Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What accounts for integrated reading-to-write task scores?

Reading-to-write (RTW) tasks are becoming increasingly popular and have already been used in several high-stakes English proficiency exams, either replacing or complementing a prompt-based essay test. However, it is still not clear that what accounts for successful or unsuccessful performance on an integrated reading–writing task is owing to the hybrid nature of reading and writing skills and to potential rater effects on test score variability. Thus, in this study, data-driven analytic rubrics for the RTW task were developed first. Then, the analytic subscores of 83 college ESL students’ responses to the RTW task were obtained. Correlational analyses were first used for the data to explore the relationship of the writing and reading skills engaged in different aspects of the RTW task. A multivariate G-study was also applied to examine the degree of variability attributable to test takers and raters on analytic subscores. The results indicate that a RTW task may tap into both reading and writing abilities given relatively high correlations observed among composite of and separate analytic subscores, and independent reading and writing scores. The multivariate G-study results also show that each analytic rating domain could capture the difference in variability of test takers’ proficiency utilized in the RTW task, and raters assigned scores neither too harshly nor too leniently across each analytic rating domain. However, the results also reveal that person and rater facets contributed to score variability differently in certain analytic categories. This study provides valuable insights into the nature of RTW tasks and has implications for rating rubric development for integrated tasks.
Multiplicative Gain Modulation Arises Through Unsupervised Learning in a Predictive Coding Model of Cortical Function

The combination of two or more population-coded signals in a neural model of predictive coding can give rise to multiplicative gain modulation in the response properties of individual neurons. Synaptic weights generating these multiplicative response properties can be learned using an unsupervised, Hebbian learning rule. The behavior of the model is compared to empirical data on gaze-dependent gain modulation of cortical cells and found to be in good agreement with a range of physiological observations. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the model can learn to represent a set of basis functions. This letter thus connects an often-observed neurophysiological phenomenon and important neurocomputational principle (gain modulation) with an influential theory of brain operation (predictive coding).
Self-Similarity in Plants: Integrating Mathematical and Biological Perspectives

Self−similarity is a conspicuous feature of many plants. Geometric self−similarity is commonly expressed in terms of affine transformations that map a structure into its components. Here we introduce topological self−similarity, which deals with the configurations and neighborhood relations between these components instead. The topological self−similarity of linear and branching structures is characterized in terms of recurrence systems defined within the theory of L−systems. We first review previous results, relating recurrence systems to the patterns of development that can be described using deterministic context−free L−systems. We then show that topologically self−similar structures may become geometrically self−similar if additional geometric constraints are met. This establishes a correspondence between recurrence systems and iterated function systems, which is of interest as a mathematical link between L−systems and fractals. The distinction between geometric and topological self−similarity is useful in biological applications, where topological self−similarity is more prevalent then geometric self−similarity.
Trimethyloxonium modification of single batrachotoxin-activated sodium channels in planar bilayers. Changes in unit conductance and in block by saxitoxin and calcium

Single batrachotoxin-activated sodium channels from rat brain were modified by trimethyloxonium (TMO) after incorporation in planar lipid bilayers. TMO modification eliminated saxitoxin (STX) sensitivity, reduced the single channel conductance by 37%, and reduced calcium block of inward sodium currents. These effects always occurred concomitantly, in an all-or-none fashion. Calcium and STX protected sodium channels from TMO modification with potencies similar to their affinities for block. Calcium inhibited STX binding to rat brain membrane vesicles and relieved toxin block of channels in bilayers, apparently by competing with STX for the toxin binding site. These results suggest that toxins, permeant cations, and blocking cations can interact with a common site on the sodium channel near the extracellular surface. It is likely that permeant cations transiently bind to this superficial site, as the first of several steps in passing inward through the channel.
Determination of heat transfer coefficient for baby fooD DrieD in tunnel Dryer

JURENDIC, T. , M. SCETAR, D. JEZEK, B. TRIPALO, T. BOSILJKOv, S. KARLOvIC and F. DUJMIC, 2013. Determination of heat transfer coefficient for baby food dried in tunnel dryer. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 19: 40-49 Baby food represent one of the most important final food products because of the sensitivity of production, nutritive issues, textural and structural properties and at the end people’s choice for this kind of foodstuff. In this work, a new Nusselt-Reynolds-Prandtl-Dincer correlation for the calculation of the heat transfer coefficient h was developed and successfully applied for the drying of baby food mixtures. The new correlation contains both fluid and material characteristic properties. The proposed correlations can be used for drying of baby foods in tunnel dryer at the drying (air) temperature 60 °C<T<100 °C, air velocities 0,5 m/s<v<1,5 m/s, Re >10000 and 3000<Di<60000.
Mobility-as-a-Service: A Distributed Real-Time Simulation with Carrera Slot-Cars

Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) describes a class of applications where traditional real-time control systems are enhanced by backbone services accessed via the mobile Internet. In order to implement MaaS, new architectures for multi-stage real-time systems with several layers of control loops have to be implemented. Using approaches such as analytic redundancy, hard real-time control loops are extended with software-defined sensors that deliver data with soft real-time semantics. We describe a real-time control experiment that has been implemented in our Distributed Control Lab with four stages - an extended digital Carrera race track (D132), custom built sensor/actuator boards, a control PC, and an outer control loop established via web services - and present a timing analysis. Our architecture allows for decoupling of hard real-time processing on embedded control units and soft real-time data acquisition on the outer layers.
Application of a single-flicker online SSVEP BCI for spatial navigation

A promising approach for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) employs the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) for extracting control information. Main advantages of these SSVEP BCIs are a simple and low-cost setup, little effort to adjust the system parameters to the user and comparatively high information transfer rates (ITR). However, traditional frequency-coded SSVEP BCIs require the user to gaze directly at the selected flicker stimulus, which is liable to cause fatigue or even photic epileptic seizures. The spatially coded SSVEP BCI we present in this article addresses this issue. It uses a single flicker stimulus that appears always in the extrafoveal field of view, yet it allows the user to control four control channels. We demonstrate the embedding of this novel SSVEP stimulation paradigm in the user interface of an online BCI for navigating a 2-dimensional computer game. Offline analysis of the training data reveals an average classification accuracy of 96.9±1.64%, corresponding to an information transfer rate of 30.1±1.8 bits/min. In online mode, the average classification accuracy reached 87.9±11.4%, which resulted in an ITR of 23.8±6.75 bits/min. We did not observe a strong relation between a subject’s offline and online performance. Analysis of the online performance over time shows that users can reliably control the new BCI paradigm with stable performance over at least 30 minutes of continuous operation.
Appearance- and competition-focused performance goals

We examined the utility of distinguishing between appearance- and competition-focused approach and avoidance performance goals to our understanding of motivation in physical education. Four achievement goals were tested composed of approach–avoidance and appearance–competition components. Three hundred and two pupils, aged 11–14 years, completed measures of appearance–competition approach–avoidance goals at the start of a football or gymnastics unit of work in physical education. Teacher-rated effort and National Curriculum attainment levels were recorded at the end of the unit of work as markers of performance in physical education. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the delineation of four goals in terms of the approach–avoidance and appearance–competition elements. Regression analyses subsequently revealed differences in the predictive utility of the four goals to performance in physical education. Thus, our understanding of motivational processes in physical education may be enhanced by utilising a more differentiated conception of normative achievement goals.
The Future of Career Assessment: Integrating Vocational Interests with Self-Efficacy and Personal Styles

This article reviews what is believed to be one of the most important trends in vocational research and career assessment, that is, that body of work integrating vocational interest measurement with the concepts of self-efficacy and personal styles. Beginning with a review of Bandura's self-efficacy theory, recent work in which parallel measures of interests and self-efficacy (or confidence) are used to improve the prediction of vocational choice behavior and the comprehensiveness of career assessment and counseling is examined. Following this, the use of measures of personal styles, such as those on the Strong Interest Inventory, along with vocational interests in vocational research and counseling are reviewed. Implications of both of these trends for future research and for career counseling are discussed.
Child physical punishment and international human rights: Implications for social work education

There are increasing calls for the universal implementation of human rights education into the curriculum of schools of social work flowing from international directives including the recent Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development Commitment to Action. With these directives as backdrop, we use, as a case study, the issue of child physical punishment with particular reference to the Caribbean region. The article discusses the prevalence of child physical punishment, social factors supporting its use, human rights agreements, and current research. Child physical punishment is one example of the breach between international human rights promises and lived realities.
A unique array of neuroprotective effects of pyruvate in neuropathology

The three common signature characteristics of many neurological diseases are brain hypometabolism, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation (Melo et al., 2011; Cai et al., 2012; Heneka et al., 2014). In order to be efficient, successful treatment should target all three pathologies simultaneously. Pyruvate seems to be an ideal candidate for such a treatment because of its unique combination of neuroprotective effects (Figure 1). In this opinion paper, we attempt to review and summarize recent information concerning these effects and their significance for neuroprotection.
Traceability analysis of quadratic residue-based RFID authentication protocols

