Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AimDroid: Activity-Insulated Multi-level Automated Testing for Android Applications

Activities are the fundamental components of Android applications (apps). However, existing approaches to automated testing for Android apps cannot effectively manage the transitions between activities, e.g., too rarely or too often. Besides, some techniques need to repeatedly restart from scratch and revisit every intermediate activity to reach a specific one, which leads to unnecessarily long transitions and wasted time. To address these problems, we propose AimDroid, a practical model-based approach to automated testing for Android apps that aims to manage the exploration of activities and meantime minimize unnecessary transitions between them. Specifically, AimDroid applies an activity-insulated multi-level strategy during testing and replaying. It systematically discovers unexplored activities and then intensively exploits every discovered individual with a reinforcement learning guided random algorithm. We conduct comprehensive experiments on 50 popular closed-source commercial apps that in total have billions of daily usages in China. The results demonstrate that AimDroid outperforms both Sapienz and Monkey in activity, method and instruction coverage, respectively. In addition, AimDroid also reports more crashes than the other two.
Summary Proceedings From the Cardiology Group on Cardiovascular Instability in Preterm Infants

The appropriate determination of adequate tissue perfusion and the best approach to treatment of perceived abnormalities in blood pressure in the neonate remain controversial. There is no consensus regarding the actual definition of hypotension in the neonate or how best to raise perceived low blood pressure. In addition, there is no direct and prospectively collected information available on the result of treatment of a “low” blood pressure on neonatal morbidity and mortality. It also has not been clearly demonstrated that bringing systemic blood pressure to a “normal” range improve outcomes. However, it is widely accepted by clinicians that early and aggressive treatment of hypotension leads to improved neurologic outcome and survival in the neonate. Commonly used therapeutic maneuvers to correct systemic hypotension in the neonate include volume expansion, inotropic agents, and corticosteroids. Although there is a paucity of research on the cardiovascular response to these commonly used agents in neonates, among the commonly used inotropic drugs dopamine has been shown to be more effective than dobutamine in raising blood pressure in the neonate. The cardiology group focused on the use of inotropes, particularly dopamine and dobutamine, to treat very low birth weight infants with cardiac instability and neonatal postoperative cardiac patients. The cardiology group identified key issues that must be considered when designing studies of inotropic agents in preterm infants and proposed 2 clinical-trial designs: (1) a placebo-controlled trial with rescue for symptomatic infants; and (2) a targeted–blood pressure study. The first trial design would answer questions concerning efficacy of treatment with inotropic agents in this population. The second trial design would address concerns related to the lack of knowledge on normal blood pressure ranges in this population. The group identified specific design elements that would need to be addressed for the complicated trial design to study inotropic agents in neonates.
Brazil software crowdsourcing: a first step in a multi-year study

Crowdsourcing means outsourcing to a large network of people—a crowd. This form of managing work allocation has become much more sophisticated in recent years due to improvements in technology and changes in the work ecosystem. Crowdsourcing portends-- not only the disruption of outsourcing-- but the disruption of the entire global labor market. Small, atomized, tasks that can be completed and paid for in small increments are unprecedented in the history of work. Software has been the pioneer in all the large mega-trends of the last generation: in computer technology, technological entrepreneurship, offshore outsourcing, and now-- in crowdsourcing. This paper describes the starting point of a research project that aims to investigate the Brazilian software labor and industry markets. These markets are being transformed and disrupted as a result of the new phenomena of crowdsourcing. To be more specific, we aim to understand how the three elements of crowdsourcing are emerging in Brazil – the buyers, the platforms, and the crowd. The goal of our project is to identify the challenges faced by Brazilian software developers engaged in crowdsourcing platforms as well as their best practices in order to provide recommendations to the government and support for new developers interested in joining this market.
Género y motivación situacional en Educación Física: claves para el desarrollo de estrategias de intervención. [Gender and situational motivation in physical education: the key to the development of intervention strategies].

