Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effectiveness of the Keyword Method for Receptive and Productive Foreign Vocabulary Learning in the Elderly

Abstract This paper reports on an experiment in which a group of elderly healthy active female subjects were required to learn 20 Spanish vocabulary items using the keyword method of foreign language learning. This involves using a mediator to link an English word to its Spanish target. As West (1995) has recently pointed out, despite considerable evidence that the keyword method is effective for normal populations, there is little work studying its effectiveness in elderly populations. The present study shows that the keyword method significantly enhances recall of the English word given its Spanish equivalent (receptive learning) and significantly enhances the learning of Spanish equivalents of English words (productive learning) using a “soft” criterion of correctness, compared to a control group given no instruction on how to learn. This latter finding fits in with previous studies showing the effectiveness of the keyword method in productive learning to the extent that the keyword and the target word overlap (Pressley, Levin, Hall, Hiller, & Berry, 1980). The methodological problems of investigating the keyword method where images as well as the keyword are provided are discussed, as are the practical implications of the study.
Machine Learning Department School of Computer Science 2012 Support Distribution Machines

Most machine learning algorithms, such as classification or regression, treat the individual data point as the object of interest. Here we consider extending machine learning algorithms to operate on groups of data points. We suggest treating a group of data points as a set of i.i. d. samples from an underlying feature distribution for the group. Our approach is to generalize kernel machines from vectorial inputs to i.i. d. sample sets of vectors. For this purpose, we use a nonparametric estimator that can consistently estimate the inner product and certain kernel functions of two distributions. The projection of the estimated Gram matrix to the cone of semi-definite matrices enables us to employ the kernel trick, and hence use kernel machines for classification, regression, anomaly detection, and low-dimensional embedding in the space of distributions. We present several numerical experiments both on real and simulated datasets to demonstrate the advantages of our new approach.
Should Day Care be Subsidized

In an economy with distortionary taxes on labour, can subsidies on day care, financed by increased taxes, raise welfare by encouraging women with small children to work? We show, within a stylized life-cycle framework, that the Ramsey optimal policy consists in equalizing consumption/leisure wedges over the life cycle. A simple way to implement this is to make day care expenses tax deductible. Modifying and calibrating our model to fit some key facts about labour supply in Germany, we find that the reform that maximizes a distribution-neutral social welfare function involves subsidizing day care at a rate of 50% and leads to a near doubling of labour supply for mothers with small children. The overall welfare gain from this reform corresponds to a 0.4 percent increase in consumption. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.
A Phenomenological Analysis of the Views on Co-Teaching Applications in the Inclusion Classroom.

It is necessary to provide students both with and without special needs and the classroom teachers with special education support services in order to achieve successful inclusion applications. Th e determination of teachers’ opinions about the applications they carry out is important in the planning and achievement of the future applications. Th e purpose of this article which was designed as an action research was to analyze the opinions of special and general education teachers, working in inclusion classes based on co-teaching approach, about the preparation stage for the application, planning meetings and applications they carried out. Research participants were composed of a researcher who is a special education teacher, a classroom teacher and second grade students. In the scope of the research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the classroom teacher; planning meetings were arranged with the aim of preparing for the applications; and refl ective daily data sources compiled by the researcher were utilized. Th e data were analyzed from a phenomenological perspective via inductive analysis. Th e findings were compared with those recorded in the related literature and were discussed. Consequently, classroom teacher voluntarily participated in the research process and stated that there was no problem about classroom applications. Th e teacher declared the importance of planning meetings, however, did not allocate suff icient time for meetings and did not give details about the lessons. Th erefore, ambiguities were recorded lesson applications about the role and responsibilities of teachers. Th e teacher stated that all co-teaching approaches can be applied in inclusion classes however stated that these applications were not so new for her and this process could not have any contributions to her.
Extended discrete choice models : integrated framework, flexible error structures, and latent variables

