Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A bibliometric analysis of Quebec's PhD students' contribution to the advancement of knowledge.

Graduate students are an important part of the academic workforce. However, little is known on their overall contribution to science. Using the participation in Web of Science indexed peer-reviewed publications of the complete population of doctoral students in Quebec over the 2000-2007 period (N=27,393), this thesis achieves three main contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of information science, sociology of the scientific community and sociology of higher education. %%%%The first contribution is a technical one and involves the creation of an algorithm that allows the automatic attribution of a large proportion of individual researchers' papers. Indeed, using the patterns found in Quebec university researchers' use of keywords, cited references and discipline of publication, the algorithm automatically attributes or rejects at least one scientific paper to 88% of doctoral students. %%%%The second contribution is to provide a large-scale analysis of doctoral students' socialization to research, using the percentage of doctoral students who have published at least one paper during their program as an indicator. It shows that this integration varies greatly among disciplines, with students in the natural and medical sciences being more integrated into research than their colleagues of the social sciences and humanities. Collaboration is an important component of this socialization: disciplines in which student-faculty collaboration are higher are also those in which doctoral students are the most integrated into research. Access to research funds also influences doctoral students participation in peer-reviewed papers, as specialties where professors receive greater research funds are also those where students are the most likely to publish. Although the papers to which doctoral students contribute are most often written in collaboration, they are less likely to be the result of international collaboration. Such socialization to research is also positively linked with students' degree completion and the likelihood of a subsequent career in research. %%%%Finally, the third contribution of this thesis is to measure the percentage of the research output of the research system produced by doctoral students. It provides evidence that, for all disciplines combined, PhD students account for 33% of the publication output of the province, a percentage that is considerably higher than that of Quebec hospital researchers taken together and more than 5 times higher than that of federal and industrial researchers of the province. In terms of scientific impact, papers to which doctoral students have contributed obtain significantly lower citation rates than other Quebec papers to which they have not contributed, although the average impact factor of the journals in which they publish is significantly higher. This suggests that the scientific impact of doctoral students' papers may suffer from a Matthew Effect, the sociological phenomenon observed by which recognition for discoveries is more easily attributed to…
Deformation Constraints in a Mass-Spring Model to Describe Rigid Cloth Behavior

This paper describes a physically(cid:12)based model for animating cloth objects(cid:13) derived from elastically de(cid:12) formable models(cid:13) and improved in order to take into account the non(cid:12)elastic properties of woven fabrics(cid:2) A cloth object is (cid:14)rst approximated to a deformable surface composed of a network of massesand springs(cid:13) the movement of which is evaluated using the numer(cid:12) ical integration of the fundamental law of dynamics(cid:2) We show that when a concentration of high stresses occurs in a small region of the surface(cid:13) the local de(cid:12) formation becomes unrealistic compared to real de(cid:12) formations of textiles(cid:2) With such an elastic model(cid:13) the only solution to decrease these deformations has been so far to increase the sti(cid:15)ness of the deformed springs(cid:13) but we show that it dramatically increases the cost of the algorithm(cid:2) We present therefore a new method to adapt our model to the particularly sti(cid:15) properties of textiles(cid:13) inspired from dynamic in(cid:12) verse procedures(cid:2)
Social cognition and nonverbal behavior: lessons from neuroimaging and high-functioning autism

People are equipped with sophisticated skills to detect, interpret and react to social stimuli in their environment. The exceptional importance of being able to navigate in social encounters with uncertain meanings and outcomes becomes saliently recognizable in problems of individuals with high functioning autism (HFA) characterized by specific deficits in social communication and interaction. Thus, the studies included into this doctorial thesis investigate the neural processing of social cues in healthy and HFA participants in order to provide a better specification of mechanisms underlying social cognition and to promote a better understanding of autism spectrum disorders. Interestingly, in comparison to verbal communication, the nonverbal communication and the interpretation of animated agents occur phylogenetically and ontogenetically earlier in the human development. Because of this special role of social information that is not transmitted via the semantically defined and syntactically logical language related to a more formal way of thinking, the focus is put on the perception of nonverbal and animated social stimuli and their implications for social psychology. In the present synopsis, five studies are summarized within three topics: 1) duration matters: the neural signature of the social gaze (Study 1); 2) distinct paths to first impressions via verbal and nonverbal information (Studies 2 and 3); and 3) different looks on animacy: mind attribution in high-functioning autism (Studies 4 and 5). The measurement of whole brain neural correlates of cognitive processes was carried out by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The aim of the synopsis is to give an overview of research questions and findings for all studies in order to interrelate the theoretical backgrounds and arising conclusions to each other, while detailed information on methods and statistics is presented in the original articles attached in the appendix.
From the arcane to the mundane: engaging French publics in discussing clinical applications of genomic technology