Numerosos estudios evidencian que los niveles de actividad fisica disminuyen en la adolescencia, siendo mas pronunciado este descenso entre el genero femenino. Por ello, y siguiendo la teoria de la autodeterminacion, el objetivo del presente estudio fue analizar la influencia del genero en variables motivacionales y consecuencias afectivas y cognitivas a lo largo de diferentes unidades didacticas de Educacion Fisica. En el estudio participaron 66 alumnos (30 varones y 36 mujeres) entre los 15 y 17 anos (M edad = 15.29; DT = 0.71). Al finalizar cada unidad didactica se midieron distintas variables motivacionales situacionales: las necesidades psicologicas basicas (BPNES), la motivacion autodeterminada (EMSI), las consecuencias afectivas de diversion y aburrimiento (SSI-EF) y la predisposicion hacia la practica del contenido (PEPS). Los resultados del analisis intergrupo senalan que las chicas presentan una menor percepcion de competencia que los chicos en futbol sala (p<.001). Sin embargo, las chicas perciben una mayor motivacion autodeterminada, diversion y actitud cognitiva en acrosport (p<.001). El analisis intra-grupo muestra en el genero masculino valores superiores en las variables motivacionales en el contenido de futbol en comparacion con el contenido de acrosport (p<.05). Por el contrario, en el genero femenino puntuan mas alto en las variables motivacionales en acrosport en comparacion con los otros dos contenidos de deportes colectivos de cooperacion-oposicion (p<.05). En base a ello, se proponen directrices para reorientar el proceso de ensenanza-aprendizaje en estas unidades didacticas, mediante el desarrollo y la implementacion de estrategias especificas que permitan incidir en los procesos motivacionales en funcion del genero.
Undoing the Knots: Identity transformations in a study abroad programme

In times of globalised flows of students, this paper offers an alternative way of conceptualising identity change in the experiences of students on study abroad or student exchange programmes. Despite the ‘identity turn’ of recent years, modernist notions of identity continue to impact on the ways in which study abroad experiences are conceived, resulting in failures both to facilitate productive change and to recognise blocked, or ‘knotted’, attempts at change. The discussion considers data collected in an ethnographic study of a tertiary‐level English language programme in an Australian university and suggests that a closer look at the specific experiences of four individual study abroad students, through the lens of the Deleuzian concepts of the molar, the molecular and the line of flight, offers a way looking at identity which may help both educators and learners open more usefully to the possibilities for self‐transformation.
Prediction Markets: Fundamentals, Key Design Elements, and Applications

Over the last couple of years, interest in prediction markets as a forecasting method has continuously increased in the scientific world and in industry. Markets provide incentives for information revelation and can be used as a mechanism for aggregating information. So far, prediction markets have done well in every known comparison with other forecasting methods. Whereas information aggregation is only a byproduct of most traditional markets, prediction markets are set up with the explicit purpose of soliciting information. Engineered carefully, prediction markets can directly guide decision making. This paper describes the fundamentals of prediction markets as well as their key design elements. We thereby aim at giving insights into design decisions which have to be made by prediction market operators. Moreover, we contribute to the literature by giving an extensive overview on fields of application of prediction markets which have been discussed in academic literature.
NLP4NLP: Applying NLP to Scientific Corpora about Written and Spoken Language Processing

Analyzing the evolutions of the trends of a scientific domain in order to provide insights on its states and to establish reliable hypotheses about its future is the problem we address here. We have approached the problem by processing both the metadata and the text contents of the domain publications. Ideally, one would like to be able to automatically synthesize all the information present in the documents and their metadata. As members of the NLP community, we have applied the tools developed by our community to publications from our own domain, in what could be termed a “recursive” approach. In a first step, we have assembled a corpus of papers from NLP conferences and journals for both text and speech, covering documents produced from the 60’s up to 2015. Then , we have mined our scientific publication database to draw a picture of our field from quantitative and qualitative results according to a wide range of perspectives: ranging from sub-domains, specific communities, chronology, terminology, conceptual evolution, re-use and plagiarism, trend prediction, novelty detection and many more. We provide here an account of the corpus collection and of its processing with NLP technology, indicating for each aspect which technology was used. We conclude on the benefits brought by such corpus to the actors of the domain and on the conditions to generalize this approach to other scientific domains. Conference Topics Methods and techniques, Citation and co-citation analysis, Scientific fraud and dishonesty, Natural Language Processing
Towards a dynamic theory of boards: An organisational life cycle approach

Abstract We propose a research agenda that can assist in developing a dynamic and comprehensive theory of boards of directors. It is based upon the concept of temporality, with time being organised around the life-cycle metaphor, and integrates research on agency theory, decision-making theory and resource dependence theory. We identify three key roles of boards of directors: 1.monitoring and controlling top management; 2.involvement in strategic decision-making; and 3.providing access to resources and networks. Our analysis suggests that boards perform all three roles, but that these roles change over time. We propose clear researchable questions for each stage of the organisational life cycle as well as the transition between the stages.
Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Primary Ovarian Insufficiency: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective. This systematic review aimed to assess current evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the effects of acupuncture for patients with primary ovarian insufficiency (POI). Methods. We searched twelve databases to identify relevant studies published before July 2014. The outcomes were serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels and resumption of menstruation. Two reviewers independently assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane's tool, extracted the results, and evaluated the overall level of the evidence using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) criteria. Results. Eight RCTs were selected. Acupuncture significantly lowered serum FSH levels and more women receiving acupuncture reported resumption of menses. However, the results should be interpreted with caution due to a small number of participants, high risk of bias for blinding, and likely publication bias. The level of evidence for FSH level and resumption of menses were assessed as “low” using GRADE. Conclusion. The current evidence on acupuncture for POI is insufficient to draw a firm conclusion due to scarcity of studies with a low risk of bias and likely publication bias. Further rigorously designed and conducted studies are needed to confirm the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in patients with POI.
Diagnose von Epilepsien

