Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Importance of Bequest Motives: Evidence from Long-term Care Insurance and the Pattern of Saving∗

Many households spend their wealth slowly during retirement, holding much of their wealth into old age. Determining why they do so is made difficult by a fundamental identification problem: retirees’ saving decisions reflect the combined strength of precautionary and bequest motives. Given the substantial medical spending and mortality risks that retirees face, savings are spent primarily on precautionary needs in some states and on bequests in others. In this paper, I use people’s decisions about whether to buy long-term care insurance and the pattern of saving across the wealth distribution to separately identify precautionary and bequest motives. Estimations based on the Method of Simulated Moments identify modest precautionary motives and widespread, important bequest motives. The estimates imply that among 65–69-year-old single retirees in the U.S., bequest motives increase ∗I thank Gadi Barlevy, Marco Bassetto, Gary Becker, Jeffrey Brown, Mariacristina De Nardi, Amy Finkelstein, Eric French, Lars Hansen, Erik Hurst, Ralph Koijen, David Laibson, Robin Lumsdaine, Casey Mulligan, Kevin Murphy, Emily Oster, Derek Neal, Svetlana Pashchenko, Jonathan Skinner, and seminar participants at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the NBER Summer Institute, and the University of Chicago for helpful comments. I am grateful to the National Institute on Aging for financial support (training grant 5T32-AG00243 and grant T32-AG000186).
Brief training for care staff who work with people with an intellectual disability and challenging behaviour

There is a paucity of research on brief training for care staff who work with people with an intellectual disability and challenging behaviour. The effects of an organisational culture on gains care staff make and retain when they attend training has also not been researched. A longitudinal design was used to assess a one-day training on staff attributions and attitudes. Questionnaires were administered across four time points (one week prior to training, immediately before and after training and at two months follow-up). Pre and post data was collected for 65 staff and four time point data for 37 staff. An organisational questionnaire was also administered to assess if changes in attributions and attitudes related to ratings of organisational culture. Significant changes in staff attitudes were recorded. This remained at two month follow-up. Staff attributions of controllability were also reduced following training. No associations were found between changes in attitude and attributions scores either immediately after training or at follow-up and ratings of organisational culture. Further research is required into staff training.
Acute Alcohol Consumption and Secondary Psychopathic Traits Increase Ratings of the Attractiveness and Health of Ethnic Ingroup Faces but Not Outgroup Faces

Studies have consistently shown that both consumption of acute amounts of alcohol and elevated antisocial psychopathic traits are associated with an impaired ability for prepotent response inhibition. This may manifest as a reduced ability to inhibit prepotent race biased responses. Here, we tested the effects of acute alcohol consumption, and elevated antisocial psychopathic traits, on judgments of the attractiveness and health of ethnic ingroup and outgroup faces. In the first study, we show that following acute alcohol consumption, at a dose that is sufficient to result in impaired performance on tests of executive function, Caucasian participants judged White faces to be more attractive and healthier compared to when sober. However, this effect did not extend to Black faces. A similar effect was found in a second study involving sober Caucasian participants where secondary psychopathic traits were related to an intergroup bias in the ratings of attractiveness for White versus Black faces. These results are discussed in terms of a model which postulates that poor prefrontal functioning leads to increases in ingroup liking as a result of impaired abilities for prepotent response inhibition.
Critical behavior in spallation failure of metals

Using molecular dynamics with an accurate many-body potential, we studied the rapid expansion of Ta metal following the high compression ~50 to 100 GPa! induced by high velocity (2 to 4 km/s! impact. We find that catastrophic failure in this system coincides with a critical behavior characterized by a void distribution of the form N(v)}V 2t , with t;2.2. This corresponds to a threshold in which percolation of the voids results in tensile failure. We define an order parameter (f, the ratio of the volume of the largest void to the total void volume! which changes rapidly from ; 0t o;1 when the metal fails and scales with as f}(r2r c) b with exponent b;0.4, where r is the total void fraction. We found similar behavior for FCC Ni suggesting that this critical behavior is a universal characteristic for failure of solids in rapid expansion. Despite much progress in characterizing and analyzing the mechanical processes controlling the strength of materials, there are still many uncertainties regarding the dynamic failure of metals, particularly for the atomistic phenomena underlying macroscopic failure. To study such process at the atomistic level, we developed a first principles-based force field ~FF! for Ta. We then applied this FF to examine dynamic failure using a high velocity plate colliding with a static target. Upon impact compressive waves travel both into the target and projectile. When these waves reach the free surfaces they reflect, becoming tensile, and propagate back into the material. When the two tensile waves meet, the material is subjected to a high tension, and for sufficiently high impact velocity the material will fail dynamically. This process, known as spallation, leads to failure of the material through formation, growth, and coalescence of microvoids or cracks.
Semantics, Syntax or Neither? A Case for Resolution in the Interpretation of N500 and P600 Responses to Harmonic Incongruities

