Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Informality, power and relationships in postgraduate supervision: supervising PhD candidates over coffee

A great deal of literature in recent years has focused on the supervisory relationship, yet very little has been written about the nature or content of supervisory meetings, beyond commenting on the frequency and length of meetings. Through semi-structured interviews, informal discussions with colleagues and students, a critical review of literature and personal reflection, this paper explores the salience of coffee for postgraduate supervision. This paper locates supervisions over coffee in reference to contemporary debates about the supervisory relationship (models, styles, tasks and dimensions). Using the concept of ‘third places’ and Misztal's theorisation of informality, it is argued that supervision over coffee conveys a particular supervisory relationship to postgraduate students: one that is incompatible with expert-disciple models or styles of supervision. Instead, supervision over coffee is on neutral territory and on a more informal footing. Finally the paper concludes with discussion about finding a balance between formality and informality in supervision and the development of personal and institutional trust.
Wideband transition from coaxial line to half-mode substrate integrated waveguide

In this paper, a perpendicular transition from coaxial cable to Half-Mode Substrate Integrated Waveguide (HM-SIW) is proposed for wideband operation. The design places emphasis on the robustness and manufacturability of the transition, in particular with a reproducible realization of a matching capacitive gap. A prototype of back-to-back transitions with 64 mm length of HMSIW in-between is realized for operation in the frequency range of 10 GHz to 16 GHz. The return loss of the back-to-back transitions is measured to be close to 20 dB. A reasonable agreement between experimental and simulation results is achieved, validating the proposed transition geometry.
Estimating small cell-loss ratios in ATM switches via importance sampling

The cell-loss ratio at a given node in an ATM switch, defined as the steady-state fraction of packets of information that are lost at that node due to buffer overflow, is typically a very small quantity that is hard to estimate by simulation. Cell losses are rare events, and importance sampling is sometimes the appropriate tool in this situation. However, finding the right change of measure is generally difficult. In this article, importance sampling is applied to estimate the cell-loss ratio in an ATM switch modeled as a queuing network that is fed by several sources emitting cells according to a Markov-modulated ON/OFF process, and in which all the cells from the same source have the same destination. The charge of measure is obtained via an adaptation of a heuristic proposed by Chang et al. {1994} for intree networks. The numerical experiments confirm important efficiency improvements even for large nonintree networks and a large number of sources. Experiments with different variants of the importance sampling methodology are also reported, and a number of practical issues are illustrated and discussed.
Is student achievement really immutable? :A study of cognitive development and student achievement inan Oregon school district

In the educational climate of the USA, where many question the possibility of effecting genuine change in national achievement outcomes, the Scientific Thinking Enhancement Project (STEP) was delivered to three cohorts of students from 1999 to 2002 in Molalla, Oregon. At the start, the mean age of Cohorts A, B, and C was 11+, 12+, and 13+ years. The purpose of my study was to investigate whether the STEP had enhanced these students’ cognitive development and school achievement. The STEP incorporated strategies from a British intervention that had been shown to have a substantial effect on children’s cognitive development and school achievement. Different test instruments were employed from those used in the British intervention, and the results of all tests were Rasch scaled. Cognitive change was estimated using Bond’s Logical Operations Test, with pre-intervention performance profiles serving as cross-sectional controls. Statistical analyses revealed some enhancement of cognitive development compared with controls, with cognitive gains across the spectrum of starting level, irrespective of starting age and level of parent education. Statistically significant overall cognitive gains were found for Cohorts B (0.27 SDs) and C (0.55 SDs). Data from state-mandated tests in Mathematics revealed significant overall gains against controls for Cohorts A (0.51 SDs) and B (0.19 SDs). Cohort B students also made late-onset significant gains over peers who missed the STEP in 8th grade (BLOT 1.01 SDs and Mathematics 1.09 SDs). Cohort B females showed a significant overall gain in state Reading & Literature tests. There were no significant achievement gains against populations from non-project schools. A teacher survey showed general satisfaction with the STEP, but also revealed misconceptions about the intervention. Given that these teachers received little professional development, and did not deliver the entire intervention program, it is not surprising that the STEP did not yield results as strong as the original projects in the UK.
Prolonged Reciprocal Signaling via NMDA and GABA Receptors at a Retinal Ribbon Synapse

