Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pelaksanaan Outcomes Based Education (OBE) dalam kalangan pensyarah di Fakulti Pendidikan Teknikal dan Vokasional

Outcomes Based Education (OBE) merupakan satu pendekatan yang terbaik untuk melihat pencapaian pelajar di dalam mengaplikasikan pengetahuan pembelajaran dan turut memudahkan pengajaran pensyarah. Oleh itu, kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenalpasti tahap kesedaran dan tahap pemahaman pensyarah dalam pelaksanaan OBE. Selain itu, kajian ini juga bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti halangan yang dihadapi oleh pensyarah dalam melaksanakan OBE. Sampel kajian ini adalah terdiri daripada 38 orang pensyarah yang terlibat secara aktif dalam aktiviti pengajaran dan pembelajaran di Fakulti Pendidikan Teknikal dan Vokasional. Dalam kajian ini, reka bentuk kajian yang digunakan adalah tinjauan manakala instrumen yang digunakan pula adalah borang soal selidik. Data yang diperolehi dianalisis menggunakan perisian Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) versi 16.0. Nilai alpha cronbach yang diperolehi dalam kajian rintis ini adalah 0.801. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahawa tahap kesedaran pensyarah terhadap pelaksanaan OBE adalah tinggi begitu juga dengan tahap pemahaman pensyarah yang berada pada tahap yang tinggi. Manakala dari aspek halangan pula mendapati bahawa halangan yang dihadapi oleh pensyarah berada pada tahap yang sederhana. Namun begitu, halangan sokongan dari pihak fakulti menunjukkan halangan yang tinggi yang dihadapi oleh para pensyarah di situ. Kajian ini juga menunjukkan bahawa tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan antara tahap kesedaran pensyarah terhadap pelaksanaan OBE dengan umur pensyarah. Begitu juga dengan pengalaman mengajar pensyarah yang menunjukkan bahawa tiada perbezaan yang signifikan dengan tahap kesedaran pensyarah terhadap pelaksanaan OBE.
Concept Type Prediction and Responsive Adaptation in a Dialogue System

Responsive adaptation in spoken dialogue systems involves a change in dialogue system behavior in response to a user or a dialogue situation. In this paper we address responsive adaptation in the automatic speech recognition module of a spoken dialogue system. We hypothesize that information about the content of a user utterance may help improve speech recognition. We use a two-step process to test this hypothesis: first, we automatically predict the task-relevant concept types likely to be present in a user utterance using features from the dialogue context and from the output of first-pass recognition of the utterance; and then, we adapt the speech recognizer’s language model to the predicted content of the user’s utterance and run a second pass of speech recognition. We show that: (1) it is possible to achieve high accuracy in determining presence or absence of particular concept types in a post-confirmation utterance; and (2) 2-pass speech recognition with concept type classification and language model adaptation can lead to improved speech recognition performance for post-confirmation utterances.
Complexity-Seeking Ants

Deneubourg et al. 1] introduced a model of sorting behavior in ants. They found that simple model ants were able to sort into piles objects initially strewn randomly across the plane. The model is in qualitative agreement with the behavior of real ants. The model ants operate according to local strategic rules and possess only local perceptual capacities. Nonetheless, they are able to impose global order. What is the mechanism underlying this phenomenon? We hypothesize that it is the combination of two processes, one which decreases small-scale complexity, and another which couples small-scale decreases in complexity to larger scales. To test this hypothesis, we introduce variant ants which have a complexity-seeking strategy. These ants can "see" local complexity, and tend to perform actions (picking up and putting down objects) in regions of highest local complexity. Using this strategy, they are able to accomplish their task more eeciently than the basic ants. For both basic and complexity-seeking ants, we nd that complexity-reduction begins at the nest scale and propagates out to ever-increasing scales. We quantify the eeciency of various ant sorting strategies in terms of the amount of energy (in the form of random strategic choices) the ants require in order to eeect the reduction of global spatial entropy.
Two Dobzhansky-Muller Genes Interact to Cause Hybrid Lethality in Drosophila

