Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Text Length in Crowdsourced Multiple Choice Questions

Automated systems that aid in the development of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) have value for both educators, who spend large amounts of time creating novel questions, and students, who spend a great deal of effort both practicing for and taking tests. The current approach for measuring question difficulty in MCQs relies on models of how good pupils will perform and contrasts that with their lower-performing peers. MCQs can be difficult in many ways. This paper looks specifically at the effect of both the number of words in the question stem and in the answer options on question difficulty. This work is based on the hypothesis that questions are more difficult if the stem of the question and the answer options are semantically far apart. This hypothesis can be normalized, in part, with an analysis of the length of texts being compared. The MCQs used in the experiments were voluntarily authored by university students in biology courses. Future work includes additional experiments utilizing other aspects of this extensive crowdsourced data set.
Search Result Reranking Using Clustering

Information Retrieval is a research area that has gained attention over the past two decades. Few of these researches have taken place in the biomed- ical domain where satisfying users information needs are relatively difficult to be met. The goal of this project is to find out if it is possible to use statistical methods in Biomedical Information Retrieval (IR) and improve retrieval performance, i.e. finding ways of fulfilling user information needs, in the biomedical domain using clustering with knowledge from the BioTracer project. K-Mean and Expectation Maximization (EM) approaches to clustering have been implemented in this project with more emphasis on the EM. Both ap- proaches are used to re-ranking users searched results in an attempt to find ways of fulfilling their information needs. Comparison between the Expec- tation Maximization and the K-mean are drawn in terms of their retrieval performance i.e. precision and recall, the performance of EM compared to ex- isting approaches to search results re-ranking using clustering and problems faced while implementing the EM.
Chemometric and trend analysis of water quality of the South Chennai lakes: an integrated environmental study

In order to bring out the nature of the factors influencing lake water composition, multivariate statistical analysis and trend analysis were performed based on the hydrochemical data of the study area, namely, South Chennai. Change in land use pattern and settlements along the banks of the lakes alters the quality and quantity of the surface water. In the present study, the R‐mode factor analysis and cluster analysis were applied to the geochemical parameters of the water to identify the factors affecting the chemical composition of the lake water. Dendograms of both the seasons give three major clusters, reflecting the groups of unpolluted to moderately polluted, polluted, and heavily polluted stations. The movement of stations from one cluster to another clearly brings out the seasonal variation in the chemical composition of the lake water. The complex hydrochemical data of the surface water were interpreted by condensing them into three major factors. Factor score analysis was used successfully to delineate the stations under study and the role of the contributing factors, and the nature of factors responsible for the variation in chemical composition of the water has been clearly brought out. Results of trend analysis using ArcGIS clearly indicate that the trend in water quality is deteriorating at a faster rate in the eastern part of the study area. It is understood that although natural shifts probably can account for some of the variation, it is most likely that human activities play a major role in affecting the water quality on a regional scale. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
What do Australian medical programs teach medical students about breastfeeding

Objectives: To investigate what breastfeeding information is included in Australian medical program curricula and how and by whom it is taught. Method: The ten Australian medical schools who have graduated students from their current programs were asked to nominate a person to complete an 11-item questionnaire. Data collected from the questionnaire included: if and where breastfeeding is located within the medical program; who teaches medical students about breastfeeding; and other opportunities medical students have to learn about breastfeeding. Results: The questionnaire was completed and returned by nine of the ten nominated people, giving a response rate of 90 percent. One respondent did not know whether breastfeeding was included in the curriculum. The advantages of breastfeeding, normal breastfeeding management and breastfeeding problems were taught within the curriculum in the remaining eight programs. All medical programs encouraged contact with breastfeeding mothers and infants although it was not clear whether this included clinical teaching. Teaching about breastfeeding was undertaken by people from a number of different professional areas (e.g. midwives, doctors, lactation consultants) with all schools utilizing a minimum of three professions. Conclusions: While most Australian medical students received some instruction about breastfeeding, the subject areas taught and the method of teaching varied widely between medical programs. Some students received little formal teaching, with patient contact being the main avenue for gaining breastfeeding knowledge and experience. Others had minimal clinical contact. Ideally breastfeeding should be incorporated into the broader curriculum whenever it is applicable and include both formal teaching and clinical instruction.
Integration of Information Retrieval Techniques into a Referral System for Knowledge Management

