Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Training Scientific Thinking Skills

The present study reports on the development and evaluation of a classroom module to train scientific thinking skills. The module was implemented in two of four parallel sections of introductory psychology. To assess learning, a passage-based question set from the medical college admissions test (MCAT2015) preview guide was included as extra credit on the final exam in all sections. This provided an outcome that was distinct in content from the module, while tapping the same underlying scientific thinking skills. Students in the experimental classrooms answered more questions correctly on targeted scientific thinking skills than students in the comparison classrooms. These data support the benefit of targeted activities for training scientific thinking skills in introductory psychology.
Practical Nostalgia and the Critique of Commodification: On the ‘Death of Hockey’ and the National Hockey League

This paper explores some uses of nostalgia in two accounts of ‘the death of hockey’ in the professional National Hockey League of North America. The two accounts examined offer critiques of the commodification of the game some 26 years apart, in 1972 and in 1998. The argument developed here is that nostalgia can be more than just a longing or a yearning for an unattainable golden era located some unspecified time in the past, when social life was well organised and clearly understood, but rather that nostalgia can also take on a tough critical edge when its practical uses are recognised and exploited. Couched as practical nostalgia, such interpretations of the past provide a vision that can be used as a way of creating a space for the development of a critique of the present and opening up possibilities for the future. In the public culture of hockey practical nostalgia can be used to articulate a theoretical approach for understanding the ongoing commodification of the game.
Bisoprolol (EMD 33512), a Highly Selective &bgr;1‐Adrenoceptor Antagonist: In Vitro and In Vivo Studies

&NA; The properties of the newly developed selective &bgr;1‐adrenoceptor antagonist bisoprolol (EMD 33152) were investigated by in vitro and in vivo studies. Binding studies with (‐ )‐[125I] iodocyanopindolol (ICYP) revealed that the affinity of (±)‐bisoprolol to &bgr;1‐adrenoceptors was ˜ 100 times higher than to &bgr;2‐adrenoceptors. This high &bgr;1‐adrenoceptor selectivity of bisoprolol could be confirmed in binding studies with the tritiated compound (‐)[3H] bisoprolol, which labelled in rabbit lung membranes — a tissue known to contain 80% &bgr;1‐ and 20% &bgr;2‐adrenoceptors — exclusively &bgr;1‐adrenoceptors. In physiological studies, (±)‐bisoprolol was found to be devoid of any intrinsic sympathomimetic activity (ISA), since it had no positive chronotropic effects on spontaneously beating right atria of reserpinized rats. On isolated electrically driven human right atria, ( ± )‐bisoprolol was ˜ 30 times more potent in antagonizing the &bgr;1‐adrenoceptor‐mediated positive inotropic effect of noradrenaline (pA2‐value, 8.42) than the &bgr;2‐adrenoceptor‐mediated positive inotropic effect of procaterol (pA2‐value, 6.99). To test the &bgr;1‐adrenoceptor selectivity in vivo, the effects of bisoprolol administration (1 × 10 mg/day for 9 days) on lymphocyte &bgr;2‐adrenoceptor density [assessed by (‐ )‐ICYP binding] in healthy volunteers were compared with those of the nonselective &bgr;‐adrenoceptor antagonists propranolol (4 × 40 mg/day for 9 days) without ISA, and pindolol (2 × 5 mg/day for 9 days) with ISA. Lymphocyte &bgr;2‐adrenoceptor density was not affected by bisoprolol, neither during treatment nor after withdrawal, in contrast to the effects of propranolol, which increased &bgr;2‐adrenoceptor density by ˜ 35%, and pindolol, which decreased &bgr;2‐adrenoceptor density by ˜50%. On the other hand, in healthy volunteers bisoprolol (2.5 mg i.v. 30 min before the experiments) completely prevented the intrarenal &bgr;1‐adrenoceptor‐mediated increase in plasma renin activity following isoprenaline infusion, indicating that bisoprolol is also in vivo a potent &bgr;1‐adrenoceptor antagonist. These results demonstrate in vitro and in vivo that bisoprolol is a selective &bgr;1‐adrenoceptor antagonist without ISA, possessing low affinity to &bgr;2‐adrenoceptors. Bisoprolol is, therefore, a suitable tool to study &bgr;‐adrenoceptor subtypes in the human being.
Statistical approach to shot-boundary detection in an MPEG-2-compressed video sequence

