Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Development and Validation of the GMOAS, an Instrument Measuring Secondary School Students' Attitudes Towards Genetically Modified Organisms

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is a rapidly evolving area of scientific innovation and an issue receiving global attention. Attempts to devise usable instruments that assess people's attitudes towards this innovation have been rare and non-systematic. The aim of this paper is to present the development and validation of the genetically modified organisms attitudes scale (GMOAS), an instrument measuring secondary school students' attitudes towards GMOs. The responses of 1,111 secondary school students from Cyprus were used to validate the instrument. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation revealed a clear three-factor solution explaining 45.8% of the total variance. The factors underlying the attitudes' construct are: GMO implications on health, Interest in the topic of GMOs, and GMO implications on the environment. The 16-item, five-point Likert-type GMOAS showed satisfactory internal consistency and discriminant validity. When the instrument was used to analyse data from Cyprus, results revealed that Cypriot secondary school students have rather non-supportive attitudes towards the cultivation and use of GMOs. Male students were less negative in using GMOs for health and environmental purposes than females. Females, however, were found to be more interested in learning about GMOs. These findings comply with the rather country-specific nature of GMO attitudes.
Behavioral Identification of Trusted Third Party in Secure Multiparty Computing Protocol

We present a solution for identification and reduction of malicious conduct by Trusted Third parties (TTPs) in Secure Multiparty Computing Protocol. This paper also proposes a secured protocol for computation and defines encryption to be performed before sending inputs for computation. Our protocol uses eenvelopes for sharing keys between parties and TTPs. This key sharing is done on the basis of RSA algorithm. This ensures that parties send their data in encrypted manner to TTPs in order to maintain privacy and security of inputs. Also, single and multi trusted third party model is compared and the probabilistic evidences for them have been analyzed with security analysis graphs.
Perception of just-noticeable time displacement of a tone presented in a metrical sequence at different tempos

The jnd for a perturbation of the timing of a tone appearing in a metrical sequence was examined in an experiment, where 30 listeners of varied musical background were asked to adjust the timing of the fourth tone in a sequence of six, such that they heard the sequence as perfectly regular. The tones were presented at a constant interonset time that was varied between 100 and 1000 ms. The average jnd was found to be about 10 ms for tones shorter than about 240‐ms duration and about 5% of the duration for longer tones. Subjects’ musical training did not appear to affect these values.
Structural Semantic Relatedness: A Knowledge-Based Method to Named Entity Disambiguation

Name ambiguity problem has raised urgent demands for efficient, high-quality named entity disambiguation methods. In recent years, the increasing availability of large-scale, rich semantic knowledge sources (such as Wikipedia and WordNet) creates new opportunities to enhance the named entity disambiguation by developing algorithms which can exploit these knowledge sources at best. The problem is that these knowledge sources are heterogeneous and most of the semantic knowledge within them is embedded in complex structures, such as graphs and networks. This paper proposes a knowledge-based method, called Structural Semantic Relatedness (SSR), which can enhance the named entity disambiguation by capturing and leveraging the structural semantic knowledge in multiple knowledge sources. Empirical results show that, in comparison with the classical BOW based methods and social network based methods, our method can significantly improve the disambiguation performance by respectively 8.7% and 14.7%.
Reducing trace size in multimedia applications endurance tests

Proper testing of applications over embedded systems such as set-top boxes requires endurance tests, i.e. running applications for extended periods of times, typically several days. In order to understand bugs or poor performances, execution traces have to be analyzed, however current trace analysis methods are not designed to handle several days of execution traces due to the huge quantity of data generated. Our proposal, designed for regular applications such as multimedia decoding/encoding, is to monitor execution by analyzing trace on the fly in order to record trace only in time periods where a suspicious activity is detected. Our experiments show a significant reduction in the trace size compared to recording the whole trace.
Impaired Discrimination of Sensory Information About Slip Between Object and Skin is Associated With Handgrip Limitation Poststroke

Abstract Impaired somatosensory processing could contribute to handgrip limitation following stroke. The aim of this study was to examine the association between somatosensory function measured by psychophysical tests and clinical measures of handgrip limitation poststroke. Forty-five people with stroke who could perform a pinch grip task were recruited from rehabilitation settings. Ability to discriminate surface friction, and to match object weight were quantified using psychophysical methods. Handgrip limitation was measured using items of the Motor Assessment Scale, Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test and the Hand Function Survey. Impaired discrimination of surface friction was moderately to weakly associated with handgrip limitation (rs = .36 to .55). In contrast, an association between degree of impairment in matching weight and handgrip limitation poststroke was not observed (rs < .24). The findings suggest that processing of tactile cues arising between the object and skin when training handgrip ability may be beneficial for people with stroke.
Induction of opsonizing antibodies after injection of recombinant Plasmodium falciparum vaccine candidate antigens in preimmune Saimiri sciureus monkeys

