Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reading and Writing with a Public Purpose: Fostering Middle School Students' Academic and Critical Community Literacies through Debate.

Middle school is a crucial transition period for adolescents; in addition to beginning to grapple with the academic literacy demands of college and career readiness, they are working to find their place in public life and developing opinions about civic issues. This article presents debate as a literacy practice that is uniquely suited to helping middle school students increase their academic reading comprehension skills while also honing their critical literacy skills and capitalizing on their developing civic identities. Our study extends the established body of literature about the benefits of classroom debate by focusing on the impact of extracurricular, community-based debate among students in a large northeastern public school district. We use a critical literacy framework and mixed methods approach including analysis of standardized test scores of 179 debaters, as well as 34 interviews with students, teachers, and administrators, in order to explore the impacts of voluntary, community debate participation. Our findings demonstrate how debate encourages students to analyze complex texts, take multiple perspectives on controversial issues, and use their voices to advocate for social justice. Our findings speak to the power of community literacy initiatives to support academic development and foster critical literacies.
Contrasting 5' and 3' Evolutionary Histories and Frequent Evolutionary Convergence in Meis/hth Gene Structures

Organisms show striking differences in genome structure; however, the functional implications and fundamental forces that govern these differences remain obscure. The intron–exon organization of nuclear genes is involved in a particularly large variety of structures and functional roles. We performed a 22-species study of Meis/hth genes, intron-rich homeodomain-containing transcription factors involved in a wide range of developmental processes. Our study revealed three surprising results that suggest important and very different functions for Meis intron–exon structures. First, we find unexpected conservation across species of intron positions and lengths along most of the Meis locus. This contrasts with the high degree of structural divergence found in genome-wide studies and may attest to conserved regulatory elements residing within these conserved introns. Second, we find very different evolutionary histories for the 5′ and 3′ regions of the gene. The 5′-most 10 exons, which encode the highly conserved Meis domain and homeodomain, show striking conservation. By contrast, the 3′ of the gene, which encodes several domains implicated in transcriptional activation and response to cell signaling, shows a remarkably active evolutionary history, with diverse isoforms and frequent creation and loss of new exons and splice sites. This region-specific diversity suggests evolutionary “tinkering,” with alternative splicing allowing for more subtle regulation of protein function. Third, we find a large number of cases of convergent evolution in the 3′ region, including 1) parallel losses of ancestral coding sequence, 2) parallel gains of external and internal splice sites, and 3) recurrent truncation of C-terminal coding regions. These results attest to the importance of locus-specific splicing functions in differences in structural evolution across genes, as well as to commonalities of forces shaping the evolution of individual genes along different lineages.
Combining propensity and influence models for product adoption prediction

This paper studies the problem of selecting users in an online social network for targeted advertising so as to maximize the adoption of a given product. In previous work, two families of models have been considered to address this problem: direct targeting and network-based targeting. The former approach targets users with the highest propensity to adopt the product, while the latter approach targets users with the highest influence potential - that is users whose adoption is most likely to be followed by subsequent adoptions by peers. This paper proposes a hybrid approach that combines a notion of propensity and a notion of influence into a single utility function. We show that targeting a fixed number of high-utility users results in more adoptions than targeting either highly influential users or users with high propensity.
Distribution of iron- and sulfate-reducing bacteria across a coastal acid sulfate soil (CASS) environment: implications for passive bioremediation by tidal inundation

Coastal acid sulfate soils (CASS) constitute a serious and global environmental problem. Oxidation of iron sulfide minerals exposed to air generates sulfuric acid with consequently negative impacts on coastal and estuarine ecosystems. Tidal inundation represents one current treatment strategy for CASS, with the aim of neutralizing acidity by triggering microbial iron- and sulfate-reduction and inducing the precipitation of iron-sulfides. Although well-known functional guilds of bacteria drive these processes, their distributions within CASS environments, as well as their relationships to tidal cycling and the availability of nutrients and electron acceptors, are poorly understood. These factors will determine the long-term efficacy of “passive” CASS remediation strategies. Here we studied microbial community structure and functional guild distribution in sediment cores obtained from 10 depths ranging from 0 to 20 cm in three sites located in the supra-, inter- and sub-tidal segments, respectively, of a CASS-affected salt marsh (East Trinity, Cairns, Australia). Whole community 16S rRNA gene diversity within each site was assessed by 454 pyrotag sequencing and bioinformatic analyses in the context of local hydrological, geochemical, and lithological factors. The results illustrate spatial overlap, or close association, of iron-, and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) in an environment rich in organic matter and controlled by parameters such as acidity, redox potential, degree of water saturation, and mineralization. The observed spatial distribution implies the need for empirical understanding of the timing, relative to tidal cycling, of various terminal electron-accepting processes that control acid generation and biogeochemical iron and sulfur cycling.
Tracking control of nonsmooth complementarity Lagrangian systems

