Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STATE APPROPRIATIONS AND STUDENT RETENTION AT PUBLIC, FOUR-YEAR INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify and explore the relationship between state appropriations and freshman to sophomore retention at public, four year institutions of higher education. Additional questions concerning the users of retention programming – learning centers, summer bridge programs, and freshman seminars – emerged during the analysis of the initial question. Data sources included the College Board annual survey of institutions, WebCASPAR, Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges, and email surveying of the 271 institutions included in the sample for the years 1991 and 1996. The data was used in a series of multiple regressions and fixed effects regressions. The fixed effects method was viable since the same institutions provided observations for two points in time. The choice of independent variables was informed by retention theory and prior quantitative research into the retention question, as well as by the small body of literature addressing the efficacy of retention interventions. The new independent variable was the state dollars allocated per FTE student at each institution in 1991 and 1996. The multiple regression analyses confirmed that state dollars have a statistical impact on freshman to sophomore retention. In addition, the analyses suggested that summer bridge programming is the most effective of the three retention interventions considered, despite the small size of these programs relative to learning centers and freshman seminars. However, learning centers were the most numerous of the three programs and freshman seminars were the fastest growing. Descriptive statistics
Formative Feedback and Student Attitudes: Investigating the Impact of Teacher Feedback on Student Attitudes in the Classroom

This action research study explored the impact of formative feedback on student attitudes in the classroom. Four Grade 12 college-stream English students from an independent school in southwestern Ontario participated in semi-structured interviews where they responded to questions surrounding their attitudes towards their own self-efficacy, towards the English course content, and towards English instructors. Responses reflected on experiences in English courses throughout their high school career. The results of this study suggested that formative feedback has a strong impact on student self-efficacy and their relationship with the instructor, but minimal effect on student attitudes towards English course content. Document Type Thesis Degree Name Master of Education (MEd) Department Graduate Education First Advisor Patricia C. Kornelis
Solving large systems of linear equations over GF(2) on FPGAs

This paper presents an efficient systolic line architecture for solving large systems of linear equations using Gaussian elimination on the coefficient matrix. Our architecture can also be used for solving matrix inversion problems and for computing the systematic form of matrices. These are common and important computational problems that appear in areas such as cryptography and cryptanalysis. Our architecture solves these problems efficiently for any large-sized matrix over GF(2), regardless of matrix size, shape or density. We implemented and synthesized our design for Altera and Xilinx FPGAs to obtain evaluation data. The results show sub-μs performance for the Gaussian elimination of medium-sized matrices and performance on the order of tens to hundreds of ms for large matrices. In addition, this is one of the first works addressing large-sized matrices of up to 4,000 × 8,000 elements and therefore is suitable for post-quantum cryptographic schemes that require handling such large matrices.
Risk-Taking and Sensation Seeking in Military Contexts: A Literature Review

The article is based on a literature review of studies covering risk-taking and sensation seeking within military contexts over a time span of 3 decades from 1983 to 2015. Literature was gathered through a four-stage search procedure identifying 25 studies of risk-taking and 16 studies of sensation seeking altogether. Because warfare and military conflicts are dangerous and risky pursuits, one could imagine there being a lot of empirical research about risk-taking and sensation seeking in the military. We have found this not to be the case. The research is both small in volume and scattered when it comes to use of theories, methods, and samples of military personnel. In general, there seem to be few clear research paradigms. The results of the empirical studies show that there are adaptive as well as nonadaptive forms of risk-taking in relation to military situations. Similarly, military personnel scoring high on sensation seeking possess certain advantages, for instance, dealing with stress and risk, yet may also cause problems of various kinds. The review ends by pointing out implications for research and practice.
ANALYSIS OF ONLINE PUBLIC PARTICIPATORY GIS APPLICATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE US AND EUROPE

Public Participatory Geographical Information Systems (PP GIS) is a field of research that focuses on the use of GIS by the general public and aims at involving citizens in a decision-making processes. PP GIS applications increasingly use the Internet as a platform for communication and dissemination of information. They link community participation and geographic information in a diversity of social and environmental contexts. In this paper we compare twelve online PP GIS applications and evaluate them according to their usability, interactivity and visualisation. A qualitative expert analysis shows that a highly interactive citizen information exchange platform is the exception rather than the rule. After presenting first results of the study we discuss some directions for ongoing and future work including suggestions for PPGIS evaluation by non-expert users.
The relationship between language proficiency and attentional control in Cantonese-English bilingual children: evidence from Simon, Simon switching, and working memory tasks

