Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning anatomy via mobile augmented reality: Effects on achievement and cognitive load

Augmented reality (AR), a new generation of technology, has attracted the attention of educators in recent years. In this study, a MagicBook was developed for a neuroanatomy topic by using mobile augmented reality (mAR) technology. This technology integrates virtual learning objects into the real world and allow users to interact with the environment using mobile devices. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of learning anatomy via mAR on medical students' academic achievement and cognitive load. The mixed method was applied in the study. The random sample consisted of 70 second‐year undergraduate medical students: 34 in an experimental group and 36 in a control group. Academic achievement test and cognitive load scale were used as data collection tool. A one‐way MANOVA test was used for analysis. The experimental group, which used mAR applications, reported higher achievement and lower cognitive load. The use of mAR applications in anatomy education contributed to the formation of an effective and productive learning environment. Student cognitive load decreased as abstract information became concrete in printed books via multimedia materials in mAR applications. Additionally, students were able to access the materials in the MagicBook anytime and anywhere they wanted. The mobile learning approach helped students learn better by exerting less cognitive effort. Moreover, the sensory experience and real time interaction with environment may provide learning satisfaction and enable students to structure their knowledge to complete the learning tasks. Anat Sci Educ 9: 411–421. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.
Jumping mechanisms in gum treehopper insects (Hemiptera, Eurymelinae)

SUMMARY Jumping in a species of Australian gum treehopper was analysed from high-speed images. Pauroeurymela amplicincta adults and nymphs lived together in groups that were tended by ants, but only adults jumped. The winged adults with a body mass of 23 mg and a body length of 7 mm had some morphological characteristics intermediate between those of their close relatives the leafhoppers (Cicadellidae) and the treehoppers (Membracidae). They, like leafhoppers, lacked the prominent prothoracic helmets of membracid treehoppers, and their large hind coxae were linked by press studs (poppers), that are present in leafhoppers but not treehoppers. The hindlegs were only 30–40% longer than the other legs and 67% of body length. They are thus of similar proportion to the hindlegs of treehoppers but much shorter than those of most leafhoppers. Jumping was propelled by the hindlegs, which moved in the same plane as each other beneath and almost parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body. A jump was preceded by full levation of the coxo-trochanteral joints of the hindlegs. In its best jumps, the rapid depression of these joints then accelerated the insect in 1.4 ms to a take-off velocity of 3.8 m s−1 so that it experienced a force of almost 280 g. In 22% of jumps, the wings opened before take-off but did not flap until the gum treehopper was airborne, when the body rotated little in any plane. The energy expended was 170 μJ, the power output was 122 mW and the force exerted was 64 mN. Such jumps are predicted to propel the insect forwards 1450 mm (200 times body length) and to a height of 430 mm if there is no effect of wind resistance. The power output per mass of jumping muscle far exceeded the maximum active contractile limit of muscle and indicates that a catapult-like action must be used. This eurymelid therefore out-performs both leafhoppers and treehoppers in i ts faster acceleration and in its higher take-off velocity.
Culturally and linguistically diverse students' standardized English literacy achievement and language redesignation status: A multiple regression analysis

The initial No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation stated that by 2014 all students would reach proficiency in all subjects. However, this has not been the case as NCLB has had mixed effects for culturally and linguistically diverse students (CLDs) (Hopkins, Thompson, Linquanti, Hakuta, & August, 2013). Language redesignation policies, often termed reclassification, can be considered a significant contributor as the variation in policies and practices alone has led to significantly different achievement for CLDs across the country (Hill, Weston, & Hayes, 2014; Mahoney & MacSwan, 2005) and has created an expansive achievement gap with their non-CLD White counterparts (Reardon, 2011; U.S. Department of Education, 2012). This dissertation utilizes assetbased and systems theories to refute current language redesignation policies employed for CLDs. Additionally, Cummins’ (1979, 1981) developmental interdependence hypothesis serves as a theoretical framework. Multiple and hierarchical regression analyses are employed to predict CLDs’ longitudinal literacy achievement in English based on language redesignation status (exited or still receiving language services), prior English language proficiency (ELP) data, native language literacy proficiency at kindergarten exit, and prior standardized English literacy achievement. By explaining the variance associated with the most significant predictors, this empirical model could provide iii policymakers with an evidence-based approach to the language redesignation policy framework. Specifically, those variables that are the most significant in predicting longterm achievement should be included, while new variables, such as native language literacy proficiency are identified for potential inclusion. The substantive implications of these models will provide policymakers with an objective, evidence-based process for language redesignation of CLDs into mainstream English classrooms based on longitudinal achievement data and statistical analyses.
The Inflammatory Tissue Microenvironment in IBD

