Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Full Body Steerable Wind Display for a Locomotion Interface

This paper presents the Treadport Active Wind Tunnel (TPAWT)-a full-body immersive virtual environment for the Treadport locomotion interface designed for generating wind on a user from any frontal direction at speeds up to 20 kph. The goal is to simulate the experience of realistic wind while walking in an outdoor virtual environment. A recirculating-type wind tunnel was created around the pre-existing Treadport installation by adding a large fan, ducting, and enclosure walls. Two sheets of air in a non-intrusive design flow along the side screens of the back-projection CAVE-like visual display, where they impinge and mix at the front screen to redirect towards the user in a full-body cross-section. By varying the flow conditions of the air sheets, the direction and speed of wind at the user are controlled. Design challenges to fit the wind tunnel in the pre-existing facility, and to manage turbulence to achieve stable and steerable flow, were overcome. The controller performance for wind speed and direction is demonstrated experimentally.
Robust Planning with (L)RTDP

Stochastic Shortest Path problems (SSPs), a subclass of Markov Decision Problems (MDPs), can be efficiently dealt with using Real-Time Dynamic Programming (RTDP). Yet, MDP models are often uncertain (obtained through statistics or guessing). The usual approach is robust planning: searching for the best policy under the worst model. This paper shows how RTDP can be made robust in the common case where transition probabilities are known to lie in a given interval.
X-Ray Properties of Early-Type Galaxies as Observed with ASCA

We have systematically investigated the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics (ASCA) spectra of 12 early-type galaxies. This paper presents the global spectral properties of these systems based on a larger sample than in any previous ASCA study. The X-ray spectra were uniformly fitted by a two-component model consisting of hard X-rays from thermal emission with a temperature of about 10 keV or from a power law with index 1.8, plus soft X-rays from a thin thermal plasma with temperature ranging from 0.3 to 1 keV. The X-ray luminosities of the hard component are found to be proportional to the blue-band luminosities, while those of the soft component show large scatter with no clear correlation. The metal abundances determined from the soft component are systematically lower than solar, with a mean value of about 0.3 solar. We examine the relationships between the temperature and volume emission measure and between the gas temperature and the stellar velocity dispersion. The volume emission measures for early-type galaxies plotted as a function of the gas temperature are well below the extrapolated line found in clusters of galaxies, indicating that early-type galaxies are relatively gas poor compared with galaxy clusters. The ratio of the stellar kinetic energy per unit mass to the thermal energy of the hot gas per unit mass (βspec) is less than unity. We found no systematic relationship between X-ray properties and environment, suggesting that the interaction between interstellar matter and the intracluster medium is not strong.
Preliminary Results of a Comprehensive Approach to Prevent Antisocial Behaviour in Preschool and Primary School Pupils in Luxembourg

This pilot study evaluated the preliminary short- and middle-term impact of a nation-wide, school-based prevention initiative on antisocial behaviour of preschool and primary school pupils in Luxembourg. Seventeen preschool and reception classes (n = 183) were assigned to intervention and comparison conditions. The intervention included social-emotional skills training for both preschool and reception class pupils together with teacher workshops. Three waves of data (pre-test, post-test and 12-month-follow up) were analysed. Univariate analyses of variances with repeated measurements, together with analyses of covariance, for this 2 × 3 design show significant intervention effects: a reduction in oppositional defiant and aggressive behaviour as well as an increase in social and emotional competencies for reception class pupils after a 12-month follow-up period. Preschool pupils displayed an improvement in their social and emotional competencies at post-test, but these effects were lost one year after the intervention was completed.
Lady justice thinks unconsciously : unconscious thought can lead to more accurate justice judgments

In this article, we argue that when forming justice judgments, unconscious thought can lead to more accurate justice judgments than both conscious thought and immediate judgment. In two experiments, participants formed justice judgments about complex job application procedures. Specifically, participants made comparative justice judgments (Experiment 1) or absolute justice judgments on rating scales (Experiment 2). In immediate judgment conditions, participants made a justice judgment immediately after reading the stimulus materials. In conscious thought conditions, participants consciously thought about their justice judgment for 3 minutes. In unconscious thought conditions, participants were distracted for 3 minutes and then reported their justice judgments. As predicted, findings of both experiments show that unconscious thinkers made the most accurate justice judgments. These results provide a new perspective on the social psychology of justice judgments and yield additional insight into unconscious thinking.
Synthesized views can improve face recognition

