Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of pop culture based information and stereotypes versus direct knowledge of individuals in forming expectations of African American students

"The American educational system has not been effective in educating African American children. This is evident in the disproportionate number of Black students functioning below grade level, held back in grades and suspended for minor infractions. There is an achievement gap between African American and White students. The problem of the achievement gap between African American students and their White counterparts has existed for a long time. This study examined how teachers form expectations of African American students, focusing on whether they get to know their students directly or if they form conclusions based on knowledge from pop culture stereotypes. For the purpose of this study I defined teacher expectations as inferences that teachers make about the future behavior or academic achievement of their students based on what they know about these students. I defined popular culture as the meanings we construct from the images, languages, and formats of our day-to-day lives. The theoretical framework of this research relies on the "Pygmalion Effect" or the self-fulfilling prophecy with the notion that expectations of an event can make it happen. The research questions for this study were: (a) What expectations do teachers have of their African American students? How are these expectations formed? ; (b) How are these expectations associated with what the teachers feel they know about the students from direct knowledge of particular students, or from more generalized knowledge about particular types of students, especially as gleaned from stereotypes and other messages in popular culture? ; and (c) What is the relative impact of pop culture and stereotypes, versus direct knowledge, on teachers' actions and interactions with students? The methodology of this study utilized a limited case study design. Data collection methods included interviews, classroom observations, and focus groups. The participants were 12 classroom teachers and two elementary school principals. The interview and focus group questions included questions focused on the participants' expectations of their students as well as their views on how African Americans are portrayed in popular culture. The findings in this study demonstrated that teachers who rely on popular culture based information about African Americans tend to have lower expectations of their students. The teachers who got to know their students as individuals had higher expectations of their students. "--Abstract from author supplied metadata.
Efficient XML Structural Similarity Detection using Sub-tree Commonalities

Developing efficient techniques for comparing XML-based documents becomes essential in the database and information retrieval communities. Various algorithms for comparing hierarchically structured data, e.g. XML documents, have been proposed in the literature. Most of them make use of techniques for finding the edit distance between tree structures, XML documents being modeled as ordered labeled trees. Nevertheless, a thorough investigation of current approaches led us to identify several unaddressed structural similarities, i.e. sub-tree related similarities, while comparing XML documents. In this paper, we provide an improved comparison method to deal with such resemblances. Our approach is based on the concept of tree edit distance, introducing the notion of commonality between sub-trees. Experiments demonstrate that our approach yields better similarity results with respect to alternative methods, while maintaining quatratic time complexity.
Compressive sensing meets game theory

We introduce the Multiplicative Update Selector and Estimator (MUSE) algorithm for sparse approximation in under-determined linear regression problems. Given ƒ = Φα* + μ, the MUSE provably and efficiently finds a k-sparse vector α̂ such that ∥Φα̂ − ƒ∥<inf>∞</inf> ≤ ∥μ∥<inf>∞</inf> + O ( 1 over √k), for any k-sparse vector α*, any measurement matrix Φ, and any noise vector μ. We cast the sparse approximation problem as a zero-sum game over a properly chosen new space; this reformulation provides salient computational advantages in recovery. When the measurement matrix Φ provides stable embedding to sparse vectors (the so-called restricted isometry property in compressive sensing), the MUSE also features guarantees on ∥α* − α̂∥<inf>2</inf>. Simulation results demonstrate the scalability and performance of the MUSE in solving sparse approximation problems based on the Dantzig Selector.
Compressed sensing for abnormal event detection in wireless networks

Compressed sensing (CS) is a recently developed theory that has earned increasing interests in the area of wireless communications and signal processing. It states that the main information of a signal can be recovered from a relatively small number of linear projections. Event detection is an important application of wireless networks which has also attracted much attention. Recent research shows that CS based mechanism can be applied to event detection if the signature of event is sparse in a certain domain. In this article, we propose a novel scheme for abnormal event detection in the noise-involved networking environment by an ameliorated reconstruction method, with no prior information regarding the targeted wireless networks. We also analyze the trade-off between detection probability and false alarm. Finally we give a novel metric which helps to evaluate the results of detection. Simulation shows that our scheme proves to be effective and we can also acquire the best state for appropriate detection with the global data processed.
Development of the inner ear efferent system across vertebrate species.

