Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Callous-Unemotional Traits in a Community Sample of Adolescents

This study examined the structure, distribution, and correlates of a new measure of self-reported callous-unemotional (CU) traits in 1,443 adolescents (774 boys, 669 girls) between the ages of 13 to 18 years. The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits was subjected to exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis produced three factors: callousness, uncaring, and unemotional. Fit indexes suggested that the three-factor model, with a single higher-order factor, represented a satisfactory solution for the data. This factor structure fits well for both boys and girls. CU traits correlated significantly with measures of conduct problems and psychosocial impairment. Furthermore, the traits showed predicted associations with sensation seeking and the Big Five personality dimensions, supporting the construct validity of the measure of CU traits.
Compressed sensing based object detection and tracking system using measurement selection process for wireless visual sensor networks

Video surveillance applications in wireless visual sensor networks (WVSN) attract a lot of attention in recent years which demands higher performance with less complexity. Efficient and simple moving object detection and tracking (MODT) system is presented in this paper targetting the video surveillance application in WVSN. The main contribution of this paper is to develop a system that can perform both object detection and tracking with less complexity. This MODT system adopts compressed sensing (CS) to perform the background subtraction on compressive measurements and the subtracted measurements undergoes a measurement selection process (MSP) to extract the foreground measurements. MSP aims at extracting the minimum number of measurements that can yield higher detection accuracy. The detected object is tracked using the Kalman filtering approach. Initially the centroid of the object is extracted from the binary image with the help of contour tracing which is then given as input to the Kalman filter to track the objects in the video. The performance of the MODT system is evaluated using parameters such as percentage of reduction in samples, energy complexity, detection and tracking accuracy. From the results it is evident that MODT system can achieve higher detection and tracking accuracy by reducing the measurements to more than 83 %. Also, the significance of the extracted measurements is observed by analyzing the detection accuracy which is around 0.88.
Fiscal policy with credit constrained households

This paper explores the effects of discretionary fiscal policy in a DSGE model that explicitly models housing investment and allows for credit constrained households along the lines of the financial accelerator literature.The presence of credit constrained households raises the marginal propensity to consume out of transitory tax reductions and increases in transfers, and makes fiscal policy a more powerful tool for short run stabilisation. Fiscal policy is more effective when credit constraints increase, when measures are temporary, and when monetary policy is accommodative.This is a timely issue in the current financial crisis which can be characterised by a substantial negative demand shock and tighter credit constraints.
A restricted four-body model for the dynamics near the Lagrangian points of the Sun-Jupiter system

We focus on the dynamics of a small particle near the Lagrangian points of the Sun-Jupiter system. To try to account for the effect of Saturn, we develop a specific model based on the computation of a true solution of the planar three-body problem for Sun, Jupiter and Saturn, close to the real motion of these three bodies. Then, we can write the equations of motion of a fourth infinitesimal particle moving under the attraction of these three masses. Using suitable coordinates, the model is written as a time-dependent perturbation of the well-known spatial Restricted Three-Body Problem. Then, we study the dynamics of this model near the triangular points. The tools are based on computing, up to high order, suitable normal forms and first integrals. From these expansions, it is not difficult to derive approximations to invariant tori (of dimensions 2, 3 and 4) as well as bounds on the speed of diffusion on suitable domains. We have also included some comparisons with the motion of a few Trojan asteroids in the real Solar system.
Discovery of the Partially Eclipsing White Dwarf Binary SDSS J143547.87+373338.5

We have discovered a partially eclipsing white dwarf, low-mass M dwarf binary (3.015114 hr orbital period), SDSS J143547.87+373338.5, from 2007 May observations at the WIYN telescope. Here we present blue-band photometry of three eclipses. Eclipse fitting gives main-sequence solutions to the M dwarf companion of MS = 0.15–0.35 M☉ and RS = 0.17–0.32 R☉. Analysis of the SDSS spectrum constrains the M dwarf further to be of type M4-M6 with MS = 0.11–0.20 M☉. Once full radial velocity curves are measured, high-precision determinations of the masses and radii of both components will be easily obtained without any knowledge of stellar structure or evolution. ZZ Ceti pulsations from the white dwarf were not found at our 4 mmag detection limit.
Analyzing Industrial Water Demand in India: An Input Distance Function Approach

