Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Teacher preparation for movement education: increasing pre-service teachers’ competence for working with young children

ABSTRACT This study explores pre-service teachers’ perceptions of movement education, the benefits they perceive from participating in a 12-week movement education module in a course on play, and the module’s effects on their confidence and competence in regard to incorporating movement into a curriculum. Findings suggest that the pre-service teachers achieved a deeper understanding of movement education and appreciated the module as a worthwhile professional growth experience. Specifically, they viewed the module as enabling them to build a new understanding of movement, to express themselves physically, to develop movement skills, to engage in social interactions, and to teach a variety of subjects using movement education principles. The study demonstrated that the module of this nature constitutes a useful educational tool for fostering the professional development of pre-service teachers in regard to their beliefs, attitudes, and skills pertaining to movement education.
A comparison of MDS-MAP and non-linear regression

For locating a set of stationary devices, algorithms such as MDS-MAP have been favoured by the sensor network community. This is generally because of their low computational complexity. Whilst comparisons for complexity and performance have been done for other algorithms, non-linear regression (NLR) has been neglected. The authors find that it is not much more expensive than MDS-MAP, yet can yield significantly better accuracy for sensor network localisation.
An Accelerated Architecture Based on GPU and Multi-Processor Design for Fingerprint Recognition

Fingerprint recognition is widely used in security systems to recognize humans. In both industry and scientific literature, many fingerprint identification systems were developed using different techniques and approaches. Although the number of conducted research works in this field, developed systems suffer for some limitations partially those related the real time computation and fingerprint recognition. Accordingly, this paper proposes a reliable algorithm for fingerprint recognition based on the extraction and matching of Minutiae. In this paper, we present also an accelerated architecture based on GPU and multi-processor design in which the suggested fingerprint recognition algorithm is implemented.
Physical properties of the sub-micrometer aerosol over the Amazon rain forest during the wet-to-dry season transition - comparison of modeled and measured CCN concentrations

Abstract. Sub-micrometer atmospheric aerosol particles were studied in the Amazon region, 125 km northeast of Manaus, Brazil (-1°55.2'S, 59°28.1'W). The measurements were performed during the wet-to-dry transition period, 4-28 July 2001 as part of the LBA (Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia) CLAIRE-2001 (Cooperative LBA Airborne Regional Experiment) experiment. The number size distribution was measured with two parallel differential mobility analyzers, the hygroscopic growth at 90% RH with a Hygroscopic Tandem Mobility Analyzer (H-TDMA) and the concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) with a cloud condensation nuclei counter. A model was developed that uses the H-TDMA data to predict the number of soluble molecules or ions in the individual particles and the corresponding minimum particle diameter for activation into a cloud droplet at a certain supersaturation. Integrating the number size distribution above this diameter, CCN concentrations were predicted with a time resolution of 10 min and compared to the measured concentrations. During the study period, three different air masses were identified and compared: clean background, air influenced by aged biomass burning, and moderately polluted air from recent local biomass burning. For the clean period 2001, similar number size distributions and hygroscopic behavior were observed as during the wet season at the same site in 1998, with mostly internally mixed particles of low diameter growth factor (~1.3 taken from dry to 90% RH). During the periods influenced by biomass burning the hygroscopic growth changed slightly, but the largest difference was seen in the number size distribution. The CCN model was found to be successful in predicting the measured CCN concentrations, typically within 25%. A sensitivity study showed relatively small dependence on the assumption of which model salt that was used to predict CCN concentrations from H-TDMA data. One strength of using H-TDMA data to predict CCN concentrations is that the model can also take into account soluble organic compounds, insofar as they go into solution at 90% RH. Another advantage is the higher time resolution compared to using size-resolved chemical composition data.
Higher Education and the Black Experience

For decades, scholars have attempted to evaluate black higher education, as shown by the work of W.E. B. DuBois, Carter G. Woodson, Horace Mann Bond and Gunnar Myrdal. (1) In the last several years, however, such efforts have proliferated. Some of the new studies are historical inquiries, such as Henry A. Bullock's History ofNegro Education in the South from 1619 to the Present. (2) The majority have dealt with more contemporary events. In 1965, for example, EariJ. McGrath published his Predominantly Negro Colleges and Universities in Transition, which showed the impact of desegregation and shifting enrollment patterns on black higher education. Three years ago, Frank Bowles and Frank A. DeCosta updated McGrath's study with their Between Two Worlds: A Profile of Negro High Education, and the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education released From Isolation to Mainstream: Problems of Colleges Founded for Negroes. That same year saw the publication of John W. Blassingame's New Perspectives on Black Studies and a special summer issue of Daedalus, "The Future of Black Colleges. " ( 3) By their titles, such works suggest the unstable period that black higher education has entered. In the wake of these publications has come DuBois' collected critique of black educational goals, Daniel C. Thompson's investigation of changing conditions in Negro private colleges, Nick A. Ford's survey of black studies programs, and Alan Pifer's brief statement on the rise of higher education among black Americans. As a group, these studies provide valuable insight into the history, as well as the present circumstances, of an effort that has been sustained in the face of much adversity. The historical dimension appears particularly in Pifer's The Higher Education of Blacks in the United States. He originally included his ideas in a speech delivered before the South African Institute of Race Relations during the summer of 1973. Released as a small pamphlet by the Carnegie Corporation, of which he is the current president, the work is valuable as a detailed summary of the origins of black higher education. As Pifer notes, nearly one hundred and
SelectDirectory: A selective directory for cache coherence in many-core architectures

