Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Teacher Design Teams (TDTs)—building capacity for innovation, learning and curriculum implementation in the continuing professional development of in-career teachers

From October to December 2005, six biology associates were employed to progress the connection between curriculum implementation and the continuing professional development of teachers at regional level. The associates worked with one hundred biology teachers in Teacher Design Teams (TDTs) and together they produced eighteen innovative classroom resources, which have now been made available for the teaching of biology nationally. This article considers the merits of the TDT approach as a form of curriculum implementation and continuing professional development with reference to international literature in the area and the reported experiences of biology associates in working with biology teachers in one region. Findings indicate the benefits which accrue, when teachers are actively engaged in the process of curriculum implementation through TDTs, as well as the challenges they face when inadequate curriculum support is provided.
Teacher Burnout in Hong Kong and Germany: A Cross-Cultural Validation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory

Teacher burnout is a world-wide phenomenon that draws the attention of educational psychologists and stimulates efforts in construct elaboration and measurement. Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization (cynicism), and lack of personal accomplishments are three dimensions that constitute the burnout syndrome. Levels of this burnout syndrome were compared among 542 German and Chinese teachers. It turned out that there were only minor differences between the Germans and the Chinese, but major differences between those two groups and the U.S. American normative data. Moreover, stress resource factors were measured, namely perceived self-efficacy and proactive attitude. Their negative intercorrelations with burnout supported the validity of the burnout measure, although the associations were much closer in the German subsample. An attempt to replicate the American three-factorial structure of the burnout construct failed in both subsamples, which is in line with previous evidence and calls for a revision of the original measure.
A hydrogel system for stimulus-responsive, oxygen-sensitive in situ gelation

A hydrogel system that is designed to gel due to oxidation by molecular oxygen is described. This is achieved by the use of a branched poly(ethylene glycol) modified with thiol end groups. A stable precursor molecule, starPEG thioacetate, was synthesized by radical addition of thioacetic acid to an intermediate starPEG allyl ether. Rapid deprotection of the thiol can be achieved using a base, e. g. sodium hydroxide, quantitatively liberating a thiol group and a non-toxic acetate ion. This step can be carried out under anaerobic conditions, yielding a solution with known thiol content that can be stored. The reaction with oxygen is accelerated by the use of a catalyst based on Fenton chemistry, which makes the material useful for biomedical applications where in situ polymerization of an injectable material is beneficial. This gelation takes place under near physiological conditions without the need for a cross-linking agent.
Conditional survival estimate of acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure: A dynamic prediction based on a multicenter cohort

Objectives Counseling patients with acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure (ACHBLF) on their individual risk of short-term mortality is challenging. This study aimed to develop a conditional survival estimate (CSE) for predicting individualized mortality risk in ACHBLF patients. Methods We performed a large prospective cohort study of 278 ACHBLF patients from December 2010 to December 2013 at three participating medical centers. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the cumulative overall survival (OS). Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to analyze the risk factors associated with OS. 4-week CSE at “X” week after diagnostic established were calculated as CS4 = OS(X+4)/OS(X). Results The actual OS at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12 weeks were 80.5%, 71.8%, 69.3%, 66.0% and 63.7%, respectively. Using CSE, the probability of surviving an additional 4 weeks, given that the patient had survived for 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 weeks was 74%, 86%, 92%, 93%, 97%, respectively. Patients with worse prognostic feathers, including MELD > 25, Child grade C, age > 45, HE, INR > 2.5, demonstrated the greatest increase in CSE over time, when compared with the “favorable” one (Δ36% vs. Δ10%; Δ28% vs. Δ16%; Δ29% vs. Δ15%; Δ60% vs. Δ12%; Δ33% vs. Δ12%; all P < 0.001; respectively). Conclusions This easy-to-use CSE can accurately predict the changing probability of survival over time. It may facilitate risk communication between patients and physicians.
Data Processing Theorems and the Second Law of Thermodynamics

We draw relationships between the generalized data processing theorems of Zakai and Ziv (1973 and 1975) and the dynamical version of the second law of thermodynamics, a.k. a. the Boltzmann H-Theorem, which asserts that the Shannon entropy, H(Xt), pertaining to a finite-state Markov process {Xt}, is monotonically nondecreasing as a function of time t, provided that the steady-state distribution of this process is uniform across the state space (which is the case when the process designates an isolated system). It turns out that both the generalized data processing theorems and the Boltzmann H-Theorem can be viewed as special cases of a more general principle concerning the monotonicity (in time) of a certain generalized information measure applied to a Markov process. This gives rise to a new look at the generalized data processing theorem, which suggests to exploit certain degrees of freedom that may lead to better bounds, for a given choice of the convex function that defines the generalized mutual information. Indeed, we demonstrate an example of a certain setup of joint source-channel coding, where this idea yields an improved lower bound on the distortion, relative to both the 1973 Ziv-Zakai lower bound and the lower bound obtained from the ordinary data processing theorem.
Organizational Diagnosis in Project-Based Companies

