Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Padepokan Karakter: Model of Character Development

This study was aimed at describing the portraits of the factual management model of character reinforcement applied nowadays, developing the hypothetical management model of character reinforcement in Padepokan Karakter or a character hermitage. This research was conducted under research and development approaches. The subjects of this research were the informants (students, lecturers, teachers, school principals), documents, and events. The data were collected through interviews, observations, documentations, considerations of specialists and practitioners, focused group discussions, and questionnaires. The results indicated that the factual model of character reinforcement was done by integrating characters on subjects described in the functions of planning, implementation, and evaluation. The development of management models of character reinforcement recommended in this research was managed through the function of planning, organizing, implementing and controlling the characters in the character hermitage. The device of character reinforcement available in the character hermitage was effective and influential to reinforce the students ‘ character.
Neural Network Reorganization Analysis During an Auditory Oddball Task in Schizophrenia Using Wavelet Entropy

The aim of the present study was to characterize the neural network reorganization during a cognitive task in schizophrenia (SCH) by means of wavelet entropy (WE). Previous studies suggest that the cognitive impairment in patients with SCH could be related to the disrupted integrative functions of neural circuits. Nevertheless, further characterization of this effect is needed, especially in the time-frequency domain. This characterization is sensitive to fast neuronal dynamics and their synchronization that may be an important component of distributed neuronal interactions; especially in light of the disconnection hypothesis for SCH and its electrophysiological correlates. In this work, the irregularity dynamics elicited by an auditory oddball paradigm were analyzed through synchronized-averaging (SA) and single-trial (ST) analyses. They provide complementary information on the spatial patterns involved in the neural network reorganization. Our results from 20 healthy controls and 20 SCH patients showed a WE decrease from baseline to response both in controls and SCH subjects. These changes were significantly more pronounced for healthy controls after ST analysis, mainly in central and frontopolar areas. On the other hand, SA analysis showed more widespread spatial differences than ST results. These findings suggest that the activation response is weakly phase-locked to stimulus onset in SCH and related to the default mode and salience networks. Furthermore, the less pronounced changes in WE from baseline to response for SCH patients suggest an impaired ability to reorganize neural dynamics during an oddball task.
Stressors and Coping Strategies of State University Students in a Developing Country

The study examined stressors and coping strategies of 281 Social Sciences students at the Midlands State University in Zimbabwe (49% female, 51% male). A questionnaire was used to collect data. The results showed that the 7 most common stressors were: finance, reading resources, accommodation, food, transport, inadequate infrastructure and lecturer related problems. The students mentioned 34 coping strategies that were categorized and then analysed for effectiveness. The effects of sex, residence status and academic year differences were evaluated using Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis rank order analysis of variance. There were no significant differences in coping strategies for stressors by demographic variables.
Machine Translation Meets Frequent Case Generation in Query Translation Based CLIR Kimmo Kettunen

In this paper we introduce evaluation results of Cross-language information retrieval for two small languages, Finnish and Swedish. Our approach is based on machine translation of topics and usage of the Frequent Case Generation method for management of query term variation in translated topics. Retrieval results of more standard query term variation management approaches, such as stemming and lemmatization of translated topics, are also shown.
DNA polymerase II as a fidelity factor in chromosomal DNA synthesis in Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli DNA polymerase III holoenzyme (HE) is the main replicase responsible for replication of the bacterial chromosome. E. coli contains four additional polymerases, and it is a relevant question whether these might also contribute to chromosomal replication and its fidelity. Here, we have investigated the role of DNA polymerase II (Pol II) (polB gene product). Mismatch repair‐defective strains containing the polBex1 allele – encoding a polymerase‐proficient but exonucleolytically defective Pol II – displayed a mutator activity for four different chromosomal lac mutational markers. The mutator effect was dependent on the chromosomal orientation of the lacZ gene. The results indicate that Pol II plays a role in chromosomal replication and that its role is not equal in leading‐ versus lagging‐strand replication. In particular, the role of Pol II appeared larger in the lagging strand. When combined with dnaQ or dnaE mutator alleles, polBex1 showed strong, near multiplicative effects. The results fit a model in which Pol II acts as proofreader for HE‐produced misinsertion errors. A second role of Pol II is to protect mismatched 3′ termini against the mutagenic action of polymerase IV (dinB product). Overall, Pol II may be considered a main player in the polymerase trafficking at the replication fork.
Planar strain analysis of liver undergoing microwave thermal ablation using x-ray CT.

