Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploratory factor analysis to construct a model of university teaching evaluation indicators / Un análisis factorial exploratorio para la construcción de un modelo de indicadores de evaluación docente universitaria

Abstract This article is a practical application of the technique of factor analysis. Its uniqueness lies in the nature of the variables we set out to study (determinants of the quality of university teaching), the data collection instrument designed for the study (scale assessment questionnaire) and the basic goal of this study, which is simply to seek the views of a representative sample of university students on the elements that form a system of indicators for assessing teaching skills in order to establish a profile of the role of university professor.
Roles of fetal G gamma-globin promoter elements and the adult beta-globin 3' enhancer in the stage-specific expression of globin genes

The human fetal G gamma-globin and adult beta-globin genes are expressed in a tissue- and developmental stage-specific pattern in transgenic mice: the G gamma gene in embryonic cells and the beta gene in fetal and adult erythroid cells. Several of the cis-acting DNA sequences thought to be responsible for these patterns of expression are located 5' to the G gamma-globin gene and 3' to the beta-globin gene. To further define the locations and functional roles of these elements, we examined the effects of 5' truncations on the expression of the G gamma-globin gene, as well as the ability of G gamma-globin upstream sequences to alter the developmental regulation of a beta-globin gene, as well as the ability of G gamma-globin upstream sequences to alter the developmental regulation of a beta-globin gene. We found that sequences between -201 and -136 are essential for expression of the G gamma-globin gene, whereas those upstream of -201 have little effect on the level or tissue or stage specificity of G gamma-globin expression. The G gamma-globin upstream sequences from -201 to -136 were, furthermore, capable of activating a linked beta-globin gene in embryonic blood cells; however, a G gamma-globin fragment from -383 to -206 was similarly active in this assay, and the complete fragment from -383 to -136 was considerably more active than either of the smaller fragments, suggesting the presence of multiple cis-acting elements for embryonic blood cells. Our data also suggested the possibility of a negative regulatory element between -201 and -136. These results are discussed in relation to several DNA elements in the G gamma-globin upstream region, which have been shown to bind nuclear factors in erythroid cells. Finally, we observed that removal of the beta-globin 3'-flanking sequences, including the 3' enhancer, from the G gamma-globin upstream-beta-globin hybrid gene resulted in a 25-fold reduction in expression in embryonic blood cells. This suggests that the beta-globin 3' enhancer is potentially active at the embryonic stage and thus cannot be solely responsible for the fetal or adult specificity of the beta-globin gene.
Systematic construction of exact 2-D MHD equilibria with steady, compressible flow in Cartesian geometry and uniform gravity

We present a systematic method for constructing two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic equilibria with compressible flow in Cartesian geometry. This systematic method has already been developed in spherical geometry and applied in modelling solar and stellar winds and outflows (Vlahakis & Tsinganos [CITE]) but is derived here in Cartesian geometry in the context of the solar atmosphere for the first time. Using the method we find several new classes of solutions, some of which generalise known solutions, including the Kippenhahn & Schluter ([CITE]) and Hood & Anzer ([CITE]) solar prominence models and the Tsinganos et al. ([CITE]) coronal loop model with flow, and some of which are completely new. Having developed the method in full and summarised the several classes of solutions, we explore in a some detail one of the classes to illustrate the general construction method. From one of the new classes of solutions we calculate two loop-like solutions, one of which is the first exact two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium with trans-Alfvenic flow.
Typed Normal Form Bisimulation for Parametric Polymorphism

This paper presents a new bisimulation theory for parametric polymorphism which enables straight forward co-inductive proofs of program equivalences involving existential types. The theory is an instance of typed normal form bisimulation and demonstrates the power of this recent framework for modeling typed lambda calculi as labelled transition systems.We develop our theory for a continuation-passing style calculus, Jump-With-Argument, where normal form bisimulation takes a simple form. We equip the calculus with both existential and recursive types. An "ultimate pattern matching theorem" enables us to define bisimilarity and we show it to be a congruence. We apply our theory to proving program equivalences, type isomorphisms and genericity.
Altered functional differentiation of mesoangioblasts in a genetic myopathy

