Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accurate Sum and Dot Product

Algorithms for summation and dot product of floating-point numbers are presented which are fast in terms of measured computing time. We show that the computed results are as accurate as if computed in twice or K-fold working precision, $K\ge 3$. For twice the working precision our algorithms for summation and dot product are some 40% faster than the corresponding XBLAS routines while sharing similar error estimates. Our algorithms are widely applicable because they require only addition, subtraction, and multiplication of floating-point numbers in the same working precision as the given data. Higher precision is unnecessary, algorithms are straight loops without branch, and no access to mantissa or exponent is necessary.
Cholesteatoma in the Pediatric Age Group

The diagnosis and management of cholesteatoma in children remains controversial. In the past 15 years, the senior author (S.C.P.) has treated 320 patients with cholesteatoma. Patients 18 years and younger composed 40% (125) of the overall group and are the basis for this report. The patient data were compiled using the history, physical examination, audiograms, radiographs, patient questionnaires, surgical findings, and postoperative observations. The surgical treatment selected was determined by the extent of disease, the configuration of the mastoid, and a clinical assessment of eustachian tube function. A middle ear tympanotomy approach was used in 17% of the patients, a canal wall up procedure in 31 %, and a canal wall down procedure in 52.3 %. The average clinical follow-up was 3.9 years, with the range being from 3 months to 13.5 years. Hearing was maintained or slightly improved in a majority of cases. Residual disease occurred in 8 % of patients, and recurrent disease in only 3 %.
A critical consideration of current values on the education of disabled children

In this paper the values characterizing the society, the state and the stakeholders in relation to the education of disabled children in Cyprus are outlined. A critical analysis is carried out, followed by examples deriving from the Cypriot context. The national context is placed within the international context, so that the discussion finds its place in a more broad framework. Value-driven action at all levels is related to current and prospective developments in Cyprus that are expected to provide further answers to the points made throughout the paper. Finally, it is argued whether or not having some of the existing values as a baseline for productive changes is possible, while the restatement of some other values is thought to be of equal importance.
Quiet or questioning? Students' discussion behaviors in student-centered education across cultures

A tool used in student-centered education is discussion among students in small learning groups. The Western origin of student-centered education, coupled with cross-cultural differences in communication styles, may detract from its cross-cultural applicability. This study investigates how in student-centered education, students' cultural backgrounds are expressed in discussions and shape students' discussion behaviors and skills. A comparative case study using problem-based learning as a student-centered model was conducted in three medical schools located in East Asia, Western Europe and the Middle East. Four cultural factors were found to potentially cause students, especially those in the non-Western schools, to refrain from speaking up, asking questions, and challenging others in discussions. Six contextual factors mediated the influence of the cultural factors. The findings were incorporated in a conceptual model. The conclusion seems justified that student-centered education is feasible in different cultural contexts, but across these contexts, processes and outcomes are likely to differ.
The effects of place of articulation and vowel height in the acquisition of English aspirated stops by Spanish speakers

Abstract Studies of first and second language acquisition have reported that in the acquisition of long lag (aspirated) stops, the effects of the place of articulation of the stop and the height of the following vowel may be significant. This paper examines these two variables in the acquisition of English long lag stops by Spanish speakers. Results indicate that the effects of the two variables are significant, and furthermore suggest a dominant effect of the place change over the change of vowel height.
Deindividuation and antinormative behavior: A meta-analysis.

A meta-analytic integration reviews evidence for deindividuation theory as an explanation of collective and antinormative behavior. Deindividuation theories propose a subjective deindividuated state that causes transgression of general social norms. Deindividuation research classically manipulates anonymity, self-awareness, and group size. Results of 60 independent studies showed little support for (a) the occurrence of deindividuated (antinormative) behaviors or (b) the existence of a deindividuated state. Research results were explained mon adequately by situation-specific than by general social norms. Analyses indicated that groups and individuals conform more to situation-specific norms when they are "deindividuated. " These findings are inconsistent with deindividuation theory but support a social identity model of deindividuation effects.
Derivative corrections to the Born-Infeld action through beta-function calculations in N=2 \boundary" superspace

We calculate the β-functions for an open string σ-model in the presence of a U(1) background. Passing to N = 2 boundary superspace, in which the background is fully characterized by a scalar potential, significantly facilitates the calculation. Performing the calculation through three loops yields the equations of motion up to five derivatives on the fieldstrengths, which upon integration gives the bosonic sector of the effective action for a single D-brane in trivial bulk background fields through four derivatives and to all orders in α'. Finally, the present calculation shows that demanding ultra-violet finiteness of the non-linear σ-model can be reformulated as the requirement that the background is a deformed stable holomorphic U(1) bundle.
Magnesium Sulphate Versus Sildenafil in the Treatment of Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn

