Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Book Review Essay: What's New about the New Institutionalism?: Handbook of New Institutional Economics

Do not read this book like I did, that is, beginning with chapter 1 and continuing through chapter 32, cover to cover. It requires a herculean effort, with lots of coffee and no small measure of self-discipline. A handbook isn’t a page-turner of a novel, or a research monograph that elaborates a sustained argument. Rather, it is a reference compendium, an encyclopedia devoted to a special topic. One should dip into a handbook on an as-needed basis, in pursuit of a summary treatment of a particular topic or an up-to-date overview of a literature. And since handbooks are composed of a large number of stand-alone chapters, one can read such books chapter by chapter, in any particular sequence. Precisely because the chapters are so exhaustive in coverage, they are also exhausting to read all at once.
EvoSuite: On the Challenges of Test Case Generation in the Real World

Test case generation is an important but tedious task, such that researchers have devised many different prototypes that aim to automate it. As these are research prototypes, they are usually only evaluated on a few hand-selected case studies, such that despite great results there remains the question of usability in the “real world”. EVOSUITE is such a research prototype, which automatically generates unit test suites for classes written in the Java programming language. In our ongoing endeavour to achieve real-world usability, we recently passed the milestone success of applying EVOSUITE on hundred projects randomly selected from the SourceForge open source platform. This paper discusses the technical challenges that a testing tool like EVOSUITE needs to address when handling Java classes coming from real-world open source projects, and when producing JUnit test suites intended for real users.
Interacting Crumpled Manifolds: Exact Results to all Orders of Perturbation Theory

– In this letter, we report progress on the field theory of poly merized tethered membranes. For the toy-model of a manifold repelled by a single point, we are able to sum the perturbation expansion in the strengthg0 of the interactionexactlyin the limit of internal dimensionD → 2. This exact solution is the starting point for an expansion in 2−D, which aims at connecting to the well studied case of polymer s (D = 1). We here give results to order (2 − D), where again all orders in g0 are resummed. This is a first step towards a more complete solution of the self-avoid ing manifold problem, which might also prove valuable for polymers. Introduction. – The statistical mechanics of fluctuating lines and surfaces is a subject of great interest, which poses fundamental problems and has remaine d challenging for more than 20 years. One particular universality class, which has been studied e xtensively in the past, are polymerized or “tethered” membranes [1–9]. These are two-dimensional net works, where the bond-length fluctuates, but never breaks up. In the high-temperature regime nearest -neighbor interactions can be modeled by a harmonic potential. Neglecting self-avoidance, the me mbrane is extremely crumpled and highly folded, a property, which is characterized by the universal radius-of-gyration exponent ν, defined as Rg ∼ L ν , ν = 0 , (1) whereRg denotes the radius of gyration, and L is the linear internal size. Physically, 0 ≤ ν ≤ 1, but in the absence of interactions, the radius of gyration grows nly logarithmically with the internal size. For a more realistic description one has to take into account self-avoidance, whose continuum version can be modeled by the generalized Edwards-Hamiltonian [10] with 2-particle contact interaction H[r] = 1 2 ∫ x∈M (∇r(x)) + b0 2 ∫
Approximate Data Collection for Wireless Sensor Networks

Data collection is a fundamental issue in wireless sensor networks. In many application scenarios for sensor networks, approximate data collection is a wise choice due to the constraints in communication bandwidth and energy budget. In this paper, we focus on efficient approximate data collection with given error bounds in wireless sensor networks. The key idea of our data collection approach ADC (Approximate Data Collection) is to divide a sensor network into clusters, discover local data correlations on each cluster head, and perform a global approximate data collection on the sink according to model parameters uploaded by cluster heads. Specifically, we propose a local estimation model to approximate the readings of several subsets of sensor nodes, and prove rated error-bounds of data collection using this model. In the process of model-based data collection, we formulate the problem of selecting the minimum subset of sensor nodes into a minimum dominating set problem which is known to be NP-hard, and use a greedy heuristic algorithm to find an approximate solution. We also propose a monitoring algorithm to adjust these subsets according to the changes of sensor readings. Our trace-driving simulation results show that our data collection approach ADC can notably reduce the communication cost with given error bounds.
Towards an ethic of cultural responsiveness in researching Māori and Tongan children’s learning in everyday settings