Abstract: A current view of the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) includes the luminal triggering of innate immune disease in a genetically susceptible host. Given the unique anatomy and complex environment of the intestine, local microenvironmental cues likely contribute significantly to both disease progression and resolution in IBD. Compartmentalized tissue and microbe populations within the intestine result in significant metabolic shifts within these tissue microenvironments. During active inflammatory disease, metabolic demands often exceed supply, resulting in localized areas of metabolic stress and diminished oxygen delivery (hypoxia). There is much recent interest in harnessing these microenvironmental changes to the benefit of the tissue, including targeting these pathways for therapy of IBD. Here, we review the current understanding of metabolic microenvironments within the intestine in IBD, with discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of targeting these pathways to treat patients with IBD.
Infant feeding counselling of HIV-infected women in two areas in Kenya in 2008

While WHO no longer recommends individual infant feeding counselling to HIV-positive women, it may still be practised in some settings and for specific cases. In any case, lessons can be learned by examining how well front line health workers are able to take on counselling tasks. This qualitative study was designed to assess how counsellors deal with challenges they face in two Kenyan provinces. It consisted of brief post-counselling exit interviews with 80 mothers, observations of 21 counselling sessions and 11 key informant interviews. Much infant feeding counselling was of reasonable quality, better than often reported elsewhere. However, nutrition and infant feeding were given low priority, counsellors' training was inadequate, individual postnatal counselling as well as growth monitoring and promotion were rarely done and complementary feeding was inadequately covered. Acceptable, feasible, affordable, sustainable and safe (AFASS) assessments were not of satisfactory quality. Breast milk expression was mentioned only to a minority and the possibility of heat treatment during the transition to cessation was not mentioned. Counsellors were often biased in discussing risks of breastfeeding and replacement feeding. Implementing the new WHO guidance will reduce the need for AFASS assessments, greatly simplifying both the government's and counsellors’ tasks.
Pigmentation predicts the shift in the line of decussation in humans with albinism

In albinism a large proportion of nerve fibres originating in temporal retina cross the midline at the chiasm and project to the contralateral hemisphere. Studies in rodents with albinism have suggested that the extent of this misrouting at the chiasm is inversely related to pigmentation levels. Here, we examine whether there is evidence for a similar relationship in humans with albinism. Functional MRI was performed on 18 subjects with albinism, 17 control subjects and six controls with nystagmus as they underwent hemifield visual stimulation of nasal or temporal retina. Functional activation in 16 coronal slices beginning at the posterior occipital lobes were analysed and the extent of hemispheric response lateralization at each slice position was determined. During temporal retina stimulation, the control response was lateralized to the hemisphere ipsilateral to the stimulated eye for all slices. In albinos, the response in posterior slices was predominantly in the contralateral hemisphere, consistent with misrouting of temporal retina fibres. However, as slice location became progressively anterior, response lateralization reverted to the ipsilateral hemisphere. The slice location at which the transition from contra‐ to ipsilateralization occurred provided an estimate of the extent of fibre misrouting in the individual. The slice transition location correlated negatively with pigmentation level, providing the first evidence for a relationship between pigmentation and the extent of misrouting in humans with albinism.
Addition of interleukin-6 to mouse embryo culture increases blastocyst cell number and influences the inner cell mass to trophectoderm ratio

Objective In vitro culture of preimplantation embryos is improved by grouping embryos together in a drop of media. Individually cultured embryos are deprived of paracrine factors; with this in mind, we investigated whether the addition of a single embryo-secreted factor, interleukin-6 (IL-6), could improve the development of individually cultured embryos. Methods Mouse embryos were cultured individually in 2 µL of G1/G2 media in 5% oxygen and supplemented with a range of doses of recombinant mouse or human IL-6. Results Mouse IL-6 increased hatching at doses of 0.01 and 10 ng/mL compared to the control (93% and 93% vs. 78%, p<0.05) and increased the total number of cells at a dose of 0.1 ng/mL compared to the control (101.95±3.36 vs. 91.31±3.33, p<0.05). In contrast, the highest dose of 100 ng/mL reduced the total number of cells (79.86±3.29, p<0.05). Supplementation with human IL-6 had a different effect, with no change in hatching or total cell numbers, but an increase in the percentage of inner cell mass per embryo at doses of 0.1, 1, and 100 ng/mL compared to the control (22.9%±1.1%, 23.3%±1.1%, and 23.1%±1.1% vs. 19.5%±1.0%, p<0.05). Conclusion These data show that IL-6 improved mouse embryo development when cultured individually in complex media; however, an excess of IL-6 may be detrimental. Additionally, these data indicate that there is some cross-species benefit of human IL-6 for mouse embryos, but possibly through a different mechanism than for mouse IL-6.
Nonmetric Camera Calibration for Underwater Laser Scanning System

