Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accumulating brisk walking for fitness, cardiovascular risk, and psychological health.

PURPOSE To compare the effects of different patterns of regular brisk walking on fitness, risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and psychological well-being in previously sedentary adults. METHODS Twenty-one subjects (14 women), aged 44.5 +/- 6.1 yr (mean +/- SD) were randomly assigned to two different, 6-wk programs of brisk walking in a cross-over design, with an interval of 2 wk. One program comprised one 30-min walk per day, 5 d.wk(-1) (long bout) and the other three 10-min walks per day, also 5 d.wk(-1) (short bouts). All walking was at 70-80% of predicted maximal heart rate. Maximal oxygen uptake ((.)VO(2max)), body composition, resting arterial blood pressure, fasting plasma lipoprotein variables, and psychological parameters were assessed before and after each program. RESULTS Overall, subjects completed 88.2 +/- 1.1% and 91.3 +/- 4.1% of prescribed total walking time in the short- and long-bout programs, respectively. Both programs increased plasma concentrations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and decreased concentrations of triacylglycerol and total cholesterol (all < 0.05). There were no changes in body mass, but the sum of four skinfolds, waist circumference, and hip circumference were decreased after both walking programs (all P<0.05). Predicted (.)VO(2max) increased with both programs ( P<0.05), but this increase was greater with the program based on short bouts (P<0.05). Both walking patterns resulted in similar decreases in tension/anxiety (P<0.05). CONCLUSION These findings suggest that three short bouts (10 min) of brisk walking accumulated throughout the day are at least as effective as one continuous bout of equal total duration in reducing cardiovascular risk and improving aspects of mood in previously sedentary individuals.
A Formative Evaluation of a Program Providing Support to College Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are attending institutions of higher education more than ever before (Smith, 2007). All college students with disabilities have the right to accommodations under the American with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA; P.L. 110-325); however, these accommodations frequently do not address barriers that prevent students with ASD from successfully completing their academic programs. The Autism Services Center at a public, four-year university provides services to its college students with ASD to address difficulties with communication and social skills, unique emotional and behavior characteristics, insufficient executive function, and difficulties with independent living skills. Programs providing additional support to students with ASD are becoming more prevalent. The effectiveness of these services is unknown, and more studies and evaluations are needed to determine what services are beneficial to student success (Longtin, 2014). This study applies the Context, Input, Process, and Product (CIPP) model to evaluate the preliminary services being provided to college students with ASD through the Autism Services Center (Stufflebeam & Shinkfield, 2007). The CIPP model provides a comprehensive, systematic review of projects often used for formative evaluations of service programs. Online surveys, interviews, a focus group, and review of existing student documents were used to gather data from the students with ASD, their parents, instructors, and staff; data were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Retention rates, GPA, and percentage of credits completed suggests the Autism Services Center is having a positive impact on academic success. Responses from surveys, interviews, and a focus group highlight satisfaction of the services from all groups. Common suggestions for improvement of services include more training in the area of ASD for staff and instructors and more social events for students with ASD. A discussion of possible changes to the program, limitations of the study, and future research directions is included.
An Impossibility Theorem in Population Axiology with Weak Ordering Assumptions

It has been known for quite a while now that the on-going project of constructing an acceptable population axiology has gloomy prospects. Already in Derek Parfit’s seminal contribution to the topic, an informal paradox was presented and later contributions have proved similar results.1 All of these contributions invoke, however, some version of a principle – the Mere Addition Principle – which is controversial.2 In Arrhenius (1998), I presented a theorem which didn’t invoke this controversial principle but replaced it with logically and intuitively weaker conditions. Still, however, one of the conditions in my theorem shares with these earlier results the presupposition that welfare can be measured on at least an interval scale.3 One can deny this and, as a matter of
Temporal coding of local spectrogram features for robust sound recognition

There is much evidence to suggest that the human auditory system uses localised time-frequency information for the robust recognition of sounds. Despite this, conventional systems typically rely on features extracted from short windowed frames over time, covering the whole frequency spectrum. Such approaches are not inherently robust to noise, as each frame will contain a mixture of the spectral information from noise and signal. Here, we propose a novel approach based on the temporal coding of Local Spectrogram Features (LSFs), which generate spikes that are used to train a Spiking Neural Network (SNN) with temporal learning. LSFs represent robust location information in the spectrogram surrounding keypoints, which are detected in a signal-driven manner such that the effect of noise on the temporal coding is reduced. Our experiments demonstrate the robust performance of our approach across a variety of noise conditions, such that it is able to outperform the conventional frame-based baseline methods.
The Nuclei of Radio Galaxies in the Ultraviolet: The Signature of Different Emission Processes

