Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Life Stage Experience and Social Cognitive Reasoning on Adult Gender Role Orientation: A Multidimensional Approach.

Empirical Research and Interpretations . 17 Adult Developmental Differences in Gender Role: Quantitative Shift in Femininity, Masculinity, and A n d r o g y n y . 17 Adult Developmental Differences in Gender Role: Qualitative Differences in Conceptions of Masculine and Feminine . 20 Adult Developmental Differences in Gender Role: The Role of C o n t e x t . 25 Focus of the Present Research. 31 Overview of Expected Outcomes. 36 The Association of Life Stage Experience and Gender to the Three Dimensions of Gender Role O r i e n t a t i o n . 36 The Relationship of Social Cognitive Reasoning to Gender Role Orientation . 38 S u m m a r y . 39 M e t h o d . 41 Participants . 41 Instruments. 44 Procedure. 57 Results. 58
Levodopa: Faster and better word learning in normal humans

Dopamine is a potent modulator of learning and has been implicated in the encoding of stimulus salience. Repetition, however, as required for the acquisition and reacquisition of sensorimotor or cognitive skills (e.g., in aphasia therapy), decreases salience. We here tested whether increasing brain levels of dopamine during repetitive training improves learning success. Forty healthy humans took 100mg of the dopamine precursor levodopa or placebo daily for 5 days in a randomized double‐blind and parallel‐group design. Ninety minutes later on each day, subjects were trained on an artificial vocabulary using a high‐frequency repetitive approach. Levodopa significantly enhanced the speed, overall success, and long‐term retention of novel word learning in a dose‐dependent manner. These findings indicate new ways to potentiate learning in a variety of domains if conventional training alone fails.
Impact of large displays on virtual reality task performance

A better understanding of how users perform virtual relaity tasks may help to build better virtual reality interfaces. In this study, we concentrate on the impact of large displays in virtual reality depending on the tasks and users' characteristics. The two virtual reality tasks studied are the objects manipulation and the navigation in an environment. The users' characteristics studied are the visual attention abilities. Forty subjects participated in the experimentation composed of cognitive tests used to evaluate visual attentional abilities and a set of virtual reality tasks. Our study exhibits two main conclusions. (i) Large displays positively impact on performances for some kinds of virtual reality tasks. (ii) Users with low level of attentional abilities take more advantage of large displays. We conclude that large displays can be considered as cognitive aids depending on the tasks and users' characteristics.
Optimal Unemployment Insurance and Social Assistance in a Life-cycle model of Family Labor Supply and Savings

We study the interplay between family labor supply, savings decisions and the effective design of public insurance programs. For this purpose, specify and estimate a life-cycle model of the labor supply, retirement and savings decisions of single adults and married couples. Unemployment Insurance and Social Assistance benefits provide partial insurance against employment and productivity shocks. Meanwhile, households may smooth the impact of shocks through adjustments of saving and labor supply; in the case of couple households, each spouse’s labor supply may provide insurance. We estimate the model parameters using Indirect Inference applied to a panel sample of German households. The model-implied dependence of labor supply on Unemployment Insurance is consistent with existing evidence. We show optimal generosities of Unemployment Insurance and Social Assistance benefits below current levels, and we explore the optimal mix of Unemployment Insurance and Social Assistance benefits. Finally, we show that intra-household insurance from family labor supply reduces optimal benefit generosities. ∗FU Berlin and DIW Berlin, phaan@diw.de †Department of Economics, Cornell University, prowse@cornell.edu
An analysis of noise in recurrent neural networks: convergence and generalization

