Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“Online versus Face-to-face Collaborative Learning: Perceptions of Students and Instructors of Technical Writing for Engineers”

Collaborative learning (CL) has become a popular teaching and learning approach in higher education. The sudden transition from normal face-to-face (FTF) to online learning during the spread of COVID-19 has required consideration of one’s digital competence to cope with online collaborative learning (OCL). This study investigates the perceptions of undergraduate engineering students and instructors -in a private university in Egypt- of using OCL tools, namely Google Suite or Quip to accomplish their assigned technical writing reports compared to other students who use the traditional FTF approach. The study adopts a quasi-experimental research design in which triangulation is applied for collecting data; the participants are 4 instructors and 133 students, divided into two disproportionate groups: 55 students represent the control group and 78 students represent the experimental treatment group which uses OCL to complete pretest and posttest report writing tasks. This paper focuses on stage one of the study. Two semi-structured questionnaires were distributed to students; the first indicated perceptions of students’ digital competence before starting the treatment, while the second assessed their perceptions of CL using either method: FTF CL vs. OCL. Instructors were interviewed about their experience of monitoring student’s progress through FTF CL or OCL. Results of the first questionnaire showed that most of students in both groups had adequate digital competence and would prefer FTF collaborative work to the online one. In the second questionnaire, results showed significant differences between FTF CL and OCL groups (p-value=0.01) in which the OCL group perceived “Task completion and effectiveness of work” and “Writing Skills” dimensions higher than the FTF group with mean differences (0.22) and (0.26), respectively. ANOVA test revealed significant differences between the 4 dimensions of CL in only the OCL (F(3, 308)=4.190, p=0.01) and Post HOC test showed that the “writing skills” is the most highly perceived dimension in OCL compared to other ones. In stage two of the study which will be presented in a future research, statistical analysis will be conducted to compare significant differences between the pretest and posttest scores of students’ collaborative report writing among FTF CL and OCL groups.
Computer Science Majors’ Experiences of Their Distance Education Caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic caused many universities to switch from on-campus education to distance education, in just a couple of days. In this study, we investigate how computer science (CS) majors experienced the emergency remote education during the first months of the pandemic. We sent out a survey to bachelor’s and master’s students, which yielded 794 responses. In the survey, we asked the students to compare the online education to their on-campus education on a number of aspects, such as motivation, experienced stress and the possibility to collaborate with other students. We also asked the students to compare the quality of learning activities, such as lectures and tutorials. The results show that students preferred the on-campus setting in all aspects, but on open-ended questions about advantages, the students stated the new education format made their schedule more flexible, increased accessibility of learning material, and reduced commuting time. We also identified some differences between the students’ year of study, implying that different courses did not adapt to the new conditions equally well.
User’s Perception of Delay: An Experiment Using Progress Indicators

To handle a delay problem while users are working with an information system, developers may use human trick so the users would lose track of time. The trick includes presenting certain detail on progress indicators which are displayed at various speeds. However, the studies addressing such issue are rare.A lab experiment with 180 undergraduates at Chulalongkorn Business School in Thailand proved that users’ perceived delay was significantly different (1) between two amounts of response time and (2) between whether success detail was present with the progress indicators but the delay across three speeds of the progress indicators was not.In addition to extending theoretical insight into the delay issue of human-computer interaction, practitioners may use our findings to tackle the delay problems in their online services.
Cultivating entrepreneuship in higher education during a crisis condition: crisis related issues discussed in entrepreneurship literature

This paper presents a comprehensive state of the art regarding the crisis issues debated within entrepreneurship literature. It is crucial to understand the way that different types of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial activities and dynamics are affected by the crisis to produce insights to foster entrepreneurship in higher education during crisis conditions. The literature review covers the last twenty years, and the nature of research studies highlights the relevance as seen by the growing number of studies over the last years. A set of criteria were used to classify the selected paper and crisis related issues were discussed within the chosen criteria. The discussion produced insights to cultivate higher education entrepreneurship in times of crises and helped do envisage useful teaching and learning tools to shape an entrepreneurial culture by fostering students’ skills in crisis environments. Findings can have direct implications for scholars on entrepreneurship education and contribute to enrich entrepreneurial higher education during adverse conditions.
Best-Arm Identification in Correlated Multi-Armed Bandits

