Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Possession as a performance indicator in soccer.

In soccer, the ability to retain possession of the ball for prolonged periods of time has been linked to success (Hook and Hughes, 2001). The accuracy of this assertion was investigated by comparing 24 matches involving successful and unsuccessful English premier league teams within the 2001-2002 season. Specifically the teams’ possessions were analysed depending on evolving match status i.e. whether the team was winning, losing or drawing. All possessions less than 3 seconds in duration were removed from the data as they were not deemed to include significant events pertaining to a teams’ strategy. Successful teams were found to have significantly longer possessions than unsuccessful teams irrespective of match status i.e.winning (p<0.01), losing (p<0.05) and drawing (p<0.01). However both successful and unsuccessful teams had longer durations of possession when they were losing matches compared to when winning. It was concluded that within elite English football possession is related to successful performance but it is likely this is down to differences in individual player’s skill levels rather than specific team strategy.
Taxes, Wages, and the Labor Supply of Older Americans

Given the aging of the U.S. population and the greater contributions of older workers to the labor force, understanding how policy levers can affect elderly labor supply has become increasingly important. The authors use data from the Health and Retirement Study linked to state identifiers to estimate the responsiveness of the labor supply of older workers to the wage and features of the tax code, both on the probability of participating in the labor market and on hours of work for those who choose to work. The authors find that a 10% increase in the wage is associated with a 5% increase in participation, and they estimate slightly larger responses to marginal tax rates. These results suggest that government policies could increase the labor supply of older individuals by changing the returns to work through the tax code.
Dissociated multimodal hubs and seizures in temporal lobe epilepsy

Brain connectivity at rest is altered in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), particularly in “hub” areas such as the posterior default mode network (DMN). Although both functional and anatomical connectivity are disturbed in TLE, the relationships between measures as well as to seizure frequency remain unclear. We aim to clarify these associations using connectivity measures specifically sensitive to hubs.
Effects of wide reading vs. repeated readings on struggling college readers' comprehension monitoring skills

EFFECTS OF WIDE READING VS. REPEATED READINGS ON STRUGGLING COLLEGE READERS’ COMPREHENSION MONITORING SKILLS by Omer Ari Fluency instruction has had limited effects on reading comprehension relative to reading rate and prosodic reading (Dowhower, 1987; Herman, 1985; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000a). More specific components (i.e., error detection) of comprehension may yield larger effects through exposure to a wider range of materials than repeated readings (Kuhn, 2005b). Thirty-three students reading below college level were randomly assigned to a Repeated Readings (RR), a Wide Reading (WR), or a Vocabulary Study (VS) condition and received training in 9 sessions of 30 minutes in a Southeast community college. RR students read an instructional-level text consecutively four times before answering comprehension questions about it; WR students read four instructional-level texts each once and answered questions while the VS group studied and took a quiz on academic vocabulary. An additional 13 students reading at college level provided comparison data. At pretest, all participants completed the Nelson Denny Reading Test, Test of Word Reading Efficiency, Error Detection task (Albrecht & O'Brien, 1993), working memory test, Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI; Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002), a maze test, Author Recognition Test (ART), and reading survey. All pretest measures except for the ART and reading surveys were readministered at posttest to training groups. Paired-samples t-test analyses revealed (a) significant gains for the WR condition in vocabulary (p = .043), silent reading rate (p < .05), maze (p < .05) and working memory (p < .05) (b) significant gains for the RR students in silent reading rate (p = .05) and maze (p = .006) and (c) significant increases on vocabulary (p < .05), maze (p = .005), and MARSI (p < .005) for the VS group at posttest. Unreliable patterns of error detection were observed for all groups at pretest and post-test. Results suggest that effects of fluency instruction be sought at the local level processes of reading using the maze test, which reliably detected reading improvements from fluency instruction (RR, WR) and vocabulary study (VS) in only 9 sessions. With significant gains on more reading measures, the WR condition appears superior to the RR condition as a fluency program for struggling college readers. Combining the WR condition with vocabulary study may augment students’ gains. EFFECTS OF WIDE READING VS. REPEATED READINGS ON STRUGGLING COLLEGE READERS’ COMPREHENSION MONITORING SKILLS by Omer Ari
Supporting group interactions in museum visiting

Ethnographic study in two contrasting museums highlights a widespread but rarely documented challenge for CSCW design. Visitors' engagement with exhibits often ends prematurely due to the need to keep up with or attend to fellow group members. We unpack the mechanics of these kinds of phenomena revealing how the behaviours of summoning, pressurizing, herding, sidelining, and rounding up, lead to the responses of following, skimming and digging in. We show how the problem is especially challenging where young children are involved. As an initial prompt we explore two ways in which CSCW could help address this challenge: enabling a more fluid association between information and exhibits; and helping reconfigure the social nature of visiting.
The probabilistic data association filter

