Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing miserly information processing: An expansion of the Cognitive Reflection Test

The Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT; Frederick, 2005) is designed to measure the tendency to override a prepotent response alternative that is incorrect and to engage in further reflection that leads to the correct response. It is a prime measure of the miserly information processing posited by most dual process theories. The original three-item test may be becoming known to potential participants, however. We examined a four-item version that could serve as a substitute for the original. Our data show that it displays a . 58 correlation with the original version and that it has very similar relationships with cognitive ability, various thinking dispositions, and with several other rational thinking tasks. Combining the two versions into a seven-item test resulted in a measure of miserly processing with substantial reliability (.72). The seven-item version was a strong independent predictor of performance on rational thinking tasks after the variance accounted for by cognitive ability and thinking dispositions had been partialled out.
The Differing Views in using the Common Assessment Tasks in Secondary School Science

The Science common assessment tasks currently implemented in Brunei Darussalam (better known as the Brunei Common Assessment Tasks or BCATs) emphasized on developing the 21 Century learning skills among students as well as on the attempt to develop the students to be active learners. However, the effectiveness of the Science BCATs remained debatable. A small-scale case study was conducted involving 33 Year 7 students and four Secondary Science teachers. Questionnaires were used to accumulate data on the views of the Science BCATs from teachers and students. The findings from this study revealed that students have positive perceptions towards the Science BCATs; however teachers perceived them as insignificant. This contradicts with the main aim in the initial implementation of the Science BCATs in the secondary schools.
Calendar Anomalies in Pakistani Stock Returns and Return Volatility

Prior studies investigating monthly calendar anomalies in Pakistan have presented contrasting conclusions and not accounted for volatility in returns. This paper investigates monthly anomalies in the Pakistani stock market using an asymmetric GARCH model across a 17-year time period at firm-level to examine whether the mean and volatility of share returns vary across different months. Since the findings of prior studies have been mixed, the current study undertakes further work on this topic to offer some clarity in the area. The paper's major findings offer little statistical evidence of a monthly seasonal anomaly in mean returns however the findings indicate that anomalies are more prominent for monthly patterns in the volatility of returns.
Possible Role of Nrf2 in Oxidative and Inflammatory Processes During Menopause

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Abstract The increase in life expectancy leads to the possibility of development chronic diseases, from special physiological conditions as occurs in the menopause, which is defined as the permanent cessation of ovulation, marked by the end of menstruation. It has been related to decreased ovarian function that occurs around an age of 45 years. This event involves the reduction in estrogen production and may contribute to the development of chronic-degenerative diseases. Many diseases developed during menopause have been associated with oxidative stress, such as osteoporosis, hot flushes, cognitive impairment, insulin resistance, dry skin, obesity, and cardiovascular events. The knowledge about the participation of Nrf2 in diseases that occur during menopause is very limited. Here, only diseases such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases and dry skin, which are present during menopause and its later stages have been described. The Nrf2 pathway involves the participation of PI3K/Akt, MAPK, and eNOS, which act as mediators for cytoprotection and antioxidation. Compounds such as equol, fitoestro‐ gens, alkyl cathecols, or curcumin could be offered as options to antioxidant treatment, added the fact that they are present in fruits and vegetables which are rich in vitamins, minerals and calcium, thus including all the required nutrients for an adequate nutrition.
Migration vs. development? The case of poverty and inequality in Mexico

Although the migration – development nexus is widely recognized as a complex one, it is generally thought that there is a relationship between poverty and emigration, and that remittances lessen inequality. On the basis of Latin American and Mexican data, this chapter intends to show that for Mexico, the exchange of migrants for remittances is among the lowest in Latin America, that extreme poor Mexicans don't migrate although the moderately poor do, that remittances have a small, non-significant impact on the most widely used inequality index of all households and a very large one on the inequality index of remittance-receiving households, and finally that, to Mexican households, the opportunity cost of international migration is higher than remittance income. In summary, there is a relationship between poverty and migration (and vice versa), but this relationship is far from linear, and in some respects may be a perverse one for Mexico and for Mexican households.
Acilius Phylogeny ( Coleoptera : Dytiscidae ) , Problems with Longbranch attraction and Morphological Intersexual Coevolution