We have studied the nuclei of 28 radio galaxies from the 3CR sample in the UV band. Unresolved nuclei (central compact cores: CCCs) are observed in 10 of the 13 FR I galaxies, and in five of the 15 FR II galaxies. All sources that do not have a CCC in the optical do not have a CCC in the UV. Two FR I galaxies (3C 270 and 3C 296) have a CCC in the optical but do not show the UV counterpart. Both of them show large dusty disks observed almost edge-on, possibly implying that they play a role in obscuring the nuclear emission. We have measured optical-UV spectral indices αo,UV between ~0.6 and ~7.0 (Fν ∝ ν-α). Broad-line radio galaxies have the flattest spectra, and their values of αo,UV are also confined to a very narrow range. This is consistent with radiation produced in a geometrically thin, optically thick accretion disk. On the other hand, FR I nuclei, which are most plausibly originated by synchrotron emission from the inner relativistic jet, show a wide range of αo,UV. There is a clear trend with orientation in that sources observed almost edge-on or with clear signs of dust absorption have the steepest spectra. These observations imply that in FR I galaxies, obscuration can be present, but the obscuring material is not in a "standard" geometrically thick torus. The most striking difference between these absorbing structures and the classic active galactic nucleus "tori" resides in the lower optical depth of the FR I galaxy obscuring material.
Using Podcasting to Enhance Learning Experience: A Case Study on Subscription Behavior

Beginning on the fall of 2005, the Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP) unit of Purdue University has started BoilerCast, a free podcasting service that uses current digital audio delivery technology to deliver classroom audio recordings to the students at their request. Students who subscribe to the service will be able to review lecture material for homework assignments and exam reviews. In this paper, we will first review the background and the technology requirement for podcasting, and then study the feasibility of podcasting from a students' perspective. Students were surveyed concerning their podcasting subscription behavior, and a modified Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model was used as the framework for analyzing such behavior. This model incorporates the original TPB with the Technology Acceptance Model and perceived service quality as a tool to identify important features that students consider important for podcasting to be successful. The results of this study will provide guidelines for future podcasting implementation, and better utilization of the technology in education
View-invariant action recognition using interest points

In this paper, we present a two-layer classification model for view-invariant human action recognition based on interest points. Training videos of every action are recorded from multiple viewpoints and represented as space-time interest points. These videos do not require temporal aligning and camera estimating. The first layer of the model is view clustering. We cluster all the videos of an action using K-Means, and break the action into several sub-actions. The second layer is Bayes classifying. We use Naïve Bayes to train the sub-classifiers for the sub-actions, and then generate an optimal classifier for the action. Unlabeled data can be recognized by the optimal classifiers, which may be single-view videos, multi-view videos, or long multi-action videos. Finally, we test our algorithm on the IXMAS dataset, and the CMU motion capture library. The experiments demonstrate that our algorithm can recognize the view-invariant actions and achieve high recognition rates.
WFC3 SMOV Program 11427: UVIS Channel Shutter Shading

A series of internal flat field images and standard star observations were used to quantify the behavior of the UVIS channel shutter mechanism. Photometry of the stars and flat field analysis show that the UVIS shutter functionality in SMOV is comparable to that in ground testing. Shutter shading causes a variation in exposure time across the detector of no more than 0.0009 seconds. On-orbit ratios of actual versus commanded exposure times are also the same as in ground tests. The shutter fails to meet the repeatability requirement of 0.01 seconds, as expected from ground testing results (Hilbert, 2007). I also discuss additional photometric results.
Composite poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(vinyl acetate) electrospun nanofibrous mats as a novel wound dressing matrix for controlled release of drugs

The aim of this study was to develop novel biomedicated nanofiber electrospun mats for controlled drug release, especially drug release directly to an injury site to accelerate wound healing. Nanofibers of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc), and a 50:50 composite blend, loaded with ciprofloxacin HCl (CipHCl), were successfully prepared by an electrospinning technique for the first time. The morphology and average diameter of the electrospun nanofibers were investigated by scanning electron microscopy. X-ray diffraction studies indicated an amorphous distribution of the drug inside the nanofiber blend. Introducing the drug into polymeric solutions significantly decreased solution viscosities as well as nanofiber diameter. In vitro drug release evaluations showed that both the kind of polymer and the amount of drug loaded greatly affected the degree of swelling, weight loss, and initial burst and rate of drug release. Blending PVA and PVAc exhibited a useful and convenient method for electrospinning in order to control the rate and period of drug release in wound healing applications. Also, the thickness of the blend nanofiber mats strongly influenced the initial release and rate of drug release.
Evidence That Voltage Rather Than Resistance is Quantized in Breakdown of the Quantum Hall Effect

