with H. pylori infection was significantly higher than that of the ones without the infection (P = 0.04). Conclusion According to the results of the current study, the levels of LDL and FBS were high among the male cases with H. pylori infection. However, in females with H. pylori infection the level of TG was low; hence, it seems that the atherogenicity of H. pylori affected the level of blood sugar more.
Carrying asymmetric loads during different walking conditions

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate how asymmetric load carriage affects joint kinetics and postural control during walking and stair negotiation. In the first two studies, frontal plane joint moments were analyzed when carrying unilateral versus bilateral loads during stair negotiation. Peak L5/S1 contralateral bending moments were significantly higher when carrying a 20% body weight (BW) unilateral load for both stair ascent and descent. In addition, peak external knee varus and hip abduction moments were significantly higher in unloaded limb stance as compared to loaded limb stance. Based on our findings, we suggest that the low back and lower extremity play different roles in adjusting to asymmetric loads and recommend splitting loads bilaterally in order to decrease the frontal plane joint moments. In the last dissertation study, we assessed postural control when carrying unilateral versus bilateral loads during walking on even and uneven surfaces. Carrying 20% BW bilateral or unilateral loads resulted in a significantly higher double stance ratio than unloaded walking. Carrying a 20% BW unilateral load or walking on an uneven surface resulted in a significantly increased coefficient of variation (CV) of double stance ratio. Unloaded limb stance had a significantly higher double stance ratio and mean medial-lateral (ML) center of pressure (COP) velocity, although the loaded limb had a significantly higher CV of ML COP velocity. We suggest that load carriage and unloaded limb stance require more conservative postural control, while asymmetric loads and uneven surfaces require more step-by-step postural adjustments.
Transfer of SABRE-derived hyperpolarization to spin-1/2 heteronuclei

In this paper, we describe a method of hyper-polarizing “insensitive” Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) nuclei by exploiting the SABRE (Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange) technique and transferring spin order from protons originating from parahydrogen. We demonstrate that hyperpolarization transfer is due to a coherent mechanism, which is operative at (i) very low magnetic field; (ii) geomagnetic field; (iii) high field in the presence of a suitable radiofrequency-excitation scheme. Experiments are performed using 15N-labelled pyridine as the SABRE substrate; NMR enhancements achieved for 15N nuclei are more than 1000 for free pyridine in solution and more than 20 000 for pyridine bound to the SABRE complex. High-field SABRE experiments are particularly important for enhancing the sensitivity of NMR methods: they enable strong signal enhancements and avoid technically demanding field-cycling. Furthermore, such experiments use very low power for NMR excitation and make feasible continuous re-hyperpolarization of the substrate in high-field experiments: polarization can be quickly restored to the maximal level within only 15 seconds with the result that polarization levels stay constant over several hundred experiments. The techniques outlined are applicable to hyper-polarizing spin-1/2 hetero-nuclei, such as 13C, 19F, 31P, etc. Development of such methods opens new avenues in NMR spectroscopy and imaging, which were out of reach for sensitivity reasons.
Adaptive Granular Neural Networks for Remote Sensing Image Classification

Monitoring and measuring the conditions of the earth surface play important role in the domain of global change research. In this direction, various methodologies exist for land cover classification of remote sensing images. Neural network (NN) is one such system that has the ability to classify land cover of remote sensing images, but most often its accuracy deteriorates with the level of uncertainty. Granular NN (GNN), that incorporates information granulation operation to NN, is one of the solutions to address this issue. However, complexity of the remote sensing dataset demands for a GNN with changeable granular structure (shape and size of granules) based on the requirement. In this study, our objective is to develop a GNN with adaptive granular structure for the classification of remote sensing images. An architecture of this adaptive GNN (AGNN) evolves according to the information present in the incoming labeled pixels. As a result, the AGNN improves the classification performance compared to other similar models. Performance of the model has been tested with hyperspectral and multispectral remote sensing images. Superiority of the proposed model to other similar methods has been verified with performance measurement metrics, such as overall accuracy, users accuracy, producers accuracy, dispersion score, and kappa coefficient.
Isolated Knee Arthritis as Early and Only Symptom of Whipple's Disease