The Dobzhansky-Muller model proposes that hybrid incompatibilities are caused by the interaction between genes that have functionally diverged in the respective hybridizing species. Here, we show that Lethal hybrid rescue (Lhr) has functionally diverged in Drosophila simulans and interacts with Hybrid male rescue (Hmr), which has functionally diverged in D. melanogaster, to cause lethality in F1 hybrid males. LHR localizes to heterochromatic regions of the genome and has diverged extensively in sequence between these species in a manner consistent with positive selection. Rapidly evolving heterochromatic DNA sequences may be driving the evolution of this incompatibility gene.
Impact of Perioperative Blood Transfusion on Postoperative Complications and Prognosis of Gastric Adenocarcinoma Patients with Different Preoperative Hemoglobin Value

Background. The impact of perioperative blood transfusion on the prognosis of gastric adenocarcinoma patients is still controversial. The aim of this study was to elucidate the impact of perioperative blood transfusion on postoperative complications and prognosis of patients who underwent gastrectomy for gastric adenocarcinoma with different levels of preoperative hemoglobin value (POHb). Method. From 2003 to 2011, 1199 patients who underwent curative gastrectomy were retrospectively enrolled and followed up to December 2014. Clinicopathological features and survival outcomes were compared between transfused and nontransfused patients. Results. In this study, transfused patients had more postoperative complications than nontransfused ones (P = 0.002). In survival analysis, the difference was not significant between transfused and nontransfused patients with POHb between 70 and 100 g/L (P = 0.191). However, in patients with POHb >100 g/L, transfused patients had significantly worse prognosis (P < 0.001), especially in TNM III stage patients (P = 0.002). And intraoperative blood transfusion predicted poor prognosis (P = 0.001). Conclusion. Perioperative blood transfusion might lead to poor survival in gastric adenocarcinoma patients with POHb >100 g/L and transfused patients had more postoperative complications; thus it is better to refrain from unnecessary perioperative blood transfusion especially intraoperative transfusion.
The Granular Origins of Aggregate Fluctuations

This paper proposes that idiosyncratic firm-level fluctuations can explain an important part of aggregate shocks, and provide a microfoundation for aggregate productivity shocks. Existing research has focused on using aggregate shocks to explain business cycles, arguing that individual firm shocks average out in aggregate. I show that this argument breaks down if the distribution of firm sizes is fat-tailed, as documented empirically. The idiosyncratic movements of the largest 100 firms in the US appear to explain about one third of variations in output and the Solow residual. This "granular" hypothesis suggests new directions for macroeconomic research, in particular that macroeconomic questions can be clarified by looking at the behavior of large firms. This paper's ideas and analytical results may also be useful to think about the fluctuations of other economic aggregates, such as exports or the trade balance.
Stress and tinnitus—from bedside to bench and back

The aim of this review is to focus the attention of clinicians and basic researchers on the association between psycho-social stress and tinnitus. Although tinnitus is an auditory symptom, its onset and progression often associates with emotional strain. Recent epidemiological studies have provided evidence for a direct relationship between the emotional status of subjects and tinnitus. In addition, studies of function, morphology, and gene and protein expression in the auditory system of animals exposed to stress support the notion that the emotional status can influence the auditory system. The data provided by clinical and basic research with use of animal stress models offers valuable clues for an improvement in diagnosis and more effective treatment of tinnitus.
Characterizing Markov-Switching Rational Expectations Models

