Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Language Reversion among People with Dementia from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds: The Family Experience

Abstract Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) older people with dementia, along with their families, face many unique challenges and have unique needs. One such challenge is language reversion, an issue that has received little research attention. This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study of the experiences of family members of people with language reversion emanating from dementia. Using a qualitative, phenomenological approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with seven participants. The study found that the presence of language reversion created additional challenges for family members of someone with dementia, particularly if the family member did not share the person's first language. Community-based aged care services have the potential to offer valuable support, but barriers of negative past experiences, lack of communication, stigma, cultural understanding, and locality need to be overcome. While further research is recommended, these findings have implications for both policy and social work practice in community-based aged care with CALD populations.
Is Near-Infrared Spectroscopy a Reliable Method to Evaluate Clamping Ischemia during Carotid Surgery?

Guidelines do not include cerebral oximetry among monitoring for carotid endarterectomy (CEA). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in the detection of clamping ischemia and in the prevention of clamping-related neurologic deficits using, as a cutoff for shunting, a 20% regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO2) decrease if persistent more than 4 minutes, otherwise a 25% rSO2 decrease. Bilateral rSO2 was monitored continuously in patients undergoing CEA under general anesthesia (GA). Data was recorded after clamping, declamping, during shunting and lowest values achieved. Preoperative neurologic, CT-scan, and vascular lesions were recorded. We reviewed 473 cases: 305 males (64.5%) mean age 73.3 ± 7.3. Three patients presented transient ischemic deficits at awakening, no perioperative stroke or death; 41 (8.7%) required shunting: 30 based on the initial rSO2 value and 11 due to a decrease during surgery. Using the ROC curve analysis we found, for a >25% reduction from baseline value, a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 90.6%. Reliability, PPV, and NPV were 95.38%, 9%, and 100%, respectively. In conclusion, this study indicates the potential reliability of NIRS monitoring during CEA under GA, using a cutoff of 25% or a cutoff of 20% for prolonged hypoperfusion.
Hotspot detection using machine learning

As technology nodes continue shrinking, lithography hotspot detection has become a challenging task in the design flow. In this work we present a hybrid technique using pattern matching and machine learning engines for hotspot detection. In the training phase, we propose sampling techniques to correct for the hotspot/non-hotspot imbalance to improve the accuracy of the trained Support Vector Machine (SVM) system. In the detection phase, we have combined topological clustering and a novel pattern encoding technique based on pattern regularity to enhance the predictability of the system. Using the ICCAD 2012 benchmark data, our approach shows an accuracy of 88% in detecting hotspots with hit-to-extra ratio of 0.12 which are better results compared to other published techniques using the same benchmark data.
An efficient low-power buffer insertion with time and area constraints

Technology scaling has resulted in interconnect delay increasing significantly. Buffer-insertion is a well-known technique to reduce wire delays of critical signal nets in a circuit. However, the power consumption of buffers has become a critical concern with the increase of the number of buffers. Thanks to a genetic-based algorithm, our work addresses the interconnect delay problem while meeting power and area constraints.
Load-pull + NVNA = enhanced X-parameters for PA designs with high mismatch and technology-independent large-signal device models

X-parameters are the mathematically correct supersets of S-parameters valid for nonlinear (and linear) components under large-signal (and small-signal) conditions. This work presents an automated application combining a nonlinear vector network analyzer (NVNA) instrument with automated load-pull measurements that extends the measurement and extraction of X-parameters over the entire Smith Chart. The augmented X-parameter data include magnitude and phase as nonlinear functions of power, bias, and load, at each harmonic generated by the device and measured by the NVNA. The X-parameters can be immediately used in a nonlinear simulator for complex microwave circuit analysis and design. This capability extends the applicability of measurement-based X-parameters to highly mismatched environments, such as high-power and multi-stage amplifiers, and power transistors designed to work far from 50 ohms. It provides a powerful and general technology-independent alternative, with improved accuracy and speed, to traditional large-signal device models which are typically slow to develop and typically extrapolate large-signal operation from small-signal and DC measurements.
Motility, progressive motility score and DNA integrity of spermatozoa from cold-preserved mouse cauda epididymis

