Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Some Recent Results on Ranking Webpages and Websites

In this paper we briefly review some of our recent results on the research of the design and analysis of search engine algorithms. The contents include: the limiting behavior of PageRank when the damping factor tends to 1; comparison of the convergence rate of maximal and minimal irreducible Markov chains on the Internet; a new proposal of N -step PageRank algorithm; a new proposal of ranking Websites– AggregateRank Algorithm. As is well known that in recent years Web search engines have been more and more important in modern science and technology, and more and more popular in civil daily life. The design of Web search engines has been becoming a focus of the research on the Web search and mining. One popular aspect is to calculate Static Rank by exploiting the hyperlink structure of the Web. Researchers have made great progress on link analysis models and algorithms since 1998, such as HITS and PageRank ([9, 17]). In nowadays, PageRank has emerged a popular link ∗1Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China; 2Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; 3School of Sciences, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China (Email: ybao@amss.ac.cn, mazm@amt.ac.cn, 05121740@bjtu.edu.cn).
The Development of Social Anxiety in Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders

The present study examined factors contributing to the development of social anxiety in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In particular, the study examined the contribution of social skill deficits and physiological hyperarousal to the development of social anxiety in individuals with ASD. Forty-one adolescents with high-functioning ASD participated in the study. The results of a multiple regression analysis suggest that the proposed model (i.e., the combination of social skills and physiological arousal) is a significant predictor of social anxiety in this sample. A developmental pathways model is proposed that identifies potential predisposing or protective factors that may contribute to the development, protection, or remediation of social anxiety in adolescents with autism.
Disadvantage and Neighborhood Violent Crime: Do Local Institutions Matter?

This article explores whether local institutions matter for controlling neighborhood violence. Disadvantaged neighborhoods have difficulty attracting and maintaining conventional institutions that help control crime. At the same time, institutional settings that are conducive to violence are more prevalent. This article assesses whether certain local institutions provide a mechanism linking economic deprivation and residential instability to criminal violence. Rates of total and individual violent crimes are examined for census tracts in Columbus, Ohio for 1990. The findings show that communities may reduce violent crime somewhat by developing a larger base of certain types of local institutions (e.g., recreation centers) and preventing the encroachment of others (i.e., bars). Still, such institutional mechanisms do not explain why economic deprivation and residential instability are strongly linked to violent crime. This suggests that efforts to substantially reduce violence in local communities must counter the macro-structural forces that increase economic deprivation and lead to innercity decline.
Biosynthesis of Caffeine in Leaves of Coffee

The levels of endogenous caffeine and theobromine were much higher in buds and young leaves of Coffea arabica L. cv Kent than in fully developed leaves. Biosynthesis of caffeine from 14C-labeled adenine, guanine, xanthosine, and theobromine was observed, whereas other studies (H. Ashihara, A.M. Monteiro, T. Moritz, F.M. Gillies, A. Crozier [1996] Planta 198: 334–339) have indicated that there is no detectable incorporation of label into caffeine when theophylline and xanthine are used as substrates for in vivo feeds with leaves of C. arabica. The capacity for caffeine biosynthesis, especially from guanine and xanthosine, was reduced markedly in both fully developed mature and aged leaves. Data obtained in pulse-chase experiments with young leaves indicate the operation of an AMP -> IMP -> xanthosine 5[prime]-monophosphate (or GMP -> guanosine) -> xanthosine -> 7-methylxanthosine -> 7-methylxanthine -> theobromine -> caffeine pathway. The data obtained provide strong evidence against proposals by G.M. Nazario and C.J. Lovatt ([1993] Plant Physiol 103: 1203–1210) concerning the independence of caffeine and theobromine biosynthesis pathways and the role of xanthine as a key intermediate in caffeine biosynthesis.
Lossless Astronomical Image Compression and the Effects of Noise

We compare a variety of lossless image compression methods on a large sample of astronomical images and show how the compression ratios and speeds of the algorithms are affected by the amount of noise (that is, entropy) in the images. In the ideal case where the image pixel values have a random Gaussian distribution, the equivalent number of uncompressible noise bits per pixel is given by N bits = log 2 ( σ 12 ) and the lossless compression ratio is given by R = BITPIX / ( N bits + K ) where BITPIX is the bit length of the pixel values (typically 16 or 32), and K is a measure of the efficiency of the compression algorithm. We show that real astronomical CCD images also closely follow these same relations, by using a robust algorithm for measuring the equivalent number of noise bits from the dispersion of the pixel values in background regions of the image. We perform image compression tests on a large sample of 16-bit integer astronomical CCD images using the GZIP compression program and using a newer FITS tiled-image compression method that currently supports four compression algorithms: Rice, Hcompress, PLIO, and the same Lempel-Ziv algorithm that is used by GZIP. Overall, the Rice compression algorithm strikes the best balance of compression and computational efficiency; it is 2–3 times faster and produces about 1.4 times greater compression than GZIP (the uncompression speeds are about the same). The Rice algorithm has a measured K value of 1.2 bits pixel-1, and thus produces 75%–90% (depending on the amount of noise in the image) as much compression as an ideal algorithm with K = 0. Hcompress produces slightly better compression but at the expense of three times more CPU time than Rice. Compression tests on a sample of 32-bit integer images show similar results, but the relative speed and compression ratio advantage of Rice over GZIP is even greater. We also briefly discuss a technique for compressing floating point images that converts the pixel values to scaled integers. The image compression and uncompression utility programs used in this study (called fpack and funpack) are publicly available from the HEASARC web site. A simple command-line interface may be used to compress or uncompress any FITS image file.
Social Power, Social Status and Perceptual Similarity of Workplace Victimization: A Social Network Analysis of Stratification

