Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Test Information Targeting Strategies for Adaptive Multistage Testing Designs.

Adaptive multistage testlet (MST) designs appear to be gaining popularity for many large-scale computer-based testing programs. These adaptive MST designs use a modularized configuration of preconstructed testlets and embedded score-routing schemes to prepackage different forms of an adaptive test. The conditional information targeting (CIT) strategy was presented as a way of achieving several goals in generating feasible testlet test information functions (TIFs) for MST designs to control explicitly the proportion of the population routed along various pathways in a panel and to make the targets as informative as possible. Through a simulation, the study illustrated the strategy for a simple 1-2 MST panel design. (Contains 1 table, 4 figures, and 11 references.) (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the ori-inal doe-wheat. 1 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY R. M. Luecht TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Vhis document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Test Information Targeting Strategies for Adaptive Multistage Testing Designs Richard M. Luecht William Burgin University of North Carolina at Greensboro Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education, Chicago, IL, (NCME Session A2)
Relax, and Accelerate: A Continuous Perspective on ADMM

The acceleration technique first introduced by Nesterov for gradient descent is widely used in many machine learning applications, however it is not yet well-understood. Recently, significant progress has been made to close this understanding gap by using a continuous-time dynamical system perspective associated with gradient-based methods. In this paper, we extend this perspective by considering the continuous limit of the family of relaxed Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM). We also introduce two new families of relaxed and accelerated ADMM algorithms, one follows Nesterov's acceleration approach and the other is inspired by Polyak's Heavy Ball method, and derive the continuous limit of these families of relaxed and accelerated algorithms as differential equations. Then, using a Lyapunov stability analysis of the dynamical systems, we obtain rate-of-convergence results for convex and strongly convex objective functions.
A Study of Outpatient Utilization Between Widowers and Widows among the Elderly in Taiwan

Both the numbers of aging and of widowed peers are gradually increasing in Taiwan. In this context, the aim of this paper is to compare outpatient services utilization from the perspective of predisposing, enabling and need characteristics between elderly widowers and widows. Subject data were obtained from the National Health Interview Survey of Taiwan in 2009. Among these data, 998 widowed persons aged 65 years old and over were analyzed. A Chi-square test and four different logistic regression models were used to investigate the influence of predisposing, enabling and need characteristics on outpatient utilization among elderly widowed persons. The empirical findings indicated that, for the predisposing characteristics, age showed significantly different outpatient utilization for widows. Nevertheless, there was a significant education gradient in outpatient utilization for elderly widowers. Next, for the enabling characteristics, economic status and national health insurance revealed significant effects on outpatient utilization for widows but not for widowers. In addition, for need characteristics, hypertension and kidney diseases played significant predictive factors related to outpatient utilization both for widows and widowers. However, other chronic diseases revealed significant differences on outpatient utilization only for widows. Finally, empirical results further indicated that widows were more likely to use outpatient services than widowers in later life. Therefore, study findings identified that predisposing, enabling and need characteristics were strongly correlated with the utilization of outpatient services for elderly widowers and widows. Administrators and managers could add the consideration of these three import characteristics into planning for the utilization of outpatient services, designing related policies, and allocation and use of health-care resources.
Scientific Opinion updating the risk assessment conclusions and risk management recommendations on the genetically modified insect resistant maize 1507

Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA GMO Panel) compiled its previous risk assessment conclusions and risk management recommendations on the genetically modified insect resistant maize 1507, and considered their validity in the light of new relevant scientific publications published from 2005 onwards. The EFSA GMO Panel performed a search of the scientific literature published between 2005 and September 2012, and identified 61 peer-reviewed publications containing evidence specific to the risk assessment and/or management of maize 1507, of which two were relevant for the food and feed safety assessment, and 34 for the environmental risk assessment and/or risk management. None of these publications reported new information that would invalidate the previous conclusions on the safety of maize 1507 made by the EFSA GMO Panel. Therefore, the EFSA GMO Panel considers that its previous risk assessment conclusions on maize 1507, as well as its previous recommendations on risk mitigation measures and monitoring, remain valid and applicable.
Variational Approximation of Functionals Defined on 1-dimensional Connected Sets: The Planar Case

