Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Preliminary Study Measuring Social Self-Efficacy Among Early Adolescents and Its Association with Aggressive Behavior

ABSTRACT This study evaluated a brief social self-efficacy (SSE) measure among 4,122 public middle school adolescents and its association with aggressive behavior. Data analytic procedures included calculating mean ratings, standard deviations in addition to inspecting the scale’s reliability, internal structure, and relationships to demographic and aggressive behavior (physical fighting, being bullied, and avoiding school) variables. Results revealed acceptable evidence of internal consistency reliability, internal structure, and relationships to the demographic and aggressive behavior variables. Females reported significantly higher SSE than males, seventh grade students reported significantly higher SSE than eighth grade students, while White and Black students reported significantly higher SSE than Asian students. Significantly lower SSE ratings were also noted for those who reported aggressive behavior. Results suggest SSE may be an important component in the adolescent developmental process and this brief measure of social self-efficacy may further facilitate inclusion in more comprehensive assessments for early adolescents.
Comparison using Particle Swarm Optimization and Genetic Algorithm for Timetable Scheduling

Lecturer timetable scheduling is an important part in the resource allocation planning. Due to the large amount of transactions and various related constraints have to be taken into account in timetable scheduling process, resource manager team shall need a lot of time to the solve the problem. This research is aimed to discuss the application of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) that can be used to automatically generate optimal lecturer timetable scheduling. Using Software Laboratory Center (SLC) data, some hard constraints are taken into account such as the assistant should teach according to their qualifications, teaching in their work shift and doesn’t teach any course that are being taken. Some soft constraints are also considered and the associated cost function is built based on these hard and soft constraints. Based on the computational results, the amount of penalty obtained by the PSO is much smaller than the GA on 500th iteration. The calculation is performed by comparing the amount of penalty that earned each time a hard constraint or soft constraint is violated by the implementation of PSO or GA to the total penalty obtained when all constraints are violated.
Group Lasso with Overlaps: the Latent Group Lasso approach

We study a norm for structured sparsity which leads to sparse linear predictors whose supports are unions of prede ned overlapping groups of variables. We call the obtained formulation latent group Lasso, since it is based on applying the usual group Lasso penalty on a set of latent variables. A detailed analysis of the norm and its properties is presented and we characterize conditions under which the set of groups associated with latent variables are correctly identi ed. We motivate and discuss the delicate choice of weights associated to each group, and illustrate this approach on simulated data and on the problem of breast cancer prognosis from gene expression data.
School Effectiveness - Situational Leadership and School Cultures

This research was based on the lack condition of elementary-school’s effectiveness in Aceh Tengah Region. The purpose of this research is to describe situational leadership, school culture, and school effectiveness in the governmental elementary schools in Aceh Tengah. The approach used in this research is quantitative approach with descriptive method. The samples are 40 schools with 124 respondents. The result illustrates that situational leadership as the independent variable had been positively and significantly affecting the school effectiveness. Furthermore, the school effectiveness as the dependent variable had been positively and significantly affected by the school culture as the independent variable. Then, it is safe to conclude that both situational leadership and school culture have positive and significant impact on the school effectiveness. The recommendation suggested regarding the result is that the principal as the school leader should be able to lead all school personnel, so they can possibly do their jobs thoroughly, also the teachers should be able to teach and educate communicatively to the students.
Please Scroll down for Article International Journal of Production Research Aligning Manufacturing Flexibility with Environmental Uncertainty: Evidence from High-technology Component Manufacturers in Taiwan Aligning Manufacturing ¯exibility with Environmental Uncertainty: Evidence from High-technolo

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. While ¯exibility improvement is among the top concerns of manufacturing managers, managers are advised to choose the dimensions of ¯exibility they want in their plants. This study investigates the strategic choice of aligning ¯exibility development with the external environment that manufacturing managers face. Considering the nature of the high-technology industry in Taiwan, we measure environmental uncertainty based on the dimensions of customer demand, supply, competitors and product technology. Empirical data were collected from manufacturing ®rms in Taiwan. We then applied path analysis to examine the eeect of aligning three types of ¯exibility: product mix, new product and volume with speci®c dimensions of environmental uncertainty. The results indicate that the matching of manufacturing ¯exibility with environmental uncertainty is necessary to ensure pro®t and sales performance. When faced with certain environmental stimuli, management should choose to emphasize and develop particular manufacturing ¯exibility. 1. Introduction Over the last decade, manufacturing companies have faced both increasing technology innovation and more competitive markets. Constantly changing technology induces product and process innovations, which provide customers with more choices and manufacturers with more ways to compete. All of those changes ultimately increase the complexity and uncertainty of the manufacturing environment and create new challenges to management. For instance, the currently popular supply chain management is mostly motivated by the availability of new information technology, such as enterprise resource planning systems. The literature has suggested the development of manufacturing ¯exibility to deal with the constantly changing and increasingly uncertain manufacturing environment. Many believe that high manufacturin g ¯exibility could enable ®rms to respond to rapid market changes quicker with lower eeort and cost. Flexibility has become an eeective weapon to gain competitive advantage in an uncertain manufacturing In the past, many studies have …
A context-aware approach to detection of short irrelevant texts

