Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Democratic Social Education : Social Studies for Social Change

In 1932 George Counts, in his speech "Dare the School Build a New Social Order? " explicitly challenged teachers to develop a democratic, socialistic society. In Democratic Social Education: Social Studies for Social Change Drs. Hursh and Ross take seriously the question of what social studies educators can do to help build a democratic society in the face of current antidemocratic impulses of greed, individualism and intolerance. The essays in this book respond to Counts' question in theoretical analyses of education and society, historical analyses of efforts since Counts' challenge, and practical analyses of classroom pedagogy and school organization. This volume provides researchers and teacher educators with ideas and descriptions of practice that challenge the taken-for-granted meanings of democracy, citizenship, culture, work, indoctrination, evaluation, standards and curriculum within the purposes of social education.
Clinical Trials of Novel and Targeted Therapies: Endpoints, Trial Design, and Analysis

With the growth in knowledge of tumorigenesis, the development of agents to combat cancer has evolved from examining the ability of a compound to destroy more tumor cells than healthy cells without imparting excessive toxicity to developing agents that target aberrant antiproliferation signaling, tumor angiogenesis and invasion, resistance to apoptosis, cell immortalization, and/or capacity to metastasize (1). This evolution in cancer drug development has led to modifications in traditional cancer clinical trial designs. This chapter discusses some of these modifications, both proposed and in current use, to traditional phase I, II, and III cancer clinical trial designs for the identification and evaluation of promising targeted agents.
The Effect of Communication Topology on Scalar Field Estimation by Networked Robotic Swarms

This paper studies the problem of reconstructing a two-dimensional scalar field using a swarm of networked robots with local communication capabilities. We consider the communication network of the robots to form either a chain or a grid topology. We formulate the reconstruction problem as an optimization problem that is constrained by first-order linear dynamics on a large, interconnected system. To solve this problem, we employ an optimization-based scheme that uses a gradient-based method with an analytical computation of the gradient. In addition, we derive bounds on the trace of observability Gramian of the system, which helps us to quantify and compare the estimation capability of chain and grid networks. A comparison based on a performance measure related to the H2 norm of the system is also used to study robustness of the network topologies. Our resultsare validated using both simulated scalar fields and actual ocean salinity data.
A general formulation for support vector machines

In this paper, we derive a general formulation of support vector machines for classification and regression respectively. L/sub e/, loss function is proposed as a patch of L/sub 1/ and L/sub 2/ soft margin loss functions for classifier, while soft insensitive loss function is introduced as the generalization of popular loss functions for regression. The introduction of the two loss functions results in a general formulation for support vector machines.
Audio Texture Synthesis with Scattering Moments

We introduce an audio texture synthesis algorithm based on scattering moments. A scattering transform is computed by iteratively decomposing a signal with complex wavelet filter banks and computing their amplitude envelop. Scattering moments provide general representations of stationary processes computed as expected values of scattering coefficients. They are estimated with low variance estimators from single realizations. Audio signals having prescribed scattering moments are synthesized with a gradient descent algorithms. Audio synthesis examples show that scattering representation provide good synthesis of audio textures with much fewer coefficients than the state of the art.
Avian egg colour and sexual selection: does eggshell pigmentation reflect female condition and genetic quality?

Avian egg colour has been explained as mainly serving crypsis or mimetism, although the function of certain colours (e.g. blue and green) has not yet been demonstrated. We interpret egg colour as a sexually selected signal of the laying female's genetic quality to its mate in order to induce a higher allocation of paternal care. The blue–green pigment biliverdin is an antioxidant, the deposition of which may signal antioxidant capacity whereas the deposition of the brown pigment protoporphyrin, a pro-oxidant, may signal tolerance of oxidative stress. Egg ground colour is presumably heritable and phylogenetically labile. The hypothesis can be applied to animals with colourful eggs and paternal care.
Gait-based gender recognition using pose information for real time applications

Biological cues inherent in human motion play an important role in the context of social communication. While recognizing the gender of other people is important for humans, security, advertisement and population statistics systems could also benefit from such kind of information. In this work for first time we propose a method suitable for real time gait based gender recognition relying on poses estimated from depth images. We provide evidence that pose based representation estimated by depth images could greatly benefit the problem of gait analysis. Given a gait sequence, in every frame the dynamics of gait motion are encoded using an angular representation. In particular several skeletal primitives are expressed as two Euler angles that cast votes into aggregated histograms. These histograms are then normalized, concatenated and projected onto a PCA basis in order to form the final sequence descriptor. We evaluated our method on a newly created dataset -UPCVgait - captured with Microsoft Kinect, consisting of 5 gait sequences performed by 30 subjects. An RBF kernel SVM used for classification in a leave one person out scheme on gait sequences of arbitrary length as well as on variable number of frames confirms the efficiency of our method.
Efficient Generation of Triangle Strips from Triangulated Meshes

