Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rasch model item response theory (IRT) to analyze the quality of mathematics final semester exam test on system of linear equations in two variables (SLETV)

A high-quality test has a balanced level of difficulty and can be completed by the respondent with their level of abilities. This study analyzed the test instrument used to measure students' mathematics abilities in the semester final exam on System of Linear Equations in Two-Variables. The purposive sampling technique was applied to select the respondent students (N=195). The test items were twenty multiple-choice questions. The researchers performed the data analysis using Rasch model Item Response Theory (IRT) approach with the QUEST program. The analysis revealed that the twenty items’ validity matched the Rasch model with a range of INFIT MNSQ values between 0.89 – 1.17. Items on the final semester exam can be used based on the estimated OUTFIT t-value less than equal to 2.00. The OUTFIT t analysis obtained nineteen qualified items and one unqualified item.
Tingkat literasi keuangan syariah santri dayah

This study aims to determine the level of Islamic financial literacy of students at Dayah Raudhatul Huda. Aspects of Islamic financial literacy observed including knowledge of basic Islamic finance, Islamic saving and loans, personal finance, contracts in Islamic finance and understanding of Islamic financial institutions. The population in this study were the Senior High students of Dayah Raudhatul Huda with the sample size of 77. The data analysis method used is descriptive statistics. The results showed that the level of Islamic financial literacy of students at Dayah Raudhatul Huda was 68,10% which is categorized as medium.The average value obtained in the aspects of basic Islamic financial knowledge is 74,38%, Islamic savings and loans of 69,35%, personal finance of 54,97%, contract in Islamic finance of 69,34% and understanding of Islamic financial institutions at 72,50%.
Systematic Review on Parkinson’s Disease Medications, Emphasizing on Three Recently Approved Drugs to Control Parkinson’s Symptoms

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a disease that involves neurodegeneration and is characterised by the motor symptoms which include muscle rigidity, tremor, and bradykinesia. Other non-motor symptoms include pain, depression, anxiety, and psychosis. This disease affects up to ten million people worldwide. The pathophysiology behind PD is due to the neurodegeneration of the nigrostriatal pathway. There are many conventional drugs used in the treatment of PD. However, there are limitations associated with conventional drugs. For instance, levodopa is associated with the on-off phenomenon, and it may induce wearing off as time progresses. Therefore, this review aimed to analyze the newly approved drugs by the United States-Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA) from 2016–2019 as the adjuvant therapy for the treatment of PD symptoms in terms of efficacy and safety. The new drugs include safinamide, istradefylline and pimavanserin. From this review, safinamide is considered to be more efficacious and safer as the adjunct therapy to levodopa as compared to istradefylline in controlling the motor symptoms. In Study 016, both safinamide 50 mg (p = 0.0138) and 100 mg (p = 0.0006) have improved the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) part III score as compared to placebo. Improvement in Clinical Global Impression—Change (CGI-C), Clinical Global Impression—Severity of Illness (CGI-S) and off time were also seen in both groups of patients following the morning levodopa dose. Pimavanserin also showed favorable effects in ameliorating the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease Psychosis (PDP). A combination of conventional therapy and non-pharmacological treatment is warranted to enhance the well-being of PD patients.
Violence in the Bible and the Apocalypse of John: A critical reading of J.D. Crossan’s How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian

The title of the latest book of Crossan: How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian: Struggling with Divine Violence from Genesis Through Revelation expresses his maintained existential concern when approaching the Bible with an open and critical mind. There has been an ongoing effort for projecting violence outside the Bible, as if an unfortunate side-effect of wrong interpretations, rather than confronting the texts and their violent content. However, while most studies focused on the violence of the Old Testament, recent ones are looking more intently into the New Testament as well (Carter 2017; eds. Matthews & Gibson 2005). Crossan is aware of the Bible’s own proclivity to violence, so his aim is to explain how this virtuous anthology which starts with the luminous chapters on creation (Gn 1–2), follows with the radical non-violent praxis of Jesus based on Jesus’ concept of a non-violent God, could end then portraying such a gruesome view in Revelation, with a war to end of wars. ‘Does the end of a book determine the meaning of the story? ’ (Crossan 2015:21). These different emphases lead him to conclude that we are dealing with a ‘vision of a bipolar God’ which needs further exploration (Crossan 2015:16–18). Crossan’s nuance is to engage with the ‘inner matrix’ (his preferred word for ‘context’) of the biblical texts. Jan Assmann, a well-renowned Egyptologist, spoke in this very sense of a ‘cultural semantic’ of violence by which Israel’s monotheistic faith is both presented and remembered. It is not that monotheistic faith is violent per se as that Israel’s historical memory and social construction are embedded in violent narratives (Assmann 1996, 2014:41–42). Crossan does not dodge the problem either and confronts it head on. Scripture is not for him (not his words) the norma normans (‘the norm/rule that governs’) of the Christian faith, we need to look somewhere else.
Tourism price normalities in two Adriatic east coast 'euro' countries

