Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Note on Skewness Seeking: An Experimental Analysis

In this paper we experimentally test skewness seeking at the individual level. Several prospects that can be ordered with respect to the third-degree stochastic dominance (3SD) criterion are ranked by the participants of the experiment. We i¬ nd that the skewness of a distribution has a signii¬ cant impact on the decisions. Yet, while skewness has an impact, its direction dii¬€ers substantially across subjects: 39% of our subjects act in accordance with skewness seeking and 10% seem to avoid skewness. On the level of individual decisions we i¬ nd that the variance of the prospects and subjectsâ€™ experience increase the probability of their choosing the lottery with greater skewness.
Association of age with muscle mass, fat mass and fat distribution in non-diabetic haemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND In the general population, aging induces changes in body composition, such as sarcopenia or a relative increase in visceral fat, but it remains unclear if similar changes occur in elderly haemodialysis (HD) patients. METHODS Age-related changes in muscle and fat mass and fat distribution in the thigh and abdomen were cross-sectionally investigated in Japanese HD patients. The thigh muscle area (TMA), thigh intermuscular fat area (IMFA), thigh subcutaneous fat area (TSFA), abdominal muscle area (AMA), abdominal visceral fat area (AVFA) and abdominal subcutaneous fat area (ASFA) were measured by computed tomography in 134 non-diabetic patients between 21 and 82 years on HD. AMA, AVFA and ASFA were also measured in 70 age-matched controls. RESULTS Muscle mass, fat mass and fat distribution differed significantly with age in both HD patients and controls, without significant differences in BMI. In both male and female HD patients, TMA and AMA showed significant negative correlations with age. All measures of subcutaneous fat-including TSFA, ASFA and the triceps skinfold thickness, were inversely associated with age in the female patients. In contrast, both IMFA and AVFA showed significant positive correlations with age in both male and female patients. The increase in the AVFA/ASFA ratio with age suggests progression of visceral fat accumulation in the elderly HD patients. Controls showed similar relationships between age and muscle mass and visceral fat accumulation. CONCLUSIONS We found an association between age and decrease in muscle mass as well as increase in visceral and intermuscular fat in non-diabetic HD patients. Such changes may be associated with the metabolic abnormalities and increased mortality in elderly HD patients.
The Effect of Target Demographics and Emotional Intelligence on Workplace Bullying

The Effect of Target Demographics and Emotional Intelligence on Workplace Bullying by Richard P. Himmer MS, Walden University, 2013 MBA, City University, 1992 BA, Brigham Young University, 1983 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Organizational Psychology Walden University May 2016
The playful frame: gamification in a French-as-a-foreign-language class

ABSTRACT There is increased interest in the use of gamification as an innovative practice in the field of training and education. Based on the use of game mechanics, gamification aims at engaging students in their learning. However, there is not much research on the use of gamification in school settings, especially when it comes to foreign language learning; hence, we know little about to what extent this aim is actually fulfilled. This study intends to contribute to filling this research gap. Silva’s four dimensions of play – built from Henriot’s theory of play – are used as an analytical framework to study a teaching situation where a gamified application, developed for this research project, was introduced in a French-as-a-foreign-language class in a Norwegian upper secondary school. This article focuses on the students’ engagement in their learning activities and their control over the tasks. The interaction analysis of video data reveals that students are indeed showing expressions of playfulness and autonomy. The analysis also shows that the students are engaged in the activity and are voluntarily completing additional language tasks. These findings are promising for the use of gamified resources in foreign language learning classes.
Spatial Distributions of Copper in Microbial Biofilms by Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy

Z H I Q I A N G H U , † , ‡ J I N G J I N , § H EÄ C T O R D . A B R U Ñ A , § P A U L L . H O U S T O N , § A N T H O N Y G . H A Y , | W I L L I A M C . G H I O R S E , | M I C H A E L L . S H U L E R , ⊥ G A B R I E L A H I D A L G O , ‡ A N D L E O N A R D W . L I O N * , ‡ School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Department of Microbiology, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of MissourisColumbia, Columbia, Missouri 65211
The Elastic Embedding Algorithm for Dimensionality Reduction