This paper presents a fast algorithm for generating triangle strips from triangulated meshes, providing a compact representation suitable for transmission and rendering of the models. A data structure that allows efficient triangle strip generation is also described. The method is based on simple heuristics, significantly reducing the number of vertices used to describe the triangulated models. We demonstrate the effectiveness and speed of our method comparing it against the best available program.
Cognitive Image Fusion and Assessment

The increasing availability and deployment of imaging sensors operating in multiple spectral bands has led to a requirement for methods that combine the signals from these sensors in an effective and ergonomic way for presentation to the human operator. Effective combinations of complementary and partially redundant multispectral imagery can provide information that is not directly evident from the individual input images. Image fusion for human inspection should combine information from two or more images of a scene into a single composite image that is more informative than each of the input images alone, and that requires minimal cognitive effort to understand. The fusion process should therefore maximize the amount of relevant information in the fused image, while minimizing the amount of irrelevant details, uncertainty and redundancy in the output. Thus, image fusion should preserve task relevant information from the source images, prevent the occurrence of artifacts or inconsistencies in the fused image, and suppress irrelevant features (e.g. noise) from the source images (Smith & Heather, 2005). The representation of fused imagery should optimally agree with human cognition, so that humans can quickly grasp the gist and meaning of the displayed scenes. For instance, the representation of spatial details should effortlessly elicit the recognition of known Gestalts, and the color schemes used should be natural (ecologically correct) and thus agree with human intuition. Irrelevant details (clutter) should be suppressed to minimize cognitive workload and to maximize recognition speed. Some potential benefits of image fusion are: wider spatial and temporal coverage, decreased uncertainty, improved reliability, and increased robustness of the system. Image fusion has applications in defense for situation awareness (Toet et al., 1997b), surveillance (Riley & Smith, 2006), target tracking (Zou & Bhanu, 2005), intelligence gathering (O'Brien & Irvine, 2004), and person authentication (Kong et al., 2007). Other important applications are found in industry and medicine (for a recent survey of different applications of image fusion techniques see Blum & Liu, 2006). The way images are combined depends on the specific application and on the type of information that is relevant in the given context (Smith & Heather, 2005). By examining the effects of several image fusion methods on different cognitive tasks, Krebs et al. (Krebs & Ahumada, 2002) showed that the benefits of sensor fusion are task dependent. However, until now the human end user has not been involved in the design process and the development of image fusion algorithms to any great extent. Mostly, image fusion algorithms are developed in isolation, and the human end-user is little more than an
Higher education and economic growth in France since the Second World War

In the past century, education was no longer an area isolated from the rest of the economy but something more important. The evolution of higher education in France reveals that the recent period was a turning point in the history of education. Indeed, the number of bachelor's degrees increased in an unprecedented growth in the past thirty and especially the past ten years. Although this increase was mainly the result of social demand, educational policy has been strongly guided by the fact that the development of higher education has a beneficial effect on the economy. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, higher Education and the dissemination of knowledge depended essentially on the universities. It would therefore seem interesting to address the issue of the links between higher education and economic growth because the real direction of these ones remain undetermined. Cliometric tools are used here to shed light on the relationship between higher education and economic growth in France after the Second World War. The evolution of the education standard and its link with the growth process were examined quantitatively in order to verify the fore a causality relationship. Two approaches were used: an approach with diploma, a socio-economic approach. The results of the analysis using original statistics for France show a high correlation between education and economic success. * Address all communications to Magali Jaoul, LAMETA, Universite Montpellier I, Faculte des Sciences Economiques, Espace Richter, Avenue de la Mer, B.P. 9606, 34054 Montpellier Cedex 1, France. E-mail: m.jaoul@lameta.univ-montp1.fr. This article falls within the scope of a CNRS action (Aid for New Project), directed by Claude DIEBOLT, and entitled “Analyse cliometrique de la relation education-croissance en Europe aux 19eme et 20eme siecles”.
Postural Control in Dual-Task Situations: Does Whole-Body Fatigue Matter?

