Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extrinsically metal-poor stars: photospheric chemical depletion in post-AGB/post-RGB stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud

In this study, we use high-resolution optical spectra from the VLT + UVES to carry out a detailed stellar parameter and chemical abundance analysis for three newly identified depleted LMC post-AGB/dusty post-RGB stars with circumstellar discs. Previously, only four luminous post-AGB stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) have been observed to show signatures of chemical depletion. We find that the luminosities of the new depleted objects presented in this study are lower (1800 L/ L 3300) than that of the previously known LMC depleted post-AGB stars (3000 L/ L 6500). This shows that chemical depletion is not only active in luminous post-AGB stars but also in stars with lower luminosities that have evolved-off lower on the AGB or evolved-off the RGB. Additionally, we compare the chemical depletion patterns of the LMC objects to their Galactic counterparts. We find a similar spread in the efficiency of depletion in both galaxies implying that the efficiency of photospheric depletion is independent of the initial metallicity of the host galaxy. While the spectral energy distributions of depleted post-AGB stars in the LMC and our Galaxy point to the presence of a likely circumstellar disc, we find that the stable circumstellar disc is needed but not a sufficient condition for acquiring the photospheric depletion abundance patterns. The efficiency of chemical depletion is complexly dependent on a suite of factors such as the effective temperature, luminosity, and the orbital properties of the binary systems.
Feature Extraction for Classification from Images: A Look at the Retina

A method is proposed for the representation of localised features using disjoint sub-images taken from several datasets of retinal images for use within an incremental learning system. A tile-based localised adaptive threshold selection method was taken for vessel segmentation based on separate colour components. Arteriole-venous differentiation was done using the composite of these components and high quality fundal images. Vessel segmentation performance was evaluated on the DRIVE and STARE datasets achieving average specificity of 0.9379 and sensitivity of 0.5924.
On and off sublaminae in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the ferret

Like the retinal ganglion cells from which they receive their input, most relay neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus have ON- or OFF- center receptive fields with antagonistic surrounds. In the cat, neurons with these two types of receptive fields are anatomically intermingled, even though the ON and OFF systems are functionally segregated. In the ferret, there is a sublamination of the retinal input to lateral geniculate nucleus laminae A and A1. We have investigated the function of this sublamination by making microelectrode recordings and have found that each sublamina consists of geniculate neurons of a single center type.
Effcient numerical methods for strongly anisotropic elliptic equations

In this paper, we study an eﬃcient numerical scheme for a strongly anisotropic elliptic problem which arises in the modeling of ionospheric plasma dynamics. A small parameter ε induces the anisotropy of the problem, which leads to severe numerical diﬃculties for 0 < ε ≪ 1 when solved with standard methods. An AP-scheme is considered in this paper in the 2D resp. 3D physical case with an anisotropy aligned to one coordinate axis and an ε -intensity either constant or variable within the simulation domain. This AP-scheme is uniformly precise in ε , permitting thus the choice of coarse discretization grids
Efficient Privacy-Preserving Outsourcing of Large-Scale Convex Separable Programming for Smart Cities

One of the most salient features of smart city is to utilize big data to make our lives more convenient and more intelligent. This is usually achieved through solving a series of large-scale common and fundamental problems such as linear systems of equations, linear programs, etc. However, it is a very challenging task for resource-limited clients and small companies to solve such problems as the data volume keeps increasing. With cloud computing, an alternative is to solve complex problems by outsourcing them to the cloud. Nonetheless, data privacy is one of the main concerns. Many previous works on privacy-preserving outsourcing are based on cryptographic techniques like homomorphic encryption and have very high computational complexity, which may not be practical for big data applications. In this paper, we design an efficient privacy-preserving outsourcing algorithm based on arithmetic operations only for large-scale convex separable programming problems. Specifically, we first develop an efficient transformation scheme to preserve data privacy. Then we linearize the convex functions with arbitrary accuracy and solve the problem by outsourcing it to the cloud. The client can efficiently verify the correctness of the returned results to prevent any malicious behavior of the cloud. Implementations on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) platform show that the proposed scheme provides significant time savings.
Forensic Applications of Recording the Neurocognitive Processes of Remembrance

