Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Testing for Neuropsychological Endophenotypes in Siblings Discordant for ADHD

Objective—Neurocognitive deficits associated with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be useful intermediate endophenotypes for determining specific genetic pathways that contribute to ADHD. Methods— This study administered 17 measures from prominent neuropsychological theories of ADHD (executive function, processing speed, arousal regulation and motivation/delay aversion) in dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs discordant for ADHD and control twin pairs (ages 8–18) in order to compare performance between twins affected with ADHD (n = 266), their unaffected co-twins (n = 228), and control children from twin pairs without ADHD or learning difficulties (n = 332). Results— ADHD subjects show significant impairment on executive function, processing speed, and response variability measures compared to control subjects. Unaffected cotwins of ADHD subjects are significantly impaired on nearly all the same measures as their ADHD siblings, even when subclinical symptoms of ADHD are controlled. Conclusion—Executive function, processing speed, and response variability deficits may be useful endophenotypes for genetic studies of ADHD.
Poverty and nutrition : A case study of rural households in Thailand and Viet

In this paper, we analyze the link between nutrition and poverty in two Asian countries where monetary-based poverty reduction was especially successful. Thailand and Viet Nam are two emerging market economies where poverty rates are now below 10% and are declining further. Despite this success, it is not clear to what extent this success has translated into similar improvements in the nutritional situation of the people and especially of children. We find that undernutrition continues to be a problem in Viet Nam with child underweight rates of 27% and therefore higher than headcount rates of the $1.25 poverty line. Also, Thailand, after the economic crisis, with 19% of children underweight, is still above the World Health Organization’s threshold. We investigate the factors that influence nutrition outcomes, measured as Z-scores of the weight-for-age indicator, by using Tobit regressions for four different groups of children, based on income (poor vs. non-poor) and nutrition (underweight vs. non-underweight). We find that poverty and income influence nutrition outcomes, but other factors such as mother’s height, education, migration and sanitation also affect nutrition. Coefficients of respective variables differ by poverty status. Our conclusion that non-monetary factors matter to reduce undernutrition, and, therefore, monetary poverty reduction is not a sufficient condition, is further underlined by a prediction of future undernutrition rates based on regressions. Also, we find that, even under the assumption of high growth, income growth alone will not be able to reduce undernutrition to a level of low severity until the year 2030. JEL Classification: I31, I32, O10 ADBI Working Paper 623 Waibel and Hohfeld
Etiology and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of bacteria isolated from patients with meningitis

The aim of this prospective study was the determination of etiology and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of bacteria. This study includes 276 culture positive cases of patients aging from newborn to 15 years age group. The method involves the pathogen identification and antibiotic sensitivity testing. The pathogens were isolated from CSF samples of the admitted patients, identified and purified by selective culturing methods, which were subjected to active growth, during which sensitivity to different antibiotics was checked and measured with area marked by the zone of inhibition as well as by Clinical Laboratory Standards interpretations (CLSI). Gram negative bacteria were found in 145 patients and most occurring bacteria were Pseudomonas spp (23.7%), E.coli (6.5%), 10.5% of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter spp, Proteus spp, Acinetobacter baumanii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In this study, gram negative bacteria were found to be the major cause of bacterial meningitis, majority of which is resistant to antibiotics used in common practice that needs careful selection of drugs for the treatment.
Bi-Modal DRAM Cache: A Scalable and Effective Die-Stacked DRAM Cache