In this paper, we propose an efficient shot boundary detection algorithm for direct processing of MPEG-2 video sequences. The proposed algorithm utilizes the hierarchical structure of the compressed bitstreams and characteristics of the coded parameters, for example, picture coding type and macroblock coding mode, thus greatly reducing computational requirement compared to pixel domain processing with full decompression. Occurrence of a shot boundary is checked first in a sub-GOP level, and if the result is affirmative it is checked again in each picture. And, to solve selection of appropriate threshold values, we use the hypothesis test with statistical characteristics of the coded parameters, for example, the ratio of intra-coded macroblocks to inter-coded macroblocks, the ratio of the backward macroblocks to bi-directional macroblocks, and the ratio of forward macroblocks to bi-direction macroblocks.
Tissue-Negative Transient Ischemic Attack: Is There a Role for Perfusion MRI?

OBJECTIVE Approximately 60% of patients with a clinical transient ischemic attack (TIA) do not have DWI evidence of cerebral ischemia. The purpose of this study was to assess the added diagnostic value of perfusion MRI in the evaluation of patients with TIA who have normal DWI findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS The inclusion criteria for this retrospective study were clinical presentation of TIA at admission with a discharge diagnosis of TIA confirmed by a stroke neurologist, MRI including both DWI and perfusion-weighted imaging within 48 hours of symptom onset, and no DWI lesion. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) and time to maximum of the residue function (Tmax) maps were evaluated independently by two observers. Multivariate analysis was used to assess perfusion findings; clinical variables; age, blood pressure, clinical symptoms, diabetes (ABCD2) score; duration of TIA; and time between MRI and onset and resolution of symptoms. RESULTS Fifty-two patients (33 women, 19 men; age range, 20-95 years) met the inclusion criteria. A regional perfusion abnormality was identified on either Tmax or CBF maps of 12 of 52 (23%) patients. Seven (58%) of the patients with perfusion abnormalities had hypoperfused lesions best detected on Tmax maps; the other five had hyperperfusion best detected on CBF maps. In 11 of 12 (92%) patients with abnormal perfusion MRI findings, the regional perfusion deficit correlated with the initial neurologic deficits. Multivariable analysis revealed no significant difference in demographics, ABCD2 scores, or presentation characteristics between patients with and those without perfusion abnormalities. CONCLUSION Perfusion MRI that includes Tmax and CBF parametric maps adds diagnostic value by depicting regions with delayed perfusion or postischemic hyperperfusion in approximately one-fourth of TIA patients who have normal DWI findings.
Impatience , Indeterminacy , and Second-Best Fiscal Policy for Equilibrium Selection

This paper studies the role of second-best scal policy as an equilibrium selection device under the presence of intertemporal complementarities. Our central assumption is that the individual rate of time preference is endogenously determined by the social level of education. We show how intertemporal complementarities of aggregate human capital can generate multiple equilibria and we examine the role of Ramsey second-best and growth-maximizing scal policies in equilibrium selection. We nd that scal policy can resolve equilibrium indeterminacy because in a secondbest environment the government can internalize the reaction of the competitive equilibrium that fuels multiplicity and has adequate tools, namely the tax rate and the allocation of aggregate endowments, to carry out two tasks, equilibrium selection and welfare (or growth) maximization. JEL classi cation: D90, H21, E62. Keywords: endogenous time preference, aggregate human capital, optimal scal policies. Acknowledgments: We have bene ted from comments and suggestions by C. Arkolakis, C. Azariadis, G. Economides, P. Koundouri, L. Marattin, T. Palivos, A. Philippopoulos, E. Vella, A. Xepapadeas, and seminar participants at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the European Public Choice Society, PGPPE 2009 Workshop in Graz, RCEA 2009 Workshop of Recent Developments in Economic Growth, 7th Conference on Research on Economic Theory and Econometrics, University of Crete, University of Cyprus, and Athens University of Economics and Business. The usual disclaimer applies. Department of Economics, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, Doryforos Building, Block C, 1678, Nicosia, Cyprus, e-mail: evangelos.dioikitopoulos@aueb.gr. yCorresponding author: Department of International and European Economic Studies, Athens University of Economics and Business, Patision Str 76, Athens 10434, Greece. e-mail: skalyvitis@aueb.gr
Employer learning, job changes, and wage dynamics

