Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Persuasive Technology for Smartphone Fitness Apps

Increased popularity of smartphones has great potential to assist individuals in making healthy changes to their behaviour. Obesity and sedentary lifestyles are fast becoming a healthcare concern in modern societies. This study takes an important step in designing persuasive fitness applications (or apps) that can enhance the physical activity behaviour of individuals. We conceptualize that persuasive technology design principles embedded in social cognitive theory constructs will lead to the design of successful fitness apps. The conceptual model will be tested by analysing the design principles in existing mobile fitness apps. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
The Progenitor Stars of Gamma-Ray Bursts

Those massive stars that give rise to gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) during their deaths must be endowed with an unusually large amount of angular momentum in their inner regions, 1-2 orders of magnitude greater than the ones that make common pulsars. Yet the inclusion of mass loss and angular momentum transport by magnetic torques during the precollapse evolution is known to sap the core of the necessary rotation. Here we explore the evolution of very rapidly rotating massive stars, including stripped-down helium cores that might result from mergers or mass transfer in a binary, and single stars that rotate unusually rapidly on the main sequence. For the highest possible rotation rates (about 400 km s-1), a novel sort of evolution is encountered in which single stars mix completely on the main sequence, never becoming red giants. Such stars, essentially massive "blue stragglers," produce helium-oxygen cores that rotate unusually rapidly. Such stars might comprise roughly 1% of all stars above 10 M☉ and can, under certain circumstances, retain enough angular momentum to make GRBs. Because this possibility is very sensitive to mass loss, GRBs are much more probable in regions of low metallicity.
Evaluating feature selection for stress identification

In modern society, more and more people are suffering from stress. The accumulation of stress will result in poor health condition to people. Effectively detecting the stress of human being in time provides a helpful way for people to better manage their stress. Much work has been done on recognizing the stress level of people by extracting features from the bio-signals acquired by physiological sensors. However, little work has been focused on the feature selection. In this paper, we propose a feature selection method based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA). After the features are selected, their effectiveness in terms of correct rate and computational time are evaluated using five classification algorithms, Linear Discriminant Function, C4.5 induction tree, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Naïve Bayes and K Nearest Neighbor (KNN). We use the driver stress database contributed by MIT Media lab for our experiments. Leaving one out as well as 10-fold data preparation approach is implemented as the cross validation method for our evaluation. Paired t-test is then performed to analyze and compare the experimental results, as well as for their statistical significance. Our study demonstrates the importance of feature selection and the effectiveness of the methods used in accurately classifying stress levels.
Evolutionary Relationships in Tribe Lycieae (Solanaceae)

We examine evolutionary relationships among the three genera in tribe Lycieae using DNA sequence data from the nuclear granule-bound starch synthase gene (GBSSI, waxy). Tribe Lycieae is comprised of the large cosmopolitan genus Lycium and the predominately South American genera Grabowskia and Phrodus. Phylogenetic results strongly suggest that Lycium contains Grabowskia and may also include Phrodus. Further, we examine relationships among several clades of American Lycium and within the monophyletic Old World lineage. This study has the largest taxon sampling to date for tribe Lycieae, with 85% of the named species. Increased sampling within eastern Asia and South America, with the world’s highest species-richness of Lycium, as well as the addition of more rapidly evolving genetic markers, are the areas on which to focus future work.
A Population of Massive and Evolved Galaxies at z ≳ 5

We report results from a search for massive and evolved galaxies at z ≳ 5 in the GOODS southern field. Combining HST ACS, VLT ISAAC, and Spitzer IRAC broadband photometric data, we develop a color selection technique to identify candidates for being evolved galaxies at high redshifts. The color selection is primarily based on locating the Balmer break using the K and 3.6 μm bands. Stellar population synthesis models are fitted to the SEDs of these galaxies to identify the final sample. We find 11 candidates with photometric redshifts in the range 4.9 ⩽ z < 6.5, dominated by an old stellar population, with ages 0.2-1.0 Gyr. The stellar masses are in the range (0.5–5) × 1011 M☉. One candidate has a spectroscopically confirmed redshift, in good agreement with our photometric redshift. The galaxies are very compact, with half-light radii in the observed K band smaller than ~2 kpc. Seven of the 11 candidates are also detected at 24 μm with the MIPS instrument on Spitzer. While the observed 24 μm emission is consistent with an obscured AGN, we define a “no-MIPS” sample of candidates in addition to the full sample. Results will be quoted for both samples. If the stellar mass estimates are correct, the presence of these massive and evolved galaxies when the universe was ~1 Gyr old could suggest that conversion of baryons into stars proceeded more efficiently in the early universe than it does today.
Pathogenicity of the Novel A/H7N9 Influenza Virus in Mice

