Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Awareness on the Advantages and Disadvantages of Outcome Based Education Among Graduating Psychology Students

The main objective of this study is to identify how aware the sixty-one (61) psychology graduating student-respondents are on the advantages and disadvantages of outcomes-based education. Descriptive method was used since this was suitable and appropriate for the study. Findings showed that respondents are aware of the advantages of the outcomes based education program that it promotes the acquisition of the specific skills and competencies in a country in which there are many skill concept. They are also aware that as a disadvantage, all trainers must be retrained to acquire the knowledge, values and competencies to implement OBE and that whether AB or BS Psychology, male or female, there is no difference as to how aware the respondents are on the advantages and disadvantages of outcomes based education.
Cortical preparatory activity avoids causing movement by remaining in a muscle-neutral space

Motor and premotor cortex are involved in the execution of reaching movements, but are also active during the preparation of those movements. Since the arm remains motionless during preparation, we ask: why does preparatory activity not cause movement? One possible mechanism is that activity does not escape the motor cortices because output is suppressed by local inhibition. This mechanism is known to operate in the brainstem for saccade control. We have previously searched for such a ‘gating’ mechanism in the activity of inhibitory interneurons in motor and premotor cortex of monkeys. We found that inhibition does not appear to gate movement in either premotor (Kaufman et al., 2010, J Neurophys) or primary motor (Kaufman et al., 2010, SFN) cortex. We thus propose and test an alternative model. Since there are many more neurons than muscles, there must be many possible neural states for any given pattern of muscle forces. We therefore predict that there will be an ‘iso-force space’ in neural space, where any neural state within this space will produce the same muscle output. This iso-force space could be exploited to permit motor preparation without causing movement. Here, we attempt to identify such an iso-force space using neural data from two monkeys. We tested whether some dimensions in neural space might be ‘muscle-potent,’ identifiable because activity in these dimensions correlates with muscle activity, while other dimensions might be ‘iso-force. ’ We found that preparatory activity preferentially occupies the iso-force (non-muscle-like) space, while movement-epoch activity explores a greater volume of both spaces. This result held both when testing trial-averaged mean data and when examining single-trial activity. Such a mechanism might have implications beyond the motor system, conceivably allowing areas to switch their functional connectivity on and off.
Zhang Dynamics and Gradient Dynamics with Tracking-Control Application

Via solving time-varying linear equations, this paper shows the Zhang dynamics (ZD) method. Besides, the gradient dynamics (GD) method, which was originally designed for constant problems solving, is generalized for time-varying linear equations solving. Then, the ZD and GD methods are exploited together to solve the tracking-control problem of a nonlinear system as a new application. Simulation results on the nonlinear system further demonstrate the feasibility of the ZD and GD methods for tracking control of nonlinear systems.
E- and P-Selectins Are Essential for the Development of Cockroach Allergen-Induced Airway Responses

Peribronchial inflammation contributes to the pathophysiology of allergic asthma. In many vascular beds, adhesive interactions between leukocytes and the endothelial surface initiate the recruitment of circulating cells. Previous studies using OVA-induced airway hyperreactivity indicated that P-selectin, a member of the selectin family expressed by activated platelets and endothelium, contributed to both inflammation and bronchoconstriction. The current study used cockroach allergen (CRA), an allergen that induces asthmatic responses in both humans and mice, to further investigate the role of selectins in the development of peribronchial inflammation and airway hyperreactivity. P- and E-selectin mRNAs were detected in extracts of CRA-sensitized animals beginning shortly after intratracheal challenge with CRA. The P-selectin mRNA was transiently induced at early time points while up-regulation of the E-selectin mRNA was more prolonged. Mice with targeted deletions in E-selectin (E−), P-selectin (P−), and both genes (E−/P−) showed 70–85% reductions in airway hyperreactivity, peribronchial inflammation, and eosinophil accumulation. The P− and E−/P− groups showed the most profound reductions. The transfer of splenic lymphocytes from CRA-primed E−/P− into naive wild-type (WT) mice produced the same level of airway hyperreactivity as transfers from CRA-primed WT into naive WT hosts, indicating that peripheral immunization was similar. The observed changes in the selectin-deficient animals were not related to inadequate sensitization, because CRA priming and challenge increased serum IgE levels. Furthermore, pulmonary Th2-type cytokines and chemokines in the E-selectin−/− and WT animals were similar. The findings indicate that both P- and E-selectin contribute to CRA-induced peribronchial inflammation and airway hyperreactivity.
Feature Selection for Self-Supervised Classification With Applications to Microarray and Sequence Data

