Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of early break intervals on musicians’ and nonmusicians’ skill learning

We measured the extent to which motor skill performance is advantaged by break intervals that include varied types of cognitive activity interposed early in a training session, directly comparing the performances of musicians and nonmusicians. Participants (N = 118; 59 music majors, 59 nonmusicians) learned a 5-element keypress sequence on a digital piano during 12 min training sessions. Participants in three conditions took a 5 min break after 3 min of practice, and either practiced a new 5-element sequence (Break-motor), memorized word pairs (Break-word pair), or conversed with the proctor (Break-talk). Those in the fourth condition took no break (No-break). Participants were tested 12 hr later, following a night of sleep. Participants made significant performance gains across training and test, but musicians significantly outperformed nonmusicians at all timepoints. Nonmusicians made greater percentage gains than did musicians over the 5 min break interval and overnight, and participants in the Break-motor condition made significantly smaller gains over the 5 min break interval than did participants in the Break-talk and Break-word pair conditions. These results demonstrate that tasks involving declarative memories do not diminish performance enhancements that accrue during breaks early in motor skill practice, but these enhancements can be inhibited by engaging in competing motor tasks.
Designing Multi-Interface Service Experiences

This article introduces the Service Experience Blueprint (SEB), a multidisciplinary method for designing multi-interface service experiences, and illustrates its application with two case examples of the redesign of the service experiences of a multichannel bank. The SEB method starts by studying the customer service experience to understand customer experience requirements for different service activities and how these requirements can be satisfied through alternative service interfaces. Based on this analysis, the multi-interface service is designed to allocate service activities to the interfaces best suited to provide the desired experience, defining channel specialization and integration. Finally, with the SEB method each service interface is designed to best leverage its unique capabilities and guide customers to other service interfaces whenever that interface better enhances the overall customer experience. By incorporating the contributions of service management, interaction design, and software engineering, the SEB method is a multidisciplinary tool and terminology for service design.
Technological Preferences, Levels of Utilization and Attitude of Students Towards Mobile Learning Technologies in Chartered Universities, Kenya

The affordances of mobile technologies are being felt in many sectors of world’s economy including university education. By solving the limitations of fixed instructional technologies, mobile technologies have received ready acceptance in the education place. The purpose of the study was to investigate the student technological preferences, their levels of utilization as well as attitudes toward mobile technologies. The target population was 30,752 third year undergraduate students in Kenyan Universities. The participants (n = 375) were selected by systematic random sampling. They provided data using self-fill questionnaires. Results indicated that the smartphone was the most popular mobile device; Tecno was the most preferred handset brand; and Android was the most popular operating system. Safaricom was the dominant service provider amongst the student population. Regarding the levels of utilization of mobile technologies by students, it was concluded that though students use their mobile devices sufficiently, the use of the devices for accessing teaching and learning content was considerably low. On the attitude of students towards mobile technologies, it was observed that a sizeable number of students preferred to use the technologies over other existing instructional technologies. The findings of this study will be useful to instructional technologists, education policy makers, mobile handset manufacturers, mobile service providers and university managers as they partner to roll out digital learning infrastructure for Kenyan tertiary education.
Expatriate academics in Malaysia: motivation, adjustment, and retention

Existing studies on expatriate academics (EAs) are primarily set in advanced-country settings, thus overlooking the EA experience in developing and emerging markets. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the motivating factors behind EAs taking up jobs in Malaysia, and their adjustment and retention experiences in their host country. ,The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 EAs working in four public universities in Malaysia. ,Among the chief motivating factors for expatriation were familiarity with the country, the perceived desirable cultural/religious environment, and favourable research environment. Adjustment-wise, there was something of a mixed experience, with most adjusting well socially, but many citing disappointment with work. Such sentiment has contributed to reducing retention plans among several of the respondents. ,The study explores the EA experience in the context of an emerging market. At present much of the literature focuses on EAs working in advanced economies. This paper indicates that the motivation, adjustment, and retention cognition of EAs in emerging markets may not be entirely consistent with what previous studies have suggested.
How Far are We from Solving the 2D & 3D Face Alignment Problem? (and a Dataset of 230,000 3D Facial Landmarks)

This paper investigates how far a very deep neural network is from attaining close to saturating performance on existing 2D and 3D face alignment datasets. To this end, we make the following 5 contributions: (a) we construct, for the first time, a very strong baseline by combining a state-of-the-art architecture for landmark localization with a state-of-the-art residual block, train it on a very large yet synthetically expanded 2D facial landmark dataset and finally evaluate it on all other 2D facial landmark datasets. (b)We create a guided by 2D landmarks network which converts 2D landmark annotations to 3D and unifies all existing datasets, leading to the creation of LS3D-W, the largest and most challenging 3D facial landmark dataset to date (~230,000 images). (c) Following that, we train a neural network for 3D face alignment and evaluate it on the newly introduced LS3D-W. (d) We further look into the effect of all “traditional” factors affecting face alignment performance like large pose, initialization and resolution, and introduce a “new” one, namely the size of the network. (e) We show that both 2D and 3D face alignment networks achieve performance of remarkable accuracy which is probably close to saturating the datasets used. Training and testing code as well as the dataset can be downloaded from https://www.adrianbulat. com/face-alignment/
How scientists think: On-line creativity and conceptual change in science.