Postural control is important to cope with demands of everyday life. It has been shown that both attentional demand (i.e., cognitive processing) and fatigue affect postural control in young adults. However, their combined effect is still unresolved. Therefore, we investigated the effects of fatigue on single- (ST) and dual-task (DT) postural control. Twenty young subjects (age: 23.7 ± 2.7) performed an all-out incremental treadmill protocol. After each completed stage, one-legged-stance performance on a force platform under ST (i.e., one-legged-stance only) and DT conditions (i.e., one-legged-stance while subtracting serial 3s) was registered. On a second test day, subjects conducted the same balance tasks for the control condition (i.e., non-fatigued). Results showed that heart rate, lactate, and ventilation increased following fatigue (all p < 0.001; d = 4.2–21). Postural sway and sway velocity increased during DT compared to ST (all p < 0.001; d = 1.9–2.0) and fatigued compared to non-fatigued condition (all p < 0.001; d = 3.3–4.2). In addition, postural control deteriorated with each completed stage during the treadmill protocol (all p < 0.01; d = 1.9–3.3). The addition of an attention-demanding interference task did not further impede one-legged-stance performance. Although both additional attentional demand and physical fatigue affected postural control in healthy young adults, there was no evidence for an overadditive effect (i.e., fatigue-related performance decrements in postural control were similar under ST and DT conditions). Thus, attentional resources were sufficient to cope with the DT situations in the fatigue condition of this experiment.
A dinuclear copper complex: bis(μ-4-aminobenzoato)bis[aqua(1,10-phenanthroline)copper(II)] dichloride bis(4-aminobenzoic acid) dihydrate

The title complex, [Cu2(C7H6NO2)2(C12H8N2)2(H2O)2]·2C7H7NO2·2H2O, consists of a dinuclear [Cu2(C7H6NO2)2(C12H8N2)2(H2O)2]2+ cation, two Cl− anions, two 4-aminobenzoic acid molecules and two disordered water molecules (site occupancy factors 0.5). The Cu(II) ion adopts a distorted square-pyramidal geometry formed by two N atoms from the 1,10-phenanthroline ligand and two O atoms of the two 4-aminobenzoic acid ligands and one water O atom. The Cu⋯Cu separation is 3.109 (2) Å. A twofold axis passes through the mid-point of the Cu⋯Cu vector.
Lack of correlation between cortical demyelination and white matter pathologic changes in multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND Histopathologic studies have shown that subpial cortical demyelination is extensive in chronic multiple sclerosis (MS). OBJECTIVE To study whether subpial cortical demyelination in MS is associated with focal or diffuse white matter (WM) pathologic features on magnetic resonance imaging (MR imaging). DESIGN Comparison of postmortem MR imaging findings with histopathologic findings. SETTING Brain donations from a general community. PATIENTS Three patients with MS with extensive cortical demyelination and 3 patients with minor cortical demyelination were selected from an MS autopsy data set. The postmortem MR imaging and histopathologic data of the patients were compared. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Two observers blinded to the results of each other assessed the presence, extent, and distribution of focal and diffuse pathologic changes in WM by MR imaging and by histopathology. RESULTS Extensive subpial demyelination was not associated with a significant increase in the area of focal and diffuse WM pathologic changes as assessed by Luxol fast blue histochemistry or by MR imaging or with the presence or extent of juxtacortical abnormalities on MR imaging. CONCLUSIONS The lack of association of MS gray matter demyelination with diffuse or focal WM changes indicates that gray matter demyelination in MS occurs largely independent of WM pathologic changes. The extent or distribution of WM abnormalities cannot be used to identify extensive cortical demyelination in the clinical setting.
Surface‐micromachined free‐space micro‐optical systems containing three‐dimensional microgratings

Free‐space micro‐optical systems on a chip containing three‐dimensional microgratings have been demonstrated using surface‐micromachining technique. The micrograting is integrated with a rotary stage, a collimating micro‐Fresnel lens, and an edge‐emitting laser held by three‐dimensional alignment structures on a single Si substrate. Diffraction patterns for various grating rotation angles are observed. Another optical interconnect module consisting of three cascaded microgratings is also demonstrated. The micrograting is a basic building block for many micro‐optical systems and is very attractive for applications in microspectrometers, free‐space optical interconnect, optoelectronic packaging, and wavelength‐division multiplexed integrated micro‐optical systems.
Multifunctional Polymer Nanofibers: UV Emission, Optical Gain, Anisotropic Wetting, and High Hydrophobicity for Next Flexible Excitation Sources

The use of UV light sources is highly relevant in many fields of science, being directly related to all those detection and diagnosis procedures that are based on fluorescence spectroscopy. Depending on the specific application, UV light-emitting materials are desired to feature a number of opto-mechanical properties, including brightness, optical gain for being used in laser devices, flexibility to conform with different lab-on-chip architectures, and tailorable wettability to control and minimize their interaction with ambient humidity and fluids. In this work, we introduce multifunctional, UV-emitting electrospun fibers with both optical gain and greatly enhanced anisotropic hydrophobicity compared to films. Fibers are described by the onset of a composite wetting state, and their arrangement in uniaxial arrays further favors liquid directional control. The low gain threshold, optical losses, plastic nature, flexibility, and stability of these UV-emitting fibers make them interesting for building light-emitting devices and microlasers. Furthermore, the anisotropic hydrophobicity found is strongly synergic with optical properties, reducing interfacial interactions with liquids and enabling smart functional surfaces for droplet microfluidic and wearable applications.
Efficacy of postural and neck-stabilization exercises for persons with acute whiplash-associated disorders: a systematic review.