Background: The present study aimed at evaluating the efficacy of both oral sildenafil and magnesium sulfate (MgSO 4 ) in the treatment of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN). Methods: A randomized clinical trial including 200 neonates diagnosed clinically with PPHN and confirmed by echocardiography who were randomly divided into two groups: group S; included 100 neonates treated with sildenafil, and group M included 100 neonates treated with MgSO 4 . Results: Both groups showed a significant improvement in their pulmonary artery pressure 48 hours after therapy as compared to their baseline measurements. However EPAP was significantly lower five days after therapy in neonates receiving sildenafil (24.7 ± 4.3 mmHg) as compared to those receiving MgSO 4 (36.2 ± 3.6 mmHg); P = 0.012. The sildenafil group also showed a significantly shorter duration to improvement of oxygenation (P = 0.02) and a shorter duration on mechanical ventilation (P = 0.03). Limited side effects and comparable survival rates were observed in both groups. Conclusion: Sildenafil is a more effective therapeutic option in the treatment of PPHN as compared to MgSO 4 . doi: 10.4021/ijcp8w
Investigating the Impact of Sound Angular Position on the Listener Affective State

Emotion recognition from sound signals represents an emerging field of recent research. Although many existing works focus on emotion recognition from music, there seems to be a relative scarcity of research on emotion recognition from general sounds. One of the key characteristics of sound events is the sound source spatial position, i.e. the location of the source relatively to the acoustic receiver. Existing studies that aim to investigate the relation of the latter source placement and the elicited emotions are limited to distance, front and back spatial localization and/or specific emotional categories. In this paper we analytically investigate the effect of the source angular position on the listener's emotional state, modeled in the well-established valence/arousal affective space. Towards this aim, we have developed an annotated sound events dataset using binaural processed versions of the available International Affective Digitized Sound (IADS) sound events library. All subjective affective annotations were obtained using the Self Assessment Manikin (SAM) approach. Preliminary results obtained by processing these annotation scores are likely to indicate a systematic change in the listener affective state as the sound source angular position changes. This trend is more obvious when the sound source is located outside of the visible field of the listener.
Deep Style Match for Complementary Recommendation

Humans develop a common sense of style compatibility between items based on their attributes. We seek to automatically answer questions like "Does this shirt go well with that pair of jeans? " In order to answer these kinds of questions, we attempt to model human sense of style compatibility in this paper. The basic assumption of our approach is that most of the important attributes for a product in an online store are included in its title description. Therefore it is feasible to learn style compatibility from these descriptions. We design a Siamese Convolutional Neural Network architecture and feed it with title pairs of items, which are either compatible or incompatible. Those pairs will be mapped from the original space of symbolic words into some embedded style space. Our approach takes only words as the input with few preprocessing and there is no laborious and expensive feature engineering.
Christian broadcasting in the eastern mediterranean: The Case of Middle East television

This study deals with the advent of televangelism in the Eastern Mediterranean and the uses viewers make of religious television. It is an audience survey of adult viewers of Middle East Television, a station that operates from south Lebanon and reaches audiences in parts of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Cyprus, and Jordan. In addition to exposure levels and pattern, the study focuses on whether viewing religious television in northern Jordan is a ritualistic or instrumental activity. Moreover, it seeks to weigh the role of religious programs versus secular programs in audience behavior. The uses viewers have of Middle East Television are explained in relation to the station's policy and its programming.
Promoter Methylation Analysis Reveals That KCNA5 Ion Channel Silencing Supports Ewing Sarcoma Cell Proliferation

Polycomb proteins are essential regulators of gene expression in stem cells and development. They function to reversibly repress gene transcription via posttranslational modification of histones and chromatin compaction. In many human cancers, genes that are repressed by polycomb in stem cells are subject to more stable silencing via DNA methylation of promoter CpG islands. Ewing sarcoma is an aggressive bone and soft-tissue tumor that is characterized by overexpression of polycomb proteins. This study investigates the DNA methylation status of polycomb target gene promoters in Ewing sarcoma tumors and cell lines and observes that the promoters of differentiation genes are frequent targets of CpG-island DNA methylation. In addition, the promoters of ion channel genes are highly differentially methylated in Ewing sarcoma compared with nonmalignant adult tissues. Ion channels regulate a variety of biologic processes, including proliferation, and dysfunction of these channels contributes to tumor pathogenesis. In particular, reduced expression of the voltage-gated Kv1.5 channel has been implicated in tumor progression. These data show that DNA methylation of the KCNA5 promoter contributes to stable epigenetic silencing of the Kv1.5 channel. This epigenetic repression is reversed by exposure to the DNA methylation inhibitor decitabine, which inhibits Ewing sarcoma cell proliferation through mechanisms that include restoration of the Kv1.5 channel function. Implications: This study demonstrates that promoters of ion channels are aberrantly methylated in Ewing sarcoma and that epigenetic silencing of KCNA5 contributes to tumor cell proliferation, thus providing further evidence of the importance of ion channel dysregulation to tumorigenesis. Mol Cancer Res; 14(1); 26–34. ©2015 AACR.
Calcitonin gene polymorphism CALCA‐624 (T/C) and ovarian cancer

