Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preparing staff for problem-based learning: Outcomes of a comprehensive faculty development program

This study reports an investigation into the impact of a structured foundational staff development program on new academics in their role as classroom tutors in a problem-based learning (PBL) environment. The program aims to provide a systematic framework to share knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for new academics to be competent and confident tutors who can provide valued and valuable learning experiences for students’ learning in a PBL environment. To measure the outcomes of this program, Kirkpatrick’s (1994) framework was adopted, and outcomes were evaluated according to reaction, learning, and behavior. Quantitative data were collected in the form of student feedback scores, tutor confidence, and attitudes toward teaching, while a post-program survey was used to collect qualitative data. The results indicate that the program had brought about gains in knowledge regarding principles and/or strategies of self-directed learning, as well as a detectable change in academics’ orientation towards teaching and learning to a more developmental perspective. Moreover, participants noted that they were able to apply their learning in terms of promoting key student behaviors in PBL, such as collaborative learning. The evaluation suggests that, for the successful implementation of PBL, it is important for a structured foundational training program to address not only the essential elements of PBL, but also the role of the tutor, especially in terms of addressing the teaching beliefs of staff, and helping them to adapt to the constructivist belief system embedded in the PBL environment.
Satisfaction with previous sexual health education as a predictor of intentions to pursue further sexual health education

This paper investigates the nature of the relationship between satisfaction with high school sexual health education and the pursuit of a post-secondary human sexuality course. In an initial study, first-year university students who received high school sexual health education in Ontario completed a questionnaire which assessed their satisfaction with sexual health education and asked whether students were pursuing or intended to pursue a human sexuality course in university. Students who were less satisfied with high school sexual health education and, in particular, those who did not rate sexual health education as contributing to their understanding of themselves as sexual beings, were more likely to pursue a university-level course. A second qualitative study investigated potential reasons underlying this correlation. Eleven first-year students enrolled in a human sexuality course were interviewed about (a) their satisfaction with their high school sexual health education and (b) their reasons for taking the course. The findings suggest that dissatisfaction with sexual health education may be a result of students perceiving they had not learned enough personally relevant information and/or received a biased education in high school. These factors, which seem to determine dissatisfaction, may motivate students to pursue additional education in university.
Temporal Expression of Pelp1 during Proliferation and Osteogenic Differentiation of Rat Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Background Osteogenic induction and bone formation are heavily affected by environmental factors, including estrogen, estrogen receptors, and coregulatory proteins, such as the recently reported proline-, glutamic acid-, and leucine-rich protein 1(Pelp1). Objective To investigate Pelp1 expression in rat bone mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs) during cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation. Methods rBMSCs were cultured in routine and osteogenic differentiation media. Cell proliferation was assessed at days 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 14, and 21. Pelp1 protein expression in the nucleus and cytoplasm were detected by immunocytochemical analysis. Real-time RT-PCR and western blot were used to detect mRNA and protein expressions of Pelp1, osteocalcin (OCN), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Results Over 21 days, rBMSCs in routine culture exhibited a 1-2 day lag phase and exponential growth from day 3 to 9, plateauing at day 9, and correlated with temporal mRNA expression of Pelp1, which almost reached baseline levels at day 21. In osteogenic induction cultures, Pelp1 mRNA levels rose at day 9 and steadily increased until day 21, reaching 6.8-fold greater value compared with day 1. Interestingly, Pelp1 mRNA expression in osteogenic cultures exhibited a trend similar to that of OCN expression. Pelp1 knockdown by siRNA transfection inhibited undifferentiated rBMSC proliferation, and bone markers OCN and ALP expressions in rBMSCs cultured in routine and osteogenic differentiation media. Conclusions Pelp1 may be a key player in BMSCs proliferation and osteogenic differentiation, meriting further consideration as a target for development of therapies for pathological bone loss conditions, such as menopausal bone loss.
Toward Understanding Student Differences in a Computer Skills Course

Effective teaching in an introductory computer skills course requires detailed knowledge about the students in the class. Differing characteristics in students may provide opportunities for or create impediments to significant learning. This study examines various characteristics of students enrolled in a computer skills course. Demographic characteristics include demographic variables gender, college major, high school computer courses, and other prior computer experiences. Other characteristics of the students examined are computer self-efficacy, computer attitude, computer anxiety, and cognitive style. Each of these is defined in terms of four established measures and is compared with the demographic characteristics and with each other. This study shows that gender and high school programming classes seem not to differentiate student scores on the four measures. On the other hand, high school spreadsheet courses, high school database courses, ownership of a computer, and having worked with a computer in a job do differentiate student scores in computer self-efficacy, computer anxiety, and computer attitude. Student cognitive style appears to be independent of most characteristics.
A study of diurnal variation in circulating eosinophils especially with reference to sleep in healthy individuals.

