Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predictors of student resilience in higher education

Resilience, when coping with stress, can protect against serious negative life outcomes and lead to greater lifetime satisfaction. The current literature suggests that there are internal factors that may moderate the development of resilience. These factors could be used to inform targeted interventions for young people experiencing stress within the educational sphere. The current study extends previous literature by confirming known predictors and testing novel predictors of resilience in female students within a Higher Education context. Psychological measures of resilience, attachment quality, self-esteem, and exposure to stressful and adverse childhood experiences were utilised. Statistical analysis revealed that self-esteem, exposure to stressful events, levels of avoidance in maternal relationships, and levels of anxiety in paternal relationships were significant predictors of levels of resilience. The practical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed alongside potential interventions.
The Dynamics of Outsourcing and Offshoring Business Models: Insights from Engineering Support Services

The growing academic attention given to outsourcing and offshoring reflects a trend to develop offshore business models that capitalises on both the effectiveness and efficiencies that might be offered by the business network. Recent innovations in information communications technologies have made transacting and co-ordination business activities at a distance much easier. However, managers still face the challenge of working out what they can offshore and how – an issue paid little attention in the extant offshore literature. Using empirical data from an engineering firm who decides to outsource and offshore high value services for the first time, this paper examines transaction costs, transactions and firm capabilities in a way that allows us to consider the issues surrounding how managers identify and define the transactions to be carried out. Drawing on the theory of mundane transaction cost and indirect capabilities, our findings suggest that; 1) the firms in the offshore business model need to develop and understand the indirect capabilities of the multiple firms in the network – what can our network help us do? 2) mundane transaction costs are necessarily dynamic because they exist in a time of rapid and disruptive change and 3) being able to identify what is to be transacted has fundamental implications for both efficiency and effectiveness that can be achieved by offshore business models.
The Prefrontal Cortex and Suggestion: Hypnosis vs. Placebo Effects

Suggestion has been defined as a form of communicable ideation or belief, that once accepted has the capacity to exert profound changes on a person's mood, thoughts, perceptions and behaviors (Halligan and Oakley, 2014). The prefrontal region (the region of the frontal cortex anterior to the motor areas) of the human cerebral cortex appears to play an important role in suggestion (Asp et al., 2012). Children, with still-developing prefrontal cortices, are more susceptible to suggestion (Ceci et al., 1987; Bruck and Ceci, 1995). Older adults, who experience atrophy of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) as a result of the normal processes of aging, are also more open to suggestion (Cohen and Faulkner, 1989). Damasio (1994) described how patients with damage to the PFC are more vulnerable to “snake-oil” salesmen and disreputable characters. Asp et al. (2012) showed that patients with ventromedial PFC damage were more likely to believe in misleading advertisements. The role of the frontal cortices in suggestion fits with the putative role of the prefrontal cortex in the control of thought and behavior (Miller and Cohen, 2001).
Attack development for intrusion detector evaluation

An important goal of the 1999 DARPA Intrusion Detection Evaluation was to promote the development of intrusion detection systems that can detect new attacks. This thesis describes UNIX attacks developed for the 1999 DARPA Evaluation. Some attacks were new in 1999 and others were stealthy versions of 1998 User-to-Root attacks designed to evade network-based intrusion detection systems. In addition, new and old attacks were fragmented at the packet level to evade network-based intrusion detection systems. Results demonstrated that new and stealthy attacks were not detected well. New attacks that were never seen before were not detected by any network-based systems. Stealthy attacks, modified to be difficult to detect by network intrusion detection systems, were detected less accurately than clear versions. The best network-based system detected 42% of clear attacks and only 11% of stealthy attacks at 10 false alarms per day. A few attacks and background sessions modified with packet modifications eluded network intrusion detection systems causing them to generate false negatives and false positives due to improper TCP/IP reassembly. Thesis Supervisor: Richard Lippmann Title: Senior Scientist, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Combining predictors of natively unfolded proteins to detect a twilight zone between order and disorder in generic datasets

Natively unfolded proteins lack a well defined three dimensional structure but have important biological functions, suggesting a re-assignment of the structure-function paradigm. Many proteins have amino acidic compositions compatible both with the folded and unfolded status, and belong to a twilight zone between order and disorder. This makes difficult a dichotomic classification of protein sequences into folded and natively unfolded ones. In this methodological paper dichotomic folding indexes are considered: hydrophobicity-charge, mean packing, mean pairwise energy, Poodle-W and a new global index, that is called here gVSL2, based on the local disorder predictor VSL2. The performance of these indexes is evaluated on different datasets. Poodle-W, gVSL2 and mean pairwise energy have good performance and stability in all the datasets considered and are combined into a strictly unanimous combination score SSU, that leaves proteins unclassified when the consensus of all combined indexes is not reached. The unclassified proteins: i) belong to an overlap region in the vector space of amino acidic compositions occupied by both folded and unfolded proteins; ii) are composed by approximately the same number of order-promoting and disorder-promoting amino acids; iii) have a mean flexibility intermediate between that of folded and that of unfolded proteins. These proteins reasonably have physical properties intermediate between those of folded and those of natively unfolded proteins and their structural properties and evolutionary history are worth to be investigated.
Multi-joint coordination during walking and foothold searching in the Blaberus cockroach. II. Extensor motor neuron pattern.