We report a case of isolated Whipple's disease involving the knee of a 64-year-old female patient who presented recurrent monoarthritis whose origin was not clear. Initially, the cause of the gradually invalidating symptoms was related to a meniscal lesion and a diffuse minor grade chondropathy, but pain and functional impairment suggested that more exams were needed. Biopsies were performed during arthroscopy. The histology showed highly inflammatory infiltrates with PAS staining negative for Tropheryma while PCR revealed the infection with Tropheryma whipplei. This, following the recommendation of a rheumatologist and infectious disease specialist, led to biopsies of the gastrointestinal tract and analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid that showed no other organ involvement. This confirms the scientific literature that an isolated monoarthritis without involvement of the gastrointestinal tract caused by this bacterium is rare but can occur as an early manifestation of potentially fatal systemic disease. Moreover, a review of the scientific literature showed the uncertainty about epidemiology of this rare disease, suggesting that more and specific data are required.
Attribution of hydrologic forecast uncertainty within scalable forecast windows

Hindcasts based on the extended streamflow pre- diction (ESP) approach are carried out in a typical rainfall- dominated basin in China, aiming to examine the roles of initial conditions (IC), future atmospheric forcing (FC) and hydrologic model uncertainty (MU) in streamflow forecast skill. The combined effects of IC and FC are explored within the framework of a forecast window. By implementing vir- tual numerical simulations without the consideration of MU, it is found that the dominance of IC can last up to 90 days in the dry season, while its impact gives way to FC for lead times exceeding 30 days in the wet season. The combined effects of IC and FC on the forecast skill are further investi- gated by proposing a dimensionless parameter ( ) that rep- resents the ratio of the total amount of initial water storage and the incoming rainfall. The forecast skill increases expo- nentially with , and varies greatly in different forecast win- dows. Moreover, the influence of MU on forecast skill is ex- amined by focusing on the uncertainty of model parameters. Two different hydrologic model calibration strategies are car- ried out. The results indicate that the uncertainty of model pa- rameters exhibits a more significant influence on the forecast skill in the dry season than in the wet season. The ESP ap- proach is more skillful in monthly streamflow forecast during the transition period from wet to dry than otherwise. For the transition period from dry to wet, the low skill of the fore- casts could be attributed to the combined effects of IC and FC, but less to the biases in the hydrologic model parame- ters. For the forecasts in the dry season, the skill of the ESP approach is heavily dependent on the strategy of the model calibration.
Primary Side Constant Power Control Scheme for LED Drivers Compatible with TRIAC Dimmers

This paper proposes a primary side constant power control scheme for TRIAC dimmer compatible LED drivers. The LED driver is a Flyback converter operated in boundary conduction mode (BCM) to minimize the switching loss. With the proposed control scheme, the input power of the Flyback converter can be controlled by the TRIAC dimming angle, which is not affected by AC input voltage variations. Since the output voltage is almost constant for LED loads, the output current can be changed by controlling the input power with a given conversion efficiency. The isolated feedback circuit is eliminated with the proposed primary side control scheme, which dramatically simplifies the whole circuit. In addition, the input current automatically follows the input voltage due to the BCM operation, and the resistive input characteristic can be achieved which is attractive for TRIAC dimming applications. Experimental results from a 15W prototype verify the theoretical analysis.
Electronic transport in disordered graphene antidot lattice devices