PURPOSE To study the planar strain effects in liver during microwave (MW) thermal ablation as a means for tracking tissue expansion and contraction as a method for improving ablation monitoring. METHODS 1.4 mm circular metallic markers were inserted into 16 ex-vivo bovine fresh liver specimens, that were subsequently ablated (with the markers inside the specimen) by 40 W of microwave energy, for 1, 2, 3, 6, and 10 min. The markers were tracked during the ablation using an x-ray CT scanner. Images were acquired every 5-10 s enabling determination of the markers' coordinates over time. The 2D principal strains were calculated for triangles formed by subgroups of three markers, and their planar strain index, Ω, was plotted vs time. In addition, the radial distance of the markers from the antenna was measured at the end of each ablation. Subsequently, the tissue was sliced parallel to the imaged planes and the ablation zone was traced and digitized. The average ablation radius was then computed and compared to the radial distance. RESULTS The planar strain, Ω(t), profile demonstrated an ascending pattern until reaching a maximum at about 180 s, with a mean peak value (Ω = 1.31 ± 0.04) indicating tissue expansion. Thereafter, Ω progressively declined over the remaining duration of the ablation treatment, indicating tissue contraction. Furthermore, when plotting the ablation size vs time and the markers' mean radial distance vs time, it was found that the two curves intercepted at a time corresponding to the time of peak planar strain. CONCLUSIONS By detecting the point of maximal planar strain in tissues during MW application, it is possible to noninvasively identify the location of the ablation zone front. The fact that the liver tissue proximal to the ablated zone expands during the first part of the treatment and then contracts when the ablation front reaches it, may serve as an index for monitoring the thermal treatment.
How to Estimate the Regularization Parameter for Spectral Regression Discriminant Analysis and its Kernel Version?

Spectral regression discriminant analysis (SRDA) has recently been proposed as an efficient solution to large-scale subspace learning problems. There is a tunable regularization parameter in SRDA, which is critical to algorithm performance. However, how to automatically set this parameter has not been well solved until now. So this regularization parameter was only set to be a constant in SRDA, which is obviously suboptimal. This paper proposes to automatically estimate the optimal regularization parameter of SRDA based on the perturbation linear discriminant analysis (PLDA). In addition, two parameter estimation methods for the kernel version of SRDA are also developed. One is derived from the method of optimal regularization parameter estimation for SRDA. The other is to utilize the kernel version of PLDA. Experiments on a number of publicly available databases demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods for face recognition, spoken letter recognition, handwritten digit recognition, and text categorization.
BMPR IA Downstream Genes Related to VSD

Cardiac-specific deletion of the receptor IA of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) (ALK3) by Cre recombinase driven under the α-MHC promoter is lethal in mid-gestation with defects in the interventricular septum [ventricular septum defect (VSD)]. Analysis of expression of the ALK3 downstream genes is important to identify the signaling pathway for interventricular septum development. The mRNA expression level of a control group was compared with that of a test group. ALK3 downstream genes were screened using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-select cDNA subtraction and microarray. It was found that the mice with an ALK3 knockout gene produced a VSD. The expression of some genes such as platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase (PAF) and Pax-8 was down-regulated in the test group. Pax-8 gene expression was down-regulated by 7.1 times in the test group and expressed specifically in the 11.5-d embryonic (E11.5) heart. Furthermore, the expression of the protein-tyrosine kinase of the focal adhesion kinase subfamily (PTK) and β subtype protein 14-3-3 was up-regulated in the test group. PTK gene expression was up-regulated by 3.7 times in the test group. These data provided support that the ALK3 gene plays an important role during heart development. The PAF and Pax-8 genes could be important ALK3 downstream genes in the BMP signaling pathway during interventricular septum development. PTK and β subtype protein 14-3-3 might be regulatory factors in this pathway.
AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)

Wireless phone services acceptance may be fundamentally different from traditional systems acceptance or online purchase adoption, partly because it includes acceptance of both technology products and services, and partly because the characteristics of wireless service providers also have roles to play. To understand these differences we study antecedents to Technology Acceptance Model’s (TAM) perceived usefulness and ease of use in wireless phone services context. Two characteristics of wireless service providers are identified: company affect and perceived company helpfulness. We collected data from 1,667 U.S. citizens. Results reveal that both company affect and company helpfulness are significant antecedents to user acceptance of wireless phone services. Moreover, our study of these antecedents has practical applicability as it deepens the understanding of the phenomenon and can provide advices for wireless service providers
Sketch-based tree modeling using Markov random field

