Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of the Arts in Cognition and Curriculum.

Student artwork provided courtesy Monroe County Community School Corporation, Bloomington, Indiana My thesis is straightforward but not widely accepted. It is that the arts are cognitive activities, guided by human intelligence, that make unique forms of meaning possible. I shall argue further that the meanings secured through the arts require what might best be described as forms of artistic literacy, without which artistic meaning is impeded and the ability to use more conventional forms of expres sion is hampered. To talk about the cognitive character of the arts or about the kind of meaning that they convey is not particularly com mon. The models of mind that have typi fied U.S. educational psychology (par ticularly that aspect of psychology con cerned with learning and knowing) have made tidy separations between thinking and feeling, feeling and acting, and acting and thinking.1 The view of thinking that has been most common is rooted in the Platonic belief that mind and body are distinct, and, of the two, body is base while mind is lofty.2 Feeling is located in soma, idea in psyche. The literature dis tinguishes between cognition and affect, and we tend to regard as cognitive those activities of mind that mediate ideas through words and numbers. We consider words more abstract than images, icons less flexible than propositions. We regard words as high in that hierarchy of cogni tive achievement we use to describe cogni tive growth. Jean Piaget, for example, re garded formal operations, those mental operations that deal with logical relation ships, as the apotheosis of cognitive achievement.3 For some cognitive psy chologists, thinking is a kind of inner speech that allows one to reason.4 Since reason is a condition of rationality, and since reasoning is believed to require the logical treatment of words, operations of the mind that do not employ logic are placed on the margins of rationality. In this view the arts, if not considered irrational, are thought of as a-rational. As for meaning, it is most commonly re
Identification of a membrane skeleton in platelets

Platelets have previously been shown to contain actin filaments that are linked, through actin-binding protein, to the glycoprotein (GP) Ib- IX complex, GP Ia, GP IIa, and an unidentified GP of Mr 250,000 on the plasma membrane. The objective of the present study was to use a morphological approach to examine the distribution of these membrane- bound filaments within platelets. Preliminary experiments showed that the Triton X-100 lysis buffers used previously to solubilize platelets completely disrupt the three-dimensional organization of the cytoskeletons. Conditions were established that minimized these postlysis changes. The cytoskeletons remained as platelet-shaped structures. These structures consisted of a network of long actin filaments and a more amorphous layer that outlined the periphery. When Ca2+ was present, the long actin filaments were lost but the amorphous layer at the periphery remained; conditions were established in which this amorphous layer retained the outline of the platelet from which it originated. Immunocytochemical experiments showed that the GP Ib-IX complex and actin-binding protein were associated with the amorphous layer. Analysis of the amorphous material on SDS-polyacrylamide gels showed that it contained actin, actin-binding protein, and all actin- bound GP Ib-IX. Although actin filaments could not be visualized in thin section, the actin presumably was in a filamentous form because it was solubilized by DNase I and bound phalloidin. These studies show that platelets contain a membrane skeleton and suggest that it is distinct from the network of cytoplasmic actin filaments. This membrane skeleton exists as a submembranous lining that, by analogy to the erythrocyte membrane skeleton, may stabilize the plasma membrane and contribute to determining its shape.
Solving distributed constraint optimization problems using cooperative mediation

Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems (DCDP) have, for a long time, been considered an important research area for multi-agent systems because a vast number of real-world situations can be modeled by them. The goal of many of the researchers interested in DCOP has been to find ways to solve them efficiently using fully distributed algorithms which are often based on existing centralized techniques. In this paper, we present an optimal, distributed algorithm called optimal asynchronous partial overlay (OptAPO) for solving DCOPs that is based on a partial centralization technique called cooperative mediation. The key ideas used by this algorithm are that agents, when acting as a mediator, centralize relevant portions of the DCDP, that these centralized subproblems overlap, and that agents increase the size of their subproblems as the problem solving unfolds. We present empirical evidence that shows that OptAPO performs better than other known, optimal DCOP techniques.
Parameters Identification and IFSHPS in Hyper-Chaotic Systems with Different Structure

This paper further investigates the full-state hybrid projective synchronization (FSHPS) of chaotic and hyper-chaotic systems. The study first proposed the synchronization that response system also has the constant diagonal matrix . In this paper, we used the term “IFSHPS” (an acronym for improved full-state hybrid projective synchronization.) distinguish the “FSHPS”. Based on the active control idea and the invariance principle of differential equations, a general scheme of IFSHPS and parameters of a class of chaotic (hyper-chaotic) systems with linearly dependent uncertain parameters is proposed. The corresponding numerical simulations results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Right-sided Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Attentional Salience of Auditory Hallucinations in Schizophrenia

