Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What You Read Matters: The Role of Fiction Genre in Predicting Interpersonal Sensitivity

Previous studies have found a positive relationship between exposure to fiction and interpersonal sensitivity. However, it is unclear whether exposure to different genres of fiction may be differentially related to these outcomes for readers. The current study investigated the role of four fiction genres (i.e., Domestic Fiction, Romance, Science-Fiction/Fantasy, and Suspense/Thriller) in the relationship between fiction and interpersonal sensitivity, controlling for other individual differences. Participants completed a survey that included a lifetime print-exposure measure along with an interpersonal sensitivity task. Some, but not all, fiction genres were related to higher scores on our measure of interpersonal sensitivity. Furthermore, after controlling for personality, gender, age, English fluency, and exposure to nonfiction, only the Romance and Suspense/Thriller genres remained significant predictors of interpersonal sensitivity. The findings of this study demonstrate that in discussing the influence of fiction print-exposure on readers it is important to consider the genre of the literature being consumed.
A High Reliability Asymptotic Approach for Packet Inter-Delivery Time Optimization in Cyber-Physical Systems

In cyber-physical systems such as automobiles, measurement data from sensor nodes should be delivered to other consumer nodes such as actuators in a regular fashion. But, in practical systems over unreliable media such as wireless, it is a significant challenge to guarantee small enough inter-delivery times for different clients with heterogeneous channel conditions and inter-delivery requirements. In this paper, we design scheduling policies aiming at satisfying the inter-delivery requirements of such clients. We formulate the problem as a risk-sensitive Markov Decision Process (MDP). Although the resulting problem involves an infinite state space, we first prove that there is an equivalent MDP involving only a finite number of states. Then we prove the existence of a stationary optimal policy and establish an algorithm to compute it in a finite number of steps. However, the bane of this and many similar problems is the resulting complexity, and, in an attempt to make fundamental progress, we further propose a new high reliability asymptotic approach. In essence, this approach considers the scenario when the channel failure probabilities for different clients are of the same order, and asymptotically approach zero. We thus proceed to determine the asymptotically optimal policy: in a two-client scenario, we show that the asymptotically optimal policy is a "modified least time-to-go" policy, which is intuitively appealing and easily implementable; in the general multi-client scenario, we are led to an SN policy, and we develop an algorithm of low computational complexity to obtain it. Simulation results show that the resulting policies perform well even in the pre-asymptotic regime with moderate failure probabilities.
Cord blood resistin and adiponectin in term newborns of diabetic mothers

Introduction Adipose tissue can release hormones into the blood stream in response to specific extracellular stimuli or changes in metabolic status. Resistin, an adipose-secreted factor, is primarily involved in the modulation of insulin sensitivity and adipocyte differentiation. Adiponectin, an adipocyte-specific hormone with insulin sensitizing, anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic effects, is reduced in obesity and type II diabetes. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of maternal pre-existing diabetes on cord blood resistin and adiponectin at birth in relation to neonatal anthropometric parameters and cord blood insulin levels. Material and methods A total of 60 term newborns were prospectively enrolled and categorized into three groups: 20 were macrosomic infants of pre-gestational diabetic mothers (group I), 20 were non-macrosomic infants of pre-gestational diabetic mothers (group II) and 20 were healthy non-macrosomic infants born to non-diabetic mothers serving as controls (group III). Infants’ anthropometric indices were recorded. Cord blood samples for glucose, insulin, resistin and adiponectin assay, together with maternal glycosylated haemoglobin were obtained. Results Serum insulin was increased while resistin and adiponectin were significantly decreased in infants of diabetic mothers (IDMs) compared to the control group. Serum glucose, insulin, resistin and adiponectin were comparable in group I and II. Cord serum resistin correlated positively with cord blood glucose in IDMs in both macrosomic and non-macrosomic groups. Cord serum insulin correlated positively with triceps skinfold thickness in all studied neonates. Cord serum resistin and adiponectin showed no correlation with neonatal anthropometric indices. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that insulin, resistin and adiponectin together were highly correlated with birth weight, with adiponectin as the one responsible for this positive correlation. Conclusions Infants of diabetic mothers had elevated levels of cord serum insulin and suppressed levels of cord serum resistin and adiponectin, suggesting that the regulation of these metabolic pathways is probably operational before birth. Levels were comparable in both macrosomic and non-macrosomic neonates.
Broadcast-Aware and MAC-Aware Coding Strategies for Multiple User Information Embedding 1