Concerns the effect of noise on the performance of feedforward neural nets. We introduce and analyze various methods of injecting synaptic noise into dynamically driven recurrent nets during training. Theoretical results show that applying a controlled amount of noise during training may improve convergence and generalization performance. We analyze the effects of various noise parameters and predict that best overall performance can be achieved by injecting additive noise at each time step. Noise contributes a second-order gradient term to the error function which can be viewed as an anticipatory agent to aid convergence. This term appears to find promising regions of weight space in the beginning stages of training when the training error is large and should improve convergence on error surfaces with local minima. The first-order term is a regularization term that can improve generalization. Specifically, it can encourage internal representations where the state nodes operate in the saturated regions of the sigmoid discriminant function. While this effect can improve performance on automata inference problems with binary inputs and target outputs, it is unclear what effect it will have on other types of problems. To substantiate these predictions, we present simulations on learning the dual parity grammar from temporal strings for all noise models, and present simulations on learning a randomly generated six-state grammar using the predicted best noise model.
The Role of Horizontal Divergence in Submesoscale Frontogenesis

Oceanic surface submesoscale currents are characterized by anisotropic fronts and filaments with widths from 100 m to a few kilometers; an O(1) Rossby number; and large magnitudes of lateral buoyancy and velocity gradients, cyclonic vorticity, and convergence. We derive an asymptotic model of submeoscale frontogenesis—the rate of sharpening of submesoscale gradients—and show that in contrast with “classical” deformation frontogenesis, the near-surface convergent motions, which are associated with the ageostrophic secondary circulation, determine the gradient sharpening rates. Analytical solutions for the inviscid Lagrangian evolution of the gradient fields in the proposed asymptotic regime are provided, and emphasize the importance of ageostrophic motions in governing frontal evolution. These analytical solutions are further used to derive a scaling relation for the vertical buoyancy fluxes that accompany the gradient sharpening process. Realistic numerical simulations and drifter observations in the northern Gulf of Mexico during winter confirm the applicability of the asymptotic model to strong frontogenesis. Careful analysis of the numerical simulations and field measurements demonstrates that a subtle balance between boundary layer turbulence, pressure, and Coriolis effects (e.g., turbulent thermal wind; Gula et al. 2014) leads to the generation of the surface convergent motions that drive frontogenesis in this region. Because the asymptotic model makes no assumptions about the physical mechanisms that initiate the convergent frontogenetic motions, it is generic for submesoscale frontogenesis of O(1) Rossby number flows.
Émérillon stress : a phonetic and phonological study 1

This paper explores phonetic and phonological features of the stress system in Émérillon, a Tupi-Guaraní language spoken by approximately 400 people in French Guiana. Stress placement in both elicited wordlist and natural discourse data is examined. Three potential acoustic correlates of stress (fundamental frequency, duration, and intensity) are examined in order to provide quantitative verification of the discovered stress patterns. Results indicate that the domain of stress is the phrase with the metrical parse involving the formation of moraic trochees counting from the right edge of the phrase. The acoustic correlates of stress differ depending on the speaker and whether the data consists of words uttered in isolation or in connected discourse. The results for Émérillon are discussed within a broader context of comparative Tupi-Guaraní stress.
Similarity computation using semantic networks created from web-harvested data

Abstract We investigate language-agnostic algorithms for the construction of unsupervised distributional semantic models using web-harvested corpora. Specifically, a corpus is created from web document snippets, and the relevant semantic similarity statistics are encoded in a semantic network. We propose the notion of semantic neighborhoods that are defined using co-occurrence or context similarity features. Three neighborhood-based similarity metrics are proposed, motivated by the hypotheses of attributional and maximum sense similarity. The proposed metrics are evaluated against human similarity ratings achieving state-of-the-art results.
Vitamin D Status among Pulmonary TB Patients and Non-TB Controls: A Cross-Sectional Study from Mwanza, Tanzania

