Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Religion and Anti-Immigration Sentiments in Context: Field Studies in Jerusalem

ABSTRACT Political and social changes in the past decade have rendered questions about religion and immigration more salient than ever. However, we know very little about the potential impact of religion as it operates in the real world on attitudes toward immigrants. In this investigation, we tested whether and how contextual religious cues in the public sphere might affect tolerance toward immigrants. In two studies, we compared the effects of a religious and a secular context (Study 1: religious location; Study 2: religious attire) on attitudes toward Jewish immigrants (i.e., a religious ingroup) and non-Jewish immigrants (i.e., a religious outgroup). Across studies, contextual religious cues predicted ingroup favoritism, as expressed by less social rejection toward religious ingroups and less support for anti-immigration policies affecting religious ingroups. However, contextual religious cues were unrelated to anti-immigration attitudes toward religious outgroups. In Study 2, these patterns were moderated by participants’ religiosity, such that they were found among more (but not fewer) religious participants. These findings extend prior laboratory findings and shed light on how religion influences attitudes toward immigration in rich and complex real environments.
Gender Differences in Financial Reporting Decision-Making: Evidence from Accounting Conservatism

This paper investigates the effect of CFO gender on corporate financial reporting decision-making. Focusing on firms that experience changes of CFO from male to female, the paper compares the firms' degree of accounting conservatism between pre- and post-transition periods. We find that female CFOs are more conservative in their financial reporting. In addition, we find that the relation between CFO gender and conservatism varies with the levels of various firm risks such as litigation risk, default risk, systematic risk, and CFO specific risk such as job security risk. We further find that risk-aversion of female CFOs is associated with less equity-based compensation, lower firm risk, higher tangibility level, and lower dividend payout level. Overall, the study provides strong support for the notion that female CFOs are more risk averse than male CFOs, which leads female CFOs to adopt more conservative financial reporting policies. Keywords: Accounting Conservatism; Gender; CFO; Risk-Aversion. JEL Classification: M41; J16
LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS

OF THE THESIS Statistical Tests for Optimization Efficiency By Levi Beinarauskas Boyles Master of Science in Computer Science University of California, Irvine, 2010 Professor Max Welling, Chair Learning problems, such as linear or logistic regression, are typically formulated as optimization problems. Taking the view that the data are generated by a stochastic process, we argue that one should view optimization as a statistical procedure as well. By considering the statistical properties of the update variables used during the optimization (e.g. gradients), we can construct frequentist hypothesis tests to determine the reliability of these updates. Using these tests we determine the required batch-size for computing reliable parameter updates and let the batch grow as learning proceeds. This provides not only computational benefits but also avoids overfitting by stopping when the batch-size has become equal to size of the full dataset. In this paper, we illustrate these ideas on L1-regularized problems, achieving an algorithm that is roughly as efficient as stochastic gradient descent but has the additional advantages of having a natural stopping criterion and fewer and more natural meta-parameters to tune.
Performance Analysis of BPSK over Joint Fading and Two-Path Shadowing Channels

The performance of Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) in a Joint fading and Two-path Shadowing (JFTS)environment is analyzed. Closed form expression for the exact Average Bit Error Rate (ABER) of coherent BPSK scheme is presented using the Moment Generating Function (MGF) of the JFTS distribution. Finally the coherent BPSK ABER of a wireless communication system is simulated over JFTS fading / shadowing channels with and without non- iterative Forward Error Correction (FEC) coding and compared with the analytical ABER expression.
Relocation Patterns in U.S. Manufacturing

This paper summarizes relocation patterns in the U.S. manufacturing industry over the period 1972-1992, using plant- and firm-level data from the U.S. Census of Manufactures. This study contributes to the existing literature on firm dynamics by distinguishing entry due to relocation from entry by new firms, and exit due to relocation from permanent exit. In contrast to previous studies which report that entering plants experience relatively lower productivity, I find that some entering plants—specifically, those that are not new but merely relocated—have higher productivity. I also find a pattern of relocation that suggests that plants tend to be relocated to areas that are becoming new centers for the industry; namely, plants are moved out of areas in which the industry is heavily concentrated to areas where it is not, but these areas also have higher employment growth rates than other areas.
The tug of war between an idiom's figurative and literal meanings: Evidence from native and bilingual speakers

In two lexical-decision experiments, we investigated the processing of figurative and literal meaning in idioms. Dutch native and German–Dutch bilingual speakers responded to target words presented after a minimal context idiom prime (e.g., ‘He kicked the bucket’). Target words were related to the figurative meaning of the prime (‘die’), the literal word at the end of the idiom (‘water’), or unrelated to both (‘face’). We observed facilitation in RTs for figuratively and literally related targets relative to unrelated targets for both participant groups. A higher frequency idiom-final word caused inhibition in responses to the literally related target for native speakers, indicating competition between the idiom as a whole and its literal word constituents. Native speakers further showed sensitivity to transparency of the idiom's meaning and the plausibility of the idiom as a literally interpretable sentence. The results are interpreted in terms of available L1/L2 idiom comprehension models, and a more detailed processing account for literal and idiomatic sentence interpretation.
Research on attention memory networks as a model for learning natural language inference

