Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Constraints on language development Insights from developmental disorders

Book synopsis: The chapters in this volume arise from presentations at a unique conference on typical and atypical language development held in Madison, USA in 2002. This joint meeting of the International Association for the Study of Child Language, and the Symposium for Research in Child Language Disorders brought together – for the first time in such large numbers – researchers from these two distinct but related fields. The week-long schedule of the conference allowed for an in-depth interrogation of their theoretical positions, methodologies and findings. In the contributions to this volume we have put together a carefully selected set of papers which from various perspectives explore the linkage between developmental theory and language impairment, and at the same time illustrate the effects of distinct conditions – hearing loss, autism, Down syndrome, Williams syndrome and specific language impairment – on the communication abilities of affected individuals. An introductory chapter, and a detailed summary which picks up recurring themes in the chapters, complete the volume.
Content criteria for the Module of Efficacy Enhancement in English Teaching for Preschool Teachers (MEET-PT) based on Bandura Self Efficacy Theory

This study emphasizes on the development of Module of Efficacy Enhancement in English Teaching for Preschool Teachers (MEET-PT). The development of this module is intended to improve the teaching efficaciousness of pre-school teachers in teaching English subject and the content of the module is based on Bandura Self Efficacy Theory. The theory specifies that there are four main factors which can affect a person’s self-efficacy i.e. mastered self-experience (career-wise or past failures), vicarious experience (imposing other’s success on himself), verbal persuasion (people’s feedback on tasks given), psychological and physiological reactions (stress, worry and physical strength). Therefore, based on these key factors, the draft on the content of the module can be constructed before going through a thorough verification process and reliability test for it to be utilized in the framework phase of the module development.
Systematic proposal for improving the fuel supply surveillance in Brazil: Application to a real case

Este artigo tem como objetivo propor uma sistematica para melhoria do Processo de Fiscalizacao do Abastecimento de Combustiveis, fosseis ou nao, realizado pela agencia reguladora responsavel pela regulacao do setor de Oleo & Gas no Brasil (Agencia Nacional do Petroleo, Gas Natural e Biocombustiveis – ANP). Para tanto, foi realizada uma abordagem qualitativa por meio de entrevistas com carater exploratorio e descritivo, a partir da estrategia de pesquisa estudo de caso. Os resultados mostram a necessidade de aumento da velocidade de comunicacao entre os integrantes do processo “Verificacao da Conformidade do Produto a Regulamentacao Tecnica”, publicada pelo orgao regulador, e os integrantes do processo finalistico “Fiscalizacao do Abastecimento de Combustiveis” que vao a campo com os dados de conformidade. Com base nisso, a sistematica de melhoria proposta pode ser articulada e agregada a praticas organizacionais ja existentes ou na elaboracao de estrategias independentes a fim de contribuir para a melhoria do processo de regulamentacao do setor de petroleo, gas e biocombustiveis e constitui uma inovacao na tecnologia de gestao de processo organizacional que fornece dados sobre a conformidade dos produtos coletados em acoes de fiscalizacao.
Shifts in rotifer life history in response to stable isotope enrichment: testing theories of isotope effects on organismal growth

In ecology, stable isotope labelling is commonly used for tracing material transfer in trophic interactions, nutrient budgets and biogeochemical processes. The main assumption in this approach is that the enrichment with a heavy isotope has no effect on the organism growth and metabolism. This assumption is, however, challenged by theoretical considerations and experimental studies on kinetic isotope effects in vivo. Here, I demonstrate profound changes in life histories of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis fed 15N-enriched algae (0.4–5.0 at%); i.e. at the enrichment levels commonly used in ecological studies. These findings support theoretically predicted effects of heavy isotope enrichment on growth, metabolism and ageing in biological systems and underline the importance of accounting for such effects when using stable isotope labelling in experimental studies.
Energy efficient mobile backhaul: From research to standardization

Energy efficiency in telecommunication networks is entering a maturing phase with several solutions proposed by the academic community. While energy specific standardization efforts are still in progress, certain bodies have been working towards advanced specifications including the 3GPP, ETSI, IEEE, IETF and ITU-T. However, a system and service perspective is still missing. This paper addresses such a need centered on the mobile backhaul service, with the architecture defined by the Broadband Forum's Mobile Backhaul Initiative as basis. The objective is, based on current research efforts, to examine and address gaps by combining solutions applicable to specific parts of the systems, like the radio or fixed part, to inspire solution interworking and to encourage further standardization activities.
Investment-Specific Technical Change in the Us (1947-2000): Measurement and Macroeconomic Consequences

