Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Ensemble Deep Convolutional Neural Network Model with Improved D-S Evidence Fusion for Bearing Fault Diagnosis

Intelligent machine health monitoring and fault diagnosis are becoming increasingly important for modern manufacturing industries. Current fault diagnosis approaches mostly depend on expert-designed features for building prediction models. In this paper, we proposed IDSCNN, a novel bearing fault diagnosis algorithm based on ensemble deep convolutional neural networks and an improved Dempster–Shafer theory based evidence fusion. The convolutional neural networks take the root mean square (RMS) maps from the FFT (Fast Fourier Transformation) features of the vibration signals from two sensors as inputs. The improved D-S evidence theory is implemented via distance matrix from evidences and modified Gini Index. Extensive evaluations of the IDSCNN on the Case Western Reserve Dataset showed that our IDSCNN algorithm can achieve better fault diagnosis performance than existing machine learning methods by fusing complementary or conflicting evidences from different models and sensors and adapting to different load conditions.
Connecting High School Physics Experiences, Outcome Expectations, Physics Identity, and Physics Career Choice: A Gender Study.

This study explores how students' physics identities are shaped by their experiences in high school physics classes and by their career outcome expectations. The theoretical framework focuses on physics identity and includes the dimensions of student performance, competence, recognition by others, and interest. Drawing data from the Persistence Research in Science and Engineering (PRiSE) project, which surveyed college English students nationally about their backgrounds, high school science experiences, and science attitudes, the study uses multiple regression to examine the responses of 3,829 students from 34 randomly selected US colleges/universities. Confirming the salience of the identity dimension for young persons' occupational plans, the measure for students' physics identity used in this study was found to strongly predict their intended choice of a physics career. Physics identity, in turn, was found to correlate positively with a desire for an intrinsically fulfilling career and negatively with a desire for personal/family time and opportunities to work with others. Physics identity was also positively predicted by several high school physics characteristics/experiences such as a focus on conceptual understanding, real-world/contextual connections, students answering questions or making comments, students teaching classmates, and having an encouraging teacher. Even though equally beneficial for both genders, females reported experiencing a conceptual focus and real-world/contextual connections less frequently. The explicit discussion of under-representation of women in science was positively related to physics identity for female students but had no impact for male students. Surprisingly, several experiences that were hypothesized to be important for females' physics identity were found to be non-significant including having female scientist guest speakers, discussion of women scientists' work, and the frequency of group work. This study exemplifies a useful theoretical framework based on identity, which can be employed to further examine persistence in science, and illustrates possible avenues for change in high school physics teaching. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 978–1003, 2010
A polynomial-time algorithm for computing a shortest path of bounded curvature amidst moderate obstacles (extended abstract)

In this paper, we consider the problem of computing shortest paths of bounded curvature amidst obstacles in the plane. More precisely, given two prescribed initial and final configurations (specifying the location and the direction of travel) and a set of obstacles in the plane, we want to compute a shortest $C^1$ path joining those two configurations, avoiding the obstacles, and with the further constraint that, on each $C^2$ piece, the radius of curvature is at least 1. In this paper, we consider the case of moderate obstacles (as introduced by Agarwal et al.) and present a polynomial-time exact algorithm to solve this problem.
Development of vocabulary and grammar in young German-speaking children assessed with a German language development inventory

Using a parent report instrument, the development of vocabulary and grammar was examined in 333 German-speaking children aged between 1;6 and 2;6. Grammar scales measured sentence complexity and inflectional morphology. Results indicate that vocabulary increased faster than sentence complexity and inflectional morphology. Within inflectional paradigms, noun plural and gender marking were acquired faster than case marking and verb inflections. Modals and copula were acquired most slowly. There was extensive variability on all language scales. The different language skills were strongly related, with grammatical development increasing non-linearly in dependence on vocabulary. There was a mild effect of gender favouring girls. The results converge with results of studies in other languages using a parent report instrument. There is some evidence for concurrent validity for the present questionnaire.
Attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help among Chinese students at a UK university

Abstract Aim: In this study we aimed to investigate whether Chinese international and British home students at a university in the United Kingdom differed in their attitudes towards seeking psychological help. Method: The total sample comprised 323 participants. Participants completed measures to assess their attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help (recognition of need for psychological help, stigma tolerance, interpersonal openness, confidence in mental health practitioners). Results: Chinese students reported significantly less interpersonal openness than that reported by British students. Contrary to prediction, however, no significant group differences were found on any of the other mental health attitudes (i.e. recognition of need for psychological help, confidence in mental health practitioners or stigma tolerance). Within-group contrasts also showed that Chinese students reported lower scores on interpersonal openness than on stigma tolerance and confidence in mental health practit.
Effect of Veterans Administration use on indicators of diabetes care in a national sample of veterans.

