Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Peaks over thresholds modelling with multivariate generalized Pareto distributions

When assessing the impact of extreme events, it is often not just a single component, but the combined behaviour of several components which is important. Statistical modelling using multivariate generalized Pareto (GP) distributions constitutes the multivariate analogue of univariate peaks over thresholds modelling, which is widely used in finance and engineering. We develop general methods for construction of multivariate GP distributions and use them to create a variety of new statistical models. A censored likelihood procedure is proposed to make inference on these models, together with a threshold selection procedure, goodness-of-fit diagnostics, and a computationally tractable strategy for model selection. The models are fitted to returns of stock prices of four UK-based banks and to rainfall data in the context of landslide risk estimation. Supplementary materials and codes are available online.
Pagano, Arianna and Tarantino, Alessandro and Bagheri, Meghdad and Rezania, Mohammad and Sentenac, Phillippe (2016) An experimental investigation of the independent effect of suction and degree of saturation on very small-strain stiffness of unsaturated sand. E3S Web

The paper presents an experimental investigation of very small strain stiffness of unsaturated sand. A triaxial test apparatus was equipped with bender elements and compression discs in order to assess the stiffness at very small strains by measuring the velocity of propagation of shear and compression waves through an unsaturated sample. The negative water column method was adopted to apply suction at the base of the sample. The experiments were designed to investigate the independent effect of suction and degree of saturation on the wave propagation velocities. This was achieved by testing the sand sample on both the drying and wetting path.
Hyaluronic Acid Mediated Enrichment of CD44 Expressing Glioblastoma Stem Cells in U251MG Xenograft Mouse Model

Background: Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive cancer with high mortality rates and poses several hurdles in the efficient chemotherapeutic intervention. Similar to other cancers, glioma also harbors CSCs, that are self-renewable, multipotent cells, which initiate the cancer incidence, chemotherapeutic resistance and cancer recurrence. The microenvironmental regulation in the brain tumor and metastasis involves the cooperative interaction between HA and CD44. CD44, being a multifaceted transmembrane glycoprotein by itself, or in combination with several other cell surface receptors, has been used as a marker for CSC isolation. Methods: We established both adherent and nonadherent culture of U251MG cells by treating with high molecular weight HA. Further these cells were transplanted subcutaneously in Balb/c mouse for the generation of the xenograft model for the cancer stem cell. The tumor was further characterized for the establishment of the working model for molecular targeting studies of cancer stem cells. Results: Here we showed the enrichment of the CD44 expressing population of glioblastoma cells by induction with hyaluronic acid. The non-adherent culture spheroids of U251MG cells showed up regulation in the CD44 expression along with aberrant activation of principal pluripotency genes OCT3/4, SOX2, KLF4 and Nanog. Using the HA-treated spheroid, we established an experimental xenograft mouse model with high angiogenesis enhanced tumor-initiating capacity while retaining the glioblastoma traits. Conclusion: We characterized a mouse xenograft model of U251MG cells which could be a promising model system to study the molecular targeting approaches against CSCs in glioblastoma.
Causes of delay in residential construction projects in Cambodia

Abstract Construction industry is one of the significant contributors to the economic growth and development of Cambodia. Two major challenges are limiting the performance of the construction industry in Cambodia, which are poor cost and schedule performance of the construction projects. Therefore, the aim of this study is to fill an important knowledge gap by identifying the various attributes for construction project delay, using the residential building projects as a starting point. Feedback from a survey administered to the contractors and consultants was analysed using Relative Importance Index (RII). Results showed that shortage of materials on site; unrealistic project scheduling; late delivery of material; shortage of skilled labour; complexity of project; labour absenteeism; late payment by the owner for the completed work; poor site management; delay by subcontractor; accidents due to poor site safety are ranked by the contractors and consultants as the main causes of project delays in Cambodia. Construction frontline players are recommended to put their efforts on the identified key factors in relation to their magnitudes of influence. By doing so, the causes of project delays in the Cambodia’s construction and real estate sector could be significantly reduced or controlled, which will ultimately lead to the on time project completion.
Medial temporal lobe default mode functioning and hippocampal structure as vulnerability indicators for schizophrenia : A MRI study of non-psychotic adolescent fi rst-degree relatives ☆ , ☆ ☆

a Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Mental Health Center Public Psychiatry Division of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA 02115, United States b Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, United States c Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, United States d Harvard Institute of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Boston, MA 02115, United States e Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry at McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, United States f Harvard Medical School Departments of Neurology and Radiology Services, Center for Morphometric Analysis, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129, United States g Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Poitras Center for Affective Disorders Research, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States h SUNY Genetics Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, United States i University of California, San Diego, Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Behavior Genomics, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States
Making Teaching and Learning Visible: How Can Learning Designs Be Represented?

