Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Private Schooling and Public Achievement

There are two contending explanations for the apparent public/private differences in educational outcomes—the ‘quality education’ argument versus the ‘selective-socioeconomic-recruitment’ explanation. The quality education argument explains these differences in terms of between-system differences in the quality of the education offered. The selective-socioeconomic-recruitment explanation suggests that between-system differences in outcomes have more to do with what students bring to school than with what they find there. These competing propositions are examined by asking whether attendance at a Catholic or non-Catholic private school provides a net benefit with regard to educational achievement and attainment. The answers come from additive models which control for a variety of family, individual and school variables in order to examine the net effect of school sector. The evidence presented suggests that a good part of the observed between-sector differences in performance is attributable to between-sector differences in student attributes—but not all. In the case of schooling, small between-sector differences in achievement remain, along with sizeable between-sector differences in Year 12 graduation rates. For higher education, between-sector differences in participation rates favour the graduates of non-government schools but sectoral differences in completion rates are negligible. It is suggested, in conclusion, that parents who invest in their children's education in this way may be getting a return on their investment, though probably not as much as they think.
Prognostic value of heart rate turbulence for risk assessment in patients with unstable angina and non-ST elevation myocardial infarction

Background We sought to examine the prognostic value of heart rate turbulence derived from electrocardiographic recordings initiated in the emergency department for patients with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) or unstable angina. Methods Twenty-four-hour Holter recordings were started in patients with cardiac symptoms approximately 45 minutes after arrival in the emergency department. Patients subsequently diagnosed with NSTEMI or unstable angina who had recordings with ≥18 hours of sinus rhythm and sufficient data to compute Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) risk scores were chosen for analysis (n = 166). Endpoints were emergent re-entry to the cardiac emergency department and/or death at 30 days and one year. Results In Cox regression models, heart rate turbulence and TIMI risk scores together were significant predictors of 30-day (model chi square 13.200, P = 0.001, C-statistic 0.725) and one-year (model chi square 31.160, P < 0.001, C-statistic 0.695) endpoints, outperforming either measure alone. Conclusion Measurement of heart rate turbulence, initiated upon arrival at the emergency department, may provide additional incremental value in the risk assessment for patients with NSTEMI or unstable angina.
Reference-Free PRFS MR-Thermometry Using Near-Harmonic 2-D Reconstruction of the Background Phase

Proton resonance frequency shift (PRFS) MR thermometry (MRT) is the generally preferred method for monitoring thermal ablation, typically implemented with gradient-echo (GRE) sequences. Standard PRFS MRT is based on the subtraction of a temporal reference phase map and is, therefore, intrinsically sensitive to tissue motion (including deformation) and to external perturbation of the magnetic field. Reference-free (or reference-less) PRFS MRT has been previously described by Rieke and was based on a 2-D polynomial fit performed on phase data from outside the heated region, to estimate the background phase inside the region of interest. While their approach was undeniably a fundamental progress in terms of robustness against tissue motion and magnetic perturbations, the underlying mathematical formalism requires a thick unheated border and may be subject to numerical instabilities with high order polynomials. A novel method of reference-free PRFS MRT is described here, using a physically consistent formalism, which exploits mathematical properties of the magnetic field in a homogeneous or near-homogeneous medium.
Pre-facing power. The study of power in American political science, 1920–1950

Contemporary debates on power usually analyze power through different faces (or dimensions) of power. The first three faces are closely tied to the development of American political science and sociology (Robert A. Dahl; Peter Bachrach and Morton S. Baratz; Steven Lukes). However, the perspective neglects the earlier study of power in the 1920s and 1930s. This article focuses on the concept of power in the works of two influential scholars of that period, Charles E. Merriam and Mary Parker Follett. It concludes that if political scientists in the 1950s and 1960s had paid more attention to Merriam’s and Follett’s work, research on power might have advanced in a more balanced and interesting way than has been the case.
BRAIN: A Low-Power Deep Search Engine for Autonomous Robots

Autonomous robots are actively studied for many unmanned applications, however, the heavy computational costs and limited battery capacity make it difficult to implement intelligent decision making in robots. In this article, the authors propose a low-power deep search engine (code-named “BRAIN”) for real-time path planning of intelligent autonomous robots. To achieve low power consumption while maintaining high performance, BRAIN adopts a multithreaded core architecture with a transposition table cache to detect and avoid duplicated searches between the processors at the deeper level of the search tree. In addition, dynamic voltage and frequency scaling is adopted to minimize power consumption without any loss of performance because the workload is gradually decreasing while approaching the target position. BRAIN achieves fast search speed (470,000 searches per second) and low energy consumption (79 nJ per search), and it is successfully applied to the robots for autonomous navigation without any collision in dynamic environments.
Distribution of volumes and coordination numbers in jammed matter: mesoscopic ensemble

