Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effectiveness of Scaffolding Treatment on College Students' Epistemological Reasoning about how Data are Used as Evidence

The Effectiveness of Scaffolding Treatment on College Students’ Epistemological Reasoning About How Data Are Used as Evidence. (May 2012) Christina Marie Shimek, B.S., Texas A&M University; M.S., Texas A&M University Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. Ernest T. Goetz Dr. Cathleen C. Loving College students rarely engage model-based epistemological reasoning about scientific data and evidence. The purpose of this study was to (1) investigate how scaffolding treatments influenced college students' epistemological reasoning about how data are used as evidence, (2) describe students’ epistemological reasoning practice over the course of the study, (3) learn more about relationships among students' domain knowledge, epistemological beliefs about scientific knowledge, and epistemological reasoning, and (4) investigate how scaffolding for epistemological reasoning influences knowledge gain. Participants in this study consisted of three-hundred fifteen undergraduate students; all were juniors and seniors and all students were enrolled in one of two introductory genetics laboratory courses. Study participants included non-majors (Experiment 1, N =143) and majors (Experiment 2, N = 172). A partially mixed-methods sequential research design was used in this study; qualitative and quantitative phases were mixed during data analysis. A distributed scaffolding system was used in this study. All participants from each laboratory section
Learning to Detect an Oddball Target

We consider the problem of detecting an odd process among a group of Poisson point processes, all having the same rate except the odd process. The actual rates of the odd and non-odd processes are unknown to the decision maker. We consider a time-slotted sequential detection scenario where, at the beginning of each slot, the decision maker can choose which process to observe during that time slot. We are interested in policies that satisfy a given constraint on the probability of false detection. We propose a variation on a sequential policy based on the generalised likelihood ratio statistic. The policy, via suitable thresholding, can be made to satisfy the given constraint on the probability of false detection. Furthermore, we show that the proposed policy is asymptotically optimal in terms of the conditional expected stopping time among all policies that satisfy the constraint on the probability of false detection. The asymptotic is as the probability of false detection is driven to zero. We apply our results to a particular visual search experiment studied recently by neuroscientists. Our model suggests a neuronal dissimilarity index for the visual search task. The neuronal dissimilarity index, when applied to visual search data from the particular experiment, correlates strongly with the behavioural data. However, the new dissimilarity index performs worse than some previously proposed neuronal dissimilarity indices. We explain why this may be attributed to some experiment conditions.
An Inner Ring and the Microlensing toward the Bulge

All current bulge-disk models for the inner Galaxy fall short of reproducing self-consistently the observed microlensing optical depth by a factor of 2 (>2 σ). We show that the least mass-consuming way to increase the microlensing optical depth is to add density roughly halfway between the observer and the highest microlensing source density. We present evidence for the existence of such a density structure in the Galaxy: an inner ring, a standard feature of barred galaxies. Judging from data on similar rings in external galaxies, an inner ring can contribute more than 50% of a pure bulge-disk model to the microlensing optical depth. We may thus eliminate the need for a small viewing angle of the bar. The influence of an inner ring on the event duration distribution, for realistic viewing angles, would be to increase the fraction of long-duration events toward Baade's window. The longest events are expected toward the negative-longitude tangent point at ℓ ∼ -22°. A properly sampled event duration distribution toward this tangent point would provide essential information about viewing angle and elongation of the overall density distribution in the inner Galaxy.
Effect of Citric Acid, Phytase and Calcium in Diets of Laying Hens on Productive Performance, Digestibility and Mineral Excretion

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of citric acid (CA), phytase and calcium in diets of laying hens on the productive performances and digestibility and excretion of phosphorus (P), calcium and nitrogen (N). An experiment was designed using 24 week old laying hens, which were fed a diet with a base of sorghum and soybean meal containing 2,700 kcal ME/kg, 15% crude protein, 3.25% calcium and 0.25% available phosphorus. The following were also added to the diets of hens depending on the treatment groups: 0.0, 0.6 and 1.2% citric acid, 0.0 and 300 units of phytase/kg of diet (FTU) and 3.00 and 3.25% calcium. The phytase was added as an ingredient into to diets, contributed to 0.1% of phosphorus and 0.3% of calcium levels. The experiment involved 12 treatments in a 3 x 2 x 2 factorial design. The treatment 0.6% citric acid, 300 FTU and 3% calcium increased the digestibility of phosphorus, resulting in its decreased excretion (p<0.05). Citric acid decreased the excretion of calcium and N linearly (p<0.01), increased (p<0.05) their digestibility and had effect on the response of the phytase (p<0.05). The treatment of 1.2% citric acid, 300 FTU and 3.25% calcium increased (p<0.05) the digestibility of N quantitativaly. It can be concluded that citric acid reduces the excretion levels and increases the digestibility of P, N and calcium and has effect on the response of the phytase to affect the excretions of P and N.
Social Capital, Innovation and Growth: Evidence from Europe