Since low-cost RFID systems are applied in ubiquitous varied applications, privacy and security of their users became a great concern. Therefore, the various authentication protocols have been proposed. In this paper, we inspect the three new-found RFID authentication protocols based on quadratic residue property via one of the well-organized formal RFID privacy models instead of intuitive analysis. We formally prove that modular squaring is the suitable technique to guarantee RFID authentication protocols against backward traceability. Then, the flaws are alleviated to resist traceability attacks.
NEVER PAINT BY THE NUMBERS

As the debate continues on ways of thinking about access between separated and never-married parents and their very young children, the authors suggest a way that child custody evaluators can integrate this discussion into their evaluations. They conclude that evaluators must pay attention to family dynamics and all of the research when making specific recommendations to parents and the courts regarding the access and residential arrangements of very young children.
Using evolutionary noise to improve prediction of rapidly evolving targeting peptides

Targeting peptides are responsible for directing proteins to the appropriate subcellular location. As a group of biological sequences, targeting peptides are evolving at a relatively high rate and exhibit diversity. We investigate if evolutionary noise-simulated mutation at the molecular level-improves target classification for a neural network predictor. Comparison with the well-known TargetP prediction service illustrates some advantages of the approach. Specifically, classification of signal peptides, which exhibit an extremely high rate of evolution, is improved.
Social identity theory and the organization

It is argued that (a) social identification is a perception of oneness with a group of persons; (b) social identification stems from the categorization of individuals, the distinctiveness and prestige of the group, the salience of outgroups, and the factors that traditionally are associated with group formation; and (c) social identification leads to activities that are congruent with the identity, support for institutions that embody the identity, stereotypical perceptions of self and others, and outcomes that traditionally are associated with group formation, and it reinforces the antecedents of identification. This perspective is applied to organizational socialization, role conflict, and intergroup relations.
Developmental language disorders and adolescent risk: A public-health advocacy role for speech pathologists?

Within the multi-disciplinary team concerned with child and adolescent development, speech pathologists are uniquely positioned to understand the nature and overall developmental significance of language acquisition in childhood and adolescence. Other disciplines contribute valuable insights about psychosocial development during the childhood and adolescent years. The field of developmental psychology, for example provides a large and convincing body of evidence about the role of academic success as a protective factor against a range of psychosocial harms, in particular substance misuse, truancy, early school leaving, and juvenile offending. In this paper, we argue that juvenile offending embodies the notion of "adolescent risk", but in Australia in particular, has been under-investigated with respect to possible associations with developmental language disorders and subsequent academic failure. We present findings pertaining to a sample of 30 male juvenile offenders completing community based orders. Performance on a range of oral language processing and production skills was poorer than that of a demographically similar comparison group. Our results confirm the need to conceptualize language within a broader risk and protective framework. We therefore emphasize the public health importance of early language competence, by virtue of the psychosocial protection it confers on young people with respect to the development of prosocial skills, transition to literacy and overall academic achievement. We argue that speech pathologists are best positioned to advocate at a policy level about the broader public health importance of oral language competence.
Effects of Eyerobics Visual Skills Training on Selected Performance Measures of Female Varsity Soccer Players

18 female varsity soccer players, ages 19 to 23 years, were randomly assigned to either a training or a control group. Trained subjects were exposed to the 4-wk. Eyerobics visual skills training to assess the effects on balance and on hand-eye and foot-eye coordination. Analysis indicated significantly better performance on the balance, hand-eye and foot-eye coordination (Dribble Test) tasks than by the control group, but not on the foot-eye coordination Wall-Volley Test.
A study of teaching and learning processes in integrated science classrooms

Twelve biology graduates and 12 physics graduates were observed, each teaching three biology and three physics topics as part of a co‐ordinated, integrated science curriculum. For each teacher‐class and for each discipline taught, behavioural profiles were recorded and then classified according to a typology of approaches to science teaching. A contingency table analysis confirmed substantial changes in teaching and learning processes when the topics studied were outside the teacher's specialist discipline area. It was concluded, for the sample studied, that informational approaches were twice as likely to be encountered when the teacher was teaching outside his discipline area and that this increase was at the expense of more effective problem‐solving and inquiry approaches.
The Relationship Between Autism and Parenting Stress

