Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transcending Cultural Borders: Implications for Science Teaching

Abstract The current development towards ‘science for all’ in all parts of the globe necessitates that consideration be given to how pupils move between their everyday life‐world and the world of school science, how pupils deal with cognitive conflicts between those two worlds, and what this means for effective teaching of science. This paper reviews a new cognitive explanation‐‐collateral learning theory‐‐for how pupils cope with disparate worldviews mediated by transcending cultural borders between their everyday culture and the culture of science. The assistance that most pupils receive when they attempt to negotiate these cultural borders will influence their success at science. A new pedagogy is proposed in which teachers assume a role of culture broker in the classroom to achieve culturally sensitive curriculum and assessment.
Dramatic reduction of DC field emission from large area electrodes by plasma-source ion implantation

Field emission is one of the principal phenomena limiting the operating voltage of practical electron guns. There is interest in developing photoemission cathode based DC electron guns employing cathode field strengths and cathode-anode voltages well above the present state-of-the-art. Such electron sources could provide high brightness, high average current beams for energy recovered superconducting linear accelerators, for applications in next generation light sources, electron cooling, and electron-ion colliders. We have studied the effect of plasma-source ion implantation on the field emission behavior of large area stainless steel electrodes. Our apparatus allows the operation of disc-shaped electrode pairs with 100 cm/sup 2/ uniform field area to 125 kV. The cathode electrode is biased at high voltage, and the anode is electrically isolated, allowing measurement of the field emission current. Electrodes were either mechanically polished, or implanted with nitrogen ions. Two separate ion implanted electrodes have shown negligible field emission at 20 MV/m, and emission between 0.5 and 1.8 pA/cm/sup 2/ during multi-hour runs at 30 MV/m. These electrodes show very little conditioning effect.
Modeling and Simulation of Standalone Photovoltaic Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles

Batteries of electric vehicles (BEV) are becoming more attractive with the advancement of new battery technologies and promotion of electric vehicles. BEV batteries are recharged on board vehicles using either the grid (G2V for Grid to Vehicle) or renewable energies in a stand-alone application (H2V for Home to Vehicle). This paper deals with the modeling, sizing and control of a photovoltaic stand-alone application that can charge the BEV at home. The modeling approach and developed mathematical models describing the system components are detailed. Simulation and experimental results are presented and commented. Keywords—Electric vehicles, photovoltaic energy, lead-acid batteries, charging process, modeling, simulation, experimental tests.
Comparative study of C-V active contour model and subdivision for micro algae image segmentation

Mass of micro algae propagated may produce harmful effects on marine ecological environment and fishery resources. The rapid and accurate identification and classification for micro algae is one of the important research issues in fisheries resource. In this paper, the comparative study of two segmentation methods, which are C-V active contour model based on partial differential equation and the 4-point approximating subdivision scheme widely used in computer aided geometric design, is given. The edges extracted by C-V active contour model can express the contour of boundary accurately but de-noise ability is not strong. The edges gained by subdivision can express the smoothness of the total contour better and the multi-resolution representation of the edges is simple but the partial accuracy is destroyed. Experiments demonstrate the validity of the comparative research between the two segmentation methods. C-V active contour model is fit for the images which have close convex contours and comparative clear boundaries. The edge extraction method based on subdivision is applicable for operations which concern total edges and ignore relatively unimportant detail information. The two methods all possess efficiency for identification and classification for micro algae images in certain conditions.
Performance Based Analysis of Novel Equilin Clustering

Most of the clustering algorithms are difficult to be applied extensively in high computational complexity oriented applications because of the complexities involved in conceptualizing the existing algorithms. Moreover, the inconsistencies in the performance of the traditional algorithms over unfair data make them more complicated to be relied upon. Hence, the present system still wanted off for the invention of newer algorithms to overcome the limitations of the existing ones. In this paper, an investigation is made to ensure that the equation of geographical shapes can be extensively applied for clustering similar data. To the proof of concept we have proposed a novel Equilin clustering algorithm for clustering similar data using the standard linear equation with the statistical mean approach. This paper also evaluates the performance of the proposed algorithm with several datasets to demonstrate its efficacy. The results show that the Equlin clustering is faster and able to provide better cluster results than the traditional algorithms.
Continuous Flow Experimental Set-Up for Fouling Deposit Study

