Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Competitiveness, diversification and the international higher education cash flow: the EU's higher education discourse amidst the challenges of globalisation

This paper focuses on the EU discourse on Higher Education and analyses this discourse within the context of globalisation. Importance is attached to the issues of lifelong learning, competitiveness, diversification, entrepreneurship, access, knowledge society, modernisation, quality assurance, innovation and creativity, governance and business–HE partnerships. The paper also provides a critical analysis of this discourse focusing on certain issues involved in policy borrowing and transfer, the corporatisation of HE, international competition with the USA and Asia and the implications of all these aspects of the dominant EU HE policy discourse for HE and the public sphere. The paper seeks to tease out the tension that exists in the discourse between neo‐liberal tenets and the idea of a Social Europe. References throughout the paper will be made to the situation concerning HE in a variety of contexts in Europe.
Performance Analysis of Triangular Quadrature Amplitude Modulation in AWGN Channel

Recently, the triangular quadrature amplitude modulation (TQAM) whose signal points are regularly distributed at the vertexes of contiguous equilateral triangles was proposed. In this paper, we derive the general formula calculating the average energy per symbol of the TQAM and find out that the asymptotic power gain of the TQAM over the well-known square quadrature amplitude modulation (SQAM) is 0.5799 dB. We also analyze the symbol error rate (SER) and the bit error rate (BER) of the TQAM and compare them with the error performances obtained through computer simulation. Analytical and simulation results coincide at a wide range of signal to noise power ratio (SNR). The power gain increases gradually and approaches the asymptotic value as modulation order increases and target error rate decreases.
Medial Soft Tissue Restraints in Lateral Patellar Instability and Repair

This study was undertaken to evaluate the medial ligamentous stabilizers of the patella in restraining lateral displacement and to assess their relative contribution after individual repair. Seventeen fresh frozen human anatomic specimen knee joints were studied. The specimens were loaded onto a testing instrument that was designed to measure the compliance of the medial and lateral patellar restraints in the coronal plane. Two different cutting and repair sequences were used to test the individual contributions of the patellar ligaments. The medial patellofemoral ligament was found to be the major medial ligamentous stabilizer of the patella. Isolated release resulted in a 50% increase in lateral displacement, and isolated repair restored balance to the patella. In addition, the patellotibial and patellomeniscal ligament complex played an important secondary role in restraining lateral patellar displacement. Isolated repair of these ligaments restored balance to near normal levels. The medial patellofemoral retinaculum played only a minor role in patellofemoral instability. Proximal realignment or medial ligament repair for patellofemoral instability specifically should address repair of the deep layers that contain the restraints to lateral patellar displacement. Failure to include these structures in repair, especially of the medial patellofemoral ligament, may lead to persistent or recurrent instability.
An analysis of clustering objectives for feature selection applied to encrypted traffic identification

This work explores the use of clustering objectives in a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) for both, feature selection and cluster count optimization, under the application of flow based encrypted traffic identification. We first explore whether it is possible to achieve the performance of a gold standard model (i.e., classification objectives), using a MOGA based on clustering objectives. Then, we explore the performance gain (if it exists) of applying a logarithmic transformation to the data prior to running the MOGA. Results show that MOGA trained with clustering objectives can closely reproduce the behavior of a gold standard model, not only in terms of the selected features, but also in terms of the achieved detection rate and false positives rate, above 90% and less than 1% respectively. On the other hand, no gain was observed by applying logarithmic transformation to the data.
Type less, find more: fast autocompletion search with a succinct index

We consider the following full-text search autocompletion feature. Imagine a user of a search engine typing a query. Then with every letter being typed, we would like an instant display of completions of the last query word which would lead to good hits. At the same time, the best hits for any of these completions should be displayed. Known indexing data structures that apply to this problem either incur large processing times for a substantial class of queries, or they use a lot of space. We present a new indexing data structure that uses no more space than a state-of-the-art compressed inverted index, but with 10 times faster query processing times. Even on the large TREC Terabyte collection, which comprises over 25 million documents, we achieve, on a single machine and with the index on disk, average response times of one tenth of a second. We have built a full-fledged, interactive search engine that realizes the proposed autocompletion feature combined with support for proximity search, semi-structured (XML) text, subword and phrase completion, and semantic tags.
Death Threat, Religiosity, and Fear of Death: A Repertory Grid Investigation

