Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Stock Returns Follow a Finite Variance Distribution

In this paper we propose a test statistic to discriminate between models with finite variance and models with infinite variance. The test statistic is the ratio of the sample standard deviation and the sample interquartile range. Both asymptotic and finite sample properties of the test statistic are discussed. We show that the test has good power properties against infinite-variance distributions and has small size distortions in finite samples. The statistic is applied to compare the competing models for S&P 500 index returns. Our test cannot reject most distributions with finite variance for both a pre-crash sample and a post-crash sample, and hence supports the literature. However, for a sample including crash days, our test suggests that the finite-variance distributions must be rejected.
Physiological and Structural Evidence for Hippocampal Involvement in Persistent Seizure Susceptibility after Traumatic Brain Injury

Epilepsy is a common outcome of traumatic brain injury (TBI), but the mechanisms of posttraumatic epileptogenesis are poorly understood. One clue is the occurrence of selective hippocampal cell death after fluid-percussion TBI in rats, consistent with the reported reduction of hippocampal volume bilaterally in humans after TBI and resembling hippocampal sclerosis, a hallmark of temporal-lobe epilepsy. Other features of temporal-lobe epilepsy, such as long-term seizure susceptibility, persistent hyperexcitability in the dentate gyrus (DG), and mossy fiber synaptic reorganization, however, have not been examined after TBI. To determine whether TBI induces these changes, we used a well studied model of TBI by weight drop on somatosensory cortex in adult rats. First, we confirmed an early and selective cell loss in the hilus of the DG and area CA3 of hippocampus, ipsilateral to the impact. Second, we found persistently enhanced susceptibility to pentylenetetrazole-induced convulsions 15 weeks after TBI. Third, by applying GABAA antagonists during field-potential and optical recordings in hippocampal slices 3 and 15 weeks after TBI, we unmasked a persistent, abnormal APV-sensitive hyperexcitability that was bilateral and localized to the granule cell and molecular layers of the DG. Finally, using Timm histochemistry, we detected progressive sprouting of mossy fibers into the inner molecular layers of the DG bilaterally 2–27 weeks after TBI. These findings are consistent with the development of posttraumatic epilepsy in an animal model of impact head injury, showing a striking similarity to the enduring behavioral, functional, and structural alterations associated with temporal-lobe epilepsy.
NET GAINS IN POLITICAL PARTICIPATION: Secondary effects of Internet on community

Broad and diverse civic participation is essential to a democratic society. Studies of opinion leadership show that politically active citizens report that Internet information and communication helped increase civic involvement by enabling them to keep up more easily with news, interact with fellow citizens or engage in collective action. Yet information about less active citizens remains scant. Does the Internet influence the politically passive majority of citizens to become more involved in political talk or other forms of participation? Do they report that the Internet has been helpful in increasing their involvement in political issues, interactions with other citizens, or with local government? These kinds of impacts that follow the primary effect of gaining access to information are considered secondary effects of the Internet upon political participation (Sproull & Kiesler 1991). This article presents quantitative and qualitative findings from a case study of local political participation from the Blacksburg, Virginia region, within the context of a mature community computer network (the Blacksburg Electronic Village). Not only do politically active, but some politically passive citizens also report increased Internet use to communicate with other citizens and with fellow members of local groups about local or national issues. Further, in addition to politically active citizens, some politically passive citizens report that web logs (blogs) have fostered greater online exchange with other citizens through ad hoc political talk and knowledge sharing. These research findings help us to understand the secondary effects of the Internet on political participation in local communities.
Association of Vitamin D Receptor Polymorphisms with Osteoporosis in Mexican Postmenopausal Women

It has been reported that Vitamin D receptor polymorphisms are associated with osteoporosis, particularly those demonstrated by the BsmI and FokI restriction enzymes. Herein we report the results of a case-control study performed in postmenopausal Mexican women. We studied 65 osteoporotic women (<= -2.5 SD bone mineral density [BMD] of young normal females) and 57 controls (over 90% >=-1.5 SD BMD of young normal females. Restriction enzymes BsmI and FokI were used to identify polymorphisms. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated, and analysis was performed controlling for age as a covariate. The BsmI genotypes revealed a higher frequency of the bb genotype in cases than in controls, contradicting much of the literature that suggests this genotype protects females against osteoporosis. Regarding the FokI genotypes, we were unable to confirm that the FF genotype has a protective effect against osteoporosis. The inconsistencies found in the literature and the results obtained in the present work suggest to us that other genetic and nongenetic factors are involved in the occurrence of osteoporosis, confounding the results of the possible association of osteoporosis and VDR polymorphisms.
Courage: The heart of the matter