This work is situated in the context of the Learning Design research area. It reviews different forms in which learning designs can be represented both in textual or in a graphical way. The different forms have been gathered from the options used by teachers in current practice and from proposals of the research community. The following categories have been defined to classify the several representation types into a clear and concise classification: Narrative Text; Forms/Templates; Table Representations/Matrices; Concept Maps, Mind Maps and Tree-based Representations; Flow Diagrams; Sequential Diagrams; and Ad-hoc Diagrams. For each type of representation specific examples and uses are provided, showing the benefits and contexts in which they are used. Text-based representations are common in the real teachers' practice, while graphical representations have been taken from research initiatives. The goal of the paper is to attract attention to the fact that no type of representation for learning designs has been adopted as a mainstream, yet. A common language in this domain would be desirable and could offer great benefits related to the communication and sharing of teaching and learning results. This could be very useful for the representation of learning designs and teaching practices in learning analytics dashboards.
Physical and Microwave Radiative Properties of Precipitating Clouds. Part I: Principal Component Analysis of Observed Multichannel Microwave Radiances in Tropical Stratiform Rainfall

Abstract Using stringent criteria pertaining to rain-cloud optical thickness and horizontal extent, 3203 multichannel microwave observations of heavy, widespread tropical precipitation over ocean were selected from 9 months of global Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) data. These observations subsequently were found to be associated almost exclusively with stratiform rain areas in tropical cyclones. Because of the restrictions on optical thickness and spatial extent, the mean multichannel microwave brightness temperatures and their interchannel covariances are presumed to be determined primarily by the vertical microphysical structure of the rain clouds. The distribution of the above observations in seven-dimensional channel space is characterized concisely using principal component analysis. It is found that only three independent variables are sufficient to explain 97% of the variance in the correlation matrix. This result suggests that the radiometrically important microphysical properties of thes.
Generation Z versus adults in the Ecuadorian digital integration from 2015 to 2019

In recent years, Ecuador has made great progress in integrating new technologies to all its citizens. This research analyzes the evolution of the incorporation of the different smart devices and the uses they make of them, from 2015 to 2019. At the same time, it is deepened the possible digital divide between young people and adults, and also between men and women. The sample corresponds in its majority to the university community in central Ecuador. The results were obtained through an online survey and they demonstrate a progressive increase in certain technologies and with different patterns of use based on age and gender.
Attention Regulation Framework

Mindfulness practices are well-known for their benefits to mental and physical well-being. Given the prevalence of smartphones, mindfulness applications have attracted growing global interest. However, the majority of existing applications use guided meditation that is not adaptable to each user's unique needs or pace. This article proposes a novel framework called Attention Regulation Framework (ARF), which studies how more flexible and adaptable mindfulness applications could be designed, beyond guided meditation and toward self-regulated meditation. ARF proposes mindfulness interaction design guidelines and interfaces whereby practitioners naturally and constantly bring their attention back to the present moment and develop non-judgmental awareness. This is achieved by the performance of subtle movements, which are supported by non-intrusive detection-feedback mechanisms. We used two design cases to demonstrate ARF in static and kinetic meditation conditions. We conducted four user evaluation studies in unique situations where ARF is particularly effective, vis-à-vis mindfulness practice in busy environments and mindfulness interfaces that adapt to the pace of the user. The studies show that the design cases, compared with guided meditation applications, are more effective in improving attention, mindfulness, mood, well-being, and physical balance. Our work contributes to the development of self-regulated mindfulness technologies.
Strengthening Character Education through Outbound Learning on Elementary School Students