By extrapolating Gordon's (1990) measures of the quality-bias in the official price indexes, we construct quality-adjusted price indexes for 24 types of equipment and software (E&S) from 1947 to 2000 and use them to measure technical change at the aggregate and at the industry level. Technological improvement in E&S accounts for an important fraction of postwar GDP growth and plays a key role in the productivity resurgence of the 1990s. Driving this finding is 4 percent annual growth in the quality of E&S in the postwar period and more than 6 percent annual growth in the 1990s. The acceleration in the 1990s occurred in every industry, consistent with the idea that information technology represents a general purpose technology. Furthermore, we measure for the aggregate economy and dierent sectors the 'technological gap': how much more productive new machines are compared to the average machine. We show that the technological gap explains the dynamics of investment in new technologies and the returns to human capital, consistent with Nelson and Phelps' (1966) conjecture. Since the technological gap continues to increase--it more than doubled in the past 20 years--our evidence supports the view that at least some of the recent increase in productivity growth is sustainable. (Copyright: Elsevier)
Distributed compressive wide-band spectrum sensing

We consider a compressive wide-band spectrum sensing scheme for cognitive radio networks. Each cognitive radio (CR) sensing receiver transforms the received analog signal from the licensed system in to a digital signal using an analog-to-information converter. The autocorrelation of the compressed signal is then collected from each CR at a fusion center. A compressive sampling recovery algorithm that exploits joint sparsity is then employed to reconstruct an estimate of the signal spectrum and used to make a decision on signal occupancy. We compare the performance of this distributed compressive spectrum sensing scheme with a compressive spectrum sensing scheme at a single CR and show the performance gains obtained from spatial diversity.
QOS-Constrained Multiuser Peer-to-Peer Amplify-and-Forward Relay Beamforming

A wireless communication scenario is considered with K single-antenna source-destination pairs communicating through several half-duplex amplify-and-forward MIMO relays where each source is targeting only one destination. The relay beamforming matrices are designed in order to minimize the total power transmitted from the relays subject to quality of service constraints on the received signal to interference-plus-noise ratio at each destination node. Due to the nonconvexity of this problem, several approximations have been used in the literature to find a computationally efficient solution. A novel solution technique is developed in which the problem is decomposed into a group of second-order cone programs (SOCPs) parameterized by K phase angles; each associated with one of the constraints. An iterative algorithm is proposed to search for the phase angles and the relay beamforming matrices sequentially. However, convergence to the global optimal beamforming matrices cannot be guaranteed. Two methods for searching for the optimal values of the phase angles are proposed (from which the optimal beamforming matrices can be obtained) using grid search and bisection and the convergence of these methods to the global optimal solution of the problem is proved. Numerical simulations are presented showing the superior performance of the proposed algorithms compared to earlier suboptimal approximations at the expense of a moderate increase in the computational complexity.
Cognitive heuristics in design: Instructional strategies to increase creativity in idea generation

Abstract This paper explores the use of heuristics as cognitive strategies invoked during the process of design. Heuristics are reasoning processes that do not guarantee the best solution, but often lead to potential solutions by providing a simple cognitive “shortcut. ” We propose that designers use specific design heuristics to explore the problem space of potential designs, leading to the generation of creative solutions. We test whether design heuristics can be taught to novices, and suggest their use will facilitate the design process at multiple levels of instruction. In the present empirical study, we evaluate a set of six instructional heuristics and validate their effectiveness with product concepts generated by novice designers. Six hundred seventy-three drawings were created by 120 first-year college students under four instructional conditions. Drawings were coded according to their content, use of heuristics, creativity, and practicality. The most creative concepts emerged from the experimental conditions where heuristics were introduced. Heuristics appeared to help the participants “jump” to a new problem space, resulting in more varied designs, and a greater frequency of designs judged as more creative. Our findings suggest that simple demonstration of design heuristics may, at times, be sufficient to stimulate divergent thinking, perhaps because these heuristics are readily grasped and contextual application is not required. Based on these findings, a conceptual model for design education emphasizing the importance of using a variety of heuristics is proposed. This model suggests that learning can be enhanced through exposure to a variety of design heuristics, and can supplement formal education and foster personal development in design learning.
Estimation of the displacement of cardiac substructures and the motion of the coronary arteries using electrocardiographic gating