This study investigates the water demand of Indian manufacturing plants. It adopts an input distance function approach and approximates it by a translog form. Duality between cost function and input distance function is exploited to retrieve information concerning substitutability and the shadow price of water. The model is estimated, using linear programming approach, on a sample of 92 firms over the three years. The results show that the average shadow price of water is rupees 7.21 per kilolitre and the price elasticity of derived demand for water is high, -1.11 on average, a value similar to what has been found by other researchers working on developing countries (for example, China and Brazil). This indicates that water charges may be an effective instrument for water conservation.
A Comprehensive Analysis of Mobility Management in MPLS-Based Wireless Access Networks

Efficient mobility management is one of the major challenges for next-generation mobile systems. Indeed, a mobile node (MN) within an access network may cause excessive signaling traffic and service disruption due to frequent handoffs. The two latter effects need to be minimized to support quality-of-service (QoS) requirements of emerging multimedia applications. In this perspective, we propose in this paper a new mobility management scheme designed to track host mobility efficiently so as to minimize both handoff latency and signaling cost. Building on and enhancing mobile IP and taking advantage of MPLS traffic engineering capability, three mechanisms (FH-, FC- and MFC-micro mobile MPLS) are introduced. In order to assess the efficiency of our proposals, all protocols are compared. To achieve this, we develop analytical models to evaluate the signaling cost and link usage for both two-dimensional and one-dimensional mobility models. Additional mathematical models are also provided to derive handoff latency and packet loss rate. Numerical and simulation results show that the proposed mechanisms can significantly reduce the registration updates cost and provide low handoff latency and packet loss rate under various scenarios.
System of rice (Oryza sativa) intensification for higher productivity and resource- use efficiencyA review

System of rice intensification (SRI) is a new method of rice (Oryza sativa L.) culture. This is an environment and ecology benign method that increases productivity and resource-use efficiency of irrigated rice by changing the way of managing soil, plants, water and nutrients. Emerged by chance in 1980s in Madagascar, it is now practiced on research farms and farmers fields in about 60 countries world-over. A record yield of 19 tonnes/ha has been reported by China, while in India 50100% increases in yield have been reported over conventional rice culture. As per the general notion, SRI is not cultivar-specific. However, differential yield responses of cultivars have been observed under SRI at different locations in the country. SRI has been found to enhance yield of hybrids, and long- and medium-duration cultivars more than those of short-duration improved cultivars, and hence these are found more suitable for cultivation under SRI. Yield enhancement with SRI was greater under constrained soil conditions like acidic soils, red lateritic soil, etc. Wider spacing is one of the important principles of SRI and influ- ences growth and yield of rice. Initially, planting spacing ranging from 25 cm 25 cm to 50 cm 50 cm was pre- scribed, but lateron wide spread experiments across the world showed 25 cm 25 cm to be the best planting spacing for SRI. However, some studies have suggested even lower spacing 20 cm 20 cm to be ideal for SRI. Spacing of 25 cm 25 cm seems to be better in kharif season, while in rabi season in southern India, 20 cm 20 cm spacing appears to more rewarding than 25 cm 25 cm. Seedling age of 1012 days is invariably found suit- able for transplanting to obtain higher yield and resource-use efficiency. Although under SRI yields were best when irrigations were scheduled at 3 days after disappearance of ponded water (DADPW), but larger water sav- ings with some yield penalty suggests the delaying irrigations till 5 or 7 DADPW. Regarding nutrient management, it could be concluded that yield, profitability and resource-use efficiency from SRI under integrated nutrient man- agement capsule consisting of 50% RDF + 50% nutrients from organic sources were either higher or equal to those obtained from the use of 100% RDF. Weeds infestation is more in SRI, which could be managed most eco- nomically by employing integrated weed management, using cono-weeder as one of the component.
U.S. based business needs for technical/occupational employees with international skills: Considerations for community college and sub-baccalaureate programs in the Tampa Bay Economic Zone

Significance This study provides the first systematic needs assessment of a U.S. business region to determine if businesses want international skills taught in community college technical and occupational programs. Without this assessment, community college leaders and faculty are not able to determine whether they are adequately preparing students in these skills to be successful in tomorrow’s fast paced, mobile and integrated global workforce. Research Aims 1. Conduct a needs assessment to determine whether international skills were considered important for employment entry or movement 2. Determine where businesses obtain international skills training. 3. Garner business recommendations for the improvement of international skills education in community college technical and occupational programs.
Analysis of Positioning Uncertainty in Cooperative Localization and Target Tracking ( CLATT )

