Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of elliptical copula correlation factor model with Kendall's tau

We study the adaptive estimation of copula correlation matrix $\Sigma$ for the semi-parametric elliptical copula model. In this context, the correlations are connected to Kendall's tau through a sine function transformation. Hence, a natural estimate for $\Sigma$ is the plug-in estimator $\hat{\Sigma}$ with Kendall's tau statistic. We first obtain a sharp bound on the operator norm of $\hat{\Sigma}-\Sigma$. Then we study a factor model of $\Sigma$, for which we propose a refined estimator $\widetilde{\Sigma}$ by fitting a low-rank matrix plus a diagonal matrix to $\hat{\Sigma}$ using least squares with a nuclear norm penalty on the low-rank matrix. The bound on the operator norm of $\hat{\Sigma}-\Sigma$ serves to scale the penalty term, and we obtain finite sample oracle inequalities for $\widetilde{\Sigma}$. We also consider an elementary factor copula model of $\Sigma$, for which we propose closed-form estimators. All of our estimation procedures are entirely data-driven.
Geographic Information Systems Technologies in Crime Analysis and Crime Mapping

Social and geographic factors, such as location of schools or neighborhoods with different socioeconomic status within an area, can influence the patterns and rate of crime incidents in that area. Crime analysis and crime maps, achieved by GIS, have a major role in reducing crime and improving the effective police activities. Cankaya district includes significant concentrations of evening, late-night leisure and shopping opportunities in Ankara. Using information such as where and when crime occurs, this paper emphasizes what the inputs and outputs of crime analysis could be. In the first stage, the relationship between socioeconomic characteristics and crime rate for two police precincts of Cankaya was investigated. Then, spatial and non-spatial GIS analyses using Spatial Analyst, Buffer Analysis, and Hotspot Analysis were performed. The findings of this paper give the potential incident sites.
Separate attentional resources for vision and audition

Current models of attention, typically claim that vision and audition are limited by a common attentional resource which means that visual performance should be adversely affected by a concurrent auditory task and vice versa. Here, we test this implication by measuring auditory (pitch) and visual (contrast) thresholds in conjunction with cross-modal secondary tasks and find that no such interference occurs. Visual contrast discrimination thresholds were unaffected by a concurrent chord or pitch discrimination, and pitch-discrimination thresholds were virtually unaffected by a concurrent visual search or contrast discrimination task. However, if the dual tasks were presented within the same modality, thresholds were raised by a factor of between two (for visual discrimination) and four (for auditory discrimination). These results suggest that at least for low-level tasks such as discriminations of pitch and contrast, each sensory modality is under separate attentional control, rather than being limited by a supramodal attentional resource. This has implications for current theories of attention as well as for the use of multi-sensory media for efficient informational transmission.
Trend in mortality from a recent measles outbreak in Cameroon: a retrospective analysis of 223 measles cases in the Benakuma Health District

Introduction Measles is a highly contagious viral infection with high mortality in poorly vaccinated regions. We sought to establish the trend in mortality and the factors that favoured the recent measles outbreak that occurred in Benakuma, in the North west region of Cameroon from the 21/06/2015 to 26/09/2015. Methods We carried out a retrospective register analysis of 223 measles cases. Time trends were established using the Mann-Kendall test while survival was assessed using the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and log rank test for comparisons. Results We had a case fatality of 8.5% and the mortality decreased significantly (p = 0.01) after the following public health interventions were instituted: community sensitisation and education; outbreak response immunisation and the use of a clinician in controlling the outbreak. Furthermore, the number of cases (p < 0.01) and the duration from onset of illness to consultation at a health facility (p < 0.01) decreased significantly after the institution of the aforementioned interventions. Also, survival during the outbreak was better in females (p = 0.02) and in those treated in health facilities (p < 0.01). Conclusion The poor vaccination status in Benakuma coupled with negative cultural beliefs; poor socioeconomic and environmental factors and inadequate public health policies predisposed the region to a measles outbreak and favoured the spread of the virus. Public health policies should be revisited, modified and intensified to scale up vaccination coverage in measles endemic zones in Cameroon to help eliminate the disease and facilitate the overall attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Enhancing parent-child relationship through dialogic reading