It is well accepted from studies on adrenal cortical activity that stressful performance results in hypersecretion sometimes followed by hyposecretion. This physiological mainfestation has been called the "adaptation syndrome" (1). Along this line, two investigations were made to demonstrate the special diurnal rhythm in adrenal cortical activity of healthy men; in one of them 17-ketosteroid output in urine was followed throughout the day and night (2), and in the other circulating lymphocyte changes were seen in a successive period of 24hours. On the other hand, evidence was obtained that eosinopenia shows a good response to cortisone, a synthetic sugar-active 11-oxygenated corticosteroid which is known as an important product of adrenal cortex (4). Furthermore, Thorn Test based on the eosinophil change has been applied in many hospitals (5). So it was thought worth-while to show the evidence of diurnal changes in the number of circulating eosinophils which is intimately related to the activity of the sympathic-adrenal and the pituitary-adrenocortical system (5).
Description, diagnosis, prescription: a critique of the application of co-evolutionary models to natural resource management

To support moves towards more sustainable modes of natural resource management, the research community has been engaged in an evaluation of paradigms, theories and methods which might provide useful and usable insights into such a complex problem set. A particularly influential family of theoretical models concerned with the processes and dynamics of species evolution has been adopted from the fields of biology and ecology. This paper scrutinizes the relevance of biological evolutionary theory to sustainable natural resource management beyond identification of the core analogy, namely that both natural resource management and ecological systems are characterized by multiple interacting elements requiring systemic interpretation. A review of the workings of co-evolutionary theory within its intellectual homeland of biology and ecology leads to a critical evaluation of its use as a descriptive model outside of these domains. Findings from this assessment identify a number of fractures in meaning as the co-evolutionary model is transferred between disciplinary fields, suggesting that the transposition has been conducted without sufficient rigour or consistency. A measured reinterpretation of the applicability of the co-evolutionary model to natural resources management is thereby undertaken. Using water management as a context, the paper posits a series of phenomena which might provide a focus for the application of the co-evolutionary model outside of biology and ecology. In conclusion, the paper argues that the research community needs to move beyond a consideration of the complex implications of co-evolutionary processes to the establishment of a firm, process-based definition of co-evolution as a type of change.
Squamous Cell Cancer and Human Papillomavirus Infection in Oral Lichen Planus: Case Report and Literature Review

Oral lichen planus is one of the most common diseases of the oral mucosa. Neoplastic transformation occurs by complex and only partly understood mechanisms including chronic inflammation, viral infection, and viral interference with cellular regulation. Additional factors such as loss of heterozygosity of tumor suppressor genes, dysregulation of apoptosis mechanisms by methylation or mutation are likely to be involved. The possible viral contribution has recently been supported by the demonstration of human papillomavirus (HPV) in a high percentage of oral lesions as shown by immunohistochemistry against structural HPV proteins and by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or Southern blot hybridization. Despite the results demonstrating the presence of HPV in lichen planus, the etiologic role of this virus remains to be fully established.
Development of a Portable Gait Rehabilitation System for Home-Visit Rehabilitation

This paper describes the development of a gait rehabilitation system with a locomotion interface (LI) for home-visit rehabilitation. For this purpose, the LI should be compact, small, and easy to move. The LI has two 2 degree-of-freedom (DOF) manipulators with footpads to move each foot along a trajectory. When the user stands on the footpads, the system can move his or her feet while the body remains stationary. The footpads can have various trajectories, which are prerecordings of the movements of healthy individuals walking on plane surfaces or slopes. The homes of stroke patients may have not only flat surfaces but also some slopes and staircases. The quadriceps femoris muscle is important for walking up and down slopes and staircases, and the eccentric and concentric contractions of this muscle are, in particular, difficult to train under normal circumstances. Therefore, we developed a graded-walking program for the system used in this study. Using this system, the user can undergo gait rehabilitation in their home, during visits by a physical therapist. An evaluation of the results of tests showed that the vastus medialis muscles of all the subjects were stimulated more than by walking on real slopes.
Glutathione and thioredoxin systems of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum: partners in crime?

