Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Motivation of young students: a cross-cultural evaluation of a model for motivational orientations

It is a challenge for an early education teacher to enhance the development of self-regulation of young children to become and stay motivated for tasks that elicit school-related skills that do not immediately make sense for them. Being aware of motivational orientations in young students is therefore a must. In the study, a cross-cultural evaluation was undertaken of a model for these orientations which were task orientation, task avoidance and social dependence. The study validated a Finnish questionnaire on motivation among Dutch students and addressed the underlying structure of the questionnaire. The Dutch sample included 266 students from kindergarten with an average age of 63 months, and the Finnish sample had 139 students from 16 day care centres with an average age of 62 months. The factor analysis showed that the model for three motivational orientations can be accepted for the Dutch population without restrictions. The findings also suggest age-relatedness with regard to task orientation, which was the highest among the six-year olds, and task avoidance and social dependence that were highest with the four-year olds of the Dutch sample. The results revealed that five-year olds were rated alike in Finland and the Netherlands for task orientation and task avoidance. Moreover, in both countries, girls received significantly higher scores than boys on task orientation, whereas boys were rated to show significantly more often task avoidance than girls in crafts and play-like tasks in preschool settings. The findings strengthen the validity of the questionnaire in two European countries that differ with regard to their early childhood education system. It is concluded that motivational tendencies are developing well before the start of Grade 1, and can be observed by preschool teachers. Suggestions for school practice are included.
A low-dimensional vector representation for words using an extreme learning machine

Word embeddings are a low-dimensional vector representation of words that incorporates context. TWo popular methods are word2vec and global vectors (GloVe). Word2vec is a single-hidden layer feedforward neural network (SLFN) that has an auto-encoder influence for computing a word context matrix using backpropagation for training. GloVe computes the word context matrix first then performs matrix factorization on the matrix to arrive at word embeddings. Backpropagation is a typical training method for SLFN's, which is time consuming and requires iterative tuning. Extreme learning machines (ELM) have the universal approximation capability of SLFN's, based on a randomly generated hidden layer weight matrix in lieu of backpropagation. In this research, we propose an efficient method for generating word embeddings that uses an auto-encoder architecture based on ELM that works on a word context matrix. Word similarity is done using the cosine similarity measure on a dozen various words and the results are reported.
A Cross-Sectional Examination of Levels of Moral Reasoning in a Sample of Kuwait University Faculty Members

This cross-cultural study was conducted to examine the moral reasoning of a sample of full-time faculty members at Kuwait University. 86 participants completed Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT) which measures percentage of principled moral reasoning indexed as P% - score. The analysis of the results showed that the obtained P-% score was lower than the norms reported in the published research on Western subjects. Overall, the stages were not significantly related to the age or discipline of the participants. Discussions of the present findings were made in line with the recent research on moral development calling for a reorientation of the psychology of morality, which has been predominantly based on the cognitive developmental paradigm for a number of decades.
Pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Graduate School, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan 󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏 Our understanding of IBD pathogenesis has been increasing rapidly. The genetically determined interplay between the commensal microbiota, intestinal epithelial cells, and the immune system has been appreciated deeply. The interplay is also considered to be modified by specific environmental factors. This review examines the recent findings from the animal and human studies on IBD pathogenesis and the implications for future effective therapies. (Intest Res 2010;8:9-17) 󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏
Mortality in the elderly— A 3‐year follow‐up of an elderly community sample

A simple random sample of 334 persons aged 75+ years living in their own homes was initially examined in 1984/1985 and reexamined by the same physician 3 years later. The assessment included measures of mental and physical health, social integration, functional capacity, use of drugs and use of tobacco and alcohol. Mortality was recorded in the following 3 years. The mortality rate was increased among demented and depressed elderly and persons suffering from stroke or cancer. Increased mortality was also seen among subjects with hearing impairment, poor mobility and poor social integration, and in users of neuroleptics, digitalis and tobacco. A stepwise logistic regression analysis identified dementia, cancer, male sex and hearing impairments as explanatory variables for death. The study concludes that several factors may predict mortality in the elderly, especially in persons of 75 years and over. When compared with other studies, the most consistent predictors of death in elderly persons are dementia, depression and poor social integration.
Attributable to Enhanced Energy-dependent Drug Efflux Multidrug-resistant MCF 7 Breast Cancer Cell Line Is Methotrexate Cross-Resistance in a Mitoxantrone-selected Updated