This paper presents a simple and effective framework that can detect irrelevant short text contents following blogs and news articles, etc. in a context-aware and timely fashion. Nowadays, websites such as Linkedin.com and CNN.com allow their visitors to leave comments after articles, and spammers are exploiting this feature to post irrelevant contents. Visited by millions of readers per day, these websites have extremely high visibility, and irrelevant comments have a detrimental effect on the visiting traffic and revenue of these websites. Therefore, it is critical to eliminate these irrelevant comments as accurately and early as possible. Different from traditional text mining tasks, comments following news and blog articles are characterized by briefness and context-dependent semantics, making it difficult to measure semantic relevance. What's worse, there could be only a handful of comments soon after an article is posted, leading to a severe lack of information for semantics and relevance measurement. We propose to infer “context-aware semantics” to address the above challenges in a unified framework. Specifically, we construct contexts for comments using either blocks of surrounding comments, or comments collected via a principled transfer learning approach. The constructed contexts mitigate the sparseness and sharply define context-dependent semantics of comments, even at the early stage of commenting activities, allowing traditional dimension reduction methods to better capture the semantics of short texts in a context-aware way. We confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method on two real world datasets consisting of news and blog articles and comments, with a maximal improvement of 20% in Area Under Precision-Recall Curve.
What does it mean “being chilled”? mental well-being as viewed by Slovak adolescent boys

Abstract In adaptive development, mental well-being has a role to play in adolescents’ search in adolescents’ niche in life and the formation of a separate identity. Although this has been an area of interest in a number of disciplines, there remains ambiguity over our understanding of terms such as quality of life, life satisfaction, and mental well-being. Our aim was to employ an interpretative phenomenological analysis to find out how adolescent boys perceive the concept of mental well-being and ascertain what helps them and stops them from “feeling chilled”. The data was obtained from a sample of 26 secondary school students who attended one of four focus groups. We found that they achieved a kind of escape from the world of social roles through performing activities like physical exercise or driving a vehicle, while searching for a sense of latitude and potency and attempting to reduce tension. Thus there is a clear distinction between what they desire and what is expected of them. Hanging out and “chilling” with their peer group seemed to be an important part of relationship formation, while close dyadic relationships were less significant. To a certain degree, the results of this study contradict conventional notions of happiness and mental well-being found in mainstream psychology.
Firm Size , Hours , and Wages in Search Equilibrium

This paper studies the size distribution of firms in a labor market with search friciton. It constructs a search-matching model in which a firm, if it wishes, engages costly on-the-job search to fill its second vacancy. The model is used to ask what influences a firm’s decision regarding whether to expand employment or to stay small. Firms submit take-it-or-leave-it wage offers to workers, and the production function is concave. The model implies wage differential, and that changes in aggregate demand affect hours, wages, and the size distribution of firms. ∗Faculty of Economics, Kansai University, 3-3-35 Yamate, Suita, Osaka 564-8680 JAPAN; E-mail: kudoh@ipcku.kansai-u.ac. jp; URL: http://www2.ipcku.kansai-u.ac. jp/~kudoh/
Six Weeks of Core Stability Training Improves Landing Kinetics Among Female Capoeira Athletes: A Pilot Study

