Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Late-Time Radio Observations of 68 Type Ibc Supernovae: Strong Constraints on Off-Axis Gamma-Ray Bursts

We present late-time radio observations of 68 local Type Ibc supernovae, including six events with broad optical absorption lines ("hypernovae"). None of these objects exhibit radio emission attributable to off-axis gamma-ray burst jets spreading into our line of sight. Comparison with our afterglow models reveals the following conclusions. (1) Less than ~10% of Type Ibc supernovae are associated with typical gamma-ray bursts initially directed away from our line of sight; this places an empirical constraint on the GRB beaming factor of ⟨f⟩ ≲ 104, corresponding to an average jet opening angle, θj ≳ 0. °8. (2) This holds in particular for the broad-lined supernovae (SNe 1997dq, 1997ef, 1998ey, 2002ap, 2002bl, and 2003jd), which have been argued to host GRB jets. Our observations reveal no evidence for typical (or even subenergetic) GRBs and rule out the scenario in which every broad-lined SN harbors a GRB at the 84% confidence level. Their large photospheric velocities and asymmetric ejecta (inferred from spectropolarimetry and nebular spectroscopy) appear to be characteristic of the nonrelativistic SN explosion and do not necessarily imply the existence of associated GRB jets.
Study on the Knowledge Base Repository Construction of Dietary Decision-Making Input Mode

By combining practice of Matching Optimization of intelligent nutrition expert system based on integrating the object—oriented knowledge representation with rule knowledge representation, the Knowledge base Repository Construction of Dietary Decision-Making Input Model by object-oriented method according to the process of matching optimization of nutrient input model is proposed, with Microsoft Access database and Visual Basic as development tools. The representation, the storage form of knowledge, the structure of knowledge, and the practicability of knowledge —base system are discussed in particular.
New Professionals' Perspectives of Supervision in Student Affairs

Robert DeBard, Advisor The importance of effective supervision to increase productivity in the administration of student affairs motivated this dissertation. This study was designed to assess the perceptions of new professionals regarding the supervision practices encountered in their initial experience following graduation from their master’s program. The sample featured alumni from 17 different institutions with professional preparation programs in college student personnel, higher education administration, or student affairs administration. From these institutions, 447 alumni participated and completed the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI-Observer). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significant differences among the demographic information of new professionals and their supervisors. The results showed that male supervisors were rated as effective as female supervisors and African American supervisors were rated as effective as White supervisors at frequency of exemplary practice. On a national level, when compared to the research collected online by Posner from 2005 to 2007 of various sectors, it appears from this study that increased attention on supervision within student affairs is necessary. Conclusions and recommendations focused on the importance of gender differences, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and the need for further exploration of this topic in future research.
Characteristics analysis of heat-fluid-solid coupling field for linear resonant testing platform

Efficient cooling method helps to improve the output performance of a motor, and liquid cooling is one of the best cooling methods. In this paper, a linear resonant testing platform is proposed to simulate the reciprocating motion of the linear oscillating motor, in which two check valves are adopted to achieve the cooling oil circulating. The thermal model is presented to calculate the thermal distribution of the testing platform in the condition with and without cooling oil for different current inputs. Shear stress model of the oil is built and mixing losses is systematically calculated to analyze the fluid damping characteristics. The relationship of the pressure, driving force, viscous, wall shear stress and mixing losses with the oil velocity is detailedly analyzed. The thermal analysis and fluid mixing losses formulation of the testing platform provide theoretical references for the design optimization and work efficiency improvement of the linear oscillating motor.
A KAM theorem without action-angle variables for elliptic lower dimensional tori

We study elliptic lower dimensional invariant tori of Hamiltonian systems via parametrizations. The method is based on solving iteratively the functional equations that stand for invariance and reducibility. In contrast with classical methods, we do not assume that the system is close to an integrable one nor that it is written in action-angle variables. We only require an approximation of an invariant torus with a fixed vector of basic frequencies and a basis along the torus that approximately reduces the normal variational equations to constant coefficients. We want to highlight that this approach presents many advantages compared with methods which are built in terms of canonical transformations, e.g., it produces simpler and more constructive proofs that lead to more efficient numerical algorithms for the computation of these objects. Such numerical algorithms are suitable to be adapted in order to perform computer assisted proofs.
Modelling Resilience in Cloud-Scale Data Centres

