Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The influence of dating anxiety on normative experiences of dating, sexual interactions, and alcohol consumption among Canadian middle adolescents

Adolescents tend to consume alcohol and find romantic and sexual partners in mixed-group settings that are unmonitored by adults. Relatively little is known about the influence that dating anxiety may have with these social interactions. A sample of 163 high school students (aged 14–17 years) completed online surveys assessing dating, sex, and alcohol-related measures of behaviors and cognitions. Anxiety in mixed-sex peer group interactions was linked to later ages of first dating relationships and anxiety in dating interactions with fewer sexual experiences. Dating anxiety was not associated with drinking behaviors, drinking motivations, or expectations for alcohol to facilitate sex. Age, but not gender, was related to all adolescent behaviors and drinking motivations, but not social–sexual expectations for alcohol consumption. Implications relate to the provision of education regarding responsible participation in social experiences in ways that promote positive development.
Improving the Scalability of Communication-Aware Task Mapping Techniques

The advent of cluster computing introduced some years ago the need for taking into account the communications that take place on distributed computer architectures when executing applications. In that environment, different communication-aware mapping techniques were proposed for improving the system performance, both for off-chip and for on-chip networks. Some of these proposals are based on heuristic search for finding pseudo-optimal assignments of a given population of tasks and processing elements. However, the technology has allowed a significant increase in the problem size, arising the scalability problem. In this paper, we propose the use of an evolutionary computation framework to implement a genetic algorithm that can significantly improve the scalability of communication-aware task mapping techniques. We have studied different genetic operators and selection mechanisms, choosing those providing the best performance for this particular problem. The performance evaluation results shows that for medium and large domain spaces, the genetic algorithm provides better solutions while requiring lower or similar execution times. These results indicate that the heuristic search based on genetic algorithms can improve the scalability of communication-aware task mapping techniques for both cluster computing and Networks-on-Chip.
Time-Synchronization Free Localization in Large Scale Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

We introduce and study the localization problem in large scale underwater acoustic sensor networks. Considering that depth information is typically available for underwater sensors, we transform the 3D underwater positioning problem into its two-dimensional counterpart via a projection technique. We then introduce a localization scheme specifically designed for large scale acoustic underwater sensor networks. The proposed localization scheme does not require time-synchronization in the network. This scheme relies on time-differences of arrival (TDoA) measured locally at a sensor to detect range differences from the sensor to three anchors that can mutually hear each other. We consider variations in the speed of sound and analyze the performance of the proposed scheme in terms of the number of localized nodes, location errors, and the number of reference nodes.
Some statistical methods for evaluating information extraction systems

We present new statistical methods for evaluating information extraction systems. The methods were developed to evaluate a system used by political scientists to extract event information from news leads about international politics. The nature of this data presents two problems for evaluators: 1) the frequency distribution of event types in international event data is strongly skewed, so a random sample of newsleads will typically fail to contain any low frequency events. 2) Manual information extraction necessary to create evaluation sets is costly, and most effort is wasted coding high frequency categories. We present an evaluation scheme that overcomes these problems with considerably less manual effort than traditional methods, and also allows us to interpret an information extraction system as an estimator (in the statistical sense) and to estimate its bias.
Diagnosis and follow up of aortitis in the elderly

Objectives: To evaluate the correlation of MRI and [18F]FDG-PET scans with the clinical course and inflammatory markers in patients with aortitis. Methods: Eight patients with aortitis presenting with unspecific GCA-like symptoms were examined. Aortitis was diagnosed and followed up by [18F]FDG-PET and MRI. The aorta was divided into three vascular regions (ascending aorta, aortic arch, and descending aorta) to localise the aortic inflammation and compare both imaging techniques. Results were correlated with clinical and laboratory examinations. Results: At diagnosis, 20/24 vascular regions from eight patients were positive by [18F]FDG-PET scan and 15/21 aortic regions by MRI. Patients were treated with corticosteroids and followed up for a mean (SD) of 13.3 (4.7) months. In [18F]FDG-PET, 11/20 (55%) initially pathological aortic regions returned to normal in the follow up examination, which correlated closely with the clinical and laboratory follow up examination. Conversely, in MRI, 14/15 initially affected vascular regions were unchanged. Conclusions: [18F]FDG-PET and MRI are both effective techniques for detecting early aortitis and have a high correlation with laboratory inflammatory measures. However, during the follow up examination, [18F]FDG-PET uptake decreased in line with the clinical symptoms and inflammatory serum markers, whereas MRI scans gave more static results.
Metabolic efficiency and amino acid composition in the proteomes of Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis

