Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An investigation into successful learning: Measuring the impact of learning orientation, a primary learner-difference variable, on learning

As year 2000 nears, one powerful and consistent finding to emerge from educational psychology research over several decades is the realization that how individuals learn is a powerful force in how they manage information, set goals, and accomplish tasks. Truly, one's successful learning ability is a framework that supports future successful learning and performance. The increasingly rapid technology changes are creating skill shortages and revealing that our learners are not prepared to learn smart, fast, and well enough to manage change successfully or initiate change productively. Preparing successful, lifelong learners for the 21st century has escalated to a national priority. What are the solutions for successful learning? This study introduces learning orientation as an important learner-difference variable that helps us examine the conative, affective, cognitive, and social influences, a whole-person perspective, on successful learning. The studys primary purpose investigates learning and individual learning differences by measuring the complex interplay between learner orientation, lower-order learning processes, and the learning experience. As a secondary purpose, the researcher tested the web learning environment, called the System for Intentional Learning and Performance Assessment (SILPA), which delivers a "Discovering the Web" course. The SILPA is an instructional research model that adapts to learning orientation, provides successful learning support, and helps learners improve learning ability. This approach replaces the traditional one-size-fits-all mass solution. As a third purpose, this study collected information to guide future research efforts. During the course, the experimental group received guidance for using intentional learning resources. The first control group did not receive the guidance. Both of these groups had access to intentional learning resources. A second control group did not receive the guidance or access. Using a 3 X 3 factorial experimental research design and multiple univariate analyses of variance, the researcher measured and examined the effects and interactions on four variables (intentional learning performance, achievement, frustration, and learning efficacy) over three time periods. The researcher produced evidence on using intentional learning orientation to enhance learning performance. The findings revealed statistically significant main effects and interactions among the research groups. Explanations about learning orientation, help educators understand, predict, and support learning in different environments, match instruction and presentation, and adapt solutions and learning environments with greater success.
After the Elementary Mathematics Teacher Workshop: Stories of Becoming Complex Instruction Teachers

Teacher educators worldwide have increasingly understood the importance of studying teacher identity. This article uses data from a narrative study of teacher learning from a mathematics professional development (PD) experience that were collected after the PD as teachers were integrating new ideas into their practices. Data were generated as teachers told stories of classroom lessons in which they used methods for teaching mathematics using groupwork, which were learned in the PD. The data are used to illustrate the ways learning and identity work happened in tandem for four teachers and the way classroom experiences after the PD influenced their understandings of PD ideas. The results have implications for research and practice on teacher professional development.
Electromagnetic shielding properties of satellites

In this study, satellites are examined from the electromagnetic viewpoint. Satellites designed without taking into account electromagnetic compatibility during their design phases can experience severe interference problems in launch phase and in orbit. Electromagnetic interferences can result in performance degradation, loss of functions or even total loss of mission. Nowadays, increasing use of electromagnetic spectrum at modern satellites requires extensive analysis, simulation and test efforts to have electromagnetically shielded platforms. Within the scope of this work, electromagnetic shielding parts of satellites and their shielding properties are demonstrated.
Effect of geometry modulation on the full dispersion diagram of a 2D periodic structure built in stripline technology

The effects of geometry modulation applied to a periodic structure built in stripline technology are assessed by means of the dispersion diagrams calculated in the spectral, or k, plane by using a commercial electromagnetic eigenmode solver. Modifications of surfaces representing propagation modes, of electromagnetic band-gaps and of group velocities of Bloch waves following geometry modulation are outlined and explained.
A SDM-TDM based circuit-switched router for on-chip networks

This paper proposes a circuit-switched router which combines Spatial Division Multiplexing “SDM” and Time Division Multiplexing “TDM” in order to increase path diversity in the router while sharing channels among multiple connections. In this way, the probability of establishing paths through the network is increased, thereby significantly reducing contention in the network. Furthermore, Quality of Service “QoS” is easily guaranteed. The proposed router was synthesized on an FPGA and results show that a practicable network-on-chip “NoC” can be built with the proposed router architecture. Simulation results show an increase of the probability of establishing paths through the network.
Octree-R: An Adaptive Octree for Efficient Ray Tracing

Ray tracing requires many ray-object intersection tests. A way of reducing the number of ray-object intersection tests is to subdivide the space occupied by objects into many nonoverlapping subregions, called voxels, and to construct an octree for the subdivided space. We propose the Octree-R, an octree-variant data structure for efficient ray tracing. The algorithm for constructing the Octree-R first estimates the number of ray-object intersection tests. Then, it partitions the space along the plane that minimizes the estimated number of ray-object intersection tests. We present the results of experiments for verifying the effectiveness of the Octree-R. In the experiment, the Octree-R provides a 4% to 47% performance gain over the conventional octree. The result shows the more skewed the object distribution (as is typical for real data), the more performance gain the Octree-R achieves.
Hand Radiograph Analysis and Joint Space Location Improvement for Image Interpretation

