Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multi-Tissue Examination of Exercise or Metformin on the Consequences of Doxorubicin Treatment

S Mackay A.D., Louw M.G, Hancock C.R. , Exercise, but not Metformin Prevents Loss of Muscle Function Due to Doxorubicin in Mice Using an in-situ Method. Experimental Biology. 2018. VOLUNTEER WORK Americorps STEM Outreach Volunteer 2016 o Developed STEM curriculum and lead in-class activities for students k-8 grades.
CREATING A POSITIVE CLASSROOM CLIMATE TO ADDRESS DISCIPLINARY PROBLEMS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS FOR QUALITY EDUCATION

This paper contests the act of subjecting students to corporal punishment by the schools’ administrators and teachers as a sure means of correcting disciplinary problems in the schools. It outlines effects of corporal punishment on students as; affecting their reasoning abilities, deter their social interaction and mutual understanding, hinders active participation in their academics activities etc. It also identifies some contributing factors behind prevalence of corporal punishment in schools such as; poverty, environment, temperament etc. This paper argues for; having classroom norms, making your class interesting, value of human dignity, understanding the meaning behind the behavior etc. as ingredients of positive classroom climate. It finally suggests that; positive disciplinary actions should be imbedded in teachers’ training program curriculum, remuneration of teachers should be increased to reduce their level of poverty, ministries of education at all levels should be organizing capacity building workshops in the most demanding areas of education such as; disciplinary management, class control, teaching methodology and resources etc. for teachers and schools’ administrators at least once in every two years.
The Influence of Species Richness and Forb Seed Density on Grassland Restoration in the Badlands of North Dakota, USA

ABSTRACT:Grasslands are an integral part of the North American landscape and serve important ecological roles for soils stabilization, wildlife habitat, and economic well-being of rural areas. Coupled with losses of native grasslands to farming are those losses attributed to energy extraction. In North Dakota, some of the greatest losses from the early 2000s oil boom occurred in the fragile badlands ecosystem. As extraction efforts cease, oil firms, producers, land managers, and others will need to restore disturbed native grasslands. Our work tested attributes of native seed mixes and their establishment success to improve restoration. We conducted two separate studies that varied by year of planting (2011 and 2012) and by seed mixes used during each study. We collected canopy cover data to assess the efficacy of differing seed mixes (species and seed density) for establishing native grassland richness and cover. We found that increased species richness in initial seed mixes resulted in increased species richness for both the 2011 and 2012 studies. Despite the increased richness in some seed mixes, grass cover was similar among all treatments except for the 2012 study where increased forb cover came at the expense of grasses. Although great variability exists across badland landscapes, our data suggests that restoration practitioners may have a harder time establishing forbs over grasses. Increasing seed densities of forbs at time of planting may be one option available to increase forb cover.
How individual differences in pre-dispositions of behavioral repertoires influence motor learning and performance

This study investigated the effect of preferred behavioral dynamics on performance and learning of a target-based throwing task. Two experiments were performed, revealing that differences in pre-dispositions between individuals result in a large variety of movement solutions, while maintaining similar performance output across all individuals. In Experiment 1, participants demonstrated changes in preferred patterns of coordination in response to alteration of the target distance and/or throwing hand. The notion that these behavioral preferences are relatively stable across time was tested and confirmed in a sub-set of participants who performed the same task twice, in a behaviorally similar manner. This finding becomes particularly relevant considering that these preferences and their relative stability provide the background on which subsequent learning takes place. In Experiment 2, individuals were assigned to a prolonged practice intervention where they were instructed to maintain one movement pattern that was either congruent or incongruent to their initially preferred pattern. The results suggest that the strength of preference of this initially preferred pattern determines the learning pathway. Higher absolute autocorrelation values were observed for individuals who were asked to learn a coordination pattern more dissimilar to their preferred pattern. Autocorrelation values provided insight into the structure of variability, with higher values suggesting a more directed exploration of the task space. This early exploration proved successful for transfer to other target conditions, as the overall performance improvement between PREand POSTtest showed a strong relation with the amount of autocorrelation early in practice. These results provide a framework to more strongly consider the effect of initial differences in pre-dispositions of behavior and performance in both scientific and applied settings, as these differences have a clear effect on the learning pathway. Particularly, rather than using a retrospective approach to the issue of individual differences, the proactive approach employed in this study was successful in relating individual differences in preferences to learning pathways. Furthermore, the effect of additional instructional constraints is strongly determined by the predisposition of the individual, further substantiating the need for change agents to consider learning within the context of the individual. INDEX WORDS: individual differences, motor learning, skill acquisition, intrinsic dynamics, throwing HOW INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN PRE-DISPOSITIONS OF BEHAVIORAL REPERTOIRES INFLUENCE MOTOR LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE
Torque Pulsation Minimization in Spoke-type Interior Permanent Magnet Motors With Skewing and Sinusoidal Permanent Magnet Configurations

