Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-Stigma and Empowerment as Mediating Mechanisms Between Ingroup Perceptions and Recovery Among People With Mental Illness

Positive ingroup perceptions have been recognized as a protective factor that enhances stigma resistance and improves the well-being of people from minority communities. However, the impact of positive ingroup perceptions on mental health recovery has rarely been explored. The present study proposed an ingroup perceptions model of recovery and examined how group value, group identification, and sense of community contribute to better clinical and personal recovery for people with mental illness through the mediation of self-stigma and empowerment. There were 258 people with mental illness completed a self-report questionnaire. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that the proposed model fit the data well, &khgr;2(255) = 515.36, p < . 001, comparative fit index (CFI) = . 91, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = . 90, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = . 063 (90% [confidence interval] CI [.055, .071]), standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = . 068. Group value was positively associated with group identification and negatively associated with self-stigma, which were in turn related to better clinical and personal recovery. Group identification and sense of community were associated with higher level of empowerment, which was positively associated with clinical and personal recovery. The present study extended research on ingroup perceptions by showing the effect of ingroup perceptions on recovery. It provided practical implications to mental health services by emphasizing the importance of fostering membership within mutual self-help groups and integrating peer-led services into existing mental health services system.
A Recipe for Raw Types

The design of GJ (Bracha, Odersky, Stoutamire and Wadler), an extension of Java with parametric polymorphism, was significantly affected by the issue of compatibility between legacy Java code and new GJ code. In particular, the introduction of raw types made it easier to interface polymorphic code with monomorphic code. In GJ, for example, a polymorphic class List, parameterized by the element type X, provides not only parameterized types such as List or List but also the raw type List; then, a Java class using List can be compiled without adding element types to where List is used. Raw types, therefore, can reduce (or defer, at least) programmers’ burden of modifying their old Java code to match with new polymorphic code. From the type-theoretic point of view, raw types are close to existential types in the sense that clients using a raw type C expect some implementation of a polymorphic class of the same name C. Unlike ordinary existential types, however, raw types allow several unsafe operations such as coercion from the raw type List, whose element type is abstract, to List for any concrete type T. In this paper, basing on Featherweight GJ, proposed by the authors as a tiny core language of GJ, we formalize a type system and direct reduction semantics of raw types. The bottom type, which is subtype of any type, plays a key role in our type-preserving reduction semantics. In the course of the work, we have found a flaw in the typing rules from the GJ specification; type soundness is proved with respect to a repaired version of the type system.
Tipping diffusivity in information accumulation systems: more links, less consensus

Assume two different communities each of which maintain their respective opinions mainly because of the weak interaction between them. In such a case, it is an interesting problem to find the necessary strength of inter-community interaction in order for the two communities to reach a consensus. In this paper, the information accumulation system (IAS) model is applied to investigate the problem. With the application of the IAS model, the opinion dynamics of the two-community problem is found to belong to a wider class of two-species problems appearing in population dynamics or in the competition of two languages, for all of which the governing equations can be described in terms of coupled logistic maps. Tipping diffusivity is defined as the maximal inter-community interaction such that the two communities maintain different opinions. For a problem with a simple community structure and homogeneous individuals, the tipping diffusivity is calculated theoretically. As a conclusion of the paper, the convergence of the two communities to the same value is less possible the more overall interaction, intra-community and inter-community, takes place. This implies, for example, that the increase in the interaction between individuals caused by the development of modern communication tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, does not necessarily improve the tendency towards global convergence between different communities. If the number of internal links increases by a factor, the number of inter-community links must be increased by an even higher factor, in order for consensus to be the only stable attractor.
Comparison of Block Matching and Differential Methods for Motion Analysis of the Carotid Artery Wall From Ultrasound Images

Motion of the carotid artery wall is important for the quantification of arterial elasticity and contractility and can be estimated with a number of techniques. In this paper, a framework for quantitative evaluation of motion analysis techniques from B-mode ultrasound images is introduced. Six synthetic sequences were produced using 1) a real image corrupted by Gaussian and speckle noise of 25 and 15 dB, and 2) the ultrasound simulation package Field II. In both cases, a mathematical model was used, which simulated the motion of the arterial wall layers and the surrounding tissue, in the radial and longitudinal directions. The performance of four techniques, namely optical flow (OFHS), weighted least-squares optical flow (OFLK(WLS)), block matching (BM), and affine block motion model (ABMM), was investigated in the context of this framework. The average warping indices were lowest for OFLK(WLS) (1.75 pixels), slightly higher for ABMM (2.01 pixels), and highest for BM (6.57 pixels) and OFHS (11.57 pixels). Due to its superior performance, OFLK(WLS) was used to quantify motion of selected regions of the arterial wall in real ultrasound image sequences of the carotid artery. Preliminary results indicate that OFLK(WLS) is promising, because it efficiently quantified radial, longitudinal, and shear strains in healthy adults and diseased subjects.
Contextual effects, awareness, and voting behaviour: Does knowing about local politics increase contextual influence?