Abstract Dialogic reading (DR) has been identified as an effective strategy for enhancing children’s literacy skills in Western and Asian contexts. Given that storytelling is a shared experience between adults and children, parent–child relationships is hypothesised to be enhanced by DR. Despite this possibility, there has been no systematic attempt to examine the possible impacts of DR on the parent–child relationship. This study bridges this gap in the literature by studying the relationship between adults and children before and after training in the practice of dialogic reading techniques. Forty-eight Cantonese-speaking parents with children aged between 3 and 12 were recruited from schools. They were assessed prior to and after undergoing a four-hour dialogic reading training programme with a two-hour follow-up session using the Parent–Child Relationship Inventory. The results of this study suggest that DR has considerable potential for improving parent–child relationships. The findings are discussed in relation to the situation of Chinese learners in the Hong Kong context.
Dopaminergic Modulation of Striatal Inhibitory Transmission and Long-Term Plasticity

Dopamine (DA) modulates glutamatergic synaptic transmission and its plasticity in the striatum; however it is not well known how DA modulates long-term plasticity of striatal GABAergic inhibitory synapses. This work focused on the analysis of both dopaminergic modulation of inhibitory synapses and the synaptic plasticity established between GABAergic afferents to medium spiny neurons (MSNs). Our results showed that low and high DA concentrations mainly reduced the amplitude of inhibitory synaptic response; however detailed analysis of the D1 and D2 participation in this modulation displayed a wide variability in synaptic response. Analyzing DA participation in striatal GABAergic plasticity we observed that high frequency stimulation (HFS) of GABAergic interneurons in the presence of DA at a low concentration (200 nM) favored the expression of inhibitory striatal LTD, whereas higher concentration of DA (20 μM) primarily induced LTP. Interestingly, the plasticity induced in an animal model of striatal degeneration mimicked that induced in the presence of DA at a high concentration, which was not abolished with D2 antagonist but was prevented by PKA blocker.
Behavior on Nasdaq : the Effects of Clustering on Relative Spreads

The work of Christie and Shultz (1994) has led to considerable publicity regarding allegations of potential collusion among Nasdaq market makers. This paper is a related empirical study of Nasdaq quoting. We find that quote clustering occurs across a spectrum far broader than the “even-eighth” vs. “odd-eighth” dichotomy presented by Christie and Shultz. We suggest the term “implicit quote increment” to describe the clustering of quote fractions. Using both simple univariate analysis and a joint probit-regression model, we find no effect of clustering on execution costs as measured by quoted relative spread. We thank Marshall Blume, Roger Huang, Paul Laux, Marc Lipson, Harold Mulherin, and Hans Stoll for helpful comments. The opinions expressed in this paper are the authors’ alone, and do not constitute an official position of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. or the Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. Quoted Execution Costs on the Nasdaq Page 2 DRAFT: September 11, 1998. Not for quotation. Department of Economic Research, The National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., 1735 K Street, NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20006, Phone: 202-728-8909, Fax: 202-728-8906, e-mail: furbushd@nasd.com, smithjw@nasd.com.
Investigating serendipity: How it unfolds and what may influence it

