Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preservice teachers’ video simulations and subsequent noticing: a practice-based method to prepare mathematics teachers

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to implement a Video Simulation Task in a mathematics methods teacher education course to engage preservice teachers in considering both the teaching and learning aspects of mathematics lesson delivery. Participants anticipated student and teacher thinking and created simulations, in which they acted out scenes on a specific mathematics standard. They then viewed their own simulations and those of their classmates with a focus on the most salient moments of students’ thinking. The research focused on the contents of collaboratively-created video simulations and the focus of preservice teachers’ attention when viewing said simulations. Results indicate that preservice teachers primarily focus on classroom elements and the teacher when viewing the simulation content, which raises questions for how to support an emphasis on students’ mathematical thinking.
Free-Space Optical Communication Using Subearrier Modulation in Gamma-Gamma Atmospheric Turbulence

Free-space optical communications (FSO) propagated over a clear atmosphere suffers from irradiance fluctuation caused by small but random atmospheric temperature fluctuations. This results in decreased signal- to-noise ratio and consequently impaired error performance. In this paper, the error performance of the FSO using a subcarrier intensity modulation (SIM) based on a binary phase shift keying scheme in clear but turbulent atmosphere is presented. To evaluate the system error performance in turbulence regimes from weak to strong, the probability density function of the received irradiance after traversing the atmosphere is modelled using the gamma-gamma distribution and the effect of turbulence induced irradiance fluctuation is mitigated using spatial diversity.
Perception and Experience Regarding Menopause among Menopaused Women Attending Teaching Hospitals in Erbil City

Background and Objectives: The timing of menopause, perception as well as menopausal symptoms varies between populations and within populations. The main objective of the present study was to assess women’s perception and experience regarding menopause, to find out symptoms and mean age of menopause and to study socio-demographic characteristics of menopaused women and to find out its relationship with their age at menopause and their knowledge about menopause. Methods: Over a period of eight months a descriptive cross sectional study were carried out at the outpatient departments of four teaching hospitals in Erbil city. A total of 500 menopaused women their age ranged from 40-60 years were interviewed using a close ended self administered questionnaire. Results: Mean age of menopause was 47.44 years with median age was 48 years, 4.4% had premature menopause and 23.6% had early menopause. The only factors that significantly associated with age at menopause were education and pattern of menstrual cessation and 93.4% of menopaused women were heard about menopause, 56.6% had prior knowledge of menopausal symptoms, cessation of menstruation was positive in 47.0% and 85.8% of women perceive menopause as natural condition and the most common menopausal symptoms were tiredness occurring in 83.2%. Conclusion: Most of menopaused women perceive menopause as natural condition and not aware about hormone replacement therapy and the mean age of menopause is comparable to that mean reported in other part of Iraq. Among menopaused women tiredness was the most common complaint was followed by hot flushes and night sweats.
‘I Think, You Think’: Understanding the Importance of Self-Reflection to the Taking of Another Person's Perspective

This article reviews current knowledge about how the tendency to reflect on personal experience is related to the tendency to take another's perspective. While it is well established that self-reflection leads to a greater understanding of one's own emotions, cognitions, and behaviours, the extent to which it is associated with understanding others is less well understood, despite the implications of this for the development of more effective interventions to improve empathy. The types of self-reflection that are used in clinical and psychotherapeutic interventions are used to illustrate the possibilities here, and ways in which clinicians may increase their own self-reflection are also considered.
The Prostate Basal Cell (BC) Heterogeneity and the p63-Positive BC Differentiation Spectrum in Mice

The prostate epithelium is composed of basal (BC), luminal (LEC), and neuroendocrine (NEC) cells. It is unclear how many subtypes of BCs in the prostate and which subtype of BCs contains the main stem cell niche in the adult prostate. Here we report seven BC subpopulations according to their p63, cytokeratin 14 (K14) and K5 expression patterns, including p63-positive/K14-negative/K5-negative (p63+/K14-/K5-), p63-/K14+/K5-, p63-/K14-/K5+, p63+/K14+/K5-, p63+/K14-/K5+, p63-/K14+/K5+, and p63+/K14+/K5+ BCs. We generated a p63-CreERT2 knock-in mouse line that expresses tamoxifen-inducible Cre activity in the p63-expressing cells, including the prostate BCs. We then crossbred this line with ROSA26R mice, and generated p63-CreERT2×ROSA26R bi-genic mice harboring the Cre-activated β-galactosidase reporter gene. We treated these bi-genic mice with tamoxifen to mark the p63+ BCs at different ages or under different hormonal conditions, and then traced the lineage differentiation of these genetically labeled BCs. We discovered that these p63+ BCs contain self-renewable stem cells in culture and efficiently differentiated into LECs, NECs and BCs in the postnatal, adult and re-generating mouse prostates. Therefore, BC population contains heterogeneous BCs that express different combinations of the p63, K14 and K5 differentiation markers. Because K14+ and K5+ BCs were previously shown to be extremely inefficient to produce LECs in adulthood, we propose that the p63+/K5-/K14- subpopulation of BCs contains most stem-like cells, especially in adult animals.
Inferring muscle functional roles of the ostrich pelvic limb during walking and running using computer optimization