This paper takes a new approach to testing whether employer learning is public or private. We show that public and private learning schemes make two distinct predictions about the curvature of the wage growth path when a worker changes jobs, since less information about the worker’s productivity is transferred to a new employer in the private learning case than in the public learning case. This prediction enables us to account for individual and job-match heterogeneity, which was not possible in previous tests. Using the NLSY79, we find that employer learning is public for high-school graduates and private for college graduates. JEL Classification: J31; D83.
JNK phosphorylation of Bim-related members of the Bcl2 family induces Bax-dependent apoptosis

The c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) is activated when cells are exposed to environmental stress, including UV radiation. Gene disruption studies demonstrate that JNK is essential for UV-stimulated apoptosis mediated by the mitochondrial pathway by a Bax/Bak-dependent mechanism. Here, we demonstrate that JNK phosphorylates two members of the BH3-only subgroup of Bcl2-related proteins (Bim and Bmf) that are normally sequestered by binding to dynein and myosin V motor complexes. Phosphorylation by JNK causes release from the motor complexes. These proapoptotic BH3-only proteins therefore provide a molecular link between the JNK signal transduction pathway and the Bax/Bak-dependent mitochondrial apoptotic machinery.
Flexible complexity reduced PID-like fuzzy controllers

In this paper, a flexible complexity reduced design approach for PID-like fuzzy controllers is proposed. With the linear combination of input variables as a new input variable, the complexity of the fuzzy mechanism of PID-like fuzzy controllers is significantly reduced. However, the performance of the complexity reduced fuzzy PID controller may be degraded since the degree of freedom is decreased by the combination of input variables. To alleviate the drawback and improve the performance of the complexity reduced PID-like fuzzy controller, a flexible complexity reduced design approach is introduced in which the functional scaling factors are heuristically generated. Since the functional scaling factors are heuristically created, they can be easily adjusted for the flexible complexity reduced PID-like fuzzy controller without a priori knowledge of the exact mathematical model of the plant. Moreover, heuristic scaling factors are implemented as functionals. Therefore, the complexity of the flexible PID-like fuzzy controller will not be increased. Further, the stability of the fuzzy control system with a flexible complexity reduced PID-like fuzzy controller is discussed. Finally, the simulation results are also included to show the effectiveness of the PID-like fuzzy controller designed with the flexible complexity reduced approach.
Responding to contestation in teaching and learning projects in the Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in the United Kingdom

Government-funded teaching and learning projects have emerged as a favoured tool of policymakers to motivate change in teaching and learning. This strategy pays limited heed to the complexity of higher education and the contradictions, tensions and conflicts that need to be negotiated to change practice. This process of negotiation creates sites of contestation, which can lead to not only conflict but also creativity. Drawing on the Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) initiative, we examine the sources of contestation project teams encountered, and consider how this influenced their work. The findings are based on a longitudinal study of 15 institutions, with data collected from key figures responsible for implementing CETLs. Contestation was identified in most projects, although its significance depended on factors such as alignment with institutional agendas, support from senior managers and institutions' receptiveness to change. Based on these findings we identify key policy implications.
Self-Efficacy Theory in Contemporary Psychology: An Overview

