Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Career counsellors and suicide risk assessment

ABSTRACT Recent discussions suggest that career counsellors need to be trained in more holistic frameworks in order to deal with the career and psychological issues of their clients. In particular, research shows a strong connection between employment and suicidality, including changes in socioeconomic status, disruption in employment, sudden unemployment, learning disabilities, occupational stress, difficulties at work and interpersonal conflicts. Many people struggling with work-related issues are likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, isolation or substance misuse, all significant risk factors associated with suicidal ideation. Therefore, by becoming competent in dealing with both vocational and personal issues, career counsellors might be in a unique position to be effective in assessing suicidal risk due to their less stigmatised role in the field.
Complementary Innovations and the Value of Intangible Assets

We build a general equilibrium model where growth is driven by new ideas that can have varying degrees of complementarity with previous innovations. The model links micro-level complementarities with the aggregate value of intangible capital and provides a new mapping between measures of knowledge accumulation found in patent data and aggregate TFP growth. We show how to measure the degree of complementarity and the rate of creative destruction from patent citation data. Our calibrations suggest that inter-invention complementarities contribute 50-70 percent to the aggregate value of intangible assets. Complementarities have a big impact on intangible capital valuation, because they greatly extend the economic life span of ideas by making the rate of creative destruction much lower than it would otherwise be.
Effects of steroidal allenic phosphonic acid derivatives on the parasitic protists Leishmania donovani, Leishmania mexicana mexicana, and Pneumocystis carinii carinii

Several pathogenic fungi and protozoa are known to have sterols distinct from those of their mammalian hosts. Of particular interest as targets for drug development are the biosyntheses of the sterols of important parasites such as the kinetoplastid flagellates and the AIDS-associated opportunistic protist Pneumocystis carinii. These pathogens synthesize sterols with an alkyl group at C-24, and some have a double bond at C-22 of the side chain. Humans and other mammalian hosts are incapable of C-24 alkylation and C-22 desaturation. In the present study, three steroidal compounds with side chains substituted by phosphonyl-linked groups were synthesized and tested for their effects on Leishmania donovani and L. mexicana mexicana culture growth. The compounds inhibited organism proliferation at concentrations in micrograms per milliliter. The most potent inhibitors of this group of compounds were characterized by two ethyl groups at the phosphate function. Leishmania organisms treated with 17-[2-(diethylphosphonato) ethylidienyl]3-methoxy-19-norpregna-1,3,5-triene exhibited reduced growth after transfer into inhibitor-free medium. Because there are currently no axenic methods available for the continuous subcultivation of P. carinii, the effects of these drugs on this organism were evaluated by two alternative screening methods. The same two diethyl phosphonosteroid compounds that inhibited Leishmania proliferation were also the most active against P. carinii as determined by the potent effect they had on reducing cellular ATP content. Cystic as well as trophic forms responded to the drug treatments, as evaluated by a dual fluorescent staining live-dead assay. Other modifications of steroidal phosphonates may lead to the development of related drugs with increased activity and specificity for the pathogens.
The Neuroscience of Language and Action in Occupations: A Review of Findings from Brain and Behavioral Sciences

Language is a dominant part of our daily activities, playing a significant role in narrating our actions and mediating our interactions with one another. In this article, we examine emerging neuroscientific evidence that language is biologically linked to action and suggest that studying language from an occupation-based perspective can contribute a rich dimension of analysis for occupational science. We briefly review several of the ways in which language is currently being incorporated into the study of occupations and conclude by suggesting future directions for an occupation-based study of language.
Computational cognitive models of summarization assessment skills

This paper presents a general computational cognitive model of the way a summary is assessed by teachers. It is based on models of two subprocesses: determining the importance of sentences and guessing the cognitive rules that the student may have used. All models are based on Latent Semantic Analysis, a computational model of the representation of the meaning of words and sentences. Models' performances are compared with data from an experiment conducted with 278 middle school students. The general model was implemented in a learning environment designed for helping students to write summaries.
Mongolian Named Entity Recognition using suffixes segmentation

Mongolian is an agglutinative language with the complex morphological structures. Building an accurate Named Entity Recognition (NER) system for Mongolian is a challenging and meaningful work. This paper analyzes the characteristic of Mongolian suffixes using Narrow Non-Break Space and investigates Mongolian NER system under three methods in the Condition Random Field framework. The experiment shows that segmenting each suffix into an individual token achieves the best performance than both without segmenting and using the suffixes as a feature. Our approach obtains an F-measure = 82.71. It is appropriate for the Mongolian large scale vocabulary NER. This research also makes sense to other agglutinative languages NER systems.
A double-blind comparison of galantamine hydrobromide ER and placebo in Parkinson disease

