Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE USE OF GROUP FACEBOOK TO SUPPORT STUDENTS’ SELF DIRECTED ONLINE LEARNING

Abstract: The purpose of this study to know how Group Facebook support students’ self directed learning especially through online way. Therefore, the proliferation of digital, social network sites and mobile technologies have created a culture which the youth as a student become the participant. It changes the way students’ communicate, interact each other and also the way of learning. Case study methodology also allows researcher to emphasize the context, specializes in deep data and thick description. From this perspective, Group Facebook is very support for students’ self directed learning especially in online environment or called Self Directed Online Learning. This is an analysis regarding the evidences particularly proved by the transcripts of students’ interview to show the activities in Group Facebook. This article reports that Group Facebook as one feature of the most popular social network site help students’ as a bridge of discussion, e-portfolio, discussion place, and a place to enhance the knowledge. Key Words: Group Facebook, Self Directed Online Learning Abstrak: Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana Group facebook membantu pembelajaran mandiri mahasiswa terutama melalui cara online. Oleh karena itu, pertunbuhan angka pada alat digital, situs jaringan sosial dan teknologi mobile telah menciptakan sebuah budaya dimana para kaum muda sebagai mahasiswa menjadi peserta. Hal ini mengubah cara mahasiswa berkomunikasi, berinteraksi satu sama lain dan juga cara belajar. Metode studi kasus juga memperbolehkan peneliti menekankan pada konteks terutama pada data yang mendalam dan penggambaran yang padat. Dari sudut pandang ini, Grup Facebook sangat membantu untuk pembelajaran mandiri mahasiswa terutama lingkungan online atau disebut Pembelajaran Mandiri Online. Ini adalah sebuah analisa mengenai bukti-bukti terutama yang dibuktikan dengan transkrip interview paa siswa untuk menunjukkan aktivitas-aktivitas di dalam Grup Facebook. Artikel ini melaporkan bahwa Grup Facebook sebagai salah satu fitur pada situs jaringan sosial paling terpopuler membantu para mahasiswa sebagai jembatan informasi, online portfolio, tempat diskusi dan sebagai sebuah tempat untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan. Kata Kunci : Grup Facebook, Pembelajaran Mandiri Online
Enabling reuse-based software development of large-scale systems

Software reuse enables developers to leverage past accomplishments and facilitates significant improvements in software productivity and quality. Software reuse catalyzes improvements in productivity by avoiding redevelopment and improvements in quality by incorporating components whose reliability has already been established. This study addresses a pivotal research issue that underlies software reuse - what factors characterize successful software reuse in large-scale systems. The research approach is to investigate, analyze, and evaluate software reuse empirically by mining software repositories from a NASA software development environment that actively reuses software. This software environment successfully follows principles of reuse-based software development in order to achieve an average reuse of 32 percent per project, which is the average amount of software either reused or modified from previous systems. We examine the repositories for 25 software systems ranging from 3,000 to 112,000 source lines from this software environment. We analyze four classes of software modules: modules reused without revision, modules reused with slight revision (<25 percent revision), modules reused with major revision (/spl ges/25 percent revision), and newly developed modules. We apply nonparametric statistical models to compare numerous development variables across the 2,954 software modules in the systems. We identify two categories of factors that characterize successful reuse-based software development of large-scale systems: module design factors and module implementation factors. We also evaluate the fault rates of the reused, modified, and newly developed modules. The module design factors that characterize module reuse without revision were (after normalization by size in source lines): few calls to other system modules, many calls to utility functions, few input-output parameters, few reads and writes, and many comments. The module implementation factors that characterize module reuse without revision were small size in source lines and (after normalization by size in source lines): low development effort and many assignment statements. The modules reused without revision had the fewest faults, fewest faults per source line, and lowest fault correction effort. The modules reused with major revision had the highest fault correction effort and highest fault isolation effort as wed as the most changes, most changes per source line, and highest change correction effort. In conclusion, we outline future research directions that build on these software reuse ideas and strategies.
Detection of group B streptococci (GBS) in vaginal swabs using real-time PCR with TaqMan probe hybridization.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Implementation of a screening based strategy for the prevention of perinatal group B streptococcus (GBS) disease is anticipated to increase the demand of fast laboratory techniques. The aim of the present study was to develop a real-time PCR method for the specific detection of GBS in vaginal swabs. METHODS Based on partial sequencing of the sip gene, primers and a TaqMan hybridization probe were constructed for a real-time PCR assay. The performance of the assay was tested on 100 consecutive vaginal specimens submitted to the laboratory for culture. Lysis of bacteria and DNA extraction was performed by lysozyme, mutanolysin, proteinase K and Quiagen spin columns. PCR was performed using LightCycler. Highly purified DNA from GBS was used as positive control. RESULTS Of the 100 samples investigated, 25 were positive by culture (16 abundant/moderate growth, 6 sparse growth and 3 after enrichment only). At a cut-off of 12 fg per reaction (corresponding to 4 bacterial cells), PCR was positive in 32 samples. A complete concordance was noted between PCR positivity and abundant/moderate and sparse growth by culture. One of 3 samples that were positive by culture only after enrichment was negative in PCR. On the other hand, 8 samples were positive by PCR and negative by culture. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION The real-time PCR assay was sensitive and rapid and enabled detection of GBS in less than 2 h after collection. Due to the rapidity of the assay by which results could be obtained, the assay harbors the potential for intrapartum detection of GBS.
Influence Processes for Information Technology Acceptance: An Elaboration Likelihood Model

