Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
"In General" vs. "It Depends": Some Comments of the Gergen-Schlenker Debate

This is the Cybernetics and Stuff That covered Chaotic Confusion and Bluff That hung on the Turn of a Plausible Phrase And Thickened the Erudite Verbal Haze Cloaking Constant K That saved the Summary Based on the Mummery Hiding the Flaw That lay in the theory Jack built. (Winsor & Parry, 1958, Poem 30)
Static and Dynamic Components in the Vascular Myogenic Response to Passive Changes in Length as Revealed by Electrical and Mechanical Recordings from the Rat Portal Vein

The effects of static and dynamic passive stretch and shortening on electrical activity and active force were analyzed in the isolated rat portal vein. Static stretch by 40% of muscle length evoked moderate excitatory effects with enhanced mechanical activity and an average increase in spike discharge of 12% above the control value of 55 ± 2.6 spikes/min. The dynamic responses studied at various rates of length change (dL/dt) over the range between −12 and +12 mm/min, i.e., −3 and +3% muscle length/sec, were much more pronounced. Active force and spike activity showed graded increases with increasing rates of stretch. The electrical activity reached a value of 180 spikes/min (≈ 325% of control) at 5 mm/min; this frequency was then maintained for stretch rates up to 12 mm/min. Mechanical activity during stretch was further reinforced by the shift along the length-tension diagram. Passive shortening at rates from −1 to −12 mm/min caused graded decreases in mechanical and electrical activity below the control levels, complete inhibition being observed at the latter dL/dt. Blockade of a and β receptors indicated that the responses were myogenic in nature. The findings seem to provide direct support for the myogenic hypothesis of vascular tone and responses to stretch of the vascular wall, but they indicate that emphasis should be placed on the dynamic characteristics of the stimulus rather than its static nature. This emphasis constitutes a new concept in the myogenic control of the peripheral circulation.
Toxicity identification evaluation of anaerobically treated swine slurry: A comparison between Daphnia magna and Raphanus sativus

Anaerobic digestion does not efficiently reduce ionic compounds present in swine slurry, which could present a potential risk to aquatic ecosystems (surface runoff) and terrestrial ambient (irrigation). The objective of this study was to evaluate the ecotoxicological characteristics of anaerobically treated swine slurry using acute and chronic (epicotyl elongation) toxicity tests with Daphnia magna and Raphanus sativus and identification of suspected toxic compounds using the Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) method. The evaluation was performed in three phases: physicochemical characterization of the slurry; acute/chronic toxicity testing with Daphnia magna and Raphanus sativus for each fraction of the TIE (cation and anion exchange columns, activated carbon, pH modification/aeration and EDTA) and identification of suspected toxic compounds. The anaerobically treated slurry contained concentrations of ammonium of 1,072 mg L−1, chloride of 815 mg L−1 and metals below 1 mg L−1 with a D. magna acute toxicity (48h-LC50) of 5.3% and R. sativus acute toxicity (144h-LC50) of 48.1%. Epicotyl elongation of R. sativus was inhibited at concentrations above 25% (NOEC). The cation exchange reduced the toxicity and free ammonia by more than 90% for both bio-indicators. Moreover, this condition stimulated the epicotyl growth of R. sativus between 10% and 37%. In conclusion, the main compound suspected of causing acute toxicity in D. magna and acute/chronic toxicity in R. sativus is the ammonium. The findings suggest the need the ammonium treatment prior to the agricultural reuse of swine slurry given the high risk to contaminate the aquatic environment by runoff and toxicity of sensitive plants.
Modelling CAP decoupling in the EU : a comparison of selected simulation models and results

This article reviews ways of representing the effects of decoupling in the European Union (EU) on land allocation and production in eight selected simulation models (AGLINK, AG-MEMOD, CAPRI, CAPSIM, ESIM, FAPRI, GOAL and GTAP). It then compares the simulated effects of decoupling and traces them back to the model specifications and parameter assumptions. In particular, roughage is not included in most models, so that changes in ruminant production are not necessarily consistent with the changes in fodder area. Models also differ in the extent to which they reflect the substitution possibilities in ruminant feeds. Notwithstanding the considerable differences in model types and specifications, all the studies considered here predict that as a result of decoupling, areas allocated to cereals (and silage maize) and beef and sheep production in the EU-15 will decline, while fodder area will increase. Differences in the projections about pasture, oilseed and set-aside areas can be attributed to different model or scenario specifications. The most important factor affecting the results is the extent to which the models assume that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2003 Reform (regarding Single Farm Payments) involves a substantial decoupling of support compared with the baseline (Agenda 2000) policy.
Increased Length of Awareness of Assisted Reproductive Technologies Fosters Positive Attitudes and Acceptance among Women