BACKGROUND Diabetes poses a serious health burden, of which veterans have a disproportionate share. Few data exist regarding differences in self-care behaviors and provider-based quality of care indicators among a large sample of veterans. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of Veterans Affairs (VA) use on diabetes quality of care indicators among veterans. METHODS A cross-sectional analysis was done on data from 36,525 veterans in the 2003 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. VA use was defined as receiving some or all health care from a VA facility in the previous 12 months. Diabetes quality indicators such as two or more provider visits, two or more hemoglobin A1c tests, and flu and pneumonia shots were compared between VA users and non-VA users. The independent effect of VA use on each quality indicator was analyzed with multiple regression using STATA version 10 (Stata Press, College Station, TX) to account for the complex survey design and yield population estimates. RESULTS Among veterans with diabetes, 26.8% were VA users. The only significant difference between VA users and non-VA users was that VA users were significantly more likely to check their feet one or more times daily (75.7% vs. 68.5%, P = 0.015). In final adjusted models, VA users were at least twice as likely as non-VA users to have foot exams by a provider (odds ratio 2.59) and receive flu and pneumonia shots (odds ratio 2.30 and 2.05, respectively). VA users were also more likely to have two or more provider visits, dilated eye exams, and two or more hemoglobin A1c tests than non-VA users. CONCLUSIONS Key quality indicators for diabetes care were better among veterans getting some or all of their care from VA facilities, suggesting more effective care strategies. However, interventions should identify and perpetuate excellent self-care behaviors to more substantially impact adverse diabetes-related outcomes.
Principal-Agent Theory and the Open Method of Co-ordination: The case of the European Employment Strategy

This paper adapts and then uses principal–agent (PA) theory to conceptualize and thereafter to analyse the EU-level development of the Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC), a crucial component of the Lisbon Strategy as a ‘governance architecture’. The PA model theorizes the continuous interaction and power struggle between the Commission (‘agent’) and the member states (‘principal’) in the emergence and institutionalization of the OMC. It is innovative for several reasons: first, it acknowledges that the member states and Commission interact in a PA logic prior to a contractual agreement; second, it recognizes that the ‘principal’ does not only control and monitor the ‘agent’, but also (re-)defines features of the OMC via political initiatives; third, it underlines the importance of the ideational action of the ‘agent’. On the basis of the model, two hypotheses are formulated: first, that the ‘agent’ will be more influential in defining the OMC when it is nascent; and second, that the ‘principal’ will be mo.
Life on the Ocean Wave: Testing Some Intergroup Hypotheses in a Naturalistic Setting

A survey (N= 352) was conducted among British passengers of a cross-channel ferry. The survey aimed to test hypotheses drawn from Realistic Group Conflict, Social Identity and Contact theories using mainly a correlational design. However, an intervention by members of the outgroup (French fishermen blockading a port) also allowed a quasi-experimental test of the effects of a direct experience of intergroup conflict. Results supported the hypotheses since conflict and national identification were associated with more negative and with less positive attitudes toward the outgroup, while contact had the reverse effects. In addition, the salience of group membership in the contact relationship weakly moderated the effect of contact.
Selective impairment of serum antibody repertoires toward muscle and thymus antigens in patients with seronegative and seropositive myasthenia gravis

We analyzed the antibody (Ab) repertoires of IgM and IgG of patients with seropositive and patients with seronegative myasthenia gravis (MG) toward self antigens by means of a quantitative immunoblotting technique using normal human tissue extracts as sources of self antigens. Repertoires of reactivities of IgG and IgM with liver, kidney and stomach antigens were conserved between myasthenic patients and controls. IgG and IgM Ab repertoires toward muscle antigens differed significantly between patients with seropositive MG and healthy donors, as assessed by multiparametric statistical analysis. Patterns of Ab reactivities to muscle antigens were similar in patients with seronegative MG and healthy controls. Antibody repertoires of IgG and IgM toward thymus antigens of both seropositive and sero negative MG patients, differed significantly from those of healthy individuals. Our results indicate that MG is characterized by a selective impairment of self‐reactive Ab repertoires toward muscle and thymus antigens. The observation that self‐reactive Ab repertoires toward thymus antigens are similar in patients with seropositive and seronegative MG suggests that both forms of MG share common immunopathological features.
Can Posterior Lumbar Instrumentation and Fusion Be Overpowered by Anterior Lumbar Fusion With Hyperlordotic Cages? A Cadaveric Study

