Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Magnetic Field Structure from Synchrotron Polarization

Total magnetic fields in spiral galaxies, as observed through their total synchrotron emission, are strongest (up to ≲30 µ G) in the spiral arms. The degree of radio polarization is low; the field in the arms must be mostly turbulent or tangled. Polarized synchrotron emission shows that the resolved regular fields are generally strongest in the interarm regions (up to ≲15 µ G), sometimes forming “magnetic arms” parallel to the optical arms. The field structure is spiral in almost every galaxy, even in flocculent and bright irregular types which lack spiral arms. The observed large-scale patterns of Faraday rotation in several massive spiral galaxies reveal coherent regular fields, as predicted by dynamo models. However, in most galaxies observed so far no simple patterns of Faraday rotation could be found. Either many dynamo modes are superimposed and cannot be resolved by present-day telescopes, or most of the apparently regular field is in fact anisotropic random , with frequent reversals, due to shearing and compressing gas flows. In galaxies with massive bars, the polarization pattern follows the gas flow. However, around strong shocks in bars, the compression of the regular field is much lower than that of the gas; the regular field decouples from the cold gas and is strong enough to affect the flow of the diffuse warm gas. – The average strength of the total magnetic field in the Milky Way is 6µ G near the sun and increases to 20–40 μ G in the Galactic center region. The Galactic field is mostly parallel to the plane, except in the center region. Rotation measure data from pulsars indicate several field reversals, unlike external galaxies, but some reversals could be due to distortions of the nearby field.
School Based Practices to Address High Rates of Math Anxiety

High levels of anxiety towards mathematics are prevalent in learners from an early age into college, and in many areas of the world. The most common result of mathematics anxiety is avoidance of math courses. With today’s dependence on technology, educational systems must find a way to combat this problem. This paper will review and critically assess literature on mathematics anxiety with an aim of identifying school based factors that lead to or increase math anxiety. A teacher training program will be developed to address the school based factors that are identified with math anxiety. Tactics will be suggested for the classroom and society as a whole that can control, reduce, and alleviate the problem. With lower levels of math anxiety, it is hoped that our educational system can increase its production of students with strong skills and confidence in mathematics.
Association of sleep quality in Behcet disease with disease activity, depression, and quality of life in Korean population

Background/Aims Sleep disturbance is prime concern in patients with Behcet disease. The purpose of this study was to find out the effects of sleep quality, in Korean patients suffering from Behcet disease. We further investigated the relationship between depression, quality of life and the clinical findings of Behcet disease. Methods The study was performed by the cross-sectional design. Sleep quality was assessed by the Korean version of Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). Disease activity of Behcet disease was evaluated by Behcet disease current activity form (BDCAF). Depression was assessed by the Korean version of Beck depression inventory second edition (BDI-2). Quality of life was assessed by the Korean version of the Leeds Behcet disease quality of life measure (BDQoL). Results Among the 100 patients studied, 42% reported poor sleep quality (PSQI ≥ 9). These patients have a higher BDI-2, total BDCAF and pain visual analogue scale (VAS) score (p < 0.001, p = 0.022, and p = 0.005). Considering BDCAF, the frequency of genital ulcer was significantly higher (p = 0.01). Behcet was higher in females. The BDQoL was lower in poor sleeper group (p = 0.004 and p < 0.001). Among 7 PSQI components, daytime dysfunction was higher in patients with high disease activity (p = 0.03). Total PSQI score were strongly correlated with BDCAF, BDI-2, BDQoL, and pain VAS score (p = 0.02, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, and p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions Low sleep quality is directly associated with disease activity, depression, and quality of life in Korean patients with Behcet disease.
Large population games in radial loss networks: Computationally tractable equilibria for distributed network admission control

The computational intractability of the dynamic programming (DP) equations associated with optimal admission and routing in stochastic loss networks of any non-trivial size (Ma et al, 2006, 2008) leads one to consider suboptimal distributed game theoretic formulations of the problem. The special class of radial networks with a central core of infinite capacity is considered, and it is shown (under adequate assumptions) that an associated distributed admission control problem becomes tractable asymptotically, as the size of radial network grows to infinity. This is achieved by following a methodology first explored by M. Huang et. al. (2003, 2006–2008) in the context of large scale dynamic games for sets of weakly coupled linear stochastic control systems. At the established Nash equilibrium, each agent reacts optimally with respect to the average trajectory of the mass of all other agents; this trajectory is approximated by a deterministic infinite population limit (associated with the mean field or ensemble statistics of the random agents) which is the solution of a particular fixed point problem. This framework has connections with the mean field models studied by Lasry and Lions (2006, 2007) and close connections with the notion of oblivious equilibrium proposed by Weintraub, Benkard, and Van Roy (2005, 2008) via a mean field approximation.
Multilateral Filter Denoising Method Based on Meanshift for Point-Sampled Model

