Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gender Differences in Science Education: Building a Model

The relationship between gender and science in schools is the focus of this article. It begins with the hypothesis that neither macro-level frameworks, suggested by international studies, nor causal models, developed in mathematics, provide an adequate paradigm to guide gender and science research. An analysis of an Australian and American study informs the proposed model that suggests how students' and teachers' constructions of gender and science affect student outcomes. The model is proposed as a scaffolding for future research that will systematically examine known and new variables as well as their effect on girls' interest, confidence, achievement, aspiration, and retention in science.
Conceptual and Empirical Problems with Discrepancy Definitions of Reading Disability

Most definitions of reading disability and/or dyslexia involve assessment of a discrepancy between reading ability and measured intelligence. In this article, it is argued that the use of intelligence as an aptitude benchmark in defining dyslexia conceals unsupported assumptions about educational potential and makes it difficult to differentiate the cognitive characteristics of dyslexic children from those of other poor readers. The use of a more educationally relevant aptitude measure such as listening comprehension is suggested. However, it is argued that all discrepancy definitions predicated on mismatches between aptitude and achievement are threatened by findings that acquisition of literacy fosters the cognitive skills assessed on aptitude measures. These findings undermine the logic of discrepancy measurement by weakening the distinction between aptitude and achievement.
Homogeneous Liquid–Liquid Extraction of Rare Earths with the Betaine—Betainium Bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide Ionic Liquid System

Several fundamental extraction parameters such as the kinetics and loading were studied for a new type of metal solvent extraction system with ionic liquids. The binary mixture of the ionic liquid betainium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide and water shows thermomorphic behavior with an upper critical solution temperature (UCST), which can be used to avoid the slower mass transfer due to the generally higher viscosity of ionic liquids. A less viscous homogeneous phase and mixing on a molecular scale are obtained when the mixture is heated up above 55 °C. The influence of the temperature, the heating and cooling times, were studied for the extraction of neodymium(III) with betaine. A plausible and equal extraction mechanism is proposed in bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, nitrate, and chloride media. After stripping of the metals from the ionic liquid phase, a higher recovery of the ionic liquid was obtained by salting-out of the ionic liquid fraction lost by dissolution in the aqueous phase. The change of the upper critical solution temperature by the addition of HCl or betaine was investigated. In addition, the viscosity was measured below and above the UCST as a function of the temperature.
Design of X-band low-noise amplifier for optimum matching between noise and power

High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMT) plays a crucial role in microwave low noise receivers. Low noise HEMTs are used extensively in the ultra low noise amplifier (LNAs). Design the LNA is difficult for the radio astronomical observations, especially the realization of the simultaneous about the noise matching and the power matching, as well as the full band unconditional stability. With the Agilent Advanced Design System (ADS) simulation tools, the X-band three-stage LNA using NEC-NE3210S01 HEMTs has been designed: Noise Figure<0.6dB; power Gain>30dB at X-band (7.8∼9.4GHz), full band unconditional stability.
Auditory Verbal Hallucinations as Dialogical Experiences

The purpose of this study is to offer a model in which auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) can be conceptualized as dialogical experiences. This model is of interest in that it integrates several different perspectives (phenomenological, cognitive, social, and evolutionary) and the findings of empirical research on the subject. Hallucinations are understood as the product of a state of consciousness in which the self is dissociated into different positions or perspectives. After reviewing the most relevant results of psychological research, dialogical self theory is proposed as the theoretical framework for understanding hallucinatory experiences. It is argued that the voices possess a series of characteristics, pragmatic properties, relationships with the voices similar to their social surroundings, and more dissociative experiences in people who experience voices than in those who do not, with which they may be considered a dialogical experience. Finally, a model attempting to integrate psychological research on AVHs within the framework of dialogical self theory is presented.
Active varying sampling period-based networked systems H∞ control

This paper studies the problem of designing robust H∞ controllers for networked control systems (NCSs) with both network-induced time delay and packet dropout by using active varying sampling period method, where the sampling period switches in a finite set. An active varying sampling period method using both clock-driven and event-driven sensor is proposed, then by modeling the system with varying sampling period as a switched system, H∞ controllers are designed by using LMI-based method. The simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the active varying sampling period method and the proposed H∞ controller design.
Potential Health Benefits of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA): A Review

