Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hospital Stressors Experienced by Elderly Medical Inpatients: Developing a Hospital Stress Index

Objective: To develop a long and short version of an index to measure experiences during hospitalization perceived by elderly patients as stressful. Samples and Methods: Consecutive patients aged sixty or over admitted to a university teaching hospital were assessed for hospital-related stressors during two separate studies. In the first study, seventy-six patients were asked an open-ended question exploring what they found most stressful about being in the hospital. Responses were grouped into major categories, and questions were developed to address concerns in each category; the resulting forty items were called the Hospital Stress Index (HSI). The HSI was then administered to a separate group of ninety-two patients; data were also collected on functional disability (impaired ADLs), dysfunctional attitudes (DAS), and depressive symptoms (CES-D). Results: Spontaneously reported hospital stressors were grouped into seven categories: 1) adverse effects of diagnostic or therapeutic procedures/treatments, 2) forced life-style changes, 3) relationships with staff, 4) individual psychiatric issues, 5) understanding diagnosis/prognosis, 6) family issues, and 7) the physical environment. The largest category of stressors concerned relationships with doctors and nurses. High HSI scores were significantly more common among Whites than Blacks and among patients with high CES-D, high DAS, or impaired ADLs scores. A number of potentially modifiable hospital-related stressors and individual patient issues were identified. Finally, an abbreviated fifteen-item HSI was developed to maximize patient discriminability, highlight individual differences, and enhance the detection of modifiable stressors. Conclusions: Hospital-reported stressors may contribute to the emotional distress that elderly inpatients experience. We have developed an index to identify such stressors.
GW4: a real-time background subtraction and maintenance algorithm for FPGA implementation

GW4 is a real-time video segmentation algorithm for detecting moving objects in indoor and outdoor scenes. The platform for the final implementation is Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA); a reconfigurable computing platform. The algorithm detects moving foreground objects against a multimodal background; it is motivated by two well-known adaptive background differencing algorithms, Grimson's algorithm and W4. The implementation is based on a single stationary camera transmitting RGB values at 25Hz. Background modelling at pixel level has been used in many applications, but normally fails due to camouflage and foreground aperture problems. These common problems have been reduced in our approach with the use of pixel and frame level processing. To make the algorithm feasible and efficient for the final hardware platform, we avoid the use of floating point numbers and transcendental operations. The final implementation operates at real-time frame rates on 640x480 video streams. We present experimental results indicating processing speeds, and superior segmentation performance to Grimson's algorithm for different values of K.
Student perceptions of voice and their experiences in an asynchronous/synchronous voice/text environment: a descriptive study

The nature of communication in the online learning environment has been mostly dominated by the mechanized communication of writing using asynchronous discussion and/or synchronous text-based chat (Card, Polin, Parra, Rhoads, & Sartori, 2006) rather than synchronous voice/text (SVT). When used alone, asynchronous text (AT) has the potential to limit social presence and may lead to reduced motivation, immediacy of responses, and learner satisfaction (Cain, 2000; Jurczyk, Benson, & Savery, 2004; Logan, 2004). The purpose of the study was to examine student perceptions of voice and experiences in the asynchronous/synchronous, voice/text course environment. The study used a single case study design within the framework of qualitative research and was bound by the beginning and end of a six-week virtual communication technologies course at an accredited four-year university. The data gathered and analyzed included observation notes, documents, and interviews. All participants interviewed felt that voice provided a significant contribution to the asynchronous and synchronous text environment. The participants spoke of voice as "the next best thing to being there" and that the synchronous voice/text environment provided immediacy, clarification, and most important interaction with the professor. Even though voice was valued by the participants the asynchronous environment in the course room was considered to be the most essential communication hub in the virtual environment. A recurring point by the participants throughout the study was the importance of providing students a choice of computer-mediated communication tools. The results of the study suggest that enhancing the instructional design of asynchronous learning environments with synchronous voice has the potential to provide a more natural environment in which the foundation for future interactions can be created. The sound of voice, especially the professor's, can enhance social presence, reflect personality of the professor and peers, enhance the constructivist learning environment, and add a human touch to the virtual environment. The most important result of this study was the participants need to have the opportunity to choose from multiple communication methods.
Analog Front-End Circuits for Massive Parallel 3-D Neural Microsystems.