Discrete choice methods model a decision-maker’s choice among a set of mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive alternatives. They are used in a variety of disciplines (transportation, economics, psychology, public policy, etc.) in order to inform policy and marketing decisions and to better understand and test hypotheses of behavior. This dissertation is concerned with the enhancement of discrete choice methods. The workhorses of discrete choice are the multinomial and nested logit models. These models rely on simplistic assumptions, and there has been much debate regarding their validity. Behavioral researchers have emphasized the importance of amorphous influences on behavior such as context, knowledge, and attitudes. Cognitive scientists have uncovered anomalies that appear to violate the microeconomic underpinnings that are the basis of discrete choice analysis. To address these criticisms, researchers have for some time been working on enhancing discrete choice models. While there have been numerous advances, typically these extensions are examined and applied in isolation. In this dissertation, we present, empirically demonstrate, and test a generalized methodological framework that integrates the extensions of discrete choice. The basic technique for integrating the methods is to start with the multinomial logit formulation, and then add extensions that relax simplifying assumptions and enrich the capabilities of the basic model. The extensions include: − Specifying factor analytic (probit-like) disturbances in order to provide a flexible covariance structure, thereby relaxing the IIA condition and enabling estimation of unobserved heterogeneity through techniques such as random parameters. − Combining revealed and stated preferences in order to draw on the advantages of both types of data, thereby reducing bias and improving efficiency of the parameter estimates. − Incorporating latent variables in order to provide a richer explanation of behavior by explicitly representing the formation and effects of latent constructs such as attitudes and perceptions. − Stipulating latent classes in order to capture latent segmentation, for example, in terms of taste parameters, choice sets, and decision protocols.
Ideology Detection for Twitter Users with Heterogeneous Types of Links

The problem of ideology detection is to study the latent (political) placement for people, which is traditionally studied on politicians according to their voting behaviors. Recently, more and more studies begin to address the ideology detection problem for ordinary users based on their online behaviors that can be captured by social media, e.g., Twitter. As far as we are concerned, however, the vast majority of the existing methods on ideology detection on social media have oversimplified the problem as a binary classification problem (i.e., liberal vs. conservative). Moreover, though social links can play a critical role in deciding one's ideology, most of the existing work ignores the heterogeneous types of links in social media. In this paper we propose to detect \emph{numerical} ideology positions for Twitter users, according to their \emph{follow}, \emph{mention}, and \emph{retweet} links to a selected set of politicians. A unified probabilistic model is proposed that can (1) explain the reasons why links are built among people in terms of their ideology, (2) integrate heterogeneous types of links together in determining people's ideology, and (3) automatically learn the quality of each type of links in deciding one's ideology. Experiments have demonstrated the advantages of our model in terms of both ranking and political leaning classification accuracy. It is shown that (1) using multiple types of links is better than using any single type of links alone to determine one's ideology, and (2) our model is even more superior than baselines when dealing with people that are sparsely linked in one type of links. We also show that the detected ideology for Twitter users aligns with our intuition quite well.
How Does Early Brain Organization Promote Language Acquisition in Humans?

Speech processing in adults relies on precise and specialized networks, located primarily in the left hemisphere. Behavioural studies in infants indicate that a considerable amount of language learning already takes place in the first year of life in the domains of phonology, prosody, and word segmentation. Thanks to the progress of neuro-imaging, we can move beyond behavioural methods and examine how the infant’s brain processes verbal stimuli before learning. These studies reveal a structural and functional organization close to what is described in adults and suggest a strong bias for speech processing in these regions that might guide infants in the discovery of the properties of their native language, although no evidence can be provided as yet for speech specificity of such networks.
A Protection Scheme against the Attacks Deployed by Hiding the Violation of the Same Origin Policy

As interactive asynchronous Javascript and XML (AJAX) based Web 2.0 applications increase, a new breed of attacks have appeared that deploy their payloads through hiding the violation of the same origin policy (that enforces the scripts and the like downloaded from different web pages to never access each other's page). This paper presents a scheme for protecting against those attacks. The scheme produces two tokens indicating respectively the origin and target pages of an HTTP request and two checksums of a Web page produced respectively when it has no injected malicious code and when it is received by the browser. A mismatch between the tokens or between the checksums indicates a same origin violation. To reduce the scheme's performance ovrhead, this matching is performed only when a request originated from a page with no submission form has suspicious keywords. We analyze the protection potential, security, and performance overhead of our scheme.
Construct validity of the tseng teacher handwriting checklist

Handwriting problems in Chinese elementary school students have rarely been researched. Efforts to examine handwriting difficulties in school-aged children have been hampered by the lack of a reliable and valid instrument. The present study was designed to examine the construct validity of the Tseng Teacher Handwriting Checklist (TTHC), which consists of 24 items that assess handwriting problems in Chinese elementary school students. Factor analysis was performed on the items of the TTHC with a sample of 214 school-aged children from grades 3 to 5 who had handwriting problems. Results replicated a previous study. Factor loadings were all sufficiently strong to regard the six factors as distinct, well-defined constructs. These factors were construction, sequencing, behaviour, accuracy, motor and directionality.
Study of Superconducting Fault Current Limiter Using Vacuum Interrupter Driven by Electromagnetic Repulsion Force for Commutating Switch

