Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring the salient experiences of pre‐service teacher candidates who were former volunteer tutors

Teacher candidates were tracked to monitor whether their former tutoring experience influenced their experiences as teacher candidates. Through interviews, email and group discussions, participants reflected on their teacher preparation experiences and their orientations to effective reading and writing instruction. At times, teacher candidates identified pedagogical similarities between their tutoring experiences and teacher education programs. Other times, disparities between the classroom and tutorial instruction settings provoked some candidates to denounce the approaches of their teacher mentors during practica. We conclude by discussing the need for teacher education programs to assist candidates to assimilate newly acquired pedagogies into existing ones, including those acquired through volunteerism.
Comparing methods for language identification

In this work three different statistical language identification methods are compared, and a detailed study of the influence on those systems of some basic parameters is performed. The analyzed parameters are the size of the train set, the amount of text that we want to classify and the languages the system is able to distinguish (it will be studied not only the influence of the number of languages but also the influence of which are the considered languages).
Postconflict History Curriculum Revision as an “Intergroup Encounter” Promoting Interethnic Reconciliation among Burmese Migrants and Refugees in Thailand

Recent literature shows that revising history curricula in postconflict settings can either worsen or ameliorate identity conflict. I conceptualize history curriculum revision workshops as intergroup encounters (IGEs) and analyze the conditions under which reconciliation emerges. I conducted participant observation with multiethnic groups of Burmese migrant and refugee educational stakeholders who were holding curriculum revision workshops in Thailand. I identify six “stepping-stones” to reconciliation: hearing other ethnic groups’ historical narratives, realizing that multiple perspectives on history exist, “stepping into the shoes” of others, complicating master narratives about identity, exposing intraethnic divisions to outsiders, and forming cross-ethnic relationships. This process is neither linear nor predictable, and I identify obstacles to reconciliation that may arise.
Abdominal obesity and body mass index as risk factors for Barrett's esophagus.

BACKGROUND Barrett's esophagus is a strong risk factor for esophageal adenocarcinoma, but little is known about its associations with body mass index (BMI) or abdominal obesity. METHODS We conducted a case-control study within the Kaiser Permanente Northern California population. Persons with a new diagnosis of Barrett's esophagus (cases) were matched to subjects with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) without Barrett's esophagus and to population controls. Subjects completed questionnaires and an anthropometric examination. RESULTS We interviewed 320 cases, 316 patients with GERD, and 317 controls. There was a general association between Barrett's esophagus and a larger abdominal circumference (independent of BMI) compared with population controls (odds ratio, 2.24; 95% confidence interval, 1.21-4.15; circumference, >80 cm vs <80 cm). There was a possible risk plateau, with increased risk evident only at circumferences >80 cm and no significant trend for further increases in circumference. There was a trend for association compared with patients with GERD (test for trend, P = .03). There was no association between Barrett's esophagus and BMI. Abdominal circumference was associated with GERD symptom severity (odds ratio, 1.86; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-3.38; risk of severe weekly GERD, per 10-cm circumference); adjustment for GERD partially attenuated the association between Barrett's esophagus and circumference. CONCLUSIONS Waist circumference, but not BMI, had some modest independent associations with the risk of Barrett's esophagus. The findings provide partial support for the hypothesis that abdominal obesity contributes to GERD, which may in turn increase the risk of Barrett's esophagus.
ASSET PRICES AND MONETARY POLICY : WEALTH EFFECTS ON CONSUMPTION

The aim of this paper is to test a model explaining private consumption as a function of income and wealth (financial assets plus real estate), with data from European Union (EU) countries. We know that income explains a large part of consumption as well as wealth, but concerning the effects of the latter, mainly those of changes on financial asset prices, few is known for Europe. In a general way, and according to the literature, wealth effects are less significant in continental Europe, due to the less advanced financial deregulation degree and household stock ownership, when compared with the USA or the United Kingdom. On the other hand, housing wealth effects on consumption would be more pronounced in Europe. To examine how recent developments in stock markets and housing prices may have affected consumption behaviour, we consider for the different countries a set of consumption equations that include variables related to asset prices. After studying the variables’ stationarity properties, we estimate a model with a common error-correction formulation, with the long-run relationship having terms in the variables for which we found significant cointegrating vectors nested in a short-run equation. We found an implied elasticity of consumption with respect to real equities prices at around two per cent and, when there is available data, an implied elasticity of consumption with respect to real residential prices between ten and twenty per cent. This weak effect of stock prices on consumer spending is broadly consistent with life cycle saving and a modest wealth effect. Nevertheless, it is still worthy to do a further study of the effects of stock market and residential wealth (and its fluctuations) on consumption and output of the different countries. The complete study of those differences and its magnitude is important even for the definition of the monetary policy by the European Central Bank (ECB) and to answer the question if it should consider asset prices in its decisions. The research presented here is a first essay preceding a deeper work on this subject, concerning economies of the EU. After this exercise we think that there is scope for future analysis on this matter that attempts to better explain the connection between asset prices and consumer spending.
The Effect of Three Months of Aerobic Training on Stroop Performance in Older Adults