This chapter reports an investigation of "On-line Creativity. " I present a new account of the cognitive and social mechanisms underlying complex thinking of creative scientists as they work on significant problems in contemporary science. I lay out an innovative methodology that I have developed for investigating creative and complex thinking in a realworld context. Using this method, I have discovered that there are a number of strategies that are used in contemporary science that increase scientists' likelihood of making discoveries. The findings reported in this chapter provide new insights into complex scientific thinking and will dispel many of the myths surrounding the generation of new concepts and scientific discoveries.
Platelets in Inflammation and Atherogenesis

Platelets contribute to processes beyond thrombus formation and may play a so far underestimated role as an immune cell in various circumstances. This review outlines immune functions of platelets in host defense, but also how they may contribute to mechanisms of infectious diseases. A particular emphasis is placed on the interaction of platelets with other immune cells. Furthermore, this article outlines the features of atherosclerosis as an inflammatory vascular disease highlighting the role of platelet crosstalk with cellular and soluble factors involved in atheroprogression. Understanding, how platelets influence these processes of vascular remodeling will shed light on their role for tissue homeostasis beyond intravascular thrombosis. Finally, translational implications of platelet-mediated inflammation in atherosclerosis are discussed.
Effect of vitamin D supplementation on chronic liver disease: systematic literature review

Introduction: It is long known that vitamin D deficiency was common in patients with liver disease, but little is known on the therapeutic effects of vitamin D, especially in patients with chronic liver disease. In this study, we aimed to systematically review the literatures and study the evidences in which the effects of vitamin D supplementation had been investigated on the severity of chronic liver disease or liver cirrhosis.Methods: A systematic literature search was performed by using the following key terms “vitamin D supplementation” and “chronic liver disease” in the PubMed, Scopus and Google scholar to find relevant articles. After collecting the eligible documents, data were extracted and described based on the purpose of this review.Result: Of total 196 articles found, only 7 relevant documents with 518 studied patients were included. The results of this study showed that the levels of 25(OH) D were considerably lower in patients with chronic liver disease. Findings showed that vitamin D supplementation can rise up the mean serum level of 25(OH) D in patients with severe vitamin D deficiency, especially patients with liver cirrhosis.Conclusion:The results of this review showed that vitamin D deficiency is associated with the severity of liver disease and may have prognostic value in the assessment of liver disease. Also, it was shown that vitamin D supplementation may be helpful for the treatment of liver disease at least in certain groups of patients.
Multiwavelength Analysis of the Intriguing GRB 061126: The Reverse Shock Scenario and Magnetization

We present a detailed study of the prompt and afterglow emission from Swift GRB 061126 using BAT, XRT, UVOT data and multicolor optical imaging from 10 ground-based telescopes. GRB 061126 was a long burst (T90 = 191 s) with four overlapping peaks in its γ-ray light curve. The X-ray afterglow, observed from 26 minutes to 20 days after the burst, shows a simple power-law decay with αX = 1.290 ± 0.008. Optical observations presented here cover the time range from 258 s (Faulkes Telescope North) to 15 days (Gemini North) after the burst; the decay rate of the optical afterglow shows a steep-to-shallow transition (from α1 = 1.48 ± 0.06 to α2 = 0.88 ± 0.03) approximately 13 minutes after the burst. We suggest the early, steep component is due to a reverse shock and show that the magnetic energy density in the ejecta, expressed as a fraction of the equipartition value, is a few 10 times larger than in the forward shock in the early afterglow phase. The ejecta might be endowed with primordial magnetic fields at the central engine. The optical light curve implies a late-time break at about 1.5 days after the burst, while there is no evidence of the simultaneous break in the X-ray light curve. We model the broadband emission and show that some afterglow characteristics (the steeper decay in X-ray and the shallow spectral index from optical to X-ray) are difficult to explain in the framework of the standard fireball model. This might imply that the X-ray afterglow is due to an additional emission process, such as late-time central engine activity rather than blast-wave shock emission. The possible chromatic break at 1.5 days after the burst would give support to the additional emission scenario.
Controlling versus Enabling

Revenue sharing between principals and agents is commonly used to balance double-sided moral hazard. We provide a theory of how, when such revenue-sharing is optimal, a principal allocates control rights over decisions that either party could make. We show that the principal either keeps control over all such decisions, or gives up control entirely, and that this choice is aligned with whether the principal chooses to keep more or less than 50% of variable revenues. We explore how moral hazard, contractibility, and spillovers affect this choice. The theory helps explain whether professionals operate as employees or as independent contractors.
Impact of ventilator-associated pneumonia on outcome in patients with COPD.

