Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Curriculum design in vocational education

The future of competency-based training may well contain surprises and the results of strategic planning can only be faintly seen through future misty proposals. Knowledge of the learning approaches by students, the benefits of communities of practice in the classroom and the quality of competency-based curriculum in Vocational Education and Training is the epistemological key to applied learning. This has to be combined with an ontological focus to ensure that curriculum encourages teaching, knowing and learning and becomes part of who we are rather than just something a teacher must follow. Curriculum designers are urged to limit the content so students can be led to investigate, explore and draw inferences from their own research. However, it also seems important that curricula retain links with the real world while at the same time retaining flexibility that allows ideas to be expanded and explored in a scholarly way. The curriculum design also needs to accommodate varied learning styles while stimulating the learner to evoke interest in the content. This paper examines curriculum as an essential and important element in the educational environment and analyses why the supporting assessments act as a driving force in capturing the objectives of the educator. If well designed and developed, then vocational curriculum will provide the basis for good learning and teaching. Introduction This paper focuses on a particular unit of curricula and how it is perceived by teachers and students. It is part of a major study that examined the experiences and perceptions of students and their teachers of the TAFE subject Internal Control Principles (see Appendix 1). Knowledge of the learning approaches by students, the benefits of communities of practice in the classroom and the quality of the competency-based curriculum in tertiary education is the epistemological key to vocational learning. This is combined with an ontological focus to ensure that curriculum encourages teaching, knowing and learning and is 'not simply something we possess but who we are' (Dall'Alba 2005, p363). With so many different aspects of curriculum that affect teaching and learning, there is an increasing need for amendments to curricula as designers frantically try to keep pace with innovative digital advances that often become crammed into an already overloaded unit syllabus. However, it is important that curricula retain links with the real world while at the same time retaining flexibility that allows ideas to be expanded and explored in a scholarly way. Over the …
Is Transportation Infrastructure Important to the One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative? Empirical Evidence from the Selected Asian Countries

The One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative is implemented to improve the linkage between China and its neighboring countries in terms of economic ties, connectivity, partnership, and security cooperation. The crucial challenge encountered in OBOR initiative is the different gauge standards from different countries in the development of railway along the Silk Road. Another issue arose from the regulation of education sector in the aspect of quality, cost, and efficiency. To the best of our knowledge, there is still lack of study on the transportation infrastructure and education towards the GDP in the selected Asian countries, especially for Central Asia. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of OBOR initiative and its importance towards economic growth by further investigating the determinants such as transportation infrastructure, education, labor, trade, and inflation rate. This study employs panel data analysis using the annual data from the period of 2000–2015. The selected Asian countries are divided into three regions, namely Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan), ASEAN (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia), and East Asia (China, Mongolia). Besides, we use fixed effect model (FEM) to obtain the results based on the support of Hausman test and Poolability F-test. The findings reveal that transportation infrastructure possess a positive effect on GDP. Surprisingly, education is negatively related to GDP. With this, policy makers are suggested to encourage OBOR countries to expand and upgrade their system in terms of transportation infrastructure, human capital, culture, and education. In future studies, the advanced model is recommended to investigate the pre- and post-efficiency of OBOR initiative.
Labour arbitrage on European labour markets: Free movement and the role of intermediaries

This chapter focusses on the proliferation of human resource management practices: What makes HRM decide to adopt certain practices? The recruitment processes are analysed against the background of the EU regulatory framework with regard to the use of migrant labour. Specif ic for the EU context are three forms of regulation, related to the free movement of workers, the freedom to provide services, and the freedom of establishment. Furthermore, we take into account the economic context (of relative or absolute labour shortages on local/sectoral labour markets). In this contribution, we recognise that intermediaries have (partially) built their business models on labour arbitrage (a notion that will be explored in the next sections), among other things through strategically choosing the countries where they register their businesses. The main features in this process of eff iciency seeking, are temporary employment agencies with an international focus, and consultancy f irms that advise businesses on tax or regulatory arbitrage.
Effects of resistance, endurance, and concurrent exercise on training outcomes in men.

