Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Evolution with Age of Probabilistic, Intuitively Based Misconceptions.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the evolution, with age, of probabilistic, intuitively based misconceptions. We hypothesized, on the basis of previous research with infinity concepts, that these misconceptions would stabilize during the emergence of the formal operation period. The responses to probability problems of students in Grades 5, 7, 9, and 11 and of prospective teachers indicated, contrary to our hypothesis, that some misconceptions grew stronger with age, whereas others grew weaker. Only one misconception investigated was stable across ages. An attempt was made to find a theoretical explanation for this rather strange and complex situation.
A joint experimental and simulation study of the IEEE 802.11s HWMP protocol and airtime link metric

One of the main features of the upcoming IEEE 802.11s standard is the path selection procedure, which is performed by the Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol by means of thetextitairtime link metric (ALM). Through a small experimental testbed, and using the open80211s code, which provides one of the most compliant draft implementations, we analysed the impact that the implementation choices of the developers have on the system performance. The analysis revealed that even small deviations from the specified routines (or different choices in the estimation of the parameters used in the online calculation of the ALM) can lead to noteworthy performance degradations. We thus realized some fixes to improve the performance of the system and verified the effectiveness of such amendments in a realistic simulation environment. We then compared the performance of the modified version to the original one. The outcome of the test highlighted the remarkable advantage achieved by the proposed fixes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
English second-language learners in preschool

The objectives of this study were twofold: (1) Determine the English proficiency of English second-language learners (ELLs) at the end of preschool as referenced to monolingual norms, and in particular, to determine if they showed an asynchronous profile, that is, approached monolingual norms more closely for some linguistic sub-skills than others; (2) Investigate the role of home language environment in predicting individual differences in children’s English proficiency. Twenty-one ELL children (mean age = 58 months) from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds with diverse first-language backgrounds participated in the study. Children’s English proficiency was measured using a standardized story-telling instrument that yielded separate scores for their narrative, grammatical and vocabulary skills. A parent questionnaire was used to gather information about children’s home language environments. The ELL children displayed an asynchronous profile in their English development, as their standard scores varied in terms of proximity to monolingual norms; narrative story grammar was close to the standard mean, but mean length of utterance was below 1 standard deviation from the standard mean. No differences were found between the story-telling scores of the Canadian-born and foreign-born children, even though Canadian-born children were exposed to more English at home. Implications of the findings for clinicians and educators working with young ELLs are discussed.
Online Games for Young Learners' Foreign Language Learning.

Young learners’ use of instructional games in foreign language learning is not yet well understood. Using games that were part of the learning tools for an online assessment, Jido-Eiken, a standardized English proficiency test for young learners in Japan, we examined young learners’ game-playing behaviours and the relationship of these behaviours with learning outcomes. The participants were 3,945 children aged 4 to 12. We found that games that children played with relative frequency tended to share a set of features, including being cognitively demanding, evoking one’s curiosity, offering greater player control, and having multiple players. The frequency of plays decreased as the age increased in many games that we examined, but gender differences were hardly observed. We found different relational patterns between young learners’ game scores and English performance depending on the games and difficulty levels of the assessment. We discuss the implications for instructional game developers and teachers of young language learners
Daily stressors and social support availability as predictors of depressed mood in male firefighters

Abstract The influence of daily stressors and social support availability on depressed mood was assessed over a 9-month period in 68 male firefighters. At 3-monthly intervals, an abbreviated Daily Stress Index (DSI) was completed for 16 days prior to administration of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). After negative affectivity, depressed mood and daily stress levels 3 months previously had been taken into account statistically, the DSI predicted subsequent BDI scores at the 3-, 6- and 9-month assessments. At the 3-and 6-month assessments, social support buffered the impact of DSI on depressed mood. By contrast, daily stress scores were not predicted by prior depressed mood or social support. The results are interpreted to support the causal influence of daily stressors on depressed mood, and the protective effect of social support.
Effect of a surface sealant on microleakage of Class V restorations.