Multiple user information embedding is concerned with embedding several messages into the same host signal. This paper presents several implementable “Dirty Paper Coding” (DPC) based schemes for multiple user information embedding, through emphasizing their tight relationship with conventional multiple user information theory. We first show that depending on the targeted application and on whether the different messages are asked to have different robustness and transparency requirements or not, multiple user information embedding parallels one of the well-known multi-user channels with state information available at the transmitter. The focus is on the Gaussian Broadcast Channel (BC) and the Gaussian Multiple Access Channel (MAC). For each of these channels, two practically feasible transmission schemes are compared. The first approach consists in a straightforwardrather intuitivesuperimposition of Dirty Paper Coding schemes. The second consists in a joint design of these Dirty Paper Coding schemes. This joint approach is based on the ideal DPC for the corresponding channel as proposed by Kim et al. Our results extend on one side the practical implementations QIM, DC-QIM and SCS from the single user case to the multiple user one, and on another side provide a clear evaluation of the impromevents brought by joint designs in practical situations. After presenting the key features of the joint design within the context of structured scalar codebooks, we broaden our view to discuss the framework of more general lattice-based (vector) codebooks and show that the gap to full performance can be bridged up using finite dimensional lattice codebooks. Performance evaluations, including Bit Error Rates and achievable rate region curves are provided for both methods, illustrating the improvements brought by a joint design. Index Terms Information embedding, communication with side information, dirty paper coding, Broadcast Channel, Multiple Access Channel, Lattices. 1The material in this paper was published in part at the 2005 and the 2006 IEEE International Conferences on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing. Encouraged to be submitted for journal publication under review results of paper [1]. The authors would like to thank the RNRT projects SDMO and ECRYPT for funding.
"Chill with Friends" - Continuous engagement in social virtual worlds among digital natives

IS research on social virtual worlds (SVWs) has been contextually biased towards Second Life (SL). While young people constitute the largest SVW user group they do not normally use SL. We investigate the reasons for teenagers’ continuous engagement in Habbo Hotel with a multi-method approach. Grounded in the Uses & Gratifications approach and IT adoption literature, we develop a model examining the role of utilitarian, hedonic and social outcomes as well as normative influence in explaining continuous usage intention. The model is empirically tested with data collected from 1,770 Habbo users and analyzed using structural equation modeling. We triangulate our findings with a structured content analysis of user comments. The results demonstrate that perceived network effects exert the strongest influence on continuous use intention, followed by media and commercials. The qualitative analysis shows that the value of Habbo is essentially derived from the presence of other users and in-world experiences.
Multi-stage Adjustable Robust Mixed-Integer Optimization via Iterative Splitting of the Uncertainty set (Revision of CentER Discussion Paper 2014-056)

In this paper we propose a methodology for constructing decision rules for integer and continuous decision variables in multiperiod robust linear optimization problems. This type of problems ﬁnds application in, for example, inventory management, lot sizing, and manpower management. We show that by iteratively splitting the uncertainty set into subsets one can diﬀerentiate the later-period decisions based on the revealed uncertain parameters. At the same time, the problem’s computational complexity stays at the same level as for the static robust problem. This holds also in the non-ﬁxed recourse situation. In the ﬁxed recourse situation our approach can be combined with linear decision rules for the continuous decision variables. We provide theoretical results how to split the uncertainty set by identifying sets of uncertain parameter scenarios to be divided for an improvement in the worst-case objective value. Based on this theory, we propose several splitting heuristics. Numerical examples entailing a capital budgeting and a lot sizing problem illustrate the advantages of the proposed approach.
Manual Control Age and Sex Differences in 4 to 11 Year Old Children

To what degree does being male or female influence the development of manual skills in pre-pubescent children? This question is important because of the emphasis placed on developing important new manual skills during this period of a child's education (e.g. writing, drawing, using computers). We investigated age and sex-differences in the ability of 422 children to control a handheld stylus. A task battery deployed using tablet PC technology presented interactive visual targets on a computer screen whilst simultaneously recording participant's objective kinematic responses, via their interactions with the on-screen stimuli using the handheld stylus. The battery required children use the stylus to: (i) make a series of aiming movements, (ii) trace a series of abstract shapes and (iii) track a moving object. The tasks were not familiar to the children, allowing measurement of a general ability that might be meaningfully labelled ‘manual control’, whilst minimising culturally determined differences in experience (as much as possible). A reliable interaction between sex and age was found on the aiming task, with girls' movement times being faster than boys in younger age groups (e.g. 4–5 years) but with this pattern reversing in older children (10–11 years). The improved performance in older boys on the aiming task is consistent with prior evidence of a male advantage for gross-motor aiming tasks, which begins to emerge during adolescence. A small but reliable sex difference was found in tracing skill, with girls showing a slightly higher level of performance than boys irrespective of age. There were no reliable sex differences between boys and girls on the tracking task. Overall, the findings suggest that prepubescent girls are more likely to have superior manual control abilities for performing novel tasks. However, these small population differences do not suggest that the sexes require different educational support whilst developing their manual skills.
MHD Flow-Control for Hypersonic Flight