PURPOSE We systematically reviewed randomized and quasi-randomized clinical trials in the literature to assess the efficacy of neck stabilization and postural exercises on pain, neck range of motion, and time off work in adults with acute whiplash-associated disorders. METHODS Electronic databases, reference lists of relevant Cochrane reviews, reference lists of studies selected for inclusion, and tables of contents of relevant journals were systematically searched for randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials. Two independent reviewers selected studies for inclusion, assessed methodological quality, and extracted data. Because of the heterogeneity of the interventions, a qualitative synthesis was performed using "levels of evidence" as recommended by van Tulder et al. RESULTS Eight studies representing five clinical trials were selected for inclusion. Two trials were graded as high quality, two as moderate quality, and one as low quality. Many of these studies had mixed results, demonstrating significant differences on some outcome measures but not on others. CONCLUSIONS There is moderate evidence to support the use of postural exercises for decreasing pain and time off work in the treatment of patients with acute whiplash-associated disorders. However, no evidence exists to support the use of postural exercises for increasing neck range of motion. There is conflicting evidence in support of neck stabilization exercises in the treatment of patients with acute whiplash-associated disorders.
Impact of Small-Group Tutoring Interventions on the Mathematical Problem Solving and Achievement of Third-Grade Students With Mathematics Difficulties

This intervention study compared the efficacy of small-group tutoring on the mathematics learning of third-grade students at risk for mathematics difficulty using either a school-provided standards-based curriculum (SBC) or a schema-based instruction (SBI) curriculum. The SBI curriculum placed particular emphasis on the underlying mathematical structure of additive problems to represent and solve word problems. At-risk students (N = 136) from 35 classrooms scoring below a proficiency level on their district accountability assessment were assigned randomly to treatment groups. Results indicated interaction effects on the word problem-solving (WPS) posttest and retention tests such that SBI students with higher incoming (pretest) WPS scores outperformed SBC students with higher pretest scores, whereas SBC students with lower pretest scores outperformed SBI students with lower pretest scores. No effects were found on number combinations automaticity, and mathematics and reading achievement. Implications to improve the problem-solving performance of at-risk students are discussed.
Rescue of stalled replication forks by RecG: Simultaneous translocation on the leading and lagging strand templates supports an active DNA unwinding model of fork reversal and Holliday junction formation

Modification of damaged replication forks is emerging as a crucial factor for efficient chromosomal duplication and the avoidance of genetic instability. The RecG helicase of Escherichia coli, which is involved in recombination and DNA repair, has been postulated to act on stalled replication forks to promote replication restart via the formation of a four-stranded (Holliday) junction. Here we show that RecG can actively unwind the leading and lagging strand arms of model replication fork structures in vitro. Unwinding is achieved in each case by simultaneous interaction with and translocation along both the leading and lagging strand templates at a fork. Disruption of either of these interactions dramatically inhibits unwinding of the opposing duplex arm. Thus, RecG translocates simultaneously along two DNA strands, one with 5′-3′ and the other with 3′-5′ polarity. The unwinding of both nascent strands at a damaged fork, and their subsequent annealing to form a Holliday junction, may explain the ability of RecG to promote replication restart. Moreover, the preferential binding of partial forks lacking a leading strand suggests that RecG may have the ability to target stalled replication intermediates in vivo in which lagging strand synthesis has continued beyond the leading strand.
La calidad de la educación: una aproximación conceptual

En este trabajo pretendemos realizar una aproximacion al contenido de la calidad en la educacion, aplicandolo al ambito concreto de la educacion infantil. Pensamos que el concepto de calidad tiene interes cientifico como instrumento de evaluacion de la actividad educativa, asi como interes practico para la toma de decisiones respecto a la politica educativa
Noisy Speech Feature Estimation on the Aurora2 Database using a Switching Linear Dynamic Model

This paper presents an approach to enhance speech feature estimation in the log spectral domain under additive noise environments. A switching linear dynamic model (SLDM) is explored as a parametric model for the clean speech distribution, enforcing a state transition in the feature space and capturing the smooth time evolution of speech conditioned on the state sequence. Experimental results using the Aurora2 database show that the new SLDM approach can improve speech enhancement performance in terms of recognition accuracy.