It is well known that a new face studied from one view is often difficult to identify from another. This viewpoint dependence has detrimental implications for forensic practice. To compensate for this problem, we employed synthesized face images in the training session of a standard old/new recognition task. Observers in the experimental conditions learned one or more synthesized face images along with an original photograph of the face in a different view, whereas observers in the control conditions learned only the original photograph of the face. It was found that the experimental conditions consistently produced better recognition accuracy than the control conditions. We conclude that synthesized face views can be used to facilitate person identification in forensic applications. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
'Enrolling alone?' Lifelong learning and social capital in England

This paper examines the relationship between education, learning and civic participation arising from 120 biographical interviews conducted with respondents in three areas of England. Through analysis of individual biographies, it is argued that the relationship between education, learning and the generation of ‘bonding’ social capital is largely unrealistic. Rather, there emerge three loose typologies of relationship between education and civic participation: atomistic, networking and altruistic. These relationships are shaped by individual biography, type of learning and structural considerations. Class, gender and ethnicity particularly influence relationships between education and participation but not in a rigidly deterministic fashion, and may additionally be generators of creative tension. It is concluded that although policy makers would be naïve to expect investment in education and learning to automatically generate virtuous cycles of social capital, the role of education in generating benefits in what can be called the ‘ecology’ of community is both unexpected and illuminating.
Retrospective recall of affect in clinically depressed individuals and controls

The current study examined the nature of retrospective recall of affect in depressed participants and nonclinical controls. Utilising the Experience Sampling Method, we compared average momentary affect reports to retrospective summaries of the same period of time. Both groups exhibited exaggerated retrospective summaries of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). Greater bias for PA than NA was found in the controls but not the depressed. Across groups, depressed individuals exhibited more absolute inaccuracy in their recall of NA but not PA. For depressed and nonclinical individuals, retrospective summaries of PA were better predicted by an average of all weekly momentary PA than a combination of the most intense (“peak”) PA and most recent (“end”) PA experiences. For nonclinical participants, retrospective NA was better predicted by an average of all weekly momentary NA. For depressed individuals, however, no clear advantage to predicting retrospective NA by average weekly NA relative to a combination of peak NA and end NA was found. Based on our findings, clinicians should realise that depressive cognition may not lie in recall that is less positive and more negative than “reality” but in retrospective intensifications of all affect that are, compared to normal, relatively greater for negative than for positive affect.
The myth of the city trickster: storytelling, bankers and ideology in the Mail Online

This paper examines discourse, mythology and ideology in media coverage of the financial crisis. A critical discourse analysis examines representations of bankers in the Mail Online. I argue that the mythological trickster archetype contributed complications and paradoxical traits in discourses about the banking crisis. Whilst recollecting their heroic status in 2005 compared to the ridicule they have faced more recently, we see a shift in character traits attributed to bankers. Although the Mail's moral storytelling has called for some form of punishment or legislative reform, there has also been a reluctance to compromise free market values or discuss alternative models of banking. Complex characteristics of trickster mythology reflect current dilemmas and anxieties over the power and practices of financial elites. Whether bankers are providers of wealth or destroyers of economies, their ridicule highlights a sensitive balance of values and interests that operate through mythological storytelling.
Do crowded classrooms crowd out learning? Evidence from the Food for Education Program in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh pervasive poverty has kept generations of families from sending their children to school and without education their childrens future will be a distressing echo of their own. Many children from poor families in Bangladesh do not attend school either because their families cannot afford books and other school materials or because the children contribute to their familys livelihood and cannot be spared. In some areas there is also a lack of schools. Among those who enter primary school only about 40 percent of them complete it. The great success of the Food for Education (FFE) program of the Government of Bangladesh has led to larger classes but do these crowded classrooms crowd out learning? (excerpt)
Sport and politics in Palestine, 1918–48: Football as a mirror reflecting the relations between Jews and Britons

The period reviewed in this article (1918–48) is divided into different sub-periods, each characterized by changes relating to the political reality in the Palestine and a specific set of sporting relations that grew out of these broader circumstances. It is argued that football in Palestine constituted a kind of mirror, or a litmus test, for diagnosing the psychological climate of Jewish and British relations: in times of security and rest normal friction between players in the football pitch did not turn into violent confrontations, the implications of which went beyond the boundaries of stadiums. Conversely, in the years when the political and military arena in the region was particularly conflictual, the delicate balance of relations between sportsmen and sports fans on both sides was threatened.
Cost-effectiveness of postremission intensive therapy in patients with acute leukemia.

