Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monte Carlo Method for Determining Earthquake Recurrence Parameters from Short Paleoseismic Catalogs: Example Calculations for California

[1] Paleoearthquake observations often lack enough events at a given site to directly define a probability density function (PDF) for earthquake recurrence. Sites with fewer than 10–15 intervals do not provide enough information to reliably determine the shape of the PDF using standard maximum-likelihood techniques (e.g., Ellsworth et al., 1999). In this paper I present a method that attempts to fit wide ranges of distribution parameters to short paleoseismic series. From repeated Monte Carlo draws, it becomes possible to quantitatively estimate most likely recurrence PDF parameters, and a ranked distribution of parameters is returned that can be used to assess uncertainties in hazard calculations. In tests on short synthetic earthquake series, the method gives results that cluster around the mean of the input distribution, whereas maximum likelihood methods return the sample means (e.g., NIST/SEMATECH, 2006). For short series (fewer than 10 intervals), sample means tend to reflect the median of an asymmetric recurrence distribution, possibly leading to an overestimate of the hazard should they be used in probability calculations. Therefore a Monte Carlo approach may be useful for assessing recurrence from limited paleoearthquake records. Further, the degree of functional dependence among parameters like mean recurrence interval and coefficient of variation can be established. The method is described for use with time-independent and time-dependent PDFs, and results from 19 paleoseismic sequences on strike-slip faults throughout the state of California are given.
Optical-Infrared Spectral Energy Distributions of z > 2 Lyman Break Galaxies

Broadband optical and IR spectral energy distributions are determined for spectroscopically confirmed z > 2 Lyman break objects in the Hubble Deep Field (HDF). These photometric data are compared with spectral synthesis models which take into account the effects of metallicity and of internal reddening due to dust. It is found that, on average, Lyman break objects are shrouded in enough dust [typically E(B - V) ≈ 0.3] to suppress their UV fluxes by a factor of more than 10. The dust-corrected star formation rate in a typical HDF Lyman break object is ∼60 h M⊙ yr-1 (q0 = 0.5). Furthermore, these objects are dominated by very young (≲0.2 Gyr, and a median of ∼25 Myr) stellar populations, suggesting that star formation at high redshift is episodic rather than continuous. Typically, these star formation episodes produce ∼109 h M⊙ of stars, or ∼1/20 of the stellar mass of a present-day L* galaxy.
MANAGING UNCERTAINTY IN THE DETECTION OF CHANGES FROM TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNERS DATA

: We present in this paper an algorithm for the detection of changes based on terrestrial laser scanning data. Detection of changes has been a subject for research for many years, seeing applications such as motion tracking, inventory-like comparison and deformation analysis as only a few examples. One of the more difficult tasks in the detection of changes is performing informed comparison when the datasets feature cluttered scenes and are acquired from different locations, where problems as occlusion and spatial sampling resolution become a major concern to overcome. While repeating the same pose parameters may be advisable, such demand cannot always be met, thus calling for a more general solution that can be efficient and be applied without imposing any additional constraints. In this paper, we propose a general detection strategy and analyze the actual effect of error sources and artifacts associated with laser scanning, particularly terrestrial based. The focus of this analysis is not only on the actual sources but on their interaction when two or more scans are compared. Finding an adequate representation and deriving an error aware model leads to an efficient and reliable scheme for detecting changes.
Do Markets Erode Social Responsibility

This paper studies socially responsible behavior in markets. We develop a laboratory product market in which low-cost production creates a negative externality for third parties, but where alternative production with higher costs mitigates the externality. Our first study, conducted in Switzerland, reveals a persistent preference among many consumers and firms for avoiding negative social impact in the market, reflected both in the composition of product types and in a price premium for socially responsible products. Socially responsible behavior is generally robust to varying market settings, such as increased seller competition and limited consumer information, and it responds to costs and prices in a manner consistent with a model in which positive social impact is a utility-enhancing feature of a consumer product. In a second study, we investigate whether market social responsibility varies across societies by comparing market behavior in Switzerland and China. While subjects in Switzerland and China do not differ in their degree of social concern in non-market contexts, we find that low-cost production that creates negative externalities is significantly more prevalent in markets in China. Across both studies, consumers in markets exhibit less social concern than subjects in a comparable individual choice context, though the difference is much smaller in Switzerland.
The Role of Interoperability in Hospital Digitization : Network Effects and Information Blocking ∗ Working Paper