Hand radiograph analysis is extremely exhausting and time consuming for radiologists, not because of the complexity, but because of the precision required during diagnosis. Due to this fact, automatic analysis of the joint space width of all joints in a hand would be indispensable. In the following paper, an improvement of a method used to quantify the minimal JSW in hand radiographs, proposed by the author in his previous works, is considered. The proposed changes have an impact on initial pre-processing and joint space location. As a result of experiments conducted on more than 1100 joint spaces, the overall error of pre-processing and joint location decreases from 10.8% to 2.59% after changes.
ec 2 00 1 A Refinement of Shor ’ s Algorithm

A refinement of Shor’s Algorithm for determining order is introduced in which the algorithm determines a divisor of the order after any one run of the quantum computer with almost absolute certainty. The information garnered from each run of the quantum computer is then accumulated to determine the order with almost absolute certainty, and with a minimum probability of determining the order after at most k runs on the quantum computer (the probability of determining the order after at most two runs is more than 60%, and the probability of determining the order after at most four runs is more than 90%).
Experimental study on lossless compression of biometric sample data

The impact of using different lossless compression algorithms on the compression ratios and timings when processing various biometric sample data is investigated. In particular, we relate the application of lossless JPEG, JPEG-LS, lossless JPEG2000 and SPIHT, PNG, GIF, and a few general purpose compression schemes to imagery of the following biometric modalities: fingerprint, iris, retina, face, and hand. Results differing from behaviour found with common or textured imagery are specifically discussed.
Touch- and audio-based medication management service concept for vision impaired older people

A novel Near Field Communication (NFC) based solution to support medication management of vision impaired older users is presented in this paper. The service concept allows older users with vision impairments to manage their daily medications autonomously by providing them means to identify medicines and retrieve personal medication information. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept, an early prototype called BlindNFC was implemented. It is a NFC-enabled PDA with a basic functionality of reading the medicine name and dosage information aloud by touching the medicine package. The service concept was tested and evaluated with user studies in Finland and Spain, where altogether 39 older people with varying level of problems with their sight and other functional abilities participated in the studies. Findings revealed that older users learned and used the basic functionality of touch- and audio-based system quite easily. A set of design issues to be taken into account was identified. Users showed a high degree of satisfaction in the use of the BlindNFC device, together with the solution it offers. They found potential value in the technology also in tagging and identifying other everyday physical objects than medicine packages and using their own self-recorded audio messages for marking objects. However, users were not currently willing to adopt the system for continuous use, as many of them had established over time methods for managing the medications, and were therefore observed reluctant to change these ways.
What Do We Give Up and Leave Behind

Nearly all habitability studies to date focus on defining what are the absolute minimum requirements to sustain human life, health (physical-only), and well-being. This inquiry asks the converse question in the negative: what will happen when a crew must give up so many of the familiar things, comforts, and personal associations that they take for granted? This essay begins with a review of minimalist humans to Mars mission concepts and their limitations. It applies the Crew Safety-Human Factors Interaction Model’s criteria for Critical Habitability. The analysis presents five examples of what the Mars crewmembers must give up and leave behind. It illustrates them through classical and impressionist paintings and other images: restricted diet, constant confinement, disconnection from the natural world, no separation of work and social life, no family life, and repetitive tasks.
Mechanism of Block of Single Protopores of the Torpedo Chloride Channel Clc-0 by 2-(p-Chlorophenoxybutyric) Acid (Cpb)

