Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Non-Cognitive Skills in Students' Academic Performance and Life Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Study of Resilience

Research has shown the importance of resilience by demonstrating its significant relationship with students' academic achievement, future workplace performance, and subjective well-being. However, few studies distinguish among different definitions of resilience or distinct approaches of measuring resilience. Also there is little evidence obtained from longitudinal studies involving multiple methods in assessing resilience skills. The current study is able to overcome those limitations and make substantial progress toward the use of resilience scales and the understanding of the predictive power of resilience. Placing resilience into a broader context of non-cognitive skills, the author identifies four groups of definitions of resilience and successfully places scales of resilience into the same four categories. Using information of nearly four thousand middle school students collected longitudinally at three time points and a resilience scale which consists of three subscales, the author explores the psychometric property of the scale, asks questions on how resilience changes over time and examines the predictive validity of resilience on various future outcomes. In order to extract the true resilience variance from each of the scale and purify the scale from the wording effect, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory bi-factor analysis are conducted. The author is able to obtain a single reliable factor which achieves scalar measurement invariance across time for each of the three subscales. However, the attempt to derive a general resilience factor fails because of the low correlations among the three subscale scores. This paper also presents the results on the change of resilience over time and the relationship between each of the resilience scores and the key outcomes. By fitting different types of hierarchical linear models and growth curve models, the author finds that resilience can significantly predict students' future grade point average and life satisfaction. The relative predictive power of different resilience scores varies by outcome. Results reveal that resilience is a promising predictor of students' academic learning and life satisfaction. Based on the results, the author provides recommendations for practitioners and researchers. Implications, limitations, and future directions of research are also discussed. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Education First Advisor Andrew C. Porter This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn. edu/edissertations/1507
Association of FKBP5 polymorphisms and childhood abuse with risk of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in adults.

CONTEXT In addition to trauma exposure, other factors contribute to risk for development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adulthood. Both genetic and environmental factors are contributory, with child abuse providing significant risk liability. OBJECTIVE To increase understanding of genetic and environmental risk factors as well as their interaction in the development of PTSD by gene x environment interactions of child abuse, level of non-child abuse trauma exposure, and genetic polymorphisms at the stress-related gene FKBP5. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A cross-sectional study examining genetic and psychological risk factors in 900 nonpsychiatric clinic patients (762 included for all genotype studies) with significant levels of childhood abuse as well as non-child abuse trauma using a verbally presented survey combined with single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping. Participants were primarily urban, low-income, black (>95%) men and women seeking care in the general medical care and obstetrics-gynecology clinics of an urban public hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, between 2005 and 2007. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Severity of adult PTSD symptomatology, measured with the modified PTSD Symptom Scale, non-child abuse (primarily adult) trauma exposure and child abuse measured using the traumatic events inventory and 8 SNPs spanning the FKBP5 locus. RESULTS Level of child abuse and non-child abuse trauma each separately predicted level of adult PTSD symptomatology (mean [SD], PTSD Symptom Scale for no child abuse, 8.03 [10.48] vs > or =2 types of abuse, 20.93 [14.32]; and for no non-child abuse trauma, 3.58 [6.27] vs > or =4 types, 16.74 [12.90]; P < .001). Although FKBP5 SNPs did not directly predict PTSD symptom outcome or interact with level of non-child abuse trauma to predict PTSD symptom severity, 4 SNPs in the FKBP5 locus significantly interacted (rs9296158, rs3800373, rs1360780, and rs9470080; minimum P = .0004) with the severity of child abuse to predict level of adult PTSD symptoms after correcting for multiple testing. This gene x environment interaction remained significant when controlling for depression severity scores, age, sex, levels of non-child abuse trauma exposure, and genetic ancestry. This genetic interaction was also paralleled by FKBP5 genotype-dependent and PTSD-dependent effects on glucocorticoid receptor sensitivity, measured by the dexamethasone suppression test. CONCLUSIONS Four SNPs of the FKBP5 gene interacted with severity of child abuse as a predictor of adult PTSD symptoms. There were no main effects of the SNPs on PTSD symptoms and no significant genetic interactions with level of non-child abuse trauma as predictor of adult PTSD symptoms, suggesting a potential gene-childhood environment interaction for adult PTSD.
Limits on the network sensitivity function for homogeneous multi-agent systems on a graph

