Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Journal Abstracts

We examined the effectiveness of several techniques for enhancing student learning from educational videos. Introductory psychology students (N = 113) watched a video about intelligence and testing while taking notes, not taking notes, writing answers to guiding questions, or thinking about guiding questions without writing answers. Afterward, students took a quiz containing questions on the video information; half of the quiz questions were related and half were unrelated to the guiding questions. Results showed that students who wrote answers to the guiding questions had the highest quiz performance on items related to the guiding questions. The 4 groups did not differ significantly in their performance on items unrelated to the guiding questions.
Automatic Hooking for Forensic Analysis of Document-based Code Injection Attacks Techniques and Empirical Analyses

Document-based code injection attacks, where-in malicious code (coined shellcode) is embedded in a document, have quickly replaced network-service based exploits as the preferred method of attack. In this paper, we present a new technique to aid in forensic and diagnostic analysis of malicious documents detected using dynamic code analysis techniques — namely, automated API call hooking and simulation. Our approach provides an API call trace of a shellcode in a few milliseconds. We also present the results of a large empirical analysis of malicious PDFs collected in the wild over the last few years. To our surprise, we found that 90% of shellcode embedded in documents make no use of machine-code level polymorphism, in stark contrast to prior shellcode studies based on samples collected from network-service level attacks. We also observed a heavy-tailed distribution of API call sequences used by contemporary shellcode.
Empirical evaluation of 20 web form optimization guidelines

Most websites use interactive online forms as a main contact point to users. Recently, many publications aim at optimizing web forms. In contrast to former research that focused at the evaluation of single guidelines, the present study shows in a controlled lab experiment with n=23 participants the combined effectiveness of 20 guidelines on real company web forms. Results indicate that optimized web forms lead to faster completion times, less form submission trials, fewer eye fixations and higher user satisfaction in comparison to the original forms.
An improved method for OMP-based algorithm; using fusing strategy

The Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) algorithm has been intensively applied for its simple structure and reconstruction efficiency. However, the reconstruction accuracy of OMP algorithm still needs to be improved. Though the OMP-based algorithms, LAOMP algorithm and KOMP algorithm proposed in recent years have significantly improved reconstruction performance while it can lead to fairly high computational complexity. In this paper, we propose an improved method for OMP-based algorithms using fusing strategy and demonstrate its superiority. We use the double intersection method to fuse the estimated support set from algorithms with low computational complexity to get an atomic set with high accuracy. This is used as an initial support set to improve the LAOMP algorithm and KOMP algorithm. According to the simulation results, compared with the original algorithms, the reconstruction accuracy of the improved algorithms increases to some extent while the reconstruction time sharply decreases and the performance is more remarkable as the computational amount of the original algorithms increases.
Relations Between Effective Emotional Self-Regulation, Attentional Control, and Low-Income Preschoolers' Social Competence with Peers

Relations between children's emotional self-regulation, attentional control, and peer social competence (as reported by both teachers and peers) were examined for 51 low-income, preschool-aged children enrolled in Head Start. Using a short delay-of-gratification task administered at Head Start sites, children's use of self- distraction was found to be positively associated with their success in handling the delay, replicating previous, laboratory-based research. Contrary to our expectations, children's use of self-distraction was found to be unrelated to their attentional control, as assessed during a computer task. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that children's use of self-distraction predicted significant variance in both peer- and teacher-reports of childrem's competence with peers, even after children's attentional control was statistically taken into account. These findings are discussed in light of current models of reactivity and regulation in predicting young children's social behavior,.
Virtual guard channel for handoff calls in integrated voice/data wireless networks

In this paper, we propose a virtual guard channel (VGC) scheme for handoff calls in integrated voice/data wireless networks. By utilizing the multi-channel capability of data service, the proposed scheme can provide better performance in quality of service (QoS) provisioning and utilize the limited channel resources more efficiently compared with the conventional guard channel (GC) scheme.
Cellular tensegrity modeling with Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) experimentation

