Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ON THE NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL PRESENCE IN ONLINE COURSE DISCUSSIONS

“Social presence,” the degree to which participants in computer-mediated communication feel affectively connected one to another, has been shown to be an important factor in student satisfaction and success in online courses. This mixed methods study built on previous research to explore in greater depth the nature of social presence and how it develops in online course discussions. The study combined quantitative analyses of survey results from students enrolled in four online graduate courses, and qualitative comparisons of students with the highest and lowest perceptions of social presence. Quantitative results revealed significant correlations between perceived social presence and satisfaction with online discussions, and teased apart the respective influences of the perceived presence of instructors and peers. The findings indicate that the perceived presence of instructors may be a more influential factor in determining student satisfaction than the perceived presence of peers. Correlations with other course and learner characteristics suggest that course design may also significantly affect the development of social presence. Qualitative findings support the quantitative results. In addition, they provide evidence that students perceiving the highest social presence also projected themselves more into online discussions,and reveal meaningful differences in perceptions of the usefulness and purpose of online discussion between students perceiving high and low social presence.
Evaluating the Learning Experience of Web-Conferenced Case Based Learning -

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate web-conferenced case-based learning (WCBL) through the student experience across a semester of learning. Learning was also evaluated via unit examination and compared to the previous years cohort, which did not include WCBL (F2F). Methods: This study took place over the first semester of the third year of a Bachelor of Physiotherapy program at Monash University, Australia, in 2014. Having experienced two years of weekly face-to-face case-based learning (F2F-CBL) activities since commencing the program, students were transitioned to WCBL for the duration of this study. Primary outcomes included measures of satisfaction, attendance, communication, issues with information technology, and perceived depth of learning, with data collected via a post-unit survey. The secondary outcome was student learning, evaluated with the unit examination results. Results: 76/78 students completed the post-unit survey (non-participation rate 2.6%). Although 95% of participants reported that WCBL was a valuable addition to the teaching activities of the unit, students reported a range of new challenges and rewards from the transition to small-group WCBL activities. Strong themes emerged encompassing adaptation of communication, increased responsibility for learning, technical difficulties, and learning in a remote environment. Overall, 92% of participants agreed that they were satisfied with WCBL. The unit exam result was comparable for the 2013 (F2F-CBL) and the 2014 (WCBL) cohorts (Mean (SD) 2013 (%) 75.97 (9.56) n = 73; 2014 (%) 76.74 (6.57) n = 78, effect size (95% C.I) = 0.09 (-0.23  0.41). Conclusion: Web conferencing may be a suitable medium for students to participate in collaborative case-based learning activities. Further study should evaluate the financial implications of implementing WCBL across an entire semester in regard to student and facility costs.
SPDE approximation for random trees

We consider the genealogy tree for a critical branching process conditioned on non-extinction. We enumerate vertices in each generation of the tree so that for each two generations one can define a monotone map describing the ancestor--descendant relation between their vertices. We show that under appropriate rescaling this family of monotone maps converges in distribution in a special topology to a limiting flow of discontinuous monotone maps which can be seen as a continuum tree. This flow is a solution of an SPDE with respect to a Brownian sheet.
A Robust Statistical Method for Association-Based eQTL Analysis

Background It has been well established that theoretical kernel for recently surging genome-wide association study (GWAS) is statistical inference of linkage disequilibrium (LD) between a tested genetic marker and a putative locus affecting a disease trait. However, LD analysis is vulnerable to several confounding factors of which population stratification is the most prominent. Whilst many methods have been proposed to correct for the influence either through predicting the structure parameters or correcting inflation in the test statistic due to the stratification, these may not be feasible or may impose further statistical problems in practical implementation. Methodology We propose here a novel statistical method to control spurious LD in GWAS from population structure by incorporating a control marker into testing for significance of genetic association of a polymorphic marker with phenotypic variation of a complex trait. The method avoids the need of structure prediction which may be infeasible or inadequate in practice and accounts properly for a varying effect of population stratification on different regions of the genome under study. Utility and statistical properties of the new method were tested through an intensive computer simulation study and an association-based genome-wide mapping of expression quantitative trait loci in genetically divergent human populations. Results/Conclusions The analyses show that the new method confers an improved statistical power for detecting genuine genetic association in subpopulations and an effective control of spurious associations stemmed from population structure when compared with other two popularly implemented methods in the literature of GWAS.
Consensus of a modified time-delayed Vicsek model

