Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Challenges in Assessment Methods and Practices across Departments by Secondary School Teachers in the South West Shoa Zone, Ethiopia

This study was conducted to assess the most widely used assessment methods and practices acrossdepartments and the challenges that hinder high school teachers’ classroom assessment. To this end,it employed descriptive survey design. Data were collected from 197 teachers’ by using questionnaireadapted from Zhang and Burry-Stock (2003) assessment practice inventory, and some open-endeditems developed to measure challenges. The data was analyzed using quantitative data analysis methods.Moreover, the findings regarding challenges in classroom assessment practices from the qualitativeopen-ended questions were analyzed and presented by content analysis using words and sentences.The result indicated that teachers mostly use traditional assessment methods than alternativeassessment. It also revealed that there were statistically significant differences across departmentsin constructing test items, F (2,172) = 190.849, p < . 05, communicating assessment results, F (2, 172)= 208.963, p < . 05, and grading, F (2, 172) = 63.935, p < . 05. In contrast, no statistically significantdifferences were found across departments in analyzing test results and test revisions and using performanceassessment practices. Furthermore, teachers’ attitude and belief, shortage of time, lack ofresources, assessment training gap and large class size were major identified challenges. Eventually,the researchers would like to suggest that teachers should focus on using the alternative forms of assessmentthan traditional assessment methods.
Long-term physical activity and inflammatory biomarkers in older adults.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a 12-month physical activity (PA) intervention on inflammatory biomarkers in elderly men and women. METHODS Four hundred and twenty-four elderly (age = 70-89 yr), nondisabled, community-dwelling men and women at risk for physical disability were enrolled in a multicenter, single-blind, randomized controlled trial. Participants were randomized to participate in either a 12-month moderate-intensity PA intervention or a successful aging health education intervention. Biomarkers of inflammation (interleukin (IL)-6sR, IL-1sRII, soluble tumor necrosis factor receptors 1 and 2 (sTNFRI, sTNFRII), IL-8, IL-15, adiponectin, IL-1ra, IL-2sRα, and TNFα) were measured at baseline, at 6 months, and at 12 months. RESULTS A baseline blood sample was successfully collected from 368 participants. After adjustment for gender, clinic site, diabetes status, and baseline outcome measure, IL-8 was the only inflammatory biomarker affected by the PA intervention (P = 0.03). The adjusted mean IL-8 at month 12 was 9.9% (0.87 pg·mL) lower in the PA compared with the successful aging group. Secondary interaction analyses between baseline biomarker status and treatment showed one significant interaction (P = 0.02) such that the PA intervention reduced IL-15 concentrations in participants with a baseline IL-15 above the median value of 1.67 pg·mL. However, these associations were no longer significant after consideration for multiple comparisons. CONCLUSIONS Overall, this study does not provide definitive evidence for an effect of regular exercise for altering systemic concentrations of the measured inflammatory biomarkers in older adults.
Household Food Insecurity in Canada: Towards an Understanding of Effective Interventions

Over 12% of households were food insecure in Canada in 2011. Despite recognition of this problem, there remains no targeted public policy to address it. To inform interventions, examined in this thesis were how changes in financial resources related to changes in severity of food insecurity, the needs of food insecure households, and the effectiveness of current interventions. Studies 1, 2, 4, and 5 utilized data from a sample of 485 low income families living in high poverty neighbourhoods in Toronto, and Study 3 used data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) 2009-2011. In Study 1, the sensitivity of severity of food insecurity to changes in employment and income was observed. In Study 2, it was found that severity of food insecurity was associated with increasing probability of experiencing hardships in other domains such as delayed bill payments and giving up household services. The relationship between food insecurity and obesity among women was examined in Study 3, and it was shown that diagnoses of mood disorder partially explained the association. Patterns of association also varied by family status and severity of experiences. In Studies 4 and 5, use and non-use of current interventions focused on alleviating hunger (i.e. food banks) and improving healthy food access in communities (i.e. community gardens, Good Food Box) were examined among food insecure families. There was a low prevalence of use of all types of programs. Programs were not used
Dielectric breakdown strength measurements with silicone-based single-layer dielectric elastomer transducers

Dielectric elastomer transducers (DETs) consist of an elastic dielectric film sandwiched between compliant electrodes. Applying an electric voltage leads to an electrostatic pressure between the electrodes which causes a deformation of the DET due to the elastic dielectric. The dielectric breakdown field strength of the elastomer restricts the applied voltage. For highly efficient DETs, their dielectric breakdown strength during operation has to be known. In this work, eight different breakdown test scenarios with self-fabricated single-layer DET samples made of the silicone film Elastosil® Film 2030 (Wacker Chemie AG) are conducted. They differ in type of the applied electrical voltage (DC/AC), mechanical load of the silicone film and setup of the DET samples. The DETs show a nominal dielectric breakdown strength between 96 and 200 V μm−1 during operation depending on the applied voltage, prestretch and the setup of the DET. Applying protective silicone film layers on top and bottom of the electrodes leads to a reduced damage of the DET after the breakdown of the weakest point and prevents the complete failure of the transducer.
Does Pathogen Identification Influence the Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Pyogenic Spinal Infections?