Using a high-temperature superconductor, we constructed and tested a model superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL). The superconductor and the vacuum interrupter as the commutation switch were connected in parallel using a bypass coil. When the fault current flows in this equipment, the superconductor is quenched and the current is transferred to the parallel coil because of the voltage drop in the superconductor. This large current in the parallel coil actuates the magnetic repulsion mechanism of the vacuum interrupter. Due to the opening of the vacuum interrupter, the current in the superconductor is broken. By using this equipment, the current flow time in the superconductor can be easily minimized. On the other hand, the fault current is also easily limited by large reactance of the parallel coil
Reuse of the mobile communication antenna for FM reception

A conventional monopole antenna (λ/4) operating at FM frequencies is too long for being integrated in a mobile phone. In order to avoid big external antennas or using the wire of the headsets, a new solution is proposed. It consists in reusing an existing mobile phone antenna usually operating at the communication standards (ex: GSM, CDMA, UMTS) with the aim of achieving operation also at FM band. Impedance, received power and audio quality measurements have been carried out demonstrating that a mobile handset antenna operating at GSM 900/1800 also allows users to listen to FM satisfactorily.
Nonlinear model predictive control for rough-terrain robot hopping

This paper examines and quantifies the theoretical efficacy of a limited look-ahead strategy for hopping robots on rough terrain. Here, a classic spring-loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) hopper and an actuated, lossy SLIP (ALSLIP) hopper with a more realistic dynamic model that includes an unsprung mass and a series-elastic actuator are each analyzed under conditions where the desired footholds are predetermined according to a stochastic process. We examine the effect of the length of the horizon on the accuracy of foot placement, and we test the robustness of the approach to model uncertainties. Our simulation results show that a model predictive control (MPC) approach is an effective technique for foothold selection, and that a two-step planning horizon for upcoming terrain is theoretically adequate for practical footstep planning in realistically noisy rough terrain running conditions.
Increased BDNF and trk‐B mRNA expression in cortical and limbic regions following formation of a social recognition memory

Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its receptor, tyrosine receptor kinase (trk‐B), play important roles in neural plasticity, long‐term potentiation and memory formation. Sheep form a selective recognition memory for their lambs within 2 h of birth. Initially, this memory is exclusively based on olfactory cues; however, as it consolidates over a 12‐h recognition period it extends to incorporate visual cues. We investigated whether changes in BDNF and trk‐B mRNA expression occurred in both olfactory and visual processing systems at 4.5 h postpartum, 2–3 h after the behavioural manifestations of an olfactory recognition memory were found. Animals that formed a recognition memory showed increased BDNF mRNA expression in the inferior part of the temporal cortex, subfield CA1 of the hippocampus, the diagonal band, basolateral amygdala and the anterior cingulate, medial frontal, entorhinal and pyriform cortices. No increases were observed in either the olfactory bulbs or the dentate gyrus. Expression of trk‐B mRNA was significantly increased only in the medial temporal, entorhinal and pyriform cortices. These findings demonstrate that by 2–3 h following the initial formation of olfactory recognition memory there are BDNF/trk‐B‐mediated plasticity changes in brain areas involved in the consolidation of olfactory memory (the pyriform and entorhinal cortices). However, similar changes also occur in areas of the brain involved in visual memory, face and object recognition (the temporal cortex, entorhinal cortex, hippocampal subfield CA1 and basolateral amygdala), and in areas of the brain with integrative and attentional functions (the medial frontal and anterior cingulate cortices and diagonal band). This suggests that reorganization of neural circuits underlying the visual recognition of lambs or the integration of olfactory/visual information is occurring even at this time even though accurate behavioural recognition at this stage can only be made using olfactory cues.
Combining fMRI with a Pharmacokinetic Model to Determine Which Brain Areas Activated by Painful Stimulation Are Specifically Modulated by Remifentanil

We present a method for investigating the dynamic pharmacological modulation of pain-related brain activity, measured by BOLD-contrast fMRI. Noxious thermal stimulation was combined with a single infusion and washout of remifentanil, a short-acting opioid analgesic agent. The temporal profile of the effect site concentration of remifentanil, estimated from a pharmacokinetic model, was incorporated into a linear model of the fMRI data. The methodology was tested in nine healthy male subjects. During each imaging session the subjects received noxious thermal stimulation to the back of the left hand, prior to infusion, during infusion to a remifentanil effect site concentration of 1.0 ng/ml, and during washout of the remifentanil. Infusions were repeated with saline. Remifentanil-induced analgesia was confirmed from subjective pain intensity scores. Pain-related brain activity was identified in a matrix of regions using a linear model of the transient BOLD responses to noxious stimulation. Of those regions, there was a significant fractional reduction in the amplitude of the pain-related BOLD response in the insular cortex contralateral to the stimulus, the ipsilateral insular cortex, and the anterior cingulate cortex. Statistical parametric mapping of the component of pain-related BOLD responses that was linearly scaled by remifentanil concentration confirmed the contralateral insular cortex as the pain-processing region most significantly modulated by remifentanil compared to saline. The mapping of specific modulation of pain-related brain activity is directly relevant for understanding pharmacological analgesia. The method of examining time-dependent pharmacological modulation of specific brain activity may be generalized to other drugs that modulate brain activity other than that associated with pain.
Religious human capital revisited: Testing the effect of religious human capital on religious participation

