Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Are You Influenced by Others When Rating?: Improve Rating Prediction by Conformity Modeling

Conformity has a strong influence to user behaviors, even in online environment. When surfing online, users are usually flooded with others' opinions. These opinions implicitly contribute to the user's ongoing behaviors. However, there is no research work modeling online conformity yet. In this paper, we model user's conformity in online rating sites. We conduct analysis using real data to show the existence and strength of conformity in these scenarios. We propose a matrix-factorization-based conformity modeling technique to improve the accuracy of rating prediction. Experiments show that our model outperforms existing works significantly (with a relative improvement of 11.72% on RMSE). Therefore, we draw the conclusion that conformity modeling is important for understanding user behaviors and can contribute to further improve the online recommender systems.
Student Financial Aid and Persistence in College.

Student financial aid programs have become an increasingly important component of the financing of higher education. The National Task Force on Student Aid Problems has noted that the total amount of financial assistance to students in postsecondary education has increased sixty-six times in the past twenty years. In addition, the National Commission on the Financing of Postsecondary Education stated that "student financial aid appears to be the fastest growing form of federal support for postsecondary education" [18, p. 114]. The total appropriation for student aid in the 1978 fiscal year was in excess of $3.7 billion [8]. In order to assess the effects of student aid, a brief overview of the policy goals of aid programs will be useful. While the goals of student aid programs have not always been well specified, there have been significant changes in the apparent goals during the development of aid programs. At their inception the primary purpose was manpower development in the area of teaching. During the War on Poverty era, goals changed to emphasize the reduction of financial barriers to college entrance for students from low income backgrounds as an avenue
Cognitive Structure and Processing During Cognitive Behavioral Therapy vs. Pharmacotherapy for Depression

Background: Evidence has converged to suggest that cognitive processing and content covary with depression severity, whereas indices of cognitive structure exhibit greater stability and promise as markers of vulnerability for depression. The objective of the current study was to investigate the temporal dynamics and causal role of cognitive structure and processing in treatment for depression. Method: A total of 104 patients with major depressive disorder were randomized to receive cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT; n = 54) or pharmacotherapy (n = 50). Patients completed the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Psychological Distance Scaling Task (PDST), Redundancy Card-Sorting Task (RCST), and Self-Referent Encoding Task (SRET) before, during, and after treatment. Results: Most cognitive indices exhibited change over treatment to a similar degree across both treatments. Evidence for the mediating role of cognition was limited, and not specific to CBT. Discussio.
Affordances of ICT in science learning: implications for an integrated pedagogy

This paper presents an analysis of how affordances of ICT‐rich environments identified from a recent review of the research literature can support students in learning science in schools within a proposed framework for pedagogical practice in science education. Furthermore other pedagogical and curriculum innovations in science education (promoting cognitive change, formative assessment and lifelong learning) are examined to see how they may be supported and enhanced by affordances of ICT‐rich environments. The affordances that I have identified support learning through four main effects: promoting cognitive acceleration; enabling a wider range of experience so that students can relate science to their own and other real‐world experiences; increasing students' self‐management; and facilitating data collection and presentation. ICT‐rich environments already provide a range of affordances that have been shown to enable learning of science but integrating these affordances with other pedagogical innovations provides even greater potential for enhancement of students' learning.
The developmental endocrinology of the spleen in chick embryos. I. The pars distalis.

