Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unsettling equity frames in Australian universities to embrace people seeking asylum

ABSTRACT Transnational migration, especially the growth of forced migration is unsettling the literature on widening access to university education. Equity definitions and understandings that frame social inclusion have presumed stable domestic populations within nations and targeted redressing historic internal social inequalities. Refugees and people seeking asylum have high aspirations to access to university education to gain recognition or update qualifications. University access for refugees and people seeking asylum is hampered by restricted funding entitlements that privilege citizens and admissions criteria that position them in the international student market and favour language and cultural requirements that reflect the dominant national culture. A qualitative narrative-based case-study of the admissions practices in one university in Australia explored the opportunities and blockages experienced by those seeking access and the dilemmas recognised by the admissions’ gatekeepers. Employing organisational theory and Scott’s three pillars of a neo-institutional framework, the regulative, the normative and the cultural-cognitive pillars, the article argues that homogenised institutional policies and practices to assess applications construct norms of access and equity, which create new exclusions for forced migrants. In revealing how some gatekeepers sought to ‘workaround’ these practices of exclusion, the article provides hope that informal learning within organisations can lead to organisational change.
The Rise in Health Spending : The Role of Social Security and Medicare

This paper provides an alternative explanation for the rise in health care spending as a share of GDP over the last half century in the United States. Health care spending (% of GDP) has more than tripled since 1950 in the US (i.e., from 4% in 1950 to 13% in 2000). I argue that the expansion of Social Security and Medicare over this time period is an important cause of the rise in health care spending. Social Security affects health care spending via two mechanisms. First, it transfers resources from the young to the elderly (age 65+) whose marginal propensity to spend on health care is much higher than the young, thus raising the aggregate health spending of the economy. Second, Social Security annuities implicitly provide the elderly with incentives to increase health care spending in order to live longer since people with a longer life get higher payments. Medicare may further amplify the impact of Social Security on health care spending. By subsidizing only the elderly, Medicare may further enlarge the young-elderly gap in marginal propensity to spend on health care, which implies that transferring resources from the young to the elderly (via Social Security) should have a larger impact on aggregate health care spending. I formalize the above-described mechanisms in a modified version of the Grossman (1972) model and calibrate the model to the US economy. The quantitative experiments suggest that the expansion of Social Security and Medicare from 1950 to 2000 is able to explain about half of the rise in health care spending over this period.
Do Altmetrics Work? Twitter and Ten Other Social Web Services

Altmetric measurements derived from the social web are increasingly advocated and used as early indicators of article impact and usefulness. Nevertheless, there is a lack of systematic scientific evidence that altmetrics are valid proxies of either impact or utility although a few case studies have reported medium correlations between specific altmetrics and citation rates for individual journals or fields. To fill this gap, this study compares 11 altmetrics with Web of Science citations for 76 to 208,739 PubMed articles with at least one altmetric mention in each case and up to 1,891 journals per metric. It also introduces a simple sign test to overcome biases caused by different citation and usage windows. Statistically significant associations were found between higher metric scores and higher citations for articles with positive altmetric scores in all cases with sufficient evidence (Twitter, Facebook wall posts, research highlights, blogs, mainstream media and forums) except perhaps for Google+ posts. Evidence was insufficient for LinkedIn, Pinterest, question and answer sites, and Reddit, and no conclusions should be drawn about articles with zero altmetric scores or the strength of any correlation between altmetrics and citations. Nevertheless, comparisons between citations and metric values for articles published at different times, even within the same year, can remove or reverse this association and so publishers and scientometricians should consider the effect of time when using altmetrics to rank articles. Finally, the coverage of all the altmetrics except for Twitter seems to be low and so it is not clear if they are prevalent enough to be useful in practice.
The Association Between Bereavement and Biomarkers of Inflammation

Bereavement is a major life event that has been associated with a range of negative health outcomes. To assess whether levels of inflammation markers and cortisol vary significantly by bereavement status and/or number of recent bereavements. The study was based on a secondary analysis of data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) II biomarkers project. After excluding participants suffering from conditions which directly affect immune functions, 529 participants were included (age 34–84 years), of whom 260 experienced the death of a person close to them 5–63months prior to assessment. Levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-I), Soluble E-selectin (sE-selectin) and cortisol were examined controlling for demographic and health characteristics. Bereaved respondents had higher levels of inflammatory biomarkers IL-6 and sE-selectin, but not CRP and sICAM-I than the non-bereaved. Number of recent bereavements significantly predicted levels of IL-6 in the unadjusted and adjusted regression models. Body Mass Index (BMI) and number of chronic conditions partially mediated the association between number of bereavements and IL-6 levels. Number of recent bereavements is associated with higher levels of inflammation, particularly among individuals with higher BMI and/or chronic health problems.
Frequency scaling of spatial correlation from co-located 2.4 and 5.2 GHz wideband indoor MIMO channel measurements