In this paper we consider the problem of best-arm identification in multi-armed bandits in the fixed confidence setting, where the goal is to identify, with probability <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1-\delta $ </tex-math></inline-formula> for some <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\delta >0$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, the arm with the highest mean reward in minimum possible samples from the set of arms <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {K}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Most existing best-arm identification algorithms and analyses operate under the assumption that the rewards corresponding to different arms are independent of each other. We propose a novel correlated bandit framework that captures domain knowledge about correlation between arms in the form of upper bounds on expected conditional reward of an arm, given a reward realization from another arm. Our proposed algorithm C-LUCB, which generalizes the LUCB algorithm utilizes this partial knowledge of correlations to sharply reduce the sample complexity of best-arm identification. More interestingly, we show that the total samples obtained by C-LUCB are of the form <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm {O}\left({\sum _{k \in \mathcal {C}} \log \left({\frac {1}{\delta }}\right)}\right)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> as opposed to the typical <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm {O}\left({\sum _{k \in \mathcal {K}} \log \left({\frac {1}{\delta }}\right)}\right)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> samples required in the independent reward setting. The improvement comes, as the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm {O}(\log (1/\delta))$ </tex-math></inline-formula> term is summed only for the set of <italic>competitive</italic> arms <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, which is a subset of the original set of arms <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {K}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. The size of the set <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, depending on the problem setting, can be as small as 2, and hence using C-LUCB in the correlated bandits setting can lead to significant performance improvements. Our theoretical findings are supported by experiments on the Movielens and Goodreads recommendation datasets.
Effects of Aegopodium podagraria Preparations on the Metabolic Disorders Induced in Rats by Excess Fructose Combined WITH Hydrochlorothiazide: The Relationship between Influence on Electrolyte and Carbohydrate Metabolism.

Aims: To evaluate the effect of Aegopodium podagraria aerial part extract and tincture on electrolyte, glucose and uric acid metabolism in rats receiving excess fructose (10% drinking solution) combined with hydrochlorothiazide (20 mg/kg). Study Design: Fourty-two male rats were randomly and evenly distributed to seven groups: Group I: intact control; Group II: fructose supplementation; Group III: fructose supplementation + hydrochlorothiazide; Group IV: fructose supplementation + hydrochlorothiazide + A. podagraria extract, 1 g/kg; Group V: fructose supplementation + hydrochlorothiazide + A. podagraria tincture, 1 ml/kg; Group VI: fructose supplementation +hydrochlorothiazide +A. podagraria tincture, 5 ml/kg; Group VII: fructose supplementation + hydrochlorothiazide + reference drug allopurinol, 10 mg/kg. The duration of the treatment was 10 weeks. Place and Duration of Study: Central Scientific-Research Laboratory of National University of Pharmacy, Kharkiv, Ukraine, between February and 2010 and May 2010. Original Research Article International Journal of Biochemistry Research & Review, 4(1): 80-98, 2014 81 Methodology: At week 9, glucose tolerance test was performed. At week 10, the excretory renal function was analyzed, creatinine, uric acid, sodium and potassium level in urine and plasma were determined, glomerular filtration rate, sodium and water reabsorption, Na /K ratio of urine and plasma were calculated. Results: Hydrochlorothiazide against the background of fructose increased sodium excretion and urine Na /K ratio (P=.05). The extract and the tincture (5 ml/kg) tended to increase sodium reabsorption while the tincture at the lower dose and allopurinol did not change the renal function. The extract exerted a hypouricemic effect (P=.05). In contrast to the tincture and allopurinol, the extract augmented potassium excretion and reduced its blood content (P=.05). Base on Na/K ratios these changes may be associated with unfavourable hyperaldosteronism. The tincture (1 ml/kg) decreased blood glucose level (P=.05). Conclusion: A. podagraria tincture exerts hypoglycemic effect on the model similar to metabolic syndrome. Further study of A. podagraria extract dosage regimens is required.
The Effects of Terrorism on Businesses

This paper adds to business performance literature by exploring the connection between terrorism and countrylevel global business performance. To proxy for company success, a measure of a country's distance from the frontier score of the Doing Business index of the World Bank is used. The findings of the projections of fixed effects based on 173 countries over 7 years (2009-2017) indicate that terrorism has no major connection with the success of global industry. We then split our sample into countries that are stable, emerging and vulnerable.The findings still indicate that the sub-samples of developed and developing countries do not have a robust, meaningful association between terrorism and market success. The findings based on the sub-sample of vulnerable countries, however, indicate a substantial negative association between terrorism and market performance. The findings are consistent with an alternative market output indicator and prediction approach that controls
INCOME INEQUALITY AS LONG-TERM CONDITIONING FACTOR OF MONETARY TRANSMISSION TO BANK INTEREST RATES IN EA COUNTRIES

Income Inequality as Long-term Conditioning Factor of Monetary Transmission to Bank Interest Rates in EA Countries In this paper we investigate the effect of income inequality on the transmission of standard and unconventional monetary policy shocks to bank loan rates. We hypothesize that income inequality might encapsulate important characteristics of credit market demand. We use an interacted panel error correction model to examine a set of EA countries over the years 2008-2016. Our findings suggest that higher income inequality hinders the transmission of standard monetary policy to consumer loans and limits the use of unconventional monetary policy in the housing loans segment. Conversely, more unequal societies are characterized by stronger monetary transmission in the small firm loans segment.
The Importance of Diagnosing and the Clinical Potential of Treating Obstructive Sleep Apnea to Delay Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease: A Special Focus on Cognitive Performance