Context is usually employed to explain voting behaviour, but the way in which it affects people remains obscure. Previous studies have stressed that awareness of the context might indirectly account for political environments’ influence. People aware of their context are expected to be more affected by the relative prevalence of party supporters in their place of residence compared with unaware citizens. By employing stacked logistic regression models (and using Italian National Election Studies data), it is shown that people aware of parties’ settlement in their municipalities are more likely to vote consistently with their surrounding political context.
Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase Mediates Diabetes-Induced Retinal Neuropathy

Retinal neuropathy is an early event in the development of diabetic retinopathy. One of the potential enzymes that are activated by oxidative stress in the diabetic retina is poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). We investigated the effect of the PARP inhibitor 1,5-isoquinolinediol on the expression of the neurodegeneration mediators and markers in the retinas of diabetic rats. After two weeks of streptozotocin-induced diabetes, rats were treated with 1,5-isoquinolinediol (3 mg/kg/day). After 4 weeks of diabetes, the retinas were harvested and the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were determined fluorometrically and the expressions of PARP, phosporylated-ERK1/2, BDNF, synaptophysin, glutamine synthetase (GS), and caspase-3 were determined by Western blot analysis. Retinal levels of ROS, PARP-1/2, phosphorylated ERK1/2, and cleaved caspase-3 were significantly increased, whereas the expressions of BDNF synaptophysin and GS were significantly decreased in the retinas of diabetic rats, compared to nondiabetic rats. Administration of 1,5-isoquinolinediol did not affect the metabolic status of the diabetic rats, but it significantly attenuated diabetes-induced upregulation of PARP, ROS, ERK1/2 phosphorylation, and cleaved caspase-3 and downregulation of BDNF, synaptophysin, and GS. These findings suggest a beneficial effect of the PARP inhibitor in increasing neurotrophic support and ameliorating early retinal neuropathy induced by diabetes.
Representativeness of Social Media in Great Britain: Investigating Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and Instagram

Sociological studies show that Internet access, skills, uses, and outcomes vary between different population segments. However, we lack differentiated statistical evidence of the social characteristics of users of distinct social media platforms. We address this issue using a representative survey of Great Britain and investigate the social characteristics of six major social media platforms. We find that age and socioeconomic status are driving forces of several—but not all—of these platforms. The findings suggest that no social media platform is representative of the general population. The unrepresentativeness has major implications for research that uses social media as a data source. Social media data cannot be used to generalize to any population other than themselves.
Tooth Loss and Risk of Head and Neck Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

Background Observational studies suggest an association between tooth loss and risk of head and neck cancer. However, whether tooth loss is an independent risk factor for head and neck cancer still remains controversial. The aim of this study is to assess the association between tooth loss and head and neck cancer risk. Methods Eligible studies were searched in PubMed and Embase databases from their inception to March 2013. A random-effects model or fixed-effects model was used to calculate the overall combined risk estimates. Results Eight case-control studies and one cross-sectional study involving 5,204 patients and 5,518 controls were included in the meta-analysis. The overall combined odds ratio for tooth loss and head and neck cancer was 2.00 (95% confidence interval, 1.28–3.14). Similar results yielded both in the moderate and severe tooth loss group. Sensitivity analysis based on various exclusion criteria maintained this significance with respect to head and neck cancer individually. Little evidence of publication bias was observed. Conclusion This meta-analysis suggests that tooth loss is associated with increased risk of head and neck cancer. This increase is probably independent of conventional head and neck cancer risk factors.
The Impact of High Performance Work System on Employees Attitude: The Mediating Role of Human Resource Flexibility

This study examines the model that connects the High performance work system (HPWS) with employee attitude. The researcher proposed that there is mediating role of HR flexibility between HPWS and employee attitude. The sample of (N=223) employees working in three Telecom organizations of Faisalabad region was used to analyze the data. A High Performance Work System (HPWS) comprises of a set of important HRM practices which may satisfy the employees, enhance employee’s retention, increase organizational commitment & controlling over turnover intention/ratio was developed. The impact of HPWS was examined on employee attitude by taking the human resource flexibility as mediating variable. The model was statistically tested by using regression analysis and preacher technique. The results depicted that HPWS influenced employee attitude (OC, JS, and TOI) through HR flexibility (behavior flexibility Functional flexibility and Skill malleability). HPWS is positively related to individual’s job level attitudinal factors i.e. turnover intention (TOI), organizational commitment (OC) & job satisfaction (JS). The 24% proportion of variance of OC, 63% of job satisfaction and 18% TOI is explained by the independent variables. HPWS explained 29% portion of employee’s attitude. Some well-known theories; social exchange theory, cognitive dissonance theory, human capital theory, three component theory of organizational commitment and resource based view support the results of current study.
Time-Varying Momentum Payoffs and Illiquidity