Biosynthesis of an Escherichia coli cell, with organic compounds as sources of energy and carbon, requires approximately 20 to 60 billion high-energy phosphate bonds [Stouthamer, A. H. (1973) Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 39, 545–565]. A substantial fraction of this energy budget is devoted to biosynthesis of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The fueling reactions of central metabolism provide precursor metabolites for synthesis of the 20 amino acids incorporated into proteins. Thus, synthesis of an amino acid entails a dual cost: energy is lost by diverting chemical intermediates from fueling reactions and additional energy is required to convert precursor metabolites to amino acids. Among amino acids, costs of synthesis vary from 12 to 74 high-energy phosphate bonds per molecule. The energetic advantage to encoding a less costly amino acid in a highly expressed gene can be greater than 0.025% of the total energy budget. Here, we provide evidence that amino acid composition in the proteomes of E. coli and Bacillus subtilis reflects the action of natural selection to enhance metabolic efficiency. We employ synonymous codon usage bias as a measure of translation rates and show increases in the abundance of less energetically costly amino acids in highly expressed proteins.
Expression of affect and the emergence of language.

BLOOM, Lois, and CAPATIDES, JOANNE BITETTI. Expression of Affect and the Emergence of Language. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1987, 58, 1513-1522. The relation between infant affect expression and the emergence of language was studied in 6 girls and 6 boys, from 9 months to 2 years of age. First words (FW) and vocabulary spurt (VS) were identified in the infants' transition from prespeech vocalizing to the emergence of language. Their expressions of affect were coded for the gradient properties of valence (positive, negative, neutral, mixed, equivocal) and intensity. Frequency of nonneutral affect expression at FW and VS was positively correlated with age at FW and VS (p < .02), meaning that the more frequently the children expressed emotion, the older the age of language achievements. Time spent in neutral affect at FW and VS was negatively correlated with age at FW and VS (p < .02); the more time spent in neutral affect, the younger the age of language achievements. In addition, the measures of affect at VS predicted the eventual transition to multiword speech, with more time spent in neutral affect expression at VS negatively correlated with earlier age in the use of sentences. We propose that neutral affect supports the early transition to language by allowing the reflective stance required for language learning, and has its antecedents in the quiet alert states which support the cognitive activity of early infancy.
Characteristics of a sporulation stimulating factor from Clostridium perfringens type A

A product in the culture supernatant fluid of Clostridium perfringens NCTC 8239 stimulated the sporulation of a test strain, NCTC 8679, of the same organism. The responsible factor, termed sporulation factor (SF), was present in seven cultures of Cl. perfringens grown in either a defined or complex medium. The SF reversed glucose‐mediated catabolite repression of sporulation by this organism. Preliminary characterization of the SF demonstrated a resistance to elevated temperatures and proteases and a molecular weight of less than 500 Da. The known association of Cl. perfringens enterotoxin with sporulation highlights the importance of interactions between strains of this organism as may occur in the human intestine during foodborne illness.
Identifying Leaders or Followers using a Binary Approach

Social network analysis (SNA) has been used to understand the behavior of nodes which could be individuals or group of persons, events or organi- zations etc. Importantly, these nodes propagate in many ways and obviously contains attributes. The leaf nodes/foot soldiers posses low values of centrality measures (degree,betweenness and closeness) indicat- ing relatively not important in comparison to may be other more centrally connected nodes. However, in reality the leaf nodes also called may be follower are very important especially in terrorist cells as they ex- ecute the operations. In this paper a new approach to highlight the distinctiveness of these nodes using a bi- nary concept is presented. The results obtained with our study shows and provides a reasonable point of view in understanding roles of different nodes in the network.
Seasonality and Seasons Out of Time—The Thermoregulatory Effects of Light Interference

The change in photoperiod is the main environmental cue for seasonal function of the reproductive, thermoregulatory, and immune systems in rodents existing outside of the tropics. In Israel, the social vole Microtus socialis breeds mainly under short photoperiod (SP) conditions. Previous studies showed that exposing voles to light interference (LI) in the field during the winter resulted in death. The aim of the current study was to determine the thermoregulatory response of SP‐acclimated voles to LI. Therefore, heat production (VO2) at different ambient temperatures (Ta) and nonshivering thermogenesis (NST) were measured. Results show that LI of 15 min every 4 h during the dark period significantly (p<0.02) decreased VO2 at Ta=15°C and significantly (p<0.05) decreased NST‐capacity. These results can at least partly explain why LI‐voles died during the winter under field conditions, through eliminating winter acclimatization of the thermoregulatory system, or what is considered as “seasons out of time. ”
Being Subjective about Autistic Thinking and Learning to Learn

In this paper, we discuss the deviant pattern of the development of thinking in autism and outline our thesis that the problem with autistic memory is in developing a personal episodic memory, and that this difficulty arises because of a deficit in the development of an experiencing self, which we have termed (after Brewer, 1986) an ‘ego‐self. We discuss constraints which we suggest result in learnable thinking skills remaining domain specific: difficulties with (i) language, (ii) coding, storage and retrieval of information and (iii) the role of emotions. We discuss what ‘improving the thinking’ of individuals with autism would entail and draw implications regarding fundamental requirements and caveats of teaching thinking for all individuals.
Structured Queries for Legal Documents Search