The objective of this research was to identify the character education building through outbound learning at Muhammadiyah Alam Surya Mentari Elementary School in Surakarta. The method used in this research was descriptive qualitative. The data were collected through observation, interview, and documentation. Observation was carried out in learning process. Interview was conducted by questioning the teachers and the headmaster. Documentation was obtained by collecting various supporting documents. This research took place at Muhammadiyah Alam Surya Mentari Elementary School in Surakarta. Triangulation methods, namely triangulation of sources and techniques, were used to validate the data. The results of this research show that: (1) characters education building is integrated in outbound learning; (2) there are five core values of character that can be developed through outbound learning, those are: religiosity, nationalism, cooperation, integrity, and self-dependence.
Direct observation of tactile geometric drawing by visually impaired and blind students

Reading and drawing geometric shapes are challenging tasks for visually impaired and blind users. The development of a human-centered design solution to address these issues and simulate the techniques of tactile drawing requires a detailed understanding of the process. The objective of this study is to understand the method of reading compound shapes and drawing primitive shapes (triangle and rectangle) to help design digital drawing tool. We conducted a direct observational study of tactile reading and drawing tasks along with semi-structured interviews of 10 visually impaired and blind students. We analyzed the data through affinity analysis and identified a set of validation strategies for drawing and shape identification techniques for reading used by the participants for error prevention and recovery. We present the findings in detail and discuss them in this paper. We believe that the findings will help designers, developers, and researchers to design technology-based interventions for non-visual drawing.
Impact of proxy variables of the rain column height on monthly oceanic rainfall estimations from passive microwave sensors

A major uncertainty in physically based algorithms that are used to estimate rainfall from passive microwave sensors arises from a lack of information on physical parameters such as the rain column height and the freezing level in rainy conditions. This uncertainty occurs because the rainfall integrated along a path on the rain column determines the relationship between the brightness temperature and the rainfall. The rain column height, however, is not well determined directly from simultaneous measurements. Most estimation models use the freezing level derived from an indirect method to obtain the unknown parameter. In this study, the characteristics of three variables that may be used as a proxy variable of the rain column height are investigated. The two variables are derived from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) microwave imager (TMI) and precipitation radar (TPR). They include the TMI-estimated freezing level (TFL) and the TPR-estimated bright-band height (BBH). The third variable is the freezing-level altitude derived from National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data (NCEP reanalysis freezing level (NFL)). Monthly oceanic rainfall estimations were then performed using the three aforementioned variables in place of the rain column height. As expected, the results show that differences in the rainfall estimates are greater in the regions where larger differences exist among the three variables. The analysis confirmed that an underestimate of the rain column height causes an overestimate of the rainfall. In addition, rainfalls that were underestimated with the BBH or NFL can be corrected with an empirical adjustment. This suggests that the TFL, BBH and NFL contain information related to the rain column height. However, the BBH and NFL require a correction in the mid-latitudes when their magnitude is low.
‘1L=10L for Africa’: Corporate social responsibility and the transformation of bottled water into a ‘consumer activist’ commodity

In recent years, it has become an increasingly common marketing practice to connect the sale of consumer products to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, such as aid and development projects in so-called ‘developing’ countries. One example is Volvic’s pioneering ‘1L=10L for Africa’ campaign (2005–2010), which linked the sale of each liter of bottled water in ‘developed’ countries with the promise by Danone, Volvic’s owner, to provide 10 liters of drinking water in Africa. In this article, we engage with this ‘cause-related marketing’ campaign, using critical discourse analysis (CDA) to uncover its mechanisms and ideological functioning. We show how Volvic was able to transform an ordinary commodity, bottled water, into a consumer activist brand through which consumers could take part in solving global social problems, such as the access to safe drinking water in ‘developing’ countries. Our analysis of this exemplary case shows the ways that CSR often operates to deflect ethical critiques, consolidate brand loyalty and corporate profits, and defuse political struggles around consumption. By doing so, we suggest that CSR forms part of a complex strategy deployed to legitimize particular brands and commodities. In this way CSR can be seen as playing an important role in the ideological makeup of contemporary consumer capitalism.
Ground improvement for transport infrastructure: geosynthetic inclusions for enhanced ballasted rail tracks