Cancer is frequently compared with war. The daily newspapers report on such-and-such a person's battle against cancer. A patient declares, “I will fight it with everything I've got. ” One country has called its peak body “The Association of War against Cancer. ” In America the National Cancer Act of 1971 “declared war on cancer” (Levy, 2005). Thus is cancer declared the enemy, which must be conquered.
What is it like to be friends with a young person with psychosis? A qualitative study

Psychosis has a concerning social impact and can lead to significant reductions in social networks early in its course. There are serious developmental and illness-related implications of reduced social networks which make it important to understand why this occurs. This study aimed to explore the often neglected perspective of friends in order to advance our understanding of the reasons for breakdowns in relationships following the onset of psychosis. Seven friends were interviewed about their experience of being friends with a young person with psychosis. Constructivist Grounded Theory was used to analyse the transcripts and develop a theoretical model. The central category that emerged was “persisting with the friendship”, a chronological process that unfolded over time, from the point at which friends began to notice initial psychotic symptoms, through to thinking about what the future might hold for the young person with psychosis. A number of factors impacted on friends’ ability to persist with the friendship, five that hindered and six that helped. Future research might usefully examine the feasibility and desirability of working with friends within the context of peer interventions.
Mortality patterns among female nurses: a 27-state study, 1984 through 1990.

OBJECTIVES This study examined the mortality experience of 50,000 nurses using the National Occupational Mortality Surveillance database of death certificates. METHODS Proportionate mortality ratios adjusted by race (White, Black, or other) and 5-year age groups were calculated for selected causes of death among female nurses vs all workers and white-collar workers. RESULTS Excess deaths among nurses less than 65 years of age were seen in both comparison groups for viral hepatitis, cancer of the nasal cavities, accidental falls, suicide, and drug-related deaths. Among nurses 65 years old or older, deaths due to chronic myeloid leukemia were in excess. Proportionate mortality ratios for breast and colon cancers, diabetes, and heart disease varied by occupational comparison group. CONCLUSIONS These findings confirm results of previous studies and identify new associations. Redoubled efforts are called for in overcoming obstacles to reducing workplace hazards.
Education for the Heart and Mind: Feminist Pedagogy and the Religion and Science Curriculum

Feminist educators and theorists are stretching the boundaries of what it means to do religion and science. They are also expanding the theoretical and practical frameworks through which we might present curricula in those fields. In this paper, I reflect on the implications of feminist pedagogies for the interdisciplinary field of religion and science. I begin with a brief discussion of feminist approaches to education and the nature of the feminist classroom as a setting for action. Next, I present some theoretical and practical issues to consider when developing a feminist praxis and an antisexist curriculum. This leads into a discussion of the role of language and critical reflection in the religion and science classroom, the risks associated with reflective discourse, and considerations in the use of feminist teaching tools such as small group work, journals, and portfolio assessment. I conclude with a reflection on how feminist pedagogy promotes an epistemology that speaks to the hearts and minds of participants in the dialogue of religion and science.
Exponential lower bound for 2-query locally decodable codes via a quantum argument

A locally decodable code encodes <i>n</i>-bit strings <i>x</i> in <i>m</i>-bit codewords <i>C(x)</i>, in such a way that one can recover any bit <i>x<sub>i</sub></i> from a corrupted codeword by querying only a few bits of that word. We use a <i>quantum</i> argument to prove that LDCs with 2 classical queries need exponential length: <i>m=2<sup>Ω(n)</sup></i>. Previously this was known only for linear codes (Goldreich et al. 02). Our proof shows that a 2-query LDC can be decoded with only 1 quantum query, and then proves an exponential lower bound for such 1-query locally quantum-decodable codes. We also show that <i>q</i> quantum queries allow more succinct LDCs than the best known LDCs with <i>q</i> classical queries. Finally, we give new classical lower bounds and quantum upper bounds for the setting of private information retrieval. In particular, we exhibit a quantum 2 server PIR scheme with <i>O(n<sup>3/10</sup>)</i> qubits of communication, improving upon the <i>O(n<sup>1/3</sup>)</i> bits of communication of the best known classical 2-server PIR.
Spreading the words: A spacing effect in vocabulary learning

The spacing effect refers to the frequently observed finding that distributing learning across time leads to better retention than massing it into one single study session. In the present study, we examined whether the spacing effect generalises to primary school vocabulary learning. To this aim, children from Grade 3 were taught the meaning of 15 new words using a massed procedure and 15 other new words using a spaced procedure. The 15 words in the massed condition were divided into three sets of five words, and each set was taught three times in one of three learning sessions. In the spaced condition, learning was distributed across the three sessions: All 15 words were practised once in each of the three learning sessions. At the retention tests after 1 week and after 5 weeks we observed that the meaning of spaced words was remembered better than the meaning of massed words.
The Life-Course and Human Development: An Ecological Perspective

