Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Construct Validation of Adaptive Achievement Testing.

Abstract : The construct validities of conventional paper-and-pencil and adaptive achievement tests were compared using data from two independent groups of 269 and 230 college students. Two adaptive achievement tests were computer administered to each group using the stradaptive testing strategy; each group also completed two conventional classroom paper-and-pencil achievement tests. All achievement tests were drawn from the same pool of achievement test items on which item characteristic curve (ICC) parameters had been determined. Students were also administered two stradaptive vocabulary tests. All tests were scored by maximum likelihood estimation using the three-parameter logistic model. A nomological net was specified describing the relationships of the achievement tests to the achievement constructs and their relationships with the vocabulary construct and the vocabulary tests. The parameters of the net were estimated by fitting the observed intercorrelations among the test scores to the nomological net, using the methodology of linear structural equations. Maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters of the nomological net indicated essentially equal validities for the classroom and adaptive tests in four comparisons. The results of this study indicate that computer-administered adaptive tests can provide more valid measurement of achievement than conventional paper-and-pencil tests.
${\mathcal O}$-operators of Loday algebras and analogues of the classical Yang-Baxter equation

We introduce notions of ${\mathcal O}$-operators of the Loday algebras including the dendriform algebras and quadri-algebras as a natural generalization of Rota-Baxter operators. The invertible $\mathcal O$-operators give a sufficient and necessary condition on the existence of the $2^{n+1}$ operations on an algebra with the $2^{n}$ operations in an associative cluster. The analogues of the classical Yang-Baxter equation in these algebras can be understood as the $\mathcal O$-operators associated to certain dual bimodules. As a byproduct, the constraint conditions (invariances) of nondegenerate bilinear forms on these algebras are given.
Leveraging time for spammers detection on Twitter

Twitter is one of the most popular microblogging social systems, which provides a set of distinctive posting services operating in real time. The flexibility of these services has attracted unethical individuals, so-called "spammers", aiming at spreading malicious, phishing, and misleading information. Unfortunately, the existence of spam results non-ignorable problems related to search and user's privacy. In the battle of fighting spam, various detection methods have been designed, which work by automating the detection process using the "features" concept combined with machine learning methods. However, the existing features are not effective enough to adapt spammers' tactics due to the ease of manipulation in the features. Also, the graph features are not suitable for Twitter based applications, though the high performance obtainable when applying such features. In this paper, beyond the simple statistical features such as number of hashtags and number of URLs, we examine the time property through advancing the design of some features used in the literature, and proposing new time based features. The new design of features is divided between robust advanced statistical features incorporating explicitly the time attribute, and behavioral features identifying any posting behavior pattern. The experimental results show that the new form of features is able to classify correctly the majority of spammers with an accuracy higher than 93% when using Random Forest learning algorithm, applied on a collected and annotated data-set. The results obtained outperform the accuracy of the state of the art features by about 6%, proving the significance of leveraging time in detecting spam accounts.
Optical remote mapping of rivers at sub‐meter resolutions and watershed extents

At watershed extents, our understanding of river form, process and function is largely based on locally intensive mapping of river reaches, or on spatially extensive but low density data scattered throughout a watershed (e.g. cross sections). The net effect has been to characterize streams as discontinuous systems. Recent advances in optical remote sensing of rivers indicate that it should now be possible to generate accurate and continuous maps of in‐stream habitats, depths, algae, wood, stream power and other features at sub‐meter resolutions across entire watersheds so long as the water is clear and the aerial view is unobstructed. Such maps would transform river science and management by providing improved data, better models and explanation, and enhanced applications.
Optiplan: Unifying IP-based and Graph-based Planning

The Optiplan planning system is the first integer programming-based planner that successfully participated in the international planning competition. This engineering note describes the architecture of Optiplan and provides the integer programming formulation that enabled it to perform reasonably well in the competition. We also touch upon some recent developments that make integer programming encodings significantly more competitive.
Measuring query privacy in location-based services

The popularity of location-based services leads to serious concerns on user privacy. A common mechanism to protect users' location and query privacy is spatial generalisation. As more user information becomes available with the fast growth of Internet applications, e.g., social networks, attackers have the ability to construct users' personal profiles. This gives rise to new challenges and reconsideration of the existing privacy metrics, such as k-anonymity. In this paper, we propose new metrics to measure users' query privacy taking into account user profiles. Furthermore, we design spatial generalisation algorithms to compute regions satisfying users' privacy requirements expressed in these metrics. By experimental results, our metrics and algorithms are shown to be effective and efficient for practical usage.
Risky Lessons: Sex Education and Social Inequality

