Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning from Others: Service-Learning in Costa Rica and Indonesia.

Calls are increasingly sounded for universities to better address their communities' and students' needs through service, as well as research and teaching. This article invites policy makers to re-examine university service, research, and teaching responsibilities by reflecting on roles service-learning plays in universities in Indonesia and Costa Rica. We conclude that service-learning plays a critical role and a key to expanding service-learning for students and understanding the utility of such a policy change is increased faculty involvement. Until more faculty explore the "why" and "how" of service-learning, research and teaching will dominate the university agenda. "Martin Luther King Jr. once said that "our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. " I have seen many times men who abandoned their dreams; I have seen those misguided men who believe they can solve all problems with guided missiles. These are men without values, and the world cannot afford their leadership into the twenty-first century. "The return to a life and a world dominated by values is urgent if we want
Molecular Systems Biology Peer Review Process File Plau Inferred from a Correlation Network Is Critical for Suppressor Function of Regulatory T Cells Transaction Report

(Note: With the exception of the correction of typographical or spelling errors that could be a source of ambiguity, letters and reports are not edited. The original formatting of letters and referee reports may not be reflected in this compilation.) Thank you again for submitting your work to Molecular Systems Biology. We have now heard back from the three referees who agreed to evaluate your manuscript. As you will see from the reports below, the referees raise substantial concerns on your work, which, I am afraid to say, preclude its publication. Overall, the reviewers recognized the ability of the time-series transcriptomic data, and subsequent network analysis, to identify known genes involved in Treg biology, and to provide new candidates. They were, however, not convinced that the experimental results exploring PLAU and FAM13A1 yet provided conclusive evidence supporting their relevance for Treg development or function. All three reviewers also noted the lack of a mechanistic explanation for PLAU's gene expression regulation in Treg cells, and reviewer #1 in particular seems to feel that additional experiments are needed in this regard. In addition, the reviewers each had a series of more specific concerns, including additional controls and/or experiments that they felt would be needed to support the conclusions in this work. Overall, the reviewers were not convinced that this work was suitable for publication in Molecular Systems Biology (rating publication suitability as "medium", "low," and "low"). Given that these experimental results provide the main support for the ability of network analysis to identify novel genes relevant to Treg biology, and the low-level of support expressed by the reviewers, we feel we have no choice but to return this manuscript with the message that we cannot offer to publish it. Nevertheless, the reviewer did express some interest in this work, and we note that they provide a
The role of working memory capacity and mind wandering in creativity and insight

Conflicting theories suggest opposing predictions for the role of working memory capacity (WMC) and mind wandering in insight problem solving and creativity. The executive-control-benefit perspective suggests that insight problem solving and creativity would benefit from the effectively focused attention that high WMC enables. Focused attention should help guide a selective search of solution-relevant information in memory and help inhibit uncreative yet accessible ideas. In contrast, the executive-control-cost perspective suggests that unfocused attention would be beneficial to insight and creativity, as it should allow access to more loosely relevant concepts, remotely linked to commonplace ideas. By inserting incubation periods into two insight problems and two creativity tasks, my main goal was to test whether or not WMC and mind wandering during the incubation tasks predict post-incubation performance on insight and creativity problems. Yet a third possibility, however, is that individual differences in WMC predict flexibility in control, such that people with higher WMC better adjust attentional focus (i.e., narrowly or broadly) to fit the requirements of the task. For instance, there is less benefit to mind wandering during a stand-alone attention task than during the incubation period of an insight problem or creativity task, where task-unrelated thoughts could lead to progress toward the problem-solving or creative goal. Following up on previous research, I also explored the possibility, in both studies, that self-reported concentration during the attention-demanding tasks may moderate the relationship between WMC and mind wandering in the lab, as it does in daily-life activities. In a second experiment I included an openness measure and a need for cognition measure in order to assess the moderating role of intellectual motivation on WMC to predict success in insight and creativity. Overall, results suggest that WMC is beneficial for certain insight problems, but not for creativity, and whereas mind wandering is not helpful for creativity, it may in fact be harmful in some insight problems. In addition, concentration does not seem to interact with WMC to predict mind wandering in the lab like it does in daily life. Finally, although openness to experience predicted both TUTs and creativity, neither openness to experience nor need for cognition moderated the relationship between WMC and insight or creativity.
MATLAB and photogrammetric applications

