Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An alternative interpretation of attitude and extension of the value–attitude–behavior hierarchy: the destination attributes of Chiang Mai, Thailand

ABSTRACT Thailand tourism and its attributes have not been sufficiently explored. This study attempted to identify the role of tourism attributes in Chiang Mai, Thailand, bring up-to-date advancements in attitude research, and build a comprehensive extended framework rooted in the value attitude behavior (VAB) hierarchy. A sample of 541 international tourists in Chiang Mai was used for data analysis. The results of the factor analysis presented five attribute factors. All five factors loaded strongly onto a higher order factor of destination attributes. Moreover, the attitude construct was tested in the VAB hierarchy. Our results indicated that the proposed theoretical framework and hypothesized relationships were generally supported. The emotion constructs were identified to be significant contributors for better prediction of intention to revisit Thailand. Our alternative interpretation of attitude was statistically supported. Overall, the findings of this study help destination marketers invent useful strategies to boost international travelers’ intention to repeatedly visit Thailand.
Integrative Perspectives of Academic Motivation

Autonomy has emerged as an important construct in educational and psychological research because students who feel autonomous often perform better and demonstrate more intrinsic or autonomous motivation. Although the autonomy construct is well established in the literature, educators and practitioners can be confused by the multiple definitions ascribed to autonomy and closely related constructs (e.g., choice). Definitions of autonomy support have also changed over time and include factors beyond supporting a student’s need for autonomy. In addition, the research-based teaching implications for autonomy-related constructs are not always consistent. Given the confusion that can arise when trying to understand and interpret autonomy-related constructs and the associated teaching implications, the purpose of this paper is to identify and compare several constructs and explain the related implications for instruction. We first summarize multiple autonomy-related constructs. Then, we review three perspectives of autonomy related to academic motivation: (1) autonomy in self-determination theory, (2) the concept of autonomy support, and (3) the notion of choice. We conclude with recommendations for practitioners and researchers, including a call for more integrated conceptions of both the need for autonomy and academic motivation more generally, which focus on complex and dynamic patterns in individuals’ motivation-related beliefs.
Survival analysis with long‐term survivors and partially observed covariates

The authors describe a method for fitting failure time mixture models that postulate the existence of both susceptibles and long‐term survivors when covariate data are only partially observed. Their method is based on a joint model that combines a Weibull regression model for the susceptibles, a logistic regression model for the probability of being a susceptible, and a general location model for the distribution of the covariates. A Bayesian approach is taken, and Gibbs sampling is used to fit the model to the incomplete data. An application to clinical data on tonsil cancer and a small Monte Carlo study indicate potential large gains in efficiency over standard complete‐case analysis as well as reasonable performance in a variety of situations.
Nucleosome Dancing at the Tempo of Histone Tail Acetylation

The impact of histone acetylation on transcription was revealed over 50 years ago by Allfrey and colleagues. However, it took decades for an understanding of the fine mechanism by which this posttranslational modification affects chromatin structure and promotes transcription. Here, we review breakthroughs linking histone tail acetylation, histone dynamics, and transcription. We also discuss the histone exchange during transcription and highlight the important function of a pool of non-chromatinized histones in chromatin dynamics.
FPGA implementation of chaotic pseudo-random bit generators

We present recent results of our studies on the FPGA implementation of pseudo-random bit generators (PRBGs) based on a chaotic behavior of nonlinear systems. A number of different PRBG architectures have been considered, including logistic mapping, Hénon mapping, and frequency dependent negative resistor (FDNR). All versions of PRBGs have been implemented in five FPGA families of devices from Xilinx (Spartan 3 and 6, Virtex 4, 5, and 6). We present detailed comparison of FPGA resources required for PRBG implementation and evaluation of maximum operating frequencies. The pseudo-random bit generators presented in this paper can be used for key generation in stream ciphers in secure, real-time transmission of digital signals.
DISCRETE METRIC SPACES: STRUCTURE, ENUMERATION, AND 0-1 LAWS