Summary This study attempted to investigate and validate whether epididymis cold storage could be a suitable alternative for short-term preservation of spermatozoa. Mouse cauda epididymides and spermatozoa were preserved at 4–8°C from 1 day to 6 weeks. From days 1 to 10, motility and fertility were daily examined when motility loss occurred. From week 1, spermatozoa were used for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) at weekly intervals to test their fertility, and spermatozoa DNA integrity was determined by comet assay. We found that motility and progressive motility scores gradually decreased with storage time. In nearly all spermatozoa, DNA integrity was maintained from days 1 to 10, but the percentage of spermatozoa with damaged DNA significantly increased from week 2 to week 6. Spermatozoa retained fertility until day 6, although fertility gradually decreased after day 3. From week 1 to week 5, fertilization rates by ICSI were more than 82.69% but decreased gradually after week 3. We found that spermatozoa preserved in the epididymis at 4–8°C had progressively lower motility, fertility and proportion of undamaged DNA, but could still fertilize oocytes. However, all the parameters of cold-preserved spermatozoa were completely inferior to that from cold-preserved cauda epididymides. The results imply that cold storage of cauda epididymides could be conducive to short-term preservation of spermatozoa, and the cold-stored spermatozoa can resist DNA denaturation, which is necessary for maintaining reproductive ability.
Preparing Problem Solvers for the 21st Century through Problem-Based Learning

roblem-based learning (PBL) is a constructivist teaching model that helps students learn to think and to solve problems-skills too frequently not acquired in traditional university course work. This approach is implemented widely in medical school education. It uses an authentic, complex problem as the impetus for learning and fosters the acquisition of both disciplinary knowledge and problem-solving skills. Professors introduce a confusing, open-ended problem, like those faced in the workplace and in everyday life, which leads students to an investigation from which subject matter content and instruction emerge. That approach contrasts with the usual teaching practice of presenting concepts in a lecture format followed by wellstructured problems. PBL, which engages students in developing a contextrich knowledge base and the skills for applying that knowledge, can be applied in a wide variety of classroom settings and fields. This article provides an overview of the PBL model, its application to college courses, specific examples of PBL currently used in several fields of study, and a brief description of a PBL cycle in an undergraduate educational psychology course.
Generalized Discrete Ricci Flow

Surface Ricci flow is a powerful tool to design Riemannian metrics by user defined curvatures. Discrete surface Ricci flow has been broadly applied for surface parameterization, shape analysis, and computational topology. Conventional discrete Ricci flow has limitations. For meshes with low quality triangulations, if high conformality is required, the flow may get stuck at the local optimum of the Ricci energy. If convergence to the global optimum is enforced, the conformality may be sacrificed.
Adaptation française de "l'Inventaire de risque et d'activation" (IRA).

Cette etude porte sur l'adaptation en francais du questionnaire « Risk and Excitement Inventory » (REI), de Taylor et Hamilton (1997), qui mesure la fuite et la compensation. Les « fuyeurs » chercheraient a echapper a la realite par certaines conduites a risque (par ex., les drogues), alors que les « compensateurs » chercheraient des sensations dans d'autres activites risquees (par ex., les sports a risque) afin de se valoriser. Les analyses montrent que la version traduite du questionnaire possede une validite de construit satisfaisante: la structure factorielle et les niveaux de consistance interne sont corrects. La stabilite temporelle et l'evaluation des correlats du construit psychologique confirment la coherence de cette adaptation francaise. La fuite, contrairement a la compensation, est logiquement liee a des difficultes emotionnelles (anxiete, nevrosisme ou impulsivite). Les auteurs discutent ensuite de ces liens.
Epistemologies of Participation, or, What Do Critical Human Geographers Know That's of Any Use?

Declining an invitation to take part in a seminar on “the practices of sustainability transitions”, Pat Borer, an iconic green architect (Mason 2011), cited his dissatisfaction with participation in a previous seminar in the series. One issue Pat highlighted was academics’ use of specialist language, stating that in his presentation: “I did point out that I rarely get to use ‘hegemony’ and ‘paradigm’ on building sites—but that I shall try in future”. The use and misuse of specialist language is clearly something which both academics and practitioners should be aware of, but there is a gap between our acknowledgement of it as a problem and our practice in changing it. We still need to be reflexive about the language we use: explanation is not condescension. Academics have long argued over the necessity (or otherwise) of using complex language in order to understand complex problems. And academia is not alone in using specialist language—there is often a language of a trade or field—or in having a specialist audience. Complex language is a shorthand for communicating without the need for lengthy explanation and that is why the institutional expectation of academia is embedded in the need for theoretically rigorous and complex language publications (see Pain, Kesby and Askins 2010). Simplifying the language we use does not in itself make the knowledge we wish to share more useful. There is a bigger issue here which needs further attention, especially in so-called radical geography. Here we explore three issues: types of knowledge; the economics of participation; and the mechanisms of power. Pat’s observation, pertinent in itself, serves to exhume deeper epistemic concerns (and, yes, we do realise the irony of using another term seldom heard on building sites! ). By definition practitioners like Pat require knowledges that are useful in practice. In his case, green buildings need to be designed, built, operated and maintained; occupants need to learn behaviours appropriate to optimising performance, achieving comfort, and so on. Academics, however, are most often looking to critique designs, practices and behaviours. Although the intention of such critiques may be constructive, practitioner knowledges can be threatened or undermined. It seems even those of us who are sympathetic to the concepts still have
Vibrations of a Parametrically Excited MEMS-Structure with Two Masses

