Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Undergraduate student perceptions of pair programming and agile software methodologies: verifying a model of social interaction

One of the reasons that undergraduate students, particularly women and minorities, can become disenchanted with computer science education is because software development is wrongly characterized as a solitary activity. We conducted a collective case study in a software engineering course at North Carolina State University to ascertain the effects of a collaborative pedagogy intervention on student perceptions. The pedagogy intervention was based upon the practices of agile software development with a focus on pair programming. Six representative students in the course participated in the study. Their perspectives helped validate a social interaction model of student views. The findings suggest that pair programming and agile software methodologies contribute to more effective learning opportunities for computer science students and that students understand and appreciate these benefits.
Comparative study and feature extraction of the muscle activity patterns in healthy subjects

For the upper limb amputees and disabled persons, the human hand is a marvel of strength, sensitivity and discrimination due to innumerable tasks it can perform and more importantly the human brain controls to perform these tasks. Presently the researchers are focusing on developing bio-signals based natural gesture, which is one of the most active thrust areas in the field of rehabilitation robotics. The field of rehabilitation robotics is actively being employed to develop a human computer interface for the person with disabilities. The work reported in this paper presents the statistical comparison of muscle activation patterns (EMG) of significant hand muscles among gender between the age group of 18 to 60 years. The statistical analyses employed are: mean; standard deviation; median and variance. Time domain and frequency domain features were extracted which are employed through classification of the EMG signals. The different hand movements studied were flexion and extension of the elbow and the wrist, pronation and supination of forearm and opening and closing of the hand. From this study, we concluded that the male subjects have higher values for all the four parameters than females and also the age group between 18 years to 40 years show higher values for the statistical parameters measured when compared with aged controls and modified mean frequency showed a highest recognition rate of 84.25% which can be used further for the designing of the prosthetic hand.
Multiplicative anomaly and zeta factorization

Some aspects of the multiplicative anomaly of zeta determinants are investigated. A rather simple approach is adopted and, in particular, the question of zeta function factorization, together with its possible relation with the multiplicative anomaly issue is discussed. We look primordially into the zeta functions instead of the determinants themselves, as was done in previous work. That provides a supplementary view, regarding the appearance of the multiplicative anomaly. Finally, we briefly discuss determinants of zeta functions that are not in the pseudodifferential operator framework.
Monitoring the "health" status of open source web-engineering projects

Purpose – In response to the increasing number of open‐source software (OSS) project initiatives and the increasing demand of OSS products as alternative solutions by industries, it is important for particular stakeholders such as the project host/supporter project‐leading teams, and prospective customers to determine whether a project initiative is likely to be sustainable and is worth supporting. This paper aims to propose a concept of “health” indicators and an evaluation process that can help to get a status overview of OSS projects in a timely fashion and predict project survivability based on the project data available on web repositories.Design/methodology/approach – For initial empirical evaluation of the concept, the indicators are applied to well‐known web‐based OSS projects (Apache Tomcat and Apache HTTP Server) and the results are compared with challenged projects (Apache Xindice and Apache Slide). The results are discussed with OSS experts to investigate the external validity of the indicator.
A framework for managing the innovation process

Successful innovation requires an integrated design process, i.e. integration in the design of the enterprise, the design of the product, as well as the design and implementation of new technologies. Such an integrated design effort requires good collaboration and management of the designs, and should be supported by efficient knowledge management techniques and tools. If innovation is to help a business grow and improve its competitiveness, it is also important to plan the innovation carefully. Though some ideas may just "fall from the sky" or "come out of the blue", an organisation should also have a strategic vision of how the business and the enterprise should develop. The Enterprise should not wait for the innovation to arrive arbitrarily, but rather proactively plan for innovation incorporating market trends, the competitive landscape, new technology availability, and changes in customer preferences and trends in order to create fruitful terroir conducive for innovative thinking. Such an enterprise will also pro-actively manage the knowledge supply chain that supports innovation. This paper presents a combined convergent and divergent approach for managing innovation within an innovation landscape that contextualise domains, role-players, decision points and knowledge network components . The Innovation management model specifically focuses on the use of roadmapping for planning and deploying innovation within a collaborative deployment environment. A case study illustrating the use of parts of the framework within the insurance industry is also presented.
Efficient Trimmed NURBS Tessellation

