Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Fuzzy Logic to Mitigate IEEE 802.11 Handoff Latency

Multimedia transmissions are delay sensitive Internet applications. Because mobile stations move all of the time, handoff processes are necessary and unavoidable in wireless network environments. Since handoff processes tend to break the communication link, some researches have been done to reduce the break time and arrival delay during Internet multimedia applications. In this paper, we propose an approach based on fuzzy logic to evaluate the average and variation in signal strength received by a mobile station. According to our investigation, a mobile station needs to execute an active scan process only once to obtain the complete handoff parameters. Therefore, smaller handoff latency is expected
The effects of an overt constructivist approach to learning mathematics and its subsequent effects on classroom teaching

Abstract A Master's unit in mathematics education was given to three practicing primary teachers. Constructivism as a theory on which to develop a flexible pedagogy was a central theme and the style of presentation of workshops was guided by constructivist principles. Contact time was 20 hours spread over 10 weeks. The course contained a number of different aspects relating to mathematics teaching and learning some of which provided research data: (1) discussion about the nature of constructivism in mathematics learning, and its implications for teaching; this centred around seminar papers on aspects of constructivism; (2) a workshop each week that focused on a rich mathematical topic designed to provoke mathematical activity and interaction and to encourage reflection on that activity; (3) an extended investigation of a mathematical situation; and (4) classroom implementation of some aspect of (3) together with a report of its implementation and an evaluation of children's understanding. A combined indiv.
Global dual‐career exploration and the role of hope and curiosity during the process

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use hope theory as a foundation from which to understand the global dual‐career exploration phenomenon. Additionally, the concept of curiosity is explored as a triggering mechanism for dual‐career couples to explore and learn about career options in a global context.Design/methodology/approach – Hope theory is used to provide theoretical support for the proposed conceptual model.Findings – It is concluded that hope and curiosity are important elements for dual‐career couples to leverage in order to reduce stress, maintain marital status, and allow the trailing spouse to resolve the potential dramatic and negative impact on their career path.Practical implications – Both hope and curiosity have been argued to have developmental aspects, meaning that individuals can nurture and strengthen their level of hopefulness and curiosity. Organizations which aid individuals in developing these abilities will likely increase the probability that their global employees will su.
Linguistic Features for Automatic Evaluation of Heterogenous MT Systems

Evaluation results recently reported by Callison-Burch et al. (2006) and Koehn and Monz (2006), revealed that, in certain cases, the BLEU metric may not be a reliable MT quality indicator. This happens, for instance, when the systems under evaluation are based on different paradigms, and therefore, do not share the same lexicon. The reason is that, while MT quality aspects are diverse, BLEU limits its scope to the lexical dimension. In this work, we suggest using metrics which take into account linguistic features at more abstract levels. We provide experimental results showing that metrics based on deeper linguistic information (syntactic/shallow-semantic) are able to produce more reliable system rankings than metrics based on lexical matching alone, specially when the systems under evaluation are of a different nature.
Strength of component principles determining direction of turn stereotypes-linear displays with rotary controls

Three experiments on direction of turn stereotypes are reported for (i) twodimensional horizontally moving displays (ii) three-dimensional display/control arrangements and (iii) the relationship between response times and the strength of stereotypes. In each case, equations were written for the strength of the stereotype (proportion of clockwise movements) in terms of the direction predicted by various principles; clockwise to increase, clockwise to the right, clockwise away, scale-side and Warrick's for two-dimensional arrangements and modifications of these for three-dimensional arrangements. Solution of these equations gave the contribution of each principle to the strength of the overall stereotype. There were found to be strong effects of subject groups (engineers and psychologists) in the strength of component principles. The important result was that the strength of the stereotype was a linear sum of the strength of each contributing principle. The work was extended to the case of three-dimensional.
Comprehensive design for control and data planes in wavelength-routed optical networks

We propose a control plane design methodology for optical backbone networks, which attempts to minimize the network congestion without compromising the network restoration response against link failures. Notwithstanding the low bandwidth requirements for control functionalities used in the slower backbone networks, the evolving control plane operations in optical backbones are going to demand significantly larger capacity. However, this demand is expected to remain well within the maximum capacity of a lightpath in the emerging wavelength-routed optical networks (WRONs). In view of this, we propose to setup lightpaths on some judiciously selected fiber links (with point-to-point lightpaths between neighbouring nodes), on a specific wavelength throughout the network and utilize an appropriate fraction of the same set of lightpaths for carrying control information, forming thereby the control plane of a WRON. The remaining bandwidth of these lightpaths is however utilized to carry the data traffic along with all other lightpaths of the WRON, forming the data plane at large. We carry out simulation studies on NSFNET (42 links) and Deutsche Telecom (DT) network (46 links), employing possible control planes using both symmetric (all 42 and 46 fiber links included in control plane, respectively) as well as asymmetric (using fewer fiber links than symmetric case) configurations, e.g., for NSFNET with 38, 32 and 28 links, and for DT network with 40, 34 and 28 links. The results of our simulations indicate that, the proposed hybrid design of control plane with a mix of asymmetric topology and in-band transmission can bring down network congestion significantly with respect to symmetric out-of-band (dedicated fully-reserved lightpaths for control plane), without sacrificing in respect of the network restoration time while recovering from single-link failures.
Post-development, Foucault and the colonisation metaphor

