Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Moving Toward Collaboration

Summary Traditionally, organizations serving children and families have focused service delivery by available funding stream criteria. Federal funding streams supported fragmented services by tightly channeling monies to specific programs for specific needs. The intensity of providing and improving the delivery of services has overshadowed building connectedness across organizations and systems. Service has been the major goal and intense effort has gone into maximizing opportunities and measuring effects through service frequency. Over the past several years, new funding incentives have provided the opportunity for new collaboratives. This article describes an innovative collaboration between the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) and Eastern Washington University (EWU) and the unique directions and support that a university/agency partnership can provide for both organizations. Key features of this collaboration include shifts in funding and staffing strategies that contributed to more flexible services and increased levels of collaboration between IDHW, EWU and other community and state organizations and institutions. This article describes how funding can be viewed as a tool to increase the level of collaboration between systems, thus potentially leading to a breakdown of the traditional service delivery system. Finally, this article describes how an agency/higher education partnership played a key role in documenting the success of a school based program in meeting the emergency assistance needs of children and families, and how program evaluation, like funding requirements, can provide a supportive role in building collaborative relationships.
A gender preference measure: the sex ratio at last birth

A number of indicators have been proposed to measure sex discrimination. These make use of both exhaustive sources and sample surveys (Pinnelli, 1997). Many of these suggested indicators use data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), thus obtaining nationally comparable measures, that can be constructed referring to a common source (Arnold, 1997). The opportunity of using the sex-ratio (100xM/F) at last birth (SRLB) as a gender discrimination indicator will be focused on here. The underlying principle is as follows: when natural fertility no longer prevails (where the probability of having a child depends neither on gender or order of children already born) and where discrimination against daughters is common, couples tend to halt fertility after the birth of a son. If this occurs, the SRLB can deviate from, 105, even when the sex-ratio (global and in each birth order) fluctuates around 105. This phenomenon has been pinpointed elsewhere, and the SRLB calculated and proposed as a measure of gender preference (Park, 1997; Arnold 1997, table 4.9). Nevertheless, in our opinion, the full potential of this indicator has yet to be unveiled. To provide some insight into our proposed use of the indicator, let us take a theoretical situation where each couple has complete control over fertility, does not practise selective abortion, and stops having children when their first son is born. By supposing, for the sake of simplicity, a sex ratio of 100, each couple would have an average of two children, with a sex ratio by order always equal to 100, but with a very high SRLB (figure 1). Three practical examples may be given. The first concerns Okinawa (the most Southern Japanese prefecture) where a fertility analysis was performed in 1976, involving 106 married women aged 40-49 years, during the fertility transition. While selective abortion was not practised (the total sex-ratio was 105), the SRLB was 141, showing a clear preference for a son, a fact also noted elsewhere (Nishioka, 1994).
Credit Risk Modeling and CDS Valuation

The goal of this paper is to determine the Incremental Risk Charge (IRC) and the Comprehensive Risk Measure (CRM) of a portfolio consisting of credit derivatives and tranches. More specifically, we implement different methods to calibrate default intensity models, backtest our IRC calculations over historical data, and focus our attention on a basket of Credit Default Swaps (CDS).
Improvement in Performance of Tamil Phoneme Recognition using Variable Length and Hybrid Language Models

In this work, the performance of Tamil phoneme recognition system was improved by using language models at the recognition phase. The speech signals were segmented at phonetic level using the language models to identify segmentation points. The phoneme level recognition was done using a similarity measure, based on the acoustic characteristics of the phoneme signal. The errors in the recognized phoneme sequences were then detected and corrected using a language model designed based on the integration of a variable length phoneme language model and inter-word hybrid language model. The performance of phoneme recognition system was improved by using the language models
Accurate LTE abundances of seven well established Bootis stars

