Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identity and Belonging: conceptualisations and political framings

In this paper, I engage critically with the notions of belonging and identity, both as conceptual tools and how they are embedded in political discourses, particularly those concerning integration and diversity in the current period, with a focus on Britain. Belonging and identity both raise questions about boundaries of ‘difference’, inclusion and exclusion. I subsequently turn to the issue of integration and diversity and the dependency of the discourses on notions of identity and belonging that are infused with assumptions about essentialisation, culturalisation and hierarchisation. I will then argue for a different approach to the issues of belonging and incorporation, and towards a recognition of the importance of location and intersectional forms of dialogue and positionality which rely much more on notions of solidarity building. An intersectional and cosmopolitan imaginary is able to recognise diversities on the basis of shifting combinatories of location and positionality within a time and space framework. This involves the recognition of the global and intersectional nature of social bonds and interests and the need to move away from ethnocentric and national based lens for achieving inclusion and social justice.
Research on Race and Ethnic Relations Among Community College Students

Considerable research has been conducted in the past two decades on race and ethnic relations among community college students. The atheoretical underpinnings of this research have led to vague and conflicting findings regarding such concepts as campus climate, discrimination, and the benefits of campus diversity. This article briefly reviews potentially relevant theories and research methods and offers many specific suggestions for future research on student diversity.
Teacher Efficacy: A Motivational Paradigm for Effective Teacher Education

A powerful paradigm for teacher educa tion can be developed on the basis of the construct of teacher efficacy. Ashton as serts that no other teacher characteris tic has demonstrated such a consistent relationship to student achievement. A teacher education program that has as its aim the development of teacher effi cacy, and which includes the essential components of a motivation change pro gram, should develop teachers who possess the motivation essential for ef fective classroom performance.
Document Clustering with Feature Selection Using Dirichlet Process Mixture Model and Dirichlet Multinomial Allocation Model

To find the appropriate number of clusters to which documents should be partitioned is crucial in document clustering. In this survey paper, we propose a novel approach, namely DPMFS, to address this issue. The proposed approach is designed firstly to group documents into a set of clusters while the number of document clusters is determined automatically by the Dirichlet process mixture model secondly to identify the discriminative words and separate them from irrelevant noise words via stochastic search variable selection technique. A variational inference algorithm is investigated to infer the document collection structure as well as the partition of document words at the same time. Our paper indicate that our proposed approach performs well on the synthetic data set as well as real data sets. Keywords– Bayesian Information Criterion, Dirichlet process mixture model, Document clustering, Feature Selection
Creating incentives for knowledge sharing: combining context and signaling

Incentives to encourage knowledge sharing have received considerable attention from the research community. However, consensus on the influence of incentives on sharing levels and what are the critical success factors is yet to emerge. This causes challenges for both knowledge management researchers and practitioners, as the effects of incentive systems cannot be predicted consistently. Hence, this article aims to discuss the critical factors for creating incentive systems to encourage sharing. To improve the prediction accuracy for such systems, a new framework is proposed. The proposed framework is a combination of sociological and economical approaches, which covers both the influence incentives and the relational factors that govern the behaviour of individuals in any given relationship. Analysis of a case study base on the proposed framework is then compared to two alternative frameworks approaches to incentive design. The comparison between the predictions made by the three theories shows that the prediction power and that the critical factors for designing incentives varies significantly. Therefore, when managers design new incentive structures to encourage knowledge sharing, they need to consider which theory captures their hidden assumptions and the presented situation's foundations most accurately. Finally future research directions are suggested based on the predictions made with the framework are proposed.
Systemic Acquired Tolerance to Virulent Bacterial Pathogens in Tomato1

Recent studies on the interactions between plants and pathogenic microorganisms indicate that the processes of disease symptom development and pathogen growth can be uncoupled. Thus, in many instances, the symptoms associated with disease represent an active host response to the presence of a pathogen. These host responses are frequently mediated by phytohormones. For example, ethylene and salicylic acid (SA) mediate symptom development but do not influence bacterial growth in the interaction between tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) and virulent Xanthomonas campestris pv vesicatoria (Xcv). It is not apparent why extensive tissue death is integral to a defense response if it does not have the effect of limiting pathogen proliferation. One possible function for this hormone-mediated response is to induce a systemic defense response. We therefore assessed the systemic responses of tomato to Xcv. SA- and ethylene-deficient transgenic lines were used to investigate the roles of these phytohormones in systemic signaling. Virulent and avirulent Xcv did induce a systemic response as evidenced by expression of defense-associated pathogenesis-related genes in an ethylene- and SA-dependent manner. This systemic response reduced cell death but not bacterial growth during subsequent challenge with virulent Xcv. This systemic acquired tolerance (SAT) consists of reduced tissue damage in response to secondary challenge with a virulent pathogen with no effect upon pathogen growth. SAT was associated with a rapid ethylene and pathogenesis-related gene induction upon challenge. SAT was also induced by infection with Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato. These data show that SAT resembles systemic acquired resistance without inhibition of pathogen growth.
Does Personality Influence the Usage of Static Analysis Tools? An Explorative Experiment

