Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A practical guide for using statistical tests to assess randomized algorithms in software engineering

Randomized algorithms have been used to successfully address many different types of software engineering problems. This type of algorithms employ a degree of randomness as part of their logic. Randomized algorithms are useful for difficult problems where a precise solution cannot be derived in a deterministic way within reasonable time. However, randomized algorithms produce different results on every run when applied to the same problem instance. It is hence important to assess the effectiveness of randomized algorithms by collecting data from a large enough number of runs. The use of rigorous statistical tests is then essential to provide support to the conclusions derived by analyzing such data. In this paper, we provide a systematic review of the use of randomized algorithms in selected software engineering venues in 2009. Its goal is not to perform a complete survey but to get a representative snapshot of current practice in software engineering research. We show that randomized algorithms are used in a significant percentage of papers but that, in most cases, randomness is not properly accounted for. This casts doubts on the validity of most empirical results assessing randomized algorithms. There are numerous statistical tests, based on different assumptions, and it is not always clear when and how to use these tests. We hence provide practical guidelines to support empirical research on randomized algorithms in software engineering
Majority logic coding schemes performance over FSO channels

In this paper, the performance study of OSMLD convolutional self orthogonal (CSOC) and OSMLD block codes over Gamma-Gamma ΓΓ atmospheric turbulence channel is studied. We analyse the efficiency of channel coding technique for different atmospheric turbulence conditions by modeling the channel with a Gamma-Gamma ΓΓ distribution and with BPSK modulation. The results obtained by Monte Carlo simulation compare different coding schemes with different coding rates and with varying the effect of atmospheric turbulence.
Verbal Rhetoric versus Message Repetition Under Heavy Processing Load and Incidental Exposure to Advertising

Overloaded and disinterested consumers have become skillful at screening out ads. In response, advertisers employ and combine various strategies, with two major ones being (a) rhetorical figures (e.g., rhyme, puns) and (b) message repetition. Though each has received substantial research attention and is crucial to advertising theory, they have not been examined simultaneously. We conducted a multi-magazine experiment that imposed a heavy processing load and incidental exposure to ads. Target ads had headlines varying in rhetorical structure (figurative or not, and scheme or trope) and were repeated one, two, four, or six times. We found that alterations to rhetorical structure had a systematically greater impact on memory, cognitive responses, and ad evaluations than variations in message repetition. Also, consistent with a resource-matching perspective, but contrary to several prior studies, rhetorical schemes that are characterized by internal redundancy (e.g., rhyme), as compared to rhetorical tropes that are more open-ended (e.g., puns), were more effective at intensifying consumers’ selective processing of target ads.
Organizational Variables on Nurses’ Job Performance in Turkey: Nursing Assessments

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe the influence of organizational variables on hospital staff nurses’ job performance as reported by staff nurses in two cities in Turkey. Hospital ownership status, employment status were examined for their effect on this influence. Methods: The reported influence of organizational variables on job performance was measured by a questionnaire developed for this study. Nurses were asked to evaluate the influence of 28 organizational variables on their job performance using a five-point Likert-type scale (1- Never effective, 5- Very effective). The study used comparative and descriptive study design. The staff nurses who were included in this study were 831 hospital staff nurses. Descriptive statistics, frequencies, t-test, ANOVA and factor analysis were used for data analysis. Results: The study showed the relative importance of the 28 organizational variables in influencing nurses’ job performance. Nurses in this study reported that workload and technological support are the most influential organizational variables on their job performance. Factor analysis yielded a five-factor model that explained 53.99% of total variance. Conclusion: Administratively controllable influence job organizational variables influence job performance of nurses in different magnitude.
Embodying Compassion: A Virtual Reality Paradigm for Overcoming Excessive Self-Criticism

Virtual reality has been successfully used to study and treat psychological disorders such as phobias and posttraumatic stress disorder but has rarely been applied to clinically-relevant emotions other than fear and anxiety. Self-criticism is a ubiquitous feature of psychopathology and can be treated by increasing levels of self-compassion. We exploited the known effects of identification with a virtual body to arrange for healthy female volunteers high in self-criticism to experience self-compassion from an embodied first-person perspective within immersive virtual reality. Whereas observation and practice of compassionate responses reduced self-criticism, the additional experience of embodiment also increased self-compassion and feelings of being safe. The results suggest potential new uses for immersive virtual reality in a range of clinical conditions.
Cortical Thickness as a Predictor of Amygdala Reactivity in Healthy Adults