Learning strategies are traditionally divided into two categories: unsupervised learning and supervised learning. In contrast, for feature selection, there are four different categories of training scenarios: (1) unsupervised; (2) (regular) supervised; (3) self-supervised (SS); and (4) doubly supervised. Many genomic applications naturally arise in either (regular) supervised or self-supervised formulation. The distinction of these two supervised scenarios lies in whether the class labels are assigned to the samples versus the features. This paper explains how to convert an SS formulation into a symmetric doubly supervised (SDS) formulation by a pairwise approach. The SDS formulation offers more explicit information for effective feature selection than the SS formulation. To harness this information, the paper adopts a selection scheme called vector-index-adaptive SVM (VIA-SVM), which is based on the fact that the support vectors can be subdivided into different groups each offering quite distinct prediction performance. Simulation studies validate that VIA-SVM performs very well for time-course microarray data. This paper further proposes a fusion strategy to integrate the diversified information embedded in the SDS formulation. Simulation studies on protein sequence data for subcelluar localization confirm that the prediction can be significantly improved by combining VIA-SVM with relevance scores (e.g., SNR) and redundancy metrics (e.g., Euclidean distance).
Nanoparticulate Radiolabelled Quinolines Detect Amyloid Plaques in Mouse Models of Alzheimer's Disease

Detecting aggregated amyloid peptides (Aβ plaques) presents targets for developing biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Polymeric n-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate (PBCA) nanoparticles (NPs) were encapsulated with radiolabelled amyloid affinity 125I-clioquinol (CQ, 5-chloro-7-iodo-8-hydroxyquinoline) as in vivo probes. 125I-CQ-PBCA NPs crossed the BBB (2.3 ± 0.9 ID/g) (P < .05) in the WT mouse (N = 210), compared to 125I-CQ (1.0 ± 0.4 ID/g). 125I-CQ-PBCA NP brain uptake increased in AD transgenic mice (APP/PS1) versus WT (N = 38; 2.54 × 105 ± 5.31 × 104 DLU/mm2; versus 1.98 × 105 ± 2.22 × 104 DLU/mm2) and in APP/PS1/Tau. Brain increases were in mice intracranially injected with aggregated Aβ 42 peptide (N = 17; 7.19 × 105 ± 1.25 × 105 DLU/mm2), versus WT (6.07 × 105 ± 7.47 × 104 DLU/mm2). Storage phosphor imaging and histopathological staining of the plaques, Fe2+ and Cu2+, validated results. 125I-CQ-PBCA NPs have specificity for Aβ in vitro and in vivo and are promising as in vivo SPECT (123I), or PET (124I) amyloid imaging agents.
Multi-Camera Calibration Using a Globe

The need for calibration of multiple cameras working together in a network, or for the acquisition of free viewpoint video for 3D TV, is becoming increasingly important in recent years. In this paper we present a novel approach for calibrating multiple cameras using an ordinary globe that is usually available in every household. This method makes it possible to reduce multi-camera calibration to a level that is attainable by non-technical users. Our technique requires only one view of the globe for each camera, unlike earlier approaches that need multiple views of a calibration object. Previous methods that use spherical calibration objects can only calibrate the intrinsic parameters of cameras, but our technique is capable of calibrating both the intrinsic and extrinsic parameters simultaneously in a multi-camera setup. Experimental results verifying the accuracy of our algorithm are also presented.
A Stop and Go Blind Equalization Algorithm for QAM Signals

The constant modulus algorithm (CMA) has been widely used in the blind equalization of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signals, but it has slow convergence rate and large steady state mean square error and the phase blind nature. In this paper, a modified constant modulus algorithm which incorporates a stop and go technique is proposed. The proposed algorithm can speed up convergence rate and decrease steady state mean square error and correct phase error and frequency offset simultaneously. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in improving convergence behavior and bit error rate (BER) performance.
Coarse to Fine: Diffusing Categories in Wikipedia

Automatic taxonomy construction aims to build a categorization system without human efforts. Traditional textual pattern based methods extract hyponymy relation in raw texts. However, these methods usually yield low precision and recall. In this paper, we propose a method to automatically find diffusing attributes to a category from Wikipedia infoboxes. We use the diffusing attribute to diffuse a coarse-grained category into several fine-grained subcategories and generate a finer-grained taxonomy. Experiments show our method can find proper diffusing attributes to categories across various domains.
The neuroscience of construction: what neuroimaging approaches can tell us about how the brain creates the mind

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La boulimie: perversion ou mélancolie?

