Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visuospatial Control of Perturbation-evoked Reach-to-grasp Reactions in Young and Older Adults

Rapid compensatory reach-to-grasp reactions are prevalent and functionally important responses to instability. The need to react very rapidly (to prevent falling) imposes temporal constraints on acquisition and processing of the visuospatial information (VSI) needed to guide the reaching movement. Previous results suggested that the CNS may deal with these constraints by using VSI stored in memory proactively, prior to perturbation-onset; however, the extent to which online visual control is necessary or sufficient to guide these reactions has not been established. Furthermore, the influence of memory-decay and concurrent cognitive-task on the performance of these reactions has not been examined. This Thesis employed a novel paradigm wherein the participant is stationary and a motor-driven handhold is positioned unpredictably in front of the participant for each trial. Reach-to-grasp reactions were evoked in healthy young and older adults by sudden unpredictable antero-posterior platform translation (barriers deterred stepping reactions). Liquid-crystal goggles were used to occlude vision either before (recall-delay time=0s/2s/5s/10s) or after perturbation-onset to force reliance on either storedor online-VSI, respectively. Participants performed a spatialor non-spatial-memory task during the delay-time in a subset of trials. When forced to rely on stored-VSI, all participants showed reduction in
Toxicity and Biokinetics of Colloidal Gold Nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) have promising potential for diverse biological application, but it has not been completely determined whether Au-NP has potential toxicity in vitro and in vivo. In the present study, toxicity of Au-NP was evaluated in human intestinal cells as well as in rats after 14-day repeated oral administration. Biokinetic study was also performed to assess oral absorption and tissue distribution. The results demonstrated that Au-NP did not cause cytotoxic effects on cells after 24 h exposure in terms of inhibition of cell proliferation, membrane damage, and oxidative stress. However, when a small number of cells were exposed to Au-NP for seven days, colony forming ability remarkably decreased by Au-NP treatment, suggesting its potential toxicity after long-term exposure at high concentration. Biokinetic study revealed that Au-NP slowly entered the blood stream and slightly accumulated only in kidney after oral administration to rats. Whereas, orally administered Au ions were rapidly absorbed, and then distributed in kidney, liver, lung, and spleen at high levels, suggesting that the biological fate of Au-NP is primarily in nanoparticulate form, not in ionic Au. Fourteen-day repeated oral toxicity evaluation showed that Au-NP did not cause severe toxicity in rats based on histopathological, hematological, and serum biochemical analysis.
Test of Achievement in Quantitative Economics for Secondary Schools: Construction and Validation Using Item Response Theory.

A Test to measure achievement in quantitative economics among secondary school students was developed and validated in this study. The test is made up 20 multiple choice test items constructed based on quantitative economics sub-skills. Six research questions guided the study. Preliminary validation was done by two experienced teachers in secondary school economics and one expert in test construction. The pilot testing was conducted to ensure compatibility of the test items while test try-out on 515 students yielded the data for item analysis. Analysis were attained through SPSS and Bilog MG using Item Response Theory (IRT) three-parameter logistic model (3PL) to establish item difficulty, item discrimination, and the guessing value. The empirical reliability of the test was 0.86. The test was found to be of good quality, valid and highly reliable. The test is ready and can now be used to assess students’ achievement in quantitative economics in Nigeria and other countries.
The influence of private primary schooling on children's learning: Evidence from three generations of children living in the UK

Much has been made of the academic success of children who have attended private secondary schools in Britain, but far less attention has been directed to whether there are similar benefits from attending a private primary school. Using data from three British birth cohorts—born in 1958, 1970 and 2000/1—this paper profiles the family background and personal characteristics of children at state-funded and private fee-paying schools and then investigates the effect of the type of primary school attended on academic progress made during the primary-school years. Applying ‘value-added’ linear regression and propensity score-matching techniques, we find evidence of a positive association between private primary-school attendance and a child's cognitive progress in all three cohorts. This effect remains after accounting for a wide range of individual and family characteristics, despite the very different times and socio-economic circumstances experienced by the children and their families in the three studies. Findings are discussed and compared against contrasting international findings.
Comparing Dynamical and Photometric Mass Estimates of Low- and High-Redshift Galaxies: Random and Systematic Uncertainties

