Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing Validity by Combining Examinees across

Validity studies are a crucial part of any assessment program. For admissions tests, predictive validity evidence is commonly collected at the program level and aggregated by computing the mean or median validity coefficients across all programs. This approach documents overall test validity at the program level. However, in order to assess validity for groups, such as those formed by language, citizenship, or culture, investigations of validity at the examinee level would be more appropriate. However, the existence of program effects can make this approach problematic. This paper examines and compares estimating validity by meta-analyzing study-level results and compares the approach with combining data and assessing validity at the individual level. Alternate approaches are examined to account for program effects such as standardizing outcome measures, dummy coding for programs, and hierarchical linear modeling. The results of this study can help identify preferred methodologies for investigating cultural differences using large data sets aggregated across institutions. Validity studies are conducted to demonstrate a relationship between performance on an assessment and the specified outcomes or purposes of that particular evaluation method. Ideally, a validity study would be conducted in every situation and for every population for which the test scores might be used. In practice, several situations or possible populations cannot be studied thoroughly because of limitations with sample size. In these cases, it is assumed that validity will generalize to similar situations based on meta-analytic results from previous studies. However, if a population, or subgroup of a population, has not been evaluated in previous studies,
The TALP-UPC Phrase-Based Translation System for EACL-WMT 2009

This study presents the TALP-UPC submission to the EACL Fourth Worskhop on Statistical Machine Translation 2009 evaluation campaign. It outlines the architecture and configuration of the 2009 phrase-based statistical machine translation (SMT) system, putting emphasis on the major novelty of this year: combination of SMT systems implementing different word reordering algorithms. Traditionally, we have concentrated on the Spanish-to-English and English-to-Spanish News Commentary translation tasks.
The voodoo doll task: Introducing and validating a novel method for studying aggressive inclinations.

Aggression pervades modern life. To understand the root causes of aggression, researchers have developed several methods to assess aggressive inclinations. The current article introduces a new behavioral method-the voodoo doll task (VDT)-that offers a reliable and valid trait and state measure of aggressive inclinations across settings and relationship contexts. Drawing on theory and research on the law of similarity and magical beliefs (Rozin, Millman, & Nemeroff [1986], Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 703-712), we propose that people transfer characteristics of a person onto a voodoo doll representing that person. As a result, causing harm to a voodoo doll by stabbing it with pins may have important psychological similarities to causing actual harm to the person the voodoo doll represents. Nine methodologically diverse studies (total N = 1,376) showed that the VDT had strong reliability, construct validity, and convergent validity. Discussion centers on the importance of magical beliefs in understanding the causes of aggressive inclinations.
Marketing Netnography: Prom/ot(Ulgat)ing a New Research Method

This paper builds upon a core metaphor of scientific methodological diffusion as a specialized form of the marketing of ideas. Using as an illustrative the development and spread of netnography, online ethnography of social media data, this paper explores the nature of the creation, legitimation, adoption, and spread of a new scientific method. Viewing method diffusion as a type of marketing suggests a range of implications. Ideas about the method can be viewed, treated, and managed as a type of ‘brand’. The method is not created in a vacuum but, like a marketed new product, is engineered to satisfy a particular scientific or investigative need, and its success depends on how well it satisfies that need. A particular ‘research-oriented segment’ can be investigated, reached, and deliberately targeted. In this article, I explore how institutional waves of academic, geographic, and pragmatic target research audiences helped to reinforce the adoption of a new scientific approach. The method can be positioned intentionally in a particular methodological category, and as superior to other methods. Once the strategy for marketing the method is intact, the tactics for its spread can be introduced. The ideas for the method and methodology can be brought to their audience in a particular form, with particular attributes, through certain distribution or publication channels, promoted through various means, and offered through for a ‘price’ that encapsulates the difficulty of adopting it. The article explores these ideas about the promulgation of a new method using the development of netnography as an extended case study example.
Serum β-Amyloid Correlates with Neuropsychological Impairment

ABSTRACT Aims: Evidence suggests a relationship between peripheral Aβ and AD. We hypothesized that higher levels of serum Aβ1–42 would be associated with memory impairment, thought to occur early in the disease, and rises in serum Aβ1–40, which occur later, would be associated with impairment in non-memory measures. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, we examined the relationship of serum Aβ1–40, Aβ1–42, and the ratio of Aβ1–42/1–40 to neuropsychological measures in 40 cognitively normal controls, 13 MCI subjects, and 25 AD patients. Results: Serum Aβ1–42 and the ratio of Aβ1–42/1–40 were significantly higher in the MCI group compared to the controls. A significant relationship in the hypothesized direction (poorer scores associated with higher Aβ1–40 serum levels) was found between Aβ1–40 and measures of executive functions across the entire cohort of individuals tested and with measures of language and processing speed in the AD group. Regression analysis found that neuropsychological measures accounted for 26% of the variance in serum Aβ1–40, in the MCI/AD but not the controls. Furthermore that language and executive measures were significant predictors. Conclusions: Results provide preliminary data to partially support our hypotheses and suggest that changes in serum Aβ levels may be attributed to pathological changes within the brain.
Adaptive Soft Frequency Reuse for Inter-Cell Interference Coordination in SC-FDMA Based 3GPP LTE Uplinks