We investigated in detail the mechanism of inhibition by the S(−) enantiomer of 2-(p-chlorophenoxy)butyric acid (CPB) of the Torpedo Cl− channel, ClC-0. The substance has been previously shown to inhibit the homologous skeletal muscle channel, CLC-1. ClC-0 is a homodimer with probably two independently gated protopores that are conductive only if an additional common gate is open. As a simplification, we used a mutant of ClC-0 (C212S) that has the common gate “locked open” (Lin, Y.W., C.W. Lin, and T.Y. Chen. 1999. J. Gen. Physiol. 114:1–12). CPB inhibits C212S currents only when applied to the cytoplasmic side, and single-channel recordings at voltages (V) between −120 and −80 mV demonstrate that it acts independently on individual protopores by introducing a long-lived nonconductive state with no effect on the conductance and little effect on the lifetime of the open state. Steady-state macroscopic currents at −140 mV are half-inhibited by ∼0.5 mM CPB, but the inhibition decreases with V and vanishes for V ≥ 40 mV. Relaxations of CPB inhibition after voltage steps are seen in the current responses as an additional exponential component that is much slower than the gating of drug-free protopores. For V ≤ −40 mV, where a significant inhibition is observable for the CPB concentrations used in this study (≤10 mM), the concentration dependence of its onset kinetics is consistent with CPB binding according to a bimolecular reaction. At all voltages, only the openings of drug-free protopores appear to contribute significantly to the current observed at any time. Lowering internal Cl− hastens significantly the apparent “on” rate, suggesting that internal Cl− antagonizes CPB binding to closed pores. Vice versa, lowering external Cl− reduces the apparent rate of CPB dissociation from open pores. We studied also the point mutant K519E (in the context of the C212S mutant) that has altered conduction properties and slower single protopore gating kinetics. In experiments with CPB, the mutant exhibited drastically slowed recovery from CPB inhibition. In addition, in contrast to WT (i.e., C212S), the mutant K519E showed also a significant CPB inhibition at positive voltages (≥60 mV) with an IC50 of ∼30–40 mM. Altogether, these findings support a model for the mechanism of CPB inhibition in which the drug competes with Cl− for binding to a site of the pore where it blocks permeation. CPB binds preferentially to closed channels, and thereby also strongly alters the gating of the single protopore. Since the affinity of CPB for open WT pores is extremely low, we cannot decide in this case if it acts also as an open pore blocker. However, the experiments with the mutant K519E strongly support this interpretation. CPB block may become a useful tool to study the pore of ClC channels. As a first application, our results provide additional evidence for a double-barreled structure of ClC-0 and ClC-1.
Physiologic responses to sudden, loud tones in monozygotic twins discordant for combat exposure: association with posttraumatic stress disorder.

BACKGROUND Larger heart rate responses to sudden, loud (startling) tones represent one of the best-replicated psychophysiologic markers for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This abnormality may be a pretrauma vulnerability factor, ie, it may have been present prior to the event's occurrence and increased the individual's likelihood of developing PTSD on traumatic exposure. Alternately, it may be an acquired PTSD sign, ie, it may have developed after the traumatic exposure, along with the PTSD. Studying identical twins discordant for traumatic exposure offers an opportunity to resolve these competing origins. METHODS Subjects included pairs of Vietnam combat veterans and their non-combat-exposed, monozygotic twins. Combat veterans were diagnosed as having current PTSD (n = 50) or non-PTSD (ie, never had) (n = 53). All subjects listened to a series of 15 sudden, loud tone presentations while heart rate, skin conductance, and orbicularis oculi electromyogram responses were measured. RESULTS Consistent with previous reports, averaged heart rate responses to the tones were larger in Vietnam combat veterans with PTSD. These larger responses were not shared by their non-combat-exposed co-twins, whose responses were similar to those of the non-PTSD combat veterans and their non-combat-exposed co-twins. This result remained significant after adjusting for a number of potentially confounding factors. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that larger heart rate responses to sudden, loud tones represent an acquired sign of PTSD rather than a familial vulnerability factor.
An Evolutionary Algorithmic Approach based Optimal Web Service Selection for Composition with Quality of Service

Problem statement: Web service is a technology that provides flexibility and interconnection between different distributed applications over the Internet and intranets. When a client request cannot be satisfied by any individual service, existing web services can be combined into a composite web service. When there are a large number of Web services available, it is not easy to find an execution path of Web services composition that can satisfy the given request, since the search space for such a composition problem is in general exponentially increasing. Approach: In this study, we discuss and compare the two algorithms, Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm for solving this optimization problem of optimal web service selection and composition. Results: The end results indicate PSO perform better over GA for single and multi user service selections. Conclusion: Inferences from the results indicate the service selections from the registry of pooled services can be optimized with the usage of Optimization Algorithms like GA and PSO.
Safety of new algorithms for premeal insulin boluses in high glycaemic index meals in persons with type 1 diabetes mellitus using insulin pumps.

