Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is Religious Fundamentalism a Dimensional or a Categorical Phenomenon? A Taxometric Analysis in Two Samples of Youth From Egypt and Saudi Arabia

To examine the latent status of religious fundamentalism, we analyzed 2 large samples of Muslim youth from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as gathered in the Youth, Emotional Energy, and Political Violence Survey. We sought to answer the following question: Is fundamentalism a dimensional or a categorical phenomenon? Equivalently, do fundamentalists represent an extreme of religious belief, or do they constitute their own category, differing from nonfundamentalists? Using taxometric methods, we found that religious fundamentalism seems to encompass differences in kind rather than degree. Hence, the results suggest that religious fundamentalists constitute their own qualitatively different category. These findings have important practical and theoretical implications regarding causality, labeling, and assessment.
An improved loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay for the detection of Mycoplasma bovis

We improved a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay permitting sensitive and rapid Mycoplasma bovis detection. A total of 55 bacterial strains were examined in this study, including 33 M. bovis strains, 14 non-M. bovis mycoplasmas and eight non-mycoplasma bacterial strains. M. bovis was successfully detected by the LAMP assay within 60 min without cross-reaction to any other bacteria. Furthermore, a total of 135 nasal swab samples were tested directly using our LAMP assays, the previously reported LAMP assay, conventional PCR assay without pre-culture and comparing standard culture methods. The improved LAMP assay showed sensitivity and specificity of 97.2% and 90.9%, respectively (with a kappa coefficient of 0.8231), and the sensitivity of our revised LAMP assay was increased compared to existing methods.
Evaluating Effectiveness of Interaction Techniques across Immersive Virtual Environmental Systems

This paper presents the results of a formal experiment to compare different interaction techniques across two types of immersive display: an immersive projection technology (IPT) and a head-mounted display (HMD). Our aim is to investigate the effectiveness of two widely used interaction metaphors, virtual hand and ray casting, on these two display technologies. Our motivation is that design and evaluation of interaction techniques for immersive egocentric display systems has been undertaken almost exclusively on HMDs. We argue that basing interaction for IPTs on techniques developed for other types of immersive systems is a flawed approach, as there are some categorical differences between the experience given by an IPT and an HMD. For example, an IPT user has a much wider field of view than an HMD user. We have chosen two types of interaction tasks to study: simple selection of objects both near to and at some distance from the user, and manipulation of objects involving a change of both position and orientation. As previous studies have found, we find that ray casting is preferable for selection and virtual hand is preferable for manipulation for a HMD. We show that this is also the case for the IPT. More interestingly, while we find performance on selection tasks is much better on the IPT, for manipulation tasks there is little difference between the two display technologies.
Optimal Debt with Unobservable Investments

We study financial contracting when both an entrepreneur's investment and the resulting revenue are unobservable to an outside investor. We show that a debt contract is always optimal; repayment is induced by a liquidation threat that increases with the extent of default. Moreover, when the entrepreneur's decision concerns the scale of his project, a contract that minimizes liquidation losses is optimal. When the decision concerns managerial effort or project risk, however, it may be optimal to write a contract with a greater threat of liquidation, to induce the entrepreneur to exert more effort or to choose a less risky project.
Globalization, offshoring and jobs

The labour market consequences of globalization in general, and offshoring in particular, have been hotly debated in recent public discussions and academia, in particular in industrialized countries. One of the reasons for this may be illustrated with reference to the World Investment Report 2004 (UNCTAD, 2004), which provides examples of recent offshoring cases in services industries in the United Kingdom, and the employment changes involved. Barclays Bank, for instance, is reported to have offshored 500 back-office staff to India. When such numbers are picked up in the media, there is a presumption that 500 jobs have been destroyed in the United Kingdom as a net effect of this offshoring. In fact, the calculation is, of course, more complicated.
Common angle image gather-A strategy for imaging complex media: 68th Annual Internat

Common image panels are commonly used for migration based velocity analysis and for migration based AVO analysis. The advantages of common offset image gather with respect to common shot image gathers are now well established [4] but also their poor quality in case of complex models [3]. The reasons of this failure may appear when the problem is analyzed in the frame of the asymptotic linearized inverse theory [7, 6]. We propose here an analysis of the relevance of common image gather analysis in case of velocity models with triplicated ray fields. We show that individual common shot or common offset may provide inconsistent images of the subsurface, and we propose a strategy for common anale imaging avoiding the former artefacts. Comparisons of common shot, common offset and common angle image gathers are presented for 2D complex Marmousi dataset.
Advanced Endoscopic Imaging for Diagnosis of Crohn's Disease