This paper reports the experiments of using Indri for the main and routing (relevance feedback) tasks in the TREC 2007 Legal Track. For the main task, we analyze ranking algorithms using different fields, boolean constraints, phrase and synonym operators. Evaluation results show that structured queries outperform bag-of-words ones. For the routing task, we train a linear SVM classifier for each topic. Terms with the largest weights are selected to form new queries. Both keywords and simple structured features (term.field) have been investigated. Named-Entity tags, LingPipe sentence breaker and metadata fields of the original documents have been used to generate the field information. Results show that structured features and weighted queries improves retrieval, but only marginally. We also show which structures are more useful. It turns out metadata fields are not as important as we thought.
Efficient Execution of Parallel Java Applications

In this paper we propose mechanisms to improve the performance of parallel Java applications. The proposal is based on the establishment of a dialog between each Java application and the underlying operating system. This dialog implies modifications at the application (or compiler), the threading library and kernel levels. The paper includes some preliminary experimental results that show how a good cooperation between the Java applications and the execution environment can improve the performance of each individual application.
Ege University Parenting Practices Scale : Its Validity and Reliability for Parents of School-Aged Children

1 Correspondence to: Hanife Kahraman (PhD), Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Education, Guidance and Psychological Counseling Program, Ege University, Bornova, Izmir 33040 Turkey. Email: hanife.pehlivan@ege.edu. tr 2 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Letters, Ege University, Bornova, Izmir 33040 Turkey. Email: turkan.yilmaz. irmak@ege.edu. tr 3 Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Education, Measurement and Evaluation in Education Program, Ege University, Bornova, Izmir 33040 Turkey. Email: tahsin.oguz. basokcu@ege.edu. tr Citation: Kahraman, H. , Yilmaz Irmak, T. , & Basokcu, T. O. (2017). Parenting Practices Scale: Its validity and reliability for parents of school-aged children. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 17, 745–769. http://dx.doi. org/10.12738/ estp.2017. 3.0312 Abstract Parenting practices are a field in psychology in which numerous studies have been carried out. In western countries, attempts to define the concept operationally have led to the emergence of many scales claiming to test the concept. This study aims at developing a scale to evaluate the parenting practices of parents with schoolchildren and at carrying out the validity and reliability tests of the scale in question. In the study, 511 parents with schoolchildren between the ages of 6-13 participated. The initial scale consisted of 84 items. Explanatory factor analysis was applied in order to analyze the construct validity and factor structure of the scale, whereas principle component analysis and the varimax rotation technique were used as the factoring technique. Following analysis, 32 items were removed from the scale. The final version of the scale consists of six components (sub-dimensions) and 52 items that explain 40.1% of the variance. Afterwards, secondorder confirmatory factor analysis was applied, and model data fit was observed to be high. Cronbach alpha values of the scales’ sub-dimensions were found to be between . 65 and . 79. Criterion validity of the scale was also tested during the study. To this end, the Parenting Practices Scale (PPS) and Parental AcceptanceRejection Questionnaire (PARQ) were used. The correlation between sub-dimensions and total score was analyzed in the study, in which 168 parents participated in total. The findings support the criterion validity of the scale. Moreover, the results prove that the developed scale has the ability to validly test existing differences among parents’ parenting practices and the psychological structures leading to them.
Regulon-Specific Control of Transcription Elongation across the Yeast Genome

Transcription elongation by RNA polymerase II was often considered an invariant non-regulated process. However, genome-wide studies have shown that transcriptional pausing during elongation is a frequent phenomenon in tightly-regulated metazoan genes. Using a combination of ChIP-on-chip and genomic run-on approaches, we found that the proportion of transcriptionally active RNA polymerase II (active versus total) present throughout the yeast genome is characteristic of some functional gene classes, like those related to ribosomes and mitochondria. This proportion also responds to regulatory stimuli mediated by protein kinase A and, in relation to cytosolic ribosomal-protein genes, it is mediated by the silencing domain of Rap1. We found that this inactive form of RNA polymerase II, which accumulates along the full length of ribosomal protein genes, is phosphorylated in the Ser5 residue of the CTD, but is hypophosphorylated in Ser2. Using the same experimental approach, we show that the in vivo–depletion of FACT, a chromatin-related elongation factor, also produces a regulon-specific effect on the expression of the yeast genome. This work demonstrates that the regulation of transcription elongation is a widespread, gene class–dependent phenomenon that also affects housekeeping genes.
I/O decoupling and disturbance rejection for general linear time delay systems via measurement output feedback