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a safe, noninvasive technique demonstrated to reduce persistent auditory hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia. Here, we report the differential effect of tDCS on auditory hallucinations against other positive symptoms and also the use of right-sided tDCS in patients with increased attentional salience toward auditory hallucinations.
Effects of understory prescribed burning on shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.)/mixed-hardwood forests

Abstract Elliott, K. J. and J. M. Vose (Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Otto, NC 28763). Effects of prescribed burning on shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.)/mixed-hardwood forests. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 132: 236–251. 2005. —We examined the effects of a single dormant season fire on overstory and understory species diversity and composition and tree seedling regeneration patterns the first and second years following a prescribed burn in the Conasauga River Watershed of southeastern Tennessee and northern Georgia. We asked: Can a single dormant season fire initiate a trajectory of overstory and understory species change consistent with restoring Pinus echinata/mixed-oak/bluestem (Andropogon gyrans and Schizachyrium scoparium)-grass community types? Six sub-watersheds (similar in vegetation, soil type, stream size, and disturbance history) were located within the Conasauga River Watershed; four of the sites were burned in March 2001, and two sites were designated as controls. Within each site, vegetation was measured in layers: the overstory layer (trees ≥ 5.0-cm DBH), the midstory layer (woody stems < 5.0-cm DBH and ≥ 0.5 m height), and the ground flora layer (woody stems < 0.5-m height and all herbaceous species). All plots were sampled before the prescribed burn (Sept. 2000) and after the burn in July of 2001 and 2002. Consistent with the goals of the land managers, all the prescribed fires resulted in low-to-moderate intensity and low severity fires. However, we found no significant change in overstory, midstory, or ground flora species diversity after burning. We found no regeneration of P. echinata seedlings after the prescribed fire. Although fire reduced basal area of woody species in the midstory, prolific sprouting from hardwoods resulted in higher density of fire-sensitive hardwoods such as Acer rubrum, Oxydendrum arboretum, and Nyssa sylvatica. Density of Pinus strobus, an undesirable species, was reduced by 20% and its basal area was reduced by 50% after the burn. Overstory mortality occurred in small size class hardwoods as a result of the fire, but most of the mortality occurred in P. echinata and P. virginiana Miller due to infestation with pine bark beetles. The prescribed fires were not of sufficient intensity to: reduce overstory basal area, prepare a seedbed for successful pine germination, affect diversity of any of the vegetation layers, or promote A. gyrans and S. scoparium recruitment. Thus, additional fire treatments or a combination of fire and thinning treatments will be necessary to restore these ecosystems to P. echinata/mixed-oak/bluestem grass community types.
An Architecture for Underwater Networks

As electromagnetic waves do not propagate well underwater, acoustics plays a key role in underwater communication. Due to significant differences in the characteristics of electromagnetic and acoustic channels, networking protocols for underwater systems differ from those developed for wired and wireless radio networks. Various schemes have been proposed for one or many aspects of underwater networks. However, no widely accepted common framework exists for underwater acoustics to unify these proposed schemes into a functional underwater network. The availability of such a framework will enable easy integration of independently developed techniques and thus accelerate the pace of research in underwater acoustic networking. In order for a common framework to be successful, it needs to have a wide acceptance. To gain such an acceptance, a framework needs to take into account a wide variety of different constraints and requirements for various underwater applications. This requires inputs from various research groups and end users. To help define the use cases and a common framework for underwater networking, a joint effort has been initiated between acoustic communication research groups at the Acoustic Research Laboratory (National University of Singapore), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In this paper, we discuss the first draft of the framework specifications from this effort. We welcome feedback from the underwater acoustic research community and potential end users of underwater networking systems.
A comparative study of the pre-service teachers self-efficacy based on field experience

This study attempts to investigate the selfâ€“efficacy of the student teachers before and after their field experience as to predict their future teaching effectiveness. The study uses a causalcomparative research design. The targeted population consists of 155 preâ€“service teachers from the Institut Perguruan Temenggong Ibrahim. The instruments, â€˜The Teachers Demographic Basic Data Questionnaireâ€™ and â€˜The Teachersâ€™ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES)â€™, will be used for collecting data. The Teachers Demographic Basic Data Questionnaire will be field tested to ensure clarity of the questions. The TSES consists of a 24-item scale and the reliability was found to be 0.94. Reliabilities for the subscales of the TSES were found to be â€œ. 91 for instruction, . 90 for management, and . 87 for engagementâ€? The dependent variable in this research is the teachersâ€™ self-efficacy beliefs whereas the independent variables are the teachersâ€™ demographic factors. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Windows 13.0) will be used to analyze the data gathered both descriptively and inferentially. In conclusion, understanding the self-efficacy scores of students in teacher preparation programs can be the first step in improving the pool of teacher candidates.
A novel wise step strategy for firefly algorithm