Knowing and remembering have been considered two different neurocognitive processes (Mandler 1980), as knowing is essentially a process of recognition where the external model is identified as a known internal model [1]. Remembrance take place when sensorymotor imageries reactivated along with the earlier emotional effects in the individual. It was later supported in several brain imaging studies [2-10]. Registration of signals at the subcortical brain stem areas evokes Brainstem Evoked Potentials, followed by the middle latency evoked potentials arising when the sensory signals arrive in the cortical area, for primary recognition. When the sensory signals reach the middle cortical layer, beyond the brain stem areas, cortical sensory registration of the signals take place, which also leads to attentional arousal, and these processes repeatedly occurring produce a positivity representing continuous sensory (visual) registration (P100/P80) followed by a negativity (N100/N140) representing attentional arousal towards the auditory or visual signals, and another positivity (P200). The time taken for auditory stimuli, these potentials occur faster at 70ms (P70), 100ms (N100) and 160ms (P160) [11]. Recognition of the incoming signals is the next processing stage, when a P300 is generated. What may be recognized could be mere change in the signal characteristics, which may serve a novelty effect or mere detection of the difference. The latter is seen when one must make a response to any change in the input signal. Such need state facilitates detection of even a minor change in the input characteristics, whereas detection of such changes may not occur, if the subject does not need to attend to such minor changes. Recognition of input signals is therefore the most important component of getting to know the changes, wherever such input signals could come from. However, the typical P1-N1-P2and P3, are brief cerebral potentials associated with specific functional roles initiated in the cortex, and these potentials manifest transiently or form only when the signal inputs and their processing are of short duration.
Early Web size measures and effort prediction for Web costimation

Size measures for Web costimation proposed in the literature are invariably related to implemented Web applications. Even when targeted at measuring functionality based on function point analysis, researchers only considered the final Web application, rather than requirements documentation generated using any existing Web development methods. This makes their usefulness as early effort predictors questionable. In addition, it is believed that company-specific data provide a better basis for accurate estimates. Many software engineering researchers have compared the accuracy of company-specific data with multiorganisation databases. However the datasets employed were comprised of data from conventional applications. To date no similar comparison has been adopted for Web project datasets. It has two objectives: The first is to present a survey where early size measures for Web costimation were identified using data collected from 133 Web companies worldwide. All companies included in the survey used Web forms to give quotes on Web development projects, based on gathered size measures. The second is to compare the prediction accuracy of a Web company-specific data with data from a multiorganisation database. Both datasets were obtained via Web forms, used as part of a research project called Tukutuku. Our results show that best predictions were obtained for company-specific dataset, for the two estimation techniques employed.
Teenage pregnancy, attachment style, and depression: A comparison of teenage and adult pregnant women in a Portuguese series

Abstract The aim of this Portuguese study is to compare the experience of pregnancy in teenage years and later adulthood and to examine insecure attachment style as a risk factor for depression during pregnancy. The Attachment Style Interview (ASI; Bifulco, Moran, Ball, & Bernazzani, 2002) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; Cox, Holden, & Sagovsky, 1987) were administered to 66 pregnant adolescents and 64 adult women. Pregnant teenagers were found to be nearly three times more likely to have an insecure attachment style of Enmeshed, Angry-Dismissive, or Fearful style than adults, all at high levels of impairment (54% vs.19%, p < .02). Logistic regression showed, when all risk factors were entered, highly Enmeshed style and poor partner support provided the best model for depression with age at pregnancy no longer adding. Insecure attachment style should be addressed in prevention and intervention strategies with teenage mothers.
On constructing a shortest linear recurrence relation

In 1968, Berlekamp and Massey presented an algorithm to compute a shortest linear recurrence relation for a finite sequence of numbers. It was originally designed for the purpose of decoding certain types of block codes. It later became important for cryptographic applications, namely for determining the complexity profile of a sequence of numbers. Here, the authors interpret the Berlekamp-Massey algorithm in a system-theoretic way. The authors explicitly present the algorithm as an iterative procedure to construct a behavior. The authors conclude that this procedure is the most efficient method for solving the scalar minimal partial realization problem.
Pacing and opponents: the regulation of exercise intensity during competition

The goal-directed regulation of the exercise intensity over an exercise bout has been shown to be an essential determinant for performance. During their competition, exercisers are required continuously to make decisions about how and when they are going to invest their limited available energy resources. The regulation of the exercise intensity is an intriguing area of sport science research, and a complex one as demonstrated by the multitude of different theories regarding pacing that are around attempting to explain how this is done. Previous research revealed optimal pacing strategies in time trial exercise and the importance of feedback regarding the internal bodily state. The present thesis adds onto this knowledge by highlighting the external world around the exerciser and its effect on pacing. This has been done by focusing on arguably the most important external variable in competitions: the opponent. It has been shown how opponents could invite exercisers to adjust their pacing behaviour in real-life competitions and in controlled laboratory situations. Moreover, it has been illustrated that even the same opponent could evoke different pacing responses and alter the information-seeking behaviour, depending on the competitive situation that is presented towards the exerciser. It has been demonstrated how an accumulation of preceding race efforts could impact the pacing and performance of elite athletes during their competition. Finally, the reciprocal interaction in pacing decision-making between the effect of an opponent and the internal state of the exerciser was demonstrated, providing novel insights into the regulatory mechanism of exercise regulation. The present findings of this thesis emphasizes the importance of what is happening around the exerciser for the outcome of the decision-making process involved in pacing, and highlight the necessity to incorporate human-environment interactions into models that attempt to explain the regulation of exercise intensity.
Perturbative gauge invariance: electroweak theory II

