Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Challenge of Induction! Introducing Engineering Students to Higher Education: A Task-Oriented Approach

A major internal report on attrition rates highlighted many causes but in particular it was suggested that the induction process ill prepared the students for their course. Our radical departure was an activity, team based approach during which students investigated and reported on a technical issue. The explicit objective was this investigation. The implicit aims were to introduce the students to the University's systems and procedures by using them. More importantly, in an informal setting, students immediately met fellow students and staff. Novel aspects were the attachment of a facilitator, later personal tutor, to each group and providing a panel of experts to whom students could refer. Student reaction to the experience was very favourable. Facilitator and expert opinion were somewhat more qualified but were also favourable. The effect on progression rates is yet to be determined. Means must also be found of reducing the very high call on staff resources which were required.
Global climate change and mammalian species diversity in U.S. national parks

National parks and bioreserves are key conservation tools used to protect species and their habitats within the confines of fixed political boundaries. This inflexibility may be their “Achilles' heel” as conservation tools in the face of emerging global-scale environmental problems such as climate change. Global climate change, brought about by rising levels of greenhouse gases, threatens to alter the geographic distribution of many habitats and their component species. With these changes comes great uncertainty about the future ability of parks and protected areas to meet their conservation mandates. We report here on an analysis aimed at assessing the extent of mammalian species turnover that may be experienced in eight selected U.S. national parks if climate change causes mammalian species within the continental U.S. to relocate to new geographic locations. Due to species losses of up to 20% and drastic influxes of new species, national parks are not likely to meet their mandate of protecting current biodiversity within park boundaries. This approach represents a conservative prognosis. As species assemblages change, new interactions between species may lead to less predictable indirect effects of climate change, increasing the toll beyond that found in this study.
Personality and environment : assessment of human adaptation

Part 1 Theoretical and methodological introduction: biosocial interaction and individual adaptation, Joop Hettema and Douglas Kenrick principles of personality assessment, Joop Hettema. Part 2 Assessment at the cognitive symbolic level: self-report - from traits to strategies, Joop Hettema situation-concepts - definitions and classification, Guus van Heck transformation rules - towards a taxonomy of everyday behaviour, Joop Hettema the assessment of behavioural strategies, Joop Hettema and Dorien Hol. Part 3 Assessment at the control level: psychophysiology - from temperment to tactics, Joop Hettema the representation of situations through films, Guus Van Heck et al patterns of physiological and biochemical reaction during films, Ad Vingerhoets et al construct validation of psychophysiological state patterns, Margo van der Molen et al. Part 4 Assessment at the sensorimotor operational level: behavioural observation - traits, situations or interactions, Joop Hettema settings and schedule for the direct observation of behaviour, Dorien Hol an empirical study of interpersonal behaviour in simulated situations, Joop Hettema and Dorien Hol. Part 5 Personality as a strategic-tactical coalition: predictive validity, Joop Hettema towards a two-process conception of human adaptation, Joop Hettema.
If the real world were irrelevant, so to speak: The role of propositional truth-value in counterfactual sentence comprehension

Propositional truth-value can be a defining feature of a sentence’s relevance to the unfolding discourse, and establishing propositional truth-value in context can be key to successful interpretation. In the current study, we investigate its role in the comprehension of counterfactual conditionals, which describe imaginary consequences of hypothetical events, and are thought to require keeping in mind both what is true and what is false. Pre-stored real-world knowledge may therefore intrude upon and delay counterfactual comprehension, which is predicted by some accounts of discourse comprehension, and has been observed during online comprehension. The impact of propositional truth-value may thus be delayed in counterfactual conditionals, as also claimed for sentences containing other types of logical operators (e.g., negation, scalar quantifiers). In an Event-Related Potential (ERP) experiment, we investigated the impact of propositional truth-value when described consequences are both true and predictable given the counterfactual premise. False words elicited larger N400 ERPs than true words, in negated counterfactual sentences (e.g., “If N.A.S.A. had not developed its Apollo Project, the first country to land on the moon would have been Russia/America”) and real-world sentences (e.g., “Because N.A.S.A. developed its Apollo Project, the first country to land on the moon was America/Russia") alike. These indistinguishable N400 effects of propositional truth-value, elicited by opposite word pairs, argue against disruptions by real-world knowledge during counterfactual comprehension, and suggest that incoming words are mapped onto the counterfactual context without any delay. Thus, provided a sufficiently constraining context, propositional truth-value rapidly impacts ongoing semantic processing, be the proposition factual or counterfactual.
Cultural Alchemy: Translating the Experience Economy into Scandinavian