Background The field of infertility medicine has witnessed a surge of scientific developments in recent years, but research on public attitudes towards infertility treatments has remained minimal. This study examined the social and demographic factors that affect women’s attitudes towards assisted reproductive technology (ART) in general, as well as their opinions of specific issues related to ART. Materials and Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2011 to April 2011 by means of an online survey administered to a sample of 287 women. Results Women with a longer length of awareness of ART had significantly greater attitudinal favorability towards ART. Political affiliation was also significantly related to general attitudes, as well as several specific aspects of ART issues. Conclusion The results of this study suggest that several factors influence attitudes that women hold in regards to ART. Identifying some of these factors serves as a crucial starting point for devising strategies to increase public acceptance of ART.
Room temperature dual-mode oscillator - first results

A frequency stability analysis of a room temperature frequency-temperature compensated dual-mode resonator oscillator (patent pending) is presented. Using a single crystal cylindrical sapphire resonator, 40 mm in diameter and 20 mm high, two orthogonally polarized whispering gallery modes were simultaneously excited, with the difference frequency temperature dependence annulled near 304 K. The standard Allan deviation of the 3.39 GHz beat between the two modes was measured to be approximately 8 /spl times/ 10/sup -12/ between 1 and 4s.
In Pursuit of Greatness: CEO Narcissism, Entrepreneurial Orientation, and Firm Performance Variance

Building upon the perspective that narcissism is a leadership trait with both ‘bright’ and ‘dark’ sides, the present study examines the question of whether companies led by narcissistic CEOs exhibit higher levels of entrepreneurial orientation (EO). Moreover, this research examines whether EO partially explains why narcissistic CEO‐led firms experience greater variability in firm performance. Using survey data collected from 173 CEOs, and an archival measure of firm performance variance, we find support for our model. These findings offer an improved understanding of how CEO narcissism influences performance variance, and why the firms they lead may even, at times, be viewed as on a path to success. Study implications are discussed.
Scepticism and Credulity in Childhood

The current thesis aimed to evaluate and extend research into children’s interpretation of violations of physical laws of causality. A central question of this thesis was: what factors might govern children’s scepticism versus credulity with respect to magical causality? Specifically, why are some children more easily fooled than others? Study 1 provided evidence of age differences in children’s beliefs with respect to mental- physical causality. Older children (11-12-year-olds) were more sceptical about the efficacy of wishing than younger children (4-5 and 6-7-year-olds). Moreover, older children were less likely than younger children to claim that mental processes can directly affect the physical world. Subsequent studies in the thesis focused on various factors that might contribute to individual differences in children’s interpretation of a conjuring trick (i.e. an event that ostensibly involved a violation of object permanence). Study 2 found that 4-6-year-olds made a distinction between real magic and tricks, but that direct social influence in the form of repetitive questioning influenced children’s offered verbal causal explanations. In contrast, Study 3 found that the majority of 9-11-year-olds interpreted the demonstration as a trick, had a clear understanding of conjuring as trickery and were less likely to conform to experimenter pressure in the form of repetitive questioning. Study 4 results suggested that 4-6-year-old children’s verbal responses are a true representation of beliefs as evidenced by verbal judgments correlating with behavioural reactions. However, an indirect social influence in the form of a visual clue that hinted at trickery influenced level of verbal scepticism. Furthermore, children’s level of social confidence was linked to their level of active exploration. The final two studies in the thesis offered support for individual differences in children’s responses that may be related to theory of mind ability. Study 5 found a link between 4-6-year-olds’ level of advanced theory of mind and responses, as well as an age-related increase in scepticism. Study 6 found a link between 5-71⁄2-year-olds’ first-order theory of mind and understanding of trickery that was not affected by age. It was, therefore, concluded that young children’s acknowledgement of trickery and level of scepticism about magical events is not characterized by a simple age-related developmental influence. Importantly, socio-cognitive skills may play a role.
On X-Variable Filling and Flipping for Capture-Power Reduction in Linear Decompressor-Based Test Compression Environment

Excessive test power consumption and growing test data volume are both serious concerns for the semiconductor industry. Various low-power X-filling techniques and test data compression schemes were developed accordingly to address the above problems. These methods, however, often exploit the very same “don't-care” bits in the test cubes to achieve different objectives and hence may contradict each other. In this paper, we propose novel techniques to reduce scan capture power in linear decompressor-based test compression environment, by employing algorithmic solutions to fill and flip X-variables supplied to the linear decompressor. Experimental results on benchmark circuits demonstrate that our proposed techniques significantly outperform existing solutions.
Discovery of Multiple-Level Association Rules from Large Databases

