Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-efficacy in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language in Australian Schools

Participating in a research-oriented teacher education program, 20 university graduates from China were invited to teach Chinese as a foreign language in western Sydney schools and conducted teacher research for one and half years. By analysing their research on their own teaching through a qualitative approach, this study attempted to identify the factors that influenced their self-efficacy in teaching Chinese as a foreign language in an English-speaking school system. Influential factors identified in this research include teacher factors (proficiency in the medium of instruction, professional learning, teaching experience, and understanding of student), student factors (student responses, classroom discipline, students’ motivation, student-teacher relations, and students’ age) and contextual factors (culture, influence from other teachers, class size, and resources). Findings of this research have implications for foreign language teacher education.
Human diarrheal disease caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.

HUMANS 336 CHARACTERIZATION OF E. COLI ENTEROTOXINS . 338 Heat-Stable and Heat-Labile Enterotoxins . 338 Cultural Conditions for Production of Enterotoxin . 338 Animal and Cell Models for Detection of E. coli Enterotoxins . 339 Physiological Effects 0/ E. coli Enterotoxins . 342 Cellular and Biochemical Effects of E. coli Enterotoxins. 342 Purification of E. coli Enterotoxins . 344 Genetic Control of Enterotoxin Production in E. coli. 344 Relationship of E. coli Serotypes to Enterotoxin Production . 345 Importance 0/ K Antigens to Pathogenicity of Animal Enterotoxigenic E. coli. 346 Immunological Studies 0/ E. coli Enterotoxins . 347 Epidemiologic Studies 0/ Enterotoxigenic E. coli . 348 Enterotoxin Assays in Parenteral Isolates of E. coli . 349 Pathogenesis and Clinical Spectrum of Disease Produced by Enterotoxigenic E. coli. 350 Laboratory Diagnostic Methods . 350 Possibilities for Immunological Control of Disease Due to Enterotoxigenic E. coli . 350 Areas for Research. 351
Hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal and ‐thyroid axis dysfunctions and decrements in the availability of L‐tryptophan as biological markers of suicidal ideation in major depressed females

Several neurochemical correlates of suicide were recently detected. Some authors found increased disorders in the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) and ‐thyroid (HPT) axes and disturbances in serotonergic neurotransmission in suicidal patients. In order to investigate the biological correlates of suicidal ideation, we measured the following: basal thyrotropin‐secreting hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), pre‐ and postdexamethasone cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels, the circulating concentrations of total L‐tryptophan (L‐TRP) and the ratio between L‐TRP and competing amino acids (CAA). The subjects were 17 suicidal and 17 nonsuicidal major depressed females matched for age and severity of illness. We found no significant differences in any of the above‐mentioned biological data between patients with suicidal ideation and those without.
Regional cerebral blood flow. Response to carbon dioxide inhalation in cerebrovascular disease.

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) measurements were performed in three groups of patients before and during 5% carbon dioxide inhalation. In the first group with normal cerebral angiograms, the rCBF increased 60%. Patients with diffuse cerebrovascular disease had baseline flow of 34 ml/100 gm/min with an increase to 44 ml/100 gm/min during hypercapnia. In 20 patients with angiographic evidence of focal vascular disease, blood flow was measured both as the hemispheric mean cerebral blood flow (CBF) and as rCBF in normal or nonfocal regions and in abnormal or focal regions. In nonfocal regions, mean rCBF increased from 37 to 50 ml/100 gm/min; in focal regions, rCBF increased from 28 to 36 ml/100 gm/min. Fifty-seven percent of the focal regions and 71% of the nonfocal regions increased significantly during hypercapnia.
Involvement of selectin‐like carbohydrate binding specificity in human gamete interaction

Summary The recognition of carbohydrate epitopes by complimentary protein receptors has been shown to be a critical factor in gamete interaction in many different animal species. In this study it was hypothesized that, in the human, gamete binding requires an interaction between selectin ligands on the zona pellucida and putative egg binding proteins on the sperm surface. The hemizona assay (a unique internally controlled bioassay that evaluates tight binding of sperm to the zona) and advanced methods of carbohydrate analysis were used to test this hypothesis. From these tests it was shown that oligosaccharide recognition is also required for initial human gamete binding. This study suggests the existence of distinct egg binding proteins on human sperm that can bind to selectin ligands. Additionally, the results suggest a possible convergence in the types of carbohydrate sequences recognized during initial human gamete binding and immune/inflammatory cell interactions. Glycoconjugates that manifest selectin‐ligand activity and that express specific carbohydrate epitopes have potent contraceptive and immunosuppressive effects. Such specific oligosaccharide sequences may provide an appropriate recognition signal for embryo development and protection.
A comparative analysis of models for predicting delays in air traffic networks

