Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shallow-depth 3d interaction: design and evaluation of one-, two- and three-touch techniques

On traditional tables, people frequently use the third dimension to pile, sort and store objects. However, while effective and informative for organization, this use of the third dimension does not usually extend far above the table. To enrich interaction with digital tables, we present the concept of shallow-depth 3D -- 3D interaction with limited depth. Within this shallow-depth 3D environment several common interaction methods need to be reconsidered. Starting from any of one, two and three touch points, we present interaction techniques that provide control of all types of 3D rotation coupled with translation (6DOF) on a direct-touch tabletop display. The different techniques exemplify a wide range of interaction possibilities: from the one-touch technique, which is designed to be simple and natural, but inherits a degree of imprecision from its simplicity; through to three-touch interaction, which allows precise bimanual simultaneous control of multiple degrees of freedom, but at the cost of simplicity. To understand how these techniques support interaction in shallow-depth 3D, we present a user study that examines the efficiency of, and preferences for, the techniques developed. Results show that users are fastest and most accurate when using the three-touch technique and that their preferences were also strongly in favour of the expressive power available from three-touch.
THE STRUCTURE AND IMPLICATIONS OF CHILDREN'S ATTITUDES TO SCHOOL

ABSTRACT: The paper reports a study of children's attitudes to school based on a questionnaire survey of 845 pupils in their first year of secondary school in England, together with interviews with a sample of the children. A clearly structured set of attitudes emerged from a factor analysis which showed a distinction between instrumental and affective aspects of attitudes but also dimensions within these, including a sense of teacher commitment and school as a difficult environment. Virtually all children had a strong sense of the importance of doing well at school. However, a substantial minority were not sure that they would stay on after 16. There were few differences between boys and girls or between children from different socio-economic backgrounds but children planning to leave at 16 enjoyed school less and were less sure that it had anything to offer them. There was an almost universal commitment to the value of education but, for a minority, an ambivalence about the experience and relevance of schooling for them.
Discourse in healthy old-elderly adults: A longitudinal study

This longitudinal study investigated discourse abilities in 16 normal adults in their 80s and 90s at two separate testing times. The discourse tasks evaluated macro-level processing of narratives as manifested on retells, summaries, gists, and morals, and in explanations of proverbs. The group results showed preservation with increased age on those discourse tasks that required global levels of processing. No significant decreases in performance were found in applying strategies of reduction, generalization, and interpretation, factors associated with preserved discourse function in normal advanced ageing are discussed. The findings have implications for differential diagnosis of dementia and aphasia.
Neural systems language: A formal modeling language for the systematic description, unambiguous communication, and automated digital curation of neural connectivity

Systematic description and the unambiguous communication of findings and models remain among the unresolved fundamental challenges in systems neuroscience. No common descriptive frameworks exist to describe systematically the connective architecture of the nervous system, even at the grossest level of observation. Furthermore, the accelerating volume of novel data generated on neural connectivity outpaces the rate at which this data is curated into neuroinformatics databases to synthesize digitally systems‐level insights from disjointed reports and observations. To help address these challenges, we propose the Neural Systems Language (NSyL). NSyL is a modeling language to be used by investigators to encode and communicate systematically reports of neural connectivity from neuroanatomy and brain imaging. NSyL engenders systematic description and communication of connectivity irrespective of the animal taxon described, experimental or observational technique implemented, or nomenclature referenced. As a language, NSyL is internally consistent, concise, and comprehensible to both humans and computers. NSyL is a promising development for systematizing the representation of neural architecture, effectively managing the increasing volume of data on neural connectivity and streamlining systems neuroscience research. Here we present similar precedent systems, how NSyL extends existing frameworks, and the reasoning behind NSyL's development. We explore NSyL's potential for balancing robustness and consistency in representation by encoding previously reported assertions of connectivity from the literature as examples. Finally, we propose and discuss the implications of a framework for how NSyL will be digitally implemented in the future to streamline curation of experimental results and bridge the gaps among anatomists, imagers, and neuroinformatics databases. J. Comp. Neurol. 521: 2889–2906, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Originality of word associations as a function of majority vs. minority influence.