Zusammenfassung Bei der Diagnostik von Epilepsien geht es in einer ersten Stufe darum, epileptische von nicht epileptischen Anfällen zu unterscheiden und in einer zweiten Stufe um die Klassifikation von epileptischen Anfällen in fokale und generalisierte Anfallstypen. Schließlich wird das epileptische Syndrom definiert. Bei ca. 15 bis 20% der Patienten, die wegen schwer behandelbarer Epilepsie an ein Epilepsiezentrum überwiesen werden, stellt sich eine Fehldiagnose heraus. Bis zu 50% dieser Patienten wurden falsch therapiert. Wichtige Details der Anfallsanamnese der neurologischen Untersuchung sowie von den technischen Zusatzuntersuchungen, wie EEG, Kernspintomografie und Liquordiagnostik werden dargestellt. Im Hinblick auf die diagnostischen Methoden hat die European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS) Evidenzklassen für die Evaluation entwickelt. Diese sollten berücksichtigt werden, wenn neue diagnostische Verfahren analysiert werden. Der Gebrauch und Fehlgebrauch diagnostischer Techniken von Imaging und EEG werden diskutiert.
Democracy and Growth in Brazil1

Democracy is a relatively recent achievement in Brazilian history. Since the end of the imperial era in late 19th century, the country has experienced two long periods of dictatorship in 1930-45 e 1964-85, and, for most of last century, political participation was rather limited. It was a convoluted evolution towards democracy, moving forward and backwards up to mid-1980s, when mass democracy was finally established.
New foot pressure activated sensory compensation posture-control enhancement in amputee

A computerized foot pressure activated sensory compensation system using subsensory electrical stimulation combined with visual-auditory biofeedback was developed. The proposed system was used for enhancing standing balance and gait performance for amputees. In this pilot study, we hypothesized that the static balance with single limb support and gait performance during treadmill walking could be improved by providing proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation using subsensory stimulation and visual-auditory biofeedback in amputee, respectively. To test this hypothesis, five unilateral transtibial amputees who consecutively wore prosthetics over two years were recruited. Experimental results show a reduction in all of the postural sway indexes and increase in single-leg support time index during single-leg quiet standing by applying subsensory stimulation. With visual-auditory biofeedback for providing clue for heel contact and toe push-off condition during treadmill ambulation, an improvement in all four dynamic gait performance indexes in amputees was verified. These findings suggest that the proposed system with subsensory electrical stimulation and visual-auditory biofeedback mechanisms may be effective in compensating sensory loss and improving posture control for amputee.
Consumer Ethnocentrism, National Identity, and Consumer Cosmopolitanism as Drivers of Consumer Behavior: A Social Identity Theory Perspective

Consumers’ preferences for domestic over imported products have been investigated in various isolated studies, but never in a single model incorporating several in-group and out-group consumer orientations at the same time. Building on social identity theory, this study develops and tests—in two countries—a conceptual model that assesses the relative influence of consumer ethnocentrism, national identity, and consumer cosmopolitanism on consumers’ product judgments and willingness to buy domestic and foreign products. Furthermore, the study develops an empirically based typology of consumer segments using these sociopsychological traits and subsequently profiles them on consumption-relevant variables. The findings reveal several undiscovered patterns regarding the interplay of consumer ethnocentrism, national identity, and consumer cosmopolitanism as drivers of consumer behavior and offer managerial guidance on their relevance as segmentation variables.
The impact of agile methods on software project management

As more and more software projects engage agile methods, there are emerging patterns of success and failure. With growing adoption of agile methods, project managers increasingly need to understand the applicability to their projects and factors that drive key project performance characteristics. While some organizations affirm that agile methods solve all their problems, few have shown consistent success over a range of typical software projects. Agile methods have advantages, especially in accommodating change due to volatile requirements. However, they also present concomitant risks with managing the many dependent pieces of work distributed across a large project. Use of agile methods therefore presents a set of tradeoffs. This paper examines the impact of agile methods on the people involved in a project, the process under which a project is developed, and on the project itself in an attempt to allow project managers to evaluate the applicability using an agile method.
Kinetics of Somatic Mutation in Lymph Node Germinal Centres