ABSTRACT A novel avian-origin influenza A/H7N9 virus infecting humans was first identified in March 2013 and, as of 30 May 2013, has caused 132 human infections leading to 33 deaths. Phylogenetic studies suggest that this virus is a reassortant, with the surface hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) genes being derived from duck and wild-bird viruses, respectively, while the six “internal gene segments” were derived from poultry H9N2 viruses. Here we determine the pathogenicity of a human A/Shanghai/2/2013 (Sh2/H7N9) virus in healthy adult mice in comparison with that of A/chicken/Hong Kong/HH8/2010 (ck/H9N2) virus, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A/Hong Kong/483/1997 (483/H5N1) virus, and a duck influenza A H7N9 virus of different genetic derivation, A/duck/Jiangxi/3286/2009 (dk/H7N9). Intranasal infection of mice with Sh2/H7N9 virus doses of 103, 104, and 105 PFU led to significant weight loss without fatality. This virus was more pathogenic than dk/H7N9 and ck/H9N2 virus, which has six internal gene segments that are genetically similar to Sh2/H7N9. Sh2/H7N9 replicated well in the nasal cavity and lung, but there was no evidence of virus dissemination beyond the respiratory tract. Mice infected with Sh2/H7N9 produced higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines in the lung and serum than did ck/H9N2 and dk/H7N9 but lower levels than 483/H5N1. Cytokine induction was positively correlated with virus load in the lung at early stages of infection. Our results suggest that Sh2/H7N9 virus is able to replicate and cause disease in mice without prior adaptation but is less pathogenic than 483/H5N1 virus. IMPORTANCE An H7N9 virus isolate causing fatal human disease was found to be more pathogenic for mice than other avian H9N2 or H7N9 viruses but less pathogenic than the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) H5N1. Similarly, the ability of Sh2/H7N9 to elicit proinflammatory cytokines in the lung and serum of mice was intermediate to ck/H9N2 and dk/H7N9 on the one hand and HPAI H5N1 on the other. These findings accord with the observed epidemiology in humans, in whom, as with seasonal influenza viruses, H7N9 viruses cause severe disease predominantly in older persons while HPAI H5N1 can cause severe respiratory disease and death in children and young adults. An H7N9 virus isolate causing fatal human disease was found to be more pathogenic for mice than other avian H9N2 or H7N9 viruses but less pathogenic than the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) H5N1. Similarly, the ability of Sh2/H7N9 to elicit proinflammatory cytokines in the lung and serum of mice was intermediate to ck/H9N2 and dk/H7N9 on the one hand and HPAI H5N1 on the other. These findings accord with the observed epidemiology in humans, in whom, as with seasonal influenza viruses, H7N9 viruses cause severe disease predominantly in older persons while HPAI H5N1 can cause severe respiratory disease and death in children and young adults.
Context Modelling for IQA: the Role of Tasks and Entities

In a realistic Interactive Question Answering (IQA) setting, users frequently ask follow-up questions. By modeling how the questions' focus evolves in IQA dialogues, we want to describe what makes a particular follow-up question salient. We introduce a new focus model, and describe an implementation of an IQA system that we use for exploring our theory. To learn properties of salient focus transitions from data, we use logistic regression models that we validate on the basis of predicted answer correctness.
Simple Renal Cysts as Markers of Thoracic Aortic Disease

Background Thoracic aortic aneurysm is usually a clinically silent disease; timely detection is largely dependent upon identification of clinical markers of thoracic aortic disease (TAD); (bicuspid aortic valve, intracranial aortic aneurysm, bovine aortic arch, or positive family history). Recently, an association of simple renal cysts (SRC) with abdominal aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection was established. The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of SRC in patients with TAD in order to assess whether the presence of SRC can be used as a predictor of TAD. Methods and Results We evaluated the prevalence of SRC in 842 patients with TAD (64.0% males) treated at our institution from 2004 to 2013 and compared to a control group of patients (n=543; 56.2% males). Patients were divided into 4 groups: ascending aortic aneurysm (456; 54.2%); descending aortic aneurysm (86; 10.2%); type A aortic dissection (118; 14.0%); and type B aortic dissection (182; 21.6%). SRC were identified by abdominal computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging of these patients. Prevalence of SRC is 37.5%, 57.0%, 44.1%, and 47.3% for patients with ascending aneurysm, descending aneurysm, type A dissection, and type B dissection, respectively. Prevalence of SRC in the control group was 15.3%. Prevalence of SRC was not significantly different between male and female aortic disease patients, despite reported general male predominance (2:1), which was also observed in our control group (1.7:1). Conclusions This study establishes an increased prevalence of SRC in patients with TAD. SRC can potentially be used as a marker for timely detection of patients at risk of TAD.
Interpersonal play and communication between young autistic children and their mothers

