Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
onlinear synchronization assessment between atrial and ventricular ctivations series from the surface ECG in atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common form of arrhythmia encountered in clinical practice. Its presence causes a rapid and irregular ventricular response, being the topic of intensive research in rate control therapies of AF. To this respect, recent studies suggest that ventricular response is notably influenced by atrial activity (AA) temporal organization. However, the interdependency between atrial and ventricular activations has not been adequately explored to date in real-life AF patients. The present work introduces a novel methodology to quantitatively assess synchronization and coupling between real atrial and ventricular activation series. Furthermore, the method operates on surface ECG recordings, thus providing an easy and cost-effective way to be applied. The method is based on a nonlinear index, such as crosssample entropy (CSE), which estimates the conditional probability to find similar patterns within both activation series. The study has been carried out on patients with paroxysmal and persistent AF in order to be applied over atrial activation series with different properties in their organization. Results showed a statistically significant positive correlation between AA organization and the synchronization between atrial and ventricular activations (R = 0.53, p < 0.01). Furthermore, higher CSE values were observed for persistent (0.759 ± 0.053) than for paroxysmal AF episodes (0.662 ± 0.091), thus suggesting more synchronization between atrial and ventricular activations in paroxysmal AF. As a consequence, CSE provided findings consistent with previous works and could be used to reveal clinically useful information in the improvement of current rate control therapies, which are mainly focused on controlling ventricular rate without paying much attention to the atrial fibrillatory process.
Capable teachers, mundane teaching: Korean novice teachers’ experience in a high-performing education system

ABSTRACT Although there is growing interest in learning about the successful policies and practices of high-performing education systems, there is a lack of comparable attention paid to how the players in the systems, such as teachers, feel about and experience these systems. This study examines the teaching experience of four Korean novice teachers in their education system; one known for emphasising exam performance. While executing teacher-directed instruction for exam preparation, the teachers simultaneously made notable efforts to integrate other teaching methods because of their reservations about exam-oriented teaching and their consideration of student engagement and learning. This article argues that these were capable teachers who were willing to teach beyond the exam, but the system confined their exercising of instructional capacities and aspirations within the boundary of exam preparation, causing them to execute largely mundane instruction. Based on the findings, the article suggests implications for policy borrowing from high-performing education systems.
Factors associated with Facebook jealousy in three Spanish-Speaking countries

ABSTRACT Nowadays, control over one's partner is easily maintained through social networks, such as Facebook. The aim of this study was to analyze the factors associated with Facebook-jealousy. We examined a total sample of 1144 individuals distributed as follows: data from Spain (n = 393), Colombia (n = 600), and Ecuador (n = 151 individuals), with ages ranging from 14 to 42 years old. All participants held nationality from one of the respective countries, were currently or had been enrolled in a relationship, and both the participant and his/her/their partner also had a Facebook account. Participants completed an online survey with self-reported measures to evaluate: self-esteem, partner conflicts and their strategies to cope with them, romantic jealousy, and Facebook jealousy. Results show that the propensity to experience jealousy in the relationship and low self-esteem are related with more Facebook jealousy across the three countries. For both, Spain and Colombia, strategies to cope with partner conflicts are also associated with Facebook jealousy, in particular lower levels of constructive strategies and higher dominance are associated with greater Facebook jealousy. In short, Facebook jealousy represents another way to manifest jealousy that is influenced by both personal and relationship variables.
The Social Construction of Warranting Evidence in Two Classrooms

This study examines how instructional conversations revealed the ways two teachers’ argumentative epistemologies (ideational and social process) shaped literacy events focused on the warranting of evidence. A microethnographic study of the literacy events within each teacher’s respective instructional unit revealed that each teacher’s epistemology shaped how students were asked to consider differing sources, relevancy, and sufficiency for warranting evidence within the context of writing extended argumentative essays. Events within an ideational epistemology required students to generate warrants as ideas to be applied to arguments in on-demand writing situations. Within a social process epistemology, students constructed warrants as a social practice appropriate for a specific rhetorical context. Each teacher supported his or her students in developing differing understandings of the nature of warranting. These findings highlight the importance of analyzing the teaching and learning of argumentative writing not only as written products of instruction but as a socialization into argumentative writing practices.
Intrusion Detection Using Random Forests Classifier with SMOTE and Feature Reduction

Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) have become crucial components in computer and network security. NSL-KDD intrusion detection dataset which is an enhanced version of KDDCUP'99 dataset was used as the experiment dataset in this paper. Because of inherent characteristics of intrusion detection, still there is huge imbalance between the classes in the NSL-KDD dataset, which makes harder to apply machine learning effectively in the area of intrusion detection. In dealing with class imbalance in this paper Synthetic Minority Over sampling Technique (SMOTE) is applied to the training dataset. A feature selection method based on Information Gain is presented and used to construct a reduced feature subset of NSL-KDD dataset. Random Forests are used as a classifier for the proposed intrusion detection framework. Empirical results show that Random Forests classifier with SMOTE and information gain based feature selection gives better performance in designing IDS that is efficient and effective for network intrusion detection.
Fast and Robust Ellipse Extraction from Complicated Images

--In this paper, we present a fast and robust ellipse extraction method. The proposed method can extract ellipses with high accuracy and speed from images with complicated backgrounds. It consists of two parts. First, we extract arc segments from an ellipse approximated by short straight lines that are extracted by a fast line extraction algorithm. Second, the arc segments are used to calculate accurate ellipse parameters with a least squares ellipse fitting algorithm. Tests performed on synthetic and real-world images show that the method quickly and accurately extracts circles from complicated images.
Quality through flow and immersion: gamifying crowdsourced relevance assessments

Crowdsourcing is a market of steadily-growing importance upon which both academia and industry increasingly rely. However, this market appears to be inherently infested with a significant share of malicious workers who try to maximise their profits through cheating or sloppiness. This serves to undermine the very merits crowdsourcing has come to represent. Based on previous experience as well as psychological insights, we propose the use of a game in order to attract and retain a larger share of reliable workers to frequently-requested crowdsourcing tasks such as relevance assessments and clustering. In a large-scale comparative study conducted using recent TREC data, we investigate the performance of traditional HIT designs and a game-based alternative that is able to achieve high quality at significantly lower pay rates, facing fewer malicious submissions.
Arl13b and the non-muscle myosin heavy chain IIA are required for circular dorsal ruffle formation and cell migration

ABSTRACT The Arf-like protein Arl13b has been implicated in ciliogenesis and Sonic hedgehog signaling. Furthermore, we have previously shown that it regulates endocytic recycling traffic and interacts with actin. Herein, we report that the non-muscle myosin heavy chain IIA, also known as Myh9, is an Arl13b effector. Moreover, we found that both proteins localized to circular dorsal ruffles (CDRs) induced by platelet-derived growth factor stimulation and are required for their formation. CDRs are ring-shaped actin-dependent structures formed on the dorsal cell surface and are involved in diverse processes, such as macropinocytosis, integrin recycling, internalization of receptor tyrosine kinases and cell migration. We found that Arl13b or Myh9 silencing impaired cell migration, suggesting that Arl13b is required for this function through the interaction with Myh9. Moreover, Arl13b silencing impaired neural crest cell migration in zebrafish embryos. Furthermore, we showed that Arl13b is required for the formation of CDRs in migrating cells. Thus, our results indicate a new role for Arl13b in actin cytoskeleton remodeling through the interaction with Myh9, by driving the formation of CDRs necessary for cell migration.
Real-time quantitative performance feedback during strength exercise improves motivation, competitiveness, mood, and performance

Providing quantitative feedback on performance in real-time appears to improve performance in a strength training context. Less is known about the associated effects on psychological variables. Fifteen rugby athletes performed a strength training exercise both with and without objective performance feedback provided in real-time. Feedback increased performance, consistent with previous research. Feedback also led to higher ratings of task competitiveness, state motivation, mood, and workload. These findings provide insight into possible underlying mechanisms responsible for the feedback’s facilitative effects on performance. The findings also suggests that providing this type of feedback may have benefits within other industries, where attempts are frequently made to increase adherence to exercise and rehabilitation programs. This research carries important implications for the design and use of technology within both the sports science and healthcare industry.
Drip, Ship, and On-Demand Endovascular Therapy for Acute Ischemic Stroke

