Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Elementary School Climate and Teacher Self-Esteem: A Study of Potential Relationship

The factors of self-esteem and the school climate have been independently studied for over a century and have been found as universal factors of importance. This study investigates the potential relationship between teacher self-esteem and the school climate. Fifty-nine elementary school teachers at public schools in the Midwest participated in a survey consisting of demographic information, self-esteem assessment, and a school climate inventory. The findings showed a moderate relationship between teacher selfesteem and the school climate. Additional sub-categories of relationships and teaching learning indicated moderate relationships with teacher self-esteem. These findings lead to suggestions for improving factors in the school climate including incorporating a positive-based intervention and support program. Suggestions for implementing inclusive and person-centered policies and procedures at school level, local, state, and federal levels and development of growth-based evaluations and supports for new teachers are explored. Other suggestions include additional research and testing on the newly designed school climate inventory which Cronbach’s alpha of . 863 indicated high reliability and further research on the multi-factored relationship between teacher selfesteem and the school climate.
Interference between I/O and MPI Traffic on Fat-tree Networks

Network congestion arising from simultaneous data transfers can be a significant performance bottleneck for many applications, especially when network resources are shared by multiple concurrently running jobs. Many studies have focused on the impact of network congestion on either MPI performance or I/O performance but the interaction between MPI and I/O traffic is rarely studied and not well understood. In this paper, we analyze and characterize the interference between MPI and I/O traffic on fat-tree networks, highlighting the role of important factors such as message sizes, communication intervals, and job sizes. We also investigate several strategies for reducing MPI-I/O interference, and the benefits and trade-offs of each approach for different scenarios.
POLITENESS PRAGMATIC INSTRUCTION IN SPANISH TOURISM INDUSTRY PROGRAMS FOR NON-NATIVE ENGLISH

Several cross-cultural studies have proven the need of pragmatic instruction for foreign language students. However, there is still a lack of explicit pragmatic teaching in the pedagogical materials used to teach a foreign language. In this study, the teachability of pragmatics and the optimal method for its delivery have been assessed, targeting the employees of the tourism industry in Spain. With focus on the speech acts of requesting and apologizing, a survey using the discourse completion test (DCT) has been carried out among Spanish Tourism students in order to corroborate the need of the instruction, and to establish the baselines for the realization patterns of these communicative acts. Furthermore, the main differences between the performance of requests and apologies of native speakers and the Spanish students have been investigated to assure that the instruction covers the issues that are more problematic. Finally, the aforementioned instruction was designed and presented. The results show significant differences between the Spanish students and the norm obtained from the native speakers that could result in communicative failure, especially concerning the directness of the requesting strategy and the insufficient use of the acknowledgment of responsibility strategy when apologizing. Further research in pragmatics is needed to have a better understanding of the general rules for the realization of these speech acts, and teaching approaches need to encourage the inclusion of pragmatic instruction in any language learning course’s syllabus.
Quality and safety management systems : joint action for certification of small firms in an industrial cluster in Brazil

This paper presents and discusses a proposal for joint action among small firms in an industrial cluster in Brazil for the certification of quality and safety management systems. It proposes a management system model, the implementation process, and periodic auditing. It is the result of an action-research project developed in a metal-mechanical cluster. Its originality lies mainly in the proposal for a joint action programme for the certification of companies, led by the cluster governance agency, to increase the collective efficiency of a cluster. Despite the obstacles encountered, this proposal can help to reduce the difficulties faced by small businesses in implementing and maintaining management systems, and in the long run to foster a culture of quality and safety management. It also contributes to joint actions within the cluster. The challenge faced by the cluster governance agency is to sustain the certification programme in the long term.
An HST search for planets in the lower main sequence of the globular cluster NGC 6397

Searches for planetary transits carried out in open and globular clusters have to date yielded only a handful of weak, unconfirmed candidates. These results have been interpreted as either being insignificant, or evidence that the cluster chemical or dynamical environment inhibits planetary formation or survival. Most campaigns have been limited by small sample statistics or systematics from ground-based photometry. We performed a search for transiting planets and variables in a deep stellar field of NGC 6397 imaged by HST-ACS over 126 orbits. We analyzed 5078 light curves, including a careful selection of 2215 cluster-member M0–M9 dwarfs. The light curves were corrected for systematic trends and inspected using several tools. No high-significance planetary candidate is detected. We compared this null detection with the most recent results from Kepler, showing that no conclusive evidence of lower planet incidence can be drawn. However, a very small photometric jitter is measured for early-M cluster members (2 mmag on 98% of them), which may be worth targeting in the near future with more optimized campaigns. Twelve variable stars are reported for the first time.
A comparative study of certainty and conventional indirectness: Evidence from British English and peninsular Spanish

