Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning Difficulties in Children with Symptoms of DCD And/or ADHD: Analyses from a Categorical and a Continuous Approach

ABSTRACT Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often co-occur and are associated with specific learning difficulties. Robust prevalence estimations do not yet exist. We studied how symptoms of DCD and/or ADHD are related to difficulties in reading, writing, and mathematics. Using the data from a large online study with a sample of 3,170 3rd and 4th grade children in Germany, including parent-reported DCD- and ADHD symptoms, we followed two approaches. In the categorical approach, we divided the children into groups with and without DCD and/or ADHD on the basis of cut-offs. The results showed that children without DCD/ADHD have fewer difficulties in all learning domains. Children with only DCD showed less learning difficulties than children with ADHD and the comorbid group. In the continuous approach, we performed a latent profile analysis on the basis of symptoms of fine and gross motor problems, inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and intelligence. This yielded four disability profiles of children with (1) no DCD- or ADHD-symptoms, (2) clinical ADHD-scores and above-average DCD, (3) above-average DCD and inattention, and (4) above-average ADHD. Profiles 2 and 3 appeared related to the lowest learning achievement. Theoretical implications are discussed.
Impact of a firm's commitment to learning and open-mindedness on its organizational innovation among Russian manufacturing firms

PurposeDuring the last decade, a firm's ability to innovate has gained substantial attention in the literature devoted to innovation and strategic management. This study aims at discussing on what is the relationship of a firm's commitment to learn and its open-mindedness with its activity in introducing organizational innovations. The data collection was carried out in Russia. In order to make the research more specific, the organizational innovation is broken down into two subtypes, namely innovation in management practices and innovation in workplace organization.Design/methodology/approachThe study is grounded on the data obtained by the surveying of 123 Russian top managers working in manufacturing firms. The structural equation modeling was approached in order to investigate the impact of a firm's commitment to learn and open-mindedness on its organizational innovation.FindingsThe results indicate that the commitment to learn and the open-mindedness have considerable impact on organizational innovation activity in a firm. The findings also provide evidence that both the investigated subtypes of organizational innovation are positively influenced by commitment to learn and open-mindedness, though the degree of that influence differs.Originality/valueThe literature traditionally focuses mostly on the technological type of innovation leaving the organizational innovation covered by scarce research. In this respect the study contributes to the theory of organizational innovation by elaborating its relations with organizational learning dimensions. Apart from the investigation on the research question at a general level, the study explores the specific context related to the manifestation of phenomenon in a transition economy of Russia.
Analysis and modelling of the performance of technologies for flue gas treatment in Waste-to-Energy processes

Waste management represents an important issue in our society and Waste-to-Energy incineration plants have been playing a significant role in the last decades, showing an increased importance in Europe. One of the main issues posed by waste combustion is the generation of air contaminants. Particular concern is present about acid gases, mainly hydrogen chloride and sulfur oxides, due to their potential impact on the environment and on human health. Therefore, in the present study the main available technological options for flue gas treatment were analyzed, focusing on dry treatment systems, which are increasingly applied in Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) incinerators. An operational model was proposed to describe and optimize acid gas removal process. It was applied to an existing MSW incineration plant, where acid gases are neutralized in a two-stage dry treatment system. This process is based on the injection of powdered calcium hydroxide and sodium bicarbonate in reactors followed by fabric filters. HCl and SO2 conversions were expressed as a function of reactants flow rates, calculating model parameters from literature and plant data. The implementation in a software for process simulation allowed the identification of optimal operating conditions, taking into account the reactant feed rates, the amount of solid products and the recycle of the sorbent. Alternative configurations of the reference plant were also assessed. The applicability of the operational model was extended developing also a fundamental approach to the issue. A predictive model was developed, describing mass transfer and kinetic phenomena governing the acid gas neutralization with solid sorbents. The rate controlling steps were identified through the reproduction of literature data, allowing the description of acid gas removal in the case study analyzed. A laboratory device was also designed and started up to assess the required model parameters.
‘The iron rusted and decayed in our clubs’: the failure of weightlifting in early twentieth-century Ireland