Cellular resistance to the antifolate methotrexate (MTX) is often caused by target amplification, uptake defects, or alterations in polyglutamylation. Here we have examined MTX cross-resistance in a human breast carcinoma cell line (MCF7/MX) selected in the presence of mitoxantrone, an anticancer agent associated with the multidrug resistance (MDR) phenotype. Examination of protein expression and enzyme activities showed that MCF7/MX cells displayed none of the classical mechanisms of MTX resistance. They did, however, exhibit an ATP-sensitive accumulation defect accompanied by reduced polyglutamylation. Although the kinetics of drug uptake was similar between parental and resistant cells, the resistant cells exhibited increased energy-dependent drug efflux. This suggested the involvement of an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter. However, cells transfected with the breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP)—the ABC transporter known to be highly overexpressed in MCF7/MX cells and to confer mitoxantrone resistance (D. D. Rosset al., J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 91: 429–433, 1999)—were not MTX resistant, which suggested that this transporter is not involved in MTX cross-resistance. Moreover, members of the MRP protein family of transport proteins, which had previously been implicated in MTX resistance, were not found to be overexpressed in the MCF7/MX cells. Thus, our data suggest that a novel MTX-specific efflux pump may be involved in this unusual crossresistance phenotype.
Electric Vehicle Battery Charging/Swap Stations in Distribution Systems: Comparison Study and Optimal Planning

Electric vehicle (EV) is a promising technology for reducing environmental impacts of road transport. In this paper, a framework for optimal design of battery charging/swap stations in distribution systems based on life cycle cost (LCC) is presented. The battery charging/swap station models are developed to compare the impacts of rapid-charging stations and battery swap stations. Meanwhile, in order to meet the requirements of increased power provided during the charging period, the distribution network should be reinforced. In order to control this reinforcement cost, stations should be placed at appropriate places and be scaled correctly. For optimal cost-benefit analysis and safety operation, the LCC criterion is used to assess the project and a modified differential evolution algorithm is adopted to solve the problem. The proposed method has been verified on the modified IEEE 15-bus and 43-bus radial distribution systems. The results show that battery swap station is more suitable for public transportation in distribution systems.
On the robustness of the BlåtAnt-S protocol under churn

BLÅTANT is a peer-to-peer overlay management protocol which aims at maintaining an optimized topology to reduce the cost of broadcasting a message to all peers. BLÅTANT is based on bio-inspired methodologies that employ ant-like mobile agents and pheromone trails. The overlay maintained by this protocol can be classified as self-structured, because the topology is maintained in an adaptive way in order to fulfill certain criteria, namely an upper bounded diameter and a lower bounded girth (length of the smallest cycle). In this paper we consider the -S variant of the algorithm and focus on its robustness and efficiency in various churn situations. Our goal is to provide an in-depth analysis of the behavior of the protocol in a simulated network using the OverSwarm simulation platform. The obtained results are compared with those of two traditional peer-to-peer protocols, namely CHORD and GIA, in order to achieve a better understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of the considered bio-inspired solution.
[Evaluation of the treatment of vestibular disorders in children with computerized dynamic posturography: preliminary results].

OBJECTIVE This study aimed at evaluating dynamic posturography as an evaluation method in children with balance problems due to peripheral vestibulopathy, before and after treatment with vestibular rehabilitation, establishing its correlation with classical clinical evaluation. METHOD Ten children (six boys and four girls) with vestibular symptoms of peripheral origin were evaluated through a complete clinical history and with dynamic computerized posturography after being treated by vestibular rehabilitation therapy. Posturographic data were analyzed and compared to standard clinical evaluation parameters. RESULTS Dynamic posturography showed a significant improvement of condition 1 (orthostatic position, fixed support and open eyes) and 5 (orthostatic position, sway-referenced support and closed eyes) of the vestibular function and of the composite balance score. The data showed significant correlation with the clinical improvement observed. A significant reduction of proprioceptive influence was also observed. CONCLUSIONS Data showed that the dynamic posturography adds important quantitative information to the conventional clinical evaluation of vestibular symptoms, especially in children.
A Generic Technique for Synthesizing Bounded Finite-State Controllers

Finite-state controllers are a compact and effective plan representation for agent widely used in AI. In this paper, we proposea generic framework and related solver for synthesizing bounded finite-state controllers, and show its instantiations to three different applications, including generalized planning, planning programs and service composition under partial observability and controllability. We show that our generic solver is sound and complete, and amenable to heuristics that take into account the structure of the specific target instantiation. Experiments show that instantiations of our solver to the problems above often outperform tailored approaches in the literature. This suggests that our proposal is a promising base point for future research on finite-state controller synthesis.
Effectiveness of “Begging” as a Persuasive Tactic for Improving Response Rate on a Client/Agency Mail Survey