The trend for cloud computing has initiated a race towards data centres (DC) of an ever-increasing size. The largest DCs now contain many hundreds of thousands of virtual machine (VM) services. Given the finite lifespan of hardware, such large DCs are subject to frequent hardware failure events that can lead to disruption of service. To counter this, multiple redundant copies of task threads may be distributed around a DC to ensure that individual hardware failures do not cause entire jobs to fail. Here, we present results demonstrating the resilience of different job scheduling algorithms in a simulated DC with hardware failure. We use a simple model of jobs distributed across a hardware network to demonstrate the relationship between resilience and additional communication costs of different scheduling methods.
Feedback can be superior to observational training for both rule-based and information-integration category structures

The effects of two different types of training on rule-based and information-integration category learning were investigated in two experiments. In observational training, a category label is presented, followed by an example of that category and the participant's response. In feedback training, the stimulus is presented, and the participant assigns it to a category and then receives feedback about the accuracy of that decision. Ashby, Maddox, and Bohil (2002. Observational versus feedback training in rule-based and information-integration category learning. Memory & Cognition, 30, 666–677) reported that feedback training was superior to observational training when learning information-integration category structures, but that training type had little effect on the acquisition of rule-based category structures. These results were argued to support the COVIS (competition between verbal and implicit systems) dual-process account of category learning. However, a number of nonessential differences between their rule-based and information-integration conditions complicate interpretation of these findings. Experiment 1 controlled between-category structures for participant error rates, category separation, and the number of stimulus dimensions relevant to the categorization. Under these more controlled conditions, rule-based and information-integration category structures both benefited from feedback training to a similar degree. Experiment 2 maintained this difference in training type when learning a rule-based category that had otherwise been matched, in terms of category overlap and overall performance, with the rule-based categories used in Ashby et al. These results indicate that differences in dimensionality between the category structures in Ashby et al. is a more likely explanation for the interaction between training type and category structure than the dual-system explanation that they offered.
An item response theory and factor analytic examination of two prominent maximizing tendency scales

The current study examines the construct validity of the Maximization Scale (MS; Schwartz et al., 2002) and the Maximization Tendency Scale (MTS; Diab et al., 2008) as well as the nomological net of the maximizing construct. We find that both scales of maximizing suffer psychometrically, especially in their proposed dimensionality. Using confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory (IRT) we identify and remove three problematic items from the MTS and six problematic items from the MS. Additionally, we find that the MS appears to be measuring difficulty and restlessness with the search for the best alternative, whereas the MTS is more focused on the search for the best option, regardless of choice difficulty. We then examined these revised scales in relation to other psychological constructs in the nomological net for maximizing and found that maximizers may not be unhappy but are generally distressed in the decision-making context. Finally, we suggest that future maximizng research use revised form of the MTS that seems to us to be most consistent with the original concept of maximizing/satisficing.
Japanese-to-English patent translation system based on domain-adapted word segmentation and post-ordering

This paper presents a Japanese-to-English statistical machine translation system specialized for patent translation. Patents are practically useful technical documents, but their translation needs different efforts from general-purpose translation. There are two important problems in the Japanese-to-English patent translation: long distance reordering and lexical translation of many domain-specific terms. We integrated novel lexical translation of domain-specific terms with a syntax-based post-ordering framework that divides the machine translation problem into lexical translation and reordering explicitly for efficient syntax-based translation. The proposed lexical translation consists of a domain-adapted word segmentation and an unknown word transliteration. Experimental results show our system achieves better translation accuracy in BLEU and TER compared to the baseline methods.
Econometric analysis of the welfare effects of common property right forestry programs

This thesis proposes to empirically evaluate fundamental welfare outcomes associated with common property rights forestry. The inferences made were based on data collected from selected villages in rural Ethiopia, where common property forestry programs are being run or are planned. The thesis comprises of three separate analysis chapters. The first of these analysis chapters engaged with the estimation of compensating variation, for community forestry intervention, using double-bounded contingent valuation methods while controlling for biases arising from anomalous preference revelation. The second analysis chapter aimed to identify salient community forestry program attributes that are preferred by potential program participants, estimate welfare effects and test preference heterogeneity for each of the selected attributes. The third analysis chapter aimed to estimate average treatment effects associated with the implementation of natural forest management decentralization, paying particular attention to identification issues. The results from the first analysis chapter indicate that community forestry programs offer sizeable welfare benefits. Furthermore, double-bounded CVM studies in developing country contexts also suffer from preference revelation anomalies, and, therefore, researchers should control for these anomalies. From the second analysis chapter, the welfare gain offered by community forestry was found to hinge largely on the proposed attributes of the program, such as the type of forest, area enclosure and type of land upon which the forest was to be situated. Moreover, the results pointed to significant differences in attribute preferences across the study population. In the third analysis chapter, after controlling for selection bias and treatment-effect heterogeneity associated with program participation, forest management decentralization programs were found to increase the average welfare of participant households between 19.96% and 33.63%. The results support the claim that common property right forestry management can be used to revive rural development and provide incentives for environmental protection, the latter of which has been uncovered in related research. <p> Lead Promoter: Professor Steven F Koch Co-leader: Professor James N Blignaut External Examiners: Professor Randall Bluffstone, Portland State University, USA Professor Anthony Leiman, University of Cape Town, SA
A Multitexture Model for Multilook Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar Data