Inner ear efferent neurons are part of a descending centrifugal pathway from the hindbrain known across vertebrates as the octavolateralis efferent system. This centrifugal pathway terminates on either sensory hair cells or eighth nerve ganglion cells. Most studies of efferent development have used either avian or mammalian models. Recent studies suggest that prevailing notions of the development of efferent innervation need to be revised. In birds, efferents reside in a single, diffuse nucleus, but segregate according to vestibular or cochlear projections. In mammals, the auditory and vestibular efferents are completely separate. Cochlear efferents can be divided into at least two distinct, descending medial and lateral pathways. During development, inner ear efferents appear to be a specific motor neuron phenotype, but unlike motor neurons have contralateral projections, innervate sensory targets, and, at least in mammals, also express noncholinergic neurotransmitters. Contrary to prevailing views, newer data suggest that medial efferent neurons mature early, are mostly, if not exclusively, cholinergic, and project transiently to the inner hair cell region of the cochlea before making final synapses on outer hair cells. On the other hand, lateral efferent neurons mature later, are neurochemically heterogeneous, and project mostly, but not exclusively to the inner hair cell region. The early efferent innervation to the ear may serve an important role in the maturation of afferent responses. This review summarizes recent data on the neurogenesis, pathfinding, target selection, innervation, and onset of neurotransmitter expression in cholinergic efferent neurons.
Culpability Attributions towards Juvenile Female Prostitutes

This study addresses a gap in the research literature concerning predictors of culpability attributions towards juvenile female prostitutes (JFPs). Three hundred undergraduate participants read a vignette describing a JFP and responded to a series of measures. Results supported a causal pathway whereby stronger perceiver sexism predicted stronger negative affective evaluations of, and weaker empathic reactions toward, the JFP. Stronger negative affective evaluations and weaker empathic reactions, in turn, predicted stronger culpability attributions toward the JFP. Also, participants who were provided information about the JFP's extensive victimisation history and coercion into the trade, relative to participants who were not provided this information, attributed lesser culpability to the JFP. Finally, stronger culpability attributions toward the JFP related to weaker recommendations of restorative justice (i.e. counselling/mental health services for the JFP) and stronger recommendations of retributive justice (i.e. incarceration for the JFP). Study implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 'Stronger negative affective evaluations and weaker empathic reactions, in turn, predicted stronger culpability attributions' Key Practitioner Message * Stronger perceiver sexism predicts stronger negative evaluations of, and weaker empathic reactions towards a juvenile female "prostitute. " * Stronger negative evaluations of, and weaker empathic reactions towards a girl in the sex trade in turn predict stronger culpability attributions towards her. * Provision of information about a prostituted youth's victimisation history and coercion into prostitution mitigates culpability attributions toward her. * Public education that highlights juvenile prostitution as a form of child sexual exploitation may be critically important to minimising punitive social cognitions about survivors of the commercial sex trade. Language: en
Differentiation and migration of astrocyte precursor cells (APCs) and astrocytes in human fetal retina: relevance to optic nerve coloboma

The presence of astrocyte precursor cells (APCs) and time course and topography of astrocyte differentiation during development were investigated by triple‐label immunohistochemistry with intact fetal and adult human retinas. Throughout retinal development and adulthood, expression of Pax2 was restricted to cells of the astrocytic lineage. Three distinct stages of astrocytic differentiation were identified during development: i) Pax2+/vimentin+/GFAP‐ APCs; ii) Pax2+/vimentin+/GFAP+ immature perinatal astrocytes; and iii) Pax2+/vimentin‐/GFAP+ mature perinatal astrocytes. In adult, cells with the antigenic phenotype of mature perinatal astrocytes were restricted to a region surrounding the optic nerve head (ONH), whereas cells at a fourth stage of differentiation, adult astrocytes (Pax2‐/vimentin‐/GFAP+), were apparent throughout the vascularized retina. APC appearance was centered around the ONH and preceded the appearance of perinatal astrocytes. A cluster of Pax2+ somas was also present in a small region surrounding the ONH at the ventricular surface of the developing retina, which suggests the existence of two distinct sites of astrocytic differentiation. The coincidence in the location of APCs and perinatal astrocytes at the ventricular zone with that of optic nerve colobomas, together with the association of Pax2 gene mutations with this condition, suggests that coloboma formation may result from impaired astrocyte differentiation during development.
Toddler: Detecting performance problems via similar memory-access patterns