In P. falciparum, antioxidant proteins of the glutathione and thioredoxin systems are compartmentalized. Some subcellular compartments have only a partial complement of these proteins. This lack of key anti-oxidant proteins in certain sub-cellular compartments might be compensated by functional complementation between these systems. By assessing the cross-talk between these systems, we show for the first time, that the glutathione system can reduce thioredoxins that are poor substrates for thioredoxin reductase (Thioredoxin-like protein 1 and Thioredoxin 2) and thioredoxins that lack access to thioredoxin reductase (Thioredoxin 2). Our data suggests that crosstalk between the glutathione and thioredoxin systems does exist; this could compensate for the absence of certain antioxidant proteins from key subcellular compartments.
Draft Genome Sequence of a Multidrug-Resistant Strain of Enterococcus faecalis, PM01, Isolated from the Nest of an American Bushtit, Psaltriparius minimus

ABSTRACT Pathogenic microorganisms associated with avian nests may detrimentally impact parental health and nest success for the nest primary users, potentially neighboring avian or terrestrial species, including humans. Here, we report the genome sequence of Enterococcus faecalis strain PM01, isolated from a failed nest of American bushtits, Psaltriparius minimus.
Depth information in natural environments derived from optic flow by insect motion detection system: a model analysis

Knowing the depth structure of the environment is crucial for moving animals in many behavioral contexts, such as collision avoidance, targeting objects, or spatial navigation. An important source of depth information is motion parallax. This powerful cue is generated on the eyes during translatory self-motion with the retinal images of nearby objects moving faster than those of distant ones. To investigate how the visual motion pathway represents motion-based depth information we analyzed its responses to image sequences recorded in natural cluttered environments with a wide range of depth structures. The analysis was done on the basis of an experimentally validated model of the visual motion pathway of insects, with its core elements being correlation-type elementary motion detectors (EMDs). It is the key result of our analysis that the absolute EMD responses, i.e., the motion energy profile, represent the contrast-weighted nearness of environmental structures during translatory self-motion at a roughly constant velocity. In other words, the output of the EMD array highlights contours of nearby objects. This conclusion is largely independent of the scale over which EMDs are spatially pooled and was corroborated by scrutinizing the motion energy profile after eliminating the depth structure from the natural image sequences. Hence, the well-established dependence of correlation-type EMDs on both velocity and textural properties of motion stimuli appears to be advantageous for representing behaviorally relevant information about the environment in a computationally parsimonious way.
Dynamics of Learning in MLP: Natural Gradient and Singularity Revisited

The dynamics of supervised learning play a main role in deep learning, which takes place in the parameter space of a multilayer perceptron (MLP). We review the history of supervised stochastic gradient learning, focusing on its singular structure and natural gradient. The parameter space includes singular regions in which parameters are not identifiable. One of our results is a full exploration of the dynamical behaviors of stochastic gradient learning in an elementary singular network. The bad news is its pathological nature, in which part of the singular region becomes an attractor and another part a repulser at the same time, forming a Milnor attractor. A learning trajectory is attracted by the attractor region, staying in it for a long time, before it escapes the singular region through the repulser region. This is typical of plateau phenomena in learning. We demonstrate the strange topology of a singular region by introducing blow-down coordinates, which are useful for analyzing the natural gradient dynamics. We confirm that the natural gradient dynamics are free of critical slowdown. The second main result is the good news: the interactions of elementary singular networks eliminate the attractor part and the Milnor-type attractors disappear. This explains why large-scale networks do not suffer from serious critical slowdowns due to singularities. We finally show that the unit-wise natural gradient is effective for learning in spite of its low computational cost.
Copenhagen-Malmö: Tree Approximations of Semantic Parsing Problems

In this shared task paper for SemEval2014 Task 8, we show that most semantic structures can be approximated by trees through a series of almost bijective graph transformations. We transform input graphs, apply off-the-shelf methods from syntactic parsing on the resulting trees, and retrieve output graphs. Using tree approximations, we obtain good results across three semantic formalisms, with a 15.9% error reduction over a stateof-the-art semantic role labeling system on development data. Our system came in 3/6 in the shared task closed track.
Findings of the 2015 Workshop on Statistical Machine Translation