Study design: Technical report on cadavers. Objective: To evaluate preliminary feasibility and safety of lumbar sagittal alignment correction with anterior hyperlordotic cages used to overpower previous posterior spinal instrumentation. Methods: Hyperlordotic 30° anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) cages were inserted in collapsed L5-S1 disc space of 2 cadavers to overpower prior posterior L5-S1 pedicle screws and rod constructs. A distinct technique of opening up the disc space and creation of intersegmental lordosis was employed using a large endplate distractor and transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) paddle distractor. Assessment of increase in the intersegmental lordosis (ISL) was made using lateral fluoroscopic imaging. Postprocedural computed tomography (CT) scans were obtained to evaluate any failure of posterior instrumentation and to serve as a surrogate marker for bone quality. Results: The 2 cadavers selected (from an available number of 10) were males: 82 and 84 years of age, respectively. Both had marked L5-S1 disc space collapse. The ISL achieved with hyperlordotic cages was 27.6° for the first cadaver (up from 4.9°) and 23.1° for the second one (up from 4.6°). No obvious screw-rod failure or cutout of instrumentation occurred. Postprocedure CT scans did not reveal any loosening of screws or cutout through endplates. Hounsfield unit values calculated on axial CT cuts were 73.50 (osteoporosis) and 80.70 (osteopenia) respectively for the 2 cadavers. Conclusion: Based on the results of the cadaveric experiment, overpowering of posterior instrumentation can be effectively achieved. Biomechanical and clinical studies are indicated to further evaluate the suitability and safety of this technique.
Does Good Marketing Cause Bad Unemployment ?

Q methods for increasing nominal wages reduce real wages (i.e., buying power) by creating inflation, shortages, lower quality, and long-term unemployment. To increase real wages (i.e., the ability to buy more), economic principles prescribe increasing productivity (i.e., greater output from less input). In contrast, marketing principles prescribes increasing the value of output (i.e., greater customer benefits) through innovation. Beyond increasing real wages, innovation spawns new occupations better matching individuals with skills and providing greater nonmonetary benefits (i.e., job satisfaction). Unfortunately, threatened entrenched incumbents often solicit protectionist legislation claiming negative externalities (e.g., short-term unemployment, lower wages, and burdens on society). Innovation does require labor to move from inferior to superior organizations (i.e., unemployment). However, protectionism only delays and dramatically aggravates the inevitable trauma associated with progress, as worker skills, firm practices, and buyer welfare fall further behind. Recent attacks demonizing Wal-Mart (e.g., the dubious Vlasic pickle claim) epitomize this situation—they are archaic vanilla protectionism, menacing both imperiled consumers and every consumer-driven business.
Do Parenting Styles Moderate the Association Between Family Conformity Orientation and Young Adults' Mental Well-Being?

This study investigated parenting styles (i.e., authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive) as moderators of the association between family conformity orientation and young adults' self-esteem and depression. Participants included 213 young adult children. Preliminary analyses revealed an inverse association between family conformity and young adults' self-esteem, a positive relationship between mothers' and fathers' authoritativeness and self-esteem, and a positive relationship between perceptions of mothers' permissiveness and young adults' depression. Hierarchical regression analyses provided no evidence to suggest that parenting styles moderate the association between family conformity orientation and young adults' self-esteem and depression. However, the results revealed small, but meaningful positive effects for both mothers' and fathers' authoritativeness on young adults' self-esteem, as well as a positive main effect for family conformity on depression. Two additional analyses of covariance revealed that young adults from pluralistic families had higher self-esteem and lower depression than young adults from protective, laissez faire, and consensual families.
Warped leptogenesis with Dirac neutrino masses

We show how leptogenesis can occur at the TeV scale with neutrinos that possess almost purely Dirac masses and negligible Majorana mass contributions as a consequence of the small wave-function overlap in a warped fifth dimension. Lepton-number violation at the Planck scale is introduced via a Majorana mass term on the Planck brane. Such a Majorana mass operator leads to the small mass splitting of otherwise degenerate Kaluza-Klein excited states on the TeV brane. This tiny mass splitting can compensate for the small Yukawa couplings to give a CP asymmetry large enough to produce the sufficient baryon asymmetry from the decay of the nearly degenerate neutrino Kaluza-Klein states. In this way the standard baryogenesis via leptogenesis scenario can naturally occur at the TeV scale without the need for a high mass scale.
Women's fear of childbirth and preference for cesarean section – a cross‐sectional study at various stages of pregnancy in Sweden