Curricula in U.S. public schools are often the focus of heated debate, and few subjects spark more controversy than sex education. While conservatives argue that sexual abstinence should be the only message, liberals counter that an approach that provides comprehensive instruction and helps young people avoid sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy is necessary. Caught in the middle are the students and teachers whose everyday experiences of sex education are seldom as clear-cut as either side of the debate suggests. "Risky Lessons" brings readers inside three North Carolina middle schools to show how students and teachers support and subvert the official curriculum through their questions, choices, viewpoints, and reactions. Most important, the book highlights how sex education's formal and informal lessons reflect and reinforce gender, race, and class inequalities.Ultimately critical of both conservative and liberal approaches, Fields argues for curricula that promote social and sexual justice. Sex education's aim need not be limited to reducing the risk of adolescent pregnancies, disease, and sexual activity. Rather, its lessons should help young people to recognize and contend with sexual desires, power, and inequalities.
Cognition and Gait Show a Selective Pattern of Association Dominated by Phenotype in Incident Parkinson’s Disease

Reports outlining the association between gait and cognition in Parkinson’s disease (PD) are limited because of methodological issues and a bias toward studying advanced disease. This study examines the association between gait and cognition in 121 early PD who were characterized according to motor phenotype, and 184 healthy older adults. Quantitative gait was captured using a 7 m GAITrite walkway while walking for 2 min under single-task conditions and described by five domains (pace, rhythm, variability, asymmetry, and postural control). Cognitive outcomes were summarized by six domains (attention, working memory, visual memory, executive function, visuospatial function, and global cognition). Partial correlations and multivariate linear regression were used to determine independent associations for all participants and for PD tremor-dominant (TD) and postural instability and gait disorder (PIGD) phenotypes, controlling for age, sex, and premorbid intelligence using the national adult reading test. Cognitive and gait outcomes were significantly worse for PD. Gait, but not cognitive outcomes, was selectively worse for the PIGD phenotype compared with TD. Significant associations emerged for two gait domains for controls (pace and postural control) and four gait domains for PD (pace, rhythm, variability, and postural control). The strongest correlation was for pace and attention for PD and controls. Associations were not significant for participants with the TD phenotype. In early PD, the cognitive correlates of gait are predominantly with fronto-executive functions, and are characterized by the PIGD PD phenotype. These associations provide a basis for understanding the complex role of cognition in parkinsonian gait.
Thermotactile thresholds at the fingertip: Effect of contact area and contact location

Thresholds for the detection of changes in temperature are used to indicate neuropathy, but a variety of different contact areas and contact locations are used. This study was designed to determine the effects of variations in contact area and contact location on both warm and cool thresholds at the fingertip. With 20 healthy subjects (10 females and 10 males aged 20–30 years), warm thresholds and cool thresholds were determined in two separate sessions using the method of limits. In the first part of each session, thresholds were determined around the centre of the whorl using circular contactors with five different diameters (3, 6, 9, 12, and 55 mm). In the second part of each session, thresholds were determined using two contactors (6- and 12-mm diameter) at three locations along the fingertip: (i) distal (5 mm from the nail), (ii) middle (centre of whorl), and (iii) proximal (3 mm from the distal interphalangeal joint). With increasing contact area, the warm thresholds decreased, the cool thresholds increased, and the inter-subject variability in both warm and cool thresholds decreased. Using the 6-mm diameter contactor, warm thresholds were independent of location but cool thresholds increased from distal to proximal locations. It is concluded that temperature sensitivity at the fingertip increases with increasing area of contact, with the variability in thresholds consistent with the existence of warm and cool “insensitive fields”. The findings show that the influence of contact area and contact location should be considered when assessing thermotactile thresholds at the fingertip.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 KillsCaenorhabditis elegans by Cyanide Poisoning

ABSTRACT In this report we describe experiments to investigate a simple virulence model in which Pseudomonas aeruginosaPAO1 rapidly paralyzes and kills the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Our results imply that hydrogen cyanide is the sole or primary toxic factor produced by P. aeruginosa that is responsible for killing of the nematode. Four lines of evidence support this conclusion. First, a transposon insertion mutation in a gene encoding a subunit of hydrogen cyanide synthase (hcnC) eliminated nematode killing. Second, the 17 avirulent mutants examined all exhibited reduced cyanide synthesis, and the residual production levels correlated with killing efficiency. Third, exposure to exogenous cyanide alone at levels comparable to the level produced by PAO1 killed nematodes with kinetics similar to those observed with bacteria. The killing was not enhanced ifhcnC mutant bacteria were present during cyanide exposure. And fourth, a nematode mutant (egl-9) resistant to P. aeruginosa was also resistant to killing by exogenous cyanide in the absence of bacteria. A model for nematode killing based on inhibition of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase is presented. The action of cyanide helps account for the unusually broad host range of virulence of P. aeruginosa and may contribute to the pathogenesis in opportunistic human infections due to the bacterium.
CT colonography may improve colorectal cancer screening compliance.