s of the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society Dennis Wm. Stevenson New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458, USA The 22nd annual meeting of the Willi Hennig Society was held at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York from July 20–24. There were 154 participants representing 15 countries and a total of 65 talks, 16 posters, and four software presentations. There were five symposia ranging from sequence alignment to worm biology to biogeography. As with Hennig 21 at Helsinki, there was strong student participation. Student posters represented 13 of the total 16 posters and 23 of 65 oral presentations were by students. Student presentations were part of all symposia. The strength and future of the Willi Hennig Society resides in the students and recent meetings indicate a healthy society for the future. The Student Awards Committee consisted of Jonathan A. Coddington, Arnold G. Kluge and Gunilla Ståhls. The winners were Taran Grant, the Hennig Prize ($1000) for ‘‘Insertions and deletions in the evolution of equal-length DNA fragments’’; Johannes Bergsten, the Brundin Prize ($500) for ‘‘Acilius Phylogeny (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae), Problems with Long-branch attraction and Morphological Intersexual Coevolution’’; and A. R. Lindgren, the Rosen Prize ($250) for ‘‘A New Phylogeny of the Cephalopoda Using Total Evidence’’. The Willi Hennig Society 2004.
DO r-K STRATEGIES UNDERLIE HUMAN RACE DIFFERENCES? A REPLY TO WEIZMANN ET AL.

Data are tabulated showing that on diverse traits including brain size and intelligence, maturational delay, sexual restraint, quiescent temperament, and social organization, the Caucasoid average falls between those of Mongoloids and Negroids. The r-K continuum of reproductive strategies, based on macro-scale comparisons across species, can be used to help explain this micro-scale of human differences. Although democratic ideals are compatible with Darwinian theory, they do not compel us to believe in biological uniformity.
Genetic studies of follicular and mantle cell lymphoma

ABSTRACT Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a malignancy derived from lymphoid tissues. In Sweden, non-Hodgkin lymphoma constituted 3% of all cancers recorded in 2003. Follicular and mantle cell lymphoma are the two types of non-Hodgkin lymphomas studied in this thesis. The treatment modalities of these lymphomas vary, and the reasons why some patients have a good response to therapy while other fail to respond are largely unknown. To address this problem we compared the gene expression of follicular lymphomas that had good response to therapy with follicular lymphomas that did not respond. The investigated treatment was combination chemotherapy with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, prednisone). With high-density oligonucleotide arrays we could show that 14 genes involved in the G2/M transition of the cell cycle were up-regulated in the responders compared with the non-responders. Six out of these 14 genes were correlated with survival in a cohort of 57 patients with follicular lymphoma. Furthermore, one of these genes was also investigated with immunohistochemistry and there was a good correlation between mRNA expression and protein expression of this gene (Paper I). The gene expression measured with high-density oligonucleotide arrays was correlated with survival in two independent cohorts of follicular lymphoma. A total of 21 genes were associated with a prolonged survival in both cohorts. This association was independent of the international prognostic index. Genes of particular interest in this study were
Effect of seawater and soil salinity on ion uptake , yield and quality of tomato ( fruit )

In a pot experiment the influence of irrigation with artificial seawater and of soil salinity on tomato plants and fruit quality was investigated. The surn of the salt concentrations in irrigation water was 0, 30, 60 and 100 mM (seawater salinity: NaCl: MgCl2 : MgS04=20 : 1 : 1; soil salinity: Na2S04 : MgC12=4: 1 on molar basis). Dry matter production of tomato plants was significantly increased by soil salinity but not by seawater salinity. Tomato fruit production was adversely affected only by high salt concentrations. Salt stress increased the uptake of Na, Mg and chloride ions in tomato plants. Sodium reduced the uptake of potassium due to ion antagonism. Sulphate uptake in tomato plants was increased by salt application only under soil salinity Phosphate ion uptake was significantly reduced by salt stress. Chloride ions did not antagonize the uptake of nitrate in tomato plants. Absorption of calcium remained unaffected by salt stress. Iron uptake decreased significantly only under seawater salinity. Glucose, fructose, ascorbic acid and citric acid contents were signifieantly enhanced in tomato fruits by salinity; synthesis of sucrose and malie acid remained unaffected. The increases in the concentrations of sodium, chloride and monosaecharides might have contributed to osmotic adjustment in tomato plants. Salinity inereased the eontents of sugars and acids (ascorbic and citric acid) of the tomato fruits and thus improved the fruit quality.
Monetary Policy and Inflation Dynamics

Since the early 1980s, the U.S. economy has changed in some important ways: inflation now rises considerably less when unemployment is low, and the volatility of output and inflation have fallen sharply. This paper examines whether changes in monetary policy can account for these changes in the economy. The results suggest that changes in monetary policy can account for most or all of the change in the inflationunemployment relationship. In addition, changes in policy can explain a large proportion of the reduction in the volatility of the output gap.
On the invertibility of EGARCH(p, q)