Objective: To study the efficacy and safety of galantamine hydrobromide ER for the enhancement of cognition in non-demented Parkinson’s patients (PD). Methods: Sixty-nine non-demented PD participants were randomised in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of galantamine or placebo. Galantamine was administered over 16 weeks (8 mg/day for 4 weeks, a therapeutic dose of 16 mg/day for 6 weeks and a maximum dose of 24 mg/day for 6 weeks). Outcome measures were neuropsychological (attention, verbal fluency, executive, memory, visuospatial), behavioural (Frontal Systems Behavior Scale, Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Questionnaire, PDQ-39) and motor (Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale motor scale). Results: 26 individuals on active medication and 28 individuals on placebo were included in the outcome analyses. No significant differences were found between the active and placebo groups on cognitive, behavioural or motor outcome measures. Most common adverse events were gastrointestinal and self-reported worsening of PD symptoms. Conclusions: Contrary to our hypotheses, galantamine treatment did not improve attention/executive, memory or visuospatial performance in non-demented PD patients. Further, there was a high, statistically significant drop-out rate in the treatment group due to gastrointestinal side effects and self-reported worsening of PD symptoms. Treatment with galantamine did not enhance self-perception of mental sharpness or quality of life. No negative behavioural change such as hallucinations or apathy was found with treatment.
Group size, member ability, and social decision schemes on an intellective task.

510 college students first took Part 1 of the difficult Terman Concept Mastery Test as individuals and then retook the same test as control individuals or in cooperative high-ability or low-ability groups containing 2-5 Ss. 9 a priori social decision scheme models were tested as theories of the underlying group process. An a posteriori social decision scheme was also induced from a comparative previous study with 240 4-person groups and then tested against the current groups. The best-fitting a priori social decision scheme suggested an underlying "truth-supported wins" process, a finding which was more pronounced with increasing group size and for high-ability groups. However, the a posteriori principle, representing a combination of a truth-supported wins process, strong conformity pressures against a single correct member, and an increment from grouping when no member was correct, fit the current data better than any of the a priori social decision schemes.
Semiparametric Analysis of Longitudinal Zero-inflated Count Dat a with Applications to Instrumental Activities of Daily Living

Background: The instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) are important index of physical functioning in older adult studies. These count outcomes with a large proportion of zeros are often collected in longitudinal studies. Data were from the Hispanic Established Population for Epidemiological Study of the Elderly (HEPESE), a four wave (seven years) longitudinal study of community-dwelling elderly Mexican-Americans. There were excess zeros IADLs observed during follow-up. Methods: We present semiparametric zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) and hurdle model with random effects to evaluate IADLs in the context of excess zeros. Results: Age, education, household income, marital status, smoking, cognitive functioning and prescription medication use were not significantly associated with IADLs. The counts of IADLs changed with age nonlinearly. Conclusions: zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) and hurdle model with random effect fits the IADLs counts with excess zeros in longitudinal studies.
Is There Evidence for a Hubble Bubble? The Nature of Type Ia Supernova Colors and Dust in External Galaxies

We examine recent evidence from the luminosity-redshift relation of Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) for the ~3 σ detection of a "Hubble bubble"—a departure of the local value of the Hubble constant from its globally averaged value. By comparing the MLCS2k2 fits used in that study to the results from other light-curve fitters applied to the same data, we demonstrate that this is related to the interpretation of SN color excesses (after correction for a light-curve shape-color relation) and the presence of a color gradient across the local sample. If the slope of the linear relation (β) between SN color excess and luminosity is fit empirically, then the bubble disappears. If, on the other hand, the color excess arises purely from Milky Way-like dust, then SN data clearly favor a Hubble bubble. We find that SN data give β ≃ 2, instead of the β ≃ 4 one would expect from purely Milky Way-like dust. This suggests that either SN intrinsic colors are more complicated than can be described with a single light-curve shape parameter, or that dust around SN is unusual. Disentangling these possibilities is both a challenge and an opportunity for large-survey SN Ia cosmology.
Easy Smart-Home Environment to Assist Patients with Mobility Impairment

Nowadays, advances in technology enable us to easily assist patients with mobility impairment, so they may remain safe and comfortable at home. However, not everyone has experience using new technology. Their human-machine interfaces may become difficult to use, especially for people with motor limitations and little experience with the technology. In this paper we present an easy smart-home environment prototype to assist people with reduced mobility. This allows them to do daily household activities (turn on/off light, heat, TV, and so on), in addition to communicating with family, friends, and doctors. In order to overcome the technological barrier, we have proposed an interaction mechanism based on physical objects (combining mobile devices and NFC Technology) and sensors (Bluetooth LE technology) to adapt the task (depending on the user's location) and provide non-intrusive interaction. That is, the task adapts to user depending on the room. Then, the user can control the system by interacting with smart objects (bringing the objects closer the mobile device). We present the results of pilot interface usability testing in order to obtain preliminary data with the user feedback system.
A Comparison of Gender Differences in Academic Self-Concept and Motivation Between High-Ability and Average Chinese Adolescents