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) spatial correlation functions for co-located measurements at 2.4 and 5.2 GHz using 8-element linear arrays are compared. A single-parameter exponential model for the magnitude correlation coefficient provides a good fit, with an average mean squared error of 0.019. Results demonstrate that a linear model can describe the dependence of decorrelation at the two frequencies.
NMDA Receptor Signaling in Oligodendrocyte Progenitors Is Not Required for Oligodendrogenesis and Myelination

Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) express NMDA receptors (NMDARs) and form synapses with glutamatergic neurons throughout the CNS. Although glutamate influences the proliferation and maturation of these progenitors in vitro, the role of NMDAR signaling in oligodendrogenesis and myelination in vivo is not known. Here, we investigated the consequences of genetically deleting the obligatory NMDAR subunit NR1 from OPCs and their oligodendrocyte progeny in the CNS of developing and mature mice. NMDAR-deficient OPCs proliferated normally, achieved appropriate densities in gray and white matter, and differentiated to form major white matter tracts without delay. OPCs also retained their characteristic physiological and morphological properties in the absence of NMDAR signaling and were able to form synapses with glutamatergic axons. However, expression of calcium-permeable AMPA receptors (AMPARs) was enhanced in NMDAR-deficient OPCs. These results suggest that NMDAR signaling is not used to control OPC development but to regulate AMPAR-dependent signaling with surrounding axons, pointing to additional functions for these ubiquitous glial cells.
The Significance of Self-Fulfilling Science

Once lively debates concerning the philosophical significance of self-fulfilling science, or the causal contribution of science to bringing about the states of affairs it depicts, lapsed in the 1970s. Recent claims concerning the influence of economic theory on the behavior it predicts or explains seem poised to revitalize discussion, yet lack of clarity abounds concerning the key features of such cases and the philosophical issues to which they might be relevant. In this paper, I examine a paradigmatic case of self-fulfilling science, clarify its key features, and critically discuss two existing approaches to understanding such phenomena. Ultimately, I suggest a novel approach more well-suited to analyzing such cases and exploring their philosophical significance.
Computationally efficient method for identifying manufacturing induced rotor and stator misalignment in permanent magnet brushless machines

A computationally efficient method is presented to investigate additional cogging torque harmonics resulting from misalignment of the rotor and stator caused by assembly and manufacturing tolerances in an axial flux, fractional pitch PMSM. The hybrid analytical / FEA method utilizes superposition of a pole transition over a single stator slot and is used to predict the effect on cogging torque of eccentricity misalignment in combination with pole and slot placement inaccuracies. This work extends on that previously published by inducing varying degrees of assembly misalignment of the stator and rotor to determine the effect on cogging torque waveforms. Experimental data is presented supporting the analytical data indicating that static and dynamic eccentricity produce first and second order sidebands about the rotor and stator affected harmonics respectively. There is good agreement between the hybrid analytical method, FEA and measured experimental data.
Core and Peripheral Features of the Cross-Cultural Model of Romantic Love

Ethnological studies point to candidates for culturally universal and variable characteristics of romantic love models. However, only recently have these hypotheses begun to be tested through primary data collection intended for cross-cultural comparison. This study builds on two such efforts covering the United States, Russia, Lithuania, and China by adapting their methods to South Korea. We found support for the core features of romantic love identified in these studies (sexual attraction, altruism, intrusive thinking, emotional fulfillment, and idealization). We also explain peripheral meanings of love, including its association with sex, irrationality, and material considerations. In our discussion of East Asian models of romantic love, we argue that the apparently less altruistic attitudes of East Asian women toward their lovers are attributable to the deterioration of structural support for institutions that enforced the ideal of female sacrifice previously valorized in their family relations, and women’s backlash against these continued expectations.
Adaptive classification of interfering signals in a shared radio frequency environment

In a shared radio frequency environment, several intentional and unintentional transmitters are expected to co-exist. Hence, the ability to identify the source of an arbitrary interfering signal, using an automated diagnostic tool, is desirable. This paper describes the development of a scheme that can be used to construct such a diagnostic tool. <<ETX>>
Evaluating Implied Rnds by Some New Confidence Interval Estimation Techniques