Simple algebraic criteria are derived for the solvability of the combined problem of I/O Decoupling and Disturbance Rejection (DDR) for general neutral multi-delay systems with measurable and nonmeasurable disturbances, via proportional measurable disturbance feedback and measurement output feedback. Additionally, the necessary and sufficient conditions, for the problem to admit a realizable solution, are established and the general analytical expression of the realizable controller matrices solving the problem are determined.
Thin-Film Bulk-Acoustic-Resonator Gas Sensor Functionalized With a Nanocomposite Langmuir–Blodgett Layer of Carbon Nanotubes

A thin-film bulk acoustic resonator (TFBAR) based on a vibrating membrane of AlN/Si3N4 has been fabricated onto a silicon substrate and functionally characterized as gas sensor at a resonating frequency of 1.045 GHz. This novel TFBAR-based gas sensor has been functionalized by a sensing nanocomposite layer, prepared by a Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique, of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) embedded in a host matrix of organic material of cadmium arachidate. High-performance gas detection at room temperature of a SWCNT-coated TFBAR sensor has been reported. The sensing device exhibits high sensitivity (e.g., acetone: 12 kHz/ppm; ethylacetate: 17.3 kHz/ppm), fast response (within 2-3 min), slow reversibility (within 1 h), and good repeatability (les 5% variation) of response toward tested organic vapors of acetone, ethylacetate, and toluene.
Transmission Expansion Planning in Electricity Markets

This paper presents a mixed-integer linear programming (LP) formulation for the long-term transmission expansion planning problem in a competitive pool-based electricity market. To achieve optimal expansion planning while modeling market functioning, we define a number of scenarios based on the future demand in the system and we simulate the maximization of the aggregate social welfare. Investment and operating costs, transmission losses and generator offers, and demand bids are considered. We propose to use a set of metrics to rate the effect of the expansion on the generators, demands, and the system as a whole. The proposed model is applied to the Garver six-bus system and to the IEEE 24-bus reliability test system. Simulation results can be interpreted in economic terms based on the values of the metrics obtained for different scenarios, parameters, and topologies.
Factors Influencing Satisfaction and Anticipated Turnover for Nurses in an Academic Medical Center

Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between work satisfaction, stress, age, cohesion, work schedule, and anticipated turnover in an academic medical center. Background Data Nurse turnover is a costly problem that will continue as healthcare faces the impending nursing shortage, a new generation of nurses enter the workforce, and incentives provided to nurses to work for institutions increase. A variety of factors influence the retention of nurses in adult care settings, including work satisfaction, group cohesion, job stress, and work schedule. In general, previous research has documented positive relationships between work satisfaction, group cohesion, strong leadership, and retention rates and a negative relationship between stress, work schedule, and retention. In addition, age and experience in nursing are related to job satisfaction. Methods This study used a cross-sectional survey design in which nurses from 12 units in a 908-bed university hospital in the Southeast completed questionnaires on one occasion. The following factors were measured using self-report questionnaires: nurse perception of job stress, work satisfaction, group cohesion, and anticipated turnover. Results The more job stress, the lower group cohesion, the lower work satisfaction, and the higher the anticipated turnover. The higher the work satisfaction, the higher group cohesion and the lower anticipated turnover. The more stable the work schedule, the less work-related stress, the lower anticipated turnover, the higher group cohesion, and the higher work satisfaction. Job Stress, work satisfaction, group cohesion, and weekend overtime were all predictors of anticipated turnover. There are differences in the factors predicting anticipated turnover for different age groups. Conclusions As healthcare institutions face a nursing shortage and a new generation of nurses enter the workforce, consideration of the factors that influence turnover is essential to creating a working environment that retains the nurse.
Age-dependent differences in morphine-induced taste aversions.

Adolescence is a developmental period of particular importance given the host of neurobiological changes that occur during this stage of development. Drug use and abuse is said to be a function of the balance of its rewarding and aversive effects, and any age-dependent differences in morphine's aversive effects could impact drug intake. The present experiments examined the ability of morphine sulfate (0, 3.2, 10, and 18 mg/kg) to induce taste aversions in adolescent and adult rats under high (20-min fluid access each day; Experiment 1A/B) and low (50% of ad libitum access; Experiment 2A/B) deprivation conditions. In both studies, adolescent and adult rats were given a novel saccharin solution to drink and were subsequently injected with morphine. Independent of the deprivation condition, adults acquired stronger aversions than adolescents and did so at a faster rate. On a subsequent two-bottle aversion test, all morphine-injected subjects drank a significantly lower percentage of saccharin than vehicle-injected controls with adults exhibiting stronger aversions than adolescents. These age-dependent differences in morphine-induced CTAs extend the findings with other drugs of abuse for which adolescents exhibit weaker aversions. The possible basis for and implications of these differences were discussed.