Natural Language Inference (NLI) is a fundamentally important task in natural language processing that has many applications. It is concerned with classifying the logical relation between two sentences. In this paper, we propose attention memory networks (AMNs) to recognize entailment and contradiction be-tween two sentences. In our model, an attention memory neural network (AMNN) has a variable sized encoding memory and supports semantic compositionality. AMNN captures sentence level semantics and reasons relation between the sentence pairs; then we use a S-parsemax layer over the output of the generated matching vectors (sentences) for classiﬁ-cation. Our experiments on the Stanford Natural Language Inference (SNLI) Corpus show that our model outperforms the state of the art, achieving an accuracy of 87.4% on the test data.
Pathways to Care of Alcohol -Dependent Patients: An Exploratory Study From a Tertiary Care Substance Use Disorder Treatment Center

Background No study from India has examined pathways to care in alcohol using population systematically. Objectives The present study aimed to understand the pathways to care among alcohol-dependent individuals seeking help at a tertiary care center. Patients and Methods It was a cross-sectional, observational study. A total of 58 subjects diagnosed with alcohol- dependence syndrome as per DSM-IV-TR were included in the study. Pathways to care were assessed using the world health organization encounter form. Results For 56.9% of the subjects, first point of contact was with a tertiary care addiction psychiatrist. Traditional healers were consulted by about 5.2% of the patients seeking help for the first time. The mean duration of main problems due to alcohol use was 5.82 ± 4.95 years. The first contact tended to be at place nearer to the patient’s residence while further contacts tended to be farther away. Family, friends and neighbours together constituted the single largest group suggesting patients to seek care. Conclusions There is a long time lag between the onset of alcohol use related problems and the first help seeking attempt. Of those who do decide to seek help, the proportion of those obtaining specialist help is higher than commonly believed.
Health care for under-fives in Ile-Ife, South-West Nigeria: Effect of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) strategy on growth and development of under-fives

ABSTRACT Background The study obtained information on key growth promotion and developmental household and community health practices in Community-Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (C-IMCI) and non-C-IMCI in local government areas (LGAs) in Osun State, Nigeria, to determine the differences that existed, between these LGAs. Method A cross-sectional comparative study to compare Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) key growth promotion and development health practices in two LGAs in Osun State was conducted using quantitative and qualitative techniques. Data analysis was done using Epi Info version 6.0 for the quantitative survey and a content analysis method for the qualitative survey. The subjects were mothers or caregivers of children 0–59 months of age, and their index children. Results Findings revealed that the IMCI key growth and development health practices were generally better rated in the CIMCI-compliant LGA than in the non-CIMCI compliant LGA. Breastfeeding practice was widespread in both LGAs. However, the exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) rate among children under six months was higher in the compliant LGA (66.7%) than in the non-compliant LGA (25%). More caregivers (59.7%) from the non-compliant LGA introduced complementary feeds earlier than six months. Growth monitoring activities revealed that there were more underweight children (19.1%) in the non-compliant LGA. Community Resource Persons (CORPs) and health workers were the most popular sources of information on IMCI key practices in the compliant LGA, while in the non-compliant LGA the traditional healers, elders and, to a lesser extent, health workers provided information on these key practices. Conclusion The IMCI strategy, if well implemented, is an effective and low-cost intervention that is useful in achieving optimal growth, development and survival of Nigerian children.
Ricci curvature, minimal surfaces and sphere theorems

Using an analogue of Myers' theorem for minimal surfaces and three dimensional topology, we prove the diameter sphere theorem for Ricci curvature in dimension three and a corresponding eigenvalue pinching theorem. This settles these two open problems for closed 3 manifolds with positive Ricci curvature since they are both false in dimensions greater than three.
Review of attachment interventions in eating disorders: Implications for psychotherapy