High resolution and high signal-to-noise CCD spec- tra were analyzed to determine accurate LTE abundances for seven well established Bootis stars (a group of A to F-type stars with strong underabundances of Fe-peak elements whereas the C, N, O and S appear to be solar abundant): HD 31295, HD 125162, HD 142994, HD 149303, HD 192640, HD 204041 and HD 221756. In general, 13 elements were investigated. The effective temperatures of our program stars range from 7200 to 9000 K. The main results are the following: C, O, Na and S seem to be nearly solar abundant for all investigated stars. A wide range of underabundances within the individual stars exists for all other elements. No correlation of the individual abundances with astrophys- ical parameters such as Te , log g and v sin i was found. These results are consistent with the accretion/diffusion model which is currently adopted for the explanation of the Bootis phenomenon.
Analytical Assessment of the Effect of Backoffs and Retransmissions on the Performance of ALOHA and CSMA in Manets

This paper considers the impact of backoffs and retransmissions on the performance of the ALOHA and CSMA protocols in wireless mobile ad hoc networks. In our network model, packets belonging to specific transmitters arrive randomly in space and time according to a 3-D PPP, and are then transmitted to their intended destinations using a fully-distributed MAC protocol. A packet transmission is considered successful if it is initiated and the received SINR is above a predefined threshold for the duration of the packet. Approximate expressions are derived for the outage probability of ALOHA (slotted and unslotted) and CSMA (with transmitter sensing and with receiver sensing), as a function of the transmission density and the number of backoff and retransmission attempts. Simulations verify our analytical expressions, and it is shown that the outage probability is a decreasing function of the maximum allowable number of backoffs and retransmissions. By allowing for high number of backoffs, CSMA with receiver sensing can even outperform slotted ALOHA. For high number of retransmissions, however, ALOHA may outperform CSMA. Finally, the average transmission delay of packets is also evaluated through simulations.
A Statistical Guide to the Design of Deep Mutational Scanning Experiments

The characterization of the distribution of mutational effects is a key goal in evolutionary biology. Recently developed deep-sequencing approaches allow for accurate and simultaneous estimation of the fitness effects of hundreds of engineered mutations by monitoring their relative abundance across time points in a single bulk competition. Naturally, the achievable resolution of the estimated fitness effects depends on the specific experimental setup, the organism and type of mutations studied, and the sequencing technology utilized, among other factors. By means of analytical approximations and simulations, we provide guidelines for optimizing time-sampled deep-sequencing bulk competition experiments, focusing on the number of mutants, the sequencing depth, and the number of sampled time points. Our analytical results show that sampling more time points together with extending the duration of the experiment improves the achievable precision disproportionately compared with increasing the sequencing depth or reducing the number of competing mutants. Even if the duration of the experiment is fixed, sampling more time points and clustering these at the beginning and the end of the experiment increase experimental power and allow for efficient and precise assessment of the entire range of selection coefficients. Finally, we provide a formula for calculating the 95%-confidence interval for the measurement error estimate, which we implement as an interactive web tool. This allows for quantification of the maximum expected a priori precision of the experimental setup, as well as for a statistical threshold for determining deviations from neutrality for specific selection coefficient estimates.
Bioactive chromone constituents from Vitex negundo alleviate pain and inflammation

Background Vitex negundo L. has been widely studied for its beneficial effect in inflammatory and pain conditions. The present study describes the isolation of two new bioactive chromone constituents from V. negundo and their in vivo evaluation for anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities. Methods Two new chromone derivatives, namely, methyl 3-(2-(5-hydroxy-6-methoxy-4-oxo-4H-chromen-2-yl)ethyl)benzoate (1) and 3-(1-hydroxy-2-(5-hydroxy-6-methoxy-4-oxo-4H-chromen-2-yl)ethyl)benzoic acid (2) were isolated from V. negundo and their structures were determined through various spectroscopic techniques including mass spectrometry, UV, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and two-dimensional-NMR like correlation spectroscopy and heteronuclear multiple bond correlation techniques. The isolated compounds (1–2) were tested for their prospective antinociceptive activity in acetic acid-induced abdominal constriction assay and anti-inflammatory activity in the carrageenan-induced paw edema assay in mice. Results Significant attenuation (P<0.001) of tonic visceral nociception was demonstrated by compound 1 and 2 at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg. At similar doses, these compounds (1–2) also showed potent amelioration (P<0.001) of carrageenan-induced paw swelling. Conclusion The isolated chromone derivatives (1–2) from V. negundo are able to alleviate nociception and inflammation and the findings corroborated that V. negundo may be used as a potential source of antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory candidates.
Telemedical assessment of the level of energy expenditure in overweight and obese individuals