Serendipity is not an easy word to define. Its meaning has been stretched to apply to experiences ranging from the mundane to the exceptional. Serendipity, however, is consistently associated with unexpected and positive personal, scholarly, scientific, organizational, and societal events and discoveries. Diverse serendipitous experiences share a conceptual space; therefore, what lessons can we draw from an exploration of how serendipity unfolds and what may influence it? This article describes an investigation of work‐related serendipity. Twelve professionals and academics from a variety of fields were interviewed. The core of the semi‐structured interviews focused on participants' own work‐related experiences that could be recalled and discussed in depth. This research validated and augmented prior research while consolidating previous models of serendipity into a single model of the process of serendipity, consisting of: Trigger, Connection, Follow‐up, and Valuable Outcome, and an Unexpected Thread that runs through 1 or more of the first 4 elements. Together, the elements influence the Perception of Serendipity. Furthermore, this research identified what factors relating to the individual and their environment may facilitate the main elements of serendipity and further influence its perception.
The influence of adult attachment strategies on parenting and behaviour difficulties in middle childhood

ii Acknowledgements iii 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 Family Context of Maladaptive Behaviour in Childhood 2 1.2 Internalising and Externalising Behaviour Problems in Childhood 3 1.2. 1 Definitions 3 1.2. 2 Incidence 4 1.2. 3 Summary 5 1.3 Parent-Child factors in early life 6 1.3. 1 Bonding 6 1.3. 2 Attachment 7 1.3. 3 Parenting Styles 8 1.3. 4 Summary 11 1.4 The role of Attachment Theory in Explaining Adult Attachment 11 Strategies, Parenting Styles and Childhood Behaviour Problems 1.4. 1 Summary 13 1.5 An Overview of Attachment Theory 13 1.5. 1 An Evolutionary Perspective 14 1.5. 2 The Attachment Behavioural System 15 1.5. 3 The Caregiving System 16 1.5. 4 Internal Working Models 17 1.5. 5 Intergenerational Links 19 1.5. 6 Summary 21
BSE situation and establishment of Food Safety Commission in Japan

Eight major policies were implemented by Japanese Government since Oct. 2001, to deal with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). These are; 1) Surveillance in farm by veterinarian, 2) Prion test at healthy 1.3mi cows/yr, by veterinarian, 3) Elimination of specified risk material (SRM), 4) Ban of MBM for production, sale use, 5) Prion test for fallen stocks, 6) Transparent information and traceability, 7) New Measures such as Food Safety Basic Law, and 8) Establish of Food Safety Commission in the Cabinet Office. At this moment, the extent of SRM risk has only been indicated by several reports employing tests with a limited sensitivity. There is still a possibility that the items in the SRM list will increase in the future, and this indiscriminately applies to Japanese cattle as well. Although current practices of SRM elimination partially guarantee total food safety, additional latent problems and imminent issues remain as potential headaches to be addressed. If the index of SRM elimination cannot guarantee reliable food safety, we have but to resort to total elimination of tissues from high risk-bearing and BSE-infected animals. However, current BSE tests have their limitations and can not yet completely detect high-risk and/or infected animals. Under such circumstances, tissues/wastes and remains of diseased, affected fallen stocks and cohort animals have to be eliminated to prevent BSE invading the human food chain systems. The failure to detect any cohort should never be allowed to occur, and with regular and persistent updating of available stringent records, we are at least adopting the correct and useful approach as a reawakening strategy to securing food safety. In this perspective, traceability based on a National Identification System is required.
PSoC based isolated speech recognition system

Isolated Speech recognition systems (ISRS) have been implemented using microprocessors, digital signal processors and FPGAs and have been reported in the literature. In this paper, the study and implementation of an ISRS using Cypress Programmable System on Chip (PSoC) is presented. For the implementation, PSoC5 containing the ARM Cortex-M3 CPU is used. Recognition performance is studied using three feature extraction techniques (Zero crossing, Zero crossing with end point detection and Zero crossing with end point detection and Cochlear filter) and minimum distance classifier. The ISRS is trained and tested using 10 utterances of three words. The performance is evaluated for utterances by both single speaker and multiple speaker. From this study, it is found that the system using the Zero crossing with end point detection and Cochlear filter gives the highest recognition accuracy of 80%and 70% respectively for the utterances by single speaker and multiple speakers. Higher recognition accuracy can be obtained using more robust feature extraction and classification techniques at the cost of increase in the computation complexity and storage space. The proposed ISRS has applications in voice operated robots, appliances and access control systems.
Show Me You Care