In this report, we study the positioning accuracy of Cooperative Localization and Target Tracking (CLATT) in a network of mobile robots, and derive analytical upper bounds for the positioning uncertainty. The obtained bounds provide a description for the asymptotic positioning performance of the robots and the targets as a function of the sensor characteristics, and the structure of the graph of relative position measurements. By employing an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) formulation for data fusion, two expressions are derived for the asymptotic positioning performance. One expression provides the guaranteed worst-case positioning accuracy, whereas the other determines an upper bound on the expected position estimates’ covariance. We investigate the effects of jointly estimating the targets’ and the robots’ position, and demonstrate that it results in better accuracy for the robots’ position estimates.
Analysis of the two-quadrant converter with rectifier with near sinusoidal input currents

A new topology for a two-quadrant converter is presented. In the AC/DC transfer mode, the converter works as a rectifier with near sinusoidal input currents, whereas in the DC/AC transfer mode, it works as a square-wave pulse switching inverter. The converter is characterised by smaller power losses and reduced electromagnetic interference problems. Possible applications in adjustable speed drive with regenerative braking, wind energy conversion systems and small hydro interconnections with induction generators are also discussed.
Using Focus Groups to Research Sensitive Issues: Insights from Group Interviews on Nursing in the Northern Ireland “Troubles”

In this article the authors discuss the usefulness of focus groups for researching sensitive issues using evidence from a study examining the experiences of nurses providing care in the context of the Northern Ireland Troubles. They conducted three group interviews with nurses during which they asked about the issues the nurses face(d) in providing nursing care amid enduring social division. Through a discursive analysis of within-group interaction, they demonstrate how participants employ a range of interpretive resources, the effect of which is to prioritize particular knowledge concerning the nature of nursing care. The identification of such patterned activity highlights the ethnographic value of focus groups to reveal social conventions guiding the production of accounts but also suggests that accounts cannot be divorced from the circumstances of their production. Consequently, the authors argue that focus groups should be considered most useful for illuminating locally sanctioned ways of talking about sensitive issues.
MOF-based Metamodeling for the XTT Knowledge Representation

This paper concerns the metamodel of the XTT rule-based knowledge representation. XTT is a knowledge representation and design method which aims at combining decision trees and decision tables. As the pure XTT method required dedicated tools to design systems, the UML representation has been developed. The abstract syntax of UML is defined by the UML metamodel. This paper introduces the metamodel proposal for the developed UML representation.
microRNA from brush biopsy to characterize oral squamous cell carcinoma epithelium

Few cancers are diagnosed based on RNA expression signatures. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is no exception; it is currently diagnosed by scalpel biopsy followed by histopathology. This study sought to identify oral tumor epithelial microRNA (miRNA) expression changes to determine if these changes could be used to diagnose the disease noninvasively. Analysis of miRNA profiles from surgically obtained OSCC tissue, collected under highly standardized conditions for The Cancer Genome Atlas, was done to determine the potential accuracy in differentiating tumor from normal mucosal tissue. Even when using small 20 subject datasets, classification based on miRNA was 90 to 100% accurate. To develop a noninvasive classifier for OSSC, analysis of brush biopsy miRNA was done and showed 87% accuracy in differentiating tumor from normal epithelium when using RT‐qPCR or miRNAseq to measure miRNAs. An extensive overlap was seen in differentially expressed miRNAs in oral squamous cell carcinoma epithelium obtained using brush biopsy and those reported in saliva and serum of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients in several studies. This suggested that nonselective release of these miRNAs into body fluids from tumor epithelium was largely responsible for the changes in levels in these fluids seen with this disease. Using a variation in mirRPath we identified the KEGG pathway of neurotrophin signaling as a target of these miRNAs disregulated in tumor epithelium. This highlights the utility of brush biopsy of oral mucosa to allow simple acquisition of cancer relevant miRNA information from tumor epithelium.
HIV-Infected Individuals with Low CD4/CD8 Ratio despite Effective Antiretroviral Therapy Exhibit Altered T Cell Subsets, Heightened CD8+ T Cell Activation, and Increased Risk of Non-AIDS Morbidity and Mortality