In this paper, we present Bi-Modal Cache - a flexible stacked DRAM cache organization which simultaneously achieves several objectives: (i) improved cache hit ratio, (ii) moving the tag storage overhead to DRAM, (iii) lower cache hit latency than tags-in-SRAM, and (iv) reduction in off-chip bandwidth wastage. The Bi-Modal Cache addresses the miss rate versus off-chip bandwidth dilemma by organizing the data in a bi-modal fashion - blocks with high spatial locality are organized as large blocks and those with little spatial locality as small blocks. By adaptively selecting the right granularity of storage for individual blocks at run-time, the proposed DRAM cache organization is able to make judicious use of the available DRAM cache capacity as well as reduce the off-chip memory bandwidth consumption. The Bi-Modal Cache improves cache hit latency despite moving the metadata to DRAM by means of a small SRAM based Way Locator. Further by leveraging the tremendous internal bandwidth and capacity that stacked DRAM organizations provide, the Bi-Modal Cache enables efficient concurrent accesses to tags and data to reduce hit time. Through detailed simulations, we demonstrate that the Bi-Modal Cache achieves overall performance improvement (in terms of Average Normalized Turnaround Time (ANTT)) of 10.8%, 13.8% and 14.0% in 4-core, 8-core and 16-core workloads respectively.
Sumudu Transform - a New Integral Transform to Solve Differential Equations and Control Engineering Problems

It is possible to solve differential equations, integral equations, and control engineering problems by a transformation in which the differentiation and integration of f(t) in the t-domain is made equivalent to division and multiplication of F(u) by u in the u-domain. The new transformation which is called the Sumudu transformation possesses many interesting properties which make the visualization of the transformation process easier to a newcomer. Some of the properties of the Sumudu transformation are: (1) The unit-step function in t-domain is transformed to unity in u-domain. (2) Scaling of f (t) in t-domain is equivalent to the scaling of F (u) by the same scale factor, and this is true even for negative scale factors. (3) The limit of f (t) as t tends to zero is equal to the limit of F (u) as u tends to zero. (4) The slope of f (t) at t=0 is equal to the slope of F (u) at u = 0. Thus u and F (u) are no longer dummies but can be treated as replicas of t and f (t) and can be expressed using same respective units, and therefore one can check the consistency of units of a differential equation even after the Sumudu transform.
Working paper Series WPS No 812 / August 2018 Impact of entrepreneurship on objective and subjective economic markets : A longitudinal study from India

Although research in entrepreneurship has examined its pecuniary and non-pecuniary benefits in advanced economies, the rewards of entrepreneurship are under-researched in emerging economies, as is a focus on the household as the unit of analysis. We study the relationship between entrepreneurship and objective (household income and consumption) and subjective economic wellbeing in emerging markets, where a majority of entrepreneurs belong to households that have low to middle income. Using unique panel data of Indian households, we find that starting an enterprise in these markets can lead to multiple benefits for a household, such as positive effects on household income, household consumption, and subjective assessment of economic wellbeing.
EVALUASI KESUKSESAN IMPLEMENTASI APLIKASI PENGELOLAAN TUGAS BELAJAR DI BPK

Penelitian ini melakukan evaluasi kesuksesan implementasi Aplikasi Pengelolaan Tugas Belajar (APTB) di Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan diukur dari tingkat kepuasan dan manfaat yang dirasakan penggunanya. Model penelitian mengadaptasi dan menggabungkan Technology Acceptance Model dan Information System Success Model DeLone dan McLean yang diperbarui. Terdapat tujuh variabel yaitu kualitas sistem, kualitas informasi, kualitas layanan, kegunaan yang dirasakan, kemudahan yang dirasakan, kepuasan pengguna, dan manfaat- manfaat bersih. Evaluasi dilakukan dengan menguji apakah kualitas sistem, kualitas informasi, dan kualitas layanan berpengaruh secara signifikan terhadap kegunaan yang dirasakan dan kemudahan yang dirasakan, yang selanjutnya akan mempengaruhi kepuasan pengguna serta menguji apakah kepuasan pengguna berpengaruh terhadap manfaat-manfaat bersih. Penelitian dilakukan dengan menganalisis hasil kuesioner yang terkumpul dari 90 responden. Metode analisis yang digunakan adalah Partial Least Square (PLS) dengan perangkat lunak SmartPLS. Hasil analisis dengan tingkat keyakinan 90% menunjukkan bahwa kualitas sistem berpengaruh signifikan terhadap kemudahan yang dirasakan, tetapi tidak berpengaruh terhadap kegunaan yang dirasakan. Kualitas informasi berpengaruh terhadap kegunaan yang dirasakan dan kemudahan yang dirasakan. Kualitas layanan berpengaruh signifikan terhadap kegunaan yang dirasakan, tetapi tidak berpengaruh terhadap kemudahan yang dirasakan. Kemudahan yang dirasakan mempengaruhi secara signifikan kegunaan yang dirasakan. Kegunaan yang dirasakan dan kemudahan yang dirasakan mempengaruhi secara signifikan kepuasan pengguna, dan kepuasan pengguna mempengaruhi secara signifikan manfaat-manfaat bersih. Selain itu, didapatkan evaluasi kesuksesan implementasi APTB yang belum sepenuhnya memenuhi harapan pengguna.
Doing project work: The interactional organization of tasks, resources, and instructions