This paper shows that the profitability of the momentum trading strategy strongly varies with the state of market illiquidity, consistent with behavioral models of investor’s expectations. Periods of high market illiquidity are often followed by low, and often massively negative, momentum payoffs. The predictive power of market illiquidity uniformly exceeds that of competing state variables, including market states, market volatility, and investor sentiment, and is robust in both inand out-of-sample experiments as well as among large cap firms. Market illiquidity also captures the cross-sectional dispersion in momentum payoffs implemented among high versus low volatility stocks. Focusing on the most recent decade, while momentum profitability is nonexistent unconditionally, it regains significance in periods of low market illiquidity, and moreover, market illiquidity similarly affects the profitability of the earnings momentum trading strategy.
Optimal Design of the Attribution of Pension Fund Performance to Employees

type="main" xml:lang="en"> The article analyzes risk sharing in a defined contribution pension fund in continuous time. According to a prespecified attribution scheme, the interest rate paid on the employees' accounts is a linear function of the fund's investment performance. For each attribution scheme, the pension fund maximizes the expected utility and the employees derive utility from their savings accounts. It turns out that all Pareto-optimal attribution schemes are characterized by the same optimal participation rate. We derive the total welfare gain that installs from replacing no participation with optimal participation. This welfare gain can be quantified and is substantial for reasonable parameter values.
Familial Associations of Adiposity: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Study of 12,181 Parental-Offspring Trios from Belarus

Background It is suggested that maternal adiposity has a stronger association with offspring adiposity than does paternal adiposity. Furthermore, a recent small study reported gender assortment in parental-offspring adiposity associations. We aimed to examine these associations in one of the largest studies to date using data from a low-middle income country that has recently undergone a major political and economic transition. Methods and Principal Findings In a cross-sectional study of 12,181 parental-offspring trios from Belarus (mean age (SD) of mothers 31.7 (4.9), fathers 34.1 (5.1) and children 6.6 (0.3) at time of assessment), we found positive graded associations of mother's and father's BMI with offspring adiposity. There was no evidence that these associations differed between mothers and fathers. For example, the odds ratio of offspring overweight or obesity (based on BMI) comparing obese and overweight mothers to normal weight mothers was 2.03 (95%CI 1.77, 2.31) in fully adjusted models; the equivalent result for father's overweight/obesity was 1.81 (1.58, 2.07). Equivalent results for offspring being in the top 10% waist circumference were 1.91 (1.67, 2.18) comparing obese/overweight to normal weight mothers and 1.72 (1.53, 1.95) comparing obese/overweight to normal weight fathers. Similarly, results for offspring being in the top 10% of percent fat mass were 1.58 (1.36, 1.84) and 1.76 (1.49, 2.07), for mother's and father's obese/overweight exposures respectively. There was no strong or consistent evidence of gender assortment - i.e. associations of maternal adiposity exposures with offspring outcomes were similar in magnitude for their daughters compared to equivalent associations in their sons and paternal associations were also similar in sons and daughters. Conclusions/Significance These findings suggest that genetic and/or shared familial environment explain family clustering of adiposity. Interventions aimed at changing overall family lifestyle are likely to be important for population level obesity prevention.
German doch : An element that triggers a contrast presupposition *