PURPOSES The aim of this study was to determine the impact of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) on outcome in patients with COPD. METHODS Prospective, observational, case-control study conducted in a 30-bed ICU during a 5-year period. All COPD patients who required intubation and mechanical ventilation (MV) for > 48 h were eligible. VAP diagnosis was based on clinical, radiographic, and quantitative microbiologic criteria. Patients with unconfirmed VAP were excluded, as well as patients with ventilator-associated tracheobronchitis without subsequent VAP. Matching (1:1) criteria included MV duration before VAP occurrence, age +/- 5 years, simplified acute physiology score II on ICU admission +/- 5, and ICU admission category. Variables associated with ICU mortality were determined using univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS A total of 1,241 patients were eligible; 181 patients (14%) were excluded, including 133 patients for VAT and 48 patients for unconfirmed VAP. VAP developed in 77 patients (6%), and all were successfully matched. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most frequently isolated bacteria (31%). ICU mortality rate (64% vs 28%), duration of MV (24 +/- 15 d vs 13 +/- 11 d [+/- SD]), and ICU stay (26 +/- 17 d vs 15 +/- 13 d) were significantly (< 0.001) higher in case patients than in control patients. VAP was the only variable independently associated with ICU mortality (odds ratio [OR], 7.7; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.2 to 18.6; p < 0.001). In VAP patients who received corticosteroids during their ICU stay compared with those who did not receive corticosteroids, mortality rate (50% vs 82%; OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.2 to 2.7; p = 0.002), duration of MV (21 +/- 14 d vs 27 +/- 16 d, p = 0.043), and ICU stay (22 +/- 16 d vs 31 +/- 18 d, p = 0.006) were significantly lower. CONCLUSION VAP is associated with increased mortality rates and longer duration of MV and ICU stay in COPD patients.
Psychological perspectives on stigma and self-compassion in adults with epilepsy

Section 1 describes a systematic literature review examining quantitative correlates of stigma in adults with epilepsy living in Western countries. To identify relevant literature, four academic databases (PsycINFO, CINAHL, PubMed, and Scopus) were systematically searched using key terms related to stigma and epilepsy. The findings of the review suggested that stigma can be predicted by demographic, illness-related, and psychosocial factors; although associations were found to be highly culturally-specific. Detrimental effects of stigma included both physical health, including effective management of the condition, and psychological wellbeing, including difficulties such as depression and anxiety. These findings suggested that culturally-informed educational initiatives and therapeutic interventions which aim to address stigma in people with epilepsy (PWE) are needed. Section 2 describes a research study examining the extent to which self-compassion can predict depression, anxiety, and resilience in PWE, when controlling for other important demographic and illness-related variables. Adults with epilepsy were invited to take part in a survey either online or in epilepsy or neurology clinics. Data were then analysed using hierarchical multiple regression models. In this sample of PWE, self-compassion was found to significantly predict lower depression and anxiety and higher resilience when other significant sociodemographic and illness-related variables had been taken into account. These findings indicated that self-compassion is an important factor in determining psychological outcomes for PWE, providing preliminary support for the use of compassionfocused approaches in this population. Section 3 provides a critical appraisal of the thesis. This includes a summary of the main findings; a discussion of some of the key decisions, challenges, and professional issues identified during the research process; a consideration of potential future research arising from the findings; and personal reflections on the process of undertaking the work.
Galactic haloes in MONDian cosmological simulations

In this paper, a series of high-resolution N-body simulations is presented in which the equations of motion have been changed to account for modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND). It is shown that a low-Ω 0 MONDian model with an appropriate choice for the normalization σ 8 can lead to clustering properties at redshift z = 0 similar to the commonly accepted (standard) A cold dark matter (ACDM) model. However, such a model shows no significant structures at high redshift, with only very few objects present beyond z > 3 that can be readily ascribed to the low Ω 0 value adopted. The agreement with ACDM at redshift z = 0 is driven by the more rapid structure evolution in MOND. Moreover, galaxy formation appears to be more strongly biased in MONDian cosmologies. Within the current implementation of MOND, density profiles of gravitationally bound objects at z = 0 can still be fitted by the universal Navarro, Frenk & White (NFW) profile, but MOND haloes are less clumpy.
The attention schema theory: a mechanistic account of subjective awareness