A statistical model for multilook polarimetric radar data is presented where the polarimetric channels are associated with individual texture variables having potentially different statistical properties. The feasibility of producing closed-form probability density functions under certain restrictions is outlined. Mellin kind statistics is derived under various assumptions on the texture variables, and the potential for model fit assessment and hypothesis testing in the Mellin domain is demonstrated. Application to real data proves the usefulness of the analytic approach.
Neuroimmune Guidance Cue Semaphorin 3E Is Expressed in Atherosclerotic Plaques and Regulates Macrophage Retention

Objective—The persistence of myeloid-derived cells in the artery wall is a characteristic of advanced atherosclerotic plaques. However, the mechanisms by which these cells are retained are poorly understood. Semaphorins, a class of neuronal guidance molecules, play a critical role in vascular patterning and development, and recent studies suggest that they may also have immunomodulatory functions. The present study evaluates the expression of Semaphorin 3E (Sema3E) in settings relevant to atherosclerosis and its contribution to macrophage accumulation in plaques. Approach and Results—Immunofluorescence staining of Sema3E, and its receptor PlexinD1, demonstrated their expression in macrophages of advanced atherosclerotic lesions of Apoe–/– mice. Notably, in 2 different mouse models of atherosclerosis regression, Sema3E mRNA was highly downregulated in plaque macrophages, coincident with a reduction in plaque macrophage content and an enrichment in markers of reparative M2 macrophages. In vitro, Sema3E mRNA was highly expressed in inflammatory M1 macrophages and in macrophages treated with physiological drivers of plaque progression and inflammation, such as oxidized low-density lipoprotein and hypoxia. To explore mechanistically how Sema3E affects macrophage behavior, we treated macrophages with recombinant protein in the presence/absence of chemokines, including CCL19, a chemokine implicated in the egress of macrophages from atherosclerotic plaques. Sema3E blocked actin polymerization and macrophage migration stimulated by the chemokines, suggesting that it may immobilize these cells in the plaque. Conclusions—Sema3E is upregulated in macrophages of advanced plaques, is dynamically regulated by multiple atherosclerosis-relevant factors, and acts as a negative regulator of macrophage migration, which may promote macrophage retention and chronic inflammation in vivo.
Fuzzy support vector machine in credit rating systems

Fuzzy systems have already proven on many science areas that they can be used also for classification problems. The same situation arises in case of support vector machines. These two methods can be combined very easily although they seem to be far from each other for the first sight. In this article a new approach, namely a new Fuzzy Support Vector Machine will be introduced, which can be used for credit rating calculations. The novelty in this methods lies on the fact unlike the methods which were used before that the companies will not be separated into good or bad classes, but part of the companies belong to good and bad classes, too, but with different membership function. The target was to set up a method which gives good classification accuracy. The model is tested on data of real companies and the results are also summarized in the article. It will be proven that with use of the generating method of a specific kernel function and a specific membership function the results are very good.
Lifestyle Behaviors and Self-Rated Health: The Living for Health Program

Background. Lack of adherence to dietary and physical activity guidelines has been linked to an increase in chronic diseases in the United States (US). The aim of this study was to assess the association of lifestyle behaviors with self-rated health (SRH). Methods. This cross-sectional study used self-reported data from Living for Health Program (N = 1,701) which was conducted from 2008 to 2012 in 190 health fair events in South Florida, US. Results. Significantly higher percent of females as compared to males were classified as obese (35.4% versus 27.0%), reported poor/fair SRH (23.4% versus 15.0%), and were less physically active (33.9% versus 25.4%). Adjusted logistic regression models indicated that both females and males were more likely to report poor/fair SRH if they consumed ≤2 servings of fruits and vegetables per day (OR = 2.14, 95% CI 1.30–3.54; OR = 2.86, 95% CI 1.12–7.35, resp.) and consumed mostly high fat foods (OR = 1.58, 95% CI 1.03–2.43; OR = 3.37, 95% CI 1.67–2.43, resp.). The association of SRH with less physical activity was only significant in females (OR = 1.66, 95% CI 1.17–2.35). Conclusion. Gender differences in health behaviors should be considered in designing and monitoring lifestyle interventions to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
Diet Selection as a Differential Foraging Game