This article presents the results of an exploratory empirical study into the perception of conventionally indirect requests in British English and Peninsular Spanish, given the high incidence of the pragmatic category over others in its encoding of politeness in both related and unrelated languages (cf. Blum-Kulka et al., 1989). More specifically, the article focuses on the similarities and differences between Britons and Spaniards with regard to the speaker’s assumed expectations of compliance in choosing from the conventionally indirect spectrum. In other words, the focus is on how (un)certain the speaker was that the addressee would comply with the request when s/he chose a particular conventionally indirect request. The data for this study were collected via an open role play, post-performance interviews and questionnaires. The results obtained show that, in comparable situations, the Spaniards were generally more certain that the addressee would comply with the request than the Britons. It is argued that conventional indirectness appears to reflect different social meanings in English and Spanish and that such differences should be taken into account when analysing the realization patterns of pragmatic categories in language.
Job Quality and Gender Inequality: Key Changes in Québec over the Last Decade

Using a new typology based on information available from the Labour Force Survey, the authors analyse how job quality evolved in Quebec for both women and men over the last decade (1997-2007). Results show that family situation and educational attainment are two important factors in the determination of gender inequality in the labour market. The analysis emphasizes the very significant decline in gender differences with regard to job quality (from 23% to 35% according to groups), especially for persons without children and individuals who achieved higher education. The changes represent a definite progress in the status of women in general, although some indicators also reveal degradation with respect to job quality in some of the sub-groups.
Biodiversity of Agaricomycetes basidiomes associated to Salix and Populus (Salicaceae) plantations

Although plantations have an artificial origin, they modify environmental conditions that can alter native fungi diversity. The effects of forest management practices on a plantation of willow (Salix) and poplar (Populus) over Agaricomycetes basidiomes biodiversity were studied for one year in an island located in Paraná Delta, Argentina. Dry weight and number of basidiomes were measured. We found 28 species belonging to Agaricomycetes: 26 species of Agaricales, one species of Polyporales and one species of Russulales. Our findings suggest that forest management practices on plantations of willow and poplar do not affect either the abundance or diversity of Agaricomycetes basidiomes.
AN ENHANCED METHOD FOR INVERSE SCATTERING PROBLEMS USING FOURIER SERIES EXPANSION IN CONJUNCTION WITH FDTD AND PSO

A new computationally efficient algorithm for reconstruc- tion of lossy and inhomogeneous 1-D media by using inverse scattering method in time domain is proposed. In this algorithm, cosine Fourier series expansion is utilized in conjunction with finite difference time do- main (FDTD) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) methods. The performance of the proposed algorithm is studied for several 1-D per- mittivity and conductivity profile reconstruction cases. Various types of regularization terms are examined and compared with each other in the presented method. It is shown that the number of unknowns in optimization routine is reduced to about 1/3 as compared with conven- tional methods which leads to a considerable reduction in the amount of computations, while the precision of the solutions would not be affected significantly. Another advantage of the proposed expansion method is that, since only a limited number of terms are taken in the expansion, the divergence of the algorithm is far less likely to occur. Sensitivity analysis of the suggested method to the number of expan- sion terms in the algorithm is studied, as well.
Egg Consumption, Multi-Domain Cognitive Performance, and Short-Term Cognitive Change in a Representative Sample of Older U.S. Adults

Abstract Objective: Existing research supports a positive relationship between egg intake and cognitive function in older populations, although the impact of whole egg consumption on multi-domain cognitive function and cognitive decline in representative samples of older adults has not been described. We examined the association between egg consumption, cognitive performance, and cognitive change in a representative sample of U.S. adults aged 65 and older. Methods: We drew observations from the 2012 and 2014 Health and Retirement Study and the recently released 2013 Health Care and Nutrition Study. The analytic sample contained 3835 respondents, representing a weighted population of 37,806,082 community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older in 2013. Multivariate path analytic models were used to estimate the association between egg consumption groups (none, ≤ 1 serving per week, 2–6 servings per week, ≥ 7 servings per week) and cognitive performance across domains of working memory, executive function, and global mental status. First-order autoregressive models were used to estimate cognitive change over the 2-year observational period. Follow-up analyses examined associations between egg consumption group, dietary patterns, and nutrient intake. Results: On average, older adults consumed 0.34 eggs per day (SD = 0.36). Although bivariate analyses suggested that moderate egg consumers had the best cognitive performance at baseline assessment, egg consumption was not associated with cognitive performance or cognitive change when adjusting models for covariates known to have a robust association with cognitive health. Conclusions: Our results suggest that egg consumption does not benefit, nor is detrimental to, the cognitive health of older adults. Further studies of whole egg consumption and cognitive performance would benefit from controlled experimental settings, longer follow-up periods to measure cognitive change, and assessment of both community-dwelling and institutionalized older adults.
A bioinformatics approach to defining the AU-Rich Element (AURE) Identification of novel motifs flanking AU-Rich Elements