A multi-agent system (MAS) is a system composed of multiple interacting intelligent agents. Over the past few years, the consensus (or synchronization) of MAS has received an increasing attention in various disciplines. It is well known that Vicsek model is a classical model for describing the collective behaviors of MAS. This paper further investigates the consensus of a modified time-delayed Vicsek model. It should be especially pointed out that the common connectivity assumption for the consensus of MAS has been removed in this paper. Moreover, two simple consensus criteria are then attained for the consensus of a modified time-delayed Vicsek model.
Do Governmental Subsidies Increase Productivity of Firms? Evidence from a Panel of Slovene Firms

Our study focuses on examining the relationship between productivity (or productivity growth) and state aid allocation in Slovenia during the period of 1998 to 2012. The country itself represents almost an ideal case as the amount of subsidies being allocated in the relevant period decreased significantly after joining the EU. Our study builds on the theoretical model of Aghion et al. (2015) arguing that sectorial policy can enhance growth and efficiency if it is made competition-friendly. The main results show, that by increasing dispersion of subsidies within particular sectors by one standard deviation, the productivity growth increases by 0.03 percentage points on average, ceteris paribus. State aid has been especially important in the period of economic downturn (2009–2012). However we found evidence that firms receiving a higher portion of subsidies were less productive when compared with counterparts from the same sector receiving less or no subsidies. The difference was the biggest during the period of economic downturn.
Modeling Support of Effects-Based Operations in War Games

Abstract : The Effects Based Operations (EBO) concept is based on relating actions in a battle plan to overall effects. A prototype system called CAESAR II/EB has been developed to assist in analyzing Courses of Action (COAs) for Effects-Based Operations and evaluating them in terms of the probability of achieving the desired effects. The tool supports both static and dynamic evaluation of COAs by integrating influence nets with discrete event systems modeling techniques. Preliminary operational concepts for using this tool in command and control environments were tested during the Naval War College Global 2000 and the Global 2001 war games providing insights into the appropriateness of these techniques in support of EBO. In Global 2001 the authors worked with different cells and components to produce four models of the complete battle plan to support the planning phase and six quick reaction models to support the execution phase of the game. The interaction of the modeling team with the multiple command and control cells in the game and the potential as a COA decision support was tested and examined. This paper describes the experiences with building and using the models and discusses requirements for enhancements to the modeling techniques generated from this experience.
Assessment of Skeletal Age in Children with Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate

ABSTRACT Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the skeletal maturity in children with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) and to compare it with that of the noncleft children. Design and setting: It is an institution based study conducted on randomly selected subjects visiting the hospital for consultation and treatment. Participants: A total of 60 children with UCLP (25 boys and 35 girls) and 60 noncleft children (30 boys and 30 girls) with normal occlusion in the age group of 10 to 15 years participated in the study. They were classified as younger (10 to 13 years) and older (13 to 15 years) age group and the cervical vertebrae were assessed in lateral cephalograms using Hassel and Farman, modifications of Lamparski's criteria. Statistical analysis: Data was analyzed using Fisher's exact test. Results: Younger age group children with UCLP showed significant delay in skeletal maturation when compared with the noncleft children, whereas older age group children with UCLP showed a faster rate of skeletal maturation when compared with that of noncleft children but the difference was statistically not significant. Conclusion: Children with UCLP exhibit delay in attaining skeletal maturation when compared to noncleft children. There is a delay in skeletal maturation at younger age but not in older age group of children with UCLP. How to cite this article: Ravi MS, Ravikala S. Assessment of Skeletal Age in Children with Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2013;6(3):151-155.
A Similarity based Trust and Reputation Management Framework for VANETs

A trust and reputation management framework for VANETs (Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks) is proposed. In the framework, a similarity mining technique is used for identifying similar messages or similar vehicles. And a reputation evaluation algorithm is proposed for evaluating a new vehicle’s reputation based on the similarity theory. Similarities from different recommenders are used as weights for computing a vehicle’s recommendation based reputation. An updating algorithm for reputations is proposed in the framework. The framework is applied to decide whether a message is trustworthy when a vehicle receives an event message.
Independent Brain Computer Interface Control using Visual Spatial Attention-Dependent Modulations of Parieto-occipital Alpha

Parieto-occipital alpha band (8-14 Hz) EEG activity was examined daring a spatial attention-based brain computer interface paradigm for its potential use as a feature for left/right spatial attention classification. In this paradigm 64-channel EEG data were recorded from subjects who covertly attended to a sequence of letters superimposed on a flicker stimulus in one visual field while ignoring a similar stimulus in the opposite visual field. Increases in alpha band activity were observed over parieto-occipital cortex contralateral to the location of the ignored stimulus, consistent with previous reports, and the subsequent use of alpha band power over bilateral parieto-occipital sites as a feature yielded an average classification accuracy of 73% across 10 subjects, with highest 87%. The highest achievable bit rate from these data is 7.5 bits/minute
Optimizing decision trees through heuristically guided search