Markov-switching rational expectations (MSRE) models can bring out fresh insights beyond what linear rational expectations (RE) models have done for macroeconomics as Davig and Leeper (2007) and Farmer, Waggoner and Zha (2009), among others, have noted and predicted. A lack of tractable methodological foundations, however, may have hindered researchers from uncovering the salient features of MSRE models. This paper improves the status quo to a level at which MSRE - inherently non-linear - models can be analyzed as easily and comprehensively as linear RE models. Specically, we provide a solution method, determinacy conditions, and an economic solution renement and completely characterize the set of RE equilibria for general MSRE models under determinacy and indeterminacy in the mean-square stability sense. These tasks are accomplished by simply solving a model forward and imposing the no-bubble condition for fundamental solutions. We apply our methodology to a New-Keynesian model subject to regime-switching in monetary policy and nd some unforeseen but intuitive determinacy results. Markov-switching in the private sector is also shown to deliver potentially rich dynamics.
Reading and Writing Instruction in the Upper Elementary Grades

This special issue of Intervention in School and Clinic supports the knowledge and skills of educators who provide reading and writing intervention to students with learning disabilities (LD) in the upper elementary grades. Grades 3 through 5 are critical to long-term academic success because, for many students with LD, foundational literacy skills are still developing during a time when reading and writing tasks become more challenging. In this issue, evidence-based instructional practices and strategies are presented. The articles in this issue include interventions for improving word reading skills, written expression, advanced reading comprehension, as well as motivation and self-determined learning. Detailed teaching steps, classroom examples, and suggestions for classroom resources are included.
The Chinese soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis, excretes urea mainly through the mouth instead of the kidney

SUMMARY The Chinese soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis, is well adapted to aquatic environments, including brackish swamps and marshes. It is ureotelic, and occasionally submerges its head into puddles of water during emersion, presumably for buccopharyngeal respiration. This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that the buccophyaryngeal cavity constitutes an important excretory route for urea in P. sinensis. Results indicate that a major portion of urea was excreted through the mouth instead of the kidney during immersion. When restrained on land, P. sinensis occasionally submerged their head into water (20–100 min), during which urea excretion and oxygen extraction occurred simultaneously. These results indicate for the first time that buccopharyngeal villiform processes (BVP) and rhythmic pharyngeal movements were involved in urea excretion in P. sinensis. Urea excretion through the mouth was sensitive to phloretin inhibition, indicating the involvement of urea transporters (UTs). In addition, saliva samples collected from the buccopharyngeal surfaces of P. sinensis injected intraperitoneally with saline contained ~36 mmol N l−1 urea, significantly higher than that (~2.4 mmol N l−1) in the plasma. After intraperitoneal injection with 20 μmol urea g−1 turtle, the concentration of urea in the saliva collected from the BVP increased to an extraordinarily high level of ~614 μmol N ml−1, but the urea concentration (~45 μmol N ml−1) in the plasma was much lower, indicating that the buccopharyngeal epithelium of P. sinensis was capable of active urea transport. Subsequently, we obtained from the buccopharyngeal epithelium of P. sinensis the full cDNA sequence of a putative UT, whose deduced amino acid sequence had ~70% similarity with human and mouse UT-A2. This UT was not expressed in the kidney, corroborating the proposition that the kidney had only a minor role in urea excretion in P. sinensis. As UT-A2 is known to be a facilitative urea transporter, it is logical to deduce that it was localized in the basolateral membrane of the buccopharyngeal epithelium, and that another type of primary or secondary active urea transporter yet to be identified was present in the apical membrane. The ability to excrete urea through the mouth instead of the kidney might have facilitated the ability of P. sinensis and other soft-shelled turtles to successfully invade the brackish and/or marine environment.
Diurnal variations in human corneal thickness.