In this paper we consider variational problems involving 1-dimensional connected sets in the Euclidean plane, such as the classical Steiner tree problem and the irrigation (Gilbert-Steiner) problem. We relate them to optimal partition problems and provide a variational approximation through Modica-Mortola type energies proving a $\Gamma$-convergence result. We also introduce a suitable convex relaxation and develop the corresponding numerical implementations. The proposed methods are quite general and the results we obtain can be extended to $n$-dimensional Euclidean space or to more general manifold ambients, as shown in the companion paper [11].
Efficient Detection of Overlapping Communities Using Asymmetric Triangle Cuts

Real social networks contain many communities, where members within each community are densely connected with each other, while they are sparsely connected with the members outside of the community. Since each member can join multiple communities simultaneously, communities in social networks are usually overlapping with each other. How to efficiently and effectively identify overlapping communities in a large social network becomes a fundamental problem in the big data era. Most existing studies on community finding focused on non-overlapping communities based on several well-known community fitness metrics. However, recent investigations have shown that these fitness metrics may suffer free rider and separation effects where the overlapping region of two communities always belongs to the denser one, rather to both of them. In this paper, we study the overlapping community detection problem in social networks that not only takes the quality of the found overlapping communities but also incorporate both free rider and separation effects on the found communities into consideration. Specifically, in this paper, we first propose a novel community fitness metric - triangle based fitness metric, for overlapping community detection that can minimize the free rider and separation effects on found overlapping communities, and show that the problem is NP-hard. We then propose an efficient yet scalable algorithm for the problem that can deliver a feasible solution. We finally validate the effectiveness of the proposed fitness metric and evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, through conducting extensive experiments on real-world datasets with over 100 million vertices and edges. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is very promising.
UNDERSTANDING MATHS ANXIETY IN PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS THROUGH A QUALITY OF LIFE FRAMEWORK

This article analyzes pre-service primary teachers’ written reflections using the Quality of Life conceptual framework, with its three domains of being, belonging, and becoming, as a lens to elucidate the concepts of identity and projective identity. Data collected via Critical Incident Technique were used to investigate the antecedents of mathematics anxiety as perceived and identified by pre-service teachers. When not addressed, high levels of mathematics anxiety in primary pre-service teachers’ affect their future teaching of mathematics and the achievement of their students. The results show that using the framework contributes to an understanding of primary pre-service teachers’ mathematics anxiety and its implications for their identity development. The article concludes with recommendations and practical implications.
Temperature reconstruction (1750–2008) from Dahurian larch tree-rings in an area subject to ­permafrost in Inner Mongolia, Northeast China

May-September temperatures were reconstructed for the past 250 yr based on Dahurian larch Larix gmelinii Rupr. growing in permafrost region of Northeast China. The reconstruction accounts for 39.3% of the actual temperature variance over the period 1958-2008. The reconstruction captured 3 relatively cold periods in 1847-1852, 1861-1866 and 1935-1941; 2 relatively warm periods in 1874-1879 and 2001-2008; and a persistent warming trend since the mid-20th century. The long- term changes in temperature documented here correspond well with regional temperature change from observational records, other global and regional proxy-based temperature reconstructions, and documented changes in regional permafrost. Thus, valuable information might be preserved in our reconstruction about local- to regional-scale climatic variation during the past 2.5 centuries.
Clinical Utility of An Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Lead With A Floating Atrial Sensing Dipole: A Single-Center Experience

Background: Single-chamber ICD systems with the ability to sense the atrium have been developed. We describe the operation characteristics, atrial and ventricular sense performance of the lead, atrial and ventricular tachyarrhythmia recordings, and appropriate and inappropriate shock treatments in patients who receive a single lead ICD with a floating atrial sensing dipole in our center. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 58 patients (44 male, 59.3 ± 4.41 years) who were implanted with a Lumax 540 VR-T DX device with a Linox Smart S DX lead. The pacemaker records of the patients were analyzed monthly for 12 months. All of the recorded tachyarrhythmia episodes were examined by 2 cardiologists and atrial/ventricular discrimination was performed. We also compared with SMART algorithm. Results: A total of 24 tachycardia episodes with rapid ventricular response were detected in 7 patients. Three of them, which were in the VF zone, were treated by ICD appropriately without using the SMART algorithm. Nine of 21 tachycardia episodes were evaluated as VT by SMART algorithm. The visual analysis showed that VT attacks were detected correctly by the algorithm. Twelve tachycardia episodes were evaluated as SVT by the algorithm. No treatment was applied by ICD. It was confirmed in visual analysis. A total of 38 atrial tachycardia episodes were detected in 8 patients. Visual analysis confirmed that these attacks were correctly detected by the SMART algorithm. Conclusions: Single lead ICD systems with atrial dipole provide reliable atrial recordings during sinus rhythm and arrhythmias.
Energy aware ultrascale systems

