Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does it Have to Be a Sacrifice? Different Notions of the Good Life, Pro-Environmental Behavior and Their Heterogeneous Impact on Well-Being

Our well-being is influenced by our notion of what constitutes a good life, a vital part of our identity. While pro-environmental behavior is often found to be positively related to individuals' well-being, our research delves into the extent to which this relationship is influenced by individuals' identity, measured both as green self-image and their notion of the good life in general. Using survey responses from Spanish university students (n=640) and paying close attention to the subjective perception of what it means to be “satisfied with their lives”, we find that green behavior is negatively related to life satisfaction in our sample. In contrast, green self-image is positively related to life satisfaction. Whether pro-environmental behavior is positively related to life satisfaction further depends on whether one's notion of the good life (and hence happiness) is utopian, stoicist, or based on a fulfillment- or virtue-view. In addition, well-being loss from pro-environmental behavior also decreases with the available disposable income.
Supporting dynamic conceptions of area and its measure

ABSTRACT Design research was conducted to investigate the development of dynamic conceptions of area. Students used simple physical instruments, squeegees, and paint, to generate rectangular areas continuously as a sweeping motion of one length through another. Then, they dissected the resulting swept space into discrete units of measure by coordinating measures of the lengths of the sides, including side lengths measured in different units, such as “squeegee” and inch. Analysis of classroom discourse, formative assessments, and flexible interviews conducted 2 months after instruction illustrated that students developed dynamic images and meanings of area and its measure. These expanded their understanding of multiplicative product to include referent-transforming quantity and provided means for re-envisioning the meaning of the commutative and distributive properties of multiplication. Students employed these properties to relate fractional and whole number area products. Dynamic generation and dissection in tandem helped students bridge discrete and continuous conceptions of area and its measure.
Mitochondrial Capacity in Skeletal Muscle Is Not Stimulated by Weight Loss Despite Increases in Insulin Action and Decreases in Intramyocellular Lipid Content

OBJECTIVE— In obesity and type 2 diabetes, exercise combined with weight loss increases skeletal muscle mitochondrial capacity. It remains unclear whether mitochondrial capacity increases because of weight loss, improvements in insulin resistance, or physical training. In this study, we examined the effects of an intervention of weight loss induced by diet and compared these with those of a similar intervention of weight loss by diet with exercise. Both are known to improve insulin resistance, and we tested the hypothesis that physical activity, rather than improved insulin resistance, is required to increase mitochondrial capacity of muscle. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS— Sixteen sedentary overweight/obese volunteers were randomized to a 16-week intervention of diet (n = 7) or diet plus exercise (n = 9). Insulin sensitivity was measured using euglycemic clamps. Mitochondria were examined in muscle biopsies before and after intervention. We measured mitochondrial content and size by electron microscopy, electron transport chain (ETC) activity, cardiolipin content, and mitochondrial DNA content. Intramyocellular content of lipid (IMCL) and fiber-type distribution were determined by histology. RESULTS— The diet-only and diet plus exercise groups achieved similar weight loss (10.8 and 9.2%, respectively); only the diet plus exercise group improved aerobic capacity. Insulin sensitivity improved similarly in both groups. Mitochondrial content and ETC activity increased following the diet plus exercise intervention but remained unchanged following the diet-only intervention, and mitochondrial size decreased with weight loss despite improvement in insulin resistance. IMCL decreased in the diet-only but not in the diet plus exercise intervention. CONCLUSIONS— Despite similar effects to improve insulin resistance, these interventions had differential effects on mitochondria. Clinically significant weight loss in the absence of increased physical activity ameliorates insulin resistance and IMCL but does not increase muscle mitochondrial capacity in obesity.
A Fuzzy-Based Decision Approach for Supporting Multimedia Content Request Routing in CDN

The technology of multimedia Content Delivery Network (CDN) is to build some replica servers in the network. The origin server replicates some multimedia contents to these replica servers in order to reduce the loading of the origin server and to reduce the utilization of bandwidth. The client issues a request to the most appropriate replica server instead of the origin server, which can provide the same multimedia contents. The main function of the request routing system in CDN is to redirect the client’s request to the most appropriate replica server. Some popular request routing algorithms include random choice, round robin, depending on bandwidth availability, depending on hard disk availability, and depending on connection availability. In this paper, we propose a fuzzy decision algorithm using in the request routing system. The fuzzy decision algorithm consists of three steps, which includes fuzzification, rule evaluation, and defuzzification. Based on these three steps, we can get the fuzzy decision value for each replica server. The replica server with the highest fuzzy decision value is the most appropriate replica server to serve the client’s request, then the total network utilization will be increased, and the drop rate will be decreased.
The Neural Mechanisms of Social Learning from Fleeting Experience with Pain