In a previous analysis, we reported an inverse association of dietary calcium intake with the risk of ovarian cancer (Goodman et al. 2002 . Am J Epidemiol 156:148–57). The CALCA gene codes for calcitonin, an important regulator of bone calcium metabolism. Data from a population‐based case‐control study conducted in Hawaii were used to examine the hypothesis that a T → C transition 624 base pairs upstream (−624) of the translation initiation codon of the CALCA gene influences the risk of ovarian malignancy. A structured interview was conducted for 182 histologically confirmed ovarian cancer cases and 219 controls. Blood specimens were collected from the subjects' at their homes. A significant negative trend (P for trend: 0.02) in the odds ratios (ORs) was found with increasing intake of calcium. Women with any CALCA C allele were at nonsignificantly higher risk of ovarian cancer (OR: 1.5, 95% CI: 0.9–2.3) compared to women with the TT genotype and the risk increased with the number of C alleles (P for trend: 0.05). When further analyzed within ethnic subgroups, a significant positive association was found among Japanese for CALCA CT (OR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.0–5.3) and CALCA CC (OR: 7.2, 95% CI: 1.1–46.0) compared with Japanese women who were homozygous for the T allele. The trend in risk associated with the C allele was most significant among women who had used oral contraceptives (P for trend: 0.05), had been pregnant (P for trend: 0.04), and had nonmucinous histological types of ovarian cancer (P for trend: 0.02). However, the association of ovarian cancer risk with the CALCA genotype was not significantly modified by any of the dietary, nondietary, or clinical variables included in this study. These preliminary data suggest a strong positive association of the CALCA C allele with the risk of ovarian cancer among some subgroups. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. , 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The identification of children with behavioural manifestations of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, in mainstream school: the development of the Scope Classroom Observation Checklist

The objective of this paper is to report the development and use of an observation checklist to identify typically developing children with behavioural manifestations associated with inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. This measure is termed the Scope Classroom Observation Checklist (SCOC). The SCOC was developed, assessed for reliability using an independent observer and teacher ratings, and administered to a sample of 157 mainstream schoolchildren. The SCOC revealed a normal distribution of scores on the checklist, and the top and bottom quartiles of this distribution were found, as would be expected, to differ significantly on SCOC score. The SCOC had good inter‐observer reliability and a high rate of concordance with teacher ratings of attentional difficulties. The SCOC has emerged as a reliable measure that could prove to be a useful tool in a battery of screening measures to identify mainstream schoolchildren with difficulties characterised by inattention and hyperactivity‐impulsivity.
Toward a Reflexive Positive Psychology

This paper claims that the missing value dimension in positive psychology's model of the good life is attributable to its focus on the unreflective first-order desires, as exemplified by hope theory, and its misguided claim of scientific neutrality that renders invisible the moral maps of human experiences. It is argued that the solution of the problem lies in self-reflexivity, which is an extra mental space needed for the drawing and redrawing of moral maps. Exposition of self-reflexivity shows how a self-to-self transaction adds a so far neglected intrapersonal dimension to cross-cultural analysis, and how moral maps are rendered visible and transformative in second-order desires, as exemplified by the Chinese Buddhist notions of savoring and `emptiness. '
The relationship between organizational transfer climate and positive transfer of training

This study describes the development and investigation of the concept of organizational transfer climate and discusses whether it influences the degree to which trainees transfer behaviors learned in a training program to their job situations. The study was conducted in a large franchise that owns and operates over one hundred fast-food restaurants in a large metropolitan area. Analyses indicated that when manager trainees were assigned to units that had a more positive organizational transfer climate, they were rated as better performers of the behaviors previously learned in training. As was predicted, it was also found that manager trainees who learned more in training performed better on the job. It was concluded that, in addition to how much trainees learn in training, the organizational transfer climate of the work situation affects the degree to which learned behavior will be transferred onto the actual job. This research suggests that organizational transfer climate is a tool that should be investigated as a potential facilitator for enhancing positive transfer of training into the work environment.
Organizational commitment: a mediator of the relationships of leadership behavior with job satisfaction and performance in a non‐western country

This article investigates the potential mediating role of organizational commitment in the relationships of leadership behavior with the work outcomes of job satisfaction and job performance in a non‐western country where multiculturalism is a dominant feature of the workforce. It also explores the moderating effects of national culture on the relationships of leadership behavior with organizational commitment, job satisfaction and job performance in such a setting. Results suggest (in support of many western studies) that those who perceive their superiors as adopting consultative or participative leadership behavior are more committed to their organizations, more satisfied with their jobs, and their performance is high. The results also indicate that national culture moderates the relationship of leadership behavior with job satisfaction.
Can Governments Improve Higher Education Through ‘Informing Choice’?

