Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Research into the Effects of an ICALL Program on Teaching Word Classes to Learners of English

This study investigated the effectiveness of an intelligent computer-assisted language learning (ICALL) program on learning word classes to Turkish learners of English. Learning word classes is a common problem for Turkish students, so the main aim of this research is to help students to overcome this problem. Within the scope of this research, an ICALL application with a word class analyzer was developed and used on Foundation English School Students to measure its effects on students’ achievement in the mastery of word classes and also their attitudes toward such an ICALL environment. The study employed a pre-test—post-test control group design. The sample consisted of 38 B1 level students who were divided into experimental and control groups. The t test was used to investigate the differences between the experimental and control groups. Learners’ achievements in the knowledge of word classes were measured. The results showed that the reading activities with this system had positive effects on students’ word classes learning and their attitudes toward the intelligent computer-assisted language learning tool. According to the statistical results obtained from the study, there is a significant difference between the groups in favor of the experimental group.
Fully Automatic Left Atrium Segmentation From Late Gadolinium Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using a Dual Fully Convolutional Neural Network

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most prevalent form of cardiac arrhythmia. Current treatments for AF remain suboptimal due to a lack of understanding of the underlying atrial structures that directly sustain AF. Existing approaches for analyzing atrial structures in 3-D, especially from late gadolinium-enhanced (LGE) magnetic resonance imaging, rely heavily on manual segmentation methods that are extremely labor-intensive and prone to errors. As a result, a robust and automated method for analyzing atrial structures in 3-D is of high interest. We have, therefore, developed AtriaNet, a 16-layer convolutional neural network (CNN), on 154 3-D LGE-MRIs with a spatial resolution of 0.625 mm $\times0.625$ mm $\times1.25$ mm from patients with AF, to automatically segment the left atrial (LA) epicardium and endocardium. AtriaNet consists of a multi-scaled, dual-pathway architecture that captures both the local atrial tissue geometry and the global positional information of LA using 13 successive convolutions and three further convolutions for merging. By utilizing computationally efficient batch prediction, AtriaNet was able to successfully process each 3-D LGE-MRI within 1 min. Furthermore, benchmarking experiments have shown that AtriaNet has outperformed the state-of-the-art CNNs, with a DICE score of 0.940 and 0.942 for the LA epicardium and endocardium, respectively, and an inter-patient variance of <0.001. The estimated LA diameter and volume computed from the automatic segmentations were accurate to within 1.59 mm and 4.01 cm3 of the ground truths. Our proposed CNN was tested on the largest known data set for LA segmentation, and to the best of our knowledge, it is the most robust approach that has ever been developed for segmenting LGE-MRIs. The increased accuracy of atrial reconstruction and analysis could potentially improve the understanding and treatment of AF.
Effects of Encapsulated Fish Oil by Polymerized Whey Protein on the Textural and Sensory Characteristics of Low-Fat Yogurt

Abstract Five types of polymerized whey protein (PWP1, PWP2, PWP3, PWP4 and PWP5) containing different amounts of fish oil were added to low-fat yogurt as fat replacers. The texture, apparent viscosity, and sensory properties of the yogurts were analyzed in comparison with full-fat ( 3.0%, w/w, fat) and low-fat (1.5%, w/w; and 1.2%, w/w) milk yogurt controls. The majority (~85%) of the particle size distribution was in the range of 1106±158 nm. Thermal property analysis indicated PWP was thermally stable between 50°C and 90°C. Yogurts formulated with 12% of PWP4 and 14% of PWP5 demonstrated higher firmness, springiness and adhesiveness (P<0.05), and lower cohesiveness (P<0.05) than the low-fat milk yogurt controls. There was no fat separation and they had less fishy smell. Yogurts incorporated with 12% of PWP4 had comparable sensory and textural characteristics to the full- -fat milk yogurt control.
Isolation and Characterisation of E . coli Infection from the Bronchial Plug of Broiler Birds Associated with Respiratory Diseases