We propose a new dimensionality reduction method, the elastic embedding (EE), that optimises an intuitive, nonlinear objective function of the low-dimensional coordinates of the data. The method reveals a fundamental relation betwen a spectral method, Laplacian eigenmaps, and a nonlinear method, stochastic neighbour embedding; and shows that EE can be seen as learning both the coordinates and the affinities between data points. We give a homotopy method to train EE, characterise the critical value of the homotopy parameter, and study the method's behaviour. For a fixed homotopy parameter, we give a globally convergent iterative algorithm that is very effective and requires no user parameters. Finally, we give an extension to out-of-sample points. In standard datasets, EE obtains results as good or better than those of SNE, but more efficiently and robustly.
Helping Others and Adolescent Addiction: Validity of Service to Others in Sobriety (SOS) Questionnaire in an Adolescent Sample

by MARIA ELIZABETH PAGANO, PHD This study develops a brief assessment of Alcoholic Anonymous-related helping (AAH) by youth-report and explores differences in low other-regard between youth with and without addiction matched by gender, minority status, age, and zipcode. Psychometric properties of the Service to Others in Sobriety (SOS) questionnaire were adequate, including internal consistency (α=.90), inter-informant reliability (r=.5), and concordant validity (rs=-0.3-0.3). Programmatic AAH activities distinguished abstinent youths in a random halfsample, and replicated on the other half-sample. The risk of driving under the influence, unprotected sex, and unprotected sex with a STD history was significantly greater for youth with addiction in comparison to youth with some use history, who had greater risk than their peers with no use history. The SOS appears to be a valid measure of youth AAH, can identify service activities salient to sobriety, and increase clients’ awareness of how their low other-regard contributes to this illness.
Epidemiology of Scorpionism in Iran during 2009

Background: Scorpion sting is a major health problem in Iran. The aim of current study was to measure the incidence rates of scorpion stings, mortality, recovery, and affected age groups. The results of treatment with and without anti venom also were considered in the entire country during 2009. Methods: All the data were collected from emergency section of different hospitals and then were analyzed by related software. The responsibility of such data collection and surveillance is related to the Department of Violence and Injury, Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran. Results: A total incidence of 59.5/100000 was found for the 12-month period. During the study period the most and the least cases were reported from Khuzestan and Mazandaran Provinces with incidence of 541 and 0 per 100000 respectively. Totally 40220 anti venom vials were used, i.e., the ratio of 91 vial/ 100 affected cases. The stings occur mainly in rural areas (57.7%). Young people with the age group of 15–24 years old were the most victims of stings. The mortality and recovery rates of cases who had received anti venom less than 6 h of stings were calculated as 0.01% and 99.9% respectively. Conclusion: The high incidence of scorpion stings in Iran especially in Khuzestan suggests the necessity of preventive programmes for decreasing the incidence. Such programmes could start by community educating in the high prevalent areas. In addition prompt and local treatment is particularly important for infants and pre-school children.
Molecular identification of Cryptosporidium spp. in seagulls, pigeons, dogs, and cats in Thailand

Zoonotic Cryptosporidium spp. , particularly C. meleagridis, C. canis, and C. felis, are enteric protozoa responsible for major public health concerns around the world. To determine the spread of this parasite in Thailand, we conducted molecular identification of Cryptosporidium spp. from animal samples around the country, by collecting and investigating the feces of seagulls (Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus and Chroicocephalus ridibundus), domestic pigeons (Columba livia domestica), dogs, and cats. Seagull and pigeon samples were collected at the seaside and on the riverside to evaluate their potential for waterborne transmission. Ten pigeon samples were combined into one set, and a total of seven sets were collected. Seventy seagull samples were combined into one set, and a total of 13 sets were collected. In addition, 111 dog samples were collected from cattle farms, and 95 dog and 80 cat samples were collected from a temple. We identified C. meleagridis in pigeons, Cryptosporidium avian genotype III in seagulls, C. canis in dogs, and C. felis in cats. In the temple, the prevalence was 2.1% (2/95) for dogs and 2.5% (2/80) for cats. No Cryptosporidium was found in dog samples from cattle farms. These are the first findings of C. meleagridis in domestic pigeons, and Cryptosporidium avian genotype III in seagulls. Our study invites further molecular epidemiological investigations of Cryptosporidium in these animals and their environment to evaluate the public health risk in Thailand.
Understanding Science Achievement Gaps by Race/Ethnicity and Gender in Kindergarten and First Grade