Mutations underlying genetic cardiomyopathies might affect differentiation commitment of resident progenitor cells. Cardiac mesoangioblasts (cMabs) are multipotent progenitor cells resident in the myocardium. A switch from cardiac to skeletal muscle differentiation has been recently described in cMabs from β‐sarcoglycan‐null mice (βSG−/−), a murine model of genetic myopathy with early myocardial involvement. Although complementation with βSG gene was inconsequential, knock‐in of miRNA669a (missing in βSG−/− cMabs) partially rescued the mutation‐induced molecular phenotype. Here, we undertook a detailed evaluation of functional differentiation of βSG−/− cMabs and tested the effects of miRNA669a‐induced rescue in vitro. To this end, cMabs were compared with neonatal cardiomyocytes (CMs) and skeletal muscle C2C12 cells, representative of cardiac and skeletal muscle respectively. Consistent with previous data on molecular patterns, electrophysiological and Ca2+‐handling properties of βSG−/− cMabs were closer to C2C12 cells than to CM ones. Nevertheless, subtler aspects, including action potential contour, Ca2+‐spark properties and RyR isoform expression, distinguished βSG−/− cMabs from C2C12 cells. Contrary to previous reports, wild‐type cMabs failed to show functional differentiation towards either cell type. Knock‐in of miRNA669a in βSG−/− cMabs rescued the wild‐type functional phenotype, i.e. it completely prevented development of skeletal muscle functional responses. We conclude that miRNA669a expression, ablated by βSG deletion, may prevent functional differentiation of cMabs towards the skeletal muscle phenotype.
Face Recognition Using SVM Fed with Intermediate Output of CNN for Face Detection

We present a face recognition method using support vector machines which utiliz e intermediate output of convolutional neural network s for face detection. Face detection process carry out the functions both of detecting faces in input image with complex back ground and of generating the feature vector implicitly representing shape information and spatial arrangement of facial components to supply to support vector machines. Our ex periments show that robustness to siz e variability from 0. 8 to 1. 2 ( relative siz e in units of area for reference face) , demonstrating 100% recognition with 0% false acceptance rate for 600 images of 20 people.
The use of Spatialized Speech in Auditory Interfaces for Computer users who are Visually Impaired

Introduction This article reports on a study that explored the benefits and drawbacks of using spatially positioned synthesized speech in auditory interfaces for computer users who are visually impaired (that is, are blind or have low vision). The study was a practical application of such systems—an enhanced word processing application compared to conventional screen-reading software with a braille display. Methods Two types of user interfaces were compared in two experimental conditions: a JAWS screen reader equipped with an ALVA 544 Satellite braille display and a custom auditory interface based on spatialized speech. Twelve participants were asked to read and process three different text files with each interface and to collect the information about their form and structure. Task-completion times and the correctness of the perceived information on text decorations, text alignment, and table structures were measured. Results The spatial auditory interface proved to be significantly faster (3 minutes, 12 seconds) than the JAWS screen reader with ALVA braille display (8 minutes, 38 seconds), F(1,70) = 391.523, p < . 001, and 15% more accurate when gathering information on text alignment, F(1,70) = 28.220, p < . 001. No significant difference between the interfaces could be established when comparing questions on text decorations, F(1,70) = 0.912, p = . 343, or table structures, F(1,70) = 1.045, p = . 310). Discussion The findings show that the auditory interface with spatialized speech is more than 160% faster than the tactile interface while remaining equally accurate and effective for gathering information on various properties of text and tables. Implications for practitioners The spatial location of synthesized speech can be used for the fast presentation of the physical position of texts in a file, their alignment, the dimensions of tables, and the position of specific texts within tables. The quality of spatial sound reproduction can play an important role in the overall performance of such systems.
Athlete Social Responsibility (ASR) : a grounded theory inquiry into the social consciousness of elite athletes

Sport in Canada is struggling to demonstrate that it is accountable, value-based, and socially responsible. Simultaneously, there is a growing consciousness among elite athletes to use the power and appeal of sport to affect meaningful social change. Through in-depth interviews, I sought to understand which values and experiences motivated 15 elite Canadian athletes to become involved in social and political activities. I employed a grounded theory approach to analyze interview data and to develop the Athlete Social Responsibility (ASR) framework. My results show that ASR is grounded in identity and existential development. The research participants indicated that, early in their careers, sport provided discipline, direction, and purpose, but through the maturation process, they indicated that becoming socially and politically active was instrumental to their personal development, performance, and continued participation in elite sport. They voiced frustration that the current sport system does little to encourage such engagement and offered a number of innovative ways in which the current system could adopt an ASR perspective. These ideas included: developing a resource to help athletes find their cause and link with related organizations, companies, or charities; helping athletes find ways to connect to their local communities; and restructuring the Canadian Athlete Assistance Program to include both performance and ASR criteria.
Continuation or reintroduction of bevacizumab beyond progression to first-line therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer: final results of the randomized BEBYP trial.