Background: Cortico-limbic affective processing regions undergo structural and functional changes with aging. However, there are no investigations into the relationships between measures of cortical thinning and affective functional reactivity in older adults. Methods: Two groups of Caucasian men (n = 10 each, aged 60 – 85 years, and aged 20 – 40 years) underwent structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging during which they completed affective and sensorimotor (control) tasks administered according to a blocked design. Results: Age groups were comparable in amygdalae response to negative affect. Older men were best distinguished from young by thinning of the gray matter in bilateral frontal, parietal and temporal lobes. Greater mean right amygdala activation was best predicted by a pattern of left orbitoand middle frontal cortical thickness/thinning in older men.
Fusion Method for Uncertain Multi-sensor Information

Aimed at multi-sensor Information fusion on object-level, in which the characteristic values of object types and observations of sensors are in the form of interval numbers, a new fusion method is proposed from the viewpoint of decision making theory. The method defines the deviation degree between two interval numbers. After solving the optimization problem of minimizing the overall square deviation between the object types and the unknown object, the weights of the attributes are obtained. Thus, the result of recognition is given through the deviation degree of overall attributes between object type and unknown object. This method can overcome the subjectivity of selecting attributes weights. It is straightforward and can be performed on computer easily. Finally, a part recognition experiment is given to demonstrate the feasibility and practicability of the proposed method.
Programming with proofs and explicit contexts

This paper explores a new point in the design space of functional programming: functional programming with dependently-typed higher-order data structures described in the logical framework LF. This allows us to program with proofs as higher-order data. We present a decidable bidirectional type system that distinguishes between dependently-typed data and computations. To support reasoning about open data, our foundation makes contexts explicit. This provides us with a concise characterization of open data, which is crucial to elegantly describe proofs. In addition, we present an operational semantics for this language based on higherorder pattern matching for dependently typed objects. Based on this development, we prove progress and preservation
Body mass index is inversely associated with mortality in patients with acute kidney injury undergoing continuous renal replacement therapy

Background Many epidemiologic studies have reported on the controversial concept of the obesity paradox. The presence of acute kidney injury (AKI) can accelerate energy-consuming processes, particularly in patients requiring continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). Thus, we aimed to investigate whether obesity can provide a survival benefit in this highly catabolic condition. Methods We conducted an observational study in 212 patients who had undergone CRRT owing to various causes of AKI between 2010 and 2014. The study end point was defined as death that occurred within 30 days after the initiation of CRRT. Results Patients were categorized into three groups according to tertiles of body mass index (BMI). During ≥30 days after the initiation of CRRT, 39 patients (57.4%) in the highest tertile died, as compared with 58 patients (78.4%) in the lowest tertile (P = 0.02). In a multivariable analysis adjusted for cofounding factors, the highest tertile of BMI was significantly associated with a decreased risk of death (hazard ratio [HR], 0.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.37–0.87; P = 0.01). This significant association remained unaltered for 60-day (HR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.43–0.94; P = 0.03) and 90-day mortality (HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.44–0.97; P = 0.03). Conclusion This study showed that a higher BMI confer a survival benefit over a lower BMI in AKI patients undergoing CRRT.
SUBSTRUCTURE DEPLETION IN THE MILKY WAY HALO BY THE DISK

We employ numerical simulations and simple analytical estimates to argue that dark matter substructures orbiting in the inner regions of the Galaxy can be efficiently destroyed by disk shocking, a dynamical process known to affect globular star clusters. We carry out a set of fiducial high-resolution collisionless simulations in which we adiabatically grow a disk, allowing us to examine the impact of the disk on the substructure abundance. We also track the orbits of dark matter satellites in high-resolution Aquarius simulations and analytically estimate the cumulative halo and disk-shocking effect. Our calculations indicate that the presence of a disk with only 10% of the total Milky Way mass can significantly alter the mass function of substructures in the inner parts of halos. This has important implications especially for the relatively small number of satellites seen within ∼30 kpc of the Milky Way center, where disk shocking is expected to reduce the substructure abundance by a factor of 2 at 109 M☉ and a factor of 3 at 107 M☉. The most massive subhalos with 1010 M☉ survive even in the presence of the disk. This suggests that there is no inner missing satellite problem and calls into question whether these substructures can produce transient features in disks, like multi-armed spiral patterns. Also, the depletion of dark matter substructures through shocking on the baryonic structures of the disk and central bulge may aggravate the problem to fully account for the observed flux anomalies in gravitational lens systems, and significantly reduces the dark matter annihilation signal expected from nearby substructures in the inner halo.
Predictive processes during simultaneous interpreting from German into English.