Study Design: Retrospective study. Objective: To study the clinical outcomes of patients suffering from pyogenic spinal infections (PSI), by comparing the outcomes of patients with an identified microbiological agent with those of patients without an identified pathogen. Summary of Background Data: PSI is associated with significant risks for morbidity and mortality. Specific antibiotic treatment has been considered a key to successful medical treatment; however, clinicians frequently treat patients with PSI without an identified agent. A paucity of data is available comparing the clinical outcomes of patients with or without an identified pathogen. Materials and Methods: The records of 97 consecutive patients discharged from a University Hospital with the diagnosis of PSI during a 14-year period were retrospectively reviewed. Patients’ demographics, etiological agent, comorbidities, site of infection, white blood cell count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein at the time of presentation, neurological impairment, length of hospital stay, and mortality were registered to compare the clinical outcomes of patients with an identified pathogen with those of patients without an identified agent. Results: The causative organism was identified in 74 patients (76.3%). Patients with microbiological diagnosis were younger, and a larger percentage of them exhibited elevated C-reactive protein value; however, they were not different from those without an identified agent in terms of sex, site of infection, comorbidities, and the presence of a concomitant infection. Our study could not demonstrate different neurological outcomes, length of stay, or mortality rates among the 2 groups. Conclusions: In a large series of patients with PSI, we did not demonstrate differences in clinical outcomes using empirical antibiotics in patients without an identified pathogen compared with patients with an identified microbiological agent receiving specific antibiotics. Future prospective multicenter studies should be conducted to obtain an answer to this important clinical question.
Cytokine Signaling, Lipid Raft Clustering, and HSC Hibernation

Abstract: Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) reside in the bone marrow (BM) niche in a noncycling state and enter the cell cycle at long intervals. This unique property of HSCs is reminiscent of hibernation in mammals. However, little is known about inter‐ and intracellular signaling mechanisms underlying this unique property of HSCs. This is largely due to the paucity of HSCs making application of traditional signal transduction assays difficult. To address these issues, we have developed a novel assay based on in‐droplet single‐cell staining and quantitative fluorescence imaging analysis. Using this assay system, we demonstrate that freshly isolated HSCs from the BM niche lack lipid raft clustering, exhibit repression of the AKT‐FOXO signaling pathway, and express abundant p57Kip2 cyclin‐dependent kinase inhibitor. Lipid raft clustering induced by cytokines was essential for HSC re‐entry into the cell cycle. Conversely, inhibition of lipid raft clustering caused sustained nuclear accumulation of FOXO transcription factors and induced HSC hibernation ex vivo. Among niche signals examined, transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β) efficiently inhibited lipid raft clustering and induced p57Kip2 expression, leading to HSC hibernation. These data uncover a critical role for lipid rafts in HSC fate decision and establish the role of TGF‐β as a niche signal in control of HSC hibernation in the BM niche.
Progesterone Regulates Proliferation of Endothelial Cells*

The use of steroid hormones in postmenopausal replacement therapy has been associated with prevention of cardiovascular disease. Although the contribution of estradiol to endothelial cell function has been addressed, little information is available on the effect of progestins on this cell type. Here, we provide direct evidence for the presence of functional nuclear progesterone receptor in endothelial cells and demonstrate that physiological levels of progesterone inhibit proliferation through a nuclear receptor-mediated mechanism. The effects of progesterone were blocked by pretreatment with a progesterone receptor antagonist, and progesterone receptor-deficient endothelial cells failed to respond to the hormone. We evaluated the effect of progesterone by analysis of aorta re-endothelialization experiments in wild-type and progesterone receptor knockout mice. The rate of re-endothelialization was significantly decreased in wild-type mice when in the presence of progesterone, whereas there was no difference between control and progesterone-treated progesterone receptor knockout mice. FACS analysis showed that progestins arrest endothelial cell cycle in G1. The lag in cell cycle progression involved reduction in cyclin-dependent kinase activity, as shown by down-regulation in retinoblastoma protein phosphorylation. In addition, treatment of endothelial cells with progestins altered the expression of cyclin E and A in accordance with G1 arrest. These results have important implications to our current knowledge of the effect of steroids on endothelial cell function and to the overall contribution of progesterone to vascular repair.
Technologies and Methodologies Enabling Reliable Real-Time Wireless Automation