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Neural network approach to the segmentation and classification of dynamic magnetic resonance images of the breast: comparison with empiric and quantitative kinetic parameters.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVE An artificial neural network (ANN)-based segmentation method was developed for dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the breast and compared with quantitative and empiric parameter mapping techniques. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study population was composed of 10 patients with seven malignant and three benign lesions undergoing dynamic MR imaging of the breast. All lesions were biopsied or surgically excised, and examined by means of histopathology. A T1-weighted 3D FLASH (fast low angle shot sequence) was acquired before and seven times after the intravenous administration of gadopentetate dimeglumine at a dose of 0.1 mmol/kg body weight. Motion artifacts on MR images were eliminated by voxel-based affine and nonrigid registration techniques. A two-layered feed-forward back-propagation network was created for pixel-by-pixel classification of signal intensity-time curves into benign/malignant tissue types. ANN output was statistically compared with percent-enhancement (E), signal enhancement ratio (SER), time-to-peak, subtracted signal intensity (SUB), pharmacokinetic parameter rate constant (k(ep)), and correlation coefficient to a predefined reference washout curve. RESULTS ANN was successfully applied to the classification of breast MR images identifying structures with benign or malignant enhancement kinetics. Correlation coefficient (logistic regression, odds ratio [OR] = 12.9; 95% CI: 7.7-21.8), k(ep) (OR = 1.8; 95% CI: 1.2-2.6), and time-to-peak (OR = 0.45; 95% CI: 0.3-0.7) were independently associated to ANN output classes. SER, E, and SUB were nonsignificant covariates. CONCLUSION ANN is capable of classifying breast lesions on MR images. Mapping correlation coefficient, k(ep) and time-to-peak showed the highest association with the ANN result.
Tgfβ signaling acts on a Hox response element to confer specificity and diversity to Hox protein function

Hox proteins play fundamental roles in generating pattern diversity during development and evolution, acting in broad domains but controlling localized cell diversification and pattern. Much remains to be learned about how Hox selector proteins generate cell-type diversity. In this study, regulatory specificity was investigated by dissecting the genetic and molecular requirements that allow the Hox protein Abdominal A to activate wingless in only a few cells of its broad expression domain in the Drosophila visceral mesoderm. We show that the Dpp/Tgfβ signal controls Abdominal A function, and that Hox protein and signal-activated regulators converge on a wingless enhancer. The signal, acting through Mad and Creb, provides spatial information that subdivides the domain of Abdominal A function through direct combinatorial action, conferring specificity and diversity upon Abdominal A activity.
A Space Mapping Methodology for Defect Characterization From Magnetic Flux Leakage Measurements

We present an inversion methodology for defect characterization using the data from magnetic flux leakage (MFL) measurements. We use a single tangential component of the leakage field as the MFL response. The inversion procedure employs the space mapping methodology. Space mapping is an efficient technique that shifts the optimization burden from a computationally expensive accurate (fine) model to a less accurate (coarse) but fast model. Here the fine model is a finite-element method (FEM) simulation, while the coarse model is based on analytical formulas. We achieve good estimation of the defect parameters using just a few FEM simulations, which leads to substantial savings in computational cost as compared to other optimization approaches. We examine the efficiency of the proposed inversion technique in estimating the shape parameters of rectangular and cylindrical defects in steel pipes. Our results show good agreement between the actual and estimated defect parameters.
Keystroke dynamics on a mobile handset: a feasibility study

The ability of third generation telephones to store sensitive information, such as financial records, digital certificates and company records, makes them desirable targets for impostors. This paper details the feasibility of a non‐intrusive subscriber authentication technique – the use of keystroke dynamics. This feasibility study comprises a number of investigations into the ability of neural networks to authenticate users successfully based on their interactions with a mobile phone keypad. The initial results are promising with network classification performing well, achieving a 9.8 per cent false rejection rate and an 11.0 per cent false acceptance rate.
Issues and Innovations in Nursing Practice End of Life Care: a Discursive Analysis of Specialist Palliative Care Nursing