Endoscopy in IBD has tremendous importance to diagnose inflammatory activity, to evaluate therapeutic success and for the surveillance of colitis associated cancer. Thus it becomes obvious that there is a need for new and more advanced endoscopic imaging techniques for better characterization of mucosal inflammation and early neoplasia detection in IBD. This paper describes the concept of advanced endoscopic imaging for the diagnosis and characterization of Crohn's disease, including magnification endoscopy, chromoendoscopy, balloon-assisted enteroscopy, capsule endoscopy, confocal laser endomicroscopy, and endocytoscopy.
Market Externalities of Large Unemployment Insurance Extension Programs

This paper offers quasi experimental evidence of the existence of spillover effects of UI extensions using a unique program that extended unemployment benefits drastically for a subset of workers in selected regions of Austria. We use non-eligible unemployed in treated regions, and a difference-in-difference identification strategy to control for preexisting differences across treated and untreated regions. We uncover the presence of important spillover effects: in treated regions, as the search effort of treated workers plummets, the job finding probability of untreated workers increases, and their average unemployment duration and probability of long term unemployment decrease. These effects are the largest when the program intensity reaches its highest level, then decrease and disappear as the program is scaled down and finally interrupted. We use this evidence to assess the relevance of different assumptions on technology and the wage setting process in equilibrium search and matching models and discuss the policy implications of our results for the EUC extensions in the US.
Overlapping and Disconnected Social Spheres: A Multi-contextual Model of the Link Between School Choice and Neighborhood Effects on Adolescents

Author(s): Tran, Trinh Thi Tuyet | Advisor(s): Fischer, Claude S | Abstract: Because of the rise of public school choice programs, children who share a neighborhood are increasingly going to different schools. I explore the effects of overlapping and disconnected neighborhood and school spheres via two linked questions; first, whether and how the conjuncture/disjuncture of neighborhoods and schools affects the types of friendship opportunities available to students both at school and within their residential areas; and second, whether and how the conjuncture/disjuncture of neighborhoods and schools mediate children’s exposure to neighborhood disadvantages like violence. What I find is that school choice amplifies the disadvantages that children encounter in their neighborhoods by fragmenting local adolescent community networks and exacerbating the violent conditions that children face at their neighborhood schools.My data consist of 74 in-depth interviews with students from five public high schools in Philadelphia. Of these students, 45 attend a public magnet high school; the remaining 29 student interviewees live in the same neighborhoods as my magnet school sample but attend neighborhood schools in their local areas. My findings suggest that school choice policies concentrate the advantages of children who are able to exercise choice while leaving behind a substantially larger population of children who are consigned to local schools that contend with a disproportionate load of student misconduct and school violence. Instead of closing educational gaps for all, these reforms further stratify poor neighborhoods by creating a new class of even more disadvantaged children who are becoming increasingly disconnected from positive peer role models both within their neighborhoods and at school.
Neural Network, Genetic, and Fuzzy Logic Models of Spatial Interaction

The author investigates the extent to which smart computational methods can be used to create new and better performing types of spatial interaction model. He briefly describes the application of three different computationally intensive modelling technologies and compares the performance of the resulting models on a benchmark data set. It would appear that performance improvements of up to a factor of two can be obtained at the cost of a few orders of magnitude increase in compute times.
Denoising CT Images using wavelet transform

Image denoising is one of the most significant tasks especially in medical image processing, where the original images are of poor quality due the noises and artifacts introduces by the acquisition systems. In this paper, we propose a new image denoising scheme by modifying the wavelet coefficients using soft-thresholding method, we present a comparative study of different wavelet denoising techniques for CT images and we discuss the obtained results. The denoising process rejects noise by thresholding in the wavelet domain. The performance is evaluated using Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Mean Squared Error (MSE). Finally, Gaussian filter provides better PSNR and lower MSE values. Hence, we conclude that this filter is an efficient one for preprocessing medical images.
Speckle-Tracking and Tissue-Doppler Stress Echocardiography in Arterial Hypertension: A Sensitive Tool for Detection of Subclinical LV Impairment

Early diagnosis of cardiac alterations in hypertensive heart disease is still challenging. Since such patients might have depressed global LV systolic strain or strain rate when EF is still normal, speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) and tissue-Doppler imaging (TDI) combined with stress echocardiography might improve early diagnosis of cardiac alterations. In this prospective study standard 2D Doppler echocardiography, STE, and TDI were performed at rest and during bicycle exercise in 92 consecutive patients—46 hypertensive subjects with normal ejection fraction and 46 healthy controls. STE and TDI were used to measure global peak systolic LV circumferential strain (CS), longitudinal strain (LS), and longitudinal strain rate (SR). Mean arterial blood pressure was significantly higher in hypertensive patients at rest (100.8 mmHg SD 13.5 mmHg; P = 0.002) and during physical exercise testing (124.2 mmHg SD 13.4 mmHg; P = 0.003). Hypertensive patients had significantly reduced values of systolic CS (P = 0.001), LS (P = 0.014), and SR (P < 0.001) at rest as well as during physical exercise—CS (P < 0.001), LS (P < 0.001), and SR (P < 0.001). Using STE and TDI, reduced LV systolic strain and strain rate consistent with early cardiac alterations can be detected in patients with arterial hypertension. These findings were evident at rest and markedly pronounced during exercise echocardiography.
The Impact of a Statewide Pre-Hospital STEMI Strategy to Bypass Hospitals Without Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Capability on Treatment Times