BACKGROUND The combination of bevacizumab with fluorouracil-based chemotherapy is a standard first-line treatment option in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). We studied the efficacy of continuing or reintroducing bevacizumab in combination with second-line chemotherapy after progression to bevacizumab-based first-line therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS In this phase III study, patients with mCRC treated with fluoropyrimidine-based first-line chemotherapy plus bevacizumab were randomized to receive in second-line mFOLFOX-6 or FOLFIRI (depending on first-line regimen) with or without bevacizumab. The primary end point was progression-free survival. To detect a hazard ratio (HR) for progression of 0.70 with an α and β error of 0.05 and 0.20, respectively, 262 patients were required. RESULTS In consideration of the results of the ML18147 trial, the study was prematurely stopped. Between April 2008 and May 2012, a total of 185 patients were randomized. Bevacizumab-free interval was longer than 3 months in 43% of patients in chemotherapy alone arm and in 50% of patients in the bevacizumab arm. At a median follow-up of 45.3 months, the median progression-free survival was 5.0 months in the chemotherapy group and 6.8 months in the bevacizumab group [adjusted HR = 0.70; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.52-0.95; stratified log-rank P = 0.010]. Subgroup analyses showed a consistent benefit in all subgroups analyzed and in particular in patients who had continued or reintroduced bevacizumab. An improved overall survival was also observed in the bevacizumab arm (adjusted HR = 0.77; 95% CI 0.56-1.06; stratified log-rank P = 0.043). Responses (RECIST 1.0) were similar in the chemotherapy and bevacizumab groups (17% and 21%; P = 0.573). Toxicity profile was consistent with previously reported data. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that the continuation or the reintroduction of bevacizumab with second-line chemotherapy beyond first progression improves the outcome and supports the use of this strategy in the treatment of mCRC. ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT00720512.
Towards context-aware recommendations: Strategies for exploiting multi-criteria communities

Nowadays, recommender systems are becoming popular since they help users alleviate the information overload problem by offering personalized recommendations. Most systems apply collaborative filtering to predict individual preferences based on opinions of like-minded people through their ratings on items. Recently, context-aware recommender systems (CARSs) exploit additional context data such as time, place and so on for providing better recommendations. However, the large majority of CARSs use only ratings as a criterion for building communities, and ignore other available data allowing users to be grouped into communities. In this paper, we present a novel approach for exploiting multi-criteria communities to generate context-aware recommendations. The underlying idea of three proposed algorithms CRMC, CRESC and CREOC is that for each context, communities from the most suitable criteria followed by the learning phase are incorporated into the recommendation process. Experimental results show that our approach can improve the quality of recommendations.
Effects of FP2 and a mercury resistance plasmid from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA103 on exoenzyme production

Plasmids encoding mercury resistance carried by Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1161 and PA103 were found to be involved in regulating the secretion of protease, phospholipase C, and alkaline phosphatase. Previously, mutations in Pseudomonas strains that caused pleiotropic effects on the production of extracellular enzymes were mapped to the bacterial chromosome. We show that pleiotropic changes in extracellular enzyme production can also be regulated by plasmids. In this study, the effects on secretion of exoenzymes by two mercury resistance plasmids, FP2 from PAO1161 and pRLW103 from PA103, were assayed in P. aeruginosa PAO1 and PAO18. The introduction of either plasmid into PAO1 resulted in a significant decrease in exoprotease production. Additionally, pRLW103 significantly increased the production of alkaline phosphatase by both strains. Phospholipase C was produced only in strain PAO18 containing the pRLW103 plasmid. FP2 had no effect on alkaline phosphatase or phospholipase C production in either strain and was found to decrease exoprotease secretion only in strain PAO1. The results indicate the P. aeruginosa mercury resistance plasmids vary in their ability to modify exoenzyme expression, and this ability is influenced by the host strain.
An efficient verification method for a class of multi-phase sequential circuits

Currently, many optimizations of sequential circuits, even as simple as retiming, are avoided due to the lack of verification tools that support them. Doing general sequential equivalence to compare the circuits is impractical for circuits of a reasonable size. On the other hand, combinational optimization is part of the design process, because tools and methods are available to ensure correctness and verify combinational circuits. We present a practical method to verify sequential circuits equivalence using combinational equivalence on a transformed circuit of the same size, for a class of circuits. The constraint imposed is that for each loop in the circuit, there must be a point in both circuits that are in correspondence. The circuits can have a different number of clock phases, and they can be transformed by other scheduling algorithms than retiming and multi-phase retiming.
Efficient Edge Anonymization of Large Social Graphs