The processing of notes and chords which are harmonically incongruous with their context has been shown to elicit two distinct late ERP effects. These effects strongly resemble two effects associated with the processing of linguistic incongruities: a P600, resembling a typical response to syntactic incongruities in language, and an N500, evocative of the N400, which is typically elicited in response to semantic incongruities in language. Despite the robustness of these two patterns in the musical incongruity literature, no consensus has yet been reached as to the reasons for the existence of two distinct responses to harmonic incongruities. This study was the first to use behavioural and ERP data to test two possible explanations for the existence of these two patterns: the musicianship of listeners, and the resolved or unresolved nature of the harmonic incongruities. Results showed that harmonically incongruous notes and chords elicited a late positivity similar to the P600 when they were embedded within sequences which started and ended in the same key (harmonically resolved). The notes and chords which indicated that there would be no return to the original key (leaving the piece harmonically unresolved) were associated with a further P600 in musicians, but with a negativity resembling the N500 in non-musicians. We suggest that the late positivity reflects the conscious perception of a specific element as being incongruous with its context and the efforts of musicians to integrate the harmonic incongruity into its local context as a result of their analytic listening style, while the late negativity reflects the detection of the absence of resolution in non-musicians as a result of their holistic listening style.
Examining memory organization for an instance of a repeated event: The effects of retrieval cues on recognition in a reaction time paradigm

Research into repeat event memory in children is mixed as to whether one particular experience is retrievable in memory. While the application of script theory predictions would suggest an inability to keep memory for particular instances together, fuzzy trace theory (FTT) would advocate the continued separation of memory traces representing each instance. These two theoretical conceptions led to divergent predictions in terms of the pattern of children's memory errors and the organization of variable details. Part 1 of the present research investigated the pattern of children's memory errors to determine whether children intrude from one particular dominant non-target instance, consistent with FTT, or randomly across all non-target instances, consistent with script theory. Part 2 examined the organization of details that varied across repeated stories using a computerized recognition memory task that cued responses based on detail categories or stories. Overall, results support a script theory conception of event memory in children.
Large‐margin classification with multiple decision rules

Binary classification is a common statistical learning problem in which a model is estimated on a set of covariates for some outcome, indicating the membership of one of two classes. In the literature, there exists a distinction between hard and soft classification. In soft classification, the conditional class probability is modeled as a function of the covariates. In contrast, hard classification methods only target the optimal prediction boundary. While hard and soft classification methods have been studied extensively, not much work has been performed to compare the actual tasks of hard and soft classification. In this paper, we propose a spectrum of statistical learning problems that span the hard and soft classification tasks based on fitting multiple decision rules to the data. By doing so, we reveal a novel collection of learning tasks of increasing complexity. We study the problems using the framework of large‐margin classifiers and a class of piecewise linear convex surrogates, for which we derive statistical properties and a corresponding sub‐gradient descent algorithm. We conclude by applying our approach to simulation settings and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dataset from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) study.
Regulation of Egr-1, VIP, and Shh mRNA and Egr-1 protein in the mouse retina by light and image quality.

PURPOSE To analyze mRNA expression changes of Egr-1, VIP, and Shh under different light and treatment conditions in mice. The mRNA expression levels of the three genes and additionally the Egr-1 protein expression were compared in form deprived eyes and eyes with normal vision. Moreover, the influence of dark to light and light to dark transitions and of changes in retinal illumination on mRNA levels was investigated. METHODS Form deprivation of mice was induced by fitting frosted diffusers over one eye and an attentuation matched neutral density (ND) filter over the other eye. To measure the effects of retinal illumination changes on mRNA expression, animals were bilaterally fitted with different ND filters. Semiquantitative real-time RT-PCR was used to measure the mRNA levels and immunohistochemistry was applied to localize and detect Egr-1 protein. RESULTS The expression levels of both Egr-1 mRNA and protein were reduced in form deprived eyes compared to their fellow eyes after 30 min and 1 h, respectively. Egr-1 mRNA was strikingly upregulated both after dark to light and light to dark transitions, whereas minor changes in retinal illumination by covering the eyes with neutral density filters did not alter Egr-1 mRNA expression. In mice, the mRNA levels of VIP and Shh were not affected by form deprivation, but they were found to be regulated depending on the time of day. CONCLUSIONS Both Egr-1 mRNA and protein expression levels were strongly regulated by light, especially by transitions between light and darkness. Image contrast may exert an additional influence on mRNA and protein expression of Egr-1, particularly in the cells in the ganglion cell layer and in bipolar cells.
Characterization of infectious laryngotracheitis virus isolates from the US by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism of multiple genome regions

Infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) is an acute viral respiratory disease, primarily of chickens. Economic losses attributable to ILT affect many poultry-producing areas throughout the United States (US) and the world. Despite efforts to control the disease by vaccination, prolonged epidemics of ILT remain a threat to the poultry industry. Earlier epidemiological and molecular evidence indicated that outbreaks in the US are caused by vaccine-related strains. In this study, polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) of four genome regions was utilized to characterize 25 isolates from commercial poultry and backyard flocks from the US. Combinations of PCR-RFLP patterns classified the ILT virus isolates into nine groups. Backyard flock isolates were categorized in three separate groups. The ILT virus US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reference strain and the tissue culture origin (TCO) vaccine strain were categorized into two separate groups. Twenty-two isolates from commercial poultry were categorized into four groups: one group, of six isolates, showed patterns identical to the chicken embryo origin (CEO) vaccines; a second group, of nine isolates, differed in only one pattern from the CEO vaccines; a third group, of two isolates, differed in only one pattern from the TCO vaccine; a fourth group, of five isolates, differed in six and nine patterns from the CEO and TCO vaccines, respectively. Results obtained from this study clearly demonstrated that most of the commercial poultry isolates (17 of 22 isolates) were closely related to the vaccine strains. However, isolates different to the vaccine strains were also identified in commercial poultry.
Identification of Sequences in Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 ICP22 That Influence RNA Polymerase II Modification and Viral Late Gene Expression

ABSTRACT Previous studies have shown that the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) immediate-early protein ICP22 alters the phosphorylation of the host cell RNA polymerase II (Pol II) during viral infection. In this study, we have engineered several ICP22 plasmid and virus mutants in order to map the ICP22 sequences that are involved in this function. We identify a region in the C-terminal half of ICP22 (residues 240 to 340) that is critical for Pol II modification and further show that the N-terminal half of the protein (residues 1 to 239) is not required. However, immunofluorescence analysis indicates that the N-terminal half of ICP22 is needed for its localization to nuclear body structures. These results demonstrate that ICP22's effects on Pol II do not require that it accumulate in nuclear bodies. As ICP22 is known to enhance viral late gene expression during infection of certain cultured cells, including human embryonic lung (HEL) cells, we used our engineered viral mutants to map this function of ICP22. It was found that mutations in both the N- and C-terminal halves of ICP22 result in similar defects in viral late gene expression and growth in HEL cells, despite having distinctly different effects on Pol II. Thus, our results genetically uncouple ICP22's effects on Pol II from its effects on viral late gene expression. This suggests that these two functions of ICP22 may be due to distinct activities of the protein.
Knowledge-enabled customer relationship management: integrating customer relationship management and knowledge management concepts[1]

The concepts of customer relationship management (CRM) and knowledge management (KM) both focus on allocating resources to supportive business activities in order to gain competitive advantages. CRM focuses on managing the relationship between a company and its current and prospective customer base as a key to success, while KM recognizes the knowledge available to a company as a major success factor. From a business process manager’s perspective both the CRM and KM approaches promise a positive impact on cost structures and revenue streams in return for the allocation of resources. However, investments in CRM and KM projects are not without risk, as demonstrated by many failed projects. In this paper we show that the benefit of using CRM and KM can be enhanced and the risk of failure reduced by integrating both approaches into a customer knowledge management (CKM) model. In this regard, managing relationships requires managing customer knowledge – knowledge about as well as from and for customers. In CKM, KM plays the role of a service provider, managing the four knowledge aspects: content, competence, collaboration and composition. Our findings are based on a literature analysis and six years of action research, supplemented by case studies and surveys.
Educators' Attitudes Toward Persons with Disabilities: Factors Affecting Inclusion

The purpose of this study is to explore Jordanian teachers' and administrators' attitudes, both male and female, toward persons with disabilities and toward inclusion of students with disabilities in the regular education classrooms. Before the implementation of any special education programs for students with disabilities within the public schools, it is important to determine the attitudes of educators and administrators towards persons with disabilities. The study uses a demographic survey, the Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons (ATDP) scale and the Mainstreaming Attitude Scale (MAS) to assess the attitudes of Jordanian educators and administrators towards persons with disabilities. The findings of this study show that educators' attitudes towards persons with disabilities in general were negative. Educators also showed that they were more accepting of students with learning disabilities and least accepting of students with mental retardation. Also the findings revealed that educators', in general, had a negative attitude towards including students with disabilities in the regular education classroom.
A cost construction via MSW and linear regression for stereo matching

