Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Ep,i–Eiso correlation in gamma-ray bursts: updated observational status, re-analysis and main implications

The correlation between the cosmological rest-frame vF v spectrum peak energy, E p,i , and the isotropic-equivalent radiated energy, E iso , discovered by Amati et al. in 2002 and confirmed/extended by subsequent osbervations, is one of the most intriguing and debated observational evidences in gamma-ray burst (GRB) astrophysics. In this paper, I provide an update and a re-analysis of the E p,i -E iso correlation basing on an updated sample consisting of 41 long GRBs/X-ray flashes (XRFs) with firm estimates of z and observed peak energy, E p,obs , 12 GRB s with uncertain values of z and/or E p,obs , two short GRBs with firm estimates of z and E p,obs and the peculiar subenergetic events GRB 980425/SN1998bw and GRB 031203/SN20031w. In addition to standard correlation analysis and power-law fitting, the data analysis here reported includes modelling that accounts for sample variance. All 53 classical long GRBs and XRFs, including 11 Swift events with published spectral parameters and fluences, have E p,i and E iso values, or upper/lower limits, consistent with the correlation, which shows a chance probability as low as ∼7 x 10 -15 , a slope of ∼0.57 (∼0.5 when fitting by accounting for sample variance) and an extra-Poissonian logarithmic dispersion of ∼0.15, it extends over ∼5 orders of magnitude in E iso and ∼3 orders of magnitude in E p,i and holds from the closer to the higher z GRBs. Subenergetic GRBs (980425 and possibly 031203) and short GRBs are found to be inconsistent with the E p,i -E iso correlation, showing that it can be a powerful tool for discriminating different classes of GRBs and understanding their nature and differences. I also discuss the main implications of the updated E p,i -E iso correlation for the models of the physics and geometry of GRB emission, its use as a pseudo-redshift estimator and the tests of possible selection effects with GRBs of unknown redshift.
ATTITUDES AND SOCIAL COGNITION Learning and Memory for Personality Prototypes

Although personality traits are commonly assumed to be represented in memory as schemata, little research has addressed whether such schemata can be learned from observation. Subjects in three studies classified 60 person instances into group members and nonmembers as denned by the instances' match to a complex personality prototype. To simulate learning of fuzzy categories, each person instance provided conflicting cues to group membership. Learning for instances' group membership was excellent across studies. In Study 1, frequency of cues indicating group membership was greatly overestimated among nongroup instances. In Study 2, schema-consistent memory bias was revealed for person instances. In Study 3, schemata of consistently positive (or negative) traits were learned faster than arbitrary schemata. The findings implicated frequency sensitivity of memory (Estes, 1986), and a model of probabilistic cued-memory retrieval was developed to account for the effects. The findings were then discussed in relation to everyday cognitive performance,
Towards a Stage Model for E-Business Adoption Among SMEs: Preliminary Results for Manufacturing and Service Firms

The ubiquity of the Internet has allowed companies of any size to engage in e -business. However, e -business adoption among Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) is limited because of resource constraints and a failure to understand the strategic value of e -business. In an effort to better understand the value of e -business to SMEs, this paper examines the use of over 100 e -business applic ations by over 400 SMEs in five different industries. Cluster analysis suggests a three stage model for e -business evolution in which firms progress from making only nominal use of the Internet to convey company information, to supply chain and order manag ement applications in a transitional stage, to more extensive and integrated use in subsequent stages. Evidence of differences in use is also presented for firms that are manufacturers versus service providers.
Probiotic Encapsulation Technology: From Microencapsulation to Release into the Gut

Probiotic encapsulation technology (PET) has the potential to protect microorgansisms and to deliver them into the gut. Because of the promising preclinical and clinical results, probiotics have been incorporated into a range of products. However, there are still many challenges to overcome with respect to the microencapsulation process and the conditions prevailing in the gut. This paper reviews the methodological approach of probiotics encapsulation including biomaterials selection, choice of appropriate technology, in vitro release studies of encapsulated probiotics, and highlights the challenges to be overcome in this area.
Imperfect Cartelization in OPEC

A model of global oil production is applied to study cartelization by OPEC countries. We define a measure for the degree of cooperation, analogous to the market conduct parameter of Cyert et al., 1973, Geroski et al., 1987, Lofaro, 1999, and Symeonidis, 2000. This parameter is used to assess the incentives for different OPEC members to collude. We find that heterogeneity in OPEC and the supplies of the non-OPEC fringe create strong incentives against OPEC cooperation. OPEC’s optimal supply strategy although observed to be substantially more restrictive than that of a Cournot-Nash oligopoly, is found to still be more accommodative than that of a perfect cartel. The strategy involves allocating larger than proportionate quotas to smaller and relatively costlier producers as if to bribe their participation in the cartel. This, is in contrast to predictions of the standard cartel model that such producers should be allocated relatively more stringent quotas. Furthermore, we find that cartel collusion is likely to be sustained for elastic than inelastic demand. Since global oil demand is well known to be inelastic, this observation provides another structural explanation for why OPEC behavior is inconsistent with that of a perfect cartel. Our study points to multiple headwinds that limit OPEC’s ability to markup the oil price.
Unexpected Evolutionary Dynamics in a String Based Artificial Chemistry

