LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
An investigation into gender perspectives in teacher training: the case of Igoji Teachers Training College

A focus on teacher training is important to be able to address issues of teachers’ personal and professional orientations to enable an understanding of how gender discrimination takes place in school and their role in addressing it. The study sets out to explore gender perspectives in the training of teachers at Igoji Teachers’ Training College in Meru South district of Eastern Province. The study had three objectives: to investigate and document gender ratios in the science and arts disciplines; to examine the current teacher training curriculum and its impact on male and female teacher trainees’ professional and personal orientation; and to determine the challenges to instituting gender responsive teacher training programmes. The hypotheses that guided the study were that: teacher training educational resources are closely associated with gender ratios in science and arts discipline, the P1 teacher training curriculum has differential influence on male and female teacher trainees’ personal and professional orientation, and there are challenges that constrain efforts to institute gender responsive teacher training, for both the individual as well as the institution. Data was obtained using standard structured questionnaires, key informant interviews and focus group discussion. Systematic sampling technique was used to obtain a sample size of 100 male and female respondents and ensure that all elements were represented. The quantitative data obtained using the questionnaire was analyzed using the SPSS in form of descriptive statistics
Auto-Meta: Automated Gradient Based Meta Learner Search

Fully automating machine learning pipeline is one of the outstanding challenges of general artificial intelligence, as practical machine learning often requires costly human driven process, such as hyper-parameter tuning, algorithmic selection, and model selection. In this work, we consider the problem of executing automated, yet scalable search for finding optimal gradient based meta-learners in practice. As a solution, we apply progressive neural architecture search to proto-architectures by appealing to the model agnostic nature of general gradient based meta learners. In the presence of recent universality result of Finn et al.[9], our search is a priori motivated in that neural network architecture search dynamics—automated or not—may be quite different from that of the classical setting with the same target tasks, due to the presence of the gradient update operator. A posteriori, our search algorithm, given appropriately designed search spaces, finds gradient based meta learners with non-intuitive proto-architectures that are narrowly deep, unlike the inception-like structures previously observed in the resulting architectures of traditional NAS algorithms. Along with these notable findings, the searched gradient based meta-learner achieves state-of-the-art results on the few shot classification problem on Mini-ImageNet with 76.29% accuracy, which is an 13.18% improvement over results reported in the original MAML paper. To our best knowledge, this work is the first successful AutoML implementation in the context of meta learning.
Named entity recognition and classification in biomedical text using classifier ensemble

Named Entity Recognition and Classification (NERC) is an important task in information extraction for biomedicine domain. Biomedical Named Entities include mentions of proteins, genes, DNA, RNA, etc. which, in general, have complex structures and are difficult to recognise. In this paper, we propose a Single Objective Optimisation based classifier ensemble technique using the search capability of Genetic Algorithm (GA) for NERC in biomedical texts. Here, GA is used to quantify the amount of voting for each class in each classifier. We use diverse classification methods like Conditional Random Field and Support Vector Machine to build a number of models depending upon the various representations of the set of features and/or feature templates. The proposed technique is evaluated with two benchmark datasets, namely JNLPBA 2004 and GENETAG. Experiments yield the overall F- measure values of 75.97% and 95.90%, respectively. Comparisons with the existing systems show that our proposed system achieves state-of-the-art performance.
Improvement of cardiac performance and cardiovascular risk factors in children with GH deficiency after two years of GH replacement therapy: an observational, open, prospective, case-control study.

CONTEXT
GH deficiency (GHD) in adults is associated with a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors that may contribute to an increased mortality for cardiovascular disease.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of GHD and GH replacement therapy on cardiac performance, lipid profile, and insulin resistance in children.


DESIGN
This was a 2-yr case-control prospective study.


PATIENTS
Thirty children with GHD aged 9.3 +/- 0.5 yr and 30 healthy matched controls were studied.


INTERVENTION
Children were studied before and after 1 and 2 yr of GH replacement (GHD children) or no treatment (controls).


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Lipid profile, serum insulin levels, homeostasis model of assessment (HOMA) index, and left ventricular (LV) mass and function by echocardiography were the main outcome measures.


RESULTS
At study entry, the LV mass index was significantly lower in GHD children (50.2 +/- 1.7) than in controls (60.3 +/- 2.5 g/m(2); P < 0.002), whereas LV systolic and diastolic function, lipid profile, insulin levels, and HOMA index were similar. In GHD children LV mass index significantly increased (66.3 +/- 2.4 g/m(2); P < 0.0001) after 1 yr of GH replacement and remained stable thereafter. LV systolic and diastolic function did not change during treatment. After 2 yr of GH replacement, total cholesterol (P < 0.007) and the atherogenic index (P < 0.0001) significantly decreased, whereas fasting insulin levels (P < 0.001) and HOMA index (P < 0.0001) significantly increased compared with both pretreatment and control values.