Background The “drip and ship” approach can facilitate an early initiation of intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) at community hospitals. New endovascular treatment modalities, such as stent retrieval, have further improved the rate of safe and successful recanalization. We assessed the clinical outcomes of on-demand endovascular therapy in patients with AIS who were transported to a comprehensive stroke center under the “drip and ship” paradigm. Methods This retrospective study evaluated prospectively registered patients with acute large vessel occlusions in the anterior circulation who underwent endovascular recanalization after IVT at our regional comprehensive stroke center between January 2011 and April 2014. Clinical outcomes and neuroradiological findings were compared between patients who received IVT at the center (direct visit, DV) and at a community hospital (drip and ship, DS). Results Baseline characteristics such as age, initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, and risk factors for stroke were similar, and most patients underwent endovascular therapy with a Solitaire stent (81.9% vs. 89.3% for DV and DS, respectively, P = 0.55). The average initial NIHSS score was 12.15±4.1 (12.06 vs. 12.39 for DV and DS, respectively, P = 0.719). The proportions of long-term favorable outcomes (modified Rankin Scale score ≤2 at 90 days) and successful recanalization (Thrombolysis in Cerebral Ischemia score ≥2b) were not significantly different (P = 0.828 and 0.158, respectively). The mortality rates and occurrences of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage were not significantly different (P = 0.999 and 0.267, respectively). Conclusions The “drip and ship” approach with subsequent endovascular therapy is a feasible treatment concept for patients with acute large vessel occlusion in the anterior circulation that could help improve clinical outcomes in patients with AIS.
On the effects of an imposed magnetic field on the elliptical instability in rotating spheroids

The effects of an imposed magnetic field on the development of the elliptical instability in a rotating spheroid filled with a conducting fluid are considered. Theoretical and experimental studies of the spin-over mode, as well as a more general short-wavelength Lagrangian approach, demonstrate that the linear growth rate of the instability and the square amplitude of the induced magnetic field fall down linearly with the square of the imposed magnetic field. Application of the results to the Galilean moon Io confirms the fundamental role played by the elliptical instability at the planetary scale.
Are We Missing a Vulnerable Population in Early Intervention?

Infants with low birth weight (LBW ⩽ 2,500 g) are at high risk for developmental delays, including cognitive impairments. Retrospective studies have shown that these children often have learning and/or behavioral difficulties at school age. Early evaluation and enrollment in early intervention (EI) programs may reduce the impact of these difficulties; however, many children who would benefit from such programs may not receive EI services. This study provides information on 279 children born LBW and includes information on developmental capability and EI enrollment. Results indicate that children born LBW in EI services had lower overall developmental standard scores than those not in EI. However, it is concerning that almost an equal number of children across all categories of birth weight are not in services.
Cloud intelligent track - Risk analysis and privacy data management in the cloud computing

Cloud computing is a computing platform with the backbone of internet to store, access the data and application which is in the cloud, not in the computer. The biggest issue which should be addressed in cloud computing are security and privacy. Outsourcing data to other companies worries internet clients to think about the privacy data. Most Enterprise executives hesitate to use cloud computing system due to their sensitive enterprise information. This paper provides data integrity and user privacy through cloud intelligent track system. This paper discuss about the previous experiment done on the privacy and data management. The work proposes the Architecture or system which provides intelligent track in Privacy Manager and Risk Manager to address privacy issues which rules the cloud environment.
Parallel striatal and hippocampal systems for landmarks and boundaries in spatial memory

How the memory systems centered on the hippocampus and dorsal striatum interact to support behavior remains controversial. We used functional MRI while people learned the locations of objects by collecting and replacing them over multiple trials within a virtual environment comprising a landmark, a circular boundary, and distant cues for orientation. The relative location of landmark and boundary was occasionally changed, with specific objects paired with one or other cue, allowing dissociation of learning and performance relative to either cue. Right posterior hippocampal activation reflected learning and remembering of boundary-related locations, whereas right dorsal striatal activation reflected learning and remembering of landmark-related locations. Within the right hippocampus, anterior processing of environmental change (spatial novelty) was dissociated from posterior processing of location. Behavioral studies show that landmark-related learning obeys associative reinforcement, whereas boundary-related learning is incidental [Doeller CF, Burgess N (2008) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:5909–5914]. The distinct incidental hippocampal processing of boundaries is suggestive of a “geometric module” or “cognitive map” and may explain the hippocampal support of incidental/observational learning in “declarative” or “episodic” memory versus the striatal support of trial-and-error learning in “procedural” memory. Finally, the hippocampal and striatal systems appear to combine “bottom-up,” simply influencing behavior proportional to their activations, without direct interaction, with “top-down” ventromedial prefrontal involvement when both are similarly active.
A retrospective analysis of SAC requirements: engineering track

