Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE IMPACT OF AN INSERVICE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM ON THE GERONTOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES OF GERIATRIC RECREATIONAL SERVICE PROVIDERS

The impact of an inservice program on practitioners’ gerontological knowledge and attitudes was examined. A nonequivalent control group design was used to conduct the study. The experimental group was made up of geriatric recreational service providers attending the first of two annual one‐week inservice educational programs. An outdoor resource management undergraduate level class served as the control group. The experimental group relative to the control group underwent a significant increase in their gerontological knowledge. Neither group experienced a significant change in their attitudes regarding the social value of the elderly or personal anxiety toward aging. The amount of change experienced in gerontological knowledge by program participants was significantly influenced by the degree of contact the individual had had with elders but not by their educational background. Educational background and degree of contact were not significantly associated with change in gerontological‐related attitudes.
Invasive Pneumococcal Pneumonia and Respiratory Virus Co-infections

Each year, especially in the winter, many get sick and some die of invasive pneumococcal pneumonia. Does this type of pneumonia increase in the winter because people are in closer contact indoors? Or are people more susceptible to this bacterial disease after having had a seasonal respiratory virus infection? A season-by-season analysis found an association between pneumococcal pneumonia and two viruses (influenza and respiratory syncytial virus). The association varied by season and was strongest when the predominant influenza virus subtype was H3N2. Vaccination against influenza and RSV should also help protect against pneumococcal pneumonia.
Constructivist underpinnings in Donald Schön’s theory of reflective practice: echoes of Nelson Goodman

Donald Schön’s theory of reflective practice has garnered unprecedented attention in the field of continuing professional education. In this paper, I examine Schön’s writing on reflective practice and argue that a constructivist orientation is a central, although largely unexplored, underpinning of his work. In particular I consider the work of philosopher Nelson Goodman and suggest that he is a major constructivist influence within Schön’s theory. Secondary constructivist influences such as George Kelly, Jean Piaget and Ernst von Glasersfeld are also highlighted. Given this link, one of the avenues for understanding Schön’s theory of reflective practice may well lie in deepening one’s understanding of constructivist thought.
Modeling word senses with fuzzy clustering

This thesis describes a clustering approach to automatically inferring soft semantic classes and characterizing senses of a set of Norwegian nouns. The words are represented by way of their distribution in text, identified as local contexts in the form of lexical-syntactic relations. Through a shallow processing step the context features are extracted for lemmatized word forms in syntactically tagged corpora. The corresponding frequency counts of noun–context co-occurrences are weighted with a statistical association measure, and the distributional profile of a given word is represented in the form of a feature vector in a semantic space model. A hybrid approach is taken when clustering the word vectors; a bottom-up hierarchical method is used to initialize various types of fuzzy partitional clusterings. With the purpose of capturing the notion of typicality the clusters are construed as fuzzy sets, and the words are assigned varying degrees of membership with respect to the various classes. Words are assigned graded memberships in clusters on the basis of their resemblance towards a class prototype. The goal is to automatically uncover semantic classes, where the various memberships of a given word in these fuzzy clusters can be used to characterize its various senses.
Joint synchronization and localization using iridium ring alert signal

We consider the localization problem using signal-of-opportunities (SOOP) in this paper. We assume beacons and a reference anchor are with known positions and velocities, and all devices have asynchronous local clocks or oscillators. To obtain the range measurements from the received signals, we proposed a bandwidth efficient algorithm which removes the requirement of exchanging raw signals as in the conventional methods. Taking the biases caused by free-running clocks into consideration, we also proposed a joint synchronyzation and localisation algorithm to estimate both the clock drift parameter and the position of the receiver. Experiment results demonstrate that our proposed measurement estimation algorithm can achieve better performance than the conventional method, and our proposed location estimator can successfully track both the receiver location and the relative clock offset and skew with respect to the reference anchor with good accuracy.
Using Interdisciplinary, Project-Based, Multimodal Activities to Facilitate Literacy Across the Content Areas

Tour Across America is an interdisciplinary, project-based, multimodal (IPM) activity where students get the opportunity to apply what they learn to a real-life situation while illustrating the interdisciplinary nature of literacy. It provides students with a high-interest, creative platform to review, reinforce, and integrate learned literacy skills and strategies across the content areas. Tour Across America allows students the opportunity to become concert tour managers for a fictional band. This IPM framework is an appropriate supplemental activity for upper elementary through high school language arts classes, regardless of the students’ ability levels or socioeconomic status. This article contributes to the research on adolescent literacy in two ways: by demonstrating the importance of using IPM strategies to bridge the gap between in-school literacies and out-of-school literacies, and by providing an activity that is effective and efficient at getting students to become literate across the content areas.
Recruiting Highly Educated Graduates: A Study on the Relationship Between Recruitment Information Sources, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and Actual Job Pursuit

