Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Normalized Relevance Distance - A Stable Metric for Computing Semantic Relatedness over Reference Corpora

We propose the Normalized Relevance Distance (NRD): a robust metric for computing semantic relatedness between terms. NRD makes use of a controlled reference corpus for a statistical analysis. The analysis is based on the relevance scores and joint occurrence of terms in documents. On the basis of established reference datasets, we demonstrate that NRD does not require sophisticated data tuning and is less dependent on the choice of the reference corpus than comparable approaches.
Inclusive Programming for Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 mandated the provision of interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) under the age of 3 years. Although Strain, McGee, and Kohler (2001) suggested that children with autism benefit from inclusive programming, inclusive early intervention programs are rare. In the current study, the authors used a quasi-experimental design to analyze the outcomes for 20 young children with ASD in an inclusive program for children under age 3. Both outcomes on standardized assessments and functional outcomes were compared at program entry and exit. Significant increases in standard scores were found for the standardized assessments from intake to exit, with 37% of the children functioning in the typical range at exit, compared to 11% at entry. Significant improvements in performance on functional measures were also seen. At intake, 50% of the study participants had no functional communication skills, whereas at exit, 90% used a functional communication system. Social and play behaviors also increased substantially. Use of augmentative communication systems and a combination of research-based programming are discussed.
Linked color imaging improves endoscopic diagnosis of active Helicobacter pylori infection

Background and study aims: Linked color imaging (LCI) is a new image-enhanced endoscopy technique using a laser light source to enhance slight differences in mucosal color. The aim of this study was to compare the usefulness of LCI and conventional white light imaging (WLI) endoscopy for diagnosing Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). Patients and methods: We retrospectively analyzed images from 60 patients examined with WLI and LCI endoscopy between October 2013 and May 2014. Thirty patients had H. pylori infections, and other thirty patients tested negative for H. pylori after eradication therapy. Four endoscopists evaluated the 2 types of images to determine which was better at facilitating a diagnosis of H. pylori infection. Results: H. pylori infection was identified with LCI by enhancing the red appearance of the fundic gland mucosa. The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity for diagnosing H. pylori infection using WLI were 74.2 %, 81.7 %, and 66.7 %, respectively, while those for LCI were 85.8 %, 93.3 %, and 78.3 %, respectively. Thus, the accuracy and sensitivity for LCI were significantly higher than those for WLI (P = 0.002 and P = 0.011, respectively). The kappa values for the inter- and intraobserver variability among the 4 endoscopists were higher for LCI than for WLI. Conclusions: H. pylori infection can be identified by enhancing endoscopic images of the diffuse redness of the fundic gland using LCI. LCI is a novel image-enhanced endoscopy and is more useful for diagnosing H. pylori infection than is WLI.
Contexts, gaming pleasures, and gendered preferences

In this article, the author explores computer gaming preferences of girls through observations of a games club at an all-girl state school in the United Kingdom. The author argues that gaming tastes are alterable and site specific. Gaming preferences certainly relate to the attributes of particular games, but they will also depend on the player’s recognition and knowledge of these attributes. Players accumulate these competencies according to the patterns of access and peer culture they encounter. The constituents of preference, such as access, are shaped by gender, and as a result, gaming preferences may manifest along gendered lines. It is not difficult to generate data, indicating that gendered tastes exist, but it is shortsighted to separate such outcomes from the various practices that contribute to their formation.
Neural Codes Formed by Small and Temporally Precise Populations in Auditory Cortex

The encoding of sensory information by populations of cortical neurons forms the basis for perception but remains poorly understood. To understand the constraints of cortical population coding we analyzed neural responses to natural sounds recorded in auditory cortex of primates (Macaca mulatta). We estimated stimulus information while varying the composition and size of the considered population. Consistent with previous reports we found that when choosing subpopulations randomly from the recorded ensemble, the average population information increases steadily with population size. This scaling was explained by a model assuming that each neuron carried equal amounts of information, and that any overlap between the information carried by each neuron arises purely from random sampling within the stimulus space. However, when studying subpopulations selected to optimize information for each given population size, the scaling of information was strikingly different: a small fraction of temporally precise cells carried the vast majority of information. This scaling could be explained by an extended model, assuming that the amount of information carried by individual neurons was highly nonuniform, with few neurons carrying large amounts of information. Importantly, these optimal populations can be determined by a single biophysical marker—the neuron's encoding time scale—allowing their detection and readout within biologically realistic circuits. These results show that extrapolations of population information based on random ensembles may overestimate the population size required for stimulus encoding, and that sensory cortical circuits may process information using small but highly informative ensembles.
An Empirical Study of Knowledge Management System Implementation in Public Higher Learning Institution