We investigate the distribution of the volume and coordination number associated to each particle in a jammed packing of monodisperse hard spheres using the mesoscopic ensemble developed in Song et al (2008 Nature 453 606). Theory predicts an exponential distribution of the orientational volumes for random close packings (RCP) and random loose packings (RLP). A comparison with computer generated packings reveals deviations from the theoretical prediction in the volume distribution, which can be better modeled by a compressed exponential function. On the other hand, the average of the volumes is well reproduced by the theory, leading to good predictions of the limiting densities of RCP and RLP. We discuss a more exact theory to capture the volume distribution in its entire range. Finally, we consider an extended ensemble to calculate the coordination number distribution which is shown to be of an exponential and inverse exponential form for coordinations larger and smaller than the average, respectively, in reasonable agreement with the simulated data.
Religiosity, gender attitudes and women’s labour market participation and fertility decisions in Europe

The Second Demographic Transition (SDT) theory underlines the importance of changing values and attitudes to explain the trend toward low fertility and raising female labour market participation. We contribute to this debate comparing religiosity and gender attitudes over several European countries using three waves of the European Values Study (1990, 1999 and 2008). By dealing with the issues of measurement invariance and endogeneity between values and behaviour, our results support some critiques of the SDT theory. The pace of the process of sociocultural change has not been the same across European countries and the forerunners of the SDT, that is, the most secularized and gender-egalitarian societies, now have the highest female labour market participation rates and the highest fertility. We provide evidence for a ‘macro–micro paradox’ regarding the role of values on family behaviours. Religiosity is positively correlated with fertility and housewifery, while gender attitudes are only correlated with women’s labour market decisions. These correlations are stronger in more traditional countries, even if aggregate fertility is lower. We stress the necessity to integrate cultural and structural explanations, suggesting the lack of family policies and the rigidity of the family formation process as possible mechanisms to unravel this paradox.
An Approach to Sparing Analysis for a Finite Working Item Population

The widely used METRIC-based sparing models assume that equipment failures are generated by an infinite working item population. These models were first developed and applied in the US which maintains large fleets of specific platforms obscuring the errors introduced by this simplification. However, in countries like Canada where fleet sizes tend to be small, the errors introduced by this assumption can be significant. In order to deal with small (or finite) fleet sizes, the T-METRIC model is proposed. The model is based on the use of truncated distributions for calculating the expected backorder.
Land and Discover! A Case Study Investigating the Cultural Context of Plagiarism

Despite a growing body of evidence, the common causal factors of plagiarism among international students are still widely seen to be poor language skills or a lack of academic integrity on the part of the students. This research uses the experiences of a particular cohort of students to explore these assumptions. It investigates and compares the notion of academic integrity and the understanding of plagiarism of both Indian postgraduate students who are currently studying in Australia and students currently studying at Indian universities. Postgraduate international students from India have studied in English at an undergraduate level in India and have a clear understanding of academic integrity in their own context. However their undergraduate experience occurs in a culturally different context to that of the Australian university system and they face the challenge of learning new academic conventions. This paper argues that students coming from different educational cultures require proper and explicit induction into the principles and philosophy behind many western academic conventions as different conventions of scholarship in the Australian education system can create unique difficulties for them. To accuse international students in general of a lack of integrity because they plagiarise or to blame only their lack of language skills for plagiarising seems to be arguable. Rather, the impact of transition from a different university culture without explicit academic skills orientation and instruction needs to be addressed. The paper also points towards the paradox of punishment in western universities where international students have to prove their integrity and innocence regarding the ethical principles of a new and foreign culture.
Towards a professionalization of pedagogical improvisation in teacher education

Abstract The aim of this study is to provide theoretical and practical knowledge about strategies and techniques for training primary school education pre-service teachers (PSTs) for Pedagogical Improvisation (PI). Data was collected during two iterations of cross-disciplinary art\science school interventions in Norwegian 3rd-grade classes, which provided a framework for a process based on Educational Design Research theory. Data included interviews with PSTs (n = 11), and their reflection notes, following their participation as practicum educators in the interventions as well as in separate PI rehearsal sessions in a controlled classroom environment. PSTs’ experiences and perceptions were coded and analysed, leading to the development of a theoretical model on which future trainings for classroom improvisation may be based. Implications for improvisation as an integral part of teacher education, its professionalization, and areas for further research are described as conclusions.
CLIC1 regulates dendritic cell antigen processing and presentation by modulating phagosome acidification and proteolysis