ABSTRACT As a branch of sport history, the historiography of weightlifting lags behind other areas. The field is growing but much work needs to be done on its origins. Seeking to provide some context as to the origins of organised weightlifting in Europe, the following article uses Ireland as an ideal case study. The first two major efforts to form an Irish weightlifting organisation in the 1910s and early 1920s failed owing to a series of material and ideological problems. Exploring this point, the article begins with a discussion of weightlifting as an informal sport in Ireland in the nineteenth century before discussing the failure to establish an Irish weightlifting organisation in the early 1910s and early 1920s. Where one organiser, a Mr. W.A. MacPherson failed owing to a lack of material resources and a poor network of contacts, those following him, like the Irish weightlifter Michael Stokes, were hampered by warfare and political conflict. For historians of sport, a study of Irish weightlifting in this vein reiterates the many factors needed to establish formalised pursuits and serves as a timely reminder of the many barriers facing individual athletes wishing to compete.
How a professional development programme for university teachers impacts their teaching-related self-efficacy, self-concept, and subjective knowledge

ABSTRACT The professional development of academic teaching staff has become increasingly visible in higher education, even though there is still not enough evidence on how teachers change through such initiatives. Because flexibility in teaching is a commonly found demand, knowledge and core beliefs of one’s own ability to teach are pivotal. We present data on N = 73 instructors at a German university who participated in a comprehensive training programme on academic teaching. Self-reported data on teaching-related self-efficacy, self-concept, and subjective knowledge about teaching and learning were collected in a pre–post design at the beginning of the programme and afterwards. Improvement in all three variables was found over time.
Mixed Reality: A Known Unknown

Mixed reality (MR) is an area of computer research dealing with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer-generated graphical objects are visually mixed into the real environment and vice versa in real time. This chapter contains an introduction to this modern technology. Mixed reality combines real and virtual and is interactive, real-time processed, and registered in three dimensions. We can create mixed reality by using at least one of the following technologies: augmented reality and augmented virtuality. The mixed reality system can be considered as the ultimate immersive system. MR systems are usually constructed as optical see-through systems (usually by using transparent displays) or video see-through. Implementation of MR systems is as marker systems (real scene will be added with special markers. These will be recognized during runtime and replaced with virtual objects) or (semi) markerless systems (processing and inserting of virtual objects is without exact markers. Additional information is usually needed, for example, image and face recognition, GPS coordinates, etc.). The chapter contains also a description of mixed reality as an advanced computer user interface and the newest collaborative mixed reality.
Hybrid Very Long Baseline Interferometry Imaging and Modeling with themis

Generating images from very long baseline interferometric observations poses a difficult, and generally not unique, inversion problem. This problem is simplified by the introduction of constraints, some generic (e.g., positivity of the intensity) and others motivated by physical considerations (e.g., smoothness, instrument resolution). It is further complicated by the need to simultaneously address instrumental systematic uncertainties and sparse coverage in the u–v plane. We report a new Bayesian image reconstruction technique in the parameter estimation framework Themis that has been developed for the Event Horizon Telescope. This has two key features: first, the full Bayesian treatment of the image reconstruction makes it possible to generate a full posterior for the images, permitting a rigorous and quantitative investigation into the statistical significance of image features. Second, it is possible to seamlessly incorporate directly modeled features simultaneously with image reconstruction. We demonstrate this second capability by incorporating a narrow, slashed ring in reconstructions of simulated M87 data in an attempt to detect and characterize the photon ring. We show that it is possible to obtain high-fidelity photon ring sizes, enabling mass measurements with accuracies of 2%–5% that are essentially insensitive to astrophysical uncertainties, and creating opportunities for precision tests of general relativity.
Optimizing antioxidant substances extraction produced by Holothuria atra using ultrasonic with response surface method