| The present research work was carried out to investigate the incidence of concurrent presence of Escherichia coli (E. coli) infection in broiler birds affected with respiratory distress. Detection of avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) was performed primarily on the basis of isolation, culture and colony characteristics. Further, it was affirmatively diagnosed by PCR assaytarging four virulence genes i.e. iss, papC, tsh and vat. Antibiogram of E. coli was also conducted to estimate the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in studied poultry farm. Out of 30 tissue samples of each different poultry farms processed for bacterial isolation, a 100%prevalence of E. coli infection was found in all the 30 samples. The isolates were found highly sensitive (100%) to antibiotic disc colistin (Methane sulphonate) followed by ceftriaxone (93.33%), gentamicin (80%), levofloxacin (76.67%), co-trimoxazole (63.33%) and amoxyclav (10.00%). These results highlight the high prevelence of the bacteria and differential levels of antibiotic resistance in poultry.
Alzheim(i)R: MicroRNAs in Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system, characterized by early memory impairments followed by cognitive deficit as aphasia, agnosia and apraxia. AD affects over 35 million individuals worldwide and is expected to affect 115 million by 2050 [1]. Cellular and molecular neurodegeneration detected in AD is characterized by synapse and neuronal loss, extracellular amyloid β (Aβ) peptide accumulation and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (hyperphosphorylated tau) [2,3]. Less than 1% of AD cases are familial, (onset before 60 to 65 years of age) due to mutations in three genes, APP, presenilin 1 (PSEN1), and presenilin 2 (PSEN2), all involved in Abeta overproduction [4]. To date, high Ab levels were suggested to trigger neuronal dysfunctions as major contributors to disease development in the familial form of AD, but for the majority of AD cases, also called sporadic AD, with no obvious genetic bases, other mechanisms are expected to be responsible.
Quality of young one- humped Egyptian camel meat obtained from different anatomical locations

This study characterized the chemical composition and quality of Triceps brachii (from forequarter and Semitendinosus muscles from hindquarter of fifteen one humped camel carcasses obtained from animals slaughtered at about 5 years old. There were non-significant (p<0.05) differences in moisture, protein and ash contents between the two investigated muscle samples. The Triceps brachii muscle had significantly (p<0.05) higher fat content than that of the Semitendinosus muscle. Moreover, there were non-significant (p<0.05) differences in pH and TBARS values among investigated muscle samples. Furthermore, there were non-significant (p<0.05) differences in total soluble, sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar proteins between two muscles. On the other hand, the myoglobin content of Semitendinosus muscle were significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of Triceps brachii muscle. The Triceps brachii muscle had higher collagen content (0.9%) and shear force (10 kg/f) value than those of Semitendinosus muscle. The higher L* value was noted in Semitendinosus muscle than Triceps brachii. However, a* and b* values were not significant (p<0.05) differ among the two muscles. This study indicated that composition and quality parameters were varied among camel muscles of fore and hindquarter and the knowledge of this variation allows for better marketing and processing of camel meat.
Factors associated with intention to undergo specific health guidance among Japanese workers using health belief model

Objectives: To examine the factors associated with the intention to undergo “specific health guidance”. Methods: Self-reported questionnaire data were collected from 4861 health insurance union members of a company in Japan from August to September 2010. The information gathered included the intention to undergo “specific health guidance,” the Health Belief Model (HBM) subcomponents (perceived severity, susceptibility, benefit, and barriers), other factors related to undergoing specific health guidance, sex, and age. Perceived threat and net benefit were the main HBM components. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to assess the associations between intention and the main HBM components, i.e., perceived threat and net benefit. We used two models with intention as the dependent variable; Model 1 used four HBM subcomponents, and Model 2 used perceived threat and net benefit as independent variables. Results: A total of 3457 individuals answered all variables (response rate; 71.1%). Perceived severity (OR: 1.83, 95%CI: 1.59 - 2.10), benefit (OR: 6.91, 95%CI: 5.94 - 8.04), barriers (OR: 0.11, 95%CI: 0.09 - 0.13), perceived threat (OR: 1.52, 95%CI: 1.31 - 1.76), and net benefit (OR: 11.28, 95%CI: 9.60 - 13.25) were related to intention (all p < 0.01). Multivariate analysis showed that net benefit (OR: 11.23, 95%CI: 9.55 - 13.20) had a stronger correlation with intention than did perceived benefit (OR: 4.67, 95%CI: 3.95 - 5.51) and barriers (OR: 0.15, 95%CI: 0.13 - 0.18) (all p < 0.01). Conclusions: The results suggested that the main HBM components may predict health behavior better than the subcomponents. These results may effectively promote the benefits of, and reduce barriers to, programs aiming to increase participation in specific health guidance.
Effects Of Smartphone Addiction Level On Social And Educational Life In Health Sciences Students