The measurement selection for updating the state estimate of a target's track, known as data association, is essential for good performance in the presence of spurious measurements or clutter. A classification of tracking and data association approaches has been presented, as a pure MMSE approach, which amounts to a soft decision, and single best-hypothesis approach, which amounts to a hard decision. It has been shown that the optimal state estimator in the presence of data association uncertainty consists of the computation of the conditional pdf of the state x(k) given all information available at time k, namely, the prior information about the initial state, the intervening known inputs, and the sets of measurements through time k. It has also been pointed out that if the exact conditional pdf, which is a mixture, is available, then its recursion requires only the probabilities of the most recent association events. The conditions under which this result holds, namely whiteness of the noise, detection, and clutter processes, were presented. The PDAF and JPDAF algorithms, which carry out data association and state estimation in clutter, have been described. A simple example was given to illustrate how the clutter and occasional missed detections can lead to track loss for a standard tracking filter, and how PDAF can keep the target in track under such circumstances. By using the Monte Carlo in a simulated based surveillance as an exampled shown. The numerous applications of the PDAF/JPDAF illustrated in "Real-World Applications of PDAF and JPDAF" show the potential pitfalls of using sophisticated algorithms for tracking in difficult environments as well as how to overcome them. The effect of finite sensor resolution can be a more severe problem than the data association and deserves special attention.
End-to-End Delay Guaranteed Proportional Fair Scheduling for Wireless Networks

In this letter, we propose a scheme for the guaranteed end-to-end delay with the proportional fair scheduling in wireless networks. With the newly introduced delay parameter, we adjust the queue length of each link. Specifically, we formulate a new optimization problem which guarantees the average end-to-end delay of each flow in wireless networks. Through simulation, we show that network throughput is improved while guaranteeing the average end-to-end delay compared to the existing results.
Relation between mechanics of respiration, lung size and body size from birth to young adulthood.

Data on the mechanics of respiration and lung and body size have been related for newborn infants, children between the ages of 5 and 17, and young adults. Simultaneous measurements of tidal volume and intra-esophageal pressure changes have been used for the calculation of compliance and flow resistance. Lung weights, predicted on the basis of height, functional residual capacity and vital capacity all served as indexes of lung size. During the period of extrauterine growth the lung compliance-lung volume relationship was relatively constant, averaging . 057 ml/cm H2O/ml FRC and . 035 ml/cm H2O/ml VC. The compliance-predicted lung weight relationship was also relatively constant, with the exception of newborn infants whose values were half that of older subjects. Functional residual capacity was found to be related to height2.86 throughout this range of body sizes. Flow resistance decreased with increases in body and lung size but no simple relationship could be found. Submitted on June 2, 1958
Importance of a Theoretical Framework for Research

Research in chemical education should be theory-based. Although this assertion would seem to most to be non-controversial, it is common to find research studies in the literature without the grounding of theory. Some would claim that theory is not necessary, because research should be focused on answering narrow questions that would more likely appeal to practitioners. Nevertheless, theory-driven research has advantages for the development and growth of the discipline of chemical education. Theory can guide research, practice, curriculum development, evaluation, and help develop effective instructional tactics and strategies. Furthermore, it is not clear that theory-free research can exist. A researcher who doesn't articulate an underlying theory about how learning takes place is probably still operating on a theory of learning and making educational decisions about how learning takes place. Theory about learning chemistry can be derived from established disciplines like psychology, sociology, and philosophy. A consideration of prominent learning theories derived from these sources demonstrates the power of theory-based research strategies.
A hierarchy of local decision

We extend the notion of distributed decision in the framework of distributed network computing, inspired by recent results on so-called distributed graph automata. We show that, by using distributed decision mechanisms based on the interaction between a prover and a disprover, the size of the certificates distributed to the nodes for certifying a given network property can be drastically reduced. For instance, we prove that minimum spanning tree can be certified with $O(\log n)$-bit certificates in $n$-node graphs, with just one interaction between the prover and the disprover, while it is known that certifying MST requires $\Omega(\log^2 n)$-bit certificates if only the prover can act. The improvement can even be exponential for some simple graph properties. For instance, it is known that certifying the existence of a nontrivial automorphism requires $\Omega(n^2)$ bits if only the prover can act. We show that there is a protocol with two interactions between the prover and the disprover enabling to certify nontrivial automorphism with $O(\log n)$-bit certificates. These results are achieved by defining and analysing a local hierarchy of decision which generalizes the classical notions of proof-labelling schemes and locally checkable proofs.
Proteolytic cleavage of granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor and its receptor by neutrophil elastase induces growth inhibition and decreased cell surface expression of the granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor receptor