PALATHINGAL, PAUL JOSE. Integration of Information Retrieval Techniques into a Referral System for Knowlegde Management. (Under the direction of Dr. Munindar Singh.) Social networks potentially form a huge repository of private knowledge that is unavailable on any search engine. The Multi Agent Referral system (MARS) prototype is a tool for building and exploiting social networks. Referral chains represent social networks and are used to request for experts in a particular field. The MARS system uses software agents to automate the search of information and expertise. However information about a user’s expertise is not readily available. Also currently most systems do not exploit the fact that the user’s document repository is a good pointer to other user’s interests. By contrast this paper shows how to use Information Retrieval techniques to be able to answer queries and also make referrals on behalf of the user. TFIDF (Term Frequency Inverse Document Frequency) indexing is implemented on user documents and messages to determine user interests. A simulation has been carried out and results of the simulation are presented. This thesis studies the effects of using term and document frequency indexing for information retrieval on user documents and messages in the MARS prototype. Integration of Information Retrieval Techniques into a Referral System for Knowledge Management By PAUL JOSE PALATHINGAL SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE COMPUTER SCIENCE AT NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA 5-20-2002
Perception de la situation d'apprentissage par le tuteur en ligne

Cet article s'interesse a la conception d'outils informatiques dedies a l'activite de tutorat en ligne. L'objectif est de faciliter la perception du tuteur sur la situation de l'apprenant dont il assure le suivi. Du point de vue de l'apprenant, l'apprentissage a distance est difficile pour de multiples raisons, y compris le prerequis d'autonomie dans son travail et son activite d'apprentissage. La mission du tuteur est donc double : assister l'apprenant dans sa formation et l'assister dans sa demarche d'autonomisation par rapport au domaine cible, au dispositif et au savoir apprendre. Ce type d'accompagnement est nouveau pour le tuteur : apprendre a apprendre plutot qu'enseigner la discipline. Les situations et les competences sont nouvelles. La problematique d'elaboration d'environnement de tutorat dedie a ce type d'accompagnement trouve des reponses sous forme de modele de la situation d'apprentissage et d'outils permettant d'instrumenter les tâches de perception du tuteur sur la situation de l'apprenant. Une methode de conception iterative et participative a permis d'elaborer un tel modele et des interfaces de tutorat pour le dispositif de formation en langues Croisieres.
Natural killer cells in relapsing-remitting MS

