Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of aging on visual evoked responses.

The effects of aging of visual evoked responses (VER) and critical frequency of photic driving (CFPD) was studied in 74 volunteers aged 18 to 79. The amplitude of VER to pattern reversal stimulation did not vary with sex or age. The latencies of the first major negative and of the first major positive defection of the VER were significantly delayed (P less than .001) with advancing age. This increase of latency probably reflects a slowing of conduction velocity in the optic nerve or optic pathways or both. CFPD, defined as the highest frequency of photic driving response expressed in flashes per second, showed an inverse correlation, decreasing with age in older subjects. Critical frequency of photic driving is the electrophysiological counterpart of critical flicker fusion, which is known to decrease with advancing age. These data support the concept that aging influences the functions of specialized sensory systems.
Finite-state Multimodal Parsing and Understanding

Multimodal interfaces require effective parsing and understanding of utterances whose content is distributed across multiple input modes. Johnston 1998 presents an approach in which strategies for multimodal integration are stated declaratively using a unification-based grammar that is used by a multi-dimensional chart parser to compose inputs. This approach is highly expressive and supports a broad class of interfaces, but offers only limited potential for mutual compensation among the input modes, is subject to significant concerns in terms of computational complexity, and complicates selection among alternative multimodal interpretations of the input. In this paper, we present an alternative approach in which multimodal parsing and understanding are achieved using a weighted finite-state device which takes speech and gesture streams as inputs and outputs their joint interpretation. This approach is significantly more efficient, enables tight-coupling of multimodal understanding with speech recognition, and provides a general probabilistic framework for multimodal ambiguity resolution.
Early face recognition: What can we learn from a myopic baby neural network?

1 Why do we see faces in clouds? How do we recognize familiar faces from very different points of view? Why can't we recognize inverted faces? Why some persons cannot recognize faces but can recognize other objects? Are faces special? One of the main issues in the current literature on face processing is: whether there is an innate neural mechanism specialized and
Disability rights and the denial of young carers

Research, debate and policy on young carers has been welcomed by the carers movement and children's rights practitioners alike, but challenged by some disability rights authors who suggest defining the children of disabled parents as 'young carers' serves to undermine both the rights of disabled people and the rights of children. Among those putting forward this view are Jenny Morris and Lois Keith (Critical Social Policy, 1995, Issue 44/45). Here, we respond to the disability rights critique on behalf of academics working in the field of young carers, policy-makers and practitioners and, more importantly, on behalf of children who care.
Self-Presentation Concerns and Physical Activity in Three-Generation Families

We examined the relationship between social physique anxiety (SPA) and physical activity (PA) in 3-generation families, and also looked at gender differences related to SPA and PA. Self-presentation concerns as related to PA were examined by means of SPA in a sample of 811 participants from 218 families and spanning 3 generations. Participants assessed their SPA and recorded their PA over 1 week. Gender differences in SPA appeared across 3 generations such that females had higher SPA levels than did males. Significant correlations appeared between girls and mothers, boys and fathers, husbands and wives, and fathers and their fathers. Nevertheless, PA level was found not to be related to SPA. As correlations were found between parents and their children across 3 generations, changing behavior should be targeted both in schools and in the community.
Training in metacognition and comprehension of physics texts

Reading comprehension of physics texts is a neglected area in physics curricula. This paper describes the development, application, and evaluation of a metacognitive technique for improving student reading comprehension of physics texts. The metacognitive technique requires students to self-assess their reading comprehension and then to rank their abilities and disabilities hierarchically. The technique is evaluated by comparing performance on a reading-comprehension test of an experimental group with the performance of a control group before and after the experimental manipulation. Both groups underwent reading-comprehension exercises, using the Koch–Eckstein technique (Koch & Eckstein, 1995), with the metacognitive tasks added only to the experimental group. Results showed the posttest scores of the experimental group to be significantly higher than those of the control group. Based on these results, it is strongly recommended that the metacognitive technique be developed and applied in teaching reading comprehension of physics texts as an effective self-monitoring device. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed85:758–768, 2001.
Advanced motion control: From classical PID to nonlinear adaptive robust control