Post-transcriptional regulation of genes is critical for the proper temporal and spatial expression of gene products. mRNA transcripts contain cis AU-rich elements (AUREs) in their 3’ untranslated region (UTR) that facilitate the binding of trans acting stability factors. AUREs however remain poorly characterized. Using regular expressions inherent in the PERL programming language, coupled to the Ensemble Human Transcriptome database, we confirm trends observed in already characterized 3’ UTRs as well as identify several significant and novel 3’ UTR flanking sequences that may have biological significance.
Novel mechanisms for the metabolic control of puberty: implications for pubertal alterations in early-onset obesity and malnutrition.

Puberty is driven by sophisticated neuroendocrine networks that timely activate the brain centers governing the reproductive axis. The timing of puberty is genetically determined; yet, puberty is also sensitive to numerous internal and external cues, among which metabolic/nutritional signals are especially prominent. Epidemiological evidence suggests that alterations of the age of puberty are becoming more frequent; the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown, but the escalating prevalence of obesity and other metabolic/feeding disorders is possibly a major contributing factor. This phenomenon may have clinical implications, since alterations in pubertal timing have been associated to adverse health outcomes, including higher risk of earlier all-cause mortality. This urges for a better understanding of the neurohormonal basis of normal puberty and its deviations. Compelling evidence has recently documented the master role of hypothalamic neurons producing kisspeptins, encoded by Kiss1, in the neuroendocrine pathways controlling puberty. Kiss1 neurons seemingly participate in transmitting the regulatory actions of metabolic cues on pubertal maturation. Key cellular metabolic sensors, as the mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR), AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and the fuel-sensing deacetylase, SIRT1, have been recently shown to participate also in the metabolic modulation of puberty. Recently, we have documented that AMPK and SIRT1 operate as major molecular effectors for the metabolic control of Kiss1 neurons and, thereby, puberty onset. Alterations of these molecular pathways may contribute to the perturbation of pubertal timing linked to conditions of metabolic stress in humans, such as subnutrition or obesity, and might become druggable targets for better management of pubertal disorders.
NIR-Responsive Polypeptide Nanocomposite Generates NO Gas, Mild Photothermia and Chemotherapy to Reverse Multidrug Resistant Cancer.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) of cancers that results from overexpression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) transporter mainly causes chemotherapy (CT) failure and hinders clinical transitions of current polypeptide nanomedicines. Herein, a novel polypeptide nanocomposite PNOC-PDA that integrates heat-sensitive NO gas delivery and photothermal conversion attributes can overcome MDR and maximize CT; meanwhile the optimized CT and intracellular high-concentration NO gas can assist a mild photothermal therapy (PTT) to eradicate cancer cells. The triple therapies produced superior and synergistic effect on MDR-reversal and killing MCF-7/ADR in vitro, and the P-gp expression level was downregulated to 46%, as confirmed by means of MTT, western blot, flow cytometry, and CLSM. Significantly, by using one intravenous injection of PNOC-PDA/DOX and a single NIR irradiation, the triple therapies of mild PTT, NO gas therapy, and CT achieved complete MCF-7/ADR tumor ablation without skin damage, scarring, and tumor recurrence within 30 days. This work provides a versatile method for the fabrication of NIR-responsive polypeptide nanocomposite with intrinsic photothermal conversion and NO-releasing attributes, opening up a new avenue for reversing MDR in tumor.
Third harmonic order imaging as a focal spot diagnostic for high intensity laser-solid interactions

As the state of the art for high power laser systems increases from terawatt to petawatt level and beyond, a crucial parameter for routinely monitoring high intensity performance is laser spot size on a solid target during an intense interaction in the tight focus regime ( 10(19) Wcm(-2) is demonstrated experimentally and shown to provide the basis for an effective focus diagnostic. Importantly, this technique is also shown to allow in-situ diagnosis of focal spot quality achieved after reflection from a double plasma mirror setup for very intense high contrast interactions (> 10(20) Wcm(-2)) an important application for the field of high laser contrast interaction science.
The Effect of Digital Story Preparation on Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) Self-confidence

