Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimating standard errors for importance sampling estimators with multiple Markov chains

The naive importance sampling estimator, based on samples from a single importance density, can be numerically unstable. Instead, we consider generalized importance sampling estimators where samples from more than one probability distribution are combined. We study this problem in the Markov chain Monte Carlo context, where independent samples are replaced with Markov chain samples. If the chains converge to their respective target distributions at a polynomial rate, then under two finite moment conditions, we show a central limit theorem holds for the generalized estimators. Further, we develop an easy to implement method to calculate valid asymptotic standard errors based on batch means. We also provide a batch means estimator for calculating asymptotically valid standard errors of Geyer(1994) reverse logistic estimator. We illustrate the method using a Bayesian variable selection procedure in linear regression. In particular, the generalized importance sampling estimator is used to perform empirical Bayes variable selection and the batch means estimator is used to obtain standard errors in a high-dimensional setting where current methods are not applicable.
Functioning and validity of A Computerized Adaptive Test to measure anxiety (A‐CAT)

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the Computerized Adaptive Test to measure anxiety (A‐CAT), a patient‐reported outcome questionnaire that uses computerized adaptive testing to measure anxiety. Methods: The A‐CAT builds on an item bank of 50 items that has been built using conventional item analyses and item response theory analyses. The A‐CAT was administered on Personal Digital Assistants to n=357 patients diagnosed and treated at the department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Charité Berlin, Germany. For validation purposes, two subgroups of patients (n=110 and 125) answered the A‐CAT along with established anxiety and depression questionnaires. Results: The A‐CAT was fast to complete (on average in 2 min, 38 s) and a precise item response theory based CAT score (reliability>.9) could be estimated after 4–41 items. On average, the CAT displayed 6 items (SD=4.2). Convergent validity of the A‐CAT was supported by correlations to existing tools (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale‐A, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Berliner Stimmungs‐Fragebogen A/D, and State Trait Anxiety Inventory: r=.56–.66); discriminant validity between diagnostic groups was higher for the A‐CAT than for other anxiety measures. Conclusions: The German A‐CAT is an efficient, reliable, and valid tool for assessing anxiety in patients suffering from anxiety disorders and other conditions with significant potential for initial assessment and long‐term treatment monitoring. Future research directions are to explore content balancing of the item selection algorithm of the CAT, to norm the tool to a healthy sample, and to develop practical cutoff scores. Depression and Anxiety, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A virtual microgrid platform for the efficient orchestration of multiple energy prosumers

The Smart Energy Grid concept aims to exploit Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) towards making the energy sector more secure, reliable and efficient, while the electricity markets are rapidly becoming more liberalized with new business actors/models being introduced. In particular, passive energy consumers are being transformed into active energy prosumers (i.e. both producers and consumers), while energy aggregation/services companies are emerging as intermediaries in the so called "Internet of Energy" arena. Prosumers need to have their energy assets efficiently managed and participate in the market independently of their size and negotiating power, while aggregators aim at maximizing prosumers' benefits by representing them as a single big power entity in the wholesale energy market. This paper introduces the Virtual MicroGrid (VMG) concept, in which multiple energy prosumers are orchestrated into bigger associations towards optimizing the association's benefits. An innovative decision support system platform is presented showcasing that the management of aggregated energy resources can outperform state-of-the-art solutions that manage resources at the individual prosumer's level. The platform's implementation is based on virtualization techniques and a wide range of functionalities are described, tested and validated. Datasets from 37 real-life prosumers are used and results of various decision-making algorithms show that under different system operation contexts, dynamic formation of prosumers' groups (clusterings) can provide remarkable energy savings and monetary profits to the end users.
Inhibition of mRNA and Protein Synthesis in the CA1 Region of the Dorsal Hippocampus Blocks Reinstallment of an Extinguished Conditioned Fear Response

Memories are extinguished by the repeated presentation of a conditioned stimulus in the absence of an unconditioned stimulus to which it has been associated. It is believed that extinction establishes a new hierarchy of responses rather than an actual forgetting of the original response, which can usually reappear spontaneously after interruption of the extinction process. In this study, our aim was to analyze how profound extinction can be. Rats were trained in a one-trial, step-down inhibitory avoidance paradigm and then were exposed to several extinction sessions in which they were allowed to freely explore the apparatus for 30 sec after having stepped down. Extinction was complete enough so that there was no spontaneous recovery, and test session performance could not be enhanced by pharmacological agents with well known facilitative actions on retrieval. After being submitted to a new training session, control animals reacquired the avoidance response; however, animals failed to do so after receiving bilateral intra-CA1 infusions of either the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin or the mRNA synthesis blocker 5,6-dichloro-1-β-d-ribofuranosyl benzimidazole 15 min before the retraining session. Our results indicate that extinction can be carried to a point at which reinstallment of the conditioned response requires, like the original learning, de novo gene expression and protein synthesis in the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus.
Bilingual bonds: acculturation, attachment, and being yourself in a new language