We have previously shown that Plasmodium falciparum recombinant antigens PfEB200, R23, and Pfi72 inhibit opsonization of infected erythrocytes by hyperimmune Saimiri sera, indicating that they contain target epitopes involved in the phagocytosis of infected erythrocytes. We have investigated in this study the immune response of Saimiri monkeys with previous experience of malaria infections (preimmune monkeys) after injection of these recombinant antigens, administered alone or simultaneously. The humoral response to the recombinant antigens was monitored by radioimmunoassay, and the response to P. falciparum blood stages was assayed by immunofluorescence. The relative proportion of protective versus nonprotective immunoglobulin subtypes was investigated by using 3A2/G6 and 3E4/H8 monoclonal antibodies, and the capacity of the antisera to promote in vitro phagocytosis of infected erythrocytes was evaluated. The antigens evoked in most cases a secondary-type antibody response, resulting in important increases in antigen-specific antibody titers and concomitantly in anti-P. falciparum titers. The ratio of 3A2/G6 to 3E4/H8 immunoglobulin subtypes varied with the immunogen used. Opsonizing antibodies were boosted in several animals, the most promising combination being the mixture of PfEB200 and R23 that induced long-lasting production in five of five animals. The detectable opsonizing activity appearing after immunization of the animals was antigen specific, as it was lost after adsorption of the recombinant antigens. The challenge of the animals with blood stage parasites confirmed previous findings showing a correlation between the presence of detectable opsonizing antibodies in serum and protection.
A microcalorimeter with a carbon nanotube forest as a preconcentrator for trace chemical detection

Preconcentration is an important technique that can significantly improve the limit of detection (LOD) of an analytical system by preconcentrating target analytes. In this paper, we have developed a microcalorimeter with an in-situ synthesized carbon nanotube (CNT) forest and a stand-alone metal preconcentrator for detection of trace energetic chemical vapors (ECV). Both the CNT forest and the metal preconcentrator provide high-efficiency preconcentration for target chemicals, and their preconcentration factors (PF) are 2.5 and 10, respectively. Experimental results show that a microcalorimeter with two-stage concentrators is able to achieve a lower LOD and a shorter detection time than conventional microcalorimeters.
Design, Implementation and Experiments of a Robust Passivity-based Controller for a Rolling-balancing System

In this paper, we present the design of a robust interconnection and damping assignment controller for a rolling-balancing system known as the disk-on-disk. The underactuation feature of this system hampers the control design, and since we consider matched disturbances, the problem becomes even more challenging. To overcome this difficulty, we propose to design first a controller to stabilize the desired equilibrium of the case where the disturbance is not present, and then we robustify this controller by adding a nonlinear PID outer loop that compensates the disturbance. Finally, we evaluate the practical applicability of the control design by implementing the controllers on a real hardware for the disk-on-disk system.
Temperance Culture and the Repression of Scientific Inquiry Into Illegal Drug‐Altered States of Consciousness

American scientific inquiry into the understandings of drug‐altered states of consciousness is underdeveloped primarily because government regulations embedded within a temperance culture has repressed it. Despite preliminary evidence of the therapeutic value of altered states of consciousness associated with the use of illegal drugs to both physical and mental health, science has been able to do little to understand this potential. Within this essay, we examine the influence of this temperance culture on government regulations and its impingement on scientific practice in the study of illegal drug‐altered states of consciousness as the explanation for much of the failure of science to adequately explore these lines of inquiry. Much of our analysis is based upon examples from research in the area of alcohol studies, as the temperance movement arose primarily in response to this particular drug.
Results from the Registry of Atrial Fibrillation (AFABE): Gap between Undiagnosed and Registered Atrial Fibrillation in Adults—Ineffectiveness of Oral Anticoagulation Treatment with VKA

Objective. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the use of oral anticoagulation (OAC) medication, recommended by national guidelines for stroke prevention but reportedly underused in AF patients with moderate to high stroke risk. Method. A multicentre and cross-sectional study of undiagnosed AF among out-of-hospital patients over 60 years old was carried out, visiting 3,638 patients at primary health centres or at home for AF diagnosis using the IDC-10 classification. The main outcome measures were CHA2DS2VASC, HAS-BLED scores, cardiovascular comorbidity, pharmacological information, TTR, and SAMe-TT2R2 scores. Results. The main findings were undiagnosed AF in 26.44% of cases; 31.04% registered with AF but not using OAC despite 95.6% having a CHA2DS2VASC ≥ 2 score; a risk of bleeding in important subgroups using OAC without indication (37.50% CHA2DS2VASC < 2 score); the use of OAC with TTR < 60% (33.1%), of whom 47.6% had a HAS-BLED score ≥3. Thus, 35.4% of the expected AF prevalence achieved an optimal time in the therapeutic range. Conclusions. The expected AF prevalence was 10.9% (n 5267), but the registered prevalence was 7.5% (n 3638). Only 35.04% (CI = 95%, 33.7–36.3) of AF patients treated with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) achieve the goal of TTR > 60%.
LvtPPP: Live-Time Protected Pseudopartitioning of Multicore Shared Caches