AIM: To elucidate the diurnal variation in human corneal thickness over a 48 hour period. METHOD: Changes in central corneal thickness were monitored in eight healthy subjects (four male, four female) aged between 10 and 63 years using an ultrasonic pachymeter. Measurements were made over a 48 hour period-immediately before sleep, immediately upon waking and at 15, 30, 45 minutes, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3 hours, and at 2 hour intervals thereafter throughout the remainder of each day. RESULTS: The mean corneal thickness for the group (SD) was 546 (14) microns, with a mean overnight increase of 5.5% (2.9%) (range 1.9-12.6%) and a maximum diurnal increase of 7.2% (2.8%) (range 2.1-14.3%). Individual differences in the extent of diurnal and overnight variation occurred within the group. For three subjects, the first reading taken on waking was not the highest and corneal thickness continued to increase. CONCLUSION: These data confirm an increase of corneal thickness during sleep, but also reveal considerable variation during waking hours. Thus, the overnight changes in corneal thickness are not truly representative of diurnal variations in human corneal thickness and, in fact, much greater diurnal variation occurs than the 3.0-4.4% previously reported.
Isolation, molecular characterization and antibiotic resistance of Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) and Necrotoxigenic E. coli (NTEC) from healthy water buffalo.

1Department of Veterinary Microbiology, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences 37, K. B. Sarani, Kolkata, West Bengal, India 2Eastern Regional Station, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, West Bengal, India 3Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Central Agricultural University, Aizawl Mizoram, India 4Department of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences 37, K. B. Sarani, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Cellular mechanisms and intracellular signaling pathways for the modulation of eNOS in pulmonary arteries by 15-HETE

The 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (15-HETE), a lipid metabolite and vasoconstrictor, plays an important role in hypoxic contraction of pulmonary arteries (PAs) through working on smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Previous studies have shown that vascular endothelium is also involved in PAs tone regulation. However, little is known as to how the pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) are related to the 15-HETE-induced vasoconstriction and that which intracellular signaling systems are critical. To test this hypothesis, we examined PAs constriction in isolated rat PAs rings, the expression and activity of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) with western blot, and nitric oxide (NO) production using the DAF-FM DA fluorescent indicator. The results showed that the 15-HETE-induced PAs constriction was diminished in endothelium-intact rings. In the presence of the eNOS inhibitor L-NAME, vasoconstrictor responses to KCl were greater than the control. The activation of eNOS was activated by Ca2+ released from intracellular stores and the PI3K/Akt pathway. Phosphorylations of the eNOS at Ser-1177 and Akt at Ser-473 were necessary for their activity. A prolonged 15-HETE treatment (30 min) led to a decrease in NO production by phosphorylation of eNOS at Thr-495, leading to augmentation of PAs constriction. Therefore, 15-HETE initially inhibited the PAs constriction through the endothelial NO system, and both Ca2+ and the PI3K/Akt signaling systems are required for the effects of 15-HETE on PAs tone regulation.
Analysis of different modulation techniques for multilevel inverters

Analysis of different modulation techniques for multilevel inverter is discussed. To control the multilevel inverters, different modulation techniques have been used. Amongst them multi carrier Sine Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) techniques are widely used for different multilevel inverter topologies. These modulation techniques are derived from the conventional two level inverter SPWM technique. Different modulation techniques are compared on the basis of the output THD, utilization of DC link voltages and common mode voltage. The detailed analysis of modulation techniques are shown on the basis of the output THD offered by the five level Neutral Point Clamped or Diode Clamped (NPC) inverter.
Political Centralization and Government Accountability

This article explains why decentralization can undermine accountability and answers three questions: what determines if power should be centralized or decentralized when regions are heterogeneous? How many levels of government should there be? How should state borders be drawn? We develop a model of political agency in which voters differ in their ability to monitor rent-seeking politicians. We find that rent extraction is a decreasing and convex function of the share of informed voters, because voter information improves monitoring but also reduces the appeal of holding office. As a result, information heterogeneity pushes toward centralization to reduce rent extraction. Taste heterogeneity pulls instead toward decentralization to match local preferences. Our model thus implies that optimal borders should cluster by tastes but ensure diversity of information. We also find economies of scope in accountability that explain why multiplying government tiers harms efficiency. A single government in charge of many policies has better incentives than many special-purpose governments splitting its budget and responsibilities. Hence, a federal system is desirable only if information varies enough across regions. JEL Codes: D72, D82, H73, H77.
[Prevalence of a set of risk factors for chronic diseases in the city of São Paulo, Brazil].