We report a study on prediction in shadowing and simultaneous interpreting (SI), both considered as forms of real-time, ‘online’ spoken language processing. The study comprised two experiments, focusing on: (i) shadowing of German head-final sentences by 20 advanced students of German, all native speakers of English; (ii) SI of the same sentences into English head-initial sentences by 22 advanced students of German, again native English speakers, and also by 11 trainee and practising interpreters. Latency times for input and production of the target verbs were measured. Drawing on studies of prediction in English-language reading production, we examined two cues to prediction in both experiments: contextual constraints (semantic cues in the context) and transitional probability (the statistical likelihood of words occurring together in the language concerned). While context affected prediction during both shadowing and SI, transitional probability appeared to favour prediction during shadowing but not during SI. This suggests that the two cues operate on different levels of language processing in SI.
How Do We Manage? Determinants of Effective Leadership in High-Poverty Schools

Abstract The paper focused on the challenges facing principals of high-poverty schools in an Education District in South Africa. It sought to determine how some schools in disadvantaged communities excel academically, despite the poor living conditions of their learners and other poverty-related disadvantages. It also set out to establish which elements constitute a profile of effective leadership in high-poverty schools. An empirical investigation using a qualitative research design was carried out and data were gathered through interviews with the principals and focus group discussions with teachers from the three selected schools. Based on the research findings derived from the literature and the views of the participants in the study, it was found that, by employing effective leadership strategies and having a committed staff cohort, it is indeed possible for high-poverty schools to maintain excellent academic standards and achieve consistently high results against all the odds. Strategies for achievement are proposed for principals of high-poverty schools.
Predictor-based sampled-data stabilization via continuous-discrete observers

We consider a stabilization problem for a continuous-time linear system with discrete-time measurements and a sampled input with a pointwise constant delay. In a first step, we construct a continuous-discrete observer which converges when the maximum time interval between two consecutive measurements is sufficiently small. In a second step, we construct a dynamic output feedback through a technique which is strongly reminiscent of the reduction model approach. It stabilizes the system when the maximal time between two consecutive sampling instants is sufficiently small. No limitation on the size of the delay is imposed.
Microbiologicaland Radloimmunological Assays for FolicAcid in Whole Blood

CLINICAL CHEMISTRY, Vol.29, No. 12, 1983 2117 Total biirubin in the cord serum was 14 mgfL, which correlated with the delta 450 bilirubin estimate of 15.2 mg/ L The free hemoglobin in the cord blood was 68 mg/L. The cord blood hematocrit was estimated to be less than 5%. As shown by the data listed in Table 1, the mother had demonstrated an increasing anti-D titer throughout the pregnancy (highly suggestive of Rh immunization); however, the amniotic fluid concentrations of bilirubin were low and therefore inconsistent with the anti-D titers. The amniotic fluid did not show visible signs of hemolysis or methemoglobin in any specimen. In fact, decreasing concentrations of bilirubin were observed at weeks 30, 31, and 32, and by week 35 the bilirubin estimation by the delta 450 test was quite low (estimated value of 0.4 mg/ L). The low result for bilirubin, and hence the failure of the delta 450 test to reflect accurately the apparent intra-uterine hemolysis, was presumably due to the low hematocrit. We conclude that because of the low mass of erythrocytes in the fetus, there was insuffident hemolysis to show an increased bilirubin concentration in the amniotic fluid. The reviewers of this Letter have suggested that another useful test in this situation would have been the determination of the IgG subclasses in the maternal blood.
Costs of elaborate weapons in a rhinoceros beetle: how difficult is it to fly with a big horn?

The giant horns of rhinoceros beetles exemplify the extreme morphologies that can result from sexual selection. Ornaments and weapons help males obtain mates but may also impose fitness costs. Intuitively, exaggerated sexually selected traits should impair locomotion, yet compensatory morphologies often make it difficult to detect locomotor costs. Here, we tested whether horns of the rhinoceros beetle Trypoxylus dichotomus impair flight and whether males compensate by developing larger wings or flight muscles. Contrary to our expectation that horns are costly for flight, males flew as fast as females, and among males, horn length was not correlated with flight speed or distance flown. We found some evidence for compensations in the male flight apparatus; males had relatively larger wings and flight muscles than females, and males with long horns for their body size had larger wings than males with relatively short horns. Flight muscle mass, however, was unaffected by horn length. We conclude that T. dichotomus horns may have been costly in the past and led to morphological compensations in wing and flight muscle size, but they do not currently impose significant flight costs. Fitness costs are a central tenet of sexual selection theory, and the large horns of rhinoceros beetles are expected to impose particularly strong costs on locomotion. Given our finding that T. dichotomus horns are surprisingly easy to carry, future work will be needed to identify the potential costs that have been important in shaping the evolution of elaborate horn morphologies.
Personality for the Brain Injured Child