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a mixture of positional and geometric isomers of octadecadienoic acid with two conjugated double bonds. Of more than a dozen isomers of CLA found naturally in dairy and meat products from ruminants, c-9, t-11 and t-10, c-12 are the two isomers with known physiological importance, including anticarcinogenic, antidiabetic, antilipogenic, and antiatherosclerotic effects. Positive effects of CLA on immune function and bone modeling have also been reported. In spite of the compelling findings in tissue cultures and experimental animal models, its effect, dose, and mechanism of action vis-a-vis specific isomers remains speculative. Results obtained from animal models are inconclusive and conflicting at times in humans, where the research data is limited. It appears that there is a long way to go before CLA could be accepted unequivocally as having definite effects in any or all of these physiological states and how such effects actually occur in humans. The objective of this review is to critically examine the available literature on potential health benefits of CLA observed in cell culture, animal models, and human subjects, wherever possible and to a certain extent the mechanism of action associated with these biological activities. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2004. Vol 17, No. 9 : 1315-1328)
CLAPS: A Cross-Layer Analysis Platform for P2P Video Streaming

Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are emerging as an interesting alternative to media streaming delivery with respect to content delivery networks (CDN). Although several P2P protocols have been proposed to support video streaming with an adequate degree of quality of service (QoS), a critical point today is how to evaluate them and optimize their parameters. The difficulty lies in the fact that the behavior of the P2P overlay network and the one of the underlying packet network are closely related and need to be analyzed simultaneously. Ad-hoc simulators for each P2P architecture have been proposed but they neglect the interactions between peers and the underlying network. This paper proposes a new approach to P2P video streaming performance analysis and system design which provides a very accurate cross-layer simulation of the real behavior of P2P clients over TCP/IP networks. A fluid-flow approach has been adopted to simulate the behavior of the network elements supporting an emulated overlay network consisting of real implementations of P2P clients. The P2P SplitStream video streaming protocol is considered as a case study to demonstrate that the tool is able to capture performance parameters at both the overlay (e.g. inter description synchronization) and packet network levels (e.g. traffic source round-trip time and router queue behavior).
Performance Analysis of Application Kernels in Multi / Many-Core Architectures

In recent years, advancement in technology and computing led to huge amounts of data being generated. Thus, HighPerformance Computing (HPC) plays an ever growing role in processing these large datasets in a timely fashion. Our analysis consist of few important throughput computing app kernels which have high degree of parallelism and makes them excellent candidates for evaluation on high end multi-core CPUs, and manycore GPUs. In this work, we performed a performance comparison of important app kernels like Image Convolution, Histogram and Bilateral filtering in multi-core CPU, many-core NVIDIA GPUs in addition to comparing our research framework GPU enabled ManyTask Computing (GeMTC). GeMTC is an execution model and runtime system which enables NVIDIA GPUs to be programmed with many concurrent and independent tasks of potentially short or variable duration. In this work we provide a thorough performance analysis between CPU, CUDA, and the GeMTC framework. Through this we better understand the behavior of different applications that belong to the Many-Task Computing paradigm. The results show that the GeMTC framework shows promising results for Many-Task Computing workloads running on NVIDIA GPUs.
The cognitive and emotional effects of amygdala damage

Single case studies of patients with selective lesions suggest three main categories of impairment following amygdala damage. First, amygdala lesions interfere with memory processes for emotional events. Second, deficits are seen in the processing of facial and auditory expressions of emotion, although this impairment appears to be more severe for some emotions than for others. Third, clinical and informal descriptions suggest that amygdala damage can result in aberrant social behaviour. Following a closer examination of these findings, we will discuss what processing impairments might underlie these data, and highlight some questions that remain unanswered.
Reflections on a Spare Tire: SUVs and Postmodern Environmental Consciousness

This article identifies sport utility vehicles (SUVs) with postmodern developments in industrial society, automobile manufacturing and marketing, land use, and the environment. A historical backdrop demonstrates links between vehicular systems and conceptions of nature protection: nineteenth-century rail produced monuments at discrete points, whereas the modernist automobile culture of the 1930s–1950s separated nature and urban civilization and created zones of wilderness. Today's SUV culture echoes a more complicated “de-differentiated” ideal that can be approached through advertising slogans and spare-tire covers. Viewed pessimistically, this postmodernism means “no boundaries” in people's exploitation of the environment; more optimistically it means seamlessly integrated concern-even in vehicles.
Vision-based Cartesian space motion control for flexible robotic manipulators

This paper addresses the issue of Cartesian space trajectory tracking control of robot arms with link flexibility. A control method using vision feedback is proposed based on dynamics of the robot and Lyapunov stability theory. A CCD camera and video tracker are used as a vision system for the measurement of end-effector position and link flexural behaviour in the control process. Using this vision system the end-effector position is measured directly, whereas the link deflections are measured indirectly based on kinematics and inverse kinematics of the flexible robot. End-effector trajectory tracking control experiments are carried out using a two-link flexible robot system as the test bed. The results demonstrate effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed sensing and control methods.
Book Review: Work Performance and Satisfaction: Democracy, Authority, and Alienation in Work: Workers' Participation in an American Corporation