This paper proposes two approaches to minimize torque pulsations, including cogging torque and electromagnetic torque ripple, for spoke-type interior permanent magnet (IPM) motors. The first approach is an improved skewing method, in which the rotor PMs are skewed by being symmetrical in the axial direction within one magnet pole pitch for not only reducing torque pulsations but also maintaining maximum available torque and eliminating unbalanced axial electromagnetic forces. The second one is a sinusoidal PM-shaping method with the aim of achieving the same advantageous effects as the proposed skewing method. Both the proposed methods adopt stepped rotor-PM schemes, and the effects of the rotor-PM step numbers on motor performance are investigated. To highlight the advantages of the proposed approaches, a spoke-type IPM motor with the conventional PM configuration is adopted as the basic model. All the motor characteristics, such as back electromotive force, cogging torque, and electromagnetic torque, are predicted by a 3-D finite-element method with the aid of JMAG-Designer.
A Comparative Study of the Effectiveness of Persian vs. English Subtitled Movies on Listening Comprehension Ability among Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

The present study examined the effects of Persian versus English subtitled movies on listening comprehension ability among Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To do so, 60 EFL learners were selected through OPT from two classes at a private institute in Sari, Mazandaran province. The participants were classified into three groups: two experimental groups: a) English subtitle group (N=20); Persian subtitle group (N = 20) and a control group (N=20). The instruments of this study were listening preand posttests. The collected data were analyzed through a paired sample t-test and a One-way ANOVA. The result showed that both Persian and English subtitle films had a significant effect on intermediate EFL learners’ listening comprehension performance. Therefore the first and the second hypotheses were rejected. Moreover, there was statistically meaningful difference between the performances of experimental and control groups in listening comprehension after they received instruction. Therefore, the third hypothesis was rejected. This study had few implications for language teachers, practitioners and syllabus designers to use audiovisual programs in facilitating language learning process.
Caecal microbiome and metabolites associated with different growth performances of broilers

We investigated changes in the caecal microbial composition and metabolic compounds of broiler chickens weighing approximately 0.8–1.5 kg. Arbor Acres (AA) broilers (n =186) were divided into four groups (A–D) according to body weight on day 35. The results showed that there were significant differences in the average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), and feed-to-gain ratio (F:G) of chickens (P less than 0.05). The abundance of 11 genera were found to be significantly different in the four groups (P less than 0.05). The broilers with poor performance had increased levels of D-mannose, hexadecanoic acid, cholesterol, L-valine, L-leucine, glutamic acid, glucopyranose, á-D-allopyranose, and phosphoric acid (P less than 0.05) in the cecum. Microbial compositions were different in the ceca of broilers with different growth performances, and higher growth performance correlated with changes in metabolic pathways related to energy, amino acids, and others.
Thin Ice Detection in the Barents and Kara Seas Using AMSR2 High-Frequency Radiometer Data

We have developed an algorithm for thin ice detection under winter conditions using the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) radiometer high-frequency brightness temperature (36 and 89 GHz) L1R swath data, and a method to combine thin ice swath charts to a more reliable daily thin ice chart. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) ice thickness swath charts were used as reference data for the algorithm development. The algorithm is based on the classification of 36-GHz polarization ratio (PR36) and H-polarization 89–36-GHz gradient ratio (GR3689H) signatures with linear discriminant analysis. We applied an atmospheric correction to the AMSR2 L1R data following established sea ice concentration (SIC) retrieval algorithms. The PR36 and GR8936H signatures were adjusted to a constant air temperature (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$T_{a}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) before the thin ice detection using an empirical relationship between them and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$T_{a}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. The maximum thickness of detected thin ice was estimated to be 20 cm. The thin ice detection with the L1R data is conducted only when SIC <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ge70$ </tex-math></inline-formula>% and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$T_{a}\le -5\,\,^\circ \text{C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> to limit conditions where thick ice may be erroneously detected as thin ice. The thin ice detection algorithm was developed for the Barents and Kara Seas, but it should also be applicable for other Arctic marginal ice zones (MIZs). The daily thin ice chart was validated using an independent set of MODIS daily ice thickness charts. The average probability for misclassification of thick ice as thin ice was 10% and 32% for vice versa. We demonstrate the use of the daily thin ice chart for monitoring the thin ice fraction in the Barents and Kara Seas.
EFFECTS OF PROJECT-BASED ACTIVITIES IN DEVELOPING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ENERGY LITERACY