Previous studies on mining association rules find rules at single concept level, however, mining association rules at multiple concept levels may lead to the discovery of more specific and concrete knowledge from data. In this study, a top-down progressive deepening method is developed for mining multiplelevel association rules from large transaction databases by extension of some existing association rule mining techniques. A group of variant algorithms are proposed based on the ways of sharing intermediate results, with the relative performance tested on different kinds of data. Relaxation of the rule conditions for finding “level-crossing” association rules is also discussed in the paper.
Children's Knowledge, Beliefs and Feelings about Nations and National Groups

Preface. On Children, Nations and National Groups. Children's Knowledge, Beliefs and Feelings about Countries Construed as Geographical Territories. Children's Knowledge, Beliefs and Feelings about the State Construed as an Organised Political Community. Children's Knowledge, Beliefs and Feelings about Nations and States Construed as Historical and Cultural Communities. Children's Knowledge, Beliefs and Feelings about the People who Belong to Different National and State Groups. The Development of Children's Subjective Identification with their own Nation and State. Theoretical Accounts of How Children's Knowledge, Beliefs and Feelings about Nations and National Groups Develop. References. Index.
The 26 January 2001 M 7.6 Bhuj, India, Earthquake: Observed and Predicted Ground Motions

Although local and regional instrumental recordings of the devastating 26, January 2001, Bhuj earthquake are sparse, the distribution of macroseismic effects can provide important constraints on the mainshock ground motions. We compiled available news accounts describing damage and other effects and interpreted them to obtain modified Mercalli intensities (MMIs) at >200 locations throughout the Indian subcontinent. These values are then used to map the intensity distribution throughout the subcontinent using a simple mathematical interpolation method. Although preliminary, the maps reveal several interesting features. Within the Kachchh region, the most heavily damaged villages are concentrated toward the western edge of the inferred fault, consistent with western directivity. Significant sediment-induced amplification is also suggested at a number of locations around the Gulf of Kachchh to the south of the epicenter. Away from the Kachchh region, intensities were clearly amplified significantly in areas that are along rivers, within deltas, or on coastal alluvium, such as mudflats and salt pans. In addition, we use fault-rupture parameters inferred from teleseismic data to predict shaking intensity at distances of 0–1000 km. We then convert the predicted hard-rock ground-motion parameters to MMI by using a relationship (derived from Internet-based intensity surveys) that assigns MMI based on the average effects in a region. The predicted MMIs are typically lower by 1–3 units than those estimated from news accounts, although they do predict near-field ground motions of approximately 80%g and potentially damaging ground motions on hard-rock sites to distances of approximately 300 km. For the most part, this discrepancy is consistent with the expected effect of sediment response, but it could also reflect other factors, such as unusually high building vulnerability in the Bhuj region and a tendency for media accounts to focus on the most dramatic damage, rather than the average effects. The discrepancy may also be partly attributable to the inadequacy of the empirical relationship between MMI and peak ground acceleration (PGA), when applied to India. The MMI–PGA relationship was developed using data from California earthquakes, which might have a systematically different stress drop and therefore, a different frequency content than intraplate events. When a relationship between response spectra and MMI is used, we obtain larger predicted MMI values, in better agreement with the observations.
Alterations in expression of p11 and SERT in mucosal biopsy specimens of patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) remains enigmatic; abnormalities in serotonin metabolism have been implicated. Two proteins that influence the function of serotonin and serotonergic receptors are serotonin transporter protein (SERT or soluble carrier protein, SLC6A4) and p11 (S-100A10, or calpactin I light chain). Both proteins are reported to be associated with depression-like states, a frequent comorbid condition in IBS. We explored the hypothesis that expression of these 2 proteins in colonic and rectal mucosa is abnormal in patients with IBS as compared with healthy controls. METHODS Messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of SLC6A4 and p11 was measured in sigmoid and rectal mucosal biopsy specimens. Genotype of the promoter for SLC6A4 was also assessed in all participants. Validation studies explored reproducibility of 2 biopsy specimens taken from the same region and biopsy specimens taken an average of approximately 3 months apart. RESULTS We found normal colonic mucosal expression of SLC6A4 in diarrhea (IBS-D)- or constipation-predominant IBS (IBS-C). On the other hand, p11 expression was increased in IBS. No significant effect on p11 mRNA expression in sigmoid colon or rectum was noted from antidepressant treatment in any of the analyzed subgroups. CONCLUSIONS Colonic mucosal expression of SLC6A4 in IBS is normal. Given that overexpression of p11 can increase serotonergic receptor functions (eg, 5-HT(1B) receptors), these data support the need for further study of the interaction between p11 expression in health and disease and its role in the therapeutic response to serotonergic agents, including antidepressants.
The Financial Impact of IT Governance Mechanisms' Adoption: An Empirical Analysis with Brazilian Firms