There are many techniques to improve software quality. One is using automatic static analysis tools. We have observed, however, that despite the low-cost help they offer, these tools areunderused and often discourage beginners. There is evidence that personality traits influence the perceived usability of a software. Thus, to support beginners better, we need to understand how theworkflow of people with different prevalent personality traits using these tools varies. For this purpose, we observed users’ solution strategies and correlated them with their prevalent personality traits in an exploratory study with student participants within a controlled experiment. We gathered data by screen capturing and chat protocols as well as a Big Five personality traits test. We found strong correlations between particular personality traits and different strategies of removing the findings of static code analysis as well as between personality and tool utilization. Based on that, we offer take-away improvement suggestions. Our results imply that developers should be aware of these solution strategies and use this information to build tools that are more appealing to people with different prevalent personality traits.
A MULTI-LEVEL ARCHITECTURE FOR RECOGNITION OF POLISH HANDWRITTEN MEDICAL TEXTS

The paper discusses problems of handwritten text re cognition in medical information systems. Aspects specific for medical notes recognition are consider e . Limited set of authors, relatively small dictio nary of typically used words, characteristic phrases used i n particular categories of documents can be utilize d n order to increase the accuracy of handwritten text recogniti on. The concept of five -stage recognition pipeline and its implementation in flexible text recognition system cooperating with hospital information system are de scribed. The recognition pipeline consists of document categ ory identification, writer recognition, isolated ch aracter and word classification and finally sentence recognitio based on syntax language model. At the stage of c hara ter and word recognition, used classifiers are trained individually for each author and for each text cate gory. Preliminary results of medical text recognition usi ng techniques proposed in recognition pipeline are presented. The proposed recognition method can be applied to h and-printed text recognition as well as to cursive unconstrained script.
Attitude versus Aptitude

This longitudinal study explores the relationships among a set of student input and environmental throughput variables in predicting output human capital skills acquisition and academic achievement at a large Canadian university. The framework for exploring these relationships is referred to as the integrated paradigm of student development. To our surprise, it was found that the input intelligence quotient was negatively related to output human capital skills and to various measures of adjustment to this university setting. In contrast, a measure of input motivation for personal and intellectual development best predicted output skills acquisition and academic achievement, independent of intelligence quotient. Although these counterintuitive findings may be sample- and university-specific, the instrument package representing the integrated paradigm of student development appears to provide a useful diagnostic battery for evaluating how well different types of students make the transition to different types of university settings.
Social Support and Treatment Outcome of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder at 9-Month Follow-up

The present study investigated whether social support and family members' reactions to clients with obsessive compulsive disorder played a significant role in the follow-up outcome of an intensive behavioral treatment program. The roles OCD symptoms, moodstate, social functioning and life events were also assessed. General social support did not predict relapse, but significant others' empathy and positive interactions were associated with maintenance of gains. Negative family interactions (especially criticism and anger) and belief that clients could control their symptoms predicted relapse. Higher levels of post-treatment anxiety and depression and poorer functioning were related to negative outcome, as was distress from life events during follow-up. Results are discussed with respect to possible mechanisms of action and future research needs.
Variation patterns in across-word regressive assimilation in Picard: An Optimality Theoretic account

Before the advent of Optimality Theory (OT), quantitative variation patterns were usually regarded as the outcome of a selection between categorical grammars (see Bailey, 1973; Bickerton, 1973, among others). In a constraint-based approach, like OT, one is able to account for variation without resorting to a separate grammar for each variant, since the framework allows for variation to be encoded in (and therefore predicted by) a single grammar, through variable ranking (or crucial nonranking) of constraints. Along the lines of Reynolds (1994) and Anttila (1997), this study supports the view that, from the predictions determined by a language-specific set of variably ranked constraints, it is possible to establish quantitatively the probability of application of each variant inherent to the variation process. As a consequence, the analysis of across-word regressive assimilation in Picard attempts to incorporate into the grammar of the language both abstract knowledge and quantitative patterns of language use.
The Effects of Career Salience and Life-Cycle Variables on Perceptions of Work-Family Interfaces