This paper proposes a decentralized adaptive soft frequency reuse scheme for the uplink of 4G long-term evolution (LTE) systems. While universal frequency reuse (UFR) is being targeted for next generation multi-cellular wireless networks, ongoing efforts supporting the LTE standard have proved that actual implementations of UFR in LTE lead to unacceptable interference levels experienced by user equipments near the cell edge area in a multi-cellular configuration. The herein proposed adaptive soft frequency reuse scheme is a step forward towards effective inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC) in next-generation wireless networks. Our solution to the uplink ICIC problem stands out for its two essential features that consist of physical resource block (PRB) reuse avoidance/minimization and cell-edge bandwidth breathing which can be implemented at the cost of a negligible information exchange over the X2 interface (backbone). The PRB reuse avoidance feature significantly decreases inter-cell interference levels while improving the achievable average throughput per user, especially for those identified as cell-edge ones. The cell-edge bandwidth breathing strategy allows to track and adapt to semi-static changes in traffic loading and user distributions within each cell which drastically reduces the blocking probability of incoming calls under cell-edge bandwidth constrained traffic.
Effect of Embryo Density on In Vitro Development and Gene Expression in Bovine In Vitro-fertilized Embryos Cultured in a Microwell System

Abstract To identify embryos individually during in vitro development, we previously developed the well-of-the-well (WOW) dish, which contains 25 microwells. Here we investigated the effect of embryo density (the number of embryos per volume of medium) on in vitro development and gene expression of bovine in vitro-fertilized embryos cultured in WOW dishes. Using both conventional droplet and WOW culture formats, 5, 15, and 25 bovine embryos were cultured in 125 µl medium for 168 h. The blastocysts at Day 7 were analyzed for number of cells and expression of ten genes (CDX2, IFN-tau, PLAC8, NANOG, OCT4, SOX2, AKR1B1, ATP5A1, GLUT1 and IGF2R). In droplet culture, the rates of formation of >4-cell cleavage embryos and blastocysts were significantly lower in embryos cultured at 5 embryos per droplet than in those cultured at 15 or 25 embryos per droplet, but not in WOW culture. In both droplet and WOW culture, developmental kinetics and blastocyst cell numbers did not differ among any groups. IFN-tau expression in embryos cultured at 25 embryos per droplet was significantly higher than in those cultured at 15 embryos per droplet and in artificial insemination (AI)-derived blastocysts. Moreover, IGF2R expression was significantly lower in the 25-embryo group than in the 5-embryo group and in AI-derived blastocysts. In WOW culture, these expressions were not affected by embryo density and were similar to those in AI-derived blastocysts. These results suggest that, as compared with conventional droplet culture, in vitro development and expression of IFN-tau and IGF2R in the microwell system may be insensitive to embryo density.
DISCORDANCE BETWEEN MORPHOLOGICAL AND MECHANICAL DIVERSITY IN THE FEEDING MECHANISM OF CENTRARCHID FISHES

Abstract Morphological diversity is routinely used to infer ecological variation among species because differences in form underlie variation in functional performance of ecological tasks like capturing prey, avoiding predators, or defending territories. However, many functions have complex morphological bases that can weaken associations between morphological and functional diversification. We investigate the link between these levels of diversity in a mechanically explicit model of fish suction-feeding performance, where the map of head morphology to feeding mechanics is many-to-one: multiple, alternative forms can produce the same mechanical property. We show that many-to-one mapping leads to discordance between morphological and mechanical diversity in the freshwater fish family, the Centrarchidae, despite close associations between morphological changes and their mechanical effects. We find that each of the model's five morphological variables underlies evolution of suction capacity. Yet, the major centrarchid clades exhibit an order of magnitude range in diversity of suction mechanics in the absence of any clear difference in diversity of the morphological variables. This cryptic pattern of mechanical diversity suggests an evolutionary history for suction performance that is unlike the one inferred from comparisons of morphological diversity. Because many-to-one mapping is likely to be common in functional systems, this property of design may lead to widespread discordance between functional and morphological diversity. Although we focus on the interaction between morphology and mechanics, many-to-one mapping can decouple diversity between levels of organization in any hierarchical system.
Machine learning and nonparametric bandit theory

