Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A highly sensitive 3D-shaped tactile sensor

In this paper we introduce a novel way of producing highly sensitive 3D-shaped tactile sensors. The sense of touch is critical for enabling humans to master intricate manual interactions. Numerous anthropomorphic robots make extensive use of complex three dimensional body parts in mimicry of their biological counterparts. We use laser structuring technology to augment freeform surfaces with conductive tracks, paving the way for the manufacturing of 3D-shaped tactile sensors. The signal acquisition electronics can be effortlessly embedded on the backside of an artificial layer of skin. We evaluate the performance of the sensor and discuss the results in detail. As an exciting application, we produced a tactile fingertip sensor for the Shadow Robot Hand that incorporates 12 tactile sensor regions and the embedded signal acquisition electronics. The integrated microcontroller is able to capture force patterns with a frame-rate of more than 1 kHz, allowing object slippage to be detected.
Do New Teaching Standards Undermine Performance on Old Tests?

As almost every state attempts to reform mathematics instruction by implementing new teaching standards, state testing practices remain largely unchanged. Do these new standards undermine student performance on old tests? This question is investigated by examining whether middle and high school algebra students taught in a manner consistent with the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics Professional Standards performed differently on three standardized algebra assessments than students taught in traditional classrooms. The data come from 94 teachers, 2,369 students, and 40 schools in one of the nation’s largest school districts. Results indicate that the Standards do not undermine performance on the old tests. In fact, middle school algebra students whose teachers spent more time using the NCTM teaching approach had higher growth rates than students whose teachers spent less time using the approach. However, students with higher ability levels benefited more. The growth rates of the lowest achieving students, the high school students (who are disproportionately Black and poor), were not helped or hindered by the NCTM teaching approach. If, as other studies indicate, the new standards help students on more novel tests, the finding that students benefit or at least are not hurt on traditional tests strengthens the case for implementing the NCTM reforms.
Maximum Margin of Twin Spheres Support Vector Machine for Imbalanced Data Classification

Twin support vector machine (TSVM) finds two nonparallel planes by solving a pair of smaller-sized quadratic programming problems (QPPs) rather than a single large one as in the conventional support vector machine (SVM); this makes the learning speed of TSVM approximately four times faster than that of the standard SVM. One major limitation of TSVM is that it involves an expensive matrix inverse operation when solving the dual problem. In addition, TSVM is less effective when dealing with the imbalanced data. In this paper, we propose a maximum margin of twin spheres support vector machine (MMTSSVM) for imbalanced data classification. MMTSSVM only needs to find two homocentric spheres. On one hand, the small sphere captures as many samples in the majority class as possible; on the other hand, the large sphere pushes out most samples in the minority class by increasing the margin between two homocentric spheres. MMTSSVM involves a QPP and a linear programming problem as opposed to a pair of QPPs as in classical TSVM or a larger-sized QPP in SVM, thus it greatly increases the computational speed. More importantly, MMTSSVM avoids the matrix inverse operation. The property of parameters in MMTSSVM is discussed and testified by one artificial experiment. Experimental results on nine benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MMTSSVM in comparison with state-of-the-art algorithms. Finally, we apply MMTSSVM into Alzheimer’s disease medical experiment and also obtain a better experimental result.
Adam Smith's American Dream: Time to Take Stock

Peck, J., & Theodore, N. (2005, June). Comparing capitalisms: The orizing the persistence of institutional variation. Paper pre sented at the Second DEMOLOGOS meeting, Vienna, Austria. Rohan, M. J. (2000). A rose by any name? The values construct. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4, 255-277. Schwartz, S. H. (1999). Cultural value differences: Some implica tions for work. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 48, 23~M. Schwartz, S. H. (2004). Mapping and interpreting cultural differ ences around the world. In H. Vinken, J. Soeters, and P. Ester (Eds.), Comparing cultures, Dimensions of culture in a com parative perspective (pp. 43-73). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.
The innate versus the manifest: How universal does universal have to be?

Contemporary mate preferences can provide important clues to human reproductive history. Little is known about which characteristics people value in potential mates. Five predictions were made about sex differences in human mate preferences based on evolutionary conceptions of parental investment, sexual selection, human reproductive capacity, and sexual asymmetries regarding certainty of paternity versus maternity. The predictions centered on how each sex valued earning capacity, ambitionindustriousness, youth, physical attractiveness, and chastity. Predictions were tested in data from 37 samples drawn from 33 countries located on six continents and five islands (total N = 10,047). For 27 countries, demographic data on actual age at marriage provided a validity check on questionnaire data. Females were found to value cues to resource acquisition in potential mates more highly than males. Characteristics signaling reproductive capacity were valued more by males than by females. These sex differences may reflect different evolutionary selection pressures on human males and females; they provide powerful cross-cultural evidence of current sex differences in reproductive strategies. Discussion focuses on proximate mechanisms underlying mate preferences, consequences for human intrasexual competition, and the limitations of this study.
lobal scale models of the mantle flow field predicted by synthetic omography models

