Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Psychological determinants of university students’ academic performance: An empirical study

This study utilises an integrated conceptual model of academic performance which captures a series of psychological factors: cognitive style; self-theories such as self-esteem and self-efficacy; achievement goals such as mastery, performance, performance avoidance and work avoidance; study-processing strategies such as deep and surface learning; and effort. We investigate a group of first-year university undergraduates taking a course in business statistics at a British university. The results show a significant causal path of the form: self-esteem→ self-efficacy→ mastery→ effort→ performance. We conclude that the strengthening of any of the elements in this path would have beneficial effects on students’ academic performance and discuss various approaches to pedagogy, primarily assessment and feedback, to achieve this goal.
A case of primary small cell carcinoma of the breast

We report a rare case of primary small cell carcinoma of the breast. A 44-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with a mass in her left breast. Fine-needle biopsy revealed small cell carcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation resembling small cell carcinoma of the lung. Systemic computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed no primary site in the lung or any other organ. A modified radical mastectomy with removal of the axillary lymph node (Bt + Ax, R2) was performed. Histological examination revealed that the tumor was composed of small round to oval cells with a large nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio. The tumor cells were positive for neuroendocrine differentiation markers such as synaptophysin, CD56, and neuron-specific enolase (NSE), but negative for thyroid transcription factor1 (TTF-1), leukocyte common antigen (LCA), estrogen receptor (ER), and progesterone receptor (PR). Interestingly, the tumor cells lacked immunoreactivity for epithelial markers, including cytokeratin AE1/3, CAM5.2, and epithelial membrane antigen (EMA). The patient was given adjuvant chemotherapy for axillary lymph node metastasis. There were no signs of recurrence 22 months after surgery.
Timespans and Plans Among Young Adults

This article uses data from a survey of young adults in Kirkcaldy, Fife, together with associated qualitative interviews, to throw empirical light on their sense of control over their lives and their perceived willingness and ability to plan their lives. Its principal conclusion, contrary to the suggestions of much previous literature, is that a majority of young adults of both genders do, by their early twenties at least, feel in control of their lives and able to exercise forethought over quite long periods of time with respect to many aspects of their futures. Far from seeing the future as simply ‘an extended present’, they see active opportunities for choice and for formulating their own lives in the years ahead. Only a minority, predominantly those who feel themselves in particularly insecure circumstances, live primarily for the present or think ahead only or principally for the very short term.
A time-optimal bounded velocity path-following controller for generic Wheeled Mobile Robots

This paper, as a generalization of our previous works, presents a unified time-optimal path-following controller for Wheeled Mobile Robots (WMRs). Unlike other path-following controllers, we solve the path-following problem for all common categories of WMRs such as car-like, differential, omnidirectional, all wheels steerable and others. We show that the insertion of our path-following controller into the kinematic and non-holonomic constraints of the wheels, simplifies the otherwise impenetrable constraints, resulting in explicit monotonic functions between the velocity of the base and that of the wheels. Based on this foundation, we present a closed-form solution that keeps all the wheels' steering and driving velocities within their corresponding pre-specified bounds. Simulation data and experimental results from executing the controller in a real-time environment demonstrate the efficacy of the method.
Interrelationships Among Three Tests of Language Proficiency: Standardized ESL, Cloze, and Writing

Cloze, which combines the advantages of integrative testing and objective scoring, was investigated as a supplement to a standardized ESL test and as an alternative to a written composition test. Three tests of English language proficiency were given to a large group of students applying for admission to the American University of Beirut (AUB): the AUB English Test, a cloze test, and a written composition. The tests were taken by the same group of students at the same examination session, enabling direct study of interrelationships among the three measures. Regression analysis of the test scores showed that pairwise correlations were all high and that a combination of cloze test scores and AUB English Test scores significantly improved the prediction of communicative language proficiency, as measured by the composition test scores. In addition, there was a substantial residual correlation between the cloze and writing tests, which suggests that these tests may measure in common some aspects of language ability beyond those that they share with the AUB English Test, a standardized ESL test. These results indicate that a cloze component can serve as a valuable supplement in language proficiency testing. Further implications of the findings of the study are discussed.
Tonal Changes in Hong Kong Cantonese