Partial decapitation (‘hypophysectomy’) of the chick embryo significantly reduces body growth by 20 days (stage 46 −) of incubation as indicated by body weights, 60% of normal; the lengths of the toe and tibiotarsus, 80% and 78% of normal respectively; and liver growth, 47% of normal, but the gall bladder was not apparently enlarged. It significantly increases spleen growth to 82 % greater than normal, suppresses or retards white pulp differentiation and splenic vasculogenesis but enhances red pulp development. A single pars distalis gland placed as a chorioallantoic graft into operated embryos prevents the development of these defects except for liver growth which, while improved, is still subnormal. If the number of grafts is increased by one or two there is no change in the amount of influence on growth and development of the chick embryo. This apparent regulation occurs by some unknown mechanism even in the absence of the hypothalamus. Thus body and liver growth is normally stimulated by the pars distalis but spleen growth and red pulp differentiation are suppressed even though the gland stimulates splenic white pulp histogenesis. The hypothalamus, epiphysis and pars nervosa (removed by partial decapitation) are not apparently involved in the developmental endocrinology of the spleen in chick embryos.
Prevalence of and Outcomes Associated with Corticosteroid Prescription in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Background:Corticosteroids are widely used in the management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and are associated with significant side effects. The real world effectiveness of newer drug therapies at reducing corticosteroid use is yet to be reported. The overall burden of corticosteroid use is poorly characterized. Methods:We used a population-based IBD database to evaluate the overall prevalence of corticosteroid exposure, corticosteroid-free survival, and heavy corticosteroid use (≥3000 mg of prednisone or equivalent in a 365-day period). Regression models were used to assess predictors of heavy corticosteroid use and the relationship between corticosteroid dose in the first year after diagnosis and the need for continued corticosteroid use and surgery. Results:The proportion of persons with IBD prescribed corticosteroids within 1, 5, and 10 years of diagnosis was 35.2%, 52.0%, and 62.8%, respectively. Persons with ulcerative colitis, males, and diagnosis before age 25 were more likely to use corticosteroids and have higher cumulative exposure. Heavy corticosteroid use in the first year after IBD diagnosis was associated with a 3 times increased hazard of resective surgery. Cumulative corticosteroid exposure did not decrease among those diagnosed with IBD in more recent years, despite increasing use of immunomodulators. Conclusions:A plurality of IBD patients will be exposed to corticosteroids over the course of disease, mostly in the first year. Heavy corticosteroid use in the first year of IBD is a strong predictor of subsequent surgery. Cumulative exposure to corticosteroids use is not decreasing despite increasing uptake of immunomodulators.
Tris[2,4-dichloro-6-(ethyliminomethyl)phenolato-κ2 N,O]cobalt(III)

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [Co(C9H8Cl2NO)3], contains three independent molecules. In each molecule, the CoIII ion is coordinated by an O atom and an N atom from three bidentate 2,4-dichloro-6-(ethyliminomethyl)phenolate ligands in a slightly distorted octahedral environment. In the crystal, a weak C—H⋯Cl hydrogen bond is observed.
Media Literacy in Journalism/Mass Communication Education: Can the United States Learn from Sweden?

Exploratory studies were conducted in the United States and Sweden in the spring and autumn of 2004 to determine how faculty in journalism/mass communication programs acknowledged and conceptualized media literacy both as a teaching tool and educational concept. The Swedish participants' feedback was markedly different from U.S. academics' in terms of acknowledgement and conceptualization of media literacy. Conclusions drawn may help clarify media literacy's intentions as both a curricular benefit and new teaching tool for programs of journalism/mass communication/media in the United States. Comparisons also provide a base for future rigid exploration into this topic.
An exploratory study of associations between adult attachment, health service utilisation and health service costs

We investigated associations between attachment, psychopathology, quality of life, service utilisation and costs. Twenty-five people with psychosis completed self-report measures and service use was assessed from case note review. Insecure attachment was associated with greater psychopathology and higher service utilisation and costs. Insecure anxious attachment was related to higher service utilisation independent of symptoms.
Leading to Learn in Networks of Practice: Two Leadership Strategies

This paper outlines two leadership strategies to support organizational learning through networks of practice (NOPs). An in-depth case study in a development organization reveals that network leaders cope with a learning tension between management involvement and emergent learning processes by enacting two strategies: brokering and buffering (B&B), or conducting and controlling (C&C). The latter strategy implies a one-sided emphasis on institutionalization, whereas a B&B strategy implies mediating and shielding the network from too much management intervention. The B&B strategy appears more useful for achieving multilevel organizational learning through NOPs; this study thereby contributes to theory about learning and NOPs.
Growth and replication of ordered ZnO nanowire arrays on general flexible substrates

Vertically aligned and site controllable ZnO nanowire arrays have been synthesized and replicated via hydrothermal method on general flexible substrates. The replication was demonstrated for three generations. The morphology and density of the nanowire arrays could be optimized in the original generation by adjusting the chemical reaction parameters. The pattern of the original generation was inherited by the succeeding generations by a new transferring method. The growth mechanism of the replicated nanowire arrays was investigated with the help of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching and AFM tip scanning. The robustness of the ZnO nanowire arrays was obviously improved compared with the seedless ZnO nanowires grown on Au (111) surface, according to the excellent morphology preservation after ultrasonic wave treatment.
Using ICP-MS to Determine the Effect of Storage Temperature and Packaging on the Trace Metal Composition of Wine