This paper explores some tradeoffs and limits of performance in feedback control of interconnected multi-agent systems, focused on the network sensitivity functions. We consider the interaction topology described by a directed graph and we prove that the sensitivity transfer functions between every pair of agents, arbitrarily connected, can be derived using a version of Mason's direct rule. An analysis of the role of cycles shows that these structures influence and considerably limit the behavior of the system. We also derive a networked version of Bode's integral formula, showing that it still holds for multi-agent systems.
10. Expressive characters in anti-bullying education

Expressive behaviour can be considered a subset of behaviour in general for an embodied agent, whether this is a living human, a robot or a graphically embodied synthetic character. We can think of it as that behaviour interpreted by others as directly signalling an affective state. It may be a distinctly produced behaviour, as in facial expression or gesture, but it may also be a behavioural modifier as in posture or tone of voice. Because in principle it tells the observer something about the internal state of the agent, it acts as an additional communication mechanism alongside more externally directed and functional behaviour, whether physical actions or the use of natural language. Indeed it is argued that in the case of humans, around 80% of overall communication comes through these indirect channels (Argyle, 1972).
Simulation-based architectural evaluation for collaborative systems

Software quality can be expressed through various attributes, many of which depend on the architecture by nature. Therefore an architecture-focused development process, with an integrated self-evaluation, must be selected. Since there is no known process covering these attributes, a method capable of evaluating the architecture must be built into the development process. The purpose of this research is presenting the incorporation of Bosch's (2000) architectural design method, formulated to a standard software development process, emphasizing on the definition of the software architecture through its quality attributes. The improved development process was applied to the knowledge management system (KMS) case study, in the domain of collaborative systems. The most important quality attributes for the KMS were selected, candidate architectures were proposed for it and the most suitable architecture selected using a simulation technique. A result of this research was the specification of the critical quality attributes for the collaborative systems domain.
Budget Constrained Optimization of Simulation Models via Estimation of Their Response Surfaces

This paper is concerned with optimizing simulation models under the condition that a budget on simulation runs exists. A multistage search procedure is developed that allocates the total experimental budget across stages so as to maximize the expected gain in information. At each stage the experiments are allocated to the search region so as to maximize the amount of information provided. A response surface is estimated and used to reduce the search region and predict the optimum, which is then used in the next stage. The procedure continues until the experimental budget is exhausted or a stopping criterion is met.
Stroop Color-Word Testによるコンフリクトの発達的研究

A life span survey of conflict induced in color naming when words and colors appear in incongruent combination was carried out. Subjects' ages ranged from six years to 89 years, totaling 721. As the index of conflict, (C-B)/A was used. The result indicated that conflict scores were highest in six-year-old children and the next highest in the eldery of 70 to 89 years. The result of ANOVA indicated no sex difference on conflict scores, but showed a difference in faster performance by females on the color and color-word cards. The result suggested that six-year olds are immature in cognitive ability and that the 70-year olds and above declined in their cognitive ability. The elevation of conflict scores in 10 years may be due to the stage of puberty.
Aripiprazole augmentation of clomipramine therapy in treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder: case series

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic disorder characterized by recurrent intrusive thoughts and repetitive rituals, causing significant distress and functional loss. Studies show evidence about serotonergic and dopaminergic mechanisms in neuropathogenesis of OCD. Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI) are considered first line treatment in OCDs, but treatment resistance may occur in 40-60% of cases treated with SSRIs. Augmentation of antidepressants with atypical antipsychotics is an important treatment option in treatment-resistant patients with OCD. In this article, we aimed to present five OCD cases with treatment-resistance in which we obtained good outcomes, with addition of aripiprazole 10-30mg per day to clomipramine therapy.
GALS Design for On-chip Ground Bounce Suppression

With technology scaling into the deep sub-micron regime, the power supply and ground noise, which is introduced by the simultaneous switching activity in digital circuits, becomes a challenge for SoC and Networks-on-Chip (NoC) design. In this paper, analytical expressions of the magnitude of ground bounce for different gate switching ratios are derived. It is shown that, by spreading the switching activity, asynchronous circuits design contributes to the ground bounce suppression in two aspects: (1) a significant decrease in the switching current strength and (2) a slight increase in the on-chip intrinsic decoupling capacitance. In order to minimize the switching ratio in large-scale digital VLSI systems, the globally asynchronous locally synchronous (GALS) design is exploited for coarse-grained scheduling and spreading the gate switching over different local clock domains. Important design guidelines, including the GALS system partitioning and local clock modulation, are discussed. As a practical example, a 64-point pipelined SYNC/GALS FFT processor was implemented using the IHP 130-nm CMOS process. The measurements on the packaged chip demonstrate that, compared with the synchronous mode, around 40% reduction in the magnitude of ground bounce is achieved in the GALS mode.
Byzantine Fireflies Rachid Guerraoui