In this paper, we compare the performance of different approaches to predicting delays in air traffic networks. We consider three classes of models: A recently-developed aggregate model of the delay network dynamics, which we will refer to as the Markov Jump Linear System (MJLS), classical machine learning techniques like Classification and Regression Trees (CART), and three candidate Artificial Neural Network (ANN) architectures. We show that prediction performance can vary significantly depending on the choice of model/algorithm, and the type of prediction (for example, classification vs. regression). We also discuss the importance of selecting the right predictor variables, or features, in order to improve the performance of these algorithms. The models are evaluated using operational data from the National Airspace System (NAS) of the United States. The ANN is shown to be a good algorithm for the classification problem, where it attains an average accuracy of nearly 94% in predicting whether or not delays on the 100 most-delayed links will exceed 60 min, looking two hours into the future. The MJLS model, however, is better at predicting the actual delay levels on different links, and has a mean prediction error of 4.7 min for the regression problem, for a 2 hr horizon. MJLS is also better at predicting outbound delays at the 30 major airports, with a mean error of 6.8 min, for a 2 hr prediction horizon. The effect of temporal factors, and the spatial distribution of current delays, in predicting future delays are also compared. The MJLS model, which is specifically designed to capture aggregate air traffic dynamics, leverages on these factors and outperforms the ANN in predicting the future spatial distribution of delays. In this manner, a tradeoff between model simplicity and prediction accuracy is revealed. Keywordsdelay prediction; network delays; machine learning; artificial neural networks; data mining
Assessment of specificity of eight chemical inhibitors using cDNA-expressed cytochromes P450

1. The selectivity of eight chemical inhibitors has been extensively evaluated with 10 cDNA-expressed human cytochrome P450 isoforms (CYP). The results indicate that sulphaphenazole, quinidine and α-naphthoflavone are selective inhibitors of CYP2C9 (IC50 = 5 0.5-0.7 μM), CYP2D6 (0.3-0.4 μM) and CYP1A (0.05-5 μM) respectively on the basis of the IC50, which are much lower than those of other P450 isoforms (> 10-fold). 2. Ketoconazole exhibited potent inhibition of both CYP3A4-catalysed metabolism of phenanthrene, testosterone, diazepam (IC50 = 0.03-0.5 μM) and CYP1A1-catalysed deethylation of 7-ethoxycoumarin (0.33 μM). The selectivity of ketoconazole for other P450s was highly related to the concentration used. 3. Diethyldithiocarbamate, orphenadrine and furafylline were shown separately to be less selective inhibitors of CYP2E1, CYP2B6 and CYP1A isoforms by a broad range of IC50 that overlap those observed with other P450 isoforms. 4. Furafylline, quinidine and α-naphthoflavone activated CYP3A4-catalysed phenanthrene metabolism by 1.7-, 2- and 15-fold respectively. 5. The selectivity of orphenadrine and ketoconazole was further examined by using inhibitory monoclonal antibodies (MAb). Inhibitory MAb specific for the individual P450 isoforms may be of greater value than chemical inhibitors.
Retrospective analysis of abdominal surgeries at Nepalgunj Medical College (NGMC), Nepalgunj, Nepal: 2 year's experience.