Abstract Core stability training (CST) has increased in popularity among athletes and the general fitness population despite limited evidence CST programmes alone lead to improved athletic performance. In female athletes, neuromuscular training combining balance training and trunk and hip/pelvis dominant CST is suggested to reduce injury risk, and specifically peak vertical ground reaction forces (vGRF) in a drop jump landing task. However, the isolated effect of trunk dominant core stability training on vGRF during landing in female athletes had not been evaluated. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate landing kinetics during a drop jump test following a CST intervention in female capoeira athletes. After giving their informed written consent, sixteen female capoeira athletes (mean ± SD age, stature, and body mass of 27.3 ± 3.7 years, 165.0 ± 4.0 cm, and 59.7 ± 6.3 kg, respectively) volunteered to participate in the training program which consisted of static and dynamic CST sessions, three times per week for six weeks. The repeated measures T-test revealed participants significantly reduced relative vGRF from pre- to post-intervention for the first (3.40 ± 0.78 vs. 2.85 ± 0.52 N·NBW-1, respectively [p<0.05, effect size = 0.60]), and second landing phase (5.09 ± 1.17 vs. 3.02 ± 0.41 N·NBW-1, respectively [p<0.001, effect size = 0.87]). The average loading rate was reduced from pre- to post-intervention during the second landing phase (30.96 ± 18.84 vs. 12.06 ± 9.83 N·NBW·s-1, respectively [p<0.01, effect size = 0.68]). The peak loading rate was reduced from pre- to postintervention during the first (220.26 ± 111.51 vs. 120.27 ± 64.57 N· NBW·s-1 respectively [p<0.01, effect size = 0.64]), and second (99.52 ± 54.98 vs. 44.71 ± 30.34 N· NBW·s-1 respectively [p<0.01, effect size = 0.70]) landing phase. Body weight, average loading rate during the first landing phase, and jump height were not significantly different between week 0 and week 6 (p=0.528, p=0.261, and p=0.877, respectively). This study provides evidence that trunk dominant core stability training improves landing kinetics without improving jump height, and may reduce lower extremity injury risk in female athletes.
Fighting a War in Space: The Case for a Space Innovation Force

ABSTRACT Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) is gearing up to face the challenge of a contested, degraded space environment that may degenerate into a full-on battleground. The U.S. space enterprise needs to be ready to not just respond, but dominate. AFSPC’s Space Mission Force (SMF) concept, to “present space forces capable of operating in a contested and operationally limited environment,” is a start toward this goal. Leveraging a historical case study from the air domain, I suggest that the SMF focus on operator training and tactics may be fundamentally insufficient in the event of a conflict in space with a near-peer adversary. To win a war in space, AFSPC must build rapid breakaway capabilities that can asymmetrically rearrange the Space Order of Battle. This work proposes the formation of a top-down “Space Innovation Force” (SIF) to complement the bottom-up SMF. If appropriately empowered, this autonomous flat-management cadre of SIF warriors provides revolutionary technological capabilities that an enemy will be unable to counter in the near term. Establishing such a SIF cadre also encourages retention of talented technical officers.
Volume , Variance , and the Combined Signal Approach to Technical Analysis

This paper examines the impact volume and variance on the profitability of the Combined Signal Approach (CSA) to technical analysis. The volume and variance tests are conducted on the S&P 500 and NASDAQ from January 1990 to March 2008 (n=4,558). The results suggest that the profitability of the CSA is enhanced when employing either volume or variance into the trading model. Jointly employing volume and variance was not able to provide a significant improvement in profits over the employment of volume or variance alone; this is partially the result of the correlation between volume and variance.
How well do practical information measures estimate the Shannon entropy

Estimating the entropy of finite strings has applications in areas such as event detection, similarity measurement or in the performance assessment of compression algorithms. This report compares a variety of computable information measures for finite strings that may be used in entropy estimation. These include Shannon’s n-block entropy, the three variants of the Lempel-Ziv production complexity, and the lesser known T-entropy. We apply these measures to strings derived from the logistic map, for which Pesin’s identity allows us to deduce corresponding Shannon entropies (Kolmogorov-Sinai entropies) without resorting to probabilistic methods.
Wave Propagation and Scour Failure of Coastal Structures due to Tsunamis