AMPA and GABAA receptors mediate most of the fast signaling in the CNS. However, the retina must, in addition, also convey slow and sustained signals. Given that AMPA and GABAA receptors desensitize quickly in the continuous presence of agonist, how are sustained excitatory and inhibitory signals transmitted reliably across retinal synapses? Reciprocal synapses between bipolar and amacrine cells in the retina are thought to play a fundamental role in tuning the bipolar cell output to the dynamic range of ganglion cells. Here, we report that glutamate release from goldfish bipolar cell terminals activates first AMPA receptors, followed by fast and transient GABAA-mediated feedback. Subsequently, prolonged NMDA receptor activation triggers GABAA and a slow, sustained GABAC-mediated reciprocal inhibition. The synaptic delay of the NMDA/GABAC-mediated feedback showed stronger dependence on the depolarization of the bipolar cell terminal than the fast AMPA/GABAA-mediated response. Although the initial depolarization mediated by AMPA receptors was important to prime the NMDA action, NMDA receptors could trigger feedback by themselves in most of the bipolar terminals tested. This AMPA-independent feedback (delay ≈ 10 ms) was eliminated in 2 mm external Mg2+ and reduced in some terminals, but not eliminated, by TTX. NMDA receptors on amacrine cells with depolarized resting membrane potentials therefore can mediate the late reciprocal feedback triggered by continuous glutamate release. Our findings suggest that the characteristics of NMDA receptors (high agonist affinity, slow desensitization, and activation/deactivation kinetics) are well suited to match the properties of GABAC receptors, which thus provide part of the prolonged inhibition to bipolar cell terminals.
HTTPI Based Web Service Security over SOAP

Now a days, a new family of web applications open applications, are emerging (e.g., Social Networking, News and Blogging). Generally, these open applications are non-confidential. The security needs of these applications are only client/server authentication and data integrity. For securing these open applications, effectively and efficiently, HTTPI, a new transport protocol is proposed, which ensures the entire security requirements of open applications. Benefit of using the HTTPI is that it is economical in use, well-suited for cache proxies, like HTTP is, and provides security against many Internet attacks (Server Impersonation and Message Modification) like HTTPS does. In terms of performance HTTPI is very close to the HTTP, but much better than HTTPS. A Web service is a method of communication between two ends over the Internet. These web services are developed over XML and HTTP. Today, most of the open applications use web services for most of their operations. For securing these web services, security design based on HTTPI is proposed. Our work involves securing the web services over SOAP, based on the HTTPI. This secure web service might be applicable for open applications, where authentication and integrity is needed, but no confidentiality required. In our paper, we introduce a web service security model based on HTTPI protocol over SOAP and develop a preliminary implementation of this model. We also analyze the performance of our approach through an experiment and show that our proposed approach provides higher throughput, lower average response time and lower response size than HTTPS based web service security approach.
Physical and Emotional Abuse in Romantic Relationships

Intimate partner violence is extremely common in college samples. To inform prevention and intervention efforts, understanding the motivation for engaging in partner aggression is critically important. The predominant view in the domestic violence field has been that women’s use of intimate partner violence occurs in the context of self-defense. However, there has been a dearth of solid evidence to support this claim. The present study explored the motivations for the perpetration of minor and severe physical aggression and for three types of emotional abuse (restrictive engulfment, denigration, and dominance/intimidation) among college women. A detailed definition of self-defense was used and motivations for women who were sole perpetrators of physical violence as well as motivations for women who had been aggressed against in their romantic relationships were examined. Anger, retaliation for emotional hurt, to get partner’s attention, jealousy, and stress were all common reasons for perpetrating partner violence among college women. Few women indicated that self-defense was a motive for their abusive behavior. The results suggest that prevention and intervention efforts to reduce partner violence perpetration by women should include anger and stress management.
The use of Grimm's fairy tales to understand the moral content in fairy tales