Post-development, the most recent radical reaction to the problems of postwar development efforts, has been the focus of both strident criticism and restrained defence in Third World Quarterly . This article shows that addressing post-development's shortcomings is more useful than dismissing or limiting its potential. By using the work of Foucault, one of post-development's theoretical departure points, a clear distinction is drawn between the operation of power in colonial and development eras. This requires a shift away from repressive views of power, ideas that a singular force directs development, and the colonisation metaphor used by some post-development writers. This article then shows that combining Foucault's notion of dispositif with his concept of normalisation is useful for understanding the operation of power in the postwar development project, and for comprehending how power operates through the World Bank. In this way a critical engagement with post-development can improve our understanding and analysis of development.
Increasing the Accuracy of Oral Glucose Tolerance Testing and Extending Its Application to Individuals With Normal Glucose Tolerance for the Prediction of Type 1 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE—We assessed the extent to which both standard and alternative indexes from 2-h oral glucose tolerance testing predict type 1 diabetes and whether oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs) predict type 1 diabetes in individuals with normal glucose tolerance. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—The prediction of type 1 diabetes from baseline OGTTs was studied in 704 Diabetes Prevention Trial-Type 1 participants (islet-cell autoantibody [ICA]-positive relatives of type 1 diabetic patients). The maximum follow-up was 7.4 years. Analyses utilized receiver-operator curves (ROCs), proportional hazards models, and survival curves. RESULTS—ROC areas under the curve (ROCAUCs) for both the AUC glucose (0.73 ± 0.02) and an OGTT prediction index (0.78 ± 0.02) were higher (P < 0.001) than those for the fasting (0.53 ± 0.02) and 2-h glucose (0.66 ± 0.02). ROCAUCs for the 60- and 90-min glucose (0.71 ± 0.02 and 0.72 ± 0.02, respectively) were also higher (P < 0.01) than those for the fasting and 2-h glucose. Among individuals with normal glucose tolerance, OGTTs were highly predictive, with 4th versus 1st quartile hazard ratios for the 2-h glucose, AUC glucose, and OGTT prediction index ranging from 3.77 to 5.30 (P < 0.001 for all). CONCLUSIONS—Certain alternative OGTT indexes appear to better predict type 1 diabetes than standard OGTT indexes in ICA-positive relatives of type 1 diabetic patients. Moreover, even among those with normal glucose tolerance, OGTTs are strongly predictive. This suggests that subtle metabolic abnormalities are present several years before the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes.
Recovery of Functional Status After Stroke: A Postrehabilitation Follow‐up Study

Background and Purpose Information on predictors of long-term change in functional capacity after a rehabilitation program in stroke patients is scant. This study describes the long-term evolution of self-reported functional ability after discharge from rehabilitation and its relation with age, level of neural impairment at discharge, and changes in neural impairment during follow-up. Methods Fifty patients (31 men and 19 women; mean±SD age, 66.0±.9 years; range, 47–86 years) with a first unilateral stroke and no severe cognitive impairment were consecutively enrolled. Self-reported disability in activities of daily living and neural impairment measured by the Fugl-Meyer Scale were evaluated after discharge from a rehabilitation program and 3 and 6 months later. Results Functional disability was significantly reduced after 3 and 6 months. Attenuation of disability occurred mainly among those patients with more severe baseline neural impairment. In this group, patients aged ≥65 years were more disabled at baseline than younger individuals, but they had the same rate of improvement. In patients aged <65 years, changes in disability over time could be attributed to changes in neural function, whereas older patients' functional recovery was greater than that expected from their improvement in neural impairment alone. Conclusions These results suggest that in stroke patients with severe neural damage further functional improvement occurs even after completion of a rehabilitation program. There is evidence that older patients may be more likely to employ compensatory strategies to overcome some of the neural impairment that remains after stroke.
Modeling HIV Risk in Highly Vulnerable Youth

This article examines the structure of several HIV risk behaviors in an ethnically and geographically diverse sample of 8,251 clients from 10 innovative demonstration projects intended for adolescents living with, or at risk for, HIV. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses identified 2 risk factors for men (sexual intercourse with men and a general risk factor) and 3 factors for women (sexual intercourse with men, substance abuse, and a high risky sex behavior factor). All factors except women engaging in risky sex with men strongly predicted known HIV status of clients for men and women. The findings from this investigation highlight the use of structural equation modeling for applied problems involving overlapping and complex sets of risk behaviors in youth who present at community health programs.
Preparing the Perfect Cuttlefish Meal: Complex Prey Handling by Dolphins