Title: Doing project work: The interactional organization of tasks, resources, and instructions Author: Mikaela Åberg Language: English with a Swedish summary ISBN: 978-91-7346-857-2 (print) ISBN: 978-91-7346-858-9 (pdf) ISSN: 0436-1121
Development of everlasting flowers ( Comanthera elegans ( Bong . )

Marketing the inflorescences of Comanthera elegans (Bong.) L.R. Parra & Giul. represents a source of income to many families from extractives communities in the portion of the Espinhaço Range located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Cultivating this species stands out by allying income generation with conservation since the species is currently endangered. This study aimed to assess aspects of the development of C. elegans in three cultivation systems: beds, rows, and whole area. Sowing took place in January 2009 and the inflorescences were harvested in May 2010, which characterized the experimental period. Emergence; plant density; rates of flowering, mortality, resprouting, and recruiting of new individuals; and production of inflorescences per plant and per area were assessed. Emergence began approximately 50 days after sowing. Plant density ranged from 130 to 350 plants.m-2 among the three cultivation systems. The highest mortality rate (18%) was observed at the peak of the dry season (August) and the overall mortality rate over one reproductive cycle was 49%. Of the plants that lost the aerial part, 36% resprouted. Sprouting and seed germination accounted for 30 and 3% of the recruiting of new individuals, respectively. C. elegans had two bloom (AprilMay 2009 and April-May 2010): 5.4% of the plants bloomed in the first season and 78%, in the second. Each plant produced between three and 178 inflorescences and the highest inflorescence production in terms of weight (232 g.m-2) and number (2,910 inflorescences.m-2) was observed in the cultivation in beds at 1,624 kg.ha-1.
The Bayes ’ formula is a vector additive Abelian group operation in the simplex endowed with the Aitchison geometry

The discrete case of Bayes’ formula is considered the paradigm of information acquisition. Prior and posterior probability functions, as well as likelihood functions, called evidence functions, are compositions following the Aitchison geometry of the simplex, and have thus vector character. Bayes’ formula becomes a vector addition. The Aitchison norm of an evidence function is introduced as a scalar measurement of information. A fictitious fire scenario serves as illustration. Two different inspections of affected houses are considered. Two questions are addressed: (a) which is the information provided by the outcomes of inspections, and (b) which is the most informative inspection. MSC: 60A10, 60E10, 62E10
2 A reference mathematical model for Code-domain NOMA

Motivated by recent theoretical challenges for 5G and beyond 5G systems, this chapter aims to position relevant results in the literature on code-domain non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) from an informationtheoretic perspective, given that most of the recent intuition of NOMA relies on another domain, that is, the power domain. Theoretical derivations for several code-domain NOMA schemes are reported and interpreted, adopting a unified framework that focuses on the analysis of the NOMA spreading matrix, in terms of load, sparsity, and regularity features. The comparative analysis shows that it is beneficial to adopt extreme lowdense code-domain NOMA in the large system limit, where the number of resource elements and number of users grow unboundedly while their ratio, called load, is kept constant. Particularly, when optimum receivers are used, the adoption of a regular low-dense spreading matrix is beneficial to the system achievable rates, which are higher than those obtained with either irregular low-dense or dense formats, for any value of load. For linear receivers, which are more favorable in practice due to lower complexity, the regular low-dense NOMA still has better performance in the underloaded regime (load < 1), while the irregular counterpart outperforms all the other schemes in the overloaded scenario (load > 1).
Why Simulation Games Work-In Search of the Active Substance: A Synthesis