Objective: To determine the effect of treatment with interferon β-1b (IFN-β) on natural killer (NK) cell function and phenotype in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients, and their relationship to disease activity assessed both clinically and with serial MRI. Background: NK cells may play a role in the immunopathogenesis of MS. Previously the authors reported a positive relationship between mean NK cell functional activity (FA) and total number of active lesions on MRI in a serial study of RRMS. Cycles in NK cell FA over time created a series of peaks and valleys, and a significant relationship has been identified between the valleys and the appearance of active lesions on MRI or onset of clinical attacks. The development of valleys in NK cell FA before the appearance of active lesions on MRI was statistically significant. Methods: The authors studied the effect of alternate-day therapy with 8.0 mIU (high dose [HD]) or 1.6 mIU (low dose [LD]) IFN-β on NK cell FA, assessed by an in vitro 51Cr release K-562 target cell assay, and phenotype determination in RRMS patients. Results: Treatment with HD IFN-β results in an inverse relationship between mean NK cell FA and total number of active lesions on MRI over 2 years. A stronger inverse relationship was found in those patients who did not develop neutralizing antibodies to IFN (HD−) compared with a positive relationship in those who did (HD+). Treatment with IFN-β did not affect the cyclic nature of NK cell FA, mean NK cell FA, variability around the mean, mean length of the cycle, time spent in valleys and peaks, or the significant relationship between the appearance of active lesions on MRI/onset of clinical attacks and valleys in NK cell FA. In contrast, treatment with HD but not LD IFN-β did result in a significant reduction in CD57+ (a cell surface marker for subsets of NK cells) peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) compared with placebo. This effect, which originated largely from the HD− group of patients, developed shortly after treatment was initiated and was maintained throughout the study. Conclusions: RRMS patients with higher mean NK cell FA may be not only at greater risk for the development of active lesions but also may be more likely to respond to IFN-β. Development of neutralizing antibodies to IFN-β could interfere with this effect. This effect may be mediated through an action on a CD57+ subset of PBL.
Patient Care and Treatment in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by the loss of upper and lower motor neurons, leading to limb paralysis and respiratory failure. ALS is considered as an incurable disease. However, the management has considerably changed for recent years. Currently, four crucial sections of practice and treatment have been recommended for prolonging the survival of ALS patients: 1) symptomatic treatment; 2) respiratory management; 3) nutritional management; and 4) disease modifying medication. Although many clinical symptoms occur during the disease course, those symptoms are treatable in ALS patients. All efforts should be made to improve quality of life and to assist in keeping the patient ’ s autonomy. Advanced directives on end of life care, respiratory and nutritional management during late stages of life are important issues. This review article introduces current treatment, including symptomatic treatments, ventilation, nutrition, disease modifying medication or condition in ALS patients, including riluzole, serum levels of cholesterol, urate and ferritin, and clinical therapeutic trials. doi: http://dx.doi. org/10.4021/jnr176w
Neurochirurgische Möglichkeiten der Versorgung endovaskulär vorbehandelter zerebraler Aneurysmen. Management von Aneurysmarezidiven, Nachblutungen und endovaskulären Komplikationen

Treatment Strategies for Cerebral Aneurysms Following Insufficient Endo- vascular Therapy. Neurosurgical Manage- ment of Aneurysmal Recurrences, Re- bleedings, and Endovascular Complica- tions. Endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms has become an established tech- nique that can provide stable permanent occlu- sion in > 85 % of cases. Even those aneurysms considered untreatable by endovascular means can now often be managed using adjunctive
Solaris Internals (2nd Edition)

"The Solaris™Internals volumes are simply the best and most comprehensive treatment of the Solaris (and OpenSolaris) Operating Environment. Any person using Solaris--in any capacity--would be remiss not to include these two new volumes in their personal library. With advanced observability tools in Solaris (likeDTrace), you will more often find yourself in what was previously unchartable territory. Solaris™ Internals, Second Edition, provides us a fantastic means to be able to quickly understand these systems and further explore the Solaris architecture--especially when coupled with OpenSolaris source availability. "--Jarod Jenson, chief systems architect, Aeysis"The Solaris™ Internals volumes by Jim Mauro and Richard McDougall must be on your bookshelf if you are interested in in-depth knowledge of Solaris operating system internals and architecture. As a senior Unix engineer for many years, I found the first edition of Solaris™ Internals the only fully comprehensive source for kernel developers, systems programmers, and systems administrators. The new second edition, with the companion performance and debugging book, is an indispensable reference set, containing many useful and practical explanations of Solaris and its underlying subsystems, including tools and methods for observing and analyzing any system running Solaris 10 or OpenSolaris. "--Marc Strahl, senior UNIX engineerSolaris™ Internals, Second Edition,describes the algorithms and data structures of all the major subsystems in the Solaris 10 and OpenSolaris kernels. The text has been extensively revised since the first edition, with more than 600 pages of new material. Integrated Solaris tools and utilities, including DTrace, MDB, kstat, and the process tools, are used throughout to illustrate how the reader can observe the Solaris kernel in action. The companion volume, Solaris™ Performance and Tools, extends the examples contained here, and expands the scope to performance and behavior analysis. Coverage includes: Virtual and physical memory Processes, threads, and scheduling File system framework and UFS implementation Networking: TCP/IP implementation Resource management facilities and zonesThe Solaris™ Internals volumes make a superb reference for anyone using Solaris 10 and OpenSolaris.
Science and the Humanities: The Case of Turner