overview of how the previous essays conflict with or contradict one another and then shows how they provide different ways of looking not at the same thing but at different aspects of different kinds of organizations. There is a final chapter by Martin Albrow on science and values in studying organizations that is tacked on. Many of the essays are useful little summaries of some of the important areas in understanding organizations. Unfortunately the editors do not connect the materials, leaving them even more abstracted from ongoing organizations than they might have been. The book could be useful as a way to focus discussions for students who have had extensive experience in organizations. It could also serve advanced sociology students by requiring them to compare and contrast the different essays and to make explicit Perrow's notice of "the shifting meanings, unnoted contradictions, and diverse types of organizations involved. " Fred H. Goldner Professor of Sociology Queens College and Graduate Center, C.U.N.Y.
Workgroup Report: Public Health Strategies for Reducing Aflatoxin Exposure in Developing Countries

Consecutive outbreaks of acute aflatoxicosis in Kenya in 2004 and 2005 caused > 150 deaths. In response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization convened a workgroup of international experts and health officials in Geneva, Switzerland, in July 2005. After discussions concerning what is known about aflatoxins, the workgroup identified gaps in current knowledge about acute and chronic human health effects of aflatoxins, surveillance and food monitoring, analytic methods, and the efficacy of intervention strategies. The workgroup also identified public health strategies that could be integrated with current agricultural approaches to resolve gaps in current knowledge and ultimately reduce morbidity and mortality associated with the consumption of aflatoxin-contaminated food in the developing world. Four issues that warrant immediate attention were identified: a) quantify the human health impacts and the burden of disease due to aflatoxin exposure; b) compile an inventory, evaluate the efficacy, and disseminate results of ongoing intervention strategies; c) develop and augment the disease surveillance, food monitoring, laboratory, and public health response capacity of affected regions; and d) develop a response protocol that can be used in the event of an outbreak of acute aflatoxicosis. This report expands on the workgroup’s discussions concerning aflatoxin in developing countries and summarizes the findings.
PROVIDING NORMATIVE FEEDBACK ON THE INTERNET TO STIMULATE SELF-EVALUATION OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, AND CANNABIS USE

An internet application was created to provide users with personalized normative feedback regarding their use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis. Ninety-nine participants completed the alcohol assessment, 52 completed the cannabis assessment, and 60 completed the smoking assessment. Respondents expressed interest in the expansion of the site to include illicit use of prescription medications, hallucinogens, and methamphetamine. As far as the authors know, the present study, at time of preparation of this manuscript, is the first to examine e-mail broadcasting as a recruitment strategy, and to use normative feedback regarding cannabis usage over the internet. The use of personalized feedback over the internet offers an extremely costeffective approach to helping substance users who may not access traditional treatment services.
Rapid antidepressant effects of the psychedelic ayahuasca in treatment-resistant depression: a randomized placebo-controlled trial

Abstract Background Recent open-label trials show that psychedelics, such as ayahuasca, hold promise as fast-onset antidepressants in treatment-resistant depression. Methods To test the antidepressant effects of ayahuasca, we conducted a parallel-arm, double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial in 29 patients with treatment-resistant depression. Patients received a single dose of either ayahuasca or placebo. We assessed changes in depression severity with the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and the Hamilton Depression Rating scale at baseline, and at 1 (D1), 2 (D2), and 7 (D7) days after dosing. Results We observed significant antidepressant effects of ayahuasca when compared with placebo at all-time points. MADRS scores were significantly lower in the ayahuasca group compared with placebo at D1 and D2 (p = 0.04), and at D7 (p < 0.0001). Between-group effect sizes increased from D1 to D7 (D1: Cohen's d = 0.84; D2: Cohen's d = 0.84; D7: Cohen's d = 1.49). Response rates were high for both groups at D1 and D2, and significantly higher in the ayahuasca group at D7 (64% v. 27%; p = 0.04). Remission rate showed a trend toward significance at D7 (36% v. 7%, p = 0.054). Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first controlled trial to test a psychedelic substance in treatment-resistant depression. Overall, this study brings new evidence supporting the safety and therapeutic value of ayahuasca, dosed within an appropriate setting, to help treat depression. This study is registered at http://clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02914769).
Optimization of information retrieval using evolutionary computation: A survey

In our work we present a basic outline of information retrieval process using evolutionary computation and some of the basic models which are being employed. Different evolutionary techniques like particle swarm optimization, ant colony optimization, and genetic algorithm are used for optimizing the data using different sets of algorithms which are comparatively better than traditional computing techniques. It covers a brief overview of evolutionary computation and how optimization helps to retrieve better results using different techniques.
Breast lesion detection and characterization at contrast-enhanced MR mammography: gadobenate dimeglumine versus gadopentetate dimeglumine.

