Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning from ELLs’ Perspectives: Mismatch between ELL and Teacher Perspectives on ELL Learning Experiences

Situated within Activity Theory, this study investigates and compares ELLs’ perspectives on their own learning and their teachers’ perspectives on their own learning experiences. The predilection carried by this study is that there is a significant value in attending to and understanding how ELL students make meaning of their learning circumstances and compare that to teachers’ perspectives on their students’ learning. This study also assumes that allowing student voice and perspective to be heard in school is a prerequisite for student-centered learning. The authors report that students’ perspectives on what they perceive as the limiting factors for their learning are sharply different from those of their teachers. Students’ perspectives in this study showed that their perspectives on, and attitudes toward, their learning are very much influenced by what teachers do and do not do.
Neuromarketing: The Journey to Better Consumer Understanding

The idea that consumers are rational decision makers, who carefully consider options when making a decision about a certain phenomenon, will soon phase out! Believe it or not. In a bid to better understand the consumer, a myriad of economists still waste their precious time on “not-so-deep” modifications and elaborations of mainstream economic models, some of which are barely “shallow”. Economists who solely rely on linear models because they are more palatable are simply myopic, naturally or by default. The journey to better consumer understanding is not an easy walk. There is ample evidence to prove that consumer decision making is complex rather than simple as portrayed by orthodox economic models. Businesses need to fully understand the consumer decision making processes for them to thrive in the current competitive business environment which is now a global village. Existing “purely” economic models have proven insufficient in explaining human behavior, precisely because they do not explore the subconscious brain and yet the subconscious brain has been shown to be very instrumental in decision making processes. It is high time, economists, marketers and researchers explore, at least deeper, the human brain itself, to uncover the true forces behind consumer purchasing dynamics. This paper looks at the human brain from a neuromarketing perspective, to shade more light on our quest to better understand the consumer brain. The paper begins by explaining and then refuting the highly celebrated and esteemed rational choice theory, after which the human brain is explored. The paper, among other recommendations, encourages modern day researchers to combine their traditional consumer research methods with neurological research methods if neuromarketing is anything to go by, in light of ever increasing global competition.
Fournier's Gangrene as a Postoperative Complication of Inguinal Hernia Repair

Fournier's gangrene is the necrotizing fasciitis of perianal, genitourinary, and perineal regions. Herein, we present a case of scrotal Fournier's gangrene as a postoperative complication of inguinal hernia repair. A 51-year-old male with giant indirect hernia is presented. Patient underwent inguinal hernia repair, and after an unproblematic recovery period, he was discharged. He applied to our outpatient clinic on the fifth day with swollen and painful scrotum and it turned out to be Fournier's gangrene. Polypropylene mesh was not infected. Patient recovered and was discharged after repeated debridements. Basic principles in treatment of Fournier's gangrene are comprised of initial resuscitation, broad-spectrum antibiotics therapy, and early aggressive debridement. In the management of presented case, aggressive debridement was made right after diagnosis and broad-spectrum antibiotics were given to the hemodynamically stable patient. In these circumstances, the important question is whether we could prevent occurrence of Fournier's gangrene.
The formation of aggregate expectations: wisdom of the crowds or media influence?

ABSTRACT The general elections of 2015 in Spain were elections of change. Two new parties for which voters had no previous historical reference points burst onto the parliamentary scene. Two (partially) opposed theories vie to offer an explanation as to how voters build their aggregate electoral expectations. In this paper, we investigate which mechanism has the greatest influence on the formation of expectations: published opinion or social interactions. Likewise, we also study if there is an ideological bias in the voters’ perception of the future results of the electoral battle. Based on analysis of microdata from a survey (sample size = 14,262) conducted in Spain on the occasion of the general elections of 2015, we provide evidence: firstly, that the published surveys are the main source used by voters to configure their aggregate expectations; and secondly, that the interpretation and projection that voters make about reality is not neutral, but strongly influenced by their own beliefs and preferences.
The content and validity of music-genre stereotypes among college students

K E Y W O R D S : interpersonal perception, music, preferences, personality The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night And his affections dark as Erebus; Let no such man be trusted. William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice According to Shakespeare’s Lorenzo, music preferences have much to say about a man. Everyday observations from more contemporary (and gendersensitive) contexts would seem to agree. Individuals actively solicit
“Convince Your Patients and You Will Convince Society”: Career Decisions and Professional Identity Among Nurses in India

