Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perceived Issues and Challenges to Professional Development of Faculty Members in Tertiary Academic Institutes of Punjab, Pakistan

Professional development of faculty members is an emerging concept in developing countries. It has been embraced quickly in developed nations unlike developing and under developing nations. The major purpose of this paper is to explore various perceived issues and challenges to professional development of faculty members and to provide suggestions to improve such emerging problems. This paper provides suggestions and recommendations for the universities where professional development practices have not yet started or have been started but facing some problems. Author has explored various perceived issues and challenges highlighted by prior studies that have further served as basis to design structured questionnaire and semi-structured interview questions for this study. Four renowned universities of Punjab were selected from which sample of 108 respondents were chosen for data collection. Data has been analyzed by taking simple means and standard deviations through SPSS. The findings of this paper reveal that the issue that is most alarming and has got lowest mean score is granting rewards and incentives and level of satisfaction of faculty members to professional development programs. Author has provided various recommendations as to conduct proper need assessment before training, to properly plan quality training programs and take input of trainees as well, to increase grants and funds for training, to create positive working environment for teachers, to train the trainers, to provide financial and non financial benefits to trainees and to properly scheduling training programs. This study could be beneficial for policy makers, managers and administrators of universities who could device better policies and practices to promote quality teaching in institutes. (Anam siddiqui, Hassan Danial Aslam, Hafiz Muhammad Farhan, Mehrdad Jalalian. Perceived issues and challenges to professional development of faculty members in tertiary academic institutes of Punjab, Pakistan. Journal of American Science 2011;7(12):533-538). (ISSN: 1545-1003). http://www.americanscience. org.
The Contributions of Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials and Acoustic Vestibular Stimulation to Our Understanding of the Vestibular System

Vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) are short-latency muscle reflexes typically recorded from the neck or eye muscles with surface electrodes. They are used clinically to assess otolith function, but are also interesting as they can provide information about the vestibular system and its activation by sound and vibration. Since the introduction of VEMPs more than 25 years ago, VEMPs have inspired animal and human research on the effects of acoustic vestibular stimulation on the vestibular organs, their projections and the postural muscles involved in vestibular reflexes. Using a combination of recording techniques, including single motor unit recordings, VEMP studies have enhanced our understanding of the excitability changes underlying the sound-evoked vestibulo-collic and vestibulo-ocular reflexes. Studies in patients with diseases of the vestibular system, such as superior canal dehiscence and Meniere's disease, have shown how acoustic vestibular stimulation is affected by physical changes in the vestibule, and how sound-evoked reflexes can detect these changes and their resolution in clinical contexts. This review outlines the advances in our understanding of the vestibular system that have occurred following the renewed interest in sound and vibration as a result of the VEMP.
Low RCS and Broadband ME Dipole Antenna Loading Artificial Magnetic Conductor Structures

A design for low radar cross section (RCS) and broadband magnetic-electric (ME) dipole antenna is proposed. Minkowski-like fractal metal patches printed on the substrate form the electric dipoles, four metallic vias connected to the radiation patches and the metal ground form the magnetic dipoles. The whole antenna is connected with an L-shaped feeding structure which excites electric and magnetic dipoles simultaneously. Meanwhile, two different structure AMC cells with a 180° (±30°) phase difference in a broadband frequency region are designed as a chessboard and loaded around the ME antenna radiation patch. Numerical and experimental results incident the antenna bandwidth is 42.4 % from 8.0 GHz to 12.3 GHz, covering the whole X band. Moreover, the RCS is reduced remarkable in a broad frequency range from 6.5 GHz to 15.5 GHz (81.8 % relative bandwidth) when compared to conventional ME antenna. After loading AMC structures, the antenna still keeps advanced performances such as stable gain and almost consistent pattern in E and H plane.
A QUALITATIVE MULTI-CRITERIA MODEL FOR THE EVALUATION OF ELECTRIC ENERGY PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES IN SLOVENIA

A methodological approach to the strategic evaluation of electric energy production technologies in Slovenia is presented. The aim of this work is to make a transparent and reproducible identification of reliable, rational, and environmentally sound production of electric energy in Slovenia by 2050. The approach is based on a qualitative multi-criteria modelling method DEX and consists of three stages: (1) assessment of individual technologies for electricity production, (2) assessment of mixtures of technologies, and (3) evaluation of scenarios of shutting-down existing old power plants and constructing the new ones until 2050. Technology alternatives include both conventional and renewable energy sources: coal fired, gas fired, biomass fired, oil fired, nuclear, hydro, wind, and photovoltaic. The results indicate that only mixtures of nuclear, hydro, and gas fired technologies can meet expected energy needs in a sufficiently reliable and rational way.
The development of a high-performance perfluorinated polymer electret and its application to micro power generation