Interactive rendering of trimmed NURBS models is of great importance for CAD systems. For this the model needs to be transformed into a polygonal representation. This transformation can be either performed in a preprocessing step, at the cost of losing the capability to edit the surfaces, or on the fly during rendering. Since the number of frames per second is usually critical, efficient on the fly tessellation of trimmed NURBS surfaces is very important for interactive rendering and editing of such models. In this paper we present an efficient – with respect to both runtime and to the number of generated triangles – tessellation algorithm for trimmed NURBS surfaces that is capable of guaranteeing a specified geometric approximation error. When affordable by the subsequent steps in the pipeline, an approximate error of the tessellation can also be used leading to fewer triangles.
Evaluation of strength, agility and aerobic capacity in Brazilian football players

Summary Study aim: To evaluate the levels of strength, agility and the maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) between the offensive and defensive teams of football players. Material and methods: In the present cross-sectional study, 20 male Brazilian football players were divided into an offensive group (OG, n = 10, age: 25.50 ± 6.15 years) and a defensive group (DG, n = 10, age: 22.50 ± 5.48 years). We used the dynamometer for back and legs, the shuttle run test, and the Cooper test to evaluate strength, agility and VO2max, respectively. Results: The independent Student t-test showed that the OG was significantly more agile than the DG (p < 0.05). The other variables did not show any statistically significant differences. In the OG there was a strong correlation between agility and VO2max (r = - 0.834, p = 0.003, r2 = 0.70). However, in the DG there was a moderate correlation between the same variables (r = - 0.677, p = 0.031, r2 = 0.46). This shows that the greater the agility is, the higher is the VO2max. There was no correlation between the variables muscle strength and body fat percentage. Conclusions: The study showed that the OG has a better physical condition than the DG.
The Price Level, Relative Prices and Economic Stability: Aspects of the Interwar Debate

Recent financial instability has called into question the sufficiency of low inflation as a goal for monetary policy. This paper discusses inter-war literature bearing on this question. It begins with theories of the cycle based on the quantity theory, and their policy prescription of price stability supported by lender of last resort activities in the event of crises, arguing that their neglect of fluctuations in investment was a weakness. Other approaches are then taken up, particularly Austrian theory which stressed the banking system's capacity to generate relative price distortions and forced saving. This theory was discredited by its association with nihilistic policy prescriptions during the Great Depression. Nevertheless, its core insights were worthwhile, and also played an important part in Robertson's more eclectic account of the cycle. The latter, however, yielded activist policy prescriptions of a sort that were discredited in the post-war period. Whether these now need re-examination, or whether a low inflation regime, in which the authorities stand ready to resort to vigorous monetary expansion in the aftermath of asset market problems, is adequate to maintain economic stability is still an open question.
Context-dependent perceptual modulation of single neurons in primate visual cortex

Some neurons in the visual cortex alter their spiking rate according to the perceptual interpretation of an observed stimulus, rather than its physical structure alone. Experiments in monkeys have suggested that, although the proportion of neurons showing this effect differs greatly between cortical areas, this proportion remains similar across different stimuli. These findings have raised the intriguing questions of whether the same neurons always participate in the disambiguation of sensory patterns and whether such neurons might represent a special class of cortical cells that relay perceptual signals to higher cortical areas. Here we explore this question by measuring activity in the middle temporal cortex of monkeys and asking to what degree the percept-related responses of individual neurons depend upon the specific sensory input. In contrast to our expectations, we found that even small differences in the stimuli led to significant changes in the signaling of the perceptual state by single neurons. We conclude that nearly all feature-responsive neurons in this area, rather than a select subset, can contribute to the resolution of sensory conflict, and that the role of individual cells in signaling the perceptual outcome is tightly linked to the fine details of the stimuli involved.
A Statistical Inference Method for the Stochastic Reachability Analysis

The main contribution of this paper is the characterization of reachability problem associated to stochastic hybrid systems in terms of imprecise probabilities. This provides the connection between reachability problem and Bayesian statistics. Using generalised Bayesian statistical inference, a new concept of conditional reach set probabilities is defined. Then possible algorithms to compute the reach set probabilities are derived.
0 Generation of Cosmic Magnetic Fields at Recombination

It is shown that the standard cosmological model predicts ab initio generation of large-scale but very small-amplitude cosmic magnetic fields at the epoch of recombination of the primeval plasma. Matter velocities dominated by coherent flows on a scale L ≈ 50h(1 + z) Mpc lead to a dipole of radiation flux in the frame of the moving matter. Thomson scattering of the radiation differentially accelerates the electrons and ions, creating large-scale coherent electric currents and magnetic fields. This process is analyzed using magnetohydrodynamic equations which include a modification of Ohm’s law describing the effect of Thomson drag on the electrons. The field strength is estimated to be B ≃ 10G.
Caracterização da percepção musical em usuários de implante coclear

