Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multiple Dimensions of Adolescent Self-Concept

This study was designed to determine (a) age and gender variations in the multiple areas of self-concept, and (b) relations between these dimensions of self-concept and scholastic measures. The samples comprised 274 students attending three co-educational high schools in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa. Although a few statistically significant effects of age and gender on global and domainspecific self-concepts were found, the differences appeared to be of little qualitative significance. The size and pattern of relations with scholastic measures was weak. However, further investigations from an African context are necessary to provide additional support for the claim that self-concepts are minimally influenced by human conditions such as age and gender and that relationships between various facets of self-concept and measures of academic achievement are weak.
Becoming a Principal: Role Conception, Initial Socialization, Role-Identity Transformation, Purposeful Engagement

This article presents findings from an exploratory study that described and analyzed the professional growth of 18 educational practitioners while participating in a principal preparation cohort program. The goal of the study was to add understanding to the nature of transformations that occur as teachers prepare to become school principals, and thus, researcher propositions guided the design and focus of this yearlong investigation. Analysis of the exploratory case study data suggests four major themes influencing practitioners' growth toward becoming principals: (a) role conceptualization of the principalship, (b) initial socialization into a new community of practice, (c) role-identity transformation, and (d) purposeful engagement based on career aspirations.
Civil Society Leaders and Northern Ireland's Peace Process: Hopes and Fears for the Future

This article explores the interview narratives of 98 Northern Irish participants (consisting of NGO and community group leaders, development officers, and civil servants responsible for funding grassroots peacebuilding work) regarding their hopes and fears for the future. These civil society leaders expressed a wide variety of hopes and fears addressing both the micro grassroots and the macro political levels of society. An analysis of these expressed hopes and fears is both instructive and significant. Civil society peacebuilding actors have been given significant voice in the Northern Ireland peace process. The findings reveal significant hope that reconciliation work at the grassroots level will be successful, but conversely, they also reveal noticeable fear regarding the political peace process and the resumption of political violence.
Trends in Incidence of Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma in a Swedish Population 1976-1994

The incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma has been increasing in Sweden for several decades. In the Stockholm-Gotland area educational activities for healthcare professionals were started in the late 1970s and public primary and secondary prevention campaigns were initiated in the mid-1980s. Melanoma incidence trends have been studied in Sweden, with special reference to trends in the Stockholm-Gotland area where these prevention campaigns were first started. During 1976-1994 the average annual increase of age-standardized incidence in the Stockholm-Gotland area was about 5%, the increase being associated mainly with thin tumors and melanoma in situ. During the 1990s, the incidence among males leveled off. In contrast, no such shift in trend was observed among females, or among males or females residing outside the Stockholm-Gotland area. The campaigns may have contributed to a trend towards earlier diagnosis but there is still no clear effect of the primary prevention efforts.
Self-Monitoring as a Predictor of Leader Emergence

Conceptualizing the relationship between self-monitoring and leader emergence as a process suggests that high self-monitors are able to evaluate cognitively their situations to determine the behaviors necessary to emerge as leaders Having identified these behaviors, the individuals may act in a way that could lead others to perceive them as leaders. To test this, two studies were conducted. The first study used self-report data on self-monitoring and leader emergence obtained from 120 undergraduate business students. Analyses indicated that high self-monitors were more likely to report a propensity to emerge in leadership roles when in group situations. The second study extended the investigation by evaluating the perceptions of all group members concerning who emerged as the leader in group activities. Data on self-monitoring and both self and other perceptions of leader emergence were gathered from 116 undergraduate business students. Results of this study support the findings of Study 1 on self-perceptions but suggest that self-monitoring may not be directly related to actual perceptions of leadership by others. These findings provide additional understanding of the previously established relationship between self-monitoring and leader emergence as perceived by others.
The Wiselib TupleStore: A Modular RDF Database for the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things movement provides self-configuring and universally interoperable devices. While such devices are often built with a specific application in mind, they often turn out to be useful in other contexts as well. We claim that by describing the devices' knowledge in a universal way, IoT devices can become first-class citizens in the Internet. They can then exchange data between heterogeneous hardware, different applications and large data sources on the Web. Our key idea --- in contrast to most existing approaches --- is to not restrict the domain of knowledge that can be expressed on the device in any way and, at the same time, allow this knowledge to be machine-understandable and linkable across different locations. We propose an architecture that allows to connect embedded devices to the Semantic Web by expressing their knowledge in the Resource Description Framework (RDF). We present the Wiselib TupleStore, a modular embedded database tailored specifically for the storage of RDF. The Wiselib TupleStore is portable to many platforms including Contiki and TinyOS and allows a variety of trade-offs, making it able to scale to a large variety of hardware scenarios. We discuss the applicability of RDF to heterogeneous resource-constrained devices and compare our system to the existing embedded tuple stores Antelope and TeenyLIME.
I Knew-It-All-Along, Just Not on My Own