Background Little is known about vitamin D status in low-income populations burdened with infectious diseases. Hence, there is a need for data on correlates of serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (S-25(OH)D) and its validity during infections. Objective To assess the role of pulmonary TB (PTB) and HIV as correlates of S-25(OH)D. Design Age-sex-matched cross-sectional study among PTB patients and non-TB controls. Methods PTB patients were categorized as sputum negative (PTB−) and positive (PTB+) by culture. Non-TB controls were randomly selected among age-sex-matched neighbours to PTB+ patients. Height, weight, arm circumference and triceps skinfold were measured, and body mass index (BMI), arm fat (AFA) and muscle area (AMA) computed. HIV status, and S-25(OH)D, C-reactive protein (S-CRP) and α1-acid glycoprotein (S-AGP) were determined. Linear regression analysis with controls and PTB patients combined was used to identify correlates of S-25(OH)D. Results S-25(OH)D data were available on 97.8% (1570) of 1605 participants. Mean (SD) S-25(OH)D was 84.4 (25.6) nmol/L with 39.6% <75 nmol/L among 347 non-TB controls. Time of recruitment, sex, PTB and HIV, and elevated S-AGP were correlates of S-25(OH)D. S-25(OH)D was 24.8 (95% CI 18.6;30.9) nmol/L higher in PTB compared to controls among females, but only 9.8 (95% CI:4.5;15.2) nmol/L among males (interaction p<0.0001). Females had 13.8 (95% CI:8.2;21.9) nmol/L lower S-25(OH)D than males, and HIV infected individuals had 8.5 (95% CI:4.9;12.1) higher S-25(OH)D compared to uninfected. Elevated S-AGP was a positive correlate of S-25(OH)D. Low BMI was associated with S-25(OH)D, but not with infections or S-AGP in the model. Conclusion While S-25(OH)D may decline transiently during a mild acute phase response, it may increase if the acute phase response leads to loss of fat. The validity of S-25(OH)D as a marker of vitamin D status may be affected by infections.
Leptin Activates Oxytocin Neurons of the Hypothalamic Paraventricular Nucleus in Both Control and Diet-Induced Obese Rodents

The adipocyte-derived hormone leptin acts in the brain to reduce body weight and fat mass. Recent studies suggest that parvocellular oxytocin (OXT) neurons of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) can mediate body weight reduction through inhibition of food intake and increased energy expenditure. However, the role of OXT neurons of the PVN as a primary target of leptin has not been investigated. Here, we studied the potential role of OXT neurons of the PVN in leptin-mediated effects on body weight regulation in fasted rats. We demonstrated that intracerebroventricular (ICV) leptin activates STAT3 phosphorylation in OXT neurons of the PVN, showed that this occurs in a subpopulation of OXT neurons that innervate the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), and provided further evidence suggesting a role of OXT to mediate leptin’s actions on body weight. In addition, our results indicated that OXT neurons are responsive to ICV leptin and mediate leptin effects on body weight in diet induced obese (DIO) rats, which are resistant to the anorectic effects of the hormone. Thus, we conclude that leptin targets a specific subpopulation of parvocellular OXT neurons of the PVN, and that this action may be important for leptin’s ability to reduce body weight in both control and obese rats.
Anglo-Australian Telescope Imaging and Microslit Spectroscopy in the Southern Hubble Deep Field

We present a deep photometric (B- and R-band) catalog and an associated spectroscopic redshift survey conducted in the vicinity of the Hubble Deep Field-South. The spectroscopy yields 53 extragalactic redshifts in the range 0 < z < 1.4, substantially increasing the body of spectroscopic work in this field to over 200 objects. The targets are selected from deep Anglo-Australian Telescope prime-focus images complete to R < 24, and the spectroscopy is 50% complete at R = 23. There is now strong evidence for a rich cluster at z ≃ 0.58 flanking the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 field, which is consistent with a known absorber of the bright QSO in this field. We find that photometric redshifts of z < 1 galaxies in this field based on Hubble Space Telescope data are accurate to σz/(1 + z) = 0.03 (albeit with small number statistics). The observations were carried out as a community service for Hubble Deep Field science in order to demonstrate the first use of the nod-and-shuffle technique with a classical multiobject spectrograph and to test the use of microslits for ultrahigh multiplex observations along with a new volume phase holographic grism and deep-depletion CCD. The reduction of this new type of data is also described.
NOAO Fundamental Plane Survey. II. Age and Metallicity along the Red Sequence from Line-Strength Data

