Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The academic engagement of intellectually challenged learners in inclusive schools: a case study

This paper reports on significant findings from research into facilitating the engagement of differently-abled learners in inclusive schools. The study was conducted at one of the schools considered to be a model of inclusive education in a semiurban area located in the northern part of Tshwane, Gauteng Province, South Africa. The purpose of the study is to explore academic engagement of intellectually challenged learners in inclusive schools and to suggest strategies that can improve their effective engagement. The design type is a qualitative single case study. Data presented was obtained by means of focus group and one-on-one interviews with educators and learners. Data was analysed following the spiral method of Creswell. Findings revealed that even through their frustrations educators do make positive strides in engaging the intellectually challenged learners in inclusive classes, and the findings are relevant for developing strategies necessary for improving this. Teachers indicated that they use various strategies of engaging learners in academic activities, such as giving immediate feedback, but there was no consistency in using the strategy. There should be consistency when using strategies, so that they can yield positive results.
Male size does not affect mating success (of Anopheles gambiae in São Tomé)

Abstract For malaria control, the utility of transgenic vector Anopheles mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) refractory to Plasmodium transmission, will depend on their interbreeding with the wild vector population. In many species, larger males are more successful in obtaining mates. In São Tomé island, we determined that size did not affect mating success of male Anopheles gambiae Giles sensu stricto, the main malaria vector in tropical Africa. Also we showed that larval intraspecific competition is probably insignificant in this population of An. gambiae. Thus, the potential success of transgenic An. gambiae is unlikely to be affected by size selection under field conditions.
An enhanced feature extraction technique for improving sentiment analysis in Arabic language

Sentiment analysis (SA) is a modern text mining disciplinary that gained notable position due its various application in social networks (SN) and many internet domains. Since, it is used for discovering audience directions, and impressions about products or any subjects discussed in the internet via social media. Personal opinions availability in SN gave SA a significant attention to discussions makers on modern corporation. In this paper, we uses machine learning techniques via many features and same corpus states in Arabic language, comparing their results, and illustrating the significance of terms merging and pruning in various figures, which helps in the field of SA performance increasing purposes.
MagSpider: a localization-free approach for constructing global indoor map for navigation purpose

This paper presents MagSpider, a unique localization-free indoor navigational map construction approach. It only utilizes the unlabeled and noisy measurements by inertial sensors on the smartphones to construct the navigation space; and hence can avoid the labor-intensive indoor floor plan calibration. The current approaches for indoor floor plan construction pursue accurately characterize the indoor structures, which require the support of indoor localization techniques. However, accurate localizing the indoor users is non-trivial, rather to say the labor-intensive process of extracting all the walkable paths from the floor plan. We present a novel idea with MagSpider for constructing a localization-free indoor navigational map. The main idea is to mesh the isolated trajectories with their inherent temporal and spatial characteristics, and ease the burden of localization. We conduct extensive experiments in both an office building and an urban shopping mall over 4,000 m2. We believe our approach can greatly ease the burden of constructing the indoor navigational maps, and pave the way for the rapid deployment and adoption of indoor navigation services.
Personalized brain-computer interface models for motor rehabilitation

We propose to fuse two currently separate research lines on novel therapies for stroke rehabilitation: brain-computer interface (BCI) training and transcranial electrical stimulation (TES). Specifically, we show that BCI technology can be used to learn personalized decoding models that relate the global configuration of brain rhythms in individual subjects (as measured by EEG) to their motor performance during 3D reaching movements. We demonstrate that our models capture substantial across-subject heterogeneity, and argue that this heterogeneity is a likely cause of limited effect sizes observed in TES for enhancing motor performance. We conclude by discussing how our personalized models can be used to derive optimal TES parameters, e.g., stimulation site and frequency, for individual patients.
Ultrastructural Analysis of Cell Envelope and Accumulation of Lipid Inclusions in Clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates from Sputum, Oxidative Stress, and Iron Deficiency