Partition enforcement policy is essential in the cache partition, and its main function is to protect the lines and retain the cache quota of each core. This paper focuses online protection based on its generation time rather than the CPU core ID that it belongs to or the position of the replacement stack, where it is located. The basic idea is that when a line is live, it must be protected and retained in the cache; when the line is “dead,” it needs to be evicted as early as possible. Therefore, the live-time protected counter (LvtP, four bits) is augmented to trace the lines' live time. Moreover, dead blocks are predicted according to the access event sequence. This paper presents a pseudopartition approach-LvtPPP and proposes a two-cascade victim selection mechanism to alleviate dead blocks based on the LRU replacement policy and the LvtP counter. LvtPPP also supports flexible handling of allocation deviation by introducing a parameter λ to adjust the generation time of the line. There is significant improvement of the performance and fairness in LvtPPP over PIPP and UCP according to the evaluation results based on Simics.
ViBE: A powerful random technique to estimate the background in video sequences

Background subtraction is a crucial step in many automatic video content analysis applications. While numerous acceptable techniques have been proposed so far for background extraction, there is still a need to produce more efficient algorithms in terms of adaptability to multiple environments, noise resilience, and computation efficiency. In this paper, we present a powerful method for background extraction that improves in accuracy and reduces the computational load. The main innovation concerns the use of a random policy to select values to build a samples-based estimation of the background. To our knowledge, it is the first time that a random aggregation is used in the field of background extraction. In addition we propose a novel policy that propagates information between neighboring pixels of an image. Experiment detailed in this paper show how our method improves on other widely used techniques, and how it outperforms these techniques for noisy images.
Portable Active Surface Laplacian EEG Sensor for Real-Time Mu Rhythms Detection

A novel active surface Laplacian electroencephalogram (LEEG) sensor for the real-time mu rhythms detection has been developed in our study. Analog LEEG signals with high signal to noise ratio obtained directly by using the active sensor can reduce the duration and quantum error of digital signal processing and computation for the quick and precise control of brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. The portable active surface LEEG sensor comprises five gold electrodes integrated to a cross-shaped structure and a battery-powered, low-noise amplifier with the following specification: gain of 10,000, band-pass filtering from 2.5 Hz to 55 Hz, input impedance of 10 GOmega, common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of 110 dB. The clinical experiments showed that the amplitude suppression of mu waves detected directly by active surface LEEG sensors was obvious as the normal subject was asked to imagine grasping something with his right hand. Furthermore, the distribution of mu waves captured real time in the un-shielded room by active surface LEEG sensor was similar to that acquired in the shielded room of hospital through EEG data collection by an EEG instrument, and then offline analyses. Real-time mu rhythms obtained by the active surface LEEG sensor will be utilized to control a device or system via the BCI in real time
Using Static and Dynamic Visuals to Represent Chemical Change at Molecular Level

The study examines the effectiveness of visually enhanced instruction that emphasizes molecular representations. Instructional conditions were specified in terms of the visual elaboration level (static and dynamic) and the presentation mode (whole class and individual). Fifty‐two eighth graders (age range 14–15 years) participated in one of the three instructional conditions (dynamic–individual, dynamic–whole class, and static–whole class) designed to improve molecular understanding on chemical change. The results indicated significantly higher performance for students who used dynamic visuals compared with those who used static visuals. Furthermore, students who used dynamic visuals on an individual basis were more consistent in their use of molecular representations compared with students who received whole‐class instruction with dynamic or static visuals. The results favour the use of dynamic visuals (preferably on an individual basis) over static visuals when presenting molecular representations. The results also imply that the effectiveness of instruction will improve if teachers challenge and question the inconsistencies and contradictions between verbal explanations and corresponding molecular representations
Prenatal diagnosis of beta‐thalassaemia in Pakistan: experience in a Muslim country