In recent years, the life-stages theory on work-family interfaces has attracted considerable attention. Being based on theories of adult development, the life-stages theory has a strong biological/physiological overtone. It overlooks individual differences in values, attitudes, and orientations, as well as the effects of such differences on perceptions of work-family interfaces. In this context, the present paper explored the effects of career salience and life-cycle variables on life-role salience. The findings showed that career salience interacted with life-cycle variables such that life-cycle variables affected the perceptions of men and women with different career orientations differently. The study involved a stratified sample of 429 Business Administration graduates from a local university.
The independence of channels in human vision selective for direction of movement.

1. Human visual selectivity for direction of movement was determined using a subthreshold summation technique. 2. The threshold contrast for detecting a drifting sinusoidal grating was found to be independent of the contrast of an added subthreshold grating which moved in the opposite direction. 3. The detection threshold for a counterphase flickering grating is twice that for a moving grating, suggesting that the visual system analyses a counterphase grating as the sum of two half‐contrast gratings which move in opposite directions. 4. Threshold for a counterphase grating may be linearly reduced by the addition of subthreshold background gratings drifting in either direction. Additivity between counterphase grating and moving background is complete. 5. After adaptation to a drifting grating, the behaviour of counterphase detection threshold as a function of the contrast of a moving subthreshold background depends upon the direction of background movement. When the background moves in a direction opposite that of the adaptation stimulus, complete linear additivity results. When the background moves in the same direction as the adapting grating, counterphase threshold is constant for low background contrasts, but drops linearly for higher background contrasts. 6. The results support the hypothesis that directionally selective channels in human vision are independent contrast detectors. Counterphase gratings are detected by one or the other of these direction‐specific mechanisms, whichever is momentarily the more sensitive.
Dynorphin A(1–17) biotransformation in striatum of freely moving rats using microdialysis and matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry

The biotransformation of the opioid peptide dynorphin A(1–17) was investigated in striatum of freely moving Fischer rats, by direct infusion of this peptide, followed by recovery of the resulting biotransformation products via microdialysis and identification using matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry. The observed peptides are consistent with enzymatic cleavage at the Arg7‐Ile8 position of dynorphin A(1–17), followed by terminal degradation of the resulting dynorphin A(1–7) and dynorphin A(8–17) peptides. Unexpectedly, novel post‐translational modifications were found on C‐terminal fragments of dynorphin A(1–17). Using tandem mass spectrometry, a covalent modification of mass 172 Da, the nature of which is not understood, was found on the tryptophan residue of C‐terminal fragments (Trp14). Additional modifications, of mass 42 and 113 Da, were also found on the N‐terminus (Ile8 or Pro10) of these same C‐terminal fragments. The role of these modifications of C‐terminal fragments has not yet been characterized.
Rapid Evolution of Time-Efficient Packet Classifiers

Communication networks today are facing an ever increasing network traffic as well as raising quality-of-service agreements, which together demand for high performance network routers. Since a router has to search a large set or routing rules for every incoming packet, it normally utilizes efficient search mechanisms, such as trees or hash tables. This paper evolves hash functions directly in hardware and also discusses an improved initialization process. On a benchmark test consisting of 65,536 routing rules, the final hash functions consume an average of about 1.3 memory accesses for rule searching for every incoming data packet.
Parvovirus NS1 stimulates P4 expression by interaction with the terminal repeats and through DNA amplification