Les comportements boulimiques constituent un syndrome qui ne permet pas de prejuger d'une organisation psychopathologique precise. Au-dela des configurations individuelles, on peut s'interroger sur la presence d'amenagements specifiques; deux propositions sont avancees dans ce bref article: l'une souligne la dimension perverse narcissique du comportement boulimique, l'autre met l'accent sur sa dimension melancolique sous-jacente
Online Reception Analysis: Big Data in Qualitative Marketing Research

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this paper is to forward an extension of reception analysis as a way to incorporate and give insight to social media mediations and big data in a qualitative marketing perspective. We propose a research method that focuses on discursive developments in consumer debates for example on YouTube – a large-scale open-access social media platform – as opposed to the closed and tightknit communities investigated by netnography. Methodology/approach Online reception analysis Findings Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, we find that big data can enrich online reception analyses by showing new aspects of weak tie online networks and consumers meaning making. Research limitations/implications The potential of online reception analysis is to encompass a discursive perspective on consumer interactions on large-scale open-access social media and to be able to analyze socialities that do not represent shared cultures but are more representative of transitory everyday interactions. Originality/value of paper Our method contributes to the current focus to define levels of analysis beyond research centered on individuals and individual interactions within groups to investigate other larger socialities. Further, our method also contributes by incorporating and investigating the mediatization of interaction that social media contributes with and therefore our methods actively work with the possibilities of social media. Hence, by extending the advances made by netnography into online spaces, online reception analysis can potentially inform the current status of big data research with a sociocultural methodological perspective.
Defining the edge: choice, mastery and necessity in edgework practice

Abstract This paper explores some of the ways in which the concept of edgework has been used and extended in sociology. It draws attention to the way in which people experience voluntary risk taking based upon social position and how this effects the construction of choice in risk-taking practice. In many edgework practices, such as rock, ice and alpine climbing the relative safety of everyday life is crucial in the construction of risk and for the sense of control that edgework produces. This leisured social position is hence used to produce experiences of serious play, or what is here referred to as an arbitrary experience of necessity. This choice is one that also allows people to enter spaces where edgework is the dominant logic of practice. The ability to move across these spaces produces distinction. This paper hence aims to clarify and extend the use of the concept of edgework to explain voluntary risk-taking.
Participantes heterogéneos en MOOCs y sus necesidades de aprendizaje adaptativo

Many research works point out the overcrowding and the heterogeneity of participant’s profiles in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) as the main causes of their low completion rate. On the other hand, the methodologies of personalization of the learning, along next to the technologies of the information, that allows to realize techniques of adaptativity, appear in international reports as an effective way to improve the learning. This paper explores the participante’ perception of their adaptive needs in this tupe of course, as well as their relationship with different aspects of the participants, such as: profiles (gender, age, geographical location and academic level), previous experience and knowledge about the topic of the MOOC and motivation to enroll the MOOC. The study is carried out through a survey completes by the participants in the MOOC Campus of Educational Innovation. We conclude that the age or gender of the participants does not significantly influence their need for adaptive techniques in a MOOC. However, living in a Latin American country, working as a manager or enrolling in a MOOC with a specific motivation, are some of the factors that influence in the desire for adaptive techniques in a MOOC. The obtained results will contribute to improve the adaptive designs of the MOOC and will be easily transferable to any online training course, in blended or virtual learning.
Anthropometric traits at military medical examinations associated with demographic family characteristics in Sardinia at the turn of twentieth century

Abstract Anthropometric traits observed during military medical examinations are excellent indicators of individual health and nutritional status, and more generally reflect historical socio-economic conditions. Historical demographers have shown little interest in the association of anthropometric traits with demographic family characteristics, except with sibship size according to the resource dilution hypothesis (RDH). In this study we present an analysis of both height and chest circumference of conscripts of Villagrande in Sardinia, Italy, born between 1853 and 1935. Among a total of 1499 conscripts who passed their first examination, height and chest circumference were recorded respectively for 1432 and 1253 conscripts. These traits were almost normally distributed around the average height of 157.60 cm and chest circumference of 81.89 cm. A multivariate regression analysis was performed using height or chest circumference as dependent variables and a set of demographic variables as potentially explanatory factors. The strongest explanatory power was observed for the year of birth indicating a significant secular increase, for conscript’s age at the first medical examination and the maternal age at conscript’s birth. The mortality rate under age five within the sibship shows a negative association with height only, whereas neither parity nor intergenesic intervals show any statistically significant impact. Finally, the relative birth index is associated with the chest circumference only, with larger values for conscripts born within the younger half of the sibship. Overall, our findings are consistent with the general statement that height and chest circumference are largely under genetic control although they may be partially modulated by the environmental and socio-economic conditions of the individual’s life. This study also aimed to test RDH. Although conscripts who were an only child may have had a slight increase in height and chest circumference, no significant negative linear or log-linear trend was detected for the two body parameters in respect of sibship size.
Long-term representations of melodies in Western listeners: Influences of familiarity, musical expertise, tempo and structure