This paper addresses the problem of synchronous beeping, as addressed by swarms of fireflies. We present Byzantine-resilient algorithms ensuring that the correct processes eventually beep synchronously despite a subset of nodes beeping asynchronously. We assume that n > 2f (n is the number of processes and f is the number of Byzantine processes) and that the initial state of the processes can be arbitrary (self-stabilization). We distinguish the cases where the beeping period is known, unknown or approximately known. We also consider the situation where the processes can produce light continuously.
Graphical optimization of 4GHz CMOS LC_VCO

This paper presents graphical optimization method of LC voltage controlled oscillator (LC_VCO). This method accomplishes with optimum size of LC_VCO components. This oscillator is characterized by tuning range of 4% from carrier frequency centered in 4GHz. The phase noise is -126dBc/Hz at 1MHz offset frequency from carrier frequency of 4GHz and the power consumption is 11.6mW from a 2.5V supply voltage. Theory approximations by graphical optimization method are verified by simulation.
Privad: Practical Privacy in Online Advertising

Online advertising is a major economic force in the Internet today, funding a wide variety of websites and services. Today's deployments, however, erode privacy and degrade performance as browsers wait for ad networks to deliver ads. This paper presents Privad, an online advertising system designed to be faster and more private than existing systems while filling the practical market needs of targeted advertising: ads shown in web pages; targeting based on keywords, demographics, and interests; ranking based on auctions; view and click accounting; and defense against click-fraud. Privad occupies a point in the design space that strikes a balance between privacy and practical considerations. This paper presents the design of Privad, and analyzes the pros and cons of various design decisions. It provides an informal analysis of the privacy properties of Privad. Based on microbenchmarks and traces from a production advertising platform, it shows that Privad scales to present-day needs while simultaneously improving users' browsing experience and lowering infrastructure costs for the ad network. Finally, it reports on our implementation of Privad and deployment of over two thousand clients.
Identification of Primary Target Genes of Phytochrome Signaling. Early Transcriptional Control during Shade Avoidance Responses in Arabidopsis1

The phytochrome (phy) photoreceptors modulate plant development after perception of light. Upon illumination of etiolated seedlings, phys initiate a transcriptional cascade by directly transducing light signals to the promoters of genes encoding regulators of morphogenesis. In light-grown plants, however, little is known about the transcriptional cascade modulated by phys in response to changes in light. The phy entry points in this cascade are completely unknown. We are particularly interested in the shade avoidance syndrome (SAS). Here we describe a subset of six genes whose expression is rapidly modulated by phys during both deetiolation and SAS in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Using cycloheximide, we provide evidence that four of these phy rapidly regulated (PAR) genes are direct targets of phy signaling during SAS, revealing these genes as upstream components of the transcriptional cascade. Promoter-β-glucuronidase fusions confirmed that PAR genes are photoregulated at the transcriptional level. Analysis of gene expression in light signal transduction mutants showed that COP1 and DET1 (but not DET2 or HY5) play a role in modulating PAR expression in response to shade in light-grown seedlings. Moreover, genetic analyses showed that one of the genes identified as a direct target of phy signaling was phy-interacting factor 3-like-1 (PIL1). PIL1 has previously been implicated in SAS in response to transient shade, but we show here that it also plays a key role in response to long-term shade. The action of PIL1 was particularly apparent in a phyB background, suggesting an important negative role for PIL1 under dense vegetation canopies.
USING THE EXPECTANCY VALUE MODEL OF MOTIVATION TO UNDERSTAND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENT ATTITUDES AND ACHIEVEMENT IN STATISTICS

We tested a model of the relationship between attitudes toward statistics and achievement based on Eccles’ Expectancy Value Model (1983). Participants (n = 149; 83% female) were second-year Australian university students in a psychology statistics course (mean age = 23.36 years, SD = 7.94 years). We obtained demographic details, past performance, attitudes, and expectancies in Week 2, and attendance records (effort) and course marks (achievement) at the end of semester. Path analysis was conducted via AMOS 19. The final model fit well and explained 40% of the variance in achievement. Past performance (22%), effort (8%), and expectancies (2%) made significant direct contributions. There were significant indirect contributions by each attitude component. Cognitive competence made the largest indirect contribution. First published November 2012 at Statistics Education Research Journal: Archives
Distributed Pricing-Based User Association for Downlink Heterogeneous Cellular Networks

