Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Coaching to Improve the Fidelity of Evidence-Based Practices: A Review of Studies

The authors conducted a comprehensive review of research to identify the impact of coaching on changes in preservice and in-service teachers’ implementation of evidence-based practices. They identified a total of 13 studies from the 20 years of literature they searched. In general, coaching improved the extent to which teachers accurately implement evidence-based practices such as ClassWide Peer Tutoring, Direct Instruction, Learning Strategies, and Positive Behavior Support in classrooms or practicum settings. The retrieved studies also suggest that highly engaged, small-group initial training, followed by multiple observations, feedback, and modeling are critical components across coaching interventions. A few studies also provide promising data to support the consequential effects of coaching on improvements in student achievement. The authors offer suggestions for future research and practice related to preservice and in-service teacher training.
Birdstrikes and barcoding: can DNA methods help make the airways safer?

While flying remains one of the safest means of travel, reported birdstrikes on aircraft have risen. This is a result of increased aircraft flight movements, changes in agricultural methods and greater environmental awareness contributing to growing populations of hazardous bird species, as well as more diligent reporting of incidents. Measures to mitigate this hazard require accurate data about the species involved; however, the remains of birds from these incidents are often not easy to identify. Reported birdstrikes include a substantial number where the species cannot be determined from morphology alone. DNA barcoding offers a reliable method of identifying species from very small amounts of organic material such as blood, muscle and feathers. We compare species identification based on morphological criteria and identifications based on mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I DNA barcoding methods for New Zealand species. Our data suggest that DNA‐based identification can substantially add to the accuracy of species identifications, and these methods represent an important addition to existing procedures to improve air safety. In addition, we outline simple and effective protocols for the recovery and processing of samples for DNA barcoding.
Electromuscular incapacitation results from stimulation of spinal reflexes

Electronic stun devices (ESD) often used in law enforcement, military action or self defense can induce total body uncoordinated muscular activity, also known as electromuscular incapacitation (EMI). During EMI the subject is unable to perform purposeful or coordinated movements. The mechanism of EMI induction has not been reported, but has been generally thought to be direct muscle and nerve excitation from the fields generated by ESDs. To determine the neuromuscular mechanisms linking ESD to induction of EMI, we investigated EMI responses using an anesthetized pig model. We found that EMI responses to ESD application can best be simulated by simultaneous stimulation of motor and sensory peripheral nerves. We also found that application of local anesthetics limited the response of ESD to local muscle stimulation and abolished the total body EMI response. Stimulation of the pure sensory peripheral nerves or nerves that are primarily motor nerves induced muscle responses that are consistent with well defined spinal reflexes. These findings suggest that the mechanism of ESD‐induced EMI is mediated by excitation of multiple simultaneous spinal reflexes. Although direct motor‐neuron stimulation in the region of ESD contact may significantly add to motor reactions from ESD stimulation, multiple spinal reflexes appear to be a major, and probably the dominant mechanism in observed motor response. Bioelectromagnetics 30:411–421, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Temporal Aspects of Moral Disengagement in School Bullying: Crystallization or Escalation?

This study investigated the stability and change in bullying behavior and their relation to increases and decreases in moral disengagement, specifically exploring whether crystallization and escalation of disengagement occur. Within a 1-year span, two sets of data were collected. A total of 567 sixth to eighth graders participated in both data collections by completing questionnaires on self-reported bullying, peer-nominated bullying, and moral disengagement. Time 1 self-reported bullying and changes in self-reported bullying significantly influenced changes in moral disengagement. Support was found for the crystallization hypothesis because the levels of moral disengagement of the desisted bullies did not decrease significantly. No conclusive support was found for the escalation hypothesis because levels of moral disengagement of the stable bullies did not increase.
Reducing Tag Activities for Power Efficiency in I-cache Memory

As the clock frequency and cache size increase in modern microprocessors, the excessive power consumption in cache memory attracts more and more attention and research interest. This paper proposes a software and hardware co-design method to reduce the tag activities for power efficiency with little performance penalty. Using the run-time profile data, we trace the object code dynamically and extract the loops, subroutines, branches etc., and predict the point of time when tag checks are not needed for instruction fetching from I-cache memory. With support from simple logic circuits, the tags could be disabled and enabled timely to save power. The overhead of power consumption in the tag controller is negligible due to its simplicity and the low frequency of tag switches. Our experimental results using a subset of SPEC 2000 benchmarks showed that this strategy could reduce 20.6% of energy consumption in a 16 K I-cache on average with only 0.13% of performance loss.
Splitter: Mining Fine-Grained Sequential Patterns in Semantic Trajectories