We determine the importance of redshift-dependent systematic effects in the determination of stellar masses from broadband spectral energy distributions (SEDs), using high-quality kinematic and photometric data of early-type galaxies at z ~ 1 and z ~ 0. We find that photometric masses of z ~ 1 galaxies can be systematically different, by up to a factor of 2, from photometric masses of z ~ 0 galaxies with the same dynamical mass. The magnitude of this bias depends on the choice of stellar population synthesis model and the rest-frame wavelength range used in the fits. The best result, i.e., without significant bias, is obtained when rest-frame optical SEDs are fitted with models from Bruzual & Charlot. When the SEDs are extended to the rest-frame near-IR, a bias is introduced: photometric masses of the z ~ 1 galaxies increase by a factor of 2 relative to the photometric masses of the z ~ 0 galaxies. When we use the Maraston models, the photometric masses of the z ~ 1 galaxies are low relative to the photometric masses of the z ~ 0 galaxies by a factor of ~1.8. This offset occurs both for fits based on rest-frame optical SEDs and fits based on rest-frame optical+near-IR SEDs. The results indicate that model uncertainties produce uncertainties as high as a factor of 2.5 in mass estimates from rest-frame near-IR photometry, independent of uncertainties due to unknown star formation histories.
Bayesian Markov models consistently outperform PWMs at predicting motifs in nucleotide sequences

Position weight matrices (PWMs) are the standard model for DNA and RNA regulatory motifs. In PWMs nucleotide probabilities are independent of nucleotides at other positions. Models that account for dependencies need many parameters and are prone to overfitting. We have developed a Bayesian approach for motif discovery using Markov models in which conditional probabilities of order k-1 act as priors for those of order k. This Bayesian Markov model (BMM) training automatically adapts model complexity to the amount of available data. We also derive an EM algorithm for de-novo discovery of enriched motifs. For transcription factor binding, BMMs achieve significantly (p<0.063) higher cross-validated partial AUC than PWMs in 97% of 446 ChIP-seq ENCODE datasets and improve performance by 36% on average. BMMs also learn complex multipartite motifs, improving predictions of transcription start sites, polyadenylation sites, bacterial pause sites, and RNA binding sites by 26%-101%. BMMs never performed worse than PWMs. These robust improvements argue in favour of generally replacing PWMs by BMMs. The Bayesian Markov Model motif discovery software BaMM! motif is available under GPL at http://github.com/soedinglab/BaMMmotif.
Stochastic Analysis of Hyperslab-Based Adaptive Projected Subgradient Method Under Bounded Noise

This letter establishes a novel analysis of the Adaptive Projected Subgradient Method (APSM) in the intersection of the stochastic and robust estimation paradigms. Utilizing classical worst-case bounds on the noise process, drawn from the robust estimation methodology, the present study demonstrates that the hyperslab-inspired version of the APSM generates a sequence of estimates which converges to a point located, with probability one, arbitrarily close to the estimand. Numerical tests and comparisons with classical time-adaptive algorithms corroborate the theoretical findings of the study.
Contact Location Display for Haptic Perception of Curvature and Object Motion

We present a new tactile display for use in dexterous telemanipulation and virtual reality. Our system renders the location of the contact centroid moving on the user’s fingertip. Constructed in a thimble-sized package and mounted on a haptic force-feedback device, it provides the user with concurrent feedback of contact location and interaction forces. We believe such a design will enable more versatile object manipulation and richer haptic interactions. To evaluate this display concept, we conducted two perceptual experiments. First, human subjects judged object curvature using both direct manipulation of physical models and virtual manipulation via the device. Results show similar levels of discrimination in real and virtual interactions, indicating the device can effectively portray contact information. Secondly, we investigated virtual interactions with rolling and anchored objects and demonstrated that users are able to distinguish the interaction type using our device. These experiments give insight into the sensitivity of human perception and suggest that even a simple display of the contact centroid location may significantly enhance telerobotic or virtual grasping tasks.
“Investigating the Relationship Between Gamers’ Personality Traits and their Preferred Video Game Genres”