Introduction: Mycobacteria have several unique cellular characteristics, such as multiple cell envelope layers, elongation at cell poles, asymmetric cell division, and accumulation of intracytoplasmic lipid inclusions, which contributes to their survival under stress conditions. However, the understanding of these characteristics in clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) isolates and under host stress is limited. We previously reported the influence of host stress on the cell length distribution in a large set of clinical M. tuberculosis isolates (n = 158). Here, we investigate the influence of host stress on the cellular ultrastructure of few clinical M. tuberculosis isolates (n = 8) from that study. The purpose of this study is to further understand the influence of host stress on the cellular adaptations of clinical M. tuberculosis isolates. Methods: We selected few M. tuberculosis isolates (n = 8) for analyzing the cellular ultrastructure ex vivo in sputum and under in vitro stress conditions by transmission electron microscopy. The cellular adaptations of M. tuberculosis in sputum were correlated with the ultrastructure of antibiotic sensitive and resistant isolates in liquid culture, under oxidative stress, iron deficiency, and exposure to isoniazid. Results: In sputum, M. tuberculosis accumulated intracytoplasmic lipid inclusions. In liquid culture, clinical M. tuberculosis revealed isolate to isolate variation in the extent of intracytoplasmic lipid inclusions, which were absent in the laboratory strain H37Rv. Oxidative stress, iron deficiency, and exposure to isoniazid increased the accumulation of lipid inclusions and decreased the thickness of the cell envelope electron transparent layer in M. tuberculosis cells. Furthermore, intracytoplasmic compartments were observed in iron deficient cells. Conclusion: Our ultrastructural analysis has revealed significant influence of host stress on the cellular adaptations in clinical M. tuberculosis isolates. These adaptations may contribute to the survival of M. tuberculosis under host and antibiotic stress conditions. Variation in the cellular adaptations among clinical M. tuberculosis isolates may correlate with their ability to persist in tuberculosis patients during antibiotic treatment. These observations indicate the need for further analyzing these cellular adaptations in a large set of clinical M. tuberculosis isolates. This will help to determine the significance of these cellular adaptations in the tuberculosis treatment.
Differences in Sensitivity to Neural Timing among Cortical Areas

The basic circuitry of auditory, visual, somatosensory and other cortical areas is highly stereotyped (Douglas and Martin, 2004). However, it remains unclear whether this anatomical stereotypy implies functional homogeneity, or whether instead different cortical areas are specialized to process the diverse sensory inputs they receive. Here we have used a two alternative forced choice task to assess modality-specific differences in the ability of rats to exploit precise neuronal timing. We delivered pairs of electrical pulses directly to different areas of cortex to determine the minimum timing differences subjects could detect. By stimulating the cortex directly, we isolated differences due to cortical circuitry rather than to sensory transduction and subcortical processing. Surprisingly, the minimum detectable timing differences varied over more than an order of magnitude, ranging from 1 ms in barrel cortex to 15 ms in visual cortex. Furthermore, these modality-specific differences depended upon sensory experience: although animals subjected to whisker clipping initially showed an impaired ability to exploit fine timing in barrel cortical stimulation, behavioral training partially rescued this deficit. Our results suggest that different cortical areas are adapted to the specific structure of the input signals they process, and that precise spike timing may play a more important role for some cortical areas than for others.
Review on Copy Move Image Forgery Detection Methods

In today’s contemporary life, digital images have momentous importance because they have become a prominent source of information distribution. However, the increased usage of image changing tools made it easier to forge the contents of a digital image; making the truthfulness untruthful. Many techniques can be used to falsify the digital images. Copy move forgery is a method where a definite part of an image is copied and pasted elsewhere in the same image to cover unwanted part or object. In this writing, we attempted to review some feature extraction methods for copy move forgery detection techniques. The passive technique of digital image forgery tries to identify forgery in digital images without any preceding information and the copy move forgery is a type of passive method. A look at various techniques is also included.
A Combined Approach for Disease/Disorder Template Filling

Disease/Disorder Template Filling is a complicated task of relation extraction, requiring a combination of several methods in order to solve it. The aim of this paper is to propose a combined approach for disorder template filling. The system combined three methods: rule-based, regular expression, and machine learning-based. This system added several features for the machine learning-based method in comparison with the our system that was proposed in Task 2: ShARe/CLEF eHealth Evaluation Lab 2014 [6]. This rule-based set is established on observation of instances of disease/disorder shown the dependency tree presentation. The regular expression used the rules in Heidel Time [2]. The machine learning method used the SVM algorithm to train the classification model based on the features that were added. This addition increased the result of the Doc Time Class attribute up to 6%. The system's result obtained an overall accuracy of 0.833, F1-score of 0.445, a precision of 0.406, and a recall of 0.516.
Feasibility and Inter-Rater Reliability of Physical Performance Measures in Acutely Admitted Older Medical Patients