UNLABELLED The specificity of training principle predicts that combining resistance and endurance training (concurrent training) could interfere with the maximum development of strength and endurance capacity that results from either type of training alone. PURPOSE To determine whether endurance and resistance training performed concurrently produces different performance and physiologic responses compared with each type of training alone. METHODS Untrained male volunteers were randomly assigned to one of three groups: endurance training (ET, N = 12); resistance training (RT, N = 13); and concurrent training (CT, N = 16). The following measurements were made on all subjects before and after 12 wk of training: weight, percent body fat, peak oxygen consumption (VO(2peak)), isokinetic peak torque and average power produced during single-leg flexion and extension at 60 and 180 degrees.s, one-repetition maximum (1RM) leg press, 1RM bench press, vertical jump height, and calculated jump power. RESULTS Weight and lean body mass (LBM) increased significantly in the RT and CT groups (P < 0.05). Percent body fat was significantly decreased in the ET and CT groups. VO(2peak) was significantly improved only in the ET group. Peak torque during flexion and extension at 180 degrees.s(-1) increased in the RT group. Improvements in 1RM leg press and bench press were significant in all groups, but were significantly greater in the RT and CT compared to the ET group. Jump power improved significantly only in the RT group, and no group showed a significant change in vertical jump height. CONCLUSIONS Concurrent training performed by young, healthy men does not interfere with strength development, but may hinder development of maximal aerobic capacity.
Psychosocial profiles of Irish children with conduct disorders, mixed disorders of conduct and emotion and emotional disorders

This paper reports on a retrospective archival study. Forty-one conduct disorder cases, 20 cases with mixed disorders of conduct and emotions and 23 emotional disorder cases were compared on demographic, behavioural and contextual variables. The pattern of treatment received by each group and their therapeutic outcomes were also compared. The three groups had similar demographic characteristics but distinctive psychosocial profiles. Conduct disordered cases showed a predominance of covert behaviour problems and came from anomalous family situations with inadequate parental control. They received family therapy and were more likely to drop out of treatment. Mixed disorder cases showed more behaviour problems overall and more overt behaviour problems. They came from families where there was inadequate parental control and anomalous family situations. They received more child focused individual therapy and parent focused therapy than other cases. Emotional disorder cases showed fewer behavioural problems ove.
Phylogenetic classification of human papillomavirus genotypes in high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in women from a densely populated Brazilian urban region

ABSTRACT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Differences in human papillomavirus (HPV) types may correlate with the biological potential and invasion risk of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN 2 and CIN 3). The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between different combinations of HPV types and CIN severity. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study, at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp). METHODS: Cervical samples from 106 women treated due to CIN 2 (18) or CIN 3 (88) were examined for specific HPV genotypes using Roche Linear Array® (LA-HPV). The proportions of CIN 2 and CIN 3 in groups of women infected with the HPV phylogenetic groups A7 and A9 were compared. Three groups were formed: women with single infections; multiple infections; and the whole sample. RESULTS: Multiple infections were detected in 68 samples (64.7%). The most frequent high-risk genotypes detected (single/multiple) were HPV 16 (57.1%), HPV 58 (24.7%), HPV 33 (15.2%), HPV 52 (13.3%), HPV 31 (10.4%), HPV 51 (7.6%) and HPV 18 (6.6%). Women without infection with HPV species Alpha 9 were less likely to have CIN 3 than were their Alpha 9 HPV-infected counterparts. HPV 16 and/or HPV 18, with or without associations with other viral types, were more frequently found in women with CIN 3 than in those with CIN 2. CONCLUSIONS: The severity of high-grade CIN may be aggravated by the presence of HPV types included in the Alpha 9 phylogenetic classification and by infections including HPV 16 and 18, singly or in combination with other HPV genotypes.
Lymphopenia as a prognostic factor in patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma, unspecified