CONCLUSIONS
GHD in children is associated with a reduced cardiac size but with a normal cardiac function, lipid profile, and insulin sensitivity. Two years of GH replacement normalizes cardiac morphology, improves lipid profile, and slightly impairs insulin sensitivity.
Heart rate and use of β-blockers in Mexican stable outpatients with coronary artery disease.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the use of β-blockers and to monitor heart rate in Mexican patients with coronary artery disease.


METHODS
CLARIFY is an outpatients registry with stable CAD. A total of 33,283 patients from 45 countries were enrolled between November 2009 and July 2010 from which 1342 were Mexican patients.


RESULTS
The mean HR pulse was 70 bpm (beats per minute). Patients in Mexico were compared with the remaining global CLARIFY population. Patients in Mexico had a higher incidence of acute myocardial infarction and percutaneous coronary intervention, and lower incidence of revascularization surgery compared with the remaining CLARIFY population. More often, Mexican patients presented with diabetes, but less often hypertension and stroke. These patients were split into three mutually exclusive groups of HR ≤ 60 (N=263), HR 61-69 (N=356) and HR ≥ 70 (N=722). Patients with elevated HR had a higher incidence of diabetes and higher diastolic blood pressure on average than those with controlled HR. Regarding the use of β-blockers, they were used in 63.3% of patients, 2.7% showed intolerance or contraindication to treatment to monitor heart rate, and ivabradine was used in 2.3%. Out of approximately 849 patients receiving treatment of β-blockers, 52.1% had ≥ 70 bpm HR.


CONCLUSIONS
In a large proportion of Mexican patients with stable coronary disease the HR remain elevated, > 70 bpm, even with the use of β-blockers; this requires further attention.
Joint segmentation of multivariate time series with hidden process regression for human activity recognition

The problem of human activity recognition is central for understanding and predicting the human behavior, in particular in a prospective of assistive services to humans, such as health monitoring, well being, security, etc. There is therefore a growing need to build accurate models which can take into account the variability of the human activities over time (dynamic models) rather than static ones which can have some limitations in such a dynamic context. In this paper, the problem of activity recognition is analyzed through the segmentation of the multidimensional time series of the acceleration data measured in the 3-d space using body-worn accelerometers. The proposed model for automatic temporal segmentation is a specific statistical latent process model which assumes that the observed acceleration sequence is governed by sequence of hidden (unobserved) activities. More specifically, the proposed approach is based on a specific multiple regression model incorporating a hidden discrete logistic process which governs the switching from one activity to another over time. The model is learned ∗Corresponding author: Faicel Chamroukhi Université de Toulon, LSIS, UMR CNRS 7296 Bâtiment R, BP 20132 83957 La Garde Cedex, France Tel: +33(0) 4 94 14 20 06 Fax: +33(0) 4 94 14 28 97 Email addresses: faicel.chamroukhi@univ-tln.fr (F. Chamroukhi ), samer.mohammed@u-pec.fr (S. Mohammed), dorra.trabelsi@u-pec.fr (D. Trabelsi), latifa.oukhellou@ifsttar.fr (L. Oukhellou), amirat@u-pec.fr (Y. Amirat) Preprint submitted to Neurocomputing Elsevier December 30, 2013 in an unsupervised context by maximizing the observed-data log-likelihood via a dedicated expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. We applied it on a real-world automatic human activity recognition problem and its performance was assessed by performing comparisons with alternative approaches, including well-known supervised static classifiers and the standard hidden Markov model (HMM). The obtained results are very encouraging and show that the proposed approach is quite competitive even it works in an entirely unsupervised way and does not requires a feature extraction preprocessing step.
Analyzing Argumentative Discourse Units in Online Interactions

Argument mining of online interactions is in its infancy. One reason is the lack of annotated corpora in this genre. To make progress, we need to develop a principled and scalable way of determining which portions of texts are argumentative and what is the nature of argumentation. We propose a two-tiered approach to achieve this goal and report on several initial studies to assess its potential.
Oropharyngeal Stimulation with Air-Pulse Trains Increases Swallowing Frequency in Healthy Adults

This study sought to determine whether air-pulse trains delivered to the peritonsillar area would facilitate swallowing in healthy subjects. Trains of unilateral or bilateral air pulses were delivered to the peritonsillar area via tubing embedded in a dental splint, while swallows were simultaneously identified from their associated laryngeal and respiratory movements. Results from four subjects indicated that oropharyngeal air-pulse stimulation evoked an irrepressible urge to swallow, followed by an overt swallow as verified by laryngeal and respiratory movements. Moreover, air-pulse stimulation was associated with a significant increase in swallowing frequency. Mean latency of swallowing following bilateral stimulation tended to be less than the latency of swallowing following unilateral stimulation. These findings in healthy adults suggest the possibility that oropharyngeal air-pulse stimulation may have clinical utility in dysphagic individuals.
Making Positive Change: A Randomized Study Comparing Solution-Focused vs. Problem-Focused Coaching Questions

