Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Noncompletion of Evidence-Based Parent Training: An Empirical Examination Among Families of Children in Foster Care

ABSTRACT Child welfare have historically experienced high dropout rates. As evidence-based interventions (EBIs) spread to the child welfare field, treatment noncompletion could interfere with successful outcomes. Using a mixed methods approach, this study investigated the differences between completers and noncompleters, and reasons for treatment noncompletion of an EBI for families of children in foster care. The sample comprised 315 families randomized to receive Parent Management Training, Oregon Model (PMTO). Researchers examined clinicians' discharge notes to explore reasons for noncompletion. Using data collected from a battery of assessments, bivariate logistic regression compared completers and noncompleters on demographics, socioeconomic factors, children's social-emotional functioning, and parents' functioning. About one third of families were noncompleters. Single fathers and parents with lower socioeconomic status were more likely to drop out. By contrast, parents with lower functioning on child behavior and parenting trended toward higher completion rates. Formidable challenges were parental substance abuse and mental illness. Results suggest parent training may require tailoring for specific subgroups and pairing with strategies for enhancing early engagement and reducing treatment barriers. Future research is needed to include parents' views on noncompletion and to more closely examine the influence of specific factors, such as severity of parental mental illness and substance abuse.
Center for Language Technology The Grammaticalization and Disappearance of Adpositions in Nominal Compounds

This article identifies a semantically motivated typology of lexicalization paths to account for the formation of nominal compounds from complex noun phrases. The typology includes coordination, semantic roles and possession, which, systematically, seems to be the origin of various subclasses of appositional, copulative and endocentric compounds, and the typology has serious implications for linguistic theory.
Teaching Practice Abroad for Developing Intercultural Competence in Foreign Language Teachers

AbstractFor foreign-language students, living abroad for a period of time during their studies is often a compulsory component of their university degrees. Similarly, European preservice teachers have the opportunity to complete a work placement at a partner school in a target language country. In this way, future English as a foreign language teachers have the chance not only to foster their linguistic and intercultural competence, but also to experience a different professional and institutional culture and ideally enhance their professional skills. The present study focuses on the perspectives of 35 undergraduate preservice teachers based in Germany who completed a 3-month teaching practice placement in Ireland or the United Kingdom between 2010 and 2014. In this research project, data from 5 years of reflective reports (n = 276) underwent content analysis, were complimented with focus group discussions (n = 6) after the preservice teachers’ stay abroad, and were analyzed for the potential of teaching practice placements for professionalization and intercultural learning processes. Results indicate that there seems to be an increase in cultural awareness in general, albeit to a different extent with different participants, with the professionalization aspect taking particular importance and being closely tied to intercultural development.ResumeCet article presente les resultats d’une recherche menee entre 2010 et 2014 aupres de 35 etudiants se preparant a devenir professeurs d’anglais langue etrangere et ayant realise un sejour de 3 mois en tant que stagiaires aupres de diverses ecoles primaires et colleges au Royaume-Uni et en Irlande. Dans le but d’analyser le developpement de l’apprentissage interculturel tel que le percoivent les futurs enseignants, une analyse de donnees provenant de 276 textes de reflexion et de six entrevues de groupe a ete entreprise. Les resultats indiquent que les attentes des etudiants sont etroitement liees a l’idee qu’ils se font de leur perfectionnement professionnel. L’accroissement de la competence interculturelle ne peut pas etre decrit de facon lineaire, mais plutot en tant que profil de competence individuelle. Les resultats suggerent que les stages dans les ecoles se distinguent visiblement des sejours d’etudes universitaires a l’etranger.
The influence of perceptual and knowledge-based familiarity on the neural substrates of face perception

This study examined the neural substrates of facial familiarity and person-knowledge. Based on current neural models of face perception, it was hypothesized that distinct extended networks of brain regions differentiate the perception of (a) novel faces, (b) novel faces associated with person-knowledge, (c) perceptually familiar faces and (d) familiar faces for which person-knowledge was learned. To test this hypothesis, we conducted an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment during which participants viewed faces experimentally manipulated to represent these different levels of familiarity. Results confirmed that distinct networks of brain regions, particularly the medial prefrontal cortex, underlie the perception of faces for which person-knowledge is available.
Mutual fund performance evaluation: a value efficiency analysis approach