Using a multi-disciplinary technique incorporating the heterogeneous resolution of seismic tomography, geodynamical models of mantle convection, and relationships derived from mineral physics, we investigate the method of using seismic observations to derive global-scale 3D models of the mantle flow field. We investigate the influence that both the resolution of the seismic model and the relationship used to interpret wavespeed anomalies in terms of density perturbations have on the calculated flow field. We create a synthetic seismic tomography model from a 3D spherical whole mantle geodynamic convection model and compare present-day global mantle flow fields from the original convection model and eywords:
The Effects of an Intensive Training and Feedback Program on Police and Social Workers' Investigative Interviews of Children

In the present study, we assessed the effectiveness of an extensive training and feedback program with investigative interviewers of child victims of alleged abuse and neglect in a large Canadian city. Twelve investigative interviewers participated in a joint training initiative that lasted 8 months and involved classroom components and extensive weekly verbal and written feedback. Interviewers were significantly more likely to use open-ended prompts and elicited more information from children with open-ended prompts following training. These differences were especially prominent following a subsequent “refresher” training session. No negative effects of training were observed. Clear evidence was found of the benefits of an intensive training and feedback program across a wide variety of investigative interviews with children. Although previous research has found benefits of training with interviewers of child sexual assault victims, the current study extends these findings to a wide range of allegations and maltreatment contexts.
Association Between Disk Position and Degenerative Bone Changes of the Temporomandibular Joints: An Imaging Study in Subjects with TMD

Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and relationship between disk position and degenerative bone changes in the temporomandibular joints (TMJ), in subjects with internal derangement (ID). MRI and CT scans of 180 subjects with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) were studied. Different image parameters or characteristics were observed, such as disk position, joint effusion, condyle movement, degenerative bone changes (flattened, cortical erosions and irregularities), osteophytes, subchondral cysts and idiopathic condyle resorption. The present study concluded that there is a significant association between disk displacement without reduction and degenerative bone changes in patients with TMD. The study also found a high probability of degenerative bone changes when disk displacement without reduction is present. No association was found between TMD and condyle range of motion, joint effusion and/or degenerative bone changes. The following were the most frequent morphological changes observed: flattening of the anterior surface of the condyle; followed by erosions and irregularities of the joint surfaces; flattening of the articular surface of the temporal eminence, subchondral cysts, osteophytes; and idiopathic condyle resorption, in decreasing order.
Full Diversity Blind Space-Time Block Codes

In this paper, the systematic design of a space-time block code is considered for a wireless communication system with multiple transmitter-receiver antennas and flat fading, in which channel state information is completely unknown. From the viewpoint of blind signal processing, a necessary and sufficient condition is given for the unique identification of the multi-input multi-output flat fading channel and transmitted signal. Then, some novel unique factorizations for a pair of coprime P-ary and Q-ary phase shift keying (PSK) constellations are established. With this and currently available coherent space-time block code designs, a method is developed to systematically construct full diversity blind nonunitary space-time block codes as well as unitary codes by just performing the QR decomposition of the nonunitary codes. It is proved that under a noise-free environment, the code design proposed in this paper can guarantee that the transmitted signals and the channel coefficients are uniquely identified, and that under a complex Gaussian noise environment in which Pth-order and Q th-order statistics (P and Q are co-prime) of the received signals are available, the channel coefficients can be still uniquely identified. In addition, a closed-form solution to determine the channel coefficients is obtained.
TRAINING EFFECTS ON PERFORMANCE OF DESCRIPTIVE PANELISTS

The amount of training necessary to adequately “train” a descriptive panel is a matter of contention. The objectives of this research were to compare the performance of descriptive panelists after short-term (4 h), moderate (60 h) and extensive training (120 h). Seven screened panelists were chosen to evaluate three commercial tomato pasta sauces after each training period. Panelist performance improved with increased training. Sample differences were observed in all texture attributes and some flavor attributes, even after the shortest training time (4 h). However, more differences were found with at least 60 h of product training. After 120 h of training, product differences for all texture attributes and most of the flavor attributes studied could be ascertained by the trained panelists. These results suggested that only limited training may be necessary to find differences among products for many texture attributes and some flavor attributes. However, extensive training may be required to reduce variation among panelists and increase the discriminant abilities of panelists.
On-Line Goldmine? Searching for Sociology of Education on the World-Wide Web