Understanding dynamics of the brain has tremendously improved due to the progress in neural recording techniques over the past five decades. The number of simultaneously recorded channels has actually doubled every 7 years, which implies that a recording system with a few thousand channels should be available in the next two decades. Nonetheless, a leap in the number of simultaneous channels has remained an unmet need due to many limitations, especially in the front-end recording integrated circuits (IC). This research has focused on increasing the number of simultaneously recorded channels and providing modular design approaches to improve the integration and expansion of 3-D recording microsystems. Three analog front-ends (AFE) have been developed using extremely low-power and small-area circuit techniques on both the circuit and system levels. The three prototypes have investigated some critical circuit challenges in power, area, interface, and modularity. The first AFE (16-channels) has optimized energy efficiency using techniques such as moderate inversion, minimized asynchronous interface for data acquisition, power-scalable sampling operation, and a wide configuration range of gain and bandwidth. Circuits in this part were designed in a 0. 25μm CMOS process using a 0.9-V single supply and feature a power consumption of 4μW/channel and an energy-area efficiency of 7.51x10^15 in units of J^-1Vrms^-1mm^-2. The second AFE (128-channels) provides the next level of scaling using dc-coupled analog compression techniques to reject the electrode offset and reduce the implementation area further. Signal processing techniques were also explored to transfer some computational power outside the brain. Circuits in this part were designed in a 180nm CMOS process using a 0.5-V single supply and feature a power consumption of 2. 5μW/channel, and energy-area efficiency of 30.2x10^15 J^-1Vrms^-1mm^-2. The last AFE (128-channels) shows another leap in neural recording using monolithic integration of recording circuits on the shanks of neural probes. Monolithic integration may be the most effective approach to allow simultaneous recording of more than 1,024 channels. The probe and circuits in this part were designed in a 150 nm SOI CMOS process using a 0.5-V single supply and feature a power consumption of only 1. 4μW/channel and energy-area efficiency of 36.4x10^15 J^-1Vrms^-1mm^-2.
Enhancing teaching through professional learning: Case studies of professional learning to improve reading instruction for Year 2 students with reading difficulties in one Australian state

III DECLARATION . V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . VII LIST OF TABLES . XI LIST OF FIGURES . XIII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1. Context . 1 1.2. Problem . 3 1.3. Rationale . 4 1.4. Purpose . 4 1.5. Research Questions . 5 1.6. Significance . 6 1.7. Overview of the Thesis . 7 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW . 9 2.1. The Importance of Reading . 9 2.2. How Children Learn to Read . 12 Research findings . 14 Models of reading . 17 The war is over but the battles continue – Not IF but HOW . 22 National inquiries . 26 2.3. The Impact of Beliefs on Practice . 28 2.4. The Impact of Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) . 30 Teacher knowledge of reading instruction . 32 2.5. Consideration of Career Stages . 35 2.6. Effective Professional Learning . 36 What makes professional learning effective in relation to reading? 42 2.7. Conceptual Framework . 44 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY . 47 3.1. Epistemology and Theoretical Perspective . 47 3.2. Methodology and Method . 50 Case study . 50 Mixed methods . 52
Arabic as a Language between Qur‘Anic (Sacred) and Historical Designations