1 Introduction This paper discusses the relationship between the German particles doch and ja, focusing on the former of the two, doch. It argues for a specific analysis of doch which makes predictions both on the semantic distribution of doch versus ja and on the syntactic ordering restrictions between doch and ja. The core analysis is presented in section 2. Section 3 shows how it predicts the complementary distribution of doch and ja in certain contexts, and section 4 shows how it predicts the ordering restrictions that we find when these two particles co-occur. , for recent discussions and proposals. I propose to analyze doch as stated in (1) below. This analysis incorporates the common assumption that doch has a function of marking its complement proposition p as 'familiar/old/given/shared/uncontroversial' and of conveying some notion of 'contrast/correction'. It assumes that doch triggers an uncontroversiality presupposition, precisified in (1a), and a correction presupposition, given in (1b). In words, doch p presupposes that p is uncontroversial in some sense and that p corrects a salient q. Note that these presuppositions are not Stalnakerian presuppositions (Stalnaker 1974), but rather 'expressive presuppositions' (see Kratzer & Matthewson 2009); in this sense, the statement is an established fact does not mean is in the common ground 1. (1) Semantics of doch For any sentence p, ||doch p|| c (where c is the utterance context) is only defined if: a. The speaker in c takes p to be firmly established in w c and therefore assumes that it is safe to discard ¬p as a possible answer to the question of whether p or ¬p holds in w c. for helpful comments and suggestions. I am also thankful to the audiences at my two presentations at MIT's LF Reading Group. 1 It is difficult to say what it is an established fact does mean (cf. Kratzer & Matthewson 2009), but in the case of doch, it must be compatible at least with the hearer having a different opinion, which the speaker refutes as obviously wrong. It must also cover propositions that are not salient and potentially forgotten by the hearer. We will see more on this notion later in this paper.
Grounding truth via ordinal annotation

The question of how to best annotate affect within available content has been a milestone challenge for affective computing. Appropriate methods and tools addressing that question can provide better estimations of the ground truth which, in turn, may lead to more efficient affect detection and more reliable models of affect. This paper introduces a rank-based real-time annotation tool, we name AffectRank, and compares it against the popular rating-based real-time FeelTrace tool through a proof-of-concept video annotation experiment. Results obtained suggest that the rank-based (ordinal) annotation approach proposed yields significantly higher inter-rater reliability and, thereby, approximation of the underlying ground truth. The key findings of the paper demonstrate that the current dominant practice in continuous affect annotation via rating-based labeling is detrimental to advancements in the field of affective computing.
New Observations and a Possible Detection of Parameter Variations in the Transits of Gliese 436b

We present ground-based observations of the transiting Neptune-mass planet Gl 436b obtained with the 3.5 m telescope at Apache Point Observatory and other supporting telescopes. Included in this is an observed transit in early 2005, over 2 years before the earliest reported transit detection. We have compiled all available transit data to date and perform a uniform modeling using the JKTEBOP code. We do not detect any transit timing variations of amplitude greater than ~1 minute over the ~3.3 year baseline. We do however find possible evidence for a self-consistent trend of increasing orbital inclination, transit width, and transit depth, which supports the supposition that Gl 436b is being perturbed by another planet of ≲12 M⊕ in a nonresonant orbit.
Explicit product ensembles for separable quantum states

Abstract We present a general method for constructing pure-product-state representations for density operators of N quantum bits. If such a representation has non-negative expansion coefficients, it provides an explicit separable ensemble for the density operator. We derive the condition for separability of a mixture of the Greenberger—Horne—Zeilinger state with the maximally mixed state.
Usutu Virus Persistence and West Nile Virus Inactivity in the Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy) in 2011

Background The circulation of West Nile virus and Usutu virus was detected in the Emilia-Romagna region in 2008 and 2009. To evaluate the extent of circulation of both viruses, environmental surveillance, based on bird and mosquito testing, was conducted in 2008 and gradually improved over the years. Methods In February–March 2009–2011, 5,993 hibernating mosquitoes were manually sampled, out of which 80.1% were Culex pipiens; none tested positive for the viruses. From 2008 to 2011, 946,213 mosquitoes, sampled between May and October, were tested; 86.5% were Cx. pipiens. West Nile virus was detected in 32 Cx. pipiens pools, and Usutu virus was detected in 229 mosquito pools (217 Cx. pipiens, 10 Aedes albopictus, one Anopheles maculipennis s.l., and one Aedes caspius). From 2009 to 2011, of 4,546 birds collected, 42 tested positive for West Nile virus and 48 for Usutu virus. West Nile virus and Usutu virus showed different patterns of activity during the 2008–2011 surveillance period. West Nile virus was detected in 2008, 2009, and 2010, but not in 2011. Usutu virus, however, was continuously active throughout 2009, 2010, and 2011. Conclusions The data strongly suggest that both viruses overwinter in the surveyed area rather than being continually reintroduced every season. The lack of hibernating mosquitoes testing positive for the viruses and the presence of positive birds sampled early in the season support the hypothesis that the viruses overwinter in birds rather than in mosquitoes. Herd immunity in key bird species could explain the decline of West Nile virus observed in 2011, while the persistence of Usutu virus may be explained by not yet identified reservoirs. Reported results are comparable with a peri-Mediterranean circulation of the West Nile virus lineage 1 related strain, which became undetectable in the environment after two to three years of obvious circulation.