Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Massive Multimodality , Deception , and Genetic

This paper considers the use of genetic algorithms (GAs) for the solution of problems that are both average-sense misleading (deceptive) and massively multimodal. An archetypical multimodal-deceptive problem, here called a bipolar deceptive problem, is deened and two generalized constructions of such problems are reviewed, one using reeected trap functions and one using low-order Walsh coeecients; suucient conditions for bipolar deception are also reviewed. The Walsh construction is then used to form a 30-bit, order-six bipolar-deceptive function by concatenating ve, six-bit bipolar functions. This test function, with over ve million local optima and 32 global optima, poses a diicult challenge to simple and niched GAs alike. Nonetheless, simulations show that a simple GA can reliably nd one of the 32 global optima if appropriate signal-to-noise-ratio population sizing is adopted. Simulations also demonstrate that a niched GA can reliably and simultaneously nd all 32 global solutions if the population is roughly sized for the expected niche distribution and if the function is appropriately scaled to emphasize global solutions at the expense of suboptimal ones. These results immediately recommend the application of niched GAs using appropriate population sizing and scaling. They also suggest a number of avenues for generalizing the notion of deception.
PTSD Symptoms, Emotion Dysregulation, and Alcohol-Related Consequences Among College Students With a Trauma History

Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcohol use, and alcohol-related consequences have been linked to emotion dysregulation. Sex differences exist in both emotion regulation dimensions and alcohol use patterns. This investigation examined facets of emotion dysregulation as potential mediators of the relationship between PTSD symptoms and alcohol-related consequences and whether differences may exist across sexes. Methods: Participants were 240 college students with a trauma history who reported using alcohol within the past three months and completed measures of PTSD symptoms, emotion dysregulation, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related consequences, and negative affect. The six facets of emotion dysregulation were examined as mediators of the relationship between PTSD symptoms and alcohol-related consequences in the full sample and by sex. Results: There were differences in sexes on several variables, with women reporting higher PTSD scores and lack of emotional awareness. Men reported significantly more drinks per week in a typical week and a heavy week. There were significant associations between the variables for the full sample, with PTSD showing associations with five facets of emotion dysregulation subscales: impulse control difficulties when upset, difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior, nonacceptance of emotional responses, lack of emotional clarity, and limited access to emotion regulation strategies. Alcohol-related consequences were associated with four aspects of emotion dysregulation: impulse control difficulties when upset, difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior, nonacceptance of emotional reponses, and limited access to emotion regulation strategies. Two aspects of emotion regulation, impulse control difficulties and difficulties engaging in goal directed behavior, mediated the relationship between PTSD symptoms and alcohol-related consequences in the full sample, even after adjusting for the effects of negative affect. When examined separately by gender, impulse control difficulties remained a mediator for men and difficulties engaging in goal directed behavior for women. Conclusions: These analyses shed light on processes that may underlie “self-medication” of PTSD symptoms. Gender-specific interventions targeting emotion dysregulation may be effective in reducing alcohol-related consequences in individuals with PTSD. Women may possibly benefit from interventions that focus on difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior, while men may benefit from interventions that target impulse control difficulties when upset.
UKPDS 28: A Randomized Trial of Efficacy of Early Addition of Metformin in Sulfonylurea-Treated Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy over 3 years of the addition of metformin to maximum sulfonylurea therapy in type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This multicenter randomized open-controlled trial was conducted in outpatient diabetes clinics in 15 U.K. hospitals. A total of 591 subjects who had already been randomly allocated to sulfonylurea therapy were taking maximum doses with suboptimal glycemic control, i.e., raised fasting plasma glucose (FPG) concentrations of 6−15 mmol/l but no significant hyperglycemic symptoms. The main outcome measures included FPG, glycated hemoglobin, protocol-defined marked hyperglycemia, body weight, blood pressure, fasting plasma lipids, compliance, and hypoglycemia and other side effects. RESULTS After the addition of metformin, FPG concentrations decreased by mean (95% CI) −0.47 (−0.82 to −0.13) mmol/l over 3 years compared with an increase of 0.44 (0.07−0.81) mmol/l in subjects on sulfonylurea alone (P < 0.00001). Median FPG concentrations at 3 years were 8.6 vs. 9.9 mmol/l, respectively (P < 0.00001), and HbA1c values were 7.5 and 8.1%, respectively (P = 0.006). Adjustment for baseline BMI or FPG concentration did not affect response to therapy. Only 7% of those allocated to sulfonylurea plus metformin developed protocol-defined marked hyperglycemia compared with 36% of those allocated to sulfonylurea alone (P < 0.0001). Fasting plasma lipids, body weight, and blood pressure did not change significantly. The incidence of hypoglycemic episodes did not differ between groups: 4% on sulfonylurea plus metformin and 2% on sulfonylurea alone (NS). CONCLUSIONS Early addition of metformin improved glycemic control in patients with suboptimal glycemic control while taking maximum sulfonylurea therapy, irrespective of obesity or baseline FPG concentrations.
Role of F0 in speech reception in the presence of interference : simulating aspects of cochlear-implant processing

