Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Introduction to CMPS Special Issue

A notable quality of the study of the diversion in foreign policy hypothesis is its durability as a subject of inquiry. What explains this sustained interest? One explanation is that the diversionary claim reflects an explicit linkage between domestic politics and foreign policy, the fulcrum of which are decisions by political leaders. Given this core relationship between domestic politics and foreign policy, the study of foreign policy diversion was arguably ahead of its time relative to the focus on political leaders by contemporary peace science. The domestic–foreign policy linkage central to the diversionary hypothesis is somewhat striking given the predominance in the literature of system-level theories, such as neo-realism, during the 1970s and 1980s, a period during which the causal emphasis on domestic politics was minimized and interstate conditions maximized in explanations of peace and conflict (e.g. Waltz, 1979). It is arguably the case that the relatively recent shift in the peace science literature toward studying interstate relationships by way of national-level attributes (conceptualized dyadically) (e.g. Russett and Oneal, 2001) and leader-level explanations of international relations (e.g. Bueno de Mesquita et al., 2005; Goemans, 2000) essentially caught up with the study of diversion. While path-breaking in several respects, the study of diversion proved somewhat bedeviling to scholars of peace science. For example, the research agenda confronted the perplexing problem of ample anecdotal evidence suggesting the presence of diversionary behavior by political leaders, but decidedly inconsistent empirical support for diversion. More important, it is arguably the case that at least early treatments of the diversionary claim reflected neither a theory nor a theoretically derived hypothesis, but rather a smattering of historical evidence and a belief that self-interested leaders were very likely to implement diversions as a tool for maintaining political power, which when combined provided the basis for a diversionary claim. Given this approach, the literature avoided the formulation of a broader theory linking domestic and foreign politics, one in which political leaders employ foreign policy to leverage domestic politics.
Cognitive Neural Ensembles in CA 3 Transiently Encode Paths Forward of the Animal at a Decision Point

Neural ensembles were recorded from the CA3 region of rats running on T-based decision tasks. Examination of neural representations of space at fast time scales revealed a transient but repeatable phenomenon as rats made a decision: the location reconstructed from the neural ensemble swept forward, first down one path and then the other. Estimated representations were coherent and preferentially swept ahead of the animal rather than behind the animal, implying it represented future possibilities rather than recently traveled paths. Similar phenomena occurred at other important decisions (such as in recovery from an error). Local field potentials from these sites contained pronounced theta and gamma frequencies, but no sharp wave frequencies. Forward-shifted spatial representations were influenced by task demands and experience. These data suggest that the hippocampus does not represent space as a passive computation, but rather that hippocampal spatial processing is an active process likely regulated by cognitive mechanisms.
Association between dietary patterns and body composition in a group or Puerto Rican obese adults: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE Obesity is a public health problem in Puerto Rico. Dietary patterns that include high intakes of energy and sweetened drinks and low consumption of fruits, vegetables and fiber are associated with obesity. The aim of this study is to relate dietary patterns with body composition in obese subjects. METHODS Dietary patterns were evaluated using 3-day food records. Body composition was assessed by body weight, hip and waist circumferences and % body fat, and then used to classify subjects by obesity stages using BMI and by low or high risk using WHR or % body fat. The resulting comparison groups were associated with energy, macronutrients, fruits, vegetables, fiber, and sweetened drinks intake and with meal energy density and meal frequency intake. Kruskal Wallis and Mann Whitney tests were used to compare groups and Spearman correlations were used for continuous variables. RESULTS Thirty subjects completed the study. By BMI, 30% were obese type I, 33% type II and 37% type III; by WHR, 43% were low risk and 57% high risk; by % body fat, all were high risk. Dietary patterns were similar between groups. WHR was positively correlated with fiber consumption (r = 0.42; p < 0.05) and CHO intake (r = 0.35; p = 0.057). CONCLUSION In this pilot study, dietary patterns appeared similar between groups and sound with nutritional recommendations; however, we observed a poor quality of the diet due to very low intakes of fruits, vegetables and fiber and high intakes of sweetened drinks.
Immunogenetic aspects of implantation, placentation and feto-placental growth rates.

