Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Creativity and Self-Exploration in Projective Drawings of Abused Women: Evaluating the Inside Me–Outside Me Workshop

This study evaluated a creative workshop where college students (N = 300) devised self-expressive products to explore their inner and outer worlds. Participants devised products with drawing and writing components to examine their relationships with negative life events, self-concepts, and worldviews. Participants then evaluated the workshop. Artists and psychologists rated products for effort, creativity, and self-exploration. Participants evaluated the workshop as valuable (e.g., helped them feel mentally flexible, gave them freedom to express inner feelings). Past stressful life events correlated with positive evaluations of the workshop and self-exploration shown in products. Past visual art experience, personality (openness), and verbal ability predicted the creativity of products, whereas gender and life events interacted to predict self-exploration. A key finding of this study was that women who had experienced physical, sexual, or emotional abuse devised the most self-exploratory products and most strongly evaluated the activity as valuable.
Facilitating Problem-Solving Performance Among 9- and 12-Month-Old Infants

The efficiency of infants' actions was observed as they picked up and used food-laden spoons that varied in orientation. Two interventions were designed to facilitate efficient action beyond when infants were presented with one spoon in alternating orientations: one spoon was presented in the same orientation for several consecutive trials to help the child use feedback from the previous trial, and two spoons were presented in different orientations to emphasize the effect of the spoon's orientation on performance. These interventions were given separately, and combined, to groups of 9- and 12-month-old infants. Performance was facilitated among 12-month-olds when one spoon was presented several times in the same orientation. The short-term facilitation of performance was limited both by developmental factors and by the type of intervention introduced.
The user query based learning system for lifetime prediction of metallic components

Real-World Data Mining Applications generally do not end up with the creation of the models. The use of the model is the final purpose especially in prediction tasks. The problem arises when the model is built based on much more information than that the user can provide in using the model. As a result, the performance of model reduces drastically due to many missing attributes values. This paper develops a new learning system framework, called as User Query Based Learning System (UQBLS), for building data mining models best suitable for users use. We demonstrate its deployment in a real-world application of the lifetime prediction of metallic components in buildings
Clinical and Actuarial Prediction of Physical Violence in a Forensic Intellectual Disability Hospital: A Longitudinal Study

Background: There is a high rate of physical violence in populations with intellectual disabilities, and this has been linked to problems for the victim, the assailant, members of staff and services. Despite the clinical significance of this behaviour, few studies have assessed methods of predicting its occurrence. The present study examined clinical and actuarial methods of predicting violence in a forensic intellectual disability hospital. Methods: The sample for the study consisted of people resident in the hospital during a 1-year period (n = 124). Clinical prediction used a risk rating made by members of the person's clinical team, whereas actuarial prediction used the number of violent incidents in the 6-months before the date of the clinical risk assessment. Computerized hospital records of violence in the 6 months after the assessment were used to examine the predictive accuracy of the two methods. Results: The clinical method produced an area under the curve of 0.74 (95% CI: 0.65–0.83) in a receiver–operating characteristic curve analysis. The value for the actuarial method was 0.77 (95% CI: 0.69–0.86). Both methods performed at levels significantly above chance, but no one method was found to be superior to the other. Conclusions: These findings suggest that it is possible to predict who is at risk of violence in forensic populations with intellectual disabilities. Here, the authors discuss the clinical implications of these findings and the clinical application of risk prediction within clinical services.
Detecting Low-Power Primary Signals via Distributed Sensing to Support Opportunistic Spectrum Access

Cognitive radio operation with opportunistic spectrum access has been proposed to utilize spectrum holes left unused by a primary system owning the spectrum license. The key of cognitive radio operation is the ability to detect weak primary signals and to control the transmission of cognitive users in a way that interference between the two systems is minimized. In this paper we evaluate how a sensor network deployed to provide distributed spectrum sensing can assist cognitive operation. Specifically, we consider sensor networks with regular topology, where a high level of cooperation also means that sensors far from the source of the primary signal are involved in the sensing process. Assuming energy detection and hard-decision combining we derive worst case probabilities of missed detection and false alarm, determine the necessary level of cooperation among the sensors and evaluate how the sensor density and the sensing time affect the performance of distributed sensing.
Nanotechnology for cancer treatment