Introduction Increasing the energy expenditure above the elementary level of metabolism by undertaking regular physical activity causes body mass reduction and its maintenance at a healthy level. Aim To remote assessment of the level of physical activity in a group of overweight and obese individuals. Material and methods The research was conducted in the Department of Rehabilitation at the Institute of Rural Health, Lublin, Poland, and included a group of 514 volunteers of both genders (38 ±12 years). The examined group was divided into three subgroups depending on the body mass index (BMI) level (I – normal, II – overweight, III – obese). The level of physical activity at home was assessed based of the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), conducted by means of a mobile application, and was compared with data registered by the accelerometer of a smartphone. Results The IPAQ-assessed level of the physical activity expressed in MET-min/week amounted to the following values: group I: 5190.38 ±6629.84, group II: 5099.53 ±6380.97, group III: 3939.31 ±4000.73; and the caloric cost (cal × week–1) amounted to: group I: 5825.47 ±7512.99, group II: 7204.09 ±9187.96), and group III: 7002.10 ±7296.22. Registered levels of physical activity (MET-min/week) were lower than IPAQ-assessed: in group I (3741.24 ±3958.29), in group II (2447.72 ±2156.44) and in group III (1927.42 ±1790.85) (p < 0.05). Conclusions The average values of energy expenditure showed a declining tendency, together with an increase in the BMI. On the other hand, the total weekly caloric cost showed the lowest average values in the group with normal body mass.
Model-based and empirical evaluation of multimodal interactive error correction

Our research addresses the problem of error correction in speechuser interfaces. Previous work hypothesized that switching modalitycould speed up interactive correction of recognition errors(so-called multimodal error correction). We present a user studythat compares, on a dictation task, multimodal error correctionwith conventional interactive correction, such as speaking again,choosing Tom a list, and keyboard input. Results show thatmultimodal correction is faster than conventional correctionwithout keyboard input, but slower than correction by typing forusers with good typing skills. Furthermore, while users initiallyprefer speech, they learn to avoid ineffective correctionmodalities with experience. To extrapolate results from this userstudy we developed a performance model of multimodal interactionthat predicts input speed including time needed for errorcorrection. We apply the model to estimate the impact ofrecognition technology improvements on correction speeds and theinfluence of recognition accuracy and correction method on theproductivity of dictation systems. Our model is a first steptowards formalizing multimodal (recognition-based) interaction.
Effect of continuous rotational therapy on intracranial pressure in the severely brain‐injured patient