Background Attachment theory has been used in personalized treatments since decades. It is a major framework for understanding images of the self, affect regulation, reflective functions and interpersonal relationships. The improvement of attachment functioning is associated with positive treatment outcomes in eating disorders. However, attachment interventions have not been summarized in their psychotherapy. Aims The aim was to review the relevance of attachment features in the psychotherapy of eating disorders. Methods A literature review was carried out for empirical review and case studies, using the terms “eating disorder” and “attachment” from 1987 until 2017. From the 320 matches, 50 relevant studies were integrated into this review. Results The relationship between dysfunctional attachment and eating disorders could be conceptualized in seven ways, including transgenerational transmissions and mediator personality traits. Attachment can mediate between early experiences and adult symptoms, between.
A Phase I Clinical Trial of Systemically Delivered NEMO Binding Domain Peptide in Dogs with Spontaneous Activated B-Cell like Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Activated B-Cell (ABC) Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) is a common, aggressive and poorly chemoresponsive subtype of DLBCL, characterized by constitutive canonical NF-κB signaling. Inhibition of NF-κB signaling leads to apoptosis of ABC-DLBCL cell lines, suggesting targeted disruption of this pathway may have therapeutic relevance. The selective IKK inhibitor, NEMO Binding Domain (NBD) peptide effectively blocks constitutive NF-κB activity and induces apoptosis in ABC-DLBCL cells in vitro. Here we used a comparative approach to determine the safety and efficacy of systemic NBD peptide to inhibit constitutive NF-κB signaling in privately owned dogs with spontaneous newly diagnosed or relapsed ABC-like DLBCL. Malignant lymph nodes biopsies were taken before and twenty-four hours after peptide administration to determine biological effects. Intravenous administration of <2 mg/kg NBD peptide was safe and inhibited constitutive canonical NF-κB activity in 6/10 dogs. Reductions in mitotic index and Cyclin D expression also occurred in a subset of dogs 24 hours post peptide and in 3 dogs marked, therapeutically beneficial histopathological changes were identified. Mild, grade 1 toxicities were noted in 3 dogs at the time of peptide administration and one dog developed transient subclinical hepatopathy. Long term toxicities were not identified. Pharmacokinetic data suggested rapid uptake of peptide into tissues. No significant hematological or biochemical toxicities were identified. Overall the results from this phase I study indicate that systemic administration of NBD peptide is safe and effectively blocks constitutive NF-κB signaling and reduces malignant B cell proliferation in a subset of dogs with ABC-like DLBCL. These results have potential translational relevance for human ABC-DLBCL.
A comparison of SVM and HMM classifiers in the off-line signature verification

The purpose of paper is to develop an authentication system based on personal signatures. Signature verification is considered as important research field in the filed of forensic and biometric applications. It finds significance in fields like graphology which exploits the physiological behavior of the person based on the writing. Signature verification is split into two according to the available data in the input. Online and off line techniques is yet proved to be satisfactory especially for large number of classes. Offline (static) signature verification takes as input the image of a signature and is useful in automatic verification of signatures found on bank checks and documents. Online (dynamic) signature verification uses signatures that are captured by pressuresensitive tablets that extract dynamic properties of a signature in addition to its shape. A visual-based online signature verification system in which the signer’s pen tip is tracked. The data acquisition of the system consists of only low-cost cameras (webcams) and does not need special equipment such as an electronic tablet. Online signature data is obtained from the images captured by the webcams by tracking the pen tip. HMM is most preferred technique in this domain. It is due to the fact the HMM produces good result for large number of statistical patterns. However, the performance of the system depends entirely on the feature vectors.
Characterizing Bars at z ~ 0 in the Optical and NIR: Implications for the Evolution of Barred Disks with Redshift

Critical insights on galaxy evolution stem from the study of bars. With the advent of HST surveys that trace bars in the rest-frame optical out to z ~ 1, it is critical to provide a reference baseline for bars at z ~ 0 in the optical band. We present results on bars at z ~ 0 in the optical and NIR based on 180 spirals from OSUBSGS. (1) The deprojected bar fraction at z ~ 0 is ~60% ± 7% in the NIR and ~44% ± 7% in the optical. (2) The results before and after deprojection are similar, which is encouraging for high-redshift studies that forego deprojection. (3) Studies of bars at z ~ 0.2-1.0 (look-back time 3-8 Gyr) report an optical bar fraction of 30% ± 6%, after applying cutoffs in absolute magnitude (MV < -19.3), bar size (abar ≥ 1.5 kpc), and bar ellipticity (ebar ≥ 0.4). Applying these exact cutoffs to the OSUBSGS data yields a comparable optical bar fraction at z ~ 0 of ~34% ± 7%. This rules out scenarios in which the optical bar fraction in bright disks declines strongly with redshift. (4) Most (~70%) bars have moderate to high ellipticity. There is no bimodality in the distribution of ebar. The H-band bar fraction and ebar show no substantial variation across RC3 Hubble types Sa to Scd. (5) RC3 bar types should be used with caution. Many galaxies with RC3 types AB are unbarred, and RC3 bar classes B and AB have a significant overlap in ebar. (6) Most bars have sizes below 5 kpc. Bar and disk sizes correlate, and most bars have abar/R25 in the range ~0.1-0.5. This suggests that the growths of bars and disks are intimately tied.
Cyclic Variation and Solar Forcing of Holocene Climate in the Alaskan Subarctic