PURPOSE To prospectively and intraindividually compare equivalent (0.1 mmol per kilogram of body weight) doses of gadobenate dimeglumine and gadopentetate dimeglumine for accuracy of detection and characterization of breast lesions at contrast material-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) mammography. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ethics committee approval and informed consent were obtained. Twenty-six consecutive women (mean age, 47.8 years) suspected of having a breast tumor at mammography and sonography underwent two identical MR examinations at 1.5 T; examinations were separated by more than 48 hours but less than 72 hours. A T1-weighted three-dimensional gradient-echo sequence was used, and images were acquired before and at 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 minutes after randomized injection of gadopentetate dimeglumine or gadobenate dimeglumine at an identical flow rate of 2 mL/sec. Separate and combined assessment of unenhanced, contrast-enhanced, and subtracted images was performed blindly by two readers in consensus. Accuracy for lesion detection was determined against a final diagnosis based on findings at conventional mammography, sonography, and surgery. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and overall accuracy for malignant lesion identification were determined against histologic results. Data were analyzed with the McNemar test, proportional odds models, and analysis of variance. RESULTS MR mammography with gadobenate dimeglumine depicted significantly (P = .003) more lesions (45 of 46) than did that with gadopentetate dimeglumine (36 of 46), and detected lesions were significantly (P < .001) more conspicuous with gadobenate dimeglumine. Confidence for characterization was significantly (P = .031) greater with gadobenate dimeglumine. Comparison of the contrast agents for their ability to help identify malignant lesions revealed significant (P = .02) superiority for gadobenate dimeglumine: Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and overall accuracy for malignant lesion identification were, respectively, 94.7%, 100%, 100%, 80.0%, and 95.6% with gadobenate dimeglumine and 76.3%, 100%, 100%, 47.1%, and 80.4% with gadopentetate dimeglumine. Quantitative evaluation of signal intensity-time curves revealed significantly (P < .001) greater lesion enhancement with gadobenate dimeglumine. CONCLUSION Detection of breast lesions and accurate identification of malignant lesions at MR imaging are significantly superior with gadobenate dimeglumine in comparison with gadopentetate dimeglumine.
THE INHOMOGENEOUS BACKGROUND OF H2-DISSOCIATING RADIATION DURING COSMIC REIONIZATION

The first, self-consistent calculations are presented of the cosmological, H2-dissociating UV background produced during the epoch of reionization by the sources of reionization. Large-scale radiative transfer simulations of reionization trace the impact of all the ionizing starlight on the intergalactic medium (IGM) from all the sources in our simulation volume down to dwarf galaxies of mass ∼108 M☉, identified by very high resolution N-body simulations, including the self-regulating effect of IGM photoheating on dwarf galaxy formation. The UV continuum emitted below 13.6 eV by each source is then transferred through the same IGM, attenuated by atomic H Lyman series resonance lines, to predict the evolution of the inhomogeneous radiation background in the Lyman–Werner (LW) bands of H2 between 11 and 13.6 eV. On average, the intensity of this LW background is found to rise to the threshold level at which dissociation suppresses H2 cooling and star formation inside minihalos, long before reionization is complete. Spatial variations in the LW background are found which result from the clustering of sources associated with large-scale structure formation, such that intensity fluctuations correlate with matter density fluctuations. As a result, the LW background rises to the threshold level for H2 suppression earlier in the vicinity of the reionization sources and their H ii regions.
A review of SLA specification languages in the cloud computing

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) represents an agreement between a cloud provider and cloud customer in the context of a particular service provision. This raises the following question: How to describe the SLA terms between prospective signatories, such as service levels, Quality of Service properties, penalties in case of SLA violation, etc. SLA can be represented by specialized languages for easing SLA preparation, automating SLA negotiation, adapting services automatically according to SLA terms, and reasoning about their composition. Therefore, the aim of this work is to present a comprehensive review of how SLAs are created, managed and used in web services and cloud computing environment. This paper provides a review of SLA languages specification. Among them the WSLA, WS-Agreement, SLA*, CSLA and SLAC. Then, a comparison of these languages in terms of the requirements is presented, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.
A quantitative approach to estimate a website security risk using whitelist

Despite much research on defense against phishing attacks, incidents continue to occur where sensitive (e.g., personal or financial) information is stolen using social engineering and technical spoofing techniques. Most approaches use the notions of blacklists versus whitelists (WWLs), and it is difficult to quantify the degree of a website's vulnerability against phishing attacks. In this paper, we present a quantitative approach for evaluating the phishing possibility of a given website using the refined security risk elements for domain and web page. Design and implementation of the website risk assessment system for antiphishing are also included. It can detect suspicious websites containing phishing attack and abnormal behavior and generates a warning if website is judged untrustworthy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.