PURPOSE To evaluate the effect of a low-viscosity surface-penetrating sealant on microleakage around Class V restorations. MATERIALS AND METHODS Box-shaped Class V preparations were made in the facial and lingual surfaces of 50 extracted human teeth. Occlusal margins were in enamel and gingival margins were in dentin/cementum. Preparations were restored with the following systems (n = 20): Dentin Conditioner + Fuji II LC; ProBond primer + VariGlass VLC; OptiBond + XRV Herculite; Scotchbond Multi-Purpose + Silux Plus; and Scotchbond Multi-Purpose + Restorative Z100. Half of the restorations in each group were randomly selected and sealed with Fortify resin immediately after finishing and polishing. Specimens were thermocycled 500x between 5 degrees and 55 degrees C and subjected to a silver nitrate microleakage test. Penetration of the silver nitrate tracer was evaluated and recorded using a 0-4 ordinal scale. Data were analyzed using non-parametric statistical tests. RESULTS All of the restorative systems had very little leakage at enamel margins, regardless of whether the resin sealant was used. Each of the systems except VariGlass had minimal leakage at unsealed dentin margins also. Application of the resin sealant significantly reduced leakage at the interface between VariGlass and dentin or cementum, but had no effect on the other restorative systems.
Surgical removal of subfoveal choroidal neovascular membranes in older patients without age-related macular degeneration

Purpose: To assess visual and anatomical outcomes following the surgical removal of subfoveal choroidal neovascular membranes (CNVMs) in older patients without clinical evidence of diffuse disease of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed records of consecutive patients aged 50 years or older who underwent surgical removal of subfoveal CNVMs. Patients with clinical evidence for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (>5 small drusen), angioid streaks, and myopic degeneration were excluded. Results: Twenty-two patients (8 women) ranged in age from 50 to 85 years (median, 67 years). All membranes were 100% classic, with a mean size of 2.5 MPS disc areas (range, 1 to 6.5). Best postoperative visual acuity (VA), measured a median 12.5 weeks after surgery, improved (>3 Snellen lines) in 10 eyes (45%) and worsened in 0 eyes, with 8 eyes (36%) achieving 20/50 or better. Over a mean follow-up of 37 months (range, 6 to 114 months), CNVM recurrence was seen in 13 eyes (59%), causing loss of VA from best postoperative levels in 5 eyes (23%). On final follow-up, 4 eyes (18%) retained acuity of 20/50 or better, 12 eyes (55%) had disciform scarring, and 5 eyes (23%) had geographic atrophy. Improvement in best postoperative VA occurred in a higher percentage of eyes with focal (58%) compared with idiopathic (30%) disease, but this trend was not statistically significant (p = 0.23, Fisher’s exact test). Conclusions: Surgical removal of subfoveal CNVMs may result in substantial visual improvement in older patients without other clinical evidence for AMD, particularly in eyes with focal diseases of the RPE-Bruch’s membrane complex.
Fairness for Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access in 5G Systems

In non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) downlink, multiple data flows are superimposed in the power domain and user decoding is based on successive interference cancellation. NOMA's performance highly depends on the power split among the data flows and the associated power allocation (PA) problem. In this letter, we study NOMA from a fairness standpoint and we investigate PA techniques that ensure fairness for the downlink users under i) instantaneous channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter, and ii) average CSI. Although the formulated problems are non-convex, we have developed low-complexity polynomial algorithms that yield the optimal solution in both cases considered.
Education and sociopolitical attitudes.