This article develops and tests a comprehensive social structural model of social power and status effects on victimization in organizations. Victimization focuses on the extent to which individuals perceive themselves to be the target of negative or aggressive behaviors by others. The conceptual framework elucidates how formal and informal status differences associated with access to social powers in three different social networks are related to victimization perceptions. Using dyads as the unit of analysis in a sample of government employees, we find that asymmetric relationships between two actors in the friendship and advice networks, and structural equivalence in the advice and dislike networks are associated with perceptual agreement. The results suggest that stratification in a social system may create the context in which victimization thrives because it affects access to informal forms of social power.
Explaining Age and Gender Effects on Attitudes toward Sexist Language

This study examined perspective taking, empathic concern, and attitude toward women as potential mediators of age and gender effects on college students’ attitudes toward sexist language. Perspective taking fully mediated the small age effect found in men. Attitude toward women partially mediated the gender effect, reducing it by 51%. Empathic concern mediated neither age nor gender effects.
SURVIVOR AND OTHER REALITY

of Thesis vi Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Literature Review 6 Introduction 6 Uses and Gratifications Perspective 6 Early History of Media Gratification 7 Development of Uses and Gratifications Theory 9 Extensions into Uses and Gratifications 10 Summary of Uses and Gratifications Theory 12 Television Popularity and the Audience 12 A Historical Review of the Television Genre 13 Reality TV: The Genre of Today 15 Reality TV: A Brief History 16 Understanding Reality Television Popularity 17 The Sub-Genres of Reality Television 20 Summary of the Television-Viewer Relationship 22 Chapter Three: Identifying Survivor as a Reality Icon 23 Introduction 23 The Survivor Gameplan 24 Motive One: Serial Format 25 Motive Two: Quality 27 Motive Three: Entertainment 28 Motive Four: Arousal 31 Motive Five: Sexual Interaction 31 Summary of Survivor’s Popularity 34 Restatement of Research Questions 34
Peacekeeping and the Constraints of Global Culture

Why do peacekeeping agencies, such as the United Nations, pursue certain strategies and not others? Most accounts suggest that peace-keeping mandates reflect the interests of major parties, along with perceptions of how effectively certain strategies will accomplish the goals of peacekeeping. This article argues that another factor — the international normative environment, sometimes called `global culture' — also shapes the design of peacekeeping operations in fundamental ways. Peacekeeping agencies seem predisposed to adopt strategies that conform with global culture, and to reject strategies that they view as normatively inappropriate, even if the rejected strategies are potentially more likely to accomplish the goals of peacekeeping. Changes in the international norms have been accompanied by corresponding shifts in peacekeeping policy; and UN officials have summarily rejected certain proposals for more effective peacekeeping, including the idea of establishing a new trusteeship system, on largely normative grounds. These observations suggest that global culture limits the range of possible policies that peacekeepers can realistically pursue.
The Creative Process in Virtual Teams

This study explored the creative process in virtual teams, groups of geographically dispersed organizational members who carry out the majority of their activities through information technology. Using a naturalistic paradigm, the study specifically investigated (a) how the creative process evolves in virtual teams, and (b) how virtual teams communicate while producing creative work. Through maximum variation sampling, 36 individuals from 9 teams were selected. One semistructured telephone interview was conducted with each participant. Team members also completed a background survey. Grounded theorizing was used to generate an in-depth understanding of the phenomena under investigation. Four stages of the creative process emerged-idea generation, development, finalization/closure, and evaluation. Communication methods specific to each stage are discussed. Three work design approaches used during the creative process emerged-the wheel, modular, and iterative approaches. Implications and areas of future research are addressed.
How the United States justified its war on terrorism: prime morality and the construction of a ‘just war’