Dolphins are well known for their complex social and foraging behaviours. Direct underwater observations of wild dolphin feeding behaviour however are rare. At mass spawning aggregations of giant cuttlefish (Sepia apama) in the Upper Spencer Gulf in South Australia, a wild female Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) was observed and recorded repeatedly catching, killing and preparing cuttlefish for consumption using a specific and ordered sequence of behaviours. Cuttlefish were herded to a sand substrate, pinned to the seafloor, killed by downward thrust, raised mid-water and beaten by the dolphin with its snout until the ink was released and drained. The deceased cuttlefish was then returned to the seafloor, inverted and forced along the sand substrate in order to strip the thin dorsal layer of skin off the mantle, thus releasing the buoyant calcareous cuttlebone. This stepped behavioural sequence significantly improves prey quality through 1) removal of the ink (with constituent melanin and tyrosine), and 2) the calcareous cuttlebone. Observations of foraging dolphin pods from above-water at this site (including the surfacing of intact clean cuttlebones) suggest that some or all of this prey handling sequence may be used widely by dolphins in the region. Aspects of the unique mass spawning aggregations of giant cuttlefish in this region of South Australia may have contributed to the evolution of this behaviour through both high abundances of spawning and weakened post-spawning cuttlefish in a small area (>10,000 animals on several kilometres of narrow rocky reef), as well as potential long-term and regular visitation by dolphin pods to this site.
Deduction of a Model for Sperm Storage in the Oviduct of the Domestic Fowl (Gallus domesticus)1

Abstract The mechanism of sperm storage in the fowl oviduct has remained a mystery since the 1960s, when sperm storage tubules (SST) were discovered between the shell gland and vagina. Previously, it was known that only motile sperm could ascend the vagina and enter these tubules. However, the means by which sperm resided therein was not clear. Research with computer-assisted sperm motion analysis has demonstrated that 1) seminal plasma glutamate acts as a motility agonist via N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors; 2) motility depends on extracellular Ca2+ and Na+; 3) straight-line velocity is a variable with a skewed distribution; 4) sperm cell trajectory is a function of straight-line velocity; and 5) specific inhibition of phospholipase A2 renders sperm immotile. An additional experiment demonstrated that Ca2+ acts as a second messenger and thereby modulates the content of long-chain acylcarnitine within sperm. Therefore, it is proposed that 1) the release of endogenous fatty acids fuels sperm as they ascend the vagina; (2) on entering the SST, motile sperm maintain position against a fluid current generated by SST epithelial cells; 3) resident sperm metabolize exogenous fatty acids released from lipid-laden epithelial cells; (4) motile sperm emerge from the SST when their velocity declines to a threshold at which retrograde movement begins; and 5) the skewed distribution of straight-line velocity accounts for the exponential pattern of sperm emergence from the SST. In summary, sperm residence within and emergence from the SST are phenomena most likely explicable in terms of sperm cell motility.
The historiography of British Imperial education policy, Part II: Africa and the rest of the colonial empire

Part II of this historiographical study examines British education policy in Africa, and in the many crown colonies, protectorates, and mandated territories around the globe. Up until 1920, the British government took far less interest than in India, in the development of schooling in Africa and the rest of the colonial empire, and education was generally left to local initiative and voluntary effort. British interest in the control of education policy in Africa and elsewhere lasted only from the 1920s to the 1950s, as territories assumed responsibility for their own internal affairs as a prelude to independence. Nevertheless, critics were not slow to attack British direction of colonial education in the 1930s and thereafter.In retrospect it is clear that colonial education policy was fraught with much confusion of purpose and lack of resources, apathy and hostility. The literature has ranged from close scholarly studies of education policy in individual countries to passionate and more theoretically based critiques of colonial schooling. But as immediate passions surrounding demise of the Empire have receded, alternative analyses have begun to emerge.
A Lipid Mediator Hepoxilin A3 Is a Natural Inducer of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in Human Neutrophils

Pulmonary exacerbations in cystic fibrosis airways are accompanied by inflammation, neutrophilia, and mucous thickening. Cystic fibrosis sputum contains a large amount of uncleared DNA contributed by neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation from neutrophils. The exact mechanisms of the induction of NETosis in cystic fibrosis airways remain unclear, especially in uninfected lungs of patients with early cystic fibrosis lung disease. Here we show that Hepoxilin A3, a proinflammatory eicosanoid, and the synthetic analog of Hepoxilin B3, PBT-3, directly induce NETosis in human neutrophils. Furthermore, we show that Hepoxilin A3-mediated NETosis is NADPH-oxidase-dependent at lower doses of Hepoxilin A3, while it is NADPH-oxidase-independent at higher doses. Together, these results demonstrate that Hepoxilin A3 is a previously unrecognized inducer of NETosis in cystic fibrosis lungs and may represent a new therapeutic target for treating cystic fibrosis and other inflammatory lung diseases.
Mobile Learing: Engaging today's hospitality students