Objective Physical performance measures can be used to predict functional decline and increased dependency in older persons. However, few studies have assessed the feasibility or reliability of such measures in hospitalized older patients. Here we assessed the feasibility and inter-rater reliability of four simple measures of physical performance in acutely admitted older medical patients. Design During the first 24 hours of hospitalization, the following were assessed twice by different raters in 52 (≥ 65 years) patients admitted for acute medical illness: isometric hand grip strength, 4-meter gait speed, 30-s chair stand and Cumulated Ambulation Score. Relative reliability was expressed as weighted kappa for the Cumulated Ambulation Score or as intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC1,1) and lower limit of the 95%-confidence interval (LL95%) for grip strength, gait speed, and 30-s chair stand. Absolute reliability was expressed as the standard error of measurement and the smallest real difference as a percentage of their respective means (SEM% and SRD%). Results The primary reasons for admission of the 52 included patients were infectious disease and cardiovascular illness. The mean± SD age was 78±8.3 years, and 73.1% were women. All patients performed grip strength and Cumulated Ambulation Score testing, 81% performed the gait speed test, and 54% completed the 30-s chair stand test (46% were unable to rise without using the armrests). No systematic bias was found between first and second tests or between raters. The weighted kappa for the Cumulated Ambulation Score was 0.76 (0.60–0.92). The ICC1,1 values were as follows: grip strength, 0.95 (LL95% 0.92); gait speed, 0.92 (LL95% 0.73), and 30-s chair stand, 0.82 (LL95% 0.67). The SEM% values for grip strength, gait speed, and 30-s chair stand were 8%, 7%, and 18%, and the SRD95% values were 22%, 17%, and 49%. Conclusion In acutely admitted older medical patients, grip strength, gait speed, and the Cumulated Ambulation Score measurements were feasible and showed high inter-rater reliability when administered by different raters. The feasibility and inter-rater reliability of the 30-s chair stand were moderate, complicating the use of the 30-s chair stand in acutely admitted older medical patients. However, the predefined modified version of the chair stand test was both feasible and with high inter-rater reliability in this population.
Formulation and evaluation of sustained release bioadhesive tablets of ofloxacin using 32 factorial design

Background: Oral sustained release gastroretentive dosage forms offer many advantages for drugs having absorption from upper gastrointestinal tract and improve the bioavailability of medications that are characterized by narrow absorption window. The aim of current study was to design sustained release bioadhesive gastroretentive dosage form of ofloxacin. Materials and Methods: A 32 full factorial design was employed to systematically study the drug release profile and bioadhesive strength. Carbopol 934P and HPMC K100M were selected as the independent variables. Compatibility between drug and polymer was tested by fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Tablets were prepared by direct compression and were evaluated for tablet characteristics, swelling study, adhesion strength, percent drug released, radiographic imaging study and stability study. The optimized formulation was then compared with marketed formulation (Oflin OD®). Results: Tablets prepared showed good tablet characteristics, optimum swelling property, and good adhesion strength with high detachment force. Most of the formulations including the optimized formulation followed Higuchi kinetics and the drug release mechanism was found to be anomalous. Radiographic image proved that tablet remains intact in its structural integrity and shape in stomach up to 24 h. The short-term accelerated stability testing was carried out for the optimized formulation, and results revealed that drug content, in-vitro dissolution and all other parameters were within acceptable limits. Conclusion: Thus, the prepared bioadhesive gastroretentive ofloxacin tablet may prove to be a potential candidate which increases the bioavailability of ofloxacin for any intragastric condition.
Pre-hospital use of inhaled corticosteroids and inhaled beta agonists and incidence of ARDS: A population-based study.

OBJECTIVE Inhaled corticosteroids and inhaled beta agonists were shown to decrease the lung injury in animal models. We investigated the association of pre-hospital use of inhaled corticosteroids and inhaled beta agonists with the incidence of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) in a population based cohort of hospitalized patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS Retrospective cohort study of adult patients from Olmsted County, Minnesota admitted to the hospital with at least one predisposing condition for ARDS from 2001-2008. The association with pre-hospital use of inhaled corticosteroids and inhaled beta agonists was evaluated using univariate and multivariate analyses. Primary outcome was ARDS and secondary outcome was hospital mortality. RESULTS Out of 2429 hospitalized adult patients with at least one risk factor for ARDS, 10.5% of those taking and 14% of those not taking inhaled corticosteroids developed ARDS (OR 0.72; 0.53-0.97; p<0.03). Inhaled beta agonists showed similar unadjusted protective effect; 9.7% of users and 14.4% of non-users developed ARDS (OR 0.64; 0.48-0.86; p=0.003). After adjusting for risk factors, comorbidities and severity of illness in the multiple logistic regression model, use of inhaled beta agonists, but not inhaled corticosteroids, remained independently associated with decreased risk of ARDS (OR 0.48; 0.31-0.72; p<0.001 versus 0.87; 0.57-1.29; p=0.49). The estimated protective effects were more pronounced among patients with pneumonia compared to those without pneumonia. CONCLUSION Prehospital use of inhaled beta agonists but not inhaled corticosteroids was significantly associated with decreased incidence of ARDS among hospitalized patients at risk, once adjusted for baseline characteristics, predisposing and comorbid conditions, as well as severity of illness.
Young Male Street Workers: Life Histories and Current Experiences