ABSTRACT Intracellular chloride channel protein 1 (CLIC1) participates in inflammatory processes by regulating macrophage phagosomal functions such as pH and proteolysis. Here, we sought to determine if CLIC1 can regulate adaptive immunity by actions on dendritic cells (DCs), the key professional antigen presenting cells. To do this, we first generated bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs) from germline CLIC1 gene-deleted (CLIC1−/−) and wild-type (CLIC1+/+) mice, then studied them in vitro and in vivo. We found phagocytosis triggered cytoplasmic CLIC1 translocation to the phagosomal membrane where it regulated phagosomal pH and proteolysis. Phagosomes from CLIC1−/− BMDCs displayed impaired acidification and proteolysis, which could be reproduced if CLIC1+/+, but not CLIC1−/− cells, were treated with IAA94, a CLIC family ion channel blocker. CLIC1−/− BMDC displayed reduced in vitro antigen processing and presentation of full-length myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) and reduced MOG-induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. These data suggest that CLIC1 regulates DC phagosomal pH to ensure optimal processing of antigen for presentation to antigen-specific T-cells. Further, they indicate that CLIC1 is a novel therapeutic target to help reduce the adaptive immune response in autoimmune diseases. Summary: DC phagosomes from CLIC1−/− mice display impaired acidification and in vivo and in vitro antigen processing and presentation, revealing CLIC1−/− as a potential therapeutic target in reducing the adaptive immune response in autoimmune diseases.
The Combined Effects of Coordinated Criminal Justice Intervention in Woman Abuse

During the past 2 decades, the criminal justice system has significantly changed its response to battered women and their assailants. These changes are, in part, being encouraged by newly established community intervention projects (CIPs) across the United States. This study reports the findings of victim interviews and archival data concerning incidents of woman abuse that came to the attention of the Minneapolis police and were referred to a CIP. The results for samples monitored over a 6- to 12-month period tend to support the use of arrest on first police visits to the home and subsequent action by the courts that includes ordering perpetrators into treatment.
Analyzing the Effect of Preprocessor Annotations on Code Clones

The C preprocessor cpp is a powerful and language-independent tool, widely used to implement variable software in different programming languages (C, C++) using conditional compilation. Preprocessor annotations can used on different levels of granularity such as functions or statements. In this paper, we investigate whether there is a relation between code clones and preprocessor annotations. Specifically, we address the question whether the discipline of annotation has an effect on code clones. To this end, we perform a case study on fifteen different C programs and analyze them regarding code clones and #ifdef occurrences. We found only minor effects of annotations on code clones, but a relationship between annotations that align with the code structure (and code clones). With this work, we provide new insights why code clones occur in C programs. Furthermore, the results can support the decision whether or not it is beneficial to remove clones.
Correcting Personality Tests for Faking: A Review of Popular Personality Tests and an Initial Survey of Researchers

We reviewed a number of personality tests that are commonly used for personnel selection and found that some of the more popular tests provide a “correction” for faking. Additionally, a survey of researchers' preferences regarding correcting personality test scores for faking was conducted. The respondents, who were experienced in using personality tests for industrial-organizational purposes, generally favored the use of faking corrections (69% were in favor). The apparently common practice of correcting personality scores for faking was contrasted with relevant conceptual, empirical, and statistical concerns as to the advisability of applying the correction for faking.
Towards a Sociology of Information Technology

There is a strong tendency in the social sciences to understand and conceptualize the new information technologies in terms of their technical properties and to construct the relation to the sociological world as one of applications and impacts. Less work has gone into developing analytic categories that allow us to capture the complex imbrications of technology and society. This article addresses two particular aspects of this challenge through two organizing efforts. First, understanding the place of these new technologies from a sociological perspective requires avoiding a purely technological interpretation and recognizing the embeddedness and the variable outcomes of these technologies for different social orders. These technologies can indeed be constitutive of new social dynamics, but they can also be derivative or merely reproduce older conditions. Second, such an effort will, in turn, call for categories that capture what are now often conceived of as contradictory, or mutually exclusive, attributes. The article examines these two aspects by focusing on three analytic issues for sociology: the embeddedness of the new technologies, the complex interactions between the digital and the material world, and the mediating cultures that organize the relation between these technologies and users.
Activation and desensitization of the olfactory cAMP-gated transduction channel: identification of functional modules