Many automated processes in digital photogrammetry such as relative orientation of a stereopair of aerial images or a derivation of a digital terrain model (DTM) are based on image matching. Several approaches to image matching have been developed. In this paper, attention is paid to area based matching. Using of MATLAB in procedures of finding parameters of exterior orientation of an aerial image based on an existing orthoimage and checking of DTM using two overlapping orthoimages is described.
Extracting Roadway Background Image

Traffic monitoring cameras are widely installed on streets and freeways in U.S. metropolitan areas. Video images captured from these video cameras can be used to extract many valuable traffic parameters through video image processing. A popular way to capture traffic data is to compare the current traffic images with the background image, which contains no vehicles or other moving objects, just background such as pavement. Once the moving vehicle images are separated from the background image, measurements of their number, speed, and so on can be obtained. Typically, background images are extracted from a video stream through image processing because it may be hard to find a frame without any vehicles for normal traffic streams on urban streets. This paper introduces a new method that can quickly extract the background image from traffic video streams for both freeways and intersections in a variety of prevailing traffic conditions. This method has been tested with field data, and the results are promising.
Innovation Award Competition Finalist Classroom Jeopardy : A Winning Approach for Improving Student Assessment , Performance , and Satisfaction by Lee Revere , University of Houston – Clear Lake

Lee Revere is an assistant professor of decision sciences at the University of Houston Clear Lake. She received a BS in industrial engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1992, an MS in healthcare administration from Trinity University in 1997, and a doctorate of public health in health policy and management from the University of South Florida in 2002. She began her career as a healthcare consultant for SunHealth, a 300+ hospital alliance. She went on to work as a clinical data analyst for Christus Health System. In 1996, Dr. Revere began working in managed healthcare, first as the director of Member Services for Humana Health Plans, and later as the executive director for HealthHelp Networks. Her current research interests include the application of decision science techniques and statistical analyses to improve business decisions. She has published in a number of business and healthcare journals, including Journal of Healthcare Management, TQM Magazine, Business Process Management Journal, Southwestern Business Administration Journal, and Applied Financial Economics. revere@cl.uh. edu Classroom instruction has changed dramatically in the past decade with the increasing integration of technology and pedagogy. Instructors today continuously seek effective teaching strategies that capitalize on technology while utilizing both proven and innovative teaching strategies. Research has shown teamwork, game playing, and focused feedback are successful pedagogical approaches (Angelo & Cross,1993; Thiagarajan & Parker, 1999; Lieberman & Wehlberg, 2001; Yumuk, 2002). Based on this research, an innovative team-based game-oriented exam was created with the goal of invoking student interest and involvement while improving student assessment, performance, and satisfaction. Research suggests that students who achieve a higher level of learning can effectively relate course material to other areas of their life (Lieberman 2001). Higher learning can be achieved through action-based knowledge and team assignments. Action-based knowledge develops capable students who can internalize and then widely apply course constructs. It enables students to make meaningful connections between what is learned in the classroom and what is experienced outside of the classroom (Yumuk, 2002). Students who attain higher learning, with more meaningful connections in-andout of the classroom, may be expected to feel more personal achievement and more course satisfaction than students who make no in-and-out connections.
A Runtime Quality Measurement Framework for Cloud Database Service Systems

Cloud database services promise high performance, high availability, and elastic scalability. The system that provides cloud database services must, hence, be designed and managed in a way to achieve these high quality objectives. There are two technology trends that facilitate the design and management of cloud database service systems. First, the development of distributed replicated database software that is optimally designed for highly available and scalable Web applications and offered as open source software. Second, the possibility to deploy the system on cloud computing infrastructure to facilitate availability and scalability via on-demand provisioning of geo-located servers. We argue that a runtime quality measurement and analysis framework is necessary for the successful runtime management of cloud database service systems. Our framework offers three contributions over the state of the art: (i) the analysis of scaling strategies, (ii) the analysis of conflicts between contradictory objectives, and (iii) the analysis of system configuration changes on runtime performance and availability.
Epidemiology of Generalized Joint Laxity (Hypermobility) in Fourteen-Year-Old Children From the UK: A Population-Based Evaluation