This study examines how processes of external influence shape information technology acceptance among potential users, how such influence effects vary across a user population, and whether these effects are persistent over time. Drawing on the elaboration-likelihood model (ELM), we compared two alternative influence processes, the central and peripheral routes, in motivating IT acceptance. These processes were respectively operationalized using the argument quality and source credibility constructs, and linked to perceived usefulness and attitude, the core perceptual drivers of IT acceptance. We further examined how these influence processes were moderated by users' IT expertise and perceived job relevance and the temporal stability of such influence effects. Nine hypotheses thus developed were empirically validated using a field survey of document management system acceptance at an eastern European governmental agency. This study contributes to the IT acceptance literature by introducing ELM as a referent theory for acceptance research, by elaborating alternative modes of influence, and by specifying factors moderating their effects. For practitioners, this study introduces influence processes as policy tools that managers can employ to motivate IT acceptance within their organizations, benchmarks alternative influence strategies, and demonstrates the need for customizing influence strategies to the specific needs of a user population.
Interacting with Networks: How Does Structure Relate to Controllability in Single-Leader, Consensus Networks?

As networked dynamical systems appear around us at an increasing rate, questions concerning how to manage and control such systems are becoming more important. Examples include multiagent robotics, distributed sensor networks, interconnected manufacturing chains, and data networks. In response to this growth, a significant body of work has emerged focusing on how to organize such networks to facilitate their control and make them amenable to human interactions. In this article, we summarize these activities by connecting the network topology, that is, the layout of the interconnections in the network, to the classic notion of controllability.
Optimization of Iris Codes for Improved Recognition

The texture of the iris is commonly represented as an iris code in iris recognition systems. While several approaches have been presented for generating iris codes, relatively few comparison techniques have been proposed. In this paper, we take advantage of the availability of several frames from an iris video to create a single optimized iris code. This is achieved by performing both row-wise and column-wise optimization of iris codes. Inconsistent bits are accurately detected and masked in the final iris code. Our experiments demonstrate that by exploiting variations within the comparison scores of different rows and columns of N frames, we are able to derive the number of consistent bits in the final iris code thereby resulting in significant improvement in recognition performance. We compare our algorithm with well-known methods, namely, Fragile bit masking, Signal fusion and, two Score Fusion techniques. Experimental results on a dataset of 986 iris videos show that the proposed method is encouraging and comparable to the best algorithms in the current literature. To our knowledge, this is the first work that makes use of the best rows and columns from different frames in an iris video to improve performance.
Snail Contributes to the Maintenance of Stem Cell-Like Phenotype Cells in Human Pancreatic Cancer

Snail, a potent repressor of E-cadherin expression, plays a key role in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in epithelial cancer. Recently, EMT and stemness programs are found linked together. In the current study, the expression of Snail and its contribution to cancer stem cell (CSC) marker expression, invasiveness, self-renewal, clonogenicity, and tumorigenicity of pancreatic cancer cells were studied. Our results showed that Snail was highly expressed in CSChigh cell line Panc-1. Stable, short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated Snail knockdown decreased invasion in Panc-1 cells, in line with increased E-cadherin expression and its translocation from the nucleus to the membrane. Snail silencing in Panc-1 also inhibited CSC marker ALDH expression, together with decreased sphere and colony forming capacity, which was highly consistent with the expression of stem cell associated transcription factors like Sox2 and Oct4. In mouse xenograft models, knockdown of Snail led to a reduced number of tumor-bearing mice and a reduced average size of tumors, which had a stronger membrane staining of E-cadherin and lighter staining of Oct4. Collectively, these findings implicate Snail is required for the maintenance of stem cell-like phenotype in pancreatic cancer, and inhibition of Snail could be an efficient strategy to treat pancreatic cancer by targeting CSCs.
SAGETTARIUS: a program to reduce the number of tags mapped to multiple transcripts and to plan SAGE sequencing stages