The ever increasingly stringent performance requirements of modern mechanical systems have forced control engineers to look beyond traditional linear control theory for more advanced nonlinear controllers. During the past decade, a mathematically rigorous nonlinear adaptive robust control (ARC) theory has been developed and has been experimentally demonstrated achieving significant performance improvement in a number of motion control applications. This plenary paper first uses a simple motion control problem as an example to bring out the conceptual connection and nonlinear extension of the widely used PID controller structure to the developed ARC approach. Through this example, some of the key underlying working mechanisms of the ARC theory can be grasped easily. The paper then highlights how major issues in the precision motion control can be handled systematically and effectively with the ARC framework. The issues considered include (i) large variations of physical parameters of a system; (ii) unknown nonlinearities such as cogging and ripple forces of linear motors; (iii) dynamic uncertain nonlinearities with non-uniformly detectable unmeasured internal states (e.g., friction described by dynamic models in high precision motion controls); and (iv) control input saturation due to limited capacity of physical actuators. The precision motion control of a linear motor driven high-speed/high-acceleration industrial gantry is used as a case study and comparative experimental results are presented to illustrate the achievable performance and limitations of various ARC controllers in implementation.
The role of ethnic affiliation in consumer ethnocentrism

Purpose – In view of the increasingly dynamic ethnic composition of nation states in Europe and elsewhere, this paper aims to examine the effects of ethnic affiliation on ethnocentrism and domestic purchase bias, and to test a model of consumer ethnocentrism antecedents and outcomes in a multi‐ethnic transitional economy.Design/methodology/approach – Empirical data were collected via personal interviews from 580 urban consumers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was, in the aftermath of violent ethnic conflicts in the Balkans, divided into two major sub‐regions inhabited by three clearly identifiable ethnic groups. A structural model with five first‐order reflective constructs was evaluated to test the hypothesized relationships.Findings – The findings confirm that both national identity and nationalism are significant predictors of consumer ethnocentrism, and that ethnic affiliation has a direct effect on both consumer ethnocentrism and on domestic purchase bias. However, the antecedent nature of cultural .
Risk factors contributing to road traffic crashes in a fast developing country: the neglected health problem

Aim The main objective of this study was to explore the patterns of road traffic crashes (RTCs) among drivers in Qatar and examine the contributing factors involved with road traffic crashes. Design This is a cross sectional survey. Methods The study based on 1228 drivers. Face to face interview was conducted by well-trained research assistants based on a questionnaire covering socio-demographic information, driving history, type of vehicle, driver behaviour, details of crashes and accident pattern. Results The study revealed that 26.6% of the studied Qatari drivers were involved in RTCs. 69.4% of the drivers with history of RTCs were men. Drivers in the age group 25–34 years were involved with higher risk of having crash (31.2%). Drivers of car (45.6%), 4WD/SUV (23.5%) were more affected by the RTCs. 23.5% of drivers who had crashes were not always using seat belt while driving. Less than half of the drivers were engaged in eating and drinking (37.9%) and using mobile phone (41.9%) while driving. More than half of the drivers were involved in traffic violation (57.2%) with exceeding speed limit (25.7%). Overturn skid (17.7%), angle collision (14.3%) and rear end hit (10.7%) were the most frequently reported patterns of RTC. Conclusion The study findings revealed the high risk of RTCs among drivers. Among the socio-demographic factors, men and young drivers of age group 25–34 years found to have a higher accident involvement.
Achievement Motivation and Indigenous Minorities: Can Research Be Psychometric?

Educational research among indigenous peoples has often been flawed. Many studies on achievement motivation failed to establish that the behaviors and responses being measured were functionally, conceptually, or metrically equivalent to those from which norms for comparison were drawn and that the constructs and tools used were culturally appropriate. In this article, I report on continuing research with Australian Aboriginal and Navajo communities in which I demonstrate the relevance and applicability of psychomet ric research to indigenous communities. Using an etic-emic model for research drawn from personal investment theory, I describe the design and validation of a psychometric instrument and its useful ness for eliciting information regarding salient aspects of Aboriginal and Navajo achievement motivation in educational settings. Findings from this study are compared with commonly held views regarding indigenous motivation and achievement in schools.
Effective school improvement: An introduction