In a previous study, we combined joint kinematics and electromyograms (EMGs) to examine the change in the phase relationship of two principal leg joints during walking and searching. In this study, we recorded intracellularly from motor neurons in semi-intact behaving animals to examine mechanisms coordinating extension at these leg joints. In particular, we examined the change in the phase of the coxa-trochanter (CTr) and femur-tibia (FT) joint extension during walking and searching. In doing so, we discovered marked similarities in the activity of CTr and FT joint extensor motor neurons at the onset of extension during searching and at the end of stance during walking. The data suggest that the same interneurons may be involved in coordinating the CTr and FT extensor motor neurons during walking and searching. Previous studies in stick insects have suggested that extensor motor neuron activity during the stance phase of walking results from an increase in tonic excitation of the neuron leading to spiking that is periodically interrupted by centrally generated inhibition. However, the CTr and FT extensor motor neuron activity during walking consists of characteristic phasic modulations in motor neuron frequency within each step cycle. The phasic increases and decreases in extensor EMG frequency during stance are associated with kinematic events (i.e., foot set-down and joint cycle transitions) during walking. Sensory feedback associated with these events might be responsible for phasic modulation of the extensor motor neuron frequency. However, our data rule out the possibility that sensory cues resulting from foot set-down are responsible for a decline in CTr extensor activity that is characteristic of the Blaberus step cycle. Our data also suggest that both phasic excitation and inhibition contribute to extensor motor neuron activity during the stance phase of walking.
Image Retrieval based on Bag-of-Words model

This article gives a survey for bag-of-words (BoW) or bag-of-features model in image retrieval system. In recent years, large-scale image retrieval shows significant potential in both industry applications and research problems. As local descriptors like SIFT demonstrate great discriminative power in solving vision problems like object recognition, image classification and annotation, more and more state-of-the-art large scale image retrieval systems are trying to rely on them. A common way to achieve this is first quantizing local descriptors into visual words, and then applying scalable textual indexing and retrieval schemes. We call this model as bag-of-words or bag-of-features model. The goal of this survey is to give an overview of this model and introduce different strategies when building the system based on this model.
Performance, power efficiency and scalability of asymmetric cluster chip multiprocessors

This paper evaluates asymmetric cluster chip multiprocessor (ACCMP) architectures as a mechanism to achieve the highest performance for a given power budget. ACCMPs execute serial phases of multithreaded programs on large high-performance cores whereas parallel phases are executed on a mix of large and many small simple cores. Theoretical analysis reveals a performance upper bound for symmetric multiprocessors, which is surpassed by asymmetric configurations at certain power ranges. Our emulations show that asymmetric multiprocessors can reduce power consumption by more than two thirds with similar performance compared to symmetric multiprocessors
The Compton-Schwarzschild relations in higher dimensions

In three spatial dimensions, the Compton wavelength $(R_C \propto M^{-1}$) and Schwarzschild radius $(R_S \propto M$) are dual under the transformation $M \rightarrow M_{P}^2/M$, where $M_{P}$ is the Planck mass. This suggests that there is a fundamental link -- termed the Black Hole Uncertainty Principle or Compton-Schwarzschild correspondence -- between elementary particles in the $M M_{P}$ regime. In the presence of $n$ extra dimensions, compactified on some scale $R_E$, one expects $R_S \propto M^{1/(1+n)}$ for $R < R_E$, which breaks this duality. However, it may be restored in some circumstances because the effective Compton wavelength depends on the form of the $(3+n)$-dimensional wavefunction. If this is spherically symmetric, then one still has $R_C \propto M^{-1}$, as in the $3$-dimensional case. The effective Planck length is then increased and the Planck mass reduced, allowing the possibility of TeV quantum gravity and black hole production at the LHC. However, if the wave function is pancaked in the extra dimensions and maximally asymmetric, then $R_C \propto M^{-1/(1+n)}$, so that the duality between $R_C$ and $R_S$ is preserved. In this case, the effective Planck length is reduced but the Planck mass is unchanged, so TeV quantum gravity is precluded and black holes cannot be generated in collider experiments. Nevertheless, the extra dimensions could still have consequences for the detectability of black hole evaporations and the enhancement of pair-production at accelerators on scales below $R_E$. Though phenomenologically general for higher-dimensional theories, our results are shown to be consistent with string theory via the minimum positional uncertainty derived from $D$-particle scattering amplitudes.
Fog Computing: Focusing on Mobile Users at the Edge