At the beginning of the seventies, experimental research using short duration supersonic shock driven wind tunnel were conducted and showed the e‐ciency of Lorentz force action on supersonic (Mach 1.4) dense (1 bar) low magnetic Reynolds number hot (10000 K) argon ∞ows. When working as a generator, the linear Faraday MHD converter was e‐cient enough, due to high electrical conductivity (3000 S/m) to create a front shock wave at the intake of the constant cross-section MHD converter. Accelerations up to 5000 m/s were obtained in 10 cm long channels. This suggested the possibility to achieve complete shock wave and turbulent wake cancellation, through MHD bypass concept. Such work gave publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentation in international MHD meetings (French Academy of Sciences 1970, Moscow 1983, Tsukuba 1986, Beijing 1992). The work was conducted both through computational simulations (based on the method of characteristics) and hydraulic simulation experiments. We present the synthesis of such studies through a project of a hypersonic vehicle based on an MHD bypass concept, landing under its own steam, using classical turbojets. Then, at Mach 3 and high altitude, MHD controlled inlets are opened. A wall converter slows down the hypersonic incoming air ∞ow, without excessive heating, feeding a ramjet system. The subsequent electric power provides an additional impulse to the ∞ow in the exhaust section. Cruise Mach number: 12. Local Hall parameter regime produces high voltage that, sent to the leading edges, creates a plasma cushion which prevents too high thermal ∞ux. Lift is provided by wave riding technique. Additional rocket propeller could transform it as a reusable space launcher.
"A Game of Thrones": When Human Behavior Models Compete in Repeated Stackelberg Security Games

Several competing human behavior models have been proposed to model and protect against boundedly rational adversaries in repeated Stackelberg security games (SSGs). However, these existing models fail to address three main issues which are extremely detrimental to defender performance. First, while they attempt to learn adversary behavior models from adversaries' past actions ("attacks on targets"), they fail to take into account adversaries' future adaptation based on successes or failures of these past actions. Second, they assume that sufficient data in the initial rounds will lead to a reliable model of the adversary. However, our analysis reveals that the issue is not the amount of data, but that there just is not enough of the attack surface exposed to the adversary to learn a reliable model. Third, current leading approaches have failed to include probability weighting functions, even though it is well known that human beings' weighting of probability is typically nonlinear. The first contribution of this paper is a new human behavior model, SHARP, which mitigates these three limitations as follows: (i) SHARP reasons based on success or failure of the adversary's past actions on exposed portions of the attack surface to model adversary adaptiveness; (ii) SHARP reasons about similarity between exposed and unexposed areas of the attack surface, and also incorporates a discounting parameter to mitigate adversary's lack of exposure to enough of the attack surface; and (iii) SHARP integrates a non-linear probability weighting function to capture the adversary's true weighting of probability. Our second contribution is a first "longitudinal study" -- at least in the context of SSGs -- of competing models in settings involving repeated interaction between the attacker and the defender. This study, where each experiment lasted a period of multiple weeks with individual sets of human subjects, illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of different models and shows the advantages of SHARP.
Visual memory in musicians and non-musicians

Many investigations have reported structural, functional, and cognitive changes in the brains of musicians, which occur as a result of many years of musical practice. We aimed to investigate if intensive, long-term musical practice is associated with improved visual memory ability. Musicians and non-musicians, who were comparable in age, gender, and education, were submitted to a visual memory test. The test consisted of the presentation of four sets of stimuli, each one containing eight figures to be memorized. Each set was followed by individual figures and the subject was required to indicate if each figure was or was not present in the memorized set, by pressing the corresponding keys. We divided the test in two parts, in which the stimuli had greater or reduced semantic coding. Overall, musicians showed better performance on reaction times, but not on accuracy. An additional analysis revealed no significant interaction between group and any part of the test in the prediction of the outcomes. When simple reaction time was included as covariate, no significant difference between groups was found on reaction times. In the group of musicians, we found some significant correlations between variables related to musical practice and performance in the visual memory test. In summary, our data provide no evidence of enhanced visual memory ability in musicians, since there was no difference in accuracy between groups. Our results suggest that performance of musicians in the visual memory test may be associated with better sensorimotor integration, since although they have presented shorter reaction times, such effect disappeared when taken in consideration the simple reaction time test. However, given existing evidence of associations between simple reaction time and cognitive function, their performance in the visual memory test could also be related to enhanced visual attention ability, as has been suggested by previous studies, but this hypothesis deserves more investigation.
Immunogenicity and Protective Efficacy of the DAR-901 Booster Vaccine in a Murine Model of Tuberculosis