Background— The ultimate treatment goal for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is rapid reperfusion via primary percutaneous intervention (PCI). North Carolina has adopted a statewide STEMI referral strategy that advises paramedics to bypass local hospitals and transport STEMI patients directly to a PCI-capable hospital, even if a non-PCI-capable hospital is closer. Methods and Results— We assessed the adherence of emergency medical services to this STEMI protocol, as well as subsequent associations with patient treatment times and outcomes by linking data from the Acute Coronary Treatment and Intervention Outcomes Network Registry®—Get With the Guidelines™ and a statewide emergency medical services data system from June 2008 to September 2010 for all patients with STEMI. Patients were divided into those (1) transported directly to a PCI hospital, thereby bypassing a closer non-PCI hospital and (2) first taken to a closer non-PCI center and later transferred to a PCI hospital. Among 6010 patients with STEMI, 1288 were eligible and included in our study cohort. Of these, 826 (64%) were transported directly to a PCI facility, whereas 462 (36%) were first taken to a non-PCI hospital and later transferred. In a multivariable model, increase in differential driving time and cardiac arrest were associated with a lesser likelihood of being taken directly to a PCI center, whereas a history of PCI was associated with a higher likelihood of being taken directly to a PCI center. Patients sent directly to a PCI center were more likely to have times between first medical contact and PCI within guideline recommendations. Conclusions— We found that patients who were sent directly to a PCI center had significantly shorter time to reperfusion.
The efficacy of dapagliflozin combined with hypoglycaemic drugs in treating type 2 diabetes mellitus: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Objectives This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate whether dapagliflozin is synergistic with other antidiabetic drugs without body weight gain. Setting Randomised controlled trial (RCT) reports were retrieved from PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, ClinicalTrials.gov, Google Scholar and Google. Eligible RCTs were selected according to the criteria (including types of participants, intervention, outcomes) and assessed by the Cochrane risk of bias tool and GRADEpro software for evidential quality. Meta-analysis on the eligible RCTs was performed with the random effects model. The RCTs of low-quality and interim stages were excluded for further sensitivity analysis. Meta-regression was conducted on the follow-up durations. Publication bias was evaluated with funnel plots and the Egger's regression test and adjusted using the trim-and-fill procedure. Heterogeneity was assessed with the I2 statistics. Participants Adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Interventions Dapagliflozin combined with conventional antidiabetic drugs. Primary and secondary outcome measures Glycaemic level (measured by glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG)) and body weight. Results 12 RCTs were eligible for quantitative synthesis and meta-analysis. The overall effect size of HbA1c calculated from mean difference was −0.52% (Z=−13.56, p<0.001) with 95% CI (−0.60 to −0.45). The effect size of FPG was −1.13 mmol/L (Z=−11.12, p<0.001) with 95% CI (−1.33 to −0.93). The effect size of body weight was −2.10 kg (Z=−18.77, p<0.001) with 95% CI (−2.32 to −1.88). Exclusions of low quality and interim RCTs changed the overall mean differences respectively to −0.56%, −1.11 mmol/L, 2.23 kg and −0.50%, −1.08 mmol/L, −2.08 kg. The sensitivity analysis indicated good robustness of the meta-analysis on HbA1c, FPG and body weight. Conclusions The meta-analysis showed that dapagliflozin as an add-on drug to conventional antidiabetic drugs improved the glycaemic control in T2DM participants without significant body weight gain. Trial registration number CRD42013005034.
Corpus-based Sentence Deletion and Split Decisions for Spanish Text Simplification

This study addresses the automatic simplification of texts in Spanish in order to make them more accessible to people with cognitive disabilities. A corpus analysis of original and manually simplified news articles was undertaken in order to identify and quantify relevant operations to be implemented in a text simplification system. The articles were further compared at sentence and text level by means of automatic feature extraction and various machine learning classification algorithms, using three different groups of features (POS frequencies, syntactic information, and text complexity measures) with the aim of identifying features that help separate original documents from their simple equivalents. Finally, it was investigated whether these features can be used to decide upon simplification operations to be carried out at the sentence level (split, delete, and reduce). Automatic classification of original sentences into those to be kept and those to be eliminated outperformed the classification that was previously conducted on the same corpus. Kept sentences were further classified into those to be split or significantly reduced in length and those to be left largely unchanged, with the overall F-measure up to 0.92. Both experiments were conducted and compared on two different sets of features: all features and the best subset returned by an attribute selection algorithm.
Effects of seasonal snow on the growing season of temperate vegetation in China