Driven by the advance of positioning technology and the popularity of location-sharing services, semantic-enriched trajectory data have become unprecedentedly available. The sequential patterns hidden in such data, when properly defined and extracted, can greatly benefit tasks like targeted advertising and urban planning. Unfortunately, classic sequential pattern mining algorithms developed for transactional data cannot effectively mine patterns in semantic trajectories, mainly because the places in the continuous space cannot be regarded as independent "items". Instead, similar places need to be grouped to collaboratively form frequent sequential patterns. That said, it remains a challenging task to mine what we call fine-grained sequential patterns, which must satisfy spatial compactness, semantic consistency and temporal continuity simultaneously. We propose Splitter to effectively mine such fine-grained sequential patterns in two steps. In the first step, it retrieves a set of spatially coarse patterns, each attached with a set of trajectory snippets that precisely record the pattern's occurrences in the database. In the second step, Splitter breaks each coarse pattern into fine-grained ones in a top-down manner, by progressively detecting dense and compact clusters in a higher-dimensional space spanned by the snippets. Splitter uses an effective algorithm called weighted snippet shift to detect such clusters, and leverages a divide-and-conquer strategy to speed up the top-down pattern splitting process. Our experiments on both real and synthetic data sets demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of Splitter.
Linkage disequilibrium in growing and stable populations.

Nonrandom associations between alleles at different loci can be tested for using Fisher's exact test. Extensive simulations show that there is a substantial probability of obtaining significant nonrandom associations between closely or completely linked polymorphic neutral loci in a population of constant size at equilibrium under mutation and genetic drift. In a rapidly growing population, however, there will be little chance of finding significant nonrandom associations even between completely linked loci if the growth has been sufficiently rapid. This result is illustrated by the analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence data from humans. In comparing all pairs of informative sites, fewer than 5% of the pairs show significant disequilibrium in Sardinians, which have apparently undergone rapid population growth, while 20% to 30% in ! Kung and Pygmies, which apparently have not undergone rapid growth, show significance. The extent of linkage disequilibrium in a population is closely related to the gene genealogies of the loci examined, with "star-like" genealogies making significant linkage disequilibrium unlikely.
Luminal capsaicin inhibits fluid secretion induced by enterotoxin E. coli STa, but not by carbachol, in vivo in rat small and large intestine

The enterotoxin E. coli STa induced fluid secretion in the rat jejunum, ileum and proximal colon in vivo that was greatly inhibited by the co‐presence of luminal capsaicin, which is a specific neural toxin of afferent C fibres. The same dose of capsaicin had no effect on the fluid secretion activated by carbachol in the jejunum, ileum and proximal colon. Afferent C fibres appear to be involved in the activation by STa of fluid secretion in the rat intestine in vivo.
Does Physiological Blood Glucose Control Require an Adaptive Control Strategy?

To test the hypothesis that only an adaptive algorithm would guarantee optimal feedback control of glycemia in insulin-dependent diabetes, fasting chronically diabetic dogs at rest were subjected to short-term artificial beta cell treatment. Insulin was applied intravenously and an oral glucose load was given during the experiment. Employing the same dosing algorithm, three different control strategies were employed in a random order on different days: adaptive control (minimum variance controller, Test A), fixed command control using on-line parameter estimates (Test B), and fixed command control using off-line individually optimized dosage constants (Test C). Comparison was made to nondiabetic control animals. The glycemic profiles were entirely normal in Test A and C, but were distinctly elevated in Test B. The peripheral hyperinsulinaemia could, however, not be avoided by adaptive control. It is concluded that the restoration of physiological blood glucose control in insulin-dependent diabetes requires dosage parameters which are either continually adapted to the actual situation (adaptive control) or are optimized to meet the individual's needs. In the latter case, fixed command control may be employed. Peripheral hyperinsulinaemia cannot be avoided as long as insulin is administered by a posthepatic route.
The Payoff of Fighting in House Crickets: Motivational Asymmetry Increases Male Aggression and Mating Success

Motivational asymmetry caused by differences in subjective resource value is a key component of strategic models of aggression. We study the role of motivational asymmetry in determining differential aggression and mating success of male house crickets, Acheta domesticus . W e also assess the extent to which mating differences associated with motivational asymmetry are due to direct male‐male fighting vs. male‐ female interactions. We manipulated male motivation to compete for a mating opportunity by providing males with either no access or nightly access to females for 4 d prior to the experiment. As predicted, when males from each treatment had to compete for the female, those with lower prior access were more aggressive and mated more often. In contrast, when males from each treatment were paired individually with females, there was no significant difference in the frequencies with which they pursued, courted or mated with females. We also found no evidence for female choice based on motivational asymmetry; the rate of successful courtship did not differ between treatments. We conclude that prior mate encounter rate can generate motivational asymmetry, leading to differential mating success mediated by direct male‐male aggression.
Dynamic Smith-Waterman Algorithm: A High-Performance Grid-Enabled Application Integrated with Globus, GridSphere Portal Framework and CoG Workflow for Performing Biological Local Sequence Alignment