Do the multiple steps of a math problem increase the likelihood of hindsight bias in students? It is a ubiquitious phenomenon whereby the outcome seems obvious. Students were randomly assigned either to a foresight group, in which they solved the multiple steps of a paired comparison t-test, or a hindsight group, in which they did not solve the steps of the paired comparison t-test but the correct answers were present. They were then asked to make chance and difficulty estimations for each step. Students in the hindsight condition believed they had a greater chance of a correct solution and that it was easier than foresight students. Teachers using the same instructive approach may foster hindsight bias in students and themselves and perhaps, the lecture format as well.
3D sound field analysis using circular higher-order microphone array

This paper proposes the theory and design of circular higher-order microphone arrays for 3D sound field analysis using spherical harmonics. Through employing the spherical harmonic translation theorem, the local spatial sound fields recorded by each higher-order microphone placed in the circular arrays are combined to form the sound field information of a large global spherical region. The proposed design reduces the number of the required sampling points and the geometrical complexity of microphone arrays. We develop a two-step method to calculate sound field coefficients using the proposed array structure, i) analytically combine local sound field coefficients on each circular array and ii) solve for global sound field coefficients using data from the first step. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed array is capable of acquiring the full 3D sound field information over a relatively large spherical region with decent accuracy and computational simplicity.
Back to Norms! on the Scope and Dynamics of Norms and Normative Action

Social norms and normativity are important parts of social change and social concern, as well as of social order. They are highly pertinent to a number of social disciplines. It is paradoxical that their theorizing and their study, at the core of neoclassical sociology, have been neglected for some time by sociologists, and major advances made from perspectives of rational choice. The marginalization of norms within recent sociology is critically discussed. An analytical field, and some tools for ploughing it, are laid out: of three basic kinds of norms, of normative and non-normative action, of different kinds of fundamental institutions, of bases of norm conformity, and of the dynamics and change of norms. The relevance of normative analysis to a range of areas, from globalization to families, is indicated.
The Influence of Building Attributes on Residents' ‘Images of the Past’ in the Architecture of Salt City, Jordan

This paper presents an empirical study conducted in a small traditional city, Salt, Jordan. An investigation was made to examine residents' ‘images of the past’. The objective was to identify building attributes that influence these residents' images. A survey research design using multiple sorting tasks with open‐ended questions was used to identify these building attributes. The images were elicited through the observation of coloured photographs of a sample of older buildings in the city centre. Images of the past were examined within three content areas: knowledge of the past; date of construction; and character of the past of Salt City. The building attributes investigated were: contour, size, shape, surface quality, signage, visibility, use, and significance. The results of the study suggest that older buildings in the centre of the city evoked similar images of the past focused on public or social buildings along with residential settlement building. Attributes relating to images of the past were original use, date of construction, historic signage, and historic integrity. This study presents an approach for operationalising an image of the past.
Improving Tail Query Performance by Fusion Model

Tail queries, which occur with low frequency, make up a large fraction of unique queries and often affect a user's experience during Web searching. Because of the data sparseness problem, information that can be leveraged for tail queries is not sufficient. Hence, it is important and difficult to improve the tail query performance. According to our observation, 26% of the tail queries are not essentially scarce: they are expressed in an unusual way, but the information requirements are not rare. In this study, we improve the tail query performance by fusing the results from original query and the query reformulation candidates. Other than results re-ranking, new results can be introduced by the fusion model. We emphasize that queries that can be improved are not only bad queries, and we propose to extract features that predict whether the performance can be improved. Then, we utilize a learning-to-rank method, which is trained to directly optimize a retrieval metric, to fuse the documents and obtain a final results list. We conducted experiments using data from two popular Chinese search engines. The results indicate that our fusion method significantly improves the performance of the tail queries and outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches on the same reformulations. Experiments show that our method is effective for the non-tail queries as well.
Differential Internalization Rates and Postendocytic Sorting of the Norepinephrine and Dopamine Transporters Are Controlled by Structural Elements in the N Termini*