High-resolution analyses of lake sediment from southwestern Alaska reveal cyclic variations in climate and ecosystems during the Holocene. These variations occurred with periodicities similar to those of solar activity and appear to be coherent with time series of the cosmogenic nuclides 14C and 10Be as well as North Atlantic drift ice. Our results imply that small variations in solar irradiance induced pronounced cyclic changes in northern high-latitude environments. They also provide evidence that centennial-scale shifts in the Holocene climate were similar between the subpolar regions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific, possibly because of Sun-ocean-climate linkages.
Antibacterial activity of linezolid and vancomycin in an in vitro pharmacodynamic model of gram-positive catheter-related bacteraemia.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to compare the activity of linezolid and vancomycin in an in vitro pharmacodynamic model to assess potential differences in activity against biofilm-embedded organisms. METHODS Single-lumen central venous catheters colonized with biofilm-embedded Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) were treated with simulated clinical dosing regimens of linezolid 600 mg every 12 h or vancomycin 1 g every 12 h in a one-compartment in vitro pharmacodynamic model. Quantitative cultures were sampled through the catheter and peripheral ports over 48 h to dynamically assess changes in the burden of catheter colonization and organism seeding, respectively. At 24 and 48 h catheters were removed, sonicated and cultured for adherent organisms. RESULTS Both linezolid and vancomycin suppressed bacterial growth on the catheter and release of S. aureus and S. epidermidis into the model compared with controls (P < 0.05), while linezolid also suppressed counts compared with control and vancomycin versus VRE. Neither agent completely eradicated bacterial colonization of the catheters. MICs for the isolates recovered from the model did not increase over time with linezolid or vancomycin exposure. CONCLUSIONS Lack of activity against biofilm-embedded organisms appeared to be the primary reason for microbiological failure of both drugs in the model.
Semi-Supervised Deep Learning for Monocular Depth Map Prediction

Supervised deep learning often suffers from the lack of sufficient training data. Specifically in the context of monocular depth map prediction, it is barely possible to determine dense ground truth depth images in realistic dynamic outdoor environments. When using LiDAR sensors, for instance, noise is present in the distance measurements, the calibration between sensors cannot be perfect, and the measurements are typically much sparser than the camera images. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to depth map prediction from monocular images that learns in a semi-supervised way. While we use sparse ground-truth depth for supervised learning, we also enforce our deep network to produce photoconsistent dense depth maps in a stereo setup using a direct image alignment loss. In experiments we demonstrate superior performance in depth map prediction from single images compared to the state-of-the-art methods.
The Economics of Patent Citations: Startup Commercialization Strategy, Value, and Success

This thesis examines the effect of the nature of a startup firm's underlying technological relationships, as measured by patent citations, on its commercialization strategy, likelihood of success, and value when successful. The innovation-lineage view of patent citations that has been articulated and explored in the literature to date has left several empirical puzzles and is insufficient for the task. I therefore propose and validate an economic view of patent citations. Using variation in whether a cited patent is in-term or expired at the time that a citing patent is applied for, I provide evidence that patent citations can and do convey economic information directly pertaining to a patent-holder's right to exclude. I then exploit whether citations are in-sector or not, and whether it is the number of cited owners or cited patents that explains meaningful variation in outcome measures, to uncover a fourth degree of heterogeneity in patent citations -- whether citations convey information about complements and substitutes. Using samples that almost comprise the population of successful startups and failed venture-capital-backed firms that experienced their liquidity event between 1986 and 2006, and a reference dataset of all U.S. patents from 1963-2006, I find that the economic information in patent citations is of first-order importance and that startups file for patents on technologies that are at least partly substitutes. Furthermore, my results are consistent with start-ups that achieve initial public offerings patenting more radical inventions and acting as a force for creative destruction. The substitution effect of some patents explains both why receiving more citations does not necessarily make patents more valuable and why positive value effects are more likely to be found in the tail of citation count distributions. Overall, the economic view provides richer information than the innovation-lineage view, has strong construct validity, and provides a foundation for further research using patent-citation-based measures.
Eyes Are Windows to the Chinese Soul: Evidence from the Detection of Real and Fake Smiles

How do people interpret the meaning of a smile? Previous studies with Westerners have found that both the eyes and the mouth are crucial in identifying and interpreting smiles, yet less is known about Easterners. Here we reported that when asking the Chinese to judge the Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles as either real or fake, their accuracy and sensitivity were negatively correlated with their individualism scores but positively correlated with their collectivism scores. However, such correlations were found only for participants who stated the eyes to be the most useful references, but not for those who favored the mouth. Moreover, participants who favored the eyes were more accurate and sensitive than those who favored the mouth. Our results thus indicate that Chinese who follow the typical Eastern decoding process of using the eyes as diagnostic cues to identify and interpret others' facial expressions and social intentions, are particularly accurate and sensitive, the more they self-report greater collectivistic and lower individualistic values.