Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Convexity in Saddle-Point Dynamics: Lyapunov Function and Robustness

This paper studies the projected saddle-point dynamics associated to a convex–concave function, which we term saddle function. The dynamics consists of gradient descent of the saddle function in variables corresponding to convexity and (projected) gradient ascent in variables corresponding to concavity. We examine the role that the local and/or global nature of the convexity–concavity properties of the saddle function plays in guaranteeing convergence and robustness of the dynamics. Under the assumption that the saddle function is twice continuously differentiable, we provide a novel characterization of the omega-limit set of the trajectories of this dynamics in terms of the diagonal blocks of the Hessian. Using this characterization, we establish global asymptotic convergence of the dynamics under local strong convexity–concavity of the saddle function. When strong convexity–concavity holds globally, we establish three results. First, we identify a Lyapunov function (that decreases strictly along the trajectory) for the projected saddle-point dynamics when the saddle function corresponds to the Lagrangian of a general constrained convex optimization problem. Second, for the particular case when the saddle function is the Lagrangian of an equality-constrained optimization problem, we show input-to-state stability (ISS) of the saddle-point dynamics by providing an ISS Lyapunov function. Third, we use the latter result to design an opportunistic state-triggered implementation of the dynamics. Various examples illustrate our results.
Redisciplining generic attributes: the disciplinary context in focus

This article discusses the findings of a recent study which demonstrates that generic attributes are highly context‐dependent, and are shaped by the disciplinary epistemology in which they are conceptualised and taught. Generic attributes have, for a long time, been viewed as super‐disciplinary, and hence as separated from and overlayed onto disciplinary content. There has been considerable interest in generic skills or attributes over more than a decade, and there has also been interest in disciplinary culture, and yet there has been little research which has examined the importance of disciplinary epistemology in shaping generic skills and attributes. This study brings together these two strands of research. The study examined the teaching of generic attributes in five disciplines – physics, history, economics, medicine and law – in two Australian universities. The study is based on in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews with academic staff. The findings demonstrate that skills such as critical thinking, analysis, problem solving and communication are conceptualised and taught in quite different ways in each of the disciplines. This article suggests that a de‐disciplined approach to generic skills has led to problems in the areas of educational policy and practice. Instead it proposes a re‐disciplined theorising of generic skills and attributes, which frames them as part of the social practice of the disciplines, and so understood as in and of the disciplinary culture. This new conceptualisation of generic skills and attributes acknowledges the integration of attributes with disciplinary epistemology.
A tutorial on n-support vector machines

SUMMARY We briefly describe the main ideas of statistical learning theory, support vector machines (SVMs), and kernel feature spaces. We place particular emphasis on a description of the so-called n-SVM, including details of the algorithm and its implementation, theoretical results, and practical applications. Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Giardia: overview and update.

Giardia is a protozoan flagellate that was first observed by Van Leeuwenhoek in 1681 and more fully described by Lamb in 1859. It was initially thought to be a commensal in humans, but it is now clearly recognized as a common cause of diarrhea and malabsorption. Giardia infects millions of people throughout the world in both epidemic and sporadic forms. It is transmitted through ingestion of contaminated water and food, person-to-person contact in child care centers, and male homosexual activity.
Workspaces: the HyperDisco approach to Internet distribution

Hypermedia concepts are currently being deployed in a variety of information systems such as the World Wide Web, software development environments, large engineering enterprises, collaborative authoring systems, and digital library systems. The complex requirements of these application areas have resulted in extensive research into hypermedia infrastructures. The HyperDisco project is about design, development, deployment and assessment of hypermedia infrastructures. Previous HyperDisco experiments have dealt with integration of a small set of tools supporting authoring and extension of the integrated tools to support multiple collaborating users and multiple versions of shared files. These experiments were conducted on a local area network using a single centralized workspace. The latest version of HyperDisco supports collaboration and versioning over multiple workspaces distributed across the Internet. This paper gives a brief overview of HyperDisco, describes the workspace concept and reports on the latest experiments: (1) an experiment that allows the use of multiple workspaces on a local area network, (2) an experiment that allows workspaces to be distributed across the Internet, and (3) an experiment focusing on hypermedia modeling and presentation issues of distributed workspaces.
A Multigroup Investigation of Latent Cognitive Abilities and Reading Achievement Relations