BACKGROUND Abdominal surgeries are the commonest major operations that are performed in the department of surgery. AIM To find out the different causes of emergency and elective abdominal surgeries at Nepalgunj Medical College Teaching Hospital (NGMCTH) Nepalgunj, Nepal. MATERIAL AND METHOD This is a retrospective study conducted in the department of surgery at NGMCTH Nepalgunj, Nepal, over a period of 2 years (2001 to 2003). The patients included in this study were drawn from Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Surkhet, Dang, Dailake, and Tikapur. They belong to both sexes and different age groups. All the records of these patients under went laparotomy for elective as well as emergency conditions were included in this study. The data were analyzed; tabulated and following results were obtained. RESULTS The commonest cause of emergency laparotomies were peritonitis (peptic ulcer, enteric and appendicular perforations) whereas, the commonest cause of elective laparotomies were chronic cholecystitis with cholelithiasis followed by chronic appendicitis and pyloric obstruction. CONCLUSION Over all, cholecystectomy for cholecystitis with cholelithiasis was the commonest operation, which was done in last two years. This disease may be because of excessive use of saturated animal fat and vegetable oil. Peritonitis was the 2nd commonest cause of abdominal surgery. Among the causes of peritonitis, peptic ulcer perforations were the frequent followed by enteric and appendicular perforations. Appendicitis was the 3rd commonest cause of abdominal surgery. Nepal, being a Hindu country, people consume excessive amount of meat, and possibly due to this, the disease of the appendix was very high as compared to other Asian countries where people live on bulk cellulose diet.
Black Holes , Geometric Flows , and the Penrose Inequality in General Relativity

1372 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 49, NUMBER 11 I n 1973 R. Penrose [13] made a physical argument that the total mass of a spacetime containing black holes with event horizons of total area A should be at least √ A/16π . An important special case of this physical statement translates into a very beautiful mathematical inequality in Riemannian geometry known as the Riemannian Penrose inequality. The Riemannian Penrose inequality was first proved by G. Huisken and T. Ilmanen in 1997 for a single black hole [8] and then by the author in 1999 for any number of black holes [1]. The two approaches use two different geometric flow techniques. The most general version of the Penrose inequality is still open. A natural interpretation of the Penrose inequality is that the mass contributed by a collection of black holes is (at least) √ A/16π . More generally, the question, How much matter is in a given region of a spacetime? is still very much an open problem [6]. In this paper we will discuss some of the qualitative aspects of mass in general relativity, look at some informative examples, and describe the two very geometric proofs of the Riemannian Penrose inequality. Total Mass in General Relativity Two notions of mass which are well understood in general relativity are local energy density at a point and the total mass of an asymptotically flat spacetime. However, defining the mass of a region larger than a point but smaller than the entire universe is not at all well understood. Suppose (M3, g) is a Riemannian 3-manifold isometrically embedded in a (3+1) dimensional Lorentzian spacetime N4. Suppose that M3 has zero second fundamental form in the spacetime. This is a simplifying assumption which allows us to think of (M3, g) as a “t = 0” slice of the spacetime. (The second fundamental form is a measure of how much M3 curves inside N4; M3 is also sometimes called “totally geodesic” since geodesics of N4 which are tangent to M3 at a point stay inside M3 forever.) The Penrose inequality (which allows for M3 to have general second fundamental form) is known as the Riemannian Penrose inequality when the second fundamental form is set to zero. We also want to consider only (M3, g) that are asymptotically flat at infinity, which means that for some compact set K, the “end” M3 \K is diffeomorphic to R3 \ B1(0), where the metric g is asymptotically approaching (with certain decay conditions) the standard flat metric δij on R3 at infinity. The simplest example of an asymptotically flat manifold is (R3, δij ) itself. Other good examples are the conformal metrics (R3, u(x)δij ), where u(x) approaches a constant sufficiently rapidly at Hubert L. Bray is assistant professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His email address is bray@math.mit. edu.
Modeling Live and Dead Lines in Cache Memory Systems