Objective Although diagnostic criteria for generalized ligamentous laxity (hypermobility) in children are widely used, their validity may be limited, due to the lack of robust descriptive epidemiologic data on this condition. The present study was undertaken to describe the point prevalence and pattern of hypermobility in 14-year-old children from a population-based cohort. Methods We performed a cross-sectional analysis using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a large population-based birth cohort. Hypermobility among children in the cohort (mean age 13.8 years) was measured using the Beighton scoring system. Objective measures of physical activity were ascertained by accelerometry. Data on other variables, including puberty and socioeconomic status, were collected. Simple prevalence rates were calculated. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were used to assess associations of specific variables with hypermobility. Results Among the 6,022 children evaluated, the prevalence of hypermobility (defined as a Beighton score of ≥4 [i.e., ≥4 joints affected]) in girls and boys age 13.8 years was 27.5% and 10.6%, respectively. Forty-five percent of girls and 29% of boys had hypermobile fingers. There was a suggestion of a positive association between hypermobility in girls and variables including physical activity, body mass index, and maternal education. No associations were seen in boys. Conclusion We have shown that the prevalence of hypermobility in UK children is high, possibly suggesting that the Beighton score cutoff of ≥4 is too low or that this scoring is not appropriate for use in subjects whose musculoskeletal system is still developing. These results provide a platform to evaluate the relationships between the Beighton criteria and key clinical features (including pain), thereby testing the clinical validity of this scoring system in the pediatric population.
Adaptive imbalance compensation for a three-pole AMB system

This work deals with the adaptive imbalance force compensation for a three-pole active magnetic bearing (AMB) system. The adaptive compensation scheme utilizes the method of immersion and invariance (I&I) control. In this study, the stabilized three-pole AMB system with known imbalance is considered as the target system. In practical applications, the imbalance force may be unknown and may be changing during operation. The adaptive compensation scheme is incorporated into the stabilizing controller so that the closed-loop system forms the higher-order system for the design of I&I control. Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive compensator for mass imbalance.
Urban built-up area extraction using combined spectral information and multivariate texture

Urban built-up area information is required by many applications, such as research of urbanization rate. Urban built-up area extraction using moderate resolution remotely sensed data (e.g. Landsat TM/ETM+) presents numerous challenges, such as very heterogeneous spectral features of urban areas, spectral confusion between built-up class and others. Considering that image texture is one of the important spatial information for identifying urban land cover, a new methodology to address these issues is proposed. This approach involves processes as the following, as a first step, multivariate texture is computed through multivariate variogram. Spectral bands and multivariate texture are then combined in classification process for built-up area extraction. One-Class Support Vector Machine (OCSVM) classifier was used in this process. A comprehensive evaluation is present with Landsat TM data of Beijing, China. Results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly improves the accuracy of urban area extraction.
Content based Image Retrieval using Sectorisation of Self Mutated Hybrid Wavelet Transforms

based image retrieval (CBIR) is an image retrieval process which involves mainly extraction of features based on contents of an image which uniquely identifies an image from other images in the database. Hybrid Wavelet Transform is formed using two orthogonal transforms. In this paper, Self Mutated Hybrid Wavelet transform (SMHWT) is used which is formed by using same component transform. In Proposed algorithm, feature extraction is done by applying sectorisation on Self Mutated Hybrid Wavelet transformed images. To test the performance of the proposed method, total 1000 queries were fired on the image database containing 1000 images of 10 categories. Manhattan Distance is used for similarity measurement. Performances proposed algorithm is evaluated using average precision. Results show that the proposed Self Mutated Hybrid Wavelet Transform containing Sine transform as a component gives better performance improvement across all tried variations of SMHWTs.
Molecular Evolutionary Consequences of Island Colonization

Island endemics are expected to have low effective population sizes (Ne), first because some may experience population bottlenecks when they are founded, and second because they have restricted ranges. Therefore, we expect island species to have reduced genetic diversity, inefficient selection, and reduced adaptive potential compared with their mainland counterparts. We used both polymorphism and substitution data to address these predictions, improving on the approach of recent studies that only used substitution data. This allowed us to directly test the assumption that island species have small values of Ne. We found that island species had significantly less genetic diversity than mainland species; however, this pattern could be attributed to a subset of island species that appeared to have undergone a recent population bottleneck. When these species were excluded from the analysis, island and mainland species had similar levels of genetic diversity, despite island species occupying considerably smaller areas than their mainland counterparts. We also found no overall difference between island and mainland species in terms of the effectiveness of selection or the mutation rate. Our evidence suggests that island colonization has no lasting impact on molecular evolution. This surprising result highlights gaps in our knowledge of the relationship between census and effective population size.
A Queer Vegan Manifesto

What does it mean for a person to declare her or his veganism to the world? How does the transition from one diet to another impact one’s sense of self? Veganism challenges the foundational character of how we “act out” our selves—not least of all in the context of sexuality and gender. In my paper, I am thus interested in the potential of veganism to disrupt the “natural” bond between gender formations and the consumption of animal products, as this relates to social and cultural genealogies. Consequently, I will explore a queer form of veganism that affirms the radical impact of what Sara Ahmed calls “shared deviation. ”
The methionine sulfoxide reduction system: selenium utilization and methionine sulfoxide reductase enzymes and their functions.