Growing evidence supports the use of physical training interventions to improve both physical and cognitive performances in healthy older adults. Few studies have examined the impact of aerobic exercise on Stroop task performance, a measure of executive functions. In the current 3-month aerobic training study, 50 older adults (mean age = 67.96 ± 6.25 years) were randomly assigned to either a three-month physical training group or to a control group (waiting list). Training sessions were 3 times per week for 60 minutes. All participants completed pre- and post-test measures of cognitive performance using the modified Stroop task and physical performance (Rockport one-mile test). Compared to controls, the training group showed significant improvements in physical capacity (P < 0.001) and enhanced Stroop performance, but only in the inhibition/switching condition (P < 0.03). Furthermore, the increase in aerobic capacity induced by the training regimen correlated negatively with reaction time in the inhibition/switching condition of the Stroop task at posttest (r = −0.538; P = 0.007). Importantly, the reported gains in cognitive performance were observed after only three months of physical training. Taken together, the results suggest that even short-term physical interventions can enhance older adults' executive functions.
Analogy, explanation, and proof

People are habitual explanation generators. At its most mundane, our propensity to explain allows us to infer that we should not drink milk that smells sour; at the other extreme, it allows us to establish facts (e.g., theorems in mathematical logic) whose truth was not even known prior to the existence of the explanation (proof). What do the cognitive operations underlying the inference that the milk is sour have in common with the proof that, say, the square root of two is irrational? Our ability to generate explanations bears striking similarities to our ability to make analogies. Both reflect a capacity to generate inferences and generalizations that go beyond the featural similarities between a novel problem and familiar problems in terms of which the novel problem may be understood. However, a notable difference between analogy-making and explanation-generation is that the former is a process in which a single source situation is used to reason about a single target, whereas the latter often requires the reasoner to integrate multiple sources of knowledge. This seemingly small difference poses a challenge to the task of marshaling our understanding of analogical reasoning to understanding explanation. We describe a model of explanation, derived from a model of analogy, adapted to permit systematic violations of this one-to-one mapping constraint. Simulation results demonstrate that the resulting model can generate explanations for novel explananda and that, like the explanations generated by human reasoners, these explanations vary in their coherence.
Membrane Topology and Intracellular Processing of Cyclin M2 (CNNM2)*

Background: Mutations in CNNM2 cause severe dominant hypomagnesemia. Results: Structure of CNNM2 consists of an extracellular N terminus and intracellular C terminus containing CBS domains, which are affected by the identified mutations. Conclusion: CNNM2 is intensively processed before being expressed in its final structure at the plasma membrane. Significance: CNNM2 structure analysis will aid to elucidate CNNM2 function in renal magnesium transport. Recently, mutations in the cyclin M2 (CNNM2) gene were identified to be causative for severe hypomagnesemia. In kidney, CNNM2 is a basolaterally expressed protein with predominant expression in the distal convoluted tubule. Transcellular magnesium (Mg2+) reabsorption in the distal convoluted tubule represents the final step before Mg2+ is excreted into the urine, thus fine-tuning its final excretion via a tightly regulated mechanism. The present study aims to get insight in the structure of CNNM2 and to characterize its post-translational modifications. Here, membrane topology studies using intramolecular epitopes and immunocytochemistry showed that CNNM2 has an extracellular N terminus and an intracellular C terminus. This suggests that one of the predicted transmembrane regions might be re-entrant. By homology modeling, we demonstrated that the loss-of-function mutation as found in patients disturbs the potential ATP binding by the intracellular cystathionine β-synthase domains. In addition, the cellular processing pathway of CNNM2 was exposed in detail. In the endoplasmic reticulum, the signal peptidase complex cleaves off a large N-terminal signal peptide of about 64 amino acids. Mutagenesis screening showed that CNNM2 is glycosylated at residue Asn-112, stabilizing CNNM2 on the plasma membrane. Interestingly, co-immunoprecipitation studies evidenced that CNNM2a forms heterodimers with the smaller isoform CNNM2b. These new findings on CNNM2 structure and processing may aid to elucidate the physiological role of CNNM2 in Mg2+ reabsorption in the kidney.
Activation of antigen-specific suppressor T cells by B cells from mice immunized with type III pneumococcal polysaccharide