An analytical model that predicts the fraction of live and dead lines present in a cache memory in a multitasking environment is presented. The model is two-fold. The first portion evaluates the number of live lines created in a fully associative cache during the execution of a process. The second portion models the interaction of two processes that share a cache and run in an interleaved fashion. The model admits direct-mapped, set-associative, and fully associative cache architectures. The complete model assumes a hyperbolic (or fractal) model of program behavior. It predicts the variations of the total number of lines (footprint) as well as the number of live lines held by a process in the various caches as a function of the number of cache accesses. The accuracy of the model is validated through trace driven simulations. >
Drug utilization among hypertensive patients in the outpatient department of medicine in a tertiary care hospital: A cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT Background: Hypertension is one of the leading risk factors for cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and renal disease. Its increasing prevalence and treatment costs influence the prescribing pattern among physicians. Drug utilization studies provide insights into the current prescribing practices and help us facilitate the rational use of drugs. We carried out the present study to assess the pattern of drug utilization in hypertensive patients. Method: Adults seeking treatment for hypertension were recruited. Prescriptions were studied for demographic and drug-use details. The World Health Organization indices for drug utilization were evaluated. The percentage of prescriptions adhering to the recent guidelines was determined. Results: Enalapril was the most commonly prescribed drug. Monotherapy was used in 71.8% of the cases. However, 42% of the cases were newly diagnosed. The ratio of prescribed daily dose and defined daily dose showed underutilization of enalapril and atenolol and overutilization of amlodipine. About 87.5% of the prescriptions adhered to Eighth Joint National Committee guidelines. Most of the medications were available at the hospital pharmacy store and were prescribed by their generic names. Total 65.3% of the concomitant medications were not listed in the World Health Organization essential list of medicines. The average number of drugs prescribed was six. A median cost of 14.6 and 94.5 rupees was spent, respectively, on anti-hypertensive and concomitant medications per encounter. Conclusion: The adherence to the guideline was good. Polypharmacy can be reduced by avoiding the prescription of unnecessary medications and promoting the use of fixed-dose combinations.
Ryu-Takayanagi Area as an Entanglement Edge Term

By comparing entanglement in emergent gauge theories to the bulk in AdS/CFT, I suggest that the Ryu-Takayanagi area term is an entanglement edge term related to a natural measure on the gauge group. The main technical result in this paper is an argument why the "extended Hilbert space" definition of entanglement entropy in a lattice gauge theory is applicable to an emergent gauge theory.
Interventions for rosacea.

BACKGROUND Rosacea is a common chronic skin condition affecting the face, characterised by flushing, redness, pimples, pustules, and dilated blood vessels. The eyes are often involved. Frequently it can be controlled, but it is not clear which treatments are most effective. OBJECTIVES To assess the evidence for the efficacy and safety of treatments for rosacea. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched the Skin Group Specialised Register (February 2005), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library Issue 1, 2005), MEDLINE (1966 to February 2005), EMBASE (1980 to February 2005), BIOSIS (1970 to March 2002) and the Science Citation Index (1988 to February 2005). Reference lists of trials and key review articles were searched. Relevant manufacturers and experts were contacted. SELECTION CRITERIA Randomised controlled trials in people with moderate to severe rosacea were included. Studies judged by the authors to have seriously flawed methodology were excluded. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Study selection, assessment of methodological quality, data extraction and analysis were carried out by two independent authors. Disagreements were resolved by discussion and consensus. MAIN RESULTS The evidence provided by twenty-nine included studies was generally weak because of poor methodology and reporting. One of our primary outcome measures, 'quality of life', was not assessed in any of the studies. Only two studies of ocular rosacea were included. Pooled data from two trials involving 174 participants indicated that according to the participants, topical metronidazole is more effective than placebo (odds ratio (OR) 5.96, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.95 to 12.06). Data pooled from three between-patient trials showed a clear improvement in the azelaic acid group; the rates of treatment success were approximately 70 to 80% versus 50% to 55% (OR 2.45, 95% CI 1.82 to 3.28). A within-patient trial of azelaic cream versus placebo could not be pooled with the other three studies, but also showed good evidence of efficacy. Data pooled from three studies of oral tetracycline versus placebo involving 152 participants showed that, according to physicians, tetracycline was effective (OR 6.06, 95% CI 2.96 to 12.42). Some evidence of efficacy of oral metronidazole was provided by one small study. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS The quality of studies evaluating rosacea treatments was generally poor. There is evidence that topical metronidazole and azelaic acid are effective. There is some evidence that oral metronidazole and tetracycline are effective. There is insufficient evidence concerning the effectiveness of other treatments. Good RCTs looking at these treatments are urgently needed.
Effect of total mixed ration composition and daily grazing pattern on milk production, composition and fatty acids profile of dairy cows