With smart devices, particular smartphones, becoming our everyday companions, the ubiquitous mobile Internet and computing applications pervade people daily lives. With the surge demand on high-quality mobile services at anywhere, how to address the ubiquitous user demand and accommodate the explosive growth of mobile traffics is the key issue of the next generation mobile networks. The Fog computing is a promising solution towards this goal. Fog computing extends cloud computing by providing virtualized resources and engaged location-based services to the edge of the mobile networks so as to better serve mobile traffics. Therefore, Fog computing is a lubricant of the combination of cloud computing and mobile applications. In this article, we outline the main features of Fog computing and describe its concept, architecture and design goals. Lastly, we discuss some of the future research issues from the networking perspective.
Software Repository Analysis for Investigating Design-Code Compliance

Compliance check between code and design is a labor-intensive job to do, since it requires the code to be reverse engineered and checked versus design manually. On the other hand, investigation of the design-code compliance would give some valuable information to software development and maintenance managers. In this study, an approach for employing software repository analysis and text mining techniques to extract and analyze compliance levels of design and code efficiently is presented.
Association Between Diabetic Macular Edema and Cardiovascular Events in Type 2 Diabetes Patients

AbstractDiabetic macular edema (DME) is the main cause of visual loss associated with diabetes but any association between DME and cardiovascular events is unclear.This study aims to describe the possible association between DME and cardiovascular events in a multicenter cross-sectional study of patients with type 2 diabetes.Two thousand eight hundred seven patients with type 2 diabetes were recruited from diabetes and nephrology clinical institutional centers participating in the DIAB 2 NEPHROGENE study focusing on diabetic complications. DME (presence/absence) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) classification were based on ophthalmological report and/or on 30° color retinal photographs. DR was defined as absent, nonproliferative (background, moderate, or severe) or proliferative. Cardiovascular events were stroke, myocardial infarction, and lower limb amputation.Details regarding associations between DME and cardiovascular events were evaluated.The study included 2807 patients with type 2 diabetes, of whom 355 (12.6%) had DME. DME was significantly and independently associated with patient age, known duration of diabetes, HbA1c, systolic blood pressure, and DR stage. Only the prior history of lower limb amputation was strongly associated with DME in univariate and multivariate analyses, whereas no association was found with regard to myocardial infarction or stroke. Moreover, both major (n = 32) and minor lower limb (n = 96) amputations were similarly associated with DME, with respective odds ratio of 3.7 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.77–7.74; P = 0.0012) and of 4.29 (95% CI, 2.79–6.61; P < 0.001). DME is strongly and independently associated with lower limb amputation in type 2 diabetic patients.
DIGITAL IMAGE NOISE FILTERING USING EVOLVABLE HARDWARE

Images obtained through modern cameras may be infected by a range of noise sources, it may be the photon or a chip electronic noise and also by the distortion such as shading or improper lighting. The system should adapt to these changing environment autonomously. For example, to the changes of illumination or after replacement of a damaged camera, for this automatic design, a new technique is described, i.e. Evolvable Hardware (EHW) which changes hardware structure in order to adapt to the environment in which it is fixed. The communications between the evolutionary algorithm and electronics give rise to the field "evolvable hardware". Evolvable hardware architectures that can evolve autonomously straight on the reconfigurable fabric of FPGAs, using Dynamic partial recofiguration.This DPR creates a very high level of flexibility and it helps to recognize the adaptive hardware algorithms.
Content analysis of Civic Education curriculum in senior secondary schools in Osun State, Nigeria

This study investigated the extent of implementation of the Civic Education curriculum content in senior secondary schools in Osun State. It also determined the adequacy of curriculum content as provided in selected Civic Education textbooks in the schools. It finally assessed the adequacy, availability and utilization of the instructional facilities used for the teaching of Civic Education in schools. The study employed descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised Civic Education teachers, students, as well as textbooks and instructional facilities for the teaching and learning of Civic Education in secondary schools in Ife-Ijesha Senatorial District of Osun State. The sample consisted of 15 Civic Education teachers, 150 senior secondary school students and two selected Civic Education Textbooks in Osun State that were selected using multistage sampling technique. Three instruments were used for data collection. They are: Civic Education Textbook Content Checklist (CETC2), Teaching Assessments Form (TAF) and Instructional Facilities Checklist (IFC). Data collected were analyzed using frequency, percentage and One-Way ANOVA. The results showed that not less than 84.0% of the students agreed that the contents of Civic Education curriculum are relevant, whereas, percentage of students ranging from 85.3 to 100.0% indicated that the recommended textbook contents adequately covered the curriculum contents of Civic Education. The study concluded that Civic Education curriculum is well implemented in senior secondary schools classrooms in Osun State. Also, the selected Civic Education textbooks content are adequate to the senior secondary schools Civic Education curriculum in Osun State. Key words: Content analysis, civic education, secondary schools.
Housekeeping Proteins: Limitations as References During Neuronal Differentiation