A low CD4/CD8 ratio in elderly HIV-uninfected adults is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. A subset of HIV-infected adults receiving effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) fails to normalize this ratio, even after they achieve normal CD4+ T cell counts. The immunologic and clinical characteristics of this clinical phenotype remain undefined. Using data from four distinct clinical cohorts and three clinical trials, we show that a low CD4/CD8 ratio in HIV-infected adults during otherwise effective ART (after CD4 count recovery above 500 cells/mm3) is associated with a number of immunological abnormalities, including a skewed T cell phenotype from naïve toward terminally differentiated CD8+ T cells, higher levels of CD8+ T cell activation (HLADR+CD38+) and senescence (CD28− and CD57+CD28−), and higher kynurenine/tryptophan ratio. Changes in the peripheral CD4/CD8 ratio are also reflective of changes in gut mucosa, but not in lymph nodes. In a longitudinal study, individuals who initiated ART within six months of infection had greater CD4/CD8 ratio increase compared to later initiators (>2 years). After controlling for age, gender, ART duration, nadir and CD4 count, the CD4/CD8 ratio predicted increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Hence, a persistently low CD4/CD8 ratio during otherwise effective ART is associated with increased innate and adaptive immune activation, an immunosenescent phenotype, and higher risk of morbidity/mortality. This ratio may prove useful in monitoring response to ART and could identify a unique subset of individuals needed of novel therapeutic interventions.
Trends in the Variances of Permanent and Transitory Earnings in the U.S. and Their Relation to Earnings Mobility

We use the Michigan Panel Data Study on Income Dynamics to decompose the well-known rise in cross-sectional variance of individual male earnings in the U.S. into permanent and transitory components. We find that about half of the increase has arisen from an increase in the variance of permanent component of earnings and half from an increase in the variance of the transitory component over the period 1969-1991. In contrast to previous work by the authors, we employ a formal model for earnings dynamics. we also show that our results are robust to alternative models for earnings dynamics used in past studies in the literature. Finally, we draw out the implications of our analysis for the study of earnings mobility and show that the findings obtained in recent studies of trends in mobility are contained in our earnings dynamics model.
A simple method for assessing fuel moisture content and fire danger rating

The flammability of wildland vegetation is strongly dependent upon the moisture content of fine dead fuels. Consequently, assessing the moisture content of these fuels to within a reasonable degree of accuracy is an important part of wildland fire management. Estimates of fine fuel moisture content can also be combined with information on wind speed, vegetation type and drought effects to provide a measure of fire potential or fire danger rating. For example, the moisture content of eucalypt litter is an important consideration in determining fire danger rating in the forests of southeastern Australia. This paper describes a simple and intuitive linear index, which provides an equivalent measure of the moisture content of eucalypt litter. Despite its simplicity, the so-called fuel moisture index, defined as FMI = 10−0.25(T−H), where T is temperature and H is relative humidity, is shown to be remarkably effective at reproducing the results of a more sophisticated model for the moisture content of eucalypt litter. In previous work the fuel moisture index was combined with information on wind speed U to provide a simple fire danger index F. Under the restrictive assumption of constant fuel availability, F was shown to compare favourably with other measures of fire danger rating that feature in the literature. In this paper we extend the definition of F to incorporate the effects of variable fuel availability. This is done very simply by multiplying F by the drought factor to obtain the index FD. The drought factor, which is determined through knowledge of antecedent rainfall, is used to describe fuel availability in forest fuel types. The utility of the index FD is tested by comparing its value with the McArthur Mark 5 Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) using data from two automatic weather stations. Moreover, by converting grass curing, which is used to describe fuel availability in grassland fuels, to an equivalent drought factor the index FD is also compared with the McArthur Mark 4 Grassland Fire Danger Index (GFDI). The comparisons indicate that FD provides a plausible measure of fire danger rating for forest fuels and grassland fuels in particular. The structure of the two McArthur indices with respect to the fuel moisture index is also investigated. It is shown that when viewed in terms of the (FMI, U) phase plane, the McArthur indices have a very simple geometric characterisation: constant FFDI corresponds to straight lines and constant GFDI corresponds to cubic curves in the (FMI, U) plane. This confirms that FMI is a unifying variable which permits a simpler conceptualisation of fire danger rating, at least as it is treated in the McArthur schemes. Hence, characterising fire danger rating in terms of FMI could have a pedagogical advantage over other methods and could provide fire management personnel with a simpler and more intuitive method for assessing fire potential.