Abstract The impact of time-periodic coefficients, also known as parametric excitation, on the dynamic stability of MEMS-structures is investigated. While single-dof MEMS only exhibit unstable behavior within certain intervals of the parametric excitation frequency, do multi-dof systems also show frequency intervals of enhanced stability. This phenomenon is modeled and studied for a MEMS-structure and some novel results are discussed.
Feature sensitive mesh segmentation with mean shift

Feature sensitive mesh segmentation is important for many computer graphics and geometric modeling applications. In this paper, we develop a mesh segmentation method, which is capable of producing high-quality shape partitioning. It respects fine shape features and works well on various types of shapes, including natural shapes and mechanical parts. The method combines a procedure for clustering mesh normals with a modification of the mesh clarification technique. For clustering of mesh normals, we adopt Mean Shift, a powerful general purpose technique for clustering scattered data. We demonstrate advantages of our method by comparing it with two state-of-the-art mesh segmentation techniques.
Architectural techniques for enabling secure cryptographic processing

Cryptographic processing is a principal enabler of many secure computing systems. Using cryptographic techniques such as encryption and secure hashing, we can satisfy several essential security requirements for networks, computers, and data against a diverse set of threats. This thesis proposes four architectural solutions to problems associated with enabling cryptographic processing in software and hardware. Two of the solutions involve protecting cryptographic keys, which are small secrets upon which cryptographic security critically depends. The other two solutions improve performance and reduce vulnerabilities in cryptographic software implementations. First, since the security provided by cryptographic processing depends on the secrecy and integrity of cryptographic keys, we describe a flexible system for shielding a user's keys while in storage, transmission, and use on networked computing devices. Second, we present a new broadcast encryption system that enables the identification of users who contribute to piracy by divulging cryptographic keys that can be used to decode protected information. Third, since software rather than specialized hardware often supplies cryptographic functionality, we describe a method for alleviating performance problems suffered by cryptographic software implementations. In particular, we propose new processor instructions to improve the performance of bit-level mappings employed by several common cryptographic operations. Fourth, we present a processor-based method for mitigating certain software vulnerabilities in both cryptographic and general software. The method provides built-in and dynamic protection against buffer overflow attacks, which compose one of the most common classes of software exploits. By applying these four contributions individually or in concert, we can achieve improved cryptographic security in existing and future systems.
Phase Ib safety and pharmacokinetic evaluation of daily and twice daily oral enzastaurin in combination with pemetrexed in advanced/metastatic cancer.

BACKGROUND This phase Ib study evaluated the safety, pharmacokinetics, and activity of enzastaurin either 500 mg once daily (QD) or 250 mg twice daily (b.i.d.) in combination with pemetrexed. PATIENTS AND METHODS Pemetrexed 500 mg/m(2) with folic acid and vitamin B(12) was given on day 1 every 21 days with enzastaurin 500 mg orally QD starting on day 5 of cycle 1 after a loading dose of 400 mg thrice daily on day 4. To evaluate whether a b.i. d. regimen results in higher enzastaurin exposures, the study was amended. After amendment, in cycle 1, patients received 500 mg enzastaurin QD on days 1-15 without initial loading dose and 250 mg b.i. d. on days 16-30; in subsequent cycles, patients received pemetrexed on day 1 every 21 days with enzastaurin b.i. d. RESULTS Sixty-eight patients (42 preamendment and 26 postamendment) were assessed. Pemetrexed toxicity and pharmacokinetics did not appear to be altered by enzastaurin. Enzastaurin average steady-state plasma concentration (C(av,ss)) decreased by approximately 25% in the presence of pemetrexed. Enzastaurin C(av,ss) were approximately 40% higher in the b.i. d. versus QD regimen. Three patients (4.4%) with thyroid cancer of follicular/papillary type had partial response as defined by RECIST. CONCLUSIONS Pemetrexed plus enzastaurin is well tolerated with preliminary evidence of anticancer activity, particularly in thyroid cancer.
Suboptimal Soft Range Estimators With Applications in UWB Sensor Networks