The transfer of B lymphocytes from mice immunized with type III pneumococcal polysaccharide (SSS-III) results in antigen-specific suppression of the antibody response of recipients immunized with SSS- III. Such suppression shares many features associated with low-dose paralysis, a phenomenon mediated by suppressor T cells; it reaches maximal levels 3 d after the transfer of viable or irradiated immune B cells and can be eliminated by the depletion of SSS-III-binding cells from spleen cell suspensions before transfer. In a two-step cell transfer experiment, purified T lymphocytes, isolated from recipients previously given immune B cells, caused suppression upon transfer to other mice immunized with SSS-III. Also, B-cell-induced suppression could be abrogated in a competitive manner by the infusion of amplifier T lymphocytes, as was previously demonstrated in the case of low-dose paralysis. These findings suggest that B cell surface components, presumably the idiotypic determinants of cell-associated antibody specific for SSS-III, are instrumental in activating suppressor T cells involved in regulating the magnitude of the antibody response to SSS- III.
Pervasive interactions between foliar microbes and soil nutrients mediate leaf production and herbivore damage in a tropical forest.

Producing and retaining leaves underlie the performance and survivorship of seedlings in deeply shaded tropical forests. These habitats are characterized by conditions ideal for foliar bacteria, which can be potent plant pathogens. Leaf production, retention and susceptibility to enemies may ultimately depend upon interactions among soil nutrients and foliar microbes, yet this has never been tested. We experimentally evaluated the degree that foliar bacteria and soil resource supply mediate leaf dynamics for five common tree species (five different families) in a Panamanian forest. We reduced foliar bacteria with antibiotics for 29 months and measured leaf production, retention and damage for seedlings nested within a replicated 15-yr factorial nutrient enrichment experiment (nitrogen, N; phosphorus, P; potassium, K). Our results demonstrate that when we applied antibiotics, soil nutrients - particularly N - always regulated seedling leaf production (and to a lesser extent herbivore damage) for all five tree species. In addition, it was common for two macronutrients together to negate or completely reverse the impact of applying either one alone. Our findings of frequent plant-microbe-nutrient interactions are novel and suggest that these interactions may reinforce plant species-environment associations, thereby creating a fairly cryptic and fine-scale dimension of niche differentiation for coexisting tree species.
Posttranslational Regulation of the Iron Deficiency Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factor FIT Is Affected by Iron and Nitric Oxide1[C][W][OA]

Understanding iron (Fe) sensing and regulation is important for targeting key genes for important nutritional traits like Fe content. The basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor FIT (for FER-LIKE FE DEFICIENCY-INDUCED TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR) controls Fe acquisition genes in dicot roots. Posttranscriptional regulation of transcription factors allows rapid adaptation to cellular changes and was also described for FIT. However, the mechanisms behind this regulation of FIT were for a long time not known. Here, we studied the posttranscriptional control mechanisms of FIT in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and identified nitric oxide as a stabilizing stimulus for FIT protein abundance. Using cycloheximide, we confirmed that the level of FIT protein was regulated by way of protein turnover in wild-type and hemagglutinin-FIT plants. Upon cycloheximide treatment, FIT activity was hardly compromised, since Fe deficiency genes like IRON-REGULATED TRANSPORTER1 and FERRIC REDUCTASE OXIDASE2 were still inducible by Fe deficiency. A small pool of “active” FIT was sufficient for the induction of Fe deficiency downstream responses. Nitric oxide inhibitors caused a decrease of FIT protein abundance and, in the wild type, also a decrease in FIT activity. This decrease of FIT protein levels was reversed by the proteasomal inhibitor MG132, suggesting that in the presence of nitric oxide FIT protein was less likely to be a target of proteasomal degradation. Independent of FIT transcription, FIT protein stability and FIT protein activity, therefore, were targets of control mechanisms in response to Fe and nitric oxide. We summarize our results in a model that explains the different steps of FIT regulation integrating the plant signals that control FIT.
How to build a lexicon: a case study of lexical errors and innovations

An English-speaking boy produced 121 lexical innovations and 98 over-regularizations between 30 and 56 months and during a subsequent period, 63 through 71 months. Both phenomena exhibited an increase and decrease in production, reaching a peak at 3;4. The derivational strategies used to produce lexical innovations demonstrated developmental change from simple to complex strategy use, but the inflectional strategies of over-regularizations did not. Results are discussed in the light of Clark's principles as well as Rule-Use and Connectionist explanations of children's morphological development.
Development of a MySQL Sandbox for processing SQL statements: Case of DML and DDL statements