OBJECTIVE While colonoscopy is currently the preferred test for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening, the invasive and time-consuming characteristics of the test are often cited as reasons for noncompliance with screening. CT colonography (CTC) is a less invasive screening method that is comparable to colonoscopy for the detection of advanced neoplasia. The aim of this project was to assess patient preferences between colonoscopy and CTC in an open access system. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two hundred fifty consecutive average-risk patients undergoing CRC screening completed a survey that assessed reasons for choosing CTC in lieu of colonoscopy, compliance with CRC screening if CTC was not offered, and which of the two tests they preferred. RESULTS The most common reasons for undergoing CTC included convenience (33.6%), recommendation by referring provider (13.2%), and perceived safety (10.8%). Had CTC not been an available option, 91 of the 250 patients (36%) would have foregone CRC screening. Among the 57 patients who had experienced both procedures, 95% (n = 54) preferred CTC. CONCLUSION These findings show the importance of providing CTC as an alternative screening option for CRC at our institution, which may increase CRC adherence screening rates.
Criminal Belief Systems: An Integrated-Interactive Theory of Lifestyles

Preface Criminological Precursors of an Integrated-Interactive Theory of Crime Sociocognitive Foundations of Belief System Development Belief Systems and Crime Belief Systems and Violent Crime Belief Systems and Sexual Assault Belief Systems and White-Collar Crime Belief Systems and Drug Trafficking Belief Systems Incongruent with Crime Epilogue References Index
Comprehensive identification of essential pathways and transcription factors related to epilepsy by gene set enrichment analysis on microarray datasets

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures or convulsions, and is known to affect patients with primary brain tumors. The etiology of epilepsy is superficially thought to be multifactorial; however, the genetic factors which may be involved in the pathogenesis of seizures have not yet been elucidated, particularly at the pathway level. In the present study, in order to systematically investigate the gene regulatory networks involved in epilepsy, we employed a microarray dataset from the public database library of Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) associated with tumor-induced epileptogenesis and applied gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) on these data sets and performed candidate transcription factor (TF) selection. As a result, 68 upregulated pathways, including the extracellular matrix (ECM)-receptor interaction (P=0.004) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling pathways (P=0.045), as well as 4 downregulated pathways, including the GnRH signaling pathway (P=0.029) and gap junction (P=0.034) were identified as epileptogenesis-related pathways. The majority of these pathways identified have been previously reported and our results were in accordance with those reports. However, some of these pathways identified were novel. Finally, co-expression networks of the related pathways were constructed with the significant core genes and TFs, such as PPAR-γ and phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein. The results of our study may contribute to the improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms of epileptogenesis on a genome-wide level.
Relationship between interleukin-1beta and lipids in type 1 diabetic patients.

BACKGROUND The auto-immune response leading to type 1 diabetes (T1D) is closely associated with the overproduction of T helper-1 (Th1) cytokines which activate macrophage production of inflammatory mediators such as interleukin (IL)-1beta. The principal aim of this study was to elucidate whether IL-1beta is associated with the development of the inflammatory state of disease and the altered circulating lipid levels in T1D. MATERIAL/METHODS Sixty-nine T1D and 74 age-matched non-diabetic (ND) subjects were recruited from the outpatient department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center, Tlemcen, Algeria. RESULTS The levels of IL-1beta, CRP, HbA1c, CHOL, and LDLc, but not of HDLc, were significantly higher in all T1D subjects than in the ND controls. IL-1beta and CRP were found to be associated with T1D (OR>1). Newly diagnosed T1D subjects exhibited significantly higher IL-1beta, but not CRP, concentrations than controls and long-standing diabetic subjects. TG and HbA1c levels were not statistically different in the two diabetic populations. However, CHOL and LDLc concentrations were significantly higher in long-standing patients than in newly diagnosed ones. HDLc fractions were lower in long-standing patients than in controls and newly diagnosed diabetic subjects. Furthermore, the plasmatic concentrations of IL-1beta, but not of CRP, negatively correlated with CHOL, LDLc, or TG levels and positively with those of CRP in T1D patients. CONCLUSIONS IL-1beta seems to be associated with the type 1 diabetes inflammatory process. Moreover, a reciprocal relationship exists between newly diagnosed and long-standing T1D patients as far as the levels of this cytokine and circulating lipids are concerned.
Chemotherapy Counteracts Metastatic Dissemination Induced by Antiangiogenic Treatment in Mice