THERE is almost no situation where psychological factors assume a greater role than in planning education and treatment for children with early brain injury and sequelae of psychomotor, sensory and neuromuscular impairments. Yet there is a lack of basic psychological knowledge in understanding of the personality of the brain-injured child. The authors of a recent review of psychological effects of brain lesions (26) have commented upon this. It is the author's belief that understanding of the impact of early brain injury on personality may be enhanced by considering all the factors that might be influential in the life of the brain injured child. Therefore, this article is devoted to a systematic and critical review of existing literature directly and indirectly bearing on this topic in the hope that the conclusions obtained as to fact, theory and methodology will stimulate further research in this little explored area. No attempt is made to duplicate previous reviews which abound in the literature on individual topics such as intellectual, sensory and motor deficits in early braindamage. Rather, the emphasis is placed on the behavioral and personality concomitants of the original brain trauma and its sequelae. Towards this end, and to facilitate exposition, the subject will be discussed from the historical, theoretical and experimental viewpoints.
Success rates and complications of awake caudal versus spinal block in preterm infants undergoing inguinal hernia repair: A prospective study

Background: Inguinal hernia is a common disease in preterm infants necessitating surgical repair. Despite the increased risk of postoperative apnea in preterm infants, the procedure was conventionally performed under general anesthesia. Recently, regional anesthesia approaches, including spinal and caudal blocks have been proposed as safe and efficient alternative anesthesia methods in this group of patients. The current study evaluates awake caudal and spinal blocks in preterm infants undergoing inguinal hernia repair. Materials and Methods: In a randomized clinical trial, 66 neonates and infants (weight <5 kg) undergoing inguinal hernia repair were recruited in Tabriz Teaching Children Hospital during a 12-month period. They were randomly divided into two equal groups; receiving either caudal block by 1 ml/kg of 0.25% bupivacaine plus 20 μg adrenaline (group C) or spinal block by 1 mg/kg of 0.5% bupivacaine plus 20 μg adrenaline (group S). Vital signs and pain scores were documented during operation and thereafter up to 24 h after operation. Results: Decrease in heart rate and systolic blood pressure was significantly higher in group C throughout the study period (P < 0.05). The mean recovery time was significantly higher in group S (27.3 ± 5.5 min vs. 21.8 ± 9.3 min; P = 0.03). Postoperative need for analgesia was significantly more frequent in group S (75.8% vs. 36.4%; P = 0.001). Failure in anesthesia was significantly higher in group S (24.4% vs. 6.1%; P = 0.04). Conclusion: More appropriate success rate, duration of recovery and postoperative need of analgesics could contribute to caudal block being a superior anesthesia technique compared to spinal anesthesia in awaked preterm infants undergoing inguinal hernia repair.
Language learning styles of engineering and non-engineering students at private institution of higher education in Malaysia

Each learner has his or her own preference of learning styles, which might be effective for them to achieve learning objectives. Nonetheless, not all preferred learning styles suit each learner. There are variables that may influence the suitability and the effectiveness of the learning styles. In other words, certain learning styles that work well for certain people, may not be suitable to some others (Cavanagh, Hogan and Ramgopal, 1995). In fact, students from different program apply certain learning styles to suit the nature of the program. For example, natural science students prefer Tactile, auditory and kinesthetic, while social science students prefer visual and group learning (Khurshid and Mahmood, 2012). Due to its interesting and variety of finding on learning styles, this study has looked into the learning styles employed by the undergraduates of engineering technology and non-engineering technology at a private university in Johor and secondly, to find if there was any relationship between learning styles and course of study, working experience, latest qualification and between students who come from rural or urban area. The respondents were semester one students (n = 257students) and in order to determine their learning styles, VARK questionnaire was administered and the data was analyzed to find any relationship between learning styles and the independent variables. The study found that majority of the students, either engineering or non-engineering preferred reading style, followed by audio, kinesthetic and visual. This finding could be a result of their background and other factors. It is hoped that the results will provide information to the lecturers on the students learning styles which can assist them to prepare teaching and learning activities which suit the students.