Variations in seasonal snowfall regulate regional and global climatic systems and vegetation growth by changing energy budgets of the lower atmosphere and land surface. We investigated the effects of snow on the start of growing season (SGS) of temperate vegetation in China. Across the entire temperate region in China, the winter snow depth increased at a rate of 0.15 cm yr−1 (P = 0.07) during the period 1982–1998, and decreased at a rate of 0.36 cm yr−1 (P = 0.09) during the period 1998–2005. Correspondingly, the SGS advanced at a rate of 0.68 day yr−1 (P < 0.01) during 1982–1998, and delayed at a rate of 2.13 day yr−1 (P = 0.07) during 1998–2005, against a warming trend throughout the entire study period of 1982–2005. Spring air temperature strongly regulated the SGS of both deciduous broad‐leaf and coniferous forests, whereas the winter snow had a greater impact on the SGS of grassland and shrubs. Snow depth variation combined with air temperature contributed to the variability in the SGS of grassland and shrubs, as snow acted as an insulator and modulated the underground thermal conditions. In addition, differences were seen between the impacts of winter snow depth and spring snow depth on the SGS; as snow depths increased, the effect associated went from delaying SGS to advancing SGS. The observed thresholds for these effects were snow depths of 6.8 cm (winter) and 4.0 cm (spring). The results of this study suggest that the response of the vegetation's SGS to seasonal snow change may be attributed to the coupling effects of air temperature and snow depth associated with the underground thermal conditions.
Periodicities in linear fractional recurrences: Degree growth of birational surface maps

We consider the set of all 2-step recurrences (difference equations) that are given by linear fractional maps. These give birational maps of the plane. We determine the degree growth of these birational maps. We find the all the maps in this family that are periodic. This also leads to new surface automorphisms with positive entropy.
The present study analyses the long-term outcome of isoelastic hip prostheses and their influence on the extent of periprosthetic bone remodeling

The present study analyses the long-term outcome of isoelastic hip prostheses and their influence on the extent of periprosthetic bone remodeling. Ninetytwo patients (102 hips) with Isoelastic/Isotitan uncemented total hip arthroplasty were evaluated after an average of 13.4 years. The average age of patients at surgery was 42.5 years. The clinical outcome was assessed based on the Harris hip score, complications and thigh pain. Bone mineral density (BMD) of the proximal femur in the seven Gruen zones was evaluated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans with the contralateral hip serving as a control. The average Harris hip score at the most recent follow-up was 72 points, with 72 hips (70%) rating completely pain free. Eight stems required revision whereas none of the cups showed any evidence of loosening. The change in the mean BMD values between the femora on the operated side and the contralateral femora averaged 15% for all zones Although the isoelastic stems are no longer used owing to their high loosening rate, it appears that this prosthesis preserved periprosthetic bone better than reported for cemented or uncemented metallic implants. Besides, the provision of a titanium coating on the isoelastic stem, comparable to that on the RM cup, would presumably have improved its long-term fixation by encouraging bony ongrowth.
The R&D Incentives of Industry Leaders

This paper presents a model to explain why industry leader firms often devote substantial resources to R&D activities and explores the welfare implications of this investment. The key new assumption is that industry leaders can improve their own products more easily than can other firms. When industry leaders have R&D cost advantages, it is optimal for the government to subsidize the R&D expenditures of all firms, subsidize the production expenditures of industry leaders, and tax the profits of new industry leaders. Without government intervention, market forces generate too much creative destruction. Copyright 1999 by Economics Department of the University of Pennsylvania and the Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association.
Religiosity and Impulsivity in Mental Health

Abstract Our aim is to evaluate the relationship between religiosity and impulsivity in patients with mental illness who had attempted suicide and in healthy individuals. This is a cross-sectional study that included 61 healthy individuals and 93 patients. The instruments used were a sociodemographic data questionnaire, the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, and the Duke University Religion Index. The healthy individuals presented higher scores in the religiosity domains (organizational, p = 0.028; non-organizational, p = 0.000; intrinsic, p = 0.000). The patients presented higher scores in the impulsivity dimensions (attentional, p = 0.000; motor, p = 0.000; absence of planning, p = 0.000). In the patient group, intrinsic religiosity had a significant inverse relationship with total impulsivity (p = 0.023), attentional (p = 0.010), and absence of planning (p = 0.007), even after controlling for sociodemographic variables. Healthy individuals were more religious and less impulsive than patients. The relationship between religiosity, impulsiveness, and mental illness could be bidirectional; that is, just as mental illness might impair religious involvement, religiosity could diminish the expression of mental illness and impulsive behaviors.