ABSTRACT Of the two most widely estimated univariate asymmetric conditional volatility models, the exponential GARCH (or EGARCH) specification is said to be able to capture asymmetry, which refers to the different effects on conditional volatility of positive and negative effects of equal magnitude, and leverage, which refers to the negative correlation between the returns shocks and subsequent shocks to volatility. However, the statistical properties of the (quasi-)maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE) of the EGARCH(p, q) parameters are not available under general conditions, but only for special cases under highly restrictive and unverifiable sufficient conditions, such as EGARCH(1,0) or EGARCH(1,1), and possibly only under simulation. A limitation in the development of asymptotic properties of the QMLE for the EGARCH(p, q) model is the lack of an invertibility condition for the returns shocks underlying the model. It is shown in this article that the EGARCH(p, q) model can be derived from a stochastic process, for which sufficient invertibility conditions can be stated simply and explicitly when the parameters respect a simple condition.1 1Using the notation introduced in part 2, this refers to the cases where α ≥ |γ| or α ≤ − |γ|. The first inequality is generally assumed in the literature related to the invertibility of EGARCH. This article provides (in the Appendix) an argument for the possible lack of invertibility when these conditions are not met. This will be useful in reinterpreting the existing properties of the QMLE of the EGARCH(p, q) parameters.
Phytochemical screening and cytotoxicity of selected plants used as anthelmintics in Loitoktok Sub-County, Kenya

The practice of traditional medicine is as old as the human race, and plants are an important source of research and development of new drugs. Anthelmintic resistance in human and animal pathogenic helminthes has been spreading in prevalence and severity to a point where there is multi-drug resistance against the three major classes of anthelmintics. It has become a global phenomenon in gastrointestinal nematodes of farm animals, and hence the need for novel anthelmintic products. The objectives of this study were to carry out phytochemical screening and determine bioactivity of plants which are commonly used in the treatment and control of helminthosis in LoitoktokSub-Countyof Kenya. The plant species (Albiziaanthelmintica, Myrsineafricana, Embeliaschimperi and Rapaneamelanophloeos) were selected based on their ethnopharmacological uses, as anthelmintics, by the traditional health practitioners. Phytochemical were screened in aqueous and organic extracts using standard methods and cytotoxicity determined using the Brine shrimp lethality test. Phytochemical detected in the extracts were, anthraquinones, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins, steroids, tannins and triterpenoids. Organic extracts were generally more cytotoxic than the aqueous extracts with median lethal dose (LC50) of 11 to 581 µg/ml. and 149 to 1000 µg/ml respectively. It was concluded that some of the plants used as anthelmintic remedies in Loitoktok contain different types of phytochemical which could be responsible for their cytotoxicity and anthelmintic properties. Further studies may be necessary to assess their potential as anthelmintics for possible drug development.
Ecological drivers of spatial variability among fish fauna of 21 tropical Australian estuaries

Tropical estuarine fish assemblages often show characteristic spatial variation at the scale of individual estuaries but there is no clear grouping of estuaries based on variables such as proximity or climatic conditions. This study investigates if such spatial patterns occur at more extensive spatial scales and begins to uncover the mechanisms driving these patterns. We sampled 21 estuaries spanning 650 km of the tropical northeastern coast of Australia that comprise 3 climatic zones and 7 discrete regions. The 21 estuaries possessed broadly similar fish assemblages; however, there was considerable variation in the details of faunal composition, species richness and catch per unit effort (CPUE) of individual species. This variation had little to do with an estuary’s proximity to other sites or its climatic zone but was focussed at the estuary-to-estuary scale. The variability was largely a product of contrasting spatial patterns displayed by different species. In turn, the complex assemblage and species patterns seemed to be influenced in complex ways by contrasting responses to physical and ecological variables, with estuary-level ecological variables generally having greater power in explaining faunal differences than site-specific physical variables. The fact that estuary-level ecological variables produced a good explanation of the complex spatial patterns typical of tropical estuarine fauna indicates the value of developing estuary-scale explanatory variables that relate to specific ecological processes. The lack of any clear influence of climatic zone or proximity to other sites on spatial patterns highlights the continual need for careful evaluation of paradigmatic understanding.
Temperate carbonate cycling and water mass properties from intertidal to bathyal depths (Azores)