This study examined the child's understanding of the moral content found in fairy tales based on an afterschool fairy tale story hour presented on a weekly basis for nine weeks. The study included four components: the fairy tale storytelling activity; the dramatisation of the told fairy tale; the interview; and the artistic activity. The interview component helped assess the understanding of the moral content as presented in the six told fairy tales. The study also explored the value of fairy tales in the fives of the children that participated in this study by observing and examining their role and participation in the storytelling, dramatisation and artistic components of the study. Sixteen children from grades one, two, and three participated in the study. A historical overview of Grimm's fairy tales is presented as well as Bettelheim's psychoanalytic theory (1976). Descriptions of fairy tale readings used in schools included various projects spanning curricular domains. Moral development is presented using the cognitive development approach as well as the theories based on Gilligan's (1988) research and Eisenberg's theory of prosocial behaviour (1992). The findings demonstrated that the children in this study were able to identify the moral content found in fairy tales such as: vices and virtues, the intentions behind the deeds, and in certain cases reason about them using orientations of care, justice and empathy. The quality of participation in the dramatisations, artistic and storytelling components ascertained that the value of fairy tales endures in the lives of these children in the form of enjoyment and creative expression.
A problematic sense of belonging A media analysis of the ‘GDR children of Namibia’

The term ‘GDR children of Namibia’ is used to describe a group of some 430 people who, in the course of SWAPO’s war of independence against South Africa’s occupation of Namibia, were removed from refugee camps and taken to the German Democratic Republic (GDR). This article examines the way in which the media reported on this group of people between the years 1979 and 2013. The analysis focuses on newspapers and magazines and is based on characteristic phases, topics and interpretations in the reports. This approach makes it possible to trace the ‘problem discourse’ which can be divided into six phases. The ‘GDR children’ are viewed as a political issue, (war) victims, agents in their own right, curiosities, experts or confidence tricksters. In reconstructing the news coverage over these 34 years, one aspect in particular remains a constant, namely the media’s irresistible fascination with and discussion of the ‘GDR children’s’ sense of belonging.
“I Treat Him as a Normal Patient”: Unveiling the Normalization Coping Strategy Among Formal Caregivers of Persons With Dementia and Its Implications for Person-Centered Care

Introduction: Currently, 47 million people have dementia, worldwide, often requiring paid care by formal caregivers. Research regarding family caregivers suggests normalization as a model for coping with negative emotional outcomes in caring for a person with dementia (PWD). The study aims to explore whether normalization coping mechanism exists among formal caregivers, reveal differences in its application among cross-cultural caregivers, and examine how this coping mechanism may be related to implementing person-centered care for PWDs. Method: Content analysis of interviews with 20 formal caregivers from three cultural groups (Jews born in Israel [JI], Arabs born in Israel [AI], Russian immigrants [RI]), attending to PWDs. Results: We extracted five normalization modes, revealing AI caregivers had substantially more utterances of normalization expressions than their colleagues. Discussion: The normalization modes most commonly expressed by AI caregivers relate to the personhood of PWDs. These normalization modes may enhance formal caregivers’ ability to employ person-centered care.
Risk Management and Firm Value: Evidence from Weather Derivatives