Speech is perhaps the most ecologically important acoustic stimulus to human beings, because it remains the primary means by which people interact socially. Despite many significant advances made in the development of cochlear implants, even the most successful cochlear-implant users do not hear as well as normal-hearing listeners. The differences in performance between normal-hearing listeners and cochlear-implant users are especially pronounced in understanding speech in complex auditory environments. For normal-hearing listeners, voice pitch or the fundamental frequency (FO) of voicing has long been thought to play an important role in the perceptual segregation of speech sources. The aim of this dissertation was to examine the role of voice pitch in speech perception in the presence of background interference, specifically simulating aspects of envelope-vocoder style implant processing. The findings of the studies show that FO encoded via envelope periodicity does not provide a sufficiently salient cue for the segregation of speech. This suggests that the poor speech reception performance of implant users in background interference may, at least in part, be due to the lack of salient voice pitch cues. When low-frequency fine-structure information was added to envelopevocoder processed high-frequency information, some FO segregation benefits returned and the reception of speech in complex backgrounds improved. Taken as a whole, the dissertation suggests that low frequency fine-structure information is important to the task of speech segregation, and that every effort should be made to present such information to cochlear-implant users.
Histological effects of chronic administration of efavirenz on lateral geniculate body of adult Wistar rats

Background: The effects of chronic administration of efavirenz commonly used as part of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for the treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) type-1 on the weight of the brain and inferior colliculus of adult Wistar rats was carefully studied. Methods and Materials The rats of both sexes (n = 24), with average weight of 200g were randomly assigned into two treatment (A & B) (n=16) and Control (c) (n=8) groups. The rats in the treatment group received 600mg/70kg bogy weight of efavirenz dissolved in distilled water daily for 30days through the orogastric tube. The control group received equal volume of distilled through the same route. All rats were fed with grower's mash and given water liberally. The rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation method on the thirty-first day of the experiment and the lateral geniculate body was carefully dissected out and quickly fixed in 10% formal saline for histological study. Results The findings indicate that rats in the treated group showed some cellular degenerative changes like sparse cellular population, pyknotic nuclei with some microcystic changes and edema in the stroma of the lateral geniculate body as compared to the control group. Conclusion Chronic administration of efavirenz may have an adverse effect on the visual sensibilities by affecting the microanatomy of the lateral geniculate body of adult Wistar rats. It is recommended that further studies aimed at corroborating these observations be carried out.
EXPLORATION OF THE BELIEFS OF NOVICE LANGUAGE TEACHERS AT THE FIRST YEAR OF THEIR TEACHING ENDEAVORS

Bu calisma, yeni Ingilizce ogretmenlerinin oncelikli kaygilariniincelemekte, uygulama sirasinda lisans duzeyinde ogrendikleri kuramlardan sapip sapmadiklariniarastirmakta ve gercek sinif ortaminin gereklerini yerine getirirken yasadiklarikuram ve uygulama arasindaki farkliliklari aciklamanin cesitli yollariniaramaktadir. Johnson (1992) tarafindan gelistirilen kanienvanterinin Likert olcege gore adapte edilmesi ile nicel veriler, yariyapilandirilmisgorusmelerle nitel veriler toplanmistir. 13 Ingilizce ogretmeninden toplanan verilerle yapilan coklu varyans analizi (MANOVA) sonucunda Johnson (1992) tarafindan dile getirilen islev temelli yargilarin beceri temelli yargilardan cok daha fazla tercih edildigi gorulmustur. Nicel cozumlemelerin ardindan ogretmenlerin kaygilarinidaha iyi anlamak amaciyla gorusmeler yapilmistir. Nitel veriler, onceki calismalaridesteklemis, dusunusve uygulama arasinda farklilik oldugunu gostermis, yeni ogretmenlerin birincil kaygilarinin ogrencilerin anlamlietkinliklerle yonlendirilmesi yerine sinif yonetimi, ideal disiplinin saglanmasi, ders iceriginin zamaninda tamamlanmasive sinavlara hazirlanmak oldugunu gostermistir. Calismada betimlenen durum icin olasiaciklamalara yer verilmistir.
Network Explanations to Web Economy ’ s Patterns of Growth 1