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a highly frequent sleep disorder in the middle-aged and older population, and it has been associated with an increased risk of developing cognitive decline and dementia, including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In more recent years, a growing number of studies have focused on: 1) the presence of OSA in patients with MCI or AD, 2) the link between OSA and markers of AD pathology, and 3) the role of OSA in accelerating cognitive deterioration in patients with MCI or AD. Moreover, some studies have also assessed the effects of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment on the cognitive trajectory in MCI and AD patients with comorbid OSA. This narrative review summarizes the findings of studies that analyzed OSA as a risk factor for developing MCI and/or AD in the middle-aged and older populations with a special focus on cognition. In addition, it describes the results regarding the effects of CPAP treatment in hampering the progressive cognitive decline in AD and delaying the conversion to AD in MCI patients. Considering the importance of identifying and treating OSA in patients with MCI or AD in order to prevent or reduce the progression of cognitive decline, further larger and adequately powered studies are needed both to support these findings and to set programs for the early recognition of OSA in patients with cognitive impairment.
The influence of processing goals in a multitarget multidomain context: the quest for memory organisation3

The person memory field has been witnessing a twofold diversification of research problems. First in what concerns the type and amount of experimental stimuli, and second in the introduction of new processing goals. Extending the experiments of Hamilton and colleagues (Hamilton, Katz & Leirer, 1979, and of Devine and colleagues (Sedidikes, Devine & Furnham, 1991, this research presents subjects with multitarget and multidomain information introducing new motivated encoding strategies and diverse information formats. Subjects were tested under conditions where they were to either to memorise, to form an impression, to choose one, or to anticipate an interaction with five different targets. The available information about a target concerns several attribute domains (i.e. major, trait, hobby, game and part time ob). The dependent variables were, among others, free and cued recall and ARC organization measures. The pattern of results is complex. The free recall results replicated the common fmdings in the literature. Choice processing goal, introduced for the first time in this experiment, showed a free recall levei comparable to Memory. This result is in accordance to the use of choice heuristics. The cued recall results showed that Memory subjects had a higher gain that the other processing goals as predicted by the retrieval inhibition phenomena. Organiza tion results were inconclusive.
Role of Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Techniques in the Evaluation of Intracranial Masses and Mass like Lesions

Introduction Intracranial mass lesions are a broad and very disparate group of pathological conditions ranging from brain tumours to non-neoplastic conditions such as abscess or neurocysticercoses. Intracranial mass lesions are a significant health problem and present several imaging challenges and radiology has played an integral role in the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment planning of intracranial masses. MRI in particular, offers superior softtissue contrast over other cross-sectional imaging techniques allowing for better visualisation of subtly infiltrated or disrupted parenchymal architecture, has emerged as the imaging modality of choice. However, in many cases, conventional MRI which provides useful structural findings are not enough for an accurate diagnosis. Neuro-oncological imaging has evolved from a purely anatomy-based discipline to one that incorporates morphologic abnormality with physiologic alterations, cellular metabolism, and hemodynamics. Tremendous progress and widespread clinical use of physiology-based MR imaging have become an essential part of the diagnostic armamentarium to diagnose, guide surgery, monitor therapy response, and predict prognosis of patients with a brain tumour. The current most commonly used advanced techniques include diffusion-weighted imaging(DWI), MR Spectroscopy (MRS), Perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI)and Susceptibility weight imaging (SWI). These methods have played a pivotal role in the transition of clinical MR imaging from a purely morphology-based discipline to one that combines structure with function. Integration of diagnostic information from above mentioned advanced MR imaging techniques can evaluate different tumour types, predict tumour grade, improve the classification accuracy, further differentiate tumour from non-neoplastic lesions, serially and noninvasively monitor tumour progression, and monitor the efficacy of therapy.
On Perfect Classification and Clustering for Gaussian Processes

In this paper, we propose a data based transformation for infinite-dimensional Gaussian processes and derive its limit theorem. For a classification problem, this transformation induces complete separation among the associated Gaussian processes. The misclassification probability of any simple classifier when applied on the transformed data asymptotically converges to zero. In a clustering problem using mixture models, an appropriate modification of this transformation asymptotically leads to perfect separation of the populations. Theoretical properties are studied for the usual $k$-means clustering method when used on this transformed data. Good empirical performance of the proposed methodology is demonstrated using simulated as well as benchmark data sets, when compared with some popular parametric and nonparametric methods for such functional data.
Exploring the Effect of Status Quo, Innovativeness, and Involvement Tendencies on Luxury Fashion Innovations: The Mediation Role of Status Consumption