Cell tensegrity model has been widely accepted as a qualitative and recently quantitative method to describe the cellular mechanics. It is based on the fact the cell body is an inhomogeneous cytoskeleton based structure bounded by a soft membrane. Cell establishes force balance under certain structural arrangement through its focal adhesions and intercellular adhesions, under which the prestress is the main factor in determining the cell mechanical property as a whole. Here we demonstrate that intercellular adhesion is one of the main mechanisms employed by epithelial cells to achieve balance. We use keratinocytes as the model system to study this cellular behavior. It is found that loss of intercellular adhesion by desmosome disruption will cause the structural rearrangement of the cytoskeleton and subsequently lower the prestress in the whole cytoskeletal structure, thus change the mechanical property, in this case decrease of stiffness. The loss of intercellular adhesion causes was achieved by three different mechanisms either biochemical or biomechan-ical. Biochemically, antibody binding and calcium depletion would cause the disruption or non-formation of desmosome, which leads to loss of welding point of intermediate filaments. Biomechanically, intermediate filaments bundles were cut off by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) based nanodissection. All these mechanisms verified that the cell stiffness drop after intercellular adhesion loss. Further, simulation results by a 6-strut tensegrity structure with or without intermediate filaments confirmed the experimental findings, where structures with intermediate filaments are stiffer overall. This study would significantly enhance our understanding of the cell cytoskeleton mechanics.
Analysis of Unmanned Aerial System-Based CIR Images in Forestry—A New Perspective to Monitor Pest Infestation Levels

The detection of pest infestation is an important aspect of forest management. In the case of the oak splendour beetle (Agrilus biguttatus) infestation, the affected oaks (Quercus sp.) show high levels of defoliation and altered canopy reflection signature. These critical features can be identified in high-resolution colour infrared (CIR) images of the tree crown and branches level captured by Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). In this study, we used a small UAS equipped with a compact digital camera which has been calibrated and modified to record not only the visual but also the near infrared reflection (NIR) of possibly infested oaks. The flight campaigns were realized in August 2013, covering two study sites which are located in a rural area in western Germany. Both locations represent small-scale, privately managed commercial forests in which oaks are economically valuable species. Our workflow includes the CIR/NIR image acquisition, mosaicking, georeferencing and pixel-based image enhancement followed by object-based image classification techniques. A modified Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVImod) derived classification was used to distinguish between five vegetation health classes, i.e., infested, healthy or dead branches, other vegetation and canopy gaps. We achieved an overall Kappa Index of Agreement (KIA) of 0.81 and 0.77 for each study site, respectively. This approach offers a low-cost alternative to private forest owners who pursue a sustainable management strategy.
Levonorgestrel-releasing Intrauterine System – The discontinuing story

Levonorgestrel-releasing Intrauterine System (LNG-IUS) is licensed for use as a contraceptive, for the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding and during estrogen replacement therapy. It is publicized as a local source of progestogen with minimal systemic adverse effects. However, there is overwhelming evidence of elevated serum and tissue levels of levonorgestrel, and high discontinuation and dissatisfaction rates amongst users. The guidelines of The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), United Kingdom recommended that the healthcare professionals should be aware that upto 60% of women discontinue using LNG-IUS within 5 years because of unscheduled bleeding, pain, and/or systemic progestogenic adverse effects. This article highlights these issues to healthcare professionals to ensure that the rates of adverse effects are not underestimated, and full information are made available to women to enable them making an informed choice.
Single image facial view synthesis using SFS

We present a facial view synthesis technique based on explicit shape and reflectance information extracted from a single image. The technique combines an image based reflectance estimation process with a novel method of interpolating between needle-maps recovered using shape from shading. This allows images of a face to be synthesised under novel lighting, pose and skin reflectance given only one example image.
Cerebral energy metabolism and intracellular pH during severe hypoxia and recovery: A study using 1H, 31P, and 1H [13C] nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the guinea pig cerebral cortex in vitro

1H and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to study intracellular pH (pH1), high‐energy phosphates, lactate, and amino acids in cortical brain slices superfused in Krebs‐Henseleit bicarbonate buffer during and after severe hypoxia at 0, 10, and 50 mM glucose. An extensive drop in phosphocreatine (PCr) and a rapid build‐up of intracellular lactate and H+ were the first signs of hypoxia. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) was significantly more resistant to hypoxia provided that glucose was present. In the preparations that had been exposed to hypoxia in the presence of glucose, PCr became detectable within 2 min of reoxygenation, and both PCr and ATP concentrations were restored to 72–80% of normoxic levels within 30 min. Lactate was washed out, and pHi returned to normal within 4–8 min. Using 1‐[13C]glucose as a tracer, we demonstrated that the rate of lactate production in the immediate posthypoxic period was at the prehypoxic level, indicating that hte elevated lactate during this period was due solely to that produced during hypoxia. During reoxygenation of the preparations that were denied glucose during hypoxia, only 30% of total creatine + PCr and 18% of PCr were restored, and ATP was not detectable. The lactate concentration rose twofold in this period, and pHi became significantly more alkaline than before the hypoxic insult. Thus acute metabolic damage was considerably greater if glucose was absent during the insult, suggesting that either anaerobic ATP production or low pH may exert some protective effect against acute cell damage.
Measurement of the direct CP-violating charge asymmetry in ${D_s^\pm \rightarrow \phi \pi^{\pm}}$ decays