Following a brief introduction to autism and the history of its recognition, a review of the literature is presented covering current models of this condition and empirical studies on play and communication in normal development and in autism. This leads to the conclusion that research into interpersonal play and communication, integrating the contributions of both child and mother are more promising than many of the approaches that have been used so far about the study of play and communication in autism. Identification of autistic, developmentally-delayed and normally developing children was made by means of Subject Selection Inventories (SSIs) developed by the researcher and presented, for the autistic group, to mothers throughout the U.K. Mother-child interaction in the home was video recorded. In two studies, selected portions of the video-record were subjected to microanalysis to analyse interpersonal play and communication. Study A involves 3 groups with 7 dyads in each group. A verbal autistic group consist i^ of 4to 6-year-old verbal autistic children playing with their mothers was compared to groups of developmentally-delayed and non-developmentally-delayed children with their mothers. The groups were matched on language development (Reynell Developmental Language Scales), sex and mother's education; the autistic and the delayed children were also matched on chronological age. In Study B, 2 groups of 6 dyads and 7 dyads respectively were compared. The latter group was the same as the verbal autistic group in Study A. The former group consisted of 3to 6-year-old autistic children functioning at a pre-verbal level of development. Important findings of Study A are, as follows: the verbal autistic children were capable of symbolic play; they rarely pointed, asked for help or information, gave positive replies and laughed or smiled; the mothers initiated a high frequency of approaches when there was in fact no interpersonal communication. In Study B, pre-verbal autistic children, in comparison, were found to lack 'instrumental' and 'symbolic' play; they and their mothers exhibited a different pattern of communicative expressions compared to the verbal group, but their 'Interpersonal Engagement' had some similarities to that of the verbal group. The implications of these findings for understanding the psychological nature of autism and for improving communication between mothers and their autistic children, are discussed.
As the Body Unfolds: Examining Girls’ Changing Experiences with the Socially Constructed Labels ‘Tomboy’ and ‘Girly Girl’

This study explored the lived experiences of girls with the socially constructed labels „tomboy‟ and „girly girl‟. Using a prospective, life history, qualitative methodology, girls between the ages of nine to fourteen years old were interviewed up to four times over five years for an extensive embodiment project. The present study investigated girls‟ narratives of the „tomboy‟/ „girly girl‟ dichotomy to deepen an understanding of how gender discourses affect how girls learn to live in their bodies. A total of 87 interviews were collected from 27 girls representing diverse social and cultural backgrounds as well as different urban and rural Canadian locations. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed for themes using the constant comparison method from Grounded Theory. Examining the data from a feminist poststructuralist theoretical approach, three main dimensions emerged that described these girls‟ experiences of living with these labels from childhood through adolescence. The first dimension described the shared cultural stereotypes of the „tomboy‟ and „girly girl‟ labels. The second dimension delineated the social outcomes in terms of the privileges and consequences associated with each label in childhood and in adolescence. The third dimension highlighted girls own negotiated self experiences and identities in relation to this gender dichotomy. Through its prospective design, this research uniquely delineated the complex range of experiences girls have within gender discourses and explored how labels work to control and restrict girls‟ freedom to stay connected to their self and body.
Spatial Autocorrelation and Real Estate Studies:A Literature Review

Spatial autocorrelation is a phenomenon where the values of variable located within certain geographic area show a similar pattern. It is a source of imperfection in house price modelling that employs the popular technique of hedonic regression. Despite its long established concept,it is only recently when spatial autocorrelation has started to gain the attention of real estate studies. However, the evidence has come mainly from the USA. This paper reviews the literature on spatial autocorrelation and real estate studies. It describes some basic aspects of spatial autocorrelation in respect of hedonic price modelling (HPM) for housing markets. The importance of considering spatial autocorrelation and ways of dealing with the phenomenon are outlined. The paper also discusses two main approaches of modelling spatial autocorrelation, namely the spatial weight matrix and the geo-statistical approaches. It stresses the preference of the former in previous real estate studies that involve economic analysis. The paper concludes by highlighting the importance of considering spatial autocorrelation when cross sectional data are used. Evidence from countries including Malaysia would enrich the literature of spatial autocorrelation consideration in real estate studies.
Observational Constraints on the Nature of Dark Energy: First Cosmological Results from the ESSENCE Supernova Survey