This paper investigates the interplay between social capital, innovation and economic growth in the European Union. We identify innovation as an important mechanism that transforms social capital into economic growth. In an empirical investigation of 102 European regions in the period 1990-2002, we show that higher innovation performance is conducive to economic growth and that social capital affects growth indirectly by fostering innovation. Our estimates suggest that there is only a limited role for a direct effect of social capital on economic growth.
Assessing the potential for improvement of primary care in 34 countries: a cross-sectional survey

Abstract Objective To investigate patients’ perceptions of improvement potential in primary care in 34 countries. Methods We did a cross-sectional survey of 69 201 patients who had just visited general practitioners at primary-care facilities. Patients rated five features of person-focused primary care – accessibility/availability, continuity, comprehensiveness, patient involvement and doctor–patient communication. One tenth of the patients ranked the importance of each feature on a scale of one to four, and nine tenths of patients scored their experiences of care received. We calculated the potential for improvement by multiplying the proportion of negative patient experiences with the mean importance score in each country. Scores were divided into low, medium and high improvement potential. Pair-wise correlations were made between improvement scores and three dimensions of the structure of primary care – governance, economic conditions and workforce development. Findings In 26 countries, one or more features of primary care had medium or high improvement potentials. Comprehensiveness of care had medium to high improvement potential in 23 of 34 countries. In all countries, doctor–patient communication had low improvement potential. An overall stronger structure of primary care was correlated with a lower potential for improvement of continuity and comprehensiveness of care. In countries with stronger primary care governance patients perceived less potential to improve the continuity of care. Countries with better economic conditions for primary care had less potential for improvement of all features of person-focused care. Conclusion In countries with a stronger primary care structure, patients perceived that primary care had less potential for improvement.
Learning Typographic Style

Typography is a ubiquitous art form that affects our understanding, perception, and trust in what we read. Thousands of different font-faces have been created with enormous variations in the characters. In this paper, we learn the style of a font by analyzing a small subset of only four letters. From these four letters, we learn two tasks. The first is a discrimination task: given the four letters and a new candidate letter, does the new letter belong to the same font? Second, given the four basis letters, can we generate all of the other letters with the same characteristics as those in the basis set? We use deep neural networks to address both tasks, quantitatively and qualitatively measure the results in a variety of novel manners, and present a thorough investigation of the weaknesses and strengths of the approach.
Trading Bitcoin and Online Time Series Prediction

Given live streaming Bitcoin activity, we aim to forecast future Bitcoin prices so as to execute profitable trades. We show that Bitcoin price data exhibit desirable properties such as stationarity and mixing. Even so, some classical time series prediction methods that exploit this behavior, such as ARIMA models, produce poor predictions and also lack a probabilistic interpretation. In light of these limitations, we make two contributions: first, we introduce a theoretical framework for predicting and trading ternary-state Bitcoin price changes, i.e. increase, decrease or no-change; and second, using the framework, we present simple, scalable and real-time algorithms that achieve a high return on average Bitcoin investment (e.g. 6-7x, 4-6x and 3-6x return on investments for tests in 2014, 2015 and 2016), while consistently maintaining a high prediction accuracy (> 60-70%) and respectable Sharpe Ratio (> 2.0). Furthermore, when trained on a period eight months earlier than the test period, our algorithms performed nearly as well as they did when trained on recent data! As an important contribution, we provide a justification for why it makes sense to use classification algorithms in settings where the underlying time series is stationary and mixing.
Establishing Specific Links Between Parenting Styles and the S-Anxieties in Children: Separation, Social, and School

This study investigates the relationship between parenting styles and three specific types of anxiety among children, with an attempt to monitor the distinctive role that each parental dimension plays with regard to elevated anxiety. Study participants included 101 children, ages 11 to 13 years, from various elementary schools. The study found that lack of autonomy granting by either parent is uniquely related (controlled for parent’s acceptance) to high anxiety levels and specific anxiety types in children, especially separation anxiety and school anxiety. With respect to parental acceptance, a unique negative correlation with children’s overall anxiety was found only for the father, while the mother’s low acceptance was negatively correlated with social anxiety for highly anxious children. Ultimately, it was found that children who perceived their parents as authoritarian (highly controlling and strict disciplinarians) were significantly more anxious than the children who perceived their parents as authoritative (encouraging independence while maintaining limits and behavioral control).
On the Complexity of Steepest Descent, Newton's and Regularized Newton's Methods for Nonconvex Unconstrained Optimization Problems