Soulignant l'importance de la geographie, de la climatologie et des transformations decisives de la Revolution industrielle anglaise pour la comprehension de la peinture de Turner, l'A. montre que l'exemple de Turner invite a repenser les relations entre les sciences naturelles, les sciences sociales et les humanites, en general, ainsi que les relations entre les decouvertes, les conceptions du temps et l'histoire de l'homme, qui contribuent a l'universalite de la verite apprehendee au-dela de toute specialisation
The Relationship between the Number of Hours Taken in a Senior Practicum Course in Prelicensure Nursing Education and the Score of Preception of Professional Competence by the Newly Graduated Nurse

This study determined whether there is a relationship between the number of direct acute care hours completed in a senior practicum course during pre-licensure nursing education and the scores of perception of Nurse Professional Competence (NPC) in newly graduated nurses between the third and sixth month of employment. A sample of new hires of newly graduated nurses within a large, nonprofit healthcare system was used. Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval was obtained from Liberty University’s IRB and the healthcare organization’s IRB prior to the survey being sent out to prospective participants and data collected. A nonexperimental, correlational design was used to examine the relationship between the number of acute care hours within a senior practicum course in pre-licensure nursing programs on the newly graduated nurses’ perception of NPC and the individual categories within the NPC. Descriptive statistics was used to report the central tendency of the participants as it relates to the number of direct acute care hour groups within a senior practicum course in pre-licensure nursing education and the scores for perception of professional competence of the newly graduated nurse. A Pearson product-moment correlation was used to look at the grouped number of direct acute care hours within a senior practicum course in pre-licensure nursing education and the relationship this may have on perception of professional competence scores of the newly graduated nurse. The research failed to reject the null hypothesis. The research concluded that there is a positive correlation between the number of direct acute care hours within a senior practicum course in pre-licensure nursing education and the perception of professional competence scores of the newly graduated nurse.
Caracterisation d'un modele de resection segmentaire diaphysaire de grande taille chez la brebis. Application a l'etude de deux materiaux de substitution osseuse