Abstract This debut work offers a stunning look at real vs nominal prices that consider more than just inflation. The inadequate examination of hospitality price comparison is investigated between two non-neighbouring Adriatic east coast countries – Slovenia and Montenegro – using the euro. Hospitality prices are an essential indicator in hospitality markets, destination marketing and management planning. Using 73 monthly time-series data for the economic crisis period from December 2008 to December 2014, this period covers one shock in a series. One of the key managerial features of cointegrated spatial hospitality price spread was that Montenegro followed Slovenian hospitality prices. Hospitality prices in Montenegro and Slovenia tend to be weakly integrated into the long term and seasonally driven in the short term. In addition, the econometric experimentation has given a theoretical novelty for underpinned and undermined tourism economy modelling in normalities. This state-of-the-art econometric feature is included in a customary vector error correction model (VECM). Robust applied results recognise that hospitality prices in Montenegro are domestic driven and in Slovenia Eurozone driven. This finding is relevant for applied economics on obtaining a normally distributed price model. Its theoretical and managerial implications are vital for hospitality economics, marketing and tourism management.
Rapamycin Suppresses Penile NADPH Oxidase Activity to Preserve Erectile Function in Mice Fed a Western Diet

The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a nutrient-sensitive cellular signaling kinase that has been implicated in the excess production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). NADPH oxidase-derived ROS have been implicated in erectile dysfunction pathogenesis. The objective of this study was to determine if mTOR is an activator of NADPH oxidase in the penis and to determine the functional relevance of this pathway in a translationally relevant model of diet-induced erectile dysfunction. Male mice were fed a control diet or a high-fat, high-sucrose Western style diet (WD) for 12 weeks and treated with vehicle or rapamycin for the final 4 weeks of the dietary intervention. Following the intervention, erectile function was assessed by cavernous nerve-stimulated intracavernous pressure measurement, in vivo ROS production was measured in the penis using a microdialysis approach, and relative protein contents from the corpus cavernosum were determined by Western blot. Erectile function was impaired in vehicle treated WD-mice and was preserved in rapamycin treated WD-mice. Penile NADPH oxidase-mediated ROS were elevated in WD-mice and suppressed by rapamycin treatment. Western blot analysis suggests mTOR activation with WD by increased active site phosphorylation of mTOR and p70S6K, and increased expression of NADPH oxidase subunits, all of which were suppressed by rapamycin. These data suggest that mTOR is an upstream mediator of NADPH oxidase in the corpus cavernosum in response to a chronic Western diet, which has an adverse effect on erectile function.
Speech depression recognition based on attentional residual network.

BACKGROUND Depressive disorder is a common affective disorder, also known as depression, which is characterized by sadness, loss of interest, feelings of guilt or low self-worth and poor concentration. As speech is easy to obtain non-offensively with low-cost, many researchers explore the possibility of depression prediction through speech. Adopting speech signals to recognize depression has important practical significance. Aiming at the problem of the complex structure of the deep neural network method used in the recognition of speech depression and the traditional machine learning methods need to manually extract the features and the low recognition rate. METHODS This paper proposes a model that combines residual thinking and attention mechanism. First, depression corpus is designed based on the classic psychological experimental paradigm self-reference effect (SRE), and the speech dataset is labeled; then the attention module is introduced into the residual, and the channel attention is used to learn the features of the channel dimension, the spatial attention feedback the features of the spatial dimension, and the combination of the two to obtain the attention residual unit; finally the stacking unit constructs a speech depression recognition model based on the attention residual network. RESULTS Experimental results show that compared with traditional machine learning methods, this model obtains better results in the recognition of depression, which can meet the need for actual recognition application of depression. CONCLUSIONS In this study, we not only predict whether person is depressed, but also estimate the severity of depression. In the designed corpus, the depression binary classification of an individual is given based on the severity of depression which is measured using BDI-II scores. Experimental results show that spontaneous speech can obtain better results than automatic speech, and the classification of speech features corresponding to negative questions is better than other tasks under negative emotions. Besides, the recognition accuracy rate of both male and female subjects is higher than that under other emotions.
Numerical modeling of the cardiac mechano-electric feedback within a thermo-electro-mechanical framework. Study of its consequences on arrhythmogenesis.