Data envelopment analysis DEA is an efficient tool for evaluating mutual fund performance. It is important for investors to select the best funds for investment. In evaluation of mutual fund performance, besides quantitative elements, there are many qualitative elements that are of importance to the investors. In this paper, value efficiency analysis VEA was used in mutual funds performance evaluation to incorporate the investors judgements about qualitative elements into the evaluation. Also, the results of this approach were compared with those of general DEA models. This approach is based on choosing convenient variables inputs and outputs by reviewing the past studies. Then the input/output data are analysed using the concept of value efficiency, a novel procedure for incorporating the decision maker's preferences into DEA via the most preferred solution MPS.
The Joint Determination of Leverage and Maturity

We examine theories of leverage and debt maturity, focusing on the impact of a firm's investment opportunity set and regulatory environment in determining these policies. Using results on strategic complementarities, we identify sufficient conditions for the theory to have testable implications for reduced-form and structural-equation regression coefficients. Obtaining testable implications for structural-equation regression coefficients requires less from the theory but more from the data than the reduced-form specification since it requires an instrumental-variables approach. Thus, we highlight tradeoffs between theory and statistical methods. We provide tests using two decades of data for over 5,000 industrial firms.
Contrasting Effects of Imidacloprid on Habituation in 7- and 8-Day-Old Honeybees (Apis mellifera)

We examined the effects of sublethal doses (0.1, 1, and 10 ng per animal) of a new neonicotinoid insecticide, Imidacloprid, on habituation of the proboscis extension reflex (PER) in honeybees (Apis mellifera) reared under laboratory conditions. In untreated honeybees, the habituation of the proboscis extension reflex is age-dependent and there is a significant increase in the number of trials required for habituation in older bees (8-10 days old) as compared to very young bees (4-7 days old). Imidacloprid alters the number of trials needed to habituate the honeybee response to multiple sucrose stimulation. In 7-day-old bees, treatment with Imidacloprid leads to an increase in the number of trials necessary to abolish the response, whereas in 8-day-old bees, it leads to a reduction in the number of trials for habituation (15 min and 1 h after treatment), and to an increase 4 h after treatment. The temporal effects of Imidacloprid in both 7- and 8-day-old bees suggest that 4h after treatment the observed effects are due to a metabolite of Imidacloprid, rather than to Imidacloprid itself. Our results suggest the existence of two distinct subtypes of nicotinic receptors in the honeybee that have different affinities to Imidacloprid and are differentially expressed in 7- and 8-day-old individuals.
Stable exchange of indivisible goods with restrictions

We survey some stable exchange problems under different restrictions and various stability concepts. Beside describing well-known complexity results from a general point of view, we present two new theorems on the NP-hardness of some basic 3-way stable 3-way exchange problems. As a relevant application, we introduce the kidney exchange problem.
The Food Retail Revolution in Poor Countries: Is It Coming or Is It Over?

Global retail chains are becoming increasingly dominant in the global food trade, and their rise leads to dramatic impacts on agricultural supply chains and on small producers. However, the prospects and impacts of a food retail revolution in poor countries are not yet well understood. Here, I examine this question in Madagascar, a poor but stable country in which global retailers have been present for over a decade. The survey and analysis find that while global retail chains sell better‐quality food, their prices are 40%–90% higher, ceteris paribus, than those seen in traditional retail markets. In poor settings, characterized by high food price elasticities, a lack of willingness to pay for quality, and small retail margins, supermarkets appear to set prices with an eye toward maximizing profits on the basis of price‐inelastic demands for quality products from a small middle class interested in one‐stop shopping. It seems unlikely that global retail chains will further increase their food retail share in such poor settings.
New Cells in Old Mice: The ABCs of Humoral Immunosenescence

Dampened humoral immune responses and increased propensity for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases are hallmarks of aging. Here, we summarize recent progress in understanding how aging affects humoral immunity, focus- ing on the discovery of a phenotypically and functionally unique B cell subset in aged mice, its potential role in immunosenescence, and its relationship to increased inflammation and autoimmunity. Aging is a complex process characterized by functional declines in multiple physiologic systems. Age-related altera- tions in the immune system, a spectrum of changes that are in toto termed "immunosenescence," yield enhanced suscep- tibility to infectious diseases, increased propensity for in- flammatory responses and autoantibody production, and consequently, increased morbidity and mortality (1-14). Un- derstanding the mechanisms through which age-associated phenomena yield the overall immunosenescent phenotype presents a fundamental and challenging biological problem. Multiple factors contribute to this general deterioration of immune activity, encompassing both cell-intrinsic changes and alterations in lymphoid organ microenvironments. In particular, determining how age-associated changes result in modified homeostatic relationships among steady-state lym- phocyte pools, and how this in turn impacts the initiation and quality of adaptive immune responses, may provide the keys to effective prophylaxis and intervention. In this review, we briefly summarize global shifts in humoral immune respon- siveness that emerge with age, followed by a detailed con- sideration of changes in the genesis and homeostasis of B lymphocyte populations. Finally, we focus on a recently de- scribed B lineage subset that emerges with age (15,16), and discuss how the shifting palette of functional B cell subsets may contribute to the global landscape of immunosenescence. AGING ALTERS HUMORAL IMMUNE RESPONSES Protective humoral immunity requires maintaining both naive and antigen-experienced B cell subsets that respond robustly to pathogens, yet maintain self-tolerance. Multiple studies have revealed that, in contrast to healthy young adults, aged individuals display blunted humoral responses
Cell Penetrating Peptoids (CPPos): Synthesis of a Small Combinatorial Library by Using IRORI MiniKans