A recent construction of the electroweak theory, based on perturbative quantum gauge invariance alone, is extended to the case of more generations of fermions with arbitrary mixing. The conditions implied by second order gauge invariance lead to an isolated solution for the fermionic couplings in agreement with the standard model. Third order gauge invariance determines the Higgs potential. The resulting massive gauge theory is manifestly gauge invariant, after construction.
Risk of narcolepsy in children and young people receiving AS03 adjuvanted pandemic A/H1N1 2009 influenza vaccine: retrospective analysis

Objective To evaluate the risk of narcolepsy in children and adolescents in England targeted for vaccination with ASO3 adjuvanted pandemic A/H1N1 2009 vaccine (Pandemrix) from October 2009. Design Retrospective analysis. Clinical information and results of sleep tests were extracted from hospital notes between August 2011 and February 2012 and reviewed by an expert panel to confirm the diagnosis. Vaccination and clinical histories were obtained from general practitioners. Setting Sleep centres and paediatric neurology centres in England. Participants Children and young people aged 4-18 with onset of narcolepsy from January 2008. Main outcome measures The odds of vaccination in those with narcolepsy compared with the age matched English population after adjustment for clinical conditions that were indications for vaccination. The incidence of narcolepsy within six months of vaccination compared with the incidence outside this period measured with the self controlled cases series method. Results Case notes for 245 children and young people were reviewed; 75 had narcolepsy (56 with cataplexy) and onset after 1 January 2008. Eleven had been vaccinated before onset; seven within six months. In those with a diagnosis by July 2011 the odds ratio was 14.4 (95% confidence interval 4.3 to 48.5) for vaccination at any time before onset and 16.2 (3.1 to 84.5) for vaccination within six months before onset. The relative incidence from the self controlled cases series analysis in those with a diagnosis by July 2011 with onset from October 2008 to December 2010 was 9.9 (2.1 to 47.9). The attributable risk was estimated as between 1 in 57 500 and 1 in 52 000 doses. Conclusion The increased risk of narcolepsy after vaccination with ASO3 adjuvanted pandemic A/H1N1 2009 vaccine indicates a causal association, consistent with findings from Finland. Because of variable delay in diagnosis, however, the risk might be overestimated by more rapid referral of vaccinated children.
The Impacts Of Information Culture on E-Learning Innovation Adoption In Learning Institutions In Nigeria

This study examines the impacts of information culture (individual, institutions, technological and national) on e-learning innovations adoption in Nigeria learning institutions within the context of Technological Acceptance Model s (UTUAT and Delone and McLean IS model). The model’s explanatory power differs across institutions due to the level of acceptance or usage behavior of the learning stakeholders. Data are collected from ten (10) universities in six geo-political zones in Nigeria using special criteria such as availability of ICT centres, dynamic web portals for course work management, e-payment, e-admission and e-result processing. The purpose of this study is to examine individual, institutions and national information cultural practices influences on TAMs determinants towards the adoption of e-learning innovations in teaching-learning activities. Further, this study also examines critical core cultural indices and TAMs determinants that influence most learning stakeholders’ intention. This study is analyzed with reliability analysis, correlation analysis and Standardized Regression Weight (using Structural Equation Modeling). The authors’ findings contribute to understanding the effects of cultural contexts in influencing technology acceptance behaviors, and demonstrate the need for research into additional cultural factors that account for technology acceptance.
‘Dime De Que Se Trató/Tell me what it was about’: Exploring emergent bilinguals’ linguistic resources in reading assessments with parent participation