Abstract. The structural relations between the Cattell–Horn–Carroll abilities and reading achievement outcome variables across child and adolescent development were examined in the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition, and the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, Second Edition, conormed sample. We estimated single-group models using a cross-validation technique and then tested those salient effects using multigroup structural equation models to test the equality of salient effects across stages of development to determine whether those effects were moderated by grade. Nonequivalent models were also used to test the directionality of reading decoding and reading comprehension. The direct effects of long-term retrieval and short-term memory on reading decoding were the same across grade groupings. Findings support moderation by grade for the direct effects of comprehension–knowledge and reading decoding on reading comprehension. In Grades 1–6, the direct effect of comprehension–knowledge on reading decoding was smaller than the direct effect in Grades 7–12. The direct effect of comprehension–knowledge on reading comprehension was much smaller in Grades 1–3 compared with Grades 4–12. The path from reading decoding to reading comprehension was much larger in Grades 1–3 compared with Grades 4–12. The nonequivalent models suggest that the directionality of influence is from reading decoding to reading comprehension and not vice versa. Results from this study support a differentiated view of reading development with increases in comprehension–knowledge and decreases in reading decoding in explaining individual differences in reading comprehension over time.
Changes of functional connectivity in the left frontoparietal network following aphasic stroke

Language is an essential higher cognitive function supported by large-scale brain networks. In this study, we investigated functional connectivity changes in the left frontoparietal network (LFPN), a language-cognition related brain network in aphasic patients. We enrolled 13 aphasic patients who had undergone a stroke in the left hemisphere and age-, gender-, educational level-matched controls and analyzed the data by integrating independent component analysis (ICA) with a network connectivity analysis method. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and clinical evaluation of language function were assessed at two stages: 1 and 2 months after stroke onset. We found reduced functional connectivity between the LFPN and the right middle frontal cortex, medial frontal cortex, and right inferior frontal cortex in aphasic patients as compared to controls. Correlation analysis showed that stronger functional connectivity between the LFPN and the right middle frontal cortex and medial frontal cortex coincided with more preserved language comprehension ability after stroke. Network connectivity analysis showed reduced LFPN connectivity as indicated by the mean network connectivity index of key regions in the LFPN of aphasic patients. The decreased LFPN connectivity in stroke patients was significantly associated with the impairment of language function in their comprehension ability. We also found significant association between recovery of comprehension ability and the mean changes in intrinsic LFPN connectivity. Our findings suggest that brain lesions may influence language comprehension by altering functional connectivity between regions and that the patterns of abnormal functional connectivity may contribute to the recovery of language deficits.
A Validation of Extraction Methods for Noninvasive Sampling of Glucocorticoids in Free‐Living Ground Squirrels

Fecal hormone assays provide a powerful tool for noninvasive monitoring of endocrine status in wild animals. In this study we validated a protocol for extracting and measuring glucocorticoids in free‐living and captive Belding’s ground squirrels (Spermophilus beldingi). We first compared two commonly used extraction protocols to determine which performed better with commercially available antibodies. We next verified the preferred extraction method by correlating circulating and fecal glucocorticoid measures from a group of individuals over time. For this comparison, we used both a cortisol and a corticosterone antibody to determine which had greater affinity to the fecal metabolites. Cortisol was the primary circulating glucocorticoid, but both hormones were present in well above detectable concentrations in the blood, which does not occur in other sciurids. In addition, the cortisol antibody showed greater binding with the fecal extracts than did the corticosterone antibody. Finally, we used adrenocorticotropic hormone and dexamethasone challenges to demonstrate that changes in adrenal functioning are reflected in changing fecal corticoid levels. These results suggest that our extraction protocol provides a fast, reliable assay of stress hormones in free‐living ground squirrels without the confounding influence of short‐term rises in glucocorticoid concentrations caused by handling and restraint stress and that it can facilitate ecological and evolutionary studies of stress in wild species.
Determinants of Parenting Stress: Illustrations from Families of Hyperactive Children and Families of Physically Abused Children

Examines the relative contributions of environmental, child, and Parental characteristics to parent-child interactive stress for families of hyperactive children and those of physically abused children. In families of hyperactive children, difficult child characteristics represent a probable source of parent-child interactive stress, whereas in abusive families such stress more likely arises from parental characteristics and adverse environments. The role of maternal cognitions as a mediator of stress in the two types of families is considered and relevant research into maternal perceptions, maternal attributions, and maternal self-efficacy is reviewed. Recommendations for the study of maternal cognitions in the context of interactive stress include: studying the interface between cognition and affect; assessing cognitions as ongoing processes; examining the role of cognitions in mediating situational influences; adopting a systems framework; and establishing the modifiability of specific types of parenta.
The Work-It Study for people with arthritis: Study protocol and baseline sample characteristics.

