Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence‐Based Practice in the Classroom: Evaluating a Procedure for Reducing Perseverative Requesting in an Adolescent with Autism and Severe Intellectual Disability

Management of inappropriate behaviour is a major priority in special education. Evidence‐based practice dictates that interventions to reduce inappropriate behaviour should be evaluated at the individual level to demonstrate their efficacy in the classroom. This study illustrates the evaluation of an evidence‐based procedure (response interruption) for reducing perseverative requesting in an adolescent boy with autism and severe intellectual disability. The boy used a speech‐generating device to request snacks during baseline and response interruption conditions. During both conditions, the boy had to wait 30 seconds while the snack was being prepared. Requests that occurred during this wait interval were defined as perseverative. Intervention involved blocking perseverative requests and prompting the child to wait. An ABAB design was used to evaluate the effects of the response interruption procedure. The results demonstrated that response interruption effectively reduced perseverative requesting, while .
Templateless Quasi-rigid Shape Modeling with Implicit Loop-Closure

This paper presents a method for quasi-rigid objects modeling from a sequence of depth scans captured at different time instances. As quasi-rigid objects, such as human bodies, usually have shape motions during the capture procedure, it is difficult to reconstruct their geometries. We represent the shape motion by a deformation graph, and propose a model-to-part method to gradually integrate sampled points of depth scans into the deformation graph. Under an as-rigid-as-possible assumption, the model-to-part method can adjust the deformation graph non-rigidly, so as to avoid error accumulation in alignment, which also implicitly achieves loop-closure. To handle the drift and topological error for the deformation graph, two algorithms are introduced. First, we use a two-stage registration to largely keep the rigid motion part. Second, in the step of graph integration, we topology-adaptively integrate new parts and dynamically control the regularization effect of the deformation graph. We demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our method by several depth sequences of quasi-rigid objects, and an application in human shape modeling.
1 Performance Tool Support for MPI-2 on Linux 1

Programmers of message-passing codes for clusters of workstations face a daunting challenge in understanding the performance bottlenecks of their applications. This is largely due to the vast amount of performance data that is collected, and the time and expertise necessary to use traditional parallel performance tools to analyze that data. This paper reports on our recent efforts developing a performance tool for MPI applications on Linux clusters. Our target MPI implementations were LAM/MPI and MPICH2, both of which support portions of the MPI-2 Standard. We started with an existing performance tool and added support for non-shared file systems, MPI-2 onesided communications, dynamic process creation, and MPI Object naming. We present results using the enhanced version of the tool to examine the performance of several applications. We describe a new performance tool benchmark suite we have developed, PPerfMark, and present results for the benchmark using the enhanced tool.
Internal social networks in work teams: structure, knowledge sharing and performance

Purpose - From the structural perspective of social-capital theory, this research investigates how a team's social-network relationships affect its performance. More specifically, it concerns the type of work-group-internal connectedness in instrumental and expressive networks that is associated with enhanced team performance, and whether knowledge mediates these effects. Design/methodology/approach - The research was survey based, involving 76 work teams and a total of 499 employees in 48 organisations. The work teams carried out fairly knowledge-intensive but only moderately complex tasks, some of which were routine in nature. Findings - Both dense and fragmented instrumental-network structures affect work-team performance. However, fragmentation in expressive networks has a negative impact. Furthermore, the mediation results give empirical support to the implicit understanding that only instrumental networks transfer knowledge, especially if they are dense. Research limitations/implications - The results indicate that social-network relationships affect team performance and also provide access to social capital (here knowledge). However, instrumental and expressive networks differ in terms of theoretical and practical implications. Future research could overcome the limitations of this study through increasing the sample size and focusing on much more fine-grained intervening mechanisms (here knowledge sharing). Practical implications - The recommendation to managers is to stimulate dense instrumental relationships in order to facilitate knowledge sharing and avoid overly fragmented expressive relationships. Originality/value - First, in examining the social structure of both instrumental and expressive relationships this study responds to the growing call in organisational theory for research into the social content of social networks. Second, the contribution of this research paper lies in directly testing whether team knowledge mediates the effects of advice-network structures on team performance.
Self-reported schemas in sexual offenders

The aim of this study was to develop a self-report instrument to identify schemas in sexual offenders. A schema was defined as a structure, with cognitive contents such as attitudes, beliefs, rules and assumptions centred on a coherent theme, which directs some aspects of cognitive processing. A questionnaire containing items drawn from offenders' explanations for their offending was administered to 657 imprisoned sexual offenders. Exploratory factor analysis yielded two factors, labelled Dominance and Disadvantaged. Both factors showed good internal reliability, test–retest reliability and construct validity. The factors are best conceptualised as modes, containing cognitive-conceptual, motivational, behavioural and physiological components. It is likely that both modes play a role in sexual offending, but the nature of their influence needs further investigation.
Stability analysis of an interrupted circuit with fast-scale and slow-scale bifurcations