Pembahasan dalam tulisan singkat ini terdiri dari tiga bagian utama. Bagian pertama akan membahas dengan singkat asal usul bahasa Arab dan datangnya agama Islam sebagai awal yang penting dalam membentuk dan mengkaji bahasa Arab. Bagian kedua akan membahas tentang perubahan dan pembaharuan sejarah dalam bahasa Arab selama periode awal Islam (sastra Arab) dan periode pertengahan, dalam arti yang luas, meliputi perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan dan sikap para cendikiawan pada saat itu. Dan pada bagian akhir, untuk memperoleh secara utuh permasalahan modern dari perubahan dan pembaharuan bahasa Arab tersebut, dua sarjana kontemporer Timur Tengah dipilih untuk memberi komentar terhadap masalah ini. Keyword: Arabic language, history, modernization, and language development
Stringr: Modern, Consistent String Processing

String processing is not glamorous, but it is frequently used in data cleaning and preparation. The existing string functions in R are powerful, but not friendly. To remedy this, the stringr package provides string functions that are simpler and more consistent, and also fixes some functionality that R is missing compared to other programming languages.
A FLEXIBLE GEOMETRIC WIDE-BAND TIME-VARYING CHANNEL MODEL FOR V-BLAST MIMO SIMULATIONS

The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a MOS transistor on a semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor wafer comprises a silicon substrate. A gate is first formed in a predetermined area on the surface of the semiconductor wafer. A first ion implantation process is then performed to form a doped area on the surface of the silicon substrate adjacent to the gate, the doped area serving as a heavily doped drain (HDD). A uniform and oxygen-free dielectric layer is formed on the surface of the semiconductor wafer that covers the gate. A spacer is formed on each wall of the gate. Finally, a second ion implantation process is performed to form a source and a drain on the surface of the silicon substrate adjacent to the spacer.
Teacher Candidates' Views of Digital Games as Learning Devices

The objective of this research study was to explore teacher candidate views toward digital learning games using an immersive strategy. Specifically, we were interested in finding out what game use in classroom settings taught candidates about the role of teacher as facilitator of instruction. The procedures first focused teacher candidate attention on effective learning methods followed by attention to the pedagogies of teaching digital games to middle or high school students and peers. Data was collected regarding teacher candidate reactions to this learning medium. Teacher educators may be interested in the findings to help design contemporary curricula to support candidates’ development in using computer-based games for learning purposes in middle and secondary classrooms. In addition, research findings may help developers and instructional technologists design future games that are germane to specific learning contexts while challenging students to think critically and develop complex reasoning skills.
Change management and synchronization of local and shared versions of a controlled vocabulary

To share clinical data and to build interoperating computer systems that permit data entry, data retrieval, and data analysis, users and systems at multiple sites must share a common controlled clinical vocabulary (or ontology). However, local sites that adopt a shared vocabulary have local needs, and local-vocabulary maintainers make changes to the local version of that vocabulary. For a local site, there is a tradeoff between having autonomy over a local vocabulary and conforming to a shared vocabulary to obtain the benefits of interoperation. If the local site is motivated to conform, then the burden lies with the local site to manage its own changes and to incorporate the changes of the shared version at periodic intervals. I call this process synchronization. In this dissertation, I present an approach to change management and synchronization of local and shared versions of a controlled vocabulary. This approach supports carefully controlled divergence. I describe the CONCORDIA model, which comprises a structural model, a change model, and a log model to which the shared and local vocabularies conform. I demonstrate use of this model through methods that I have implemented in shared and local versions of a browser and an editor and in a synchronization-support tool. I evaluated my model and methods by performing the synchronization process on a small test set of medical concepts in the subdomain of rickettsial diseases. I obtained content from medical textbooks published at different points in time, and showed evolution of the medical vocabulary in two divergent directions. I synchronized the two versions using the synchronization-support tool. The CONCORDIA model served as an effective approach for representation and communication of vocabulary change.
Aspects économiques de l'occupation allemande en France, 1940-1944: l'exemple de l'industrie électrotechnique