This paper evaluates the precision of the parametric double lognormal (DLN) and the nonparametric smoothing spline method (SPLINE) for estimating risk-neutral distributions (RNDs) from observed option prices. By using a bootstrap technique confidence bands are estimated for the riskneutral distributions (RNDs) and the width is used as the criterion when evaluating the precision of the two. Previous literature on estimating confidence bands has to a large extent been estimated by Monte Carlo methods. We argue that the bootstrap technique is to be preferred due to the non-normality of the error structure. Our findings favour the SPLINE method, yielding tighter confidence bands. An example showing how the confidence intervals could be used for practical purposes is also provided.
Exploring anti-science attitudes among political and Christian conservatives through an examination of American universities on Twitter

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate an unexplored factor as to why some Republicans and conservatives have less trust in science and academia than those on the political left. Twitter accounts for 25 elite American universities were examined for political and religious sentiment and then compared to results from 25 lower ranked schools. The aim was to examine the extent universities post politically liberal or anti-Christian messaging through Twitter. Results suggest elite universities promote more liberal messages than conservative or Republican messages and more liberal messages than lower ranked schools. Overall, the sample of schools made few tweets containing pro-Christianity messaging despite some of the schools having strong connections to Christian denominations or having been founded as religious institutions to train Christian clergy. The findings add additional insight as to why discussions on scientific issues may be influenced by political partisanship.
What Are We Weighting For?

When estimating population descriptive statistics, weighting is called for if needed to make the analysis sample representative of the target population. With regard to research directed instead at estimating causal effects, we discuss three distinct weighting motives: (1) to achieve precise estimates by correcting for heteroskedasticity; (2) to achieve consistent estimates by correcting for endogenous sampling; and (3) to identify average partial effects in the presence of unmodeled heterogeneity of effects. In each case, we find that the motive sometimes does not apply in situations where practitioners often assume it does.
Salutogenesis in action : a nature based 'mindfulness for health and wellbeing' programme and its impact on daily life

This research asks whether a focus on nature enables participants on a mindfulness programme to better assimilate mindfulness practice into their daily lives with resultant improvement in health and wellbeing, greater resilience and a more successful approach to their self-management of chronic illness. In doing so it has implications for approaches to healthcare delivery in the management of chronic conditions as well as the teaching and practice of other mindfulness approaches and similar therapeutic interventions. Improvements in participant health and wellbeing, particularly the impact on self-efficacy, the belief that the integration of mindfulness into their lives, their building of a regular practice, helps manage their health conditions and improve their sense of wellbeing, form a key element in the ‘sense of coherence’ that is the mainstay of the Salutogenic approach to health and wellbeing (Antonovsky, 1979). More than 15 million people in the UK live with chronic illness, accounting for more than 50% of all visits to general practitioners and 70% of hospital inpatient stays. This accounts for 70% of the NHS primary and acute care budget and yet it is felt that 70 80% of cases could be supported to manage their own conditions with mindfulness based approaches providing a low cost, long term form of such support. Although the separate fields of mindfulness, nature connection and chronic illness have each received attention in the academic literature, little academic research has examined the conjunction of these fields. This thesis builds bridges between the three
Seabed modeling and distractor extraction for mobile AUVs using light field filtering

A method is presented for isolating moving distractors from a static background in imagery captured by a hovering or slowly moving Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). By reparameterizing a set of monocular images into a light field structure, it becomes possible to apply a linear fan filter and its inverse to extract the background and distractors, respectively. Results are shown for a hovering AUV imaging a region with non-trivial 3D structure and containing moving elements. The output is a distractor-free 3D light field model of the sea floor and a set of images of isolated distractors. We show that the technique is insensitive to parallax in the background elements, outperforming pixel differencing techniques.
The timing and critical incident of epistemic beliefs change in Hong Kong college students: an exploratory study

Abstract Research on epistemic beliefs (beliefs about what knowledge is and what knowing is) has advanced and there is now a burgeoning interest in examining this construct in the Chinese cultural context. However, issues related to understanding epistemic beliefs change remain under-explored. The present study used a qualitative approach to explore Chinese college students’ timing and critical incidents of epistemic beliefs change. Eight college students from Hong Kong participated in interviews and three key themes emerged from their responses. First, students identified college transition as a major source of epistemic perturbation. Second, they attributed epistemic beliefs change mostly to educational encounters. These encounters were characterized by a curriculum with multiple perspectives, being taught by teachers who could provide cognitive scaffolding for epistemic belief resolution, and assessment processes that allowed the latitude to demonstrate multiple perspectives. Furthermore, these characteristics of assessment (mainly regarding examinations) also emerged as a strand of culturally nuanced findings. Students explicitly regarded assessment influencing their epistemic beliefs and described how they differentiated their incongruent “professed” and “practised” epistemic beliefs so as to fit the rules of the public examination. The findings have yielded cultural implications and suggest the need to understand epistemic beliefs transcending the naive-sophisticated dichotomy.
Social dimensions of preimplantation genetic diagnosis: a literature review