NEIL SELWYN, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, UK Social Science Information Gateway [http://www.sosig. ac.uk/roads/subject-listing/World-cat/soceduc.html] Sociology of School and Education (Sociology Institute, University of Zurich) [http://socio.ch/educ/index_educ. htm] The History of Education and Childhood (Nijmegen University, The Netherlands) [http://www.socsci. kun.nl/ped/whp/histeduc/] About. Com
Correlation between plasma renalase level and coronary artery disease

Objective: To explore the correlation between the plasma renalase level of coronary artery disease (CAD) patients and the degree of coronary artery stenosis. Methods: A total of 180 patients who received coronary angiography in our hospitals from August 2013 to October 2013 were selected as the CAD group, of which 164 were finally diagnosed as CAD. Another 140 healthy subjects were selected as the control group. The plasma renalase levels of the two groups were detected by ELISA to analyze CA-induced changes and to clarify the correlations with the number of branches with coronary artery stenosis and Syntax scores. Results: The plasma renalase level of the CAD group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). The plasma renalase levels of the multi-branch and two-branch stenosis subgroups were significantly lower than that of the subgroup with normal coronary angiography outcomes (P<0.05), while the levels of the single-branch stenosis and normal subgroups were similar (P>0.05). Besides, the plasma renalase level of the low-risk subgroup was significantly higher than those of the medium-risk and high-risk subgroups (P<0.05), and the level of the medium-risk subgroup was significantly higher than that of the high-risk subgroup (P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that renalase level was the risk factor of CAD (OR=1.12, 95%CI: 1.03-3.34). Conclusion: Plasma renalase level was correlated with CAD, the changes of which may reflect the degree of coronary artery stenosis. Therefore, plasma renalase level can be used to indicate the progression of CAD.
Improving Data Collection and Integration on e-Health Records: A case Study Approach

This study aims at developing a framework for collecting electronic data in health research institutions and integrating heterogeneous data using web service technology. The article reports on modeling of a generic tool for collecting e-Health data with relational database. It also explores critical technical factors that are associated with the process of electronic data collection in the inter-organization data integration and sharing. This Dynamic Link Library was able to handle 250 variables in Verbal Autopsy form.
The Complete Mitochondrial Genome of Bean Goose (Anser fabalis) and Implications for Anseriformes Taxonomy

Mitochondrial DNA plays an important role in living organisms, and has been used as a powerful molecular marker in a variety of evolutionary studies. In this study, we determined the complete mtDNA of Bean goose (Anser fabalis), which is 16,688 bp long and contains 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs, 22 tRNAs and a control region. The arrangement is similar to that of typical Anseriform species. All protein-coding genes, except for Cyt b, ND5, COI, and COII, start with an ATG codon. The ATG start codon is also generally observed in the 12 other Anseriform species, including 2 Anser species, with sequenced mitochondrial genomes. TAA is the most frequent stop codon, one of three–TAA, TAG, and T- –commonly observed in Anseriformes. All tRNAs could be folded into canonical cloverleaf secondary structures except for tRNASer(AGY) and tRNALeu(CUN), which are missing the dihydrouridine (DHU) arm. The control region of Bean goose mtDNA, with some conserved sequence boxes, such as F, E, D, and C, identified in its central domain. Phylogenetic analysis of complete mtDNA data for 13 Anseriform species supports the classification of them into four major branches: Anatinae, Anserinae, Dendrocygninae and Anseranatidae. Phylogenetic analyses were also conducted on 36 Anseriform birds using combined Cyt b, ND2, and COI sequences. The results clearly support the genus Somateria as an independent lineage classified in its own tribe, the Somaterini. Recovered topologies from both complete mtDNA and combined DNA sequences strongly indicate that Dendrocygninae is an independent subfamily within the family Anatidae and Anseranatidae represents an independent family. Based on the results of this study, we conclude that combining ND2, Cyt b, and COI sequence data is a workable solution at present for resolving phylogenetic relationships among Anseriform species in the absence of sufficient complete mtDNA data.
II Sensory Feedback Influences on Keytapping Motor Tasks

Subjects were trained to tap a key continuously at a specific rate, and with a specific amount of pressure (regularity task). Performance of this task was studied under conditions of: (a) decreased auditory feedback (masking noise through earphones), (b) decreased visual feedback (tapping hand screened from view), (c) vibration (vibrators applied to forearm in order to “mask” proprioceptive feedback), (d) digital block of tapping finger, and (e) combination of all four conditions. Significant changes in rate and intensity of tapping resulted under conditions of decreased auditory feedback, vibration, and the combined condition. In the second part of the study, the effects of different delayed sensory events on keytapping were examined. The five conditions of delayed sensory feedback were: (a) delayed auditory feedback, (b) delayed visual feedback, (c) delayed tactile feedback, (d) the first three delayed sensory events presented simultaneously, and (e) condition (d) repeated with digital block of the tapping finger. The conditions of delayed sensory feedback did not markedly alter performance of the regularity task. The same conditions of delayed sensory feedback did, however, produce highly significant changes in the performance of a more complex pattern task. All of these delay conditions produced parallel changes in the pattern task, namely increased intensity and decreased rate of tapping. The fact that the pattern task is more disturbed by delayed sensory feedback than the regularity task suggests that temporal complexity of the task is one determinant of the degree to which it will be disturbed by a delay in sensory feedback.
Questions in Time: Investigating the Structure and Dynamics of Unfolding Classroom Discourse