Owing to their cursorial background, ostriches (Struthio camelus) walk and run with high metabolic economy, can reach very fast running speeds and quickly execute cutting manoeuvres. These capabilities are believed to be a result of their ability to coordinate muscles to take advantage of specialized passive limb structures. This study aimed to infer the functional roles of ostrich pelvic limb muscles during gait. Existing gait data were combined with a newly developed musculoskeletal model to generate simulations of ostrich walking and running that predict muscle excitations, force and mechanical work. Consistent with previous avian electromyography studies, predicted excitation patterns showed that individual muscles tended to be excited primarily during only stance or swing. Work and force estimates show that ostrich gaits are partially hip-driven with the bi-articular hip–knee muscles driving stance mechanics. Conversely, the knee extensors acted as brakes, absorbing energy. The digital extensors generated large amounts of both negative and positive mechanical work, with increased magnitudes during running, providing further evidence that ostriches make extensive use of tendinous elastic energy storage to improve economy. The simulations also highlight the need to carefully consider non-muscular soft tissues that may play a role in ostrich gait.
Assessing Farmer’s Willingness to Participate in the On-farm Conservation of Minor Millet using Direct Compensation Payment

The farmers, predominantly the small and tribal,particularly in regions of rich agro-biodiversity immensely contribute to the on-farm conservation and enrichment of this diversity, often at personal cost. The past and present agricultural progress could not have happened without these genetic resources and associated knowledge conserved by farmers. On-farm conservation assumes more importance in the context of climate change in view of the gene evolution it promotes. Therefore, it plays crucial role to the future global food and nutritional security. Kolli Hills in Tamil Nadu had been a region where six species of minor millets are under cultivation during last several hundred years. Farmers here over this period had evolved significant genetic variability in these crops. They are, however, under threat due to high competition from tapioca as well as the easy access to PDS rice at low prices. This study attempts to examine the role of farmer incentive mechanisms to conserve minor millets in Kolli Hills. The millet varieties were classified either as most preferred varieties (MPVs) or least preferred varieties (LPVs) by the farmer respondents based on their yield and consumption preferences. The farmer willingness to accept compensation to participate in the conservation programme is estimated using a contingent valuation method. Seemingly unrelated bivariate probit regression is used to estimate the determinants of willing to participate in on-farm conservation of minor millets.
The Effects of Physical Activity on Social Interactions: The Case of Trust and Trustworthiness

There is no doubt that physical activity improves health conditions; however, does it also affect the way people interact? Beyond the obvious effects related to team games, we wonder whether physical activity has in itself some effect on social behavior. Our research focuses on the potential effects of physical activity on trust and trustworthiness. Specifically, we compare the choices of subjects playing an investment game who were previously exposed to short-time physical activity to others who are not exposed to it, but involved in different simple tasks. On average, we find that subjects exposed to physical activity exhibit more trust and prosocial behaviors than those who are not exposed. These effects are not temporary.
Youth Futures and a Masculine Development Ethos in the Regional Story of Uttarakhand

Research on the Uttarakhand region, which became a new state in 2000, has focused largely on agrarian livelihoods, religious rituals, development demands, ecological politics and the role of women in regional social movements. This essay discusses another dimension of the regional imaginary—that of a masculine development ethos. Based on ethnographic research and print media sources, this essay focuses on stories, politics, mobilities and imaginations of young men in the years immediately after the achievement of statehood. Despite increased outmigration of youth in search of employment, many young men expressed the dream of maintaining livelihoods in the familiar towns and rural spaces of Uttarakhand, describing their home region as a source of power and agency. In rallies and in print media, young (mostly upper caste) men expressed their disillusionment with the government and the promises of statehood, arguing that their aspirations for development and employment were left unfulfilled. Gendered stories of the region, told in Hindi in rallies and print media, contained references to local places, people and historical events and were produced through local connections and know-how, fostering a regional youth politics. The article argues that Uttarakhand as a region is shaped by the politics of local actors as well as embodied forms of aspiration, affiliation and mobility.
Can intentions spoil the kindness of a gift? - An experimental study

Consider a situation where person A undertakes a costly action that benefits person B. This behavior seems altruistic. However, if A expects a reward in return from B, then A's action may be motivated by the expected rewards rather than by pure altruism. The question we address in this experimental study is how B reacts to the intentions of A. We vary the probability, with which the second mover in a trust game can reciprocate, and analyze effects on second mover behavior. Our results suggest that the perceived kindness and its rewards are not spoiled by expected rewards.
Continuous Core Body Temperature Estimation via SURFACE Temperature Measurements using Wearable Sensors - Is it Feasible?