L’article tente d’illustrer, a travers l’exemple de l’industrie de la construction electrotechnique en France et en Allemagne, la these qu’etudier les conditions de la collaboration economique, ses effets et ses limites necessite de poser le regime d’occupation et la collaboration economique comme un processus d’interaction entre l’occupant et l’occupe. Le caractere international de cette industrie et le fait que toutes les grandes entreprises francaises et allemandes etaient integrees dans un reseau de relations multilaterales qui incluait souvent les firmes americaines geantes comme partie tierce eurent un impact ambigu. D’une part, les relations existantes faciliterent pour les entreprises allemandes l’emploi des ressources francaises pour leur propre effort de guerre et l’integration des usines francaises dans leurs capacites de production, nourrissant ainsi la collaboration economique. Mais, d’autre part, ces relations limitaient la portee et l’intensite destructrice de la collaboration, dans la mesure ou les deux parties, aussi bien les dirigeants francais qu’allemands, ont pris conscience en 1943 que le rapport de forces commencait a changer et que l’existence future de leur entreprise dependrait de leur cooperation avec les Americains apres la fin de la guerre.
The measurement of musical talent

T |HE psychology of music is now being built up in the laboratory from three points of view, namely: the psychology of individual talent, the psychology of aesthetic feeling in musical appreciation and expression, and the psychology of the pedagogy of music. Our subject limits this discussion to the first of these three aspects. Musical talent, like all other talent, is a gift of natureinherited, not acquired; in so far as a musician has natural ability in music, he has been born with it. Perhaps natural ability of a high order is not so very rare, for modern psychology has demonstrated that a surprisingly small portion of our talents are allowed to develop and to come to fruitage, and thus has given great reinforcement to the dictum that many men "die with all their music in them. " From the point of view of measurement, the latent power is as tangible as the developed, and is often of greater interest. The measurement of musical capacity, therefore, concerns itself chiefly with inborn psycho-physic and mental capacities as distinguished from skill acquired in training. In 1842 the greatest physiologist of that time declared that it would forever remain impossible to measure the speed of the nerve impulse; yet, within two years of that time, his colleague measured it with accuracy. Up to that time it had been supposed that the nerve impulse might have the speed of an electric current; but the measurement showed that it takes a nerve impulse as long to pass from the foot to the brain of a man as it would take the electric current to pass half way around the globe. About the same time it was almost universally believed that "the time of thought" could not be measured; but the "reaction-time experiment" did on the mental side what the measurement of the nerve impulse had done on the physical side. Talent, like the dream, has been thought of as peculiarly illusive and intangible for observation. Yet the science of individual psychology to-day virtually "dissects"
Analisis Pengaruh Kualitas Pelayanan, Kualitas Produk Dan Harga Terhadap Kepercayaan Konsumen Produk Notebook (Studi Kasus Terhadap Dua Merk Notebook)