This paper presents the results of the WMT15 shared tasks, which included a standard news translation task, a metrics task, a tuning task, a task for run-time estimation of machine translation quality, and an automatic post-editing task. This year, 68 machine translation systems from 24 institutions were submitted to the ten translation directions in the standard translation task. An additional 7 anonymized systems were included, and were then evaluated both automatically and manually. The quality estimation task had three subtasks, with a total of 10 teams, submitting 34 entries. The pilot automatic postediting task had a total of 4 teams, submitting 7 entries.
Hybrid Overlay/Underlay Cognitive Femtocell Networks: A Game Theoretic Approach

Femtocell networks have the potential to satisfy the increasing demand of mobile data usage. The recently proposed concept of cognitive femtocell network provides an effective way to further improve the spectrum spatial and frequency reuse. In this paper, we study the subchannel allocation problem for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)-based hybrid overlay/underlay cognitive femtocell networks. While most of the previous related studies did not fully exploit the potential of spatial and frequency reuse of the network, we propose a hybrid overlay and underlay spectrum access mechanism to further improve the performance of cognitive femtocell networks. We formulate the subchannel allocation problem as a coalition formation game among femtocell users under the hybrid access scheme, and analyze the stability of the coalition structure. We propose an efficient algorithm based on the solution concept of recursive core, and achieve a stable and efficient allocation. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm achieves an improvement in aggregate network throughput up to 72% comparing to the overlay only scheme, 35% comparing to the underlay only scheme, and 18% comparing to a recently proposed coalition formation algorithm in the literature.
Association of lipid profile with bone mineral density in postmenopausal women in Yazd province

Background: Low bone mass is a major health problem in postmenopausal women. There is no general agreement regarding relationship between serum level of lipids and bone mineral density. Objective: This study was carried out to investigate the association between lipid profile and bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women in Yazd, Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 170 women aged between 50 and 70 years old with menopause for at least one year from Yazd, Iran, between March 2013 to September 2013. Association of lipid profile and BMD were measured in all study participants. Results: Among our participants 73 cases had lumbar osteoporosis, 17 cases had femoral osteoporosis and 80 cases did n’t have osteoporosis. After controlling for body mass index, there were no correlations between serum level of lipids and bone mineral density of femur and lumbar bones. Conclusion: No significant association between serum level of lipids and BMD of femur and lumbar was found in postmenopausal women.
Controllability Preservation and Behavioural Refinement for Service Protocols

In this paper, we provide a new compositional framework for specifying controllability and refinement of service protocols interacting asynchronously. First, we investigate necessary and sufficient conditions for protocols controllability. Then, we give sufficient conditions for preserving controllability of protocols by asynchronous composition. Finally, we propose two protocols refinement relations and show the soundness of our formal framework: independent implement ability of protocols together with the preservation of controllability under protocols by refinement.
Increased expression of 5‐HT6 receptors in dorsolateral striatum decreases habitual lever pressing, but does not affect learning acquisition of simple operant tasks in rats

Serotonin‐6 (5‐HT6) receptors are densely expressed in the dorsolateral striatum (DLS), a brain region linked to habits. Medications acting on the serotonergic system, including 5‐HT6 receptors, can diminish habitual and repetitive behaviors associated with clinical syndromes such as obsessive‐compulsive disorder, and may have implications for addiction as well. To examine the role of 5‐HT6 receptors in the acquisition and persistence of habitual behavior, we manipulated 5‐HT6 receptor expression in the DLS with herpes simplex virus vectors in combination with different behavioral procedures; control rats received a vector expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein. In one set of experiments, rats were tested under conditions that favor the acquisition of either discrete action–outcome responding or repetitive responding; increased 5‐HT6 receptor expression in DLS did not alter learning in either paradigm. In the next experiment, rats were over‐trained on fixed‐ then variable‐interval schedules, resulting in an escalation of lever pressing over sessions far in excess of that necessary to receive sucrose pellets. After training, rats received viral vector infusion into the DLS. Subsequently, half of each group underwent an omission contingency training session in which they received reinforcement for refraining from pressing the lever, while the other half served as yoked controls. A probe session under extinction conditions was performed the following day. Only rats that received both the 5‐HT6 vector and omission contingency training showed reduced lever pressing during the probe session. These results suggest that increasing 5‐HT6 receptor signaling in the DLS facilitates behavioral flexibility in the face of changing contingencies.