Recently, it appears on the agenda of many organizations the concept of IT governance in order to justify and mainly optimize IT investments. Some studies have shown that companies which have good IT governance models generate superior returns on their IT investments than their competitors. However, there is a lack of scientific research confirming that effective IT governance results in better financial performance. In this paper, we verified if companies which have adopted IT governance mechanisms improve their financial performance, examining changes on performance pre and post adoption controlling for industry mean changes. We found that companies which have adopted IT governance practices improved their performance when compared to the control group, especially regarding about profitability measures. Furthermore, we found that effects of IT governance mechanisms' adoption on financial performance are stronger in the year following adoption than in the year which IT governance was adopted.
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Preliminary Abstract We study empirically and theoretically the patterns of home equity withdrawal among retirees, using a model where retirees are able to own or rent a home, save, and borrow against home equity, in the face of idiosyncratic risks concerning mortality, health, medical expenditures, and household size and observed house price changes. The estimated model is found to replicate successfully the patterns of home ownership and saving/borrowing decisions of retirees. We use the estimated model for several counterfactual experiments. There are three main findings. First, the model predicts that a house price boom suppresses home ownership and increases borrowing, while a future decline in house prices would have the opposite effect. Second, costs of home equity borrowing are restricting the borrowing of retirees, and thus reduction of such costs (e.g. lower costs of reverse mortgage loans) might significantly raise home equity borrowing. Third, there are two implications for the retirement saving puzzle. Although the cost of home equity borrowing affects the borrowing of retirees, it does not affect the total asset holding, implying that equity borrowing costs do not seem to offer a quantitatively significant contribution to resolving the retirement saving puzzle. On the other hand, the magnitude of the retirement saving puzzle might be exaggerated, as a sizable part of " retirement saving " is due to house price appreciation. and Bankruptcy for comments and suggestions. Eric French kindly made code to process HRS data available for us. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia or the Federal Reserve System. Last but not least, we thank Walter for inspiration.
Academic attainment in visually impaired students in distance education

This investigation studied attainment in visually impaired students taking modules by distance learning with the Open University in 2012. Students with visual impairment alone were less likely to complete their modules and less likely to pass the modules that they had completed than non-disabled students, but they were just as likely to obtain good grades on the modules that they had passed. Students with visual impairment plus additional disabilities were less likely to complete their modules, less likely to pass the modules that they had completed, and less likely to obtain good grades on the modules that they had passed than non-disabled students. These findings are in contrast to those of earlier studies, which suggested that visual impairment had little or no impact upon attainment in higher education. The disparity is attributed to a student population which is nowadays much more diverse both in its abilities and in its disabilities.
Constructive Volume Geometry

We present an algebraic framework, called Constructive Volume Geometryn (CVG), for modelling complex spatial objects using combinational operations. By utilising scalar fields as fundamental building blocks, CVG provides high‐level algebraic representations of objects that are defined mathematically or built upon sampled or simulated datasets. It models amorphous phenomena as well as solid objects, and describes the interior as well as the exterior of objects. We also describe a hierarchical representation scheme for CVG, and a direct rendering method with a new approach for consistent sampling. The work has demonstrated the feasibility of combining a variety of graphics data types in a coherent modelling scheme.
On the inclusion of prevalent cases in HIV/AIDS natural history studies through a marker-based estimate of time since seroconversion.

In most cohort studies of HIV infection and AIDS, seroprevalent cases provide a substantial amount of information. Inclusion of these people in natural history studies requires a fairly unbiased method to estimate their seroconversion distribution. When a cohort-based estimate is not feasible, an alternative is to estimate individual seroconversion distributions, based on marker values at entry. In this paper, a non-parametric marker-based estimation method is developed. The method is applied to data from the Amsterdam cohort study on homosexual men. For seroprevalent cases who entered the study between October 1984 and April 1985, individual seroconversion distributions are estimated based on their first measured CD4 count. In subsequent survival analyses, dates of seroconversion are estimated via conditional mean imputation. Inclusion of these seroprevalent cases greatly improves the quality of the data. Age at seroconversion is a significant cofactor for disease progression, a result not found when analysis is restricted to those who seroconvert. To incorporate the uncertainty in the imputed date of seroconversion, a bootstrap procedure is developed for the computation of p-values and confidence intervals. In our analyses, standard procedures, which ignore the uncertainty in the imputed date of seroconversion, perform almost as well.