Genomic technologies are developing at a time when greater public involvement in research and clinical governance is sought. To this end, empirical bioethics studies, although conceptualized as academic endeavors, may draw on the inclusion of laypeople to justify informing policy. Doing so, they face similar concerns as those addressed to public consultations which cannot be termed democratic a priori and may reinforce the authority of experts. We reflect on these concerns in the process of analyzing the results of a qualitative analysis of eight focus groups (64 participants) held in France during 2010–2012, designed to understand laypeople's views of the ethical debates surrounding genomic medicine. We examine how the notions of “lay” and “expert” play in the framework of the study and how participants situate themselves along this divide. This understanding of the social context in which the publics are situated enables a more reflexive and accurate ethical analysis.
Organizational Structure and the Multinational Strategy

Organizations that have a single or a few related product lines and a high degree of vertical integration tend to be capital intensive, and to be organized in a centralized, functionally-departmentalized structure. Organizations that have a diversified product line tend to have a decentralized, divisional structure. This paper indicates that the first type tends to concentrate on domestic markets, while the second type accounts for most of U. S. direct investment abroad. Expansion abroad requires diversification, reorganization, and the training of general international managers. The evidence suggests that the organizations that have been most successful in meeting this new challenge have been those that had previously acquired the ability to develop general managers capable of controlling and guiding a heterogeneous, diverse enterprise. Lawrence E. Fouraker is a professor of business administration and John M. Stopford is a research associate at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
Increasing students' interest in science: the contribution of practical work

It is generally accepted that students enjoy practical work in science and that it has the potential to increase their interest in lessons and in science. After a short discussion of an accepted psychological model of interest, this article explores how interest development can be supported though practical work by focusing on a number of Interest Factors that have been identified as a result of a recent study conducted by the author.
KSim: a stable and efficient RKC simulator for capturing on-chip inductance effect

On-chip inductance extraction is difficult due to the global effect of inductance, and simulating the resulting dense partial inductance matrix is even more difficult. Furthermore, it is well known that simply discarding smallest terms to sparsify the inductance matrix can render the partial inductance matrix indefinite and result in an unstable circuit model. Recently a new circuit element, K, has been introduced to capture the global effect of inductance by evaluating a corresponding sparse K matrix. However, the reason that K has such local properties is not clear, and the positive semi-definiteness of the corresponding sparse K matrix is not proved. In this paper, we present the physical interpretation of K. Based on the physical interpretation, we explain why the faraway mutual K can be ignored (locality) and prove that after ignoring faraway mutual K, the resultant K matrix is positive definite (stability). Together with a RKC equivalent circuit model, the locality and stability enables us to simulate an RKC circuit directly and efficiently for real circuits. A new circuit simulation tool, KSim, has been developed by incorporating the new circuit element K into Berkeley SPICE. The RKC simulation matches better with the full partial inductance matrix simulation with significant less computing time and memory usage, compared to other proposed methods, such as the shift-truncate method.
Lead free solder joint reliability characterization for PBGA, PQFP and TSSOP assemblies

In this study, thermal cycling test from -40/spl deg/C to 125/spl deg/C with 1 hour per cycle for Sn/sub -3.8/Ag/sub -0.7/Cu solder joint electronic assemblies was conducted for PBGA316, PQFP208, PQFP176, and TSSOP48 components. Two PCB surface finish conditions were investigated for ENIG and OSP. Daisy chain, in-situ resistance monitoring with data logger, was used for failure detection when the resistance value is larger than 300/spl Omega/. A two-parameter Weibull distribution model was used to determine the mean time to failure (MTTF) for different components. The Weibull parameters such as characteristic life and slope are compared for PBGA assembly with Ni/Au and OSP surface finishes. Microscopy was used to determine the crack path and failure mode. It was shown that components with Ni/Au surface finish have higher thermal fatigue life than those with OSP surface finish. PBGA solder joints are more sensitive to thermal fatigue failure than solder joints in PQFP and TSSOP components. More failures occur at the package side than board side for PBGA assembly. Fatigue life prediction was conducted using fatigue life prediction model and FEA analysis results for different component types. Quarter model with submodeling technique was used in FEA simulation due to symmetric geometry and uniform loading for PBGA, PQFP and TSSOP assemblies. Effect of solder joint location on fatigue life was studied based on FEA result for different assemblies. It was shown that test and predicted fatigue life results have a good agreement for different component types.
Deforestation Effects on Soil Erosion in the Lake Kivu Basin, D.R. Congo-Rwanda