This study compared the effects of problem-focused and solution-focused coaching questions on positive and negative affect, self-efficacy, goal approach, and action planning. A total of 225 participants were randomly assigned to either a problem-focused or solution-focused coaching condition. All participants described a real-life problem that they wanted to solve and set a goal to solve that problem. They then completed a set of measures that assessed levels of positive and negative affect, self-efficacy, and goal attainment. In the problem-focused coaching condition 108 participants then responded to a number of problem-focused coaching questions and then completed a second set of measures. The 117 participants in a solutionfocused coaching session completed a mirror image of the problem-focused condition, responding to solution-focused questions including the “Miracle Question.” Both the problem-focused and the solution-focused coaching conditions were effective at enhancing goal approach. However, the solutionfocused group had significantly greater increases in goal approach compared to the problem-focused group. Problem-focused questions did not impact on positive or negative affect or self-efficacy. In contrast the solution-focused approach significantly increased positive affect, decreased negative affect, and increased self-efficacy. In addition, the solution-focused group generated significantly more actions steps to help them reach their goal. Although real-life coaching conversations are not solely solution-focused or solely problem-focused, agents of change should aim for a solution-focused theme in their work if they wish to conduct effective goal-focused sessions.
Falls and fall prevention programmes in developing countries: environmental scan for the adaptation of the Canadian Falls prevention curriculum for developing countries.

PROBLEM
Falls in older persons in developing countries are poorly understood, and falls prevention and health promotion programmes for this population are largely lacking.


METHODS
A systematic review was carried out of relevant literature on falls and prevention programmes, and falls prevention education, and a scan undertaken of health promotion programmes for older persons in a representative country - South Africa.


RESULTS
Studies on the risk and prevalence of falls are largely retrospective and hospital-based, with varied methodology, including study period, sampling method and sample size. Falls prevalence is based largely on self-reports in studies on general trauma in all age groups. Falls incidence varies from 10.1% to 54%. No reports could be traced on sustained falls prevention or health promotion programmes.


CONCLUSION
Scant research has been conducted and little preventive education offered on falls in older persons. Adaptation of the Canadian Falls Prevention Curriculum for developing countries will help to fill gaps in knowledge and practice.


IMPACT ON INDUSTRY
With rapid increase in the populations of older persons in developing countries, research on age related disorders such as falls is required to guide policy and management of falls.
Pain perception after isometric exercise in women with fibromyalgia.

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to identify exercise protocols incorporating isometric contractions that provide pain relief in women with fibromyalgia.


DESIGN
A before-after trial.


SETTING
A physical therapy department in an academic setting.


PARTICIPANTS
Fifteen women (mean ± SD, 52±11y) with fibromyalgia.


INTERVENTIONS
Subjects completed 4 sessions: 1 familiarization and 3 experimental. The following randomized experimental sessions involved the performance of isometric contractions with the elbow flexor muscles that varied in intensity and duration: (1) 3 maximal voluntary contractions (MVCs), (2) 25% MVC held to task failure, and (3) 25% MVC held for 2 minutes.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Experimental pain (pain threshold and pain rating), Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, and fibromyalgia pain intensity (visual analog scale).


RESULTS
After all 3 isometric contractions, there was considerable variability between subjects in the pain response. Based on the changes in experimental pain, subjects were divided into 3 groups (increase, decrease, no change in pain). Multiple regression analysis revealed that age, baseline experimental pain, and change in fibromyalgia pain intensity were significant predictors of the experimental pain response after the isometric contractions.


CONCLUSIONS
We identified subgroups of women with fibromyalgia based on how they perceived pain after isometric contractions. The greatest pain relief for women with fibromyalgia occurred at a younger age and in women with the greatest experimental pain before exercise. Additionally, we established a link between experimental and clinical pain relief after the performance of isometric contractions.
A Brief Introduction to Boosting

Boosting is a general method for improving the accuracy of any given learning algorithm. This short paper introduces the boosting algorithm AdaBoost, and explains the underlying theory of boosting, including an explanation of why boosting often does not suffer from overfitting. Some examples of recent applications of boosting are also described.
Performance Guarantees for Cluster-Based Internet Services

