Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Consequences, Characteristics, and Causes of Mathematical Learning Disabilities and Persistent Low Achievement in Mathematics

The goals of the review are threefold: (a) to highlight the educational and employment consequences of poorly developed mathematical competencies; (b) overview the characteristics of children with mathematical learning disability (MLD) and with persistently low achievement (LA) in mathematics; and (c) provide a primer on cognitive science research that is aimed at identifying the cognitive mechanisms underlying these learning disabilities and associated cognitive interventions. Literatures on the educational and economic consequences of poor mathematics achievement were reviewed and integrated with reviews of epidemiological, behavioral genetic, and cognitive science studies of poor mathematics achievement. Poor mathematical competencies are common among adults and result in employment difficulties and difficulties in many common day-to-day activities. Among students, ∼7% of children and adolescents have MLD and another 10% show persistent LA in mathematics, despite average abilities in most other areas. Children with MLD and their LA peers have deficits in understanding and representing numerical magnitude, difficulties retrieving basic arithmetic facts from long-term memory, and delays in learning mathematical procedures. These deficits and delays cannot be attributed to intelligence but are related to working memory deficits for children with MLD, but not LA children. These individuals have identifiable number and memory delays and deficits that seem to be specific to mathematics learning. Interventions that target these cognitive deficits are in development and preliminary results are promising.
The Valuation of American-Style Swaptions in a Two-Factor Spot-Futures Model1

We build a no-arbitrage model of the term structure of interest rates using two stochastic factors, the short-term interest rate and the premium of the futures rate over the short-term interest rate. The model provides and extension of the lognormal interest rate model of Black and Karasinski (1991) to two factors, both of which can exhibit mean-reversion. The method is computationally efficient for several reasons. First, the model is based on Libor futures prices, enabling us to satisfy the no-arbitrage condition without resorting to iterative methods. Second, we modify and implement the binomial approximation methodology of Nelson and Ramaswamy (1990) and Ho, Stapleton and Subrahmanyam (1995) to compute a multiperiod tree of rates with the no-arbitrage property. The method uses a recombining two-dimensional binomial lattice of interest rates that minimizes the number of states and term structures over time. In addition to these computational advantages, a key feature of the model is that it is consistent with the observed term structure of futures rates as well as the term structure of volatilities implied by the prices of interest rate caps and floors. These prices are shown to be highly sensitive to the existence of the second factor and its volatility characteristics.
Anomaly Network Intrusion Detection Based on Improved Self Adaptive Bayesian Algorithm

Recently, research on intrusion detection in computer systems has received much attention to the computational intelligence society. Many intelligence learning algorithms applied to the huge volume of complex and dynamic dataset for the construction of efficient intrusion detection systems (IDSs). Despite of many advances that have been achieved in existing IDSs, there are still some difficulties, such as correct classification of large intrusion detection dataset, unbalanced detection accuracy in the high speed network traffic, and reduce false positives. This paper presents a new approach to the alert classification to reduce false positives in intrusion detection using improved self adaptive Bayesian algorithm (ISABA). The proposed approach applied to the security domain of anomaly based network intrusion detection, which correctly classifies different types of attacks of KDD99 benchmark dataset with high classification rates in short response time and reduce false positives using limited computational resources.
Can We Use Trust in Online Dating?

Trust models have been used widely in the literature in a number of different contexts. We examine an emotive scenario where trust would be extremely useful: online dating. We explore the use of a semiring-based trust model with online dating in a social network. Introductions are facilitated by friend-of-a-friend connections in the network in a manner similar to some real world scenarios. We show how ethical and human factors, which are usually not considered, cause problems. We hope that as a result the trust community can work together to formulate new approaches to trust for emotive applications that accommodate ethical and human factors which are difficult to quantify.
Detection of otoacoustic emissions in chinchilla when the middle ear contains amniotic fluid

Otoacoustic emissions have frequently been used for newborn hearing screening. However, they have low specificities and high referral rates. The presence of amniotic fluid in the middle ear is one reason for these problems. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of human amniotic fluid on otoacoustic emissions and on middle‐ear function.
The evolution of quality teaching and four questions for change

Today we look to determine teaching quality through a combination of observation, surveys, and test scores. These measures fail to answer the most important question about quality teaching: How is it accomplished? How has this teacher used questioning today, and what drove their decision to do so? How has this teacher structured independent reading assignments and what drove their decision to do so? How has this teacher decided to assess students’ understanding of a text and what drove their decision to do so? The quality lies in a lesson’s active ingredients, not just in its final products.
A heterogeneous multiprocessor design and the distributed scheduling of its task group workload