This article reports on the results of qualitative research to investigate the career plans of Indian nurses working in the southern Indian city of Bangalore. The globalized health care market in Bangalore has generated opportunities for an increasingly diversifying profession, many of whose members are keen to pursue global careers, work in specialized clinical settings, and pursue further education, and whose sense of professional identity is strongly influenced by these career choices. The research drew upon interviews with 56 nurses employed across six sites, including public and private health facilities. Decision-making related to the setting of nursing work and the negotiation of boundaries between medical “treatment” were of analytical interest in understanding career drivers and the professional identity of nurses working predominantly in the context of hospital care. Lateral trajectories were found to be important to the construction of a career in nursing—where the extent to which nurses could demonstrate competencies in clinical skill and knowledge and maintain professional control over the practice of nursing are key aspects in constructing a career. The renegotiation of nursing’s public image is at the heart of professionalizing strategies being adopted by nursing’s leaders and is also evident in the accounts presented by hospital nurses in their depictions of nursing practice and career plans. The findings suggest that greater attention to the professional project of nursing in India and the construction of nursing careers would benefit the development of more responsive human resource policies around the retention of nurses.
Compression effects on color and texture based multimedia indexing and retrieval

This paper presents an evaluation of digital compression effects on content-based multimedia retrieval using color and texture attributes. Subjective evaluation tests that are applied on digital image and video databases using different compression and visual feature extraction techniques have been performed and reported. Simulations show that a satisfactory retrieval performance can be obtained from the compressed databases with 10% compression quality (i.e. 97.6% compression ratio in JPEG). Image retrieval based on HSV color histogram performs better than retrieval based on YUV color histogram in the uncompressed domain, and the other way around in the compressed domain. In general, video retrieval based on color histogram in MPEG-4 compressed databases performs better compared to H.263+ compressed databases. However, retrieval performance from H.263+ compressed databases at lower bit rates is more stable, where it drastically decreases in MPEG-4 compressed databases below 128 Kb/s. Retrieval based on texture features produces more robust performance than retrieval based on color. Subjective tests show that 25% compression quality achieves high compression ratio without loosing significant retrieval performance. The results are particularly relevant to applications in which a mobile device is involved in a multimedia retrieval system.
Tolerance to Cadmium of Agave lechuguilla (Agavaceae) Seeds and Seedlings from Sites Contaminated with Heavy Metals

We investigated if seeds of Agave lechuguilla from contaminated sites with heavy metals were more tolerant to Cd ions than seeds from noncontaminated sites. Seeds from a highly contaminated site (Villa de la Paz) and from a noncontaminated site (Villa de Zaragoza) were evaluated. We tested the effect of Cd concentrations on several ecophysiological, morphological, genetical, and anatomical responses. Seed viability, seed germination, seedling biomass, and radicle length were higher for the non-polluted site than for the contaminated one. The leaves of seedlings from the contaminated place had more cadmium and showed peaks attributed to chemical functional groups such as amines, amides, carboxyl, and alkenes that tended to disappear due to increasing the concentration of cadmium than those from Villa de Zaragoza. Malformed cells in the parenchyma surrounding the vascular bundles were found in seedlings grown with Cd from both sites. The leaves from the contaminated place showed a higher metallothioneins expression in seedlings from the control group than that of seedlings at different Cd concentrations. Most of our results fitted into the hypothesis that plants from metal-contaminated places do not tolerate more pollution, because of the accumulative effect that cadmium might have on them.
Title 1 Anesthetic state modulates excitability but not spectral tuning or neural discrimination in 2 single auditory midbrain neurons

25 26 The majority of sensory physiology experiments have used anesthesia to facilitate the 27 recording of neural activity. Current techniques allow researchers to study sensory 28 function in the context of varying behavioral states. To reconcile results across multiple 29 behavioral and anesthetic states, it is important to consider how and to what extent 30 anesthesia plays a role in shaping neural response properties. The role of anesthesia 31 has been the subject of much debate, but the extent to which sensory coding properties 32 are altered by anesthesia has yet to be fully defined. Here we ask how urethane, an 33 anesthetic commonly used for avian and mammalian sensory physiology, affects the 34 coding of complex communication vocalizations (songs) and simple artificial stimuli in 35 the songbird auditory midbrain. We measured spontaneous and song-driven spike 36 rates, spectrotemporal receptive fields, and neural discriminability from responses to 37 songs in single auditory midbrain neurons. In the same neurons, we recorded 38 responses to pure tone stimuli ranging in frequency and intensity. Finally, we assessed 39 the effect of urethane on population-level representations of birdsong. Results showed 40 that intrinsic neural excitability is significantly depressed by urethane, but spectral 41 tuning, single neuron discriminability and population representations of song do not 42 differ significantly between unanesthetized and anesthetized animals. 43 44
A novel approach to regression test selection for J2EE applications