A life-course perspective is applied to the study of human development in ecological context. Three meanings of age (developmental, social, and historical) represent key elements of this perspective and depict lives in terms of aging, career, and historical setting. Age locates people in history (by birth year) and in the social structure. The neglect of such temporal distinctions in problem formulation has consequences in studies of status differences and psychological states, of careers and work satisfaction, of children's socioeconomic environment and the family economy, and of life change and stress. Alternative questions based on the life-course facilitate explanatory assessments of the relation between environmental and personal change.
From Informational Confidence to Informational Intelligence

This paper is a continuation of my previous work on informational confidence. The main idea of this technique is to normalize confidence values from different sources in such a way that they match their informational content determined by their performance in an application domain. This reduces classifier combination to a simple integration of information. The proposed method has shown good results in handwriting recognition and other applications involving classifier combination. In the present paper, I will focus more on the theoretical properties of my approach. I will show that informational confidence has the potential to serve as a theory for learning in general by showing that this approach naturally leads us to the famous Yin/Yang symbol of Chinese philosophy, a classic symbol describing two opposing forces. Furthermore, a closer inspection of the opposing forces and their interplay will reveal a new information-theoretical meaning of the golden ratio, which describes the points where both confidence and counter-confidence merge into one force, with performance matching expectation. Although this is mainly a theoretical paper, I will present some practical results for handwritten Japanese character recognition.
Ionotropic GABA and glycine receptor subunit composition in human pluripotent stem cell-derived excitatory cortical neurones

This study reports a functional assessment of the subunit composition of inhibitory ionotropic GABAA receptors (GABAARs) and glycine receptors (GlyRs) expressed by excitatory cortical neurones derived from human embryonic stem cells (hECNs). GABAARs expressed by hECNs are predominantly composed of α2/3β3γ2 subunits; such a composition is typical of that reported for GABAARs expressed in rodent embryonic cortex. Analysis of GlyRs expressed by hECNs indicates they are likely to contain α2 and β subunits – a composition in rodents that is associated with a late embryonic/early postnatal period of development.
Consumers' Use of Persuasion Knowledge: The Effects of Accessibility and Cognitive Capacity on Perceptions of an Influence Agent

This article examines conditions that influence consumers' use of persuasion knowledge in evaluating an influence agent, such as a salesperson. We propose that persuasion knowledge is used when consumers draw an inference that a persuasion motive may underlie a salesperson's behavior. These motive inferences then affect perceptions of the salesperson. We propose that two factors, the accessibility of persuasion motives and the cognitive capacity of the consumer, affect whether consumers use persuasion knowledge. When an ulterior persuasion motive is highly accessible, both cognitively busy targets and unbusy observers use persuasion knowledge to evaluate the salesperson. When an ulterior motive is less accessible, cognitively busy targets are less likely to use persuasion knowledge, evaluating the salesperson as more sincere than are cognitively unbusy observers. Several experiments find support for the predictions. Copyright 2000 by the University of Chicago.
The Role of Parental Preferences in the Management of Fever Without Source Among 3- to 36-Month-Old Children: A Decision Analysis

OBJECTIVES. Recent analyses assessing the impact of the conjugate pneumococcal vaccine on the care of febrile children do not reflect the role parental preferences play in physicians' decisions. The objective of this study was to identify the management strategy that would best suit parents, on the basis of their values for possible outcomes of fever of ≥39°C without source among well-appearing, 3- to 36-month-old children. METHODS. A decision analysis was performed to compare the benefits and outcomes of 3 management options (treat: blood culture and antibiotics for all children; test: blood culture and complete blood count for all children, with antibiotics for selected children; observe: no immediate intervention). A hypothetical cohort of 100000 children with fever of ≥39°C with no obvious source of infection was modeled for each strategy. Using this model, we identified the treatment option that would best suit each parent's preferences, on the basis of parental utilities (from a prior study) for various interventions and outcomes at vaccine efficacies of 0% (ie, no vaccine) and 95%. In addition, we performed survival analyses to assess the morbidity and mortality rates associated with each treatment strategy at various vaccine efficacies. RESULTS. At a vaccine efficacy of 0%, the majority of parents' preferences suggested the treat option, the strategy with the lowest mortality rate. At a vaccine efficacy of 95%, mortality rates were similar for all 3 management options (∼1 in 100000), but parental preferences were still aligned with different options; 50% suggested observe, 42% suggested test, and 8% suggested treat. CONCLUSIONS. Like physicians, parents have different approaches to risk. With the conjugate pneumococcal vaccine, risks of complications from fever without source are low regardless of treatment strategy. Rather than having a “one size fits all” approach, it is reasonable to incorporate parental preferences into the treatment decision.
Narcissism and Cardiovascular Reactivity to Rejection Imagery1