Energy literacy is a key factor in ensuring the protection of the natural environment. Numerous studies on energy literacy have demonstrated the development of instructional methods to promote the willingness to save energy as a critical research subject. Through a project-based activity, this research explored how hands-on activities improve the energy literacy of students. A quasi-experimental design was adopted, namely a pre-test and post-test nonequivalent control group design. In total, 77 senior high school students participated in a 6-week teaching experiment. A single-factor analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and multiple regression analyses were employed to analyze the collected data. The main findings were as follows: (1) Project-based hands-on activities helped improve the energy literacy of senior high school students; however, the effect was not statistically significant in both experimental and control groups. (2) The key factor influencing the energy conservation behavior of senior high school students was energy-related attitudes following the project-based learning process. Keywords: Energy literacy, project-based activity, senior high school students, solar-powered insect trap.
Synergistic enhancement of cancer therapy using a combination of carbon nanotubes and anti-tumor drug.

AIM In previous pharmacological applications, single-wall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have primarily been explored as potential drug carriers and delivery vehicles. Here, we investigate and demonstrate for the first time, that CNTs can be considered as anti-tumor agents and, when in combination with conventional drugs, can significantly enhance their chemotherapeutic effects. METHOD & MATERIALS HeLa and human Panc1 cancer cells were treated with CNTs (24 h, 10 and 20 microg/ml), etoposide (6 h, 75 x 10(-6) M) and their combination. The cell viability was controlled by flow cytometry, caspase-3 assay and trypan blue dye. RESULTS A highly increased anti-tumor activity of the combination of etoposide and CNTs against cancer cells, compared with the administration of etoposide and CNTs alone, is reported. Data provided by viability assays suggest a strong interaction between CNTs and the cellular structures, thereby improving the effectiveness of conventional chemotherapeutic agents. CONCLUSION We believe this finding could lead to the development of new cancer therapies by carefully selecting the cytostatic drugs and nanostructural materials that, in combination, may provide synergistic curative rates.
Experimental comparison of conventional and bus-clamping PWM methods based on electrical and acoustic noise spectra

The acoustic noise emitted by an induction motor, powered by a voltage source inverter, is an environmental issue. Harmonics present in the stator current are the main reason for the increased acoustic noise in motor drives. The pulse-width modulation technique used to modulate the inverter is the key factor determining the magnitude of current harmonics. Bus-clamping pulse-width modulation (BCPWM) techniques have got much attention nowadays due to reduced switching loss, compared to conventional space vector pwm(CSVPWM). In this paper, two BCPWM techniques namely, 60° and 30° BCPWM methods are compared with CSVPWM on the basis of electrical spectra as well as acoustic noise spectra. Experiments are conducted on a pulse-width modulated voltage source inverter fed 6 kW induction motor drive. Harmonic analysis is carried out on the measured line to line voltage, stator current and acoustic noise, corresponding to the three methods, at different fundamental and carrier frequencies. Comparison of the experimental results show that the magnitude of dominant acoustic noise component around the carrier frequency is reduced significantly with BCPWM methods, compared to CSVPWM, at high modulation indices.
Ant Colony Optimization for Dynamical Resource Allocation in a Multizone Temperature Experimentation Platform

In this work, an algorithm based on the Ant System was used for the dynamical resource allocation in a multiple input/output experimentation platform. This platform, which mimics a temperature grid plant, is composed of multiple sensors and actuators organized in zones. The use of ants in this application allows the search the best actuator in each sample time. This allowed us to obtain a uniform temperature over the platform. Good behavior of the implemented algorithm in the experimentation platform was observed.
Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for child and adolescent anxiety disorders across different CBT modalities and comparisons: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Aim: Pediatric Anxiety Disorders (AD) are common. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of two first-line treatments of youth AD and it has previously been shown to be superior to wait-list but not placebo therapy. This study consists of a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature to assess the efficacy of CBT modalities in comparison to control contingencies for pediatric anxiety disorders. Methods: Studies were included if they were randomized controlled trials, and if CBT was manualized or modular, alone or in combination with medication. CBT was required to include behavioral treatment, exposure treatment, or cognitive elements. Eligible studies included participants aged 18 years or younger. Results: Eighty-one studies were included, with 3386 CBT participants and 2527 control participants. The overall results indicated that CBT is an effective treatment for childhood AD. The results showed that individual-based CBT is superior to wait-list and attention control. Group-based CBT is superior to wait-list control and treatment as usual. Remote-based CBT was superior to attention control and wait-list control. Family-based CBT was superior to treatment as usual, wait-list control, and attention control. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were no more effective than individual-based CBT. Combination treatment was, however, more effective than individual-based CBT. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, no meta-analysis has thus far disentangled the effects of CBT modalities across various comparisons. This meta-analysis hence provides an important update to the literature on the efficacy of CBT for treating anxiety disorders in young people.
Wireless compressive sensing for energy harvesting sensor nodes over fading channels