Peripheral T-cell lymphoma, unspecified (PTCLU) is the most common T-cell lymphoma variant. The molecular heterogeneity of PTCLU is reflected by a diverse clinical course. Several prognostic factors have been studied, but further refinement is needed. The aim of our study was to retrospectively evaluate the presence of lymphopenia, defined as a lymphocyte count of <1000 cells/mm3, as a prognostic factor for survival in patients with PTCLU. Sixty-nine cases with a pathological diagnosis of PTCLU were included in our analysis. Lymphopenia was seen in 38% of the patients and was statistically associated with a worse response to chemotherapy. In univariate analysis, lymphopenia, IPI score >2, and Prognostic Index for PTCLU (PIT) score >2 were associated with a worse overall survival. In multivariate analysis, lymphopenia and a PIT score >2 were the only independent poor prognostic factors, implying an important role of the patient's immune system in both response to therapy and survival.
An all-unit quantity discount model under a Cournot competition with incomplete information

Abstract The economic order quantity model is a fundamental model in inventory control that introduces retailer’s optimal strategy under some conditions such as the unit cost of purchased product is constant and also the retailer and the supplier work in a monopolistic market and the effects of the behaviors of their competitors on their demand are ignored but in the real world, these conditions are hard to encounter. This research studies an all-unit quantity discount model in an oligopolistic retailing market and finds the best lot size of each retailer for the both cases in which the inventory cost structure of retailers are common knowledge and are not. The obtained results show that rejecting discount by two retailers is Nash equilibrium in the former case. Finally, applicability of the proposed models is shown by solving a real numerical example.
Variation and adaptation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa toxicity to HeLa cells and fibroblasts

The toxic components of supernatants from Pseudomonas aeruginosa cultures directed against HeLa cells and Staphylococcus aureus were evaluated with the aim of discovering interactions. Supernatants of eight different strains of P. aeruginosa were assayed for cytotoxic activity. All were active against HeLa cells; seven were toxic for S. aureus. On repeated suspension of P. aeruginosa in 0.9% sodium chloride solution, a shift from HeLa cell toxicity to staphylococcal lytic activity occurred along with a change of toxic activity from a high (50,000 +/- 5,000) to a low (8,000 +/- 400) molecular weight (MW) range on gel filtration. Addition of protein to the minimal medium of cultures producing material toxic only for S. aureus reactivated the generation of HeLa cell-toxic material. Cultivation of P. aeruginosa in the presence of HeLa cells and a chloramphenicol supplement produced suppression of the generation of material toxic for S. aureus but facilitated that of HeLa-toxic material of high MW. Adaptation of toxicity against fibroblasts developed only on cocultivation of P. aeruginosa together with S. aureus and in the presence of fibroblasts. Under these conditions a strong lytic activity for S. aureus appeared, even in the presence of chloramphenicol. Chloramphenicol caused the material toxic for fibroblasts to elute at a low MW well separated from that toxic for HeLa cells. In contrast to the high-MW toxic substances, the low-MW material did not induce antibodies after injection into rabbits. This may explain failures of vaccination against P. aeruginosa infection and of serum therapy of homologous sepsis in humans.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Acute and Chronic Treatment

Abstract Clinical and epidemiological data suggest that generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a chronic illness causing patients to suffer for many years leading to significant distress in daily life functioning. The literature suggests the several conclusions. GAD is a disorder in need of appropriate treatment and often has a chronic course with comorbid conditions, such as major depression and other anxiety disorders. Benzodiazepines, while effective anxiolytic agents acutely, when prescribed for >4 weeks cause rebound anxiety and following prolonged therapy may lead to withdrawal symptoms. Antidepressants cause significant anxiety relief compared with placebo and for psychosocial treatment cognitive-behavioral therapy is an efficacious psychosocial treatment. Many GAD patients are in need of long-term medication management. Furthermore, there is limited data for patients diagnosed with GAD the treatment outcome with the combination of medication and psychotherapy both acutely and long-term; how to best sequence these treatments; for those patients who do not meet remission criteria what is the ideal approach for augmentation; and for patients with treatment-refractory GAD the empirical evidence is lacking on medication switching and augmentation strategies. Research is needed in the area of developing treatment strategies for patients suffering from treatment-refractory GAD. There is still an urgent need to explore treatment combinations and duration strategies in the management of patients suffering with GAD.
Are Acquired Hepatocerebral Degeneration and Hepatic Myelopathy Reversible?