We present constraints on the dark energy equation-of-state parameter, w = P/(ρc2), using 60 SNe Ia from the ESSENCE supernova survey. We derive a set of constraints on the nature of the dark energy assuming a flat universe. By including constraints on (ΩM, w) from baryon acoustic oscillations, we obtain a value for a static equation-of-state parameter w = -1.05 (stat 1 σ) ± 0.13 (sys) and ΩM = 0.274 (stat 1 σ) with a best-fit χ2/dof of 0.96. These results are consistent with those reported by the Supernova Legacy Survey from the first year of a similar program measuring supernova distances and redshifts. We evaluate sources of systematic error that afflict supernova observations and present Monte Carlo simulations that explore these effects. Currently, the largest systematic with the potential to affect our measurements is the treatment of extinction due to dust in the supernova host galaxies. Combining our set of ESSENCE SNe Ia with the first-results Supernova Legacy Survey SNe Ia, we obtain a joint constraint of w = -1.07 (stat 1 σ) ± 0.13 (sys), ΩM = 0.267 (stat 1 σ) with a best-fit χ2/dof of 0.91. The current global SN Ia data alone rule out empty (ΩM = 0), matter-only ΩM = 0.3, and ΩM = 1 universes at >4.5 σ. The current SN Ia data are fully consistent with a cosmological constant.
THE METHOD OF CONCENTRATION COMPACTNESS AND DISPERSIVE HAMILTONIAN EVOLUTION EQUATIONS

• Small data theory: (f, g) are small, and F is treated as a perturbation. The main questions are local and global well-posedness, the existence of conserved quantities (energy), their relation to the basic symmetries of the equation (especially the dilation symmetry). The choice of spaces in which to solve can be very challenging, and algebraic properties of F may be essential in order to obtain well-posedness. Specifically, nonlinearities exhibiting a null-form structure appear in geometric/physical equations. The dynamics of small data are typically simple, with the associated wave becoming asymptotically free (this is referred to as “scattering”). • Large data theory: For local-in-time existence, energy subcritical problems are easier since the time of existence depends only on the energy norm of the data, so one can then time-step to obtain global existence. The problem with this approach lies with the absence of information on the long-term dynamics such as scattering. Finite-time breakdown (blowup) of solutions may occur as well, and then the problem of classification of possible blowup dynamics poses itself. In general, large data theory is concerned with the classification of all possible types of dynamics that solutions may exhibit at large energies. The structure here is much richer, with the underlying
Does It Pay to Read Your Junk Mail? Evidence of the Efiect of Advertising on Financial Decisions ⁄

We examine the effect of direct mail (commonly referred to as junk mail) advertising on individual financial decisions by studying consumer choice of debt contracts. Consistent with the theoretical predictions, we find that financial variables underlying the relative pricing of debt contracts are the leading factors explaining consumers debt choice. Furthermore, we also find that the intended use of debt proceeds significantly impacts consumer choice. However, when we study a subset of consumers who received a direct mail solicitation for a particular debt contract (fixed versus adjustable-rate), we find evidence that the relative pricing variables are less revelent in explaining consumer contract choice, even though they were presented with a full menu of debt contracts. Our results are consistent with the persuasive view of advertising and suggest that advertising and persuasion can lead to suboptimal financial choices.
Reading the Curriculum: How The Boy Who Lived Lives in Curriculum Theory

Curriculum theory explores what and how we teach. Given its definition, it seems appropriate that teachers understand curriculum theory; however, this is not the case for all teachers. The purpose of the following qualitative analysis is to make curriculum theory more accessible and understandable to teachers through literature. Using a document analysis approach, J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series was analyzed in accordance with five curriculum theories, those of: John Dewey, Ralph Tyler, William Pinar, Elliot Eisner, and Ted Aoki. Through this analysis, I demonstrate how Harry Potter becomes an educational research tool that practicing teachers can use to better understand curriculum theory and how it applies to their classroom. This endorses Barone’s (1988, 2007) argument that works of fiction can serve as valuable education documents that teachers can use to better understand curriculum. Aspects of the theories were explained using characters, events, teaching practices, and symbols from the books. For example, the flawed objectives of Harry’s many Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers compared to his own objectives, illustrate Tyler’s insistence on the importance of clear, educational goals. Moreover, Aoki’s stance that teachers dwell in a tense zone between curriculum obligations and students’ individual needs is embodied through the complex character, Severus Snape.
Removing Roadblocks from SDN: OpenFlow Software Switch Performance on Intel DPDK

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) promises the vision of more flexible and manageable networks, but requires certain level of programmability in the data plane. Such a flexible, programmable data plane implementation is OpenFlow (OF) which these days is seen as primary model of SDN data plane. In this paper we focus on the limitations of OF in packet switching performance. We share some measurement results we collected using an OF 1.3 prototype based on Intel's Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) and we also describe some optimization ideas. While OF 1.0 can be implemented on high-speed Ethernet switch hardware it has certain disadvantages in the area of flexibility. On the other hand OF 1.3 offers good-enough flexibility, but the poor performance of OF 1.3 implementations seems to represent a roadblock to SDN adoption. In this paper we argue that contrast to the common view, the overhead of flexibility is relatively low. We also argue that the apparent difference between a programmable data plane and a state of the art layered data plane is not primarily due to flexibility itself, but because the lack of optimization in case of flexible implementations.