In this paper we study the tracking control of Lagrangian systems subject to frictionless unilateral constraints. The stability analysis incorporates the hybrid and nonsmooth dynamical feature of the overall system. The difference between tracking control for unconstrained systems and unilaterally constrained ones, is explained in terms of closed-loop desired trajectories and control signals. This work provides details on the conditions of existence of a controller which guarantees asymptotic stability.
Distinguishing Cartesian Powers of Graphs

Given a graph $G$, a labeling $c:V(G) \rightarrow \{1, 2, \ldots, d\}$ is said to be $d$-distinguishing if the only element in ${\rm Aut}(G)$ that preserves the labels is the identity. The distinguishing number of $G$, denoted by $D(G)$, is the minimum $d$ such that $G$ has a $d$-distinguishing labeling. If $G \square H$ denotes the Cartesian product of $G$ and $H$, let $G^{^2} = G \square G$ and $G^{^r} = G \square G^{^{r-1}}$. A graph $G$ is said to be prime with respect to the Cartesian product if whenever $G \cong G_1 \square G_2$, then either $G_1$ or $G_2$ is a singleton vertex. This paper proves that if $G$ is a connected, prime graph, then $D(G^{^r}) = 2$ whenever $r \geq 4$.
Practical Nonsingular Terminal Sliding-Mode Control of Robot Manipulators for High-Accuracy Tracking Control

This paper presents a practical nonsingular terminal sliding-mode (TSM) tracking control design for robot manipulators using time-delay estimation (TDE). The proposed control assures fast convergence due to the nonlinear TSM, and requires no prior knowledge about the robot dynamics due to the TDE. Despite its model-free nature, the proposed control provides high-accuracy control and robustness against parameters variations. The simplicity, robustness, and fast convergence of the proposed control are verified through both 2-DOF planar robot simulations and 3-DOF PUMA-type robot experiments.
Self-transcendent positive emotions increase spirituality through basic world assumptions

Spirituality has mostly been studied in psychology as implied in the process of overcoming adversity, being triggered by negative experiences, and providing positive outcomes. By reversing this pathway, we investigated whether spirituality may also be triggered by self-transcendent positive emotions, which are elicited by stimuli appraised as demonstrating higher good and beauty. In two studies, elevation and/or admiration were induced using different methods. These emotions were compared to two control groups, a neutral state and a positive emotion (mirth). Self-transcendent positive emotions increased participants' spirituality (Studies 1 and 2), especially for the non-religious participants (Study 1). Two basic world assumptions, i.e., belief in life as meaningful (Study 1) and in the benevolence of others and the world (Study 2) mediated the effect of these emotions on spirituality. Spirituality should be understood not only as a coping strategy, but also as an upward spiralling pathway to and from self-transcendent positive emotions.
Difference in Enhancement Between Spin Echo and 3-Dimensional Fast Spoiled Gradient Recalled Acquisition in Steady State Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Brain Metastasis at 3-T Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Objective: To compare the enhancement of brain metastasis between 3-dimensional fast spoiled gradient recalled acquisition in the steady state (3DFSPGR) and spin echo (SE) T1-weighted imaging at 3-T magnetic resonance imaging. Methods: The subjects comprised 18 patients with 81 suspected brain metastases. Axial SE and 3DFSPGR images were obtained before and after gadoteridol injection. The signal intensity of each tumor was measured for each sequence; the enhancement and contrast rates were also calculated. Results: For equivalent slice thicknesses, the enhancement and contrast rates of the 3DFSPGR images were lower than those of the SE images (<0.05), whereas for the thin slices, the rates were higher for the 3DFSPGR images (P < 0.01). Conclusions: On 3-T magnetic resonance imaging, the enhancement of 3DFSPGR images was less than that of the SE images under the same conditions, but not to a fatal degree, and thin slice 3DFSPGR imaging is therefore considered to be useful for detecting small lesions, when given a high dose of contrast agent and a suitable scanning delay time.
Shrunken Locally Linear Embedding for Passive Microwave Retrieval of Precipitation