Somatic mutation activity in immunoglobulin Vk genes during the response to the hapten 2‐phenyl‐5‐oxazolone was measured in lymph node B‐cell populations at various timepoints after footpad immunization. When the VkOxl genes rearranged to the Jk5 segment were amplified from genomic DNA using the polymerase chain reaction and sequenced, somatic mutations could be detected as early as day 4 after immunization. Somatic mutations were also detected after sequencing RNA from oxazolone‐specific hybridomas derived from lymph node cells at day 4 after immunization. These early mutations were found mostly in cells with a germinal centre phenotype. No indication of selection at the population level by apoptosis was detected until day 7 after immunization. These results suggest somatic mutations can be induced very early during the immune response in lymph node cells, prior to the peak of clonal expansion and selection with regard to antigen binding.
Online Respondent-Driven Sampling for Studying Contact Patterns Relevant for the Spread of Close-Contact Pathogens: A Pilot Study in Thailand

Background Information on social interactions is needed to understand the spread of airborne infections through a population. Previous studies mostly collected egocentric information of independent respondents with self-reported information about contacts. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is a sampling technique allowing respondents to recruit contacts from their social network. We explored the feasibility of webRDS for studying contact patterns relevant for the spread of respiratory pathogens. Materials and Methods We developed a webRDS system for facilitating and tracking recruitment by Facebook and email. One-day diary surveys were conducted by applying webRDS among a convenience sample of Thai students. Students were asked to record numbers of contacts at different settings and self-reported influenza-like-illness symptoms, and to recruit four contacts whom they had met in the previous week. Contacts were asked to do the same to create a network tree of socially connected individuals. Correlations between linked individuals were analysed to investigate assortativity within networks. Results We reached up to 6 waves of contacts of initial respondents, using only non-material incentives. Forty-four (23.0%) of the initially approached students recruited one or more contacts. In total 257 persons participated, of which 168 (65.4%) were recruited by others. Facebook was the most popular recruitment option (45.1%). Strong assortative mixing was seen by age, gender and education, indicating a tendency of respondents to connect to contacts with similar characteristics. Random mixing was seen by reported number of daily contacts. Conclusions Despite methodological challenges (e.g. clustering among respondents and their contacts), applying RDS provides new insights in mixing patterns relevant for close-contact infections in real-world networks. Such information increases our knowledge of the transmission of respiratory infections within populations and can be used to improve existing modelling approaches. It is worthwhile to further develop and explore webRDS for the detection of clusters of respiratory symptoms in social networks.
Habitat Selection and Reproductive Success of Lewis's Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) at Its Northern Limit

Lewis's Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) has experienced population declines in both Canada and the United States and in 2010 was assigned a national listing of threatened in Canada. We conducted a two-year study (2004–2005) of this species at its northern range limit, the South Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada. Our main objective was to determine whether the habitat features that influenced nest-site selection also predicted nest success, or whether other factors (e.g. cavity dimensions, clutch initiation date or time of season) were more important. Nest tree decay class, density of suitable cavities and total basal area of large trees were the best predictors of nest-site selection, but these factors were unrelated to nesting success. Estimates of demographic parameters (mean ± SE) included daily nest survival rate (0.988±0.003, years combined), nest success (0.52±0.08), clutch size (5.00±0.14 eggs), female fledglings per successful nest (1.31±0.11), and annual productivity (0.68±0.12 female fledglings per nest per year). Although higher nest survival was associated with both early and late initiated clutches, early-initiated clutches allowed birds to gain the highest annual productivity as early clutches were larger. Nests in deep cavities with small entrances experienced lower predation risk especially during the peak period of nest predation. We concluded that nest-site selection can be predicted by a number of easily measured habitat variables, whereas nest success depended on complicated ecological interactions among nest predators, breeding behaviors, and cavity features. Thus, habitat-based conservation strategies should also consider ecological factors that may not be well predicted by habitat.
Classroom interaction: Turn-taking as a pedagogical strategy

This paper reports on findings of a case study which analysed classroom interaction through turn-taking in Grade 4 science lessons taught through the medium of a home language and an additional language. Data were collected by means of classroom observations in one primary school in the Western Cape, South Africa. The paper argues that, whilst knowledge of the language of learning and teaching is a basic condition for learning in the classroom, there are other factors which impact on learners’ construction of knowledge during classroom interaction. It concludes that turn-taking in science teaching should go beyond the mere exchange of talk or turns to a deeper and critical interrogation of what is being taught, and how it is taught to enhance learners’ scientific literacy development.