Experiments have been conducted upon rats and mice of various inbred strains to define the immunological properties of the uterus as a host site for free grafts of solid tissue and mondisperse suspensions of cells of various types and compare them with its properties as a host site for conceptuses of allogeneic origin. It has been found that this organ affords a highly effective route for both the elicitation and expression of transplantation immunity, although solid tissue altografts, provided that they can evoke a decidual response, enjoy a prolongation of survival in unsensitized animals as compared with similar grafts transplanted orthotopically. By contrast genetically alien conceptuses which implant in the uterus also elicit an immune response, as evidenced among other things by hypertrophy of the regional paraaortic lymph nodes; but they are completely resistant to it as they are to experimentally contrived states of both local and systemic hypersensitivity, specifically directed against their own tissue antigens. Indeed, it has been shown that the genetic disparity between a fetus and its mother affords the fetus a selective advantage oveE genetically compatible fetuses sustained by similar mothers. This advantage is expressed in two ways: 1) in terms of the number of conceptuses that implant and survive to term, and 2) their weight at the time of delivery. It has been shown that specific presensitization of the female against the alien tissue of her mate heightens the advantage enjoyed by alien conceptuses born by normal mothers, and interference with the capacity of a mother
Developing a Location Based Tourist Guide Application

This paper presents the development of the Tourist Guide, a location based tourist guide application for the outdoor environment. Our focus for this project is on software support for location based applications; we are not just interested in the location but also other elements of the user's context, such as buildings in view, attractions and equipment near by, such as public telephones and toilets. In this paper we will describe the Tourist Guide system and discuss the processes involved in the development of this application. More specifically, this paper will look at the design and usability issues.
Behavior assessment of older adults: A review of factor analytic studies and a proposed model

Factor analytic studies of behavior checklists used with elderly clients are reviewed. An analysis of the kinds of items contained in the measures and the kinds of populations studied is presented. Preliminary evidence was found for the robustness of three factors, here named adaptive behavior, extrapersonal maladaptive behavior, and memory and orientation. On the basis of this, a model of behavior in the elderly is proposed. Implications for future research and the design of behavior checklists are discussed.
Using a cognitive architecture for general purpose service robot control

A humanoid service robot equipped with a set of simple action skills including navigating, grasping, recognising objects or people, among others, is considered in this paper. By using those skills the robot should complete a voice command expressed in natural language encoding a complex task (defined as the concatenation of a number of those basic skills). As a main feature, no traditional planner has been used to decide skills to be activated, as well as in which sequence. Instead, the SOAR cognitive architecture acts as the reasoner by selecting which action the robot should complete, addressing it towards the goal. Our proposal allows to include new goals for the robot just by adding new skills (without the need to encode new plans). The proposed architecture has been tested on a human-sized humanoid robot, REEM, acting as a general purpose service robot.
Provider payment in community-based health insurance schemes in developing countries: a systematic review

Objectives Community-based health insurance (CBI) is a common mechanism to generate financial resources for health care in developing countries. We review for the first time provider payment methods used in CBI in developing countries and their impact on CBI performance. Methods We conducted a systematic review of the literature on provider payment methods used by CBI in developing countries published up to January 2010. Results Information on provider payment was available for a total of 32 CBI schemes in 34 reviewed publications: 17 schemes in South Asia, 10 in sub-Saharan Africa, 4 in East Asia and 1 in Latin America. Various types of provider payment were applied by the CBI schemes: 17 used fee-for-service, 12 used salaries, 9 applied a coverage ceiling, 7 used capitation and 6 applied a co-insurance. The evidence suggests that provider payment impacts CBI performance through provider participation and support for CBI, population enrolment and patient satisfaction with CBI, quantity and quality of services provided and provider and patient retention. Lack of provider participation in designing and choosing a CBI payment method can lead to reduced provider support for the scheme. Conclusion CBI schemes in developing countries have used a wide range of provider payment methods. The existing evidence suggests that payment methods are a key determinant of CBI performance and sustainability, but the strength of this evidence is limited since it is largely based on observational studies rather than on trials or on quasi-experimental research. According to the evidence, provider payment can affect provider participation, satisfaction and retention in CBI; the quantity and quality of services provided to CBI patients; patient demand of CBI services; and population enrollment, risk pooling and financial sustainability of CBI. CBI schemes should carefully consider how their current payment methods influence their performance, how changes in the methods could improve performance, and how such effects could be assessed with scientific rigour to increase the strength of evidence on this topic.
International Student Security and English Language Proficiency