Context: The activities related to Requirements engineering (RE) are some of the most important steps in software development, since the requirements describe what will be provided in a software system in order to fulfill the stakeholders' needs. In this context, the ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC) has been a primary gathering forum for many RE activities. When studying a research area, it is important to identify the most active groups, topics, the research trends and so forth. Objective: In a previous paper, we investigated how the SAC RE-Track is evolving, by analyzing the papers published in its 8 previous editions. In this paper, we extended the analysis including the papers of the last edition (2016) and a brief resume of all papers published in the nine editions of SAC-RE track. Method: We adopted a research strategy that combines scoping study and systematic review good practices. Results: We investigated the most active countries, institutions and authors, the main topics discussed, the types of the contributions, the conferences and journals that have most referenced SAC RE-Track papers, the phases of the RE process supported by the contributions, the publications with the greatest impact, and the trends in RE. Conclusions: We found 86 papers over the 9 previous SAC RETrack editions, which were analyzed and discussed.
Financial Statement Credibility : The Contagion Effects of Accounting

We predict and find that accounting restatements induce economically meaningful share price declines among non-restatement firms in the same industry. These price declines are most pronounced among non-restatement firms with low accounting quality, as measured by industry adjusted accruals. Our results are consistent with the notion that accounting restatements cause investors to reassess the credibility of financial statement information previously released by non-restatement firms. This reassessment then leads to a share price decline that reflects heightened information risk. JEL Classification: G34; D80
The contribution of silence to spiritual care at the end of life: a phenomenological exploration from the experience of palliative care chaplains

ABSTRACT At the end of life, silence often takes increasing prominence in caregiving encounters. Valued in spiritual and religious traditions, silence lends itself to the spiritual and existential dimensions of healthcare but lack of familiarity with the phenomenon can lead to anxiety or avoidance. Greater understanding of the contribution of silence to care may support professional caregiving practice. This paper reports research that explored the nature, meaning and value of silence in palliative spiritual care. In a two-phase phenomenological approach, data were gathered through self-inquiry and unstructured interviews with 15 palliative care chaplains. A descriptive and hermeneutic analysis facilitated explication of the lived experience to produce an interpretation of essential qualities of silence in this context. ‘Spiritual caregiving silence’ emerged as a person-centred phenomenon that supports patients and their relatives. It is described as a way of being with another person, complementary to speech and non-verbal communication, which evokes a sense of companionship and connection. The caregiver takes both active and participative roles in the silence to create an accompanied space that allows the other person in the relationship to be with her or himself in a way that may not be possible when alone. This demands engagement and commitment. Silence provides a means of, and a medium for, communication that is beyond the capacity of words and has the potential to enable change. This insight into the specialist experience of chaplains may resonate with the experience of other professional caregivers to stimulate reflection and discussion, and to benefit patient care.
Evidence of the Trade-Off between Starvation and Predation Risks in Ducks

The theory of trade-off between starvation and predation risks predicts a decrease in body mass in order to improve flight performance when facing high predation risk. To date, this trade-off has mainly been validated in passerines, birds that store limited body reserves for short-term use. In the largest avian species in which the trade-off has been investigated (the mallard, Anas platyrhynchos), the slope of the relationship between mass and flight performance was steeper in proportion to lean body mass than in passerines. In order to verify whether the same case can be applied to other birds with large body reserves, we analyzed the response to this trade-off in two other duck species, the common teal (Anas crecca) and the tufted duck (Aythya fuligula). Predation risk was simulated by disturbing birds. Ducks within disturbed groups were compared to non-disturbed control birds. In disturbed groups, both species showed a much greater decrease in food intake and body mass during the period of simulated high risk than those observed in the control group. This loss of body mass allows reaching a more favourable wing loading and increases power for flight, hence enhancing flight performances and reducing predation risk. Moreover, body mass loss and power margin gain in both species were higher than in passerines, as observed in mallards. Our results suggest that the starvation-predation risk trade-off is one of the major life history traits underlying body mass adjustments, and these findings can be generalized to all birds facing predation. Additionally, the response magnitude seems to be influenced by the strategy of body reserve management.