In order to remove the noise in point-sampled model, and prevent vertex drift and over-smoothing phenomenon, a multilateral filter denoising algorithm based on Meanshift for point-sample model is presented. First of all, the algorithm defines the neighborhood for each sampling point based on Euclidean distance; normals and curvatures of vertices in the neighborhood are estimated by covariance matrix analysis and the local optimal neighborhood of sampled point is determined by using Meanshift method. Then, the pre- smoothing normals of sampled points are calculated in the neighborhood to obtain the filter reference plane. Finally, by moving vertices to new locations, the final model after denoising is obtained. The experimental results show that our algorithm can effectively remove the noise, and can maintain local geometric characteristics of the model.
Monitoring carbon dioxide tension and arterial oxygen saturation by a single earlobe sensor in patients with critical illness or sleep apnea.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of the study was to evaluate a novel, combined sensor for transcutaneous monitoring of arterial oxygen saturation and carbon dioxide tension. DESIGN The new monitoring technique was compared to established reference methods. SETTING ICU and sleep laboratory of a university hospital. PATIENTS Eighteen critically ill adult patients with acute respiratory failure or heart failure, and 12 patients with sleep apnea (mean [+/- SD] apnea/hypopnea index, 43 +/- 24 events per hour). MEASUREMENTS Continuous measurements were performed over several hours by the novel heated (temperature, 42 degrees C) earlobe sensor (TOSCA; Linde Medical Sensors; Basel, Switzerland), incorporating electrochemical and optical elements for carbon dioxide measurement (PtcCO2) and pulse oximetry (SpO2), respectively. The data were compared to the results of repeated arterial blood gas analyses in critically ill patients and to simultaneous nocturnal pulse oximetry performed with different devices with earlobe or finger sensors in sleep apnea patients. RESULTS In critically ill patients, the mean difference and limits of agreement (bias +/- 2 SDs) of transcutaneous PtcCO2 vs arterial PaCO2 were 3 +/- 7 mm Hg; the corresponding values for changes in PtcCO2 vs PaCO2 were 1 +/- 6 mm Hg. The bias +/- 2 SDs for pulse oximetric SpO2 vs arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) were 1 +/- 4%. In sleep apnea patients, the combined earlobe sensor identified more transient oxygen desaturations, and the rate of change in oxygen saturation during events was greater compared to those with other tested pulse oximeters, indicating a faster response. CONCLUSIONS Due to its ability to accurately assess both ventilation and oxygenation by a single transcutaneous sensor, the described noninvasive monitoring technique is a valuable tool for respiratory monitoring with potential applications in critical care and sleep medicine.
Discovering Psychological Components of a Ph.D.; the Road to Success

This was a descriptive study which examined the psychological components involved in the completion of a Ph.D. journey. I used a phenomenological approach to investigate doctoral program experiences (n=23), seeking to identify strategies, skills, and experiences commonly shared by successful Ph.D. students through a lens of Transformational Learning, Psychological Capital (PsyCap), and Emotional Intelligence (EI). Assessment measures included interviews, questionnaires, and the administration of both the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal (EIA) and Psychological Capital Questionnaires (PCQ). Findings revealed the presence of Grit, adequate support systems, balance, positive self-talk, and a moderately high level of PsyCap. A correlational analysis indicated a moderately strong positive correlation (r = 0.62) between EI and PsyCap. Finally, suggestions were provided for graduate departments to help support doctoral success.
Dealing with discontinuous innovation: the European experience

Recent research has drawn attention to problems with innovation management under conditions of discontinuity. For example, at certain times, the close interaction with players within the value network may act as a filter which blocks firms seeing the salience of new signals about emerging, but very different potential, technical or market trajectories. There is also the well-known issue of 'not invented here' suggesting that under conditions in which significant shifts occur in the technological trajectory existing incumbents often fail to capitalise or even to adopt. The problem is not simply one of missing important signals about emerging shifts in innovation trajectories in the environment. In a number of cases the information was available to the enterprise but its decision making and resource allocation processes failed to deal adequately with the new information. These and other experiences suggest that whilst firms can learn capabilities around what might be termed 'steady state' innovation conditions they need to extend these capabilities to deal with the uncertainties arising from discontinuous shifts in their technological, market or regulatory environments. This paper discusses some of the challenges around building such capability and presents some case study-based illustrations of experiments in progress.
Relative Parts: Distinctive Parts for Learning Relative Attributes