Optimal decision table conversion has been tackled in the literature using two approaches, dynamic programming and branch-and-bound. The former technique is quite effective, but its time and space requirements are independent of how “easy” the given table is. Furthermore, it cannot be used to produce good, quasioptimal solutions. The branch-and-bound technique uses a good heuristic to direct the search, but is cluttered up by an enormous search space, since the number of solutions increases with the number of test variables according to a double exponential. In this paper we suggest a heuristically guided top-down search algorithm which, like dynamic programming, recognizes identical subproblems but which can be used to find both optimal and quasioptimal solutions. The heuristic search method introduced in this paper combines the positive aspects of the above two techniques. Compressed tables with a large number of variables can be handled without deriving expanded tables first.
Brain in flames – animal models of psychosis: utility and limitations

The neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia posits that schizophrenia is a psychopathological condition resulting from aberrations in neurodevelopmental processes caused by a combination of environmental and genetic factors which proceed long before the onset of clinical symptoms. Many studies discuss an immunological component in the onset and progression of schizophrenia. We here review studies utilizing animal models of schizophrenia with manipulations of genetic, pharmacologic, and immunological origin. We focus on the immunological component to bridge the studies in terms of evaluation and treatment options of negative, positive, and cognitive symptoms. Throughout the review we link certain aspects of each model to the situation in human schizophrenic patients. In conclusion we suggest a combination of existing models to better represent the human situation. Moreover, we emphasize that animal models represent defined single or multiple symptoms or hallmarks of a given disease.
TIMP3 is the primary TIMP to regulate agonist-induced vascular remodelling and hypertension.

AIMS Hypertension is accompanied by structural remodelling of vascular extracellular matrix (ECM). Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) inhibits matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) that degrade the matrix structural proteins. In response to a hypertensive stimulus, the balance between MMPs and TIMPs is altered. We examined the role of TIMPs in agonist-induced hypertension. METHODS AND RESULTS We subjected TIMP-knockout mice to angiotensin II (Ang II) infusion, and found that Ang-II-induced hypertension in TIMP1(-/-), TIMP2(-/-), and TIMP4(-/-) mice was comparable to wild-type (WT) mice, but significantly suppressed in TIMP3(-/-) mice. Ex vivo pressure myography analyses on carotid and mesenteric arteries revealed that Ang-II-infused TIMP3(-/-) arteries were more distensible with impaired elastic recoil compared with the WT group. The acute response to vasoconstriction and vasodilation was intact in TIMP3(-/-) mesenteric and carotid arteries. Mesenteric arteries from TIMP3(-/-)-Ang II mice exhibited a reduced media-to-lumen ratio, suppressed collagen and elastin levels, elevated elastase and gelatinase proteolytic activities compared with WT-Ang II. TIMP3(-/-)-Ang II carotid arteries also showed adverse structural remodelling. Treatment of mice with doxycycline, a matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor, improved matrix integrity in mesenteric and carotid arteries in TIMP3(-/-)-Ang II and differentially regulated elastin and collagen levels in WT-Ang II vs. TIMP3(-/-)-Ang II. CONCLUSION Our study demonstrates a critical role for TIMP3, among all TIMPs, is preserving arterial ECM in response to Ang II. It is critical to acknowledge that the suppressed Ang-II-induced hypertension in TIMP3(-/-) mice is not a protective mechanism but owing to adverse remodelling in arterial matrix.
Stellar wobble caused by a binary system: Can it really be mistaken as an extra-solar planet?

The traditional method for detecting extra-solar planets relies on measuring a small stellar wobble which is assumed to be caused by a planet orbiting the star. Recently, it has been suggested that a similar stellar wobble could be caused by a close binary system. Here we show that, although the effect of a close binary system can at first sight be mistaken as a planetary companion to the star, more careful analysis of the observational data should allow us to distinguish between the two effects.
Interference reduction in CDMA channels: A statistical-mechanics approach

Statistical mechanics-based approach to studying wireless communication systems is useful not only in analyzing theoretical performance of a given model, but also in optimizing design of a class of system models. In this paper, we demonstrate usefulness of statistical-mechanics approach in the problem of optimizing a spreading sequence set of randomly-spread code-division multiple-access (CDMA) communication systems. It has been shown that the optimal spreading sequences of a randomly spread CDMA channel in the large-system limit are Welch-bound-equality sequence sets, even when a non-Gaussian input distribution is assumed.
A study to evaluate the behavioral dimensions of Nomophobia and attitude toward smartphone usage among medical students in Bengaluru