We investigated the effects of familiarity, level of musical expertise, musical tempo, and structural boundaries on the identification of familiar and unfamiliar tunes. Healthy Western listeners (N = 62; age range 14–64 years) judged their level of familiarity with a preselected set of melodies when the number of tones of a given melody was increased from trial to trial according to the so-called gating paradigm. The number of tones served as one dependent measure. The second dependent measure was the physical duration of the stimulus presentation until listeners identified a melody as familiar or unfamiliar. Results corroborate previous work, suggesting that listeners need less information to recognize familiar as compared to unfamiliar melodies. Both decreasing and increasing the original tempo by a factor of two delayed the identification of familiar melodies. Furthermore, listeners had more difficulty identifying unfamiliar melodies when tempo was increased. Finally, musical expertise significantly influenced identification of either melodic category, i.e., reducing the required number of tones. Taken together, the findings support theories which suggest that tempo information is coded in melody representation, and that musical expertise is associated with especially efficient strategies for accessing long-term representations of melodic materials.
Cutting Edge: Hierarchy of Chemokine Receptor and TCR Signals Regulating T Cell Migration and Proliferation1

Chemokines play an important role in establishing the distribution of lymphocyte subpopulations in primary and secondary lymphoid tissues and in the recruitment of leukocytes to sites of inflammation. However, the potential of chemokines to down-regulate immune responses has not been demonstrated. We now show that certain chemokine gradients have the potential to suppress T cell activation by preventing formation of the immunological synapse, the specialized cell-cell junction that forms before a T cell can be fully activated. Our data reveals an immunosuppressive potential of chemokines engaging the CXCR3 and CCR7 receptors, but not the CXCR4, CCR2, CCR4, or CCR5 receptors. These results suggest a novel mechanism for T cell ignorance of agonist MHC-peptide complexes based on dominant chemokine gradients.
Simple and reliable low power image communication based on DPCM and multiple refinements through feedback

There are basically two ways of reducing the power consumption in e.g. sensor nodes: the node algorithms should be simple and efficiently implemented, and the transmit power should be limited. In this paper we consider discrete time, progressive signal transmission with feedback. For the Gaussian case with an ideal return channel, the system performs according to OPTA (Berger, 1971). With substantial bandwidth expansion through multiple iterations, the power can be lowered close to a theoretical minimum. For a non-perfect return channel the performance is limited by the feedback channel's signal-to-noise ratio. We propose an image transmission system based on differential coding and multiple transmissions. The pixel predictions are done in the receiver to obtain a closed loop joint-source channel coding system, and to save processing power in the transmit node. Performance limits as well as simulation results will be given. The suggested system performs without delay.
Towards usable authentication on mobile phones : An evaluation of speaker and face recognition on off-the-shelf handsets

Authenticating users on mobile devices is particularly challenging because of usability concerns: authentication must be quick and as unobtrusive as possible. Therefore, biometric methods seem well suited for mobile phones. We evaluate both speaker and face recognition methods on offthe-shelf mobile devices concerning their accuracy, suitability for dealing with low-quality recordings, and running with limited resources. Our results show that speaker and face recognition can realistically be used on mobile phones, but that improvements – e.g. in the form of combining multiple methods – are still necessary and subject to future work.
Drought and Its Demographic Effects in the Maya Lowlands

Increasing evidence supports the role of climate change in the disintegration of regional polities in the Maya lowlands at the end of the Classic Period (750–1000 CE). However, the demographic effects of drought remain largely unknown in the absence of Classic Period textual evidence indicating declines in agricultural productivity and population over this broad geographic area. To understand the relationship between climate change and demography, we compare historic records from the Colonial Period (1519–1821 CE) with a subannually resolved climate record for the region. We propose that multiyear droughts across the lowlands resulted in crop failure and severe famines that correlate with intervals of high mortality and migration within two extended dry intervals during the eighteenth century. Changes in population during the Colonial Period support Malthusian models of demography that may be used to conceptualize population dynamics at the end of the Classic Period.