This paper reviews the basic tenets of self-efficacy theory and discusses several current theoretical issues, including the relationship between self-efficacy expectancies and outcome expectancies; the role of outcome value in self-efficacy theory; and the relationship of self-efficacy theory to other theories of the cognitive mediation of behavior.
A INFLUÊNCIA DA CULTURA ORGANIZACIONAL UNIVERSITÁRIA SOBRE O PROCESSO DE TRANSFERÊNCIA TECNOLÓGICA

O atual ritmo de desenvolvimento tecnologico obriga as empresas nao apenas manter investimentos em inovacao, como, tambem, aumentar continuamente o valor aplicado devido ao crescente custo de P&D. As instituicoes de ensino, por sua vez, detem o conhecimento tecnico, pessoal especializado e infra-estrutura laboratorial de alto nivel, alem do interesse em se aproximar das empresas, para disponibilizar os conhecimento gerados dentro de seus centros de pesquisa. Os governos, com o objetivo de fazer frente a globalizacao e garantir a sustentabilidade economica das empresas nacionais, procuram, de varias formas, criar mecanismos para fomentar a consolidacao do parque fabril local, com a geracao de emprego e renda. Desta convergencia de motivos, finalidades e necessidades dos tres atores, empresas instituicoes de ensino e governo, surgiu a configuracao de um novo modelo de desenvolvimento tecnologico denominado de "Helice Tripla" onde os governos criam os fundos com recursos financeiros que sao liberados para o desenvolvimento de projetos e inovacoes, condicionandos a sua aplicacao em projetos executados em conjunto com as instituicoes de ensino/ pesquisa e empresas. A presente pesquisa tem por objetivo evidenciar o grau de influencia da cultura organizacional de um grupo especifico de profissionais, constituido de pesquisadores e docentes de uma universidade privada de grande porte, na regiao sul do pais, no processo de transferencia tencologica.
Prozodické a pragmatické vlastnosti konverzačných hezitácií v angličtine

Conversation fillers are sounds like uh or um that commonly occur in spontaneous conversational speech. When these sounds are noticed, they are commonly perceived negatively in that speakers are considered unprepared, nervous, or less confident. This paper reviews several recent studies dealing with linguistic, psycholinguistic, and neurolinguistic aspects of conversational fillers and suggests that, despite generally negative perception, conversational fillers play an important role in interpersonal spoken interactions and function positively in facilitating communication. For example, they signal intonational or syntactic structure, cue given vs. new entities in discourse, increase attention, improve retention of words following them in memory, or signal metacognitive states of the speaker to the listener. These functions bring potential of using conversational fillers in various applications that are based on interactive speech and voice processing. Further studies of fillers in languages like Slovak may improve our understanding of the complexities of human spoken interactions.
Covalent binding of acetaldehyde selectively inhibits the catalytic activity of lysine‐dependent enzymes

Hepatic ethanol metabolism generates the reactive intermediate, acetaldehyde, whichbinds to proteins. The binding of acetaldehyde to purified enzymes was determined in order to ascertain whether such binding altered their catalytic functions. [14C]Acetaldehyde was incubated with alcohol dehydrogenase, glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase, lactate dehydrogenase and RNase A, each at 37°C(pH 7.4). In some reactions, sodium cyanoborohydride was included for stabilization of Schiff bases, formed as a result of the reaction between acetaldehyde and the amino groups of the enzymes. Portions of each reaction mixture were removed for determination ofstable and total (stable plus borohydride‐reducible) adducts. Alcohol dehydrogenase and lactate dehydrogenase were not inhibited by adduct formation. Glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase and RNase, the activities of which depend on a lysine residue at their catalytic sites, were inhibited in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner. The degree of inhibition directly correlated with total adduct formation. Phosphate, known to inhibit binding to the active site lysine of RNase, prevented the inhibition of catalytic activity caused by adduct formation. These findings indicate thatthe binding of acetaldehyde to lysine at the catalytic site can inhibit enzyme activity.
Integrating MAP and linear transformation for language model adaptation