The purpose of this article is to develop a new method for corporate diagnosis (CD). To this end, a method is developed for the diagnosis process of project-based companies. The article presents a case study in a large company where data have been collected through focus groups. Project delay, high project cost, and low profitability are examples of project deficiency in project-based companies. Such issues have made managers pay special attention to find effective solutions to improve them. Prominent factors are inappropriate strategy, structure, system, human resource management, and PMBOK(Project Management Body of Knowledge) processes. Thus, CD and analysis is an important task in improvement of corporate performance. The CD model that is developed in this article could be used for project-based companies. The proposed method can be used for CD in any project-based company. This article provides an emphatic application of CD as a prerequisite for restructuring in project-based companies.
Complete PCB congener distributions for 17 Aroclor mixtures determined by 3 HRGC systems optimized for comprehensive, quantitative, congener-specific analysis

Three HRGC systems (1: 30m DB-XLB capillary with MS-SIM detection; 2: 60m DB-XLB capillary with full-scan, ion-trap MS detection; and 3: Parallel dual-column DB-17 and series-coupled HP5/HT5 with ECD detection) were used to completely characterize multiple lots of 8 different-numbered Aroclor mixtures by quantitative calibration against 9 solutions containing primary standards of all 209 PCB congeners. Despite lower absolute sensitivity and more Aroclor congener coelutions than the dual-column ECD system, the MS systems enabled measurement of more congeners per Aroclor since their greater linear response range did not require dilution of samples and standards. Pairs of different lots of Aroclors 1248 and 1254 displayed markedly different proportions of congeners, and the 1254 pair displayed strong differences in the extent of ortho-chlorine substitution. The tables of congener weight percent distributions among Aroclors are more comprehensive and quantitatively precise than those of prior publications. However, the limitations of single-level calibration precluded measurement of all congeners to the ±10% accuracy desirable for establishing these Aroclors as secondary standards for comprehensive, quantitative congener-specific PCB analysis.
The relationship of ADHD symptoms to gambling behaviour in the USA: results from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

The study utilizes data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to test the extent to which retrospectively reported ADHD symptoms are associated with gambling behaviour in young adults. Results from linear probability and logistic regression models using data from 6145 survey respondents indicate that youths who reported symptoms consistent with Hyperactive-Impulsive type ADHD in childhood were significantly more likely than other youths to report clinical characteristics of disordered gambling, large past-year losses and/or multiple forms of gambling as young adults. The Combined type ADHD had no significant relationship to the gambling indicators, while the Inattentive type ADHD symptoms have a significant negative relationship to the gambling indicators. These findings provide preliminary support in a large, nationally representative sample for the relationship of ADHD and gambling and underscore the importance of addressing gambling-related issues in education, prevention and intervention efforts with youths with ADHD and/or problems with impulse control.
The wide-field imager for IXO: status and future activities

The Wide Field Imager (WFI) of the International X-ray Observatory (IXO) is an X-ray imaging spectrometer based on a large monolithic DePFET (Depleted P-channel Field Effect Transistor) Active Pixel Sensor. Filling an area of 10 x 10 cm2 with a format of 1024 x 1024 pixels it will cover a field of view of 18 arcmin. The pixel size of 100 x 100 μm2 corresponds to a fivefold oversampling of the telescope's expected 5 arcsec point spread function. The WFI's basic DePFET structure combines the functionalities of sensor and integrated amplifier with nearly Fano-limited energy resolution and high efficiency from 100 eV to 15 keV. The development of dedicated control and amplifier ASICs allows for high frame rates up to 1 kHz and flexible readout modes. Results obtained with representative prototypes with a format of 256 x 256 pixels are presented.
Characterization of lipids of Sporothrix schenckii

The major lipid compositions of Sporothrix schenckii were investigated in this study. Phospholipids accounted for 55.8% followed by total cholesterol (16.7%) and triglycerides (5.4%). Amongst phospholipid fractions, phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl ethanolamine and sphingomyelin were the major components and phosphatidyl inositol, phosphatidyl serine and lysophosphatidyl choline was present in minute amounts.
A segmentation method for bibliographic references by contextual tagging of fields