Disparities in science achievement across race and gender have been well documented in secondary and postsecondary school; however, the science achievement gap in the early years of elementary school remains understudied. We present findings from the recently released Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–2011 that demonstrate significant gaps in science achievement in kindergarten and first grade by race/ethnicity. We estimate the Black-White science gap in kindergarten at –. 82 SD but find only a small gender gap by first grade. Large disparities between Asian student performance in science as compared to mathematics and reading are documented. Student background characteristics and school fixed effects explain nearly 60% of the Black-White and Hispanic-White science achievement gaps in kindergarten. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.
Notice of RetractionThe effect of urban residents' income on house prices

This paper, based on China's quarterly data from 1994 to 2006, by employing VAR model, Granger causality test and variance decomposition, studies the effect of urban residents' income on house prices. The results suggest that there is unilateral causality between urban residents' income and house prices, the alteration of house prices is mostly affected by its own alteration, urban residents' income is also important in explaining the variance of house prices. The government urgently needs to take a series of policies and measures to enforce urban residents' income.
Approximating submodular functions everywhere

Submodular functions are a key concept in combinatorial optimization. Algorithms that involve submodular functions usually assume that they are given by a (value) oracle. Many interesting problems involving submodular functions can be solved using only polynomially many queries to the oracle, e.g., exact minimization or approximate maximization. In this paper, we consider the problem of approximating a non-negative, monotone, submodular function f on a ground set of size n everywhere, after only poly(n) oracle queries. Our main result is a deterministic algorithm that makes poly(n) oracle queries and derives a function f such that, for every set S, f(S) approximates f(S) within a factor α(n), where α(n) = √n+1 for rank functions of matroids and α(n), = O(√n log n) for general monotone submodular functions. Our result is based on approximately finding a maximum volume inscribed ellipsoid in a symmetrized polymatroid, and the analysis involves various properties of submodular functions and polymatroids. Our algorithm is tight up to logarithmic factors. Indeed, we show that no algorithm can achieve a factor better than Ω(√n/log n), even for rank functions of a matroid.
The interrelationship and effect of culture and risk communication in setting internet banking security goals

The aim of this research is to investigate information systems security in the context of internet banking. In doing so, it adopts a socio-organizational approach to the subject matter by investigating the interrelationship between culture and risk communication within information technology groups and their possible effect on the level of security goal setting. The research explores and describes different socio-organizational perspectives and seeks to demonstrate the importance of culture and risk communication in setting efficiently internet banking goals within the broader context of information systems security management. To this end, it gives also an overview of different goal setting procedures within the IT departments of three financial institutions.
Citation flows in the zones of influence of scientific collaborations

Domestic citation to papers from the same country and the greater citation impact of documents involving international collaboration are two phenomena that have been extensively studied and contrasted. Here, however, we show that it is not so much a national bias, but that papers have a greater impact on their immediate environments, an impact that is diluted as that environment grows. For this reason, the greatest biases are observed in countries with a limited production. Papers that involve international collaboration have a greater impact in general, on the one hand, because they have multiple “immediate environments,” and on the other because of their greater quality or prestige. In short, one can say that science knows no frontiers. Certainly there is a greater impact on the authors' immediate environment, but this does not necessarily have to coincide with their national environments, which fade in importance as the collaborative environment expands. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews the Two-process Theory of Face Processing: Modifications Based on Two Decades of Data from Infants and Adults

Keywords: Two-process theory of face processing development Filial imprinting Face detection Gaze processing Conspec Conlern Sub-cortical face pathway Superior colliculus Pulvinar Amygdala a b s t r a c t Johnson and Morton (1991. Biology and Cognitive Development: The Case of Face Recognition. Blackwell, Oxford) used Gabriel Horn's work on the filial imprinting model to inspire a two-process theory of the development of face processing in humans. In this paper we review evidence accrued over the past two decades from infants and adults, and from other primates, that informs this two-process model. While work with newborns and infants has been broadly consistent with predictions from the model, further refinements and questions have been raised. With regard to adults, we discuss more recent evidence on the extension of the model to eye contact detection, and to subcortical face processing, reviewing functional imaging and patient studies. We conclude with discussion of outstanding caveats and future directions of research in this field.
Neuronal responses to orientation and motion contrast in cat striate cortex