The development of resistance and progressive disease after treatment with angiogenesis inhibitors is becoming a controversial issue. We investigated the experimental conditions that cause multireceptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (RTKI) to augment metastasis and whether opportune combinations with chemotherapy could counteract this effect. The renal Renca-luc tumor was transplanted orthotopically in the kidney of Balb/c mice, which then were or were not nephrectomized. The Lewis Lung carcinoma (LLC) was transplanted in the tibial muscle of C57/Bl6 mice. Treatment with the RTKI sunitinib started at different stages of tumor progression, mimicking neoadjuvant or adjuvant settings. Combination studies with paclitaxel, doxorubicin, cisplatin, gemcitabine, and topotecan were done on the LLC model, using opportune regimens. In a neoadjuvant setting, sunitinib inhibited Renca-luc tumor growth, prolonging survival despite an increase in lung metastasis; treatment after primary tumor surgery (adjuvant setting) or on established metastasis prolonged survival and decreased metastasis. Sunitinib increased lung metastasis from mice bearing early-stage LLC, but did not affect established metastases (no acceleration) from advanced tumors. Combinations with doxorubicin, topotecan, gemcitabine, but not cisplatin and paclitaxel, counteracted the increase in metastasis from LLC, partly reflecting their antitumor activity. Histology analysis after sunitinib confirmed tumor vascular changes and increased hypoxia. Topotecan at suboptimal daily doses reduced sunitinib-related metastasis, reducing tumor hypoxia. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors, as sunitinib, can have adverse malignant effects mainly in the neoadjuvant setting. The addition of chemotherapy might influence metastasis, depending on each drug mechanism of action and its regimen of administration. Mol Cancer Ther; 12(10); 2237–47. ©2013 AACR.
Modularity in short-term memory : a comparison between olfactory, visual and auditory stimuli

This thesis is concerned with memory modularity. Recognition and serial position recall for sequences of odours, unfamiliar-faces and pure-tones is examined and compared. In the first set of experiments, 2-alternative-forced-choice (2AFC) recognition produced qualitatively equivalent serial position functions across the three stimulus types. Recency in the absence of primacy was apparent for the backward testing procedure, in contrast, the forward testing procedure produced an absence of serial position effects. This item-based task, therefore, provides some evidence for amodal processing. A second set of experiments employed a single-probe serial position recall paradigm and produced qualitatively different functions for the three stimulus types. Unfamiliar-faces showed both primacy and recency, pure-tones showed recency only and, in contrast, odours showed neither recency nor primacy. These functions were consistent across sequence length, i.e. 4-6 items. Primacy for unfamiliar-faces was immune to articulator suppression suggesting a non-verbally based representation. A third set of Experiments employed a modified serial order reconstruction paradigm in which test-items were presented sequentially rather than simultaneously. Unfamiliar-face and pure-tone stimuli demonstrated both primacy and recency, in contrast, odours demonstrated recency only. The absence of cross-stimuli functional equivalence for both order-based tasks contrasts with that for the item-based task, suggesting that item- and order-based memorial processes impact differentially upon arguments for modularity (see Guerard and Tremblay, in press). A fourth set of experiments investigated the role of verbal coding in modified-reconstruction. The functions produced for both odour and unfamiliar-face stimuli were shown not to be characteristic of verbal memory. A final study in this set employed nonwords presented both visually and aurally. Results showed that, regardless of modality of input, the functions replicated those reported above for nonverbal visual and auditory stimuli. The findings demonstrate that the functions for modified-reconstruction are not underpinned by the processes of verbalisation. In summary, the order-based tasks are consistent with modularity, where the item-based tasks support amodal processing. The findings suggest that for order memory at least, olfactory memory is qualitatively different to that of visual and auditory memory.
Differential rotation of main sequence F stars

The differential rotation of a 1.2 Mzero age MS star (spectral type F8) is computed and the results are compared with those from a similar model of the Sun. The rotation pattern is determined by solving the Reynolds equation including the convective energy transport. The latter is anisotropic due to the Coriolis force causing a horizontal temperature gradient of 7 K between the poles and the equator. Comparison of the transport mechanisms of angular momentum (the eddy viscosity, the Λ-effect and the meridional flow) shows that for the F star the Λ-effect is the most powerful transporter for rotation periods of 7 d or less. In the limit of very fast rotation the Λ-effect is balanced by the meridional flow alone and the rotation is nearly rigid. The rotation pattern found for the F star is very similar to the solar rotation law, but the horizontal shear is about twice the solar value. As a function of the rotation period, the total equator-pole difference of the angular velocity has a (slight) maximum at a period of 7 d and (slowly) vanishes in both the limiting cases of very fast and very slow rotation. A comparison of the solar models with those for the F-type star shows a much stronger dependence of the differential surface rotation on the stellar luminosity rather than on the rotation rate (see Fig. 6).