Abstract Personal construct methodologies in the study of death threat have been limited by the use of death-specific constructs as well as global measures of other variables. To address these shortcomings, 40 males completed the 40-construct provided form of the Threat Index (Tip), an interpersonal repertory grid ORG), and multifaceted scales of religiosity and death concern. Death threat scores derived from the Tip and repertory grid correlated only moderately. Significant negative correlations were found between death threat and different components of religiosity, particularly when IRG measures of death threat were used. In keeping with past research, death threat also correlated significantly with fear of death subscales that particularly focus on the self (as opposed to the death of others). The implications of these results for future work in the area of death threat were discussed.
A role for universities in the induction of teachers? A Scottish case study

Scottish universities, with schools of education or equivalent, have gained a significant role in all other areas of the emerging national Framework for Continuing Professional Development, with the exception of the new one‐year Teacher Induction Scheme. However, in the light of renewed political calls for local authorities and universities to act in partnership at all stages of teacher professional development, this paper re‐examines the implications of research carried out on the Induction Scheme, which reveals the limited role played by universities in the induction of newly qualified teachers. The barriers and opportunities faced by universities in seeking a role in the induction and early professional development of teachers are discussed.
Impacts of the Reduction of Nutrient Levels on Bacterial Water Quality in Distribution Systems

ABSTRACT This study evaluated the impacts of reducing nutrient levels on bacterial water quality in drinking water. Two American Water System facilities (sites NJ102a and IN610) with histories of coliform problems were involved, and each water utility received two pilot distribution systems (annular reactors). One reactor simulated the conventional treatment conditions (control), while the other reactor was used to assess the effect of biological filtration and subsequent reduced biodegradable organic matter levels on suspended (water column) and biofilm bacterial concentrations in the distribution systems. Biodegradable organic matter levels were reduced approximately by half after biological treatment. For site NJ102a, the geometric mean of the assimilable organic carbon concentrations was 217 μg/liter in the plant effluent and 91 μg/liter after biological filtration. For both sites, plant effluent biodegradable dissolved organic carbon levels averaged 0.45 mg/liter, versus 0.19 to 0.22 mg/liter following biological treatment. Biological treatment improved the stability of free chlorine residuals, while it had little effect on chloramine consumption patterns. High bacterial levels from the biological filters resulted in higher bacterial concentrations entering the test reactors than entering the control reactors. On average, biofilms in the model systems were reduced by 1 log unit (from 1.4 × 105 to 1.4 × 104 CFU/cm2) and 0.5-log unit (from 2.7 × 105 to 7.8 × 104CFU/cm2) by biological treatment at sites NJ102a and IN610, respectively. Interestingly, it required several months of biological treatment before there was an observable impact on bacterial water quality in the system, suggesting that the effect of the treatment change was influenced by other factors (i.e., pipe conditions or disinfection, etc.).
Sequence variations in the public human genome data reflect a bottlenecked population history

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) constitute the great majority of variations in the human genome, and as heritable variable landmarks they are useful markers for disease mapping and resolving population structure. Redundant coverage in overlaps of large-insert genomic clones, sequenced as part of the Human Genome Project, comprises a quarter of the genome, and it is representative in terms of base compositional and functional sequence features. We mined these regions to produce 500,000 high-confidence SNP candidates as a uniform resource for describing nucleotide diversity and its regional variation within the genome. Distributions of marker density observed at different overlap length scales under a model of recombination and population size change show that the history of the population represented by the public genome sequence is one of collapse followed by a recent phase of mild size recovery. The inferred times of collapse and recovery are Upper Paleolithic, in agreement with archaeological evidence of the initial modern human colonization of Europe.
Exploring Socio-Technical Insights for Safe Nursing Handover

Current efforts to improve nursing handover frequently use prescriptive approaches based on research evidence of handover issues within a single nursing ward or nursing specialty. Despite reported handover improvement, few studies adequately consider the transferability of results to other nursing handover environments or acknowledge the unique attributes that supported sustained improvement. With the increasing diffusion of electronic tools it has become even more critical to ensure that socio-technical issues that may impact on the quality and safety of nursing handovers are identified. This paper describes a qualitative research project that examined nursing handover in three different wards - General Medicine, General Surgery and Department of Emergency Medicine in a tertiary teaching hospital. Through conduct of a detailed analysis of nursing handover processes, this paper highlights the similarities and differences in the handover among the three different wards and presents five key socio-technical insights to support safe nursing handover.
Transnationalizing the Public Sphere