Abstract Fix an integer $r \ge 3$. We consider metric spaces on n points such that the distance between any two points lies in $\left\{ {1, \ldots ,r} \right\}$. Our main result describes their approximate structure for large n. As a consequence, we show that the number of these metric spaces is $\left\lceil {{{r + 1} \over 2}} \right\rceil ^{\left( {\matrix{ n \cr 2 \cr } } \right) + o\left( {n^2 } \right)} . $ Related results in the continuous setting have recently been proved by Kozma, Meyerovitch, Peled, and Samotij [34]. When r is even, our structural characterization is more precise and implies that almost all such metric spaces have all distances at least $r/2$. As an easy consequence, when r is even, we improve the error term above from $o\left( {n^2 } \right)$ to $o\left( 1 \right)$, and also show a labeled first-order 0-1 law in the language ${\cal L}_r $, consisting of r binary relations, one for each element of $[r]$ . In particular, we show the almost sure theory T is the theory of the Fraïssé limit of the class of all finite simple complete edge-colored graphs with edge colors in $\left\{ {r/2, \ldots ,r} \right\}$. Our work can be viewed as an extension of a long line of research in extremal combinatorics to the colored setting, as well as an addition to the collection of known structures that admit logical 0-1 laws.
Diabetic Retinopathy Treated with Laser Photocoagulation and the Indirect Effect on Glycaemic Control

Purpose. To identify any possible relation between glycaemic control and previous laser photocoagulation for diabetic retinopathy. Methods. Seventy-two patients with diabetes were included in the study and were separated into 2 groups according to previous treatment (group A) or not (group B) with argon laser photocoagulation. Glycaemic control was estimated by measuring blood levels of HbA1c in four consecutive measurements. Results. Blood levels of HbA1c in group A were significantly lower 3, 6, and 12 months after laser treatment as compared to blood levels of HbA1c before laser treatment (7.1 ± 0.4% versus 7.6 ± 0.9%, 7.2 ± 0.2% versus 7.6 ± 0.9%, and 7.1 ± 0.2% versus 7.6 ± 0.9%, resp., all P < 0.05). Blood levels of HbA1c in group B did not differ significantly in four consecutive measurements. Conclusion. Our results suggest that we should anticipate a better glycaemic control in cases of patients with diabetes previously treated with laser photocoagulation.
Information and Communication Technology in Small and Medium Enterprises: Factors affecting the Adoption and use of ICT in Nigeria

The study investigates the factors affecting ICT adoption by SMEs in Nigeria. The structured questionnaire was used to collect data from seventy (70) respondents. The method of analysis is that of correlation coefficient and multiple regressions while the method of estimation is Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) with aid of STATA software. The result indicates that infrastructure is one of the most factors that inhibit ICT adoption by SMEs in Nigeria with highest mean followed by government policies, management support, level of security, maintenance cost skills and training, and investment cost respectively. It is concluded that SMEs in Nigeria have been slow in adopting ICT as they face major constraints such as poor telecommunication infrastructure, limited ICT literacy, inability to integrate ICT into business processes, high costs of ICT equipment, incomplete government regulations for e-commerce, legal and regulatory issues, weak ICT strategies, lack of research and development, excessive reliance on foreign technology and weaknesses in ICT implementation. The study recommends that management should plays an important role in guiding and completing projects relating to ICT adoption, by providing resources for the purchase of the infrastructures required for the new ICT.
A Comparison of Perceptually-Based Metrics for Objective Evaluation of Geometry Processing