The notion of relative attributes as introduced by Parikh and Grauman (ICCV, 2011) provides an appealing way of comparing two images based on their visual properties (or attributes) such as "smiling" for face images, "naturalness" for outdoor images, etc. For learning such attributes, a Ranking SVM based formulation was proposed that uses globally represented pairs of annotated images. In this paper, we extend this idea towards learning relative attributes using local parts that are shared across categories. First, instead of using a global representation, we introduce a part-based representation combining a pair of images that specifically compares corresponding parts. Then, with each part we associate a locally adaptive "significance-coefficient" that represents its discriminative ability with respect to a particular attribute. For each attribute, the significance-coefficients are learned simultaneously with a max-margin ranking model in an iterative manner. Compared to the baseline method, the new method is shown to achieve significant improvement in relative attribute prediction accuracy. Additionally, it is also shown to improve relative feedback based interactive image search.
Replication of Empirical Studies in Software Engineering: An Update of a Systematic Mapping Study

Context: Current empirical research highlight the need for replications of empirical studies because replications plays an important role in the construction of scientific knowledge. Objective: Considering the importance of replications in the consolidation of the knowledge produced in the software engineering research, this study aims to update and extend the results produced in a previous mapping study seeking to discuss the current state of the replication work of empirical studies performed in software engineering research between 2011 and 2012. Method: We applied the systematic review method to search and select published papers, to extract, and synthesize data from reported replications. Results: This study analyzed more than 7,000 articles, from which 39 articles that published replications between 2011 and 2012 were selected. Data extracted from these studies were used to update the information about the replications work in software engineering. Conclusion: The number of replications increased significantly in the period, when compared to the previous mapping study. In particular, the percentage of external replications also increased, with respect to internal ones. However, several other limitations identified in the previous mapping studies are still observed in this new set of replications.
Legal Damages at Uncertain Causation

The legal notion of damages requires to compare the actual value of the creditorâ€™s assets with the hypothetical value that would have prevailed if the debtor had met his obligation. Moreover, values and causation may be uncertain. If natureâ€™s contribution is modelled as a random move then the interaction between debtor and nature can be described in normal form which, in turn, allows to capture causality and legal damages in a consistent way. In practice, such random moves of nature are rarely observable. Yet, statistical inference may reveal sufficient information to test for causation and to estimate legal damages on average over observable events as the present paper will establish.
Variables affecting information technology end-user satisfaction: a meta-analysis of the empirical literature

The level of end-user satisfaction with information technology (IT) has widely been accepted as an indicator of IT success. The present research synthesizes and validates the construct of IT end-user satisfaction using a meta-analysis. It accomplishes this by analysing the empirical results of 45 end-user satisfaction studies published between 1986 and 1998 and by focusing on relationships between end-user satisfaction and nine variables: perceived usefulness, ease of use, user expectations, user experience, user skills, user involvement in system development, organizational support, perceived attitude of top management toward the project and user attitude toward information systems (IS) in widely divergent settings. The present analysis found positive support for the influence of all nine variables on end-user IT satisfaction but to varying degrees. The most significant relationships were found to be user involvement in systems development, perceived usefulness, user experience, organizational support and user attitude toward the IS. This has implications for IS analysis and design as well as user training and the development of training support packages.
MicroRNA-128 Governs Neuronal Excitability and Motor Behavior in Mice

Not Too Much, Not Too Little The microRNA miR128 is expressed in brain neurons of the mouse. Lek Tan et al. (p. 1254) now find that miR128 is crucial to stable brain function. Mice deficient in miR128 developed hyperactivity and were susceptible to fatal seizures, whereas overexpression of miR128 correlated with reduced motor activity and reduced susceptibility to proconvulsive drugs. Experiments using ex vivo–isolated adult brain tissues suggested that miR-128 controlled motor activity by governing the signaling network that determines the intrinsic excitability and signal responsiveness of neurons. A microRNA expressed in adult neurons affects movement by modulating neuronal signaling networks and excitability. The control of motor behavior in animals and humans requires constant adaptation of neuronal networks to signals of various types and strengths. We found that microRNA-128 (miR-128), which is expressed in adult neurons, regulates motor behavior by modulating neuronal signaling networks and excitability. miR-128 governs motor activity by suppressing the expression of various ion channels and signaling components of the extracellular signal–regulated kinase ERK2 network that regulate neuronal excitability. In mice, a reduction of miR-128 expression in postnatal neurons causes increased motor activity and fatal epilepsy. Overexpression of miR-128 attenuates neuronal responsiveness, suppresses motor activity, and alleviates motor abnormalities associated with Parkinson’s–like disease and seizures in mice. These data suggest a therapeutic potential for miR-128 in the treatment of epilepsy and movement disorders.
Cytosolic Viral Sensor RIG-I Is a 5'-Triphosphate–Dependent Translocase on Double-Stranded RNA