In the opening address of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) annual meeting held in 1995 in the Dutch town of Leeuwarden, Professor Bert Creemers focused his speech on the necessity of bringing together the theoretical tradition of School Effectiveness with the more practical tradition of School Improvement. This proposal represented a step forward in the philosophy of the ICSEI itself which, 5 years earlier, in Jerusalem, decided that the Congress should combine, in its own name, the concepts of Improvement and Effectiveness in order to support collaboration between both disciplines. At the beginning of the 1990s, voices began to be heard denouncing the fact that, despite having comparable objectives, people working in both effectiveness and improvement were ignoring each other, even though those working in both traditions needed each other (Reynolds, Hopkins, & Stoll, 1993). It appeared that the separation of the two paradigms was due exclusively to a mutual lack of understanding and trust, as well as futile academic disputes, although Creemers and Reezigt (1997) added a note of caution by defending the differences between both movements, claiming that they went much deeper, and were associated with the very essence of both disciplines. But, the last decade has been marked by repeated announcements of the emergence of a new discipline bringing the two approaches together (e.g., Hopkins, 1995; Mortimore, 1992; Reynolds, 1993; Reynolds et al., 1996; Robertson & Sammons, 1997; Stoll & Fink, 1996; Thrupp, 1999). When considering the key issues addressed in both fields, it is surprising that collaboration had not been more successful, but whilst School Effectiveness has been concerned about identifying the elements that make some schools achieve their goals, School Improvement has placed its emphasis clearly on promoting change in schools
Assumed Similarity in Communication Styles

Assumed similarity is a distortion of perceptions that may occur during assessment interviews. This happens when the assessor, attracted to the candidate, assumes incorrectly that the candidate shares characteristics similar to him- or herself. The present study examines assumed similarity in relation to the assessment process. Canonical correlation found a significant relationship between attraction and assumptions of similarity. Managers consistently perceived the speaker as having communication styles and social skills similar to themselves. This included both positive and negative characteristics. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the actual assessment process and in teaching assessment skills that control the distortion of assumed similarity.
Effects of kindergarten retention for at-risk children’s psychosocial development

Kindergarten retention is a popular practice for children who are considered unready for primary school. However, past research has not yet succeeded to find consistent, strong empirical evidence supporting the practice. In the current study, kindergarten repeaters’ development in nine psychosocial domains is compared with that of equally at risk but (1) continuously promoted age-mates and (2) promoted age-mates who repeated first grade instead. Analysing data from a large-scale longitudinal study using propensity score matching and multilevel modelling, the findings reveal no harm of kindergarten retention for at-risk children’s long term psychosocial development. Rather, we find that, relative to equally at-risk but continuously promoted children, kindergarten repeaters benefit from retention with respect to higher levels of well-being, and peer relations, and lower levels of hyperactivity, aggression and asocial behaviour. Compared to similar children who were promoted but who were retained in first grade instead, kindergarten repeaters are found to benefit more from retention with respect to higher levels of well-being, self-confidence, attitude to work and independent behaviour, and lower levels of hyperactivity.
TIMELINESTag clouds and the case for vernacular visualization

Most HCI history articles trace digital developments back to the 1980s, 1960s, or earlier. Information visualization is moving so rapidly that it's great to have a look back and glance forward on tag clouds, just over a decade old in digital form, from leading visualization researchers Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg. ---Jonathan Grudin
The Effect of Orthographic Structure and Lexical Meaning on “Same-different” Judgments

Pairs of high frequency English words, orthographically acceptable pseudo-words, and non-word letter strings were presented in a “same”-“different” task. The mean reaction times for “same” judgments were ordered; real words were faster than pseudo-words, and pseudo-words were faster than non-words. The RTs for the “different”, judgments showed no differences among the three types of words, except in the first two days of practice in a blocked presentation condition when the difference between the real words and non-words was marginally significant. These and other results suggest that “same” judgments are based upon a comparison process which efficiently uses higher order semantic and orthographic information in words, whereas “different” judgments are based upon comparison process which performs a self-terminating search of the graphemic information in words. The results were also discussed with reference to hierarchical models of word perception and reading.
Acoustic chiasm: efferent projections of the lateral superior olive

The efferent connections of the cat's lateral superior olive (LSO) were examined first with kainic acid-induced anterograde degeneration and tritiated leucine autoradiography and then by systematic repetition of HRP and fluorescent dye retrograde tract-tracing techniques. The results show that virtually all LSO cells have axons ascending either contralaterally or ipsilaterally to high pontine and midbrain levels of the brainstem. Most terminate in the ventrolateral division of either the ipsilateral or contralateral central nucleus of the inferior colliculus, some terminate in the ipsilateral or contralateral dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus, and a small number terminate in the ipsilateral intermediate nucleus of the lateral lemniscus. Only a small proportion (less than 5%) of LSO cells project to both sides via axon collaterals. The ipsilateral, contralateral, and bilateral projections arise from three overlapping subpopulations of cells within LSO: Those projecting ipsilaterally are concentrated in its lateral limb; those projecting contralaterally are concentrated in its medial limb; the few projecting bilaterally are thinly scattered throughout. Therefore, a lateral-medial gradient is present across LSO based on the laterality of its cell's efferent targets. This gradient parallels LSO's tonotopic gradient: The higher the characteristic frequency of an LSO cell, the more likely it is to project contralaterally. This arrangement of LSO's ascending projections, with most of its lateral cells projecting ipsilaterally and most of its medial cells projecting contralaterally, is similar to the arrangement of the optic chiasm in animals with overlapping eye-fields. Its presence seems to provide an anatomical basis for some recent electrophysiological and behavioral reports of chiasm-like properties of the superior olivary complex.
Complete RXTE Spectral Observations of the Black Hole X-ray Nova XTE J1550–564