The norepinephrine transporter (NET) mediates reuptake of synaptically released norepinephrine in central and peripheral noradrenergic neurons. The molecular processes governing availability of NET in the plasma membrane are poorly understood. Here we use the fluorescent cocaine analogue JHC 1-64, as well as several other approaches, to investigate the trafficking itinerary of NET in live noradrenergic neurons. Confocal imaging revealed extensive constitutive internalization of JHC 1-64-labeled NET in the neuronal somata, proximal extensions and presynaptic boutons. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate increased intracellular accumulation of JHC 1-64-labeled NET and caused a parallel reduction in uptake capacity. Internalized NET strongly colocalized with the “long loop” recycling marker Rab11, whereas less overlap was seen with the “short loop” recycling marker Rab4 and the late endosomal marker Rab7. Moreover, mitigating Rab11 function by overexpression of dominant negative Rab11 impaired NET function. Sorting of NET to the Rab11 recycling compartment was further supported by confocal imaging and reversible biotinylation experiments in transfected differentiated CATH.a cells. In contrast to NET, the dopamine transporter displayed markedly less constitutive internalization and limited sorting to the Rab11 recycling compartment in the differentiated CATH.a cells. Exchange of domains between the two homologous transporters revealed that this difference was determined by non-conserved structural elements in the intracellular N terminus. We conclude that NET displays a distinct trafficking itinerary characterized by continuous shuffling between the plasma membrane and the Rab11 recycling compartment and that the functional integrity of the Rab11 compartment is critical for maintaining proper presynaptic NET function.
New system for fiberoptic-free bimanual vitreous surgery.

OBJECTIVES To describe a new system for fiberoptic-free bimanual vitrectomy and to present the outcome of 37 eyes with preretinal membranes due to diabetic retinopathy or proliferative vitreoretinopathy that underwent surgery using this system. METHODS The system consists of a 40-diopter aspheric field lens suspended from the operating microscope and a prismatic inverting device. The aspheric lens is placed above the cornea, and the illumination from the operating microscope creates an inverted image of the fundus, which is made erect by an inverter system. No fiberoptics are required, and both hands are free to use 2 microinstruments. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The practical utility of this system and its surgical results and complications. RESULTS The system was used successfully in all cases. Membrane dissection and hemostasis were performed without incident. An improvement in visual acuity of 2 or more lines was found in 30 of 37 eyes. Five eyes did not reveal change of 2 or more lines, and 2 eyes had a decrease in visual acuity of more than 2 lines. There was no evidence of phototoxicity. CONCLUSION This system is very useful for bimanual vitrectomy.
Methanogens: Methane Producers of the Rumen and Mitigation Strategies

Methanogens are the only known microorganisms capable of methane production, making them of interest when investigating methane abatement strategies. A number of experiments have been conducted to study the methanogen population in the rumen of cattle and sheep, as well as the relationship that methanogens have with other microorganisms. The rumen methanogen species differ depending on diet and geographical location of the host, as does methanogenesis, which can be reduced by modifying dietary composition, or by supplementation of monensin, lipids, organic acids, or plant compounds within the diet. Other methane abatement strategies that have been investigated are defaunation and vaccines. These mitigation methods target the methanogen population of the rumen directly or indirectly, resulting in varying degrees of efficacy. This paper describes the methanogens identified in the rumens of cattle and sheep, as well as a number of methane mitigation strategies that have been effective in vivo.
Knowledge Extraction for Identification of Chinese Organization Names

In this paper, a knowledge extraction process was proposed to extract the knowledge for identifying Chinese organization names. The knowledge extraction process utilizes the structure property, statistical property as well as partial linguistic knowledge of the organization names to extract new organizations from domain texts. The knowledge extraction processes were experimented on large amount of texts retrieved from WWW. With high standard of threshold values, new organization names can be identified with very high precision. Therefore the knowledge extraction processes can be carried out automatically to self improve the performance in the future.
Knowledge of derivational morphology and spelling ability in fourth, sixth, and eighth graders

ABSTRACT This study investigated students' knowledge of derivational morphology and the relationship between this knowledge and their ability to spell derived words. The subjects (fourth, sixth and eighth graders) were given the Wide Range Achievement Test, Spelling subtest, and experimental tests of their ability to generate base and derived forms orally, to spell the same base and derived words, and to apply suffix addition rules. The results indicate strong developmental trends in both the mastery of derivational morphology and the spelling of derived words; however, spelling performances lagged significantly behind the ability to generate the same words. Success generating and spelling derived words depended on the complexity of transformations between base and derived forms. Further, mastery of phonological and orthographic transformations most strongly distinguished the three grades in both spelling and generating derived words. Indications that the older students were using knowledge of morphemic structure in spelling derived words were found in analysis of the spelling of base and derived word pairs and the application of suffix addition rules.
Nanofibrous scaffold in tissue engineering