This study examined gender differences in academic self-concept, self-esteem, and academic motivation among high-ability Chinese adolescents. Study 1 studied gender differences in a key school as compared to a regular school using a school-type-by-gender MANOVA design. Participants were 208 10th-grade students from the two schools. Consistent with the extent literature on American adolescents, boys at the regular school demonstrated higher math self-concept, and girls demonstrated higher verbal self-concept. In contrast, for the key school, girls and boys had comparable math self-concept and girls had higher general academic self-concept than boys, which is at variance with the findings on high-ability American and European adolescents. As a replication, Study 2 used a between-class design with a group of 148 10th-grade students from a regular school that grouped the top 50 students in one class. Gender differences in math and verbal self-concepts were comparable between the high-ability class and two regular classes and more consistent with what was found with regular school students than with the key school students in Study 1. The discrepancies of the findings of the two studies are discussed in light of the social-contextual nature of academic self-concept and designs of the two studies.
Human behavioral pharmacology, past, present, and future: symposium presented at the 50th annual meeting of the Behavioral Pharmacology Society

A symposium held at the 50th annual meeting of the Behavioral Pharmacology Society in May 2007 reviewed progress in the human behavioral pharmacology of drug abuse. Studies on drug self-administration in humans are reviewed that assessed reinforcing and subjective effects of drugs of abuse. The close parallels observed between studies in humans and laboratory animals using similar behavioral techniques have broadened our understanding of the complex nature of the pharmacological and behavioral factors controlling drug self-administration. The symposium also addressed the role that individual differences, such as sex, personality, and genotype play in determining the extent of self-administration of illicit drugs in human populations. Knowledge of how these factors influence human drug self-administration has helped validate similar differences observed in laboratory animals. In recognition that drug self-administration is but one of many choices available in the lives of humans, the symposium addressed the ways in which choice behavior can be studied in humans. These choice studies in human drug abusers have opened up new and exciting avenues of research in laboratory animals. Finally, the symposium reviewed behavioral pharmacology studies conducted in drug abuse treatment settings and the therapeutic benefits that have emerged from these studies.
The marking of new information in children's narratives: a comparison of English, French, German and Mandarin Chinese*

ABSTRACT This study examines children's uses of nominal determiners (‘local markings’) and utterance structure (‘global markings’) to introduce new referents. Two narratives were elicited from preschoolers, seven-year-olds, ten-year-olds, and adults in English (N = 80), French (N = 40), German (N = 40), and Chinese (N = 40). Given typological differences (e.g. richness of morphology), these languages rely differentially on local vs. global devices to mark newness: postverbal position is obligatory in Chinese (determiners optional), indefinite determiners in the other languages (position optional). Three findings recur across languages: obligatory newness markings emerge late (seven-year-olds); local markings emerge first, including Chinese optional ones; local and global markings are strongly related. Crosslinguistic differences also occur: English-speaking preschoolers use local markings least frequently; until adult age global markings are rare in English, not contrastive in German and not as frequent in Chinese as in French, despite obligatoriness. It is concluded that three factors determine acquisition: (1) universal discourse factors governing information flow; (2) cognitive factors resulting from the greater functional complexity of global markings; (3) language-specific factors related to how different systems map both grammatical and discourse functions onto forms.
Test of reliability of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory and The Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale for Use in Sweden

Two questionnaires have been shown to evaluate well-being and level of function in patients with dizziness and unsteadiness: the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) and the Activities Balance Confidence (ABC) scale. The objective of this study was to describe the reliability and the content validity of the Swedish translation of the DHI and the ABC for use in Sweden. The translation into Swedish was performed according to an established double translation method. Fifteen patients with vestibular dysfunction (range 30-87 years) completed and commented on the DHI and the ABC on two occasions with one week in between. The test-retest reliability for the scales was good to fair (k=0.63 for the DHI and k=0.25 for the ABC). All patients who completed the DHI and ABC found the questions adequate. The study concluded that the test-retest reliability for both the DHI and the ABC was good. The content validity was also good since all the patients were content with the questionnaires. Perhaps some questions need to be added to better suit a Swedish population.
Incorporating Discount Usability in Extreme Programming