By administering Simon, Simon switching, and operation-span working memory tasks to Cantonese-English bilingual children who varied in their first-language (L1, Cantonese) and second-language (L2, English) proficiencies, as quantified by standardized vocabulary test performance, the current study examined the effects of L1 and L2 proficiency on attentional control performance. Apart from mean performance, we conducted ex-Gaussian analyses to capture the modal and positive-tail components of participants' reaction time distributions in the Simon and Simon switching tasks. Bilinguals' L2 proficiency was associated with higher scores in the operation span task, and a shift of reaction time distributions in incongruent trials, relative to congruent trials (Simon effect in μ), and the tail size of reaction time distributions (τ) regardless of trial types in the Simon task. Bilinguals' L1 proficiency, which was strongly associated with participants' age, showed similar results, except that it was not associated with the Simon effect in μ. In contrast, neither bilinguals' L1 nor L2 proficiency modulated the global switch cost or local switch cost in the Simon switching task. After taking into account potential cognitive maturation by partialling out the participants' age, only (a) scores in the working memory task and (b) RT in incongruent trials and (c) Simon effect in μ in the Simon task could still be predicted by bilinguals' L2 proficiency. Overall, the current findings suggest that bilingual children's L2 proficiency was associated with their conflict resolution and working memory capacity, but not goal maintenance or task-set switching, when they performed the cognitive tasks that demanded attentional control. This was not entirely consistent with the findings of college-age bilinguals reported in previous studies.
Domain structure of ultrathin ferromagnetic elements in the presence of Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction

Recent advances in nanofabrication make it possible to produce multilayer nanostructures composed of ultrathin film materials with thickness down to a few monolayers of atoms and lateral extent of several tens of nanometers. At these scales, ferromagnetic materials begin to exhibit unusual properties, such as perpendicular magnetocrystalline anisotropy and antisymmetric exchange, also referred to as Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI), because of the increased importance of interfacial effects. The presence of surface DMI has been demonstrated to fundamentally alter the structure of domain walls. Here we use the micromagnetic modelling framework to analyse the existence and structure of chiral domain walls, viewed as minimizers of a suitable micromagnetic energy functional. We explicitly construct the minimizers in the one-dimensional setting, both for the interior and edge walls, for a broad range of parameters. We then use the methods of Γ-convergence to analyse the asymptotics of the two-dimensional magnetization patterns in samples of large spatial extent in the presence of weak applied magnetic fields.
Brown's Spectral Distribution Measure for R-Diagonal Elements in Finite von Neumann Algebras☆

Abstract In 1983 L. G. Brown introduced a spectral distribution measure for non-normal elements in a finite von Neumann algebra M with respect to a fixed normal faithful tracial state τ. In this paper we compute Brown's spectral distribution measure in case T has a polar decomposition T=UH where U is a Haar unitary and U and H are *-free. (When Ker T={0} this is equivalent to that (T, T*) is an R-diagonal pair in the sense of Nica and Speicher. ) The measure μT is expressed explicitly in terms of the S-transform of the distribution μT*T of the positive operator T*T. In case T is a circular element, i.e., T=(X1+iX2)/ 2 where (X1, X2) is a free semicircular system, then sp T=D, the closed unit disk, and μT has constant density 1/π on D.
Norm Multiple Kernel Learning

Learning linear combinations of multiple kernels is an appealing strategy when the right choice of features is unknown. Previous approaches to multiple kernel learning (MKL) promote sparse kernel combinations to support interpretability and scalability. Unfortunately, this l1-norm MKL is rarely observed to outperform trivial baselines in practical applications. To allow for robust kernel mixtures that generalize well, we extend MKL to arbitrary norms. We devise new insights on the connection between several existing MKL formulations and develop two efficient interleaved optimization strategies for arbitrary norms, that is lp-norms with p≥ 1. This interleaved optimization is much faster than the commonly used wrapper approaches, as demonstrated on several data sets. A theoretical analysis and an experiment on controlled artificial data shed light on the appropriateness of sparse, non-sparse and l∞-norm MKL in various scenarios. Importantly, empirical applications of lp-norm MKL to three real-world problems from computational biology show that non-sparse MKL achieves accuracies that surpass the state-of-the-art. Data sets, source code to reproduce the experiments, implementations of the algorithms, and further information are available at http://doc.ml. tu-berlin.de/nonsparse_mkl/.
Neuroplastic alteration of TTX-resistant sodium channel with visceral pain and morphine-induced hyperalgesia