This experimental study tested the assumption that ingratiation through the researcher's frank request for compliance yields higher response rates to mail surveys. The hypothesis was tested by inserting a cartoon of the researcher “begging” the recipient within the treatment group to respond. Results suggest that begging achieved a reduction in nonresponse within the treatment group (n = 116). Also, begging made no significant difference along the dimensions of job function, gender, or seniority.
Differential regulation of msx genes in the development of the gonopodium, an intromittent organ, and of the “sword,” a sexually selected trait of swordtail fishes (Xiphophorus)

Summary The possession of a conspicuous extension of colored ventral rays of the caudal fin in male fish of swordtails (genus Xiphophorus) is a prominent example for a trait that evolved by sexual selection. To understand the evolutionary history of this so‐called sword molecularly, it is of interest to unravel the developmental pathways responsible for extended growth of sword rays during development of swordtail males. We isolated two msx genes and showed that they are differentially regulated during sword outgrowth. During sword growth in juvenile males, as well as during testosterone‐induced sword development and fin ray regeneration in the sword after amputation, expression of msxC is markedly up‐regulated in the sword forming fin rays. In contrast, msxE/1 is not differentially expressed in ventral and dorsal male fin rays, suggesting a link between the development of male secondary sexual characters in fins and up‐regulation of msxC expression. In addition, we showed that msx gene expression patterns differ significantly between Xiphophorus and zebrafish. We also included in our study the gonopodium, a testosterone‐dependent anal fin modification that serves as a fertilization organ in males of live‐bearing fishes. Our finding that increased levels of msxC expression are associated with the testosterone‐induced outgrowth of the gonopodium might suggest either that at least parts of the signaling pathways that pattern the evolutionary older gonopodium have been coopted to evolve a sexually selected innovation such as the sword or that increased msxC expression may be inherent to the growth process of long fin rays in general.
Course design in geography: The case of the Open university

Abstract The Open University's new second level‐course ‘Fundamentals of Human Geography’ is used to illustrate the process of designing and developing an integrated course using a team of academics who clearly define its aims and select the most appropriate of the available teaching media for particular aspects of the content. Readers are invited to consider the relevance of Open University experience to their own institutions.
S Efficient Scheduling for Multiuser MIMO Systems with Block Diagonalization Precoding in Millimeter Waves Channel

In this paper, an efficient scheduling technique for multiuser MIMO downlink with block diagonalization precoding in millimeter waves channel is presented. The scheduling technique is based on employing hybrid DE/EPSO optimization method to maximize the sum rate capacity for selected number of users for outdoor cellular systems. The proposed scheduling scheme achieves almost similar capacity performance to the optimum exhaustive search algorithm and compared with classical genetic algorithm technique. In this paper, block diagonalization beamforming performance is considered for different number of mobile users and different numbers of antennas at the receivers under correlated millimeter wave channel model.
PACIFIC RIM RESEARCH PROGRAM

The direction of the arrows in the graph encodes the fact that the class depends on these five attributes, and the lack of any arrows between the attributes explicitly encodes the assumption that the attributes are independent (more precisely, the attributes are independent, given we know the class). For example, if A1 is thorax_length and A3 is wingbeat_frequency, this classifier explicitly assumes that these two things are unrelated. This is clearly an unrealistic assumption; larger insects tend to have lower wingbeat frequencies. In spite of these assumptions which are clearly unrealistic for most real world problems, Naïve Bayes has been shown to be competitive with more complex, state-of-the-art classifiers (Dougherty 1995, Kohavi 1994). Nevertheless, if the attributes are known to be related, this can be explicitly encoded by calculating the joint probabilities. For example, before we assumed that attribute 3 (wingbeat_frequency) was independent of the rest of the features and thus could be calculated as
Elgot Monads Stefan Milius