Extreme programming (XP) is one of the well-known forms of agile software development, due to its iterative nature, software developers focus on functional aspects and neglect the non-functional characteristics of software like usability. This research investigates the importance of end user involvement in extreme programming using grounded theory and describes the key question that how usability practices are integrated with the Extreme Programming in orders to make effective usable software system. To address this key issue, this study provide an extension suggestion for extreme programming that help the development team to take an account of usability of the product. While there are many usability engineering techniques, discount usability (Scenarios, Card Sorting, Heuristic evaluation and thinking aloud) that are applied with a minimum set of guidance and tools were integrated into extreme programming project lifecycle.
An investigation of the correlations between aggression, impulsiveness, social problem-solving, and alcohol use

Impulsivity has been shown to predict aggression and heavy drinking in males, and poor social problem-solving has been identified as a potential mediating variable in this relationship. We set out to investigate the inter-relationships among impulsiveness, social problem-solving, aggression, and alcohol use in a non-offender sample of British males (N = 70). Of our proposed relationships, only two were significant: higher impulsivity was related to poorer social problem-solving, and poorer social problem-solving was related to greater aggression. Combining impulsivity and social problem-solving indicated that poor social problem-solving, not impulsivity, was what exerted the influence over aggression in this sample. Impulsivity perhaps presents an obstacle to learning in the early developmental years, and the legacy of poor problem-solving is what later contributes to aggression.
Origins and Distribution of Cholinergically Induced β Rhythms in Hippocampal Slices

Regional variations and substrates of high-frequency rhythmic activity induced by cholinergic stimulation were studied in hippocampal slices with 64-electrode recording arrays. (1) Carbachol triggered β waves (17.6 ± 5.7 Hz) in pyramidal regions of 75% of the slices. (2) The waves had phase shifts across the cell body layers and were substantially larger in the apical dendrites than in cell body layers or basal dendrites. (3) Continuous, two-dimensional current source density analyses indicated apical sinks associated with basal sources, lasting ∼10 msec, followed by apical sources and basal sinks, lasting ∼20 msec, in a repeating pattern with a period in the range of 15–25 Hz. (4) Carbachol-induced β waves in the hippocampus were accompanied by 40 Hz (γ) oscillations in deep layers of the entorhinal cortex. (5) Cholinergically elicited β and γ rhythms were eliminated by antagonists of either AMPA or GABA receptors. Benzodiazepines markedly enhanced β activity and sometimes introduced a distinct γ frequency peak. (6) Twenty Hertz activity after orthodromic activation of field CA3 was distributed in the same manner as carbachol-induced β waves and was generated by a current source in the apical dendrites of CA3. This source was eliminated by high concentrations of GABAA receptor blockers. It is concluded that cholinergically driven β rhythms arise independently in hippocampal subfields from oscillatory circuits involving (1) bursts of pyramidal cell discharges, (2) activation of a subset of feedback interneurons that project apically, and (3) production of a GABAA-mediated hyperpolarization in the outer portions of the apical dendrites of pyramidal neurons.
Fuzzy Approximation-Based Adaptive Backstepping Optimal Control for a Class of Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems With Dead-Zone

In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy optimal control design is addressed for a class of unknown nonlinear discrete-time systems. The controlled systems are in a strict-feedback frame and contain unknown functions and nonsymmetric dead-zone. For this class of systems, the control objective is to design a controller, which not only guarantees the stability of the systems, but achieves the optimal control performance as well. This immediately brings about the difficulties in the controller design. To this end, the fuzzy logic systems are employed to approximate the unknown functions in the systems. Based on the utility functions and the critic designs, and by applying the backsteppping design technique, a reinforcement learning algorithm is used to develop an optimal control signal. The adaptation auxiliary signal for unknown dead-zone parameters is established to compensate for the effect of nonsymmetric dead-zone on the control performance, and the updating laws are obtained based on the gradient descent rule. The stability of the control systems can be proved based on the difference Lyapunov function method. The feasibility of the proposed control approach is further demonstrated via two simulation examples.
Salient stakeholder voices: Family business and green innovation adoption

Abstract One striking finding from recent natural environmental management research is that family firms are more likely to engage in environmentally friendly practices. However, the source of such difference is less clear. The primary objective of our research is to investigate if family firms react to stakeholder pressures differently when making natural environmental management decisions. We survey 235 manufacturing firms from the chemical, and the electronic and information technology industries in Taiwan to test our hypotheses. The results of regression analysis show that family firms pay much more attention to their internal stakeholders than non-family firms. This finding complements the current discussions on family business uniqueness. It also contributes to provide a more comprehensive framework of stakeholder salience.