ABSTRACT To inform a larger research programme on informal teaching and learning in everyday settings in Aotearoa New Zealand, two parallel pilot studies were conducted to determine an appropriate method for capturing the everyday learning of culturally and socio-economically diverse children. The studies took place during the six-week holiday break between school years. In one, three Māori children participated, in the other three Tongan children. This paper discusses the unanticipated issues that arose as a result of the ‘ethic of cultural responsiveness’ that the research team developed during the course of the research. These included: the insights made visible by culturally informed interpretation of unremarkable everyday activities; the effects on family dynamics of the research; and responsibilities to participants. It is argued that for Māori and Tongan children culture and family are central to everyday learning and therefore the research process and interpretation of data must be culturally informed.
Randomized algorithms to solve parameter-dependent linear matrix inequalities and their computational complexity

The randomized algorithm of G. Calafiore and B. Polyak (2000), which consists of random sampling and sub-gradient descent, is analyzed in the case where it is used to solve parameter-dependent linear matrix inequalities. This paper shows that the expected time to achieve a solution is infinite if this algorithm is used in its original form. However, it is also shown that the algorithm can be improved so that its expected achievement time becomes finite. An explicit upper bound of the expected achievement time is given in a special case. A numerical example is provided.
A Comparative Study of ELL and EL1 Narrative Competence During the Kindergarten Years

Stories are complex linguistic constructions through which we share our interpretations of the social world. The ability to comprehend and produce stories is referred to as narrative competence. Narrative competence is rooted in social interactions in the preschool years that foster a sense of story structure and familiarity with story language. It has been shown to play a critical role in reading and writing achievement in the elementary school years since the language of literacy, like the language of storytelling, is predominantly decontextualized. The mastery of decontextualized language poses a significant challenge for children who enter kindergarten with little previous exposure to the majority language. The storytelling ability of these children was the focus of the present study. The study's primary aim was to examine second language narrative competence across the kindergarten years by comparing the fictional stories generated by a cross-section of EL1 and ELL junior and senior kindergarten children in response to a wordless picture book from the point of view of macrostructure (story structure), microstructure (story language), and the use of evaluative language. Grade and gender differences across and within language groups were also considered. A second aim of the study was to examine the relationship between narrative competence and receptive vocabulary and between narrative competence and print-based emergent reading skill.
Computations of complex equivariant bordism rings

We give explicit computations of the coefficients of homotopical complex equivariant cobordism theory MU G , when G is abelian. We present a set of generators which is complete for any abelian group. We present a set of relations which is complete when G is cyclic and which we conjecture to be complete in general. We proceed by first computing the localization of MU G obtained by inverting Euler classes of representations. We then define a family of operations which essentially divide by Euler classes and use these operations to define our generating sets. We give geometric applications of these computations to the study of equivariant genera, circle actions on four-manifolds, and cobordism relations between Lens spaces.
Why societies vary in their rates of innovation The evolution of innovation-enhancing institutions

This chapter applies an integrated approach to decision-making and cultural evolution to explore some of the characteristics that influence population-level differences in innovativeness and to understand how such differences emerge. In laying the foundation for subsequent arguments I begin by summarizing research showing how evolutionary theory can direct and inform our understanding of decision-making, social learning and cultural evolution. Then, extending insights from existing cultural evolutionary models, I examine how a population's size and degree of 'cultural interconnectedness' can influence rates of both innovation and invention. A simple model illustrates the relative importance of cultural interconnectedness compared to individual invention. Combining ethno-historical and archaeological cases, I further explore the relative importance of "mother necessity" and "heroic genius" vs. recombination, lucky mistakes, and the accretion of small changes in driving invention. This discussion suggests that, at best, "necessity" is neither necessary nor sufficient to explain invention and that invention processes are dominated by incremental additions, recombinations, and lucky errors, not revolutionary insights. This means that inventiveness is—at least in part—a product of large populations (that generate more lucky errors) and greater interconnectedness that together with population size favors more recombinant inventions, as well as a greater likelihood of these diffusing widely. Lastly, I examine how increasing the interconnectedness in a population gives rise to an n-person cooperative dilemma. While some partial solutions to this dilemma have emerged across our species, only some societies have evolved the informal (and later formal) institutions—i.e., systems of reputation, signaling, and punishment—that favor the wide sharing of information, ideas and insights. Theoretical work has revealed three avenues to solving such n-person cooperative dilemmas, but crucially, all three generate multiple stable equilibria, meaning that while they can stabilize cooperative information sharing, they can also stabilize "information hiding and free-riding" as well as other non-group-beneficial states. In such circumstances, processes of cultural group selection, which operate through various forms of competition among groups, can favor the evolution of those institutional forms that best promote the open dissemination so crucial to innovation. This line of thinking proposes that cultural evolution has favored the emergence of institutions that increase cultural interconnectedness, thereby stimulating both greater inventiveness and more innovation at the population level.
Effect of Modified Atmosphere Packaging and Vacuum Packaging Methods on Some Quality Aspects of Smoked Mullet (Mugil cephalus)