Just war theory has a long established reputation in the social sciences for evaluating the morality of the military actions of states. However, this analysis has rested upon assumptions of territorial sovereignty and the equal rights of states. The actions of hegemonic powers violate these twin assumptions through their expression of extra‐territorial reach. To avoid charges of immoral behaviour hegemonic powers must use the just war rhetoric of territoriality to justify their extra‐territorial acts. A world‐systems theory conceptualisation of hegemony allows for an interpretation of hegemonic military actions as the defence of a universal prime modernity. Prime modernity refers to an ideal organization of society projected by the hegemonic power as a form of integrative power. For the hegemonic power, threat is perceived as a rejection of the prime modernity anywhere rather than the language of border violations that dominates the foundations of just war theory. Using the language embedded in government and non‐government documents justifying the War on Terrorism, the manner in which a hegemonic power constructed military extra‐territoriality in a system of sovereign states as just is examined. The development of a ‘prime morality’ allowed the hegemonic power to claim that it was operating at the scales of the individual and ‘humankind’ rather than inter‐state power politics. The analysis challenges the implicit geographic assumptions of just war theory and extends our understanding of the imperatives underlying the hegemonic power's construction of its military actions as morally right.
CD4+FoxP3+ Regulatory T Cells from Gαi2−/− Mice Are Functionally Active In Vitro, but Do Not Prevent Colitis

Background Mice deficient in the inhibitory G protein subunit Gαi2 spontaneously develop a T helper 1 dominated colitis. We examined whether a defect in CD4+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells (Treg) underpins the pathogenesis of colitis in the Gαi2−/− (Gαi2-deficient) colitis model. Methodology/Principal Findings Using flow cytometry, we found that thymus and colonic lamina propria, but not spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes, of colitic Gαi2−/− mice contained increased frequencies of Treg, whereas FoxP3 expression intensity was similar in Gαi2−/− compared to Gαi2+/− or Gαi2+/+ wild type (WT) mice. The frequency of CD4+FoxP3+ T cells expressing CD103 was significantly increased in Gαi2−/− compared to WT mice. Treg in colons from WT mice clustered in the T cell areas of colonic lymphoid patches (CLP), with relatively few Treg in the lamina propria, as demonstrated by immunohistochemistry. In Gαi2−/− mice, CLP were not observed but lamina propria Treg were increased in number and frequency within the CD4+ infiltrate, compared to WT mice. Using an in vitro co-culture system and flow cytometric analysis of cell division we could demonstrate that the in vitro suppressive function of WT and Gαi2−/− CD4+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells (WT-Treg and KO-Treg) was indistinguishable, but that T effector cells (CD4+25− T cells) from Gαi2−/− mice were less readily suppressed than WT effectors (WT-Teff) by Treg from either source. However, neither WT nor Gαi2−/− Treg was able to suppress colitis induced by adoptive transfer of Gαi2−/− effector T cells (KO-Teff) to RAG2−/− recipients. The enhanced inflammatory activity of Gαi2−/− effectors was accompanied by increased expression of an effector/memory T cell phenotype and increased cytokine secretion, especially IL-4, IL-6 and IFN-γ. Conclusions There is an increased frequency of Gαi2−/− Treg in the colon, and they demonstrate no endogenous functional defect. However, Gαi2−/− T effector cells are dramatically less susceptible to suppression in vitro, and in vivo, despite increased effective numbers of Treg, they cannot prevent disease.
Psychometric Comparison of Self- and Informant-Reports of Personality

Self-reports are the most relied on assessment method in psychology. In the area of personality, informant-reports are a reasonable alternative assessment strategy. However, agreement between self- and informant-reports of personality is only moderately good. A portion of the observed discrepancies between self- and informant-reports of personality may come from differences in psychometric measurement across raters. That is, it is unknown whether the constructs assessed via self- and informant-reports are psychometrically identical. We examined four key personality scales—Well-Being, Social Closeness, Stress Reaction, and Harm Avoidance—in male and female dyads who provided self- and informant-reports for their partner. Similarities in self- and informant-reports of personality were evaluated by testing measurement invariance. Overall, models supported configural, metric, and scalar invariance for each of the four personality dimensions. These results suggest that the same psychometric constructs are assessed via self- and informant-reports of these personality dimensions. Informant-reports can be used in studies to avoid biases from relying solely on self-reports.
Single‐marker identification of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cancer stem cells with aldehyde dehydrogenase

In accord with the cancer stem cell (CSC) theory, only a small subset of cancer cells are capable of forming tumors. We previously reported that CD44 isolates tumorigenic cells from head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC). Recent studies indicate that aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity may represent a more specific marker of CSCs.
Parental Participation: Essential Partners in Guidance

The relationship between parents and schools has in recent years been a controversial and contradictory one. Here Barrie Irving discusses one dimension that impinges on this relationship—vocational guidance—and how interactions between teachers and parents could be made more productive, particularly from the perspective of parents. Having suggested that often the interchange of information and ideas is limited by the attitudes and perceived interests of both schools and parents, Irving goes on to focus on a particular issue, the fact that although parents are given information about their children, they are rarely if ever given the means to develop on this.
Identifying Vulnerability Markers for Pathological Internet Use and Pathological Video-Game Playing within an Educational Context