Abstract. The rugged submarine topography of the Azores supports a diverse heterozoan association resulting in intense biotically-controlled carbonate-production and accumulation. In order to characterise this cold-water (C) factory a 2-year experiment was carried out in the southern Faial Channel to study the biodiversity of hardground communities and for budgeting carbonate production and degradation along a bathymetrical transect from the intertidal to bathyal 500 m depth. Seasonal temperatures peak in September (above a thermocline) and bottom in March (stratification diminishes) with a decrease in amplitude and absolute values with depth, and tidal-driven short-term fluctuations. Measured seawater stable isotope ratios and levels of dissolved nutrients decrease with depth, as do the calcium carbonate saturation states. The photosynthetic active radiation shows a base of the euphotic zone in ~70 m and a dysphotic limit in ~150 m depth. Bioerosion, being primarily a function of light availability for phototrophic endoliths and grazers feeding upon them, is ~10 times stronger on the illuminated upside versus the shaded underside of substrates in the photic zone, with maximum rates in the intertidal (−631 g/m2/yr). Rates rapidly decline towards deeper waters where bioerosion and carbonate accretion are slow and epibenthic/endolithic communities take years to mature. Accretion rates are highest in the lower euphotic zone (955 g/m2/yr), where the substrate is less prone to hydrodynamic force. Highest rates are found – inversely to bioerosion – on down-facing substrates, suggesting that bioerosion may be a key factor governing the preferential settlement and growth of calcareous epilithobionts on down-facing substrates. In context of a latitudinal gradient, the Azores carbonate cycling rates plot between known values from the cold-temperate Swedish Kosterfjord and the tropical Bahamas, with a total range of two orders in magnitude. Carbonate budget calculations for the bathymetrical transect yield a mean 266.9 kg of epilithic carbonate production, −54.6 kg of bioerosion, and 212.3 kg of annual net carbonate production per metre of coastline in the Azores C factory.
Low frequency ultrasound combined with baicalein can reduced the invasive capacity of breast cancer cells by down regulating the expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, and u-PA

Background: Over the past three decades, a large number of patients have died owing to breast cancer metastasis and recurrence. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop effective and comprehensive strategies for the treatment of breast cancer. Earlier studies have demonstrated that low frequency ultrasound and baicalein can arrest the invasive activity of breast cancer cells and inhibit the migration and metastasis of breast cancer. However, the exact mechanism of action of this combination remains elusive. Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of the combination treatment with low frequency ultrasound and baicalein on breast cancer has not been reported. Methods: In this study, human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 was cultured and subjected to one of the following four treatment: low frequency ultrasound, baicalein, combination of the two, or no treatment. Cells in the low frequency group were irradiated with ultrasound for 5 min at a frequency of 840 kHz, 0.75 W/cm2. Cells in the baicalein group were treated with baicalein for 24 h at a concentration of 150 μmol/L. In the combination group, cells were treated with both low frequency ultrasound and baicalein. Cells receiving no treatment were designated as the control group. Invasive capacity of cells in the four groups was examined by transwell assay. matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2), MMP-9, and urokinase type plasminogen activator (u-PA) mRNA and protein levels were examined using Real-time PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Results: The invasive capacity of cells in the low frequency group, baicalein group and the combination group was significantly reduced by 21.6%±1.68%, 31.9%±2.19% and 51.6%±2.01%, respectively. The expression levels of both mRNA and protein of MMP-2, MMP-9, and u-PA were significantly decreased in all three treatment groups, compared to that in the control group. The decline in the expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 and u-PA was highest in the combination group at both mRNA and protein levels. Conclusions: Low frequency ultrasound combined with baicalein can effectively reduce the invasive capacity of breast cancer, probably by downregulating the expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, and u-PA.
Hyperactive Agents in Social Network Sites : the evidence for lifecycles and determinants of lifecycle variability

This paper examines a highly used social network site (SNS) by studying the behavior of more than 11 million members over a 20 month period. The importance of the most highly active members to the overall network is demonstrated by the significant fraction of total visits by extremely active members. By examining the time dependence, we find that such members do not have extensive life spans as hyperactive agents but instead have average lifespan of only 2.5 months. We form and test a number of hypotheses concerning these hyperactive agents and the determinants of their lifespan. It is confirmed that persons aged 18-22 are much over-represented in the population of hyperactive agents whereas contrary to expectations women are statistically more likely to be hyperactive agents than men. We also find that speed of achieving hyperactive agent status increases the lifespan of a hyperactive agent. The norm of reciprocity is strongly confirmed to be present in the overall population and in the hyperactive agent population. However, contrary to expectations, local clustering in the vicinity of hyperactive agents is smaller (rather than larger) than overall clustering. These results show some important ways that the SNS is similar to real social networks but also important ways that they are different. In particular the fact that agents practice the “norm of reciprocity” is homologous with real social networks but the strong dominance behavior and lack of strong local clusters are very different for the virtual social network relative to what is known about real social networks. These findings have sociological as well as managerial implications which are discussed in the paper.
THE STRUCTURE AND POSSIBLE FUNCTION OF THE AVIAN SEMINAL SAC

it is only recently that its structure and function Periodic Acid-Schiff method (identification of polysaccharides ), with Best’ s carmine ( specific identificahave been investigated (Wolfson 1952, 1954a, tion of elvcogen ) and with Alcian blue (identification b; Bailey 1953; Salt 1954). The protuberance of m&pol&ackharides ). Amylase trkated control is formed by a much coiled extension of the slides were stained with the former two stains. The posterior end of the vas deferens lying beneath right seminal sacs were dissected out and placed in