This paper examines the impact of financial innovation on firm value, investment, and financing decisions. More specifically, we examine the effect of the introduction of weather derivatives on electric and gas utilities, arguably some of the most weather-exposed businesses in the economy. Weather derivatives were introduced in 1997 to help firms manage their weather-related risk exposure. We derive instruments for weather derivative use based on historical (pre-1997) weather exposure. Intuitively, firms whose cash flows have historically fluctuated with changing weather conditions are, relative to other firms, more likely to use weather derivatives once they become available, irrespective of their investment opportunities. Using data from U.S. energy firms, we find that weather derivatives lead to higher market valuations, investments, and leverage. Overall, our results demonstrate that financial innovation can significantly affect firm outcomes and that risk management meaningfully affects valuation, investments, and financing decisions.
Deletion of znuA Virulence Factor Attenuates Brucella abortus and Confers Protection against Wild-Type Challenge

ABSTRACT znuA is known to be an important factor for survival and normal growth under low Zn2+ concentrations for Escherichia coli, Haemophilus spp. , Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Pasteurella multocida. We hypothesized that the znuA gene present in Brucella melitensis 16 M would be similar to znuA in B. abortus and questioned whether it may also be an important factor for growth and virulence of Brucella abortus. Using the B. melitensis 16 M genome sequence, primers were designed to construct a B. abortus deletion mutant. A znuA knockout mutation in B. abortus 2308 (ΔznuA) was constructed and found to be lethal in low-Zn2+ medium. When used to infect macrophages, ΔznuA B. abortus showed minimal growth. Further study with ΔznuA B. abortus showed that its virulence in BALB/c mice was attenuated, and most of the bacteria were cleared from the spleen within 8 weeks. Protection studies confirmed the ΔznuA mutant as a potential live vaccine, since protection against wild-type B. abortus 2308 challenge was as effective as that obtained with the RB51 or S19 vaccine strain.
Approximate Robust Optimal Control of Periodic Systems with Invariants and High-Index Differential Algebraic Systems

Abstract In this paper we present solution approaches for uncertain periodic optimal control problems with invariants that arise e.g., after index reduction of high-index differential algebraic systems. There are two difficulties to be addressed: first, we encounter a redundancy in the periodic boundary constraints which is due to the presence of invariants. And second, we have to deal with the presence of uncertainties. To address the first problem we discuss both a projection and a null-space based reformulation approaches that avoid the redundancies in the constraints. Concerning the uncertainties, we discuss an approximate robust optimal control formulation based on Lyapunov differential equations. Here, the invariants and periodic boundary constraints have to be taken into account, too. We illustrate our techniques by optimizing an open-loop controlled inverted pendulum which is described by index three differential algebraic equations and is affected by unknown forces.
Mentorship and the Professional Development of Culturally Responsive Evaluators in the American Evaluation Association's Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) Program

In this study, we used Q methodology to investigate perspectives on mentorship among alumni of the Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) program. We asked participants to think retrospectively and give their opinion on the most important characteristics a GEDI mentor should have, based on what they would have liked or needed when they participated in the GEDI program. Three different perspectives on mentoring emerged from participants. They show that mentoring is not unidimensional; that perceptions and expectations of mentoring are defined to a great extent by the professional needs, background, and expectation of the participants. We suggest that the program takes those needs and expectations into consideration and use them as criteria for selecting mentors.
Cramer-Rao Bounds and Selection of Bistatic Channels for Multistatic Radar Systems

In this paper we deal with the problem of calculating the Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLBs) for bistatic radar channels. To this purpose we exploited the relation between the ambiguity function (AF) and the CRLB. The bistatic CRLBs are analyzed and compared with the monostatic counterparts as a function of the bistatic geometric parameters. In the bistatic case both geometry factors and transmitted waveforms play an important role in the shape of the AF, and therefore in the estimation accuracy of the target range and velocity. In particular, the CRLBs depend on the target direction of arrival (DOA), the bistatic baseline length (BBL), and the distance between the target and the receiver. The CRLBs are then used to select the "optimum" bistatic channel (or set of channels) for the tracking of a radar target moving along a trajectory in a multistatic scenario.
Bovine Intestinal Alkaline Phosphatase Attenuates the Inflammatory Response in Secondary Peritonitis in Mice