In this paper, we analyze stability of the fast-scale and slow-scale dynamics in an interrupted electric circuit. First, we show the full-bridge inverter, as the practical example, in which fast-scale and slow-scale bifurcations are observed. Next, we show our original circuit model and explain its dynamics. Using the sampled data model, we calculate stability of the fast-scale and slow-scale dynamics. Finally, we mathematically show that the period-doubling bifurcation, which occurs in the fast-scale dynamics, does not directly affect the stability of the slow-scale dynamics.
ERK 2 mediates oxytocin-stimulated PGE 2 synthesis

Strakova, Zuzana, JohnA. Copland, Stephen J. Lolait, and Melvyn S. Soloff. ERK2 mediates oxytocin-stimulated PGE2 synthesis. Am. J. Physiol. 274 (Endocrinol. Metab. 37): E634–E641, 1998. —Oxytocin (OT) induces PG synthesis by both uterine endometrial and amnion cells. We showed previously that CHO cells stably transfected with the rat oxytocin receptor (CHO-OTR cells) also synthesize PGE2 in response to OT. In the present work we have demonstrated that OTRs are coupled to both Gi and Gq/11, using immunoprecipitation of solubilized OTR complexes and ADP ribosylation. OT treatment caused the rapid phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 2 (ERK2 or p42MAPK), which was partially inhibited by pertussis toxin (PTX), consistent with OTR-Gi coupling. The PTX-insensitive portion of ERK2 phosphorylation was linked to Gq, as inhibitors of both phospholipase C (U-73122) and protein kinase C (GF-109203X) blocked OT-induced ERK2 phosphorylation. OT-stimulated c-fos expression was also mediated by ERK2 phosphorylation. The ERK-c-fos pathway has been shown to be associated with cell proliferation, but OT had no effect on [3H]thymidine uptake by CHO-OTR cells. However, inhibition of OT-induced ERK2 phosphorylation with an ERK kinase inhibitor (PD-98059) markedly reduced OT-stimulated PGE2 synthesis, pointing to the importance of ERK2 activation in OT action.
ESTABLISHING THE VALIDITY OF A SET OF SUMMATIVE TEACHING PERFORMANCE SCALES

ABSTRACT A policy at a New Zealand University to assess lecturers’ teaching performance as an administrative requirement provided for information to be obtained from the chairperson, colleagues, students and the individual being evaluated. In designing the summative scales to obtain student feedback, four conditions were seen as important for achieving a system acceptable to both lecturers and students. These conditions—length of scale, time to complete the scale, face validity of the scale and the acceptability of the procedures used to distribute the scales, together with the context within which teaching takes place at the Institution, provided constraints to the design of the summative scales. Following 98 lecturing and 43 course evaluations, the scales were subjected to a principal factor analysis. This analysis showed that the items most strongly related to overall teaching effectiveness, as assessed by students, included the lecturer's ability to communicate ideas and information and to stimulate i.
Coresets and their applications

In this thesis we investigate the construction and applications of coresets (small sets which approximately represent much larger input sets, in term of various objective measures) to several problems in geometric optimization. Bi-criteria approximation algorithms We consider the problem of approximating a set P of n points in R by a collection of k j-dimensional flats, and extensions thereof, under the median / mean / center measures, in which we wish to minimize, respectively, the sum of the Euclidean distances from each point of P to its nearest flat, the sum of the squares of these distances, and the maximum such distance. Problems of this kind belong to the area of projective clustering. Such problems cannot be approximated in polynomial time, for every approximation factor, unless P=NP but do allow bi-criteria approximations, where one allows some leeway in both the number of flats and the quality of the objective function. We give a very simple randomized bi-criteria approximation algorithm, which produces, with high probability, at most α(k, j, n) = log n · (jk log log n) flats, which exceeds the optimal objective value for any k jdimensional flats by a factor of no more than β(j) = 2. We use this bi-criteria approximation in the construction of coresets for projective clustering; see Chapter 4. Our bi-criteria algorithm has many advantages over previous work, in that it is much more widely applicable (wider set of objective functions and classes of clusters) and much more efficient — reducing the running time bound from O(n) to O(dn) · (jk). We give full details of this work in Chapter 3. A preliminary version has appeared in [FFSS07]; Since the publication of [FFSS07] in 2007 it has been cited and used in subsequent work [FL08, FFKN09, FMSW10].
Contradictory Behavioral Biases Result from the Influence of Past Stimuli on Perception