Firefly algorithm is a bio-inspired optimization algorithm which has been empirically demonstrated to perform well on many optimization problems. However, it can easily get trapped in the local optima and causes low precision. Therefore, improvement of this disadvantage is the very important. In this paper, we propose a wise strategy for step setting, which considers the information of firefly's personal and the global best positions. The results show that the modified algorithm enhances the performance of the basic firefly algorithm.
A modified method to culture human osteoblasts from bone tissue specimens using fibrin glue.

INTRODUCTION To establish primary osteoblast cultures is a challenge. The methods for isolation mostly comprise digestion with extracellular matrix degrading enzymes after mincing the bone samples. These methods are labour intensive and lead to an inefficient recovery of cells. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a more reliable method for culturing human osteoblasts. MATERIALS AND METHODS Bone tissue specimens were obtained from 20 patients undergoing reconstructive operations. Bone specimens were dissected and put into petri dishes with the bottom covered with fibrin glue. To identify the nature of the outgrowing cells, cytological staining was performed, i.e. Von Kossa, Azan, Dahl's, alkaline phosphatase, and collagen type I. RESULTS Mean time interval of cellular outgrowth was 12 days after preparing the bone tissue specimens. Confluence of the cell cultures was reached after four to five weeks on average. All cells were positively stained using Von Kossa, alkaline Phosphatase and collagen type I. The matrix consisted of lime, calcium and collagens. CONCLUSION A simplified method to culture osteoblasts from all kinds of bone tissue specimens is presented. The fibrin glue allows firm adhesion of the specimens to the petri dish. This allows the cells to grow out without disturbance. Normally, due to movements during medium exchange the adhesive bonds are disrupted. The fibrin glue retains the adhesive bonds. This method allows studying human osteoblasts in different clinical settings.
Athena: A Novel Approach to Efficient Automatic Security Protocol Analysis

We propose a new efficient automatic verification technique, Athena, for security protocol analysis. It uses a new efficient representation - our extension to the Strand Space Model, and utilizes techniques from both model checking and theorem proving approaches. Athena is fully automatic and is able to prove the correctness of many security protocols with arbitrary number of concurrent runs. The run time for a typical protocol from the literature, like the Needham-Schroeder protocol, is often a fraction of a second. Athena exploits several different techniques that enable it to analyze infinite sets of protocol runs and achieve such efficiency. Our extended Strand Space Model is a natural and efficient representation for the problem domain. The security properties are specified in a simple logic which permits both efficient proof search algorithms and has enough expressive power to specify interesting properties. The automatic proof search procedure borrows some efficient techniques from both model checking and theorem proving. We believe that it is the right combination of the new compact representation and all the techniques that actually makes Athena successful in fast and automatic verification of security protocols.
Amplification of subpicosecond optical pulses: Theory and experiment

Laser-pumped dye amplifiers are the most convenient way to amplify ultrashort light pulses. In this paper, we develop an analytical theory of a transverse-pumped dye amplifier and compute the steady-state distribution of the excited state population and the total stored energy. The equation for the traveling amplified pulse is then solved for a given distribution of excited state molecules. The efficiency of an amplification stage associated with the distortion of the temporal pulse shape is obtained as a function of the input and stored energy density, normalized to the saturation level. The theoretical results are then compared to measurements obtained from an experimental arrangement of a three-stage optically pumped dye laser amplifier, which amplifies subpicosecond pulses from a passively mode-locked CW dye laser, to produce pulses with a peak intensity of 3 GW while maintaining a 0.5 picosecond pulsewidth.
Effects of biofeedback training on physiological coherence, health and spirituality perceptions

The goal of this study was to evaluate a workshop for promoting personal, social and global coherence. An integral psychological, mixed methods design was employed to assess changes in physiological and psychological variables. Data collected from 14 workshop participants were compared with those from a control group. Significant improvements in physiological coherence, accompanied by significant decreases in breath rate occurred in the workshop participants from pre-test to post-test. Compared to the control group, workshop participants improved significantly in physiological coherence, health and spirituality perceptions. Thirteen of the 14 workshop participants achieved the 80% high coherence optimum performance criterion within a further 5 minute individual coaching period. Participants’ personal experiences centered on the democratically chosen, positive emotion of love with special reference to its personal, familial, communal and general psychotherapeutic implications. Integrative findings attest to the value of this form of biofeedback training for meaningful, rapid health and performance benefits. Keywords : Biofeedback, workshop, physiological coherence, health, spirituality.
The Role of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) in the Formation of Extracellular Traps (ETs) in Humans

