Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Automated Parameter Optimization on Defect Prediction Models

Defect prediction models—classifiers that identify defect-prone software modules—have configurable parameters that control their characteristics (e.g., the number of trees in a random forest). Recent studies show that these classifiers underperform when default settings are used. In this paper, we study the impact of automated parameter optimization on defect prediction models. Through a case study of 18 datasets, we find that automated parameter optimization: (1) improves AUC performance by up to 40 percentage points; (2) yields classifiers that are at least as stable as those trained using default settings; (3) substantially shifts the importance ranking of variables, with as few as 28 percent of the top-ranked variables in optimized classifiers also being top-ranked in non-optimized classifiers; (4) yields optimized settings for 17 of the 20 most sensitive parameters that transfer among datasets without a statistically significant drop in performance; and (5) adds less than 30 minutes of additional computation to 12 of the 26 studied classification techniques. While widely-used classification techniques like random forest and support vector machines are not optimization-sensitive, traditionally overlooked techniques like C5.0 and neural networks can actually outperform widely-used techniques after optimization is applied. This highlights the importance of exploring the parameter space when using parameter-sensitive classification techniques.
Social and Personal Factors in Loneliness

Data were provided by 140 college students on loneliness, features of social support networks, and personal characteristics thought to inhibit social interaction or the development of relationships. Loneliness was related to both quantitative and qualitative features of social support networks and was also associated with personal characteristics, particularly those thought to inhibit the development of close relationships. However, the relationship between personal characteristics and loneliness was not mediated to any large degree by social network factors, suggesting that personal and social factors are somewhat independent influences on loneliness.
Enhancing Inhibition-Induced Plasticity in Tinnitus – Spectral Energy Contrasts in Tailor-Made Notched Music Matter

Chronic tinnitus seems to be caused by reduced inhibition among frequency selective neurons in the auditory cortex. One possibility to reduce tinnitus perception is to induce inhibition onto over-activated neurons representing the tinnitus frequency via tailor-made notched music (TMNM). Since lateral inhibition is modifiable by spectral energy contrasts, the question arises if the effects of inhibition-induced plasticity can be enhanced by introducing increased spectral energy contrasts (ISEC) in TMNM. Eighteen participants suffering from chronic tonal tinnitus, pseudo randomly assigned to either a classical TMNM or an ISEC-TMNM group, listened to notched music for three hours on three consecutive days. The music was filtered for both groups by introducing a notch filter centered at the individual tinnitus frequency. For the ISEC-TMNM group a frequency bandwidth of 3/8 octaves on each side of the notch was amplified, additionally, by about 20 dB. Before and after each music exposure, participants rated their subjectively perceived tinnitus loudness on a visual analog scale. During the magnetoencephalographic recordings, participants were stimulated with either a reference tone of 500 Hz or a test tone with a carrier frequency representing the individual tinnitus pitch. Perceived tinnitus loudness was significantly reduced after TMNM exposure, though TMNM type did not influence the loudness ratings. Tinnitus related neural activity in the N1m time window and in the so called tinnitus network comprising temporal, parietal and frontal regions was reduced after TMNM exposure. The ISEC-TMNM group revealed even enhanced inhibition-induced plasticity in a temporal and a frontal cortical area. Overall, inhibition of tinnitus related neural activity could be strengthened in people affected with tinnitus by increasing spectral energy contrast in TMNM, confirming the concepts of inhibition-induced plasticity via TMNM and spectral energy contrasts.
Trends in the Effects of Family Background on Educational Attainment in the Philippines

In order to assess trends in the effect of parental status as a determinant of educational outcomes, two distinct models are estimated for a succession of cohorts of Philippine men and women born in the first half of the 20th century. The linear models shows some decline across cohorts in the effects of background on years of schooling; the logistic response model, used to estimate the effects of background variables on specific grade progression probabilities, shows remarkable constancy over time. These results are consistent with an image of the educational system as an ever-expanding pie that is always sliced in the same proportions.
The Effect of Co-Offender Planning on Verbal Deception

Previous deception studies have mainly examined individual mock perpetrators and their deceptive behaviours during interviews, but not all crimes are committed by single perpetrators. In the present study, 48 mock perpetrators were individually interviewed after carrying out a mock theft in pairs. The time available for co-planning prior to the interview was manipulated so as to examine its effects on participants’: (1) verbal cues to deception; (2) cognitive load; and (3) attempted speech control during the interview. Having time available for planning was associated with greater statement immediacy, plausibility and within-pair consistency, but not with cognitive load or attempted control.
Challenges of farmer-led extension approaches in Nigeria.