This paper introduces a new Bayesian approach to the inverse problem of passive microwave rainfall retrieval. The proposed methodology [called the shrunken locally linear embedding algorithm for retrieval of precipitation (ShARP)] relies on a regularization technique and makes use of two joint dictionaries of coincident rainfall profiles and their corresponding upwelling spectral radiative fluxes. A sequential detection-estimation strategy is adopted, which basically assumes that similar rainfall intensity values and their spectral radiances live close to some sufficiently smooth manifolds with analogous local geometry. The detection step employs a nearest neighbor classification rule, whereas the estimation scheme is equipped with a constrained shrinkage estimator to ensure the stability of retrieval and some physical consistency. The algorithm is examined using coincident observations of the active precipitation radar and the passive microwave imager onboard the TRMM satellite. We present promising results of instantaneous rainfall retrieval for some tropical storms and mesoscale convective systems over ocean, land, and coastal zones. We provide evidence that the algorithm is capable of properly capturing different storm morphologies including high-intensity rain cells and trailing light rainfall, particularly over land and coastal areas. The algorithm is also validated at an annual scale for calendar year 2013 versus the standard (version 7) radar (2A25) and radiometer (2A12) rainfall products of the TRMM satellite.
2 Evolutionary Systems Identification : New Algorithmic Concepts and Applications

There are many problems in various theoretical and practical disciplines that require robust structure identification techniques with as few restricting assumptions in terms of model structure and potentially relevant input variables (features) as possible. Due to its implicit variable selection and the possibility to identify also nonlinear model structures, the basic concept of Genetic Programming (GP) has the required descriptive potential and provides results in form of easily interpretable formulae as an additional benefit. However, when using standard GP techniques, the potential of GP is still rather limited and restricted to special applications. This chapter presents further developed algorithmic concepts which can be combined with a Genetic Algorithm (GA) as well as with Genetic Programming (GP). Especially the latter combination provides a very powerful, generic and stable algorithm for the identification of nonlinear systems, no matter if the application at hand is in the context of regression, classification or time-series analysis. After a general introduction in heuristic optimization and Evolutionary Algorithms, the further developed algorithmic concepts are explained. Furthermore, some exemplary applications of Genetic Programming to data based system identification problems are illustrated.
Active Ageing in Europe: Adding Healthy Life to Years

The European Union (EU) is a conglomerate of more than 500 million people, 19.2% (approximately 100 million) of whom are older adults (1). The ageing population is triggering dramatic demographic, epidemiological, and anthropological changes, highlighting the importance of active and healthy ageing (AHA). In Europe, the most common household type is single occupancy (33.4% of the total number of households) (2). This household type also recorded the highest increase from 2005 to 2015 (3). These findings highlight several questions from both an individual and public perspective. Who will take care of the current generation as we become older? What types of health and social organisations should we develop to preserve the quality of life of an ageing population and sustain our health care systems over the medium and long term? Supporting AHA is one answer to these questions: an AHA population is a resource that benefits all of society. Maintaining a healthy ageing population may also lower demands for health care services. In addition, in many cases, older adults in good health are able to support their fellow generation and represent a strength dedicated to the common well-being.
No adverse effects of submelt-annealed highly crosslinked polyethylene in cemented cups

Background and purpose Highly crosslinked polyethylene (PE) is in standard use worldwide. Differences in the crosslinking procedure may affect the clinical performance. Experimenatal data from retrieved cups have shown free radicals and excessive wear of annealed highly crosslinked PE. We have previously reported low wear and good clinical performance after 6 years with this implant, and now report on the 10-year results. Patients and methods In 8 patients, we measured wear of annealed highly crosslinked PE prospectively with radiostereometry after 10 years. Activity was assessed by UCLA activity score and a specifically designed activity score. Conventional radiographs were evaluated for osteolysis and clinical outcome by the Harris hip score (HHS). Results The mean (95% CI) proximal head penetration for highly crosslinked PE after 10 years was 0.07 (–0.015 to 0.153) mm, and the 3D wear was 0.2 (0.026 to 0.36) mm. Without creep, proximal head penetration was 0.02 (–0.026 to 0.066) mm and for 3D penetration was 0.016 (–0.47 to 0.08) mm. This represents an annual proximal wear of less than 2 µm. All cups were clinically and radiographically stable but showed a tendency of increased rotation after 5 years. Interpretation Wear for annealed highly crosslinked PE is extremely low up to 10 years. Free radicals do not affect mechanical performance or lead to clinically adverse effects. Creep stops after the first 6 months after implantation. Highly crosslinked PE is a true competitor of hard-on-hard bearings.
(In)justice contexts and work satisfaction: The mediating role of justice perceptions

This study explores the impact of the social context, namely (in)justice climate and target, in workers' justice perceptions and satisfaction. Individual's justice judgments are expected to mediate the relationship of (in)justice climate and target with work satisfaction. We found mediation effects of procedural justice in the relationship between justice climate and satisfaction, and interactional justice in the relationship between injustice target and satisfaction. Distributive justice does not affect the relationship between the (in)justice context and satisfaction. Findings demonstrate the relevance of framing organizational justice in a socially contextualized perspective since they seem to influence individual justice reactions and work attitudes. Using an experimental methodology, it was possible to explore the role of seldom studied contextual variables.
Age-related Changes in Object Processing and Contextual Binding Revealed Using fMR Adaptation