Core body temperature is an important indicator of well being of humans. The commonly used methods and sites of measurement do not lend well for continuous measurement at home. However, continuous monitoring using non-invasive, small, low cost sensors could have many applications like detection of hypothermia and fever in low birth weight neonates in rural settings. We investigate the feasibility of making such measurements using only skin temperature sensors. Our initial sensor prototype is composed of flexible materials, with embedded high precision thermistors and is based on dual heat flux technique. Our initial experiments show that the reliable estimation of core temperature under varying ambient conditions and at different measurement sites is a challenge, but promising. Further work is needed to combine results from experimental measurements and theoretical simulations to provide good insights and enable accurate estimation of core body temperature for long term monitoring at home.
Bayesian Estimation of Motion Vector Fields

A stochastic approach to the estimation of 2D motion vector fields from time-varying images is presented. The formulation involves the specification of a deterministic structural model along with stochastic observation and motion field models. Two motion models are proposed: a globally smooth model based on vector Markov random fields and a piecewise smooth model derived from coupled vector-binary Markov random fields. Two estimation criteria are studied. In the maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) estimation, the a posteriori probability of motion given data is maximized, whereas in the minimum expected cost (MEC) estimation, the expectation of a certain cost function is minimized. Both algorithms generate sample fields by means of stochastic relaxation implemented via the Gibbs sampler. Two versions are developed: one for a discrete state space and the other for a continuous state space. The MAP estimation is incorporated into a hierarchical environment to deal efficiently with large displacements. >
Stress, shift duty, and eating behavior among nurses in Central Saudi Arabia

Objectives: To investigate the association between stress, shift work, and eating behavior among non-Saudi female nurses working in Central Saudi Arabia. Methods: A sample of 395 non-Saudi female nurses from 2 major hospitals in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia participated in this cross-sectional study. The nurses completed a questionnaire from November 2013 to January 2014 that included items relating to stress and eating behavior using the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ). The questionnaire also contained items pertaining to socio-demographic data, body mass index, shift work, and hours worked per week. Results: For all eating styles, stress, and shift duty influenced the amount of food nurses consumed, but was more significant under a restrained eating style. Under this eating style, a significantly higher percentage of nurses reported eating more fast food, snacks, and binging, while fruits and vegetables were the least likely to be eaten under stress. High stressed nurses were more likely to present with abnormal restrained eating (odds ratio [OR]=1.52, p=0.004), emotional (OR=1.24; p=0.001), and external (OR=1.21; p=0.001) DEBQ scores. Working nighttime shift duty was positively associated with restrained eating (OR=1.53; p=0.029) and emotional eating (OR=1.24; p=0.001), but negatively associated with external eating (OR=0.45; p=0.001). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that stress and shift duty were associated with eating habits.
Ovariectomy results in differential shifts in gut microbiota in low versus high aerobic capacity rats

The increased risk for cardiometabolic disease with the onset of menopause is widely studied and likely precipitated by the decline in endogenous estradiol (E2), yet the precise mechanisms are unknown. The gut microbiome is involved in estrogen metabolism and has been linked to metabolic disease, suggesting its potential involvement in the postmenopausal phenotype. Furthermore, menopause‐associated risk factors, as well as gut ecology, are altered with exercise. Therefore, we studied microbial changes in an ovariectomized (OVX vs. Sham) rat model of high (HCR) and low (LCR) intrinsic aerobic capacity (n = 8–10/group) in relation to changes in body weight/composition, glucose tolerance, and liver triglycerides (TG). Nine weeks after OVX, HCR rats were moderately protected against regional adipose tissue gain and liver TG accumulation (P < 0.05 for both). Microbial diversity and number of the Bacteroidetes phylum were significantly increased in LCR with OVX, but unchanged in HCR OVX relative to Sham. Plasma short‐chain fatty acids (SCFA), produced by bacteria in the gut and recognized as metabolic signaling molecules, were significantly greater in HCR Sham relative to LCR Sham rats (P = 0.05) and were decreased with OVX in both groups. These results suggest that increased aerobic capacity may be protective against menopause‐associated cardiometabolic risk and that gut ecology, and production of signaling molecules such as SCFA, may contribute to the mediation.
The Ecology and Evolution of Social Behavior and Cognition in Primates