SIGNIFICANCE Selenium is utilized in the methionine sulfoxide reduction system that occurs in most organisms. Methionine sulfoxide reductases (Msrs), MsrA and MsrB, are the enzymes responsible for this system. Msrs repair oxidatively damaged proteins, protect against oxidative stress, and regulate protein function, and have also been implicated in the aging process. Selenoprotein forms of Msrs containing selenocysteine (Sec) at the catalytic site are found in bacteria, algae, and animals. RECENT ADVANCES A selenoprotein MsrB1 knockout mouse has been developed. Significant progress in the biochemistry of Msrs has been made, which includes findings of a novel reducing system for Msrs and of an interesting reason for the use of Sec in the Msr system. The effects of mammalian MsrBs, including selenoprotein MsrB1 on fruit fly aging, have been investigated. Furthermore, it is evident that Msrs are involved in methionine metabolism and regulation of the trans-sulfuration pathway. CRITICAL ISSUES This article presents recent progress in the Msr field while focusing on the physiological roles of mammalian Msrs, functions of selenoprotein forms of Msrs, and their biochemistry. FUTURE DIRECTIONS A deeper understanding of the roles of Msrs in redox signaling, the aging process, and metabolism will be achieved. The identity of selenoproteome of Msrs will be sought along with characterization of the identified selenoprotein forms. Exploring new cellular targets and new functions of Msrs is also warranted.
MOBIE: a Movie Brain Interactive Editor

Interactive cinema will soon be a reality, following the current evolution of computer games. So far, however, interactivity is still limited, in particular because it is based on conscious operations of the viewer (e.g. through buttons, joystick, keyboards, voice, gestures). Instead, it would be desirable to adapt the movie plot to the viewers state of mind, without the need of deliberate actions, just by means of thoughts, unconscious preferences, and feelings. Such an interaction would represent an interesting alternative to traditional ways of movie watching, and an advance with respect to more mechanical types of interactivity.
Using Measures for Verifying and Improving Requirement Models in MDD Processes

It is well known that an appropriate requirement specification is essential for the success of software development projects. In the model-driven development context, the requirement models can be used as entry artifacts for aligning the final software products with the stakeholders' needs. Thus, it is necessary to solve any modeling issue that may prevent the correct translation of the input requirement artifacts, i.e., the requirement models need to be verified for assuring the completeness of the design (MDD-oriented) models generated. In this paper, we face this issue by presenting an approach to integrate specific measures that automate the verification of a goal-oriented requirement approach - the i* framework - in the context of a MDD development process.
Automatic pancreas segmentation in contrast enhanced CT data using learned spatial anatomy and texture descriptors

Pancreas segmentation in 3-D computed tomography (CT) data is of high clinical relevance, but extremely difficult since the pancreas is often not visibly distinguishable from the small bowel. So far no automated approach using only single phase contrast enhancement exist. In this work, a novel fully automated algorithm to extract the pancreas from such CT images is proposed. Discriminative learning is used to build a pancreas tissue classifier that incorporates spatial relationships between the pancreas and surrounding organs and vessels. Furthermore, discrete cosine and wavelet transforms are used to build computationally inexpensive but meaningful texture features in order to describe local tissue appearance. Classification is then used to guide a constrained statistical shape model to fit the data. Cross-validation on 40 CT datasets yielded an average surface distance of 1.7 mm compared to ground truth which shows that automatic pancreas segmentation from single phase contrast enhanced CT is feasible. The method even outperforms automatic solutions using multiple-phase CT both in accuracy and computation time.
Dependency parsing representation effects on the accuracy of semantic applications — an example of an inflective language

In this paper we investigate how different dependency representations of a treebank influence the accuracy of the dependency parser trained on this treebank and the impact on several parser applications: named entity recognition, coreference resolution and limited semantic role labeling. For these experiments we use Latvian Treebank, whose native annotation format is dependency based hybrid augmented with phrase-like elements. We explore different representations of coordinations, complex predicates and punctuation mark attachment. Our experiments shows that parsers trained on the variously transformed treebanks vary significantly in their accuracy, but the best-performing parser as measured by attachment score not always leads to best accuracy for an end application.