BACKGROUND People with arthritis are at risk of work disability. Job accommodation and educational programs delivered before imminent work loss can minimize work disability, yet are not currently being widely implemented. The Work-It Study is a randomized controlled trial testing the efficacy of a problem solving program delivered by physical and occupational therapy practitioners to prevent work loss over a two-year period among people with arthritis and rheumatological conditions. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this paper is to describe the protocol of the randomized controlled trial, and describe the baseline characteristics of the subjects and their work outcomes. METHODS 287 participants were recruited from the Boston area in Massachusetts, USA. Eligible participants were aged between 21-65, self-reported a physicians' diagnosis of arthritis, rheumatic condition, or chronic back pain, reported a concern about working now or in the near future due to your health, worked at least 15 hours a week, had plans to continue working, and worked or lived in Massachusetts. Subjects were recruited through community sources and rheumatology offices. Participants in the experimental group received a structured interview and an education and resource packet, while participants in the control received the resource packet only. The baseline characteristics and work related outcomes of the participants were analyzed. CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, the Work-It Study is the largest and most diverse randomized controlled trial to date aiming to identify and problem solve work-related barriers, promote advocacy, and foster work disability knowledge among people with chronic disabling musculoskeletal conditions. Despite advances in medical management of arthritis and other rheumatological and musculoskeletal conditions, many people still have concerns about their ability to remain employed and are seeking strategies to help them sustain employment.
Optimization of minimum set of protein–DNA interactions: a quasi exact solution with minimum over-fitting

Motivation: A major limitation in modeling protein interactions is the difficulty of assessing the over-fitting of the training set. Recently, an experimentally based approach that integrates crystallographic information of C2H2 zinc finger–DNA complexes with binding data from 11 mutants, 7 from EGR finger I, was used to define an improved interaction code (no optimization). Here, we present a novel mixed integer programming (MIP)-based method that transforms this type of data into an optimized code, demonstrating both the advantages of the mathematical formulation to minimize over- and under-fitting and the robustness of the underlying physical parameters mapped by the code. Results: Based on the structural models of feasible interaction networks for 35 mutants of EGR–DNA complexes, the MIP method minimizes the cumulative binding energy over all complexes for a general set of fundamental protein–DNA interactions. To guard against over-fitting, we use the scalability of the method to probe against the elimination of related interactions. From an initial set of 12 parameters (six hydrogen bonds, five desolvation penalties and a water factor), we proceed to eliminate five of them with only a marginal reduction of the correlation coefficient to 0.9983. Further reduction of parameters negatively impacts the performance of the code (under-fitting). Besides accurately predicting the change in binding affinity of validation sets, the code identifies possible context-dependent effects in the definition of the interaction networks. Yet, the approach of constraining predictions to within a pre-selected set of interactions limits the impact of these potential errors to related low-affinity complexes. Contact: ccamacho@pitt.edu; droleg@pitt.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Television: Providing Powerful Multicultural Lessons Inside and Outside of School

Television is responsible for more multicultural education than our public school system. The literature reveals that children's programming reflects society's dominant values and beliefs about a number of diversity-related topics such as race and gender. This article describes the findings of a unique study of preservice teachers' evaluations of children's television programming. Through a list of research-based suggestions, teacher educators are encouraged to prepare preservice teachers to draw upon televisions multicultural teaching power so that young people become more critically literate viewers of television. Academia needs to understand that the popular press and the mass media educate more people about issues regarding ethnicity and race than all other sources of education … providing more public education … than by teachers, professors, and anyone else. (Bartolem & Macedo, 1997, 273)
The Time Course of Markers of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in Patients Undergoing Revascularisation for Acute Myocardial Infarction or Stable Angina Pectoris

Background and Aims. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) have been identified in acute myocardial infarction. We assessed the time profile and association with infarct size for NETs markers in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and stable angina pectoris (AP). Methods. In 20 patients with STEMI and 10 with AP undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), blood samples were collected before PCI (only AP group) and after 3 and 12 hours, days 1, 3, 5, 7, and 14 for measurement of NETs markers. Results. Double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (dsDNA) and nucleosome levels were higher in STEMI than AP until day 3 and 12 hours (p < 0.03, all). DsDNA declined after day 5 in both groups (p < 0.04, all), while nucleosomes declined until day 3 only in the AP group (p < 0.05, all). DsDNA correlated with peak troponin T and creatine kinase MB (CKMB) at day 5 (r = 0.48, p = 0.03, both) and with MRI-measured infarct size at days 5 and 7 (r = 0.61, p = 0.01 and r = 0.52, p = 0.04, resp.), while nucleosomes correlated with infarct size at day 5 (r = 0.58, p = 0.02). Conclusions. High levels of NETs markers were observed in STEMI shortly after revascularisation and were partly associated with infarct size. The decline thereafter in both groups indicates a role for NETs in both acute and chronic atherothrombosis.
Coherent widely tunable source of sub-picosecond pulses using all-normal dispersion fiber supercontinuum