A multiprocessor architecture is proposed which is based on the Multics concept of having all on-line information processor-addressible. All memory management is done by an intelligent paged virtual memory system, and each processor deals only with those segments relevant to its single executing program. The processors are chosen to have different implementations of a single system-wide instruction set and the problem is to effectively schedule different categories of programs, called task groups, on the dissimilar processors. Average weighted instruction times for each task group on every processor are defined as task/processor suitability measures, and typical values are given for different groups of programs running on IBM 370 models. Through the use of linear programming techniques, an optimal schedule for any such multiprocessor is then defined for the static case where task group loads and task/processor suitability values are known in advance. A priority-based task management scheduling algorithm is then defined which uses the optimal schedule of the formal model as a parameter, and its performance is simulated.
Vaporization Estimation Using the BUCKY 1-D Radiation Hydrodynamics Code

DISCLAIMER This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government, nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. The post-explosion material vaporization characteristics of the proposed Z-Pinch reactor design were simulated using the BUCKY 1-D radiation hydrodynamics code. To model the 3-D variations in the reactor chamber design, three separate BUCKY simulations were performed — one in each of the cylindrical coordinate geometries: +z, –z, and r. The simulations were run to a time of 80 µs and the chamber material characteristics were analyzed. These results were compared to a simple analytical model to verify the vaporization radii in each of the three modeled directions. The +z material vaporization has been estimated to be at a radius 53.71 cm, compared to an analytic result of 79.00 cm. The –z material vaporization has been estimated to be at a radius of 101.92 cm, compared to an analytic result of 102.78 cm. The r material vaporization has been estimated to be at a radius of 73.86 cm, compared to an analytic result of 77.63 cm. These simulation results confirm the idea that we can model the exploding Z-Pinch target and its resulting thermal effects on the reactor chamber using the BUCKY 1-D radiation hydrodynamics code. This model is appropriate for analysis of the Z-Pinch reactor because it is a massive structure and because most of the energy coupling to the surrounding structure is via x-rays (30%) rather than expanding ionic debris (4%). Furthermore, we have confirmed the viability of performing three different 1-D simulations in each of the +z, –z, and r directions and merging the three results. Such an approximation to a 3-D phenomenon is valid for times where the outward blast and energy transfer remain nearly …
Knowledge, Attitude and Cervical Cancer Screening Among Female Secondary School Teachers in Osogbo, Southwest Nigeria

Cervical cancer is the second cause of cancer death after breast cancer among Nigerian women till date which is not in developed world due to availability of screening and its high uptake in these regions of the world. Various studies have been carried out across different ethnic and professional groups except among the teachers in high schools which can be classified as elites in the society. Results revealed that there is high awareness of the screening with low uptake. However, those with better knowledge of the disease had significant higher uptake of the screening compared with those with lower knowledge. Though the overall uptake is still low. The study had demonstrated the effect of health education on disease prevention. The morbidity and mortality associated with this condition can be greatly reduced if not completely eliminated provided that the policy makers in our country make it a priority through family life education at all levels of our educational systems coupled with availability of the screening in all health facilities and school clinics.
Regression-Based Template Tracking in Presence of Occlusions

This paper addresses the problem of efficient visual 2D template tracking in the presence of large motions and partial occlusions. We adopt a learning approach, in our case using a Bayesian Mixture of Experts (BME), in which observations at each frame yield direct predictions of the state (e.g. position / scale) of the tracked target. In contrast to other methods in the literature, we explicitly address the problem that the prediction accuracy can deteriorate drastically for observations that are not similar to the ones in the training set; such observations are common in case of partial occlusions or of fast motion. To do so, we couple the BME with a probabilistic kernel-based classifier which, when trained, can determine the probability that a new/unseen observation can accurately predict the state of the target (the 'relevance' of the observation in question). In addition, in the particle filtering framework, we derive a recursive scheme for maintaining an approximation of the posterior probability of the target's state in which the probabilistic predictions of multiple observations are moderated by their corresponding relevance. We apply the algorithm in the problem of 2D template tracking and demonstrate that the proposed scheme outperforms classical methods for discriminative tracking in case of motions large in magnitude and of partial occlusions.
Subcortical Lacunes Are Associated With Executive Dysfunction in Cognitively Normal Elderly