It was the idea of Calvin Elgot [4] to use Lawvere theories for the study of the semantics of recursion. He introduced iterative theories as those Lawvere theories in which every ideal morphism e : n → n+p (representing a system of recursive equations in n variables and p parameters) has a unique solution, i. e. , a unique morphism e† such that the equation e† = [e†, idp] ·e holds. Elgot proved that for a finitary signature Σ the theory RΣ of rational trees over Σ is a free iterative theory on Σ. Later Stephen Bloom and Zoltan Ésik introduced iteration theories where there is an operation (−)† assigning to every morphism e as above a solution e† subject to additional axioms, see [3]. They then prove a completeness theorem stating that iteration theories axiomatize all identities valid for the least fixed point operation in domains. We recently gave an category theoretic explanation of this completeness theorem, see [2]. In fact, Bloom and Ésik had proved that the rational tree theory RΣ⊥ , where Σ⊥ is the finitary signature Σ extended by a new constant symbol ⊥, is the free iteration theory on Σ. More precisely, the forgetful functor U from the category ITh of iteration theories to the category Sgn = Set/IN has a left adjoint given by Σ 7→ RΣ⊥ . We proved that, moreover, U is monadic, and from this result one can obtain the completeness theorem mentioned before. In recent years, we have studied a category-theoretic generalization and extension of the classical work of Elgot, see [1]. We proved that for every finitary endofunctor H of a locally finitely presentable category there is a free iterative monad RH on H, and we gave a coalgebraic construction of RH . In this talk we present a generalized version of (our monadicity result for) iteration theories. We work with a base category A that is locally finitely presentable and hyper extensive, i. e. , countable coproducts are disjoint and universal and, in addition, the copairing of a countable family of disjoint coproduct components is itself a coproduct component. In this setting we define the notion of an Elgot monad, viz. a finitary monad M together with an operation (−)† that assigns to any equation morphism e : X → M(X + Y ), X finitely presentable, a morphism e† : X → MY subject to certain axioms. These axioms resemble very much the axioms of iteration theories. One example of an Elgot monad is the finite power set functor. More generally, any finitary monad M is an Elgot monad on A if and only if the full subcategory of the Kleisli category AM given by the finitely presentable objects of A is traced cocartesian and the trace is uniform for all morphisms ηB · f : A → MB, where f : A → B is ∗Joint work with Jǐŕı Adámek and Jǐŕı Velebil.
Muscle history, fusimotor activity and the human stretch reflex

1 The previous history of contraction and length changes of a muscle influences the size of the stretch reflex and H reflex. Here we ask, is this dependence due to changes in mechanical properties of extrafusal fibres, intrafusal fibres of spindles, or both? 2 The soleus muscle of human subjects was conditioned using either a voluntary contraction or a contraction evoked by low‐strength electrical stimulation, in the range 0–25% of maximum. Following conditioning, reflexes were increased by more than twofold above the no‐contraction value by a voluntary contraction of 5% of maximum, or more, but not by electrical stimulation which presumably did not contract the intrafusal fibres of spindles. 3 When the muscle was conditioned with a contraction at a length shorter than the test length, rather than at the test length, a depressing effect on reflexes was attributed to both the burst of impulses generated in spindles when the muscle was stretched back to the test length and to a reduced stretch sensitivity of muscle spindles. 4 The experiments demonstrate the importance of keeping the muscle and its spindles in a defined mechanical state when measuring reflexes. They also point to the powerful facilitating influences of conditioning muscle contractions provided they recruit the intrafusal fibres of spindles.
A plug-and-play architecture for cognitive video stream analysis

This paper presents an architecture for cognitive analysis of streaming video, in which a new module can easily be plugged in, to add to or even compete with existing functionality. This allows the implementers to focus on the key scientific issues instead of struggling with the details of the implementation. The architecture is distributed and runs independently of the underlying computer architecture and can run transparently across one or many different operating systems in a larger distributed system. This architecture focuses on several key computer vision issues, such as multi-level global and local control, automatic dataflow based on auto-descriptive self-regulating independent modules that come together to form a whole based on the characteristics of the individual and the needs of the system rather than a static flow diagram.
Enabling preOS desktop management

Desktop management is probably the most resource-consuming task for the typical operations and support team, regardless of being frequently overlooked as not as complex or specialized as core network operations and management. Nowadays this scenario is even worse, since the increasing number and complexity of desktop systems was not matched by satisfactory management solutions - despite the relative success of products such as Intel's Landesk or Microsoft's SMS. In order to address this problem, we are exploring a different approach to desktop management, through the design and implementation of the openDMS management framework. This open source framework differs from available products in several points, such as earlier remote management mechanisms (prior to operating system load), incorporation of existing open standards, a network-centric architecture, operating system neutrality and tighter integration between traditional PC, thin clients and network PC. In this paper we discuss the current status of desktop management solutions and we present an overview of the OpenDMS approach, including its most relevant technical foundations and an application scenario.
Pour une approche pluraliste du tiers secteur

D'entree de jeu, les auteurs definissent le concept de tiers secteur afin de fonder une conception de celui-ci qui ne soit pas une sphere suppletive, compartimentee, des economies marchande et non marchande mais qui engendre de nouvelles dynamiques economiques inscrites dans une reconstruction de l'integration sociale des individus et impliquant de reconsiderer la place et le role de l'economie marchande et de l'Etat-providence. Par la suite, les auteurs soulignent differents types d'economie (marchande, non marchande et non monetaire) qui doivent etre en interaction pour creer des nouveaux rapports entre l'economie et la societe. On parle donc d'une economie contemporaine complexe — dans laquelle figure le tiers secteur — qu'on ne peut reduire a l'economie de marche.