The purpose of this study was to explore the ways emergent bilingual first-graders draw on multiple linguistic resources during reading assessments and the participation of their Spanish-dominant parents in those assessments, as children engaged in English and Spanish retelling tasks. Informed by a translanguaging lens, sociopsycholinguistic and holistic approaches to reading and critical approaches to family literacy, the analysis centres on assessment sessions with two mother–child dyads whose children attended school in a relatively new migration setting. Primary data were drawn from four reading assessment sessions and audio-recordings over a 7-month period with each child, individual interviews and home visits with mothers, and field notes from research team members. The analysis examined linguistic patterns related to second-language approximations and code-switching in miscues and oral retellings. The analysis also includes coding of strategies and resources children used in their English and Spanish retelling of the same text, using their home language to retell the texts to their mothers. Findings illustrate that while children’s miscues may be shaped by their developing control of syntactic structures and new vocabulary, they draw from multiple language resources in English retellings, conveying their complex understandings of texts. We also found that the children negotiated translating and retelling for their parents in different ways, shaped by their family literacy practices. These involved co-construction of stories, a focus on accuracy and the paraphrasing and embellishing of stories and dialogue. Insights from this study highlight the complexity of pooled language resources in young children’s repertoires. Findings also document the situated nature of oral retelling at home, when parents engage children in the sharing and translating of English books in ways that align with existing roles, practices and goals. Implications for equitable literacy assessment in new migration contexts are discussed.
REA and XBRL GL : synergies for the 21st century business reporting system

Incorporating an instance document example, we suggest a framework linking the Resource-Event-Agent (REA) model and eXtensible Business Reporting Language Global Ledger (XBRL GL) as a way to extend the generalized XBRL GL taxonomy. Using the REA semantic model to extend the existing XBRL GL taxonomy provides an ontology and associated process that is reusable. The resulting framework can provide uniform access to information and more reporting and query permutations, thereby facilitating more comprehensive and timely business reporting.
‘A Pillar of Strength’: Empowering Women and the Resilience of Township-Dwelling Adolescents

Only a limited number of resilience studies report what challenges and enables adolescents living in townships. Even fewer report the aforementioned from the perspective of adolescents themselves. Given that resilience is a contextually and developmentally sensitive process, it is an oversight to marginalize the risk- and resilience-related insights of township-dwelling adolescents. We correct this oversight in this article. To this end, we report a grounded theory study with 17 South African adolescents (aged 17–19) who generated visual and narrative data. Two core insights emerged. First, parental expectations underpin adolescent disillusionment. Second, empowering women (i.e., mothers, woman relatives and/or woman teachers) are key to how adolescents adjust well to the aforementioned challenge. These insights, which extend what was previously understood about the risk and resilience of township-dwelling adolescents, fit with social ecological understandings of resilience and offer useful leverage points to champion adolescent resilience.
Opting-In: Participation Biases in the Lab

Assuming individuals rationally decide whether to participate or not to participate in lab experiments, we hypothesize several non-representative biases in the characteristics of lab participants. We test the hypotheses by first collecting survey and experimental data on a typical recruitment population and then inviting them to participate in a lab experiment. The results indicate that lab participants are not representative of the target population on almost all the hypothesized characteristics, including having lower income, working fewer hours, volunteering more often, and exhibiting behaviors correlated with interest in experiments and economics. We discuss the implications and various methods for addressing non-representative biases.
Uncertainty quantification for stochastic nonlinear systems using Perron-Frobenius operator and Karhunen-Loève expansion

In this paper, a methodology for propagation of uncertainty in stochastic nonlinear dynamical systems is investigated. The process noise is approximated using Karhunen-Loève (KL) expansion. Perron-Frobenius (PF) operator is used to predict the evolution of uncertainty. A multivariate Kolmogorov-Smirnov test is used to verify the proposed framework. The method is applied to predict uncertainty evolution in a Duffing oscillator and a Vanderpol's oscillator. It is observed that the solution of the approximated stochastic dynamics converges to the true solution in distribution. Finally, the proposed methodology is combined with Bayesian inference to estimate states of a nonlinear dynamical system, and its performance is compared with particle filter. The proposed estimator was found to be computationally superior than the particle filter.
Uniform filter banks with nonuniform bands: post-processing design

In this paper, uniform, critically decimated filter banks are used to approximate nonuniform filter banks wherein different filters have approximately the same magnitude response, but different phase, thus forming a linear periodically time-varying filter whose characteristics are similar to those of a nonuniform bank. This is done by post-processing a number of selected subbands of a uniform bank using a special synthesis filter bank, which combines the selected bands into one. Design methods for the post-processing stage are discussed and design examples are presented.
Improving Utilization of the Atlantic Sea Scallop Resource: An Analysis of Rotational Management of Fishing Grounds

An age-structured bioeconomic model was constructed to determine optimal patterns of exploitation for the U.S. Atlantic sea scallop fishery. Results indicated that economic rents are maximized by engaging in pulse fishing strategies, whereby fishing only occurs following a multi-year closure period. Closures allow biomass to accumulate undisturbed for several years in a row, leading to the harvest of premium-size scallops upon reopening of the fishing grounds. Closures also result in substantial reductions in operating fishing costs. The rotational harvesting strategy was found to be robust with respect to a number of assumptions in the model. Policy implications are discussed. (JEL Q22)