Background and Purpose— The relationship between subcortical ischemic vascular disease (SIVD) and cognition in normal elderly is unclear, in part because of methodological inconsistencies across studies. To clarify this relationship, the current study investigated a well characterized cognitively normal elderly sample (≥55 years) with quantitative MRI and psychometrically robust neuropsychological measures within a multivariate model. Converging evidence suggests that SIVD selectively impairs frontal-executive tasks by disrupting frontal-subcortical circuits. We therefore hypothesized that MRI markers of SIVD would be selectively associated with worse executive functioning. Methods— We studied 94 participants who were cognitively and functionally normal. Volumetric measures of white matter signal hyperintensity (WMH), subcortical lacunes, hippocampal volume, and cortical gray matter were obtained to predict performance on composite measures of executive functioning and episodic memory. Results— Hierarchical regression demonstrated that after controlling for demographic variables, MMSE, and total intracranial volume, the total number of subcortical lacunes was the only significant predictor, with a greater number of lacunes associated with poorer executive performance. Hippocampal volume best predicted episodic memory performance. Conclusions— Results suggest that SIVD in the form of silent lacunes corresponds to poorer executive functioning even in otherwise normal elderly, which is consistent with the hypothesis that SIVD preferentially disrupts frontal-subcortical circuits. The clinical importance of these findings is highlighted by the fact that 33% of the normal elderly participants in this study had lacunar infarcts.
Identifying Nocuous Ambiguities in Natural Language Requirements

We present a novel technique that automatically alerts authors of requirements to the presence of potentially dangerous ambiguities. We first establish the notion of nocuous ambiguities, which are those that are likely to lead to misunderstandings. We test our approach on coordination ambiguities, which occur when words such as and or are used. Our starting point is a dataset of ambiguous phrases from a requirements corpus and associated human judgements about their interpretation. We then use heuristics, based largely on word distribution information, to automatically replicate these judgements. The heuristics eliminate ambiguities which people interpret easily, leaving the nocuous ones to be analysed and rewritten by hand. We report on a series of experiments that evaluate our heuristics' performance against the human judgements. Many of our heuristics achieve high precision, and recall is greatly increased when they are used in combination
NOD2/CARD15 Mediates Induction of the Antimicrobial Peptide Human Beta-defensin-2*

Production of inducible antimicrobial peptides offers a first and rapid defense response of epithelial cells against invading microbes. Human beta-defensin-2 (hBD-2) is an antimicrobial peptide induced in various epithelia upon extracellular as well as intracellular bacterial challenge. Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain protein 2 (NOD2/CARD15) is a cytosolic protein involved in intracellular recognition of microbes by sensing peptidoglycan fragments (e.g. muramyl dipeptide). We used luciferase as a reporter gene for a 2.3-kb hBD-2 promoter to test the hypothesis that NOD2 mediates the induction of hBD-2. Activation of NOD2 in NOD2-overexpressing human embryonic kidney 293 cells through its ligand muramyl dipeptide (MDP) induced hBD-2 expression. In contrast, overexpression of NOD2 containing the 3020insC frame-shift mutation, the most frequent NOD2 variant associated with Crohn disease, resulted in defective induction of hBD-2 through MDP. Luciferase gene reporter analyses and site-directed mutagenesis experiments demonstrated that functional binding sites for NF-κB and AP-1 in the hBD-2 promoter are required for NOD2-mediated induction of hBD-2 through MDP. Moreover, the NF-κB inhibitor Helenalin as well as a super-repressor form of the NF-κB inhibitor IκB strongly inhibited NOD2-mediated hBD-2 promoter activation. Expression of NOD2 was detected in primary keratinocytes, and stimulation of these cells with MDP induced hBD-2 peptide release. In contrast, small interference RNA-mediated down-regulation of NOD2 expression in primary keratinocytes resulted in a defective induction of hBD-2 upon MDP treatment. Together, these data suggest that NOD2 serves as an intracellular pattern recognition receptor to enhance host defense by inducing the production of antimicrobial peptides such as hBD-2.
SDD Beginning-User Manual Version 2 . 0

The Sentential Decision Diagram (SDD) is a canonical representation of Boolean functions. The open-source SDD package allows users to construct, manipulate and optimize SDDs. This manual describes the basics of the SDD package, meant for users who are interested in immediately constructing SDDs and performing queries on them. An advanced user’s manual is also provided for those users interested in the much broader set of features supported by the library. The license terms for the SDD package are given at the end of this manual.
Stipulating versus discovering representations

Page's proposal to stipulate representations in which individual units correspond to meaningful entities is too unconstrained to support effective theorizing. An approach combining general computational principles with domain-specific assumptions, in which learning is used to discover representations that are effective in solving tasks, provides more insight into why cognitive and neural systems are organized the way they are.
Comparative evaluation of a chemiluminescent DNA probe and an exoantigen test for rapid identification of Histoplasma capsulatum