Dear Friends, Nanofibrous scaffolds have been a major revolution in the field of tissue engineering which may improve the health and quality of life by enhancing tissue function. These are the artificial extracellular matrices which offer natural surroundings for tissue formation. Owing to their high surface to volume ratio, nanofibrous scaffolds increase cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation more proficiently. There are several techniques for the fabrications of these scaffolds, namely, phase separation, self-assembly, melt blowing, electrospinning, and templating system. Of which, electrospun scaffolds are very well-known for their utility from drug delivery to wound healing. Scaffolds perform a significant role in tissue engineering. Nanofibrous scaffolds should possess significant physiochemical properties, namely, support cells, induce cell differentiation and promote tissue growth, biocompatible and biodegradable should have mechanical strength, flexibility, and porosity. Usually, biodegradable polymers (natural and synthetic), composite biomaterials, and metals have been utilized as nanofibrous fabricating materials. Nanofibrous scaffolds have plethora of biomedical applications. Electrospun nanofibers scaffolds have also been utilized as skin grafts attributed to their high surface area-to-volume ratio which presents increased surface for attachment. Moreover, nanofiber scaffolds have advantages of protecting the wound area from fluid loss, helps in exudates removal; prohibit outer microorganism incursion and exceptional anti-adhesion properties. Polyurethane nanofiber matrices, collagen nanofibers, electrospun silk fibroin, and electrospun chitin nanofibers are widely used as skin grafts. Another application involves its utilization in blood vessel grafting. Synthetic polymer, i.e., polytetrafluoroethylene and aligned poly(L-lactide-coε-caprolactone), P(LLA-CL:: 75:25) has been used as blood vessel graft. Furthermore, nanofiber scaffold has also been employed as tendon graft, nerve graft, and skeletal muscle graft. Scaffolds possessing excellent biomedical applications are still at a setback due to certain reasons. Numerous attempts are being carried out to enhance the mechanical properties of nanofibrous scaffolds so as to mimic the native tissue. In addition, utilization of number of toxic solvents for polymeric dispersion might result in unwanted cellular response. This arises a serious requirement to substitute these organic solvents and improve their efficiency.
Ischemia and Force Sensing Surgical Instruments for Augmenting Available Surgeon Information

Gaining access to a surgical site via retracting neighboring tissue can result in complications due to occlusion of the tissue blood supply resulting in ischemic damage. By incorporating oxygenation sensors on the working surfaces of surgical retractors and graspers, it is possible to measure the local tissue oxygen saturation and look for trends in real-time. Further, by measuring tissue interaction forces simultaneously, we can further augment the information available to the surgeon. The sensors provide a means for sensory substitution to help compensate for the decreased sensation present in minimally invasive laparoscopic and robotic procedures that are gaining significant popularity. Sensing surgical instruments will allow for safer and more effective surgeries while not interfering with the normal workflow of a procedure
Context aware inactivity recognition for visual fall detection

This paper introduces a method for automatic fall detection, targeted towards the monitoring of elderly people in a nursing home or in their natural home environment. The method uses information extracted from images obtained using novel 3D camera technology, combined with a context model. Visual information consists of body orientation calculated from posture extraction and of periods of inactivity. The context model allows for a different interpretation of the visual fall detection results, depending on the exact location, time and duration of the detected event. The context model is learnt during the ongoing monitoring task without human intervention and automatically adapts to the changing activity patterns of the monitored subject
Motor Network Degeneration in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Structural and Functional Connectivity Study

Background Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterised by motor neuron degeneration. How this disease affects the central motor network is largely unknown. Here, we combined for the first time structural and functional imaging measures on the motor network in patients with ALS and healthy controls. Methodology/Principal Findings Structural measures included whole brain cortical thickness and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of crucial motor tracts. These structural measures were combined with functional connectivity analysis of the motor network based on resting state fMRI. Focal cortical thinning was observed in the primary motor area in patients with ALS compared to controls and was found to correlate with disease progression. DTI revealed reduced FA values in the corpus callosum and in the rostral part of the corticospinal tract. Overall functional organisation of the motor network was unchanged in patients with ALS compared to healthy controls, however the level of functional connectedness was significantly correlated with disease progression rate. Patients with increased connectedness appear to have a more progressive disease course. Conclusions/Significance We demonstrate structural motor network deterioration in ALS with preserved functional connectivity measures. The positive correlation between functional connectedness of the motor network and disease progression rate could suggest spread of disease along functional connections of the motor network.