The study of the fouling deposition of pink guava juice (PGJ) is relatively new research compared to milk fouling deposit. In this work, a new experimental set-up was developed to imitate the fouling formation in heat exchanger, namely a continuous flow experimental set-up heat exchanger. The new experimental set-up was operated under industrial pasteurization temperature of PGJ, which was at 93°C. While the flow rate and pasteurization period were based on the experimental capacity, which were 0.5 and 1 liter/min for the flow rate and the pasteurization period was set for 1 hour. Characterization of the fouling deposit was determined by using various methods. Microstructure of the deposits was carried out using ESEM. Proximate analyses were performed to determine the composition of moisture, fat, protein, fiber, ash and carbohydrate content. A study on the hardness and stickiness of the fouling deposit was done using a texture analyzer. The presence of seedstone in pink guava juice was also analyzed using a particle analyzer. The findings shown that seedstone from pink guava juice ranging from 168 to 200μm and carbohydrate was found to be a major composition (47.7% of fouling deposit consists of carbohydrate). Comparison between the hardness and stickiness of the deposits at two different flow rates showed that fouling deposits were harder and denser at higher flow rate. Findings from this work provide basis knowledge for further study on fouling and cleaning of PGJ.
Effective Reduced Diffusion-Models: A Data Driven Approach to the Analysis of Neuronal Dynamics

We introduce in this paper a new method for reducing neurodynamical data to an effective diffusion equation, either experimentally or using simulations of biophysically detailed models. The dimensionality of the data is first reduced to the first principal component, and then fitted by the stationary solution of a mean-field-like one-dimensional Langevin equation, which describes the motion of a Brownian particle in a potential. The advantage of such description is that the stationary probability density of the dynamical variable can be easily derived. We applied this method to the analysis of cortical network dynamics during up and down states in an anesthetized animal. During deep anesthesia, intracellularly recorded up and down states transitions occurred with high regularity and could not be adequately described by a one-dimensional diffusion equation. Under lighter anesthesia, however, the distributions of the times spent in the up and down states were better fitted by such a model, suggesting a role for noise in determining the time spent in a particular state.
Stochastic model for the vocabulary growth in natural languages

Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, 01187 Dresden, Germany(Received 4 December 2012; revised manuscript received 20 March 2013; published 14 May 2013)Weproposeastochasticmodelforthenumberofdifferentwordsinagivendatabasewhichincorporatesthe dependenceonthedatabasesizeandhistoricalchanges.Themain featureofourmodelistheexistenceof two different classes of words: (i) a ﬁnite number of core words, which have higher frequency and donot affect the probability of a new word to be used, and (ii) the remaining virtually inﬁnite number ofnoncore words, which have lower frequency and, once used, reduce the probability of a new word to beused in the future. Our model relies on a careful analysis of the Google Ngram database of bookspublished in the last centuries, and its main consequence is the generalization of Zipf’s and Heaps’ law totwo-scaling regimes. We conﬁrm that these generalizations yield the best simple description of the dataamong generic descriptive models and that the two free parameters depend only on the language but noton the database. From the point of view of our model, the main change on historical time scales is thecomposition of the speciﬁc words included in the ﬁnite list of core words, which we observe to decayexponentially in time with a rate of approximately 30 words per year for English.
Estimating the Number of Defects: A Simple and Intuitive Approach

The number of defects is an important measure of software quality which is widely used in industry. Unfortunately, accurate estimation of defect density can be a difficult task. Sampling techniques generally assume that the faults found are a representative sample of the all existing faults, which results in inaccurate estimates. Other existing techniques provide little information in addition to the number of faults already found. Software test coverage tools can easily and accurately measure the extent to which the software has been exercised. Both testing time and test coverage can be used as measures to model the defect finding process. However test coverage is a more direct measure of test effectiveness and can be expected to correlate better with the number of defects found. Here we describe a simple and intuitive procedure which can be used to estimate the total number of residual defects, once a suitable coverage level has been achieved. The technique is consistent with common testing approaches used. The method will be illustrated using actual data and is compared with existing approaches. Our results show that the method yields consistent estimates. An enhanced version of this approach is being implemented in a GUI tool.
A Quadratic Mean based Supervised Learning Model for Managing Data Skewness

In this paper, we study the problem of data skewness. A data set is skewed/imbalanced if its dependent variable is asymmetrically distributed. Dealing with skewed data sets has been identified as one of the ten most challenging problems in data mining research. We address the problem of class skewness for supervised learning models which are based on optimizing a regularized empirical risk function. These include both classification and regression models for discrete and continuous dependent variables. Classical empirical risk minimization is akin to minimizing the arithmetic mean of prediction errors, in which approach the induction process is biased towards the majority class for skewed data. To overcome this drawback, we propose a quadratic mean based learning framework (QMLearn) that is robust and insensitive to class skewness. We will note that minimizing the quadratic mean is a convex optimization problem and hence can be efficiently solved for large and high dimensional data. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate that the QMLearn model significantly outperforms existing statistical learners including logistic regression, support vector machines, linear regression, support vector regression and quantile regression etc.
A Framework for Recommendation and Trust Assessment in SNS