The article explores the mechanisms that affect consumers’ interest in luxury clothing innovations. The actual research aims to investigate the effect of status quo and clothing involvement on consumer brand loyalty. More, it was intended to quantify the influence of the level of engagement concerning clothing acquisition and the status quo tendency on the consumers’ level of interest toward innovative luxury fashion products. The models were analyzed through the partial-least square-path modeling method. The results revealed that status quo bias and consumers’ involvement in fashion influence their loyalty to brands and level of innovativeness. The novelty of the present research comes from the analysis of the impact of the status quo manifest variables on consumers’ innovative tendencies. Moreover, it was found that status consumption fully mediates the relationships among the investigated predictors and considered outcome variables. The mediator manifests the highest effect size of all investigated predictors. The actual paper advances research in a direction that was not sufficiently addressed in the past, introducing the status quo construct as the main predictor of peoples’ inclination to be loyal to a brand or to manifest a tendency toward innovativeness. Moreover, the article emphasizes the essential role manifested by social status in foreseeing a behavioral response.
CMAR_A_253565 3247..3255

Yao Huang 1,2 Jianxing Zeng Teng Liu Qingyi Xu Xianglin Song 2 Jinhua Zeng 1Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Hepatic Surgery, Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, People’s Republic of China Purpose: Hepatocellular cancer (HCC) is the sixth most prevalent cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Cellular immunotherapy against glypican 3 (GPC3) has recently been used in the treatment of HCC, following the success of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T therapy in treatment of B cell malignancy. However, CAR-T cells are not “off-the-shelf” and always cause cytokine release syndrome, which can be eliminated by using natural killer (NK) cells as effector cells. Since a costimulatory signal is necessary for the activation, persistence, or cytotoxicity of CAR-T cells, we speculated that the costimulatory signal is also required for CAR-NK cells in HCC treatment. Methods: Five anti-GPC3 CAR plasmids containing different costimulatory domains were constructed. They included Z (only the CD3ζ domain, no costimulatory domain), CD28.Z (T-cell costimulatory domain CD28), DNAM1/2B4.Z (NK-cell-associated costimulatory domain DNAM1 or 2B4), and DNAM1.2B4.Z (both NK-cell-associated costimulatory domains). Respective CAR-NK-92 cells were generated. TheMTT viability assay was performed to evaluate the effect of the different costimulatory domains on CAR-NK-cell proliferation. The effect on persistence was analyzed using an apoptosis assay and flow cytometry. Special cytotoxicity against normal hepatocellular cells and GPC3 malignant cells was investigated in vitro. The concentration of cytokines (TNF-α and IFN-γ) released by CAR-NK-92 cells was also measured by ELISA. Results: NK-cell-associated costimulatory signal was necessary for CAR-NK-92 cells. CARNK-92 cells with DNAM1 and/or 2B4 expanded more quickly and persisted with a lower apoptotic ratio, compared to the presence of CD28 or no costimulatory signal. All CAR-NK -92 cells showed special cellular cytotoxicity in vitro. CAR-NK-92 cells with NK-cell-associated costimulatory domains exhibited higher cytotoxic ability compared with those without any costimulatory domain or with T-cell costimulatory domain. CAR-NK-92 cells with both DNAM1 and 2B4 displayed the highest cytotoxicity. The cytokine release assay results were consistent with those of the cytotoxicity assay. Conclusion: We provided the first evidence supporting a strategy using DNAM1 and 2B4 costimulatory domains to generate anti-GPC3 CAR-NK-92 cells, which exhibits enhanced cytotoxicity against hepatocellular cancer cells in vitro.
Organic Cultivation of Medicinal Plants: Influence of Composted Coir Pith on the Growth and Yield of Coleus forskohlii (willd.) Briq

ABSTRACT Coleus forskohlii (willd.) Briq. is a native plant of India. The therapeutic properties of forskolin, the main diterpene constituent of this plant, contributed to the emergence of C. forskohlii as an important taxon in modern medicine. In the present study, composted coir pith (CCP) was used as an organic fertilizer and its effect on the growth, the primary metabolite, and secondary metabolite (forskolin) of C. forskohlii were studied. The CCP was amended to the soil in the plots at the rate of 5 t h−1 (T1), 10 t h−1 (T2), and 15 t h−1 (T3). The control plots were left unamended. It was found that CCP increased the growth and development of C. forskohlii in fields amended with 15 t h−1 (T3). The activity of the three prime soil enzymes, namely, urease, phosphatase, and dehydrogenase in the rhizosphere soil of C. forskohlii also increased with an increase in the quantum of CCP amended to the soil.