Olfactory receptor neurons respond to odor stimulation with a receptor potential that results from the successive activation of cyclic AMP (cAMP)-gated, Ca2+-permeable channels and Ca2+-activated chloride channels. The cAMP-gated channels open at micromolar concentrations of their ligand and are subject to a Ca2+-dependent feedback inhibition by calmodulin. Attempts to understand the operation of these channels have been hampered by the fact that the channel protein is composed of three different subunits, CNGA2, CNGA4, and CNGB1b. Here, we explore the individual role that each subunit plays in the gating process. Using site-directed mutagenesis and patch clamp analysis, we identify three functional modules that govern channel operation: a module that opens the channel, a module that stabilizes the open state at low cAMP concentrations, and a module that mediates rapid Ca2+-dependent feedback inhibition. Each subunit could be assigned to one of these functions that, together, define the gating logic of the olfactory transduction channel.
The Cloninger Type I/Type II Typology: Configurations and Personality Profiles in Socially Stable Alcohol Dependent Patients

Many attempts have been made to derive alcohol use typologies or subtypes of alcohol dependence and this study aimed at validating the type I/type II typology in a treatment sample of socially stable alcohol dependent males and females. A second aim was to compare the two types with respect to their temperament profiles. Data was part of a larger ongoing longitudinal study, the Gothenburg Alcohol Research Project, and included 269 alcohol dependent males and females recruited from three treatment centers. The results showed that type II alcoholism occurred as a more homogenous type than type I alcoholism, and type I alcoholism seemed too heterogeneous to be summarized into one single type. When adapting a strict classification, less than a third of the study population could be classified in accordance with the typology, suggesting that the typology is not applicable, at least in socially stable individuals with alcohol dependence. The results also showed that type II alcoholics showed higher levels of novelty seeking than did the individuals that were classified as type I alcoholics. Quite surprisingly, the individuals classified as type II alcoholics also showed higher levels of harm avoidance than did the individuals that were classified as type I alcoholics.
Position orientating path reverse ray tracing algorithm based on cluster analysis

In allusion to ray tracing problems in the localization field, a position orientating path reverse ray tracing algorithm based on cluster analysis is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a two-dimensional propagation environment model with building surface as the quasi-mirror is established in order to simulate the actual propagation environment; secondly, according to the estimated values of TOA and AOA of the multipath signal, the branch tracing and searching algorithm is adopted for the proposed algorithm to find the feasible paths, and the cluster analysis is adopted to identify and trace position orientating path. Finally, the result of simulation experiment verified the effectiveness of the algorithm.
A 2V rail-to-rail micropower CMOS comparator

The design of a rail -to-rail micropower comparator in CMOS technology is described. The circuit is intended for implantable biomedical devices powered by batteries, with a total consumption of 500nA and operation up to supply voltages of 2V. This cell , currently being fabricated, has a core die area of 0.27 mm2 on a 2.4###m standard analog CMOS technology with a 0.85V nominal threshold voltage. It is expected to have a typical response time of 35μs ###and an offset voltage of about 6mV. The limitations imposed by the low supply voltage are presented. The ways of overcoming these limitations, based on an accurate sizing of the transistors for operation in the weak and moderate inversion regions are studied. An approach, based on a capacitive D/A converter, for the generation of a comparison reference input that is digitally programmable is also presented.
Identification of novel HCV subgenome replicating persistently in chronic active hepatitis C patients

In an effort to clarify the life cycle of HCV, the HCV genome in liver biopsies taken from chronic active hepatitis C patients undergoing interferon treatment was investigated. Molecular cloning by long distance reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) revealed that the HCV genome in two patients with high viral loads in the liver had in‐frame deletions of approximately 2 kb between E1 and NS2, which encode the E1–NS2 fusion protein and six other HCV proteins: core, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, NS5A, and NS5B. Among the remaining 21 chronic active hepatitis C patients, these types of deletion were found in another two patients and in two hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Out‐of‐frame deletions in the structural region were isolated from the other five patients, but the dominant RT‐PCR products were non‐truncated genomes. Retrospective analysis of a series of serum samples taken from a patient carrying the subgenome with the in‐frame deletion revealed that both the subgenome and the full genome persisted through the 2‐year period of investigation, with the subgenome being predominant during this period. Sequence analysis of the isolated cDNA suggested that both the subgenome and the full genome evolved independently. Western blotting analysis of HCV proteins from the HCV subgenome indicated that they were processed in the same way as those from the full genome. HCV subgenomes thus appear to be involved in the HCV life cycle. J. Med. Virol. 77:399–413, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.