As the popularity of mobile/smart phones among high school and college students continues to increase, educators are looking for ways to integrate this technology into the learning environment. This research explores tourism students' perceptions and usage of mobile learning (m-learning) within the College of Business and Leadership at a mid-western state comprehensive university. These results were analyzed along with existing literature on m-learning to help develop a guide for initiating mobile learning educational experiences. Understanding m-learning from the students' perspective will help both faculty and instructional designers create course content that will be perceived as useful and beneficial by students.
Development of a Questionnaire to Evaluate Turnover and Retention in the IT Work Force : Art or Science ?

In order to evaluate turnover and retention in the Information Technology (IT) Work Force (ITWF) we developed a tailor made questionnaire that addresses specific job and organizational design factors of importance to IT workers. Early analyses show the questionnaire to be reliable and valid. However, because some companies complained about the length of the questionnaire, we decided to develop a short version of the questionnaire. In this paper we discuss the steps taken to develop the short version of the questionnaire, the criteria used to shorten the questionnaire, and the consequences for validity and reliability of the short questionnaire.
Crosstalk Between the Intestinal Microbiota and the Innate Immune System in Intestinal Homeostasis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract: Inflammatory bowel diseases are a set of complex and chronic disorders that arise in genetically predisposed individuals due to a lack of tolerance to the gut microflora. Although the intestinal microbiota is required for the proper development of the host and the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis, its dysbiosis is associated with inflammatory bowel diseases pathogenesis. In this review, we focus the discussion on the crosstalk between the innate immune system and the microbiota. We examine new findings from genetic and functional studies investigating the critical role of the intestinal epithelial cell layer and the processes that maintain its integrity in health and disease. We further explore the mechanisms of the mucosal innate immune system including dendritic cells, macrophages, and innate-like lymphocytes in mediating immunological tolerance at the steady state or pathogenic inflammatory responses in inflammatory bowel diseases.
A Comparison of Single-Item Visual Analog Scales With a Multiitem Likert-Type Scale for Assessment of Cocaine Craving in Persons With Bipolar Disorder

ObjectivesThis study was designed to explore correlations between single-item Visual Analog Scales (VAS) and a multiple-question Likert-type scale along with their relations to drug use in outpatients with bipolar disorder and cocaine dependence. The assessment scales included the 10-item Cocaine Craving Questionnaire (CCQ), a VAS Now and Week version, and a self-reported days of cocaine use in the past week. MethodsTwenty-nine participants diagnosed with bipolar disorder and cocaine dependence were examined from one of two previously reported 12-week studies using lamotrigine or quetiapine. The patients were evaluated at baseline and assessed either weekly or biweekly, depending on the study. To gauge the effectiveness of the drugs, the CCQ and VAS scales were administered at each visit to measure cocaine craving. ResultsTwenty-seven of the patients returned for at least one postbaseline assessment and were included in the data analysis. Significant correlations found were between VAS Now and VAS Week, VAS Now and CCQ Now, and VAS Week and CCQ Now at baseline, exit, and change from baseline to exit (all r > .53, P < .01). None of the scales correlated significantly with drug use. ConclusionsThese results suggest that for craving assessments in research and clinical settings, the faster and more easily administered VAS scales could possibly be substituted for the lengthier and more tedious 10-item CCQ. The shorter VAS scales may be valuable not only to the researcher but also to the clinician who wishes to measure a patient's craving objectively.
The Valaam Myth and the Fate of Leningrad's Disabled Veterans

This article explores an enduring Soviet myth, the myth of Valaam. According to this widely believed story in 1946 or 1947 vagrant disabled veterans were forcibly cleared from the streets of Soviet cities and deported to Valaam, an isolated archipelago of fifty islands, approximately 250 kilometres north of Leningrad. These myths continue to be repeated by both historians and the general public, but little evidence has been provided to support them. This article provides original archival evidence about the myth's two main components: the clearance of disabled veterans from the streets and their subsequent exile to Valaam. For the first time it demonstrates the existence of an invalid's home on Valaam, but which challenges the "facts" of the myth. Attempts were made to clear the disabled vagrants from Leningrad's streets, but these did not occur in 1946 or 1947, and were neither successful nor systematic. Although a residential institution for the elderly and disabled was established on Valaam, which had its own unedifying history, it was not a dumping ground for thousands of disabled veterans cleared from urban areas.