The metal composition of finished wine is a function of the metals present in the grapes as well as those introduced by viticultural and enological practices [1]. Most research so far has focused on elemental profiling for the potential determination of the geographical origin of wine. However, in previous studies, the correlation between the trace element profile of vineyard soil and wine made from the grapes grown on the soil was poor, indicating a significant change in the elemental composition due to wine making and wine storage [2].
Global gene expression analysis of bovine blastocysts produced by multiple methods

Reproductive efficiency using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) technology remains suboptimal. Of the various efforts to improve the efficiency, chromatin transfer (CT) and clone‐clone aggregation (NTagg) have been reported to produce live cloned animals. To better understand the molecular mechanisms of somatic cell reprogramming during SCNT and assess the various SCNT methods on the molecular level, we performed gene expression analysis on bovine blastocysts produced via standard nuclear transfer (NT), CT, NTagg, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and artificial insemination (AI), as well as on somatic donor cells, using bovine genome arrays. The expression profiles of SCNT (NT, CT, NTagg) embryos were compared with IVF and AI embryos as well as donor cells. NT and CT embryos have indistinguishable gene expression patterns. In comparison to IVF or AI embryos, the number of differentially expressed genes in NTagg embryos is significantly higher than in NT and CT embryos. Genes that were differentially expressed between all the SCNT embryos and IVF or AI embryos are identified. Compared to AI embryos, more than half of the genes found deregulated between SCNT and AI embryos appear to be the result of in vitro culture alone. The results indicate that although SCNT methods have altered differentiated somatic nuclei gene expression to more closely resemble that of embryonic nuclei, combination of insufficient reprogramming and in vitro culture condition compromise the developmental potential of SCNT embryos. This is the first set of comprehensive data for analyzing the molecular impact of various nuclear transfer methods on bovine pre‐implantation embryos. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 75: 744–758, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Run-time monitoring of communication activities in a rapid prototyping environment

Architectural decisions in embedded systems design are often based on assumptions about properties of the communication channels. For validating them rapid prototyping combined with run-time monitoring plays a major role. The authors present HarMonIC-a reconfigurable hardware monitoring system for the run-time observation of communication channels. They show how HarMonIC can be used to significantly improve debugging, performance evaluation, and design space exploration of communication architectures in embedded systems.
Information Technology, the Organization of Production, and Regional Development

Information technology (IT) was conventionally viewed as a process that affects the spatial organization of production significantly yet has little impact on technical and managerial structures. Specifically, IT was said to encourage decentralization and centralization in space because the new infrastructure, ‘the electronic superhighway’, both compresses space and reduces turnover time. Regional policymakers were then advised to design measures to enhance the decentralizing effect of IT. Only recently has attention been directed toward the impact of IT on industrial processes. However, such contributions remain limited because of their view of IT as a process phenomenon. We argue that IT is better viewed as a process and as a productive force and that from this perspective its impact is not limited to spatial organization of industries as it also alters production methods. Beginning with this understanding of IT, we have identified and presented two emerging technospatial tendencies, namely, integration and disintegration. Whereas decentralization disengages production stages from a centralized hub of productive activity, disintegration actually alters a centralized production hub into new fragments, each of which incorporates every necessary production stage to create a comprehensive and self-sufficient structure. Likewise, whereas centralization simply collects production stages together, integration restructures groups of production stages into a new whole and leads to comprehensive resource-sharing among diverse industries. The implications of this new formulation for regional development policy are far-reaching. There are also ramifications for the existing theory of new international division of labor, a subject that is not treated in this paper. Regional planners will need to restructure ‘innovation techniques’ specifically to accommodate disintegrated firms and to design policies that correlate with the industrial objective of competitive advantage. The most significant ingredients in this process are the establishment of an intelligent network, high-quality labor training, and support of productivity strategies designed to meet the needs of firms in the 1990s. Policymakers must also introduce regulations to promote universal access to IT and prevent integrated firms from becoming oligopolies, including the creation of countervailing local forces.
Learning from neural control

One of the amazing successes of biological systems is their ability to "learn by doing" and so adapt to their environment. In this paper, first, a deterministic learning mechanism is presented, by which an appropriately designed adaptive neural controller is capable of learning closed-loop system dynamics during tracking control to a periodic reference orbit. Among various neural network (NN) architectures, the localized radial basis function (RBF) network is employed. A property of persistence of excitation (PE) for RBF networks is established, and a partial PE condition of closed-loop signals, i.e., the PE condition of a regression subvector constructed out of the RBFs along a periodic state trajectory, is proven to be satisfied. Accurate NN approximation for closed-loop system dynamics is achieved in a local region along the periodic state trajectory, and a learning ability is implemented during a closed-loop feedback control process. Second, based on the deterministic learning mechanism, a neural learning control scheme is proposed which can effectively recall and reuse the learned knowledge to achieve closed-loop stability and improved control performance. The significance of this paper is that the presented deterministic learning mechanism and the neural learning control scheme provide elementary components toward the development of a biologically-plausible learning and control methodology. Simulation studies are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.
A new minimax design for 2D FIR filters with low group delay