Recent advances in 3-D graphics technologies have led to an increasing use of processing techniques on 3-D meshes, such as filtering, compression, watermarking, simplification, deformation, and so forth. Since these processes may modify the visual appearance of the 3-D objects, several metrics have been introduced to properly drive or evaluate them, from classic geometric ones such as Hausdorff distance, to more complex perceptually-based measures. This paper presents a survey on existing perceptually-based metrics for visual impairment of 3-D objects and provides an extensive comparison between them. In particular, different scenarios which correspond to different perceptual and cognitive mechanisms are analyzed. The objective is twofold: 1) catching the behavior of existing measures to help Perception researchers for designing new 3-D metrics and 2) providing a comparison between them to inform and help computer graphics researchers for choosing the most accurate tool for the design and the evaluation of their mesh processing algorithms.
Consumer choice prediction : artificial neural networks versus logistic models

Conventional econometric models, such as discriminant analysis and logistic regression have been used to predict consumer choice. However, in recent years, there has been a growing interest in applying artificial neural networks (ANN) to analyse consumer behaviour and to model the consumer decision-making process. The purpose of this paper is to empirically compare the predictive power of the probability neural network (PNN), a special class of neural networks and a MLFN with a logistic model on consumers' choices between electronic banking and non-electronic banking. Data for this analysis was obtained through a mail survey sent to 1,960 New Zealand households. The questionnaire gathered information on the factors consumers' use to decide between electronic banking versus non-electronic banking. The factors include service quality dimensions, perceived risk factors, user input factors, price factors, service product characteristics and individual factors. In addition, demographic variables including age, gender, marital status, ethnic background, educational qualification, employment, income and area of residence are considered in the analysis. Empirical results showed that both ANN models (MLFN and PNN) exhibit a higher overall percentage correct on consumer choice predictions than the logistic model. Furthermore, the PNN demonstrates to be the best predictive model since it has the highest overall percentage correct and a very low percentage error on both Type I and Type II errors.
Aetiology, outcomes & predictors of mortality in acute respiratory distress syndrome from a tertiary care centre in north India

Background & objectives: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a common disorder in critically ill patients and is associated with high mortality. There is a paucity of literature on this condition from developing countries. This prospective observational study was designed to find out the aetiology, outcomes and predictors of mortality in ARDS. Methods: Sixty four consecutive patients who satisfied American-European Consensus Conference (AECC) definition of ARDS from medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a tertiary care centre in New Delhi, India, were enrolled in the study. Demographic, biochemical and ventilatory variables were recorded for each patient. Baseline measurements of serum interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), procalcitonin (PCT) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) were performed. Results: Common causes of ARDS included pneumonia [44/64 (68.7%)], malaria [9/64 (14.1%)] and sepsis [8/64 (12.5%]. Eight of the 64 (12.5%) patients had ARDS due to viral pneumonia. The 28-day mortality was 36/64 (56.2%). Independent predictors of mortality included non-pulmonary organ failure, [Hazard ratio (HR) 7.65; 95% CI 0.98-59.7, P=0.05], Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS-II) [HR 2.36; 95% CI 1.14-4.85, P=0.02] and peak pressure (Ppeak) [HR 1.13; 95% CI 1.00-1.30, P = 0.04] at admission. Interpretation & conclusions: Bacterial and viral pneumonia, malaria and tuberculosis resulted in ARDS in a considerable number of patients. Independent predictors of mortality included non-pulmonary organ failure, SAPS II score and Ppeak at baseline. Elevated levels of biomarkers such as TNF-α, PCT and hsCRP at admission might help in identifying patients at a higher risk of mortality.
Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of the Necrotrophic Fungus Ascochyta rabiei during Oxidative Stress: Insight for Fungal Survival in the Host Plant