Abstract Nanotechnology has the potential to increase the selectivity and potency of chemical, physical, and biological approaches for eliciting cancer cell death while minimizing collateral toxicity to nonmalignant cells. Materials on the nanoscale are increasingly being targeted to cancer cells with great specificity through both active and passive targeting. In this review, we summarize recent literature that has broken new ground in the use of nanotechnology for cancer treatment with an emphasis on targeted drug delivery.
Efficient Fuzzy Evolutionary Algorithm-Based Approach for Solving the Student Project Allocation Problem

This paper presents a solution framework for the student project allocation (SPA) problem which is based on evolutionary algorithms (EAs), a biologically inspired stochastic, population-based search paradigm. Project-based assessment is a common component of engineering courses that are conducted in universities around the world. In their final year of study, a list of projects is made available by the academic staff and students are required to select a specific number of options from this list. The department then assigns a suitable project to each student such that preferred projects can be allocated to as many students as possible. While student interest is the primary criteria, several additional factors need to be considered such as project prerequisites, load balancing of staff commitments, and other specific university requirements. The allocation problem can therefore be seen as a complex multiobjective problem with multiple constraints. The EA-based project allocation system was recently developed and implemented in a large university department to automate this process, and to improve the matching of students to their desired projects. The solution which provides the highest level of satisfaction in meeting the varied objectives is then used to allocate projects to students. This new automated system is not only able to achieve a very high level of user satisfaction, but is also able to do so in a very short time, resulting in significant time savings.
Practitioners and researchers in cooperation—method development for qualitative practice-related studies

The purpose of this method development was to improve conditions for the ethical consideration of participants, collecting reliable data, and achieving results relevant to both practitioners and researchers. In the area of instrumental teaching and learning, these aspects have been little discussed. In this study instrumental teachers were invited to cooperate actively in case studies in which teaching strategies supporting students’ musical development were explored. Through participating in the planning, data collection, analyses and communication of results, the practitioners grasped the entire situation of their involvement. Their expertise was made visible. The confidence they developed through this enabled them to critically explore not only strategies which support but also those which obstruct students’ learning. The method has also been used in studies on interpretation-finding at different levels. Generally, as a result of their participation, all participants develop a more exploratory approach to strategies of learning and teaching in their respective area.
Contributions to the Estimation of Mixed-State Conditionally Heteroscedastic Latent Factor Models: A Comparative Study

Mixed-State conditionally heteroscedastic latent factor models attempt to describe a complex nonlinear dynamic system with a succession of linear latent factor models indexed by a switching variable. Unfortunately, despite the framework's simplicity exact state and parameter estimation are still intractable because of the interdependency across the latent factor volatility processes. Recently, a broad class of learning and inference algorithms for time series models have been successfully cast in the framework of dynamic Bayesian networks (DBN). This paper describes a novel DBN-based switching conditionally heteroscedastic latent factor model. The key methodological contribution of this paper is the novel use of the Generalized Pseudo-Bayesian method GPB2, a structured variational learning approach and an approximated version of the Viterbi algorithm in conjunction with the EM algorithm for overcoming the intractability of exact inference in mixed-state latent factor model. The conditional EM algorithm that we have developed for the maximum likelihood estimation is based on an extended switching Kalman filter approach which yields inferences about the unobservable path of the common factors and their variances, and the latent variable of the state process. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations show promising results for tracking, interpolation, synthesis, and classification using learned models.
SGXIO: Generic Trusted I/O Path for Intel SGX

Application security traditionally strongly relies upon security of the underlying operating system. However, operating systems often fall victim to software attacks, compromising security of applications as well. To overcome this dependency, Intel SGX allows to protect application code against a subverted or malicious OS by running it in a hardware-protected enclave. However, SGX lacks support for generic trusted I/O paths to protect user input and output between enclaves and I/O devices. This work presents SGXIO, a generic trusted path architecture for SGX, allowing user applications to run securely on top of an untrusted OS, while at the same time supporting trusted paths to generic I/O devices. To achieve this, SGXIO combines the benefits of SGX's easy programming model with traditional hypervisor-based trusted path architectures. Moreover, SGXIO can tweak insecure debug enclaves to behave like secure production enclaves. SGXIO surpasses traditional use cases in cloud computing and digital rights management and makes SGX technology usable for protecting user-centric, local applications against kernel-level keyloggers and likewise. It is compatible to unmodified operating systems and works on a modern commodity notebook out of the box. Hence, SGXIO is particularly promising for the broad x86 community to which SGX is readily available.
Insect Designs for Improved Robot Mobility