This paper discusses the integration of various language model (LM) adaptations. Ways of integrating Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) adaptation and linear transformation of bigram probability vectors are introduced and evaluated. This method leads to little improvements for adaptation corpora of less than 15,000 words. Another method, based on a data augmentation technique by means of a distance between history vectors in a reduced space is also proposed. This method allows us to improve the results when using adaptation corpora larger than 30,000 words.
Information provision in over-the-counter markets q Tri

1042-9573/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier In doi:10.1016/j.jfi. 2011.05. 001 q An earlier version of this paper was completed ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: td2332@columbia.edu (T.V. D This paper analyzes endogenous information provision and purchase in over-the-counter (OTC) markets. On the supply side the optimal strategy of an information provider consists of selling identical information to all OTC traders. On the demand side OTC traders have an incentive to buy information from the same provider. If the incumbent information provider charges not too high a price, then an entrant firm has no demand even though it offers less expensive information of the same quality. This paper provides a rationale for the high level of market power in the industry for financial market data and credit rating services as well as why institutional traders may have no demand for a finer rating system. In addition, this paper shows that it is welfare improving for the security issuer to pay for rating services rather than having OTC traders purchase costly rating reports. 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Molecular Phylodynamics of the Heterosexual HIV Epidemic in the United Kingdom

The heterosexual risk group has become the largest HIV infected group in the United Kingdom during the last 10 years, but little is known of the network structure and dynamics of viral transmission in this group. The overwhelming majority of UK heterosexual infections are of non-B HIV subtypes, indicating viruses originating among immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa. The high rate of HIV evolution, combined with the availability of a very high density sample of viral sequences from routine clinical care has allowed the phylodynamics of the epidemic to be investigated for the first time. Sequences of the viral protease and partial reverse transcriptase coding regions from 11,071 patients infected with HIV of non-B subtypes were studied. Of these, 2774 were closely linked to at least one other sequence by nucleotide distance. Including the closest sequences from the global HIV database identified 296 individuals that were in UK-based groups of 3 or more individuals. There were a total of 8 UK-based clusters of 10 or more, comprising 143/2774 (5%) individuals, much lower than the figure of 25% obtained earlier for men who have sex with men (MSM). Sample dates were incorporated into relaxed clock phylogenetic analyses to estimate the dates of internal nodes. From the resulting time-resolved phylogenies, the internode lengths, used as estimates of maximum transmission intervals, had a median of 27 months overall, over twice as long as obtained for MSM (14 months), with only 2% of transmissions occurring in the first 6 months after infection. This phylodynamic analysis of non-B subtype HIV sequences representing over 40% of the estimated UK HIV-infected heterosexual population has revealed heterosexual HIV transmission in the UK is clustered, but on average in smaller groups and is transmitted with slower dynamics than among MSM. More effective intervention to restrict the epidemic may therefore be feasible, given effective diagnosis programmes.
Examining Distance Effects on Hospitalizations Using GIS: A Study of Three Health Regions in British Columbia, Canada

We examine travel distance and its effect on total and on avoidable hospitalizations, using data from three health regions in British Columbia, Canada. We conceptualize distance to hospital in geographic and socioeconomic contexts from the care seeker's perspective, and develop a GIS procedure to generate variables for these contexts. The procedure includes geocoding hospital locations and patient locations to determine travel distance for each hospitalization, generating several geographic barriers such as mountain crossings, and linking patient-neighborhood locations to socioeconomic variables. The findings reveal that overall, hospitalization rates are inversely related to distance to hospital. Even though low-income patients are more likely to be hospitalized for avoidable conditions, the income effect influences different dimensions from those affected by the distance effect. A balanced approach may be needed to address issues appropriately at both the low and the high ends of physical accessibility.
Static power minimization in current-mode circuits

We propose a method involving selective signal gating to minimize power dissipation in current-mode CMOS analog and multiple-valued logic (MVL) circuits employing a stack of current comparators. First, we present an approximation model for current in a current comparator circuit Power reduction is achieved by turning off the redundant comparator circuits using a switch-architecture. Simulations are carried-out for current-mode flash ADC designs and literal generating circuits for MVL to validate the method.