3 Abstract: The effects of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP at 60% N ; 35% CO and 5% O ) and 22 2 under-vacuum packaging (UV) and cold storage at 4±1°C for 8 weeks on the quality aspects of traditional and liquid flavorings smoked whole and gutted mullet (Mugil cephalus) were the main objectives of this work. Some quality aspects of smoked mullet involved chemical, microbiological and sensory evaluation. Results showed that MAP reduced pH, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), trimethylamine nitrogen (TMA) and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) values especially in traditional smoked gutted fish compared with UV-packaged products and stored under cold conditions. However, the formation of biochemical attributes increased with time of storage. With respect to the microbiological load, both total viable count (TVC) and halophilic bacteria (HB) were higher in UV-liquid smoked fish than MAP-traditional smoked fish products. Vice versa was found in case of yeast and mold counts. In conclusion, MAP and UV methods for smoked mulled fish should be applied to obtain safe product.
Genome-Wide Assessment for Genetic Variants Associated with Ventricular Dysfunction after Primary Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

Background Postoperative ventricular dysfunction (VnD) occurs in 9–20% of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgical patients and is associated with increased postoperative morbidity and mortality. Understanding genetic causes of postoperative VnD should enhance patient risk stratification and improve treatment and prevention strategies. We aimed to determine if genetic variants associate with occurrence of in-hospital VnD after CABG surgery. Methods A genome-wide association study identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with postoperative VnD in male subjects of European ancestry undergoing isolated primary CABG surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. VnD was defined as the need for ≥2 inotropes or mechanical ventricular support after CABG surgery. Validated SNPs were assessed further in two replication CABG cohorts and meta-analysis was performed. Results Over 100 SNPs were associated with VnD (P<10−4), with one SNP (rs17691914) encoded at 3p22.3 reaching genome-wide significance (Padditive model = 2.14×10−8). Meta-analysis of validation and replication study data for 17 SNPs identified three SNPs associated with increased risk for developing postoperative VnD after adjusting for clinical risk factors. These SNPs are located at 3p22.3 (rs17691914, ORadditive model = 2.01, P = 0.0002), 3p14.2 (rs17061085, ORadditive model = 1.70, P = 0.0001) and 11q23.2 (rs12279572, ORrecessive model = 2.19, P = 0.001). Conclusions No SNPs were consistently associated with strong risk (ORadditive model>2.1) of developing in-hospital VnD after CABG surgery. However, three genetic loci identified by meta-analysis were more modestly associated with development of postoperative VnD. Studies of larger cohorts to assess these loci as well as to define other genetic mechanisms and related biology that link genetic variants to postoperative ventricular dysfunction are warranted.
How inefficient is IP over ATM anyway?

The explosive interest in B-ISDN and its underlying asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) has been making itself felt throughout the telecommunications industry. The impending introduction of long and short haul links based on ATM has led to its application to packet services such as the DARPA Internet Protocol (IP). Some earlier work on IP traffic between main IP routers (WAN traffic) has led to concerns over the efficiency of using small cells. The authors describe the results of IP traffic traces taken within a departmental LAN over a 16-day period. This traffic is used to drive a model of IP-over-ATM to analyze the real efficiency of the technique. >
A Subdomain Interaction at the Base of the Lever Allosterically Tunes the Mechanochemical Mechanism of Myosin 5a

The motor domain of myosin is the core element performing mechanochemical energy transduction. This domain contains the actin and ATP binding sites and the base of the force-transducing lever. Coordinated subdomain movements within the motor are essential in linking the ATPase chemical cycle to translocation along actin filaments. A dynamic subdomain interface located at the base of the lever was previously shown to exert an allosteric influence on ATP hydrolysis in the non-processive myosin 2 motor. By solution kinetic, spectroscopic and ensemble and single-molecule motility experiments, we determined the role of a class-specific adaptation of this interface in the mechanochemical mechanism of myosin 5a, a processive intracellular transporter. We found that the introduction of a myosin 2-specific repulsive interaction into myosin 5a via the I67K mutation perturbs the strong-binding interaction of myosin 5a with actin, influences the mechanism of ATP binding and facilitates ATP hydrolysis. At the same time, the mutation abolishes the actin-induced activation of ADP release and, in turn, slows down processive motility, especially when myosin experiences mechanical drag exerted by the action of multiple motor molecules bound to the same actin filament. The results highlight that subtle structural adaptations of the common structural scaffold of the myosin motor enable specific allosteric tuning of motor activity shaped by widely differing physiological demands.
The Relationship between Corporate Environmental Practices and the Environmental Performance