Information Communication Technology (ICT) is established within the education systems of most of the industrialized world, across the curriculum and across all ages. Learners, especially younger cohorts, are highly motivated to use ICT within their learning due to their familiarity with technology. However, before integrating any technology into students' learning experience, educators must ask themselves what are the expected outcomes of using such technology? Educators must also be aware that there exists a minority of individuals who are vulnerable to developing addictions toward various technologies and that usage of technology within the classroom may exacerbate this addiction. This article reviews the literature investigating the efficacy of using technology within the classroom. It also provides a review of research investigating addiction to technology with a special focus on vulnerability markers, so that those who are vulnerable can be identified. Finally, the article makes some recommendations to educators who wish to incorporate ICT within their classes.
A problem-solving perspective on governance and product design in open source software projects: Conceptual issues and exploratory evidence

Previous research shows that organization architecture relates to the architecture of a product under development, and recent studies compare proprietary versus open source software (OSS) as examples of integrated and distributed forms of software development, respectively. This study goes a step further to investigate the correspondence of organization and product architectures by comparing single-vendor with community OSS. Using a problem-solving perspective, the authors seek to explain when and why vendor firms use a community to solve their problems. Furthermore, the combination of literature-based insights with field interviews supports an exploration of the assumption that single-vendor OSS exhibits a less modular product architecture than community OSS. With design structure matrices, this study analyzes differences in software code architecture and specifies the studied relationship.
Laboratory Markers Indicating Gastrointestinal Involvement of Henoch-Schönlein Purpura in Children

Purpose To determine clinically useful biochemical markers reflecting disease activity and/or gastrointestinal (GI) tract involvement in Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP). Methods A total of 185 children with HSP and 130 controls were included. Laboratory data indicating inflammation, standard coagulation, and activated coagulation were analyzed for the HSP patients, including measurements of the hemoglobin level, white blood cell (WBC) count, absolute neutrophil count (ANC), platelet count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) level, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, and fibrinogen, D-dimer, and fibrin degradation product (FDP) levels. The clinical scores of the skin, joints, abdomen, and kidneys were assessed during the acute and convalescence phases of HSP. Results The WBC count, ANC, ESR, and CRP, fibrinogen, D-dimer, and FDP levels were significantly higher in the acute phase compared with the convalescent phase of HSP (p<0.05). The total clinical scores were more strongly correlated with the D-dimer (r=0.371, p<0.001) and FDP (r=0.369, p<0.001) levels than with inflammatory markers, such as the WBC count (r=0.241, p=0.001), ANC (r=0.261, p<0.001), and CRP (r=0.260, p<0.001) levels. The patients with GI symptoms had significantly higher ANC (median [interquartile range], 7,138.0 [4,446.4-9,470.0] vs. 5,534.1 [3,263.0-8,153.5], p<0.05) and CRP (0.49 [0.15-1.38] vs. 0.23 [0.01-0.67], p<0.05), D-dimer (2.63 [1.20-4.09] vs. 1.75 [0.62-3.39]), and FDP (7.10 [0.01-13.65] vs. 0.10 [0.01-7.90], p<0.05) levels than those without GI symptoms. Conclusion D-dimer and FDPs are more strongly associated with disease activity and more consistently reflect GI involvement than inflammatory markers during the acute phase of HSP.
Cross-Cultural Validation of the Beck Depression Inventory–II Across U.S. and Turkish Samples

The purpose of this study was to test the Beck Depression Inventory—II (BDI-II) for factorial invariance across Turkish and U.S. college student samples. The results indicated that (a) a two-factor model has an adequate fit for both samples, thus providing evidence of configural invariance, and (b) there is a metric invariance but no sufficient evidence of scalar invariance across the two groups of students. Testing for differential item functioning (DIF) was also conducted to further investigate the measurement variance of the BDI-II at the item level. Large DIF values were found for 12 items of the BDI-II.
Flogging a dead norm? Newspaper coverage of anthropogenic climate change in the United States and United Kingdom from 2003 to 2006

The journalistic norm of ‘balanced’ reporting (giving roughly equal coverage to both sides in any significant dispute) is recognised as both useful and problematic in communicating emerging scientific consensus on human attribution for global climate change. Analysis of the practice of this norm in United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) newspaper coverage of climate science between 2003 and 2006 shows a significant divergence from scientific consensus in the US in 2003–4, followed by a decline in 2005–6, but no major divergence in UK reporting. These findings inform ongoing considerations about the spatially-differentiated media terms and conditions through which current and future climate policy is negotiated and implemented.