Given the increasing demand for trains to carry heavier loads, current Australian ballasted rail networks require a significant amount of upgrading. Railroad ballast is an unbounded granular material that displaces laterally when subjected to repeated train loading. During track operations, ballast deteriorates due to progressive breakage and the infiltration of fine particles or mud-pumping from the underneath layers (e.g., capping, subgrade), which decreases the shear strength, impedes track drainage and increases the deformation of ballasted tracks. Rail track substructures can be reinforced by geosynthetics to reduce lateral displacements and optimise overall track performance. This paper presents the current state-of-the-art knowledge of rail track geomechanics based on research conducted at the University of Wollongong, including essential topics related to laboratory tests, computational modelling and field investigations undertaken to examine the improved performance of ballast by the use of geosynthetics. Full-scale monitoring of instrumented tracks supported by RailCorp and Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) has been carried out to obtain data (i.e. measure the in-situ stresses and deformation of ballast embankments) that will reliably verify track performance as well as calibrate and validate introduced numerical simulations. This paper focuses on primary research and development of new design and construction concepts to enhance track performance using geosynthetics, whilst highlighting examples of innovations from theory to practice. These results provide promising approaches that can be incorporated into existing track design routines to cater for future high speed trains and heavier hauls.
To conserve or convert wetlands: Evidence from Nyando wetlands, Kenya

Wetland resources of Nyando Wetlands support important economic and ecological activities. However, it is faced with multiple pressures from different anthropogenic Activities within the wetlands and upstream. The Nyando wetlands are facing increasing threats of reclamation for agriculture. This is bound to intensify as population pressure increases. The question therefore is; should Nyando Wetlands be conserved or converted? Using market and contingent valuation methods, within the benefit-cost analysis framework, an economic valuation was carried out to determine the benefits of conserving or converting the Nyando wetlands. The results revealed that Nyando Wetlands yield a flow of economic benefits of the consumptive goods and services estimated at about US$ 1.5 Billion (US$ 62,500 / Ha / year) with an infinite present value of US$ 75.5 Billion at 2% discount rate. Thus the reclamation of the wetlands would imply high economic costs to the government and local communities. To reduce the pressure of reclamation, it is suggested that educational campaigns on the importance of wetlands be carried out.
Teaching and learning strategies of programming for university courses

It is consensual to consider teaching and learning programming difficult. A lot of work, dedication, and motivation are required for teachers and students. Since the first programming languages have emerged, the problem of teaching and learning programming is studied and investigated. The theme is very serious, not only for the important concepts underlying the course but also for the lack of motivation, failure, and abandonment that such frustration may imply in the student. Immediate response and constant monitoring of students' activities and problems are important. With this work, it is our goal to improve student achievement in courses where programming is essential. We want each student to be able to improve and deepen their programming skills, performing a set of exercises appropriate and worked for each student and situation. We intend to build a dynamic learning model of constant evaluation, build the profile of the student. The student profile will be analyzed by our predictive model, which in case of prediction of failure, the student will have more careful attention. Predict the student's failure with anticipation and act with specific activities, giving the student the possibility of training and practicing the activities with difficulties. With this model, we try to improve the skills of each student in programming.
Use Of ICT To Promote And Analyze Argumentative And Metacognitive Processes In Higher Education

The main objectives of the research is to explain and analyze the processes of argumentation and metacognitive thinking that activate university students when they undergo a process of systematic discussion to solve a problem and evaluate the effectiveness of the software Digalo2 for the development of argumentative and metacognitive competences. The research has characteristics of a mixed study, qualitative predominant method (Cuanti + CUALI). Through a quantitative methodology, instruments of measurement of the aforementioned competences will be applied and statistical analysis will be carried out. Through the qualitative methodology, the development process of the aforementioned skills will be analyzed from each student's individual self-records and the argumentative discussions of the student teams. The original study corresponding to the Doctoral Thesis used a sample of 250 students distributed in 6 courses who study the subject, ICT in Education from the Education Department of the University of Salamanca. However, for the purposes of this paper, the results of a single course consisting of 56 students will be presented. The main results are the characterization of the sample in terms of their argumentative, motivational and learning strategies, showing an average level reached. Likewise, it was possible to carry out within the framework of a curriculum subject to pedagogical activity supported by software and oriented towards the development of argumentative and metacognitive skills.