We report on the X-ray spectral behavior of XTE J1550-564 during its 1998-1999 outburst. XTE J1550-564 is an exceptionally bright X-ray nova and is also the third Galactic black hole candidate known to exhibit quasi-periodic X-ray oscillations above 50 Hz. Our study is based on 209 pointed observations using the PCA and HEXTE instruments on board the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) spanning 250 days and covering the entire double-peaked eruption that occurred from 1998 September until 1999 May. The spectra are fitted to a model including multicolor blackbody disk and power-law components. The spectra from the first half of the outburst are dominated by the power-law component, whereas the spectra from the second half are dominated by the disk component. The source is observed in the very high and high/soft outburst states of black hole X-ray novae. During the very high state, when the power-law component dominated the spectrum, the inner disk radius is observed to vary by more than an order of magnitude; the radius decreased by a factor of 16 in one day during a 6.8 crab flare. If the larger of these observed radii is taken to be the last stable orbit, then the smaller observed radius would imply that the inner edge of the disk is inside the event horizon! However, we conclude that the apparent variations of the inner disk radius observed during periods of increased power-law emission are probably caused by the failure of the multicolor disk/power-law model; the actual physical radius of the inner disk may remain fairly constant. This interpretation is supported by the fact that the observed inner disk radius remains approximately constant over 120 days in the high state, when the power-law component is weak, even though the disk flux and total flux vary by an order of magnitude. The mass of the black hole inferred by equating the approximately constant inner disk radius observed in the high/soft state with the last stable orbit for a Schwarzschild black hole is MBH = 7.4 M☉(D/6 kpc)(cos i)-1/2.
How and when to treat endometritis with systemic or local antibiotics.

The decision to use antibiotics for the treatment of a reproductive problem in a mare is not always clearcut or cookbook. Factors that may influence that decision include current duration of the pathology/ infertility, previous treatment, previous infertility, previous experience, or even pressure from the owner to get the mare pregnant. One of the key factors in treating endometritis is accurately diagnosing that a true bacterial infection is present. This stems from the potential difficulty in acquiring an accurate diagnostic sample from culture and/or cytology. Recently, Petersen, from Denmark, described the invasiveness of Streptococcus zooepidemicus into the mare’s endometrium, discovering on analysis of uterine biopsies that Streptococcus was present deep within the endometrial tissue. Thus, it is possible to miss a diagnosis with sampling of the uterine lumen, or, if treatment is limited to intra-uterine therapy, the treatment course could be unsuccessful, especially if the antibiotic did not achieve deep-tissue antibiotic concentrations adequate to kill the organism. Unfortunately, there is no immediate answer regarding many bacterial organisms as to where they are located because investigators have yet to classify which organisms may be predisposed to superficial or more deep seated infections. Chronicity of infection may certainly predispose to deeper invading infections. There are also differences between mares with regard to location within the uterus or endometrium for bacterial infections. Infections may be localized to a specific area of the uterus or may encompass the vast majority of the luminal endometrium. Antibiotics are used in the mare to treat potential or realized reproductive tract infections including vaginitis, cervicitis, endometritis, metritis, pyometra, and placentitis. Alternatively, infections may be associated with or classified as sexually transmitted diseases, post–mating-induced endometritis, acute or chronic endometritis, abortion-related, and/or bacterial and fungal infections. Antibiotics are administered either through intravenous/intramuscular routes or directly into the reproductive tract lumen. Antibiotics are naturally occurring or synthetic substances that inhibit the growth of or kill microorganisms. The definition may be limited to substances affecting bacteria or may also include fungi and protozoa. In this report, antifungals will be considered part of the antibiotic class.
An Analysis Of Ordinary Explanations In Clinical Attribution Research

Ordinary explanation has a number of separate functions, which include labeling or description, moral evaluation, causal attribution, and self-presentation. Research on attributions for physical and mental disorders is analyzed using this framework, and the relevance of each aspect of explanation to clinical psychology is outlined. It is argued that the failure to observe these distinctions has led to an unnecessarily narrow view of attribution research and therapy.