Ronit D. Leichtentritt is a senior lecturer in the Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel Aviv Uni versity, Israel. Her research interests include interpersonal and social justice issues, with special attention to justice issues at times of death and dying. Her research has focused on attitudes, mean ings and values surrounding euthanasia and socially assisted dying in the last few years. Bilha Davidson-Arad is a lecturer in the Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel Aviv Univer sity, Israel. Her research interests included children at risk and the decision to remove children from home. Research was jointly developed and supported by ELEM (Youth in Distress in Israel), a non-profit organization and the Interdisciplinary Center for Children and Youth Studies.
Use of maximum entropy in natural word generation for statistical concept-based speech-to-speech translation

Our statistical concept-based spoken language translation method consists of three cascaded components: natural language understanding, natural concept generation and natural word generation. In the previous approaches, statistical models are used only in the first two components. In this paper, a novel maximum-entropy-based statistical natural word generation algorithm is proposed that takes into account both the word level and concept level context information in the source and the target language. A recursive generation scheme is further devised to integrate this statistical generation algorithm with the previously proposed maximum-entropy-based natural concept generation algorithm. The translation error rate is reduced by 14%-20% in our speech-to-speech translation experiments.
Leverage Item Popularity and Recommendation Quality via Cost-Sensitive Factorization Machines

The accuracy of recommendation trends to be worse towards the long tail of the popularity distribution of items, but items in the long tail are generally considered to be valuable as they occupy a majority part of entire data. In this paper, we develop an instance-level cost-sensitive Factorization Machine (FM) to tackle the problem. The new algorithm allows the FM model to automatically leverage the trade-off between item popularity and recommendation quality. Specifically, by adding a cost criterion to the loss function, the FM model is now able to discriminate the relative importance of popularity from massive data. In addition, we convert several well-known functions into the popularity weighting functions, thereby demonstrating that the proposed method can fit the model parameters to various kinds of measurements. In the experiments, we assess the performance on a real-world music dataset which is collected from an online music streaming service, KKBOX. The dataset contains 1,800,000 listening records that cover 5,000 users and 30,000 songs. The results show that, the proposed method not only keeps the performance as primitive model but also avoids retrieving too much popular music in the top recommendations.
Using Feedback Control within WSN's to meet Application Requirements

Currently the main approach used to save power within WSN's is to employ reactive MAC schemes that detect when the network is becoming busy and adapt to provide an increase in available bandwidth. Once the traffic becomes lighter the available bandwidth is reduced to save power. While this works well with bursty sporadic traffic, there is a clear trade-off between latency of response and power savings. Other problems with this approach include hard to derive parameters along with their poor performance in periodic sense-and-send applications due to their reactive nature. We propose an adaptive feedback-based scheme that adjusts the duty cycle of the the motes to reduce the power consumed in typical sense-and-send applications by 58.4%, while still meeting a minimal level of service specified by the operator. Such an adaptive scheme is necessary to minimise power consumption as the complete network characteristics are unknown prior to deployment, and can change during runtime. Our approach is independent of node distribution and is also MAC layer agnostic, unlike the current state-of-the-art, whilst consuming less power. Our approach provides a simple method for the application designer to modify its behaviour, whilst allowing WSNs to operate longer and provide the same level of service as current approaches.
Jobs satisfaction mediates relationship between facets of job and citizenship behavior: a study of female employees of banking sector of Pakistan

Several articles have reported and discussed the job satisfaction and dissatisfaction of female workers in miscellaneous organizations. However, very few empirically-supported explanations have been given to explain how job satisfaction mediates the relationship between facets of job and citizenship behavior in banking sector of Pakistan and specially focusing on female employees. Probes into the explanations of determining how job satisfaction mediates the relationship between facets of job and citizenship behavior, the data were collected from female employees of banking sector of Pakistan. Total 200 self-administered questionnaires were distributed among the female staff of different banks. 188 completed questionnaire were received back with response rate of 94%. The participation in survey was voluntary and confidentiality of responses was ensured. Statistical analysis reveals that there exists significant relationship between facets of job (pay, promotion, supervisor's behavior and coworker's behavior) and dependent variables (organizational citizenship behavior); likewise, job satisfaction mediates the relationship between facets of job and citizenship behavior. Limitations and future implementations of this research are also discussed.