This paper describes the development of an underwater camera system with a laser line source to measure seafloor features at millimeter scales. The quality of underwater photography is limited by the visibility of the water column. In real underwater environments, there are always suspended particles in the water column and light is scattered by these particles. As a result, photographic images taken under such conditions will be blurred. The stronger the light source is, the more severe the blurring will be. Therefore, it is difficult to discern the features of the intended target directly from the underwater images. To overcome this problem, a laser stripe can be projected onto the target and the profile of the target can be inferred from the displacement of the laser scan lines relative to a reference baseline. With a calibrated camera, the displacement expressed in pixels can be converted into the dimensions of the target in engineering units. To obtain a broader view in a closer distance, a wide-angle lens is usually used. As a result, the image taken with the wide-angle lens is nonlinear and is strongly distorted at the edges of the image. Calibration of a camera involves finding the optical and geometrical parameters of the camera and the environment in which it works. In this paper, a modified coordinate mapping calibration procedure is used. We divide the scope of the camera into several regions and build linear mappings between the world coordinate system and the pixels in the regions. We lay vertical and horizontal grid lines separated by 50 mm on an acrylic board that is aligned with the laser scanning sheet. These grid lines serve as longitude and latitude lines of a map. On the captured image, we curve-fit the grid points in pixel coordinates. A pair of interpolated longitude and latitude lines which pass through the target point are used to estimate the location of the point in the world coordinate system. We assess the accuracy of this procedure with test pieces (grooved blocks and seabed ripples) fabricated by a computer numerical control milling machine. Our measurements show that the error is less than 1.5 mm when the target is scanned from a distance of 1 m.
The modifying effect of anesthetic technique on the metabolic and endocrine responses to anesthesia and surgery.

In spite of the fact that our knowledge on the release mechanisms of the surgical stress response is rather incomplete, several techniques are available to modulate the response. However, at present it appears that no technique is capable to effectively suppress all aspects of the injury response and the widespread use of the term "stress free anesthesia" in surgery is therefore not valid. However, continuous administration of local anesthetic agents in the epidural space is the most effective technique in so far as reduction of the stress response is concerned. The clinical implication of a variable reduction in the stress response to surgery by different anesthetic techniques remains largely unsettled, since only few controlled studies have been published on the clinical effects of pain relief and general anesthesia. However, a vast amount of data exist from controlled studies comparing regional anesthesia with local anesthetics and general anesthesia. The cumulative experience from these studies have demonstrated an advantageous effect on postoperative morbidity parameters such as blood loss, postoperative thromboembolic complications, pulmonary infective complications, gastrointestinal motility, postoperative hospital stay, etc. The most pronounced effect on morbidity in these studies is in procedures where regional anesthesia has also been demonstrated to be most effective on the surgical stress response. However, whether this is a causal relationship or a coincidental event, has not been finally answered. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
QoS analysis of resource allocation in wireless mesh networks

QoS provisioning for Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) is a very desirable objective, since it requires great thoughtfulness, scalability and thoroughfull analysis. In this paper, numerical and statistical analysis of packet-level resource allocation with effective QoS provisioning for WMS approach is being introduced. Power allocation, packet scheduling, subcarrier allocation, and QoS support are investigated and analyzed in combined Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT)-driven and a genetic algorithm (GA)-based approach, that achieves a desired balance between time complexity and system performance.
The Flavonoid 7,4′‐Dihydroxyflavone Inhibits MUC5AC Gene Expression, Production, and Secretion via Regulation of NF‐κB, STAT6, and HDAC2

Mucus overproduction is a significant component of the pathophysiology of obstructive lung diseases. Currently, there are only a few medications available that inhibit mucus production. Previous studies showed that glycyrrhizin, a triterpenoid in Glycyrrhiza uralensis inhibits mucin 5AC (MUC5AC) mRNA and protein expression. Other potential mucus production inhibitory compounds contained within in G. uralensis have not been fully investigated. The aim of the present study was to determine if the G. uralensis flavonoid 7,4′‐dihydroxyflavone (7,4′‐DHF) inhibits MUC5AC gene expression, mucus production, and secretion, and if so, to elucidate the mechanism of this inhibition. 7,4′‐Dihydroxyflavone significantly decreased phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate‐stimulated NCI‐H292 human airway epithelial cell MUC5AC gene expression and mucus production, at a 28‐fold lower concentration than glycyrrhizin (The half maximal inhibitory concentration IC50 value of 1.4 μM vs 38 μM, respectively); 7,4′‐DHF also inhibited MUC5AC mucus secretion. Inhibition was associated with the suppression of nuclear factor kappa‐light‐chain‐enhancer of activated B cells (NF‐κB), signal transducer and activator of transcription 6 (STAT6) activation, and enhanced histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) expression. In a murine model of asthma, 7,4′‐DHF‐treated mice exhibited a marked reduction in MUC5AC secretion in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid compared with control mice. These findings, together with previous findings linking NF‐κB, STAT6, and HDAC2 modulation to the control of MUC5AC expression, demonstrate that 7,4′‐DHF is a newly identified component of G. uralensis that regulates MUC5AC expression and secretion via regulation of NF‐κB, STAT6, and HDAC2. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A novel delta-subdivision proteobacterial lineage from the lower ocean surface layer