Over time, extension provision has been supply-driven, with little direct consultation with the farmers to whom the extension technologies, information and associated services are intended. The linear model of technology transfer (researcher - extension- farmers) has been the dominant approach to agricultural and rural development in Nigeria, resulting in the delivery of technologies that have failed to alleviate farmers' problems. Recently, farmer-led extension approaches have come to be considered as appropriate for farmers' need. These approaches increase farmer's basic knowledge and ability to make their own choices and decision on particular technologies. Farmers assume a central role and become key players in technology identification, generation, adaptation and dissemination. This paper examined the various approaches to agricultural extension and the challenges of farmer-led extension approaches. These challenges include changes in the organization structure and profession attitude, strengthen farmers' organizations, farmers' acceptability, fiscal sustainability and logistics issues.
On the Equivalence Between SLNR and MMSE Precoding Schemes with Single-Antenna Receivers

This letter considers transmit precoding schemes based on the maximum signal-to-leakage-and-noise ratio (SLNR) in multiuser MIMO systems with single-antenna receivers. The closed-form solution of SLNR design is generally given in the form of the eigenvector associated to the maximum eigenvalue. In this letter, analytic expressions of SLNR-based solutions and resulting SLNR are derived for a generic power allocation (GPA). The solution is shown to be a function of user-allocated power and an arbitrary phase shift. Under equal power allocation (EPA), the SLNR precoding scheme is shown to be equivalent to the minimum mean square error (MMSE) precoding scheme. Several useful implications in terms of the possible extension of existing algorithms and performance analysis are also discussed.
Unequal egalitarianism: A preliminary study of discourses concerning gender and employment opportunities

A set of accounts concerning final year university students’ views on the status of employment opportunities for women is examined to identify some of the practical ideologies surrounding the reproduction of gender inequalities. The focus of the analysis is the structure of the discourse produced and what is revealed about wider systems of making sense. This approach is contrasted with conventional survey research. We argue, first, that our sample’s responses represent a conflict between their endorsement of equal opportunities and their emphasis on practical considerations supposedly limiting those opportunities and, second, that their model of human subject in society is individualistic in nature as are their notions of social change and explanations for existing inequalities.
Power and the Emergence of Complex Polities in the Peruvian Preceramic

This chapter looks at the role of irrigation agriculture, warfare (lack thereof), and religion in the origins and development of the power relationship in an extraordinary early political system. Data are drawn from a cluster of small valleys on the north-central Peruvian coast–a region known as the Norte Chico–where recent research has revealed a pattern of more than 20 large sites. These sites all have major monumental architecture and were occupied in the third millennium B.C. This concentration of major residential and ceremonial centers, thriving between 3000 and 1800 B.C., serves as an ideal laboratory for studying the florescence and subsequent development of one of the first complex, centralized political systems to arise in the Andean region. These sites are directly associated with the introduction of irrigation in the area and a rapid transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. In what appears to be a truly “pristine” situation, this complex of sites provides a window into how leaders first emerged in early centralized polities and how those leaders came to exercise significant power over their respective subject populations.
Training Evaluation: Knowing More Than Is Practiced

The problem and the solution. Training program evaluation is an important and culminating phase in the analysis, design, develop, implement, evaluate (ADDIE) process. However, evaluation has often been overlooked or not implemented to its full capacity. To assess and ensure the quality, effectiveness, and the impact of systematic training, this article emphasizes the importance of summative evaluation at the last phase of ADDIE and presents developments toward a summative evaluation framework of training program effectiveness. The focus is the connection of final summative evaluation to the direction provided by the analysis phase and the concerns of the host organization.
RAPID EVOLUTION OF ESCAPE ABILITY IN TRINIDADIAN GUPPIES (POECILIA RETICULATA)