Retinoic acid inducible–gene I (RIG-I) is a cytosolic multidomain protein that detects viral RNA and elicits an antiviral immune response. Two N-terminal caspase activation and recruitment domains (CARDs) transmit the signal, and the regulatory domain prevents signaling in the absence of viral RNA. 5′-triphosphate and double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) are two molecular patterns that enable RIG-I to discriminate pathogenic from self-RNA. However, the function of the DExH box helicase domain that is also required for activity is less clear. Using single-molecule protein-induced fluorescence enhancement, we discovered a robust adenosine 5′-triphosphate–powered dsRNA translocation activity of RIG-I. The CARDs dramatically suppress translocation in the absence of 5′-triphosphate, and the activation by 5′-triphosphate triggers RIG-I to translocate preferentially on dsRNA in cis. This functional integration of two RNA molecular patterns may provide a means to specifically sense and counteract replicating viruses.
FACTORS RELATED TO OPTIMAL SERVICE DELIVERY MODELS FOR STUDENTS WITH MODERATE TO SEVERE DISABILITIES: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH INQUIRY

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . v LIST OF TABLES . x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION . 1 Problem Statement . 9 Serving Students with Mild to Severe Disabilities. 9 Purpose Statement . 10 Research Questions or Hypotheses . 11 Significance of the Study . 12 Theoretical Underpinnings . 15 Assumptions . 15 Delimitations . 16 Definitions of Key Terms . 16 Student with Moderate to Severe Disabilities . 16 Free and Appropriate Public Education . 17 Summary . 18 Organization of the Study . 18 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction . 20 History . 21 No Child Left Behind . 36 Traditional Service Delivery Models . 38
Cellular and molecular biology of Neisseria meningitidis colonization and invasive disease

The human species is the only natural host of Neisseria meningitidis, an important cause of bacterial meningitis globally, and, despite its association with devastating diseases, N. meningitidis is a commensal organism found frequently in the respiratory tract of healthy individuals. To date, antibiotic resistance is relatively uncommon in N. meningitidis isolates but, due to the rapid onset of disease in susceptible hosts, the mortality rate remains approx. 10%. Additionally, patients who survive meningococcal disease often endure numerous debilitating sequelae. N. meningitidis strains are classified primarily into serogroups based on the type of polysaccharide capsule expressed. In total, 13 serogroups have been described; however, the majority of disease is caused by strains belonging to one of only five serogroups. Although vaccines have been developed against some of these, a universal meningococcal vaccine remains a challenge due to successful immune evasion strategies of the organism, including mimicry of host structures as well as frequent antigenic variation. N. meningitidis express a range of virulence factors including capsular polysaccharide, lipopolysaccharide and a number of surface-expressed adhesive proteins. Variation of these surface structures is necessary for meningococci to evade killing by host defence mechanisms. Nonetheless, adhesion to host cells and tissues needs to be maintained to enable colonization and ensure bacterial survival in the niche. The aims of the present review are to provide a brief outline of meningococcal carriage, disease and burden to society. With this background, we discuss several bacterial strategies that may enable its survival in the human respiratory tract during colonization and in the blood during infection. We also examine several known meningococcal adhesion mechanisms and conclude with a section on the potential processes that may operate in vivo as meningococci progress from the respiratory niche through the blood to reach the central nervous system.
Schemes , Codes and Quadratic Zero-Difference Balanced Functions

Zero-difference balanced (ZDB) functions were introduced by Ding for the constructions of optimal and perfect systems of sets and of optimal constant composition codes. In order to be used in these two areas of application, ZDB functions have to be defined on cyclic groups. In this paper, we investigate quadratic ZDB functions from the additive group of Fpn to itself of the form G(x t+1), where G is injective on the set of (p +1)-th power of Fpn . By choosing different values of p and t, such ZDB functions include certain quadratic APN and PN functions as special cases, which gives a “trans-characteristic” interpretation of these functions. We first provide a geometric characterization of such ZDB functions, and then make use of them to give a construction of a 4-class association schemes. We further determine the weight distributions of the linear codes from such ZDB functions. This includes some of the previous work on the codes generated in the same manner from APN and PN functions as special cases.