Social learning is critical for humans to adapt and cope with rapidly changing surroundings. Although, neuroscience has focused on associative learning and pain empathy, the neural mechanisms of social learning through fleeting pain remains to be determined. This functional MRI study included three participant groups, to investigate how the neuro-hemodynamic response and subjective evaluation in response to the observation of hand actions were modulated by first-hand experience (FH), as well as indirect experience through social-observational (SO), and verbal-informed (VI) learning from fleeting pain. The results indicated, that these three learning groups share the common neuro-hemodynamic activations in the brain regions implicated in emotional awareness, memory, mentalizing, perspective taking, and emotional regulation. The anterior insular cortex (AIC) was commonly activated during these learning procedures. The amygdala was only activated by the FH. Dynamic causal modeling further indicated, that the SO and VI learning exhibited weaker connectivity strength from the AIC to superior frontal gyrus than did the FH. These findings demonstrate, that social learning elicits distinct neural responses from associative learning. The ontogeny of human empathy could be better understood with social learning from fleeting experience with pain.
Near optimal power allocation algorithm for OFDM-based cognitive using adaptive relaying strategy

Relayed transmission increases the coverage and achievable capacity of communication systems. Adaptive relaying scheme is a relaying technique by which the benefits of the amplifying or decode and forward techniques can be achieved by switching the forwarding technique according to the quality of the signal. A cognitive Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) based adaptive relaying protocol is considered in this paper. The objective is to maximize the capacity of the cognitive radio system while ensuring that the interference introduced to the primary user is below the tolerated limit. A Near optimal power allocation in the source and the relay is presented for two pairing techniques such that the matching and random pairing. The simulation results confirm the efficiency of the proposed adaptive relaying protocol, and the consequence of choice of pairing technique.
Hybrid High-order Eulerian-Lagrangian methods for simulations of particle-laden flow with shocks

The development of a Hybrid high order Eulerian-Lagrangian algorithm to simulate shock wave interactions with particles is discussed. The Hybrid high order WENO/central finite difference scheme is assessed in three-dimensional simulations, as well as the effective use of the high order polynomials and regularization techniques in the approximation to the singular source term in the advection equation. The mathematical model is based on a coupled system, consisting of a non-linear hyperbolic conservation laws with a source term that accounts the influence of the particles on the flow and kinematic equations, which govern the fluid flow and particle motion, respectively. The continuum conservation equations solve the carrier flow with a Hybrid scheme that uses the weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) method for shock capturing, and a more computationally efficient high order scheme, including a central finite difference or spectral methods in regions where the solution is smooth. Numerical experiments illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the Hybrid code compared with the pure WENO. Initial efforts have been made towards the development of a Hybrid WENO-spectral particle-source-in-cell (PSIC) algorithm. Specifically, a new regularization of the singular source term through polynomial approximations that couples particles and fluid have shown regularize discontinuities while converging at higher error away from discontinuity.
Outcome of Combined Hepatocellular and Cholangiocarcinoma of the Liver

Background. The objective of this study was to examine the epidemiology, natural history, and prognostic factors of combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CC) using population-based registry. Methods. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program database (1973–2004) was used to identify cases of cHCC-CC. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate factors associated with cancer-directed surgery (CDS). The influence of CDS on cancer specific survival was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards modeling. Results. A total of 380 cases of cHCC-CC were identified, which account for approximately 0.87% of primary liver tumors. Of all patients, 69.8% of patients had regional or distant stage; 65.6% of patients had poorly or undifferentiated histology. Only 44.9% of patients with localized disease, received CDS. By logistic regression analysis, being widowed, advanced stage, and earlier diagnosis year were associated with lower rate of utilization of CDS. In multivariate analysis, tumor stage, receipt of CDS, and recent year of diagnosis were found to be significant predictors for cancer-specific survival. Conclusions. Patients with localized cHCC-CC who are selected for CDS were strongly associated with improved survival. However, many patients with localized tumors did not receive potentially curative cancer-directed surgery. Further study is warranted to address the barriers to the delivery of appropriate care to these patients.
A review of the effect of compassion on mental health: emotion regulation as a possible mechanism of action

This article provides a review of the current state of research on compassion. First, the construct of compassion is addressed from a Buddhist perspective. Second, this article reviews the empirical literature on the relation of self-compassion to mental health, including findings from correlational studies as well as intervention studies. Third, compassion and empathy are conceptually differentiated, providing empirical evidence that supports this distinction. Fourth, the idea is discussed that a possible mechanism of action for self-compassion on mental health may be through improvements on emotion regulation. Finally, it is concluded that research on compassion is still emergent and directions for future research are suggested.
Measuring Sentence Similarity from Both the Perspectives of Commonalities and Differences