Un modele de resection osseuse segmentaire de grande taille est mis au point chez la brebis. Des resections mediodiaphysaires presentant un rapport : longueur de resection/diametre de l'os egal a 0. 5 (3 animaux : groupe 1'), 1 (3 animaux : groupe 1"), et 2 (5 animaux : groupe 1) sont pratiquees sur le metatarsien gauche de chaque animal. Ces resections sont stabilisees par la mise en place d'une plaque fixee a l'os par 3 vis proximales et 3 vis distales. Une contention externe par resine et barre de marche neutralise en partie les sollicitations s'exercant sur le site de resection. Le montage est simple a realiser et ne necessite aucun soin post-operatoire particulier. Il est fiable et reproductible. Un seul lachage d'implant est ainsi constate sur l'une des 11 brebis operees. Une non-consolidation osseuse est observee au terme des 16 semaines d'observation fixees, chez tous les animaux pour lesquels la resection presente un rapport l/d superieur ou egal a 1. La quantite d'os neoforme est dans tous les cas minimale puisqu'elle occupe en moyenne 3 (groupe 1) a 11% (groupe 1") de la surface du defect, colonisee pour l'essentiel par un tissu fibreux. Ce modele est utilise pour evaluer deux biomateriaux : un implant corallien porites massif et un implant hybride associant ce meme implant a 3. 5 x 10#7 cellules mesenchymateuses obtenues par culture de prelevements de moelle osseuse autologue. Une resection osseuse de 25 mm de long est pratiquee chez 14 brebis. L'interposition de l'implant corallien simple (groupe 2 : 7 sujets) n'aboutit chez aucune brebis a une consolidation osseuse unitive alors que celle de l'implant hybride (groupe 3 : 7 sujets) permet une consolidation osseux unitive chez 3 brebis. Dans ce dernier groupe, la consolidation osseuse a plus long terme semble par ailleurs possible dans deux cas ou l'activite osteoblastique est importante. L'examen des microradiographies montre que le pourcentage d'os forme dans le defect est significativement plus important dans le groupe 3 que dans le groupe 2. En l'absence de cellules de moelle, l'os neoforme est reparti de maniere diffuse dans le defect et n'a pas d'organisation particuliere. L'adjonction de cellules au corail confere a l'os neoforme une macrostructure tubulaire avec corticales et canal medullaire differencies. Quelque soit l'implant mis en place, une resorption trop rapide du corail ou une osteogenese insuffisante empechent la consolidation a 16 semaines.
Active Surgeon Support during Orthopedic Surgery using the BOrEScOPE-Exoskeleton: System Design and First Results

A great number of medical robotics projects is driven by researchers all around the globe. Aim is to enhance surgery output, accelerate the procedure or to shorten postoperative convalescence. In most cases, the surgeon interacts with a machine directly by some kind of remote control in general soft tissue surgery or robotic systems recapitulate preprogrammed trajectories, e.g., during milling of cavities. One option to achieve a better acceptance in human robot interaction systems in operating theatre is to use exoskeletons for tight integration. This is widely accomplished in body rehabilitation to provide patients with continuous passive or active motion. However the way to commercial application is long for many systems. In this paper for an anthropomorphic upper extremity exoskeleton worn by the surgeon during orthopedic interventions (e.g., pedicle drilling) first results concerning control strategy and user guidance are presented. The system is intended to enhance overall task-precision as the surgeon is guided by optic, acoustic, and haptic perception. The parallel flux of forces and the inherently wearable robot base attached to his back allow the surgeon to directly maintain responsibility for surgery. The mechanical design as well as the control strategy are described briefly. The device provides seven concentric axes and uses conventional DC motors and wire gears to deliver torque. An optical tracking system is employed to provide low-latency absolute position data of the system and the patient. A User Guidance OptoAcoustic Display is utilized to provide the surgeon with information on position and orientation of the tool in six degrees of freedom with respect to the desired trajectory. The control strategy is decomposed into several levels. First experiments have demonstrated the correlation between provided workspace and space requirements during pedicle screw placement and an intuitive handling of the user guidance system to follow a desired trajectory. Keywordsexoskeleton, orthopedic surgery, human-machine interaction, behavior-based system decomposition
The Courage of Sarah Noble

In 1707, young Sarah Noble and her father traveled through the wilderness to build a new for their family. "Keep up your courage, sarah Noble", her mother had said, but Sarah found that it was not always easy to feel brave inside. The dark woods were full of animals and Indians, too, and Sarah was only eight! The true story of Sarah's journey is inspiring. And as she cares for her father and befriends her Indian neighbors, she learns that to be afraid and to be brave is the greatest courage of all.
A Study On Some Operations of Graphs

VIEW (2) None of the projection map is pure quasi homomorphism for any graph product. Justification: Let 1 : V(G*H) →V(G) is the first projection map for any graph product (G*H). Let (u1, v1) (u2 , v2) in G*H. Then 1 (u1, v1) u1 ≠ u2 = 1 (u2 , v2), for any (u1, v1) & (u2 , v2) in G*H. (3) Similarly projection map never become complimentary homomorphism or quasi complimentary homomorphism for weak product or Cartesian product.