Background The development of a novel tuberculosis vaccine is a leading global health priority. SRL172, an inactivated, whole-cell mycobacterial vaccine, was safe, immunogenic and reduced the incidence of culture-confirmed tuberculosis in a phase III trial in HIV-infected and BCG immunized adults in Tanzania. Here we describe the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of DAR-901, a booster vaccine against tuberculosis manufactured from the same seed strain using a new scalable method. Methods We evaluated IFN-γ responses by ELISpot and antibody responses by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice after three doses of DAR-901. In an aerosol challenge model, we evaluated the protective efficacy of the DAR-901 booster in C57BL/6 mice primed with BCG and boosted with two doses of DAR-901 at 4 dosage levels in comparison with homologous BCG boost. Results DAR-901 vaccination elicited IFN-γ responses to mycobacterial antigen preparations derived from both DAR-901 and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. DAR-901 immunization enhanced antibody responses to DAR-901 but not Mycobacterium tuberculosis lysate or purified protein derivative. Among animals primed with BCG, boosting with DAR-901 at 1 mg provided greater protection against aerosol challenge than a homologous BCG boost (lungs P = 0.036, spleen P = 0.028). Conclusions DAR-901 induces cellular and humoral immunity and boosts protection from M. tuberculosis compared to a homologous BCG boost.
Pricing Credit Derivatives with Rating Transitions Viral

We present a model for pricing risky debt and valuing credit derivatives that is easily calibrated to existing variables. Our approach expands a classical term-structure model to allow for multiple rating classes of debt. The framework has two salient features: (1) it uses a rating-transition matrix as the driver for the default process, and (2) the entire set of rating categories is calibrated jointly, which allows arbitrage-free restrictions across rating classes as a bond migrates among them. We illustrate the approach by applying it to price credit-sensitive notes that have coupon payments linked to the rating of the underlying credit.
Realism and control : problem-based learning programs as a data source for work-related research

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a pedagogical methodology that presents the learner with a problem to be solved to stimulate and situate learning. This paper presents key characteristics of a problem-based learning environment that determines its suitability as a data source for workrelated research studies. To date, little has been written about the availability and validity of PBL environments as a data source and its suitability for work-related research. We describe problembased learning and use a research project case study to illustrate the challenges associated with industry work samples. We then describe the PBL course used in our research case study and use this example to illustrate the key attributes of problem-based learning environments and show how the chosen PBL environment met the work-related research requirements of the research case study. We propose that the more realistic the PBL work context and work group composition, the better the PBL environment as a data source for a work-related research. The work context is more realistic when relevant and complex project-based problems are tackled in industry-like work conditions over longer time frames. Work group composition is more realistic when participants with industry-level education and experience enact specialized roles in different disciplines within a professional community.
A comparison of gender, age, grade, and experiences of authoritarian parenting amongst traditional and cyberbullying perpetrators

In this study, we explore the differences between learners who perpetrate cyberbullying and traditional bullying in Gauteng with regard to their sociodemographic characteristics and the level of self-reported, authoritarian parenting they experienced. This study was conducted on Grade Six and Seven learners from four primary schools in Benoni, Gauteng ( N = 279). Pupils completed an adapted version of the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (R-OBVQ) and items from the Parenting Practices Questionnaire (PPQ), which measured the authoritarian parenting style. Results revealed that grade was significantly associated with both traditional and cyberbullying perpetration; Grade Six learners were significantly more likely to have perpetrated traditional bullying behaviours, χ² (3, N = 272) = 9.26, p < . 05, and Grade Seven learners were more likely to have perpetrated cyberbul lying behaviours, χ² (1, N = 272) = 5.96, p < . 05. Age was significantly associated with cyberbullying perpetration only, with older learners more likely to perpetrate such behaviours, χ² (2, N = 272) = 9.24, p < . 05. Both types of bullying were significantly related to self-reported, authoritarian parenting, therein suggesting that this parenting style is more prevalent in the households of bullying perpetrators. Keywords: authoritarian parenting style; cyberbullying; Parenting Practices Questionnaire (PPQ); Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (R-OBVQ); traditional bullying