Rates of electronic information sharing and interoperability among hospitals remain low despite government investments exceeding $30 billion. Using a network economics framework, I show that low rates are driven by two factors. First, hospitals with weak market power avoid interoperability to keep patients from going elsewhere for care. Second, even if hospitals value interoperability, heterogeneous preferences over vendors can lead to sub-optimal rates if interoperability is dependent on adopting the same IT system. Policies should address disincentives for information sharing and facilitate entry of third-party adapters that enable more robust interoperability. JEL Classification: I10, I180, O33, O38
Risk and Protective Factors for Breast Cancer in Midwest of Brazil

Patterns of physical activity, body composition, and breastfeeding are closely related to health and are influenced by environmental, economic, and social factors. With the increase of sedentary lifestyle and overweight, many chronic diseases have also increased, including cancer. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide, and the knowledge of its risk and protective factors is important to the adoption of primary prevention strategies. We aimed to investigate some risk and protective factors for breast cancer among women from Midwest Brazil. It is a case-control study of outpatient basis, carried out with 93 breast cancer cases and 186 controls. Socioeconomic, gynecological, anthropometric, and lifestyle variables were collected, and odds ratios (ORs) values were estimated (significance level, 5%; confidence interval (CI), 95%). Per capita income equal to or lower than 1/2 Brazilian minimum wage (OR = 1.88; CI = 1.06–3.29), residence in rural area (OR = 4.93; CI = 1.65–14.73), and presence of family history of breast cancer (OR = 5.38; CI = 1.46–19.93) are risk factors for breast cancer. In turn, physical activity (past 6 months) (OR = 0.23; CI = 0.10–0.55) and leisure physical activity at 20 years old (OR = 0.13; CI = 0.03–0.54) are protective factors for the disease in women who live in Midwest of Brazil.
Nostalgia Weakens the Desire for Money

Nostalgia has a strong presence in the marketing of goods and services. The current research asked whether its effectiveness is driven by its weakening of the desire for money. Six experiments demonstrated that feeling nostalgic decreased people's desire for money. Using multiple operationalizations of desire for money, nostalgia (vs. neutral) condition participants were willing to pay more for products (experiment 1), parted with more money but not more time (experiment 2), valued money less (experiments 3 and 4), were willing to put less effort into obtaining money (experiment 5), and drew smaller coins (experiment 6). Process evidence indicated that nostalgia's weakening of the desire for money was due to its capacity to foster social connectedness (experiments 5 and 6). Implications for price sensitivity, willingness to pay, consumer spending, and donation behavior are discussed. Nostalgia may be so commonly used in marketing because it encourages consumers to part with their money.
Effect of incorporating low intensity exercise into the recovery period after a rugby match

Background: The psychological and physiological condition of athletes affect both their performance in competitions and their health. Rugby is an intense sport which appears to impose psychological and physiological stress on players. However, there have been few studies of the most appropriate resting techniques to deliver effective recovery from a match. Objectives: To compare the difference in recovery after a match using resting techniques with or without exercise. Methods: Fifteen Japanese college rugby football players were studied. Seven performed only normal daily activities and eight performed additional low intensity exercise during the post-match rest period. Players were examined just before and immediately after the match and one and two days after the match. Blood biochemistry and two neutrophil functions, phagocytic activity and oxidative burst, were measured to assess physiological condition, and the profile of mood states (POMS) scores were examined to evaluate psychological condition. Results: Immediately after the match, muscle damage, decreases in neutrophil functions, and mental fatigue were observed in both groups. Muscle damage and neutrophil functions recovered with time almost equally in the two groups, but the POMS scores were significantly decreased only in subjects in the low intensity exercise group. Conclusions: Rugby matches impose both physiological and psychological stress on players. The addition of low intensity exercise to the rest period did not adversely affect physiological recovery and had a significantly beneficial effect on psychological recovery by enhancing relaxation.
Screening Dementia in the Outpatient Department: Patients at Risk for Dementia

The targeted screening for individuals at the risks of having dementia would be crucial to the further public health issues for dementia. This study aimed to conduct a screening study in an outpatient department of a regional hospital to screen people who were at risk of developing comorbid dementia. Patients who visited Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital (KMTTH) clinics during the period from June 1, 2013, to May 31, 2014, were invited to participate in this screening voluntarily. The trained interviewer collected all participants' demographic characteristics and used the instrument of ascertainment of dementia 8 (AD8) to find out suspected dementia ones. The result showed a higher ratio (24.1%) of suspected dementia in the outpatient department of a hospital, 500 out of 2017 subjects, than that in the general population. The median (interquartile range) age was significantly higher in the suspected dementia participants (70, (62, 77)) compared to that in nonsuspected dementia ones (65, (60, 73)), and the probability of suspected dementia was significantly increasing with age (P < 0.001). Instead of screening dementia in general population, screening people at the risk of dementia could be the practicable and important issues in the care of dementia.
The genetic aetiology of somatic distress