Cell penetrating peptoids (CPPos) are potent mimics of the corresponding cell penetrating peptides (CPPs). The synthesis of diverse oligomeric libraries that display a variety of backbone scaffolds and side-chain appendages are a very promising source of novel CPPos, which can be used to either target different cellular organelles or even different tissues and organs. In this study we established the submonomer-based solid phase synthesis of a “proof of principle” peptoid library in IRORI MiniKans to expand the amount for phenotypic high throughput screens of CPPos. The library consisting of tetrameric peptoids [oligo(N-alkylglycines)] was established on Rink amide resin in a split and mix approach with hydrophilic and hydrophobic peptoid side chains. All CPPos of the presented library were labeled with rhodamine B to allow for the monitoring of cellular uptake by fluorescent confocal microscopy. Eventually, all the purified peptoids were subjected to live cell imaging to screen for CPPos with organelle specificity. While highly charged CPPos enter the cells by endocytosis with subsequent endosomal release, critical levels of lipophilicity allow other CPPos to specifically localize to mitochondria once a certain lipophilicity threshold is reached.
Estimation of Additive, Dominance, and Imprinting Genetic Variance Using Genomic Data

Traditionally, exploration of genetic variance in humans, plants, and livestock species has been limited mostly to the use of additive effects estimated using pedigree data. However, with the development of dense panels of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the exploration of genetic variation of complex traits is moving from quantifying the resemblance between family members to the dissection of genetic variation at individual loci. With SNPs, we were able to quantify the contribution of additive, dominance, and imprinting variance to the total genetic variance by using a SNP regression method. The method was validated in simulated data and applied to three traits (number of teats, backfat, and lifetime daily gain) in three purebred pig populations. In simulated data, the estimates of additive, dominance, and imprinting variance were very close to the simulated values. In real data, dominance effects account for a substantial proportion of the total genetic variance (up to 44%) for these traits in these populations. The contribution of imprinting to the total phenotypic variance of the evaluated traits was relatively small (1–3%). Our results indicate a strong relationship between additive variance explained per chromosome and chromosome length, which has been described previously for other traits in other species. We also show that a similar linear relationship exists for dominance and imprinting variance. These novel results improve our understanding of the genetic architecture of the evaluated traits and shows promise to apply the SNP regression method to other traits and species, including human diseases.
Information Seeking Spoken Dialogue Systems— Part II: Multimodal Dialogue

For pt.1see ibid., vol. 9, p. 3 (2007). In this paper, the task and user interface modules of a multimodal dialogue system development platform are presented. The main goal of this work is to provide a simple, application-independent solution to the problem of multimodal dialogue design for information seeking applications. The proposed system architecture clearly separates the task and interface components of the system. A task manager is designed and implemented that consists of two main submodules: the electronic form module that handles the list of attributes that have to be instantiated by the user, and the agenda module that contains the sequence of user and system tasks. Both the electronic forms and the agenda can be dynamically updated by the user. Next a spoken dialogue module is designed that implements the speech interface for the task manager. The dialogue manager can handle complex error correction and clarification user input, building on the semantics and pragmatic modules presented in Part I of this paper. The spoken dialogue system is evaluated for a travel reservation task of the DARPA Communicator research program and shown to yield over 90% task completion and good performance for both objective and subjective evaluation metrics. Finally, a multimodal dialogue system which combines graphical and speech interfaces, is designed, implemented and evaluated. Minor modifications to the unimodal semantic and pragmatic modules were required to build the multimodal system. It is shown that the multimodal system significantly outperforms the unimodal speech-only system both in terms of efficiency (task success and time to completion) and user satisfaction for a travel reservation task
Capacity, MSE and Secrecy Analysis of Linear Block Precoding for Distributed Antenna Systems in Multi-User Frequency-Selective Fading Channels

