Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
3 Assessment of Emotional and Multiple Intelligences

Educators at the secondary and university levels have been encouraged to adopt multicultural education in order to better educate their racial/ ethnic and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students (Banks, 2000). The traditional Anglo learner is no longer looked upon as the typical student type. Instead, educators are encouraged to implement various instructional methods for teaching diverse students. Correspondingly, in addition to culturally centered teaching, the search for successful alternative assessment practices has led researchers to inquire about other types of intellectual abilities (Gardner, 1999; Goleman, 1998; Salovey & Mayer, 1990). Two significant approaches which have received increased recognition are Howard Gardner’s (1993) work on multiple intelligences (MI) and Daniel Goleman’s (1995) on emotional intelligence (EI). It is now well accepted that when schools attend to students’ social and emotional education, behavioral problems decrease and academic achievement increases. There is also an
How effective are disability sensitization workshops

Purpose Organizations are increasingly investing in disability-specific sensitization workshops. Yet, there is limited understanding about their hoped outcomes, that is, increased knowledge about disability-related issues and behavioral changes with respect to those with a disability. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness and boundaries of disability-specific sensitization training in organizations. Design/methodology/approach This is an interview-based study where 33 employees from five industries across India were interviewed over the span of a year. Findings The findings suggest that sensitization workshops are successful with regard to awareness generation. Paradoxically, the same awareness also reinforced group boundaries through “othering. ” Further, workshops resonated more so with individuals who already had some prior experience with disability, implying that voluntary sensitization is likely attracting those who have the least need of such sensitization. The findings also suggest that non-mandated interventions may not necessarily influence organizational level outcomes, especially if workshops are conducted in isolation from a broader organizational culture of inclusion. Originality/value The present study helps outline effects of sensitization training initiatives and enhances our understanding about how negative attitudes toward persons with a disability can be overcome. The study also indicates how such training initiatives may inadvertently lead to “othering. ” Finally, this study offers suggestions to human resource managers for designing impactful disability sensitization workshops.
Controller Designed by Means of Numeric Methods for a Benchmark Problem: RTAC (Rotational Translational Actuator)

A nonlinear benchmark problem, very interesting due to interaction between translational and rotational movements is the RTAC system (also called TORA). Diverse control techniques in several previous papers have been dedicated to it. The present work proposes, by means of a straightforward procedure, a controller design based on an approach of RTAC system, using numerical methods, so that the system tends to origin after being displaced of this position. The control signal is calculated through the resolution of a linear equations system. Computer simulations show that the performance is comparable and in some aspects better than the one obtained with more complicated controllers
Solving non-convex lasso type problems with DC programming

The paper proposes a novel algorithm for addressing variable selection (or sparsity recovering) problem using non-convex penalties. A generic framework based on a DC programming is presented and yields to an iterative weighted lasso-type problem. We have then showed that many existing approaches for solving such a non-convex problem are particular cases of our algorithm. We also provide some empirical evidence that our algorithm outperforms existing ones.
Food retailer practices, attitudes and beliefs about the supply of healthy foods

Abstract Objective Non-supermarket food retailers can be a promising channel for increasing the availability of healthy foods in underserved communities. The present paper reports on retailer practices, attitudes and beliefs about the supply of healthy foods before and after the introduction of new subsidies for healthy foods by the US Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in October 2009. Design We designed and conducted in-person standardized interviews with store owners and managers to assess perceptions of demand and profits for different foods, supply networks, barriers to stocking healthy foods and their changes following implementation of the new WIC packages. Setting Non-supermarket retailers in five towns of Connecticut, USA (n 68 in 2009 and n 58 in 2010). Subjects Owners and managers of WIC-authorized and non-WIC convenience stores and non-chain grocery stores. Results Retailers identified customer demand as the primary factor in stocking decisions. They reported observing a significantly weaker demand for healthy foods compared with unhealthy foods, although it improved for certain foods with the new WIC subsidies. Less healthy foods were also perceived as more profitable. Supplier networks varied by product from convenient manufacturer delivery for salty snacks to self-supply for produce. WIC retailers were able to quickly adapt and supply healthy foods required under the new WIC programme guidelines. Conclusions Retailers other than supermarkets currently perceive little demand for healthy foods, but new WIC subsidies have the power to change these perceptions. Supply barriers seem secondary in the limited offerings of healthy foods by stores and could be overcome when policy changes generate new demand for healthy foods.
Unconscious Priming of Task-Switching Generalizes to an Untrained Task