Parvovirus protein NS1 is required for replication of viral DNA and plays a role in the regulation of viral gene expression. NS1 trans-activates the P38 promoter for capsid protein synthesis and has variable effects on other promoters. In this study, we examined the effects of NS1 on the regulation of its own promoter, P4. A number of plasmid constructions were made with the P4 promoter fused to reporter genes. The effects of NS1 on expression from the P4 promoter differed depending on the construction. Plasmids containing viral sequences which could not replicate showed a decrease in P4 expression on cotransfection with the NS1 gene. However, plasmids having replication-proficient viral sequences showed a three- to fivefold increase in P4 expression dependent on NS1. The effect on NS1 on P4 transcription was also evaluated at the steady-state RNA level. An infectious clone of the LuIII viral genome was modified to an NS1-NS2 null mutant (pLu272) that is competent for viral DNA replication by introducing a frameshift mutation at codon 5 of the NS1 open reading frame. The P4 transcripts of pLu272 are four nucleotides longer than the wild type and can therefore be resolved from the wild type by primer extension analysis. pLu272 allows comparison of the constitutive level of steady-state RNA produced by the pLu272 P4 promoter in the absence or presence of a template replication dependent on NS1 supplied in trans. NS1 increased P4 transcripts about six- to eightfold. Expression of P4 transcripts from clones that could not amplify depended on the presence of an intact inverted terminal repeat sequence at the left end. A clone with an intact viral left end and a defective viral right end gave an NS1-dependent threefold increase in P4 expression. Destruction of terminal hairpins at both ends resulted in no significant increase in P4 expression in the presence of NS1. Thus, the positive effect of NS1 on the steady-state levels of P4 transcripts depends on the amplification of gene copy number and the integrity of the terminal repeats.
MicroRNA-126 Inhibits Tumor Cell Growth and Its Expression Level Correlates with Poor Survival in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Background It is controversial whether microRNA-126 is a tumor suppressive or oncogenic miRNA. More experiments are needed to determine whether microRNA-126 is associated with non-small cell lung cancer risk and prognosis. Methods Over-expression of microRNA-126 was performed to evaluate the cell invasion and tumor growth in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines and nude mouse xenograft model. Gain-of-function experiments and luciferase assays were performed to reveal the relationship between microRNA-126 and PI3K-Akt signal pathway in A549 cells. We analyzed the associations of the microRNA-126 expression between genetic variants within microRNA-126 and clinical information including smoking status, sex, age, and histological type and the tumor stage. Results Over-expression of microRNA-126 in NSCLC cell lines decreased cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in the nude mouse xenograft model. And microRNA-126 repressed the activity of PI3K-Akt pathway by targeting binding sites in the 3′-untranslated region of PI3KR2 mRNA. The expression level of microRNA-126 was decreased in NSCLC lines and tumor tissues. The patients with low microRNA-126 expression had significantly poorer survival time than those with high microRNA-126 expression (means for survival time (month): 24.392±1.055 vs. 29.282±1.140, P = 0.005). However, there was no significant difference in the genotype and allele frequencies of the microRNA-126 variant (G>A, rs4636297) between cases and controls (P = 0.366). In addition, there was no association between SNP rs4636297 and survival time in NSCLC patients (P = 0.992). And microRNA-126 expression had no significant difference among the three genotype groups (P = 0.972). Conclusions Our data indicate that microRNA-126 is a tumor-suppressor gene in NSCLC and low microRNA-126 expression is a unfavorable prognostic factor in NSCLC patients. However, the regulatory mechanism of microRNA-126 remains to be elucidated in different normal and malignant tissues. Therefore, further research is needed to explore the tumor suppressive functions of microRNA-126 in NSCLC.
Sampled output based continuous second order sliding mode observer

Most of state observers implemented in real systems are not able to measure the information continuously. The sliding observers are not an exception. Nevertheless, when state observers are used in numerical applications or even in real systems, one must implement a sampled based observer. In this paper, a second order sliding mode observer based on the supertwisting algorithm is studied, tacking into account that the output only can be measure in specific periods of the time, to do this, a zero order hold is proposed to sampling the output. The continuous observer is analized in terms of Lyapunov stability. It have been proposed a strong Lyapunov function to show finite-time convergence into a boundary layer that depends on the sampled period. The result is applied into a two-link robot manipulator and it is compared the observer efficiency between different sampled periods to show how the result is affected by the sampling interval.
Love, eye contact and the developmental origins of empathy v. psychopathy.

BACKGROUND A propensity to attend to other people's emotions is a necessary condition for human empathy. AIMS To test our hypothesis that psychopathic disorder begins as a failure to attend to the eyes of attachment figures, using a `love' scenario in young children. METHOD Children with oppositional defiant disorder, assessed for callous-unemotional traits, and a control group were observed in a love interaction with mothers. Eye contact and affection were measured for each dyad. RESULTS There was no group difference in affection and eye contact expressed by the mothers. Compared with controls, children with oppositional defiant disorder expressed lower levels of affection back towards their mothers; those with high levels of callous-unemotional traits showed significantly lower levels of affection than the children lacking these traits. As predicted, the former group showed low levels of eye contact toward their mothers. Low eye contact was not correlated with maternal coercive parenting or feelings toward the child, but was correlated with psychopathic fearlessness in their fathers. CONCLUSIONS Impairments in eye contact are characteristic of children with callous-unemotional traits, and these impairments are independent of maternal behaviour.