From its early days, the World Wide Web space has demonstrated strong agglomeration trends with a very small number of web sites capturing the larger part of the Internet population. At a first glance, agglomeration over the virtual space sounds as a paradox. Web sites are numerous and highly diversified and can be easily reached from everywhere and anybody, with no particular transportation or search cost. However, Internet users use only a small number of sites for searching for information and products, interacting with others and socialize, thus producing dense concentrations and locational patterns similar to those observed in the physical space where few cities and industrial clusters host the huge majority of population and the entire industrial activity. Is that depending on the attractiveness of the popular web sites or are there agglomeration economies providing incentives to users to be in a location which have been visited by other users or pointed-in by other sites? This paper provides a sound basis for the dynamics of population concentration in the Web and put forward an explanation to web sites’ growth by developing an agent-based computational model, with behavioural and economic variables, where the aggregate outcome emerges from the interaction of individual decisions. The model reproduces the empirically observed power law distribution of Internet users across web sites, demonstrating that a plausible explanation of web agglomeration phenomena can lie on the assumption of increasing returns and the percolation-like diffusion of the information over the Internet. 1 This paper summarizes some of the findings of iCities project, funded by European Commission (Information Cities Project: IST-1999-11337, FET: Future and Emerging Technologies).
Analysis of peer-to-peer file dissemination amongst users of different upload capacities

In recent years, overlay networks have proven an effective way of disseminating a file from a single source to a group of end users via the Internet. A number of algorithms and protocols have been suggested, implemented and studied. In particular, much attention has been given to peer-to-peer (P2P) systems such as BitTorrent [2], Slurpie [10], SplitStream [1] and Bullet [5]. The key idea is that the file is divided into M parts of equal size and that a given user may download any one of these either from the server or from a peer who has previously downloaded it. More recently, a scheme based on network coding [3] has been suggested. Here, users down-load linear combinations of file parts rather than individual file parts.
General and specific measures in organizational behavior research: Considerations, examples, and recommendations for researchers

Summary Deliberation over and relative preference for general or specific (broad or narrow) constructs has long been an important issue in organizational behavior research. In this article, we provide a review of this general issue and some specific recommendations for researchers. We begin by discussing whether the general versus specific issue is an important debate and by discussing other underlying issues (the role of researcher preferences, distinction between reflective and formative indicators, and distinction between constructs and measures of constructs). Building on Chen's (this issue) analysis of core self-evaluations, we first discuss how the general–specific debate has progressed in core self-evaluations research. We then discuss three other important areas in which this debate has played out: intelligence, five-factor model of personality, and job attitudes. Finally, we offer a framework to help guide decisions about whether to utilize general measures, specific measures, or both and conclude by providing recommendations for the use of general and specific measures in organizational behavior research. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Application of compressive sensing to limited feedback strategy in large-scale multiple-input single-output cellular networks

A novel limited feedback strategy based on a compressive sensing technique is proposed for the downlink large-scale multiple-input single-output (MISO) system. The effectiveness of transmit beamformers relies on the feedback quality of channel state information (CSI). The instantaneous CSI is compressed and sent back to the base station (BS) by receivers. An efficient recovery algorithm is applied at the BS in the presence of measurement noise and feedback link noise. The proposed feedback strategy can provide the BS with much more precise CSI as compared with some conventional vector quantisation schemes. The proposed scheme also has lower-computational complexity. Furthermore, the authors derive a tight lower bound on the user sum rate, assuming that zero-forcing beamforming is applied at the BS, and that active users are semi-orthogonal to each other. Numerical results show that the proposed compressive sensing-based limited feedback scheme yields better performance gain than the conventional channel quantisation approaches.
Radar odometry with recursive-RANSAC

This paper explores the use of radar odometry for Global Positioning System-denied navigation. The range progression from arbitrary ground-based point scatterers is used to estimate an unmanned aerial vehicle's relative motion. In high clutter environments, the recursive-RANSAC algorithm provides robust and efficient feature identification, data association, and tracking. The tracked feature range measurements are integrated with inertial measurement unit measurements in an extended Kalman filter. Real flight data from a cluttered environment are used to validate the results.
Survival of tree seedlings across space and time: estimates from long‐term count data

1 Tree diversity in forests may be maintained by variability in seedling recruitment. Although forest ecologists have emphasized the importance of canopy gaps in generating spatial variability that might promote tree regeneration, the effects of canopy gaps on seedling recruitment may be offset by dense forest understories. 2 Large annual fluctuations in recruitment processes, coupled with the long life of forest trees, can provide an alternative mechanism for maintaining tree diversity. Evaluating the relative importance of spatial vs. temporal variability in recruitment, however, requires estimates of seedling survival that are extensive on both scales. 3 Estimates of survival derived from conventional statistical methods require that individual seedlings are monitored through time, and are therefore often limited in extent. We demonstrate a relatively fast and easy alternative approach to measuring survival that uses repeated counts of individuals in quadrats. 4 Annual seedling counts were used to quantify both the effects of small canopy gaps and understorey shrubs on the survival of Acer rubrum (red maple) seedlings and the magnitude of residual spatial and temporal variability in seedling survival. 5 We found that a dense understorey had a greater effect on seedling survival than did canopy gaps. Our canopy gaps had only a slight positive effect on seedling survival, and their benefit was offset by a large negative effect of the understorey shrub Rhododendron maximum. 6 Annual fluctuations in recruitment processes were seven times greater than spatial variability across transects and the effect of individual years on seedling survival was larger than even that of understorey shrubs. 7 The long life span of trees coupled with large annual variability in recruitment success across species may maintain the diversity of forest trees through a storage effect.
Rapid phasic activity of ventral pallidal neurons during cocaine self‐administration