Smith-Waterman algorithm is one of the most significantly used algorithm and a well known approach to gain information about unknown genes and proteins for biological research. As execution time and accuracy is of great significance as handling large-scale dataset, a more reliable high-throughput and efficient parallelism can be achieved with the adaptation of grid environment. Adapting SmithWaterman algorithm with the grid environment brings several concerns regarding fault tolerance, variability in resource performance and workload distribution, application availability etc. The work presented here aims at the development of a Dynamic Smith-Waterman algorithm metascheduler that handles all the specifications of job submission on the grid to the end user for local alignment search. Additionally a web based portal using GridSphere portal framework integrated with Globus 4 and Java Commodity Grid Kit is developed that reduces the complexity to the end users in accessing, managing and manipulating the grid resources and applications. The main contribution towards Dynamic Smith-Waterman algorithm is the reduction of the total job execution time up to 52% with accuracy up to 99.99% and better resource utilization by 40%. In addition, this work can be used as a template for the development of similar applications in future. General Terms Grid, Biological local sequence alignment algorithm
Low power state assignment using ILP techniques

State assignment for finite state machines is a critical optimization problem in the synthesis of sequential circuits. In this paper we address the state assignment problem from a low power perspective. We experiment with Boolean Satisfiability and Integer Linear Programming techniques to solve the assignment problem where the primary goal is the reduction of switching activity during state transitions. We also detect and evaluate the use of symmetries in speeding up the search process. These techniques have been applied to the MCNC benchmark circuits and yielded promising results.
THE ATTITUDINAL CLIMATE FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

Successful entrepreneurial activity is a major source of job creation and a vital part of a healthy market economy. This article examines the attitudes that, taken collectively within a region, may contribute to a climate that is conducive to and supportive of this activity. Four different components that char- acterize these attitudes are identified-the willingness to take risks and accept the possibility of failure, the perceived difficulty of starting new firms, the importance and respect accorded to new and small firms and their owners, and the socialization chil- dren are likely to receive from their parents. These attitudinal components are related to measures of the structure and perfor- mance of the respondent's local economy and to individual fac- tors. The most important finding is that pro-entrepreneurial atti- tudes are lower among individuals working in large organizations and among those who live in areas dominated by large organiza- tions regardless of the size of their own employer. Other mea- sures of the local economy, such as past success in creating new businesses, were not associated with differences in attitudes. At- titudes also are related to individual attributes such as age and income.
Intuition: A Review of the Literature

This paper is a review of the available literature on intuition and related concepts, including tacit knowledge, insight, and creativity. Definitions of intuition are discussed, and attempts have been made to distinguish among intuition, insight, and creativity. Relationships between intuition and tacit knowledge, and intuition and creativity are explored. Types of intuition as proposed by Vaughan in 1979 and Goldberg in 1989 are described, as are hypotheses about how intuition works. Available empirical research is presented, along with a number of possible avenues for other research.
Dynamic Cluster-based Service Bundling: A Value-oriented Framework

In this paper we present a framework for dynamic service bundling, which focuses on the exchange of valuable outcomes between customers and service suppliers. The approach is based on three components: A customer, a broker and a pool of suppliers. The broker is in charge of matching the customer and supplier perspectives and performing a cluster-based bundling process. The applicability of our approach is proven by means of a case study in the educational service industry.
National trends in the outpatient diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder in youth.

CONTEXT Although bipolar disorder may have its onset during childhood, little is known about national trends in the diagnosis and management of bipolar disorder in young people. OBJECTIVES To present national trends in outpatient visits with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and to compare the treatment provided to youth and adults during those visits. DESIGN We compare rates of growth between 1994-1995 and 2002-2003 in visits with a bipolar disorder diagnosis by individuals aged 0 to 19 years vs those aged 20 years or older. For the period of 1999 to 2003, we also compare demographic, clinical, and treatment characteristics of youth and adult bipolar disorder visits. SETTING Outpatient visits to physicians in office-based practice. PARTICIPANTS Patient visits from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (1999-2003) with a bipolar disorder diagnosis (n = 962). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Visits with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder by youth (aged 0-19 years) and by adults (aged > or = 20 years). RESULTS The estimated annual number of youth office-based visits with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder increased from 25 (1994-1995) to 1003 (2002-2003) visits per 100,000 population, and adult visits with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder increased from 905 to 1679 visits per 100,000 population during this period. In 1999 to 2003, most youth bipolar disorder visits were by males (66.5%), whereas most adult bipolar disorder visits were by females (67.6%); youth were more likely than adults to receive a comorbid diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (32.2% vs 3.0%, respectively; P < .001); and most youth (90.6%) and adults (86.4%) received a psychotropic medication during bipolar disorder visits, with comparable rates of mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, and antidepressants prescribed for both age groups. CONCLUSIONS There has been a recent rapid increase in the diagnosis of youth bipolar disorder in office-based medical settings. This increase highlights a need for clinical epidemiological reliability studies to determine the accuracy of clinical diagnoses of child and adolescent bipolar disorder in community practice.
THE INTERLANGUAGE HYPOTHESIS EXTENDED TO CHILDREN1