Aim: This study investigated the effect of smartphone addiction levels on social and educational life in health sciences students. Methods: In a cross-sectional design, 785 students filled out a questionnaire that included demographic characteristics and smartphone use behavior. The smartphone users then completed the Smartphone Addiction Scale. Results: Of the 785 students, 91.7% were smartphone users. Total, daily-life disturbance, and cyber-oriented relationship scores of the Smartphone Addiction Scale in the ≤20 age group were found to be significantly higher than in the >20 age group (p<0.05). All subscale and total scores of students who thought smartphone use made education more difficult were significantly higher (p<0.05). Positive anticipation and cyberspace-oriented relationship subscale scores of students who thought smartphone use affected their social life was significantly higher (p<0.05). Daily-life disturbance and tolerance subscale scores in students who thought that smartphone use negatively affected their verbal communication was significantly higher (p<0.05); however, their positive anticipation score was significantly lower (p<0.001). Conclusion: The prevalence of smartphone use among students was quite high. The smartphone addiction level was higher in students who were 20 or less years old. The higher addiction scores negatively affected social life, verbal communication, and presented difficulties to education.
A Bayesian Infinite Hidden Markov Vector Autoregressive Model

textabstractWe propose a Bayesian infinite hidden Markov model to estimate time-varying parameters in a vector autoregressive model. The Markov structure allows for heterogeneity over time while accounting for state-persistence. By modelling the transition distribution as a Dirichlet process mixture model, parameters can vary over potentially an infinite number of regimes. The Dirichlet process however favours a parsimonious model without imposing restrictions on the parameter space. An empirical application demonstrates the ability of the model to capture both smooth and abrupt parameter changes over time, and a real-time forecasting exercise shows excellent predictive performance even in large dimensional VARs.
Associations Between Career Decision-Making Difficulties, Maladaptive Limitedness Schemas, Sleep Quality, and Circadian Preferences Among Turkish College Students -

The present study investigated the relations among decision-making difficulties, maladaptive limitedness schemas, sleep quality, and circadian preferences in a sample of 311 Turkish college students. As expected, the associations between career decision-making difficulties, as measured by the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ), and poor sleep quality were significant, but the connections were small. Pearson correlations of poor sleep quality with career decision-making difficulties, including Lack of Information and Difficulties related to Inconsistent Information sub-scales, and CDDQ total scores, ranged from 0.19 to 0.20. On the other hand, in the multiple regression analyses we found that dysfunctional thinking, as measured by the Limitedness Schemas Questionnaire (LSQ), significantly contributed to all three sub-scales and total scores of the CDDQ. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Multi‐loop control synthesis for unstable systems and its application: An approach based on µ interaction measure

This paper presents a new practical framework for multi‐loop controller design in which controllers are designed independently, i.e. a controller in one loop is designed without exploiting information of other controllers. The method is based on the (block) diagonal approximation of a system that is different from its (block) diagonal elements. The focus of this work is on unstable systems and the approximated systems are obtained by minimizing an upper bound of a scaled ℒ︁∞ norm for the error systems. This extends the applicability of conventional µ‐interaction measure to a more general scenario. The proposed approach is applied to a numerical example and to a simulated industrial boiler system. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Immediate placement of Implant in Fresh Extraction Socket : A Case Report