This work investigates closure in Cell Signaling Networks, which is one research area within the ESIGNET project 1 . We employ a string-based Artificial Chemistry based on Holland’s broadcast language (Molecular Classifier System, Broadcast Language, or MCS.b). We present a series of experiments focusing on the emergence and evolution of self-maintaining molecular organizations. Such experiments naturally relate to similar studies conducted in artificial chemistries such as Tierra, Alchemy and Alpha-Universes. However, our results demonstrate some counter-intuitive outcomes, not indicated in previous literature. Each of these “unexpected” evolutionary dynamics (including an elongation catastrophe phenomenon) are examined and explained both informally and formally. We also demonstrate how the elongation catastrophe can be prevented using a multi-level selectional model of the MCS.b (which acts both at the molecular and cellular level). This work provides complementary insights into the understanding of evolutionary dynamics in minimal artificial chemistries.
Flood Hazards , Insurance , and House Pr ices-A Hedonic Proper ty Pr ice Analysis

This study estimates a hedonic property price function using floodplain data coupled with extensive property sales records from Pitt County, North Carolina to estimate the effects of flood hazards on residential property values. Using a large data set of 5,122 single-family residential home sales between January 1998 and June 2002, our study finds that the market value of a house located within a floodplain is significantly lower than an equivalent house located outside the floodplain. The price differentials range from $5,000 to $11,000 for houses sold between $50,000 and $225,000. We find that these price differentials are greater than the present value of the future flood insurance costs. An average house located in a floodplain is discounted by 6.6 percent of the property value, while the capitalized insurance premium value represents approximately 4 percent of the house’s selling price. 1 We thank Ralph Forbes of the Pitt County Management Information Systems for helping us acquire and understand floodplain and property sales data, and Tammy Riddle of the North Carolina Emergency Management for providing flood insurance premium data.
Public-sector efficiency and interjurisdictional competition: An empirical investigation

This paper investigates the performance and efficiency of the public sector in 74 countries worldwide for the years 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000. Similar to what is done in Afonso / Schuhknecht / Tanzi (2005, Public Choice), I calculate performance measures for various fields of government policy, including education, health, security or macroeconomic stability. These performance measures are then used as output variables in a non-parametric FDH (free disposable hull) and DEA (data envelopment analysis) approach for the calculation of efficiency scores. Government expenditure is used as input for the evaluation of efficiency. In the last step the efficiency scores are regressed upon variables that describe the environment of government policy. I find that smaller public sectors tend to be more efficient, but the effect is not very sizeable. The same is true for countries that are more globalised. The pattern of (in-)efficiency can be large explained by continent-dummies.
Large groups and their periodic quotients

We first give a short group theoretic proof of the following result of Lackenby. If G is a large group, H is a finite index subgroup of G admitting an epimorphism onto a non-cyclic free group, and g 1 ,. , g k are elements of H, then the quotient of G by the normal subgroup generated by g n 1 ,. , g n k is large for all but finitely many n ∈ Z. In the second part of this note we use similar methods to show that for every infinite sequence of primes (p 1 , p 2 ,.), there exists an infinite finitely generated periodic group Q with descending normal series Q = Q 0 >Q 1 >. , such that ∩ i Q i = {1} and Q i-1 /Q i is either trivial or abelian of exponent p i .
Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: An international, multi-institutional analysis of prognostic factors and lymph node assessment.

162 Background: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is a rare and poorly understood primary liver cancer. The role of routine lymphadenectomy at the time of surgical resection remains poorly defined. We sought to identify factors associated with outcome following surgical management of ICC and examine the impact of lymph node (LN) assessment on survival. METHODS 411 patients who underwent curative intent surgery for ICC between 1973-2010 were identified from an international multi-institutional database. Clinical and pathologic data were evaluated using uni- and multivariate analyses. RESULTS Median tumor size was 6.5 cm. Most patients had a solitary tumor (55%) and no evidence of vascular invasion (64%). Resection involved ≥hemi-hepatectomy (74%) and margin status was R0 (82%). Overall median survival was 28 months and 5-year survival was 32%. Factors associated with adverse prognosis included positive margin status (HR=3.11; p<0.001), multiple lesions (HR=2.16; p=0.007) and vascular invasion (HR=2.13; p=0.01). Tumor size was not a prognostic factor (HR=1.05; p=0.08). Lymphadenectomy was performed in 233 (57%) patients; 87 (37%) had LN metastasis. LN metastasis was associated with worse outcome (median survival: N0 39 months vs. N1 21 months; p=0.02). Preoperative factors such as tumor size, number, and morphologic subtype did not predict presence of LN metastasis (all p>0.05); however, vascular invasion did (OR=2.24; p=0.003). CONCLUSIONS While tumor size provides no prognostic information, tumor number, vascular invasion, and LN metastasis were associated with survival. Presence of LN metastasis cannot be predicted using preoperative tumor features. Lymphadenectomy should be routinely performed for ICC as up to one-quarter of patients will have LN metastasis. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
Deflagellation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii follows a rapid transitory accumulation of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate and requires Ca2+ entry