Recently, micro power generation using electrets has attracted much attention due to its large power output at a low frequency range. Since the theoretical power output is proportional to the square of the surface charge density of the electret, the development of a high-performance electret is required. In the present study, it is shown that the surface charge density of a CYTOP electret is significantly improved by the addition of terminal groups. Based on this fact, a novel high-performance polymer electret has been developed by doping a silane-coupling reagent into the polymer. A series of measurements of surface potential and TSD (thermally stimulated discharge) spectra was made for various CYTOP films prepared with different silane-coupling reagent concentrations. It is found that the surface charge density, charge stability and thermal resistibility of electric charges are markedly improved by the doping. A surface charge density of 1.5 mC cm−2, which is three times larger than that of Teflon AF, has been obtained on a 15 µm thick film. In addition, the thermal stability of the CYTOP electret is superior to that of Teflon AF. Power generation experiment is also performed using the patterned CYTOP electret of 20 × 20 mm2. At a low seismic frequency of 20 Hz, 0.7 mW power generation has been accomplished, which is about 2.5 times higher than our previous result.
Random Forests Based Group Importance Scores and Their Statistical Interpretation: Application for Alzheimer's Disease

Machine learning approaches have been increasingly used in the neuroimaging field for the design of computer-aided diagnosis systems. In this paper, we focus on the ability of these methods to provide interpretable information about the brain regions that are the most informative about the disease or condition of interest. In particular, we investigate the benefit of group-based, instead of voxel-based, analyses in the context of Random Forests. Assuming a prior division of the voxels into non overlapping groups (defined by an atlas), we propose several procedures to derive group importances from individual voxel importances derived from Random Forests models. We then adapt several permutation schemes to turn group importance scores into more interpretable statistical scores that allow to determine the truly relevant groups in the importance rankings. The good behaviour of these methods is first assessed on artificial datasets. Then, they are applied on our own dataset of FDG-PET scans to identify the brain regions involved in the prognosis of Alzheimer's disease.
Effects of Transformational Leadership Training on Attitudinal and Financial Outcomes: A Field Experiment

A pretest-posttest control-group design (N = 20) was used to assess the effects of transformational leadership training, with 9 and 11 managers assigned randomly to training and control groups, respectively. Training consisted of a 1-day group session and 4 individual booster sessions thereafter on a monthly basis. Multivariate analyses of covariance, with pretest scores as the covariate, showed that the training resulted in significant effects on subordinates' perceptions of leaders' transformational leadership, subordinates' own organizational commitment, and 2 aspects of branch-level financial performance.
The importance of individual heterogeneity for interpreting faecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels in wildlife studies

1. As a non‐invasive and inexpensive method, the use of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGM) analysis in wildlife research is increasing. Various environmental factors have been shown to influence FGM levels, or faecal corticosteroid metabolites (FCM) levels in birds, but most studies do not account for inter‐individual variance, which we hypothesized may substantially affect results. 2. We combined FCM analysis with genetic analysis to identify the sex and individual's identity in samples collected in three consecutive winters; with repeated samples per individual, across the entire range of an endangered population of capercaillie Tetrao urogallus in south‐western Germany. Using generalized additive mixed models, we modelled FCM levels as a function of sex, season and environmental covariates at two spatial scales: location and home range. We compared two models: one including information on the individual animal and the other excluding this information (i.e. naive model) to assess the influence of individual heterogeneity on the results obtained. 3. Models accounting for inter‐individual differences explained 44.0% and 45.1% (at the location and home‐range scale respectively), while only very little (4.0% and 5.1%, respectively) was explained by the environmental predictors. When ignoring individual effects, the model results changed considerably with other, previously non‐informative predictors, becoming significant. 4. In the full models, accounting for inter‐individual variance, weather conditions had no effect at either scale. FCM levels were negatively correlated with habitat quality at the sampling location, while human recreation at the home‐range scale led to elevated FCM levels. In the naive models, two additional predictors appeared significant: one weather variable at the local scales and two at the home‐range scale. In all models, seasonal FCM patterns differed significantly between males and females. 5. Synthesis and applications. By combining faecal corticosteroid metabolites (FCM) analysis with genetic individual assessment, we demonstrate that individual heterogeneity can explain most of the variance in faecal corticosteroid metabolites levels and that ignoring this information can lead to erroneous conclusions when testing for environmental stressors. We therefore stress the importance of identifying individuals when studying faecal corticosteroid metabolites in wildlife and recommend combining faecal corticosteroid metabolites analyses with genetic analyses to adequately address this issue.
X-ray Diffraction of Cotton Treated with Neutralized Vegetable Oil-based Macromolecular Crosslinkers