This paper discusses changes in Hong Kong Cantonese tones. Cantonese is a tonal language and changes in its tones affect the semantics of the lexicon. There are nine tones in Cantonese, of which six are contrastive and there are three allotones of three level tones. Two variants of the High tone (High Level and High Fall) are found in the speech of Guangzhou speakers whereas the Hong Kong speakers only use the High Level form. In this paper, the High Rise and the Low Rise tone contours are found to be 25 and 23 respectively instead of 35 and 13 as thought previously. This change in Hong Kong Cantonese is contrasted with the Cantonese of Guangzhou and the paper posits that the differences are ascribable to the separation of Hong Kong and Guangzhou during much of the past 50 years.
Mechanisms of Health Care Accountability, Marketisation and the Elusive State

In the United Kingdom during the past decade, individuals and groups have increasingly tested the extent to which NHS and private health providers can be held to account through principles of judicial review, or the Human Rights Act (HRA) for failure to provide access to publicly funded health care. Moreover a range of non judicial mechanisms have been developed, for monitoring standards and promoting transparency, participation and equality in the provision of NHS services. This article recognises that an important symbiosis has developed between administrative law courts and non-judicial mechanisms to enhance equality of opportunity and transparency in the distribution of health care resources. However, it also argues, that the unimpeded advance of corporate providers into NHS clinical services reflects a critical gap in the potential to hold government to account for failure to provide access to publicly funded health services, in accordance with commitments in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
The effectiveness of low-vision rehabilitation on participation in daily living and quality of life.

PURPOSE To evaluate the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary low-vision rehabilitation program on quality of life evaluated by the Impact of Vision Impairment (IVI) instrument. METHODS First-time referrals to low-vision clinics were assessed before and after rehabilitation (3-6 months). Rasch analysis was used to estimate the three IVI subscale and overall values on an interval scale. A mixed between-within subjects ANOVA was used to identify whether presenting visual acuity had an interaction effect with rehabilitation change. Cohen d values were used to estimate the magnitude of the change and the standardized response mean (SRM) procedure was selected to determine the clinical significance of the rehabilitation-induced changes. RESULTS One hundred twenty-four women and 68 men (mean age, 80.3 years) completed the rehabilitation. Most had age-related macular degeneration (62%, 119) and were moderately to severely vision impaired (<6/18; 78%, 149). After rehabilitation, significant improvements were recorded for the overall IVI score (P = 0.006) and two subscales: reading and accessing information and emotional well-being (P = 0.007 and 0.009, respectively). No significant improvement was found on the mobility and independence subscale (P = 0.07). The magnitude of the post-intervention improvement was found to be relatively moderate (Cohen d = 0.17-0.30) and clinically modest (SRM = 0.22-0.42). CONCLUSIONS Significant improvements in overall quality of life and two specific areas of daily living in people with low vision were found, although the magnitude and clinical significance of the rehabilitation-induced gains were modest. Further investigation in other models of low-vision rehabilitation is needed to optimize quality of life gains in people with low vision.
Indoor Air Pollution Status of Dwellings in Nanjing City, China

Formaldehyde, total volatile organic compounds and sulfur dioxide were selected as the evaluating indicator to assess the indoor air pollution status of dwellings in Nanjing City. And twenty randomly drawing households in the urban and suburb of Nanjing City were selected as specimen. The results showed that the concentrations of formaldehyde, total volatile organic compounds and sulfur dioxide were higher and exceeded the standard value in summer comparing with winter. Furthermore, the main sources of indoor formaldehyde and total volatile organic compounds were decoration materials and constructions. Cooking in the kitchen was another source of total volatile organic compounds. High concentration of outdoor sulfur dioxide was observed, and the main source of indoor sulfur dioxide was outdoor sulfur dioxide. The analysis on the ratio between indoor and outdoor pollutants concentration suggested that there were different pollutants emission sources for formaldehyde, total volatile organic compounds and sulfur dioxide.
A Critique of Moral Education in the Social Studies.

Abstract This paper argues that the moral education approach to social studies education is unsound pedagogically and politically. Pedagogically, the approach requires types of skills most teachers do not have, ignores the realities of classroom and school authority structures, assumes more stability in moral reasoning than students possess, and does not permit the use of teaching strategies that might otherwise be optimal. Politically, the approach misunderstands the nature of political decision‐making, which is founded on a logic at variance with that of moral reasoning. In addition, the moral education approach is politically biased in ways which could damage particular groups or ideologies in the society. The article concludes that the gains to be obtained from this new approach are limited, and the dangers many.
Adaptive coding tree for complexity control of high efficiency video encoders