The thesis of this paper is that influence processes can stimulate or inhibit originality on the part of individuals. In particular, we hypothesized that exposure to persistent minority views causes subjects to reexamine the issue and to engage in more divergent and original thought. Subjects exposed to persistent majority views should concentrate on the position proposed, converge thinking and be less original. Testing the originality aspect of these propositions, subjects were exposed to either a majority or minority judgment that "blue" stimuli were "green. " Subsequent to this manipulation, subjects gave associations to the words "blue" and "green. " Findings indicate that subjects in the minority condition gave more associations overall and that these associations were more original, i.e., less statistically frequent, than subjects in the majority condition or the control. There is additional evidence that, after the first association, subjects in the majority condition are even less original than control subjects. Their associations are more conventional, i.e., statistically frequent. Results are discussed in the context of influence processes and creativity as well as the differential impact of majority vs. minority influence.
Measuring follower confidence in top leadership direction

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to define the construct of confidence in top leadership and to develop a brief measure of that construct.Design/methodology/approach – Two studies were conducted in which 674 working adults completed measures of work‐related attitudes. In both studies, the scale demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity with like and unrelated constructs.Findings – The results provide evidence for the construct validity of the new measure.Research limitations/implications – Respondents were relatively young and drawn predominantly from a working student population in a single region of the USA. Additional research should be conducted with additional working populations, especially in the context of addressing organizational change.Practical implications – The short five‐item scale would be useful as a diagnostic tool for assessing the confidence of organizational members in their top leadership.Originality/value – This study supports a concept, confidence in top leadership, t.
Valoración de la vulnerabilidad integral en las áreas residenciales de Madrid

La ciudad, en tanto asentamiento eminentemente humano, es reflejo de la diversidad economica, social y cultural de sus habitantes. Como consecuencia de ello, encontramos en un mismo territorio oportunidades distintas, con importantes brechas y fronteras en torno a barrios o ambitos de caracteristicas singulares. Partiendo de esta afirmacion, se traza como objetivo de este trabajo la definicion de un banco de indicadores que permita valorar la vulnerabilidad integral en las areas residenciales consolidadas del municipio de Madrid. La metodologia empleada se basa en el uso de un analisis estadistico multivariable que determina un conjunto de indicadores sinteticos, a partir de los que es posible delimitar los ambitos de vulnerabilidad integral. De su aplicacion se desprende que mas del 80 por ciento de los casos asi fijados se encuentra fuera de la “almendra central” de Madrid, senalandose la periferia construida entre los anos sesenta y setenta como el escenario principal de los problemas urbanos de los proximos anos.
Survival of the Fittest: An Active Queue Management Technique for Noisy Packet Flows

We present a novel active queue management (AQM) technique to demonstrate the efficacy of practically harnessing the predictive utility of SSR indications for improved video communication. We consider a network within which corrupted packets are relayed over multiple hops, but a certain percentage of packets needs to be dropped at an intermediate node due to congestion. We propose an AQM technique, survival of the fittest (SOTF), to be employed at the relay node, within which we use packet state information, available from SSR indications and checksums, to drop packets with the highest corruption levels. On the basis of actual 802.11b measurements we show that such a side information (SI) aware processing within the network can provide significant performance benefits over an SI-unaware scheme, random queue management (RQM), which is forced to randomly discard packets. With trace-based simulations, we show the utility of the proposed AQM technique in improving the error recovery performance of cross-layer FEC schemes. Finally, with the help of H.264-based video simulations these improvements are shown to translate into a significant improvement in video quality.
A Lindera obtusiloba Extract Blocks Calcium-/Phosphate-Induced Transdifferentiation and Calcification of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells and Interferes with Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 and Metalloproteinase-9 and NF-κB

Vascular calcifications bear the risk for cardiovascular complications and have a high prevalence among patients with chronic kidney disease. Central mediators of vascular calcifications are vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). They transdifferentiate into a synthetic/osteoblast-like phenotype, which is induced, for example, by elevated levels of calcium and phosphate (Ca/P) due to a disturbed mineral balance. An aqueous extract from Lindera obtusiloba (LOE) is known to exert antifibrotic and antitumor effects or to interfere with the differentiation of preadipocytes. Using murine and rat VSMC cell lines, we here investigated whether LOE also protects VSMC from Ca/P-induced calcification. Indeed, LOE effectively blocked Ca/P-induced calcification of VSMC as shown by decreased VSMC mineralization and secretion of alkaline phosphatase. In parallel, mRNA expression of the calcification markers osterix and osteocalcin was reduced. Vice versa, the Ca/P-induced loss of the VSMC differentiation markers alpha smooth muscle actin and smooth muscle protein 22-alpha was rescued by LOE. Further, LOE blocked Ca/P-induced mRNA expressions and secretions of matrix metalloproteinases-2/-9 and activation of NF-κB, which are known contributors to vascular calcification. In conclusion, LOE interferes with the Ca/P-induced transdifferentiation/calcification of VSMC. Thus, LOE should be further analysed regarding a potential complementary treatment option for cardiovascular diseases including vascular calcifications.
Using Restricted Factor Analysis in Test Construction.