As we move into many-core era fueled by Moore's Law, it has become unprecedentedly challenging to provide the shared memory abstraction through directory-based cache coherence. The main difficulty is the high area and power overhead of the directory in tracking the presence of a memory block in all the private caches. Sparse directory offers relatively better design trade-offs by decoupling the coherence meta-data from the last-level cache (LLC); but still suffers from high area/power issues. In this work, we propose a compact directory design by exploiting the observation that a significant fraction of the memory blocks are temporarily exclusive in the cache hierarchy and hence only needs minimal sharer information. Inspired by this observation, we propose to further decouple the tag array from the coherence meta-data array in the sparse directory and allocate a sharer list only for the actively shared blocks. Experimental results reveal that our proposal, called SelectDirectory, can substantially save directory storage area and energy without sacrificing performance.
Automatic Produce Classification from Images Using Color, Texture and Appearance Cues

We propose a system to solve a multi-class produce categorization problem. For that, we use statistical color, texture, and structural appearance descriptors (bag-of-features). As the best combination setup is not known for our problem, we combine several individual features from the state-of-the-art in many different ways to assess how they interact to improve the overall accuracy of the system. We validate the system using an image data set collected on our local fruits and vegetables distribution center.
The in vitro influences of neurotensin on the motility characteristics of human U373 glioblastoma cells

Astrocytic tumours are associated with dismal prognoses due to their pronounced ability to diffusely invade the brain parenchyma. Various neuropeptides, including gastrin, are able to modulate tumour astrocyte migration. While neurotensin has been shown to influence the proliferation of glioma cells and the migratory ability of a large set of other cell types, its role in glioma cell migration has never been investigated. Neurotensin‐induced modifications to the motility features of human U373 glioblastoma cells therefore constitute the topic of the present study. We evidenced that three subtypes of neurotensin receptors (NTR1, NTR2 and NTR3) are expressed in U373 glioblastoma cells, at least as far as their mRNAs are concerned. Treating U373 tumour cells with 10 nM neurotensin markedly modified the morphological patterns of these cells and also profoundly altered the organization of their actin cytoskeletons. Pull‐down assays revealed that neurotensin induced the activation in U373 cells of both Rac1 and Cdc42 but not RhoA. Scratch wound assays evidenced that neurotensin (0.1 and 10 nM) very significantly inhibited wound colonization by U373 cells cultured in the absence of serum. In addition, quantitative phase‐contrast videomicroscopy analyses showed that neurotensin decreases the motility levels of U373 glioblastoma cells when these cells are cultured on plastic. In sharp contrast, neurotensin stimulates the motility of U373 cells when they are cultured on laminin, which is a pro‐adhesive extracellular matrix component ubiquitously secreted by glioma cells. Our data thus strongly suggest that, in addition to gastrin, neurotensin is a neuropeptide capable of modulating tumour astrocyte migration into the brain parenchyma.
Transverse resonance, standing wave, and resonator formulations of the ridge waveguide eigenvalue problem and its application to the design of E-plane finned waveguide filters

An accurate computer-aided design of compact, low-cost, low-insertion-loss evanescent-mode waveguide bandpass filters with bilateral metallic E-plane fins is presented. The rigorous field distribution of the ridge waveguide eigenmodes is applied to the design. The design theory takes into account the influences of both the finite fin thickness and the higher-order mode interaction at all discontinuities. The numerical advantage of the transverse resonance method for solving the related cross-sectional eigenvalue problem is demonstrated for the design of quasi-high-pass and bandpass filters of different ridge gap widths and is compared with the classical standing wave and resonator mode-matching techniques. Computer-optimized design data are given for filters with passbands in X-band (8-12 GHz) and E-band (60-90 GHz), which achieve high skirt selectivity and wide stopband. The theory is verified by measurements. >
Down-Regulation of Ribosomal S6 kinase RPS6KA6 in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients

Objective Signaling pathways such as extracellular regulated kinase/mitogen activated protein kinase (ERK/MAPK) have increased activity in leukemia. Ribosomal 6 kinase (RSK4) is a factor downstream of the MAPK/ERK pathway and an important tumor suppressor which inhibits ERK trafficking. Decrease in RSK4 expression has been reported in some malignancies, which leads to an increase in growth and proliferation and eventually poor prognosis. In this study we measured RSK4 expression rate in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Materials and Methods This cross-sectional study was undertaken in 2013-2014 at Ghaem Hospital in Mashhad, Iran, on 40 AML patients and 10 non-AML patients as the control group. The expression rate was measured by real-time polymerase change reaction (PCR) and employing the ΔΔCT method. Data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney and Spearman tests using SPSS (version 11.5). Results Expression rate of RSK4 was significantly decreased in the AML group in comparison with the non-AML group (P<0.001). There was also a significant decrease in RSK4 expression in AML with t(15;17) in comparison to other translocations (P=0.004). Conclusion We detected a down-regulation of RSK4 in AML patients. This may lead to an increase in the activity of the ERK/MPAK pathway and exacerbate leukemogenesis or the prognosis of the patients.
Cortical Plasticity Following Motor Skill Learning During Mental Practice in Stroke

Background and purpose. Mental practice (MP), which involves cognitive rehearsal of physical movements, is a noninvasive, inexpensive method of enabling repetitive, task-specific practice (RTP). Recent, randomized controlled data suggest that MP, when combined with an RTP therapy program, increases affected arm use and function significantly more than RTP only. As a next step, this 10-subject case series examined the possibility that cortical plasticity is a mechanism underlying the treatment effect of MP when combined with RTP. Method. Ten chronic stroke patients (mean = 36.7 months) exhibiting stable, moderate motor deficits received 30-minute therapy sessions for their affected arms, occurring 3 days/week for 10 weeks, and emphasizing valued activities of daily living (ADLs). Directly after therapy, subjects received 30-minute MP sessions, which required MP of the ADLs performed during therapy. Behavioral outcomes were blindly evaluated using the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) and the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FM). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was administered before and after intervention to assess cortical changes. Results. Before intervention, subjects exhibited stable motor deficits. After intervention, subjects exhibited ARAT and FM score increases (+5.3 and +4.2, respectively) and clinically significant gains in ADLs. Postintervention fMRI revealed significant increases in activation to wrist flexion and extension of the affected hand in the premotor area and primary motor cortex ipsilateral and contralateral to the affected hand, as well as in superior parietal cortex ipsilateral to the affected hand. Decreased activation was noted in parietal cortex of the hemisphere ipsilateral to the affected hand. These changes correlated with anatomical regions in which behavioral changes were observed in the ARAT and FM. Conclusions. MP is an easy to use, cost-effective strategy that was again shown to improve affected arm outcomes after stroke. This is the first study to demonstrate alteration in the cortical map in response to MP training.
BRCA1 splice variants exhibit overlapping and distinct transcriptional transactivation activities

The global changes in gene expression induced by transient increased expression of full length BRCA1 as well as the spliced variant BRCA1S were evaluated by cDNA expression array in a human non‐tumorigenic mammary epithelial cell line, MCF10A. Over 30 genes were identified that displayed an altered expression pattern in response to the expression of BRCA1 splice variants. The expression of NFκB inducing kinase was markedly down‐regulated in BRCA1L transfected cells. However, a NFκB‐responsive promoter construct yielded increased basal activity in BRCA1L transfected cells, as well as following treatment with tumor necrosis factor‐α or lymphotoxin. In addition, nuclear extracts from BRCA1L transfected cells displayed increased DNA binding to the κB consensus site. The transcriptional activity of a panel of promoter constructs was evaluated following expression of wild type or mutant BRCA1. Full length BRCA1 transactivated the estrogen receptor‐α (ERα) and BCL2 promoters as well as AP‐1, SRE, and CRE containing promoters. Transactivation activity of the exon 11‐deleted BRCA1S was more limited and usually of lower magnitude. The ability of a pathogenic mutation, 5382insC, to abrogate the transcriptional transactivation by BRCA1L and BRCA1S was also investigated. Mutant BRCA1 retained wild type levels of transcriptional activity for the ERα promoter as well as for the NFκB, AP‐1, and CRE‐responsive promoters but had reduced or no activity with the BCL2 and SRE promoters. These results show that BRCA1 isoforms have both overlapping and distinct transcriptional transactivation activity, and that a mutant form of BRCA1 implicated in carcinogenesis is not devoid of all activity. J. Cell. Biochem. 89: 120–132, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Non-Gibbsianness of the invariant measures of non-reversible cellular automata with totally asymmetric noise