Abstract The effect of the prospective pre-school teachers’ digital story preparation on their technological pedagogical content knowledge self-confidence is proposed to be determined in mix method designed study. During the research, prospective pre-school teachers determined their objectives for a digital story, wrote scenarios, selected audio and visual materials, created and presented their digital stories. The qualitative and quantitative data were obtained through technological pedagogical content knowledge self-confidence scale and open-ended metaphorical question as pre- and post-tests. In quantitative and qualitative data analysis, t-test for the dependant samples and inductive content analysis were conducted. The findings demonstrated the prospective pre-school teachers’ digital story preperation increased their self-confidence on TPCK. It was inferred from the metaphors that the prospective pre-school teachers perceived self-confidence on TPCK as a guide and a vital necessity. Data analysis results indicated digital story preparation had positive effect on the prospective pre-school teachers’ selfconfidence on TPCK.
CSRecommender: A Cloud Service Searching and Recommendation System

Cloud Computing and in particular cloud services have become widely used in both the technology and business industries. Despite this significant use, very little research or commercial solutions exist that focus on the discovery of cloud services. This paper introduces CSRecommender—a search engine and recommender system specifically designed for the discovery of these services. To engineer the system to scale, we also describe the implementation of a Cloud Service Identifier which enables the system to crawl the Internet without human involvement. Finally, we examine the effectiveness and usefulness of the system using real-world use cases and users.
O-GlcNAcylation in immunity and inflammation: An intricate system (Review)

Chronic, low-grade inflammation associated with obesity and diabetes result from the infiltration of adipose and vascular tissue by immune cells and contributes to cardiovascular complications. Despite an incomplete understanding of the mechanistic underpinnings of immune cell differentiation and inflammation, O-GlcNAcylation, the addition of O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) to cytoplasmic, nuclear and mitochondrial proteins by the two cycling enzymes, the O-linked N-acetylglucosamine transferase (OGT) and the O-GlcNAcase (OGA), may contribute to fine-tune immunity and inflammation in both physiological and pathological conditions. Early studies have indicated that O-GlcNAcylation of proteins play a pro-inflammatory role in diabetes and insulin resistance, whereas subsequent studies have demonstrated that this post-translational modification could also be protective against acute injuries. These studies suggest that diverse types of insults result in dynamic changes to O-GlcNAcylation patterns, which fluctuate with cellular metabolism to promote or inhibit inflammation. In this review, the current understanding of O-GlcNAcylation and its adaptive modulation in immune and inflammatory responses is summarized.
A COMPARISON OF TORQUE- VELOCITY- POWER CHARACTERISTICS OF MAXIMAL KNEE EXTENSION IN SPRINT AND ENDURANCE TRAINED ATHLETES

This study examined the torque-velocity and power-velocity relationships of quadriceps muscle function in sprint and endurance athletes. Isokinetic maximal knee extension torque was obtained from seven sprinters and seven endurance athletes using a Contrex isokinetic dynamometer. Torque and power measures were corrected for lean thigh cross-sectional area and lean thigh volume respectively. The results indicated that significantly different torque and power velocity relationships existed between the two groups. The implication from this is that the use of isokinetic dynamometry might be a useful non-invasive method for determining qualitatively, the functional capacity of a muscle group.
Comment on the paper “Cognitive functional therapy in patients with non specific chronic low back pain”, by Vibe Fersum et al.

We would like to thank the authors for publishing this article (Vibe Fersum et al., 2019). The approach called CFT is very promising and has caught the attention and interest of a huge number of clinicians in the management of non-specific disabling chronic low back pain. We wholeheartedly agree that it is necessary to publish the results of the long term follow up even in circumstances where there may be a high risk of bias. Notably, the 1-year follow-up study of Vibe Fersum et al. (2013) already presented a number of methodological shortcomings, such as lack of clear information regarding blinding of assessors. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Skint8, a Novel B7 Family–Related Molecule, Negatively Regulates T Cell Responses

Key Points Skint8 shares sequence and structural similarity to existing B7 family members. Skint8-Ig fusion protein inhibits T cell functions in vitro. Skint8-Ig alleviates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in mice. Immune responses are tightly controlled by T cell costimulatory and coinhibitory molecules. In this study, we identify Skint8 as a new member of the T cell coinhibitory group, whose extracellular domains share significant homology with existing B7 family members. Skint8 mRNA is expressed in resting and activated B cells, monocytes, and CD4 T cells. The Skint8 putative receptor is expressed on activated CD4 and CD8 T cells, B cells, monocytes and dendritic cells. Recombinant Skint8–IgG Fc fusion protein inhibits T cell proliferation, activation, and cytokine production in vitro. In vivo administration of Skint8–IgG Fc reduces T cell activation and alleviates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in mice. The findings broaden our understanding of the regulation of immune responses and may have implications for treating immune-related diseases.