We present a measurement of the direct $CP$-violating charge asymmetry in $D_s^\pm \to \phi \pi^{\pm}$ decays where the $\phi$ meson decays to $K^+K^-$, using the full Run II data set with an integrated luminosity of 10.4 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-antiproton collisions collected using the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The normalised difference $A_{CP}$ in the yield of $D_s^+$ and $D_s^-$ mesons in these decays is measured by fitting the difference between their reconstructed invariant mass distributions. This results in an asymmetry of $A_{CP} =\left[ -0.38 \pm 0.27 \right]%$, which is the most precise measurement of this quantity to date. The result is consistent with the standard model prediction of zero $CP$ asymmetry in this decay. Updated to include changes made after referees comments. Corrected an affiliation in the author list.
What makes a great MOOC? An interdisciplinary analysis of student retention in online courses

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have experienced rapid expansion and gained significant popularity among students and educators. Although the broad acceptance of MOOCs, there is still a long way to go in terms of satisfaction of students’ needs, as witnessed in the extremely high drop-out rates. Working toward improving MOOCs, we employ the Grounded Theory Method (GTM) in a quantitative study and explore this new phenomenon. In particular, we present a novel analysis using a real-world data set with user-generated online reviews, where we both identify the student, course, platform, and university characteristics that affect student retention and estimate their relative effect. In the conducted analysis, we integrate econometric, text mining, opinion mining, and machine learning techniques, building both explanatory and predictive models, toward a more complete analysis. This study also provides actionable insights for MOOCs and education, in general, and contributes to the related literature discovering new findings.
Physiological regulation of a decontrolled lac operon

The expression of the lac operon was studied under a variety of growth conditions in induced and in constitutive cells of Escherichia coli that carried different catabolite-insensitive lac promoters. Use of such "decontrolled" lac operons permitted a study of the expression of an operon that was presumably subject only to passive control. Since the use of toluenized cells was demonstrated not to be completely reliable, all enzyme assays were performed on sonic supernatant fluids. The cells contained different catabolite-insensitive promoters, which included the L1 and UV5 lac promoters, as well as others isolated in this study. There were three major observations. First, small but real carbon source effects were seen. Second, there was only a small change in beta-galactosidase specific activity with changes in the growth rate. This result implies a limited transcription and/or translation capacity within the cell. Third, at rapid growth rates, most promoters exhibited a decreased expression. The UV5 promoter, which was the "strongest" promoter, was an exception. A mechanism to explain this promoter-dependent control is discussed.
“I’m Ambivalent about It”

The increasing ubiquity of PowerPoint in the university classroom raises complex questions about pedagogy and the creation of dynamic and effective learning environments. Though much of the sociological teaching literature has focused on engagement and active learning, very little of this work has addressed the presence of PowerPoint in sociology classrooms. Teaching sociology requires discussion, critical thinking, and debate—characteristics many critics argue are at odds with PowerPoint’s unique presentation style. Utilizing survey data from faculty and students at a private university, this research explores PowerPoint usage and the many ways it influences the learning environment of the sociology classroom.
EnergyBugs: energy harvesting wearables for children

EnergyBugs are energy harvesting wearables with features that invite children to move their bodies to generate tiny, yet usable amounts of electricity. EnergyBugs not only convert children's kinetic energy into usable electrical energy, but also let children power a specially designed LED lamp with the energy the children have personally harvested. EnergyBugs therefore turn the electrical energy into a tangible object that children can manipulate and think with. Two studies of EnergyBugs with 34 elementary school children have revealed that children carefully observed and negotiated the use of personally harvested energy with their classmates, as well as developed emotional connections to energy. In particular, moving their own bodies to generate energy led the children to more actively ask questions about energy from new perspectives. We report our iterative design process and discuss the implications of our results for HCI.
Extracting Maya Glyphs from Degraded Ancient Documents via Image Segmentation

We present a system for automatically extracting hieroglyph strokes from images of degraded ancient Maya codices. Our system adopts a region-based image segmentation framework. Multi-resolution super-pixels are first extracted to represent each image. A Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier is used to label each super-pixel region with a probability to belong to foreground glyph strokes. Pixelwise probability maps from multiple super-pixel resolution scales are then aggregated to cope with various stroke widths and background noise. A fully connected Conditional Random Field model is then applied to improve the labeling consistency. Segmentation results show that our system preserves delicate local details of the historic Maya glyphs with various stroke widths and also reduces background noise. As an application, we conduct retrieval experiments using the extracted binary images. Experimental results show that our automatically extracted glyph strokes achieve comparable retrieval results to those obtained using glyphs manually segmented by epigraphers in our team.
Gossip algorithms for principal component analysis in networks