C. reinhardtii sheds its flagella in response to acidification. Previously, we showed correlations between pH shock, deflagellation, and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5)P3] production, but 100% of cells deflagellated by 5 s, which was the earliest that Ins(1,4,5)P3 accumulation could be accurately measured by techniques available to us at that time (Quarmby, L. M., Y. G. Yueh, J. L. Cheshire, L. R. Keller, W. J. Snell, and R. C. Crain. J. Cell Biol. 1992. 116:737-744). To learn about the causal relationship between Ins(1,4,5)P3 accumulation and deflagellation, we extended these studies to early times using a continuous-flow rapid-quench device. Within 1 s of acidification to pH 4.3-4.5, 100% of cells deflagellated. A transient peak of Ins(1,4,5)P3 was observed 250-350 ms after pH shock, preceding deflagellation. Preincubation with 10 microM neomycin, which prevents hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, inhibited both the transient production of Ins(1,4,5)P3 and the subsequent deflagellation. The nonspecific Ca2+ channel blockers La3+ and Cd2+ prevented flagellar excision induced by mastoparan without inhibiting rapid Ins(1,4,5)P3 production. Likewise, the Ins(1,4,5)P3-gated channel inhibitors ruthenium red and heparin blocked deflagellation in response to mastoparan. These studies were extended to mutants defective in flagellar excision. Fa-1, a mutant defective in flagellar structure, produced Ins(1,4,5)P3 but failed to deflagellate. These results support a model in which acid pH activates a putative cellular receptor leading to G-protein dependent activation of phospholipase C and accumulation of Ins(1,4,5)P3. These events are upstream of Ins(1,4,5)P3-dependent Ca2+ entry from the medium, and of deflagellation.
A study into the effectiveness and sustainability of Village Development Committees

As it comes into its last two years of operations CLP is increasingly looking at the sustainability of its operations. Village Development Committees (VDCs) were brought in to support CLP’s social development curriculum. As a local-level institution aimed at working towards the development of chars villages CLP wanted to know what impact they had and how sustainable they were. The study shows that VDCs produced some positive results including preventing early marriages building and repairing infrastructure and creating villages free from open defecation with subsequent health benefits. However sustainability was found to be low with a maximum of 20.2% of VDCs still operational a couple of years after CLP’s assistance ended. The report recommends a number of ways CLP’s approach could change to boost sustainability -- and we’re pleased to say that these recommendations are already being acted on!
Dynamic Maintenance of Half-Space Depth for Points and Contours

Half-space depth (also called Tukey depth or location depth) is one of the most commonly studied data depth measures because it possesses many desirable properties for data depth functions. The data depth contours bound regions of increasing depth. For the sample case, there are two competing definitions of contours: the rank-based contours and the cover-based contours. In this paper, we present three dynamic algorithms for maintaining the half-space depth of points and contours: The first maintains the half-space depth of a single point in a data set in $O(\log n)$ time per update (insertion/deletion) and overall linear space. By maintaining such a data structure for each data point, we present an algorithm for dynamically maintaining the rank-based contours in $O(n\cdot\log n)$ time per update and overall quadratic space. The third dynamic algorithm maintains the cover-based contours in $O(n\cdot \log^2 n)$ time per update and overall quadratic space. We also augment our first algorithm to maintain the local cover-based contours at data points while maintaining the same complexities. A corollary of this discussion is a strong structural result of independent interest describing the behavior of dynamic cover-based contours near data points.
The Economic Promise of Ecotourism for Conservation

Many conservationists have promoted ecotourism as a strategy to protect natural resources while also meeting human needs. The purpose of this study was to analyse effects of ecotourism on natural resource use and livelihoods in an indigenous community of 80 families in Peru. Household interviews and participant observation were used to track social and economic changes in the community as it partnered with a private tour company to build and co-manage an ecotourism lodge. Effects of ecotourism were measured among the same households before and after the lodge opened, and between households with varying levels of participation. The hypothesis that economic benefits from ecotourism would provide incentives for people to alter their livelihoods and change their uses of natural resources was tested. Results showed that ecotourism effects were ambiguous. Though employment led to a general decline in farming and hunting, new income enabled greater market consumption and expansion of production. Ecotourism also prompted sentiments not easily measured in economic analyses alone, including willingness to be involved in ecotourism work, despite relatively minimal economic returns. These findings are a reflection of the fact that ecotourism is not merely an economic ‘tool’ for conservation, but also the cause of new values and social relations.
Planning, Development and Community: Transformation of Gecekondu Settlements in Turkey