Without any doubt, Knowledge Management (KM) does offer the way on how to exploit intellectual capitals in business organizations. However, the KM principles can also be implemented in other types of organization such as the Higher Learning Institutions (HLI). One way to exploit KM is by implementing the KM System (KMS). As we all concern, knowledge is everywhere and how far it has been captured, collaborated and managed systematically especially in public higher learning institutions is unknown. Further more, how far KMS have been giving benefits to the students in PHLI is something that never been revealed. Besides that, the general framework of KMS, even though accepted but there are some unidentified features that has not been discovered. By adding these unidentified features, it will make the existing framework of KMS more effective. This study is mainly aimed to achieve three main objectives. First is to analyze respondents’ perception of current KMS implementation in PHLI in Klang Valley, second is to analyze the current state acceptance and implementation of KMS framework in PHLI in Klang Valley, and third is to provide suggestions for what should be included in a general KMS framework for PHLI. These people consist of academic staffs, non-academic staffs and students. Meanwhile, the works involve teaching and learning, research and development (RnD), and services. This study applied the survey method, where questionnaires were distributed to six PHLIs in Klang Valley and later were analyzed using statistical analysis. Most of respondents perceived KMS as a new way to add value. The results indicated that the current state of KMS framework implementation in PHLI has been accepted. However, the finding also discovered the lacking of awareness to the current KMS implementation. This causes some of the applications, technological systems and audit, which are used in KMS, were not fully utilized and realized by the users. The modification on the existing KMS framework emphasizes more on KMS awareness and its roles. The finding has also shows that the incentives and rewards do play significant roles in KMS implementation.
Effects of Stimulus Octave and Timbre on the Tuning Accuracy of Advanced College Instrumentalists

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of octave and timbre on advanced college musicians’ (N = 63) ability to tune their instruments. We asked: “Are there differences in tuning accuracy due to octave (B-flat 2, B-flat 4) and stimulus timbre (oboe, clarinet, electronic tuner, tuba)? ” and “To what extent do participants’ posttuning perceptions of pitch accuracy align with actual pitch accuracy? ” Participants were organized according to octave played in the tuning process, thus forming bass, tenor, and soprano groups. Results showed no significant effect due to group and no significant differences due to stimulus. There was no difference in the distribution of in-tune, sharp, and flat responses. Comparisons of participants’ performance accuracy and posttuning perceptions of task difficulty were favorable to the electronic tuner’s viability as a tuning stimulus and less so to the tuba stimulus. Participants’ responses to “describe how you know you are out of tune” and “describe the strategies you use to get in tune” brought to the foreground two observations of conceptual importance: tuning as four different and sometimes overlapping “experiences” and a self-imposed comparative strategy. Considered alongside previous research, results address developmental aspects of musicians’ tuning performance.
Therapeutic Potential of Moringa oleifera Leaves in Chronic Hyperglycemia and Dyslipidemia: A Review

Moringa oleifera (M. oleifera) is an angiosperm plant, native of the Indian subcontinent, where its various parts have been utilized throughout history as food and medicine. It is now cultivated in all tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. The nutritional, prophylactic, and therapeutic virtues of this plant are being extolled on the Internet. Dietary consumption of its part is therein promoted as a strategy of personal health preservation and self-medication in various diseases. The enthusiasm for the health benefits of M. oleifera is in dire contrast with the scarcity of strong experimental and clinical evidence supporting them. Fortunately, the chasm is slowly being filled. In this article, I review current scientific data on the corrective potential of M. oleifera leaves in chronic hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia, as symptoms of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Reported studies in experimental animals and humans, although limited in number and variable in design, seem concordant in their support for this potential. However, before M. oleifera leaf formulations can be recommended as medication in the prevention or treatment of diabetes and CVD, it is necessary that the scientific basis of their efficacy, the therapeutic modalities of their administration and their possible side effects be more rigorously determined.
Evaluating an element of the Clarke generalized Jacobian of a composite piecewise differentiable function