This paper considers optimization of the user and base-station (BS) association in a wireless downlink heterogeneous cellular network under the proportional fairness criterion. We first consider the case where each BS has a single antenna and transmits at fixed power and propose a distributed price update strategy for a pricing-based user association scheme, in which the users are assigned to the BS based on the value of a utility function minus a price. The proposed price update algorithm is based on a coordinate descent method for solving the dual of the network utility maximization problem and it has a rigorous performance guarantee. The main advantage of the proposed algorithm as compared to an existing subgradient method for price update is that the proposed algorithm is independent of parameter choices and can be implemented asynchronously. Further, this paper considers the joint user association and BS power control problem and proposes an iterative dual coordinate descent and the power optimization algorithm that significantly outperforms existing approaches. Finally, this paper considers the joint user association and BS beamforming problem for the case where the BSs are equipped with multiple antennas and spatially multiplex multiple users. We incorporate dual coordinate descent with the weighted minimum mean-squared error (WMMSE) algorithm and show that it achieves nearly the same performance as a computationally more complex benchmark algorithm (which applies the WMMSE algorithm on the entire network for BS association) while avoiding excessive BS handover.
Concept Classification for Construction Contractual Semantics: A Case Study on the AIA A201 Document

The sharing of domain knowledge through ontology is a good way to narrow the knowledge gap between the domain experts and regular construction managers and to improve the practice of construction project contract management. However, little work has been done on taxonomy development in this domain. Based on a literature review of taxonomy development methods and the essence of construction contracts, this study proposes a synthesized methodology for taxonomy development in the domain of construction contractual relationships. This methodology is based on an ontological model extracted from definitions found in the contract, and uses common root concepts as the initial root concept classes, and includes the iterative development and competency questions approaches as well. In the case study, based on the results of a pilot study, an updated taxonomy with a finer structure was developed by applying the methodology on the textual content of clauses in the AIA A201 General Conditions of the Contract for Construction (2007) document. In addition to using the case study for the testing of the validity of this proposed methodology, the taxonomy was compared with the previous version, and its structure was analyzed from the perspective of the ontology description language’s semantic modeling primitives. Finally, it was concluded that, the taxonomy has more detailed and finer structure than before, and the proposed methodology is capable of guiding the concept classification for the domain of construction contractual semantics
The Research on the Psychological Adaptation Level of the Hearing Impaired Children in Preschool Period

Objective:This study aims to evaluate the psychological adaptation level of the hearing-impaired preschool children. Method: The study sample consisted fifty eight hearing-impaired children and their families attending to the special training courses given by public and private education schools in Ýzmir metropolitan area. Data was collected by the Hacettepe Psychological Adaptation Scale and the individual information form, which consisted of descriptive information about the hearing-impaired children and their families. Results:The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale for this study was r=0.86. It was found that 16% of the hearing-impaired children had neurotic problems whereas 29% had behavioral problems. The average total point of the hearing-impaired children who face psychological problem was 14.4±7.9. There was a significant relation between the age that the families first recognised the hearing-impairment and the average point of behavior. The children whose families first noticed their hearing-impairment at 12-24 months of age had a higher average of behavior points than the ones noticed at 24 months of age and older. There was a relation between the average total neurotic point and the living place of their families and the communication styles. The average neurotic points of children living in countries and communicating with the sign language, was found to be higher. In conclusion, the average psychological problem point of these children is lower when they can communicate more properly and have a better school performance. Discussion: The importance of earlier detection and diagnosis of hearing-impairment for the psychological health of these children was emphasized.
A Continuous Vector-Perturbation for Multi-Antenna Multi-User Communication

The sum-rate of the broadcast channel in a multi-antenna multi-user communication system can be achieved by using precoding and adding a regular perturbation to the data vector. The perturbation can be removed by the modulus function, thus transparent to the receiver, but the information of the precoding matrix is needed to decode the symbols. This paper proposes a new technique to improve the multi-antenna multi-user system, by adding a continuous perturbation to the data vector without the need of information on the precoding matrix to be known at the receiver. The perturbation vector will be treated as interference at the receiver, thus it will be transparent to the receiver. The derivation of the continuous vector perturbation is provided by maximizing the signal-to-interference plus noise ratio or minimizing the minimum mean square error of the received signal.