The emerging HEVC standard introduces several techniques which increase compression efficiency in comparison to its predecessors. However, such advances are accompanied by increases in computational complexity, limiting the encoder use in computational or power-constrained devices. This paper proposes a novel complexity control method for the future HEVC encoders based on a dynamic adjustment of the newly proposed coding tree structures. The relationship between coding tree depths and the encoding complexity is explored to selectively constrain encoding possibilities in order to not exceed a predefined complexity target. Experimental results show that the encoder computational complexity can be downscaled to 60% with a bit rate increase under 3.5% and a PSNR decrease under 0.1 dB.
A software tool-box for analysis of regulatory RNA elements

We describe an integrated tool-box to identify regulatory RNA elements. The RNA analyzer collects general and specific information on any submitted RNA sequence or batch of sequences in FASTA format. It determines and rapidly scans the different regions of an RNA (including 5' UTR, CDS, 3' UTR in mRNA) and screens for specific RNA signals (in each of these regions, e.g. polyA-site, AU rich region etc. in 3' UTR). It runs a fast folding RNA routine to provide an overview of the RNA fold. Furthermore it analyzes structure content, fold energy and stem loops. In addition, consensus templates are used to determine whether there are any functional structures present for translational control (template: IRE), structured RNA (template: tRNA consensus) or catalytic RNA (template: trans-splicing RNA), giving indications as to how well the structures found match to these templates. The tool box has been implemented as a WWW server at http://wb2x01.biozentrum. uni-wuerzburg.de/.
The effect of the internal structure of categories on perception

A novel study is presented that explores the effect that learning internally organized categories has on the ability to subsequently discriminate category members. The results demonstrate the classic categorical perception effect whereby discrimination of stimuli that belong to different categories is improved following training, while the ability to discriminate stimuli belonging to the same category is reduced. We further report a new within-category perceptual effect whereby category members that share the same category label but fall into different sub-clusters within that category are better discriminated than items that share the same category and cluster. The results show that learners are sensitive to multiple sources structure beyond simply the labels provided during supervised training. A computational model is presented to account for the results whereby multiple levels of encoding (i.e., at the item-, cluster-, and categorylevel) may simultaneously contribute to perception.
Consistency checking in an infrastructure for large-scale generative programming

Ubiquitous computing increases the pressure on the software industry to produce ever more and error-free code. Two recipes from automated programming are available to meet this challenge: On the one hand, generative programming raises the level of abstraction in software development by describing problems in high-level domain-specific languages and making them executable. On the other hand, in situations where one needs to produce a family of similar programs, product line engineering supports code reuse by composing programs from a set of common assets (or features). AHEAD (algebraic hierarchical equations for application design) is a framework for generative programming and product line engineering that achieves additional productivity gains by scaling feature composition up. Our contribution is GRAFT, a calculus that gives a formal foundation to AHEAD and provides several mechanisms for making sure that feature combinations are legal and that features in themselves are consistent
Blended interaction spaces for distributed team collaboration

In recent years there has been an introduction of sophisticated new video conferencing technologies (e.g., HP Halo, Cisco Telepresence) that have led to enhancements in the collaborative user experience over traditional video conferencing technologies. Traditional video conferencing set-ups often distort the shared spatial properties of action and communication due to screen and camera orientation disparities and other asymmetries. These distortions affect access to the common resources used to mutually organize action and communication. By contrast, new systems, such as Halo, are physically configured to reduce these asymmetries and orientation disparities, thereby minimizing these spatial distortions. By creating appropriate shared spatial geometries, the distributed spaces become “blended” where the spatial geometries of the local space continue coherently across the distributed boundary into the remote site, providing the illusion of a single unified space. Drawing on theories of embodied action and workplace design we discuss the importance of this geometric “blending” of space for distributed collaboration and how this is achieved in systems such as Halo. We then extend these arguments to explore the concept of Blended Interaction Spaces: blended spaces in which interactive groupware is incorporated in ways spatially consistent with the physical geometries of the video-mediated set-up. We illustrate this discussion through a system called BISi that introduces interactive horizontal and vertical multipoint surfaces into a blended video-mediated collaboration space. In presenting this system, we highlight some of the particular challenges of creating these systems arising from the spatial consequences of different interaction mechanisms (e.g., direct touch or remote control) and how they affect movement and spatial configuration of people in these spaces.
Chlamydia and male fertility