Although considerable amount of the literature related to examination the link between environmental protection issues and the performance, different results and mixed outputs have been articulated by these studies, and previous research yet to investigate the relationship between multidimensional approach of corporate environmental activities and environmental performance. The purpose of this study was to disaggregate corporate environmental activities into six dimensions (green competencies, employees’ involvements, environmental management systems, organizational competencies, strategic planning process, and stakeholders’ integration) based on both stakeholders and resourcebased view theories, and examine how each dimension would affect environmental performance among manufacturing industries. While all corporate environmental activities were proposed to have positive environmental effects, the results revealed that each dimension has a different effect on corporate environmental performance. Such results may assess the industrial corporation by directing their efforts to specific areas when trying to improve their environmental performance.
Carmen: A Twitter Geolocation System with Applications to Public Health

Public health applications using social media often require accurate, broad-coverage location information. However, the standard information provided by social media APIs, such as Twitter, cover a limited number of messages. This paper presents Carmen, a geolocation system that can determine structured location information for messages provided by the Twitter API. Our system utilizes geocoding tools and a combination of automatic and manual alias resolution methods to infer location structures from GPS positions and user-provided profile data. We show that our system is accurate and covers many locations, and we demonstrate its utility for improving influenza surveillance.
Optimal Policy with Low-Probability Extreme Events

The optimal policy response to a low-probability extreme event is examined. A simple policy problem is solved for a sequence of different loss functions: quadratic, combined quadratic/absolute-deviation, absolute-deviation, combined quadratic/constant, and perfectionist. The Paper shows that, under some simplifying assumptions, each of these loss functions puts less weight on a low-probability extreme event than the previous one, down to the quadratic/constant and perfectionist loss functions, which completely ignores the low-probability extreme event. The case when the size of the extreme shock is endogenous and depends on the policy is also examined. This introduces an additional effect on the optimal policy except for the combined quadratic/constant and the perfectionist loss functions.
Exposure to Biomass Smoke Extract Enhances Fibronectin Release from Fibroblasts

COPD induced following biomass smoke exposure has been reported to be associated with a more fibrotic phenotype than cigarette smoke induced COPD. This study aimed to investigate if biomass smoke induced extracellular matrix (ECM) protein production from primary human lung fibroblasts in vitro. Primary human lung fibroblasts (n = 5–10) were stimulated in vitro for up to 72 hours with increasing concentrations of biomass smoke extract (BME) or cigarette smoke extract (CSE) prior to being assessed for deposition of ECM proteins, cytokine release, and activation of intracellular signalling molecules. Deposition of the ECM proteins perlecan and fibronectin was upregulated by both CSE (p<0.05) and BME (p<0.05). The release of the neutrophilic chemokine IL-8 was also enhanced by BME. ERK1/2 phosphorylation was significantly upregulated by BME (p<0.05). Chemical inhibition of ERK signalling molecules partially attenuated these effects (p<0.05). Stimulation with endotoxin had no effect. This study demonstrated that BME had similar effects to CSE in vitro and had the capacity to directly induce fibrosis by upregulating production of ECM proteins. The mechanisms by which both biomass and cigarette smoke exposure cause lung damage may be similar.
Mechanisms of Coordination in Distributed Neural Circuits: Decoding and Integration of Coordinating Information

We describe the synaptic connections through which information required to coordinate limb movements reaches the modular microcircuits that control individual limbs on different abdominal segments of the crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus. In each segmental ganglion, a local commissural interneuron, ComInt 1, integrates information about other limbs and transmits it to one microcircuit. Five types of nonspiking local interneurons are components of each microcircuit's pattern-generating kernel (Smarandache-Wellmann et al., 2013). We demonstrate here, using paired microelectrode recordings, that the pathway through which information reaches this kernel is an electrical synapse between ComInt 1 and one of these five types, an IRSh interneuron. Using single-electrode voltage clamp, we show that brief changes of ComInt 1's membrane potential affect the timing of its microcircuit's motor output. Changing ComInt 1's membrane potential also changes the phase, duration, and strengths of bursts of spikes in its microcircuit's motor neurons and corresponding changes in its efferent coordinating neurons that project to other ganglia. These effects on coordinating neurons cause changes in the phases of motor output from other microcircuits in those distant ganglia. ComInt 1s function as hub neurons in the intersegmental circuit that synchronizes distributed microcircuits. The synapse between each ComInt 1 and its microcircuit's IRSh neuron completes a five synapse pathway in which analog information is encoded as a digital signal by efference-copy neurons and decoded from digital to analog form by ComInt 1. The synaptic organization of this pathway provides a cellular explanation of this nervous system's key dynamic properties.