We consider the scenario in which multiple sensors send spatially correlated data to the fusion center (FC) via independent Rayleigh-fading channels with additive noise. Assuming that the sensor data is sparse in some basis, we show that the recovery of the signal can be formulated as a compressive sensing (CS) problem. To model the scenario where sensors operate with intermittently available energy that is harvested from the environment, we propose that each sensor transmits independently with some probability, and adapts the transmit power to its harvested energy. Due to the probabilistic transmissions, the elements of the equivalent sensing matrix are not Gaussian. Besides, since the sensors have different energy harvesting rates and different sensor-to-FC distances, the FC has different receive signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) for each sensor, referred to as the inhomogeneity of SNRs. Thus, the elements of the sensing matrix are also not identically distributed. We provide theoretical guarantees on the number of measurements for reliable reconstruction, by showing that the sensing matrix satisfies the restricted isometry property (RIP), under some mild conditions. We then compute an achievable system delay under an allowable mean-squared-error (MSE). Furthermore, using techniques from large deviations theory, we analyze the impact of inhomogeneity of the SNRs on the so-called k-restricted eigenvalues, which governs the number of measurements required for the RIP to hold. Our analysis is corroborated by numerical results.
Production and ecosystem structure in cold‐core vs. warm‐core eddies: Implications for the zooplankton isoscape and rock lobster larvae

Anticyclonic (warm‐core) mesoscale eddies (WCEs) in the Eastern Indian Ocean carry higher surface chlorophyll signatures than cyclonic (cold‐core) eddies (CCEs). Paradoxically, WCEs host rock lobster larvae (phyllosomas) with lower lipid stores and protein reserves than phyllosomas in CCEs, suggesting a poorer nutritional status. We assess primary productivity and zooplankton isotopic data from eight eddies across four research voyages (2003–2011) to determine how this contradiction might occur. We find that WCEs and CCEs are equally productive per unit chlorophyll a, but depth‐integrated primary production (PP) is greater in eddies with shallower mixed layers (MLs), especially in CCEs. MLs tend to be shallower in CCEs than in WCEs because the pycnocline is closer to the surface. This, in combination with stronger stratification in CCE euphotic zones than those of WCEs, supports greater flagellate and dinoflagellate populations in CCEs. These phytoplankton provide high‐quality nutrition for zooplankton, which feed on average ~ 0.6 trophic level lower in CCEs with the shallowest MLs, accumulating high lipid stores. Conversely, WCEs have, on average, ~ 70 m deeper MLs than CCEs, and host a phytoplankton community with more diatoms. Diatoms provide lower quality food for zooplankton, and zooplankton lipid stores in WCEs decline with trophic level, and possibly, with time after initial (or seasonal) nutrient injection. As a result, phyllosomas in CCEs have higher energy and lipid content than those in warm‐core eddies. The resolution of the paradox, therefore, is that the higher surface chlorophyll signatures of WCEs are not representative of the nutritional value of the prey field of the phyllosoma. We also conclude that interannual variations of mixed layer depth occur at a regional scale, controlling PP.
Oxygen consumption of Mugil cephalus on several temperatures under brackish water conditions

Two experimental groups were applied to measure oxygen consumption (OC) of young grey mullets Mugil cephalus (TL: 27.3±2.1 cm; TW: 187.9±45.8 g) at different temperatures (15, 20, and 25°C). Specimens of fish from seawater (30 psu) and freshwater (0 psu) were transferred in to brackish water (15 psu). Rate of fish OC after rearing in brackish water, showed significant difference (P<0.05) in that the grey mullets consumed 90.9, 116.8, and 172.1 mg O2/kg/h at temperatures of 15, 20, and 25°C, respectively. In fish from freshwater transferred to brackish water, grey mullets consumed 80.5, 114.4, and 161.5 mg O2/kg/h at 15, 20, and 25°C, respectively (P<0.05). The results showed that the highest oxygen consumption was found at 25°C compared to those at 15 and 20°C. However, the OC from both groups did not differ significantly (P>0.05). It can be concluded, that the OC rate of grey mullets on brackish water has the tendency to increase by temperature rise.