Background. Somatoform disorders such as neurasthenia and chronic fatigue syndrome are characterized by a combination of prolonged mental and physical fatigue. This study aimed to investigate the heritability of somatic distress and determine whether this dimension is aetiologically distinct from measures of depression and anxiety. Method. Measures of anxiety, depression, phobic anxiety, somatic distress and sleep difficulty were administered in a self-report questionnaire to a community-based sample of 3469 Australian twin individuals aged 18 to 28 years. Factor analysis using a Promax rotation, produced four factors: depression, phobic anxiety, somatic distress and sleep disturbance. Multivariate and univariate genetic analyses of the raw categorical data scores for depression, phobic anxiety and depression were then analysed in Mx1.47. Results. Univariate genetic analysis revealed that an additive genetic and non-shared environmental (AE) model best explained individual differences in depression and phobic anxiety scores, for male and female twins alike, but could not resolve whether additive genes or shared environment were responsible for significant familial aggregation in somatic distress. However, multivariate genetic analysis showed that an additive genetic and non-shared environment (AE) model best explained the covariation between the three factors. Furthermore, 33% of the genetic variance in somatic distress was due to specific gene action unrelated to depression or phobic anxiety. In addition, 74% of the individual environmental influence on somatic distress was also unrelated to depression or phobic anxiety. Conclusion. These results support previous findings that somatic symptoms are relatively aetiologically distinct both genetically and environmentally from symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Can angular momentum loss cause the period change of NN Serpentis

NN Ser is a non mass-transferring pre-cataclysmic variable containing a white dwarf with a mass of ∼0.5 Mand an M dwarf secondary star with a mass of ∼0.2 M� . Based on the data obtained with the high-speed CCD camera ULTRACAM, it was observed that the orbital period of NN Ser is decreasing, which may be caused by a genuine angular momentum loss or by the presence of a third body. However, neither gravitational radiation nor magnetic braking can fully account for the period change of NN Ser. Here, we search for a mechanism which could drain the angular momentum from NN Ser. We propose that a fossil circumbinary disk (CB disk) around the binary may have been established at the end of the common envelope phase, and the tidal torques caused by the gravitational interaction between the disk and the binary can efficiently extract the orbital angular momentum from the system. We find that only if M dwarf has an ultra-high wind loss rate of ∼10 −10 Myr −1 , and a large fraction (δ ∼ 10%) of wind loss is fed into the CB disk, can the loss rates of angular momentum via the CB disk explain the period change observed in NN Ser. Such a wind loss rate and δ-value seem to be highly unlikely. Hence it seems that the presence of a third body in a long orbit around the binary might account for the changing period of NN Ser.
Ally Motivation to Confront Prejudice: Understanding How a Sense of Emergency and Responsibility Influence the Likelihood of Confrontation for Pitied Groups versus Envied Groups

Author: Teets, LeClaire Marie M.S. Institution: Purdue University Degree Received: August 2018 Title: Ally Motivation to Confront Prejudice: Understanding How a Sense of Emergency and Responsibility Explain the Likelihood of Confrontation for Pitied Groups versus Envied Groups Major Professor: Leslie Ashburn-Nardo Research indicates that stereotypes influence how people behave towards different social groups, and this study investigated how allies (individuals who will confront prejudice on behalf of targets or groups) differentially confront a discriminatory comment as a function of the groups’ associated stereotypes. The Confronting Prejudiced Responses (CPR) model would suggest that when someone feels an increase in a sense of emergency and a sense of responsibility to address discrimination, they will be more likely to confront that discrimination. Results indicate that although the group that was being discriminated against did not influence whether or not the participant would confront, the higher sense of emergency and sense of responsibility were indicators of a stronger likelihood of confrontation. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
Algorithm 645: Subroutines for testing programs that compute the generalized inverse of a matrix