With the development of the network technology, social network services (SNS), which are based on social network theory have gained increasing media, government and popular attention than ever before. In a social networking site, recommendation and trust assessment is of great importance. However, applications are complicated and changeable, so the fixed assessment criteria which are dedicated to one application, may not fit another. After analysis of specific criteria and in accordance with their properties, we divide the criteria into several categories of similar, monotonic, anti-monotonic, convertible and inconvertible, meantime, propose methods to deal with these criteria. We define a framework, and experimentally evaluate the effectiveness of our method.
Distributed generation unit allocation utilizing expert system with reliability and voltage sag consideration

The advent of distributed generation (DG) units has posed many problems to the planning and operation of distribution networks (DS). The selection of the “best” site for the DG installation is a major problem in this context. Different strategies and methods have been developed in the recent years which deal with this problem. However, Complexity of solutions and inadequate manipulation have hindered their utilization by DS planners. This paper presents a robust and practical tool which helps the distribution network planner in getting the best possible location of DG unit taking into account both reliability of supply and voltage sag problems. The method suggested uses knowledge-base expert system (ES) to help in selecting the appropriate locations. The method suggested is based on economic and technical considerations. It investigates with economic loss due to both voltage sag and forced outage of DS components. It concerns with the effect of location of the added DG on the overall network performance during both steady-state when a forced outage occurring on one or more component of the DS and transients after sudden short-circuit. Using ES avoids mathematical complications of solving complex analytical model. By judicious rule-base ES, selection of optimum locations becomes clear and simple. The suggested method is explained and implemented through practical distribution network and its effectiveness is tested and discussed.
Optical sensing of biomolecules using microring resonators

A biosensor application of vertically coupled glass microring resonators with Q/spl sim/12 000 is introduced. Using balanced photodetection, very high signal to noise ratios, and thus high sensitivity to refractive index changes (limit of detection of 1.8/spl times/10/sup -5/ refractive index units), are achieved. Ellipsometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results indicate successful modification of biosensor surfaces. Experimental data obtained separately for a bulk change of refractive index of the medium and for avidin-biotin binding on the ring surface are reported. Excellent repeatability and close-to-complete surface regeneration after binding are experimentally demonstrated.
Retrospective biodosimetry using translocation frequency in a stable cell of occupationally exposed to ionizing radiation

Two cases of hematological malignancies were reported in an industrial radiography company over a year, which were reasonably suspected of being consequences of prolonged exposure to ionizing radiation because of the higher incidence than expected in the general population. We analyzed chromosomal aberrations in the peripheral blood lymphocytes from the other workers who had been working under similar circumstances as the patients in the company. Among the subjects tested, 10 workers who belonged to the highest band were followed up periodically for 1.5 years since the first analysis. The aim of this study was to clarify pertinence of translocation analysis to an industrial set-up where chronic exposure was commonly expected. To be a useful tool for a retrospective biodosimetry, the aberrations need to be persistent for a decade or longer. Therefore we calculated the decline rates and half-lives of frequency for both a reciprocal translocation and a dicentric chromosome and compared them. In this study, while the frequency of reciprocal translocations was maintained at the initial level, dicentric chromosomes were decreased to 46.9% (31.0–76.5) of the initial frequency over the follow-up period. Our results support the long-term stability of reciprocal translocation through the cell cycle and validate the usefulness of translocation analysis as a retrospective biodosimetry for cases of occupational exposure.
Finance, Psychology, Economics and the Design of Successful Institutions

The theory of rational efficient markets dominated financial economics three decades ago. In recent years, however, psychology-inspired behavioral finance has overshadowed it. Both critics and proponents of the use of psychology in economics and finance base their positions on the premise that psychology primarily deals with human fallibility, systematic mistakes and biased judgment (Kahneman, Slovic and Tversky, 1982). The association of psychology with pathology seems to imply that normative behavioral economics and the design of successful institutions must focus on a benevolent paternalism aimed at saving individuals from themselves. This paper, in contrast, discusses how simple psychological processes frequently, but not always, function well in their respective environments. Using the concept of ecological rationality and the key findings of psychology in economics, three lessons for designing successful institutions are proposed.
The cohomology of Bestvina-Brady groups