This study was to discover the effect of ultrasonic extraction based on the factors of extraction time and amplitude, to increase the yield recovery of H. atra extract and antioxidant activity (IC50). The process in optimizing ultrasonic extraction was performed using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) with Central Composite Design (CCD). H. atra extract produced by the 2 different extraction methods indicated a significant difference in yield (maceration 5.48%, ultrasonic 10.43%) and antioxidant activity (maceration 149.38 ppm, ultrasonic 84.85 ppm). The antibacterial activity against B. subtilis, E. coli, and S. aureus), also the toxicity LC50 at 457.77: 443.63 ppm were not significantly difference. It was found that ultrasonic extraction method needs shorter time with higher yield and more antioxidant activity. The sea cucumber extract that was produced from the ultrasonic method contains alkaloid, triterpenoid, and saponin, while steroid undetected, and from the maceration method contains no alkaloid and steroid.
Effect of an educational intervention based on BASNEF model on treatment adherence after coronary artery bypass surgery: A randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is the most effective treatment for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Adherence to treatment after CABG surgery is very important. One of the educational models used in this regard is the BASNEF (Belief, Attitudes, Subjective Norms, and Enabling Factors) model. The present study aimed to assess the effect of an educational intervention based on BASNEF model on adherence to treatment in patients after CABG surgery. METHODS The present study was a randomized clinical trial. In this study, 72 patients who had undergone CABG surgery participated in the two intervention and control groups. Patients in the intervention group took part in 4 40-minute educational sessions based on BASNEF model after discharge. The patients in both groups completed the Modanloo Adherence to Treatment Questionnaire (MATQ) and a researcher-made BASNEF model questionnaire before the intervention, after the educational intervention, and at the 3-month follow-up. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, chi-square test, Man-Whitney test, and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Mauchly’s sphericity test was used for testing sphericity and the Greenhouse-Geisser correction was used in the case of lack of sphericity. All P-values of less than 0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS The total score of the MATQ and its subscales had significantly improved in the intervention group after the intervention compared with the control group (P < 0.050). In addition, the mean scores of the model constructs (knowledge, attitude, behavior intention, subjective norms, and enabling factors) had significantly improved after the intervention in the intervention group in comparison with the control group (P < 0.050). CONCLUSION The educational intervention based on BASNEF model improved adherence to treatment in patients after CABG surgery. Moreover, the model constructs improved in the intervention group in comparison with the control group after the intervention.
Something social, something entertaining? How digital content marketing augments consumer experience and brand loyalty

Abstract Branded content marketing serves as an ongoing conversation between brands and consumers. Creating value-rich information that breaks through the noise and that can accelerate brand building has been a standing challenge for many brands. Informed by extant literature on content marketing, this study proposed a comprehensive theoretical framework that explicates the mechanism of branded content marketing in brand loyalty across both high- and low-product involvement brands. This study applied the classification of consumption values to the context of content marketing, hypothesized, and identified consumers’ experiential evaluation as an underlying mechanism of content marketing accounting for brand loyalty. Specifically, for a high-product involvement brand (i.e., Lenovo), consumers’ perceived informative and entertainment value of branded content, as well as the perceived functional value of the brand’s YouTube channel, positively shape their experiential evaluation of the brand, which in turn, leads to greater brand loyalty. For a low-product involvement brand (i.e., Nescafé), consumers’ derived entertainment and social value of branded content, as well as the functional value of its YouTube channel, jointly affect consumers’ experiential evaluation, which subsequently contributes to elevated brand loyalty.
The effect of a conditional cash transfer programme across the mental health distribution

Poor mental health is a pressing global health problem, with high prevalence among poor populations from Low-Income Countries. Existing studies of conditional cash transfer effects on mental health have found positive effects. However, there is a gap in the literature on population wide effects of cash transfers on mental health and if and how these vary by the severity of mental illness. We use the Malawian Longitudinal Study of Family and Health containing 790 adult participants in the Malawi Incentive Programme, a year-long Randomised Controlled Trial. We estimate average and distributional quantile treatment effects and we examine how these effects vary by gender, HIV-status and usage of the cash transfer. We find that the cash transfer improves mental health on average by 0.1 of a standard deviation. The effect varies strongly along the mental health distribution, with a positive effect for individuals with worst mental health of about four times the size of the average effect. These improvements in mental health are associated with increases in consumption expenditures and expenditures related to economic productivity. Our results show that conditional cash transfers can improve adult mental health for the poor living in Low-Income Countries, particularly those with the worst mental health.
Phase Space Reconstruction Driven Spatio-Temporal Feature Learning for Dynamic Facial Expression Recognition

Automatic Dynamic Facial Expression Recognition (DFER) is a challenging task, since how to effectively capture facial temporal dynamics is still an open problem. In this article, we regard variations of facial expressions as a dynamic system in accord with certain rules, and try to explore the fundamental temporal properties for recognizing dynamic expressions. Inspired by the phase space reconstruction method for time series analysis, we propose a novel network named Phase Space Reconstruction Network (PSRNet) for learning spatio-temporal features of facial expressions. First, 3D convolutional neural networks are used to extract spatial and short-term temporal features, which indicate the state of each frame and are termed as observations in the phase space. All the observations compose the trajectory of the dynamical system. Then, a data-driven across-correlation matrix is inferred to reveal the relationship of the observations. With this matrix, the phase space reconstruction module reconstructs the trajectory by aggregating the observations adaptively in the phase space. Reconstructed observations represent the gradual process of dynamic facial expressions, which is beneficial to recognize these expressions. The experiment results on three databases (Oulu, MMI, and CK+) demonstrate that the proposed PSRNet can extract more informative and representative spatio-temporal features for DFER. Moreover, the visualization of intermediate features reveals that the reconstructed features have global consistency in facial regions and the underlying evolutionary pattern of dynamic facial expression.
Monitoring soil microbial communities using molecular tools: DNA extraction methods may offset long‐term management effects