Little is known regarding the involvement of the ventral pallidum (VP) in cocaine‐seeking behavior, in contrast with considerable documentation of the involvement of its major afferent, the nucleus accumbens, over the past thirty years utilizing electrophysiology, lesion, inactivation, molecular, imaging, and other approaches. The VP is neuroanatomically positioned to integrate signals projected from the nucleus accumbens, basolateral amygdala, and ventral tegmental area. In turn, VP projects to thalamoprefrontal, subthalamic, and mesencephalic dopamine regions having widespread influence across mesolimbic, mesocortical, and nigrostriatal systems. Prior lesion studies have implicated VP in cocaine‐seeking behavior, but the electrophysiological mechanisms underlying this behavior in the VP have not been investigated. In the present investigation, following 2 weeks of training over which animals increased drug intake, VP phasic activity comprised rapid‐phasic increases or decreases in firing rate during the seconds prior to and/or following cocaine‐reinforced responses, similar to those found in accumbens. As a population, the direction (increasing or decreasing) and magnitude of firing rate changes were normally distributed suggesting that ventral striatopallidal processing is heterogeneous. Since changes in firing rate around the cocaine‐reinforced lever press occurred in animals that escalated drug intake prior to neuronal recordings, a marker of “addiction‐like behavior” in the rat, the present experiment provides novel support for a role of VP in drug‐seeking behavior. This is especially important given that pallidothalamic and pallidomesencephalic VP projections are positioned to alter dopaminoceptive targets such as the medial prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, and dorsal striatum, all of which have roles in cocaine self‐administration. Synapse 64:704–713, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Design of Friction, Morphology, Wetting, and Protein Affinity by Cellulose Blend Thin Film Composition

Cellulose derivate phase separation in thin films was applied to generate patterned films with distinct surface morphology. Patterned polymer thin films are utilized in electronics, optics, and biotechnology but films based on bio-polymers are scarce. Film formation, roughness, wetting, and patterning are often investigated when it comes to characterization of the films. Frictional properties, on the other hand, have not been studied extensively. We extend the fundamental understanding of spin coated complex cellulose blend films via revealing their surface friction using Friction Force Microscopy (FFM). Two cellulose derivatives were transformed into two-phase blend films with one phase comprising trimethyl silyl cellulose (TMSC) regenerated to cellulose with hydroxyl groups exposed to the film surface. Adjusting the volume fraction of the spin coating solution resulted in variation of the surface fraction with the other, hydroxypropylcellulose stearate (HPCE) phase. The film morphology confirmed lateral and vertical separation and was translated into effective surface fraction. Phase separation as well as regeneration contributed to the surface morphology resulting in roughness variation of the blend films from 1.1 to 19.8 nm depending on the film composition. Friction analysis was successfully established, and then revealed that the friction coefficient of the films could be tuned and the blend films exhibited lowered friction force coefficient compared to the single-component films. Protein affinity of the films was investigated with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and depended mainly on the surface free energy (SFE) while no direct correlation with roughness or friction was found. BSA adsorption on film formed with 1:1 spinning solution volume ratio was an outlier and exhibited unexpected minimum in adsorption.
Retrieval of oceanic chlorophyll concentration using support vector machines

This letter investigates the possibility of using a new universal approximator-support vector machines (SVMs)-as the nonlinear transfer function between oceanic chlorophyll concentration and marine reflectance. The SeaBAM dataset is used to evaluate the proposed approach. Experimental results show that the SVM performs as well as the optimal multilayer perceptron (MLP) and can be a promising alternative to the conventional MLPs for the retrieval of oceanic chlorophyll concentration from marine reflectance.
The Theory of Successful Intelligence

This article describes the theory of successful intelligence and how it can be applied to gifted education. The article opens with an introduction to the issue of abilities in gifted education. It continues by discussing the inadequacy of notions of IQ or general ability for fully characterizing intellectual giftedness. Then it describes the theory of successful intelligence. Next it presents evidence in favor of the statistical validity and usefulness of the theory in gifted education. Finally it draws conclusions.