This paper reviews work performed in the Biorobotics Lab at Case Western Reserve University. Our goal is to use intelligent biological inspiration to develop robots with mobility approaching that of legged animals. We have produced a series of robots that have mobility increasingly more similar to that of cockroach. Some of our other projects use more simplified designs and benefit from more abstract biological principles. A new robot uses one drive motor and its gait changes passively so that it walks at high speed in a tripod gait and climbs obstacles with its legs in-phase.
Making sense of power relations in a Malaysian English-as-a-second-language academic writing classroom

The role of power in an English-as-a-second-language classroom has yet to be fully explored by an action research practitioner, especially in a Malaysian higher education setting. This study aims to contribute to this gap by working within an academic literacies perspective to teaching academic writing, which propagates the understanding of power-relational, socio-cultural and epistemological conditions for effective teaching and learning. As the teacher in this classroom, I focus on how power-relational conditions play out. To activate the power conditions, I used a teaching principle in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)-negotiated interaction to reduce power-based mismatches between participants in a teaching or learning relationship in my classroom, drawing upon Kumaravadivelu’s work on post-method pedagogy for TESOL; that is, not being bound by any specific method of teaching. In analysing the different types of power that were operational in my classroom, wider implications of power that operate beyond the classroom level and how they impacted teaching and learning decisions were found to be highly illuminating. The action research methodology used for this study enabled me to reflect critically on my detailed diary recordings and student letter and interview collections, which in turn impacted on my teaching decisions as each teaching cycle was completed. My reflections also help shape my evolving identity as a teacher-researcher throughout this ongoing Malaysian action research journey.
Symmetric Few-Mode Fiber Couplers as the Key Component for Broadband Mode Multiplexing

All-fiber broadband mode multiplexers (MMUXs) for mode and wavelength division multiplexing transmission systems are designed and analyzed. The MMUXs are based on cascaded 2-D or 3-D symmetric few-mode fiber (FMF) couplers. The MMUXs are optimized for operation over the C band and multiplex modes LP01, LP11a, LP11b, LP21a, LP21b, and LP02 with a nearly flat response and an average insertion loss around 1.6 dB, depending on the design approach. The operation of the FMF couplers and the MMUXs is analyzed numerically by means of a full-vectorial beam propagation method. If the two polarization states of each LP mode are further considered, such all-fiber MMUXs can be used to combine 12 spatial channels, supporting an order of magnitude capacity increase-compared to a single spatial channel system-in optical fiber transmission systems through space (mode and polarization) division multiplexing.
Guest Editors' Introduction: Urban Computing

Only recently have researchers focused on the integration of computing, sensing, and actuation technologies in everyday urban settings and lifestyles. Pervasive computing has largely been applied either in relatively homogeneous unpopulated areas--for example, sensor networks in forests--or in small-scale well-defined built environments, such as smart houses. Urban settings pose many research and deployment challenges: ownership issues are complex as are the dynamics and density of system participation. Despite the complexities, urban computing is, in a limited sense, already a mass phenomenon. Roughly half the world's population lives in urban environments, and connectivity is extensive through short- and long-range communication networks. This special issue looks at urban uses of familiar mobile technologies but focuses mainly on how to produce fully integrated designs specifically for urban settings and how to overcome the deployment challenges.
LADI - Location-Aware Cross-Device Integration

In this contribution, we describe a system for Location-Aware Cross- Device Integration (LADI). LADI enhances interoperability between mobile and stationary computers by enabling the user to control the playback of multi- media objects on a desktop or presentation computer through an Android phone. The multimedia objects themselves can be stored in the Network Envi- ronment for Multimedia Objects (NEMO), on other cloud-based content deliv- ery systems, or locally on a PC. In contrast to most existing network-centric so- lutions for playback control, LADI takes a location-centric view. It is possible to access presentation computers independent of whether they are available on the same IP-subnet. The different devices communicate via XMPP. Access to a presentation system can be gained through scanning attached QR-codes or through automatic localization based on WLAN fingerprints. In addition, the system facilitates the integration of additional context aware services in general and location aware services in particular. This paper describes the concept be- hind LADI and provides some details on its prototypical implementation.
Combining Stereo and Monocular Information to Compute Dense Depth Maps that Preserve Depth Discontinuities