This paper proposes a new cost construction method with multiscale Weber (MSW) descriptor and weighted linear regression for robust stereo matching in a two-layer hierarchical structure. Firstly, the MSW descriptors extracted from stereo pairs are utilized to combined raw matching costs to reduce the disparity search range. Secondly, the indispensable matching costs on the subsets of disparity candidates are aggregated by spatial moving discrete sampling and weighted least square. The proposed cost technique can provide an effective and efficient way to reflect robust visual dissimilarity measure for local stereo approach. Experimental results on the Middlebury benchmark datasets demonstrate the validity of this cost construction which can eliminate effectively the ambiguity of stereo matching.
Cytokines as Early Markers of Colorectal Anastomotic Leakage: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose. Colorectal anastomotic leakage (CAL) is one of the most severe complications after colorectal surgery. This meta-analysis evaluates whether systemic or peritoneal inflammatory cytokines may contribute to early detection of CAL. Methods. Systematic literature search was performed in the acknowledged medical databases according to the PRISMA guidelines to identify studies evaluating systemic and peritoneal levels of TNF, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-10 for early detection of CAL. Means and standard deviations of systemic and peritoneal cytokine levels were extracted, respectively, for patients with and without CAL. The meta-analysis of the mean differences was carried out for each postoperative day using Review Manager. Results. Seven articles were included. The meta-analysis was performed with 5 articles evaluating peritoneal cytokine levels. Peritoneal levels of IL-6 were significantly higher in patients with CAL compared to patients without CAL on postoperative days 1, 2, and 3 (P < 0.05). Similar results were found for peritoneal levels of TNF but on postoperative days 3, 4, and 5 (P < 0.05). The articles regarding systemic cytokine levels did not report any significant difference accordingly. Conclusion. Increased postoperative levels of peritoneal IL-6 and TNF are significantly associated with CAL and may contribute to its early detection.
Chromosomal abnormalities define clonal proliferation in CD3‐ large granular lymphocyte leukemia

Six patients with lymphoproliferative disorder of large granular lymphocytes (LDGL) were studied for chromosomal abnormalities. When the patients were divided into two groups depending on the expression of a mature antigen of T cell lineage, CD3, two with CD3 + phenotype had a stable disease, whereas three of the four patients with CD3‐ phenotype had marked hepatosplenomegaly and a highly aggressive disease. Chromosomal abnormalities were detected in four of six patients, indicating a clonal proliferation of large granular lymphocytes in individual patients. In particular, chromosomal abnormalities were found in three of the four patients with CD3‐ LDGL. all of which had a germ‐line configuration of the T cell receptor beta‐chain gene. Thus, the chromosomal abnormalities provide definitive evidence for the clonal origin of the expanded cells in the CD3‐LDGL.
Nonparametric Blind Super-resolution

Super resolution (SR) algorithms typically assume that the blur kernel is known (either the Point Spread Function 'PSF' of the camera, or some default low-pass filter, e.g. a Gaussian). However, the performance of SR methods significantly deteriorates when the assumed blur kernel deviates from the true one. We propose a general framework for "blind" super resolution. In particular, we show that: (i) Unlike the common belief, the PSF of the camera is the wrong blur kernel to use in SR algorithms. (ii) We show how the correct SR blur kernel can be recovered directly from the low-resolution image. This is done by exploiting the inherent recurrence property of small natural image patches (either internally within the same image, or externally in a collection of other natural images). In particular, we show that recurrence of small patches across scales of the low-res image (which forms the basis for single-image SR), can also be used for estimating the optimal blur kernel. This leads to significant improvement in SR results.
Series connection of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs)

In power electronics applications, high voltage switches are realised by connecting existing devices in series. The main problem of unequal sharing of voltage across the series connected devices can be minimised by using active gate control techniques, snubber circuits and clamping circuits. The aim of this paper is to investigate the available voltage balancing techniques in series connection of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and to describe a hybrid voltage balancing method which is used to equalise the voltage sharing in series connected IGBTs during both switching transients and steady state. This technique consists of both active gate control circuit and small passive snubber. The active gate control circuit is very simple and passive snubber is optimised to have low power losses. Passive snubber was optimised for different operating voltages and currents. The proposed technique was simulated for two 1 kV/50 A IGBTs in series and the results show good voltage balancing