An important issue addressed by behavioral ecology is that of the evolutionary relevance of foraging strategies adopted by animals in quest of a patchily distributed resource, both in terms of diet selection and patch-leaving decisions under competition. We revisit the classical model of diet selection concerning an isolated—not subject to competition—forager; it yields a zero-one rule, i.e., a type of resource should be always accepted, or always rejected, that appears to be more the exception than the rule, as partial preferences are commonly observed in many species. Thus arises the question of the rule's robustness where there is an uncertainty on the time available to a forager to enjoy a patch, due to the possible occurrence of a perturbating event. We mean any event that would affect its gain with respect to what it would obtain by enjoying alone the patch as long as it wants. For instance, the sudden presence of a predator could force it to flee the patch or the arrival of a conspecific would deprive it of some good resources. By taking into account the potentially imminent arrival of a conspecific—but also any event that would suddenly shorten patch exploitation—we show that the classical policy of diet selection no longer holds, as it changes the qualitative aspect of the optimal foraging strategies. Qualitatively, the optimal strategy is close to, but less greedy than, the evolutionarily stable strategy that concerns foragers actually competing for resources. It consists in accepting only the most profitable resource until it is depleted down to a given level, after which time both resources are accepted. The underlying mathematical technique involves the solution of nonzero-sum differential games and synthesis techniques.
A cypovirus VP5 displays the RNA chaperone-like activity that destabilizes RNA helices and accelerates strand annealing

For double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses in the family Reoviridae, their inner capsids function as the machinery for viral RNA (vRNA) replication. Unlike other multishelled reoviruses, cypovirus has a single-layered capsid, thereby representing a simplified model for studying vRNA replication of reoviruses. VP5 is one of the three major cypovirus capsid proteins and functions as a clamp protein to stabilize cypovirus capsid. Here, we expressed VP5 from type 5 Helicoverpa armigera cypovirus (HaCPV-5) in a eukaryotic system and determined that this VP5 possesses RNA chaperone-like activity, which destabilizes RNA helices and accelerates strand annealing independent of ATP. Our further characterization of VP5 revealed that its helix-destabilizing activity is RNA specific, lacks directionality and could be inhibited by divalent ions, such as Mg2+, Mn2+, Ca2+ or Zn2+, to varying degrees. Furthermore, we found that HaCPV-5 VP5 facilitates the replication initiation of an alternative polymerase (i.e. reverse transcriptase) through a panhandle-structured RNA template, which mimics the 5′-3′ cyclization of cypoviral positive-stranded RNA. Given that the replication of negative-stranded vRNA on the positive-stranded vRNA template necessitates the dissociation of the 5′-3′ panhandle, the RNA chaperone activity of VP5 may play a direct role in the initiation of reoviral dsRNA synthesis.
Charcoal morphometry for paleoecological analysis: The effects of fuel type and transportation on morphological parameters

Premise of the study: Charcoal particles preserved in sediments are used as indicators of paleowildfire. Most research focuses on abundance as an indicator of fire frequency, but charcoals also convey information about the vegetation from which they are derived. One potential source of information is their morphology, which is influenced by the parent material, the nature of the fire, and subsequent transportation and burial. Methods: We charcoalified 26 materials from a range of plant taxa, and subjected them to simulated fluvial transport by tumbling them with water and gravel. We photographed the resulting particles, and used image analysis software to measure morphological parameters. Results: Leaf charcoal displayed a logarithmic decrease in area, and a logarithmic increase in circularity, with transportation time. Trends were less clear for stem or wood charcoal. Grass charcoal displayed significantly higher aspect ratios than other charcoal types. Conclusions: Leaf charcoal displays more easily definable relationships between morphological parameters and degree of breakdown than stem or wood charcoal. The aspect ratios of fossil mesocharcoal can indicate the broad botanical source of an assemblage. Coupled to estimates of charcoal abundance, this will improve understanding of the variation in flammability of ancient ecosystems.
The Increasing Returns Revolution in Trade and Geography

Thirty years have passed since a small group of theorists began applying concepts and tools from industrial organization to the analysis of international trade. The new models of trade that emerged from that work didn't supplant traditional trade theory so much as supplement it, creating an integrated view that made sense of aspects of world trade that had previously posed major puzzles. The "new trade theory"—an unfortunate phrase, now quite often referred to as "the old new trade theory"—also helped build a bridge between the analysis of trade between countries and the location of production within countries. In this paper I will try to retrace the steps and, perhaps even more important, the state of mind that made this intellectual transformation possible. At the end I'll also ask about the relevance of those once-revolutionary insights in a world economy that, as I'll explain, is arguably more classical now than it was when the revolution in trade theory began.