Objetivo: Avaliar a percepção musical de adultos usuários de implante coclear, utilizando o Questionário de Música de Munique (Munich Music Questionnaire – MUMU). Métodos: Pesquisa transversal, de abordagem quantitativa. Participaram do estudo 22 adultos pós-linguais, usuários de implante coclear há, pelo menos, um ano. O instrumento de coleta dos dados aplicado foi o Questionário de Munique, que abrange questões sobre a participação em atividades musicais e a respeito dos hábitos de ouvir música, em relação aos estilos musicais, aos diferentes instrumentos, ao ambiente de escuta e ao uso de dispositivos auxiliadores. Os dados foram computados em seus valores absolutos e relativos e foi utilizada estatística descritiva para caracterizar a amostra. Resultados: Foi possível observar que houve melhora na frequência de música ouvida pós-implante coclear. Dos participantes, a maioria respondeu não ligar a música diretamente ao seu processador. A maioria dos pacientes mencionou que ouvia música por prazer e para relaxar e que conseguiam perceber, principalmente, o ritmo. O instrumento com maior frequência de detecção foi o piano, seguido da bateria. O gênero musical referido com grande satisfação foi música para dançar e religiosa. Dos 10 pacientes que tocavam instrumentos antes da perda auditiva, 4 voltaram a tocar após a implantação e 3, que não tocavam, começaram a tocar, após o implante coclear. Conclusão: Foi possível observar que o uso do implante coclear propiciou melhora na percepção musical dos usuários, refletindo benefício na qualidade de vida. Por isso, a reabilitação deve incluir, dentro do treinamento auditivo, o desenvolvimento de habilidades musicais.
Non-nequilibrium model on Apollonian networks

We investigate the majority-vote model with two states (-1,+1) and a noise parameter q on Apollonian networks. The main result found here is the presence of the phase transition as a function of the noise parameter q. Previous results on the Ising model in Apollonian networks have reported no presence of a phase transition. We also studied the effect of redirecting a fraction p of the links of the network. By means of Monte Carlo simulations, we obtained the exponent ratio γ/ν, β/ν, and 1/ν for several values of rewiring probability p. The critical noise q{c} and U were also calculated. Therefore, the results presented here demonstrate that the majority-vote model belongs to a different universality class than equilibrium Ising model on Apollonian network.
Robust Filter Design for Multicarrier Communication over Doubly Dispersive Channels

Although orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been the dominant technology for broadband communications in the past, a number of researchers have noted the shortcomings of OFDM in timevarying channels. Hence, alternative systems that use filte r banks for multicarrier modulation have been proposed. Filter bank multicarrier (FBMC) systems use offset quadrature amplitude modulation (OQAM) or cosine modulated filter bank (CMFB) to maximize the transmission efficiency by maximizing the number of subcarriers in the available band. Moreover, the use of isotropic pulses for prototype filters will allow one to strike a balance between the time and frequency dispersion of the channel. However, unfortunately, such systems are not extendable to transmission over multipleinput multiple-output (MIMO) channels. The emphasis of this paper is on a class of FBMC systems in which data symbols are conventional QAM and, thus, support MIMO channels. Unlike OQAM/CMFB-based systems, the FBMC systems considered in this paper suffer some bandwidth loss. We develop a novel filter design that minimizes this bandwidth loss. I. I NTRODUCTION While orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been the dominant technology for broadband communications in the past [1], [2], [3], it has a number of limitations that makes it a rather poor choice for some applications. For instance, [4] noted that the relatively large side-lobes of the spectra of the individual subcarrie rs in an OFDM signal limits its applicability to cognitive radios. On the other hand, a number of researchers have noted the limitation of OFDM in dealing with time-varying channels and have suggested the use of an alternative method that uses filter banks for multicarrier modulation, [5]-[14]. Although different names have been used in the litrature, for similar or various implementations of filter bank based multicarrier systems, in this paper we use the generic terminology of filter bank multicarrier (FBMC). The pioneering works on the FBMC techniques date back to the published works by Chang [15] and Saltzberg [16] in the 1960s. However, the first work that discusses the potential problems of OFDM in dealing with doubly dispersive channels and proposes FBMC as a solution is due to Floch et al. [5]. It is argued, an FBMC system that addresses both time and frequency dispersions should be constructed using a prototype filter p(t) whose time and frequency dispersions matches those of the channel. For this purpose, one may define the dispersion of p(t) and P (f), respectively, as
A dog-assisted reading programme’s unanticipated impact in a special education classroom