The use of restrictive factor analysis (RFA) is illustrated with data from the field of educational research. An attitude scale measuring the degree to which students feel they are accepted by their classmates is constructed in accordance with the Theory of Violators. The main idea of the Theory of Violators is that most problems associated with measuring psychological constructs can be reduced to the question of unidimensionality. The theory consists of three components: (1) a formal base of definitions of item purity and unidimensionality that introduces the concept of violator, a variable with respect to which the test item is biased; (2) a typology of violators; and (3) instruction on how to construct a scale that is free of item bias, unidimensional, and efficient. As a first step, test it,ems werc% selected from an existing measure, the School Attitudes Questionnaire of H. C. M. Voorst (1990) administered in the Netherlands to 915 students aged nine to 12 years. Item bias detection was then performed through statistical analysis. After eliminating biased items, the remaining items were tested for unidimensionality through factor analysis. Inefficient items were then detected through RFA. This exercise demonstrates that P'k offers a single approach to various measurement problems. There is an eight-item list of references. (SLD) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be ma0e from the original document. *******************************M*************************************
Chaos, Culture, and Covariance Structures: A Dynamic Systems View of Children's Experiences at Home

This Special Issue contains several efforts aimed at constructing efficient, yet valid measures of the home environment that can be used for a wide variety of families. This commentary reflects on those efforts with a view that devolves from the nature of what is being measured and a view of children as members of diverse and dynamic family systems. Attention is given to the critical distinction between "cause" and "effect" indicators and its implications for constructing and evaluating measures of the home environment. Attention is also given to the importance of establishing functional relations between indicators used in home environment measures and measures of child well-being. In addition, there is a focus on the importance of having sufficient indicators of environmental constructs so that there is adequate coverage of the diverse ways that different cultures might accomplish the same goals for children. Particular attention is given to the challenge of selecting and organizing indicators of key environmental constructs for dynamic systems, with specific focus on the implications of several systems principles for environmental measurement. Finally, recommendations are made regarding how to accommodate the competing needs of feasibility and validity when devising a strategy to measure environments in large-scale studies: the strategy of "targeted complement. "
CBP and p300 acetylate PCNA to link its degradation with nucleotide excision repair synthesis

The proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) protein serves as a molecular platform recruiting and coordinating the activity of factors involved in multiple deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) transactions. To avoid dangerous genome instability, it is necessary to prevent excessive retention of PCNA on chromatin. Although PCNA functions during DNA replication appear to be regulated by different post-translational modifications, the mechanism regulating PCNA removal and degradation after nucleotide excision repair (NER) is unknown. Here we report that CREB-binding protein (CBP), and less efficiently p300, acetylated PCNA at lysine (Lys) residues Lys13,14,77 and 80, to promote removal of chromatin-bound PCNA and its degradation during NER. Mutation of these residues resulted in impaired DNA replication and repair, enhanced the sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation, and prevented proteolytic degradation of PCNA after DNA damage. Depletion of both CBP and p300, or failure to load PCNA on DNA in NER deficient cells, prevented PCNA acetylation and degradation, while proteasome inhibition resulted in accumulation of acetylated PCNA. These results define a CBP and p300-dependent mechanism for PCNA acetylation after DNA damage, linking DNA repair synthesis with removal of chromatin-bound PCNA and its degradation, to ensure genome stability.
The management of large-scale change in Pakistani education

This article argues that although there are increasing similarities in priorities across different national education systems, contextual differences raise questions about the replication of sets of change strategies based on particular understandings of the nature of educational change across these different systems. This article begins with an overview of some of the dominant constructions of the management of change in the literature, particularly from Western economically developed democracies. It then outlines the Pakistani educational system to highlight some of the issues raised by the application of these change policies and models to a developing country. This article draws from a research study which explored the views and experiences of school leaders and teachers with regard to the management of a large-scale reform programme at the higher secondary level in Pakistan. The findings of this study illustrate the way in which there is a dissonance between the culture and practices of a specific national educational system and the assumptions embedded in the sets of reform strategies that have been imported from other systems. This article concludes by exploring how change management processes can be reconceptualised in order to be sensitive to the context of education in a developing country.
Strategies for antiracist representation: ethnic tourism guides in Chicago