Nanostructuring of graphene is in part motivated by the requirement to open a gap in the electronic band structure. In particular, a periodically perforated graphene sheet in the form of an antidot lattice may have such a gap. Such systems have been investigated with a view towards application in transistor or waveguiding devices. The desired properties have been predicted for atomically precise systems, but fabrication methods will introduce significant levels of disorder in the shape, position and edge configurations of individual antidots. We calculate the electronic transport properties of a wide range of finite graphene antidot devices to determine the effect of such disorders on their performance. Modest geometric disorder is seen to have a detrimental effect on devices containing small, tightly packed antidots, which have optimal performance in pristine lattices. Larger antidots display a range of effects which strongly depend on their edge geometry. Antidot systems with armchair edges are seen to have a far more robust transport gap than those composed from zigzag or mixed edge antidots. The role of disorder in waveguide geometries is slightly different and can enhance performance by extending the energy range over which waveguiding behavior is observed.
Mediation of Psychological Capital Between Organizational Climate and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Employees’ psychological capital has important impacts on his/her job related as well as non-job related behaviors like organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Organizational climate is one of the antecedents of psychological capital. The paper specifically attempts to investigate the mediation of psychological capital in organizational climate-OCB relationship through a survey of 108 employees of a multinational consulting organization. The results show that psychological capital is significantly related with both organizational climate and OCB towards a) organization and b) colleagues. However, no relationship is found between organizational climate and OCB in either form. Mediation analysis indicates that the impact of organizational climate on OCB is not direct; it is mediated by psychological capital such that OCB occurs only if supportive organizational climate is converted into employee psychological capital.
A Study on Persitent Asthma , Acute Exacerbations And Its Triggering Factors .

Asthma is defined by airway inflammation, completely or partly reversible airway obstruction and bronchial hyper-responsiveness which collectively induce cough, dyspnoea and wheeze in the affected patient. Persistent asthma was considered to be that requiring scheduled daily maintenance treatment with an antiinflammatory drug (corticosteroid), in addition to a bronchodilator to relieve symptoms. Acute exacerbation is defined as an episode that required emergency visit for symptoms despite on maintenance therapy.The objective of this study was to evaluate the moderate persistent asthma, acute exacerbations and triggering factors causing it. This study concludes that attention should be paid to modifiable risk factors, such as adherence to maintenance phase treatment and avoiding exposure to known triggering factors needs to be focussed so that control of this condition can be improved in the long term.
Travel risks vs tourist decision making: a tourist perspective.

This paper sheds light on tourist's emotional experiences on holiday, which are central to increase our understanding of tourist behaviour. Tourists usually travel to cities with good impression. Choosing a travel destination is definitely a complicated decision-making process for tourists. For safety concerns, some tourists intentionally visit somewhere familiar and nearby, but avoid nations or areas with high crime rates or political instability. A wide range of perceptions governs the desirability and appeal of a destination to the potential traveler. The importance of investigating perceptions of travel risks has been recognized with in a number of different disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, criminology and marketing. It is often assumed that perceptions of safety and security may influence individuals' destination choice. Consumers use information gathered from various sources like word of mouth, different forms of media, guidebooks, talking to friends and relatives, to form a perception of a particular destination. This is a quantitative study conducted in Malaysia. The respondents who participated in this research were the nationals of Malaysia, India, China, Indonesia, Australia, and France, etc. The study found that most holidaymakers perceive earthquake, tsunami, SARS, terrorist activities, swine flu as risk. The results of the study suggest that safety, peace and stability are major concerns for tourists' while choosing their travel destination.
Climate changes of hydrometeorological and hydrological extremes in the Paute basin, Ecuadorean Andes