This work was supported in part by grants from The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Authors’ addresses: J. C. Nash, Faculty of Administration, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, KlN 9B5, Canada; R. L. C. Wang, Department of Data Systems Engineering, Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., Inc., Sunnyvale, CA 9408! 3. Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the ACM copyright notice and the title of the publication and ita date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the Association for Computing Machinery. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or specific permission.
Adaptive Spam Detection Inspired by the Immune System

This paper proposes a novel solution to spam detection inspired by a model of the adaptive immune system known as the cross-regulation model. We report on the testing of a preliminary algorithm on six e-mail corpora. We also compare our results with those obtained by the Naive Bayes classifier and another binary classification method we developed previously for biomedical text-mining applications. We obtained very encouraging results which can be further improved with development of this bio-inspired model. We show that the cross-regulation model is promising as a bio-inspired algorithm for spam detection in particular, and binary classification in general. Finally, we also present evidence that our bio-inspired model is relevant for understanding immune regulation itself.
Numerical method applied to the nondestructive characterization of the cracks in the roadways

Abstract This article proposes numerical simulations for the thermal nondestructive characterization. It relates to the thermal nondestructive study of defects of cracks type in the roadways. The model used is a semi-rigid roadway containing cracks of various positions and sizes. The thermal behavior of the roadway, according to geometrical and thermophysical parameters of the defect, is analyzed. A constant density of heat flow is applied to the higher face of the wearing layer of the roadway, the face of lower part of the base layer being maintained at a constant temperature. The influence of the various geometrical parameters of the defect (size, thickness and position) is studied and the thermographical image of the face of entry is simulated then analyzed. The numerical method adopted for the resolution of this problem is that of the finite elements. 1. Introduction The evaluation of the state of the roadways is an essential sector to identify the afflicted places, and for the planning and the assignment of the budgets of maintenance. The vehicular traffic worsens the cracks and propagates them towards surface, which leads to the deterioration of the external and fundamental layers [1]. For this reason, the first identification of the weak zones and cracks make it possible to departments of transport to develop remedies to attenuate the negative impacts and to lengthen the lifespan of the roadways. The ideal scenario in the evaluation of the defects is based on nondestructive approaches to prevent to obstruct the vehicular traffic. In this article, we will draw up a numerical study of the response of a semi-rigid roadway, containing defects of the cracks type, with a thermal wave and the influence of such defects on the thermographical image simulated on the road surface. Indeed, When a material is thermically requested, (e.g. reheating in a natural way by the sun), diffuse heat in material and the presence of a defect within the material (e.g. a crack) generally modify the heat flux through the structure taking into account the difference between the thermophysical parameters of material and those of the defect. It follows from there the appearance of a more or less hot zone on the surface compared to close material deprived of anomaly [2, 3]. To be able to detect the presence of an anomaly in the structure, the change which flow undergoes must be sufficient so that the contrast of temperature, between the healthy zones and the problematic ones, is significant and detectable thereafter.
Allergic rhinitis and its impact on work productivity in primary care practice and a comparison with other common diseases: The Cross-sectional study to evAluate work Productivity in allergic Rhinitis compared with other common dIseases (CAPRI) study

Background Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a highly prevalent allergic disease and also counts among the 10 most frequent reasons for medical consultation. Its impact on quality of life (QoL) and work productivity has been established but comparisons with other diseases are rare in the literature. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of AR in health-related QoL (HRQoL) and work productivity in primary care patients, compared with other prevalent diseases such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM) type II, and symptomatic depression. Methods Six hundred sixteen patients were included in a multicenter cross-sectional observational study. A generic HRQoL questionnaire, 36-item Short Form, and a specific questionnaire, “Work Productivity and Activity Impairment” were handed out to measure QoL and work productivity impact of the diseases. To assess clinical severity with a comparable scale between diseases Clinical Global Impression (CGI) had been used. Results Symptomatic depression was found to produce the greatest impairment on work productivity with a decrease of 59.5%, with significant differences compared with AR, hypertension, and DM type II (p < 0.05). Symptomatic depression was found to produce the highest negative impact on daily activities with a statistically significant reduction of 59.4% (p < 0.05) compared with AR (26.6% decrease), hypertension (8.8% decrease), and DM (16.7% decrease) patients. Differences between AR and DM or hypertension were also significant (p < 0.05). Restriction on daily activities for AR was 27.8%, which is significantly higher (p < 0.05) than hypertension (19.8% decrease) but not DM (25.7% decrease). Depression had the highest impairment on daily activities (59.4%), compared with the remaining three groups (p < 0.05). Conclusion AR impairs work productivity in a greater magnitude than hypertension and DM type II.