Is Habermas’s concept of the public sphere still relevant in an age of globalization, when the transnational flows of people and information have become increasingly intensive and when the nation-state can no longer be taken granted as the natural frame for social and political debate? This is the question posed with characteristic acuity by Nancy Fraser in her influential article ‘Transnationalizing the Public Sphere? ’ Challenging careless uses of the term ‘global public sphere’, Fraser raises the debate about the nature and role of the public sphere in a global age to a new level. While drawing on the richness of Habermas’s conception and remaining faithful to the spirit of critical theory, Fraser thoroughly reconstructs the concepts of inclusion, legitimacy and efficacy for our globalizing times.
Antinuclear antibody-positive cohort constitutes homogeneous entity in juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Objective. To identify a homogeneous entity for antinuclear antibody (ANA)-positive patients suffering from juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Methods. All of the clinical features were recorded retrospectively. ANA positivity was defined as more than twice positive results at a titer of > 1:100. The correlation between ANA positivity and clinical parameters was assessed by multiple logistic regression analysis. Result. Of 120 patients, 49 patients were ANA positive (31 oligoarthritis, 18 rheumatoid factor [RF]-negative polyarthritis) and 71 patients were ANA negative (48 oligoarthritis, 23 RF-negative polyarthritis), and were recruited retrospectively to this study according to the International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR) criteria. In ANA-positive cohort, the characteristics of early-onset age, female predominance, and asymmetric arthritis were observed compared with ANA-negative cohort including oligoarthritis and RF-negative polyarthritis. Correspondingly, we found that ANA-positive cohort had higher cumulative number of joints affected at 9 and 12 months after disease presentation than ANA-negative cohort, had lower frequency of occurrence of image change, and had a different pattern of affected arthritis than ANA-negative cohort, which was more likely to have knee involvement and less likely to have hip and shoulder involvement. ANA positivity correlated strongly with asymmetric arthritis, female predominance and wrist involvement. Conclusion. This study demonstrates that ANA-positive cohort divided into different subgroups by present ILAR criteria share the similar features and suggests that ANA positivity might serve as a novel potential value for JIA classification.
A Taxonomy for Networked Virtual Environments

We discuss virtual environments in the context of how to distribute network communications, views, data, and processes while emphasizing those aspects critical to scaling environments. Systems that demand strong data consistency, causality, and reliable communications while supporting real-time interaction are not likely to scale very well. Furthermore, geographically dispersed systems require high-speed, multicast communication.
Control theory meets synthetic biology

The past several years have witnessed an increased presence of control theoretic concepts in synthetic biology. This review presents an organized summary of how these control design concepts have been applied to tackle a variety of problems faced when building synthetic biomolecular circuits in living cells. In particular, we describe success stories that demonstrate how simple or more elaborate control design methods can be used to make the behaviour of synthetic genetic circuits within a single cell or across a cell population more reliable, predictable and robust to perturbations. The description especially highlights technical challenges that uniquely arise from the need to implement control designs within a new hardware setting, along with implemented or proposed solutions. Some engineering solutions employing complex feedback control schemes are also described, which, however, still require a deeper theoretical analysis of stability, performance and robustness properties. Overall, this paper should help synthetic biologists become familiar with feedback control concepts as they can be used in their application area. At the same time, it should provide some domain knowledge to control theorists who wish to enter the rising and exciting field of synthetic biology.
Investigating confinement in dually transformed U(1) lattice gauge theory

The dually transformed path integral of four-dimensional U(1) lattice gauge theory is used for the calculation of expectation values in the presence of external charges. Applying the dual simulation to flux tubes for charge distances up to around 20 lattice spacings, we find a deviation from the behavior of a dual type-II superconductor in the London limit at large distances. The roughening of the flux tube agrees with the effective string picture of confinement. Further we show that finite temperature effects are negligible for time extents larger than the charge distance. Finally we analyze the different contributions to the total energy of the electromagnetic field. The parallel component of the magnetic field turns out to have the strongest influence on the deviation from the linear behavior at small charge distances. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
Integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis reveals adaptive changes of hibernating retinas