Background Acquired hepatocerebral degeneration (AHD) and hepatic myelopathy (HM) are rare complications of chronic liver disease and are usually resistant to medical therapy. Materials and Methods The clinical and laboratory findings of 14 male and 2 female patients with AHD or HM were evaluated. Results The prevalence of AHD and HM was 2% inpatient case series in the last 10 years. The median age of the patients (5 Child's B and 11 Child's C) was 48.7 years (28 to 66 y), and the mean known duration of the liver disease was 75 months (24 to 194 mo). The median time of onset of neurologic findings after diagnosis of the liver disease was 14.5 months. Eight patients who had marked spastic paraparesis or tetraparesis were included in the HM group and all others had AHD group. Sixty-nine percent of the patients had a spontaneous or surgical portosystemic shunts, and the remaining dense retroperitoneal collaterals. During the follow-up period of median 29 months (4 to 72 mo), 12 patients died while waiting for liver transplantation, and these patients suffered from the several complications of chronic liver disease more than the living patients. A marked improvement was observed in 2 of the patients (1 with AHD and the other with HM) at 6 and 8 months after the liver transplantation, respectively. Conclusions Our data suggest that liver transplantation had an important effect on the improvement in these patients.
Adversarial Generative Nets: Neural Network Attacks on State-of-the-Art Face Recognition

In this paper we show that misclassification attacks against face-recognition systems based on deep neural networks (DNNs) are more dangerous than previously demonstrated, even in contexts where the adversary can manipulate only her physical appearance (versus directly manipulating the image input to the DNN). Specifically, we show how to create eyeglasses that, when worn, can succeed in targeted (impersonation) or untargeted (dodging) attacks while improving on previous work in one or more of three facets: (i) inconspicuousness to onlooking observers, which we test through a user study; (ii) robustness of the attack against proposed defenses; and (iii) scalability in the sense of decoupling eyeglass creation from the subject who will wear them, i.e., by creating "universal" sets of eyeglasses that facilitate misclassification. Central to these improvements are adversarial generative nets, a method we propose to generate physically realizable attack artifacts (here, eyeglasses) automatically.
Acidic Fibroblast Growth Factor Signaling Inhibits Peroxynitrite‐Induced Death of Osteoblasts and Osteoblast Precursors

After trauma injury to the musculoskeletal system, conditions such as ischemia and inflammation involve excess production of superoxide (), nitric oxide (·NO), and their reaction product, peroxynitrite (ONOO−). Exposure of murine osteoblasts and rat‐derived primary osteoblast precursors to ONOO− resulted in a dose‐ and time‐dependent delayed cell death that was more characteristic of apoptosis than necrosis. Exposure of both cell populations to ONOO− immediately enhanced phosphorylation and nitration of tyrosine residues within several polypeptides. Treatment of osteoblasts and osteoblast precursors with exogenous acidic fibroblast growth factor (FGF‐1) enhanced cellular growth, increased endogenous levels of tyrosine phosphorylation, and significantly induced expression of both osteopontin and osteocalcin messenger RNA (mRNA) as well as osteopontin protein. Pretreatment of both cell populations with exogenous FGF‐1 prevented ONOO−‐mediated death. Cell signaling induced by FGF‐1 pretreatment had no major effect of total levels of tyrosine nitration after ONOO− treatment. Collectively, these in vitro efforts show that FGF‐1 signaling renders osteoblasts and osteoblast precursors resistant to the cytotoxic effects of ONOO−. Consequently, results presented here predict the therapeutic use of this growth factor for promoting the progression of bone repair mechanisms after fracture trauma.
Formation of HNK-1 Determinants and the Glycosaminoglycan Tetrasaccharide Linkage Region by UDP-GlcUA:Galactose β1,3-Glucuronosyltransferases*