Performance bugs are programming errors that create significant performance degradation. While developers often use automated oracles for detecting functional bugs, detecting performance bugs usually requires time-consuming, manual analysis of execution profiles. The human effort for performance analysis limits the number of performance tests analyzed and enables performance bugs to easily escape to production. Unfortunately, while profilers can successfully localize slow executing code, profilers cannot be effectively used as automated oracles. This paper presents Toddler, a novel automated oracle for performance bugs, which enables testing for performance bugs to use the well established and automated process of testing for functional bugs. Toddler reports code loops whose computation has repetitive and partially similar memory-access patterns across loop iterations. Such repetitive work is likely unnecessary and can be done faster. We implement Toddler for Java and evaluate it on 9 popular Java codebases. Our experiments with 11 previously known, real-world performance bugs show that Toddler finds these bugs with a higher accuracy than the standard Java profiler. Using Toddler, we also found 42 new bugs in six Java projects: Ant, Google Core Libraries, JUnit, Apache Collections, JDK, and JFreeChart. Based on our bug reports, developers so far fixed 10 bugs and confirmed 6 more as real bugs.
Controlled cobalt doping in biogenic magnetite nanoparticles

Cobalt-doped magnetite (CoxFe3 −xO4) nanoparticles have been produced through the microbial reduction of cobalt–iron oxyhydroxide by the bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens. The materials produced, as measured by superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry, X-ray magnetic circular dichroism, Mössbauer spectroscopy, etc., show dramatic increases in coercivity with increasing cobalt content without a major decrease in overall saturation magnetization. Structural and magnetization analyses reveal a reduction in particle size to less than 4 nm at the highest Co content, combined with an increase in the effective anisotropy of the magnetic nanoparticles. The potential use of these biogenic nanoparticles in aqueous suspensions for magnetic hyperthermia applications is demonstrated. Further analysis of the distribution of cations within the ferrite spinel indicates that the cobalt is predominantly incorporated in octahedral coordination, achieved by the substitution of Fe2+ site with Co2+, with up to 17 per cent Co substituted into tetrahedral sites.
Primary cutaneous CD5+ marginal zone B‐cell lymphoma resembling the plasma cell variant of Castleman's disease

Marginal zone B‐cell lymphoma (MZBL) is occasionally associated with prominent plasma cell differentiation. However, MZBL rarely exhibits histological features that resemble plasmacytoma arising from a localized plasma cell variant of Castleman's disease (PCCD). We here report a histologically similar case that was associated with primary cutaneous tumor. The patient was a 57‐year‐old woman with a 5‐year history of cutaneous nodules. Histologically, a prominent proliferation of plasma cells occupied the interfollicular area of the central portion of the cutaneous tumor, whereas various numbers of CD5+ centrocyte‐like (CCL) cells, which were arranged in a marginal zone distribution pattern, occupied the peripheral region of the tumor. The majority of the lymphoid follicles had atrophic or regressive germinal centers resembling hyaline‐vascular Castleman's disease. CCL cells were observed to have colonized a few of the lymphoid follicles. Immunohistochemistry revealed that these cells had a monotypic intracytoplasmic kappa chain. Without treatment, the patient was quiescent, but 2 years later, there was a transformation to the large cell type. These observations suggest that MZBL needs to be distinguished from PCCD, and that untreated cutaneous MZBL may undergo a high‐grade blastic transformation similar to other indolent lymphoproliferative disorders.
Critical issues of training and health education in Kenya

The foregoing study examined why health education is given low priority in several National Health Development programmes and how increased support may be introduced. Relevant experiences were drawn from the reviewed literature on Health Education, and then discussed in the light of health education problems in Kenya to help draw suitable conclusions and recommendations for improving the Kenyan situation. In this paper, health is defined in light of health education and Human Communication Theory among other related issues. Training for health education and strategies and improving health education programmes are also discussed. It emerged that health education needs priority attention through practical support in the areas of resource allocation; management; reorganization of the Division of Health Education in order to introduce effective management capabilities; revival of training for health education officers; review of the training curricula for all health workers so that health education is introduced as a major subject of study; introducing incentives and attractive scheme of service for health education officers; setting performance standards research into health education concepts, training models, educational materials and programme evaluations.
Russian doll search algorithms for discrete optimization problems

OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION AALTO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY P.O. BOX 11000, FI-00076 AALTO http://www.aalto. fi Author Name of the dissertation Manuscript submitted 1.2. 2010 Manuscript revised 5.10. 2010 Date of the defence 19.11.2010 Article dissertation (summary + original articles) Monograph Faculty Department Field of research Opponent(s) Supervisor Instructor Abstract
A comparison between different FHSS techniques for use in a multiple access secure wireless sensor network