For each subcomplex of the standard CW-structure on any torus, we compute the homology of a certain infinite cyclic regular covering space. In all cases when the homology is finitely generated, we also compute the cohomology ring. For aspherical subcomplexes of the torus our computation gives the homology and cohomology of Bestvina-Brady groups. We compute the cohomological dimension of each of these groups over any field and over any subring of the rationals.
Contribution of glucose kinase to glucose repression of xylose utilization in Bacillus megaterium

The glk gene from Bacillus megaterium, which encodes glucose kinase, was isolated and analyzed. Disruption by a transcriptional glk-luxAB fusion indicated that glk is the only glucose kinase gene in that strain but did not affect growth of that mutant on glucose. Determination of luciferase activity under various growth conditions revealed constitutive transcription of glk. Expression of a xylA-lacZ fusion was repressed by glucose in the strain with the glk disruption about twofold less efficiently than in the wild type. The potential contribution of glk expression to glucose repression is discussed.
Cognitive and clinical outcomes of homocysteine‐lowering B‐vitamin treatment in mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial

Homocysteine is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. In the first report on the VITACOG trial, we showed that homocysteine‐lowering treatment with B vitamins slows the rate of brain atrophy in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Here we report the effect of B vitamins on cognitive and clinical decline (secondary outcomes) in the same study.
Relationship between pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) and renal function in patients with diabetic retinopathy

Purpose Diabetic retinopathy and nephropathy are microvascular complications in patients with diabetes that are considered to be related. Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF), a strong inhibitor of angiogenesis, is significantly elevated in the blood of diabetic patients, especially those with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). The level of PEDF in the blood, on the other hand, is reported to be low in a diabetic nephropathy. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between PEDF and renal function in patients with diabetic retinopathy. Methods A total of 243 type 2 diabetic patients were studied. The relationship between the diabetic retinopathy and levels of PEDF, HbA1c, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and creatinine were evaluated. Results The mean plasma PEDF level in patients with PDR (7.69±6.14 µg/ml; mean±standard error) was significantly higher than that of mild-to-moderate nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (5.07±4.37 µg/ml, p=0.02). The level of BUN and creatinine increased significantly as the stage of diabetic retinopathy advanced. The plasma PEDF levels were significantly correlated with the levels of BUN and creatinine (r=0.54, p<0.0001; r=0.57, p<0.0001, respectively). Conclusions The levels of plasma PEDF increases with advances in both diabetic retinopathy and nephropathy. Thus, increased levels of PEDF in the blood may indicate microvascular damages in diabetic patients and may be predictor of the progression of retinopathy and nephropathy.
GABA Transporter Deficiency Causes Tremor, Ataxia, Nervousness, and Increased GABA-Induced Tonic Conductance in Cerebellum

GABA transporter subtype 1 (GAT1) knock-out (KO) mice display normal reproduction and life span but have reduced body weight (female, -10%; male, -20%) and higher body temperature fluctuations in the 0.2-1.5/h frequency range. Mouse GAT1 (mGAT1) KO mice exhibit motor disorders, including gait abnormality, constant 25-32 Hz tremor, which is aggravated by flunitrazepam, reduced rotarod performance, and reduced locomotor activity in the home cage. Open-field tests show delayed exploratory activity, reduced rearing, and reduced visits to the central area, with no change in the total distance traveled. The mGAT1 KO mice display no difference in acoustic startle response but exhibit a deficiency in prepulse inhibition. These open-field and prepulse inhibition results suggest that the mGAT1 KO mice display mild anxiety or nervousness. The compromised GABA uptake in mGAT1 KO mice results in an increased GABAA receptor-mediated tonic conductance in both cerebellar granule and Purkinje cells. The reduced rate of GABA clearance from the synaptic cleft is probably responsible for the slower decay of spontaneous IPSCs in cerebellar granule cells. There is little or no compensatory change in other proteins or structures related to GABA transmission in the mGAT1 KO mice, including GAT1-independent GABA uptake, number of GABAergic interneurons, and GABAA-, vesicular GABA transporter-, GAD65-, and GAT3-immunoreactive structures in cerebellum or hippocampus. Therefore, the excessive extracellular GABA present in mGAT1 KO mice results in behaviors that partially phenocopy the clinical side effects of tiagabine, suggesting that these side effects are inherent to a therapeutic strategy that targets the widely expressed GAT1 transporter system.