cancer and heart disease as they learn more about the factors that increase the risk of having these diseases. It encourages them to improve contact with the health professionals. By relating to their peers they become aware of physical symptoms and treatment options as well as sharing their problems and fears. Some of the specific health promotion activities that are being developed include health events being organised in working men’s clubs to target men’s self-identified needs such as smoking cessation and exercise; health quiz nights; falls and accident prevention awareness sessions as well as numerous other initiatives. One example of an Ageing Well project that has been important in improving the long-term prospects of patients suffering from heart disease has been the Braveheart Project in Falkirk, Scotland. Piloted and developed at Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary, this pioneering mentoring project for the over-55s is a unique rehabilitation programme. An evaluation of the four-year-old project in 2003 revealed that for 77% of the participants in Braveheart, being part of the programme changed their outlook on life and had a long-term impact on their eating and physical activity behaviour. As well as transforming individual lifestyles, the cost of Braveheart represents significant potential cost savings for the NHS. Jim Mulholland, Chairman of Braveheart and himself a former mentor, had just retired from his job as engineering manager at Rolls Royce after thirty years when he had an angina attack. He was diagnosed with serious heart problems and had to undergo bypass surgery. He spotted an advert for Braveheart who were looking for volunteers, applied and was accepted. The training taught him how to help his heart through diet and exercise. He then passed on this knowledge to others suffering similar conditions. He said: “My involvement with Braveheart keeps me active and interested. I meet lots of wonderful people, and it gives me tremendous satisfaction to be able to give something back after my life was saved by the health service. ”6 The Welsh Assembly has recently cited Ageing Well as a model of good practice in their Older People’s Strategy, and the Health Education Board for Scotland, under the auspices of their Older People’s Programme, is hoping to roll out Ageing Well across Scotland. Age Concern hopes that in the future Ageing Well will be adopted as a mainstream health promotion programme for older people throughout the UK. For further information on the Ageing Well programme, please contact the Administrator, ActivAge Unit, Age Concern England, Astral House, 1268 London Road, London SW16 4ER. Tel: 020 8765 7231. Email: aau@ace.org.uk. Website: www.ageconcern. org.uk.
El modelo de Solow: análisis teórico, interpretación económica y contraste de la hipótesis de convergencia

Las asignaturas vinculadas al estudio de la macroeconomia suelen resultar especialmente aridas para los alumnos a causa del elevado aparato analitico necesario para el desarrollo del programa. Por ello, en este articulo proponemos una practica en la que (i) se contrasta empiricamente la hipotesis de convergencia; y (ii) se discute, utilizando el modelo de Solow y evidencia empirica asociada, una explicacion de la no convergencia de algunos paises. La finalidad ultima de esta practica es facilitar la asimilacion del modelo Solow a partir de un proceso de autoaprendizaje que permite al estudiante desarrollar competencias transversales tales como el conocimiento de bases de datos, el manejo de hojas de calculo, y la organizacion de la informacion en forma de tablas y graficos.
3D visual perception system for bin picking in automotive sub-assembly automation

Industries are being swept up by the tide of market innovations originated from pervasive application of Robotics and Automation (RA). Given the critical role of RA in industry, it has become relevant for RA to have human-like decision making capabilities. Such enablers intrinsically require the use of flexible and robust 3D perception and control systems. In the process of automating complex automotive sub-assemblies, 3D vision-based recognition as well as grasping of complex objects is required not only for detection and categorization but also for pose estimation and robotic pick-and-place operations. In this paper, we propose a novel 3D visual perception system for sub-assembly automation based on a structured light 3D vision system. We use a novel geometric surface primitive patch segmentation approach based on Hough transforms to obtain accurate surface normal estimations from 3D point clouds for the identification of patch primitives. The most relevant primitives for our application include planar, cylindrical, conic and spherical surface patches. We extract primitive surface patches from automotive CAD models in DXF format. The models are then decomposed to simple entities such as planar polygons, vertexes and lines. Our resulting models based on the 3D point clouds are composed only by simple planes and cylinders. Our system takes advantage of the available CAD data for both object recognition and for pose estimation. Our experimental results demonstrate that we can achieve, in only a few seconds, a highly accurate pose and object class estimation.
Depressive Personality: Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory Profiles of Sociotropic and Autonomous Subtypes

The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory profiles of two depressive personality subtypes were identified by isolating high and low scorers on the Performance Evaluation and Approval by Others factors of the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (DAS). Correlational analysis of the sample of 46 psychiatric clinic depressives indicated that dependent traits were associated with both DAS factors whereas negativism was associated with the Performance Evaluation factor. The findings are discussed as providing convergent validation of Beck's (1983) proposed autonomous and sociotropic depressive personality subtypes.