Abstract Nilsson, I. , Ekehammar, B. & Sidanius, J. 1985. Education and Sociopolitical Attitudes. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 29, 1‐15. Relationships were studied between educational direction (academic/vocational) and various aspects of sociopolitical ideology (sociopolitical self‐description, political party preference, and sociopolitical attitudes measured by the S5 Conservatism scale) using a sample of 532 Swedish high school students (modal age=18 yrs). The results disclosed clear and systematic relations between educational direction and sociopolitical attitude items and general sociopolitical dimensions. Vocational students were consistently more conservative than academic students on factors linked to social conservatism (xenophobia, ethno‐centrism, punitiveness, racism), whereas differences linked to political‐economic conservatism (PEC, Pro‐West, social inequality) were small and inconsistent. The findings were generalizable to both sexes as regards political party preference gro.
Narratives of Nation-State, Historical Knowledge, and School History Education

Apparently, protecting the hallowed ground of the nation-building story of American history from threatening forces prompted state policymakers to legislate its protection. Such a move provoked yet another in a decades-old raft of reactions, accusations, and criticisms from across the political spectrum.1 Why all the fuss, a reasonable observer might ask, and to what end? This, of course, is itself a historical question. And of course, an answer would beg a response that includes a multitude of causes. In this review, I attempt to address the question in a series of broad but also specific strokes. I begin by suggesting that in the United States, for example, late 20th century immigration patterns have been perceived by some who consider themselves American natives because they were born in the country (even though their ancestors are of European stock) as threatening to soften the glue that preserves their vision of the right and true American culture. In 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that there were approximately 34.3 million foreign-born persons (largely from Mexico) living in a country of 300 million people, or about 11.4% of the U.S. population. Contrast that with 1967, when there were 200 million people in the United States, of whom only 4.8% (9.7 million) were foreign born (largely from Italy). Recently, the idea about erecting a giant wall along the U.S.-Mexico border—ostensibly
Family Support, Medication Adherence, and Glycemic Control Among Adults With Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE We used a mixed-methods approach to explore the relationships between participants’ perceptions of family members’ diabetes self-care knowledge, family members’ diabetes-specific supportive and nonsupportive behaviors, and participants’ medication adherence and glycemic control (A1C). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Adults with type 2 diabetes participated in focus group sessions that discussed barriers and facilitators to diabetes management (n = 45) and/or completed surveys (n = 61) to collect demographic information, measures of diabetes medication adherence, perceptions of family members’ diabetes self-care knowledge, and perceptions of family members’ diabetes-specific supportive and nonsupportive behaviors. Most recent A1C was extracted from the medical record. RESULTS Perceiving family members were more knowledgeable about diabetes was associated with perceiving family members performed more diabetes-specific supportive behaviors, but was not associated with perceiving family members performed fewer nonsupportive behaviors. Perceiving family members performed more nonsupportive behaviors was associated with being less adherent to one’s diabetes medication regimen, and being less adherent was associated with worse glycemic control. In focus groups, participants discussed family member support and gave examples of family members who were informed about diabetes but performed sabotaging or nonsupportive behaviors. CONCLUSIONS Participant reports of family members’ nonsupportive behaviors were associated with being less adherent to one’s diabetes medication regimen. Participants emphasized the importance of instrumental help for diabetes self-care behaviors and reported that nonsupportive family behaviors sabotaged their efforts to perform these behaviors. Interventions should inform family members about diabetes and enhance their motivation and behavioral skills around not interfering with one's diabetes self-care efforts.
Loneliness and Social Internet Use: Pathways to Reconnection in a Digital World?

With the rise of online social networking, social relationships are increasingly developed and maintained in a digital domain. Drawing conclusions about the impact of the digital world on loneliness is difficult because there are contradictory findings, and cross-sectional studies dominate the literature, making causation difficult to establish. In this review, we present our theoretical model and propose that there is a bidirectional and dynamic relationship between loneliness and social Internet use. When the Internet is used as a way station on the route to enhancing existing relationships and forging new social connections, it is a useful tool for reducing loneliness. But when social technologies are used to escape the social world and withdraw from the “social pain” of interaction, feelings of loneliness are increased. We propose that loneliness is also a determinant of how people interact with the digital world. Lonely people express a preference for using the Internet for social interaction and are more likely to use the Internet in a way that displaces time spent in offline social activities. This suggests that lonely people may need support with their social Internet use so that they employ it in a way that enhances existing friendships and/or to forge new ones.
Personal reflexivity and biography: methodological challenges and strategies