This paper investigates the perception of ‘being yourself’ when speaking in the second language (L2) in the context of mobility-migration. Participants consist of 149 highly educated sequential Polish-English bilinguals who relocated to the UK at the average age of 23, and underwent processes of acculturation. The independent variables in this study include acculturation level, social network profile, language of attachment in adulthood, language dominance, length of residence, predicted future domicile, gender, and age of L2 acquisition (AoA). The study employs both emic and etic approaches. The findings reveal strong links between the perception of being yourself in L2 and acculturation level, social network profile, language dominance, predicted future domicile, and language of attachment. The results show that sociocultural and psychological integration into the new society and culture are strongly linked to the perception of being yourself in L2. This study adds acculturation and attachment perspectives to current research on the perception of feeling different when using languages learnt later in life.
Infrared Spectra of Young Stars Embedded in the R Coronae Australis Cloud

Infrared spectra are presented for a magnitude-limited (K < 12.5 mag) sample of stellar objects observed toward the R Coronae Australis molecular core. These spectra, which are used to identify young stellar objects in the cloud, include the wavelengths of emission lines from [Fe II] and H 2, four of the Brackett series lines, the CO bandheads, as well as photospheric absorption lines of Al, Na, Mg, Si, and Ca. For a subset of the sample, the spectra are compared to those of infrared spectral standard stars to derive spectral types and luminosity classes. By comparing their placement in a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram with theoretical pre–main-sequence tracks and isochrones, we estimate the stellar masses and assess the evolutionary states of the members of this young aggregate. All of the sources classified via near-IR spectroscopy have masses in the range 0.2–2.5 M ⊙. The locus of points in the H-R diagram is lower than observed for other embedded clusters (e.g., NGC 2024 and the ρ Oph core), suggesting either a more advanced evolutionary state or a difference in the intrinsic stellar birthline for very young clusters. We discuss the implications of our results for the shape of the initial mass function of the embedded young cluster and the star-forming history of the cloud.
Characteristics of Successful Community Partnerships to Promote Physical Activity Among Young People, North Carolina, 2010–2012

Introduction Success of community-based projects has been thought to hinge on the strength of partnerships between those involved in design and implementation. However, characteristics of successful partnerships have not been fully described, particularly in the context of community-based physical activity promotion. We sought to identify characteristics of successful partnerships from the perspective of project coordinators involved in a mini-grant program to promote physical activity among young people. Methods Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with county coordinators (n = 19) of 20 North Carolina’s “Eat Smart, Move More” Community Grants projects funded during 2010 through 2012. Emergent themes were coded; then, overarching themes in the coded data were identified and grouped with similar codes under thematic headings. On the basis of project coordinators’ responses, each partnership was classified as strong, moderate, or weak. Results Three overarching themes characterized partnership relationships: continuity (history with partner and willingness to engage in a future partnership), community connectedness, and capacity (interest, enthusiasm, engagement, communication, and clarity of roles and responsibilities). Strong partnerships were those in which project coordinators indicated a positive working history with partners, experienced a high level of engagement from partners, had clearly defined roles and responsibilities of partners, and expressed a clear interest in working with their partners in the future. Conclusion In community partnerships aimed at increasing physical activity among young people, the perspectives of project coordinators are vital to identifying the characteristics of strong, moderate, and weak partnerships. These perspectives will be useful for future community program development and will influence potential health outcomes.
Organizational Culture In Action A Cultural Analysis Workbook

Thank you for downloading organizational culture in action a cultural analysis workbook. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search numerous times for their favorite readings like this organizational culture in action a cultural analysis workbook, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some infectious bugs inside their laptop.
Earliest stages of visual cortical processing are not modified by attentional load

This study investigated the effects of attentional load on neural responses to attended and irrelevant visual stimuli by recording high‐density event‐related potentials (ERPs) from the scalp in normal adult subjects. Peripheral (upper and lower visual field) and central stimuli were presented in random order at a rapid rate while subjects responded to targets among the central stimuli. Color detection and color‐orientation conjunction search tasks were used as the low‐ and high‐load tasks, respectively. Behavioral results showed significant load effects on both accuracy and reaction time for target detections. ERP results revealed no significant load effect on the initial C1 component (60–100 ms) evoked by either central‐relevant or peripheral‐irrelevant stimuli. Source analysis with dipole modeling confirmed previous reports that the C1 includes the initial evoked response in primary visual cortex. Source analyses indicated that high attentional load enhanced the early (70–140 ms) neural response to central‐relevant stimuli in ventral‐lateral extrastriate cortex, whereas load effects on peripheral‐irrelevant stimulus processing started at 110 ms and were localized to more dorsal and anterior extrastriate cortical areas. These results provide evidence that the earliest stages of visual cortical processing are not modified by attentional load and show that attentional load affects the processing of task relevant and irrelevant stimuli in different ways. Hum Brain Mapp 35:3008–3024, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
What does inflation really predict?