Selective regression testing involves retesting of software systems with a subset of the test suite to verify that modifications have not adversely impacted existing functions. The J2EE platform has come to dominate the commercial Java application market. Unlike standalone Java applications, J2EE applications also use configuration files to control the presentation, service, data access, and persistence layers. Traditional regression test selection approaches for standalone Java applications generate regression test suites by only deriving test cases that traverse the changed parts of pure Java classes and thus are generally insufficient for the regression testing scenarios of J2EE applications. This paper proposes an end-to-end regression test selection solution for J2EE applications by providing two unique features—hybrid test-case tracing and unified change identification—that are not addressed by existing approaches. An empirical study is presented to show that this approach can ensure change coverage, and reduce regression test cost for J2EE applications efficiently and effectively.
THE SURFACE GRAVITIES OF COOL DWARF STARS REVISITED

On the base of high-resolution spectra and standard model atmosphere analyses we propose to employ the pressure- broadened Mg Ib lines to derive the gravity parameter for F and G stars. These lines are advocated to be a much more robust and reliable tracer compared to the ionization equilibrium of, say, Fe I/Fe II,whichissusceptibletooverionizationeffectsandun- certaintiesinthetemperaturestructureofthemodelatmosphere. It is demonstrated that the strong line method circumvents the long-standing discrepancy (logg 0.5 dex) of the standard F star Procyon, the surface gravity of which is precisely known duetoitsnearnessandbinarynature.Wealsodiscusssimilaref- fects on other, predominantly metal-poor stars. In fact, many of the F and hotter G stars deviate in the LTE metal abundances of neutral and ionized species by up to 0.2 dex. However, once the surfacegravityparameterisxed,veryreliableironabundances from Fe II can be derived as well. As a consequence a number of stars considered to be standards will require revised stellar parameters in future analyses. This will have some impact on stellar distances, ages, and galactic evolution in particular.
Lattice Boltzmann simulation of nonideal fluids.

A lattice Boltzmann scheme able to model the hydrodynamics of phase separation and two-phase flow is described. Thermodynamic consistency is ensured by introducing a non-ideal pressure tensor directly into the collision operator. We also show how an external chemical potential can be used to supplement standard boundary conditions in order to investigate the effect of wetting on phase separation and fluid flow in confined geometries. The approach has the additional advantage of reducing many of the unphysical discretisation problems common to previous lattice Boltzmann methods.
The modified BODE index: validation with mortality in COPD

Peak oxygen uptake (V′O2) remains the gold standard measurement of exercise capacity and has been associated with survival. A modified BODE (body mass index, airflow obstruction, dyspnoea, exercise capacity) index replacing the 6-min walk distance (6MWD) with V′O2 as % predicted (mBODE%) has been developed and found to have excellent correlation with the conventional BODE index. The objectives of the present study were to compare the ability of the conventional BODE and the mBODE% to predict mortality in 444 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) followed for a mean±sd period of 71±34 months. Anthropometrics, spirometry, lung volumes, comorbidity, cardiopulmonary cyclo-ergometry test and 6MWD were determined at entry. The mean BODE indices for the cohort were: BODE 4.1±2 and mBODE% 5.5±2. Both indices were significantly correlated with mortality. Logistic regression analysis with COPD survival as the dependent variable identified the BODE index, Charlson's and exercise capacity (in W) as variables associated with this outcome. In conclusion, the conventional BODE index, which uses the 6-min walk distance, predicts mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as well as the modified index using peak oxygen uptake. The results support the use of the simpler index, which includes the 6-min walk distance in the comprehensive evaluation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Cc by Fuzzy and Rough Set Theory Based Gene Selection Method

The selection of genes from microarray gene expression datasets has become an important research in cancer classification because such data typically consist of a large number of genes and a small number of samples. In this work, Neighborhood mutual information is retrieved to evaluate the relevance between genes and is used to stop information loss. Firstly, an improved Relief Feature Selection algorithm is proposed to create candidate subsets of features. Based on the neighborhood mutual information the cohesion degree of neighborhood object and coupling degree between neighborhood objects have been defined. Furthermore, a new method of initialization for cluster centers in Fuzzy C-means (FCM) algorithm is proposed. FCM allows one piece of data that belong to two or more clusters. Neighborhood rough set is used for extraction and selection of features and is used in proposed FCM algorithm. Finally, to find the performance of the proposed approach, five gene expression datasets were taken. Experimental results show that the proposed approach can select genes effectively, and can obtain high and stable classification performance.
Hydrogels and Cell Based Therapies in Spinal Cord Injury Regeneration