Biases such as the preference of a particular response for no obvious reason, are an integral part of psychophysics. Such biases have been reported in the common two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) experiments, where participants are instructed to compare two consecutively presented stimuli. However, the principles underlying these biases are largely unknown and previous studies have typically used ad-hoc explanations to account for them. Here we consider human performance in the 2AFC tone frequency discrimination task, utilizing two standard protocols. In both protocols, each trial contains a reference stimulus. In one (Reference-Lower protocol), the frequency of the reference stimulus is always lower than that of the comparison stimulus, whereas in the other (Reference protocol), the frequency of the reference stimulus is either lower or higher than that of the comparison stimulus. We find substantial interval biases. Namely, participants perform better when the reference is in a specific interval. Surprisingly, the biases in the two experiments are opposite: performance is better when the reference is in the first interval in the Reference protocol, but is better when the reference is second in the Reference-Lower protocol. This inconsistency refutes previous accounts of the interval bias, and is resolved when experiments statistics is considered. Viewing perception as incorporation of sensory input with prior knowledge accumulated during the experiment accounts for the seemingly contradictory biases both qualitatively and quantitatively. The success of this account implies that even simple discriminations reflect a combination of sensory limitations, memory limitations, and the ability to utilize stimuli statistics.
Tropical tropospheric ozone: Implications for dynamics and biomass burning

[1] This paper studies the significance of large-scale transport and pyrogenic (i.e., biomass burning) emissions in the production of tropospheric ozone in the tropics. Using aerosol index (AI) and tropospheric column ozone (TCO) time series from 1979 to 2000 derived from the Nimbus-7 and Earth Probe Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer measurements, our study shows significant differences in the seasonal and spatial characteristics of pyrogenic emissions north and south of the equator in the African region and Brazil in South America. Notwithstanding these differences, most of the observed seasonal characteristics are well simulated by the GEOS-CHEM global model of tropospheric chemistry. The only exception is the northern African region where modeled and observed TCO differ significantly. In the Indonesian region the most significant increase in TCO occurred during September–December 1997, following large-scale forest and savanna fires associated with the El Nino induced dry condition. The increase in TCO extended over most of the western Pacific well outside the burning region and was accompanied by a decrease in the eastern Pacific resembling a west-to-east dipole about the dateline. These features are well simulated in the GEOS-CHEM model which suggests that both the biomass burning and changes in meteorological conditions during the El Nino period contributed almost equally to the observed increase in TCO in the Indonesian region. During 1997 the net increase in TCO integrated over the tropical region between 15°N and 15°S was about 6–8 Tg (1 Tg = 1012 g) over the mean climatological value of about 77 Tg. The GEOS-CHEM model suggests that most of this increase may have been caused by biomass burning in the Indonesian region since dynamical components of El Nino induced changes in TCO tend to cancel out in the area-averaged data. In addition to biomass burning, the interannual variability in the area-averaged column ozone in the tropics is influenced by a number of factors including the quasi-biennial oscillation and solar cycle.
A preliminary examination of a nonpurging compensatory eating disorder.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate correlates of a compensatory eating disorder (CED) characterized by recurrent nonpurging compensatory behaviors in the absence of objectively large binge episodes among normal weight individuals who endorse undue influence of weight/shape on self-evaluation as possible indicators of clinical significance and distinctiveness. METHOD Women with CED (n = 20), women with bulimia nervosa (BN) (n = 20), and controls (n = 20) completed an interview and questionnaires assessing eating disorder and general psychopathology and weight history. RESULTS Compared with controls, women with CED reported significantly greater body image disturbance and disordered eating, higher anxiety proneness, increased perfectionism, and greater weight suppression. Compared with BN, CED was associated with significantly less body image disturbance, disordered eating, weight suppression, and lower likelihood of being overweight in childhood. However, CED and BN did not differ on anxiety proneness or perfectionism. DISCUSSION CED merits further examination to determine whether it is a clinically significant and distinct eating disorder.
Theoretical research on an 8mm traveling wave tube based on carbon nanotube cold cathode

An 8mm traveling wave tube (TWT) based on carbon nanotube (CNT) cold cathode is theoretically researched to develop millimeter-wave vacuum electron radiation source devices based on CNT cold cathode in this paper. A gridded sheet-beam CNT electron gun and staggered double vane slow-wave structure (SWS) is adopted in the 8mm TWT based on a periodic permanent magnetic system. Simulation results show that the maximum output power of the CNT TWT can reach 128 W at 32 GHz with an input power of 80 mW, corresponding to the maximum gain of 32 dB, when the operation voltage and beam current are 20 kV and 100 mA, respectively. And the 3-dB bandwidth of the CNT TWT is about 6 GHz.
Control of Plum pox virus through the use of genetically modified plants