As web-based transactions become an essential element of everyday corporate and commerce activities, it becomes increasingly important that the performance of web-based services be predictable and guaranteed even in the presence of wildly fluctuating input loads. In this paper, we propose a general implementation framework to provide quality of service (QoS) guarantee for cluster-based Internet services, such as E-commerce or directory service. We describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of a web request distribution system called Gage, which can provide every subscriber with distinct guarantee on the number of genericweb requests that are serviced per second regardless of the total input loads at run time. Gageis one of the first systems that can support QoS guarantee involving multiple system resources, i.e., CPU, disk, and network. The frontend request distribution server of Gagedistributes incoming requests among a cluster of back-end web server nodes so as to maintain per-subscriber QoS guarantee and load balance among the back-end servers. Each back-end web server node includes a Gagemodule, which performs distributed TCP splicing and detailed resource usage accounting. Performance evaluation of the fully operational Gage prototype demonstrates that the proposed architecture can indeed provide the guaranteed request throughput for diffe rent classes of web accesses, even in the presence of excessiv e input loads. The additional performance overhead associated with QoS support in Gageis merely 3.06%.
A phase II trial of Erlotinib in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin in advanced pancreatic cancer

Background Gemcitabine has been recognized as a standard chemotherapy in advanced pancreas cancer (APC). We conducted a phase II study of a triple combination regimen (GPT) consisting of gemcitabine (G), cisplatin (P) and erlotinib (T) in patients with APC. Patients and methods Chemotherapy-naïve patients with locally advanced or metastatic, histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the pancreas were treated with erlotinib 100 mg daily, 1,000 mg/m2 of gemcitabine and 25 mg/m2 of cisplatin administered on days 1 and 8, respectively, every 3 weeks. The primary end point was objective response. Secondary end points included progression-free survival, overall survival and toxicity. The study was designed according to the optimal two-stage design. Results Twenty-two patients were enrolled between June 2009 and August 2010. No complete response was achieved and partial response was observed in 5 patients (26%), Stable disease in 7 (37%), and progressive disease in 7 (37%). The median time to progression was 4.0 months (95% CI: 2.9–5.1 months), and the median overall survival 6.8 months (95% CI: 3.7–9.9 months). The response rate in stage I reached the target (≥3/22, p0 = 10%) established for movement to stage II but this study was determined to close earlier than planned because of unexpected treatment-related deaths (3 patients). Conclusion The triple regimen of GPT is effective for APC. Treatment-related mortalities factored early closure of this GPT protocol. Considering effect and toxicity, this triple regimen seems to offer few benefits to the patients compared with gemcitabine-based doublets. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00922896).
Adoption of maize seed and fertilizer technologies in embu district, Kenya

This study reviews socioeconomic and technical factors that affect the adoption of improved maize and fertilizer in the Embu District, Kenya and the role of credit in both. A total of 127 farmers (82 adopters and 45 non-adopters) were interviewed for the study during the long and short rainy seasons in 1998 in the Nembure, Runyenjes, and Kieni Divisions in Embu District. Most farmers in the study area used basal fertilizer. However, the use of fertilizer was below recommended levels. More adopters used hired labor and had greater access to credit and extension services than non-adopters. The Pioneer H3253 variety and 2-kg seed packages were found to be most popular among adopters. Agroecological zones, gender, manure use, hiring of labor, and extension services were found to be statistically significant in explaining adoption of improved varieties. Similarly, agroecological zone, gender, manure use, hiring of labor, and extension services were important in explaining the amounts of basal fertilizers farmers used. ISBN: 970-648-093-5 AGROVOC descriptors: Maize; Varieties; Innovation adoption; Technology transfer; Plant production; Plant breeding; Soil fertility; Seeds; Fertilizers; manures; Farming systems; Kenya Additonal keywords: CIMMYT AGRIS category codes: E14 Development Economics and Policies F04 Fertilizing Dewey decimal classification: 338.166762
Influence of Electric Field and Hydrostatic Pressure on the Thermal Conductivity of Relaxor Ferroelectrics

According our investigations at all ferroelectrics (FE) at low temperatures glasslike behaviour can be observed [1], [2], [3]. From the analysed data one can conclude, that for the generating of localized low energy excitations in these materials the structural phase transition (PT) is a necessary condition.
Measuring the Sexual Victimization of Women : Evolution , Current Controversies , and Future Research

In the 1970s, the growing interest in the victimization of women prompted claims that rape and sexual assault in the United States, heretofore rendered invisible, were rampant. Existing data sources, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports and the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Survey (later called the National Crime Victimization Survey), were roundly criticized for methodological flaws that led to the substantial underreporting of the sexual victimization women experienced. These concerns in turn led to the quest to construct measures that would more accurately assess the true extent of females’ sexual victimization. This essay examines the development and key methodological issues characterizing this effort to measure the extent and types of sexual victimization perpetrated against women.