II DECLARATION . III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . IV LIST OF FIGURES . VI LIST OF TABLES . VI 1.0 BACKGROUND/INTRODUCTION . 8 2.0 AIM & OBJECTIVES . 8 2.1 RESEARCH QUESTION . 8 2.2 AIM . 9 2.3 OBJECTIVES . 9 3.0 LITERATURE REVIEW . 10 3.1 GAME GENRE DEFINITIONS . 11 3.2 THE BIG-FIVE PERSONALITY MODEL . 13 3.3 PREVIOUS RESEARCH AND FINDINGS . 15 3.4 THE PRESENT RESEARCH . 17 4.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY . 18 4.1 SELECTED METHOD . 18 4.2 QUESTIONNAIRE . 18 4.3 PARTICIPANTS . 19 4.4 DATA COLLECTION . 20 4.5 DESIGN & ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE. 20 5.0 FINDINGS . 24 5.1 GENDER ANALYSIS . 24 5.2 AGE GROUP . 24 5.3 NUMBER OF HOURS PER WEEK . 25 5.4 SELECTED PREFERRED GENRE . 26 5.5 PREFERRED METHOD OF PLAYING. 28 6.0 DISCUSSIONS . 31 6.1 DISCUSSION 1 – GENDER ANALYSIS . 31 6.2 DISCUSSION 2 – AGE GROUP . 31 6.3 DISCUSSION 3 – HOURS SPENT PLAYING PER WEEK . 32 6.4 DISCUSSION 4 – SELECTED PREFERRED GAME GENRE . 32 6.4.1 Strategy . 32 6.4.2 Horror/survival . 33 6.4.3 Sports . 33 6.4.4 Role Playing . 34 6.4.5 Action/adventure . 34 6.5 DISCUSSION 5 – PREFERRED METHOD OF PLAYING . 37 6.5.1 Single player (offline mode) . 37 6.5.2 Multiplayer (competitive mode) . 38 6.5.3 Multiplayer (co-op mode) . 38
A scaffolding approach to coreference resolution integrating statistical and rule-based models

Abstract We describe a scaffolding approach to the task of coreference resolution that incrementally combines statistical classifiers, each designed for a particular mention type, with rule-based models (for sub-tasks well-matched to determinism). We motivate our design by an oracle-based analysis of errors in a rule-based coreference resolution system, showing that rule-based approaches are poorly suited to tasks that require a large lexical feature space, such as resolving pronominal and common-noun mentions. Our approach combines many advantages: it incrementally builds clusters integrating joint information about entities, uses rules for deterministic phenomena, and integrates rich lexical, syntactic, and semantic features with random forest classifiers well-suited to modeling the complex feature interactions that are known to characterize the coreference task. We demonstrate that all these decisions are important. The resulting system achieves 63.2 F1 on the CoNLL-2012 shared task dataset, outperforming the rule-based starting point by over seven F1 points. Similarly, our system outperforms an equivalent sieve-based approach that relies on logistic regression classifiers instead of random forests by over four F1 points. Lastly, we show that by changing the coreference resolution system from relying on constituent-based syntax to using dependency syntax, which can be generated in linear time, we achieve a runtime speedup of 550 per cent without considerable loss of accuracy.
The genus Pterostichus in China II: the subgenus Circinatus Sciaky, a species revision and phylogeny (Carabidae, Pterostichini)