Bundle methods for nonsmooth optimization and semismooth Newton methods for nonsmooth equation solving both require computation of elements of the (Clarke) generalized Jacobian, which provides slope information for locally Lipschitz continuous functions. Since the generalized Jacobian does not obey sharp calculus rules, this computation can be difficult. In this article, methods are developed for evaluating generalized Jacobian elements for a nonsmooth function that is expressed as a finite composition of known elemental piecewise differentiable functions. In principle, these elemental functions can include any piecewise differentiable function whose analytical directional derivatives are known. The methods are fully automatable, and are shown to be computationally tractable relative to the cost of a function evaluation. An implementation developed in C++ is discussed, and the methods are applied to several example problems for illustration.
Mediation in the relationship among EL status, vocabulary, and science reading comprehension

ABSTRACT The authors investigated the mediating effects of general academic and science-specific vocabulary on science reading comprehension among English learners (ELs) of varied proficiency. The sample included 169 regular education Grade 7 students (86 current ELs; 83 former ELs) enrolled in 1 urban school in Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The results indicated that both vocabulary types—rarely explicitly taught at the secondary level—were significant contributors to reading comprehension, above and beyond EL status. The full parallel mediation model accounted for 55% of the variance in science reading comprehension. Notably, the mediating effects of both vocabulary types were significant and statistically similar in size, yet, not sufficient to fully explain ELs' reading scores. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Cluster observations of bidirectional beams caused by electron trapping during antiparallel reconnection

[1] So-called bidirectional electron beams have been observed by a number of spacecraft missions mainly in the inflow of reconnection regions. Here we show that these beam-like features in the electron distribution function are explained by electron trapping. The trapping is mainly controlled by a positive acceleration potential, Φ∥, which is related to the structure of the parallel electric fields in the vicinity of the reconnection region. Guided by the results of a kinetic simulation, we extend a recent analytical model for the electron distribution function applicable to the inflow region in antiparallel reconnection. The model is successfully compared to data observed by the four Cluster spacecraft inside an active reconnection region. The anisotropy recorded in the electron distributions is consistent with mainly electric trapping of electrons by Φ∥. In the analysis we determine the profiles of Φ∥ along the paths of the Cluster spacecraft during their encounter with a reconnection region. Typical values of eΦ∥ are in excess of 1 keV (much higher than the electron temperature in the ambient lobe plasma) and Φ∥ traps all thermal electrons. This is important for the internal structure of the Hall current system associated with the ion diffusion region because extended trapping significantly alters the electrical and kinematic properties of the electron fluid. Finally, at the boundary between the inflow and exhaust regions the values of eΦ∥ in the inflow region smoothly approach the shoulder energies (up to 15 keV) of the so-called flat-top distribution observed in the reconnection exhaust. This suggests that Φ∥ may be important also to the formation of the flat-top distributions.
Sulphonylurea receptors differently modulate ICC pacemaker Ca2+ activity and smooth muscle contractility

Appropriate gastrointestinal motility is essential to properly control the body energy level. Intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) oscillations in interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs; identified with c-Kit immunoreactivity) are considered to be the primary mechanism for the pacemaker activity in gastrointestinal motility. In the present study, RT-PCR examinations revealed predominant expression of the type 1 isoform of sulphonylurea receptors (SUR1) in ICCs of the mouse ileum, but expression of SUR2 was predominant in smooth muscle. In cell clusters prepared from the same tissue, smooth muscle contractility and pacemaker [Ca2+]i activity in ICCs were found to be differentially modulated by KATP channel openers and sulphonylurea compounds, in accordance with the expression of SUR isoforms. 1 μM cromakalim nearly fully suppressed the mechanical activity in smooth muscle, whereas ICC pacemaker [Ca2+]i oscillations persisted. Greater concentrations (∼10 μM) of cromakalim attenuated pacemaker [Ca2+]i oscillations. This effect was not reversed by changing the reversal potential of K+, but was prevented by glibenclamide. Diazoxide at 30 μM terminated ICC pacemaker [Ca2+]i oscillations, but again treatment with high extracellular K+ did not restore them. These results suggest that SUR can modulate pacemaker [Ca2+]i oscillations via voltage-independent mechanism(s), and also that intestinal pacemaking and glucose control are closely associated with SUR.
Promoter-Proximal Introns in Arabidopsis thaliana Are Enriched in Dispersed Signals that Elevate Gene Expression[W][OA]

Introns that elevate mRNA accumulation have been found in a wide range of eukaryotes. However, not all introns affect gene expression, and direct testing is currently the only way to identify stimulatory introns. Our genome-wide analysis in Arabidopsis thaliana revealed that promoter-proximal introns as a group are compositionally distinct from distal introns and that the degree to which an individual intron matches the promoter-proximal intron profile is a strong predictor of its ability to increase expression. We found that the sequences responsible for elevating expression are dispersed throughout an enhancing intron, as is a candidate motif that is overrepresented in first introns and whose occurrence in tested introns is proportional to its effect on expression. The signals responsible for intron-mediated enhancement are apparently conserved between Arabidopsis and rice (Oryza sativa) despite the large evolutionary distance separating these plants.
Online Social Networks and Subjective Well-being of Older Australians: Network Homogeneity, Social Capital and Negative Interactions