In this paper, we consider the positioning problem in wireless sensor networks from a systems perspective, including aspects of the physical layer, channel, ranging algorithm and positioning algorithm. We argue that gains in positioning accuracy and robustness can be achieved by extending the interface between the physical layer ranging algorithm and the higher layer positioning algorithm to include more information than just a single distance estimate per link. Towards this end, we propose and analyze a "soft" distance estimator. This estimator, differently from traditional distance estimators, outputs a list of likely distances for each link together with a list of weights similar to likelihoods. Hence, we broaden the interface between ranging and positioning algorithm, and provide additional information that the positioning algorithm can exploit. The soft distance estimator we propose is of comparably low complexity, and offers competitive performance while making no assumptions on a priori channel information or network synchronization. The analysis and simulations in this work are based on the channel models adopted by the IEEE 802.15. 4a working group, and highlight the benefits and drawbacks of the proposed approach.
Early identification of primary school students with learning difficulties in Hong Kong: the development of a checklist

Early identification of children experiencing difficulties in learning is essential for timely and effective intervention. The aim of this study was to develop a screening instrument for identifying students with learning difficulties at the end of the first term of Primary 1 in Hong Kong. This paper describes the development and validation of a 27‐item checklist on 594 students. Validity testing performed included content and expert, contrasted group, concurrent and predictive validity; all were found to be satisfactory. In addition, test–re‐test reliability was assessed to be good. The checklist can be administered in 10 minutes for each student based on everyday observations of the student; no specific testing of the students would be required. A longer version with 97 items was also made available for teachers to conduct a more comprehensive evaluation of a child’s performance.
Attribution style of patients with depression.

INTRODUCTION The role of attribution in psychopathology has been investigated most systematically within the depression context. The presumption which makes people depressive consists, to an excessive degree, of internal, stable and global attributions to negative occurrences. Negative attributions for unpleasant events are associated with the loss of self-respect which follows. OBJECTIVE Establishing the characteristics of attribution style of depressive patients. METHODS The investigation included 62 subjects. The first group consisted of 32 patients with endogenous depression in remission. The second group included 30 healthy subjects. The characteristics of attribution style, in both groups, were tested by the Attribution Style Questionnaire (ASQ). RESULTS The group of depressive patients, in comparison with healthy subjects, exhibited a significantly more marked internal attribution for negative events (t(60) = -3.700; p < 0.01) and global internal negative attributions (t(60)= -4.023; p < 0.01). There was no significant difference between the groups in the stability of these negative attributions (t(60)= -1.937; p > 0.05), and also the composite score which represents the measure of hopelessness did not make a significant difference between depressive and healthy subjects (t(60)= -1.810; p > 0.05). CONCLUSION Depressive patients exhibit an inclination towards internal and global attribution for negative events. These negative attributions do not have stable character, i.e. these attributions vary in time. Characteristics of attribution judgments of depressive people do not represent a permanent pattern within their cognitive style.
Very quaffable and great fun: Applying NLP to wine reviews

People find it difficult to name odors and flavors. In blind tests with everyday smells and tastes like orange or chocolate, only 50% is recognized and described correctly. Certain experts like wine reviewers are trained in recognizing and reporting on odor and flavor on a daily basis and they have a much larger vocabulary than lay people. In this research, we want to examine whether expert wine tasters provide consistent descriptions in terms of perceived sensory attributes of wine, both across various wine types and colors. We collected a corpus of wine reviews and performed preliminary experiments to analyse the semantic fields of „flavor” and „odor” in wine reviews. To do so, we applied distributional methods as well as pattern-based approaches. In addition, we show the first results of automatically predicting „color” and „region” of a particular wine, solely based on the reviewer’s text. Our classifiers perform very well when predicting red and white wines, whereas it seems more challenging to distinguish rose wines.
Emotional well-being and its relationship to schools and classrooms: a critical reflection

ABSTRACT This article explores the research underpinning views of emotional well-being and its development in schools and classrooms. Research concerning the concepts of emotional intelligence, resilience and protective factors, mental health and young people and emotional regulation is examined and its implications interpreted. The author critically reviews the focus of interventions, the nature of the interventions and the strategies being adopted by policy-makers. She argues that there are dangers in solely adopting an individualistic programmatic approach and suggests that a wider emphasis on relationships, pedagogy and community building is central to the development of emotional well-being in young people.
Indigenous struggles and water policies in contemporary New Caledonia

Following the struggles of the 1980s, the Matignon and Nouméa Agreements profoundly transformed the issue of decolonization in New Caledonia. Although most decision-making powers will be controlled by the collegial local Government in 2014, there is no guarantee that the ‘Republic of Kanaky’ will become a tangible reality after the referendum. However, the principle of Kanak sovereignty has already been asserted in the Nouméa Agreement, through recognition of Kanak identity within a broader Caledonian citizenship – which may become full nationality after 2014. In this context, as New Caledonia engaged in this progressive decolonization process, two distinct political Kanak strategies have emerged in recent years. The paper addresses the cleavages that have emerged between pro-independence and ‘indigenous’ Kanak activists, through an ethnographic description of this phenomenon on a local scale, namely a political conflict concerning a water conveyance project in the Northern Province.