Purpose The aim of this study was to quantify the displacement of cardiac substructures, including the anterior myocardial territory (AMT), left ventricle, and coronary arteries during a normal cardiac cycle. Materials and methods Computed tomography (CT) images with retrospective electrocardiographic gating of 17 eligible patients were obtained. All images were reconstructed automatically for the end-diastolic and end-systolic phases. CT scanning without contrast at a random phase and a selected vertebral body were used as references to measure three-dimensionaldisplacements of the cardiac substructures. Results The displacement between the end-diastolic and end-systolic phases (Dd-s) was greater than that between the end-systolic and random phases and between the end-diastolic and random cardiac phases. The largest displacements for the heart were in the left, posterior, and inferior directions with an average Dd-s of approximately 4–6 mm. The average Dd-s for the AMT and left ventricle was 1.2–2.7 mm in the anterior and right directions, 4.3–7.8 mm in left and posterior directions, and 4.9–6.3 mm in superior and inferior directions. For the coronary arteries, the average Dd-s was 2.8–5.9 mm in the anterior-posterior direction, 3.5–6.6 mm in left-right direction, and 3.8–5.3 mm in the superior-inferior direction. Inter-observer agreement was excellent for the heart, AMT, and left ventricle (kappa coefficient, >0.75 for all) and good for most coronary arteries in three dimensions (kappa coefficient, 0.511–0.687). The Dd-s did not differ significantly between men and women. Conclusion Most average displacements of the cardiac substructures and coronary arteries were 3–8 mm in three dimensions. These findings will be useful to accurately estimate the radiation dose to cardiac substructures during thoracic radiation and to evaluate the risk of radiation-related heart disease.
An adaptive Normalized Gaussian Network and its application to online category learning

In online applications, where training samples sequentially arise during execution, incremental learning schemes have to be applied. In this paper we propose an adaptive Normalized Gaussian Network model (NGnet) suitable for incremental learning. Following a statistical account we present a truly sequential training procedure. Key to the learning algorithm are local unit manipulation mechanisms for network growth and pruning which continuously adapt the network's complexity according to task demands. We evaluate our model in artificial and real-world categorization tasks. Thereby, we additionally introduce a framework for the categorization on adaptive feature spaces. In the system, a simultaneous extraction of class-discriminative features facilitates the NGnet's categorization of input patterns. We present simulation results which demonstrate that the framework realizes a rapid learning from few examples, small-sized network models, and an improved generalization ability. A comparison to incremental support vector machine classification yields a favorable performance of our model.
A Typed Semantics for Languages with Higher-Order Store and Subtyping

We consider a call-by-value language, with higher-order functions, records, references to values of arbitrary type, and subtyping. We adapt an intrinsically typed deno- tational model for a similar language based on a possible-world semantics, recently given by Levy (29), and relate it to an untyped model by a logical relation. Following the method- ology of Reynolds (45), this relation is used to establish coherence of the typed semantics, with a coercion interpretation of subtyping. Moreover, we demonstrate that this technique scales to ML-like polymorphic type schemes. We obtain a typed denotational semantics of (imperative) object-oriented languages, both class-based and object-based ones.
Threesomes, with and without blame

The blame calculus of Wadler and Findler gives a high-level semantics to casts in higher-order languages. The coercion calculus of Henglein, on the other hand, provides an instruction set for casts whose normal forms ensure space efficiency. In this paper we address two questions: 1) can space efficiency be obtained in a high-level semantics? and 2) can we precisely characterize the relationship between the high and low-level semantics of casts? Towards answering both of these questions, we design a cast calculus that summarizes a sequence of casts as a threesome cast that contains a source type, a target type, and a third middle type that is the greatest lower bound of all the types in the sequence. We show that the threesome calculus is equivalent to the blame calculus and to one of the coercion-based, blame-tracking calculi of Siek, Garcia, and Taha. We also show that the threesome calculus is space efficient and obtain a tighter bound than that of Herman, Tomb, and Flanagan.
Gradual Release: Unifying Declassification, Encryption and Key Release Policies

Information security has a challenge to address: enabling information-flow controls with expressive information release (or declassification) policies. Existing approaches tend to address some aspects of information release, exposing the other aspects for possible attacks. It is striking that these approaches fall into two mostly separate categories: revelation-based (as in information purchase, aggregate computation, moves in a game, etc.) and encryption-based declassification (as in sending encrypted secrets over an untrusted network, storing passwords, etc.). This paper introduces gradual release, a policy that unifies declassification, encryption, and key release policies. We model an attacker's knowledge by the sets of possible secret inputs as functions of publicly observable outputs. The essence of gradual release is that this knowledge must remain constant between releases. Gradual release turns out to be a powerful foundation for release policies, which we demonstrate by formally connecting revelation-based and encryption-based declassification. Furthermore, we show that gradual release can be provably enforced by security types and effects.
An Adaptive Strategy for the Classification of G-Protein Coupled Receptors

One of the major problems in computational biology is the inability of existing classification models to incorporate expanding and new domain knowledge. This problem of static classification models is addressed in this paper by the introduction of incremental learning for problems in bioinformatics. Many machine learning tools have been applied to this problem using static machine learning structures such as neural networks or support vector machines that are unable to accommodate new information into their existing models. We utilize the fuzzy ARTMAP as an alternate machine learning system that has the ability of incrementally learning new data as it becomes available. The fuzzy ARTMAP is found to be comparable to many of the widespread machine learning systems. The use of an evolutionary strategy in the selection and combination of individual classifiers into an ensemble system, coupled with the incremental learning ability of the fuzzy ARTMAP is proven to be suitable as a pattern classifier. The algorithm presented is tested using data from the G-Coupled Protein Receptors Database and shows good accuracy of 83%. The system presented is also generally applicable, and can be used in problems in genomics and proteomics.
Globular cluster x-ray sources