The proposed new minimax design method for 2D FIR filters is based on sequential quadratic programming (SQP). The main reason to formulate and solve the design problem in an SQP formulation is that the complementarity conditions associated with the SQP lead to a very small number of nonzero Lagrange multipliers that need to be updated in a given iteration. This in turn improves design efficiency as well as the algorithm's numerical stability, which is of critical importance as both the number of design variables and the constraints involved in a 2D design are much higher than a 1D design. Design examples with comparisons are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Risk of fracture after androgen deprivation for prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND The use of androgen-deprivation therapy for prostate cancer has increased substantially over the past 15 years. This treatment is associated with a loss of bone-mineral density, but the risk of fracture after androgen-deprivation therapy has not been well studied. METHODS We studied the records of 50,613 men who were listed in the linked database of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program and Medicare as having received a diagnosis of prostate cancer in the period from 1992 through 1997. The primary outcomes were the occurrence of any fracture and the occurrence of a fracture resulting in hospitalization. Cox proportional-hazards analyses were adjusted for characteristics of the patients and the cancer, other cancer treatment received, and the occurrence of a fracture or the diagnosis of osteoporosis during the 12 months preceding the diagnosis of cancer. RESULTS Of men surviving at least five years after diagnosis, 19.4 percent of those who received androgen-deprivation therapy had a fracture, as compared with 12.6 percent of those not receiving androgen-deprivation therapy (P<0.001). In the Cox proportional-hazards analyses, adjusted for characteristics of the patient and the tumor, there was a statistically significant relation between the number of doses of gonadotropin-releasing hormone received during the 12 months after diagnosis and the subsequent risk of fracture. CONCLUSIONS Androgen-deprivation therapy for prostate cancer increases the risk of fracture.
Hidden factor dynamic Bayesian networks for speech recognition

This paper presents a novel approach to modeling speech data by Dynamic Bayesian Networks. Instead of defining a specific set of factors that affect speech signals the factors are modeled implicitly by speech data clustering. Different data clusters correspond to different subsets of the factor values. These subsets are represented by the corresponding factor states. The factor states along with the phone states represent 2 hidden layers in the Hidden Factor Dynamic Bayesian Network (HFDBN). In this study we proved that Hidden Factor Dynamic Bayesian Networks provide a better speech recognition performance than HMMs of equal complexity. Speech recognition experiments were conducted on the speech data recorded in a moving car and demonstrated advantage of using HFDBN over HMM for clean and noisy speech data recognition.
Runtime Synthesis of Parallel and High-Performance Computational Kernels

Scripting and interpreted languages have become important tools for software development, with languages such as Visual Basic, C#, Java, Python, and Perl replacing compiled languages such as C, C++, and FORTRAN as the primary tools for application development. Scripting languages offer significant increases in productivity compared to compiled languages, due in large part to simplified type systems, dynamic run-times, and large support libraries. However, these productivity increases have come at the cost of performance. Scripting and interpreted languages are evaluated at run time, limiting overall performance of applications. For most applications, the loss of performance is acceptable, and often not even noticeable. But for applications that require high performance, especially scientific and multimedia applications, the performance penalty imposed by scripting and interpreted languages limits an application’s overall utility. The common solution to this is to develop performance-critical kernels in a compiled language and expose them as functions in the higher-level language. While effective, this approach complicates the development process by adding additional layers of abstraction and extending the development tool chain (Figure 1). Compiled languages themselves face a new challenge for generating high-performance code. The processor architectures for most commodity and high-end computer systems no longer match the simple models that C and FORTRAN were designed to support. Most systems include multiple processors with multiple execution units and most processors include vector units for SIMD parallelism. Automatically generating optimized code that fully takes advantage of these systems is difficult, if not impossible, and as a result, most compilers cannot generate high-performance code without significant guidance from the developer. In many cases, however, there is a simple, direct mapping between a performancecritical code section and the available processor resources. But, because of the deep