ABSTRACT Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) contributes importantly to morbidity and mortality in sepsis. Bovine intestinal alkaline phosphatase (BIAP) was demonstrated to detoxify LPS through dephosphorylation. LPS injection combined with BIAP reduced inflammation and improved survival in various experimental settings. In this study, single-dose intravenous administration of BIAP (0.15 IU/g) was applied in a murine cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) model of polymicrobial sepsis. Saline was given as control (S group). Treatment with BIAP prior to CLP (prophylaxis; BIAP-P group) or shortly after (early treatment; BIAP-ET group) reduced cytokine concentrations in plasma and peritoneal lavage fluid (PLF). Tumor necrosis factor-alpha peak levels decreased from 170 pg/ml (S) to 57.5 (BIAP-P) and 82.5 (BIAP-ET) in plasma and in PLF from 57.5 pg/ml (S) to 35.3 (BIAP-P) and 16.8 (BIAP-ET) (all, P < 0.05). Peak interleukin-6 levels in plasma decreased from 19.3 ng/ml (S) to 3.4 (BIAP-P) and 11.5 (BIAP-ET) and in PLF from 32.6 ng/ml (S) to 13.4 (BIAP-P) and 10.9 (BIAP-ET) (all, P < 0.05). Macrophage chemoattractant protein 1 peak levels in plasma decreased from 2.0 ng/ml (S) to 1.0 (BIAP-P) and 0.7 (BIAP-ET) and in PLF from 6.4 (S) to 2.3 (BIAP-P) and 1.3 ng/ml (BIAP-ET) (all, P < 0.05). BIAP-treated groups showed decreased transaminase activity in plasma and decreased myeloperoxidase activity in the lung, indicating reduced associated hepatocellular and pulmonary damage. Survival was not significantly altered by BIAP in this single-dose regimen. In polymicrobial secondary peritonitis, both prophylactic and early BIAP treatment attenuates the inflammatory response both locally and systemically and reduces associated liver and lung damage.
Perceptual musical noise reduction using critical bands tonality coefficients and masking thresholds

Speech enhancement techniques using spectral subtraction have the drawback of generating an annoying musical noise. We develop a new post-processing method for reducing it in each critical-band. In the proposed technique, the difference between tonality coefﬁcients of the noisy speech and the denoised one constitutes one step for detection. Next, using a modiﬁed John-ston masking threshold, we detect the so-called “critical-band musical noise”. The reduction is simply done by undertaking the power spectral density of detected musical noise under the masking thresholds. Simulation results using different criteria are presented to validate proposed ideas and to show that enhanced speech is characterized by low distortion and inaudible musical noise.
From Alternative to the New Normal

This article explores recent developments in therapeutic jurisprudence and, using sentencing law in Victoria Australia as an example, explores a methodology developed by David Wexler that can be applied to analyse laws and legal systems to examine the potential for increasing their therapeutic impact. A legal study guide for this paper for law teachers & students written by HELEN MacLEOD co-founder of the Community Legal Education program at ANU (Canberra, Australia) is available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2550171. Read more about David Wexler's "Wine & Bottle" methodology at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2065454.
Five-Round Adaptive Diagnosis in Hamiltonian Networks

In this paper, we propose a novel method to deal with a large number of faults existing in the system based on the PMC model. We derive a fault bound T for a N-node ring based on cycle partition and Pigeonhole principle. Under this fault bound, it is guaranteed that at least one sequence obtained from cycle partition can be picked out and all nodes in this sequence can be identified. The corresponding ring diagnosis algorithm is then provided. Using this ring diagnosis method, we propose a five-round adaptive diagnosis scheme for networks containing Hamiltonian cycle. Simulations show that for Hamiltonian networks with node degree more than 3, it can achieve almost complete diagnosis.