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the Interlanguage (IL) hypothesis should be extended from (1)adult second-language acquisition settings to (2) those non-simultaneous child language acquisition settings where the major sociolinguistic variables is the absence of peers who are native speakers of the target language (TL). The paper first establishes the need to postulate the existence of an IL. Next, data from a Toronto French immersion program are presented which suggest that, as in adult second-language speech, the strategies of language transfer, simplification, and overgeneralization of TL rules affect the surface forms of the second-language speech of children in this program. Finally, the possibility is mentioned that, under the sociolinguistic conditions of (2) above, ILs will develop as dialects in their own right, an important possibility for theories of pidginization and creolization, as well as for general theories of language change.
Reducing load effects in inductive links for implantable systems

This paper deals with an optimization method of the mutual inductance between two magnetically coupled coils of an inductive link, in order to ensure efficient energy and data transmission in implantable electronic devices. Such an approach optimizes the voltage gain and the power yield as a function of the lateral and longitudinal displacements between the external coil (transmitter) and the implanted coil (receiver). The geometry of these coils has to be the least sensitive to displacements and the most stable with respect to mutual inductance. It was created for inductive links with high power transfer capability combined with high overall efficiency. The variations of the reflected impedance are minimized thanks to a rigorous choice of this geometry, which ensures a stable voltage gain for various loads.
Neighborhood Search-Driven Accelerated Biogeography-Based Optimization for Optimal Load Dispatch

Lack of exploration capability of biogeography-based optimization (BBO) leads to slow convergence. To address this limitation, this paper presents a memetic algorithm (MA), namely, aBBOmDE, which is a new version of BBO to solve both complex and noncomplex economic load dispatch (ELD) problems of thermal plant. In aBBOmDE, the performance of BBO is accelerated by using a modified mutation and clear duplicate operators. Then, modified DE (mDE) is embedded as a neighborhood search operator to improve their fitness after a predefined threshold. mDE is used with mutation operator DE/best/1/bin to explore the search near the best solution. The length of local search is set to achieve a balance between the search capability and the excess computational cost. In aBBOmDE, migration mechanism is kept same as that of BBO to maintain its exploitation ability. Modified operators are utilized to enhance the exploration ability while a neighborhood search operator, further, enhances the search capability of the algorithm. This combination significantly improves the convergence characteristics of the original algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has been verified on five different test systems with varying degree of complexity. The results have been compared with other existing techniques. The results indicate that the proposed approach can efficiently solve practical ELD problems.
Intellectual performance of octogenarians as a function of education and initial ability.

A 20-year follow-up of 54 octogenarians, tested originally at a mean age of 64 years, revealed that the initially more able (estimated by vocabulary score) declined less on tests in a cognitive battery than did the initially less able. When classification was based on level of education rather than initial ability, the better educated showed the lesser decline. It is postulated that continuedintellectual activity throughout the life span may protect against intellectual decline.
Cutting Edge: Differential Inhibition of TLR Signaling Pathways by Cell-Permeable Peptides Representing BB Loops of TLRs1

We designed cell-penetrating peptides comprised of the translocating segment of Drosophila antennapedia homeodomain fused with BB loop sequences of TLR2, TLR4, and TLR1/6. TLR2- and TLR4-BB peptides (BBPs) inhibited NF-κB translocation and early IL-1β mRNA expression induced by LPS, and the lipopeptides S-[2,3-bis(palmitoyloxy)-(2-RS)-propyl]-N-palmitoyl-(R)-Cys-Ser-Lys4-OH (P3C) and S-[2,3-bis(palmitoyloxy)-(2-RS)-propyl]-Cys-Ser-Lys4-OH (P2C). TLR4- and TLR2-BBPs also strongly inhibited LPS-induced activation of ERK. Only TLR2-BBP significantly inhibited ERK activation induced by P3C, which acts via TLR2/1 heterodimers. BBPs did not inhibit activation of ERK induced by P2C, a TLR2/6 agonist. The TLR2-BBP induced weak activation of p38, but not ERK or cytokine mRNA. The TLR1/6-BBP failed to inhibit NF-κB or MAPK activation induced by any agonist. Our results suggest that the receptor BBPs selectively affect different TLR signaling pathways, and that the BB loops of TLR1/6 and TLR2 play distinct roles in formation of receptor heterodimers and recruitment of adaptor proteins.