Maleinized soybean oil (MSO) has been investigated as a flexible, macromolecular crosslinker for cotton fabrics. The ability of MSO to penetrate crystalline cellulose and crosslink aligned cellulose chains upon cure has been in question. This study compares the penetration capability of MSO to dimethyloldihydroxyethyleneurea (DMDHEU), which is the commercial standard for durable press finishing and is an efficient cellulose crosslinker. X-ray diffraction was employed to characterize changes in the crystalline morphology upon heating un-mercerized cotton fabrics treated with aqueous DMDHEU and soybean oil derivatives. Displacement of characteristic interplanar spacings and the genesis/elimination of diffraction intensities from quintessential planes were evidence of structural modification. The penetration of ammonia neutralized MSO (acid value 230.00 mg KOH/g) into the microstructure of cotton cellulose is similar to that of DMDHEU in terms of expanding the interplanar spacings of characteristic planes. Moreover, polymorphism of cotton and mercerized cotton occurred upon treatment with aqueous solutions of MSO. These findings suggest that macromolecular reagents can diffuse into cellulose fibrils if they are sufficiently hydrated or enshrouded by more favored penetrants.
Investigation of Unequal Planar Wireless Electricity Device for Efficient Wireless Power Transfer

This article focuses on the design and investigation of a pair of unequally sized wireless electricity (Witricity) devices that are equipped with integrated planar coil strips. The proposed pair of devices consists of two different square-shaped resonator sizes of 120 mm × 120 mm and 80 mm × 80 mm, acting as a transmitter and receiver, respectively. The devices are designed, simulated and optimized using the CST Microwave Studio software prior to being fabricated and verified using a vector network analyzer (VNA). The surface current results of the coupled devices indicate a good current density at 10 mm to 30 mm distance range. This good current density demonstrates that the coupled devices' surface has more electric current per unit area, which leads to a good performance up to 30 mm range. Hence, the results also reveal good coupling efficiency between the coupled devices, which is approximately 54.5 % at up to a 30 mm distance, with both devices axially aligned. In addition, a coupling efficiency of 50 % is achieved when a maximum lateral misalignment (LM) of 10 mm, and a varied angular misalignment (AM) from 0° to 40° are implemented to the proposed device.
Mineralogy of the light-toned outcrop at Meridiani Planum as seen by the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer and implications for its formation

[1] Analysis of Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) data has led to the recovery of a pure end-member spectral shape related to the light-toned outcrop observed at Meridiani Planum. Data from the MER Mossbauer spectrometer, APXS, and previous Mini-TES measurements were used to constrain a spectral library used to determine the mineralogy of the outcrop from this spectral shape. Linear deconvolution of the outcrop spectral shape suggests that it is composed primarily of Al-rich opaline silica, Mg-, Ca-, and Fe-bearing sulfates, plagioclase feldspar, nontronite, and hematite. Conversion of modeled mineralogy to chemistry shows good agreement with the chemical composition of the outcrops determined by APXS. Details of the analysis procedure and implications for the formation of the outcrop are discussed along with terrestrial analogs of the ancient environment at Meridiani.
On taming horses and strengthening riders: Recent developments in research on interventions to improve self-control in health behaviors

This article reviews recent developments in the design of interventions to improve health behavior. Based on dual-system models we classify intervention strategies according to whether they aim at: (i) changing impulsive structures; (ii) improving the ability to self-control; or (iii) changing reflective structures. We review recent work on re-training of automatic associations, attentional biases, and automatic approach–avoidance tendencies, training of self-control and executive functioning, and taxonomic work on health behavior intervention techniques. The theoretical framework as well as the empirical evidence suggest that a combination of both established and newly developed intervention techniques may prove fruitful for future intervention programs. However, several techniques are still in their infancy and more research is needed before clear recommendations can be given.
Title PKCα-mediated signals regulate the motile responses of cochlear outer hair cells