This doctoral study characterizes, for simple geometries, the cardiac autonomous electrical activity induced by the mechanical deformations of the myocardium via the mechano-electric feedback within a thermo-electro-mechanical framework. The underlying fundamental mechanisms are highlighted and discussed in detail. In a healthy heart, the mechano-electric feedback acts as a regulator able to damp mechanical perturbations undergone by the heart, by appropriately modulating electrical activity shortly after these perturbations. In this way, a new healthy electromechanical situation is recovered. However, under certain conditions, this feedback can be a generator of dramatic cardiac arrhythmias by inducing local electrical depolarizations resulting from abnormal cardiac muscle tissue deformations. These local perturbations can then propagate in the whole heart and, thus, lead to global cardiac dysfunctions. The oneand two-dimensional models developed in this work to study the arrhythmogenic consequences of the mechano-electric feedback within a thermo-electro-mechanical framework account for three couplings: the excitation-contraction coupling, the mechano-electric feedback, and the thermo-electric coupling. The excitation-contraction coupling allows the mechanical contraction of cardiac muscle cells resulting from the
Safety Evaluation of Pedestrian Countdown Signals: Definitive Results from Two Cities in the United States

The pedestrian countdown signals (PCS) treatment involves the display of a numerical countdown that shows how many seconds are left in the flashing DON’T WALK interval. Although many studies have attempted to evaluate the safety of PCS, the results have been inconsistent for many reasons, including inadequate sample size and the inability to control for possible bias from regression to the mean and from exposure. This study performed a before-after empirical Bayes analysis using data from 115 treated intersections in Charlotte, North Carolina and 218 treated intersections in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to evaluate the safety effects of PCS. The evaluation also included 136 reference intersections in Charlotte, and 597 reference intersections in Philadelphia. Following the implementation of PCS, total crashes decreased by approximately 8% and rear-end crashes decreased by approximately 12%, and these reductions were statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. Pedestrian crashes decreased by about 9% and this reduction was statistically significant at the 90% confidence level. Economic analysis revealed a benefit-cost ratio of 23 with a low of 13 and a high of 32.
Hubungan pengambilan keputusan kepala sekolah dan kepuasan kerja dengan kinerja guru

Tujuan penelitian adalah untuk mengetahui: 1) hubungan pengambilan keputusan kepala sekolah dengan kepuasan kerja guru, 2) hubungan pengambilan keputusan kepala sekolah dengan kinerja guru, dan 3) hubungan kepuasan kerja dengan kinerja guru. Penelitian ini dilakukan di SMP Negeri 1 Labuhan Deli dengan menggunakan metode penelitian korelasi (corelational reseach), dengan tujuan untuk mendeskripsikan tiga hal yaitu: pengambilan keputusan kepala sekolah, kepuasan kerja guru, dan kinerja guru. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan: 1) terdapat korelasi yang signifkan antara pengambilan keputusan kepala sekolah dengan kepuasan kerja guru dengan koefisien korelasi sebesar 0,452, 2) terdapat korelasi yang signifikan antara pengambilan keputusan kepala sekolah dengan kinerja guru dengan koefisien korelasi sebesar 0,427, dan 3) terdapat korelasi yang signifikan antara kepuasan kerja guru dengan kinerja guru dengan koefisien korelasi sebesar 0,508.
Objectivity, Reliability, and Validity of the Basketball Throw Test as a Health-related Measure of Upper-Body Muscular Strength in a Sample of Algerian Primary School Children

ABSTRACT This study investigated the objectivity, reliability, and the validity of the Basketball Throw Test (BTT) as an upper-body muscular strength measure. Participants (33 boys and 32 girls; mean age = 8.75 ± 1.47) performed the BTT on 2 occasions (1-week apart), and the hand-grip test as criterion measure. The objectivity and reliability were estimated using an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC2,1) and graphically examined according to the Bland-Altman approach. Pearson correlation coefficient and the known-differences method was employed to determine validity. The BTT demonstrated high objectivity ICC2,1 = 0.90 (95% CI, 0.84–0.94), reliability ICC2,1 = 0.91 (95% CI, 0.86–0.95) and validity (r = 0.77, p <.001). The Bland–Altman method graphically confirmed intraclass correlation data. The significant difference in the BTT scores between 6-year-old children (1.61 ± 0.23) and 10-year-old children (t = −12.64, p < .001) provided additional support of validity. The BTT test is a feasible measure of upper-body muscular strength in school-aged children.
N-Acetylcysteine Reverses Monocrotophos Exposure-Induced Hepatic Oxidative Damage via Mitigating Apoptosis, Inflammation and Structural Changes in Rats