BACKGROUND We assessed the cost-effectiveness of high-dose arabinoside (HiDAC)-based and allogeneic stem-cell transplantation (alloSCT)-based therapy in patients with acute leukemia. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analyzed the outcome, cost and cost-effectiveness of 106 patients treated from January 1994 to January 2002 [94 acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)/12 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)]. Forty-two young patients at either intermediate or unknown cytogenetic risk received postremission intensive therapy (24 HiDAC-based/18 alloSCT-based therapy). RESULTS After a median follow-up of 50 months, the estimated 7-year overall survival for the HiDAC-based group showed a tendency to be higher than the alloSCT-based group (48% versus 28%, P = 0.1452). The HiDAC-based group spent a significantly lower total cost ($US51,857 versus 75,474, P = 0.004) than the alloSCT-based group. Cost-effectiveness analysis showed that the mean cost per year of life saved for the HiDAC-based group is considerably less expensive than the alloSCT-based group ($US11,224 versus 21,564). The reduced total cost for the HiDAC-based group originated from lower cost in room fees, medication, laboratory and procedure, but not in blood transfusion and professional manpower fees. CONCLUSION For the postremission therapy in young AML patients at either intermediate or unknown cytogenetic risk, cost-effectiveness of HiDAC-based therapy compares favorably with that of alloSCT-based therapy, which deserves further clinical trials.
A structural model depicting salespeople’s job stress

The study develops and tests a model of salespeople’s job stress relative to its proposed determinants and outcomes. The study findings shed light on four questions concerning possible links between job stress and its precursors. The evidence gained suggests that job stress may influence intention to leave through reduced organizational commitment and that job satisfaction intervenes between salespeople’s role perceptions and job stress.
‘Now I’d like to sleep with Rachael’ – researching sexuality support in a service agency group home

Many intellectually disabled people living in agency services require significant forms of support to live safe and satisfying sexual lives. Research reveals that despite support personnel working in service systems now holding largely positive attitudes towards sexuality assistance, proactive practice is rarely initiated. This article probes what might lie within this attitude/assistance gap. This investigation reveals a complex picture of practices that rely on intellectually disabled people showing conformation to a ‘couple doing normal’ ideal, so as to be judged capable of being supported. It examines how wider social locations of meaning related to ‘intellectual disability’ and ‘sexuality’ might substantiate these judgement calls. The degree to which it can be said that worker’s own attitudes and values underpin their reluctance to provide support is then explored. Finally, why researchers and practitioners might need to reappraise the complex interactions that shape worker’s practice in this area is discussed.
Deficits in Approximate Number System Acuity and Mathematical Abilities in 6.5-Year-Old Children Born Extremely Preterm

Preterm children are at increased risk for poor academic achievement, especially in math. In the present study, we examined whether preterm children differ from term-born children in their intuitive sense of number that relies on an unlearned, approximate number system (ANS) and whether there is a link between preterm children’s ANS acuity and their math abilities. To this end, 6.5-year-old extremely preterm (i.e., <27 weeks gestation, n = 82) and term-born children (n = 89) completed a non-symbolic number comparison (ANS acuity) task and a standardized math test. We found that extremely preterm children had significantly lower ANS acuity than term-born children and that these differences could not be fully explained by differences in verbal IQ, perceptual reasoning skills, working memory, or attention. Differences in ANS acuity persisted even when demands on visuo-spatial skills and attention were reduced in the ANS task. Finally, we found that ANS acuity and math ability are linked in extremely preterm children, similar to previous results from term-born children. These results suggest that deficits in the ANS may be at least partly responsible for the deficits in math abilities often observed in extremely preterm children.
Parent–infant interaction and children’s language development

Learning to speak and understand language is a remarkable and important accomplishment of early childhood. Parent–infant interaction in the first three years is critical to this. This is the focus of this review – the first of the whole area. Seven databases were searched and 1750 studies reduced to 60 with good evidence. These 60 were from many disciplines and their methodological quality was variable. There was strong evidence that parental contingency (communication when the intended recipient is fully oriented towards receiving and processing it) and parental efforts in pre-literacy activities are important. There was strong evidence that interventions can be effective. Parental elaboration of language had less strong evidence. The role of gesture and the role of interaction with siblings and peers had the weakest evidence, but even these were quite well supported. Requirements for future research are specified. Parent–infant interaction is already established as a key factor in language development.
Measles Virus Infection of SLAM (CD150) Knockin Mice Reproduces Tropism and Immunosuppression in Human Infection