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui apakah kualitas pelayanan, kualitas produk dan harga mempunyai pengaruh yang signifikan terhadap Kepercayaan konsumen dan untuk mengetahui variabel manakah yang paling dominan mempunyai pengaruh yang signifikan terhadap kepercayaan konsumen. Hasil penelitian diharapkan dapat digunakan sebagai masukan dan bahan pemikiran bagi perusahaan dalam menentukan kebijaksanaan pengelolaan manajemen pemasaran terutama yang berhubungan dengan kepercayaan konsumen dan faktor yang mempengaruhi kepercayaan konsumen dalam pemakaian sebuah produk. Hipotesis yang diajukan dalam penelitian ini adalah diduga secara parsial dan simultan kualitas pelayanan, kualitas produk dan harga mempunyai pengaruh terhadap kepercayaan konsumen. Alat analisis yang digunakan Uji Asumsi Klasik, Analisis Linier berganda dan pengujian hipotesis yaitu: uji t, uji F dan uji R2. Pengumpulan data didapat secara langsung dengan menyebar kuisioner. Untuk populasi yang dipakai pada penelitian ini adalah semua kalangan yang bisa digunakan untuk bahan penelitian dari pelajar, mahasiswa dan para pekerja atau karyawan dengan mengambil 100 orang sebagai sampel yang berdomisili di area kota Surakarta. Dalam tekhnik pengambilan sampel menggunakan accidental sampling. Berdasarkan hasil analisis data dapat disusun persamaan regresi, yaitu: Y = 4,120 + 0,164X1 + 0,119X2 + 0,232X3. , dari persamaan tersebut dapat disimpulkan variabel harga produk merupakan variabel yang paling berpengaruh terhadap kepercayaan konsumen, hal ini dibuktikan dengan nilai koefisien regresi sebesar 0,232. Hasil uji t menunjukkan thitung X1 = 2,708 dan ρ = 0,008, artinya terdapat pengaruh yang signifikan kualitas pelayanan terhadap kepercayaan konsumen, thitung X2 = 2,105 dan ρ = 0,038 artinya terdapat pengaruh yang signifikan kualitas produk terhadap kepercayaan konsumen, thitung X3 = 2,976 dan ρ = 0,004, artinya terdapat pengaruh yang signifikan harga produk terhadap kepercayaan konsumen. Hasil uji F diperoleh Fhitung = 21,746 dan ρ = 0,000 artinya terdapat pengaruh yang signifikan kualitas pelayanan, kualitas produk, harga produk terhadap kepercayaan konsumen dalam memilih notebook. Hasil uji R2 diperoleh R2 = 0,405 atau 40,5%, Artinya kualitas pelayanan, kualitas produk dan harga mampu menjelaskan kepercayaan konsumen sebesar 40,5% sisanya dipengaruhi oleh variabel lain di luar model yang tidak diteliti dalam penelitian ini
Costs and advantages in bimodal bilingual language production: Language-switching and dual-task paradigms

Previous studies of unimodal (spoken–spoken) language switching have often found longer reaction times and higher error rates in switch trials than in repeat trials, particularly for unbalanced bilinguals. Studies of hearing signers (bimodal bilinguals) have found that they often produce ‘code-blends’ rather than sequential code-switches; such simultaneous production is generally not possible in unimodal utterances. The present study explored sequential language switching and simultaneous language production (dual-task) in bimodal bilinguals. The Methodological Experiment adapted the language-switching paradigm, used previously to test unimodal language switching, to bimodal data and required significant methodological development. The Methodological Experiment and Experiment 1 examined modality effects in language switching with two Modalities: unimodal (German–English) and bimodal (German–DGS). Reaction times were shorter, error rates lower and switch costs smaller in bimodal switching blocks than in unimodal blocks, indicating a bimodal language switching advantage. Experiment 2 examined simultaneous bimodal language production, comparing dual-task and single-task trials in order to determine whether there are dual-task advantages. Previous studies found dual-task costs, or in some cases, no dual-task cost and no advantage, for responses across modalities in non-language tasks. However, our results show that in a bimodal bilingual switching condition, there can be a dual-task advantage, especially when switching into a dual-task trial (code-blend). We suggest that language is different from other task components in task-switching and dual-task studies and that a code-blend forms a unit which is greater than the sum of its parts.
Heuristics - intelligent search strategies for computer problem solving

A member for protectively supporting and spacing a plurality of rolls of web material such as cellophane in a multi-layer stack is formed as an elongated bar. The bar has a plurality of spaced indentations along at least one elongated surface for receiving the rolls of the stack. The bar is formed with sufficient flexibility to permit a limited, relative movement among the rolls of the stack. This provides a high degree of protection to the rolls. At the same time, the bar has sufficient strength to prevent crushing of the stack. The bar may be formed of expanded polystyrene foam and, preferably, is formed to embrace the ends of the rolls for protective purposes.
Anonymization Techniques for URLs and Filenames

Investigating the behavior of computer and network systems often involves collecting and analyzing traces of user activity. Because traces are expensive to store and collect, and because it is desirable to replicate experimental results, it is common to publish trace data for use by other researchers. To maintain the privacy of users, traces are usually anonymized before publication. We discuss prior methods for anonymizing such traces, including weaknesses and drawbacks in those methods. We then present a new method that can anonymize strings such as URLs while preserving a maximum amount of information useful to researchers.