In the 1st-ever use of event-history analysis to investigate discourse processes quantitatively, this study recasts understanding of discourse in terms of the (a) antecedents and (b) consequences of discourse participant "moves" as they (c) affect the inertia of the discourse and accordingly structure unfolding discourse processes. The method is used to compute the probabilities of the effects of particular discourse moves on subsequent discourse patterns and to measure and systematically contrast static (macrosocial) and dynamic (microsocial) conditions prompting and sustaining dialogic discourse. Theoretically, the authors draw on Russian scholar Mikhail Bakhtin's epistemological distinctions between monologic and dialogic discourse to identify pedagogically rich sequences of teacher-student interaction as dialogic spells and discussion, which the authors' previous work has shown to contribute to achievement. Empirically, the authors examine data collected in hundreds of observations of more than 200 8th- and 9th-grade English and social studies classrooms in 25 Midwestern middle and high schools, including detailed coding of more than 33,000 teachers and student questions. Results show that authentic teacher questions, uptake, and student questions function as dialogic bids with student questions showing an especially large effect. Discourse event history analysis is a powerful tool for investigating the structure of unfolding discourse.
Nature Medicine Advance Online Publication Prevention of Diabetes by Manipulation of Anti-igrp Autoimmunity: High Efficiency of a Low-affinity Peptide

Antigen therapy may hold great promise for the prevention of autoimmunity; however, most clinical trials have failed, suggesting that the principles guiding the choice of treatment remain ill defined. Here, we examine the antidiabetogenic properties of altered peptide ligands of CD8 + T cells recognizing an epitope of islet-specific glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic subunit–related protein (IGRP 206–214), a prevalent population of autoreactive T cells in autoimmune diabetes. We show that islet-associated CD8 + T cells in nonobese diabetic mice recognize numerous IGRP epitopes, and that these cells have a role in the outcome of protocols designed to induce IGRP 206–214-specific tolerance. Ligands targeting IGRP 206–214-reactive T cells prevented disease, but only at doses that spared low-avidity clonotypes. Notably, near complete depletion of the IGRP 206–214-reactive T-cell pool enhanced the recruitment of subdominant specificities and did not blunt diabetogenesis. Thus, peptide therapy in autoimmunity is most effective under conditions that foster occupation of the target organ lymphocyte niche by nonpathogenic, low-avidity clonotypes. Administration of autoantigenic proteins or peptides in solution can blunt the initiation and/or progression of autoimmunity in experimental models of autoimmune disease 1–5 , but limited clinical trials in humans using similar strategies have almost invariably met with failure 6–12. This suggests that the principles guiding the choice and conditions of treatment are poorly defined and, as a result, inadequate for human application. Unlike their experimental counterparts, spontaneous organ-specific autoimmune disorders result from complex responses against numerous epitopes in multiple antigens that arise spontaneously in a stochas-tic and often unpredictable sequence. This complexity is compounded by the fact that lymphocyte clones recognizing identical epitopes engage antigen–major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules within a broad range of avidities, the strength of which correlates with patho-genic potential 13–15. Consequently, the outcome of any immunization strategy for the prevention of autoimmunity is likely to be influenced by the choice of autoantigen(s), dose and periodicity of treatment as well as route and form of administration. Unfortunately, our current understanding of the independent contribution of these variables to treatment outcome is extremely limited. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) in both humans and nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice is an autoimmune disease that results from selective destruction of pancreatic beta cells by T lymphocytes recognizing a growing list of autoantigens 16. Although initiation of T1D clearly requires the recruitment of autoreactive CD4 + T cells, there is compelling evidence that initiation and progression of T1D is dependent on CD8 + …
Longitudinal study of motor performance and its relation to motor capacity in children with cerebral palsy

Aim The aim of this study was to describe the course of motor performance and analyse its relationship with motor capacity over a period of 3 years in 104 children (66 males, 38 females; 43% of those initially invited) with cerebral palsy (CP) aged 9, 11, and 13 years at the start of the study. Forty‐one had hemiplegia, 42 diplegia, 21 tetraplegia; 83 spastic CP, 17 dyskinetic/mixed, and four ataxic CP. Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels were I, n=49; II, n=15; III, n=10; IV, n=12; and V, n=18.