In this paper, a method based on part-of-speech tagging (PoS) is used for bibliographic reference structure. This method operates on a roughly structured ASCII file, produced by OCR. Because of the heterogeneity of the reference structure, the method acts in a bottom-up way, without an a priori model, gathering structural elements from basic tags to sub-fields and fields. Significant tags are first grouped in homogeneous classes according to their grammar categories and then reduced in canonical forms corresponding to record fields: "authors", "title", "conference name", "date", etc. Non labelled tokens are integrated in one or another field by either applying PoS correction rules or using a structure model generated from well-detected records. The designed prototype operates with a great satisfaction on different record layouts and character recognition qualities. Without manual intervention, 96.6% words are correctly attributed, and about 75.9% references are completely segmented from 2500 references.
Perception of the tactile texture of raised-dot patterns: A multidimensional analysis

An ALSCAL multidimensional scaling analysis in Euclidean space revealed that three orthogonal perceptual dimensions can account for the judged tactile dissimilarities of raised-dot patterns. Through magnitude estimates of various perceptual attributes, it was determined that the three dimensions consist of blur, roughness, and clarity. The only effect that selective adaptation of the Pacinian (P) channel had was to change the perceptual clarity of the raised dots against their background. Adaptation of the P channel with a 20 dB SL 250 Hz stimulus enhanced clarity. As indicated by magnitude estimates, adaptation of the P channel by the 250 Hz stimulus had no effect on the perceived roughness of the dot pattern but did cause the individual dots of the textured pattern to feel smoother. When the observer was required to estimate magnitude “overall roughness” defined as a combination of dot-pattern roughness and individual-dot roughness, adaptation of the P channel affected perceived roughness by reducing it. Taken as a whole, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that the NP channels and the P channel jointly influence the perception of textured surfaces.
Satellite Regional Cloud Climatology over the Great Lakes

Thirty-one years of imager data from polar orbiting satellites are composited to produce a satellite climate data set of cloud amount for the Great Lakes region. A trend analysis indicates a slight decreasing trend in cloud cover over the region during this time period. The trend is significant and largest (~2% per decade) over the water bodies. A strong seasonal cycle of cloud cover is observed over both land and water surfaces. Winter cloud amounts are greater over the water bodies than land due to heat and moisture flux into the atmosphere. Late spring through early autumn cloud amounts are lower over the water bodies than land due to stabilization of the boundary layer by relatively cooler lake waters. The influence of the lakes on cloud cover also extends beyond their shores, affecting cloud cover and properties far down wind. Cloud amount composited by wind direction demonstrate that the increasing cloud amounts downwind of the lakes is greatest during autumn and winter. Cold air flows over relatively warm lakes in autumn and winter generate wind parallel convective cloud bands. The cloud properties of these wind parallel cloud bands over the lakes during winter are presented.
Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Factors Associated With Autonomous Motivation in Adolescents’ After-School Activities

This study explored interpersonal and intrapersonal factors associated with the level of autonomous motivation adolescents experience for their after-school activities. A total of 142 seventh-grade adolescents completed measures of peer relatedness, autonomy within friendships, mother and father autonomy support, perceived activity competence, autonomous motivation for their after-school activity, and subjective well-being. Autonomous motivation for after-school activity was associated with greater subjective well-being. Peer relatedness was positively related to adolescents’ intrinsic and identified motivation for their after-school activities and inversely related to their introjected motivation, whereas neither mother nor father autonomy support predicted autonomous motivation. Perceived activity competence was also positively associated with intrinsic and identified motivation for after-school activity. Furthermore, autonomy within friendships mediated the relation between peer relatedness and autonomous motivation for after-school activity. Results suggest that peer relationships and perceived competence may have important roles in fostering experiences of autonomy and well-being in adolescence.
Functioning and disability in persons with low back pain

Purpose. To demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness of using the ICF framework to investigate functioning and disability in persons with low back pain (LBP) and to study the extent to which the capacity level for various domains of functioning is different from the performance level. Method. The study was part of the MHADIE project and reports baseline data collected in 118 patients with LBP using the ICF Core Sets for LBP. The statistical analysis consisted of descriptive statistics. Results. A total of 76 ICF categories reached the 20% threshold: 20 body functions, 8 structures, 28 activities and participation and 20 environmental factors. The percentage of persons having problems in capacity is always higher than the percentage of persons having problems in performance. Conclusions. This study shows the potential value of the capacity-performance distinction, both as a conceptual and practical tool that can enhance clinical treatment and intervention planning and as a method to capture the impact of the environment on the lived experience of people suffering from LBP. What is needed are longitudinal investigations that are able to identify and track the patterns that such conditions exhibit and further enhance the effectiveness of treatment strategies.
Distributed Multi-Intelligent Agent Framework for Detection of Stealthy Probes