This thesis studies the personal networks of older Australians and their associations with subjective well-being (SWB) by focusing on three main characteristics of social networks: homogeneity (connecting with similar people), social capital (access to resources) and negative interactions. Using an innovative purpose-built Facebook application, data on personal networks of 105 Australians aged 50 years and over is collected in two parts. This application collected data on personal networks from Facebook and then loaded them into a visual survey enabling participants to provide information on each relationship (e.g. closeness) and SWB. There are three main findings of this thesis. First, it characterises the personal networks of the sample. In general these networks are loosely-knit, diverse, geographically dispersed and yet, composed of several homogeneous and densely-knit clusters. Further, while there are some negative relationships, they are mostly positive and provide access to a diverse set of resources. Social network scholars have provided a similar view based on limited data collected by conventional methods. This thesis provides a much more detailed characterisation based on the rich data set collected in this research. Second, it provides new insights into the associations between personal networks and SWB. In particular, this study shows that network size is unrelated to SWB, density is negatively associated with SWB, and measures of homogeneity and social capital exhibit either a lack of or a negative association with SWB. Further, a strong detrimental effect of negative interactions on SWB, that has been commonly found in previous research, is not confirmed in this study. Third, this thesis examines whether the above findings are an artefact of the source of personal network data. This view is not supported by the fact that participants’ Facebook personal networks considerably overlap with personal networks in real life. Rather the associations between personal networks and SWB were found to be more related to how personal networks have been constructed than whether they are on Facebook or in real life. It is proposed that previous research has been based on personal networks limited to core network members. Limiting personal networks to close relationships produced a positive association between density and SWB; it is the inclusion of not-close relationships that results in the negative association between density and SWB. The sample used in this study is small and not representative of the target population, thus the findings may not be generalised. However, it provides fresh insights into personal networks and their associations with SWB, by employing a research framework based on social network analysis, utilising advanced methods such as multilevel analysis and benefiting from a rich data set. This thesis provides a basis for future research that is expected to improve our understanding of social networks and their associations with well-being by using more representative samples.
Foreign Outsourcing and Industrial Employment: The Case of Spain 1993- 2002

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of domestic and foreign outsourcing on level of employment. We will distinguish between narrow outsourcing (intra-industrial purchases of inputs) and broad outsourcing (inputs from all sectors). Outsourcing is calculated using domestic and import – use matrices of input-output tables for 28 Spanish manufacturing industries for the period 1993 to 2002. These data are included in a labour demand function estimated using dynamic panel data techniques. Our main results show that narrow international outsourcing has a negative impact on the demand for labour, while broad measures are not significant. We also include spillover effects to capture technological changes. JEL CLASSIFICATION:; F14; J23; L6; 033
Transversality of homoclinic orbits to hyberbolic equilibria in a Hamiltonian system, via the Hamilton-Jacobi equation

We consider a Hamiltonian system with 2 degrees of freedom, with a hyperbolic equilibrium point having a loop or homoclinic orbit (or, alternatively, two hyperbolic equilibrium points connected by a heteroclinic orbit), as a step towards understanding the behavior of nearly-integrable Hamiltonians near double resonances. We provide a constructive approach to study whether the unstable and stable invariant manifolds of the hyperbolic point intersect transversely along the loop, inside their common energy level. For the system considered, we establish a necessary and suffcient condition for the transversality, in terms of a Riccati equation whose solutions give the slope of the invariant manifolds in a direction transverse to the loop.
Pore-based ridge reconstruction for fingerprint recognition

The use of sweat pores in fingerprint recognition is becoming increasingly popular, mostly because of the wide availability of pores, which provides complementary information for matching distorted or incomplete images. In this work we present a fully automatic pore-based fingerprint recognition framework that combines both pores and ridges to measure the similarity of two images. To obtain the ridge structure, we propose a novel pore-based ridge reconstruction approach by considering a connect-the-dots strategy. To this end, Kruskal's minimum spanning tree algorithm is employed to connect consecutive pores and form a graph representing the ridge skeleton. We evaluate our framework on the PolyU HRF database, and the obtained results are favorably compared to previous results in the literature.