OBJECTIVE. We assessed associations between parenting a child with autism and stress indicators. METHODS. In the 2003 National Survey of Children’s Health, parents or other knowledgeable adult respondents for children aged 4 to 17 years reported their recent feelings about their life sacrifices to care for their child, difficulty caring for their child, frustration with their child’s actions, and anger toward their child. Responses were compiled in the Aggravation in Parenting Scale. Parents of children reported to have autism (N = 459) were compared with parents of: (1) children with special health care needs including emotional, developmental, or behavioral problems other than autism that necessitated treatment (children with other developmental problems [N = 4545]); (2) children with special health care needs without developmental problems (N = 11475); and (3) children without special health care needs (N = 61826). Weighted estimates are presented. RESULTS. Parents of children with autism were more likely to score in the high aggravation range (55%) than parents of children with developmental problems other than autism (44%), parents of children with special health care needs without developmental problems (12%), and parents of children without special health care needs (11%). However, within the autism group, the proportion of parents with high aggravation was 66% for those whose child recently needed special services and 28% for those whose child did not. The parents of children with autism and recent special service needs were substantially more likely to have high aggravation than parents of children with recent special service needs in each of the 3 comparison groups. Conversely, parents of children with autism but without recent special service needs were not more likely to have high aggravation than parents of children with other developmental problems. CONCLUSIONS. Parenting a child with autism with recent special service needs seems to be associated with unique stresses.
Is Voting Habit Forming? The Longitudinal Impact of a GOTV Campaign in the UK

Abstract This paper examines whether voters mobilized by a Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign continue to turn out in a subsequent election. It thereby tests the extent to which they gain the habit of voting. The research examined electoral registers in the 2006 English local elections in the constituency of Wythenshawe and Sale East. This was the site of John and Brannan’s (2007) GOTV experiment, which had compared the impact of telephoning and door‐to‐door canvassing in the 2005 General Election. Descriptive statistics show that the downstream effect of the treatment was quite small at 3% in 2006. But the habit effect was large. Voting in 2005 raised the probability of voting in 2006 by more than half. Regression analysis confirms the size of the habit effect. The paper discusses the limitations of sample size in making statistical inferences about the prevalence of the habit effect in one location.
Distribution Characteristics of Air-Bone Gaps: Evidence of Bias in Manual Audiometry

Objectives: Five databases were mined to examine distributions of air-bone gaps obtained by automated and manual audiometry. Differences in distribution characteristics were examined for evidence of influences unrelated to the audibility of test signals. Design: The databases provided air- and bone-conduction thresholds that permitted examination of air-bone gap distributions that were free of ceiling and floor effects. Cases with conductive hearing loss were eliminated based on air-bone gaps, tympanometry, and otoscopy, when available. The analysis is based on 2,378,921 threshold determinations from 721,831 subjects from five databases. Results: Automated audiometry produced air-bone gaps that were normally distributed suggesting that air- and bone-conduction thresholds are normally distributed. Manual audiometry produced air-bone gaps that were not normally distributed and show evidence of biasing effects of assumptions of expected results. In one database, the form of the distributions showed evidence of inclusion of conductive hearing losses. Conclusions: Thresholds obtained by manual audiometry show tester bias effects from assumptions of the patient’s hearing loss characteristics. Tester bias artificially reduces the variance of bone-conduction thresholds and the resulting air-bone gaps. Because the automated method is free of bias from assumptions of expected results, these distributions are hypothesized to reflect the true variability of air- and bone-conduction thresholds and the resulting air-bone gaps.
Field of Attention for Instantaneous Object Recognition

Background Instantaneous object discrimination and categorization are fundamental cognitive capacities performed with the guidance of visual attention. Visual attention enables selection of a salient object within a limited area of the visual field; we referred to as “field of attention” (FA). Though there is some evidence concerning the spatial extent of object recognition, the following questions still remain unknown: (a) how large is the FA for rapid object categorization, (b) how accuracy of attention is distributed over the FA, and (c) how fast complex objects can be categorized when presented against backgrounds formed by natural scenes. Methodology/Principal Findings To answer these questions, we used a visual perceptual task in which subjects were asked to focus their attention on a point while being required to categorize briefly flashed (20 ms) photographs of natural scenes by indicating whether or not these contained an animal. By measuring the accuracy of categorization at different eccentricities from the fixation point, we were able to determine the spatial extent and the distribution of accuracy over the FA, as well as the speed of categorizing objects using stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). Our results revealed that subjects are able to rapidly categorize complex natural images within about 0.1 s without eye movement, and showed that the FA for instantaneous image categorization covers a visual field extending 20°×24°, and accuracy was highest (>90%) at the center of FA and declined with increasing eccentricity. Conclusions/Significance In conclusion, human beings are able to categorize complex natural images at a glance over a large extent of the visual field without eye movement.