Similarity between two sentences can be determined by either comparing their commonalities or their differences. Commonalities, which reflect similarity judgment, connect the two sentences while differences, which reflect dissimilarity judgment, represent the unique way of self-identification. Although both of them are essential in determining sentence similarity, however, the existing methods only focus on single perspective, mostly the perspective of commonalities. This paper presents a method which calculates the sentence similarity from multiple perspectives by taking both the commonalities and differences into consideration. The experimental result on a standard data set shows that the proposed method outperforms the baseline, which is the existing most outstanding single perspective measure, with statistically significant improvement.
Insider Trading and Motivations for Earnings Management

We develop and test three possible hypotheses to explain motivations for earnings management. These hypotheses are opportunism, signaling and smoothing. We examine the patterns of insider trading associated with earnings management. Our main findings are: (1) the buying trades of insiders decrease in frequency relative to selling trades as earnings are managed upwards, (2) after controlling for size, the trading pattern of insiders still holds and (3) when partitioning the sample on past returns, the trading pattern is still present within categories of past returns. These results are consistent with opportunism.
ECG Signal Compression Based on Dc Equalization and Complexity Sorting

In this brief, we present new preprocessing techniques for electrocardiogram signals, namely, DC equalization and complexity sorting, which when applied can improve current 2-D compression algorithms. The experimental results with signals from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Beth Israel Hospital (MIT-BIH) database outperform the ones from many state-of-the-art schemes described in the literature.
SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE: MOVING TO THE SCIENTIFIC MAINSTREAM

round the world, there appears to be agrowing concern with spirituality in thegeneral public as well as among schol-ars. Whether one looks at the list of best-sellingbooks, searches the Web, watches contemporarymovies or TV shows, or reads general-interestmagazines, one quickly finds evidence of thistrend. And one sees religion and spirituality(mixed with nationalism and ethnic tensions)playing defining roles in most major geopoliti-cal conflicts in a world that is becoming bothsmaller and more fragmented.While spirituality in general has considerablecurrency, there is additional focus on the spiri-tual development of children and adolescents.The source of this interest varies considerably.For example, some people—particularly thosewithin religious communities—worry that thebeliefs, narratives, and commitments of theworld’s religious traditions are not adequatelytaking root in young people’s lives (e.g.,Lindner, 2004). As Wuthnow (1998) puts it,“When the sacred no longer has a singleaddress, people worry that it may disappearentirely” (p. 10). Other observers contend thatthe world’s religious heritage is “tainted by anincriminating record of injustice, tribalism, vio-lence, and the violation of fundamental humanrights” (King, 2001 p. 2). Instead, they say, theurgent need is to engage young people in newways of seeing, knowing, and discovering, since“a simple return to or retrieval of past spiritual-ities is no longer enough to meet urgent con-temporary social and personal needs” (King,
A parametric UWB propagation channel estimation and its performance validation in an anechoic chamber

This paper presents an ultrawide-band (UWB) channel sounding scheme with a parametric channel estimation to seek accurate probing of the propagation channel. The channel sounder consists of a vector network analzer and synthetic array to measure spatial transfer functions. The measured data are then applied to a maximum-likelihood (ML)-based estimator. The concepts implemented in the ML-based parametric channel estimation are: 1) to probe frequency-dependent effects in magnitude and phase of propagation paths and 2) to incorporate with robust concept of direction finding, namely, the spherical wavefront model of incident waves. The whole frequency band was divided into subbands, and the estimation of magnitude and phase was conducted in each subband. The spherical wavefront model includes a new model parameter, curvature radii, which is not covered in the conventional plane wavefront model. Performances of the proposed parametric UWB channel estimation scheme was assessed by anechoic chamber tests. The test demonstrated that: 1) the frequency-dependent magnitude and phase were accurately detected if the path was resolved and 2) the spherical wavefront outperformed the plane wavefront to model measured data given the short-range environment. Furthermore, fundamental performance of the sounding scheme, i.e., angular and time resolutions, were also evaluated in the test.
Content adaptation and learner profile definition: Ant colony algorithm application

E-Iearning is currently in expansion. Several studies were conducted to adapt courses according to learner's profile. In this article, we propose an e-Iearning adaptive system: Ant Colony Adaptive E-Learning (ACAEL). ACAEL is composed of three parts. The first part defines learner's profile using multi-criteria evaluation. We propose four criteria: active time spent consulting course units, evaluation time, number of attempts and finally the test score. Learner takes a global test and other tests corresponding to learning unit, during his elearning path. In the second part of ACAEL, using ant colony algorithm we define the succession of units and propose them to the learner. For each unit, the trainer assigns weights and a description of prerequisites and acquired information. We define units' succession and finally we obtain the personalized learner path. In the third part of ACEAL, we develop satisfaction survey component for learners and trainers, in order to improve course content and adaptive system.
UnrealStereo: A Synthetic Dataset for Analyzing Stereo Vision