Using the theory of planned behavior, we examined the effects of different recruitment-related information sources on the job pursuit of highly educated graduates. The study was conducted using a real-life longitudinal design. Participants reported on potential employers they were interested in. We used hierarchical linear modeling to analyze within-participant relationships of different information sources with the theory of planned behavior variables, job pursuit behavior, and actual job choice. The theory of planned behavior relationships was supported. Recruitment advertising and positive word of mouth related positively to job pursuit intention and behavior. Negative publicity and word of mouth partly related to job pursuit behavior, indicating their role in the recruitment process. On-campus presence related negatively to job pursuit intention and behavior, suggesting that recruiters should convey parsimonious and realistic job-related information.
Development and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Abuse Within Intimate Relationships Scale

To facilitate development of effective prevention programs, there is a need to identify precursors to intimate partner violence. As a first step in this direction, this study was designed to develop a psychometrically sound measure of intimate partner abuse for young adults. Potential items were derived by examining existing measures and from responses of a sample of college students to four open-ended questions. A second sample of college students completed all items, and responses were subjected to exploratory factor analysis followed by confirmatory factor analysis. Results indicated that two general factors (physical and psychological abuse) with five subfactors (overt violence, restricting acts, emotional abuse, deceptive behaviors, and verbal abuse) were confirmable with excellent fit indices. The newly developed measure could shed light on early predictors of abusive behavior and provide a foundation for new early intervention strategies.
Student Satisfaction and Performance in an Online Teacher Certification Program

D istance education continues to expand, from a reported 1.6 million students enrolled in distance education courses in 1998 (NCES, 1999) to 3.2 million in 2005 (Sloan Consortium, 2006) . As online education has come to dominate all types of courses taught at a distance, and constitutes a greater proportion of overall enrollment in higher education, researchers have increasingly investigated a host of questions regarding its viability as an alternative to traditional on-campus education. Consistently, this research has found online education equals or surpasses on-campus instruction in terms of student learning, student perceptions, and student satisfaction (Neuhauser, 2002; Thirunanrayanan &Perez-Prado, 2002; Russell, 2001; Arbaugh, 2000), thus supporting its viability and continued development. Online delivery of teacher education courses is well established, with practicing teachers taking courses online for faculty development, graduate degrees, and professional specializations, such as special education and the teaching of reading (Watson, 2006; Qian & Tao, 2005; Glenn & Lozar, 2001 ; Saunders, 2001; Turbill, 2001) . Caywood and Duckett (2003) and Neuhauser (2002) find online delivery effective for teacher education, with opportunities for online in-service programs proliferating. However, teacher education programs have been slower to provide online courses to pre-service teachers and slower still to develop teacher certification programs with coursework delivered entirely at a distance. This is despite online teacher preparation being a major funding area of the Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) grant program (U.S. Department of Education, 2005). Zirkle (2002) suggests that this lack of progress may be largely due to concerns about providing:
'School is Like an Ant's Nest': Spatiality and embodiment in schools

Processes of differentiation and formation of subjectivities in schools have embodied and spatial components. This article illustrates the significance of what is termed the physical school by a discussion of space and embodiment organised through one of several metaphors that school students have used to describe their schools: an ants' nest. The metaphor tells a tale about the lack of spatial and embodied autonomy school students experience. Gendered meanings of the metaphor are also questioned. Gender is seen as dynamic and processual. The article is based on a collective work on 'Physical school' by the Gender and Education research network in Finland (1992-94). Theoretical concepts are elaborated further within another project in secondary schools 'Citizenship, difference and marginality in schools - with special reference to gender' that was in its preliminary phase when the article was written.
Test width compression for built-in self testing

We present a method for designing test generator circuits (TGCs) that incorporate a precomputed test set to in the patterns they produce. Our method uses width compression based on the property of d-compatibles, which allows us to encode to more efficiently than previous methods that use only compatibles and inverse compatibles. The TGC consists of a counter, which generates a set of encoded test patterns, and a decompression circuit consisting of simple binary decoders that generate a final sequence containing T/sub D/. These TGCs are applicable to embedded-core circuits whose detailed designs are not available. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by presenting experimental results for the ISCAS 85 and ISCAS CAS 89 benchmark circuits.
A quorum-sensing molecule acts as a morphogen controlling gas vesicle organelle biogenesis and adaptive flotation in an enterobacterium