SAGE (Serial Analysis of Gene Expression) experiments generate short nucleotide sequences called ‘tags’ which are assumed to map unambiguously to their original transcripts (1 tag to 1 transcript mapping). Nevertheless, many tags are generated that do not map to any transcript or map to multiple transcripts. Current bioinformatics resources, such as SAGEmap and TAGmapper, have focused on reducing the number of unmapped tags. Here, we describe SAGETTARIUS, a new high-throughput program that performs successive precise Nla3 and Sau3A tag to transcript mapping, based on specifically designed Virtual Tag (VT) libraries. First, SAGETTARIUS decreases the number of tags mapped to multiple transcripts. Among the various mapping resources compared, SAGETTARIUS performed the best in this respect by decreasing up to 11% the number of multiply mapped tags. Second, SAGETTARIUS allows the establishment of a guideline for SAGE experiment sequencing efforts through efficient mapping of the CRT (Cytoplasmic Ribosomal protein Transcripts)-specific tags. Using all publicly available human and mouse Nla3 SAGE experiments, we show that sequencing 100 000 tags is sufficient to map almost all CRT-specific tags and that four sequencing stages can be identified when carrying out a human or mouse SAGE project. SAGETTARIUS is web interfaced and freely accessible to academic users.
Tracheal intubation without muscle relaxants: a randomized study of remifentanil or alfentanil in combination with thiopental

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE The combination of alfentanil-propofol or remifentanil-propofol provides adequate conditions for tracheal intubation without neuromuscular blocking drugs in most patients, but hypotension can occur during induction of anesthesia with propofol. We compared clinically acceptable intubating conditions and cardiovascular responses to induction and endotracheal intubation in patients receiving either alfentanil 40 μg/kg or remifentanil 2, 3 or 4 μg/kg, followed by thiopental 5 mg/kg. PATIENTS AND METHODS In a randomized trial, 80 patients were assigned in equal numbers to one of four groups: remifentanil 2, 3, or 4 μg/kg (groups R2, R3, R4, respectively) or alfentanil 40 μg/kg (group A40). In each group, the injection was given over 90 seconds followed by thiopental 5 mg/kg. Ninety seconds after the administration of thiopental, laryngoscopy and intubation were attempted. Intubating conditions were assessed as excellent, satisfactory, fair, or unsatisfactory. Arterial blood pressure and heart rate changes accompanying the four induction techniques were also recorded. RESULTS Overall conditions at intubation were significantly better (P<.05), and the frequency of excellent conditions was significantly higher (P<.05) in the R4 or A40 group compared with the R2 or R3 group. Intubating conditions were not significantly different between group R4 and A40 (P>.05). The highest dose of remifentanil (4μg/kg) resulted in an 18.7% decrease in mean arterial pressure (MAP) after induction of anesthesia compared with a 16.4% decrease in MAP with alfentanil 40 μg/kg (difference not statistically significant). CONCLUSION The administration of remifentanil 4 μg/kg or alfentanil 40 μg/kg before thiopental 5 mg/kg provided good to excellent conditions for endotracheal intubation with acceptable hemodynamic changes.
Input-to-State Stabilization of Linear Systems With Quantized State Measurements

We consider the problem of achieving input-to-state stability (ISS) with respect to external disturbances for control systems with linear dynamics and quantized state measurements. Quantizers considered in this paper take finitely many values and have an adjustable "zoom" parameter. Building on an approach applied previously to systems with no disturbances, we develop a control methodology that counteracts an unknown disturbance by switching repeatedly between "zooming out" and "zooming in. " Two specific control strategies that yield ISS are presented. The first one is implemented in continuous time and analyzed with the help of a Lyapunov function, similarly to earlier work. The second strategy incorporates time sampling, and its analysis is novel in that it is completely trajectory-based and utilizes a cascade structure of the closed-loop hybrid system. We discover that in the presence of disturbances, time-sampling implementation requires an additional modification which has not been considered in previous work
Learning Cultural Conversational Protocols with Immersive Interactive Virtual Humans

This paper reports on a study conducted to investi- gate the effects of using immersive virtual humans in natural multi-modal interaction to teach users cultural conversational verbal and non-verbal protocols in south Indian culture. The study was conducted using a between-subjects experimental de- sign. We compared instruction and interactive feedback from immersive virtual humans against instruction based on a written study guide with illustrations of the cultural protocols. Partici- pants were then tested on how well they learned the cultural conversational protocols by exercising the cultural conventions in front of videos of real people. Subjective evaluations of partici- pants' performance was conducted by three south Indian re- viewers who were blind to the condition the participants were assigned. Objective evaluations of participants' performance were conducted on the motion tracking log data recorded during the testing session. We also measured the participants' pre and post positive and negative affect of training in both conditions, as well as the effect of co-presence with the life-size virtual south Indians. The results of our subjective evaluation suggest that participants who trained with the virtual humans performed significantly better than the participants who studied from literature. The results also revealed that there were no significant differences in positive or negative affect between conditions. However, overall for all participants in both conditions, positive affect increased and negative affect decreased from before to after instruction.
Towards scalable support vector machines using squashing