Energy consumption is one of the main limiting factors for the design of ultrascale infrastructures. Multi-level hardware and software optimizations must be designed and explored in order to reduce energy consumption for these largescale equipment. This chapter addresses the issue of energy efficiency of ultrascale systems in front of other quality metrics. The goal of this chapter is to explore the design of metrics, analysis, frameworks and tools for putting energy awareness and energy efficiency at the next stage. Significant emphasis will be placed on the idea of “energy complexity,” reflecting the synergies between energy efficiency and quality of service, resilience and performance, by studying computation power, communication/data sharing power, data access power, algorithm energy consumption, etc.
Energy-preserving continuous-stage partitioned Runge-Kutta methods.

In this paper, we present continuous-stage partitioned Runge-Kutta (csPRK) methods for energy-preserving integration of Hamiltonian systems. A sufficient condition for the energy preservation of the csPRK methods is derived. It is shown that the presented condition contains the existing condition for energy-preserving continuous-stage Runge-Kutta methods as a special case. A noticeable and interesting result is that when we use the simplifying assumptions of order conditions and the normalized shifted Legendre polynomials for constructing high-order energy-preserving csPRK methods, both the Butcher "weight" coefficients $B_\tau$ and $\widehat{B}_\tau$ must be equal to $1$. As illustrative examples, new energy-preserving integrators are acquired by virtue of the presented condition, and for the sake of verifying our theoretical results, some numerical experiments are reported.
The Ripple Effects of Stranger Harassment on Objectification of Self and Others

Despite the frequency and negative consequences of stranger harassment, only a scant number of studies have explicitly examined stranger harassment and its consequences through the lens of objectification theory. The current study introduced and tested a mediation model in which women’s experiences of stranger harassment may lead to self-objectification, which in turn may lead to objectification of other people. To examine this model, undergraduate women (N = 501) completed measures of stranger harassment (including the verbal harassment and sexual pressure subscales of the Stranger Harassment Index), body surveillance, and objectification of other women and men. Consistent with hypotheses, significant positive correlations emerged among total stranger harassment, verbal harassment, sexual pressure, body surveillance, and other-objectification of women. Other-objectification of men showed a similar pattern of results, with the exception of being unrelated to total stranger harassment and sexual pressure. Consistent with the proposed model, body surveillance was a significant mediator of the relation between total stranger harassment and other-objectification of both women and men, as well as the relation between verbal harassment and other-objectification of both women and men. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as future directions for research on stranger harassment, are discussed.
Aqueous Leaf Extract of Dryopteris Dilatata on STZ-Induced Diabetic Wistar Rats with Associated Hyperlipidemic Ameliorating Property

The frequency at which diabetes mellitus ravages many societies is amazingly high, and this has resulted to social, economical, financial and worse still health challenges to certain ethnic tribes in Nigeria and to most African communities at large. The study is targeted at examining the glucose lowering effect and possibly associated hypolipidaemic property of Dryopteris dilatata leaf extract in STZ-induced diabetic rats. This study was birthed to assess the effect of Dryopteris dilatata aqueous extract on serum glucose level and lipid profile in STZ-induced diabetes in Wistar rats. However, the phytochemical composition as well as the LD50 was examined. Thirty adult (30) Wistar rats weighing between 180200g were selected into six (6) groups of five rats each (n=5). Groups 1 and 2 severed as untreated non-diabetic and untreated diabetic controls respectively. Single IP injections of STZ at a dose of 65mg/kg was given to induce diabetes in groups 3, 4, 5, and 6 and were treated with different doses of D. dilatata with the exception of group 3 rats that received a standard diabetic drug (metformin). Body weight and fasting glucose of the animals were routinely checked weekly. After about 30days, the animals were sacrificed, blood samples collected and centrifuge to obtain serum for analysis. Phytochemical analysis indicated the presence of eight bioactive agents such as saponins, steroids, tannins, alkaloids, phenols while some bioactive agents were absent. The LD50 was above 4g/kg as a tolerance dose. Body weights were significantly (p<0.05) reduced in the STZ untreated diabetic rats compared to control rats while D. dilatata administration at varying dose related manner maintained body weight upon STZ treatment to a near normal value as compared to group 1 (control) and metformin treated rats. D. dilatata caused -28.22±5.03 a % decrease in the value obtained for fasting blood glucose when 500mg/kg was administered and -35.85±4.80 a % and -44.55±6.56 a % respectively with 800mg/kg and 1000mg/kg of D. dilatata. Serum lipid profile were significantly (p<0.05) increased in non-treated STZ-induced diabetes rats with D. dilatata significantly (p<0.05) reducing these lipid profiles which was dose dependent. In conclusion, this study showed possible potentials of D. dilatata aqueous extract exhibiting hypoglycemic and hypolipidaemic effects.
PreHamiltonian and Hamiltonian operators for differential-difference equations