The social lives of animals present them with a constant yet varying series of challenges that they must solve daily if they want to survive and reproduce. An evolutionary approach to the evolution of social behavior and cognition predicts the convergent emergence of similar patterns and abilities in animal species facing similar challenges, as well as the emergence of a large diversity of behavioral and cognitive abilities within species facing diff erent socio-ecological challenges. In primates, evidence supporting these predictions contradicts a Cartesian approach that many psychologists have adopted favoring captive studies and minimizing the role of experience and ecology. Social grouping is largely the result of a balance between increased predation protection, which is higher in larger groups, and decreased intragroup feeding competition, which is less intense in smaller groups. However, within such optimally sized groups, a great deal of fl exibility in how social life can be organized is still possible. Cooperation, altruism, and reciprocity are observed with diff erent levels of prevalence by individuals living in diff erent ecological niches. In many monkeys and chimpanzees, we see that ecological factors play a decisive role in favoring the evolution of cooperation and altruism. The underlying cognitive abilities required to master them will develop according to how important the abilities are for the survival of the individuals. Diff erent aspects of the ecological niche select for diff erent abilities, which prevents a simple model of the evolution of social behavior and cognition. As a rule, the captive environment, a habitat that is particularly unchallenging and safe, selects for less demanding social cognitive development in many primate species, including humans. If we want to gain a better understanding of the evolution of social behavior and cognition, more research should be directed toward primates that face diff erent types and levels of ecological challenges.
Tackling Error Propagation through Reinforcement Learning: A Case of Greedy Dependency Parsing

Error propagation is a common problem in NLP. Reinforcement learning explores erroneous states during training and can therefore be more robust when mistakes are made early in a process. In this paper, we apply reinforcement learning to greedy dependency parsing which is known to suffer from error propagation. Reinforcement learning improves accuracy of both labeled and unlabeled dependencies of the Stanford Neural Dependency Parser, a high performance greedy parser, while maintaining its efficiency. We investigate the portion of errors which are the result of error propagation and confirm that reinforcement learning reduces the occurrence of error propagation.
Balancing chloroplast redox status – regulation of FNR binding and release

Working in synchrony, photosynthetic charge separation, electron transfer, and redox reactions generate proton motive force necessary for the synthesis of ATP and funneling of electrons toward stromal reducing equivalent NADPH. The last step of electron transfer from ferredoxin to NADP + is catalyzed by ferredoxin-NADP + oxidoreductase (FNR). Two proteins, TROL (thylakoid rhodanese-like) and Tic62 (62 kDa component of the translocon at the inner envelope of chloroplasts), have been characterized and shown to form dynamic complexes with FNR. Inactivation of TROL leads to changes in efficiency of electron transfer and induction of non-photochemical quenching. TROL-deficient plants have changed nuclear gene expression with up-regulation of NADPH-dependent malic enzyme, which can form NADPH in an alternative pathway. Thus, NADPH synthesis, mediated by FNR-TROL interaction, may be the source element inmetabolicretrogradesignal-transductionpathwaylinkinglightreactions with nuclear gene expression.
Recognition from Hand Cameras

We revisit the study of a wrist-mounted camera system (referred to as HandCam) for recognizing activities of hands. HandCam has two unique properties as compared to egocentric systems (referred to as HeadCam): (1) it avoids the need to detect hands; (2) it more consistently observes the activities of hands. By taking advantage of these properties, we propose a deep-learning-based method to recognize hand states (free v.s. active hands, hand gestures, object categories), and discover object categories. Moreover, we propose a novel two-streams deep network to further take advantage of both HandCam and HeadCam. We have collected a new synchronized HandCam and HeadCam dataset with 20 videos captured in three scenes for hand states recognition. Experiments show that our HandCam system consistently outperforms a deep-learning-based HeadCam method (with estimated manipulation regions) and a dense-trajectory-based HeadCam method in all tasks. We also show that HandCam videos captured by different users can be easily aligned to improve free v.s. active recognition accuracy (3.3% improvement) in across-scenes use case. Moreover, we observe that finetuning Convolutional Neural Network consistently improves accuracy. Finally, our novel two-streams deep network combining HandCam and HeadCam features achieves the best performance in four out of five tasks. With more data, we believe a joint HandCam and HeadCam system can robustly log hand states in daily life.