La resistance au Plum pox virus (PPV) est une approche alternative fiable pour lutter a long terme contre ce virus. Parallelement a la genetique classique qui permet d'obtenir un cultivar resistant, la transgenese offre une approche alternative prometteuse pour parvenir a cette fin. Nous demontrons, en utilisant l'exemple du prunier C5, que les manipulations genetiques permettent de conferer a la plante un haut niveau de resistance au PPV qui est a la fois durable et stable. Les resultats des travaux avec C5 sont developpes ici, y compris les analyses moleculaires de resistance et les tests au champ.
Modeling Runoff Generation in a Small Snow‐Dominated Mountainous Catchment

Snowmelt in mountainous areas is an important contributor to river water flows in the western United States. We developed a distributed model that calculates solar radiation, canopy energy balance, surface energy balance, snow pack dynamics, soil water flow, snow–soil–bedrock heat exchange, soil water freezing, and lateral surface and subsurface water flow. The model was applied to describe runoff generation in a subcatchment of the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed near Boise, ID. Calibration was achieved by optimizing the soil water field capacity (a trigger for lateral subsurface flow), lateral saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, and vertical saturated hydraulic conductivity of the bedrock. Validation results show that the model can successfully calculate snow dynamics, soil water content, and soil temperature. Modeled streamflow for the validation period was underestimated by 53%. The timing of the streamflow was captured reasonably well (modeling efficiency was 0.48 for the validation period). The model calculations suggest that 50 to 53% of the yearly incoming precipitation in the subcatchment is consumed by evapotranspiration. The model results further suggest that 34 to 36% of the incoming precipitation is transformed into deep percolation into the bedrock, while only 11 to 16% is transformed into streamflow.
Accurate Prediction of Severe Allergic Reactions by a Small Set of Environmental Parameters (NDVI, Temperature)

Severe allergic reactions of unknown etiology,necessitating a hospital visit, have an important impact in the life of affected individuals and impose a major economic burden to societies. The prediction of clinically severe allergic reactions would be of great importance, but current attempts have been limited by the lack of a well-founded applicable methodology and the wide spatiotemporal distribution of allergic reactions. The valid prediction of severe allergies (and especially those needing hospital treatment) in a region, could alert health authorities and implicated individuals to take appropriate preemptive measures. In the present report we have collecterd visits for serious allergic reactions of unknown etiology from two major hospitals in the island of Crete, for two distinct time periods (validation and test sets). We have used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a satellite-based, freely available measurement, which is an indicator of live green vegetation at a given geographic area, and a set of meteorological data to develop a model capable of describing and predicting severe allergic reaction frequency. Our analysis has retained NDVI and temperature as accurate identifiers and predictors of increased hospital severe allergic reactions visits. Our approach may contribute towards the development of satellite-based modules, for the prediction of severe allergic reactions in specific, well-defined geographical areas. It could also probably be used for the prediction of other environment related diseases and conditions.
Multi-Degree-of-Freedom Stabilization of Large-Scale Photonic-Integrated Circuits

We present and elaborate the principles of a novel control and calibration (C&C) systematic approach, aiming at feedback stabilization of large scale photonic-integrated circuits (PIC) to their nominal operating points in D-dimensional spaces of tuning parameters, based on refinement of extremum-seeking (ES) real-time optimization techniques. The novel methodology enables, in principle, stabilizing a large number D of tuning degrees of freedom (DOF) of PICs, with just one optical power monitoring (probe) point. The proposed C&C digital controller ports multidimensional ES stabilization concepts to photonics for the first time and further introduces novel improvements to known ES techniques, proposing a new frame-based discrete-multitone method of actuation signals generation and probe signals detection, akin to an orthogonal-frequency-division multiplexing modulation format. Another novel element is that the iterative digital algorithm adaptively selects between gradient- versus Newton-based descent and between various methods of line search. This approach enables real-time application of unconstrained optimization techniques for C&C of photonic circuits with multiple tuning DOFs. The new technique is exemplified by numeric simulations of the stabilization of a Silicon photonic microring modulator with D = 2 tuning DOFs, concurrently tuning both resonant phase and a second coupling phase parameter, optimizing critical coupling into the microring based on observing the optical power at single low-frequency monitoring point.
Optimized approach of sobel edge detection technique using Xilinx system generator

In this paper a new method is utilized in which sobel X-Y edge detection combines with Gaussian filter using histogram stretching method. In recent days, the edge detection techniques come to the picture with a very important utilization in medical industry to detect tumors and fractures in the human body[1],[2],[3]. So In this paper we firstly propose a new optimized edge detection technique which is a better edge detection technique so far in our knowledge in terms of improved mean square error(MSE) and picture signal to noise ratio (PSNR) using very limited resources used in the SPARTAN 3A DSP 3400A development platform FPGA kit.