After a brief historical overview we discuss the luminous X-ray sources in globular clusters of our Galaxy. This is followed by an overview of the very luminous X-ray sources studied in globular clusters of 14 other galaxies, and a discussion of their formation and the relation to X-ray sources outside globular clusters. We describe the discovery and classification of low-luminosity X-ray sources, and end the review with some remarks on the formation and evolution of X-ray sources in globular clusters. Observational results are summarized in three tables. Comments are very welcome. Please send them to F.W. M.Verbunt@astro.uu. nl and lewin@mit.edu.
An Energy-Efficient QPSK Demodulation Scheme with Injection-Locking Technique for Green Radio Communication

This paper proposes an energy-efficient QPSK demodulator for low-power wireless receivers. It leverages the characteristic of phase-to-amplitude conversion possessed by the injection-locking oscillator. Compared to Costas-loop-based and PLL-based demodulators with high circuit complexity, the injection-locking-based D-QPSK demodulator exploits only one oscillator and one envelope discrimination circuit, which significantly reduce the power dissipation and chip area. Simulation results manifest the effectiveness of injection-locking technique for D-QPSK demodulation.
A Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Routing Protocol of Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy efficiency is one of the most important issues of wireless sensor networks (WSN). The routing technology of the network layer is critical in reduce the energy consumption in WSN. Nevertheless, the reliability and data aggression also should be analyzed. To solve these issues, an energy effective routing protocol based on low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy algorithm is proposed to meet those key Qos requirements. The proposed protocol focuses on some defects of the traditional LEACH, and improves the energy efficiency and other QoS parameters by excluding the node with improper geographic location to be the cluster heads. In the protocol, the optimum measuring range of head nodes is designed to be a criterion of cluster head selection, and every cluster heads can be selected according to the node density threshold in the measuring area, which is confirmed by the node distribution situation and communication requirement. With the simulations, the proposed protocol is evaluated in comparison with the traditional LEACH algorithm. The performance of the proposed protocol is verified to not only reduce the energy consumption but also guarantees the communication quality especially in the uneven distribution situation.
DISTEA: Efficient Dynamic Impact Analysis for Distributed Systems

Dynamic impact analysis is a fundamental technique for understanding the impact of specific program entities, or changes to them, on the rest of the program for concrete executions. However, existing techniques are either inapplicable or of very limited utility for distributed programs running in multiple concurrent processes. This paper presents DISTEA, a technique and tool for dynamic impact analysis of distributed systems. By partially ordering distributed method-execution events and inferring causality from the ordered events, DISTEA can predict impacts propagated both within and across process boundaries. We implemented DISTEA for Java and applied it to four distributed programs of various types and sizes, including two enterprise systems. We also evaluated the precision and practical usefulness of DISTEA, and demonstrated its application in program comprehension, through two case studies. The results show that DISTEA is highly scalable, more effective than existing alternatives, and instrumental to understanding distributed systems and their executions.
T10B9 monoclonal antibody: A short-acting nonstimulating monoclonal antibody that spares γδ T-cells and treats and prevents cellular rejection

T10B9.1A-31/MEDI-500 is a nonmitogenic immunoglobulin M kappa murine monoclonal antibody (mAb) directed against the alpha-beta (αβ) heterodimer of the T-lymphocyte receptor complex. The hybridoma was first produced by fusing spleen cells from BALB/C mice immunized with human peripheral blood T-lymphocytes with SP2/O-Ag14 mutant myeloma cells. The mAb is produced and purified using multistep ion exchange and molecular sieve chromatography protocols. T10B9 has been used successfully to treat acute cellular rejection in renal transplantation and as an immunosuppression induction agent in heart and simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplantation. Because T10B9 is nonmitogenic and causes minimal cytokine release, both treatment of rejection and induction of immunosuppression were accomplished with significantly fewer and milder untoward effects (cytokine release syndrome) than its comparator OKT3. Since T10B9 is directed against the αβ heterodimer of the CD3 epitope, it spares the gamma delta (γδ) region. These gamma delta (γδ) T cells have a unique role in the immune response controlling many serious human diseases and perhaps facilitating the development of immunologic tolerance. T10B9 has a relatively short duration of action, depleting T cells for only 10 to 14 days, unlike the protracted depletion seen with thymoglobulin and Campath-1H. There is no B-lymphocyte depletion with T10B9 as there is with both of the aforementioned reagents. The lack of prolonged lymphocyte depletion may account for less infection observed with T10B9 treatment.