It is shown that the steepest-descent and Newton's methods for unconstrained nonconvex optimization under standard assumptions may both require a number of iterations and function evaluations arbitrarily close to $O(\epsilon^{-2})$ to drive the norm of the gradient below $\epsilon$. This shows that the upper bound of $O(\epsilon^{-2})$ evaluations known for the steepest descent is tight and that Newton's method may be as slow as the steepest-descent method in the worst case. The improved evaluation complexity bound of $O(\epsilon^{-3/2})$ evaluations known for cubically regularized Newton's methods is also shown to be tight.
Revisiting the revisit: added evidence for a social chemosignal in human emotional tears

ABSTRACT In a study by Gelstein et al., we found that human emotional tears act as a social chemosignal. In the first of three different experiments in that study we observed that sniffing women’s emotional tears reduced the sexual attractiveness attributed by men to pictures of women’s faces. In a study partly titled “Chemosignaling effects of human tears revisited”, Gračanin et al. claim failed replication of this effect in a series of experiments, one they described as “exactly the same procedure” as Gelstein. Given that Gračanin et al. refused our extended offer to jointly replicate the experiment at our expense, we can merely comment on their effort. We find that Gračanin, who are not a chemosignaling laboratory, used methodology that falls short of standards typically applied in chemosignaling research. Thus, their experiments were profoundly different from Gelstein. Finally, we found that in reanalysing their raw data we could in fact replicate the effect from Gelstein. Thus, we conclude that the failed replication in Gračanin is neither a replication nor failed.
The Extent to which Inference-Making Ability Predicts Social Competence in Children with Varying Symptoms of ADHD

SCHWARTZ, MADELEINE E. , M.S., August 2017, Clinical Psychology The Extent to which Inference-Making Ability Predicts Social Competence in Children with Varying Symptoms of ADHD Director of Thesis: Julie S. Owens Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience higher rates of social difficulties than their typically-developing peers. Because interventions for social difficulties are generally ineffective, research must examine new malleable targets for intervention. The ability to make social inferences is one such target. This study used Social Information Processing theory as a foundation for examining two primary aims: (1) to determine the extent to which ADHD symptomatology, inference-making abilities, and/or their interaction predict social competence, and (2) to determine what level of ADHD symptoms and inference-abilities best predicts dichotomous social impairment. Participants were 233, 8to 10-year-old children (68% male). ADHD symptoms and impairment were assessed by both parents and teachers using multiple rating scales. Different types of social competence were measured using sociometric methods from peers and adults, as well as observational methods. Regression analyses showed that ADHD symptoms predicted social competence, accounting for 5% to 11% of the variance, depending on the model. However, most inference types were not significant predictors of social competence. One significant interaction suggested that the relationship between parent-rated hyperactivity/impulsivity and social competence may be moderated by explanatory 4 implausible inferences. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves indicated cutoff scores for both parent-rated inattention and number of explanatory implausible inferences that best identify children experiencing rejection and low peer liking. Implications for screening tools and future studies are discussed.
NMDA Receptors in Retrosplenial Cortex Are Necessary for Retrieval of Recent and Remote Context Fear Memory

Over time, memory retrieval is thought to transfer from the hippocampus to a distributed network of neocortical sites. Of these sites, the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) is robustly activated during retrieval of remotely acquired, emotionally valenced memories. It is unclear, however, whether RSC is specifically involved in memory storage or retrieval, and which neurotransmitter receptor mechanisms serve its function. We addressed these questions by inhibiting NMDARs in RSC via infusions of APV before tests for context fear in mice. Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsal hippocampus (DH), which have been implicated in the retrieval of remote and recent memory, respectively, served as neuroanatomical controls. Surprisingly, infusion of APV only into RSC, but not ACC or DH, abolished retrieval of remote memory, as revealed by lack of freezing to the conditioning context. APV infused into RSC also impaired retrieval of recent memory, but had no effect on conditioning or memory storage. Within-subject experiments confirmed that the role of RSC in memory retrieval is not time limited. RSC-dependent context fear memory retrieval was mediated by NR2A, but not NR2B, subunit-containing NMDARs. Collectively, these data are the first demonstration that NMDARs in RSC are necessary for the retrieval of remote and recent memories of fear-evoking contexts. Dysfunction of RSC may thereby contribute significantly to the reexperiencing of traumatic memories in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder.
A Study Using $n$-gram Features for Text Categorization

In this paper, we study the effect of using -grams (sequences of words of length ) for text categorization. We use an efficient algorithm for generating such -gram features in two benchmark domains, the 20 newsgroups data set and 21,578 REUTERS newswire articles. Our results with the rule learning algorithm RIPPER indicate that, after the removal of stop words, word sequences of length 2 or 3 are most useful. Using longer sequences reduces classification performance.
Determinants of Current Job Tenure: a Cross Country Comparison

