Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Repairing Elementary School Science

The heterogendered cultural discourse that privileges heterosexuality and normalizes sexual and gender binaries damages the science knowledge and opportunities to engage in science learning that children experience in elementary school science. This article analyzes a typical science lesson on crayfish to show how the heterogendered obsession with dichotomies and categorization hides the diversity of sexual morphologies and reproductive processes of the natural world. Furthermore, although sexuality, defined here as an innate desire to satisfy curiosity and use bodily experiences to build knowledge, is a foundation of science, typical elementary school science lessons repress children’s curiosity and constrain their embodied understandings. Repairing elementary school science by providing a more expansive view of the diversity of life, inspiring and following children’s curiosity, and providing opportunities for children to build embodied knowledge can create a more gender and sex-inclusive curriculum and encourage all children to flourish as learners of science.
GOVERNANCE AND THE INTERNET

effects. Some are Orwellian in depicting the threat that government would control citizens through massive files recording what individuals say in e-mails. Other visions are politically utopian. For example, Stanford economist Lawrence Lau (2000) rejects Schumpeter’s (1952) view of major societal changes imposing both costs and benefits, claiming that the Internet makes possible “creation without destruction” because “there are no vested interests to protect; no existing business to be cannibalized. ” Such an assertion holds true only if one ignores the existing institutions and practices of governance. If the Internet is to change how governments operate, then existing institutions must change or be reorganized to the point of extinction. In some developing countries, there is an additional complication: modern institutions must be created where they do not exist. Although differing in their forecasts, both Internet utopians and dystopians are technological determinists. CHAPTER 8
A Rank-order Analysis of Learning Models for Regional Labor Market Forecasting

Using a panel of 439 German regions we evaluate and compare the performance of various Neural Network (NN) models as forecasting tools for regional employment growth. Because of relevant differences in data availability between the former East and West Germany, NN models are computed separately for the two parts of the country. The comparisons of the models and their ex-post forecasts have been carried out by means of a non-parametric test: viz. the Friedman statistic. The Friedman statistic tests the consistency of model results obtained in terms of their rank order. Since there is no normal distribution assumption, this methodology is an interesting substitute for a standard analysis of variance. Furthermore, the Friedman statistic is indifferent to the scale on which the data are measured. The evaluation of the ex-post forecasts suggests that NN models are generally able to correctly identify the fastest-growing and the slowest-growing regions, and hence predict rather well the correct ranking of regions in terms of their employment growth. The comparison among NN models – on the basis of several criteria – suggests that the choice of the variables used in the model may influence the model’s performance and the reliability of its forecasts.
Adaptive B-Greedy (ABG): A simple yet efficient scheduling algorithm

In order to improve processor utilizations on parallel systems, adaptive scheduling with parallelism feedback was recently proposed. A-Greedy, an existing adaptive scheduler, offers provably-good job execution time and processor utilization. Unfortunately, it suffers from unstable feedback and hence unnecessary processor reallocations even when the job has constant parallelism. This problem may cause difficulties in the management of system resources. We propose a new adaptive scheduler called ABG (for Adaptive B-Greedy), which ensures both performance and stability. In a direct comparison with A-Greedy using simulated data- parallel jobs, ABG shows an average 50% reduction in wasted processor cycles and an average 20% improvement in running time. For a set of jobs, ABG also outperforms A-Greedy by 10% to 15% on average in terms of both makespan and mean response time, provided the system is not heavily loaded. Our detailed analysis shows that ABG indeed offers improved transient and steady-state behaviors in terms of control-theoretic metrics. Using trim analysis, we show that ABG provides nearly linear speedup for individual jobs and good processor utilizations. Using competitive analysis, we also show that ABG offers good makespan and mean response time bounds.
Variation in longevity gene KLOTHO is associated with greater cortical volumes

Identifying genetic variation associated with brain structures in aging may elucidate new biologic mechanisms underlying resilience to cognitive decline. We investigated whether carrying one copy of the protective haplotype “KL‐VS” in longevity gene KLOTHO (KL) is associated with greater gray matter volume in healthy human aging compared to carrying no copies.
Explaining age differences in working memory: The role of updating, inhibition, and shifting.