In this paper we are developing a theory of rational (pseudo) difference Hamiltonian operators, focusing in particular on its algebraic aspects. We show that a pseudo-difference Hamiltonian operator can be represented as a ratio AB−1 of two difference operators with coefficients from a difference field , where A is preHamiltonian. A difference operator A is called preHamiltonian if its image is a Lie subalgebra with respect to the Lie bracket of evolutionary vector fields on . The definition of a rational Hamiltonian operator can be reformulated in terms of its factors which simplifies the theory and makes it useful for applications. In particular we show that for a given rational Hamiltonian operator H in order to find a second Hamiltonian operator K compatible with H one only needs to find a preHamiltonian pair A and B such that K = AB−1H is skew-symmetric. We apply our theory to study multi-Hamiltonian structures of Narita–Itoh–Bogayavlensky and Adler–Postnikov equations.
A sensing circuit for single-ended read-ports of SRAM cells with bit-line power reduction and access-time enhancement

Abstract. The conventional sensing scheme of single-ended read-only-ports as integrated in 8T-SRAM cells suffers from low performance compared to double-ended complementary sensing schemes. In the proposed sensing scheme the pre-charge voltage of the single-ended read-bit-line is set to a level above the threshold voltage of the sensing device with an adjustable margin. This margin is minimized to speed up the read access on the one hand and kept large enough to provide a sufficient bit-line noise margin on the other hand. The pre-charge voltage level of the proposed sensing circuit tracks the threshold voltage of the sensing device under process variations in order to maintain a minimum required bit-line noise margin. To avoid unnecessary bit-line discharging, the proposed sensing scheme employs a modified 8T-SRAM cell. Compared to the conventional 8T-SRAM cell, the read port of the proposed cell provides a virtual ground line running in parallel to the bit-lines. An internal driver of the sensing circuit releases the virtual ground line during the evaluation period to prevent the charge dissipation resulting in a raised voltage level. The reduced pre-charge level and the increased virtual ground lead to a reduced bit-line voltage swing and thus a bit-line power reduction. Access time, energy dissipation, and noise margin of the proposed sensing circuit are compared with conventional sensing circuits from the literature for different numbers of memory cells connected to the bit-line. It is shown, that for a specific number of memory cells per bit-line the proposed circuit achieves fastest access time at low power operation.
Effect of litter treatment on growth performance, intestinal development, and selected cecum microbiota in broiler chickens

The objective of this study was to determine whether the type of bedding materials (sand, wood shavings, and paper) and of two chemical amendments (lime and bentonite) could interfere with litter quality (moisture, pH, and total bacterial counts), thereby influencing also the growth performance and the development of intestinal traits and cecum microbiota of chickens. Two hundred and seventy male Ross 308 broiler chickens were randomly assigned into nine treatment groups with three replicates per treatment. Broiler productive parameters, relative weight of different intestinal segments, content of cecal total bacterial counts (total aerobic bacteria, Lactobacilli, and coliforms), as well as litter moisture, pH, and total aerobic bacteria and coliforms counts, were assessed. Litter material, per se, did not significantly affect the productivity parameters at the end of the experimental period (42 days) with the exception of protein efficiency. A significant trend was found among treatments with regard to weight gain and feed intake, with lower performance in birds on sand beddings. Litter pH was relatively homogenous between bedding types and amendments, but the moisture was significantly lower when sand was used. Litter type did not influence the relative weight of the different intestinal segments; however, the type of amendment affected the relative jejunum weight, which was increased in bentonite-treated litter. The use of lime and bentonite treatments may be helpful to decrease the differences in litter moisture associated with particular bedding materials. The tested amendments do not interfere with the productive performance of birds.