Loss of tooth in the aesthetic zone is a traumatic experience with or without compromise in phonetics. Implant placement in anterior region has most aesthetic challenges in implant dentistry because tooth loss leads to bone resorption and collapse of gingival architecture, which leads to aesthetic compromise and inadequate bone for implant placement. Immediate implant placement is time saving, possibly with one surgical intervention required, although allowing maximal preservation of peri-implant tissues. Clinical and radiographic examination revealed width and extent of the tooth for selecting implant size and design. Due to less trauma, reduction in overall treatment time, decrease in hard and soft tissue resorption, increase in patients acceptance, along with better function, aesthetics and has psychological benefits. In this case report, harmony of hard and soft tissue was preserved by immediate placement of implant in fresh extraction socket.
The effect of spontaneous fermentation on the volatile flavor constituents of durian

The flavor compounds of spontaneous fermented durian (tempoyak) were analyzed compared to fresh durian using gaschromatography -mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results of this experiment showed that most of the volatile flavor compounds changed substantially during fermentation. Nevertheless, the major volatile constituents of fermented durian were still sulfur-containing volatiles. Beside the origin flavor constituents, fermented durian generated 5 sulfur compounds and 16 non-sulfur compounds while fresh durian were missing their flavor of 11 sulfur components and 10 non-sulfur components when durian was fermented. Some alcohol, carboxylic acid and ester components not found on the fresh durian were present in fermented durian such as 2,3-butanediol; 1,3-butanediol,octanoic acid and propyl ester acetic acid. The different proportions of volatile components and the presence or absence of sulfur and non sulfur components determine the flavor properties of fermented durian. It is, therefore, there is need in depth research for understanding the mechanisms of volatile compounds metabolism during durian pulp lactic fermentation.
NELAYAN DI LAUTAN UTARA: SEBUAH KAJIAN EKOKRITIK

Kajian terhadap novel Nelayan di Lautan Utara (NDLU) karya Pierre Lotti, terjemahan Sutan Takdir Alisyahbana, bertujuan untuk menjawab permasalahan tentang bagaimana kontribusi sastra terhadap pelestarian dan keseimbangan lingkungan sekaligus menggambarkan hubungannya dengan manusia sehingga pembaca dapat lebih memahami lingkungan yang menjadi tempat tinggalnya sekarang. Dari novel tersebut diperoleh data yang berhubungan dengan masalah lingkungan dan hubungannya dengan manusia yang menjadi fokus kajian ini. Data diperoleh melalui teknik pembacaan intensif dan pencatatan. Selanjutnya, data dianalisis dengan metode deskriptif kualitatif berdasarkan kerangka teori ekokritik. Ekokritik secara ringkas didefinisikan sebagai kajian terhadap sastra yang berwawasan lingkungan. Hasil analisis menunjukkan perlunya kesadaran manusia untuk peduli dan cinta pada lingkungan tempatnya menyandarkan hidup. Manusia dan lingkungan memiliki hubungan simbiosis yang saling ketergantungan. Hubungan keduanya menciptakan suatu gambaran romantisme yang bahkan pada sesama manusia tidak dapat dipersamakan.
Using reliability and item analysis to evaluate a teacher-developed test in educational measurement and evaluation