We declare no conflict of interest. We thank Melanie Zeintl for assistance with setting up the study and data collection. Matthias Kliegel received support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Christoph Stahl and Christoph Kaller received support from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, grants #01GW0730 and #01GW0710).
Setting the tone for political views: How provided information can affect the assessment of current political state of affairs

This dissertation investigates how far the content of provided information can affect people‘s attitudes in the space of current political thinking. Specifically, it examines how opinion formation within political conflicts and state of affairs can be biased through varying visual and narrative representations in times of threat and uncertainty. Instead of using fictional scenarios or post-hoc evaluations, the experimental designs were applied to current political affairs and conducted within time frames where opinion formation was rather unsettled than cast in concrete. In doing so, the possibility was created to gather new insights into the assessments of ongoing political state of affairs and how opinion formation can be biased through the lens of available information. For example, due to the so-called Ukrainian Crisis a heavily waged dispute emerged in 2014 about how to deal with Russia’s infringement of international law (e.g., annexation of Crimea) ranging from economic sanctions to military action. Although a majority of Germans blamed Russia for this crisis, only a minority favored to provide military aid in this conflict. Empirical evidence was found that one-dimensional and threatening depictions (e.g., in news coverage) can alter people’s military attitudes in this reemerging international conflict (Gebauer, Raab, & Carbon, 2016c). Furthermore, results from two experiments demonstrate how seemingly subtle variations of visualizing the political realities in this conflict can shape the political perception and reinforce stereotypical thinking (Gebauer, Raab, & Carbon, 2016a). Additionally, studies have shown that minimal narrative changes in the context of possible political conspiracies—here, the perceived relations between the US and Russia—can affect the conspiratorial reasoning of conspiracy believers and sceptics (Gebauer, Raab, & Carbon, 2016b). Finally, empirical findings will illustrate that rethinking about political issues beyond current international conflicts might be less suggestible and requires more tangible approaches—like hands-on experience—in order to alter people’s political point of view (Gebauer, Vilimek, Keinath, & Carbon, 2016). The presented findings, therefore, highlight the susceptibility of opinion formation in (re-)emerging political conflicts and its suggestibility through informational descriptions, but do also point to the contextual limitation of persuasiveness—at least in some areas of political rethinking.
PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF MIND-READING BELIEF SCALE ON AN ITALIAN SAMPLE AND CORRELATION WITH THE SELF-CONSTRUAL

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the lifespan developing ability to attribute mental states. This ability enables the individual to predict and interpret one’s own and others’ behavior. In this respect, beliefs about one’s own capacity to attribute mental states represent a fundamental component of this construct. The present study aims to compare the unidimensional structure of the Mindreading Belief Scale, evaluating beliefs about personal ToM skills, with an alternative two-factor model, which could better explain the latent structure of the scale outlining the relational nature of the construct through the articulation self-other. Moreover, the relations with self-construal, as a pivotal element for subjective differentiation, were also investigated. Our data support the two-factor model as a better structuring of the pool of original items. Finally, the correlations found with self-construal scales indicate that self-construal is involved in defining beliefs about one’s own meta-representational skills.
Self‐determination theory and work motivation

Cognitive evaluation theory, which explains the effects of extrinsic motivators on intrinsic motivation, received some initial attention in the organizational literature. However, the simple dichotomy between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation made the theory difficult to apply to work settings. Differentiating extrinsic motivation into types that differ in their degree of autonomy led to self-determination theory, which has received widespread attention in the education, health care, and sport domains. This article describes self-determination theory as a theory of work motivation and shows its relevance to theories of organizational behavior. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cardiovascular disease and psychological morbidity among rheumatoid arthritis patients.

OBJECTIVES To examine whether patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with co-morbid cardiovascular disease (CVD) have different psychological morbidity (and psychosocial risk factors for it) compared with RA patients without co-morbid CVD. METHODS Patients with RA and co-morbid CVD (n = 44; hypertension alone for n = 27) were compared with RA patients without CVD (n = 110). Differences in psychological morbidity (depression and anxiety) and psychosocial risk factors for this (arthritis self-efficacy, acceptance, social support and optimism) were examined while controlling statistically for medical and demographic covariates. RESULTS Groups did not differ on RA duration, RA activity, marital status or socioeconomic status, but RA patients with co-morbid CVD were older, less likely to be female and less likely to be in employment than those without CVD. RA patients with co-morbid CVD had significantly higher depression and were more likely to score above cut-offs for depression than RA patients without CVD. No differences existed in anxiety, although anxiety appeared to be more common than depression. Low optimism was identified as a possible psychosocial risk factor for depression. CONCLUSIONS RA patients with co-morbid CVD have higher depression than RA patients without CVD; low optimism is a potentially modifiable risk factor that may mediate this difference. RA patients with co-morbid CVD may benefit from systematic screening for depression and targeted intervention if necessary.
Induction of Apoptosis by Rubella Virus Non-Structural Replicase and Rescue by Capsid