We present spectroscopic line-strength data for 4097 red-sequence galaxies in 93 low-redshift galaxy clusters and use these to investigate variations in average stellar populations as a function of galaxy mass. Our analysis includes an improved treatment of nebular emission contamination, which affects ~10% of the sample galaxies. Using the stellar population models of D. Thomas and collaborators, we simultaneously fit 12 observed line-strength-σ relations in terms of common underlying trends of age, [Z/H] (total metallicity), and [α/Fe] (α-element enhancement). We find that the observed line-strength-σ relations can be explained only if higher mass red-sequence galaxies are, on average, older, more metal-rich, and more α-enhanced than lower mass galaxies. Quantitatively, the scaling relations are age ∝ σ0. 59±0.13, Z/H ∝ σ0. 53±0.08, and α/Fe ∝ σ0. 31±0.06, where the errors reflect the range obtained using different subsets of indices. Our conclusions are not strongly dependent on which Balmer lines are used as age indicators. The derived age-σ relation is such that if the largest (σ ~ 400 km s-1) galaxies formed their stars ~13 Gyr ago, then the mean age of low-mass (σ ~ 50 km s-1) objects is only ~4 Gyr. The data also suggest a large spread in age at the low-mass end of the red sequence, with 68% of the galaxies having ages between 2 and 8 Gyr. We conclude that although the stars in giant red galaxies in clusters formed early, most of the galaxies at the faint end joined the red sequence only at recent epochs. This "downsizing" trend is in good qualitative agreement with observations of the red sequence at higher redshifts but is not predicted by semianalytic models of galaxy formation.
ON THE COSMIC EVOLUTION OF THE SCALING RELATIONS BETWEEN BLACK HOLES AND THEIR HOST GALAXIES: BROAD-LINE ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI IN THE zCOSMOS SURVEY

We report on the measurement of the physical properties (rest-frame K-band luminosity and total stellar mass) of the hosts of 89 broad-line (type-1) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) detected in the zCOSMOS survey in the redshift range 1 < z < 2.2. The unprecedented multi-wavelength coverage of the survey field allows us to disentangle the emission of the host galaxy from that of the nuclear black hole in their spectral energy distributions (SEDs). We derive an estimate of black hole masses through the analysis of the broad Mg ii emission lines observed in the medium-resolution spectra taken with VIMOS/VLT as part of the zCOSMOS project. We found that, as compared to the local value, the average black hole to host-galaxy mass ratio appears to evolve positively with redshift, with a best-fit evolution of the form , where the large asymmetric systematic errors stem from the uncertainties in the choice of initial mass function, in the calibration of the virial relation used to estimate BH masses and in the mean QSO SED adopted. On the other hand, if we consider the observed rest-frame K-band luminosity, objects tend to be brighter, for a given black hole mass, than those on the local MBH–MK relation. This fact, together with more indirect evidence from the SED fitting itself, suggests that the AGN hosts are likely actively star-forming galaxies. A thorough analysis of observational biases induced by intrinsic scatter in the scaling relations reinforces the conclusion that an evolution of the MBH–M* relation must ensue for actively growing black holes at early times: either its overall normalization, or its intrinsic scatter (or both) appear to increase with redshift. This can be interpreted as signature of either a more rapid growth of supermassive black holes at high redshift, a change of structural properties of AGN hosts at earlier times, or a significant mismatch between the typical growth times of nuclear black holes and host galaxies. In any case, our results provide important clues on the nature of the early co-evolution of black holes and galaxies and challenging tests for models of AGN feedback and self-regulated growth of structures.
Variables which influence the neurodevelopment at 2 years of newborns born less than 32 weeks of gestational age or less than 1,500 g