“International student security” refers to the international student’s maintenance of a stable capacity for self-determining human agency. The article focuses on the role of English-language proficiency in the security of students from English as Foreign Language countries, drawing on evidence from a program of semistructured interviews with 200 international students. The interviews show that language proficiency is a pervasive factor in the human security of the international students in all domains inside and outside the classroom. There is a strong link between language proficiency and the capacity for active human agency. Both findings confirm prior research literature. The article concludes with implications for practice and for further research.
An efficient relevant evaluation model in information retrieval and its application

In this paper, we propose an algorithm named matrix space model to compute the similarity between document and query. After analyzing the computation model on similarity between document and query, we point out the disadvantages of Boolean model and vector space model. We map the Boolean query statement to a matrix, which makes it easy to convert a traditional Boolean logical query statement into a matrix so we can improve the retrieval performance because this model allows a document might be retrieved in a clear Boolean view even it matches the query partially. On the base of them, we implement an agent-based selective information retrieval.
Longitudinal Predictions of Religious Change in Adolescence: Contributions from the Interaction of Attachment and Relationship Status

The purpose of the study was to test our (Granqvist, 2002a) emotional compensation and two-level correspondence hypotheses by examining longitudinal associations of attachment and change in romantic relationship status in relation to religious change. Questionnaires were filled out by 196 adolescents in Stockholm (mean age = 16 years); 72% completed the 15-month follow-up. Virtually no main effects on religious change as a function of either attachment or relationship status were obtained. However, in line with the interaction predictions, an insecure attachment history and insecure adult attachment in romantic relationships predicted increased religiousness for those who had experienced a separation and decreased religiousness for those who had formed a new romantic relationship. The pattern of relations for a secure attachment history and romantic attachment was in the opposite direction. The findings imply that attachment predicts religious change primarily in the context of changes in romantic relationships. These findings may explain why previous studies in the separate domains of attachment and relationship status in relation to religiousness have yielded weak or inconsistent results, and suggest that the two fields need to be integrated. Implications for romantic attachment theory and research in general are discussed.
Verhaal as heimwee na die droom van geborgenheid

Summary In de Vries's volume of short stories, Tot verhaal kom (2003), narration as means of understanding is investigated. In spite of the “narratavistic turn” in the humanities, de Vries takes a critical stance towards the possibilities of narration to help us to understand the world and ourselves. The closure offered by narratives might assist us to find meaning in our world but in all the short stories in this volume there is a consciousness that the closure offered by the stories is not enough. All perceptions, all emotions and experiences, can simply not be narrated. In every story, it does not matter how well it is constructed, there is still something elusive that escapes closure. Therefore another story is always needed. These stories often reflect on those elusive elements that are excluded from the narration and of which one cannot be really aware at the time of narrating.
Perceptions of parental bonding, adult attachment, and marital adjustment in prospective adoptive parents. An empirical study in the pre-adoptive period

Adoptive parents face unique developmental and family challenges during the transition to adoptive parenthood. The study reported in this paper investigated the first transitional phase of parenthood, namely the early pre-adoptive period. We compared 60 prospective adoptive parents (30 couples) with a control group of 30 childless couples of prospective nonadoptive parents. Participants were evaluated by specific measures mainly from the attachment theory viewpoint, such as Parental Bonding Instrument, Experiences in Close Relationships, and Dyadic Adjustment Scale questionnaires. Results showed that prospective adoptive parents clearly reported more positive perceived parental characteristics of their own parents (i.e., more maternal and parental care), more adult attachment security (i.e., low anxiety and low avoidance), and higher levels of marital adjustment (i.e., higher levels of dyadic adjustment, dyadic consensus, dyadic cohesion, and affective expression) than prospective nonadoptive parents. Our findings were discussed in light of the literature in this field of the past 50 years.
Teaching Evidence-Based Practice: Toward a New Paradigm for Social Work Education

The scientific literature relevant to social work practice has grown expansively in recent years. Corollary developments, including the widespread availability of electronic bibliographic databases, improved indexing services, and increased acceptance of systematic reviews and evidence-based practice guidelines, have made research findings increasingly accessible to practitioners. For the first time in the history of the profession, social work educators are confronted with the challenges posed, and opportunities afforded, by this accumulating body of practice-relevant scientific information. Evidence-based practice is a new paradigm that promotes more effective social interventions by encouraging the conscientious, judicious, and explicit use of the best available scientific evidence in professional decision making. Pedagogically, evidence-based practice involves teaching students the values and skills they need to identify, critically appraise, and apply practice-relevant scientific evidence over the course of their professional careers. This article describes the potential benefits of evidence-based social work professional education and ongoing efforts of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University to implement curriculum-wide changes supportive of evidence-based professional practice education.
Failing to fail students in the caring professions