Abstract Predators are widely assumed to create selection that shapes the evolution of prey escape abilities. However, this assumption is difficult to test directly due to the challenge of recording both predation and its evolutionary consequences in the wild. We examined these events by studying natural and experimental populations of Trinidadian guppies, Poecilia reticulata, which occur in distinct high-predation and low-predation environments within streams. Importantly, in the last two decades several populations of guppies have been experimentally introduced from one type of predatory environment into the other, allowing measurements of the consequences of change. We used this system to test two hypotheses: First, that changes in predatory environments create phenotypic selection favoring changes in escape ability of guppies, and second, that this selection can result in rapid evolution. For the first test we compared escape ability of wild caught guppies from high- versus low-predation environments by measuring survival rates during staged encounters with a major predator, the pike cichlid Crenicichla alta. We used guppies from three streams, comparing two within-stream pairs of natural populations and three within-stream pairs of an introduced population versus its natural source population. In every comparison, guppies from the high-predation population showed higher survival. These multiple, parallel divergences in guppy survival phenotype suggest that predatory environment does create selection of escape ability. We tested our second hypothesis by rearing guppies in common garden conditions in the laboratory, then repeating the earlier experiments using the F2 generation. As before, each comparison resulted in higher survival of guppies descended from the high-predation populations, demonstrating that population differences in escape ability have a genetic basis. These results also show that escape ability can evolve very rapidly in nature, that is, within 26–36 generations in the introduced populations. Interestingly, we found rapid evolutionary loss of escape ability in populations introduced into low-predation environments, suggesting that steep fitness trade-offs may influence the evolution of escape traits. Corresponding Editor: D. Waller
Psychological functioning of women identified in adulthood with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder

There are many adults being identified with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) who were not diagnosed as children. The current study investigated psychological functioning in women identified in adulthood as having ADHD. Participants were 102 women, aged 26 to 59, fulfilling (N = 51) and not fulfilling (N = 51) the criteria for ADHD. Home interviews were conducted, consisting of both structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Results revealed that the women with ADHD reported more depressive symptoms, were more anxious and more stressed, had more external loci of control, had lower self-esteem, and engaged more in emotion-oriented and less in task-oriented coping strategies. This study emphasized the need to focus more research on females with ADHD and highlighted possible effects of a late diagnosis.
Empowering family physicians to impart proper inhaler teaching to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma.

BACKGROUND Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma depend on inhalers for management, but critical errors committed during inhaler use can limit drug effectiveness. Outpatient education in inhaler technique remains inconsistent due to limited resources and inadequate provider knowledge. OBJECTIVE To determine whether a simple, two-session inhaler education program can improve physician attitudes toward inhaler teaching in primary care practice. METHODS An inhaler education program with small-group hands-on device training was instituted for family physicians (FP) in British Columbia and Alberta. Sessions were spaced one to three months apart. All critical errors were corrected in the first session. Questionnaires surveying current inhaler teaching practices and attitudes toward inhaler teaching were distributed to physicians before and after the program. RESULTS Forty-one (60%) of a total 68 participating FPs completed both before and after program questionnaires. Before the program, only 20 (49%) reported providing some form of inhaler teaching in their practices, and only four (10%) felt fully competent to teach patients inhaler technique. After the program, 40 (98%) rated their inhaler teaching as good to excellent. Thirty-four (83%) reported providing inhaler teaching in their practices, either by themselves or by an allied health care professional they had personally trained. All stated they could teach inhaler technique within 5 min. Observation of FPs during the second session by certified respiratory educators found that none made critical errors and all had excellent technique. CONCLUSION A physician inhaler education program can improve attitudes toward inhaler teaching and facilitate implementation in clinical practices.
Re‐evaluating the paradigm of early free flap coverage in lower extremity trauma

Early free flap coverage in lower extremity trauma is a practice largely supported by research that may be outdated and is frequently impractical due to logistics, resuscitation efforts, and associated injuries. Our objective was to re‐evaluate this paradigm to determine whether reconstructive timing impacts outcome in modern clinical practice. We reviewed 60 free flaps for traumatic lower extremity coverage from December 2005 to December 2010 by the plastic surgery service at an academic medical center. All reconstructions were >72‐hours from injury, spanning from 3 days to 2.2 years. The overall failure rate was 13.3% (8/60). Statistical analysis yielded no significant associations between reconstructive timing and flap failure or morbidity, although there was a trend toward fewer failures among latest reconstructions (>91 days) compared to within 30 days (P = 0.053). These findings support that delays may be safely utilized to allow patient and wound optimization without negatively impacting outcomes in free tissue transfer. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microsurgery, 2013.
Electronic Performance Monitoring: A Laboratory Investigation of the Influence of Monitoring and Difficulty on Task Performance, Mood State, and Self-Reported Stress Levels