Localized cell death, known as the hypersensitive response (HR), is an important defense mechanism for neutralizing phytopathogens. The hallmark of the HR is an oxidative burst produced by the host plant. We aimed to identify genes of the necrotrophic chickpea blight fungus Ascochyta rabiei that are involved in counteracting oxidative stress. A subtractive cDNA library was constructed after menadione treatment, which resulted in the isolation of 128 unigenes. A reverse northern blot was used to compare transcript profiles after H2O2, menadione and sodium nitroprusside treatments. A total of 70 unigenes were found to be upregulated by more than two-fold following menadione treatment at different time intervals. A large number of genes not previously associated with oxidative stress were identified, along with many stress-responsive genes. Differential expression patterns of several genes were validated by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and northern blotting. In planta qRT-PCR of several selected genes also showed differential expression patterns during infection and disease progression. These data shed light on the molecular responses of the phytopathogen A. rabiei to overcome oxidative and nitrosative stresses and advance the understanding of necrotrophic fungal pathogen survival mechanisms.
Comparison of OVD and BSS for Maintaining the Anterior Chamber during IOL Implantation

Purpose To compare surgical results between conventional intraocular lens (IOL) implantation using an ophthalmic viscosurgical device (OVD) and IOL implantation using a balanced salt solution (BSS) after irrigation/aspiration (I/A) of the lens cortex. Methods A randomized prospective study was conducted on 62 patients who underwent cataract surgery. Following completion of conventional I/A of the lens cortex, we divided patients into two groups according to whether or not BSS was used. In group A (n = 31), the anterior chamber and the capsular bag were completely filled with an OVD before IOL implantation. On the other hand, in group B (n = 31), BSS was irrigated into the anterior chamber through a previous side port during IOL implantation. Surgical results were compared between the two groups. Results In both groups, IOP peaked six hours after surgery. The occurrence of an IOP spike by postoperative day one was observed in six cases (6 / 31) in group A and in no cases (0 / 31) in group B, a difference that was statistically significant (p = 0.024). The values of endothelial cell density, central corneal thickness, anterior chamber inflammation, myopic shift, and posterior capsule opacification were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions Compared with the use of OVD for IOL implantation, use of BSS during IOL implantation resulted in reductions in postoperative IOP spike and OVD removal time.
Printing processes and their potential for RFID printing

This paper explains the basics of a number of printing processes (offset lithography, gravure, flexography, ink jet, electrophotography and screen printing). Characteristics such as the process principles, the type of inks and substrates used, the resolution, but also the limitations of these processes (in terms of regularity, for instance) are tackled. Then, their potential for RFID printing is addressed.
Feasibility and Early Outcomes of Intensivist-Led Critical Care after Major Trauma in the Korean ICU

Purpose Substantial evidence supports the benefits of an intensivist model of critical care delivery. However, currently, this mode of critical care delivery has not been widely adopted in Korea. We hypothesized that intensivist-led critical care is feasible and would improve ICU mortality after major trauma. Materials and Methods A trauma registry from May 2009 to April 2011 was reviewed retrospectively. We evaluated the relationship between modes of ICU care (open vs. intensivist) and in-hospital mortality following severe injury [Injury Severity Score (ISS) >15]. An intensivist-model was defined as ICU care delivered by a board-certified physician who had no other clinical responsibilities outside the ICU and who is primarily available to the critically ill or injured patients. ISS and Revised Trauma Score were used as measure of injury severity. The Trauma and Injury Severity Score methodology was used to calculate each individual patient's probability of survival. Results Of the 251 patients, 57 patients were treated by an intensivist [intensivist group (IG)] while 194 patients were not [non-intensivist group (NIG)]. The ISS of IG was significantly higher than that for NIG (26.5 vs. 22.3, p=0.023). The hospital mortality rate for IG was significantly lower than that for NIG (15.8% and 27.8%, p<0.001). Conclusion The intensivist model of critical care is feasible, and there is room for improvement in the care of major trauma patients. Although trauma systems take time to mature, future studies are needed to evaluate the best model of critical care delivery for severely injured patients in Korea.
Teachers’ professional development as a pathway for educational reform in Egypt