We recently proposed the attention schema theory, a novel way to explain the brain basis of subjective awareness in a mechanistic and scientifically testable manner. The theory begins with attention, the process by which signals compete for the brain’s limited computing resources. This internal signal competition is partly under a bottom–up influence and partly under top–down control. We propose that the top–down control of attention is improved when the brain has access to a simplified model of attention itself. The brain therefore constructs a schematic model of the process of attention, the ‘attention schema,’ in much the same way that it constructs a schematic model of the body, the ‘body schema. ’ The content of this internal model leads a brain to conclude that it has a subjective experience. One advantage of this theory is that it explains how awareness and attention can sometimes become dissociated; the brain’s internal models are never perfect, and sometimes a model becomes dissociated from the object being modeled. A second advantage of this theory is that it explains how we can be aware of both internal and external events. The brain can apply attention to many types of information including external sensory information and internal information about emotions and cognitive states. If awareness is a model of attention, then this model should pertain to the same domains of information to which attention pertains. A third advantage of this theory is that it provides testable predictions. If awareness is the internal model of attention, used to help control attention, then without awareness, attention should still be possible but should suffer deficits in control. In this article, we review the existing literature on the relationship between attention and awareness, and suggest that at least some of the predictions of the theory are borne out by the evidence.
Performance Analysis of MIMO SFBC CI-COFDM System against the Nonlinear Distortion and Narrowband Interference

Carrier Interferometry Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CI-COFDM) system has been widely studied in multi-carrier communication system. The CI-COFDM system spreads each coded information symbol across all N sub-carriers using orthogonal CI spreading codes. The CI-COFDM system shows the advantages of Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) reduction, frequency diversity and coding gain without any loss of communication throughput. On the other side, a great attention has been devoted to Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) antenna systems and space-time-frequency processing. In this paper, we focus on two Transmit (Tx)/one Receive (Rx) antennas configuration and evaluate the performance of MIMO OFDM, MIMO CI- OFDM and MIMO CI-COFDM systems. Space Frequency Block Coding (SFBC) is applied to MIMO OFDM, MIMO CI-ODFM and MIMO CI-COFDM systems. For CI-COFDM realization, digital implemented CI-COFDM is used in which information conventional is encoded, CI code spreading operation and carrier allocation are processed by IFFT type operation. From simulation results, it is shown that MIMO SFBC CI-COFDM reduces PAPR significantly as compared with that of MIMO SFBC CI-OFDM and MIMO SFBC OFDM systems. In Narrow Band Interference (NBI) channel MIMO SFBC CI-COFDM systems achieve considerable Bit Error Rate (BER) improvement compared with MMO SFBC CI-OFDM and MIMO SFBC OFDM system.
How Well Can Passage Meaning be Derived without Using Word Order? A Comparison of Latent Semantic Analysis and Humans

How much of the meaning of a naturally occurring English passage is derivable from its combination of words without considering their order? An exploratory approach to this question was provided by asking humans to judge the quality and quantity of knowledge conveyed by short student essays on scientific topics and comparing the interrater reliability and predictive accuracy of their estimates with the performance of a corpus-based statistical model that takes no account of word order within an essay. There was surprisingly little difference between the human judges and the model. In the studies reported here, experts were asked to read short student essays about scientific topics with the goal of determining how much knowledge was accurately reflected in a given essay. We measured the readers’ success by how well their ratings agreed with each other and how well they predicted scores on an objective test on the same subject. All current accounts of human discourse understanding
STATISTICAL TOOLS FOR CLASSIFYING GALAXY GROUP DYNAMICS

The dynamical state of galaxy groups at intermediate redshifts can provide information about the growth of structure in the universe. We examine three goodness-of-fit tests, the Anderson–Darling (A–D), Kolmogorov, and χ2 tests, in order to determine which statistical tool is best able to distinguish between groups that are relaxed and those that are dynamically complex. We perform Monte Carlo simulations of these three tests and show that the χ2 test is profoundly unreliable for groups with fewer than 30 members. Power studies of the Kolmogorov and A–D tests are conducted to test their robustness for various sample sizes. We then apply these tests to a sample of the second Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology Redshift Survey (CNOC2) galaxy groups and find that the A–D test is far more reliable and powerful at detecting real departures from an underlying Gaussian distribution than the more commonly used χ2 and Kolmogorov tests. We use this statistic to classify a sample of the CNOC2 groups and find that 34 of 106 groups are inconsistent with an underlying Gaussian velocity distribution, and thus do not appear relaxed. In addition, we compute velocity dispersion profiles (VDPs) for all groups with more than 20 members and compare the overall features of the Gaussian and non-Gaussian groups, finding that the VDPs of the non-Gaussian groups are distinct from those classified as Gaussian.