The discovery of the tetrodotoxin-resistant (TTX-R) Na+ channel in nociceptive neurons has provided a special target for analgesic intervention. In a previous study we found that both morphine tolerance and persistent visceral inflammation resulted in visceral hyperalgesia. It has also been suggested that hyperexcitability of sensory neurons due to altered TTX-R Na+ channel properties and expression contributes to hyperalgesia; however, we do not know if some TTX-R Na+ channel property changes can be triggered by visceral hyperalgesia and morphine tolerance, or whether there are similar molecular or channel mechanisms in both situations. To evaluate the effects of morphine tolerance and visceral inflammation on the channel, we investigated the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neuronal change following these chronic treatments. Using whole-cell patch clamp recording, we recorded TTX-R Na+ currents in isolated adult rat lumbar and sacral (L6−S2) DRG neurons from normal and pathologic rats with colon inflammatory pain or chronic morphine treatment. We found that the amplitudes of TTX-R Na+ currents were significantly increased in small-diameter DRG neurons with either morphine tolerance or visceral inflammatory pain. Meanwhile, the result also showed that those treatments altered the kinetics properties of the electrical current (ie, the activating and inactivating speed of the channel was accelerated). Our current results suggested that in both models, visceral chronic inflammatory pain and morphine tolerance causes electrophysiological changes in voltage-gated Na channels due to the chronic administration of these medications. For the first time, the present investigation explored the adaptations of this channel, which may contribute to the hyperexcitability of primary afferent nerves and hyperalgesia during these pathologic conditions. The results also suggest that neurophysiologic mechanisms of morphine tolerance and visceral hyperalgesia are related at the TTX-R Na+ channel.
Professional values of nursing students in nursing leadership and management course

Introduction: Determining the innate professional values of nursing students during their academic years in nursing schools provide a more concrete measurement of their professional readiness when they become licensed nurses. Background: Among all nursing subjects and courses, the Nursing Leadership and Management contains topics that emphasize professional adjustment and value development among students to become more professionally ready for the real world experience of the nursing profession. Objective: The study aimed to determine the perceived professional value orientation of the students to the five factors of Nurse Professional Values Scale-Revised. These factors are the values of Caring, Professionalism, Trust, Activism, and Justice.Methodology: Using quantitative cross-sectional study design as the methodology, it included 200 nursing students both from the female and male campuses of a Saudi University. These 200 students as participants have finished the course Nursing Leadership and Management.Results: The responses of the participants are mostly focused on the Caring factor where when ranked occupies the first top five (5) positions relating to the items 22, 21, 24, 25 23 with a mean of 3.49 (SD = 1.19), 3.44 (SD = 1.28), 3.44 (SD = 1.24), 3.39 (SD = 1.28), 3.37 (SD = 1.22), respectively. While the bottom five (5) of the responses pertains to the factors Professionalism (item 6), Caring (item 18), Professionalism (item 5), Trust (items 2 and 1). These factors received a mean of 3.9 (SD = 1.25), 3.17 (SD = 1.35), 3.16 (SD = 1.15), 3.14 (SD = 1.22), 3.00 (SD = 1.39), respectively.Conclusion: Caring being the essential element of the nursing profession is the most valued quality of nursing students. A full understanding of the essence of caring allows the future nurse professionals to deliver compassionate and sensitive nursing service.
Complete Genomic Structure of the Cultivated Rice Endophyte Azospirillum sp. B510

We determined the nucleotide sequence of the entire genome of a diazotrophic endophyte, Azospirillum sp. B510. Strain B510 is an endophytic bacterium isolated from stems of rice plants (Oryza sativa cv. Nipponbare). The genome of B510 consisted of a single chromosome (3 311 395 bp) and six plasmids, designated as pAB510a (1 455 109 bp), pAB510b (723 779 bp), pAB510c (681 723 bp), pAB510d (628 837 bp), pAB510e (537 299 bp), and pAB510f (261 596 bp). The chromosome bears 2893 potential protein-encoding genes, two sets of rRNA gene clusters (rrns), and 45 tRNA genes representing 37 tRNA species. The genomes of the six plasmids contained a total of 3416 protein-encoding genes, seven sets of rrns, and 34 tRNAs representing 19 tRNA species. Eight genes for plasmid-specific tRNA species are located on either pAB510a or pAB510d. Two out of eight genomic islands are inserted in the plasmids, pAB510b and pAB510e, and one of the islands is inserted into trnfM-CAU in the rrn located on pAB510e. Genes other than the nif gene cluster that are involved in N2 fixation and are homologues of Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA110 include fixABCX, fixNOQP, fixHIS, fixG, and fixLJK. Three putative plant hormone-related genes encoding tryptophan 2-monooxytenase (iaaM) and indole-3-acetaldehyde hydrolase (iaaH), which are involved in IAA biosynthesis, and ACC deaminase (acdS), which reduces ethylene levels, were identified. Multiple gene-clusters for tripartite ATP-independent periplasmic-transport systems and a diverse set of malic enzymes were identified, suggesting that B510 utilizes C4-dicarboxylate during its symbiotic relationship with the host plant.
Beyond "planning": A meta-analysis of implementation intentions to support smoking cessation.