This research developed the MySQL Sandbox, a secured environment for processing SQL queries. It was implemented as a RESTful web service having three services - sandbox database creation, SQL statement processing and sandbox database resetting. It supports the simultaneous processing of multiple SQL statements from multiple users in multiple databases. It uses question identification (ID) and student ID to create separate databases for each student using the MySQL feature to manage the user's privileges of their own database. Every service returns a result in the JSON format, which is easy to understand. This MySQL Sandbox is the first tool to support judging DDL statements and complex DML statements. Existing SQL grading systems have limitations on the number of supported SQL statements because they are concerned about risks from some sensitive SQL statement, such as DDL and DML statements, other than the SELECT statement. This sandbox will help eliminate the security concerns that obstruct the development and improvement of SQL grading systems, while providing a greater freedom of learning query to students, which will help them improve their own skills in three dimensions i.e., database query, database administration and database programming.
Research on and application of coordinated control technology of active distribution network

Active distribution network is a development mode of future distribution network and a new power distribution system adapting to the active control and management development trend of distribution network. Therefore, this network can effectively cope with large-scale and high-permeability grid connection of distributed energy resource. The Comprehensive Demonstration Project of Active Distribution Network in Suzhou is an engineering practice of active distribution network technology application. This paper describes overview and implementation plan of the demonstration project and explains with emphasis the key technologies for coordinated control of the active distribution network from such aspects as situation awareness, flexible DC, and coordinated control of power grid, power source and load. Through construction of the demonstration project, it is able to realize flexible absorption of high proportional and distributed energy resource in the demonstration zone, intelligent allocation of high-quality electric energy, coordinated and optimized control of multiple resources from power grid, power source, load and stored energy. In addition, a new DC power supply mode has been explored and developed for the distribution network, providing a reference and example for in-depth development and engineering practice of the active distribution network.
The Cultural Effects of Individualism and Collectivism on Social Capital

This paper attempts to identify the cultural effects of individualism and collectivism, which have been widely studied as the central organizing dimensions of culture, on the individual's political attitude and behavior while disentangling the individual and national level effects based on multilevel modeling. It uses the five waves (1981–2007) of the World Values Survey for thirty OECD member countries and attempts to establish a stronger case for the external validity of the findings. The analysis finds that in general individualism and collectivism matter both for the elements of civic culture/social capital. The significant cultural effects show up either at one level or at both
Sparse PCA: Optimal rates and adaptive estimation

Principal component analysis (PCA) is one of the most commonly used statistical procedures with a wide range of applications. This paper considers both minimax and adaptive estimation of the principal subspace in the high dimensional setting. Under mild technical conditions, we first establish the optimal rates of convergence for estimating the principal subspace which are sharp with respect to all the parameters, thus providing a complete characterization of the difficulty of the estimation problem in term of the convergence rate. The lower bound is obtained by calculating the local metric entropy and an application of Fano's lemma. The rate optimal estimator is constructed using aggregation, which, however, might not be computationally feasible. We then introduce an adaptive procedure for estimating the principal subspace which is fully data driven and can be computed efficiently. It is shown that the estimator attains the optimal rates of convergence simultaneously over a large collection of the parameter spaces. A key idea in our construction is a reduction scheme which reduces the sparse PCA problem to a high-dimensional multivariate regression problem. This method is potentially also useful for other related problems.
Collective robotics: from local perception to global action

Does coherent behaviour require an explicit mechanism of cooperation? In this dissertation, the relationship between local perception and global action in a system of multiple mobile robots was examined for a collective box-pushing task. The problem investigated was how local sensing could be used to coordinate the individual motor responses of a system of robots in a coherent manner, using only implicit communication through the task. The task was to move a large box from an initially unknown position to a specified goal location. The central thesis put forward, is that for the box-pushing task a coherent behaviour is possible, without an explicit mechanism of cooperation, by using the mass effect of a system of redundant robots. Preliminary work in collective robotics appeared to lend weight to the hypothesis that collective tasks, by multi-robot systems. are possible without centralized control or explicit inter-robot communications, two common control mechanisms used for cooperation. The goal was to propose and verify a framework for modelling a multi-robot task, such that the system displayed both coherent and coordinated behaviour without centralized control. The result is a coordinated global action by the system similar to group transport behaviour by ants. The result is achieved using the mass effect of a system of redundant robots. The approach to connecting perception and action is through a task description, specified as changes in the environment, and a task decomposition, which describes how a system will achieve those changes. Demonstrated is a framework using a multi-robot box-pushing task and its extension to a directed box-transport task. Steps in the task are modelled as states, and implemented as subtask controllers, with state transitions determined by binary sensing predicates called perceptual cues. A perceptual cue (Q), whose computation is independent from the operation of the controller, is used by a finite state controller, called a Q-machine, to produce an action. Results are presented for a redundant system of physical robots capable of moving a heavy object collectively to arbitrarily specified goal positions.