Deforestation and natural grassland conversion to agricultural land use constitute a major threat to soil and water conservation. This study aimed at assessing the status of land cover and land use (LCLU) in the Lake Kivu basin, and its related impacts in terms of soil erosion by water using the Universal Soil Erosion Equation (USLE) model. The results indicated that the Lake Kivu basin is exposed to soil erosion risk with a mean annual rate of 30 t·ha−1, and only 33% of the total non-water area is associated with a tolerable soil loss (≤10 t·ha−1·year−1). Due to both natural factors (abundant tropical precipitation and steep slopes) and anthropogenic activities without prior appropriate conservation practices, all land-use types—namely settlement, cropland, forestland, and grassland—are exposed to a severe mean erosion rate of 41 t·ha−1·year−1, 31 t·ha−1·year−1, 28 t·ha−1·year−1, and 20 t·ha−1·year−1, respectively. The cropland that occupied 74% of the non-water area in 2015 was the major contributor (75%) to the total annual soil loss in the Lake Kivu basin. This study showed that conservation practices in the cropland cells would result in a mean erosion rate of 7 t·ha−1·year−1, 18 t·ha−1·year−1, and 35 t·ha−1·year−1 for terracing, strip-cropping, and contouring, respectively. The adoption of terracing would be the best conservation practice, among others, that could reduce soil erosion in cropland areas up to about 23%. The erosion risk minimization in forests and grasslands implies an increase in overstorey canopy and understorey vegetation, and control of human activities such as fires, mining, soil compaction from domestic animals grazing, and so on. Soil erosion control in settled areas suggests, among other things, the revegetation of construction sites, establishment of outlet channels, rainfall water harvesting systems, and pervious paving block with grass.
Identification and validation of p50 as the cellular target of eriocalyxin B

As an ent-kaurene diterpenoid isolated from Isodon eriocalyx var. Laxiflora, Eriocalyxin B (EriB) possesses potent bioactivity of antitumor and anti-autoimmune inflammation, which has been suggested to work through inhibition of NF-kappaB (NF-κB) signaling. However, the direct target of EriB remains elusive. In this study, we showed that EriB induced apoptosis is associated with the inhibition of NF-κB signaling in SMMC-7721 hepatocellular carcinoma cells. With activity-based probe profiling, we identified p50 protein as the direct target of EriB. We showed that cysteine 62 is the critical residue of p50 for EriB binding through the α, β-unsaturated ketones. As the result, EriB selectively blocks the binding between p50 and the response elements, whereas having no effect on the dimerization or the nuclear translocation of p50 and p65. SiRNA mediated knockdown of p50 attenuated the apoptosis induced by EriB in SMMC-7721 cells. Taken together, our studies illustrated that EriB induces cancer cell apoptosis through interfering with the binding between NF-κB and the response elements by targeting the cysteine 62 of p50, which highlights its potential for the development of p50 targeted cancer therapeutic agents.
Dual function for Tango1 in secretion of bulky cargo and in ER-Golgi morphology

Significance Exporting bulky molecules poses challenges for cells, since the membrane vesicles that transport normal-sized molecules may not be sufficiently large. The protein Tango1 allows transport vesicles to grow much larger to accommodate bulky cargo. It has been puzzling why many smaller cargos also fail to be transported when Tango1 is absent. We show that this is because bulky cargos “clog up” the transport system, resulting in a general traffic jam. Once the blocking, large cargo is removed, the jam resulting from missing Tango1 is resolved, and other cellular stress signals also subside. However, structural defects in the transport system remain, showing that these are due to a direct requirement for Tango1, independent of its function in transport as such. Tango1 enables ER-to-Golgi trafficking of large proteins. We show here that loss of Tango1, in addition to disrupting protein secretion and ER/Golgi morphology, causes ER stress and defects in cell shape. We find that the previously observed dependence of smaller cargos on Tango1 is a secondary effect. If large cargos like Dumpy, which we identify as a Tango1 cargo, are removed from the cell, nonbulky proteins reenter the secretory pathway. Removal of blocking cargo also restores cell morphology and attenuates the ER-stress response. Thus, failures in the secretion of nonbulky proteins, ER stress, and defective cell morphology are secondary consequences of bulky cargo retention. By contrast, ER/Golgi defects in Tango1-depleted cells persist in the absence of bulky cargo, showing that they are due to a secretion-independent function of Tango1. Therefore, maintenance of ER/Golgi architecture and bulky cargo transport are the primary functions for Tango1.
Neuropharmacological effects of Nigella sativa