Abstract Item analysis is essential in improving items which will be used again in later tests; it can also be used to eliminate misleading items in a test. The study focused on item and test quality and explored the relationship between difficulty index (p-value) and discrimination index (DI) with distractor efficiency (DE). The study was conducted among 247 first-year students pursuing Diploma in Education at Cape Coast Polytechnic. Fifty multiple-choice questions were administered as an end of semester examination in Educational Measurement course. Internal consistency reliability of the test was 0.77 using Kuder–Richardson 20 coefficient (KR-20). The mean score was 29.23 with a standard deviation of 6.36. Mean difficulty index (p) value and DI were 58.46% (SD 21.23%) and 0.22 (SD 0.17), respectively. DI was noted to be a maximum at a p-value range between 40 and 60%. Mean DE was 55.04% (SD 24.09%). Items having average difficulty and high discriminating power with functional distractors should be integrated into future tests to improve the quality of the assessment. Using DI, it was observed that 30 (60%) of the test items fell into the reasonably good or acceptable value ranges.
Intraday Momentum in FX Markets: Disentangling Informed Trading from Liquidity Provision

We examine the likely drivers of intraday momentum, defined as a significantly positive relation between the first half-hour and the last half-hour return, in a foreign exchange market with explicit trading hours. Using transaction-level data from the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange on the RUB–USD currency pair for the 2005–2014 period, our results suggest that intraday momentum in the ruble market is induced by risk aversion to overnight holdings among liquidity providers. In addition, our results complement earlier findings that suggest that market concentration due to trading hours matters for intraday momentum and that the effect is more pronounced during financial crises.
Assessing age distributions of killer whale Orcinus orca populations from the composition of endogenous fatty acids in their outer blubber layers

Knowledge of the age distributions of killer whale Orcinus orca populations is critical to assess their status and long-term viability. Except for accessible, well-studied populations for which historical sighting data have been collected, currently there is no reliable benign method to deter- mine the specific age of live animals for remote populations. To fill this gap in our knowledge of age structure, we describe new methods by which age can be deduced from measurements of specific lipids, endogenous fatty acids (FAs) and FA ratios present in their outer blubber layers. Whereas cor- relation of wax and sterol esters with age was reasonable for female 'resident' killer whales, it was less well-defined for males and 'transients. ' Individual short-, branched-, and odd-chain FAs corre- lated better with age for transients and residents of both sexes, but these single parameter relation- ships were population specific and seemingly varied with long-term diet. Alternatively, a simple, empirical multi-linear model derived from the combination of 2 specific FA ratios enabled the ages of individual eastern North Pacific killer whales to be predicted with good precision (σ = ±3.8 yr), appeared to be independent of individual diet and was applicable to both genders and ecotypes. The model was applied to several less well-studied killer whale populations to predict their age distribu- tions from their blubber FA compositions, and these distributions were compared with a population of known age structure. Most interestingly, these results provide evidence for the first time that adult male transient killer whales appear to have lower life expectancies than do their resident counter- parts in Alaska.
"They Never Dance": The Choreography of Le Sacre du Printemps, 1913

In this text, I discuss Vaslav Nijinsky's choreography of Le Sacre du Printemps (henceforth Sacre) as it appears in the light of primary source materials from 1913. By focusing on the unique challenges Nijinsky posed to his dancers in terms of movement style and composition, I contest many of the frequentlyheard claims made about this work, particularly its danced component, and argue that Nijinsky's choreographic ideas challenged both dancers and critics by questioning the ontological qualities of (art) dance in contemporary discourse.
Progress in orientation-patterned GaAs for next-generation nonlinear optical devices

Orientation-patterned GaAs (OPGaAs) shows great promise as a nonlinear optical material for frequency conversion in the 2-5 μm and 8-12 μm regions. We report recent progress in each of the three main areas of OPGaAs development: fabrication of patterned templates using a combination of wafer bonding and MBE techniques; thick-layer HVPE growth; and material and OPO device characterization. This work has led to significant improvements in material quality, specifically reduced optical loss, increased sample thickness, improved patterned domain fidelity, and greater material uniformity. Advances in material quality have in turn enabled demonstration of OPO devices operating in the 3-5 μm spectral region. Optical loss and OPO performance measurements on a series of OPGaAs samples are presented, with the goal of understanding how these properties are influenced by growth conditions, and how OPO performance may be improved. Research continues on understanding loss mechanisms, correlating performance with material properties, transitioning the technology into an industrial process, and extending it to additional materials.