The religious economies theory proposes that individuals make religious choices like they make other choices—rationally. This assumption has sparked many theoretical propositions on both the macro- and micro-levels. However, most empirical research has focused on testing the macro-level propositions. This study contributes to addressing this gap by testing the micro-level hypothesis that religious human capital (i.e., religious knowledge and skills) increases religious participation. Previous research typically operationalized religious human capital indirectly through proxy measures, which makes it difficult to separate the effect of religious human capital from the effects of other variables such as religious beliefs, preferences, and religious social capital. As a result, findings from previous studies may support theories other than religious human capital theory. This paper separates different causal effects by using a direct measure of religious human capital (i.e., biblical knowledge), while controlling for other variables deemed important by the literature. Analysis of longitudinal panel studies generally supports the hypothesis.
An Optimal Framework of Video Adaptation and Its Application to Rate Adaptation Transcoding

The adaptation of video according to the heterogeneous and dynamic resource constraints on networks and devices, as well as on user preferences, is a promising approach for universal access and consumption of video content. For optimal adaptation that satisfies the constraints while maximizing the utility that results from the adapted video, it is necessary to devise a systematic way of selecting an appropriate adaptation operation among multiple feasible choices. This paper presents a general conceptual framework that allows the formulation of various adaptations as constrained optimization problems by modeling the relations among feasible adaptation operations, constraints, and utilities. In particular, we present the feasibility of the framework by applying it to a use case of rate adaptation of MPEG‐4 video with an explicit modeling of adaptation employing a combination of frame dropping and discrete cosine transform coefficient dropping, constraint, utility, and their mapping relations. Furthermore, we provide a description tool that describes the adaptation‐constraint‐utility relations as a functional form referred to as a utility function, which has been accepted as a part of the terminal and network quality of service tool in MPEG‐21 Digital Item Adaptation (DIA).
Structural Relationships, Job Characteristics, and Worker Satisfaction and Performance.

This research is based in part on a Ph.D. dissertation completed by the author while a student at the University of Illinois. The author wishes to express his deep appreciation to his committee, Greg Oldham (Chairman), Michael Moch, and Charles Hulin. Hank Sims and Denise Rousseau also provided helpful comments on an earlier draft. This research investigates the role of job characteristics as possible mediating variables in the relationships between the organization's structural context and the attitudes and behaviors of individual employees. The organization is conceptualized as a network of task positions interrelated on the basis of workflow transactions. Three structural relationships of task positions are investigated: (1) the centrality of a task position; (2) the degree to which a task position is critical to the workflow; and (3) the transaction alternatives availableto a task position. The results indicate significant relationships between these three relational measures and job characteristics. Further, the findings support the hypothesis that job characteristics mediate the relationship between structure and individual responses.
"I'M JUST TEXTING TO SAY HELLO": EXAMINING HOW PARENTS' ACCESS TO AND USE OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES INFLUENCES SATISFACTION AMONG ADULT CHILDREN

Advancements in technology have altered how and when communication occurs between individuals in a relationship. Although research has investigated how new information communication technologies (ICTs) affect peer relationships (Yoon, 2003) and parents’ communication with their young children (Devitt & Roker, 2009), how information communication technologies influence parent-adult child relationships is less clear. By examining contradictory premises of media multiplexity theory (Haythornthwaite, 2005) and the theory of electronic propinquity (Korzenny, 1978), this study tested whether parental access to ICTs influences communication and relationship satisfaction for adult children and to what extent. This study also examined a new use of ICTs – connectedness – and analyzed how parents’ reported connectedness influences parent-adult child relationships. The results indicate that the number of media parents and adult children utilize to maintain their relationship does modestly influence satisfaction. In addition, satisfaction is greater when parents act more in line with a connected mode of communicating and when they are more communicatively competent. These results provide families, therapists, researchers, and educators with a better understanding of how ICTs influence family relationships.