Neutrophil elastase (NE) is a serine protease stored in the primary granules of neutrophils that proteolytically cleaves multiple cytokines and cell surface proteins on release from activated neutrophils. Recent reports of mutations in the gene encoding this enzyme in some patients with neutropenic syndromes prompted us to investigate whether granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor (G‐CSF) and its receptor (G‐CSFR) are also substrates for NE. To further address this, we examined the effect of NE on G‐CSF and the G‐CSFR both in solution and on intact cells. Incubation of recombinant G‐CSF or a G‐CSFR form corresponding to its extracellular domain with purified NE resulted in rapid proteolytic cleavage of both proteins. Addition of NE to tissue culture medium or pretreatment of G‐CSF with NE before its addition to media suppressed the growth of G‐CSF–responsive cells. NE also cleaved the G‐CSFR on the surface of intact cells resulting in a time‐dependent reduction in cell surface expression of the G‐CSFR. Notably, decreased G‐CSFR surface expression resulting from treatment of cells with NE was also associated with a reduction in cell viability and proliferation in response to G‐CSF. These results are the first to demonstrate that G‐CSF and G‐CSFR are proteolytically cleaved by NE and that NE‐induced degradation of these proteins correlates with a reduction in the biologic activity of the cytokine and a decrease in the signaling function of the receptor because of decreased G‐CSFR surface expression. These findings provide additional insights into mechanisms by which G‐CSF/G‐CSFR interactions may be modulated. Am. J. Hematol. 74:149–155, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Aldosterone Upregulates Connective Tissue Growth Factor Gene Expression via p38 MAPK Pathway and Mineralocorticoid Receptor in Ventricular Myocytes

The effect of aldosterone on connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) was examined in rat embryonic ventricular myocytes. Upon aldosterone treatment, CTGF expression was significantly increased in a dose and time-dependent manner. To explore the molecular mechanism for this upregulation, we examined the role of mineralocorticoid receptor. Pre-treatment of an antagonist (spironolactone) at 5-fold excess of aldosterone blocked the CTGF induction by aldosterone, suggesting that the upregulation was mediated by mineralocorticoid receptor. Aldosterone treatment resulted in activation of ERK1/2, p38 MAPK, and JNK pathways with a more transient pattern in p38 MAPK. Blocking studies using pre-treatment of the inhibitor of each pathway revealed that p38 MAPK cascade may be important for aldosterone-mediated CTGF upregulation as evidenced by the blocking of CTGF induction by SB203580 (p38 MAPK inhibitor), but not by PD098059 (ERK1/2 inhibitor) and JNK inhibitor I. Interestingly, JNK inhibitor I and PD098059 decreased the basal level of CTGF expression. On the other hand, pre-treatment of spironolactone abrogated the p38 MAPK activation, indicating that mineralocorticoid receptor mechanism is linked to p38 MAPK pathway. Taken together, our findings suggest that aldosterone induces CTGF expression via both p38 MAPK cascade and mineralocorticoid receptor and that cross-talk exists between the two pathways.
Minimal clinically important difference for the UCSD Shortness of Breath Questionnaire.

PURPOSE A minimal clinically important difference (MCID) is important in evaluating clinical measures such as health-related quality of life (HRQOL) instruments. The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate MCID for the UCSD Shortness of Breath Questionnaire (SOBQ). METHODS We examined measures of disease-specific and generic HRQOL in 164 subjects with chronic lung disease before and after pulmonary rehabilitation. Subjects completed 2 disease-specific [SOBQ, Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ)], and 2 generic HRQOL measures [RAND-36 and Quality of Well-Being Scale (QWB)]. The MCID was calculated using 3 methods: effect size, standard error of the measurement (SEM), and comparison between the SOBQ and CRQ Dyspnea scores. RESULTS HRQOL measures correlated moderately with measures of maximum exercise tolerance but not with lung function (FEV1, FVC). HRQOL and exercise capacity improved significantly after pulmonary rehabilitation. A change of 5 units for the SOBQ appears to be a reasonable MCID for this instrument. The calculated MCIDs for the CRQ (0.47/item) and QWB (0.031) were consistent with established change scores. CONCLUSIONS The MCID calculated using an SEM approach for the SOBQ, CRQ, and QWB meets clinical expectations for these instruments. HRQOL measures provide information that is complementary and distinct from physiological measures.
Asynchronous Methods for Deep Reinforcement Learning

We propose a conceptually simple and lightweight framework for deep reinforcement learning that uses asynchronous gradient descent for optimization of deep neural network controllers. We present asynchronous variants of four standard reinforcement learning algorithms and show that parallel actor-learners have a stabilizing effect on training allowing all four methods to successfully train neural network controllers. The best performing method, an asynchronous variant of actor-critic, surpasses the current state-of-the-art on the Atari domain while training for half the time on a single multi-core CPU instead of a GPU. Furthermore, we show that asynchronous actor-critic succeeds on a wide variety of continuous motor control problems as well as on a new task of navigating random 3D mazes using a visual input.
, * Yalcin Cetinfl Manfred Kubbies , It