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of a set of risk factors for non-transmissible chronic diseases and compare it to that found 15-16 years ago in a similar survey. METHODS A cross-sectional household survey was carried out comprising a random sample of people aged 15-59 years in the city of São Paulo between 2001 and 2002. The total of 2,103 people answered a questionnaire and had their blood pressure, weight, height, waist and hip circumferences measured. For a third of these participants, their total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose levels were determined. RESULTS The total age-adjusted prevalences in the study age group were as follows: smoking, 22.6%; uncontrolled blood pressure, 24.3%; obesity, 13.7%; increased waist circumference, 19.7%; total cholesterol >or =240 mg/dL, 8.1%; HDL-cholesterol <40 mg/dL, 27.1%; triglycerides > or =200 mg/dL, 14.4%; and blood glucose > or =110 mg/dL, 6.8%. Smoking, uncontrolled blood pressure, high total cholesterol, low HDL-cholesterol and high triglycerides were significantly more prevalent in men than women. CONCLUSIONS The prevalences of a set of risk factors for chronic diseases showed men to have a poorer condition than women. In comparison to the previous survey, the prevalence of uncontrolled blood pressure remained unchanged but the prevalence of smoking has significantly lowered.
Blind and Semi-Blind Sparse Channel Identification in MIMO OFDM Systems

In this paper, we are interested in blind and semi-blind identification of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. Using the sparsity property of wireless channel impulse response, we propose an iterative method which minimizes a cost function to result from the combination of blind or semi-blind criterion and the lp norm. This norm is considered as a good sparsity measure. The simulations show that the proposed method outperforms existing techniques in terms of estimation error and robustness to channel order overestimation.
E2F7 represses a network of oscillating cell cycle genes to control S-phase progression

E2F transcription factors are known to be important for timely activation of G1/S and G2/M genes required for cell cycle progression, but transcriptional mechanisms for deactivation of cell cycle-regulated genes are unknown. Here, we show that E2F7 is highly expressed during mid to late S-phase, occupies promoters of G1/S-regulated genes and represses their transcription. ChIP-seq analysis revealed that E2F7 binds preferentially to genomic sites containing the TTCCCGCC motif, which closely resembles the E2F consensus site. We identified 89 target genes that carry E2F7 binding sites close to the transcriptional start site and that are directly repressed by short-term induction of E2F7. Most of these target genes are known to be activated by E2Fs and are involved in DNA replication, metabolism and DNA repair. Importantly, induction of E2F7 during G0-G1/S resulted in S-phase arrest and DNA damage, whereas expression of E2F7 during G2/M failed to disturb cell cycle progression. These findings provide strong evidence that E2F7 directly controls the downswing of oscillating G1/S genes during S-phase progression.
Modeling of readout circuit for acquisition of sensory signal through non-contact means

This work is about modeling a readout system across narrow gaps using inductive means for a contact-less transfer of signal. The signal source could be devices implanted in humans or animals or even devices embedded buried in inaccessible locations for monitoring purposes, while the readout devices are normally in accessible locations in the external world. This work focuses on modeling the coupled coils used in the inductive coupling technique. The input impedance of the simplified model of the coupled coils as seen from the external readout circuit is derived. This impedance is plotted as a function of frequency for finding the points, at which the two coils get resonated, allowing signal transfer with a maximum strength. The preliminary simulations and derivation plots show that the impedance is dependent on the coupling coefficient of the coils. Larger is the value of coupling (that is smaller gap), better will be transmission of the signal. Assuming a load of small resistive value coupled with a capacitive element, the results of the effect of varying resistance for a fixed value of capacitance and the effect of a variable capacitance for a fixed value of resistance are obtained. Such results are supported by PSpice simulation, showing consistency of the basic concepts used.