There is strong evidence that changes in the actin/spectrin-based cortical cytoskeleton of outer hair cells (OHCs) regulate their motile responses as well as cochlear amplification, the process that optimizes the sensitivity and frequency selectivity of the mammalian inner ear. Since a RhoA/protein kinase C (PKC)-mediated pathway is known to inhibit the actin-spectrin interaction in other cell models, we decided to investigate whether this signaling cascade could also participate in the regulation of OHC motility. We used high-speed video microscopy and confocal microscopy to explore the effects of pharmacological activation of PKCa, PKCbI, PKCbII, PKCd, PKCε, and PKCz with lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and their inhibition with bisindolylmaleimide I, as well as inhibition of RhoA and Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) with C3 and Y-27632, respectively. Motile responses were induced in isolated guinea pig OHCs by stimulation with an 8 V/cm external alternating electrical field as 50 Hz bursts of square wave pulses (100 ms on/off). We found that LPA increased expression of PKCa and PKCz only, with PKCa, but not PKCz, phosphorylating the cytoskeletal protein adducin of both Ser-726 and Thr-445. Interestingly, however, inhibition of PKCa reduced adducin phosphorylation only at Ser-726. We also determined that LPA activation of a PKCa-mediated signaling pathway simultaneously enhanced OHC electromotile amplitude and cell shortening, and facilitated RhoA/ROCK/ LIMK1-mediated cofilin phosphorylation. Altogether, our results suggest that PKCa-mediated signals, probably via adducinmediated inhibition of actin-spectrin binding and cofilin-mediated depolymerization of actin filaments, play an essential role in the homeostatic regulation of OHC motility and cochlear amplification.
1 Dose-dependent increase in unconjugated cinnamic 2 acid concentration in plasma following consumption 3 of polyphenol rich curry in the Polyspice study 4

Spices rich in polyphenols are metabolized to a convergent group of phenolic acids. We 15 conducted a dose-exposure nutrikinetic study to investigate associations between mixed spices 16 intake and plasma concentrations of selected, unconjugated phenolic acids. In a randomized 17 crossover study, 20 Chinese males consumed a curry meal containing 0 g, 6 g, and 12 g of mixed 18 spices. Postprandial blood was drawn up to 7 h at regular intervals and plasma phenolic acids were 19 quantified via LC-MS/MS. Cinnamic acid (CNA, p<0.0001) and phenylacetic acid (PAA, p<0.0005) 20 concentrations were significantly increased with mixed spices consumption, although none of the 21 other measured phenolic acids differ significantly between treatments. CNA displayed a high 22 dose-exposure association (R2>0.8, p<0.0001). The adjusted mean AUC0-7 h for CNA during the 3 23 increasing doses were 8.4 ± 3.4, 376.1 ± 104.7 and 875.7 ± 291.9 nM.h respectively. Plasma CNA 24 concentration may be used as a biomarker of spice intake. 25
Mutual-Excitation of Cryptocurrency Market Returns and Social Media Topics

Cryptocurrencies have recently experienced a new wave of price volatility and interest; activity within social media communities relating to cryptocurrencies has increased significantly. There is currently limited documented knowledge of factors which could indicate future price movements. This paper aims to decipher relationships between cryptocurrency price changes and topic discussion on social media to provide, among other things, an understanding of which topics are indicative of future price movements. To achieve this a well-known dynamic topic modelling approach is applied to social media communication to retrieve information about the temporal occurrence of various topics. A Hawkes model is then applied to find interactions between topics and cryptocurrency prices. The results show particular topics tend to precede certain types of price movements, for example the discussion of 'risk and investment vs trading' being indicative of price falls, the discussion of 'substantial price movements' being indicative of volatility, and the discussion of 'fundamental cryptocurrency value' by technical communities being indicative of price rises. The knowledge of topic relationships gained here could be built into a real-time system, providing trading or alerting signals.
Geostatistics inversion of electric field, waveform synthetic data, with synthetic a priori data of well electrical permittivity properties to GPR, using the scaled conjugate gradient

Geophysical data inversion deals with the problem of a quantitative inference on Earth model parameters from data observation. One sound approach to this problem is what is called the Bayesian inference method, where a priori information on the Earth parameters is known in terms of its probability distribution function sand new data is sought to improve the knowledge of Earth Model parameters in terms of a better constrained a posteriori probability distribution functions of those very same parameters. In this work we apply the Bayesian approach to electric permittivity data where we believe that a priori information can reasonably be derived from in situ petrophysical/ field measurements. Therefore, due to observations are subject to uncertainty, these inferences are inherently probabilistic. Also, due to the epistemic error associated to uncertainties in the model parameters, this call for a framework which includes both a model for the random noise associated to the capturing of the data and the one associated to the lack of certain knowledge on the fabrics on the Earth media. Therefore, our task is to find an improved Earth model that fits new collected data, but also complies with our prejudice of what it should be a reasonable model, avoiding such “truly” unrealistic models that violate our a priori prejudices, other data, or theoretical considerations. One strategy for eliminating such unreasonable models is to define an a priori probability density on the space of models, then use Bayes theorem to combine this probability with the data misfit function into a final a posteriori probability density function that reflects both the data and a reasonable model. Reflection of electromagnetic waveform