This thesis aims to investigate changes in gecekondu (slum house) communities through exploring the lives of three generations of rural migrants in Turkey. It suggests that the dynamic relation between their strategies and development policies in Turkey has had a large impact on the urban landscape, urban reforms, welfare policies and urban social movements. I followed qualitative research methodology, and was extensively influenced by feminist theory. Participant observation, in-depth interviews and focus group methods were used flexibly to reflect the richness of gecekondu lives. The data includes 83 interviews, one focus group and my observations in Ege neighbourhood in Ankara. First-generation rural migrants largely relied on kin and family networks and established gecekondu communities which provided them with shelter against the insecurities of urban life and their exclusion from the mainstream. The mutual trust within gecekondu communities was a result of their solidarity and collective struggle to obtain title deeds and infrastructure services. The liberalization of the Turkish economy immediately after the coup d’etat in 1980 brought in Gecekondu Amnesties which legalized the gecekondus built before 1985 and fragmented labour market, resulting in a fragmentation among them in terms of gecekondu ownership, types of jobs and the scope of their resources. Since their interests were no longer the same in the face of development policies, their solidarity decreased and collective strategies were replaced by individual tactics. The dissolving of the sense of community was most visible in the area of urban transformation projects, which were based on legal ownership of houses and social assistance, and created new tensions in the 2000s. The younger generation of gecekondu dwellers integrated into city life predominantly through education and employment opportunities in the city. They felt far more a part of the urban economy and considered community ties to be a constraint upon their integration. This study shows that this broke gecekondu people’s ties, which were the basis of their existence.
Retirement Transition Migration: Implications for Rural Development

Recent literature suggests that the increasingly blurred relationship between paid employment and retirement facilitates a retirement transition period, a life course stage which may involve a change of residence. The role of pre-retirement mobility in the repopulation of rural areas has, however, received relatively little academic scrutiny from UK geographers. This article draws upon findings from a two-year study conducted in three UK case study areas. It examines the extent of pre-retirement age (aged 50-64) migration into rural communities and the impacts this type of movement has upon economic activity, social and community engagement and service provision. It is argued that while this underresearched group offers significant potential to support the social and economic sustainability of rural communities (at least in the short and medium term), there are notable regional variations which are likely to have important long term implications for rural communities as this cohort ages in situ. Keywords: lifecourse migration, middle-age, retirement, rural economic and community impacts, U.K.
An analysis into using unstructured non-expert text in the illicit drug domain

The Pillreports.com database was mined in order to determine if the free-text fields in the database could be of use in differentiating regular pills from those that have been adulterated, i.e. contains ingredients not comparable to MDMA. The data was download and extracted using RapidMiner and Xpath queries. A Naive Bayes and SVM binary classification model was created. Pre-processing techniques of tokenisation, n-gram creation, stop-word removal, stemming as well as feature selection by weights were applied to the data, resulting in a 15 point improvement in the model. In addition we are reporting on a comprehensive cluster analysis. Frequent terms and differences between clusters were visualised using word clouds. Clusters were compared with values contained in nominal fields. Model results and interpretation are provided at various preprocessing stages. Key phrase extraction is identified as an area of possible future work.
Study of Agronomical Nitrogen Use Efficency of Durum Wheat, Affected by Nitrogen Fertilizer and Plant Density

In order to study agronomic nitrogen use efficency of durum wheat cultivar Seimareh, as affected by nitrogen fertilizer and plant density, an experiment based on randomized complete block design was conducted at the agricultural research station of the Islamic Azad University, Ardabil branch, Ardabil, Iran in 2008-2009 growing season. The experiment had three replications. Factors included nitrogen levels: 0, 60, 120 and 180 kg ha and plant densities: 300, 350 and 400 plant m . Results showed that increase in the application of the 12 nitrogen caused the decline of the agronomical nitrogen use efficiency. The highest and the lowest agronomical nitrogen use efficiencies were obtained in the 60 and 180 kg ha nitrogen. With increasing nitrogen application, 1 the lengths of the growth vegetative, reproductive, and ripening periods, were increased. Also, the highest the number of spikes, 1000 grain weight, and grain yield and harvest index were achieved using the 120 kg ha . 1 whereas, in the majority of the traits such as yield, 1000 grain weight, harvest index and the number of the spike per unit area, application of 120 kg ha was similar to 60 kg ha and increase in the nitrogen application more 11