We consider differences in individual job tenure between Australia and Britain using linked data on employees and their workplaces. This linkage enables us to distinguish between the impact of demographic, education, job characteristics, occupation and work environment for the individual, as well as of the workplace in which they work. Whilst the various individual characteristics are, as a group, found to be essentially uncorrelated with the workplace effect, this is not true for women, part-time or non-white employees. We find that the lower tenure rates associated with membership of these groups is also captured by workplace effects suggesting some degree of labour market segmentation, especially so in Britain.
Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis in Social Networks: A Retweeting Structure-Aware Approach

Microblogs have become quick and easy online information sharing platforms with the explosive growth of online social media. Weibo, a Twitter-like microblog service in China, is characterized by timeliness and interactivity. A Weibo message carries the user's views and sentiments, particularly forms a fission-like spreading structure while being retweeted. Such structure accelerates information diffusion, and reflects different topics and opinions as well. However, current researches mainly focus on sentiment classification, which neither efficiently combine tree-like retweeting structure nor analyze opinion evolutions with a holistic view. In light of this, we build an opinion descriptive model, and propose an opinion mining method based on this model. With a microblog-oriented sentiment lexicon being constructed, a lexicon-based sentiment orientation analysis algorithm is designed to classify sentiments. Finally, we design and implement a prototype which can mine opinions with respect to retweeting tree structures and retweeting comments.
Safety, Generous Doctors, and Enabling Parents: A Perfect Recipe of Justifications for College Students’ Nonmedical Use of Prescription Painkillers

National data indicate that prescription painkillers are the second most commonly misused prescription drug on college campuses. Although much research has focused on the motivations given for the nonmedical use of these drugs, few studies explore justifications for use. This article fills that gap by explicating the justifications college students incite to defend their nonmedical use of these drugs. Drawing on semistructured interviews with students (N = 76) from a large public northwestern university, inductive analysis uncovered social learning theories of crime, more specifically Sykes and Matza’s neutralization theory, as helping to inform students’ justifications for use. These justifications were combined to form two broad justification categories: “the safety factor” and “authoritative enabling. ” Given that justifications helped students to resolve any guilt, shame, or stigma associated with their deviant use of prescription painkillers, it is important that future research continue to explore and disentangle motivations from justifications.
Treatment Adherence Among War Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Concept Analysis

ABSTRACT Aim: This study was made to analyze the concept of treatment adherence among war veterans who suffer posttraumatic stress disorder. Methods: This concept analysis was done using Walker and Avant’s concept analysis model. Online English and Persian databases were searched using keywords such as “posttraumatic stress disorder,” “mental disorder,” “compliance,” and “adherence. ” Finally, 11 eligible documents were included in the analysis. The retrieved articles were perused word-by-word, line-by-line, and paragraph-by-paragraph in order to arrive at an in-depth understanding about their contents. Then, the obtained excerpts from the articles, which were relevant to the study subject matter, were coded. The codes were then grouped into the antecedents, consequences, and attributes of the concept. Findings: In total, 122 primary codes, 19 subcategories, 8 main categories, and 4 main themes were extracted. The main antecedents of the treatment adherence concept are patients’ personal health background and the attributes of posttraumatic stress disorder and its treatments while its main outcome is the changes in the quality of life. Moreover, the main attribute of adherent veterans is that they take responsibility for their own health and subsequently attempt to plan for health promotion. Conclusion: The concept of treatment adherence among war veterans who suffer from PTSD is a complex and relative concept which depends on patients’ personal health background as well as the attributes of the afflicting disorder and its treatments. The concept is manifested by patient’s attempts to plan for receiving or parting with treatments and can result in changes in health-related quality of life.
Analysis and improvement of a human ventricular cell model for investigation of cardiac arrhythmias

The use of experiments for studying cardiac arrhythmias, the effect of drugs, or pathologies on cardiac electrophysiology is very limited. This has made mathematical modeling and simulation of heart's electrical activity a fundamental tool to understand cardiac behavior. In this study several modifications were introduced to a recently proposed human ventricular cell model. Four stimulation protocols were applied to the original and improved models of isolated cell, and a number of cellular arrhythmic risk biomarkers were computed: steady-state action potential (AP) and [Ca2+] transient properties, AP duration (APD) restitution curves, APD adaptation to abrupt changes in heart rate, and intracellular [Ca2+] and [Na+] rate dependence. Our modifications led to: a) further improved AP triangulation (78.1 ms); b) APD rate adaptation curves characterized by fast and slow time constants within physiological ranges (10.1 s and 105.9 s); c) maximum S1S2 restitution slope in accordance with experimental data (SS1S2 = 1.0).