This article examines the methodological device used in a sociological study that analyses empirically the concept of personal reflexivity. Taking into account the specific challenges of such an investigation the paper emphasises the potential of a biographical approach and the concrete parameters of its use. It is based on the experience of in-depth interviews conducted in more than one session and considers the different phases and elements of the empirical research process. Topics such as epistemological concerns, preparation of the interview guide, methodological cautions, the research relationship and the interview setting are at the centre of the discussion.
The measurement of soil thermal stability, thermal resistivity, and underground cable ampacity

One of the most important factors affecting underground cable ampacity is the thermal resistivity of the soil. It is well known that thermal resistivity of the soil will vary with moisture content. It is also well known that the heat generated by cables can cause soil drying thus affecting the soil thermal resistivity. The ability of the soil to maintain its thermal resistivity in the presence of a heat source is known as thermal stability. Soil will increase in resistivity due to drying caused by heating from underground sources. This phenomenon makes it challenging for the design engineer to decide how to account for the drying effect in cable ampacity calculations. This paper will examine the information available from standard soil tests and the information these tests may provide relating to the migration of moisture in soil and the resulting changes in soil resistivity. Furthermore a method is suggested for including this information in underground cable ampacity calculations.
Dibaryon Spectroscopy

The AdS/CFT correspondence relates dibaryons in superconformal gauge theories to holomorphic curves in Kähler-Einstein surfaces. The degree of the holomorphic curves is proportional to the gauge theory conformal dimension of the dibaryons. Moreover, the number of holomorphic curves should match, in an appropriately defined sense, the number of dibaryons. Using AdS/CFT backgrounds built from the generalized conifolds of Gubser, Shatashvili, and Nekrasov (1999), we show that the gauge theory prediction for the dimension of dibaryonic operators does indeed match the degree of the corresponding holomorphic curves. For AdS/CFT backgrounds built from cones over del Pezzo surfaces, we are able to match the degree of the curves to the conformal dimension of dibaryons for the nth del Pezzo surface, 1 ≤ n ≤ 6. Also, for the del Pezzos and the Ak type generalized conifolds, for the dibaryons of smallest conformal dimension, we are able to match the number of holomorphic curves with the number of possible dibaryon operators from gauge theory.
Wnt‐5a and G‐protein signaling are required for collagen‐induced DDR1 receptor activation and normal mammary cell adhesion

The collagen‐induced phosphorylation of discoidin domain receptor 1 (DDR1) in Wnt‐5a‐expressing HB2 mammary cells was effectively inhibited by pertussis toxin, but not by cholera toxin or antibodies blocking β1 integrins. Moreover, pertussis toxin reduced adhesion of the cells to collagen by approximately 50%, and antibodies against β1 integrins had a similar effect that was in fact additive to that of pertussis toxin. Cholera toxin had accordingly no such effect on adhesion. By comparison, pertussis toxin did not influence adhesion of Wnt‐5a‐antisense HB2 cells or MCF‐7 mammary tumor cells, neither of which express Wnt‐5a or exhibit activation of DDR1. In accordance with these results, direct mastoparan‐induced activation of G‐proteins in Wnt‐5a‐deficient MCF‐7 cells enabled collagen‐induced phosphorylation of DDR1 and enhanced their adhesion. The inactive analogue mastoparan‐17 had no such effects on MCF‐7 cells nor did active mastoparan affect adhesion of Wnt‐5a‐expressing HB2 cells. A possible explanation for how DDR1, a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK), potentiates mammary cell adhesion comes from our observations that pertussis toxin also inhibited the recruitment of the cytoskeletal regulator phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K) to DDR1 as well as its phosphorylation/activation. In accordance with that, the PI3K inhibitor wortmannin significantly impaired adhesion of normal Wnt‐5a‐expressing HB2 cells but had little effect on adhesion of Wnt‐5a‐antisense HB2 cells. Thus, a Gi/o‐protein signaling pathway mediates the effect of Wnt‐5a expression by enabling collagen‐induced activation of DDR1, which, in parallel with β1 integrins, regulates adhesion of mammary cells. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
After Permanent Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Mild Sensory Stimulation Protects the Aged Rodent From Cortical Ischemic Stroke