In this paper, we describe a new system for converting a user's freehand sketch of a tree into a full 3D model that is both complex and realistic-looking. Our system does this by probabilistic optimization based on parameters obtained from a database of tree models. The best matching model is selected by comparing its 2D projections with the sketch. Branch interaction is modeled by a Markov random field, subject to the constraint of 3D projection to sketch. Our system then uses the notion of self-similarity to add new branches before finally populating all branches with leaves of the user's choice. We show a variety of natural-looking tree models generated from freehand sketches with only a few strokes.
Content validation of key features on a national examination of clinical decision‐making skills

Key features (KFs) represent the critical, or essential, steps in the identification and management of a clinical problem. KFs for 59 clinical problems were defined by members of a test committee for the Medical Council of Canada as part of their efforts to create a more valid written examination of clinical decision-making skills for the Canadian Qualifying Examination in Medicine. In order to evaluate the content validity of KFs that the test committee had defined for the examination, 99 physicians from outside the committee, who came from clerkship programs at all 16 of Canada's medical schools, participated in three studies conducted in 1991. The first study was retrospective and was designed to find the degree of agreement or disagreement that the outside physicians had with the KFs already defined for each problem by the committee members. The second study was prospective and was to compare the KFs generated de novo by the participants with those already defined by the committee members. The third study was to gather the outside physicians' opinions of the frequencies with which graduating students in Canada are exposed to the 59 problems used in the retrospective and prospective studies. Almost all the KFs defined by the test committee were corroborated by the outside physicians, 92% in the retrospective study and 94% in the prospective one. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Privatization Methods and Economic Growth

In low-income countries privatization, if implemented appropriately, may play an important role in generating growth. Using data recently available from Central and Eastern Europe, we therefore investigate the impact of alternative methods of privatization on economic growth. Our analysis suggests that the use of conventional privatization methods to match owners with firms can be inefficient in economies with underdeveloped capital markets, particularly if wealth is poorly correlated with managerial and entrepreneurial ability. In these circumstances mass privatization,with firms being given away or sold at a nominal price, may be the appropriate policy choice.
A Compression Technique for Large Statistical Data-Bases

In this paper we explore the compression of large statistical databases and propose techniques for organizing the compressed data, such that the time required to access the data is logarithmic. Our techniques are variations of run-length encoding, in which modified run-lengths for the series are extracted from the data stream and stored in a header, which is used to form the base level of a B-tree index into the database. The run-lengths are cumulative, and therefore the access time of the data is logarithmic in the size of the header. We discuss the details of the compression scheme and its implementation, present several special cases and give an analysis of the relative performance of the various versions.
Effective Implementation of Basic Operations for Information Retrieval

In the article we describe the approach to par- allel implementation of elementary operations for textual data categorization. In the experiments we evaluate par- allel computations of similarity matrices and k-means al- gorithm. The test datasets have been prepared as graphs created from Wikipedia articles related with links. W also present the approach to computing pairs of eigenvectors and eigenvalues for visualizations of the datasets. The implemented basic operations: computing similarity ma- trix, data clustering and spectral analysis have been used in our system for visualization of the Wikipedia catego- ries on SOM as well as in a system for categorization search results in Wikipedia.
The Impact of Depletion Region Potential Modulation on Ion-Induced Current Transient Response

Transient capture measurements on an irradiated diode show the effect of increasing ion LET and varying strike location on transient current response. Significant modulation of the electrostatic potential in the device depletion region during and after the strike profoundly affects transient characteristics. The peak transient current tends to saturate with increasing ionization intensity. The saturation depends on device parameters and the applied bias. A previously developed analytical model is used to describe the mechanisms responsible for this trend. Ion strikes near the device contacts produce transients that are significantly different than strikes away from the contacts, but still in the active region of the device. This is attributed to well potential modulation effects. Device-level simulations, broadbeam heavy-ion measurements, and two-photon absorption single-event effects testing are used to investigate these phenomena. The implications of these results for highly-scaled technologies are also discussed.
A study on efficient compression of multi-focus images for dense Light-Field reconstruction