Quantized longitudinal voltage drops are observed along a length of a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure quantum Hall effect device at applied currents large enough for the device to be in the breakdown regime. The range of currents is extensive enough to demonstrate that it is the longitudinal voltage that is quantized, rather than the longitudinal resistance. A black-box and a quasi-elastic inter-Landau level scattering (QUILLS) model are then employed to calculate the fraction of electrons making transitions into higher Landau levels, the transition rates, and the maximum electric field across the device.
Conference on ‘ Diet , gut microbiology and human health ’ Symposium 2 : Changes in the microbiome in disease and lifecourse Gut microbiota in older subjects : variation , health consequences and dietary intervention prospects

Alterations in intestinal microbiota composition and function have been linked to conditions including functional gastrointestinal disorders, obesity and diabetes. The gut microbiome encodes metabolic capability in excess of that encoded by the human genome, and bacterially produced enzymes are important for releasing nutrients from complex dietary ingredients. Previous culture-based studies had indicated that the gut microbiota of older people was different from that of younger adults, but the detailed findings were contradictory. Small-scale studies had also shown that the microbiota composition could be altered by dietary intervention or supplementation. We showed that the core microbiota and aggregate composition in 161 seniors was distinct from that of younger persons. To further investigate the reasons for this variation, we analysed the microbiota composition of 178 elderly subjects for whom the dietary intake data were available. The data revealed distinct microbiota composition groups, which overlapped with distinct dietary patterns that were governed by where people lived: at home, in rehabilitation or in long-term residential care. These diet– microbiota separations correlated with cluster analysis of NMR-derived faecal metabolites and shotgun metagenomic data. Major separations in the microbiota correlated with selected clinical measurements. It should thus be possible to programme the microbiota to enrich bacterial species and activities that promote healthier ageing. A number of other studies have investigated the effect of certain dietary components and their ability to modulate the microbiota composition to promote health. This review will discuss dietary interventions conducted thus far, especially those in elderly populations and highlight their impact on the intestinal microbiota.
Effect of Ketoconazole, a Cytochrome P450 Inhibitor, on the Efficacy of Quinine and Halofantrine against Schistosoma mansoni in Mice

The fear that schistosomes will become resistant to praziquantel (PZQ) motivates the search for alternatives to treat schistosomiasis. The antimalarials quinine (QN) and halofantrine (HF) possess moderate antischistosomal properties. The major metabolic pathway of QN and HF is through cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4. Accordingly, this study investigates the effects of CYP3A4 inhibitor, ketoconazole (KTZ), on the antischistosomal potential of these quinolines against Schistosoma mansoni infection by evaluating parasitological, histopathological, and biochemical parameters. Mice were classified into 7 groups: uninfected untreated (I), infected untreated (II), infected treated orally with PZQ (1,000 mg/kg) (III), QN (400 mg/kg) (IV), KTZ (10 mg/kg)+QN as group IV (V), HF (400 mg/kg) (VI), and KTZ (as group V)+HF (as group VI) (VII). KTZ plus QN or HF produced more inhibition (P<0.05) in hepatic CYP450 (85.7% and 83.8%) and CYT b5 (75.5% and 73.5%) activities, respectively, than in groups treated with QN or HF alone. This was accompanied with more reduction in female (89.0% and 79.3%), total worms (81.4% and 70.3%), and eggs burden (hepatic; 83.8%, 66.0% and intestinal; 68%, 64.5%), respectively, and encountering the granulomatous reaction to parasite eggs trapped in the liver. QN and HF significantly (P<0.05) elevated malondialdehyde levels when used alone or with KTZ. Meanwhile, KTZ plus QN or HF restored serum levels of ALT, albumin, and reduced hepatic glutathione (KTZ+HF) to their control values. KTZ enhanced the therapeutic antischistosomal potential of QN and HF over each drug alone. Moreover, the effect of KTZ+QN was more evident than KTZ+HF.
Identification of Munc13-3 as a Candidate Gene for Critical-Period Neuroplasticity in Visual Cortex

The first several months of life are a critical period for neuronal plasticity in the visual cortex during which anatomic and physiological development depends on visual experience. In cats, electrophysiologically assessed neuronal plasticity is minimal until ∼3 weeks, peaks at 5 weeks, gradually declines to low levels at 20 weeks, and disappears at ∼1 year of age (Daw, 1994). Rearing in darkness slows the entire time course of this critical period, such that at 5 weeks of age, normal cats are more plastic than dark-reared cats, whereas at 20 weeks, dark-reared cats are more plastic (Mower, 1991; Beaver et al., 2001). Thus, a stringent criterion is that genes that are important for plasticity in visual cortex will show differences in expression between normal rearing and dark rearing that are of opposite direction in young versus older animals. The present study reports the identification by differential display PCR of Munc13-3, a mammalian homolog of the Caenorhabditis elegans “uncoordinated” gene (unc-13), as a candidate gene for critical-period neuronal plasticity, the expression of which is regulated according to this criterion specifically in visual cortex and not in frontal cortex. Other members of the Munc13 family (Munc13-1 and Munc13-2) do not meet this criterion in visual cortex, indicating that Munc13-3 is the only family member that is regulated by age and dark rearing in the same manner as physiological plasticity during the visual cortical critical period.
Context-based multi-label image annotation