ABSTRACT Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI) have been shown to positively affect students’ academic abilities as well as their overall behaviour and social skills. In typically developing students, dog-assisted reading programmes have improved reading skills and attitudes towards reading in addition to general behaviour. AAI programmes for special education needs (SEN) students have demonstrated increases in positive behaviours (socialisation with peers, staying on-task) and decreases in negative behaviours (anxiety, aggression). This research investigates the intersection of a dog-assisted reading programme and SEN students. Prior interviews conducted with teachers at an elementary school that implemented a school-wide dog-assisted reading programme suggested that behavioural improvements were most notable in SEN students. The current study examined the effect of the dog-assisted reading programme on four students in an inclusive special education class. Behavioural data recorded daily by the classroom teacher was analysed to compare behaviour on days the dog was present relative to days the dog was absent. Single case analysis revealed significant behavioural improvement for one of the four students. Interviews with educational professionals provided qualitative support for all students in the programme and recommendations for future interventions and research with SEN students including improvements in programme structure, outcome identification, and measurement.
Adults' on-line comprehension of object pronouns in discourse

A well-known finding in the literature on language acquisition is that English-speaking children as old as 6 frequently misinterpret object pronouns as co-referring with the local referential subject. However, the percentage of errors with respect to this so-called Delay of Principle B Effect (DPBE) varies substantially across studies. Conroy, Takahashi, Lidz and Phillips (2009) showed that in English the DPBE disappears when an elaborate context is presented in which the correct referent and the correct sentence interpretation are made accessible. They conclude from this that English-speaking children possess knowledge of Principle B but are hindered by a discourse context in which the potential referents and interpretations are not appropriately balanced. A similar disappearance of the DPBE was shown for Dutch by Spenader, Smits and Hendriks (2009). However, rather than presenting children with an elaborate context, they used a short introductory sentence that unambiguously established the correct referent as the discourse topic. They interpret their results as indicating that children’s grammar underdetermines the interpretation of pronouns. Because children’s interpretations only conform to Principle B if the discourse structure provides a clear topic, they conclude that children’s comprehension of pronouns is sensitive to discourse structure and that children are actually helped by the discourse. The different and partly contradictory conclusions of these two studies raise questions regarding children’s knowledge of Principle B and the exact contribution of discourse context to pronoun interpretation. The aim of the present study is to shed more light on the second issue by performing an eyetracking study with Dutch adults. In this study, we test adults’ comprehension of object pronouns and reflexives while manipulating the discourse context. This paper is organized as follows. First, we discuss the off-line studies of Conroy et al. and Spenader et al. with children in more detail. On the
Brill ’ s rule-based PoS tagger

Eric Brill introduced a PoS tagger in 1992 that was based on rules, or transformations as he calls them, where the grammar is induced directly from the training corpus without human intervention or expert knowledge. The only additional component necessary is a small, manually and correctly annotated corpus the training corpus which serves as input to the tagger. The system is then able to derive lexical/morphological and contextual information from the training corpus and ‘ learns’ how to deduce the most likely part of speech tag for a word. Once the training is completed, the tagger can be used to annotate new, unannotated corpora based on the tagset of the training corpus. The rule-based part of speech tagger can be said to be a hybrid approach, because it first uses statistical techniques to extract information from the training corpus and then uses a program to automatically learn rules which reduces the faults that would be introduced by statistical mistakes (Brill, 1992). The tagger does not use hand-crafted rules or prespecified language information, nor does the tagger use external lexicons or lists of different types. According to Brill (1992) ‘ there is a very small amount of general linguistic knowledge built into the system, but no language-specific knowledge’ . The long time goal of the tagger is, in Brill’s own words, to ‘create a system which would enable somebody to take a large text in a language he does not know and with only a few hours of help from a speaker of the language accurately annotate the text with part of speech information. ’ (Brill & Marcus, 1992b:1). For achieving his aim, Brill has also developed a parser, consisting of systems which may automatically derive word classes and the bracketing structure of sentences, assigning nonterminal labels to the bracketing structure and improving prepositional phrase attachment (see Brill, 1992, 1993a, 1993b, 1995b). In this work the part of speech tagger, i.e. learning the most likely tag for a word will be presented. The following section gives a description of the main ideas of Brill’s tagger and some information about how to train and test that tagger. All information contained in the following section is based on Brill’s articles, listed in the reference list (Brill, 1992; 1993a; 1993b; 1993c; 1994a; 1995a; 1995b). The description below is only functional, disregarding any efficiency aspects considered in the actual software.