AIMS Consumption of glucose or foodstuffs with high glycaemic index (GI) in persons with type 1 diabetes mellitus (PWD1) is a hot topic in present diabetology. The aim of our pilot prospective study was to assess the efficiency of empirically suggested simple algorithms for premeal boluses in PWD1 using insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). METHODS Six PWD1 (aged 46.2+/-15.09 y, diabetes duration 14.5+/-9.65 y, HbA1c/IFCC 6.3+/-1.59%, BMI 23.6+/-1.67 kg/m(2), mean+/-SD) on insulin pumps Paradigm 522/722 with RT-CGMS sensors (Medtronic MiniMed, Northridge, CA) underwent a 12-week CGM. In one week, subjects consumed 50 g of carbohydrates in eleven alternative meals (rice squares, dark chocolate, white bread, honey, glucose, ravioli with meat and Eidam cheese, mashed potatoes with fish fingers, apricot dumplings with butter, spa waffles, spalta squares, and tomato soup with pasta) eaten for breakfasts, lunches, snacks and dinners in order to calculate their GI. The insulin boluses were adjusted according to empirically defined algorithms. Average glucose levels and daily insulin doses over three one-week periods (before testing, testing and after testing) were compared. RESULTS During the observational period, the weekly averages of glucose levels (9.1+/-2.33 mmol/l vs. 9.2+/-2.30 mmol/l vs. 9.0+/-2.43 mmol/l, respectively) and daily insulin doses (39.1+/- 8.14 IU/d vs. 39.7+/-10.7 IU/d vs. 38.6+/-9.97 IU/d, respectively) were similar. One-week consumption of high GI foodstuffs had only a negligeable effect on average glucose levels. CONCLUSION The suggested algorithms for premeal insulin boluses appear to limit the risk of potential hyperglycaemia resulting from intake of high GI foodstuffs.
All dressed up and nowhere to go: Linguistic, cultural and ideological aspects of job interviews with second language speakers of Danish

This dissertation is a sociolinguistic, data-driven study of authentic job interviews with second language speakers of Danish. The job interviews are part of a Danish governmental initiative aimed particularly at immigrants and newcomers to Denmark, who are assumed to experience linguistic and cultural difficulties at the Danish labour market. The particular designs of the job interviews as well as the explicitly stated evaluations of language and culture create an unusual frame. On the one hand we deal with "traditional" job interviews as institutional gatekeeping instruments; on the other hand we face a tailored selection process meant to address the needs of the vulnerable. These contradictory practices produce certain tensions: although the job interviews in focus are meant to accomplish the target group's special needs, they exemplify a practice in which the good intentions are all dressed up but have nowhere to go.
Verification of an Incremental Garbage Collector in Hoare-Style Logic

Many of the current software systems rely on garbage collectors for automatic memory management. This is also the case for various software systems in real-time applications. However, a real-time application often requires an incremental working style of the underlying garbage collection, which renders the garbage collector more complex and less trustworthy. We present a formal verification of the Yuasa incremental garbage collector in Hoare-style logic. The specification and proof of the collector are built on a concrete machine model and cover detailed behaviors of the collector which may lead to safety problems but are often ignored in high-level verifications. The work is fully implemented with the Coq proof assistant and can be packed as foundational proof-carrying-code packages. Our work makes an important step toward providing high-assurance garbage collection for mission-critical real-time systems.
Effect of coupling interval and pacing cycle length on morphology of paced ventricular complexes. Implications for pace mapping.

BACKGROUND Ventricular pace mapping is performed by comparing the QRS morphology of ventricular paced complexes to that of a template arrhythmia, either a premature ventricular depolarization or a QRS complex during ventricular tachycardia. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of coupling interval and pacing cycle length on QRS morphology. METHODS AND RESULTS The study population consisted of 20 patients (mean age, 38 +/- 16 years) undergoing a clinically indicated electrophysiology procedure. In the first 10 patients, the effect of coupling interval on the morphology of single paced ventricular complexes was evaluated visually and by signal processing techniques. Visually apparent differences in QRS morphology occurred in a mean of 4/12 electrocardiographic leads with a change in coupling interval of > or = 100 ms. In the next 10 patients, the QRS complex morphology during ventricular overdrive pacing at cycle lengths of 600 and 300 ms was found to differ significantly in a mean of 4/12 leads. The QRS morphology during overdrive pacing differed significantly from that of a single paced complex whenever the pacing cycle length differed from the coupling interval of the single paced complex by > 80 ms. CONCLUSIONS The morphology of single paced QRS complexes may vary, depending on coupling interval, and the QRS morphology during overdrive pacing is affected by the pacing cycle length. During ventricular pace mapping, the coupling interval or cycle length of the template arrhythmia should be matched during pacing. If not, rate-dependent changes in QRS morphology that are independent of the pacing site may confound the results of pace mapping.
Media Interaction on Relationally Aggressive Behaviors of Middle School Girls

Using a quantitative approach, this study investigates media interaction on relationally aggressive behaviors of middle-school girls by examining television consumption and an individual’s proclivity to engage in relational aggression. It also investigates whether participation in a workshop explaining relational aggression assisted participants in recognizing the behavior and its consequences on aggressors and victims in the Disney Channel’s Suite Life of Zach & Cody. Results indicate that the amount of television watched does not correlate with participation in the behavior generally, but that the use of sarcasm to hurt a friend decreases as television viewing increases. Results also indicate that knowledge about the behavior is associated with awareness of occurrences and consequences to the aggressor, but not with consequences to the victim. Together, these results should have implications for regulations regarding television violence and mediation of relational aggression.