This paper presents a novel context-based keyword propagation method for automatic image annotation. We follow the idea of keyword propagation and formulate image annotation as a multi-label learning problem, which is further resolved efficiently by linear programming. In this way, our method can exploit the context between keywords during keyword propagation. Unlike the popular relevance models that treat each keyword independently, our method can simultaneously propagate multiple keywords (i.e. labels) from the training images to the test images using their similarities. Moreover, we present a new 2D string kernel, called spatial spectrum kernel, to take into account another type of context when defining the similarity between images for keyword propagation. Each image is first denoted as a 2D sequence of visual keywords which are obtained through dividing images into blocks and then clustering these blocks, and a spatial spectrum kernel is then proposed to measure the 2D sequence similarity based on shared occurrences of s-length 1D subsequences through decomposing each 2D sequence into two parallel 1D sequences (i.e. the row-wise and column-wise ones). That is, we incorporate the context between visual keywords into the similarity between images (i.e. 2D sequences) used for keyword propagation. Experiments on two standard image databases demonstrate that the proposed method for automatic image annotation outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.
Clinical Information Use by Medical and Nursing Staff in the ICU: Outcomes of a Coded Tables Analysis

The long-term, intensive nature of patient admission to an Intensive Care Unit necessitates passing responsibilities from one medical and nursing staff member to another. An ideal outcome of this process is a common team situation awareness of the patient's condition. However, medical and nursing staff have different training and practice regimes, which raise questions about the nature of the situation awareness needed by the two groups. Statistical and an exploratory data analysis techniques were used to explore the information content of video-cued recall interviews in order to identify differences in information use. Doctors were found to attend to future patient projections over a broader range of physiological functions than nurses, reflecting a strategic orientation, whereas, nurses attended to sensed information over shorter timeframes than doctors, reflecting a tactical orientation. When not aligned these orientations may lead to breakdown in coordination and discontinuities in patient care.
Culture and procedural justice: The influence of power distance on reactions to voice.

Abstract A central premise of the procedural justice literature—based on studies conducted mainly in the United States—is that people react unfavorably when they have little voice in a decision-making process. The studies reported here evaluated whether the magnitude of voice effects varies across cultures. As predicted, Studies 1–3 showed that the tendency for people to respond less favorably (i.e., with lower organizational commitment) to lower levels of voice was greater in low power distance cultures (United States and Germany) than in high power distance cultures (People's Republic of China, Mexico, and Hong Kong). And in a single cultural setting, Study 4 found a similar interactive effect of voice and people's power distance beliefs on employees' work attitudes and job performance. Theoretical implications for the justice and cross-cultural literatures are discussed, as are practical implications and suggestions for future research.
An improved sentiment analysis of online movie reviews based on clustering for box-office prediction

With the rapid development of E-commerce, more online reviews for products and services are created, which form an important source of information for both sellers and customers. Research on sentiment and opinion mining for online review analysis has attracted increasingly more attention because such study helps leverage information from online reviews for potential economic impact. The paper discusses applying sentiment analysis and machine learning methods to study the relationship between the online reviews for a movie and the movies box office revenue performance. The paper shows that a simplified version of the sentiment-aware autoregressive model can produce very good accuracy for predicting the box office sale using online review data. Document level sentiment analysis is used which consists of Term Frequency (TF) and Inverse Document Frequency (IDF) values as features along with Fuzzy Clustering which results in positive and negative sentiments. This lead to the creation of a simpler model which could be more efficient to train and use. In addition, a classification model is created using Support Vector Machine (SVM) Classifier for predicting the trend of the box office revenue from the review sentiment.
Team Learning and Leadership in Multinational Military Staff Exercises

Cooperation in multinational military operations is one of the main tasks for the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF), which means that Swedish officers need to be able to meet international military staff standards. For this reason, the SAF and the Swedish Defence University organize an annual international staff exercise which aims to train officers in and increase their knowledge of North Atlantic Treaty Organization staff methods and procedures. The essence of successful staff work is good leadership and effective team work. In this article, we present findings from three staff exercises that have significant impact on leadership and possibilities for good team learning that relate to a team learning model. These findings have great potential to be of value in planning and improving leadership education and training in both military and civilian contexts.