From the *Lower Saxony Institute for Peptide Research (IPF), D-30625 Hannover, Germany; the * TheodorKocher Institute, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland; the ~ Department of Anatomy, Medical School, D-30625 Hannover, Germany, IIBoehringer Mannheim Ltd., D-82377 Penzberg, Germany; the 82 of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Medical School, D-30625 Hannover, Germany; and the **Department of Anatomy, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Ziirich, Switzerland
Formaldehyde as a Tracer of Extragalactic Molecular Gas. I. Para-H2CO Emission from M82

Using the IRAM 30 m telescope and the 15 m JCMT, we explore the value of paraformaldehyde (p-H2CO) as a tracer of density and temperature of the molecular gas in external galaxies. The target of our observations are the lobes of the molecular ring around the center of the nearby prototypical starburst galaxy M82. It is shown that p-H2CO provides one of the rare direct molecular thermometers. Reproducing the measured line intensities with a large velocity gradient (LVG) model, we find densities of nH2 ∼ 7 × 103 cm −3 and kinetic temperatures of Tkin ∼ 200 K. The derived kinetic temperature is significantly higher than the dust temperature or the temperature deduced from ammonia (NH3) lines, but our results agree well with the properties of the high-excitation component seen in CO. We also present the serendipitous discovery of the 42→ 31 line of methanol (CH3OH) in the northeastern lobe, which shows—unlike CO and H2CO—significantly different line intensities in the two lobes.
Narrow-band-interference suppression in multiuser CDMA systems

This paper handles the simultaneous suppression of narrow-band and multiaccess interference in code division multiple-access (CDMA) direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DSSS) systems. The basic structure we refer to is reminiscent of the decorrelating detector, but here the design strategy relies on the concept of combating jointly the two interference sources-precisely, a decision as to the bit transmitted by each user is made based on the projection of the observables onto the orthogonal complement to the subspace spanned by the other users' signatures and the narrow-band interference. We focus on several different implementations of such a strategy, assuming a different degree of prior knowledge as to the narrow-band interference. An important side result of the proposed approach is that, in general, complete suppression of data-like interference may be achieved through periodically time-varying processing. An adaptive version of such a receiver is also presented, wherein the projection direction is estimated based on suitable estimates of the covariance properties of the observables. The value of this method is also assessed by studying the rate of convergence of the estimated direction to the true projection direction.
Robust Learning via Cause-Effect Models

We consider the problem of function estimation in the case where the data distribution may shift between training and test time, and additional information about it may be available at test time. This relates to popular scenarios such as covariate shift, concept drift, transfer learning and semi-supervised learning. This working paper discusses how these tasks could be tackled depending on the kind of changes of the distributions. It argues that knowledge of an underlying causal direction can facilitate several of these tasks.
Socio-Economic Differences in Cardiovascular Health: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Study in a Middle-Income Country

Background A relatively consistent body of literature, mainly from high-income countries, supports an inverse association between socio-economic status (SES) and risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Data from low- and middle-income countries are scarce. This study explores SES differences in cardiovascular health (CVH) in the Republic of Srpska (RS), Bosnia and Herzegovina, a middle-income country. Methods We collected information on SES (education, employment status and household’s relative economic status, i.e. household wealth) and the 7 ideal CVH components (smoking status, body mass index, physical activity, diet, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and fasting blood glucose) among 3601 participants 25 years of age and older, from the 2010 National Health Survey in the RS. Based on the sum of all 7 CVH components an overall CVH score (CVHS) was calculated ranging from 0 (all CVH components at poor levels) to 14 (all CVH components at ideal levels). To assess the differences between groups the chi-square test, t-test and ANOVA were used where appropriate. The association between SES and CVHS was analysed with multivariate linear regression analyses. The dependent variable was CVHS, while independent variables were educational level, employment status and wealth index. Results According to multiple linear regression analysis CVHS was independently associated with education attainment and employment status. Participants with higher educational attainment and those economically active had higher CVHS (b = 0.57; CI = 0.29–0.85 and b = 0.27; CI = 0.10–0.44 respectively) after adjustment for sex, age group, type of settlement, and marital status. We failed to find any statistically significant difference between the wealth index and CVHS. Conclusion This study presents the novel information, since CVHS generated from the individual CVH components was not compared by socio-economic status till now. Our finding that the higher overall CVHS was independently associated with a higher education attainment and those economically active supports the importance of reducing socio-economic inequalities in CVH in RS.