Linguistic mimicry, the adoption of another’s language patterns, is a subconscious behavior with pro-social benefits. However, some professions advocate its conscious use in empathic communication. This involves mutual mimicry; effective communicators mimic their interlocutors, who also mimic them back. Since mimicry has often been studied in face-to-face contexts, we ask whether individuals with empathic dispositions have unique communication styles and/or elicit mimicry in mediated communication on Facebook. Participants completed Davis’s Interpersonal Reactivity Index and provided access to Facebook activity. We confirm that dispositional empathy is correlated to the use of particular stylistic features. In addition, we identify four empathy profiles and find correlations to writing style. When a linguistic feature is used, this often “triggers” use by friends. However, the presence of particular features, rather than participant disposition, best predicts mimicry. This suggests that machine-human communications could be enhanced based on recently used features, without extensive user profiling.
A Weighted Interpretation for the Super Catalan Numbers

The super Catalan numbers $T(m,n)=(2m)! (2n)! /2m! n! (m+n)! $ are integers which generalize the Catalan numbers. With the exception of a few values of $m$, no combinatorial interpretation in known for $T(m,n)$. We give a weighted interpretation for $T(m,n)$ and develop a technique that converts this weighted interpretation into a conventional combinatorial interpretation in the case $m=2$.
Initial Coparenting Patterns and Postdivorce Parent Education Programming: A Latent Class Analysis

ABSTRACT Many judges now require divorcing or legally separating parents with children under age 18 to attend parent education programs (PEPs). Evaluations of these programs have shown their effectiveness, although these have often not been rigorous. Individuals display different patterns of coparenting following divorce, yet researchers have not empirically assessed participants’ coparenting patterns prior to participation in PEPs. Using data from participants in a PEP class (N = 1,540), we describe participants’ coparenting patterns prior to participating in PEP and consider pre–posttest differences in parenting and coparenting outcomes for each coparenting pattern. Results from this evaluation suggest a need for a more tailored approach to parent education programming and have broader implications for family life education.
The Multidimential Impact of Proportionality: Electoral Districts and Deficit Spending

Why might a democratically elected government choose to run a sustained fiscal deficit in the face of many potential drawbacks? In this paper, I contribute in two important ways to our understanding of the political causes of fiscal outcomes. First, I develop a theoretical argument that democracies with a few large districts will have greater political incentives to provide balanced budgets than democracies with many small districts. Second, I test my theory (and, preliminarily, other theories) with a much broader empirical model than those generally used in the literature. The project helps bring to light the multidimensional impact of electoral proportionality on deficit spending, a theoretical development that has the potential to improve greatly our understanding of policy formation in a variety of areas. It also helps pull developing countries and diverse democratic institutions into a literature that has centered on explaining behavior in wealthy, parliamentary systems. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Raymond Duch and John Jackson for very useful comments on a prior draft of the paper.
Persistence and Learning: Success Factors of Taiwanese Firms in International Markets

A relatively recent trend in international marketing is the rising number of firms from nontriad countries seeking growth and profits from foreign markets. Yet no study has examined the international performance of these firms. How successful have their efforts been? What factors drive their success? The authors examine these questions by building a theory-based conceptual framework that links firm international performance to its antecedents. They test the framework using a sample of 110 Taiwanese firms. The key findings are as follows: (1) The internationalization–performance relationship is characterized by a joint U + N shape, (2) learning capacity is positively associated with international performance, and (3) research and development intensity is not a key driver of performance. Though based on a sample of Taiwanese firms only, these results imply that nontriad firms embarking on internationalization must persist despite early setbacks, must develop their learning capacity, and should not develop extensive research and development capabilities while internationalizing. The authors conclude with a discussion of the reasons for these findings.
Correlates of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Brain–Computer Interface Accuracy in a Multi-Class Personalization Framework

Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) provide individuals with a means of interacting with a computer using only neural activity. To date, the majority of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) BCIs have used prescribed tasks to achieve binary control. The goals of this study were to evaluate the possibility of using a personalized approach to establish control of a two-, three-, four-, and five-class NIRS–BCI, and to explore how various user characteristics correlate to accuracy. Ten able-bodied participants were recruited for five data collection sessions. Participants performed six mental tasks and a personalized approach was used to select each individual’s best discriminating subset of tasks. The average offline cross-validation accuracies achieved were 78, 61, 47, and 37% for the two-, three-, four-, and five-class problems, respectively. Most notably, all participants exceeded an accuracy of 70% for the two-class problem, and two participants exceeded an accuracy of 70% for the three-class problem. Additionally, accuracy was found to be strongly positively correlated (Pearson’s) with perceived ease of session (ρ = 0.653), ease of concentration (ρ = 0.634), and enjoyment (ρ = 0.550), but strongly negatively correlated with verbal IQ (ρ = −0.749).
Sonification of Surface Tapping Changes Behavior, Surface Perception, and Emotion

The audio feedback resulting from object interaction provides information about the material of the surface and about one's own motor behavior. With the current developments in interactive sonification, it's now possible to digitally change this audio feedback, making the use of interactive sonification a compelling approach to shape tactile surface interactions. Here, the authors present a prototype for a sonic interactive surface, capable of delivering surface tapping sounds in real time when triggered by users' taps on a real surface or on an imagined "virtual" surface. In this system, the delivered audio feedback can be varied so that the tapping sounds correspond to different applied strengths during tapping. The authors also propose a multidimensional measurement approach to evaluate user experiences of multimodal interactive systems. They evaluated their system by looking at the effect of the altered tapping sounds on emotional action-related responses, the users' interactions with the surface, and perceived surface hardness. Results show the influence of the sonification of tapping at all levels: emotional, behavioral, and perceptual. These results have implications on the design of interactive sonification displays and tangible auditory interfaces aiming to change perceived and subsequent motor behavior as well as perceived material properties.
Geometric changes after tricuspid annuloplasty and predictors of residual tricuspid regurgitation: a real-time three-dimensional echocardiography study.

AIMS We sought to demonstrate geometric changes in the tricuspid valve (TV) apparatus after tricuspid annuloplasty (TAP) and to identify predictors of residual tricuspid regurgitation (TR) in patients with functional TR using real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE). METHODS AND RESULTS RT3DE and two-dimensional colour Doppler echocardiography were performed in 59 consecutive patients before and 4.7 ± 2.1 days after TAP. The tenting angles of the three leaflets were significantly increased, whereas tenting volume, annulus diameters, and septal-lateral right ventricular inlet dimension decreased after TAP. By multiple stepwise linear regression analysis, tenting volume (P < 0.001) and antero-posterior annulus diameter (P = 0.043) before TAP were major predictors of residual TR assessed using distal jet area. When TR severity was quantified by vena contracta width, tenting volume (P < 0.001) before TAP was the only independent predictor. Pre-TAP tenting volume ≥1.68 mL (sensitivity of 86%, specificity of 73%), and ≥2.30 mL (sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 84%) were the best cut-off values predicting severe residual TR quantified using distal jet area and vena contracta width, respectively. After TAP, tenting volume and pulmonary artery systolic pressure were major determinants of residual TR. CONCLUSION Tenting angles of all three leaflets increase, whereas annulus diameters decrease, after TAP. Pre-TAP tenting volume and antero-posterior annulus diameter measured using RT3DE are independent predictors of residual TR severity, and measurement of these parameters may help to identify patients at high risk for severe residual TR, for whom TV replacement should possibly be initially considered.