Hibernation is a seasonally adaptive strategy that allows hibernators to live through extremely cold conditions. Despite the profound reduction of blood flow to the retinas, hibernation causes no lasting retinal injury. Instead, hibernators show an increased tolerance to ischemic insults during the hibernation period. To understand the molecular changes of the retinas in response to hibernation, we applied an integrative transcriptome and metabolome analysis to explore changes in gene expression and metabolites of 13‐lined ground squirrel retinas during hibernation. Metabolomic analysis showed a global decrease of ATP synthesis in hibernating retinas. Decreased glucose and galactose, increased beta‐oxidation of carnitine and decreased storage of some amino acids in hibernating retinas indicated a shift of fuel use from carbohydrates to lipids and alternative usage of amino acids. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the down‐regulated genes were enriched in DNA‐templated transcription and immune‐related functions, while the up‐regulated genes were enriched in mitochondrial inner membrane and DNA packaging‐related functions. We further showed that a subset of genes underwent active alternative splicing events in response to hibernation. Finally, integrative analysis of the transcriptome and metabolome confirmed the shift of fuel use in the hibernating retina by the regulation of catabolism of amino acids and lipids. Through transcriptomic and metabolomic data, our analysis revealed the altered state of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and the shift of energy source in the hibernating retina, advancing our understanding of the molecular mechanisms employed by hibernators. The data will also serve as a useful resource for the ocular and hibernation research communities.
UC Merced Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society Title Modeling Attachment Decisions with a Probabilistic Parser : The Case of Head Final Structures

We describe an incremental, two-stage probabilistic model of human parsing for German. The model is broad coverage, i.e., it assigns sentence structure to previously unseen text with high accuracy. It also makes incremental predictions of the attachment decisions for PP attachment ambiguities. We test the model against reading time data from the literature and find that it makes correct predictions for verb second sentences; however, the model is not able to account for reading times data for verb final structures because attachment preferences in our training data do not match those determined experimentally. We argue that this points to more general limitations with our type of probabilistic model when it comes to realizing processing strategies that are independent of the data the parsing model is trained on.
From unanalyzed chunks to rules: The learning of the English copula be by beginning Japanese learners of English

This article investigates the extent to which beginning Japanese classroom learners of English learn the rule for suppliance of the copula be beyond initial memorization of chunks without explicit teaching. This is a cross-sectional study in which data are gathered from 111 students of Grade 8 and 107 students of Grade 9 through a written elicitation test. The paper analyzes each participant's stage of learning on the chunk-rule continuum by examining the production in different linguistic contexts. The data show that there is no significant difference in the progress of the two groups and that less than half the participants have learned the rule successfully. The paper concludes that some explicit teaching of the rule is needed.
A Reconfigurable Viterbi Decoder for a Communication Platform

A new large constraint length, soft decision Viterbi decoder fabric is presented for deployment using platform based system on chip methodologies. The decoder can be reconfigured for standards such as CDMA2000, WCDMA (UMTS), ADSL, IEEE 802.11, and GSM. Maximum resource allocation and performance is achieved by reusing components within turbo decoder base array. This cross platform Viterbi decoder is reconfigurable between different trellis types, constraint lengths and rates making it ideal for a unified multi-standard telecommunication platform. In addition, the authors also propose a novel technique for dynamic reconfiguration in order to achieve faster context switching between different mappings. The reconfigurable fabric is implemented as a subset of turbo decoder array on a 180 nm UMC process technology
Conformity, obedience to authority, and compliance without pressure to control cigarette butt pollution

This study compares the effectiveness of three sources of influence [conformity, obedience to authority, and the “but you are free to…” (BYAFT) technique] to induce smokers to put their cigarettes butts in an ashtray rather than dropping them on the ground. Conformity was operationalized with a sign placed above ashtrays. This sign mentioned that most people throw their cigarette butts in the ashtrays. The BYAFT technique was operationalized with a sign mentioning that people were free to throw their cigarette butts in the ashtray. Finally, obedience was operationalized by the setting of the experiment: the Préfecture symbolizing authority and the shopping mall, a “non-authority” setting. Results indicated the main effect of conformity and obedience but not the BYAFT. However, the BYAFT effect depended on the presence or absence of authority and conformity. Interactions between the three influence sources are discussed.
Understanding self-directed learning in the context of mobile Web 2.0 – case study with workplace learners

ABSTRACT This paper presents the findings from a multiple-case study which has investigated the impact of mobile Web 2.0 technologies on self-directed learning (SDL) of workplace learners by exploring participants’ learning experiences with a mobile App. Drawing on existing literatures, we examined learners’ SDL personal attributes and process in the context of mobile Web 2.0. Results show that there are specific personal attributes that could benefit from features of the latest mobile Web 2.0 technologies. These features were utilized increasingly during the learning process and appear to have the potential to enhance learning outcomes. The findings within five individualized cases of adult learners in China using mobile phones for informal learning are provided, followed by a discussion of the overall context. Directions for future development are suggested at the end of the paper.