A wireless sensor network is composed of a set of small sensor nodes deployed in an ad hoc fashion that cooperate for sensing a physical phenomenon (e.g, temperature, humidity, luminosity). Each sensor node plays a dual role as a data originator and a data router. Therefore a node is likely to communicate with a varying number of its peers. Communications receivers in these peer-to-peer networks must offer robust performance when receiving signals from multiple nodes and must offer resistance to hostile jamming and interferences. In this paper, we analyse the performance of frequency hopping spread spectrum for use in a multiple access secure wireless sensor networks. We use different type of detectors. The first is based on the fuzzy rank order detector (FROD), and the others are a conventional detector using the maximum rank sum receiver (MRSR) and the hard decision majority vote (HDMV) detector. We make a quantitative comparison between the three detectors in terms of error probability for wireless sensor networks.
TRAFFIC MODEL OF A MICROREGION

Abstract This paper introduces a new concept of the state model of one traffic microregion based on a maximum utilization of information from all measured traffic variables. The aim of the model is to estimate length of queues that are formed on arms of junctions with traffic lights. This task is trivia in case of complete knowledge of all measured traffic quantities for all junction arms. Then the model only counts simply the queue length from input and output intensities. However, the net of all needed detectors is not usually complete and some significant traffic flows (parking cars, etc.) are not measurable in practice. The model estimates the queue length in this case. In the end of the paper, the model and estimation algorithm is tested for several types of disturbances which can arise in reality. At least partially, these experiments illustrate the functionality and effectiveness of the proposed model for estimating queue lengths on the junction arms in the real traffic.
Bridging the Gap between Heterogeneous and Semantically Diverse Content of Different Disciplines

The Web has been flooded with highly heterogeneous data sources that freely offer their data to the public. Careful design and compliance to standards is a way to cope with the heterogeneity. However, any agreement and compliance is practically hard to achieve across different communities. In this work we describe a framework that enables the exploitation of content across different scientific disciplines. Our approach combines several novel techniques at the syntactic, structural and semantic level. In particular, we advocate that integration should take place at the much higher level, factoring out any syntactic discrepancies, and facilitating the exchange of information. We show how a novel technique for data annotation using intentional attributes can cope with data associations in high data volumes, we present a way to overcome the multilingualism barrier, and describe a new kind of database that considers data evolution as first class citizen with the additional ability to annotate free text.
The pragmatics of prosodic features in the political debate

In this paper, a study on the prosodic features and the pragmatic meanings associated is presented. We propose that there is a prosodic code, in which a set of suprassegmental elements are consciously and intencionally manipulated and therefore put in correlation with syntactic structures, lexical choices and pragmatic meanings. It is our belief that there is a prosodic grammar that works together with the linguistic and rethorical devices in order to build an argumentative discourse. The prosodic features will be described and justified as well as the possible communicative meanings associated. A typology of pragmatic effects is also proposed. This work was the result of the analysis of spontaneous utterances extracted from a political debate corpus in European Portuguese. We think that the conclusions achieved can be easily extended to other languages. Methodological issues and some observed prosodic and pragmatic phenomena are also presented. General regularities and correlations as well as the resulting rules, that may be a starting point for practical implementation of an intonation module, are demonstrated and discussed. This study is mainly oriented to pragmatic studies and speech synthesis improvements and applications. Further perspectives of the on-going work are also previewed.
A community college basic arithmetic course: predictive factors for success

Despite the increased availability of technology to aid students' learning, more rather than fewer students who are under-prepared in basic mathematical skills are entering the community college. Clearly, curricular trends in K–12 mathematics have not produced a generation of high school graduates who are more capable in their computational skills than their counterparts of the previous generations. It is incumbent upon those who teach developmental math in the community colleges, as well as those whose courses and programs these students eventually enter, to determine what makes for a successful academic experience in this critical gatekeeper course. This study examined the gain scores of students from a pretest-posttest administration of the ASSET Numerical Skills Test in both a computer-mediated setting and a traditional lecture-discussion setting for an entry-level arithmetic course at a community college. Besides the effect of presentation method on gain score, a number of additional independent variables were examined to see if individually or in some combination these variables were better predictors of success. Qualitative data was gathered from several settings to focus on the experiential side of the course from the students' perspectives as well as through observations by the teachers of the sections involved in the study. The results of the analysis revealed that presentation method was the only independent variable that produced a significant effect on gain score. The fact that the other independent variables did not produce a significant effect would suggest that the greatest determining factor of student success is the classroom experience, not factors such as age, gender, number of hours working per week or previous experience using a computer. The qualitative data provided an experiential context for the quantitative outcomes and suggested that individual success might also be related to specific student characteristics. Future studies might include a larger selection of class sections that would cover a broader spectrum of the overall community college student population. Attempts might be made to identify those students who are best suited to a computer-based setting and examine their gain scores in comparison to those of students in a traditional class.