Using fMR adaptation, we studied the effects of aging on the neural processing of passively viewed naturalistic pictures composed of a prominent object against a background scene. Spatially distinct neural regions showing specific patterns of adaptation to objects, background scenes, and contextual integration (binding) were identified in young adults. Older adults did not show adaptation responses corresponding to binding in the medial-temporal areas. They also showed an adaptation deficit for objects whereby their lateral occipital complex (LOC) did not adapt to repeated objects in the context of a changing background. The LOC could be activated, however, when objects were presented without a background. Moreover, the adaptation deficit for objects viewed against backgrounds was reversed when elderly subjects were asked to attend to objects while viewing these complex pictures. These findings suggest that the elderly have difficulty with simultaneous processing of objects and backgrounds that, in turn, could contribute to deficient contextual binding.
Minimizing contrail formation by rerouting around dynamic ice-supersaturated regions

Today, the European airspace is already faced with airspace capacity constraints, especially during business driven peak periods of the day in central European air traffic control sectors. This capacity bottleneck will cause a challenging number of severe difficulties in future flight planning and airport ground handling. Additionally, the growing public awareness and the increasing scientific knowledge of the aviation environmental impact urges air traffic stakeholders to reduce the aviation induced global warming to an acceptable level. These efforts should include both the prevention of unnecessary fuel burn due to detours and the avoidance of passing ice-supersaturated regions during cruise to prevent contrail formation. Therewith, conflicting goals have to be considered in trajectory optimization. The induced contrails influence the radiation budget of the Earth atmosphere, which depend on the dynamic size and location of the ice-supersaturated regions. However, contrail avoidance can lead to unsolvable high requirements on airspace capacity in dry and warm air spaces, where contrails are not induced. Furthermore, contrail avoidance procedures can lead to large detours, which in turn cause more fuel burn and an increased impact on the environment due to the emission of additional radiative active substances. In this paper, the Air Traffic Control Fast Time Simulator and Air Traffic Optimizer AirTOp is used to simulate one day of Europeans air traffic and to reduce the radiative forcing of contrails by minimizing the number of flight hours through dynamic ice-supersaturated regions. Rerouting the affected flights does this, so that separation requirements are still fulfilled and each aircraft still reaches its destination. In this paper the following measures are assessed without and with contrail involved rerouting: the decrease of airspace capacity, the additional distance flown, the additional fuel burn and the contrail induced environmental impact. We found, that rerouting on this special day would have caused higher additional fuel and time costs, than saved reduced contrail costs.
Historical Storminess and Hydro-Geological Hazard Temporal Evolution in the Solofrana River Basin—Southern Italy

Precipitation extremes have always been part of the Earth’s climate system and associated multiple damaging hydrological events (MDHEs), the simultaneous triggering of different types of phenomena (landslides and floods), affect an always-increasing portion of human settlement areas. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the temporal evolution of severe geomorphological events and combined precipitation indices as a tool to improve understanding the hydro-geological hazard at the catchment scale. The case study is the Solofrana river basin, Southern Italy, and the focus is on four of main municipalities severely affected by natural disasters. Data for about 45 MDH events, spanning 1951–2014, have been collected and analyzed for this purpose. A preliminary monthly scale analysis of event occurrences highlights a pronounced seasonal characterization of the phenomenon, as about 60% of the total number of reported events take place during the period from September to November. Following, a statistical analysis clearly indicates a significant increase in the frequency of occurrences of MDHEs during the last decades. Such an increase appears to be related to non-stationary features of an average catchment scale rainfall-runoff erosivity index, which combines maximum monthly, maximum daily, and a proxy of maximum hourly precipitation data.
Constructing "sense" from evolving health information: A qualitative investigation of information seeking and sense making across sources

Focusing on information behavior in a context where medical evidence is explicitly evolving (management of the menopause transition), this investigation explored how women interact with and make sense of uncertain health information mediated by formal and informal sources. Based on interviews with 28 information seekers and 12 health professionals (HPs), findings demonstrate that participants accessed and valued a wide range of information sources, moved fluidly between formal and informal sources, and trust was strengthened through interaction and referral between sources. Participants were motivated to seek information to prepare for formal encounters with HPs, evaluate and/or supplement information already gathered, establish that they were “normal,” understand and address the physical embodiment of their experiences, and prepare for future information needs. Findings revealed four strategies used to construct sense from health information mediated by the many information sources encountered and accessed on an everyday basis: women assumed analytic and experiential “postures”; they valued social contexts for learning and knowledge construction; information consistency was used as a heuristic representing accuracy and credibility; and an important feature of sense making was source complementarity. Implications for health information literacy and patient education are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.