This study examined the interactive effects of imagined rejection and narcissism on cardiovascular reactivity (CVR). Participants completed measures of overt narcissism (Narcissistic Personality Inventory, NPI; Raskin & Hall, 1979), overt–covert narcissism (Margolis & Thomas, 1980), and trait self-esteem. They then imagined 2 scenarios culminating in either interpersonal acceptance or rejection. Systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) were assessed before, during, and after the imagery. Overt–covert narcissism was positively associated with task increases in SBP and DBP and recovery elevation of HR following rejection, but not acceptance. Similar effects on SBP were found for the Entitlement/Exploitativeness dimension of the NPI. Lower self-esteem predicted greater task increases in SBP, DBP, and HR across conditions. Implications for health are discussed.
Role of Endothelial Nitric Oxide in Shear Stress—Induced Vasodilation of Human Microvasculature: Diminished Activity in Hypertensive and Hypercholesterolemic Patients

BackgroundIt has been proposed that flow-mediated shear stress regulates vascular tone; however, whether this operates in the human microcirculation is unknown. This study was designed to investigate the effect of shear stress on human microvascular tone, to assess the contribution of nitric oxide (NO), and to determine whether this mechanism is defective in hypertension and in hypercholesterolemia. Methods and ResultsIn 9 normal controls (NC), 11 hypertensive patients (HT), and 12 hypercholesterolemic patients (HChol), arteries (internal diameter 201±26 &mgr;m) isolated from gluteal fat biopsies were cannulated and perfused in chambers. Shear stress was induced by increasing the flow rate from 1 to 50 &mgr;L/min after preconstriction with norepinephrine (NE). Arterial internal diameter was expressed as percent of NE-induced constriction. In NC, shear stress induced flow-dependent vasodilation from 23±9% at 1 &mgr;L/min to 53±14% at 50 &mgr;L/min (P <0.0001), which was abolished by endothelial removal. The NO synthase inhibitor N&ohgr;-nitro-l-arginine (L-NNA) significantly blunted this response (mean vasodilation decreased from 27±6% to 6±9%;P =0.04). HT had significant impairment of flow-mediated dilation (mean vasodilation 5±6%;P =0.01 versus NC), which was not affected by L-NNA. HChol had preserved flow-mediated vasodilation (mean vasodilation 24±7%;P =0.56 versus NC), but this was not significantly modified by L-NNA. ConclusionsIn the human microvasculature, shear stress induces endothelium-dependent, NO-mediated vasodilation. This phenomenon is blunted in HT patients because of reduced activity of NO. In contrast, the HChol microvasculature has preserved shear stress-induced dilation despite diminished NO activity.
Shield fields: modeling and capturing 3D occluders

We describe a unified representation of occluders in light transport and photography using shield fields: the 4D attenuation function which acts on any light field incident on an occluder. Our key theoretical result is that shield fields can be used to decouple the effects of occluders and incident illumination. We first describe the properties of shield fields in the frequency-domain and briefly analyze the "forward" problem of efficiently computing cast shadows. Afterwards, we apply the shield field signal-processing framework to make several new observations regarding the "inverse" problem of reconstructing 3D occluders from cast shadows -- extending previous work on shape-from-silhouette and visual hull methods. From this analysis we develop the first single-camera, single-shot approach to capture visual hulls without requiring moving or programmable illumination. We analyze several competing camera designs, ultimately leading to the development of a new large-format, mask-based light field camera that exploits optimal tiled-broadband codes for light-efficient shield field capture. We conclude by presenting a detailed experimental analysis of shield field capture and 3D occluder reconstruction.
E-learning for Geography's Teaching and Learning Spaces

The authors embed their advocacy of educational technology in a consideration of contemporary pedagogy in geography. They provide examples of e-learning from a wide range of teaching and learning contexts. They promote the idea that considering best practice with reference to educational technology will increase the versatility of teaching geography in higher education. On the basis of reviewing the pedagogic options associated with e-learning using a variety of technologies, and their promotion of versatility in the use of e-learning approaches, they find and illustrate the new spaces that have become available to teachers and learners of geography.
A Stroke Shape and Structure Based Approach for Off-line Chinese Handwriting Identification

Handwriting identification is a technique of automatic person identification based on the personal handwriting. It is a hot research topic in the field of pattern recognition due to its indispensible role in the biometric individual identification. Although many approaches have emerged, recent research has shown that off-line Chinese handwriting identification remains a challenge problem. In this paper, we propose a novel method for off-line Chinese handwriting identification based on stroke shapes and structures. To extract the features embedded in Chinese handwriting characters, two special structures have been explored according to the trait of Chinese handwriting characters. These two structures are the bounding rectangle and the TBLR quadrilateral. Sixteen features are extracted from the two structures, which are used to compute the unadjusted similarity, and the other four commonly used features are also computed to adjust the similarity adaptively. The final identification is performed on the similarity. Experimental results on the SYSU and HanjaDB1 databases have validated the effectiveness of the proposed method.