ObjectiveTo determine the effect of continuous rotational therapy on the dynamics of intracranial pressure. DesignA controlled, prospective evaluation of intracranial pressure during continuous rotation therapy. SettingNeuroscience intensive care unit in a university hospital. PatientsA total of 58 severely brain-injured patients (Glasgow Coma Score of <9) ranging in age from 14 to 81 yrs. InterventionsAll patients had intraventricular catheters placed to continuously monitor intracranial pressure and all patients were placed on continuous rotational therapy once stabilized. Measurements and Main ResultsIntracranial pressure data were measured in each patient during nonrotation and these data were compared with intracranial pressure data during rotation, thus allowing each patient to serve as their own control. In addition, the intracranial pressure during rotation (40° from center) was further analyzed to determine the effect of angulation on the intracranial pressure. Analysis of computer-recorded intracranial pressure data showed no significant difference in intracranial pressure measured during rotation and nonrotation over the first 5 days postinjury. Minimal differences in intracranial pressure (<1 to 2 mm Hg) were noted in right/center/left positions. It was also determined that intracranial pressure increased up to 6.5 mm Hg (p = .12) in patients who presented with a unilateral lesion on admission computed tomography when they rotated to the side of the lesion. However, these fluctuations did not promote additional intracranial pressure management. ConclusionsWe conclude that the systemic benefits known to be derived from the use of continuous rotation therapy in the severely head-injured patient can be sustained without any deleterious effects on the intracranial pressure.
Measuring flow in programming education

Programming is a problematic subject to learn due to various factors that impact teaching, learning, and the environment. This research is concerned with creating a suitable measurement which could be used to compare flow levels achieved between weak and strong novice students, where flow is a state of mind where people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. It is expected that this measure would then be used to analyse other issues in programming education and software engineering.
Diffusing-Wave Spectroscopy of Dynamics in a Three-Dimensional Granular Flow

Diffusing-wave spectroscopy was used to measure the microscopic dynamics of grains in the interior of a three-dimensional flow of sand. The correlation functions show that minutely separated grains fly from collision to collision with large random velocities. On a time scale 103 to 104 times longer than the average time between collisions, the grains displayed slow, collective rearrangements, which, at the long-time limit, produced diffusive dynamics.
Predicting Exchange Rate Volatility: Genetic Programming Versus GARCH and RiskMetrics

This article investigates the use of genetic programming to forecast out-of-sample daily volatility in the foreign exchange market. Forecasting performance is evaluated relative to GARCH(1,1) and RiskMetrics models for two currencies, DEM and JPY. Although the GARCH/RiskMetrics models appear to have a inconsistent marginal edge over the genetic program using the mean-squared-error (MSE) and R2 criteria, the genetic program consistently produces lower mean absolute forecast errors (MAE) at all horizons and for both currencies.
Serious Games to Teach Ethics

In this paper, we are focusing on digital serious games (edugames) and how they can be utilized in teaching in the ethics and citizenship domain. Our aim is to combine narrative techniques with intelligent tutoring techniques in a single model that adopts and based on educational theories and classroom educational strategies. The model has been used to implement an adaptive educational interactive narrative system (AEINS). AEINS is an inquiry based edugame to support teaching ethics. The AEINS version presented in this paper targets students between the age of 8 and 11. The idea is centered around presenting and involving students in different moral dilemmas (called teaching moments) within which the Socratic Method is the used pedagogy in the teaching process. AEINS monitors and analyzes the students actions in order to provide an individualized story-path and an individualized learning process. The student is an active participant in the educational process and is able to interact with the edugame as a first person player. We claim that such interaction can help in developing new or deeper thoughts about different moral situations. Our aim is to contribute to the design of serious games and help raise awareness of ethics and citizenship in children.
Cognitive Load Theory: Schema Acquisition and Sources of Cognitive Load

INTRODUCTION The previous chapter outlined the general features of human cognitive architecture relevant to learning. According to this architecture, our schematic knowledge base in long-term memory represents the major critical factor influencing the way we learn new information. In the absence of a relevant knowledge base for a specific situation or task, we apply random search processes to select appropriate actions. Any modifications to our knowledge base for dealing with novel situations occur only under certain restrictive conditions on the amount of such change. Based on these general characteristics of learning within a cognitive load framework, it is possible to formulate general instructional principles that support processes of schema acquisition and enable understanding and learning. This chapter suggests a number of such Cognitive Load Theory (CLT)–generated principles for efficient instruction aimed at acquisition of an organized knowledge base: a direct initial instruction principle, an expertise principle, and a small step-size of change principle. To substantiate these principles, it is necessary first to describe in more detail the concept of schematic knowledge structures and analyze sources of cognitive load that are irrelevant to learning processes. LEARNING AS SCHEMA ACQUISITION Schemas represent knowledge as stable patterns of relationships between elements describing some classes of structures that are abstracted from specific instances and used to categorize such instances. Multiple schemas can be linked together and organized into hierarchical structures.
Believable virtual environment : sensory and perceptual believability