If the inflaton potential has multiple minima, as may be expected in, e.g., the string theory ‘landscape’, inflation predicts a probability distribution for the cosmological parameters describing spatial curvature (Ωtot), dark energy (ρΛ, w etc), the primordial density fluctuations (Q, ns, d ns/d ln k etc) and primordial gravitational waves (r, nt etc). We compute this multivariate probability distribution for various classes of single-field slow-roll models, exploring its dependence on the characteristic inflationary energy scales, the shape of the potential V and the choice of measure underlying the calculation. We find that unless the characteristic scale Δϕ on which V varies happens to be near the Planck scale, the only aspect of V that matters observationally is the statistical distribution of its peaks and troughs. For all energy scales and plausible measures considered, we obtain the predictions , w = −1 and ρΛ in the observed ballpark but uncomfortably high. The high energy limit predicts , , and , consistent with observational data and indistinguishable from eternal inflation. The low energy limit predicts five parameters but favours larger Q and redder ns than observed. We discuss the coolness problem, the smoothness problem and the pothole paradox, which severely limit the viable class of models and measures. Predictions insensitive to pre-inflationary conditions can arise either from eternal inflation attractor behaviour or from anthropic selection effects probing merely a tiny non-special part of the initial distribution. We argue that these two mechanisms are severely challenged by the coolness problem and the smoothness problem, respectively. Our findings bode well for detecting an inflationary gravitational wave signature with future CMB polarization experiments, with the arguably best-motivated single-field models favouring the detectable level .
Understanding Support from School Counselors as Predictors of Mexican American Adolescents' College-Going Beliefs.

The impact of high school counselors’ support on Mexican American adolescents’ college-going beliefs was examined. We used a quantitative, predictive design to explore predictors of Mexican American adolescents’ college-going beliefs. Perceptions of accessibility and expectations from school counselors positively impacted collegegoing beliefs while perceptions of appraisal negatively impacted college-going beliefs. In addition to a discussion regarding the importance of these findings, implications for school counselors and researchers are offered.
PON1 status of farmworker mothers and children as a predictor of organophosphate sensitivity

The objective was to determine PON1 status as a predictor for organophosphorus insecticide sensitivity in a cohort of Latina mothers and newborns from the Salinas Valley, California, an area with high levels of organophosphorus insecticide use. PON1 status was established for 130 pregnant Latina women and their newborns using a high-throughput two substrate activity/analysis method which plots rates of diazoxon (DZO) hydrolysis against rates of paraoxon (PO) hydrolysis. Arylesterase activity (AREase) was determined using phenylacetate as a substrate, allowing comparison of PON1 levels across PON1192 genotypes in mothers and children. Phenylacetate hydrolysis is not affected by the Q192R polymorphism. Among newborns, levels of PON1 (AREase) varied by 26-fold (4.3–110.7 U/ml) and among mothers by 14-fold (19.8–281.4 U/ml). On average, children's PON1 levels were four-fold lower than the mothers' PON1 levels (P<0.001). Average PON1 levels in newborns were comparable with reported hPON1 levels in transgenic mice expressing human PON1Q192 or PON1R192, allowing for prediction of relative sensitivity to chlorpyrifos oxon (CPO) and DZO. The predicted range of variability in sensitivity of mothers and children in the same Latino cohort was 65-fold for DZO and 131 to 164-fold for CPO. Overall, these findings indicate that many of the newborns and some of the mothers in this cohort would be more susceptible to the adverse effects of specific organophosphorus pesticide exposure due to their PON1 status. Of particular concern are exposures of pregnant mothers and newborns with low PON1 status.
First-year students: Investigating the impact of participating in a mathematics learning community

v List of Tables . ix Chapter I: Introduction . 1 Statement of the Problem.1 Background of the Problem . 3 Purpose of the Study . 6 Significance of the Study.7 Assumptions and Limitations . 7 Operational Definitions . 8 Research Questions . 9 Overview of the Study . 10 Chapter II: Review of Literature . 11 History of Learning Communities.12 Different Types of Learning Communities . 14 Positive Outcomes of Learning Communities . 16 Negative Outcomes of Learning Communities . 22 Retention Impact.23 Theories Practiced in Learning Communities . 24 Summary of the Literature Review . 29 Chapter III: Methodology.31 Context of the Study . 31 Population and Sample Selection . 32
Multimedia sharing over opportunistic networks