Oxidative stress-mediated tissue damage is primarily involved in hepatic injuries and dysfunctioning. Natural antioxidants have been shown to exert hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic properties. The present study evaluated the effect of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) against monocrotophos (MCP) exposure-induced toxicity in the rat liver. Albino Wistar rats were divided into four groups: (1) control, (2) NAC-treated, (3) MCP-exposure, (4) NAC and MCP-coexposure group. The dose of MCP (0.9 mg/kg b.wt) and NAC (200 mg/kg b.wt) were administered orally for 28 days. Exposure to MCP caused a significant increase in lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation and decreased glutathione content along with the depletion of antioxidant enzyme activities. Further MCP exposure increased pro-inflammatory cytokines levels and upregulated Bax and Caspase-3 expressions. MCP exposure also caused an array of structural alternations in liver tissue, as depicted by the histological and electron microscopic analysis. Thepretreatment of NAC improved glutathione content, restored antioxidant enzyme activities, prevented oxidation of lipids and proteins, decreased pro-inflammatory cytokines levels and normalized apoptotic protein expression. Treatment of NAC also prevented histological and ultrastructural alternations. Thus, the study represents the therapeutic efficacy and antioxidant potential of NAC against MCP exposure in the rat liver.
Prognostic Value of the B12/CRP Index in Older Systemically Treatable Cancer Patients

Simple Summary Decisions on cancer treatment for older patients take into account not only comorbidities but also physical and cognitive resources. Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) in older patients assesses geriatric frailties but does not include standardized biological tests. The B12/CRP index (BCI) was first intended as a prognosis tool to predict 90-day mortality after advanced cancer diagnosis. This study shows the prognostic link between BCI value and overall cancer survival time in older people, and the association between BCI value and geriatric frailty before cancer treatment in this population. Abstract Background: While comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) in older patients treated for cancer assesses several related domains, it does not include standardized biological tests. The present study aimed to: (1) assess the prognosis value of the B12/CRP index (BCI) in a population of systemically treatable older patients with cancer and (2) analyze the association between BCI value and pre-existing geriatric frailty. Method: We conducted a retrospective observational study between January 2016 and June 2020 at Marseille University Hospital. All consecutive cancer patients aged 70 years and over before initiating systemic therapy were included. Results: Of the 863 patients included, 60.5% were men and 42.5% had metastatic stage cancer. Mean age was 81 years. The low-BCI group (≤10,000) had a significantly longer survival time than the mid-BCI (10,000 < BCI ≤ 40,000) and high-BCI (BCI > 40,000) groups (HR = 0.327, CI95% [0.26–0.42], p-value = 0.0001). Mid- and high-BCI (BCI > 40,000) values were associated with impaired functional status and malnutrition. Conclusion: A BCI > 10,000 would appear to be a good biological prognostic factor for poor survival times and pre-existing geriatric impairment in older cancer patients before they initiate systemic treatment.
Resource rents, balance of power, and political stability

We study the association between natural resource rents and internal political stability, highlighting the importance of the distribution of political power as a mediating factor. We present a simple theoretical model demonstrating that increased rents are likely to be positively associated with the internal stability of a powerful incumbent while destabilizing a less powerful incumbent. Our empirical analysis confirms this prediction. Employing panel data for more than 120 countries from the period 1984–2009, our estimation results demonstrate that resource rents can promote political stability but only when political power is sufficiently concentrated. Indeed, if the incumbent is sufficiently weak, rents fuel instability. Our main results hold when we control for the effects of income, quality of institutions (rule of law, democratic accountability and corruption), persistence of political stability, time-varying common shocks, country fixed effects, possible endogeneity of rents and power balance to political stability, and various additional covariates. Our analysis departs from the existing literature by emphasizing not (only) the type of government, but rather the strength of government, as a key determinant of the impact of resource rents on political stability. This analysis sheds light on current political transformations and reconfigurations in the resource rich Middle East and North Africa.
Simple transmit diversity technique for phased array radar

This study presents a simple yet ingenious transmit diversity technique (so-called hybrid codes) for phased array radar. Its main property is the capability of digital beamforming on transmit just like with a set of orthogonal signals employed by coherent multiple-input–multiple-output radar and simplicity (only one waveform has to be generated in time). The performance of the hybrid codes is examined by analysing the transmit ambiguity functions containing beampatterns and range profile for all angular directions of interest.
Developing a Theory of Program Vision as Professional Socialization in Special Education Teacher Preparation

In general education, researchers find candidates’ pre-service experiences are a tool for socialization into the knowledge, norms, and values of the profession. An important aspect of this process is program vision—the collective understanding of teaching put forth by a preparation program. Yet, few investigations in special education examine program vision. Using interviews with candidates across six teacher preparation programs, the author generates theory to understand the role of vision in special education teacher candidates’ professional socialization and how experiences of program vision are associated with their conceptions of their future roles and responsibilities. Candidates’ conception of special educators’ roles reflected three characterizations consistent within, but distinct across programs: Direct Instructor, Supportive Differentiator, and General Responder. Each profile was associated with unique roles and responsibilities for special educators. Findings draw attention to the importance of examining vision as a tool for professional socialization in special education teacher preparation.