Probing tools are widely used to discover system information. Once the information is known, attackers can launch computer attacks against the vulnerable services running on the system. Even though current computer systems are protected against known attacks by implementing a number of access restriction policies, protection against novel attacks still remains as an elusive goal for the researchers. Attackers defeat current protection and detection mechanisms by exploiting uuknown weakness and bugs in system and application software. Stealthy and low profile probes that include only a few carefully crafted packets over an extended period of time are used to delude firewalls and intrusion detection systems.Building effective IDSs, unfortunately, has remained an elusive goal owing to the great technical challenges involved; and applied AI techniques are increasingly being utilized in attempts to overcome the difficulties. This paper presents computational intelligent agents based approach to detect computer probes at the originating host. We also investigate and compare the performance of different, classifiers used for detecting probes, with respect to the data collected on a real network that includes a variety of simulated probe attacks and the normal activity.Through a variety of experiments and analysis, it is found that, with appropriately chosen network features computer probes can be detected in real time or near real time at the originating host. Using the detection information an effective respons mechanism can be implemented at the boundary controllers.
The Optimal and Actual Use of EVA versus Earnings in Executive Compensation 1

Proponents of EVA and related “shareholder value” measures intend to replace earnings and to supplement stock returns by including their own measures in managerial compensation schemes. Stern Stewart’s EVA appears to be the most widely recognized measure. However, there are not very many firms have explicitly adopted such schemes. One obvious reason, which we account for explicitly, is that they are not appropriate for all firms. An additional, less obvious fact, is that firms can directly or even indirectly mimic EVA measures. Firms such as Clorox and O.M. Scott use their own performance measures, which are arguably variants of EVA. In this paper, we use publicly available estimates of firm level EVA and examine whether firms pay according to it regardless of their explicit policies. This research approach captures the fact mentioned above, that firms can do home-made EVA performance evaluation. We adapt the technique of Garvey and Milbourn (2000) to model the optimal weight placed on EVA at the firm level. There is enormous cross-sectional heterogeneity in the estimated “value-added” of EVA for various firms. With our estimates of optimal weights, we verify empirically that compensation paid to the top five executives in over 2,000 firms is highly consistent with our optimal compensation arrangements.
Evaluation of Stationary Colposcope and the Gynocular, by the Swede Score Systematic Colposcopic System in VIA Positive Women

Objective This study aimed to evaluate cervical lesions by the Swede coloscopy system, histologic finding, liquid-based cytology, and human papillomavirus (HPV) in women who resulted positive for visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid (VIA) by using a pocket-sized battery-driven colposcope, the Gynocular (Gynius AB, Sweden). Methods This study was a crossover, randomized clinical trial at the colposcopy clinic of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with 540 VIA-positive women. Swede scores were obtained by the Gynocular and stationary colposcope, as well as samples for liquid-based cytology, HPV, and cervical biopsies. The Swede scores were compared against the histologic diagnosis and used as criterion standard. The percentage agreement and the κ statistic for the Gynocular and standard colposcope were also calculated. Results The Gynocular and stationary colposcope showed high agreement in Swede scores with a κ statistic of 0.998, P value of less than 0.0001, and no difference in detecting cervical lesions in biopsy. Biopsy detected cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2+ (CIN2, CIN3, and invasive cancer) in 38 (7%) of the women, whereas liquid-based cytology detected CIN2+ in 13 (2.5%) of the women. Forty-four (8.6%) women who were tested resulted positive for HPV; 20 (3.9%) women had HPV-16, 2 (0.4%) had HPV-18, and 22 (4.3%) had other high-risk HPV. Conclusions Our study showed that few VIA-positive women had CIN2+ lesions or HPV infection. Colposcopy by Swede score identified significantly more CIN2+ lesions than liquid-based cytology and could offer a more accurate screening and selection for immediate treatment of cervical lesions in low-resource settings.
Not remembering as a practical epistemic resource in couples therapy

We examine how displays of not remembering are used as an interactional resource in couples therapy. Our study contributes to the understanding of the social epistemology of memory; that is, how displays of not remembering relate to issues of knowledge and how they are assessed and understood with respect to the local interactional projects made relevant in therapy. From our analysis of transcribed audio- and video-taped couples therapy sessions, we found that clients’ displays of not remembering opened up a range of practical epistemic and rhetorical issues: 1) it enabled the creation of new ‘participation frameworks’ in which the client’s spouse could display first-hand knowledge; 2) it made relevant issues of accountability and blame for not having remembered important relationship events; 3) it indexed an avoidance or resistance of conforming to the therapeutic agenda; and 4) it deflected against the interpretation that one may have a certain interest in not remembering.