This paper deals with the issues of the dimensionality reduction and the extraction of the structure of data using principal component analysis for the multivariable data in large-scale networks. In order to overcome the high computational complexity of this technique, we derive several in-network strategies to estimate the principal axes without the need for computing the sample covariance matrix. To this aim, we propose to combine Oja's iterative rule with average gossiping algorithms. Gossiping is used as a solution for communication between asynchronous nodes. The performance of the proposed approach is illustrated on time series acquisition in wireless sensor networks.
Health and Well‐Being in Highly Cohesive Units of the U.S. Army1

A large civilian literature on the role of social support in health and well-being suggests that military units high in unit cohesion should provide their members both significant protection from physical and mental illness and high levels of job satisfaction. This hypothesis was tested with a questionnaire survey of soldiers in Special Forces “A-teams”, generally viewed as the U.S. Army's most cohesive permanent units. As predicted, A-team soldiers reported greater physical and psychological well-being and greater satisfaction with job and career than did soldiers in conventionally organized units, be they Special Forces, airborne, or mechanized infantry. The best predictors in our battery of demographic, personality, and cohesion measures were ratings of social support from and satisfaction with one's Army unit, and relatively more “internal” scores on the Rotter locus-of-control scale. From these data and extensive participant observation we conclude that unit cohesion provides the soldier considerable protection from the stresses of military life, even in peace, and that it is organizational rather than individual variables that are primarily responsible for the very high levels of cohesion and/or social support in Special Forces A-teams.
The Relationship of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder to Crime and Delinquency: A Meta-Analysis

In recent years, criminologists have begun to focus more closely on how certain biosocial and/or neuropsychological factors may influence criminal and delinquent behaviour. One factor that is emerging as a potentially important correlate of such behaviour is Attention Deficit — often combined with hyperactivity — Disorder (ADD and/or ADHD). The results of the growing body of empirical literature assessing this link are, however, inconsistent. The present study subjects this body of research to a ‘meta-analysis' — or, ‘quantitative synthesis' — to establish both the overall effect of ADHD on crime and delinquency and the degree to which this relationship is conditioned by methodological factors across empirical studies. The analyses reveal a fairly strong association between measures of ADHD and criminal/delinquent behaviour. Nevertheless, these effects are not invariant across certain salient methodological characteristics. The implications for criminological theory and correctional policy are discussed.
Model order selection for boolean matrix factorization

Matrix factorizations---where a given data matrix is approximated by a product of two or more factor matrices---are powerful data mining tools. Among other tasks, matrix factorizations are often used to separate global structure from noise. This, however, requires solving the `model order selection problem' of determining where fine-grained structure stops, and noise starts, i.e., what is the proper size of the factor matrices. Boolean matrix factorization (BMF)---where data, factors, and matrix product are Boolean---has received increased attention from the data mining community in recent years. The technique has desirable properties, such as high interpretability and natural sparsity. But so far no method for selecting the correct model order for BMF has been available. In this paper we propose to use the Minimum Description Length (MDL) principle for this task. Besides solving the problem, this well-founded approach has numerous benefits, e.g., it is automatic, does not require a likelihood function, is fast, and, as experiments show, is highly accurate. We formulate the description length function for BMF in general---making it applicable for any BMF algorithm. We extend an existing algorithm for BMF to use MDL to identify the best Boolean matrix factorization, analyze the complexity of the problem, and perform an extensive experimental evaluation to study its behavior.
PURIFICATION OF STAPHYLOCOCCAL COAGULASE

Correlation between the pathogenicity of certain staphylococci and their ability to produce coagulase has led to extensive studies of the clotting enzyme. Walston (1935) precipitated the clotting substance from cell-free filtrates of appropriate staphylococcal cultures by the use of ethanol, acetic acid, or ammonium sulfate. Walker et al. (1948) partially purified staphylocoagulase by repeated precipitation at pH 4. Tager (1948) concentrated coagulase by acid treatment followed by several cycles of alcohol precipitation, alternating with the removal of impurities by the use of low concentrations of ammonium sulfate. Duthie and Lorenz (1952) obtained partially purified coagulase by cadmium sulfate fractionation. Aluminum oxide chromatography of such a preparation was described by Jacherts (1956). Recently, Duthie and Haughton (1958) isolated highly purified coagulase by adsorption onto cadmium sulfate, followed by fractional precipitation with ammonium sulfate at low pH values. Further purification of the clotting enzyme was attempted, to obtain a product for investigations of its role in the pathogenesis of staphylococcal infections.