End of life care: a discursive analysis of specialist palliative care nursing Aim. The aim of this paper is to consider alternative approaches to service delivery for patients with chronic life-limiting illnesses other than cancer. It will also discuss the issues that arise when considering specialist palliative care services within a broader public health context in the United Kingdom. Background. Contemporary specialist palliative care in the United Kingdom can be said to have two main client groups: the majority are people with a diagnosis of cancer, and a minority are those with a number of other chronic illnesses. From the evidence to date, patients dying from chronic, non-malignant disease experience a considerable number of unmet needs in terms of symptom control and psychosocial support. Although debates in the literature over the last decade have challenged the focus of specialist palliative care services on patients with a cancer diagnosis, only a minority of those with other chronic illnesses receive specialist palliative care services. Discussion. Current models of specialist palliative care may not be the most appropriate for addressing the complex problems experienced by the many patients with a non-cancer diagnosis. We suggest that care should be structured around patient problems, viewing specialist palliative care as a service for those with complex end of life symptoms or problems. A role for innovative nurse-led care is proposed. Conclusion. Reframing the approach to specialist palliative care in the United Kingdom will require great effort on the part of all health and social care professionals , not least nurses. Critical and creative thinking are prerequisites to the development of new models of working. We suggest that a more coherent approach to research and education is required, in particular strategies that explore how patients and nurses can work together in exploring experiences of illness in order to develop more proactive approaches to care.
Comparison of low-intensity warfarin therapy with conventional-intensity warfarin therapy for long-term prevention of recurrent venous thromboembolism.

BACKGROUND Warfarin is very effective in preventing recurrent venous thromboembolism but is also associated with a substantial risk of bleeding. After three months of conventional warfarin therapy, a lower dose of anticoagulant medication may result in less bleeding and still prevent recurrent venous thromboembolism. METHODS We conducted a randomized, double-blind study, in which 738 patients who had completed three or more months of warfarin therapy for unprovoked venous thromboembolism were randomly assigned to continue warfarin therapy with a target international normalized ratio (INR) of 2.0 to 3.0 (conventional intensity) or a target INR of 1.5 to 1.9 (low intensity). Patients were followed for an average of 2.4 years. RESULTS Of 369 patients assigned to low-intensity therapy, 16 had recurrent venous thromboembolism (1.9 per 100 person-years), as compared with 6 of 369 assigned to conventional-intensity therapy (0.7 per 100 person-years; hazard ratio, 2.8; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.1 to 7.0). A major bleeding episode occurred in nine patients assigned to low-intensity therapy (1.1 events per 100 person-years) and eight patients assigned to conventional-intensity therapy (0.9 event per 100 person-years; hazard ratio, 1.2; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.4 to 3.0). There was no significant difference in the frequency of overall bleeding between the two groups (hazard ratio, 1.3; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.8 to 2.1). CONCLUSIONS Conventional-intensity warfarin therapy is more effective than low-intensity warfarin therapy for the long-term prevention of recurrent venous thromboembolism. The low-intensity warfarin regimen does not reduce the risk of clinically important bleeding.
Optimal surface marker locations for tumor motion estimation in lung cancer radiotherapy

Using fiducial markers on the patient’s body surface to predict the tumor location is a widely used approach in lung cancer radiotherapy. The purpose of this work is to propose an algorithm that automatically identifies a sparse set of locations on the patient’s surface with the optimal prediction power for the tumor motion. In our algorithm, it is assumed that there is a linear relationship between the surface marker motion and the tumor motion. The sparse selection of markers on the external surface and the linear relationship between the marker motion and the internal tumor motion are represented by a prediction matrix. Such a matrix is determined by solving an optimization problem, where the objective function contains a sparsity term that penalizes the number of markers chosen on the patient’s surface. Bregman iteration is used to solve the proposed optimization problem. The performance of our algorithm has been tested on realistic clinical data of four lung cancer patients. Thoracic 4DCT scans with ten phases are used for the study. On a reference phase, a grid of points are casted on the patient’s surfaces (except for the patient’s back) and propagated to other phases via deformable image registration of the corresponding CT images. Tumor locations at each phase are also manually delineated. We use nine out of ten phases of the 4DCT images to identify a small group of surface markers that are mostly correlated with the motion of the tumor and find the prediction matrix at the same time. The tenth phase is then used to test the accuracy of the prediction. It is found that on average six to seven surface markers are necessary to predict tumor locations with a 3D error of about 1 mm. It is also found that the selected marker locations lie closely in those areas where surface point motion has a large amplitude and a high correlation with the tumor motion. Our method can automatically select sparse locations on the patient’s external surface and estimate a correlation matrix based on 4DCT, so that the selected surface locations can be used to place fiducial markers to optimally predict internal tumor motions.
Masculinity Ideals in a Contemporary Danish Context