After Permanent Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Mild Sensory Stimulation Protects the Aged Rodent From Cortical Ischemic Stroke Copyright © 2012 American Heart Association. All rights reserved. Online ISSN: 2047-9980 Avenue, Dallas, TX 72514 Journal of the American Heart Association is published by the American Heart Association. 7272 Greenville doi: 10.1161/JAHA.112. 001255 2012, 1: J Am Heart Assoc http://jaha.ahajournals. org/content/1/4/e001255 the World Wide Web at: The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is located on
Afferent and efferent connections of the rat retrotrapezoid nucleus

The rat retrotrapezoid nucleus (RTN) contains candidate central chemoreceptors that have extensive dendrites within the marginal layer (ML). This study describes the axonal projections of RTN neurons and their probable synaptic inputs. The ML showed a dense plexus of nerve terminals immunoreactive (ir) for markers of glutamatergic (vesicular glutamate transporters VGLUT1–3), γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)‐ergic, adrenergic, serotonergic, cholinergic, and peptidergic transmission. The density of VGLUT3‐ir terminals tracked the location of RTN chemoreceptors. The efferent and afferent projections of RTN were studied by placing small iontophoretic injections of anterograde (biotinylated dextran amine; BDA) and retrograde (cholera toxin B) tracers where RTN chemoreceptors have been previously recorded. BDA did not label the nearby C1 cells. BDA‐ir varicosities were found in the solitary tract nucleus (NTS), all ventral respiratory column (VRC) subdivisions, A5 noradrenergic area, parabrachial complex, and spinal cord. In each target region, a large percentage of the BDA‐ir varicosities was VGLUT2‐ir (41–83%). Putative afferent input to RTN originated from spinal cord, caudal NTS, area postrema, VRC, dorsolateral pons, raphe nuclei, lateral hypothalamus, central amygdala, and insular cortex. The results suggest that 1) whether or not the ML is specialized for CO2 sensing, its complex neuropil likely regulates the activity of RTN chemosensitive neurons; 2) the catecholaminergic, cholinergic, and serotonergic innervation of RTN represents a possible substrate for the known state‐dependent control of RTN chemoreceptors; 3) VGLUT3‐ir terminals are a probable marker of RTN; and 4) the chemosensitive neurons of RTN may provide a chemical drive to multiple respiratory outflows, insofar as RTN innervates the entire VRC. J. Comp. Neurol. 499:64–89, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The identification of Oligo-Miocene mammalian palaeocommunities from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Australia and an appraisal of palaeoecological techniques

Fourteen of the best sampled Oligo-Miocene local faunas from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, north-western Queensland, Australia are analysed using classification and ordination techniques to identify potential mammalian palaeocommunities and palaeocommunity types. Abundance data for these faunas are used, for the first time, in conjunction with presence/absence data. An early Miocene Faunal Zone B and two middle Miocene Faunal Zone C palaeocommunities are recognised, as well as one palaeocommunity type. Change in palaeocommunity structure, between the early Miocene and middle Miocene, may be the result of significant climate change during the Miocene Carbon Isotope Excursion. The complexes of local faunas identified will allow researchers to use novel palaeocommunities in future analyses of Riversleigh’s fossil faunas. The utility of some palaeoecological multivariate indices and techniques is examined. The Dice index is found to outperform other binary similarity/distance coefficients, while the UPGMA algorithm is more useful than neighbour joining. Evidence is equivocal for the usefulness of presence/absence data compared to abundance.