The possibilities of using high quality pastures in conjunction with total mixed ration (TMR) during the grazing season have been examined. An experiment with sixteen Holstein cows blocked and randomly assigned to four treatments in a factorial arrangement was conducted in order to evaluate the influence of grazing time of day (day or night) and type of silage (maize or Italian ryegrass) included in the TMR of dairy cows grazing 12 h daily on milk yield, composition and fatty acid profile. The silage type had no effect on the dry matter intake, milk yield and fat and protein proportions. However, cows grazing during the night ate more grass than cows grazing during the day (8·53 vs. 5·65 kg DM/d; P<0·05). No differences were seen between grazing-time with respect to milk production, fat and protein contents. However, the proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acid was higher in milk of dairy cows grazing at night-time than grazing at day-time, especially 18:2n-6 (2·37 vs. 2·12 g/100 g FA respectively, P<0·05) and 18:2cis9trans11 (2·08 vs. 1·74 g/100 g FA respectively, P<0·05).
Convergence and steady-state behavior of a phase-splitting fractionally spaced equalizer

The eigenstructure, the initial convergence, and the steady-state behavior of a phase-splitting fractionally spaced equalizer (PS-FSE) are analyzed. It is shown that the initial convergence rate of a T/3 or, in general, a T/M, PS-FSE employing the least-mean-square (LMS) stochastic gradient adaptive algorithm is half that of a symbol rate equalizer (SRE) or a complex fractionally spaced equalizer (CFSE) with the same time span. It is also shown that the LMS adaptive PS-FSE with symbol rate update converges to a Hilbert transformer followed by a matched filter in cascade with an optimal SRE, and thus forms an optional receiver structure. The LMS PS-FSE is computationally more efficient and introduces less system delay than the CFSE. >
Acute effects of laboratory stress on blood glucose in noninsulin‐dependent diabetes.

&NA; The acute effects of two psychological stressors (personally stressful imagery and threat of shock) on blood glucose (BG), heart rate, blood pressure, skin conductance, and subjective stress were studied in 22 noninsulin‐dependent diabetic adults and nine healthy, nondiabetic subjects similar in age, weight, education and sex. The diabetic group's BG rose significantly after threat of shock (M change from rest = 18.4 mg/dL, p < .05), although the nondiabetic group's BG remained stable throughout the assessment. Significant increases in subjective stress ratings (p < .05) and skin conductance level (p < .05) paralleled the noninsulin‐dependent diabetes mellitis (NIDDM) subjects' BG response to threat of shock. The findings suggest that some stressors can have hyperglycemic effects on individuals with NIDDM, although generalization of these findings to the natural environment remains to be demonstrated. The methodology used is contrasted with other studies that have failed to demonstrate stress effects on BG.
Influence of Acute Pain Induced by Activation of Cutaneous Nociceptors on Ventilatory Control

Background: Although many studies show that pain increases breathing, they give little information on the mechanism by which pain interacts with ventilatory control. The authors quantified the effect of experimentally induced acute pain from activation of cutaneous nociceptors on the ventilatory control system. Methods: In eight volunteers, the influence of pain on various stimuli was assessed: room air breathing, normoxia (end‐tidal pressure of carbon dioxide (PETCO2) clamped, normoxic and hyperoxic hypercapnia, acute hypoxia, and sustained hypoxia (duration, 15–18 min; end‐tidal pressure of oxygen, approximately 53 mmHg). Noxious stimulation was administered in the form of a 1‐Hz electric current applied to the skin over the tibial bone. Results: While volunteers breathed room air, pain increased ventilation (V with dotI) from 10.9 +/‐ 1.7 to 12.9 +/‐ 2.5 l/min sup ‐1 (P < 0.05) and reduced PETCO2 from 38.3 +/‐ 2.3 to 36.0 +/‐ 2.3 mmHg (P < 0.05). The increase in V with dotI due to pain did not differ among the different stimuli. This resulted in a parallel leftward‐shift of the V with dotI ‐carbon dioxide response curve in normoxia and hyperoxia, and in a parallel shift to higher V with dotI levels in acute and sustained hypoxia. Conclusions: These data indicate that acute cutaneous pain of moderate intensity interacted with the ventilatory control system without modifying the central and peripheral chemoreflex loop and the central modulation of the hypoxia‐related output of the peripheral chemoreflex loop. Pain causes a chemoreflex‐independent tonic ventilatory drive.