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a central nervous system- (CNS-) related disorder for which there is yet no successful treatment. Within the past several years, cell-based therapies have been explored for SCI repair, including the use of pluripotent human stem cells, and a number of adult-derived stem and mature cells such as mesenchymal stem cells, olfactory ensheathing cells, and Schwann cells. Although promising, cell transplantation is often overturned by the poor cell survival in the treatment of spinal cord injuries. Alternatively, the therapeutic role of different cells has been used in tissue engineering approaches by engrafting cells with biomaterials. The latter have the advantages of physically mimicking the CNS tissue, while promoting a more permissive environment for cell survival, growth, and differentiation. The roles of both cell- and biomaterial-based therapies as single therapeutic approaches for SCI repair will be discussed in this review. Moreover, as the multifactorial inhibitory environment of a SCI suggests that combinatorial approaches would be more effective, the importance of using biomaterials as cell carriers will be herein highlighted, as well as the recent advances and achievements of these promising tools for neural tissue regeneration.
Absence of the Adaptor Protein PEA-15 Is Associated with Altered Pattern of Th Cytokines Production by Activated CD4+ T Lymphocytes In Vitro, and Defective Red Blood Cell Alloimmune Response In Vivo

TCR-dependent and costimulation signaling, cell division, and cytokine environment are major factors driving cytokines expression induced by CD4+ T cell activation. PEA-15 15 (Protein Enriched in Astrocyte / 15kDa) is an adaptor protein that regulates death receptor-induced apoptosis and proliferation signaling by binding to FADD and relocating ERK1/2 to the cytosol, respectively. By using PEA-15-deficient mice, we examined the role of PEA-15 in TCR-dependent cytokine production in CD4+ T cells. TCR-stimulated PEA-15-deficient CD4+ T cells exhibited defective progression through the cell cycle associated with impaired expression of cyclin E and phosphoRb, two ERK1/2-dependent proteins of the cell cycle. Accordingly, expression of the division cycle-dependent cytokines IL-2 and IFNγ, a Th1 cytokine, was reduced in stimulated PEA-15-deficient CD4+ T cells. This was associated with abnormal subcellular compartmentalization of activated ERK1/2 in PEA-15-deficient T cells. Furthermore, in vitro TCR-dependent differentiation of naive CD4+ CD62L+ PEA-15-deficient T cells was associated with a lower production of the Th2 cytokine, IL-4, whereas expression of the Th17-associated molecule IL4I1 was enhanced. Finally, a defective humoral response was shown in PEA-15-deficient mice in a model of red blood cell alloimmunization performed with Poly IC, a classical adjuvant of Th1 response in vivo. Collectively, our data suggest that PEA-15 contributes to the specification of the cytokine pattern of activated Th cells, thus highlighting a potential new target to interfere with T cell functional polarization and subsequent immune response.
An Incremental Join Attachment for Starburst

In this paper we describe the design, implementation, and performance of an incremental join facility that has been added as an extension to the Starburst extensible DBMS. This facility provides an efficient access path for joins that materialize many-to-one relationships, and it works by maintaining hidden pointer fields embedded in related tuples. The facility was constructed for two reasons: as an experiment in using pointers in the internals of a relational DBMS, and as a stress-test of the Starburst extension architecture. In addition to describing the join facility and its performance, we also summarize what it taught us about extensibility both in Starburst and in general.
A Data Structure for Content Cache Management in Content-Centric Networking

Content-Centric Networking (CCN) is a new network architecture that rethinks the model of network communication. In this architecture all the network sources will be looked as content and routed by name. In this paper, we describe a scheme about the memory management in CCN and explore the impact of this management. We hope to design a solution for the in-network cache. To this purpose, we set up an application platform using the open source CCNx prototype and redesign the cache management by using a different data structure-splay tree and replacement policy compared to the existing design. This data structure is very suitable for caching for that recently accessed content is quick to access again. We also imitate some related work and design a similar experiment. The experimental results show the high efficiency of our management. Our solution improves the hit probability and make the popular content less time to access.
A novel color image segmentation method and its application to white blood cell image analysis

According to the fact that the H component in HSI color space contains most of the white blood cell information, and the S component contains the structure information of the white blood cell nucleus, we develop an iterative Otsu's approach based on circular histogram for the leukocyte segmentation by taking full advantage of this knowledge. Experimental results show that this method works successfully in the segmentation of color smear microscopic images