While expression-cloning enzymes involved in heparan sulfate biosynthesis, we isolated a cDNA that encodes a protein 65% identical to the UDP-GlcUA:glycoprotein β1,3-glucuronosyltransferase (GlcUAT-P) involved in forming HNK-1 carbohydrate epitopes (3OSO3GlcUAβ1,3Gal-) on glycoproteins. The cDNA contains an open reading frame coding for a protein of 335 amino acids with a predicted type II transmembrane protein orientation. Cotransfection of the cDNA with HNK-1 3-O-sulfotransferase produced HNK-1 carbohydrate epitopes in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and COS-7 cells. In vitro, a soluble recombinant form of the enzyme transferred GlcUA in β-linkage to Galβ1,3/4GlcNAcβ-O-naphthalenemethanol, which resembles the core oligosaccharide on which the HNK-1 epitope is assembled. However, the enzyme greatly preferred Galβ1,3Galβ-O-naphthalenemethanol, a disaccharide component found in the linkage region tetrasaccharide in chondroitin sulfate and heparan sulfate. During the course of this study, a human cDNA clone was described that was thought to encode UDP-GlcUA:Galβ1,3Gal-R glucuronosyltransferase (GlcUAT-I), involved in the formation of the linkage region of glycosaminoglycans (Kitagawa, H., Tone, Y., Tamura, J., Neumann, K. W., Ogawa, T., Oka, S., Kawasaki, T., and Sugahara, K. (1998) J. Biol. Chem.273, 6615–6618). The deduced amino acid sequences of the CHO and human cDNAs are 95% identical, suggesting that they are in fact homologues of the same gene. Transfection of a CHO cell mutant defective in GlcUAT-I with the hamster cDNA restored glycosaminoglycan assembly in vivo, confirming its identity. Interestingly, transfection of the mutant with GlcUAT-P also restored glycosaminoglycan synthesis. Thus, both GlcUAT-P and GlcUAT-I have overlapping substrate specificities. However, the expression of the two genes was entirely different, with GlcUAT-I expressed in all tissues tested and GlcUAT-P expressed only in brain. These findings suggest that, in neural tissues, GlcUAT-P may participate in both HNK-1 and glycosaminoglycan production.
GENDER, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN THE BUILSA NORTH DISTRICT OF GHANA, GHANA

As a basic level of formal decision-making, the local government system of Ghana, referred to as the Assembly within the context of decentralization, has become the basis for development planning and, resource mobilization. While setting and driving the national agenda remains an issue, the Assemblies are key to the implementation and initiation of development interventions at their level. Since starting in 1988, significant progress has been made in empowering actors to take up and play key roles towards the development of their jurisdictions. As social systems, the Assemblies have not been insulated from the gender inequalities confronting the Ghanaian state. This paper sought to understand the ways and extent of gendering in local governance. It is based on an empirical study conducted in the Builsa North District of Ghana. A cross-sectional survey involving the use of questionnaire, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and desk review served as the tools for data collection. Data analysis was both qualitative and quantitative. The study revealed that women were under-represented at both the general assembly (one out of 45) and unit committee (seven out of 119) levels. There were no women in the Area and Town Councils. This situation was attributed to women’s inability to contest and win elections and the role of traditional and cultural factors resulting in the conclusion that under such constrictions, women compared to men, were limited in their political participation and that when such obstacles are removed women’s fortunes could improve. Keywords: Political Participation, Democracy, Local Governance, Gender Equality, Decentralization