Introduction: Children with very low birth weight have a high risk of complications in the neonatal period and neurodevelopment impairment is a major sequel. Objective: To analyze how perinatal variables influence neuro­develop­ment at 2 years of age in newborns with less than 32 weeks of gestational age (GA) or less than 1,500 g at birth. Methods: Retrospective descriptive study of all records of the National Registry of Very Low Weight (VLBWNT) and clinical information from 2009 to 2012. We considered a major sequel: the need for auditory prosthesis, blindness, cerebral palsy or developmental quotient below 80. Statistical analysis performed with STATA® v13, considering a level of statistical significance of 0.1. Results: Registration of 348 newborns. Exclusion of 88: 26 transferred and 62 deaths. Of the 260 included, 152 (58.5%) had a regular follow-up. There were no significant differences between groups with or without follow-up, except for SNAPPE 2 index and patent ductus arteriosus persistence. The p50 of the GA was 30 w, the p50 of the birth weight was 1,200 g and 62% did not have major sequels. The female gender has a lower risk of sequels, compared to male (OR 0.5493; p: 0.0990). The presence of grade 3 intraperiventricular hemorrhage (IPVH) represents an 11-fold higher risk of sequels, compared to grade 0 (OR 11.78; p: 0.002) Conclusion: An assessment at 2 years of age showed a high percentage of children with sequels, being at greater risk the male gender and severe IPVH. This study is important because it brings information important to organize the health system in order to meet the special needs of this population.
Cold-Start Collaborative Filtering

Collaborative Filtering (CF) is a technique to generate personalised recommendations for a user from a collection of correlated preferences in the past. In general, the effectiveness of CF greatly depends on the amount of available information about the target user and the target item. The cold-start problem, which describes the difficulty of making recommendations when the users or the items are new, remains a great challenge for CF. Traditionally, this problem is tackled by resorting to an additional interview process to establish the user (item) profile before making any recommendations. During this process the user’s information need is not addressed. In this thesis, however, we argue that recommendations would be preferably provided right from the beginning. And the goal of solving the cold-start problem should be maximising the overall recommendation utility during all interactions with the recommender system. In other words, we should not distinguish between the information-gathering and recommendation-making phases, but seamlessly integrate them together. This mechanism naturally addresses the cold-start problem as any user (item) can immediately receive sequential recommendations without providing extra information beforehand. This thesis solves the cold-start problem in an interactive setting by focusing on four interconnected aspects. First, we consider a continuous sequential recommendation process with CF and relate it to the exploitation-exploration (EE) trade-off. By employing probabilistic matrix factorization, we obtain a structured decision space and are thus able to leverage several EE algorithms, such as Thompson sampling and upper confidence bounds, to select items. Second, we extend the sequential recommendation process to a batch mode where multiple recommendations are made at each interaction stage. We specifically discuss the case of two consecutive interaction stages, and model it with the partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) to obtain its exact theoretical solution. Through an in-depth analysis of the POMDP value iteration solution, we identify that an exact solution can be abstracted as selecting users (items) that are not only highly relevant to the target according to the initial-stage information, but also highly correlated with other potential users (items) for the next stage. Third, we consider the intra-stage recommendation optimisation and focus on the problem of personalised item diversification. We reformulate the latent factor models using the mean-variance analysis from the portfolio theory in economics. The resulting portfolio ranking algorithm naturally captures the user’s interest range and the uncertainty of the user preference by employing the variance of the learned user latent factors, leading to a diversified item list adapted to the individual user. And, finally, we relate the diversification algorithm back to the interactive process by considering inter-stage joint portfolio diversification, where the recommendations are optimised jointly with the user’s past preference records.
No . 063-2014 Misspecified Recovery May 22 , 2014

Asset prices contain information about the probability distribution of future states and the stochastic discounting of these states. Without additional assumptions, probabilities and stochastic discounting cannot be separately identified. Ross (2013) introduced a set of assumptions that restrict the dynamics of the stochastic discount factor in a way that allows for the recovery of the underlying probabilities. We use decomposition results for stochastic discount factors from Hansen and Scheinkman (2009) to explain when this procedure leads to misspecified recovery. We also argue that the empirical evidence on asset prices indicates that the recovered measure would differ substantially from the actual probability distribution and that interpreting this measure as the true probability distribution may severely bias our inference about risk premia, investors’ aversion to risk, and the welfare cost of economic fluctuations. ∗We thank Fernando Alvarez, Anmol Bhandari, Kyle Jurado and Stavros Panageas for useful comments.