The study provides a systematic overview of research on the social implications of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). The analysis focuses on empirical studies that provide insights into its heterogeneous fields of application and the concrete experiences of its users. The literature review shows that three areas of concern and controversial topics are particularly relevant for a social-scientific evaluation of PGD. Firstly, we present attitudes towards and assessments of PGD based on an ongoing expansion and transformation of its fields of application. This process includes not only more and more disorders and disease risks but also applications that are not disease-related. Secondly, there is evidence of significant gender asymmetries and financial concerns regarding the use of and access to PGD. Thirdly, the empirical studies point to a shift in normative expectations towards the idea of “genetic reproductive responsibility” and possible discriminatory consequences for individuals and families with diseases and disabilities.
A Mixed Method Study of Teachers’ Attitudes towards Computer Pronunciation Software in Teaching English Pronunciation

This mixed study investigates the attitudes teachers in English institutes have about computer pronunciation software in teaching English pronunciation. Pronunciation Power 2 was used for this purpose. First, a survey was used as the quantitative method. 55 teachers from 5 English institutes took part in this research and these institutes were randomly selected out of 10 institutes in Guilan, Iran. A questionnaire consisting of 21 items was used as the instrument of quantitative method. To analyze quantitative data, descriptive statistics methods like frequency, percentage, and mean were used. The findings of quantitative method indicated that teachers’ attitudes towards Pronunciation Power 2 are highly positive and they realized it as a useful means of teaching pronunciation. The findings also revealed that teachers should be trained in this software so that they use it appropriately and effectively. Second, an interview was used as the qualitative method. Five teachers were selected voluntarily from five institutes. Semi-structured interview questions were used as the instrument of qualitative method. The qualitative data analysis was done through examining, and organizing data, coding, and identifying themes.
The Difficulties of Using Design Patterns among Novices: An Exploratory Study

Elements of design patterns have been incorporated in computer science syllabus. Most of these efforts have been motivated by the benefits offered by patterns as well as positive feedback from the industry and software community. Despite various techniques and approaches suggested by researchers and educators to ensure effective learning of patterns, there is no formal reports on the actual difficulties encountered by these novices when applying patterns. Thus, we have conducted an exploratory study to identify the difficulties they have in using patterns.
The Quantum Spin Hall Effect: Theory and Experiment

The search for topologically non-trivial states of matter has become an important goal for condensed matter physics. Recently, a new class of topological insulators has been proposed. These topological insulators have an insulating gap in the bulk, but have topologically protected edge states due to the time reversal symmetry. In two dimensions the helical edge states give rise to the quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect, in the absence of any external magnetic field. Here we review a recent theory which predicts that the QSH state can be realized in HgTe/CdTe semiconductor quantum wells (QWs). By varying the thickness of the QW, the band structure changes from a normal to an “inverted” type at a critical thickness d c . We present an analytical solution of the helical edge states and explicitly demonstrate their topological stability. We also review the recent experimental observation of the QSH state in HgTe/(Hg,Cd)Te QWs. We review both the fabrication of the sample and the experimental setup. For thin QWs w.
The effect of tensor veli palatini stimulation on upper airway patency.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of selective electrical stimulation of the tensor veli palatini muscle on upper airway patency. METHODS Pressure-flow relationships were evaluated, in a feline isolated upper airway preparation, to determine the role of the soft palate musculature on airflow dynamics. The tensor veli palatini muscles were selectively stimulated while monitoring upper airway collapsibility (critical pressure), maximal inspiratory airflow, and the nasal resistance upstream to the flow-limiting site. RESULTS Tensor veli palatini stimulation resulted (mean +/- SEM) in an increase in maximal inspiratory airflow from 74 +/- 13 mL/s to 93 +/- 18 mL/s (P= .04). The increase in maximal inspiratory airflow was associated with a decrease in critical pressure from -2.3 +/- 1.7 cm H2O to -4.7 +/- 2.7 cm H2O (P= .01) and an increase in nasal resistance from 32.4 +/- 24.3 cm H2O x L(-1) s(-1) to 50.8 +/- 29.7 cm H2O x L(-1) s(-1) (P= .02). CONCLUSIONS Tensor veli palatini stimulation decreases upper airway collapsibility and is likely an integral component in maintaining airway patency. However, the effects of the isolated tensor veli palatini muscles are less significant than those seen previously with physiologic stimuli such as hypercapnia. These findings suggest that upper airway patency, although contributed to by the tensor veli palatini, requires the coordinated activation of palatopharyngeal muscles to adequately influence upper airway collapsibility.