Gas vesicles are hollow intracellular proteinaceous organelles produced by aquatic Eubacteria and Archaea, including cyanobacteria and halobacteria. Gas vesicles increase buoyancy and allow taxis toward air–liquid interfaces, enabling subsequent niche colonization. Here we report a unique example of gas vesicle-mediated flotation in an enterobacterium; Serratia sp. strain ATCC39006. This strain is a member of the Enterobacteriaceae previously studied for its production of prodigiosin and carbapenem antibiotics. Genes required for gas vesicle synthesis mapped to a 16.6-kb gene cluster encoding three distinct homologs of the main structural protein, GvpA. Heterologous expression of this locus in Escherichia coli induced copious vesicle production and efficient cell buoyancy. Gas vesicle morphogenesis in Serratia enabled formation of a pellicle-like layer of highly vacuolated cells, which was dependent on oxygen limitation and the expression of ntrB/C and cheY-like regulatory genes within the gas-vesicle gene cluster. Gas vesicle biogenesis was strictly controlled by intercellular chemical signaling, through an N-acyl homoserine lactone, indicating that in this system the quorum-sensing molecule acts as a morphogen initiating organelle development. Flagella-based motility and gas vesicle morphogenesis were also oppositely regulated by the small RNA-binding protein, RsmA, suggesting environmental adaptation through physiological control of the choice between motility and flotation as alternative taxis modes. We propose that gas vesicle biogenesis in this strain represents a distinct mechanism of mobility, regulated by oxygen availability, nutritional status, the RsmA global regulatory system, and the quorum-sensing morphogen.
Fuzzy time windowing for gradual concept drift adaptation

The aim of machine learning is to find hidden insights into historical data, and then apply them to forecast the future data or trends. Machine learning algorithms optimize learning models for lowest error rate based on the assumption that the historical data and the data to be predicted conform to the same knowledge pattern (data distribution). However, if the historical data is not enough, or the knowledge pattern keeps changing (data uncertainty), this assumption will become invalid. In data stream mining, this phenomenon of knowledge pattern changing is called concept drift. To address this issue, we propose a novel fuzzy windowing concept drift adaptation (FW-DA) method. Compared to conventional windowing-based drift adaptation algorithms, FW-DA achieves higher accuracy by allowing the sliding windows to keep an overlapping period so that the data instances belonging to different concepts can be determined more precisely. In addition, FW-DA statistically guarantees that the upcoming data conforms to the inferred knowledge pattern with a certain confidence level. To evaluate FW-DA, four experiments were conducted using both synthetic and real-world data sets. The experiment results show that FW-DA outperforms the other windowing-based methods including state-of-the-art drift adaptation methods.
Outcomes of a natural rubber latex control program in an Ontario teaching hospital.

BACKGROUND Allergy to natural rubber latex (NRL) has been frequently reported in health care workers. However, there is little published evidence of the outcome of hospital intervention programs to reduce exposure and detect cases of sensitization early. OBJECTIVE This study assesses the effects of intervention to reduce NRL allergy in an Ontario teaching hospital with approximately 8000 employees. METHODS A retrospective review assessed annual numbers of employees visiting the occupational health clinic, allergy clinic, or both for manifestations of NRL allergy compared with the timing of introduction of intervention strategies, such as worker education, voluntary medical surveillance, and hospital conversion to low-protein, powder-free NRL gloves. RESULTS The number of workers identified with NRL allergy rose annually, from 1 in 1988 to 6 in 1993. When worker education and voluntary medical surveillance were introduced in 1994, a further 25 workers were identified. Nonsterile gloves were changed to low-protein, powder-free NRL gloves in 1995: Diagnoses fell to 8 workers that year, and 2 of the 3 nurses who had been off work because of asthma-anaphylaxis were able to return to work with personal avoidance of NRL products. With a change to lower protein, powder-free NRL sterile gloves in 1997, allergy diagnoses fell to 3, and only 1 new case was identified subsequently up to May 1999. No increased glove costs were incurred as a result of consolidated glove purchases. CONCLUSIONS This program to reduce NRL allergy in employees was effectively achieved without additional glove costs while reducing expenses from time off work and workers' compensation claims.
Effect of Videocassette Recorders on the Academy of Motion Picture Annual Best Picture Nominee and Winner: A Comparison of Two Periods

Armchair observers have long argued that the time of year at which a motion picture is released affects the movie's potential for gaining an Academy Award nomination. The introduction of consumers' videocassette recorders (VCRs) in 1975 had the potential to erase this bias. The month of release for 11 years of pre- and 11 years of post-VCR Best Picture nominees and winners was analyzed. A disproportionate number of the films were released during the last three months of the year, especially in December. No significant difference was found for the month of release between films released during 1965–1975 (prior to the introduction of VCRs) and those released during 1981–1991 (after VCRs became widely available).
Asymmetries in the acquisition of subject–verb agreement in Dutch: Evidence from comprehension and production