A chemiluminescent DNA probe (Accuprobe) assay developed by Gen Probe, Inc., for the rapid identification of Histoplasma capsulatum was evaluated and compared with the exoantigen test by using 162 coded cultures including Histoplasma capsulatum var. capsulatum, Histoplasma capsulatum var. duboisii, Histoplasma capsulatum var. farciminosum, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Coccidioides immitis, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, and morphologically related saprobic fungi. Each test uses a chemiluminescent, acridinium ester-labeled, single-stranded DNA probe that is complementary to the rRNA of the target organism. Lysates of the test cultures were prepared by sonication with glass beads and heat treated. After the rRNA was released from the target organism, the labeled DNA probe combined with the target H. capsulatum rRNA to form a stable DNA-RNA hybrid. A hybridization protection assay was used, and the chemiluminescence of hybrids was measured initially with a Leader 1 luminometer as relative light units and later during the investigation with a probe assay luminometer as probe light units. Of the 162 coded mycelial cultures tested by the Accuprobe assay, 105 were identified as H. capsulatum. The test could be performed with an inoculum of a few square millimeters (1 to 2 mm2) of growth. In the primary evaluation, the Accuprobe identified 103 of the 105 cultures as H. capsulatum within 2 h. The remaining two cultures, contaminated with bacteria, had to be purified before the Accuprobe assay identified them correctly as H. capsulatum. Since each coded culture was concurrently tested for H. capsulatum, B. dermatitidis, and C. immitis exoantigens, the identification of all three dimorphic pathogens was provided simultaneously. Of the 162 coded cultures tested, 105 were identified by the exoantigen test as H. capsulatum, 12 were identified as B. dermatitidis, 13 were identified as C. immitis, and 32 were negative for H. capsulatum, B. dermatitidis, and C. immitis. The bacterial contamination in two isolates did not interfere with the exoantigen testing. The exoantigen test required 7- to 10-day-old colonies and required 48 to 72 h of incubation before definitive identification was obtained.
Chromium in plants: distribution in tissues, organelles, and extracts and availability of bean leaf Cr to animals.

Chromium-51-labeled Cr(III) or Cr(VI) was added in seven increments to plant nutrient solutions, to a final level of 0.044 ppm. The Cr was added over a 14-day period at flowering stage in bean and wheat plants. At maturity bean plants contained about 55% and wheat had removed 81% of the added /sup 51/Cr. Bean roots contained about 92% and wheat roots 95% of the total plant /sup 51/Cr. Seeds contained only 0.02 to 0.1% of the total plant /sup 51/Cr. Uptake and translocation of /sup 51/Cr differed only slightly between the Cr(III) and Cr(VI) sources. Most of the /sup 51/Cr in fresh bean leaves was present as a soluble low molecular weight anionic complex that was not associated with any subcellular organelle. Rats fed the /sup 51/Cr-labeled bean leaves retained less than 0.5% of the dose after 48 hr.
Drawing human faces using words and conceptual fuzzy sets

In this paper, we propose an interactive drawing system for human faces belonging to different races. The system has an average face of each race, generated using anthropometry measurements of the face and the head. The average face is shown to the user as an initial face which is then transformed to the desired face using linguistic expressions describing facial features. Since the meaning of those expressions depends on the race of the user, the meaning of a word is computed using conceptual fuzzy set (CFS). CFSs can represent context dependent meaning. The context here is the race. Experiments show that the proposed approach can adapt the meaning of the words according to the race of the users.
The relationship between limb function and radiographic osteoarthrosis in dogs with stifle osteoarthrosis.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between limb function and radiographic evidence of stifle osteoarthrosis (OA) in dogs. STUDY DESIGN The relationship between force platform data and radiographic OA score was evaluated on 2 separate days using regression analysis. Interday variation was also assessed. ANIMALS Forty-one dogs with visible lameness and radiographic evidence of stifle OA. METHODS Force platform data were collected at a velocity of 1.7 to 2.0 m/s for 5 trials on day 1 and day 8. Radiographs taken on day 1 were scored using a previously reported OA scoring system. RESULTS No significant relationship was found between force platform data and OA score. No significant differences were found between any day 1 and day 8 force platform values. CONCLUSIONS Although radiographic evidence of stifle OA provides evidence of pathology, it does a poor job of representing limb function. In addition, the absence of significant differences between day 1 and day 8 values in this population of dogs supports use of only a single force platform evaluation before measuring a treatment effect. CLINICAL RELEVANCE The presence of OA in the stifle joint does not correlate with clinical function; radiographic outcome should be used cautiously as a predictor of clinical outcome.