The extensive research on the influence of sea dike geometry on tsunami-induced scour indicates the necessity for a suitable model that can forecast the scour depth behind coastal structures and thus minimize the damaging effect of a high category tsunami occurrence. Current attempts to study this phenomenon have not gained worldwide acceptance and have been limited to unproven analytical methods, and either laboratory or numerical methods. These indicate the need for a verifiable predictive expression that links both the sediment characteristics and coastal defence geometry. A comprehensive laboratory experiment was conducted to better understand the propagation mechanism of tsunami waves around four varying dikes sizes; two of which were modelled after dikes in Iwanuma and Soma cities in Japan that were affected by the 2011 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. This investigation contributed to the understanding of the influence of dike dimensions on the flow variables. Afterwards, the mechanism of the induced local scour at the landward region was studied in detail because of the destructive impact it could have on the stability of the structures. These led to the development of a predictive scour model, from which a tsunami-induced scour resilient structure can be proposed. Also, using the particle size analysis, the median grain size and permeability properties of the sediment grain were determined and used to form the boundary condition of the expression. The two-dimensional CFD analyses of the wave propagation and associated induced scour were investigated using ANSYS Fluent software package and sedFoam-2.0 solver respectively, and the results validated against the laboratory data showed good agreement. The Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) modelling approach with Realizable k-e turbulence model and scalable wall function for wall modelling were employed for the wave flow, while turbulence-averaged Eulerian two-phase flow equations with the kinetic theory of granular flows for intergranular stress models and a k-e turbulence model were used for the numerical implementation of the sediment scour.
Reasons for permanent tooth extraction and the current status of the existing teeth among patients visiting dental clinics in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Tooth loss impairs the quality of life, often substantially, and affects the well-being of the person as missing teeth can interfere with chewing ability, diction, and esthetics. Aim and Objectives: The aim of the present research was to investigate the reasons for extractions of permanent teeth and the current status of the existing teeth in adult patients visiting dental clinics in Guntur. Methodology: Places where the dental services are available were stratified. One government general hospital (GGH) in Guntur where dental services are available and one teaching-based private dental institution (Sibar Institute of Dental Sciences [SIDS]) were included in the study. Fifteen private clinics were randomly selected from a total of 107 dental clinics present in Guntur city. The estimated sample size was 746. It was rounded off to 750 for the purpose of convenient segregation. The survey pro forma prepared included demographic information along with clinical examination. Discussion: The highest (2.92) mean number of teeth to be extracted was seen in SIDS followed by GGH (1.94), and the difference in all the three types of clinics was statistically significant (P = 0.000). Post hoc test showed significant difference between private dental clinics and SIDS, private teaching dental institution and the other two types of clinics, and GGH and SIDS. Conclusion: It was revealed from the study that dental caries and periodontitis are the most common reasons for extraction.
Lasers in Surgery and Medicine

Background and Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the temperature depth profiles induced in human skin in vivo by using a pulsed 975 nm diode laser (with 5ms pulse duration) and compare them with those induced by the more common 532 nm (KTP) and 1,064 nm (Nd:YAG) lasers. Quantitative assessment of the energy deposition characteristics in human skin at 975 nm should help design of safe and effective treatment protocols when using such lasers. Study Design/Materials and Methods: Temperature depth profiles induced in the human skin by the three lasers were determined using pulsed photothermal radiometry (PPTR). This technique involves time‐resolved measurement of mid‐infrared emission from the irradiated test site and reconstruction of the laser‐induced temperature profiles using an earlier developed optimization algorithm. Measurements were performed on volar sides of the forearms in seven volunteers with healthy skin. At irradiation spot diameters of 3–4mm, the radiant exposures were 0.24, 0.36, and 5.7 J/cm for the 975, 532, and 1,064nm lasers, respectively. Results: Upon normalization to the same radiant exposure of 1 J/cm, the assessed maximum temperature rise in the epidermis averaged 0.8 °C for the 975 nm laser, 7.4 °C for the 532 nm, and 0.6 °C for the 1,064 nm laser. The characteristic subsurface depth to which 50% of the absorbed laser energy was deposited was on average 0.31mm at 975 nm irradiation, and slightly deeper at 1,064 nm, and 0.15mm at 532 nm. The experimentally obtained relations were reproduced in a dedicated numerical simulation. Conclusions: The assessed energy deposition characteristics show that the pulsed 975nm diode laser is very suitable for controlled heating of the upper dermis as required, for example, for nonablative skin rejuvenation. The risks of nonselective overheating of the epidermis and subcutis are significantly reduced in comparison with irradiation at 532 and 1,064nm, respectively. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Identifying Opinion Leaders in BBS

Opinion leaders play a very important role in information diffusion; they are found in all fields of society and influence the opinions of the masses in their fields. Most proposed algorithms on identifying opinion leaders in Internet social network are global measure algorithms and usually omit the fact that opinion leaders are field-limited. We propose and test several algorithms, including interest-field based algorithms and global measure algorithms, to identify opinion leaders in BBS. Our experiments show that different algorithms are sensitive to different indicators; the interest-field based algorithms which not only take into account of the social networkspsila structure but also the userspsila interest space are more reasonable and effective in identifying opinion leaders in BBS. The interest-field based algorithms are sensitive to the high status nodes in the social network, and their performance relies on the quality of field discovery.
Sampled-Data Modeling and Analysis of PWM DC-DC Converters Part 1. Closed-Loop Circuits

Abstract : General block diagram models are proposed for PWM DC-DC converters in continuous and discontinuous conduction modes with fixed switching frequency. Both current mode control and voltage mode control are addressed in these models. Based on these models, detailed nonlinear and linearized sampled-data dynamics are derived. Asymptotic orbital stability is analyzed. Audio-susceptibility and output impedance are derived. In this approach, discontinuous conduction mode and current mode control can be analyzed systematically without special effort. A companion paper addresses the same issues for the power stage of a PWM DC-DC converter.