We describe supercontinuum generation using photonic crystal fibres with all-normal group velocity dispersion profiles, pumped at 1064 nm and 800 nm wavelengths. Highly coherent and stable continua are demonstrated experimentally. We present pulse duration measurements obtained when spectrally filtering the all-normal dispersion supercontinuum, and show that this method is an excellent candidate for use as a compact, low-noise, tunable ultrafast laser source. Experimental spectral and temporal measurements are interpreted using numerical simulations, and experiment and modeling are shown to be in very good agreement.
PERSONALITY MEASURES AS PREDICTORS OF JOB PERFORMANCE: A META‐ANALYTIC REVIEW

The purpose of this study was to investigate conflicting findings in previous research on personality and job performance. Meta-analysis was used to (a) assess the overall validity of personality measures as predictors of job performance, (b) investigate the moderating effects of several study characteristics on personality scale validity, and (c) appraise the predictability of job performance as a function of eight distinct categories of personality content, including the “Big Five” personality factors. Based on review of 494 studies, usable results were identified for 97 independent samples (total N= 13,521). Consistent with predictions, studies using confirmatory research strategies produced a corrected mean personality scale validity (.29) that was more than twice as high as that based on studies adopting exploratory strategies (.12). An even higher mean validity (.38) was obtained based on studies using job analysis explicitly in the selection of personality measures. Validities were also found to be higher in longer tenured samples and in published articles versus dissertations. Corrected mean validities for the “Big Five” factors ranged from . 16 for Extroversion to . 33 for Agreeableness. Weaknesses in the reporting of validation study characteristics are noted, and recommendations for future research in this area are provided. Contrary to conclusions of certain past reviews, the present findings provide some grounds for optimism concerning the use of personality measures in employee selection.
Pacing the phasing of leg and arm movements in breaststroke swimming to minimize intra-cyclic velocity fluctuations

In swimming propelling efficiency is partly determined by intra-cyclic velocity fluctuations. The higher these fluctuations are at a given average swimming velocity, the less efficient is the propulsion. This study explored whether the leg-arm coordination (i.e. phase relation ϕ) within the breaststroke cycle can be influenced with acoustic pacing, and whether the so induced changes are accompanied by changes in intra-cyclic velocity fluctuations. Twenty-six participants were asked to couple their propulsive leg and arm movements to a double-tone metronome beat and to keep their average swimming velocity constant over trials. The metronome imposed five different phase relations ϕi (90, 135, 180, 225 and 270°) of leg-arm coordination. Swimmers adjusted their technique under the influence of the metronome, but failed to comply to the velocity requirement for ϕ = 90 and 135°. For imposed ϕ = 180, 225 and 270°, the intra-cyclic velocity fluctuations increased with increasing ϕ, while average swimming velocity did not differ. This suggests that acoustic pacing may be used to adjust ϕ and thereby performance of breaststroke swimming given the dependence of propelling efficiency on ϕ.
Probing the Ligand-binding Domain of the mGluR4 Subtype of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor*

Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) are G-protein-coupled glutamate receptors that subserve a number of diverse functions in the central nervous system. The large extracellular amino-terminal domains (ATDs) of mGluRs are homologous to the periplasmic binding proteins in bacteria. In this study, a region in the ATD of the mGluR4 subtype of mGluR postulated to contain the ligand-binding pocket was explored by site-directed mutagenesis using a molecular model of the tertiary structure of the ATD as a guiding tool. Although the conversion of Arg78, Ser159, or Thr182 to Ala did not affect the level of protein expression or cell-surface expression, all three mutations severely impaired the ability of the receptor to bind the agonist l-[3H]amino-4-phosphonobutyric acid. Mutation of other residues within or in close proximity to the proposed binding pocket produced either no effect (Ser157 and Ser160) or a relatively modest effect (Ser181) on ligand affinity compared with the Arg78, Ser159, and Thr182 mutations. Based on these experimental findings, together with information obtained from the model in which the glutamate analog l-serineO-phosphate (l-SOP) was “docked” into the binding pocket, we suggest that the hydroxyl groups on the side chains of Ser159 and Thr182 of mGluR4 form hydrogen bonds with the α-carboxyl and α-amino groups on l-SOP, respectively, whereas Arg78 forms an electrostatic interaction with the acidic side chains of l-SOP or glutamate. The conservation of Arg78, Ser159, and Thr182 in all members of the mGluR family indicates that these amino acids may be fundamental recognition motifs for the binding of agonists to this class of receptors.