What are the prevailing masculinity ideals among contemporary Danish men? As one of the Nordic welfare states, Denmark has for decades focused on gender equality and changes in the gendered division of labour. Research has suggested a shift in masculinity ideals, but processes of change comprise not only changes but also continuities, as well as ambivalences and contradictions. This article investigates how normative masculinity ideals—the most accepted ways of being a man in a certain context—are expressed and negotiated by contemporary Danish men, and how these ideals are related to overall discourses of gender. The article is based on a mixed methods design, consisting of: (1) a quantitative survey among lower-educated men in two male-dominated occupations, and (2) a qualitative, explorative analysis of data from five focus group interviews with both lower- and higher-educated men. The two occupations in the survey constitute a critical case, based on the argument that if traditional masculinity ideals are rejected here—among lower-educated men, who are likely to be more supportive of traditional gender ideals than the more highly educated—then Danish men in general are likely to reject traditional masculinity ideals. Both the quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate that traditional patriarchal masculinity ideals are not the most legitimate among the men. They seem to subscribe to more gender equality friendly masculinities, although this picture is not clear-cut as we also see negotiations and variations between the men. Thus, the article concludes that in a Danish context we can identify authoritative masculinity ideals that do not reproduce patriarchy or support traditional masculinity ideals in an unambiguous way.
"May God Give Sons to All": Gender and Child Mortality in India

Using cross-sectional data from more than 350 districts in India in 1981 I test whether female labor force participation and kinship structures explain gender differences in the mortality of children ages 0 to 5. The relationship of mortality differentials to economic development socioeconomic stratification rice cultivation and region is also examined. Results suggest that kinship structures and female labor force participation are important factors in gender differences in child mortality and these factors reinforce each other to produce especially high sex differentials in mortality.Gender differences in child mortality between the North and South regions of India remain unexplained. (EXCERPT)
What is the truth? A demonstration of language manipulation in two newspapers and the pedagogical implications

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) aims to show how discourse shapes and is shaped by power relations in society. Conducted in a CDA framework, this study aims to investigate how The Los Angeles Times and Tehran Times represent the reaction of Russia after a speech delivered by Iran’s ex-President on May 26, 2010 in order to have a consciousness-raising about the power of language in changing one’s view about the events, and, more importantly, to shed light on the implications of CDA for language pedagogy. In this study, Van Dijk’s (2000) framework was employed to detect the discursive strategies used by the two newspapers. After the analyses of news reports, it was found that the two newspapers represent the reaction of Russia significantly differently to their readers, based on their different ideologies by using two overall semantic macro-strategies of positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation which are realized by other discursive strategies such as lexicalization, repetition, vagueness, illegality, and history as lesson.
Classification of Acoustic Emission Based Partial Discharge in Oil Pressboard Insulation System Using Wavelet Analysis

Insulation used in transformer is mostly oil pressboard insulation. Insulation failure is one of the major causes of catastrophic failure of transformers. It is established that partial discharges (PD) cause insulation degradation and premature failure of insulation. Online monitoring of PDs can reduce the risk of catastrophic failure of transformers. There are different techniques of partial discharge measurement like, electrical, optical, acoustic, opto-acoustic and ultra high frequency (UHF). Being non invasive and non interference prone, acoustic emission technique is advantageous for online PD measurement. Acoustic detection of p.d. is based on the retrieval and analysis of mechanical or pressure signals produced by partial discharges. Partial discharges are classified according to the origin of discharges. Their effects on insulation deterioration are different for different types. This paper reports experimental results and analysis for classification of partial discharges using acoustic emission signal of laboratory simulated partial discharges in oil pressboard insulation system using three different electrode systems. Acoustic emission signal produced by PD are detected by sensors mounted on the experimental tank surface, stored on an oscilloscope and fed to computer for further analysis. The measured AE signals are analyzed using discrete wavelet transform analysis and wavelet packet analysis. Energy distribution in different frequency bands of discrete wavelet decomposed signal and wavelet packet decomposed signal is calculated. These analyses show a distinct feature useful for PD classification. Wavelet packet analysis can sort out any misclassification arising out of DWT in most cases. Keywords—Acoustic Emission, Discrete Wavelet Transform, Partial Discharge, Wavelet Packet Analysis