Researchers often frame tour guides in narrow and agency-revoking ways and theorize an ethnic tourism industry in which marginalized racial/ethnic communities are represented as the Other. In this research, I argue that tour guides in Chicago's urban ethnic neighborhoods resist some of the prevailing racialized constructions of their communities by employing strategies of antiracist representation. As ‘representational strategists’, tour guides use ethnic tourism to develop strategies that put forward alternative – even antiracist – representations of marginalized communities. Through a Chicago tourism project, guides construct representations of their communities that (1) invert the relationship of the host community and visitors by constructing the tourists as the Other; (2) articulate a social history of oppression and resistance; (3) expose the community's social problems such as gentrification, and identify their structural causes; and (4) connect the shared experiences between communities of color. These representational strategies defy the normalized practices of ethnic tourism, as well as the mechanisms of racism, and can be important tools in resisting ideological constructions that perpetuate inequality. They attest to the ways marginalized groups can use representation as an important tool in struggles to define themselves, resist silencing and invisibilization, and challenge some of the assumptions and practices that reproduce their marginalization.
The Paradigm-Shift of Social Spambots: Evidence, Theories, and Tools for the Arms Race

Recent studies in social media spam and automation provide anecdotal argumentation of the rise of a new generation of spambots, so-called social spambots. Here, for the first time, we extensively study this novel phenomenon on Twitter and we provide quantitative evidence that a paradigm-shift exists in spambot design. First, we measure current Twitter's capabilities of detecting the new social spambots. Later, we assess the human performance in discriminating between genuine accounts, social spambots, and traditional spambots. Then, we benchmark several state-of-the-art techniques proposed by the academic literature. Results show that neither Twitter, nor humans, nor cutting-edge applications are currently capable of accurately detecting the new social spambots. Our results call for new approaches capable of turning the tide in the fight against this raising phenomenon. We conclude by reviewing the latest literature on spambots detection and we highlight an emerging common research trend based on the analysis of collective behaviors. Insights derived from both our extensive experimental campaign and survey shed light on the most promising directions of research and lay the foundations for the arms race against the novel social spambots. Finally, to foster research on this novel phenomenon, we make publicly available to the scientific community all the datasets used in this study.
A new speaker verification spoofing countermeasure based on local binary patterns

This paper presents a new countermeasure for the protection of automatic speaker verification systems from spoofed, converted voice signals. The new countermeasure is based on the analysis of a sequence of acoustic feature vectors using Local Binary Patterns (LBPs). Compared to existing approaches the new countermeasure is less reliant on prior knowledge and affords robust protection from not only voice conversion, for which it is optimised, but also spoofing attacks from speech synthesis and artificial signals, all of which otherwise provoke significant increases in false acceptance. The work highlights the difficulty in detecting converted voice and also discusses the need for formal evaluations to develop new countermeasures which are less reliant on prior knowledge and thus more reflective of practical use cases.
Willingness to Disclose Personal Information Online and its Effect on Ensuring and Protecting Privacy: A Two Country Study

Organizations rely on information disclosed by consumers during online interactions to render personalized services which can enhance the online experience. There are implications for businesses when consumers are willing to disclose information and subsequently, think about and act in ways to ensure and protect their privacy. In the global context, these concerns are magnified as companies rely on global networks to do business in other countries, and there are no international laws that adequately protect security of information. In this study, we conduct an empirical study of 809 consumers in U.S. and India to understand their information disclosing behavior online, their intentions to take and execution of protective actions during online interactions. Results suggest that there are differences between U.S. and India with regards to consumers’ willingness to disclose personal information, and their intentions and actions for privacy and security protection. Differences in how willing consumers are to disclose information and in how concerned they are with protecting themselves has implications for companies in considering local cultures when conducting international e-commerce.
Ethics and Early Intervention: Toward More Relationship-Focused Interventions

Value-based decisions affecting the lives of young children and their families are made on a daily basis in early intervention. This article explores the dimensions of ethical decision making in early intervention. Selected comments from parents and professionals involved in an ethnographic interview study regarding value conflicts in early intervention are reported. A communication and decision-making model for achieving mutual understanding, respect, and agreement between parents and professionals is proposed.