Abstract All of the known species of the Chinese endemic subgenus Pterostichus (Circinatus) are revised, keyed, and illustrated. Eleven new species and one new subspecies are described: Pterostichus adelphus sp. n. (Sichuan: Meigu, N28.66°, E103.06°); Pterostichus ailaoicus sp. n. (Yunnan: Xinping, N23.94°, E101.50°); Pterostichus camelus sp. n. (Sichuan: Mianning, N28.97°, E102.16°); Pterostichus dimorphus sp. n. (Yunnan: Dayao, N26.08°, E101.03°); Pterostichus maitreya sp. n. (Guizhou: Fanjingshan, N27.90°, E108.70°); Pterostichus miao sp. n. (Guangxi: Maoershan, N25.87°, E110.41°); Pterostichus tumulus sp. n. (Guizhou: Fanjingshan, N27.90°, E108.70°); Pterostichus wangjiani sp. n. (Yunnan: Dongchuan, N26.08°, E102.87°); Pterostichus yan sp. n. (Hubei: Shennongjia, N31.47°, E110.39°); Pterostichus yuxiaodongi sp. n. (Sichuan: Wolong, N30.99°, E103.15°); Pterostichus zhygealu sp. n. (Sichuan: Meigu, N28.67°, E103.05°); and Pterostichus cavazzutianus mianningensis subsp. n. (Sichuan: Mianning, N28.97°, E102.16°). Pterostichus cavazzutianus is proposed as a replacement name for Pterostichus cavazuttii Allegro and Sciaky 2010, preoccupied by Pterostichus (Sinosteropus) barbarae cavazuttii Sciaky and Facchini 2003. A lectotype is designated for Pterostichus baenningeri Jedlička 1931. Two species, Pterostichus schuelkei Sciaky & Wrase and Pterostichus wenxianensis Allegro & Sciaky, are moved from the subgenus Circinatus to Morphohaptoderus. An infra-subgeneric taxonomy is proposed for the subgenus Circinatus with four species groups. The male endophallus characters for most species of Circinatus were well studied, with three types of endophallus defined. A phylogenetic analysis based on adult morphological characters confirmed the infra-subgeneric classification and clarified some of the relationships among species. Two main lineages within Circinatus were identified from the phylogenetic analyses. Three of the four species groups were monophyletic, whereas the fourth group was paraphyletic.
The Immunoregulatory Potential of Particle Radiation in Cancer Therapy

Cancer treatment, today, consists of surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and most recently immunotherapy. Combination immunotherapy-radiotherapy (CIR) has experienced a surge in public attention due to numerous clinical publications outlining the reduction or elimination of metastatic disease, following treatment with specifically ipilimumab and radiotherapy. The mechanism behind CIR, however, remains unclear, though it is hypothesized that radiation transforms the tumor into an in situ vaccine which immunotherapy modulates into a larger immune response. To date, the majority of attention has focused on rotating out immunotherapeutics with conventional radiation; however, the unique biological and physical benefits of particle irradiation may prove superior in generation of systemic effect. Here, we review recent advances in CIR, with a particular focus on the usage of charged particles to induce or enhance response to cancerous disease.
STRATEGI DAN SKALA KESANTUNAN TINDAK DIREKTIF MAHASISWA RIAU DI LINGKUNGAN MASYARAKAT BERLATAR BELAKANG BUDAYA JAWA

This research aims to expose strategy and scale of politeness in Riau students directive speech surrounded by Javanese culture, also its implications on language learning in manners in high school. This is a qualitative descriptive research. The data are in the form of directive speech either in formal or informal. The data source includes the activities of 15 Riau students of UMS, UNS, and IAIN. The data gathering techniques includes refering, recording, and taking notes. Data analysis methods in this research includes pragmatics comparison wether intralingual and extralingual. The interpretation of directive speech form is done by reffering to Prayitno’s work, while the analysis of politeness scale is based on Lakoff’s model. The results showed that (1) Riau students are much prefer to use indirect strategy when they are communicating with Javanese society (66,70% : 33,30%). (2) The analysis of politeness scale refers to the results of the politeness strategy category in terms of politeness levels low, medium, and fine. The combination of politeness strategy of Riau students has a low level of politeness with comparison 47%: 23%: 30%. Total data on the scale of politeness in directive speech is low for as many as 14 data, while the level of politeness are as many as 7 data, and the level of good politeness is as much as 9 data. (3) The implications of this research on language learning with manners in high school can be used as learning materials. In the 2013 curriculum, it is stated that the core competencies-2 (KI-2) of social attitude of class X, XI, and XII demands students to able to use the Indonesian language with manners while KTSP curriculum focused at speaking skills. Language learning can be fun if students and teachers are able to use the language more politely.
False Polarization and False Moderation

Past research finds that people hold moderate views on political issues while believing others are extreme. This false polarization has been demonstrated across a variety of different attitude dimensions and is explained by naive realism, the belief that one holds an unbiased view of reality. We argue that because people believe they see the world objectively, they should be very certain about their opinions, more certain than others expect. In three studies, we tested this false moderation of attitude certainty hypothesis and attempted to replicate past research on false polarization of attitude stance and perceived ideology of others. All three studies revealed a false moderation effect on judgements of certainty. Additionally, we replicate the finding that people false polarize others’ ideology but do not find evidence for false polarization of specific stance.
Radioiodine remnant ablation in low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer patients who had R0 dissection is an over treatment