Wireless automation is an emerging field of research, engineering and industrial development that aims at significant savings in installation times and costs of cabling in automation systems, while providing a new level of flexibility for system design, reconfiguration, and agility. It is applicable to both new automation systems and retrofit applications. The use of wireless technologies is rather common in consumer applications, consider, for example, cellular phones, cordless desktops, etc., but the strict real-timeliness and reliability requirements of automation systems have limited the use of wireless technology in industrial environments. There are, however, a variety of existing industrial applications of Bluetooth, ZigBee and WLAN networks, but very rarely these are used in time-critical applications. The bulletproof wireless technologies are few, and hence the technologies have not yet spread to wide use in industrial automation. The main concerns in this respect are related to the problem of how the reliability and real-timeliness of wireless communications could be guaranteed. Wireless automation considers a wide range of technologies that are used in an automation system to enable wireless communications on one or several levels of the system, including factory, automation system, and field device levels. The wireless communications are used to deliver measurements and control values, device configuration information and other process data between the devices, control rooms and servers. This chapter reviews the wireless automation standards and related technologies, but also certain medium access control (MAC) and routing protocols and control design approaches are discussed that together could solve the problem of achieving a reliably working real-time wireless automation system. We will also consider simulation of wireless automation systems, which is essential for the network and automation system co-design validation, and evaluate some candidate system designs with a suitable simulator. The focus is on the field device level, and hence the technologies used for device to device wireless communication for control purposes are addressed. The main contributions of this chapter include a review of current technologies used in wireless automation. We also discuss and propose a new MAC and mesh routing protocol (limited broadcast protocol, LBP) to enhance the reliability and real-time performance of wireless automation systems. We will also demonstrate how the modelling and simulation of packet drops could be done and integrated in the co-design procedure of wireless automation systems. Finally, we will investigate some practical control solutions and designs for wireless automation with a full-scale simulator to validate the proposed designs.
Improving the end-of-life for people with dementia living in a care home: an intervention study

ABSTRACT Background: One in three adults, most of whom are living in a care home at the time, dies with dementia. Their end-of-life is often in hospital, where they may experience uncomfortable interventions without known benefit and die rapidly with uncontrolled pain and comfort needs. This study aimed to improve end-of-life care for people with dementia in a care home by increasing the number and implementation of advanced care wishes. Methods: We recruited staff, residents with dementia, and their relatives from a 120-bed nursing home in London, UK. The intervention was a ten-session manualized, interactive staff training program. We compared advance care wishes documentation and implementation, place of death for residents who died, and themes from staff and family carers’ after-death interviews pre- and post-intervention. Results: Post-intervention there were significant increases in documented advance care wishes arising from residents’ and relatives’ discussions with staff about end-of-life. These included do not resuscitate orders (16/22, 73% vs. 4/28, 14%; p < 0.001); and dying in the care homes as opposed to hospital (22/29, 76% vs. 14/30, 47%; p < 0.02). Bereaved relatives overall satisfaction increased from 7.5 (SD = 1.3) pre-intervention to 9.1 (SD = 2.4) post-intervention; t = 17.6, p = 0.06. Relatives reported increased consultation and satisfaction about decisions. Staff members were more confident about end-of-life planning and implementing advanced wishes. Conclusion: This small non-randomized study is the first end-of-life care in dementia intervention to report an increase in family satisfaction with a reduction in hospital deaths. This is promising but requires further evaluation in diverse care homes.
Learning Profiles and the ‘Skills Gap’: A Comparative Analysis of Schooling and Skills Development in Four Developing Countries

The expansion of schooling in developing countries has improved educational access significantly in recent years, but less evidence is available on learning and learning progress in comparative perspective. This paper employs data from Young Lives to examine levels and trends in cognitive skill development and the links to enrolment in school across the four study countries for pupils aged five to fifteen. Enrolment is high in all countries except Ethiopia, where it is improving relatively equitably over time, but pupils who do not enroll in school or whose enrolment is interrupted are strongly disadvantaged in terms of learning. At younger ages, pupils in India master basic cognitive skills comparatively well, but by age 12 learning progress is closer to that in Ethiopia, while both learning and learning progress are notably higher in Peru and Vietnam. Inequalities in learning progress are strongly linked to differences in home backgrounds in all countries, but while improving enrolment remains an issue in Ethiopia, generally low levels of learning progress in both Ethiopia and India suggest that more general education quality improvements are a key priority. In Vietnam and Peru, high attainment by more advantaged pupils and those who perform well in the early years suggests that equity improvements intended to reduce ‘gaps’ are key to more general improvements in learning achievement.
History of Cooperation: A Positive Analysis of the Overlapping Mechanism