In its most basic form, bandit theory is concerned with the design problem of sequentially choosing members from a given collection of random variables so that the regret, i.e., R/sub n/=/spl Sigma//sub j/(/spl mu/*-/spl mu//sub j/)ET/sub n/(j), grows as slowly as possible with increasing n. Here /spl mu//sub j/ is the expected value of the bandit arm (i.e., random variable) indexed by j, T/sub n/(j) is the number of times arm j has been selected in the first n decision stages, and /spl mu//sup */=sup/sub j/ /spl mu//sub j/. The present paper contributes to the theory by considering the situation in which observations are dependent. To begin with, the dependency is presumed to depend only on past observations of the same arm, but later, we allow that it may be with respect to the entire past and that the set of arms is infinite. This brings queues and, more generally, controlled Markov processes into our purview. Thus our "black-box" methodology is suitable for the case when the only observables are cost values and, in particular, the probability structure and loss function are unknown to the designer. The conclusion of the analysis is that under lenient conditions, using algorithms prescribed herein, risk growth is commensurate with that in the simplest i.i. d. cases. Our methods represent an alternative to stochastic-approximation/perturbation-analysis ideas for tuning queues. >
An empirical study of injected versus actual interface errors

The reuse of software components is a common practice in commercial applications and increasingly appearing in safety critical systems as driven also by cost considerations. This practice puts dependability at risk, as differing operating conditions in different reuse scenarios may expose residual software faults in the components. Consequently, software fault injection techniques are used to assess how residual faults of reused software components may affect the system, and to identify appropriate counter-measures. As fault injection in components’ code suffers from a number of practical disadvantages, it is often replaced by error injection at the component interface level. However, it is still an open issue, whether such injected errors are actually representative of the effects of residual faults. To this end, we propose a method for analyzing how software faults turn into interface errors, with the ultimate aim of supporting more representative interface error injection experiments. Our analysis in the context of widely used software libraries reveals that existing interface error models are not suitable for emulating software faults, and provides useful insights for improving the representativeness of interface error injection.
On the maximum common embedded subtree problem for ordered trees

The maximum common embedded subtree problem, which generalizes the subtree homeomorphism problem, is reduced for ordered trees to a variant of the longest common subsequence problem, called the longest common balanced sequence problem. While the maximum common embedded subtree problem is known to be APX-hard for unordered trees, an exact solution for ordered trees can be found in polynomial time. A dynamic programming algorithm is presented that solves the longest common balanced sequence problem, and thus the maximum common embedded subtree problem, in (m^2n^2)$ time, where m and n are the number of edges in the trees.
How environment geometry affects grid cell symmetry and what we can learn from it

The mammalian hippocampal formation provides neuronal representations of environmental location but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. The majority of cells in medial entorhinal cortex and parasubiculum show spatially periodic firing patterns. Grid cells exhibit hexagonal symmetry and form an important subset of this more general class. Occasional changes between hexagonal and non-hexagonal firing patterns imply a common underlying mechanism. Importantly, the symmetrical properties are strongly affected by the geometry of the environment. Here, we introduce a field–boundary interaction model where we demonstrate that the grid cell pattern can be formed from competing place-like and boundary inputs. We show that the modelling results can accurately capture our current experimental observations.
Transforming relational database into HBase: A case study

With the development of distributed system and cloud computing, more and more applications might be migrated to the cloud to exploit its computing power and scalability, where the first task is data migration. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that transforms a relational database into HBase, which is an open-source distributed database similar to BigTable. Our method is comprised of two phases. In the first phase, relational schema is transformed into HBase schema based on the data model of HBase. We present three guidelines in this phase, which could be further utilized to develop an HBase application. In the second phase, relationships between two schémas are expressed as a set of nested schema mappings, which would be employed to create a set of queries or programs that transform the source relational data into the target representation automatically.
The Effects of Cycle Length on Cardiac Refractory Periods in Man

The effects of pacing-induced changes in cycle length on the refractory periods of the atrium, A-V node and His-Purkinje system were studied in 24 patients using the extra stimulus technique. Refractory period determinations were made at two or more cycle lengths in all patients. Slopes relating cycle length and refractory periods were calculated using the least squares method.Both the effective and functional refractory periods (ERP and FRP) of the atrium shortened with decreasing cycle lengths, with a mean slope of +0.155 and +0.129 respectively. A-V nodal ERP lengthened (mean slope, −0.177) while A-V nodal FRP shortened slightly (mean slope, +0.126). Bundle branch refractory periods as well as relative refractory periods of the His-Purkinje system also decreased, with mean slopes of +0.270 and +0.360, respectively. The ERP of the A-V node at any cycle length was related to the A-H at that cycle length (r = +0.646, P < 0.001). The responses of the human heart to changes in cycle length are generally similar to those previously described in the animal laboratory. Such information contributes to our understanding of electrocardiographic phenomena such as aberrant conduction.
Cultural background variables in dance talent development: findings from the UK centres for advanced training