ABSTRACT The human signaling lymphocyte activation molecule (SLAM, also called CD150), a regulator of antigen-driven T-cell responses and macrophage functions, acts as a cellular receptor for measles virus (MV), and its V domain is necessary and sufficient for receptor function. We report here the generation of SLAM knockin mice in which the V domain of mouse SLAM was replaced by that of human SLAM. The chimeric SLAM had an expected distribution and normal function in the knockin mice. Splenocytes from the SLAM knockin mice permitted the in vitro growth of a virulent MV strain but not that of the Edmonston vaccine strain. Unlike in vitro infection, MV could grow only in SLAM knockin mice that also lacked the type I interferon receptor (IFNAR). After intraperitoneal or intranasal inoculation, MV was detected in the spleen and lymph nodes throughout the body but not in the thymus. Notably, the virus appeared first in the mediastinal lymph node after intranasal inoculation. Splenocytes from MV-infected IFNAR−/− SLAM knockin mice showed suppression of proliferative responses to concanavalin A. Thus, MV infection of SLAM knockin mice reproduces lymphotropism and immunosuppression in human infection, serving as a useful small animal model for measles.
Circulating Angiogenic Factors in Preeclampsia

Introduction Preeclampsia is a leading cause of death and disability in mothers and infants. Its cause remains unknown. Characterized by new onset of proteinuria and hypertension after 20 weeks of pregnancy, preeclampsia can progress to seizures (eclampsia), stroke, renal failure, pulmonary edema, liver failure, and coagulopathy. The only effective treatment is delivery, which may result in substantial neonatal morbidity and mortality if the fetus is delivered before 30 weeks of gestation. Preeclampsia is currently believed to be a 2-stage disease. The first stage is characterized by shallow cytotrophoblast invasion of maternal spiral arterioles, resulting in placental insufficiency. There are no maternal signs and symptoms during this stage. The hypoxic placenta releases soluble factors into the maternal circulation, which induce systemic endothelial dysfunction. This causes the second stage of the disease: the maternal syndrome. During this stage, hypertension and proteinuria, the clinical signs of preeclampsia, are manifested. We review the evidence that an imbalance of circulating angiogenic factors, largely of placental origin, may cause the maternal syndrome of preeclampsia.
Exercise Can Promote Coronary Collateral Development Without Improving Perfusion of Ischemic Myocardium

SUMMARYWe studied the effect of exercise training on the coronary collaterals that developed in response to gradual coronary occlusion in dogs. After their proximal left circumflex coronary artery occlusion, 33 dogs were randomly assigned to exercise or sedentary groups. Coronary collateral function was evaluated 5 weeks or 8 weeks later. The exercised dogs developed better epicardial collateral connections to the occluded left circumflex as judged by higher retrograde blood flow from the distal left circumflex and lower pressure drop across the collaterals. No difference in collaterals was apparent angiographically. Microsphere data indicated that exercise dogs were not better protected against tachycardia-provoked subendocardial ischemia in the myocardium supplied by the collaterals.
Paediatric acute liver failure and transplantation: The University of Essen experience

To report our experience with 17 children who underwent a liver transplantation (LT) for acute liver failure (ALF). All LT procedures (deceased and living donor) were offered. Since 2003 Molecular Adsorbents Recycling System (MARS®) was proposed as bridging procedure. We monitored the perioperative course and the short‐ and long‐term outcomes. All children developed pretransplant hepatic encephalopathy (mostly grades II and III); six needed ventilator support and three haemodialysis. Median PELD/MELD score was 30. MARS® was used in five children with poor pretransplant prognostic factors: all five survived the LT without sequelae. We performed 13 deceased donor LT (seven whole, five split and onr reduced) and four left lateral LDLT. Postoperative complications were observed in 10 children, requiring re‐operation in seven. Two children developed irreversible neurological disorders. After a median follow up of 45 months, 16 children are still alive. About 1‐ and 5‐year cumulative patient survival rates are 94% with a corresponding graft survival of 88% and 81%, respectively. The combination of experienced paediatric ICU management, the application of new liver support devices, and the capacity to offer both living and deceased donor transplant alternatives in a timely fashion represent the best formula to achieve optimal results in children with ALF.