Across languages, children do not comprehend 3SG/3PL subject–verb agreement before age five, despite early mastery in spontaneous speech. This study investigates subject–verb agreement in a language hitherto not studied in this respect, namely Dutch. The authors examine if (1) Dutch two- and three-year-olds comprehend subject–verb agreement and (2) a comprehension–production asymmetry still exists if task materials are kept constant across domains. Dutch-speaking two- and three-year-olds completed a comprehension (picture selection) and production (sentence completion) task testing 3SG and 3PL. In comprehension, both groups performed above chance on 3PL but not on 3SG. In production, accuracy on 3PL and 3SG was slightly higher than in comprehension. Comprehension and production were moderately correlated. These results show that comprehension is earlier in Dutch than in previously investigated languages, but only for 3PL, suggesting that phonological salience and cue reliability are important. They also show an asymmetry between comprehension and production, albeit much smaller than assumed in previous studies.
Antibiotics as CECs: An Overview of the Hazards Posed by Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance

ABSTRACT Monitoring programs have traditionally monitored legacy contaminants but are shifting focus to Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs). CECs present many challenges for monitoring and assessment, because measurement methods don't always exist nor have toxicological studies been fully conducted to place results in proper context. Also some CECs affect metabolic pathways to produce adverse outcomes that are not assessed through traditional toxicological evaluations. Antibiotics are CECs that pose significant environmental risks including development of both toxic effects at high doses and antibiotic resistance at doses well below the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) which kill bacteria and have been found in nearly half of all sites monitored in the US. Antimicrobial resistance has generally been attributed to the use of antibiotics in medicine for humans and livestock as well as aquaculture operations. The objective of this study was to assess the extent and magnitude of antibiotics in the environment and estimate their potential hazards in the environment. Antibiotics concentrations were measured in a number of monitoring studies which included Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP) effluent, surface waters, sediments and biota. A number of studies reported levels of Antibiotic Resistant Microbes (ARM) in surface waters and some studies found specific ARM genes (e.g. the blaM-1 gene) in E. coli which may pose additional environmental risk. High levels of this gene were found to survive WWTP disinfection and accumulated in sediment at levels 100-1000 times higher than in the sewerage effluent, posing potential risks for gene transfer to other bacteria.in aquatic and marine ecosystems. Antibiotic risk assessment approaches were developed based on the use of MICs and MIC Ratios [High (Antibiotic Resistant)/Low (Antibiotic Sensitive) MIC] for each antibiotic indicating the range of bacterial adaptability to each antibiotic to help define the No Observable Effect Concentration (NOEC) for each antibiotic which were compared to maximum Measured Exposure Concentrations (MEC) in the environment to predict individual environmental risks. Four antibiotics had high MEC/NOEC and high MIC ratios and were identified as higher risks for concern based upon this approach, but only Triclosan had MEC/NOEC ratios >1 and was recommended for monitoring in future studies.
Does Negative Affect Always Narrow and Positive Affect Always Broaden the Mind? Considering the Influence of Motivational Intensity on Cognitive Scope

Research over the last 5 decades has suggested that negative affective states narrow cognitive scope, whereas positive affective states broaden cognitive scope. An examination of this past research, however, reveals that only negative affects of high motivational intensity (e.g., fear, stress) and positive affects of low motivational intensity (e.g., gratitude, amusement) may have been examined. Consequently, over the last 5 years, research has examined positive and negative affects that are low (e.g., sadness) versus high (e.g., desire) in motivational intensity. This research has found that affects of low motivational intensity broaden cognitive scope whereas affects of high motivational intensity narrow cognitive scope, regardless of the positivity or negativity of the affective state.
Explorations of the effectiveness of a voluntary sector psychodynamic counselling service

This paper reports two studies of individual psychodynamic counselling provided by a voluntary sector service. The first study examines evidence of the effectiveness of counselling, as evaluated by the General Health Questionnaire and Personal Opinion Survey. Measures of the process of counselling indicated the improvements that clients attributed to counselling, the changes that occurred during it, and the factors that were most beneficial, as well as the approaches used by counsellors. The second study, using the CORE Outcome Measure and ratings of problem severity, found counselling to be equally effective with disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged clients, as defined by British Department of Health criteria, but these clients differed somewhat in their perceptions of helpful aspects of counselling. Both studies also indicated predictors of positive outcome of counselling. The studies are used to illustrate some of the methodological issues around research in this area.