ABSTRACT Over the past decade higher education policy in England has gradually switched from a stance of ‘government as purchaser’ to ‘government as informer’. During 2012 this policy stance has been intensified through new requirements for the advice provided by schools and the introduction of ‘Key Information Sets’ which are intended to ‘drive up quality’ through informed choice. This paper documents this policy shift and subjects it to critical scrutiny.
Predictive control for vehicular sensor networks based on round-trip time-delay prediction

With the rapid development of vehicular sensor networks (VSNs) technology, the potential use of networked real-time control and automation is enormous and appealing. However, closed-loop control VSNs via the Internet are very difficult to implement practically because of their stochastic nature. One of the biggest challenges in VSNs is how to deal with sensor networks time delay and data loss. The authors investigate the potential of using the predictive control scheme for VSNs based on round-trip time (RTT) delay prediction to overcome the VSNs transmission delay and data loss. The predicted RTT delay is taken as the sampling interval reference for variable-period sampling approach. Modelling the time delay of networked control systems as a non-linear time series, the least mean square (LMS) filter algorithm is adopted to predict online the time delay induced in VSNs. The simulation results show that the LMS algorithm can achieve ideal efficacy if time delay has no variety abnormally. The predictive compensation strategy is proposed to reduce the detrimental effect of stochastic time delays induced by communication networks on control performance. The results of offline simulations via the Internet illustrate that the predictive control scheme based on RTT delay prediction has the potential to overcome the VSNs time delay and data loss.
Assessing the Applicability of Fault-Proneness Models Across Object-Oriented Software Projects

A number of papers have investigated the relationships between design metrics and the detection of faults in object-oriented software. Several of these studies have shown that such models can be accurate in predicting faulty classes within one particular software product. In practice, however, prediction models are built on certain products to be used on subsequent software development projects. How accurate can these models be, considering the inevitable differences that may exist across projects and systems? Organizations typically learn and change. From a more general standpoint, can we obtain any evidence that such models are economically viable tools to focus validation and verification effort? This paper attempts to answer these questions by devising a general but tailorable cost-benefit model and by using fault and design data collected on two mid-size Java systems developed in the same environment. Another contribution of the paper is the use of a novel exploratory analysis technique - MARS (multivariate adaptive regression splines) to build such fault-proneness models, whose functional form is a-priori unknown. The results indicate that a model built on one system can be accurately used to rank classes within another system according to their fault proneness. The downside, however, is that, because of system differences, the predicted fault probabilities are not representative of the system predicted. However, our cost-benefit model demonstrates that the MARS fault-proneness model is potentially viable, from an economical standpoint. The linear model is not nearly as good, thus suggesting a more complex model is required.
Increased oxidative stress in patients with essential thrombocythemia.

BACKGROUND Essential thrombocythemia (ET) is a clonal disease in which thrombotic and hemorrhagic complications are common. Our aim in this study was to investigate whether oxidative stress in ET patients increased compared to healthy volunteers and to investigate whether there is a relationship between vascular events and oxidative status parameters in ET patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS We determined the serum levels of oxidative status parameters, such as total oxidative status (TOS), total antioxidant status (TAS), oxidative stress index (OSI) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in ET patients. Forty-three ET patients (20 males, 23 females) and 20 healthy volunteers were enrolled. Oxidative status parameters of the patients were compared with those of the controls at time of diagnosis and at 6th-month follow-up. Additionally, oxidative status parameters of patients with ET with a history of vascular event were compared with patients without a vascular event history during diagnosis. RESULTS Rises in TOS, OSI, and MDA were statistically significant in the patients group; however, the TAS value was significantly lower compared to the control group. Furthermore, TOS was significantly higher in patients with history of vascular event compared to the patients without such a history. Following therapy, OSI and MDA values were significantly reduced in the patient group compared to the pre-treatment values. CONCLUSIONS Our findings reveal that although oxidative stress parameters were increased, compensative total antioxidant status was significantly reduced in ET patients. Furthermore, TOS values were significantly high in patients with a history of vascular event.