Despite recent technological advances in molecular ecology, DNA extraction from soil remains a crucial step when quantifying and characterizing soil microbial communities. Potential biases could hamper fundamental understanding of the dynamic relationships between soil properties and microorganisms under different agricultural practices. In this study, we compared four different DNA extraction methods for their ability to discriminate microbial communities of an arable soil subjected to different fertilization managements for more than 50 years (Ultuna, Sweden). The abundance and the diversity of bacteria, archaea and fungi were studied using qPCR and molecular fingerprints, respectively. Overall, the choice of DNA extraction method had a more pronounced effect on the fungal and archaeal communities in comparison to bacterial ones. The assessment of the microbial diversity was more sensitive to DNA extraction methods in comparison with the quantification of the abundances. The DNA extraction method clearly affects the intensity of the correlations between the abundance and/or diversity of microbial communities and environmental variables (C, N and pH) according to the targeted taxon. This study highlights that long‐term effects can be offset by biases in DNA extraction methods.
Workload stress and conservatism: An audit perspective

Abstract Current literature on audit workload stress suggests that the pressure may adversely affect audit quality. However, compromised audit quality would attract regulatory enforcement and costly reputation loss. Therefore, it is crucial to explore the association between audit workload and audit conservatism as a mechanism to mitigate audit risks. Using a new audit engagement database provided by PCAOB to measure the workload at the partner level, this study argues that the probability of issuing modified audit opinion and going concern opinion is predicted to increase as the audit workload escalates conditional on the ability to manage the workload. The findings show that audit workload induces over-conservatism as it increases the probability of modifying audit opinion and committing a type I error by reducing the accuracy of going concern opinion. This study also demonstrates that the workload effect is less severe for audit firms with sufficient resources and industry-specific knowledge that necessary to manage the workload effectively. This study examines the determinants of audit conservatism from the auditor side, while current literature focuses more on the client’s characteristics. This study sheds light on the importance of the audit resources to mitigate the stress effect. However, this study is unable to observe the number of non-listed audit clients of audit firms due to the limitations of audit engagement database.
In person, online, and up close: the cross‐contextual consistency of expressive accuracy

People vary widely in their expressive accuracy, the tendency to be viewed in line with one’s unique traits. It is unclear, however, whether expressive accuracy is a stable individual difference that transcends social contexts or a more piecemeal, context‐specific characteristic. The current research therefore examined the consistency of expressive accuracy across three social contexts: face‐to‐face initial interactions, close relationships, and social media. There was clear evidence for cross‐contextual consistency, such that expressive accuracy in face‐to‐face first impressions, based on brief round‐robin interactions, was associated with expressive accuracy with close others (Sample 1; Ntargets = 514; Ndyads = 1656) and based on Facebook profiles (Samples 2 and 3: Ntargets = 126–132; Ndyads = 1170–1476). This was found on average across traits and for high and low observability traits. Further, unique predictors emerged for different types of expressive accuracy, with psychological adjustment and conscientiousness most consistently linked to overall expressive accuracy, extraversion most consistently linked to high observability expressive accuracy, and neuroticism most consistently linked to low observability expressive accuracy. In sum, expressive accuracy appears to emerge robustly and consistently across contexts, although its predictors may differ depending on the type of trait.
Picking winners: An empirical analysis of the determinants of educational outcomes in India

We use data from the Young Lives longitudinal survey to analyse the effect of socioeconomic conditions and gender on the educational performance of young children in India. In particular, we use data for standardised scores on two cognitive tests: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and a maths test. Our results show that there are significant gender differences in the way that household wealth affects the educational performance of children. Specifically, boys born into wealthier households perform significantly better in maths than those from worse‐off economic backgrounds. The effect of wealth on the PPVT is stronger for girls than it is for boys. The results are robust across a range of specifications. The effect of household wealth on performance differed between the genders, even when we focused our analysis on the bottom 10% and top 10% of the performance distribution. One possible explanation for these differences is parental aspirations. We tested this hypothesis and found that boys from wealthier households with higher parental educational aspirations are positively and significantly associated with higher maths scores. Further analysis showed that the moderating role of parents’ educational aspirations was more pronounced at the top of the test score distribution, an indication that more able children are associated with wealthier and more ambitious parents.