Nigella sativa (NS) (Ranunculaceae family) is generally utilized as a therapeutic plant all over the world. The seeds of the plant have a long history of use in different frameworks of medicines and food. In Islamic literature, it is considered as one of the greatest forms of therapeutics. It has been widely used to treat nervous system diseases such as memory impairment, epilepsy, neurotoxicity, pain, etc. Additionally, this is uncovered that the majority of therapeutic properties of this plant are due to the presence of thymoquinone (TQ) which is a major bioactive component of the essential oil. Pharmacological studies have been done to evaluate the effects of NS on the central nervous system (CNS). The present review is an effort to provide a detailed scientific literature survey about pharmacological activities of the plant on nervous system. Our literature review showed that NS and its components can be considered as promising agents in the treatment of nervous system disorders.
Learner anxiety and EFL learning : a study of tertiary students' and teachers' perceptions in Taiwan

This study investigated Taiwanese university students’ and teachers’ perceptions of foreign language anxiety in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. The main aims were: (a) to identify the situations, sources, effects of, and coping tactics for the anxiety of Taiwanese tertiary students and (b) to examine tertiary English teachers’ perceptions of their students’ anxiety and how they deal with it. An anxiety scale, the ELCAS, was first administered to English major and non-English major students to identify the ten most anxious students in each group for individual semi-structured interviews. English majors’ teachers and those of non-English majors also had semi-structured interviews. The students’ degree of anxiety was statistically analyzed and revealed by IBM SPSS 20. The interview data from students and teachers were transcribed verbatim, coded, categorized, and then thematized in order to obtain the patterns of their perceptions on the issues. The summarized findings are:  The English major and non-major students were similar to each other in the situations, effects of, and coping strategies for anxiety, except for the sources of their anxiety.  The students reported a number of strategies, but most of these only helped them cope with individual anxious situations, not the root causes of their anxiety.  The English majors and their teachers had similar perceptions of anxiety in class although the latter revealed less specific situations than the former.  The similarity was also quite high between the non-majors’ and their teachers’ perceptions of their anxiety. These teachers also reported relatively broader contexts than their students.  Both groups of teachers employed quite diverse strategies for reducing students’ anxiety. Their tactics demonstrated their attempts to address problems at their sources.
Mobile Learning Quality of Education and Increase in Student Discipline

Mobile learning is the most popular platform of learning and education nowadays. One of these strategic projects is “Kelas Maya” (virtual-class system) in Terengganu state in Malaysia. Six primary schools there are presently using the module. This case study chose Sekolah Kebangsaan Paya Bunga from schools in Terengganu for this case study. The objectives of this study are to verify students’ attitude about e-learning and the real impact of virtual classroom system at the level of students’ academic achievement as well as to determine the change achieved by this system on the habits of school students. Eighty students studied in SK Paya Bonga (thirty-one boys and forty nine girls) via the Kelas Maya system. After collecting information about student academic achi- evement and attendance to school and discipline in general, the researcher made a comparison between student’s achievement before and after using the virtual class. The comparison shows an increase in student academic achievement and also student attendance to the school and their general discipline, which is related to the school ranking on the state level and country level. According to the findings, the researcher recommends that the government continue to apply this system for this level of student, because of the many benefits academic and behavioural.
Quantum Privacy-Preserving Data Analytics

Data analytics (such as association rule mining and decision tree mining) can discover useful statistical knowledge from a big data set. But protecting the privacy of the data provider and the data user in the process of analytics is a serious issue. Usually, the privacy of both parties cannot be fully protected simultaneously by a classical algorithm. In this paper, we present a quantum protocol for data mining that can much better protect privacy than the known classical algorithms: (1) if both the data provider and the data user are honest, the data user can know nothing about the database except the statistical results, and the data provider can get nearly no information about the results mined by the data user; (2) if the data user is dishonest and tries to disclose private information of the other, she/he will be detected with a high probability; (3) if the data provider tries to disclose the privacy of the data user, she/he cannot get any useful information since the data user hides his privacy among noises.