A small-subunit ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) gene lineage (SAR324) affiliated with the delta-subdivision of the class Proteobacteria (DP) was discovered in a 16S rRNA gene clone library prepared from a water sample collected from 250 m in the western Sargasso Sea. This clone library of nearly full-length amplicons of bacterial 16S rRNA genes has been the subject of previous studies aimed at identifying bacteria that inhibit the lower ocean surface layer. The novel lineage was identified by randomly sequencing clones that did not hybridize to oligonucleotide probes specific for several abundant bacterioplankton groups identified in previous studies. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that SAR324 was most closely affiliated with the DP, although it showed no specific relationship to any DP 16S rRNA genes in databases. Eight of the clones in the library of 148 clones were identified as members of the SAR324 lineage by hybridization to an oligonucleotide probe specific for SAR324. Subsequent hybridizations showed that the SAR324 group is stratified in the lower surface layer of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with maxima between 160 and 500 m. The repeated discovery of sequences belonging to different gene clusters with similar distributions in this region of the water column suggests that microbial communities in the lower surface layer may be functionally specialized.
Perceptions of secondary school middle leaders on their development and contribution to whole school improvement

The focus on school improvement has been driven at a national level through Government initiatives and the increasingly high profile of the Ofsted Inspection frameworks and procedures. The latter, in particular, has made schools very accountable for pupil outcomes. This in turn has impacted on leaders in schools, who, as part of the Ofsted Inspection framework, are given a separate judgment for their performance (Ofsted 2015). Since 2012 middle leaders have featured in the Ofsted framework descriptors used to judge leadership and management in a school. This study explores the perceptions and development of middle leaders, in one North West London secondary school, regarding their development and contribution to whole school improvement. The research suggests that while the vast majority of middle leaders did not have a full understanding of distributed leadership as a construct, they did however, consider themselves to be drivers in the school, described by three as ‘the cogs in the engine’. Positive partnerships with senior leaders and school improvement groups, in this institution, were cited by some as key features of middle leaders’ contribution to whole school improvement. The analysis of findings highlighted the positive impact of leaders working together and identifies a construct of distributed and inclusive leadership. I carried out the study within my own school as headteacher researcher. A key finding has been the significant benefit for a headteacher to do research as an insider. The experience of headteacher researcher has further ignited my longstanding passion of deepening and extending understanding and knowledge about our roles as leaders in schools.
SANP: a communication level protocol for negotiations (abstract)

Distributed Artificial Intelligent (DAI) researchers have long been interested in the question of how to resolve conflicts among cooperative agents in distributed problem solving environments. Negotiation has been suggested by many researchers as an important technique to resolve conflicts. However, most of the existing negotiation protocols used in DAI systems are inflexible. Actual protocols rarely take into account the result from negotiation research. In this paper, we propose a negotiation protocol, SANP (Speech Sct based Negotiation Protocol), that is based on Ballmer and Brennenstuhl's speech act theory, and on the negotiation analysis literature from other disciplines. SANP is a flexible protocol that supports multi-level negotiations between two parties. In addition, SANP also allows third party arbitration if the parties involved in the negotiation cannot resolve the conflict themselves.
Social Responsibility and Financial Performance: Evidence from Goods and Service Firms in Mexico

In Corporate Social Responsibility literature, the empirical evidence indicates that adopting a social responsibility program increases firmâ€™s financial performance. However, in Mexico few firms are involved in responsible programs and there is little knowledge about their impact in financial performance. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relation between social responsibility and financial performance in Mexican firms participating in an environmental voluntary program in the goods and services sector. We collected information of 41 firms belonging to the goods and services sector, featured in Cable News Network Expansion magazine in the ranking of the 500 most successful firms in Mexico. Firms that participated in an environmental auditing program of the Procuraduria Federal de Protection al Ambiente (Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection) was analyzed. By means of regression analysis, we found that corporate social responsibility programs determine the financial performance of firms. Moderating the effects of company size, the relationâ€™s coefficient decreases lightly, but does not lose importance. We conclude that environmental responsibility programs modify the financial performance of firms. Through these programs Mexican firms optimize their energy, water, and reduce their operating costs