Block transmission with cyclic prefix is a promising technique to realize high-speed data rates in frequency-selective fading channels. Many popular linear precoding schemes, including orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), single-carrier (SC) block transmission, and time-reversal (TR), can be interpreted as such a block transmission. This paper presents a unified performance analysis that shows how the optimal precoding strategy depends on the optimization criterion such as capacity, mean-square error, and secrecy. We analyze three variants of TR methods (based on maximum-ratio combining, equal-gain combining and selective combining) and two-types of pre-equalization methods (zero-forcing and minimum mean-square error). As one application of our framework, we derive optimal precoding (i.e., OFDM with optimal power and phase control) in the presence of interference limitation for distributed antenna systems; we find that without power/phase control, OFDM does not have any capacity advantage over SC transmissions. When comparing SC and TR, we verify that for single-antenna systems in the high SNR regimes, SC has a capacity advantage; however, TR performs better in the low SNR regime. For distributed multiple-antenna systems, TR always provides higher capacity, and the capacity of TR can approach that of optimal precoders with a large number of distributed antennas. Furthermore, we make an analysis of secrecy capacity which shows how high-rate messages can be transmitted towards an intended user without being decoded by the other users from the viewpoint of information-theoretic security. We demonstrate that TR precoding can be the best candidate among the non-optimal precoders for achieving high secrecy capacity, while the optimal precoder offers a significant gain over those non-optimal precoders.
Dual-Memory Deep Learning Architectures for Lifelong Learning of Everyday Human Behaviors

Learning from human behaviors in the real world is important for building human-aware intelligent systems such as personalized digital assistants and autonomous humanoid robots. Everyday activities of human life can now be measured through wearable sensors. However, innovations are required to learn these sensory data in an online incremental manner over an extended period of time. Here we propose a dual memory architecture that processes slow-changing global patterns as well as keeps track of fast-changing local behaviors over a lifetime. The lifelong learnability is achieved by developing new techniques, such as weight transfer and an online learning algorithm with incremental features. The proposed model outperformed other comparable methods on two real-life data-sets: the image-stream dataset and the real-world lifelogs collected through the Google Glass for 46 days.
Effect of Sixteen Weeks of Fartlek Training on Self- Esteem of Saudi University Students

Objectives: Self-esteem is considered one of the fundamental indicators of mental health (Fox, 2000). The objective was to examine the effect of 16 weeks of supervised fartlek training on self-esteem on undergraduate students (n=40; Mage 18.52 years). Methods/Statistical Analysis: Two groups were formed and randomized into intervention (n=20) which was given 16 weeks of supervised fartlek training program and control group (n=20). Control group participants continued with daily routine. Time duration of the training program was 45 minutes per session, twice per week. Rosenberg’s Self-esteem scale (1965) was administered to both groups prior and after 16 weeks of intervention program. Wilcoxon signed rank test and Mann-Whitney Test was used to determine the differences between pre and post scores and between groups respectively. Findings: Significant difference was notified between pre and post fartlek intervention group on self-esteem 22 (5) versus 25 (4), p 4 per week 23.5 (5) and 26 (4), P= . 045. Application/Improvement: Self-esteem improved with sixteen weeks of fartlek intervention program. It was suggested that students who were not adequately engaged in physical activities that is <4 hours per week need to undergo an intervention program or be motivated to engage in regular physical activities 4 hours and more per week in order to boost their self-esteem.
Robust and Scalable Management of Power Networks in Dual-Source Trolleybus Systems: A Consensus Control Framework

Dual-source trolleybuses powered by onboard battery and grid electricity offer unique advantages in fuel economy, cost reduction, and passenger capacity, which are particularly appealing for public transportation in populated cities. Their mobility and power supply network configurations introduce challenging power management issues on their dedicated supply power grids. To ensure safe, reliable, and efficient operation of trolleybuses, their high-current and dynamic loads must be distributed to the feeders properly and promptly. Based on certain emerging networks of feeders and supply stations for city trolleybus systems, this paper introduces a new framework for current flow balancing based on recently developed weighted-and-constrained consensus control methods to manage the power supply network. Using only neighborhood information exchange among feeder lines in the network, the consensus control can achieve global current balancing with fast convergence to a balanced state, robustness to load perturbations, reconfiguration with feeder addition and deletion, and rebalancing under feeder capacity variation. The methodology is scalable in the sense that system expansion will not substantially increase the control system complexity. The power system configurations of the Beijing dual-source trolleybus system are used for simulation case studies on the new power management methods. Robustness and scalability are demonstrated, together with discussions on the feasibility, flexibility, and implementation issues of the methodology.