Investigation was made on the climate change signal for hydrometeorological and hydrological variables along the Paute River basin, in the southern Ecuador Andes. An adjusted quantile perturbation approach was used for climate downscaling, and the impact of climate change on runoff was studied for two nested catchments within the basin. The analysis was done making use of long daily series of seven representative rainfall and temperature sites along the study area and considering climate change signals of global and regional climate models for IPCC SRES scenarios A1B, A2 and B1. The determination of runoff was carried out using a lumped conceptual rainfall–runoff model. The study found that the range of changes in temperature is homogeneous for almost the entire region with an average annual increase of approximately +2.0 &degC. However, the warmest periods of the year show lower changes than the colder periods. For rainfall, downscaled results project increases in the mean annual rainfall depth and the extreme daily rainfall intensities along the basin for all sites and all scenarios. Higher changes in extreme rainfall intensities are for the wetter region. These lead to changes in catchment runoff flows, with increasing high peak flows and decreasing low peak flows. The changes in high peak flows are related to the changes in rainfall extremes, whereas the decreases in the low peak flows are due to the increase in temperature and potential evapotranspiration together with the reduction in the number of wet days.
Kinematic alignment of non-interacting CALIFA galaxies. Quantifying the impact of bars on stellar and ionised gas velocity field orientations

We present 80 stellar and ionised gas velocity maps from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey in order to characterise the kinematic orientation of non interacting galaxies. The study of galaxies in isolation is a key step towards understanding how fast external processes, such as major mergers. affect kinematic properties in galaxies. We derived the global and individual (projected approaching and receding sides) kinematic position angles (PAs) for both the stellar and ionised gas line-of-sight velocity distributions. When compared to the photometric PA, we find that morpho-kinematic differences are smaller than 22 degrees in 90% of the sample for both stellar and nebular components and that internal kinematic misalignments are generally smaller than 16 degrees. We find a tight relation between the global stellar and ionised gas kinematic PA consistent with circular-flow pattern motions in both components (~90% of the sample has differences smaller than 16 degrees). This relation also holds, generally in barred galaxies across the bar and galaxy disc scales. Our findings suggest that even in the presence of strong bars, both the stellar and the gaseous components tend to follow the gravitational potential of the disc. As a result, kinematic orientation can be used to assess the degree of external distortions in interacting galaxies.
Hepatoprotective activity of Eurycoma longifolia Jack. roots

The hepatoprotective activity of Eurycoma longifolia Jack. roots methanol-water fraction on therapeutic dose was evaluated in carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced rats. Hepatic cells were still normal after three months administration of methanol-water fraction at therapeutic dose. The administration of methanol-water fraction on therapeutic dose prior to CCl4-induced or CCl4-induced prior to methanol-water fraction resulted in suppression of ALT and AST. Histopathological and ultrastructure studies confirmed that methanol-water fraction protected hepatic cells. It is concluded that the methanolwater fraction of pasak bumi roots has a hepatoprotective activity.
Guidelines for Gait Assessments in the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA)

Background Motor and cognitive impairments are common among older adults and often co-exist, increasing their risk of dementia, falls, and fractures. Gait performance is an accepted indicator of global health and it has been proposed as a valid motor marker to detect older adults at risk of developing mobility and cognitive declines including future falls and incident dementia. Our goal was to provide a gait assessment protocol to be used for clinical and research purposes. Methods Based on a consensus that identified common evaluations to assess motor–cognitive interactions in community-dwelling older individuals, a protocol on how to evaluate gait in older adults for the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) was developed. Results The CCNA gait assessment includes preferred and fast pace gait, and dual-task gait that comprises walking while performing three cognitively demanding tasks: counting backwards by ones, counting backwards by sevens, and naming animals. This gait protocol can be implemented using an electronic-walkway, as well as by using a regular stopwatch. The latter approach provides a simple manner to evaluate quantitative gait performance in clinics. Conclusions Establishing a standardized gait assessment protocol will help to assess motor–cognitive interactions in aging and neurodegeneration, to compare results across studies, and to feasibly implement and translate gait testing in clinics for detecting impending cognitive and mobility decline.
Are Foreign Firms More Technologically Intensive? UK Establishment Evidence from the Ard

This paper employs establishment level data from the annual respondents database to consider technological differences between establishments operating in the UK. We adopt very precise measures of technology, arguably much more detailed than have hitherto been employed to address the key question of whether use of technology differs by nationality. After numerous controls we find that typically North American establishments have a higher probability of being more technologically intensive than their UK counterparts. This result also stands up in panel analysis.