Increases in the sophistication of workplace computerization has provided modern-day managers with superior tools, such as electronic performance monitoring (EPM), with which to supervise their employees. Expanding on studies by Aiello (e. g., Aiello, 1993), the present study aimed to examine EPM in a social facilitation framework, exploring not only the relationship with task performance and stress, but also with an individual's subjective mood state. Thirty-three female and 15 male university students were required to solve a series of anagrams via a purpose-built computer program. Both the difficulty of the anagrams (easy or difficult) and the presence of monitoring (present or absent) were varied for each participant. Results indicated that the visual presence of EPM resulted in an easy task being performed with greater proficiency and a difficult task being performed with less proficiency. When participants were attempting to solve an easy task, the presence of EPM resulted in a participant's mood state becoming significantly more positive; whereas when solving a difficult task, EPM caused a more negative mood state. Similarly, it was found that a higher level of subjective stress was experienced when EPM was present, as opposed to absent. when individuals were performing a difficult task. The implications for the workplace applications produced by this study are discussed.
Understanding Catalan university dropout from a cross-national approach

The dropout rate is an indicator of complex analysis and there is no consensus on its significance. Universities lack systematized, univocal methods for collecting student dropout data, making measurement problematic. In consequence, the formulas applied to analyze this phenomenon differ between countries and it is therefore an immense challenge to perform comparative studies. The aim of this paper is to provide a general overview of student dropout in Spain and in Catalonia compared to other international university contexts. Compiled data come from several reports produced by national and international organizations as well as by a research project funded by the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU). The perspective provided on how this phenomenon is being studied and dealt with in several contexts may help design actions to increase student retention and performance in higher education institutions (HEIs).
“Ya know what I'm sayin'?” The double meaning of language crossing among teenagers in the Netherlands

Abstract A new youth language has appeared among teenagers in the Netherlands. The basis of this lingo is Dutch, but this is interlarded with elements derived from immigrant languages. This article examines the social meaning of this language phenomenon. On the one hand, it can be argued that language crossers move to the cultural territory of others out of respect and interest for the people who are associated with it. On the other hand, it can be argued that crossers show no respect for the cultural ownership held by the associated group. Cultural elements associated with another group may even be used to degrade the members of that group. First, I analyze the literal content of the foreign words that are used among teenagers in the Netherlands. Secondly, I infer the social connotation of language crossing from the social relations of the crosser with members of the groups that are associated with the language elements. I use write-in questionnaires completed by a large number of pupils attending schools throughout the Netherlands. Results show that the used words often have a literal meaning that could be understood as offensive, but that words and accents are both generally used with a friendly, social connotation.
Subcellular proteome analysis unraveled annexin A2 related to immune liver fibrosis

It is important to study the mechanism of liver fibrogenesis, and find new non‐invasive biomarkers. In this study, we used subcellular proteomic technology to study the plasma membrane (PM) proteins related to immune liver fibrosis and search for new non‐invasive biomarkers. A rat liver fibrosis model was induced by pig serum injection. The liver fibrogenesis from stage (S) S0‐1, S2, S3‐4, and S4 was detected by Masson staining and HE staining in this rat model after 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks of treatment. The liver PM was enriched and analyzed using subcellular proteomic technology. The differentially expressed proteins were verified by Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and ELISA. PM with 149‐fold purification was obtained and 22 differentially expressed proteins were identified. Of which, annexin A2 (ANXA2) was detected to be increased obviously in S4 compared with S0‐1, and verified by Western blotting of rat liver tissue and immunohistochemistry of rat and human liver tissue. The expression of ANXA2 in human plasma with S1‐2 was also found to be up‐regulated for 1.4‐fold than that in S0. Furthermore, ANXA2 was detected to translocate from nuclear membrane and cytosol to PM as HBV stimulation through immunocytochemical analysis in vitro. This study identified 22 differentially expressed proteins related to liver fibrosis, and verified a potential biomarker (ANXA2) for non‐invasive diagnosis of immune liver fibrosis. To our knowledge, it was the first time to dynamically study the proteins related to liver fibrosis and select biomarkers for liver fibrosis diagnosis through PM proteome research. J. Cell. Biochem. 110: 219–228, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.