Low‐risk (LR) differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients should be ablated or not, albeit, with small dose of radioiodine is highly controversial. We hypothesized that those LR DTC patients who were surgically ablated need no radioiodine remnant ablation (RRA). This study aims to evaluate the long‐term outcome in these two groups of patients. Retrospective cohort study conducted from January 1991 to December 2012. Based on extent of surgical resection and histopathology, LR DTC patients were classified as Gr‐1: 169 patients, who were surgically ablated; Gr‐2: 153 patients, who had significant remnant in thyroid bed. Basal parameters were comparable between two groups except pretherapy 24 h radioiodine uptake (0.16 ± 0.01% vs. 5.64 ± 0.46%; P < 0.001). No patient received RRA in Gr‐1; Gr‐2 patients were administered 30 mCi 131I. Total number of events (recurrence, persistent, and progression of disease), with median follow up of 10.3 years, was observed in 10/322 (3.1%) of LR DTC patients. Only one patient had disease recurrence from Gr‐1, who became disease‐free after radioiodine therapy. Similarly, one patient from 126, who was ablated with single dose of RRA, had recurrence from Gr‐2. However, 8/27 (29.7%) patients from Gr‐2 had persistent disease; even two of them subsequently developed disease progression, who failed first‐dose of RRA. The event‐free survival rates were 99.4% and 94.1% (P = 0.006) in Gr‐1 and Gr‐2, respectively. RRA is an overtreatment in surgically ablated LR DTC patients. Successfully ablated RRA patients also had similar long‐term outcome, however, those who failed, should be re‐stratified as intermediate‐risk category, and managed aggressively.
A quantitative study of parental drug use and its effects on attachment

A healthy attachment is necessary,for children to. obtain meaningful relations with others, have a healthy development, and trust in their social environment. When the parent-child relationship is dysfunctional, the child is at a risk for developing an unhealthy attachment. This research project will examine, from the social worker's perspective, parental substance abuse and its effects on attachment. If drug abusing parents are unable to appropriately respond physically and emotionally to their children's needs, the attachment process can be jeopardized. This inappropriate response results in the child exhibiting the inability to maintain positive meaningful relationships, establish a healthy development, and trust in his or her social environment. A sample of social workers completed the Parent/Child Reunion Inventory in order to assess whether or not they perceived parental substance abuse interfering with the attachment process. The results of the study indicate that social workers believe the children on their caseload have achieved a minimal ievel of secure attachment with their substance abusing parents.
Mentoring in international assignments: a personality traits perspective

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of personality and mentorship on expatriates’ psychological well-being. The authors argue that certain personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience) have positive effects on expatriates’ psychological well-being and that these personality traits enable them to derive a greater benefit from mentorship. By doing so, this study identifies for which personality traits which type of mentoring (home or host country mentor) is most beneficial. Design/methodology/approach Based on socioanalytic theory, the authors develop theory-driven hypotheses and test them against data of 334 expatriates. Findings The study shows that several personality traits as well as home country mentorship have a significant positive impact on psychological well-being, whereas host country mentorship shows no significant positive effects. Moreover, the study indicates that home and host country mentorship partially moderates the relationship between personality traits and psychological well-being. Originality/value Since the authors derive important implications for the selection process of expatriates as well as for the implementation of mentoring in multinational corporations, this study is of value for researchers and practitioners in the areas of human resource management and organizational studies.
Family Deviance, Self-control, Deviant Lifestyles, and Youth Violent Victimization: A Latent Indirect Effects Analysis

ABSTRACT Research increasingly explores more complex relations of low self-control and context factors, such as structural constraints that limit behavioral lifestyle options, with violent victimization. The authors extend extant research by examining indirect effects of low self-control and family deviance on violent victimization via deviant lifestyles. The hypothesized full indirect effects model is tested for 233 African American and Hispanic 11th-grade students using latent variable analysis. Results offer strong support for the full indirect effects hypothesis. Results generally support the utility of an integrative framework that includes structural constraints arising from the family setting.