OBJECTIVE Implementation intentions support behavior change by encouraging people to link critical situations with appropriate responses. Overall effectiveness for smoking cessation is unknown. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of implementation intentions for smoking cessation. METHOD Using PRISMA guidelines, 6 electronic databases were searched (updated February 2018) using key terms. Data were pooled for smoking cessation (categorical variable; yes/no) and entered into random effects models. Analyses assessed: (a) effectiveness as a single intervention, and (b) effectiveness when included as one of multiple intervention components. RESULTS Twelve studies were identified. Implementation intentions were effective for smoking cessation at follow up, OR = 1.70, CI [1.32, 2.20], p < . 001, average 10.7% quit rate for intervention participants (4.9% in controls). Implementation intentions as a single intervention were effective for smoking cessation, OR = 5.69, 95% CI [1.39, 23.25], p = . 02 (average quit rate 14.3% in intervention participants vs. 3.6% in controls) and as part of multicomponent interventions, OR = 1.67, 95% CI [1.29, 1.66], p < . 001 (average quit rate 8.2% in intervention participants vs. 5.8% in controls). CONCLUSIONS Implementation intentions are effective at helping smokers quit although the review reported substantial heterogeneity across the limited number of included studies. The present review sets the agenda for future research in this area including longer term objectively verified abstinence and identification of potential moderators of effectiveness including population characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Assessing mobile touch interfaces for tetraplegics

Mobile touch-screen interfaces and tetraplegic people have a controversial connection. While users with residual capacities in their upper extremities could benefit immensely from a device which does not require strength to operate, the precision needed to effectively select a target bars these people access to countless communication, leisure and productivity opportunities. Insightful projects attempted to bridge this gap via either special hardware or particular interface tweaks. Still, we need further insight into the challenges and the frontiers separating failure from success for such applications to take hold. This paper discusses an evaluation conducted with 15 tetraplegic people to learn the limits to their performance within a comprehensive set of interaction methods. We then present the results concerning a particular interaction technique: Tapping. Results show that performance varies across different areas of the screen whose distribution changes with target size.
Do Analysts and Auditors Use Information in Accruals

type="main" xml:lang="en"> Existing research indicates that firms with high accruals are more likely to experience future earnings problems, but that investors' expectations, as reflected in stock prices, do not appear to anticipate these problems. In this paper, we directly examine the published opinions of two types of professional investor intermediaries to see if they provide investors with information concerning the future earnings problems experienced by firms with high accruals. First, we examine the earnings forecasts of sell-side analysts. We show that analysts' earnings forecasts do not incorporate the predictable future earnings declines associated with high accruals. Second, we examine the behavior of independent auditors. We find no evidence that auditors signal the future earnings problems associated with high accruals through either their audit opinions or through auditor changes. Overall, our evidence indicates that analysts and auditors do not alert investors to the future earnings problems associated with high accruals, thus corroborating previous findings that investors do not appear to anticipate these problems.
Disclose Models, Hide the Data - How to Make Use of Confidential Corpora without Seeing Sensitive Raw Data

Confidential corpora from the medical, enterprise, security or intelligence domains often contain sensitive raw data which lead to severe restrictions as far as the public accessibility and distribution of such language resources are concerned. The enforcement of strict mechanisms of data protection consitutes a serious barrier for progress in language technology (products) in such domains, since these data are extremely rare or even unavailable for scientists and developers not directly involved in the creation and maintenance of such resources. In order to by-pass this problem, we here propose to distribute trained language models which were derived from such resources as a substitute for the original confidential raw data which remain hidden to the outside world. As an example, we exploit the access-protected German-language medical FRAMED corpus from which we generate and distribute models for sentence splitting, tokenization and POS tagging based on software taken from OPENNLP, NLTK and JCORE, our own UIMA-based text analytics pipeline.
Robust Control of VO$_{\bf 2}$-Coated Microbenders Using Self-Sensing Feedback

This paper presents the first studies on robust closed-loop deflection control of vanadium dioxide (VO2)-based microactuators using self-sensing. The deflection output of the microactuator is estimated by VO2 resistance-based self-sensing through a high-order polynomial in order to eliminate the need for complicated external sensing mechanisms. An H∞ robust controller is designed and implemented for precision deflection control, where uncertainties produced by the hysteresis between the deflection and the temperature input and the error in the self-sensing model are accommodated. The performance of the robust controller is tested in experiments under step and multisinusoidal reference inputs and compared to that of a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller. The robust controller outperforms the PID controller with 36% and 18% less tracking error for the step and multisinusoidal reference responses, respectively. To further show the robust performance of the H∞ controller, a multisinusoidal reference tracking experiment with simulated white noise current signal is conducted, where the error using robust control is 34% less than that with PID control.