Evidence suggests that subliminal stimuli can influence ostensibly volitional, executive processes but it is unclear whether this is highly task-specific. To address this we used a set-switching task. Volunteers saw a word pair and reported either if both words had the same number of syllables or if both were concrete. Task selection was random and instructed by a hexagon/triangle preceding the words. A subliminally-presented square or diamond reliably preceded each of these consciously perceived instruction-shapes. Significant congruency effects were observed in a subsequent Test Phase in which primes no longer reliably predicted the task (and in which high/low tones now served as conscious instructions). The Generalization Phase required novel phonological (rhyme) or semantic (category) judgments. Remarkably, unconscious priming congruency effects carried over in those participants who had shown priming in the Test Phase, the degree correlating across the two conditions. In a final phase of the study, participants were asked to discriminate between the two originally presented prime shapes. Those participants whose discriminations were more accurate showed reduced priming relative to participants with less accurate discriminations. The results suggest that, rather than being highly task specific, priming can operate at the level of a generalizable process and that greater awareness of primes may lessen their impact on behavior.
A tensor-based blind ds-cdma receiver using simultaneous matrix diagonalization

In this paper, we consider the problem of blind separation of DS-CDMA signals, from convolutive mixtures received by an antenna array. We suppose that multi-path reflections occur in the far-field of this array and that intersymbol-interference is caused by large delay spread. Our receiver is deterministic and relies on a third-order tensor decomposition, called decomposition in rank-(L,L,1) terms, which is a generalization of the well-known Parallel Factor (PARAFAC) decomposition. The technique we propose to calculate this decomposition is based on simultaneous matrix diagonalization, which is more accurate than the standard alternating least squares (ALS) algorithm and also allows to blindly identify more users than previously stated.
Anal intraepithelial neoplasia in heterosexual and homosexual HIV-positive men with access to antiretroviral therapy.

BACKGROUND Studies of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive men have demonstrated high rates of anal intraepithelial neoplasia (AIN), a precursor to anal carcinoma, mostly in white homosexual men and men not receiving effective antiretroviral therapy (ART). METHODS Ninety-two participants--53% Latino, 36% African American, and 40% without a history of receptive anal intercourse (RAI)--were evaluated with a behavioral questionnaire, liquid-based anal cytological testing, Hybrid Capture 2 human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA assay and polymerase chain reaction, and anal colposcopy with biopsy of lesions. RESULTS High-risk HPV DNA was identified in 61%, and this was associated with a history of RAI (78% vs. 33%; P<.001); 47% had abnormal cytological results, and 40% had AIN on biopsy. In multivariate analysis, both were associated with a history of RAI (odds ratio [OR], 10 [P<.001] and OR, 3.6 [P=.02], respectively) and lower nadir CD4(+) cell counts (P=.06 and P=.01). Current ART use was protective (OR, 0.09; P<.01 and OR, 0.18; P=.02). CONCLUSIONS Although anal infections with high-risk HPV and AIN in HIV-positive men are associated with a history of RAI, both conditions are commonly identified in HIV-positive men without this history. Both lower nadir CD4(+) cell counts and lack of current ART were associated with AIN but not with the detection of anal HPV.
Embodied Information in Cognitive Tasks: Haptic Weight Sensations Affect Task Performance and Processing Style

Research in the field of embodied cognition showed that incidental weight sensations influence peoples’ judgments about a variety of issues and objects. Most studies found that heaviness compared to lightness increases the perception of importance, seriousness, and potency. In two experiments, we broadened this scope by investigating the impact of weight sensations on cognitive performance. In Experiment 1, we found that the performance in an anagram task was reduced when participants held a heavy versus a light clipboard in their hands. Reduced performance was accompanied by an increase in the perceived effort. In Experiment 2, a heavy clipboard elicited a specific response heuristic in a two-alternative forced-choice task. Participants showed a significant right side bias when holding a heavy clipboard in their hands. After the task, participants in the heavy clipboard condition reported to be more frustrated than participants in the light clipboard condition. In both experiments, we did not find evidence for mediated effects that had been proposed by previous literature. Overall, the results indicate that weight effects go beyond judgment formation and highlight new avenues for future research.
Predicting the Helpfulness of Online Physician Reviews

Online physician reviews have recently gained an increasing attention because they can have a significant impact on patients' choice of physician. A large number of patients consult these reviews before choosing their physician. Despite that the helpfulness of product reviews has been widely investigated in the marketing domain, little is known about the helpfulness of online physician reviews. This study aims to analyzes factors that influence the helpfulness of online physician reviews. It uses review ratings, linguistic, psychological and semantic features as input to classify these reviews into helpful or unhelpful categories. The review data have been collected from RateMDs.com. The results demonstrate a significant impact of review ratings on the helpfulness of online physician reviews. The findings reveal differences between the reviews of the product and physician domains, which can have significant implications for the design of physician review websites.
Enabling scalable stochastic gradient-based inference for Gaussian processes by employing the Unbiased LInear System SolvEr (ULISSE)