Background: Smartphones have become the most popular electronic gadgets in India and student communities across the country have been in awe of these devices. Medical students have found profound applications of smartphones in their course besides the primary purpose of communication. With the ever-increasing utilization of smartphones, several psychological and behavioral problems have emerged. Among them, nomophobia has been one of the alarming constructs. Aims and Objectives: This study aims to estimate the prevalence of nomophobia among medical students, to evaluate the sociobehavioral determinants of nomophobia, and to explore the behavioral subdimensions of nomophobia along with attitude of medical students toward smartphone usage. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional design was used to conduct the study among the 1st year medical students of a private medical college in rural Bengaluru. Data were collected using pretested questionnaire and analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2010 and SPSS software (Version 24). Results: In the current study, majority of the subjects were frank nomophobics (86.9%), 13% were at risk of developing nomophobia, and only 7.6% were normal. It revealed annoyance for not being able to use smartphone, clinging to phone all the time, feeling stressed if not using the phone, knowing the adverse impact on academic performance, sleep deprivation, and compulsiveness for taking calls while studying as the most recurring responses in terms of psychological and behavioral attributes of nomophobia. There was a statistically significant association between gender and nomophobia (P = 0.003) and also between perceived smartphone addiction and nomophobia (P = 0.0001). Conclusion: The current study supports the trend toward increased prevalence of nomophobia among medical students. In addition, nomophobia has shown a female preponderance. The present study also highlights the evolving psychological and behavioral dimensions among smartphone users such as compulsiveness, annoyance, stress, poor academic performance, and clinginess to smartphones.
Will the intelligent inherit the earth? IQ and time preference in the global economy

Social science research has shown that intelligence is positively correlated with patience and frugality, while growth theory predicts that more patient countries will save more. This implies that if nations differ in national average IQ, countries with higher average cognitive skills will tend to hold a greater share of the world’s tradable assets. I provide empirical evidence that in today’s world, countries whose residents currently have the highest average IQs have higher savings rates, higher ratios of net foreign assets to GDP, and higher ratios of U.S. Treasuries to GDP. These nations tend to be in East Asia and its offshoots. The relationship between national average IQ and net foreign assets has strengthened since the end of Bretton Woods. ______________________________ I would like to thank participants at the Informal Faculty Lunch, sponsored by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, as well as R.W. Hafer, the Spring 2012 students in master’s macroeconomics at GMU, and participants at the 2010 Midwest Macroeconomics Meetings and the Canadian Economics Association meetings for helpful comments. This paper draws on an earlier working paper by Garett Jones and Marta Podemska, “IQ in the Utility Function. ” All errors are my own. Twitter: GarettJones. email: jonesgarett@gmail.com.
A collaborative and multi-agent system for e-mail filtering and classification

CAFE (collaborative agents for filtering e-mails) is a multi-agent system to collaboratively filter spam and classify legitimate messages in users' mail stream. CAFE associates a proxy agent with each user, and this agent represents a sort of interface between the user's e-mail client and the e-mail server. With the support of other types of agents, the proxy agent makes a classification of new messages into three categories: ham (good messages), spam and spam-presumed. Ham messages can be in their turn divided on the basis of the sender's identity and reputation. The reputation is collaboratively inferred from users' ratings. The filtering process is performed using three kinds of approach: a first approach based on the usage of an hash function, a static approach using DNSBL (DNS-based black lists) databases and a dynamic approach based on a Bayesian filter. We give a mathematical representation of the system, showing that if users collaborate, the fault probability decreases in proportion to the number of active users
What ’ s Missing in AI : The Interface Layer

AI has made tremendous progress in its first 50 years. However, it is still very far from reaching and surpassing human intelligence. At the current rate of progress, the crossover point will not be reached for hundreds of years. We need innovations that will permanently increase the rate of progress. Most research is inevitably incremental, but the size of those increments depends on the paradigms and tools that researchers have available. Improving these provides more than a one-time gain; it enables researchers to consistently produce larger increments of progress at a higher rate. If we do it enough times, we may be able to shorten those hundreds of years to decades. If we look at other subfields of computer science, we see that in most cases progress has been enabled above all by the creation of an interface layer that separates innovation above and below it, while allowing each to benefit from the other. Below the layer, research improves the foundations (or, more pragmatically, the infrastructure); above it, research improves existing applications and invents new ones. Table 1 shows examples of interface layers from various subfields of computer science. In each of these fields, the development of the interface layer triggered a period of rapid progress above and below it. In most cases, this progress continues today. For example, new applications enabled by the Internet continue to appear, and protocol extensions continue to be proposed. In many cases, the progress sparked by the new layer resulted in new industries, or in sizable expansions of existing ones.