In this paper, we show how simple and parallel techniques can be efficiently combined to compute dense depth maps and preserve depth discontinuities in complex real world scenes. Our algorithm relies on correlation followed by interpolation. During the correlation phase the two images play a symmetric role and we use a validity criterion for the matches that eliminates gross errors: at places where the images cannot be correlated reliably, due to lack of texture or occlusions for example, the algori thm does not produce wrong matches but a very sparse disparity map as opposed to a dense one when the correlation is successful. To generate dense depth map, the information is then propagated across the featureless areas but not across discontinuities by an interpolation scheme that takes image grey levels into account to preserve image features. We show that our algorithm performs very well on difficult images such as faces and cluttered ground level scenes. Because all the techniques described here are parallel and very regular they could be implemented in hardware and lead to extremely fast stereo systems.
Exploiting Hyponymy in Extracting Relations and Enhancing Ontologies

Relation extraction systems typically rely on local lexical and syntactic features as evidence. Recent work suggests that for a given relation, there might exist certain patterns which, if present in the graph of relationships between objects, provide additional evidence for that relation. While these relational patterns can be very useful, obtaining them on a per-relation basis can be difficult. We propose template relational patterns based on the hyponymy relation. These patterns are applicable for all relations. Existing resources like WordNet are a rich and reliable source of hyponymy relationships between entities. We present techniques for making use of these template patterns for extracting relationships and incorporating them into the ontology. Our experiments show performance improvements in both tasks.
Click a Donor

In postmodern culture, sperm banking is turned into a legitimate business. This article expands on consumer theory and feminist scholarship and analyses the ways in which masculinity is positioned and performed on the website of one of the world's largest sperm banks, Cryos International. Cryos International brands its product as uniquely Scandinavian while simultaneously engaging in the discourses of a multicultural society. Viking donors are not only white, athletic, fit and young, but also sensitive, witty and moral; intimately connecting images of the donors to images of a nurturing and progressive Scandinavia. The website encourages prospective parents to not only consume sperm, but to also vividly consume images of cute, active, intelligent Nordic children and successful (heterosexual) families.
Anatomical Calibration through Post-Processing of Standard Motion Tests Data

The inertial measurement unit is popularly used as a wearable and flexible tool for human motion tracking. Sensor-to-body alignment, or anatomical calibration (AC), is fundamental to improve accuracy and reliability. Current AC methods either require extra movements or are limited to specific joints. In this research, the authors propose a novel method to achieve AC from standard motion tests (such as walking, or sit-to-stand), and compare the results with the AC obtained from specially designed movements. The proposed method uses the limited acceleration range on medial-lateral direction, and applies principal component analysis to estimate the sagittal plane, while the vertical direction is estimated from acceleration during quiet stance. The results show a good correlation between the two sets of IMUs placed on frontal/back and lateral sides of head, trunk and lower limbs. Moreover, repeatability and convergence were verified. The AC obtained from sit-to-stand and walking achieved similar results as the movements specifically designed for upper and lower body AC, respectively, except for the feet. Therefore, the experiments without AC performed can be recovered through post-processing on the walking and sit-to-stand data. Moreover, extra movements for AC can be avoided during the experiment and instead achieved through the proposed method.
Sex Differences in the Entry Into Marriage

Among the many transitions young people make as they enter adult-hood, marriage is perhaps the most important. This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to examine the transition to marriage and how it differs by sex, testing the extent of variation in the desirability of marriage for men and women, and the effects of marriage market factors and marital and nonmarital roles. The design of the analysis allows the effects of these factors to vary over the young adult years. The pattern of findings suggests that recent declines in the marriage rate have not resulted from increased barriers to marriage but from declines in relative preferences for marriage.
The Use of Principles for Organising the Introductory Psychology Course

Common difficulties in teaching introductory courses such as general psychology are breadth of content and differing student and teacher expectations. The use of psychological concepts or principles as organising factors is recommended to address these problems. Psychological principles for each content area were identified and presented to two groups of general psychology students. Course content was organised around these principles, along with class exercises and tests that fostered their application. When compared with two other groups organised by the text's field survey approach, the principles-organised groups self-reported greater abilities to apply content to everyday situations, relationships and future occupations. Students strongly recommended the use of principles in future courses as one way of addressing common difficulties in the general psychology course. The percentage of answers correct on tests of content did not differ significantly between groups, indicating a similar grasp of material from both the principles-organised sections and field survey-organised sections.