Extracellular traps (ETs) are reticulate structures of extracellular DNA associated with antimicrobial molecules. Their formation by phagocytes (mainly by neutrophils: NETs) has been identified as an essential element of vertebrate innate immune defense. However, as ETs are also toxic to host cells and potent triggers of autoimmunity, their role between pathogen defense and human pathogenesis is ambiguous, and they contribute to a variety of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. Since the discovery of ET formation (ETosis) a decade ago, evidence has accumulated that most reaction cascades leading to ET release involve ROS. An important new facet was added when it became apparent that ETosis might be directly linked to, or be a variant of, the autophagy cell death pathway. The present review analyzes the evidence to date on the interplay between ROS, autophagy and ETosis, and highlights and discusses several further aspects of the ROS-ET relationship that are incompletely understood. These aspects include the role of NADPH oxidase-derived ROS, the molecular requirements of NADPH oxidase-dependent ETosis, the roles of NADPH oxidase subtypes, extracellular ROS and of ROS from sources other than NADPH oxidase, and the present evidence for ROS-independent ETosis. We conclude that ROS interact with ETosis in a multidimensional manner, with influence on whether ETosis shows beneficial or detrimental effects.
Analysis of potential predictors of depression among coronary heart disease risk factors including heart rate variability, markers of inflammation, and endothelial function.

AIMS We investigated the relationship between autonomic nervous system balance, systemic immune activation, endothelial dysfunction, and depression in patients free of coronary heart disease (CHD) with increased CHD risk. METHODS AND RESULTS Depression status (Beck Depression Inventory, BDI), selected CHD risk factors, inflammation markers, measures of heart rate variability (HRV), and indices of endothelial function (flow-mediated dilation, FMD) were evaluated in 415 subjects free of CHD, diabetes mellitus, and other life-threatening conditions, with at least two CHD risk factors among the following: older age, male gender, current smoking, hypertension, and dislipidaemia. Overall, 51.7% of the participants were males, aged 57.6 +/- 8.8 years on average (minimum 30, maximum 70). Almost half were hypertensive, 43.9% were dyslipidemic, 30.4% current smokers, and 23.1% showed a depressive symptomatology (BDI > or = 10). Logistic regression showed that, as compared with non-depressed individuals and after adjustment for age, gender, and hypertension, depressive subjects were significantly more likely to be smokers, to have higher total cholesterol, higher C-reactive protein, and Interleukin-6. In addition, depressed subjects were more likely to have altered HRV and their FMD was severely impaired (adjusted odds ratio of 1% increase = 0.72; 95% CI: 0.61-0.86). CONCLUSION Our data indicate an independent association between depression and impaired HRV, systemic inflammatory, and endothelial function. These mechanisms play a role not only in the complication of advanced forms of disease, but also promote and/or accelerate the early disease and connect depression and CHD.
Managerial Ownership, Audit Quality, and Earnings Management

Separation of ownership and control induces agency problems. The contracts written to restrict manager's self-serving behavior often incorporate accounting-based constraints, which arouses mangers' motivation to manage reported accounting numbers to either alleviate constraints or capitalize on available incentives. Theory predicts that increased managerial ownership can reduce managers' exploitation of accounting numbers. Another factor able to constrain earnings management is the quality of the external auditor. This study provides empirical evidence regarding the relation between managerial ownership, earnings management, and audit quality in Taiwan. We find managerial ownership and audit quality are both inversely associated with abnormal accruals. Managerial ownership, however, is not found to be associated with stock returns. Furthermore, we document evidence that stock market reacts negatively to abnormal accruals and positively to audit quality.
Who's Got Next: SOTA's KEMET Academy as a Model to Improve the Community College to PhD Pipeline

Abstract:The authors present Sisters of the Academy's (SOTA) adaptation of the KEMET Academy model, an academic and cultural enrichment program for African American students attending underresourced schools, to strengthen the pipeline for community college students from undergraduate through professional school. The KEMET model was designed by SOTA members and affiliates at a Southern land-grant institution and implemented over a five-year period as a competency-based program to increase the numbers of secondary students who chose to enter undergraduate schools. The programmatic outcomes yielded the KEMET Competencies Associated with Success for Rural Youth (CASRY). The authors believe that the CASRY framework may be applied to efforts at levels beyond the K-12 to four-year college transition. The KEMET Model components, combined with SOTA's conceptualization of socialization, presents a comprehensive, culturally competent, value specific, model that can be used to prepare and socialize African American community college students.