In applications of Gaussian processes where quantification of uncertainty is of primary interest, it is necessary to accurately characterize the posterior distribution over covariance parameters. This paper proposes an adaptation of the Stochastic Gradient Langevin Dynamics algorithm to draw samples from the posterior distribution over covariance parameters with negligible bias and without the need to compute the marginal likelihood. In Gaussian process regression, this has the enormous advantage that stochastic gradients can be computed by solving linear systems only. A novel unbiased linear systems solver based on parallelizable covariance matrix-vector products is developed to accelerate the unbiased estimation of gradients. The results demonstrate the possibility to enable scalable and exact (in a Monte Carlo sense) quantification of uncertainty in Gaussian processes without imposing any special structure on the covariance or reducing the number of input vectors.
Societal Level of Religiosity and Religious Identity Expression in Europe

Growing diversity in terms of values and worldviews is one of the main challenges in current European societies. It is often argued that, in these societies, suspicion toward some aspects and forms of religion, if not religion in general is one of the main obstacles toward the acceptance of minority religious practices. In this article, we focused on the role of religion as a part of culture across European societies in allowing or inhibiting the expression of a religious identity by wearing visible religious symbols in the workplace. We examined the, intuitive but still to be tested, assumption that religious identity expression is more accepted in societies with an elevated level of societal religiosity in a European context. Using the 2006 data of Eurobarometer 65.4 on discrimination, we examined differences in the acceptance of religious identity expression through support for wearing visible religious symbols in 26 European societies. Results of multilevel analyses showed cross-societal variation in the acceptance of wearing visible religious symbols and that societal religiosity positively predicts the acceptance of religious identity expression. Our results showed that it is meaningful to differentiate between European countries when examining the role of cultural characteristics at the societal level when analyzing individual attitudes related to identity expressions and their acceptance.
Fuzzy density based clustering method: Soft DBSCAN-GM

The problem of unsupervised learning is that of trying to find hidden structure in unlabeled data. The last ones confide in, among other things, the choice of the clustering technique. Almost all of the well-known clustering algorithms require input number of clusters which is hard to determine but have a significant influence on the clustering result. Furthermore, the majority is not robust enough towards noisy data. In contrast, density based method DBSCAN-GM has obvious advantages over explicit samples. It discovers the number of clusters, as well as, it detects noises. Additionally, the shape of such clusters can also be irregular. However, an additional significant issue is that objects are often doubtfully specified. This vagueness may be caused by overlapping of the data regions, where one point can belong to more than one cluster. The exploit of the soft computing techniques to build groups is foreseeable in this case. For this reason, in this paper, we present an improvement of our previously defined crisp DBSCAN-GM to deal with soft objects. We name this clustering technique Soft DBSCAN-GM (SDG) that combines DBSCAN-GM and fuzzy set theory. Simulation experiments are carried out on a variety of datasets, which highlight the SDG' s effectiveness and to check the good quality of clustering results.
Is scientific literature subject to a 'Sell-By-Date'? A general methodology to analyze the 'durability' of scientific documents

The study of the citation histories and ageing of documents are topics that have been addressed from several perspectives, especially in the analysis of documents with delayed recognition or sleeping beauties. However, there is no general methodology that can be extensively applied for different time periods and/or research fields. In this paper a new methodology for the general analysis of the ageing and durability of scientific papers is presented. This methodology classifies documents into three general types: Delayed documents, which receive the main part of their citations later than normal documents; Flash in the pans, which receive citations immediately after their publication but they are not cited in the long term; and Normal documents, documents with a typical distribution of citations over time. These three types of durability have been analyzed considering the whole population of documents in the Web of Science with at least 5 external citations (i.e. not considering self-citations). Several patterns related to the three types of durability have been found and the potential for further research of the developed methodology is discussed.
Modelling the photopolarimetric variability of AA Tau

We present Monte Carlo scattered light models of a warped disc that reproduce the observed photopolarimetric variability of the classical T Tauri star, AA Tauri. For a system inclination of 75° and using an analytic description for a warped inner disc, we find that the shape and amplitude of the photopolarimetric variability are reproduced with a warp that occults the star, located at 0.07 au, amplitude 0.016 au, extending over radial and azimuthal ranges 0.0084 au and 145°. We also show a time sequence of high spatial resolution scattered light images, showing a dark shadow cast by the warp sweeping round the disc. Using a modified smooth particle hydrodynamics code, we find that a stellar dipole magnetic field of strength 5.2 kG, inclined at 30° to the stellar rotation axis can reproduce the required disc warping to explain the photopolarimetric variability of AA Tau.
A usability study of adaptive interfaces for interactive voice response system