The use of "Housekeeping proteins" as loading controls in western blots requires that they do not change their level of expression. However, deviations from this rule have been observed. This study investigated the expression of the commonly used proteins HSP60, ￻￻-tubulin, ￻ -actin and GAPDH by western blot during retinoic acid-induced differentia- tion of the embryonal carcinoma NTera-2 and the neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell lines. ￻-actin was found to be a poor loading control, increasing significantly during differentiation, whereas HSP60 and GAPDH were the more evenly ex- pressed of those analysed. Our results underline the importance of selecting accurate loading controls in this biological context.
Commercial Real Estate Valuation: Fundamentals Versus Investor Sentiment

This paper investigates the role of fundamentals and investor sentiment in commercial real estate valuation. In real estate markets, heterogeneous properties trade in illiquid, highly segmented and informationally inefficient local markets. Moreover, the inability to short sell private real estate restricts the ability of sophisticated traders to enter the market and eliminate mispricing. These characteristics would seem to render private real estate markets highly susceptible to sentiment-induced mispricing. Using error correction models to carefully model potential lags in the adjustment process, this paper extends previous work on cap rate dynamics by examining the extent to which fundamentals and investor sentiment help to explain the time-series variation in national-level cap rates. We find evidence that investor sentiment impacts pricing, even after controlling for changes in expected rental growth, equity risk premiums, T-bond yields, and lagged adjustments from long run equilibrium.
Energy-Efficient Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Deployment with Multiple Objectives for Structural Health Monitoring

Heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (HWSNs) are widely adopted in structural health monitoring systems due to their potential for implementing sophisticated algorithms by integrating a diverse set of devices and improving a network’s sensing performance. However, deploying such a HWSN is still in a challenge due to the heterogeneous nature of the data and the energy constraints of the network. To respond to these challenges, an optimal deployment framework in terms of both modal information quality and energy consumption is proposed in this study. This framework generates a multi-objective function aimed at maximizing the quality of the modal information identified from heterogeneous data while minimizing the consumption of energy within the network at the same time. Particle swarm optimization algorithm is then implemented to seek solutions to the function effectively. After laying out the proposed sensor-optimization framework, a methodology is present to determine the clustering of the sensors to further conserve energy. Finally, a numerical verification is performed on a four-span pre-stressed reinforced concrete box-girder bridge. Results show that a set of strategically positioned heterogeneous sensors can maintain a balanced trade-off between the modal information accuracy and energy consumption. It is also observed that an appropriate cluster-tree network topology can further achieve energy saving in HWSNs.
Early-Course Unmedicated Schizophrenia Patients Exhibit Elevated Prefrontal Connectivity Associated with Longitudinal Change

Strong evidence implicates prefrontal cortex (PFC) as a major source of functional impairment in severe mental illness such as schizophrenia. Numerous schizophrenia studies report deficits in PFC structure, activation, and functional connectivity in patients with chronic illness, suggesting that deficient PFC functional connectivity occurs in this disorder. However, the PFC functional connectivity patterns during illness onset and its longitudinal progression remain uncharacterized. Emerging evidence suggests that early-course schizophrenia involves increased PFC glutamate, which might elevate PFC functional connectivity. To test this hypothesis, we examined 129 non-medicated, human subjects diagnosed with early-course schizophrenia and 106 matched healthy human subjects using both whole-brain data-driven and hypothesis-driven PFC analyses of resting-state fMRI. We identified increased PFC connectivity in early-course patients, predictive of symptoms and diagnostic classification, but less evidence for “hypoconnectivity. ” At the whole-brain level, we observed “hyperconnectivity” around areas centered on the default system, with modest overlap with PFC-specific effects. The PFC hyperconnectivity normalized for a subset of the sample followed longitudinally (n = 25), which also predicted immediate symptom improvement. Biologically informed computational modeling implicates altered overall connection strength in schizophrenia. The initial hyperconnectivity, which may decrease longitudinally, could have prognostic and therapeutic implications.