Support vector machines (SVMs) provide classi cation models with strong theoretical foundations as well as excellent empirical performance on a variety of applications. One of the major drawbacks of SVMs is the necessity to solve a large-scale quadratic programming problem. This paper combines likelihood-based squashing with a probabilistic formulation of SVMs, enabling fast training on squashed data sets. We reduce the problem of training the SVMs on the weighted \squashed" data to a quadratic programming problem and show that it can be solved using Platt's sequential minimal optimization (SMO) algorithm. We compare performance of the SMO algorithm on the squashed and the full data, as well as on simple random and boosted samples of the data. Experiments on a number of datasets show that squashing allows one to speed-up training, decrease memory requirements, and obtain parameter estimates close to that of the full data. More importantly, squashing produces close to optimal classi cation accuracies.
Phylogenetic tree construction based on amino acid composition and nucleotide content of complete vertebrate mitochondrial genomes

To evaluate the appropriateness of phylogenetic trees in biological evolution, we expanded a pre-existing baseline data set of randomly selected organisms by incorporating a collection of intentionally chosen organisms. Using two different clustering algorithms—Ward’s method and neighbor-joining—we constructed phylogenetic trees based on nucleotide sequences as well as amino acid composition and nucleotide content of complete mitochondrial genomes and 16S rRNA and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 genes. We compared classifications derived from cluster analyses with data based on mathematical calculations of complete mitochondrial genomes. Analyses of predicted amino acid composition from complete mitochondrial genomes and of 16S rRNA sequences clearly differentiated terrestrial and aquatic vertebrates. Although no truly representative phylogenetic tree exists, phylogenetic trees provide scientifically appropriate information about biological evolution.
‘Day students’ in higher education: widening access students and successful transitions to university life

Abstract This article explores the experiences of widening access students at two prestigious universities in Scotland. It is based on interview data collected from a small sample of young and mature students who had all attended a widening access course prior to coming to university. The analysis centres on the students’ construction of themselves as ‘day students’, who live at home and combine studying with commitments to family or to paid employment. While they see being day students as a pragmatic response to their financial and material circumstances, it is argued that this disadvantages the students within the university system, both through their limited ability to participate in the wider social aspects of student life and through their exclusion from networks through which important information circulates.
Enhancing the Resilience of Human–Environment Systems: a Social Ecological Perspective

Resilience studies build on the notion that phenomena in the real world should be understood as dynamic social- ecological systems. However, the scholarly community may not be fully aware that social ecology, as a conceptual framework, has a long intellectual history, nor fully cognizant of its foundational theory. In this article, we trace the intellectual roots and core principles of social ecology and demonstrate how these principles enable a broader conceptualization of resilience than may be found in much of the literature. We then illustrate how the resulting notion of resilience as transactional process and multi-capital formation affords new perspectives on diverse phenomena such as global financial crises and adaptation to environmental stresses to communities and ecosystems. A social-ecological analysis of resilience enables the study of people- environment transactions across varying dimensions, time periods, and scales. Furthermore, in its openness to experiential knowledge and action research, the social ecology framework coheres well with participative-collaborative modes of inquiry, which traverse institutional, epistemological, and scale-related boundaries.
Corporate environmentalism and top management identity negotiation

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine the narratives of acceptance and resistance to the introduction of corporate environmentalism. Despite recognition that managers and senior executives play a primary role in corporate environmentalism, relatively few researchers have examined how top management supports, accepts, negotiates, disregards, or rejects the implementation of corporate environmentalism within their organization. By considering how members of a top management team reflect on corporate environmentalism the aim is to examine potential identity management conflicts that arise during the implementation of environmentally sustainable initiatives within organizations.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach was adopted to address the research aims. By taking this approach the paper examines the lived experience of the participants as they internalized corporate environmentalism as part of their identity and as part of the organizational identity. Data collection involved 15 semi.
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF OPTICAL MODULATION IN UNDERWATER SLANT TRANSMISSION

Currently, the modulation performances of underwater wireless optical communication are analyzed in horizontal optical transmission link. However, the methods cannot be used in vertical optical transmission link. In order to solve the problem a model of sea attenuation coefficient is proposed. The model is based on the Gaussian distribution model of chlorophyll concentration and the “seawater stratification idea”. The attenuation coefficients in different depths of water can be calculated by this model. In this paper, the characteristics of bit error rate (BER) of four kinds of optical modulation modes are analyzed. The modes include OOK, PPM, FSK, and PSK. The results show that the performance of PPM is better than the others, and it is more suitable for the underwater wireless optical communication.