Abstract This study explores teachers’ reflections on the professional development (PD) provided by the Egyptian Ministry of Education as part of a national reform plan implemented right before the political changes in Egypt. The study took place in three national language schools and focused on English as Foreign Language teachers’ perspectives on the PD and the successes and challenges they faced implementing it. Results highlight teachers’ critical reflections on the quality and duration of the PD. Despite the effort, they expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of support and follow up from the administration, in addition to the lack of practical examples that characterized the PD.
Nonlinear Damping of Oscillations in Tidal-Capture Binaries

We calculate the damping of quadrupole f and low order g modes (primary modes) by nonlinear coupling to other modes of the star. This damping is orders of magnitude more rapid than direct radiative damping when the primary amplitude is large, as in tidal capture. Primary modes destabilize high degree g-modes of half their frequency (daughter modes) by 3-mode coupling in radiative zones. In sunlike stars, the growth time $\equiv\eta^{-1}\approx 4 E_{0,42}^{-1/2}$ days, where $E_{0,42}$ is the initial energy of the primary mode in units of $10^{42}~$erg, and of order $10^{10}E_{0,42}^{5/4}$ daughters are unstable. The growth rate is approximately equal to the angular frequency of the primary mode times its dimensionless radial amplitude, $\delta R/R_*\approx 0. 002E_{0,42}^{1/2}$. Although the daughter modes are limited by their own nonlinearities, collectively they absorb most of the primary mode's energy after a time $\sim 10\eta^{-1}$ provided $E_{0}> 10^{40}~\mbox{erg}$. In fact nonlinear mode interaction may be the dominant damping process if $E_0\gtrsim 10^{37}~\mbox{erg}$. Our results have application to tidally captured main sequence globular cluster stars of mass $\ge 0.5 M_{\sun}$; the tidal energy is dissipated in the radiative core of the star in about a month, which is less than the initial orbital period.
Interaction between Tropical Atlantic Variability and El Niño–Southern Oscillation

Abstract The interaction between tropical Atlantic variability and El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is investigated using three ensembles of atmospheric general circulation model integrations. The integrations are forced by specifying observed sea surface temperature (SST) variability over a forcing domain. The forcing domain is the global ocean for the first ensemble, limited to the tropical ocean for the second ensemble, and further limited to the tropical Atlantic region for the third ensemble. The ensemble integrations show that extratropical SST anomalies have little impact on tropical variability, but the effect of ENSO is pervasive in the Tropics. Consistent with previous studies, the most significant influence of ENSO is found during the boreal spring season and is associated with an anomalous Walker circulation. Two important aspects of ENSO’s influence on tropical Atlantic variability are noted. First, the ENSO signal contributes significantly to the “dipole” correlation structure between tro.
Sentiment Analysis using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks with Distant Supervision

This thesis addresses the problem of predicting message-level sentiments of English micro-blog messages from Twitter. Convolutional neural networks (CNN) have shown great promise in the task of sentiment classification. Here we expand the CNN proposed by [31, 32] and perform an in-depth analysis to deepen the understanding of these systems. In a first step we compare the performance of different architectures with focus on deeper architectures. We show how different choices of hyper-parameters impact the results and present the benefits and challenges of using deeper architectures. Second, we introduce the procedure for achieving a high quality initialization of the CNN and show the massive impact it has on its predictive capabilities. This procedure consists of creating custom word embeddings followed by pre-training the network using 90M tweets where the polarity of a tweet is inferred by noisy labels. Third, we present an in-depth analysis of the supervised phase. We show the impact of the pre-training on the supervised phase. We show how the choice of the optimization algorithm and the step size impact the variance of the score during the supervised phase. The analysis is concluded by an inspection of the errors made by the system. This gives us insights into the inner workings of the CNN and hints as to what is needed for further improvement. The CNN presented in this thesis is part of an ensemble which ranked 1st in the SemEval-2016 competition, Task 4a [22]. The task consists of classifying a given tweet as either positive, negative or neutral. This further demonstrates the potential these systems have in the field of sentiment analysis.