Believability is a term to measure a level of realism in the interactive virtual environment. In this paper, the believability is described in two layered manner. The elementary layer consists of fundamental aspect of the system including immersion, presentation and interaction. These aspects are discussed in uniand multi-sensory channel including visual, auditory and haptic. In a higher layer, emotion and personality is one of the main issues to provoke believability. The effects of elements are described in perception and generation of motions.
Evolución del razonamiento analógico en niños: seguimiento desde los seis hasta los once años de edad

The aim of this study is to establish the time and period of development of Analogical Reasoning (AR) and evaluate its independence and performance with respect to the age. We performed a longitudinal cohort study of two age groups and six annual follow-up phases from each one (2000-2005, 2001-2006) in six to eleven years-old children in the city of Huanuco (Peru) with a sample of 167 children (first stage), and N=121 (sixth stage). The Raven’s progressive matrices test, coloured version, was applied individually without time limits. Results indicate that AR development occurs in a constant and late way from seven to eleven years-old children, and also that there is independence between the ability of AR and the children age. We discuss the importance of knowledge in the relationships between analogies topics, adjusted to the age, as a mediating factor in the development of AR.
Pioglitazone Decreases Plasma Cholesteryl Ester Transfer Protein Mass, Associated With a Decrease in Hepatic Triglyceride Content, in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE Thiazolidinediones reduce hepatic steatosis and increase HDL cholesterol levels. In mice with human-like lipoprotein metabolism (APOE*3-Leiden.CETP transgenic mice), a decrease in hepatic triglyceride content is associated with a decrease in plasma cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) mass and an increase in HDL levels. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the effects of pioglitazone on CETP mass in patients with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We included 78 men with type 2 diabetes (aged 56.5 ± 0.6 years; HbA1c 7.1 ± 0.1%) who were randomly assigned to treatment with pioglitazone (30 mg/day) or metformin (2000 mg/day) and matching placebo, in addition to glimepiride. At baseline and after 24 weeks of treatment plasma HDL cholesterol levels and CETP mass were measured, and hepatic triglyceride content was assessed by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. RESULTS Pioglitazone decreased hepatic triglyceride content (5.9 [interquartile range 2.6–17.4] versus 4.1 [1.9–12.3]%, P < 0.05), decreased plasma CETP mass (2.33 ± 0.10 vs. 2.06 ± 0.10 μg/ml, P < 0.05), and increased plasma HDL cholesterol level (1.22 ± 0.05 vs. 1.34 ± 0.05 mmol/l, P < 0.05). Metformin did not significantly change any of these parameters. CONCLUSIONS A decrease in hepatic triglyceride content by pioglitazone is accompanied by a decrease in plasma CETP mass and associated with an increase in HDL cholesterol levels. These results in patients with type 2 diabetes fully confirm recent findings in mice.
Hybrid zero-forcing beamforming/orthogonal beamforming with user selection for MIMO broadcast channels

This letter proposes a hybrid transmission scheme by combining zero-forcing beamforming (ZFBF) and orthogonal beamforming (OBF) for the multiple-input multiple-output broadcast channel. This method first utilizes ZFBF for only a part of the scheduled users with approximately orthogonal channels. By further constructing orthogonal beamformers in the null space of the ZFBF user channels, it then employs OBF for the rest of users to fully exploit the spatial dimension. Theoretical analysis, as well as simulation results, verify that our scheme outperforms the conventional ZFBF scheme and OBF scheme with user selection.