This study is a qualitative enquiry into cultural background variables – social support, values, race/ethnicity and economic means – in the process of dance talent development. Seven urban dance students in pre-vocational training, aged 15–19, participated in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were inductively analysed using QSR International NVivo 7.0. Further deductive analysis revealed that the findings were in line with the Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent. Results indicated that social environments positively influenced dance students' feelings of psychological well-being, self-esteem and motivation, which in turn supported the transformation of aptitude into dance talent. Social benefits, such as building close friendships, facilitated learning and encouraged persistence during more difficult periods of dance training. Economic support was an essential aid to talent development, providing training and performance opportunities, transport and physiotherapy. The study offers a preliminary indication that economic limitations may not only prohibit dance training but may also be related to lower perceptions of social support both in the home and in dance environments. Cultural values espoused in dancers' homes encouraged the value of hard work and raised questions about the economic suitability of a career in dance. Overall, cultural background variables appear to have a major effect on dance talent development.
Modeling the isotropic/smectic-C tilted lamellar liquid crystalline transition

Extensions of a previously presented Landau-de Gennes type liquid crystalline phase transition model for the direct isotropic/smectic-A (lamellar) a phase transition to the direct isotropic/smectic-C (tilted lamellar) transition are studied. Two different proposed extensions to the model are studied both in the context of ideal ordering (point volume) and full three-dimensional uniaxial scalar/vector decomposition. Recommendations based upon the inclusion of essential physics and computational feasibility are made, distinguishing each of the two proposed extensions based upon these criteria. Additionally, it is found that the approach used for the isotropic/smectic-A model to deterministically compute phase diagram data is not possible for either of the two proposed isotropic/smectic-C models.
Hypoxia regulates vascular endothelial growth factor receptor KDR/Flk gene expression through adenosine A2 receptors in retinal capillary endothelial cells.

PURPOSE Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an endothelial cell-specific angiogenic factor that serves an important role in numerous ischemic retinopathies. The authors studied the hypoxic gene regulation of two known VEGF receptors (KDR and Flt) and its mechanism in cultured bovine retinal endothelial cells (BREC). METHODS Confluent monolayers of BREC were exposed to various oxygen concentrations using a computer-controlled, infrared, water-jacked CO2 incubator with reduced oxygen control. Northern blot analysis and 125I-VEGF binding analysis were used to identify hypoxia-induced alterations of VEGF receptor at mRNA and protein levels. RESULTS KDR was detectable by Northern blot analysis in BREC, whereas Flt was not. Hypoxia decreased KDR gene expression in a dose-and time-dependent manner with maximal inhibition to 0.5 +/- 0.2% (P = 0.019) of normoxic control observed after 24 hours exposure to 0% oxygen and with significant inhibition at oxygen concentrations below 5%. Blockade of oxygen respiration decreased KDR mRNA expression to 58% +/- 7.1% of control (P = 0.001) after 3 hours. CPA, a stable adenosine A1 receptor (A1R) agonist, did not affect KDR mRNA expression at A1R stimulatory concentrations, but it decreased KDR mRNA levels to 30% +/- 4.9% (P = 0.002) of control at higher concentrations that react with A2R. DPMA, an adenosine A2 receptor (A2R) agonist, decreased KDR mRNA in a dose-dependent manner with an EC50 of 5 to 10 nM. A1R antagonists, 8-cyclolentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine and 8-phenyltheophylline, did not inhibit the hypoxic response of KDR mRNA at A1R inhibitory concentrations but did inhibit the response at A2R effective doses (P = 0.001). The A2R antagonist, CSC, inhibited the KDR hypoxic response by 42% +/- 7.8% (P = 0.008) at 10 microM. Specific VEGF binding to BREC was decreased from 15.1% +/- 0.3% to 12.7% +/- 0.4% per milligram protein (P < 0.001) after exposure to 1% oxygen for 24 hours. In contrast, long-term exposure to 1% oxygen (72 hours) resulted in an increase of VEGF binding from 13.5% +/- 1.1% to 18.3% +/- 0.8% per milligram protein (P < 0.001). Scatchard analysis detected a decrease of receptor binding sites without change in binding affinity after 30 hours of exposure to hypoxia but demonstrated an increase in specific binding sites (4.2 +/- 0.6 x 10(4) sites/cell to 6.7 +/- 1.0 x 10(4) sites/cell, P = 0.049) with unaltered receptor affinity after 72 hours of hypoxic exposure. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that hypoxia induces an initial decline in KDR mRNA levels and VEGF binding sites as mediated through adenosine binding to the A2R. Exposure to prolonged periods of hypoxia, however, results in an increase in VEGF binding sites by an as yet unidentified mechanism.