Stereo algorithm is important for robotics applications, such as quadcopter and autonomous driving. It needs to be robust enough to handle images of challenging conditions, such as raining or strong lighting. Textureless and specular regions of these images make feature matching difficult and smoothness assumption invalid. It is important to understand whether an algorithm is robust to these hazardous regions. Many stereo benchmarks have been developed to evaluate the performance and track progress. But it is not easy to quantize the effect of these hazardous regions. In this paper, we develop a synthetic image generation tool and build a benchmark with synthetic images. First, we manually tweak hazardous factors in a virtual world, such as making objects more specular or transparent, to simulate corner cases to test the robustness of stereo algorithms. Second, we use ground truth information, such as object mask, material property, to automatically identify hazardous regions and evaluate the accuracy of these regions. Our tool is based on a popular game engine Unreal Engine 4 and will be open-source. Many publicly available realistic game contents can be used by our tool which can provide an enormous resource for algorithm development and evaluation.
Creativity and Embodied Fluid Movements

There is an increasing body of evidence suggesting that the embodiment of certain movements can stimulate creative idea formation. Embodied Creativity suggests that embodying particular movements, often fluid, free movements can improve creative thinking over the embodiment of nonfluid movements. In the first of two experiments participants were required to navigate a character through a bespoke virtual environment while (a) following a fluid, free flowing pathway, (b) a nonfluid pathway, or (c) a straight, linear pathway. Movements were performed on a flat, horizontal axial plane. Participants completed a series of Divergent thinking tasks (Torrence Test of Creative Thinking, TTCT; Torrence, 1974) and a series of Convergent thinking tasks (Remote Associations Test, RAT; Mednick, 1962). The first experiment results suggest a contradiction with previous findings, displaying an increase in creativity scores for participants embodying both fluid and non-fluid movements when compared to the straight pathway. It was discussed that aspects of the virtual pathway design may explain the result. Though the first experiment showed support for the idea that individuals can embody movements when immersed within virtual environments. In a similar yet revised second experiment, participants embodied fluid, non-fluid and linear movements through an altered virtual pathway. The movements were performed on a variable vertical axis, participants embodied up and down fluid and non-fluid movements. The results indicated increased divergent thinking scores for those completing both a fluid pathway and a linear free moving straight pathway over a non-fluid pathway in line with previous research (Slepian & Ambady, 2012; Leung et al., 2012). Results were discussed in terms of virtual environments, axis and embodied metaphors.
Anion Gap Toxicity in Alloxan Induced Type 2 Diabetic Rats Treated with Antidiabetic Noncytotoxic Bioactive Compounds of Ethanolic Extract of Moringa oleifera

Moringa oleifera (MO) is used for a number of therapeutic purposes. This raises the question of safety and possible toxicity. The objective of the study was to ascertain the safety and possible metabolic toxicity in comparison with metformin, a known drug associated with acidosis. Animals confirmed with diabetes were grouped into 2 groups. The control group only received oral dose of PBS while the test group was treated with ethanolic extract of MO orally twice daily for 5-6 days. Data showed that the extract significantly lowered glucose level to normal values and did not cause any significant cytotoxicity compared to the control group (P = 0.0698); there was no gain in weight between the MO treated and the control groups (P > 0.8115). However, data showed that treatment with an ethanolic extract of MO caused a decrease in bicarbonate (P < 0.0001), and more than twofold increase in anion gap (P < 0.0001); metformin treatment also decreased bicarbonate (P < 0.0001) and resulted in a threefold increase in anion gap (P < 0.0001). Conclusively, these data show that while MO appears to have antidiabetic and noncytotoxic properties, it is associated with statistically significant anion gap acidosis in alloxan induced type 2 diabetic rats.
A Multi-level Technology Acceptance, Adoption and Implementation Model for Achieving Government-Citizen Dialogue: An Omani Case Study

ii Acknowledgements . iv Publications arising from the thesis . v List of Tables . xi List of Figures . xiii Glossary of Terms . xiv Chapter 1: Introduction . 19 1.1 Background . 19 1.2 Research outline . 25 1.2. 1 Purpose . 25 1.2. 2 Objectives . 25 1.2. 3 Primary research question . 26 1.2. 4 Methodology . 28 1.3 The need for this research . 30 1.4 Scope of this study . 31 1.5 Limitations of scope . 32 1.6 Research contributions . 32 1.7 Outline of the thesis . 33 Chapter 2: Literature Review . 34 2.