In this article, the authors reflect on the question why simulation games are such an effective tool for learning. The article is based on the authors’ experience and that of many other practitioners in the field. The article posits that it is the confluence of systemic knowledge, practice, emotional involvement, and social embeddedness that creates the potential to achieve results that no other methods can match. A simulation game run constitutes a bout of individual and collective purposeful action by an individual or a group formed specifically for that purpose. People have evolved to be supremely good at just that. Simulation games can teach systemic knowledge, and they can enable participants to try out organizational changes. This potential is not always realized, however. Game runs are “alive” and variable, and this is a risky strength. They activate not only the explicit rules but also the hidden cultural rules of the participants. This can lead to memorable learning as well as to frustration, particularly when games are used across cultures. The article specifies reasons why games could fail and offers ways to avoid these pitfalls. It shows that experience and craftsmanship are needed in game design, facilitation, and debriefing.
Therapeutic Effects of FTY 720 , a New Immunosuppressive Agent , in a Murine Model of Acute Viral Myocarditis

OBJECTIVES This study examines the efficacy of FTY720 (FTY), a new immunosuppressor, in the treatment of acute viral myocarditis in a murine model. BACKGROUND Immunosuppressive agents have no proven therapeutic efficacy in experimental or clinical myocarditis. METHODS Encephalomyocarditis virus was inoculated i.p. in DBA/2 mice on day 0. Postinoculation treatment consisted of FTY 10 mg/kg/day p.o. (FTY group), or cyclosporine A (CsA) 40 mg/kg/day p.o. (CsA group) or distilled water p.o. only (control group). Survival until day 14, as well as cardiac histopathology, virus concentrations, cytokines (interleukin [IL]-2, IL-12, interferon [IFN]-gamma and tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-alpha) and nitric oxide (NO) on day 5 were examined. RESULTS In the control and CsA groups, all mice died within 10 and 7 days, respectively. However, in the FTY group, 27% of the animals survived up to day 14. Compared with the control group, 1) histological scores were significantly lower in the FTY group but unchanged in the CsA group; 2) virus concentration was significantly higher in the CsA group but not in the FTY group; 3) expressions of IL-2, IL-12 and IFN-gamma in the heart were suppressed in both the FTY and CsA groups, though suppression was weaker in the FTY group; 4) TNF-alpha and NO were significantly increased in the CsA group but not in the FTY group. CONCLUSIONS FTY720 had a significant therapeutic effect in acute experimental myocarditis without inducing excessive virus replication. This report is the first to describe a beneficial effect by an immunosuppressive agent in the treatment of acute viral myocarditis. (J Am Coll Cardiol 2001;37:1713–8) © 2001 by the American College of Cardiology
Software Project and Quality Modelling Using Bayesian Networks

This chapter provides an introduction to the use of Bayesian Network (BN) models in Software Engineering. A short overview of the theory of BNs is included, together with an explanation of why BNs are ideally suited to dealing with the characteristics and shortcomings of typical software development environments. This theory is supplemented and illustrated using real world models that illustrate the advantages of BNs in dealing with uncertainty, causal reasoning and learning in the presence of limited data.
Climate science – is it a sub-field of physical science ?