Objective. To investigate Swedish women's level of antenatal fear of childbirth at various gestational ages, and factors associated with intense fear and with preference for cesarean section. Design. A cross‐sectional study. Setting. All antenatal clinics in four geographical areas. Sample. Thousand six hundred and thirty‐five pregnant women at various gestational ages recruited during September–October 2006. Method. A questionnaire completed at the antenatal clinic. The women reported their appraisal of the approaching delivery according to the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire (W‐DEQ). Main outcome measures. The level of fear of childbirth and preferred mode of delivery. Results. Mean W‐DEQ score was 62.8. The prevalence of intense fear of childbirth (W‐DEQ score ≥85) was 15.8% and very intense fear (tocophobia) (W‐DEQ score ≥100) 5.7%. Nulliparous women had a higher mean score than parous women, but more parous women reported an intense fear. Preference for cesarean section was associated with fear of childbirth (OR 11.79, 6.1–22.59 for nulliparous and OR 8.32, 4.36–15.85 for parous women) and for parous women also with a previous cesarean section (OR 18.54, 9.55–35.97), or an instrumental vaginal delivery (OR 2.34, 1.02–5.34). The level of fear of childbirth was not associated with the gestational age. Conclusions. When a woman requests a cesarean section, both primary fear of birth and traumatic childbirth experiences need to be considered and dealt with. The W‐DEQ can be used at any time during pregnancy in order to identify pregnant women who suffer from intense fear of childbirth.
Synaptic Activity Modulates the Induction of Bidirectional Synaptic Changes in Adult Mouse Hippocampus

Activity-dependent synaptic plasticity is critical for learning and memory. Considerable attention has been paid to mechanisms that increase or decrease synaptic efficacy, referred to as long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), respectively. It is becoming apparent that synaptic activity also modulates the ability to elicit subsequent synaptic changes. We provide direct experimental evidence that this modulation is attributable, at least in part, to variations in the level of postsynaptic depolarization required for inducing plasticity. In slices from adult hippocampal CA1, a brief pairing protocol known to produce LTP can also induce LTD. The voltage–response function for the induction of LTD and LTP in naive synapses exhibits three parts: at a postsynaptic membrane potential during pairing (Vm) ≤ −40 mV, no synaptic modification is obtained; at Vmbetween −40 and −20 mV, LTD is induced; and, finally, atVm > −20 mV, LTP is generated. This function varies with initial synaptic efficacy. In depressed synapses, Θ−, the Vm above which LTD is generated, is shifted toward more depolarizedVms and Θ+, the LTD–LTP crossover point or, equivalently, the Vmabove which LTP is induced, toward more polarizedVms. Conversely in potentiated synapses, Θ− is shifted toward more polarizedVms. Therefore synaptic activity changes synaptic efficacy and accordingly adjusts the voltages for eliciting subsequent synaptic modifications. The concomitant shifts in the voltages for inducing LTD and LTP in opposite directions promote synaptic potentiation and inhibit synaptic depression in depressed synapses and vice versa in potentiated synapses.
Does school-wide positive behaviour system improve learning in primary schools? Some preliminary findings

Background: A school-wide program known as Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) that systematically reinforces positive behaviours in schools based on the USA model of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) but also emphasizes learning processes and outcomes was implemented in the Western Sydney Region (WSR) of Australia. Aim: The study aims to critically compare those schools that implemented PBL (experimental) and those that did not (control) in learning-related psychosocial outcomes. Sample: Third and fifth graders from 4 primary schools implementing PBL (experimental group, n=474) and 2 primary schools which would join the intervention in the following year (control group, n=83) were compared. Method: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to validate 9 psychosocial measures: (1) school selfconcept (cognitive), (2) school self-concept (affective), (3) English self-concept, (4) mathematics self-concept, (5) parent self-concept, (6) effort goal orientation, (7) planning, (8) study management, and (9) persistence. Then multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) tested between-group differences in the 9 measures. Results: CFA found support for the 9 measures. MANOVA found significant between-group differences in (2), (3), (5), and (7), favouring the experimental group. Conclusion: By extending the strength of a positive behaviour support system to include an emphasis on learning processes and outcomes, PBL has made small but important contributions to some psychosocial determinants of student outcomes that may facilitate long-term learning benefits.
A fuzzy decentralized sliding-mode robust adaptive under-actuated control for autonomous dynamic balance of an electrical bicycle

Based on the previous studies, the dynamic balance of an electrical bicycle includes two control inputs: steering and pendulum torques, and three system outputs: steering, lean and pendulum angles. Two novel reference signals are first designed so that the uncontrolled mode is simultaneously included into these two control modes. Two scaling factors for each subsystem are first employed to normalize the sliding surface and its derivative. The so-called fuzzy decentralized sliding-mode under-actuated control (FDSMUC) is first designed. Because the uncertainties of a bicycle system, caused by different ground conditions, gusts of wind, and interactions among subsystems, are often huge, an extra compensation of learning uncertainty is plunged into FDSMUC to enhance system performance. We call it as “fuzzy decentralized sliding-mode adaptive under-actuated control” (FDSMAUC). To avoid the unnecessary transient response and then destroy the balance of the bicycle, the combination of FDSMUC and FDSMAUC with a transition (i.e., fuzzy decentralized sliding-mode robust adaptive under-actuated control, FDSMRAUC) is designed. Finally, the compared simulations for an electrical bicycle among the FDSMUC, FDSMAUC and FDSMRAUC validate the efficiency of the proposed method.