Interactive voice response (IVR) systems in developing nations are mostly key-press based IVR because of difficulties with speech recognition in under-supported languages and accents. Navigation problems in such IVR systems results in time consuming interaction. In this work, we propose and evaluate two approaches of adaptive user interface to enable faster access to information in key-press based IVR systems.
Osteopontin impairs host defense during pneumococcal pneumonia.

BACKGROUND Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most frequently isolated pathogen responsible for community-acquired pneumonia. Osteopontin is involved in inflammation during both innate and adaptive immunity. METHODS To determine the role of osteopontin in the host response during pneumococcal pneumonia, osteopontin knockout (KO) and normal wild-type (WT) mice were intranasally infected with viable S. pneumoniae. RESULTS Pneumonia was associated with a rapid increase in pulmonary osteopontin concentrations in WT mice from 6 h onward. Osteopontin KO mice showed a prolonged survival relative to WT mice, which was accompanied by diminished pulmonary bacterial growth and reduced dissemination to distant body sites. In addition, at 48 h after infection pulmonary inflammation was decreased in osteopontin KO mice as reflected by lower inflammation scores and reduced chemokine concentrations. In contrast to pneumococcal pneumonia, osteopontin deficiency did not influence bacterial growth in primary pneumococcal sepsis induced by direct intravenous infection, suggesting that the detrimental effect of osteopontin on antibacterial defense during pneumonia primarily is exerted in the pulmonary compartment. Moreover, recombinant osteopontin stabilized S. pneumoniae viability in vitro. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that the pneumococcus misuses osteopontin in the airways for optimal growth and to cause invasive disease after entering the lower airways.
Index System and Method for Soil Productivity Evaluation on the Hillsides in the Loess Plateau

For a long time, soil productivity evaluation has been one of the "hotspots" in soil science. In this article, research conducted to investigate vertical root distribution characters, root drought-resistance ability, soil physical and chemical properties and local socioeconomic conditions are reported. Based on the principle of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), a new method is proposed to evaluate the Current Soil Productivity (CSP) and Natural Soil Productivity (NSP). Calculated results indicated that the NSP of Robinia pseudoacacia in two villages was above the middle level, while the NSP of Prunus armeniaca var. ansu , Pinus tabuliformis and Platycladus orientalis was low. CSP of the Robinia pseudoacacia and Prunusarmeniaca var. ansu was higher than the other two tree species. Although the NSP of the four tree species in the two villages was similar, the CSP results of the four tree species showed a remarkable change in the two villages studied. Further analysis indicated that the attitude and the recognition by local people concerning problems associated with hillside development play an important role for the success of hillside development program.
Determining Curves in Convex Hull from a Set of Planar Closed Convex Curves

Convex hull, a minimum enclosing convex envelope is a popular construction in the field of computational geometry. Typical convex hull include not just the points in the hull but also the connectivity between them. However, at times, it may be sufficient to get only points contributing to the hull, which can then be employed in constructions such as positive α-hull. Algorithms for convex hull primarily focus on point-set as input. Very few algorithms handle input curves as such, without discretization. In this paper, algorithm for determining curves that belong to convex hull using minimum spanning tree (MST) is proposed. The edges of the MST can be considered as a rubber-band connecting all the curves with zero enclosed area. Valency of nodes in the MST is used to define curve triplets. Maximum inscribed circle (MIC) for all triplets is identified (and stored in a triplet matrix) and its minimum is then picked to identify the starting triplet. The triplet is then deleted, updating the triplet matrix. The.
The Aggregate Dynamics of Capital Structure and Macroeconomic Risk

We study the impact of time-varying macroeconomic conditions on optimal dynamic capital structure for a cross-section of firms. Our structural-equilibrium framework embeds a contingent-claim corporate financing model within a consumption-based asset-pricing model. We investigate the effect of macroeconomic conditions on asset valuation and optimal corporate policies, and of preferences on capital structure. While capital structure is pro-cyclical at dates when firms re-lever, it is counter-cyclical in aggregate dynamics, consistent with empirical evidence. We also find that financially constrained firms choose more pro-cyclical policies and that leverage accounts for most of the macroeconomic risk relevant for predicting defaults, but is a poor measure of how preferences impact capital structure. The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org. , Oxford University Press.