As an initial educated look tells us, the scientific analysis of climate is mostly a physical science discipline. The object of climate science is not a social construct but part of the real world that is governed by physical principles, such as conservation of energy, momentum and mass in hydrodynamics. Thus, the climate science field comprises the “physics of the climate system”. None the less, this is only part of the story; another significant part of the set of issues represented by “climate” is deeply embedded in social and cultural processes. Thus, climate science is a genuinely trans-disciplinary scientific field, which poses special challenges and approaches requiring the skills of both physical scientists as well as social and cultural scientists.
An Algorithm for Construction of Probabilistic Road Maps with Reduced Numbers of Redundant Edges

We introduce an algorithm for probabilistic roadmap construction, k-nearest-multiD, which improves upon the existing k-nearest-PRM algorithm by reducing the number of redundant edges in a PRM. We test our algorithm experimentally and compare it to the common form of the k-nearest algorithm on two configuration spaces with many input parameters.
CLAUSE TYPE AND WORD SALIENCY IN SECOND LANGUAGE INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION

________________ The present study investigated the relationship between L2 incidental lexical gain during reading and the variables of clause type and word saliency. Lexical gain was defined as gain of grammatical class and word meaning and was compared for target items in dependent and independent clauses. Word saliency was a measurement of the learners’ perception of the importance of the target items in an L2 text (Brown, 1993). One hundred fifty L2 learners of Spanish, divided into two groups according to level of L2 experience (Lee, 1991), read a Spanish language text with 10 target items and completed assessment measures for word saliency and gain of grammatical class and word meaning. A cumulative logistic regression test was used for data analysis. Results demonstrated that word saliency was significantly related to gain of grammatical class and word meaning, with increases in word saliency associated with greater levels of lexical gain, while clause type was significantly related only to gain of grammatical class, with greater gains present for target words in independent clauses. The findings indicate that saliency and clause type are both related to L2 lexical gain, but that they may play separate roles in L2 lexical acquisition and processing. ____________________ Introduction The present study investigated the relationship between the variables of clause type, word saliency, and second language (L2) incidental vocabulary acquisition during reading. Previous research in incidental vocabulary learning provided limited information about text-based and learner-based factors which contributed to the incidental acquisition of lexical information (Horst & Meara, 1999; Meara, 1997). The present study attempted to address two factors, clause type and word saliency, and to describe how they are connected to the incidental acquisition of lexical information (lexical gain). It assessed lexical gain in independent and dependent clauses based upon the proposed differences in the processing of information in main and subordinate clauses (Baker & Wagner, 1987; Bybee, 2002; Sanford, 2002). The study also measured lexical gain with regard to word saliency and assessed whether an increase in lexical gain would be associated with an increase in saliency. Saliency was defined as the learners’ perception of the importance of target words in an L2 text. While results of previous studies of L2 vocabulary
An analysis of native Dari speakers’ errors in university-level Dari and English writing

Writing well, especially in English, is an asset to anyone who aspires to succeed in the academic or other professional fields in this age of English as a lingua franca. Numerous scholars have investigated errors committed by English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners. However, to date there is no empirical study on the error patterns displayed in native Dari speakers’ EFL writing in English and in Dari. The present study investigates error occurrences in 20 native Dari speakers’ English and Dari writing. These participants were English majors attending Balkh University, in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. Most of the participants self-identified their English proficiency levels as “advanced. ” The data were collected through convenience sampling of the students enrolled in EFL writing courses who voluntarily participated in two writing tasks of different levels of difficulty; they completed these first in English and then a week later in Dari. In order to observe any patterns, all spelling and word choice errors were identified by three independent judges (one Dari instructor at BU, one native-American-English-speaking graduate student in the English Department, and the author who is bilingual and works as an English instructor). All three worked separately initially and then discussed any discrepancies together in person (English) or via Skype (Dari), until they reached consensus. The analysis, concerning the three research hypotheses, supported these findings: (1) as predicted, the native Dari speakers committed a variety of errors similar to learners from previous studies; (2) as predicted, the participants made fewer errors in English than in Dari; and (3) counter to the hypothesis, the results indicated that the participants, when writing in Dari, demonstrated more errors in the simpler tasks; yet, the participants committed more errors in the more complex (versus simpler) English writing task, consistent with this hypothesis.