The massive increase in the use of mobile devices lately led to the congestion of the mobile networks. One solution to offload part of the traffic is to send data, whenever possible, through direct phone-to-phone communication. Such opportunistic networks rely on wireless communication to support a decentralized model of communication where nodes can store, carry and forward data directly to others. Up-until-now most work focused on constructing algorithms designed to forward or disseminate data to nodes having a better chance of routing it to its destination. Here, we extend on our previous work, and propose Opportunistic Multimedia Sharing, an algorithm designed to support dissemination of multimedia content over an opportunistic communication model. The algorithm uses the predictability of the node encounters to determine which multimedia files a specific node can deliver closer to the interested nodes. Experimental results show the algorithm can deliver a high success rate (over 80% in same cases), while maintaining a low delivery latency and cost.
Physiology, Ecology, Phylogeny, and Genomics of Microorganisms Capable of Syntrophic Metabolism

Syntrophic metabolism is diverse in two respects: phylogenetically with microorganisms capable of syntrophic metabolism found in the Deltaproteobacteria and in the low G+C gram‐positive bacteria, and metabolically given the wide variety of compounds that can be syntrophically metabolized. The latter includes saturated fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids, alcohols, and hydrocarbons. Besides residing in freshwater and marine anoxic sediments and soils, microbes capable of syntrophic metabolism also have been observed in more extreme habitats, including acidic soils, alkaline soils, thermal springs, and permanently cold soils, demonstrating that syntrophy is a widely distributed metabolic process in nature. Recent ecological and physiological studies show that syntrophy plays a far larger role in carbon cycling than was previously thought. The availability of the first complete genome sequences for four model microorganisms capable of syntrophic metabolism provides the genetic framework to begin dissecting the biochemistry of the marginal energy economies and interspecies interactions that are characteristic of the syntrophic lifestyle.
Three-dimensional finite element analysis of the stress distribution in the endodontically treated maxillary central incisor by glass fiber post and dentin post

Introduction: From the point of dental practice, the restoration of endodontically treated teeth has become an important aspect as it involves a range of treatment options of variable complexity. Restoring teeth with insufficient coronal tooth structure, it is always indicated to use the post to retain a core for definitive restoration. Fiber post has a modulus of elasticity in analogs to dentin structure, thus reducing the stress areas at the dowel dentin interface. However, the only material that can substantiate all these properties can be none other than dentin itself. Materials and Methodology: Three-dimensional (3D) models of the maxillary central incisor were developed incorporating all the nonlinearities. Continuum 3D elements were used in three dimensions. Maxillary central incisor was laser scanned, duplicated with the help of reverse engineering into STL format, and it was converted into 3D model for finite element analysis (FEA). For the model, fixed boundary conditions were applied at the outer bone, while 100 N static vertical occlusal loads were prescribed at 135° on the loading component of the simulated tooth. The stress distribution was evaluated using dentin and fiber post with prescribed materials, loading and boundary conditions in endontically treated teeth by 3D FEA. Results: The analysis for von Misses stress for dentin post showed that the stress in the dentin post at the cervical area was 127 MPa. The displacement in the dentin post was <0.025 mm. Von Misses stress for the fiber post at the cervical area was approximately 182 MPa and the displacement was <0.035 mm. Conclusion: The FEA results showed that the stress in the cervical area of the dentin was more for fiber post when compared to dentin post, and maximum displacement values were less for dentin post in comparison to fiber post.
Financial Valuation and Risk Management Working Paper No . 380 Arbitrage-free market models for option prices : The multi-strike case

This paper studies modelling and existence issues for market models of option prices in a continuoustime framework with one stock, one bond and a family of European call options for one fixed maturity and all strikes. After arguing that (classical) implied volatilities are ill-suited for constructing such models, we introduce the new concepts of local implied volatilities and price level. We show that these new quantities provide a natural and simple parametrization of all option price models satisfying the natural static arbitrage bounds across strikes. We next characterize absence of dynamic arbitrage for such models in terms of drift restrictions on the model coefficients. For the resulting infinite system of SDEs for the price level and all local implied volatilities, we then study the question of solvability and provide sufficient conditions for existence and uniqueness of a solution. We give explicit examples of volatility coefficients satisfying the required assumptions, and hence of arbitrage-free multi-strike market models of option prices.