the purpose of this study was to detect differentially functioning items in the university of tehran english proficiency test (utept) which is a high stake test of english developed and administered by the language testing centre of the university of tehran. this paper is based on the answers of 400 test takers to the test. all participants earned a master degree either in humanities or science...

The  present  study  aimed  at  investigating  DIF  sources  on  an  EFL  reading  comprehension test.  Accordingly,  2  DIF  detection  methods,  logistic  regression  (LR)  and  item  response theory  (IRT),  were  used  to  flag  emergent  DIF  of  203  (110  females  &  93  males)  Iranian EFL examinees’ performance on a reading comprehension test. Seven hypothetical DIF sources were examin...

Difenoconazole (DIF) is a representative variety of broad-spectrum triazole fungicides and liposoluble pesticides. However, the water solubility DIF so poor that its application limited in plant protection. In addition, conventional formulations always contain abundant organic solvents, which may cause pollution environment. this study, two DIF/cyclodextrins (CDs) inclusion complexes (ICs) were...

Differentiation-inducing factor-3 (DIF-3), found in the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum, and its derivatives, such as butoxy-DIF-3 (Bu-DIF-3), are potent anti-tumor agents. To investigate the activity of DIF-like molecules in tumor cells, we recently synthesized a green fluorescent DIF-3 derivative, BODIPY-DIF-3G, and analyzed its bioactivity and cellular localization. In this stud...

Differentiation-inducing factor-1 [1-(3,5-dichloro-2,6-dihydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)hexan-1-one (DIF-1)] is an important regulator of cell differentiation and chemotaxis in the development of the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum However, the entire signaling pathways downstream of DIF-1 remain to be elucidated. To characterize DIF-1 and its potential receptor(s), we synthesized two flu...