As a model for studying apoptosis associated with pathogenesis of congenital rubella syndrome, bicistronic rubella virus (RUBV) replicons expressing an antibiotic resistance gene in the presence (925-IN) or absence (IN-IN) of RUBV capsid protein (C) were constructed. Apoptosis was assessed by detection of caspase activation, chromatin fragmentation, and flow cytometry. 925-IN cells grew similarly to Vero, but IN-IN cells demonstrated caspase activation, chromatin fragmentation and cell cycle arrest. Whereas Vero cells transfected with P150 exhibited rapid apoptosis not detected in transfected Vero cells stably expressing C, neither exhibited cell cycle alterations, indicating a cell cycle stall not associated with apoptosis. Finally, two human epithelial cells, HEK293 and A549, transfected with P150 failed to exhibit apoptosis, indicating that while replicon-transfected Vero cells are useful for studying apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, the results are not applicable to other cell types. INDEX WORDS: Apoptosis, Rubella virus, Congenital Rubella Syndrome, replicon INDUCTION OF APOPTOSIS BY RUBELLA VIRUS NON-STRUCTURAL REPLICASE AND RESCUE BY CAPSID
What different kinds of stratification can reveal about the generalizability of data-mined skill assessment models

When validating assessment models built with data mining, generalization is typically tested at the student-level, where models are tested on new students. This approach, though, may fail to find cases where model performance suffers if other aspects of those cases relevant to prediction are not well represented. We explore this here by testing if scientific inquiry skill models built and validated for one science topic can predict skill demonstration for new students and a new science topic. Test cases were chosen using two methods: student-level stratification, and stratification based on the amount of trials ran during students' experimentation. We found that predictive performance of the models was different on each test set, revealing limitations that would have been missed from student-level validation alone.
Performance of an adaptive successive serial-parallel CDMA cancellation scheme in flat Rayleigh fading channels

The performance of a concatenated successive cancellation scheme for CDMA up-link transmission in cellular mobile radio is presented. Both serial and parallel cancellation stages are employed. Analysis and simulation results in flat Rayleigh fading asynchronous channels with both perfect and imperfect channel estimation, and with perfect ranking, indicate the accuracy of our analytical model. The concatenated scheme has the potential to reach the single user performance bound for up to K=120 users when the processing gain is 127 and one serial and three parallel cancellation stages are used.
Intercalary Reconstructions with Vascularised Fibula and Allograft after Tumour Resection in the Lower Limb

Reconstruction with massive bone allograft and autologous vascularised fibula combines the structural strength of the allograft and the advantages of fibula's intrinsic blood supply. We retrospectively analysed the outcome of twelve patients (4 male, 8 female) who received reconstruction with massive bone allograft and autologous vascularised fibula after tumour resection in lower limb. Mean age was 17.8 years (range 11–31 years), with following primaries: Ewing's sarcoma (n = 6), osteosarcoma (n = 4), liposarcoma grade 2 (n = 1), and adamantinoma (n = 1). Mean followup was 38.7 months (median 25.7 months; range 2–88 months). Seven tumours were located in the femur and five in the tibia. The mean length of bone defect was 18.7 cm (range 15–25 cm). None of the grafts had to be removed, but there occurred four fractures, four nonunions, and two infections. Two patients developed donor side complication, in form of flexion deformity of the big toe. The event-free survival rate was 51% at two-year followup and 39% at three- and five-year followup. As the complications were manageable, and full weight bearing was achieved in all cases, we consider the combination of massive bone allograft and autologous vascularised fibula a stable and durable reconstruction method of the diaphysis of the lower limbs.
Network Expansion Problem on the Spanning Tree in Graphs

Motivated by various network improvement models, we study the problem to add some new edges to satisfy the increasing information demand and keep the underlying structure of the networks unchanged. In this paper we propose the general network expansion problem on the spanning tree in graphs (GNEST), then we present the polynomial equivalence between the GNEST problem and the constrained minimum spanning tree problem (CST), which indicates the GNEST problem is NP-hard. By utilizing an algorithm[5] to solve the CST problem, we can design a PTAS to solve the GNEST problem, and the computational complexity is the same as that of the algorithm given in [5]. Finally we study two special versions of the GNEST problem:the minimum network expansion on spanning tree problem(MNEST) and the minimum-cost network expansion on spanning tree (MCNEST). We design two polynomial-time algorithms to solve these two new problems. To solve the MNEST problem we use T-exchange method on spanning trees. To find the optimal solution of the MCNEST problem,we utilize lexicographical order and modify Sollin’s algorithm to find the minimum spanning tree as required.
A Situative Analysis of the Relationship between Faculty Beliefs and Teaching Practice: Implications for Instructional Improvement at the Postsecondary Level

Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for noncommercial purposes by any means, provided that the above copyright notice appears on all copies. Any opinions, findings, or conclusions expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies, WCER, or cooperating institutions. A long-standing question in education is to what degree teachers' planning and classroom practice is influenced by their pedagogical thoughts in general and beliefs about teaching and learning in particular. Drawing on theory and method from cognitive psychology, researchers of K–12 teacher thinking have established that teaching is a complex practice that is informed by both conscious and subconscious cognitive characteristics of individual teachers and features of the immediate instructional context. Beliefs, particularly those regarding how students learn, play a unique and influential role in this process by filtering new information, framing problems, and guiding action in concert with other mental representations as well as features of the immediate task environment (Fives & Buehl, 2012; Nespor, 1987). This focus on beliefs is not limited to educational research but is a fundamental problem addressed by fields as diverse as public health (Armitage & Connor, 2000), ethical decision-making in organizations (Trevino, 1986), and religious practice (Geertz, 1973), thereby underscoring the fundamental role that beliefs are thought to play in shaping cognition and behavior. Extensive research at the postsecondary level has similarly examined how the pedagogical thoughts of faculty influence their teaching practice, using a variety of constructs with which to conceptualize faculty cognition such as approaches In general, this literature advances two propositions regarding the nature of the relationship between beliefs and practice. First, researchers have found that the pedagogical thoughts of postsecondary teachers can be characterized as existing on a continuum from student-centered to teaching-centered orientations, with attendant implications for the quality of instruction and student outcomes (Kember, 1997). Second, researchers suggest that a thematic relationship exists between such approaches, classroom practice, and student outcomes, and that efforts to improve educational outcomes should support faculty in obtaining the student-centered perspectives However, this body of literature has been critiqued for insufficient conceptualization of psychological constructs, lack of attention to the influence of organizational contexts, and the tendency of researchers to rely exclusively on self-report data without observing actual classroom practice (Kane, Sandretto, & Heath, 2002). Further inhibiting this body of work is that little is known about how faculty …
Facile and Scalable Preparation of Pure and Dense DNA Origami Solutions

DNA has become a prime material for assembling complex three-dimensional objects that promise utility in various areas of application. However, achieving user-defined goals with DNA objects has been hampered by the difficulty to prepare them at arbitrary concentrations and in user-defined solution conditions. Here, we describe a method that solves this problem. The method is based on poly(ethylene glycol)-induced depletion of species with high molecular weight. We demonstrate that our method is applicable to a wide spectrum of DNA shapes and that it achieves excellent recovery yields of target objects up to 97 %, while providing efficient separation from non-integrated DNA strands. DNA objects may be prepared at concentrations up to the limit of solubility, including the possibility for bringing DNA objects into a solid phase. Due to the fidelity and simplicity of our method we anticipate that it will help to catalyze the development of new types of applications that use self-assembled DNA objects.
How Fast Do Old Men Slow Down?

This study uses data on men's track and field and road racing records by age to estimate the rate at which men slow down with age. For most of the running events (400 meters through the half marathon), the slowdown rate per year is estimated to be . 80 percent between ages 35 and 51. At age 51 the rate begins to increase. It is 1.04 percent at age 60, 1.46 percent at age 75, and 2.01 percent at age 95. The slowdown rate is smaller for 100 meters. For the events longer than the half marathon, the rate is smaller through about age 60 and then larger after that. The slowdown rate is generally larger at all ages for the field events. Table 2 shows that the age-factors in Masters Age-Graded Tables are excessively variable and biased against older runners. Tables 3 and 5 present the age-factors implied by this study. These tables can be used to estimate one's projected time or distance by age. They can also be used by race officials for age-graded events. A brief comparison of the present results to results in the physiological literature is also presented in this paper. The main estimation technique used is a combination of the polynomialspline method and the frontier-function method. A number of the events have been pooled to provide more efficient estimates.
Temperament and Migration Patterns in Finland

Migration is a central determinant of population dynamics and structure. We examined whether three major temperament traits—sociability, emotionality, and activity—predicted migration propensity, selective urban-rural migration, and migration distance in a 9-year prospective study in Finland. The participants were Finnish women and men (N = 1,733) ages 15 to 30 years at baseline. The home municipality's position on the urban-rural continuum was assessed on the basis of the municipality's population density. We found that high sociability predicted migration to urban areas and longer migration distances. High activity increased general migration propensity (including migration to both urban and rural areas). High emotionality increased the likelihood of leaving the home municipality and decreased migration distances, but was not associated with selective urban-rural migration. These data suggest that temperament predicts the self-selection of environments on a demographic scale and may be relevant in understanding population dynamics.