Given that cooperation can lead to a large cost for an individual there must be some social mechanisms maintaining this behavior. Recently, some economists have used game theory to provide a theoretical understanding of the mechanisms at play. For instance using the overlapping generation game, it has been shown that rewards and penalties given in the past and those perceived to occur in the future has a large influence on the players willingness to cooperate. However while these mathematical arguments are persuasive whether such equilibrium exists in the real world requires empirical observation. To date there are some empirical evidence focused on case studies but these tend to lack enough information to validate the theory. Therefore our objective is to provide evidence for the theory that the overlapping mechanism influences cooperative behavior by using the overlapping generation game in economic experiments. We would like to show how the path of the equilibrium is affected by the history of previous subject’s choices through comparing a game with and without an overlapping mechanism.
The Future of Principal Preparation and Principal Evaluation

As the federal role in education continuously evolves, accountability pressures for performance extend from classrooms to principals’ offices. This newer form of accountability is changing the landscape of how school leaders are prepared, and ultimately, how they are evaluated. For some time, the onus of student achievement has been placed on teachers and students. A new era of accountability has ushered in an increased federal role in public education that stretches to the principals’ office and even farther into the way in which principals are prepared. To that end, the articles presented in this issue reflected nuances in how state policy adoption responds to federal policies involving principal preparation and principal evaluation. The principal, coming in only second to the teacher, influences student learning (e.g., Anderson & Reynolds, 2015; Leithwood, Day, Sammons, Harris, & Hopkins, 2006; Leithwood & Jantzi, 1999). Moreover, the principal’s impact on student learning comes indirectly from establishing a culture in which teaching and learning takes place. Therefore, recent federal education policy debates, specifically Race to the Top (RT3) and Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization, have focused on principal preparation as well as principal evaluation. As Fuller and Hollingworth (2014) note, “a slew of federal policy initiatives have spurred increased policymaking in this arena” (p. 3). Although there has been an influx of policy initiatives involving principal preparation programs and principal evaluation, very few rigorous studies have been conducted to examine the effectiveness of such policies. Thus, articles presented in this issue provide comprehensive research on the current state of policy development in principal preparation and principal evaluation.
Functional Assembly of Minicellulosomes on the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cell Surface for Cellulose Hydrolysis and Ethanol Production

ABSTRACT We demonstrated the functional display of a miniscaffoldin on the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell surface consisting of three divergent cohesin domains from Clostridium thermocellum (t), Clostridium cellulolyticum (c), and Ruminococcus flavefaciens (f). Incubation with Escherichia coli lysates containing an endoglucanase (CelA) fused with a dockerin domain from C. thermocellum (At), an exoglucanase (CelE) from C. cellulolyticum fused with a dockerin domain from the same species (Ec), and an endoglucanase (CelG) from C. cellulolyticum fused with a dockerin domain from R. flavefaciens (Gf) resulted in the assembly of a functional minicellulosome on the yeast cell surface. The displayed minicellulosome retained the synergistic effect for cellulose hydrolysis. When a β-glucosidase (BglA) from C. thermocellum tagged with the dockerin from R. flavefaciens was used in place of Gf, cells displaying the new minicellulosome exhibited significantly enhanced glucose liberation and produced ethanol directly from phosphoric acid-swollen cellulose. The final ethanol concentration of 3.5 g/liter was 2.6-fold higher than that obtained by using the same amounts of added purified cellulases. The overall yield was 0.49 g of ethanol produced per g of carbohydrate consumed, which corresponds to 95% of the theoretical value. This result confirms that simultaneous and synergistic saccharification and fermentation of cellulose to ethanol can be efficiently accomplished with a yeast strain displaying a functional minicellulosome containing all three required cellulolytic enzymes.
Hospitality students’ work experiences and an examination of their perceptions of the future

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to compare perceptions of work experience while in college between hospitality students and hospitality graduates and to examine differences among their work experiences and perceptions of a professional future. Senior level students and graduates from hospitality programs across the United States participated in the study. Study results showed that 50% of current hospitality students work 21 or more hours per week, while more than 10% worked 40 or more hours per week; both students and graduates perceive their work experiences positively. Both students and graduates rated work experience highest in importance when interviewing for industry jobs.