Responses of striate neurons to line textures were investigated in anesthetized and paralyzed adult cats. Light bars centered over the excitatory receptive field (RF) were presented with different texture surrounds composed of many similar bars. In two test series, responses of 169 neurons to textures with orientation contrast (surrounding bars orthogonal to the center bar) or motion contrast (surrounding bars moving opposite to the center bar) were compared to the responses to the corresponding uniform texture conditions (all lines parallel, coherent motion) and to the center bar alone. In the majority of neurons center bar responses were suppressed by the texture surrounds. Two main effects were found. Some neurons were generally suppressed by either texture surround. Other neurons were less suppressed by texture displaying orientation or motion (i.e. feature) contrast than by the respective uniform texture, so that their responses to orientation or motion contrast appeared to be relatively enhanced (preference for feature contrast). General suppression was obtained in 33% of neurons tested for orientation and in 19% of neurons tested for motion. Preference for orientation or motion contrast was obtained in 22% and 34% of the neurons, respectively, and was also seen in the mean response of the population. One hundred nineteen neurons were studied in both orientation and motion tests. General suppression was correlated across the orientation and motion dimension, but not preference for feature contrast. We also distinguished modulatory effects from end-zones and flanks using butterfly-configured texture patterns. Both regions contributed to the generally suppressive effects. Preference for orientation or motion contrast was not generated from either end-zones or flanks exclusively. Neurons with preference for feature contrast may form the physiological basis of the perceptual saliency of pop-out elements in line textures. If so, pop-out of motion and pop-out of orientation would be encoded in different pools of neurons at the level of striate cortex.
HDAC6 regulates IL-17 expression in T lymphocytes: implications for HDAC6-targeted therapies

The pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin 17 (IL-17) is critically involved in immunity and inflammation. T-helper 17 and γδ T cells are the predominant sources of IL-17 in the immune system. However, the mechanisms by which the expression of IL-17 is regulated in T cells remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate that loss of histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) in mice does not affect the generation of CD4+ or CD8+ T cells, but stimulates the development of IL-17-producing γδ T cells. Our data further show that HDAC6 deficiency increases the production of IL-17 by Vγ4+ γδ T cells in the spleen and lymph nodes. Consistent with these observations, small-molecule inhibition of HDAC6 activity in γδ T cells promotes the expression of IL-17 in vitro. These data thus reveal that HDAC6 represses IL-17 production in T cells, providing novel insights into the role of HDAC6 in the immune system. These findings also have important implications for the clinical investigation of HDAC6-targeted therapies.
Simulating Real Life: Enhancing Social Work Education on Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention

ABSTRACT Social work students typically use role play with student colleagues to practice clinical intervention skills. Practice with simulated clients (SCs) rather than classmates changes the dynamics of the role play and may improve learning. This is the first known study to employ the SC model in substance use assessment in social work education. Social work students completed a questionnaire assessing attitudes, knowledge, and perceived skills (AKS) regarding substance misuse prior to completing an online screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment training, and then following role plays with SCs. Paired t-tests indicate increased confidence in substance use assessment and intervention ability, and stronger feelings that routine screening is critical to practice. Incorporating SCs with didactic learning increases students’ self-perceived ability to assess and change client behaviors and reduce substance misuse.
Constrained fractional set programs and their application in local clustering and community detection

The (constrained) minimization of a ratio of set functions is a problem frequently occurring in clustering and community detection. As these optimization problems are typically NP-hard, one uses convex or spectral relaxations in practice. While these relaxations can be solved globally optimally, they are often too loose and thus lead to results far away from the optimum. In this paper we show that every constrained minimization problem of a ratio of non-negative set functions allows a tight relaxation into an unconstrained continuous optimization problem. This result leads to a flexible framework for solving constrained problems in network analysis. While a globally optimal solution for the resulting non-convex problem cannot be guaranteed, we outperform the loose convex or spectral relaxations by a large margin on constrained local clustering problems.
Supporting Biomedical Students Struggling With Second-Choice-Syndrome to Thrive Rather Than Just Survive First Year

The James Cook University (JCU) Biomedical Science students struggle with their first year and “second-choice-syndrome” as evidenced by high inter-degree transfer rates and low primary degree completions despite the cohort having high subject or unit grade point averages. This project evaluated the impact of two extracurricular support initiatives (email newsletters and themed luncheons) to deliver just-in-time information and support on student engagement and success. Students and academics rated the initiatives highly with positive support themes of networking, collegiality, belonging and engagement; there was no direct improvement in subject grades or degree satisfaction metrics. However, there was an increase in degree, college, and university student retention. It is becoming increasingly important to recognize and separate the classic academic measures of grades as an indication of success and that more personal or social support is required for students to thrive regardless of cohort demographics or career path. A student’s initial experience on campus is important and influences students’ persistence in higher education and their believed capabilities.