This article represents a personal view of the phenomenon of professionals ‘failing to fail’ students of questionable competence. It is mainly drawn from the author’s experience first as a practice teacher, then as a lecturer and manager of a social work qualifying programme and recently as tutor of a programme preparing social workers and others to become practice teachers and assessors. The article first examines aspects of the process of practice assessment and then argues that the turnover amongst those given this responsibility means that the expertise appropriate to undertaking such a complex task is difficult to accumulate. It then offers some remedies that focus more on organisational responses than simply on the individual professionals who take on this essential responsibility.Much of the recent concern about social work practice teaching and assessing has focussed on the question of quantity. Getting enough practice learning opportunities is a perennial problem in itself- but this article addresses an issue of quality, namely ensuring that both pass and fail decisions are made with confidence.As the author’s background is social work in England, the article will use social work terminology and refer to social work and other documents from the English context, but he hopes that readers from other professions and countries will find the debate useful.This article is developed from a talk given by the author at the fifth International Conference on Practice Teaching and Field Education in Health and Social Work, York, 10-12 July 2006.
Isobel Anderson and Duncan Smith (eds.) (2011), Housing and Inequality . Coventry: Chartered Institute of Housing. £30, pp. 277, pbk.

be essential reading for all students and lecturers on social policy degrees or modules, but will also appeal to those with an interest in contemporary politics and debates about the future of the welfare state. It is to be hoped that Bochel edits a second edition in a few years time, to evaluate the actual record of the coalition government during the next three to four years – assuming that it lasts that long. pete dorey Cardiff University dorey@cardiff.ac. uk
Racial Tokenism in the School Workplace: An Exploratory Study of Black Teachers in Overwhelmingly White Schools

This article examines how Black teachers in overwhelmingly White schools evaluate their work experiences as both numerical and racial minorities. I extend Kanter's (1977) theory of tokenism through a look at how ideology shapes the work experiences and evaluations of racial tokens. Kanter developed a framework that outlined 3 general processes associated with token representation: performance pressures, boundary heightening, and role entrapment. In this exploratory study, I show how token Black teachers positioned themselves as heroic individualists who managed numerical and racial processes in schools. More specifically, I show how participants used traditional civil rights ideology to justify and to evaluate positive aspects of racial tokenism, emphasizing performance enhancers, border crossing, and role integration. This article rethinks claims in educational research that token Black teachers face only negative work experiences due to Black and White differences in a White school culture. The conclusion is a discussion about how the work experiences of successful token Black teachers raise foundational issues for educational policy and practice.
Precision Impact of Emoticons for Social Media Sentiment Analysis

Traditionally, businesses spend tons of money performing customer surveys on brands. In the big data age, such insights including both consumer compliments and complaints can be automatically collected from social media such as twitter. The enabling technology is sentiment analysis. It is observed that social media often uses emoticons such as :) and :( mixed with text to express sentiment. This research presents a novel study of how emoticons can help sentiment analysis precision. Data analysis shows that emoticons alone cannot determine sentiments towards a brand and they can only be used together with other evidence. Further study has discovered a use of emoticons as counter evidence to block glaring errors in sentiment analysis.
Enhancement of Recognition Rate in Blurred Images Using Legendre Moment Invariants

Processing blurred images is a key problem in many image applications. Existing methods to obtain blur invariants which are invariant with respect to centrally symmetric blur are based on geometric moments or complex moments. In this paper, we propose a new method to construct a set of blur invariants using the orthogonal Legendre moments. Some important proper-ties of Legendre moments for the blurred image are presented and proved. The performance of the proposed descriptors is evaluated with various point-spread functions and different image noises. The comparison of the present approach with previous methods in terms of pattern recognition accuracy is also provided. The experimental results show that the proposed descriptors are more robust to noise and have better discriminative power than the methods based on geometric or complex moments. Keywords—Blur invariants, blurred image, Legendre moments, pattern recognition, symmetric blur.