Edges in a social graph may represent private information that needs to be protected. Due to their graph partition schemes, existing edge anonymization methods have several drawbacks, such as high utility loss and high computational overhead. In this paper, we present a new edge anonymization method, which partitions a graph using a new vertex equivalence relation called the neighbor-set equivalence. We show that whenever the resulting graph partition satisfies a graph confidence requirement, as the privacy measure, so does the graph partition based on automorphism. Our algorithm maintains the graph partition explicitly as a partition map and performs edge addition/removal in groups as merges of vertex classes on the partition map. To improve performance, our algorithm constructs a plan heuristically for a sequence of vertex class merges and executes the plan using a number of strategies. It checks for graph confidence only after the execution of the entire merge plan. We evaluate our method through extensive experiments using two real-world large social graphs and several graph utility measures. Our results show that the techniques used by our method effectively improve graph utility and reduce computational overhead.
Modelling employee turnover

This thesis reports the first independent test of an influential model of employee turnover (Lee, Mitchell, Holtom, McDaniel and Hill 1999). The context for this test is the case of nurse turnover in the National Health Service (NHS). There have been many hundreds of turnover studies in the last fifty years, and many ways of understanding the turnover phenomenon. The thesis organises this literature, by selectively analysing and discussing the more influential of these studies. This selective, critical review allows for the model tested here to be placed in a theoretical and historical context. A critique of the model signalled the need for theoretical development prior to operationalisation. However, the relative paucity of empirical evidence in support of the model suggested that replicating the basic findings of the authors would also be desirable. Accordingly, the case for a critical test was clear, and an outline of the role of this type of replication facilitated this. The research involved eight NHS trusts, in three regions. In total, 352 full-time nurse leavers participated. Data relating to their decision to leave was collected via an eight page survey, which comprised both closed and open items. Analysis and interpretation of these data challenge the current formulation of the model tested, as well as contributing to the understanding of employee turnover and nursing turnover. Note: The term model is defined here as 'conceptual framework'.
Efficient Navigation on the World Wide Web for the Physically Disabled

One of the major obstacles with current web access solutions for those with physical disabilities is the efficient selection of links and other web page elements. This is especially so for users of single switches. Current solutions simply build a list of the selectable web page elements and use a linear scan to iterate through them, selecting the highlighted link when the user activates an input device. We propose a new method based on incremental searching of the link text to select elements. This approach, paired with well-established switch typing solutions, allows a single switch user to select any element on a web page by typing very few (most often only one) letters.
Random benchmark circuits with controlled attributes

Two major improvements, controlled fan-in and automated initial-circuit production, were made over the random generator of benchmark circuits presented at DAC'94. This is an important progress towards our goal of random benchmarking: more general and secure testing, increasing the naturality of random circuits by controlling their attributes, and obtaining test results by which the difference of performances under evaluation can be made clear.
Predictive Density Evaluation

This chapter discusses estimation, specification testing, and model selection of predictive density models. In particular, predictive density estimation is briefly discussed, and a variety of different specification and model evaluation tests due to various authors including Christoffersen and Diebold [Christoffersen, P., Diebold, F.X. (2000). "How relevant is volatility forecasting for financial risk management? ". Review of Economics and Statistics 82, 12-22], Diebold, Gunther and Tay [Diebold, F.X. , Gunther, T. , Tay, A.S. (1998). "Evaluating density forecasts with applications to finance and management". International Economic Review 39, 863-883], Diebold, Hahn and Tay [Diebold, F.X. , Hahn, J., Tay, A.S. (1999). "Multivariate density forecast evaluation and calibration in financial risk management: High frequency returns on foreign exchange". Review of Economics and Statistics 81, 661-673], White [White, H. (2000). "A reality check for data snooping". Econometrica 68, 1097-1126], Bai [Bai, J. (2003). "Testing parametric conditional distributions of dynamic models". Review of Economics and Statistics 85, 531-549], Corradi and Swanson [Corradi, V. , Swanson, N.R. (2005a). "A test for comparing multiple misspecified conditional distributions". Econometric Theory 21, 991-1016; Corradi, V. , Swanson, N.R. (2005b). "Nonparametric bootstrap procedures for predictive inference based on recursive estimation schemes". Working Paper, Rutgers University; Corradi, V. , Swanson, N.R. (2006a). "Bootstrap conditional distribution tests in the presence of dynamic misspecification". Journal of Econometrics, in press; Corradi, V. , Swanson, N.R. (2006b). "Predictive density and conditional confidence interval accuracy tests". Journal of Econometrics, in press], Hong and Li [Hong, Y.M. , Li, H.F. (2003). "Nonparametric specification testing for continuous time models with applications to term structure of interest rates". Review of Financial Studies, 18, 37-84], and others are reviewed. Extensions of some existing techniques to the case of out-of-sample evaluation are also provided, and asymptotic results associated with these extensions are outlined.