We present a class of random cellular automata with multiple invari­ ant measures which are all non-Gibbsian. The automata have configuration space {O, 1f"d , with d > 1, and they are noisy versions of automata with the "eroder prop­ erty". The noise is totally asymmetric in the sense that it allows random flippings of "0" into "1" but not the converse. We prove that all invariant measures assign to the event "a sphere with a large radius £ is filled with ones" a probability ILL that is too large for the measure to be Gibbsian. For example, for the NEC automaton (-In ILL) ~ £ while for any Gibbs measure the corresponding value is ~ £2.
The relative health related quality of life of veterans with Parkinson’s disease

Objectives: To use databases of the US Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to describe the impact of Parkinson’s disease on health related quality of life (HRQoL) of veterans; to compare the HRQoL of veterans with Parkinson’s disease with that of veterans reporting eight other neurological or chronic conditions; and to estimate the unique effect of Parkinson’s disease on HRQoL. Methods: Respondents to the VHA 1999 large national health survey of veteran enrollees with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in VHA treatment files for the fiscal years 1997–1999 were identified by merging databases. The survey incorporated the Veterans SF-36, a well validated generic measure of HRQoL and functional status. This was used to compare patient groups. Mean physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) component summary scores were calculated for Parkinson’s disease and eight other diseases by multivariable regressions that adjusted for age, sex, race, education, and 15 mental and physical co-morbid conditions that were self reported in the survey. Results: Of 887 775 survey respondents, 14 530 (1.64%) had a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. Controlling for sociodemographic factors and co-morbidities, veterans with Parkinson’s disease had PCS and MCS below veterans with angina/coronary heart disease, arthritis, chronic low back pain, congestive heart failure, diabetes, and stroke. Veterans with spinal cord injury reported slightly lower PCS than veterans with Parkinson’s disease (32.38 v 32.72; 0.03 of 1 SD). Veterans with depression reported markedly lower MCS than veterans with Parkinson’s disease (35.94 v 41.48; 0.55 of 1 SD). The unique effect of having Parkinson’s disease on HRQoL was to lower PCS and MCS by 4.10 and 3.42 points (0.41 and 0.34 of 1 SD), respectively. Conclusions: The analysis quantifies the negative impact of Parkinson’s disease on HRQoL, after controlling for sociodemographic factors and co-morbidities. Compared with eight other chronic conditions, Parkinson’s disease imposes a relatively heavy burden on US veterans in the VHA health care system.
Consistency of Human-Computer Interface Design: Quantification and Validation

Consistency in human-computer interaction tasks is usually considered in a transfer paradigm in which the higher the similarity between two tasks, the higher the transfer and consistency. In a different paradigm, when tasks are performed in alternating sequences, similarity of tasks means that the mapping of interface methods or rules to overall task goals will be varied. A neural network simulation demonstrated that the same two tasks could be considered consistent in a transfer paradigm but have low consistency when they are alternated. A model called text-editing method (TEM) was developed to quantify consistency between two tasks based upon replacement, insertion, or deletion of methods. Two experiments tested the predictions of the quantitative analyses of consistency for alternating tasks. The results confirmed that similarities of two tasks and, thus, variability in the mapping of methods to overall task goals could have a detrimental effect on performance when the two tasks were performed in an alternating sequence.
Attention-Like Deficit and Hyperactivity in a Drosophila Memory Mutant

The primary function of a brain is to produce adaptive behavioral choices by selecting the right action at the right time. In humans, attention determines action selection as well as memory formation, whereas memories also guide which external stimuli should be attended to (Chun and Turk-Browne, 2007). The complex codependence of attention, memory, and action selection makes approaching the neurobiological basis of these interactions difficult in higher animals. Therefore, a successful reductionist approach is to turn to simpler systems for unraveling such complex biological problems. In a constantly changing environment, even simple animals have evolved attention-like processes to effectively filter incoming sensory stimuli. These processes can be studied in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, by a variety of behavioral and electrophysiological techniques. Recent work has shown that mutations affecting olfactory memory formation in Drosophila also produce distinct defects in visual attention-like behavior (van Swinderen, 2007; van Swinderen et al., 2009). In this study, we extend those results to describe visual attention-like defects in the Drosophila memory consolidation mutant radish1. In both behavioral and brain-recording assays, radish mutant flies consistently displayed responses characteristic of a reduced attention span, with more frequent perceptual alternations and more random behavior compared with wild-type flies. Some attention-like defects were successfully rescued by administering a drug commonly used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in humans, methylphenidate. Our results suggest that a balance between persistence and flexibility is crucial for adaptive action selection in flies and that this balance requires radish gene function.
Modular Multilevel Converter-energy difference controller in rotating reference frame

This paper presents a control strategy capable of eliminating the mean value of the energy differences between the upper and lower arms in a three-phase Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) in Park Coordinates for HVDC applications. This is achieved by controlling the active and reactive differential currents using a rotating reference frame at fundamental frequency in order to eliminate the zero sequence energy difference components by means of an inner and outer control loops. All feed-forward equations are demonstrated, with specific attention being paid to the cross-coupled terms.