Light-Field enables us to observe scenes from free viewpoints. However, it generally consists of 4-D enormous data, that are not suitable for storing or transmitting without effective compression. 4-D Light-Field is very redundant because essentially it includes just 3-D scene information. Actually, although robust 3-D scene estimation such as depth recovery from Light-Field is not so easy, a method of reconstructing Light-Field directly from 3-D information composed of multi-focus images without any scene estimation is successfully derived. Previously, based on the method, Light-Field compression via synthesized multi-focus images as effective representation of 3-D scenes was proposed. In this paper, we study efficient compression of multi-focus images synthesized from dense Light-Field by using DWT instead of DCT-based compression in order to suppress degradation such as block noise. Quality of reconstructed Light-Field is evaluated by PSNR and SSIM for analyzing characteristics of residuals. Experimental results reveal that our method is much superior to Light-Field compression using disparity-compensation at low bit-rate.
Worst-case efficient range search indexing: invited tutorial

In this tutorial we will describe some of the recent advances in the development of worst-case efficient range search indexing structures, that is, structures for storing a set of data points such that the points in a axis-parallel (hyper-) query rectangle can be found efficiently (with as few disk accesses - or I/Os - as possible). We first quickly discuss the well-known and optimal structure for the one-dimensional version of the problem, the B-tree [10, 12], along with its variants weight-balanced B-trees [9], multi-version (or persistent) B-trees [6, 11, 13, 22] and buffer-trees [4]. Then we discuss the external priority search tree [8], which solves a restricted version of the two-dimensional version of the problem where the query rectangle is unbounded on one side. This structure is then used in a range tree index structure [8, 21] that answers general two-dimensional queries in the same number of I/Os as the B-tree in the one-dimensional case, but using super-linear space. We also describe the linear space kdB-tree [19, 20] and O-tree [17] index structures that also solve the problem efficiently (but using more I/Os than the range tree). A detailed presentation of all the the above structures can be found in lecture notes by the author [5]. Finally, we also discuss lower bounds techniques, most notably the theory of indexability [16], that can be used to prove that both the range tree and kdB-tree/O-tree are optimal among query efficient and linear space structures, respectively [2, 8, 17], as well as recent index structures for higher-dimensional range search indexing [1]. We end by mentioning various R-tree variant [7, 18, 15] that can be used to solve the extended version of range search indexing where the queries as well as the data are (hyper-) rectangles. More comprehensive surveys of efficient index structures can be found in [3, 14, 23].
Development and validation of open-source software for DNA mixture interpretation based on a quantitative continuous model

In criminal investigations, forensic scientists need to evaluate DNA mixtures. The estimation of the number of contributors and evaluation of the contribution of a person of interest (POI) from these samples are challenging. In this study, we developed a new open-source software “Kongoh” for interpreting DNA mixture based on a quantitative continuous model. The model uses quantitative information of peak heights in the DNA profile and considers the effect of artifacts and allelic drop-out. By using this software, the likelihoods of 1–4 persons’ contributions are calculated, and the most optimal number of contributors is automatically determined; this differs from other open-source software. Therefore, we can eliminate the need to manually determine the number of contributors before the analysis. Kongoh also considers allele- or locus-specific effects of biological parameters based on the experimental data. We then validated Kongoh by calculating the likelihood ratio (LR) of a POI’s contribution in true contributors and non-contributors by using 2–4 person mixtures analyzed through a 15 short tandem repeat typing system. Most LR values obtained from Kongoh during true-contributor testing strongly supported the POI’s contribution even for small amounts or degraded DNA samples. Kongoh correctly rejected a false hypothesis in the non-contributor testing, generated reproducible LR values, and demonstrated higher accuracy of the estimated number of contributors than another software based on the quantitative continuous model. Therefore, Kongoh is useful in accurately interpreting DNA evidence like mixtures and small amounts or degraded DNA samples.
Short-term effect of UVR on vertical distribution of Cyrtograpsus altimanus and Alexandrium tamarense from Atlantic Patagonia

Many marine species spend part of their development in upper layers of the water column, where they may be exposed to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR). For many of these species, light is one of the key environmental clues which triggers behaviorally-mediated adjustments in vertical distribution. We incubated planktonic larvae of the crab Cyrtograpsus altimanus in column-like aquaria to study their responses with/without UVR (under a solar simulator) and with/without a potential prey (the dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense). Their vertical distribution was recorded and used to evaluate the combined effects of UVR and the presence of the dinoflagellate on larval behavior. When UVR was absent, most larvae showed a tendency to swim upwards and to aggregate near the surface, regardless of the dinoflagellate presence. However, UVR inhibited this tendency and induced a repellent effect, which resulted in a more homogeneous vertical distribution of larvae. A. tamarense did not affect the vertical distribution of larvae. These results suggest that UVR-triggered, quick adjustments in vertical distribution might be an important strategy for C. altimanus larvae to cope with high solar radiation, which typically occur during the hatching season.