A service for prenatal diagnosis of β‐thalassaemia was introduced in Pakistan in May 1994. Two renowned Islamic scholars, consulted before the service was introduced, ruled that a pregnancy can be terminated if the fetus is affected by a serious genetic disorder, and if termination is before 120 days (17 weeks) of gestation. During the first 3½ years of the service 300 couples requested the test. Almost all the couples had been informed by their treating doctors. Most diagnoses were made between 10 and 16 weeks of gestation, and only 15 (5%) were reached after the 16th week. DNA analysis was by the amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS). A multiplex ARMS was developed in which three primer combinations identified the mutations in 91.5% of the couples. In 13 couples (4.3%) linkage analysis was required for the fetal diagnosis. In 47/53 (88.7%) women carrying an affected fetus the pregnancy was terminated. In six cases it was declined principally on religious grounds. Postnatal confirmation of the prenatal diagnosis was possible in 117 unaffected children. One year after the start of the service, interviews with 141 couples with an affected child showed that 72% knew of the availability of prenatal diagnosis. Thirty‐two of the informed couples had had a pregnancy, but only 18 (56%) used prenatal diagnosis. The main reasons for non‐utilization of prenatal diagnosis were the cost of the test and fear of undergoing the test, though some gave no clear explanation. This study demonstrates that prenatal diagnosis is feasible and acceptable in a Muslim country such as Pakistan. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Gulf War Veterans With Anxiety: Prevalence, Comorbidity, and Risk Factors

Background: Veterans of the first Gulf War have higher rates of medical and psychiatric symptoms than nondeployed military personnel. Methods: To assess the prevalence of and risk factors for current anxiety disorders in Gulf War veterans, we administered a structured telephone interview to a population-based sample of 4886 military personnel from Iowa at enlistment. Participants were randomly drawn from Gulf War regular military, Gulf War National Guard/Reserve, non-Gulf War regular military, and non-Gulf War National Guard/Reserve. Medical and psychiatric conditions were assessed through standardized interviews and questionnaires in 3695 subjects (76% participation). Risk factors were assessed using multivariate logistic regression models. Results: Veterans of the first Gulf War reported a markedly higher prevalence of current anxiety disorders than nondeployed military personnel (5.9% vs. 2.8%; odds ratio = 2.1; 95% confidence interval = 1.3–3.1), and their anxiety disorders are associated with co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Posttraumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder were each present at rates nearly twice expected. In our multivariate model, predeployment psychiatric treatment and predeployment diagnoses (posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, or anxiety) were independently associated with current anxiety disorder. Participation in Gulf War combat was independently associated with current posttraumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. Conclusions: Current anxiety disorders are relatively frequent in a military population and are more common among Gulf War veterans than nondeployed military personnel. Predeployment psychiatric difficulties are robustly associated with the development of anxiety. Healthcare providers and policymakers need to consider panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, in addition to posttraumatic stress disorder, to ensure their proper assessment, treatment, and prevention in veteran populations.
Discovering patterns of advertisement propagation in Sina-Microblog

The explosive growth of microblogs has attracted many corporations and organizations. Microblogging has been considered as a high-quality advertising platform. In this study, we attempt to reveal the patterns of advertisement propagation in Sina-Microblog through analyzing a selected set of message cascades. Each message cascade is represented by a propagation tree and 33 features were extracted, which cover mainly three aspects of a cascade: the volume of the participants, the topology of the propagation paths, and the promptness of the propagation in term of time. To reveal the propagation patterns, We then group these message cascades using K-means clustering algorithm. Analysis of the resulted clusters reveals the patterns of advertisement propagation, based on which we further propose several metrics to measure the effectiveness of advertisement in microblogs.
Making the Cases “Real”: Newspaper Coverage of U.S. Supreme Court Cases 1953–2004

Which U.S. Supreme Court cases are deemed newsworthy enough to appear on the front page of a major newspaper? Which are covered, but do not appear on the front page, and which are not covered at all? We answer these questions using a unique data set of newspaper coverage of Supreme Court cases in four newspapers from 1953 to 2004—a data set spanning more than 6,200 observations, 25 natural courts, and the tenure of three Chief Justices. We find that the overall proportion of Supreme Court cases covered has declined over this period (from a peak of nearly 100%), although the proportion of cases on the front page has remained more constant. The results of a selection model also suggest that, in the aggregate, coverage patterns on the front page are explained by established norms of newsworthiness, but coverage elsewhere in the paper often follows different criteria. When examining different newspapers in isolation, we also find that individual papers do vary, to a limited degree, in their selection of newsworthy cases. These results are important for those concerned about citizen information about politics, the relationship between the courts and the public, and media gatekeeping.
Meta-Cognition and Worry: A Cognitive Model of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

A meta-cognitive classification and analysis of factors contributing to the development of problematic worry is presented. Dimensions of meta-beliefs, meta-worry, cognitive consciousness, and strategies can be distinguished. A cognitive model of Generalized Anxiety Disorder is advanced based on this framework in which GAD results from an interaction between the motivated use of worry as a coping strategy, negative appraisal of worry, and worry control attempts. These factors result from combinations of dysfunctional meta-beliefs and contribute to subjectively diminished cognitive control. The model presents new implications for a cognitive therapy of GAD, and these are illustrated with a single case treatment study.