Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fluctuation Scaling, Taylor’s Law, and Crime

Fluctuation scaling relationships have been observed in a wide range of processes ranging from internet router traffic to measles cases. Taylor’s law is one such scaling relationship and has been widely applied in ecology to understand communities including trees, birds, human populations, and insects. We show that monthly crime reports in the UK show complex fluctuation scaling which can be approximated by Taylor’s law relationships corresponding to local policing neighborhoods and larger regional and countrywide scales. Regression models applied to local scale data from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire found that different categories of crime exhibited different scaling exponents with no significant difference between the two regions. On this scale, violence reports were close to a Poisson distribution (α = 1.057±0.026) while burglary exhibited a greater exponent (α = 1.292±0.029) indicative of temporal clustering. These two regions exhibited significantly different pre-exponential factors for the categories of anti-social behavior and burglary indicating that local variations in crime reports can be assessed using fluctuation scaling methods. At regional and countrywide scales, all categories exhibited scaling behavior indicative of temporal clustering evidenced by Taylor’s law exponents from 1.43±0.12 (Drugs) to 2.094±0081 (Other Crimes). Investigating crime behavior via fluctuation scaling gives insight beyond that of raw numbers and is unique in reporting on all processes contributing to the observed variance and is either robust to or exhibits signs of many types of data manipulation.
The effects of speech style and social class background on social judgements of speakers

Male speakers of either standard or Spanish-accented English were presented to 80 undergraduates as individuals with either lower-class or middle-class backgrounds. The students rated each speaker on status, solidarity, stereotype, and speech characteristics and also made social distance judgements. For all measures, a significant interaction reflected the fact that lower-class accented speakers were perceived much less favourably than the corresponding lower-class standard speakers while the differences associated with speech styles among middle-class speakers were smaller. The results are discussed in terms of the assumptions listeners presumably make about accented speakers’ social class and beliefs.
Do antidepressants improve negative symptoms in schizophrenia?

The negative symptoms of schizophrenia comprise a range of deficits in communication, emotional responsiveness, socialisation, capacity for experiencing pleasure, and motivation. Negative symptoms occur alongside positive symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations in acute psychotic episodes, where they generally respond to treatment with antipsychotic medication, but for the 15-20% of patients for whom negative symptoms are enduring,1 2 current treatment strategies have modest benefits at best. A critical but often difficult clinical distinction is between primary and secondary negative symptoms,3 The former constitute an enduring deficit state within schizophrenia, whereas the latter can be manifestations of depressive features or medication side effects such as bradykinesia (as part of drug induced parkinsonism), or the consequence of positive symptoms (for example, social and emotional withdrawal may be a response to persecutory delusions or reflect a patient’s avoidance of social stimulation to minimise the provocation of intrusive psychotic experiences). Irrespective of cause, persistent negative symptoms disproportionately limit recovery4 and are associated with poorer occupational and social functioning in the community, including a reduced likelihood of living independently.5 6 Findings from studies that have tested drug strategies for negative symptoms in the context of acute psychotic episodes may not be generalisable to those with persistent symptoms. Few published studies have specifically recruited patients with illness characterised by persistent symptoms. The introduction of the second generation antipsychotics, such as clozapine, risperidone, and olanzapine, was accompanied by claims of better efficacy against negative symptoms, but whether any such effect is independent of an improvement in positive symptoms or medication …
Image-driven, model-based 3D abdominal motion estimation for MR-guided radiotherapy

Respiratory motion introduces substantial uncertainties in abdominal radiotherapy for which traditionally large margins are used. The MR-Linac will open up the opportunity to acquire high resolution MR images just prior to radiation and during treatment. However, volumetric MRI time series are not able to characterize 3D tumor and organ-at-risk motion with sufficient temporal resolution. In this study we propose a method to estimate 3D deformation vector fields (DVFs) with high spatial and temporal resolution based on fast 2D imaging and a subject-specific motion model based on respiratory correlated MRI. In a pre-beam phase, a retrospectively sorted 4D-MRI is acquired, from which the motion is parameterized using a principal component analysis. This motion model is used in combination with fast 2D cine-MR images, which are acquired during radiation, to generate full field-of-view 3D DVFs with a temporal resolution of 476 ms. The geometrical accuracies of the input data (4D-MRI and 2D multi-slice acquisitions) and the fitting procedure were determined using an MR-compatible motion phantom and found to be 1.0–1.5 mm on average. The framework was tested on seven healthy volunteers for both the pancreas and the kidney. The calculated motion was independently validated using one of the 2D slices, with an average error of 1.45 mm. The calculated 3D DVFs can be used retrospectively for treatment simulations, plan evaluations, or to determine the accumulated dose for both the tumor and organs-at-risk on a subject-specific basis in MR-guided radiotherapy.
Capitalism, petty commodity production and the farm enterprise

Marx and Engels wrote very little about agriculture. If we exclude the very extensive discussion of ground rent in the third volume of Capital, we are left with a couple of fragments in the first volume of Capital and three polemical, although penetrating, essays - The Eighteenth Brumaire, The Peasant Question in France and Germany and the Critique of Gotha Programme. Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that Marxists have spent so much time interpreting, and elaborating upon, what Marx and Engels wrote. Lenin, Kautsky, Preobrazhensky, Kritsman, Rosa Luxemburg, Gramsci, Mariategui … the list is a long one.
WORK-RELATED STRESS, BURNOUT AND JOB SATISFACTION IN TURKISH MIDWIVES

This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the levels of work-related stress, burnout and job satisfaction in midwives. It was conducted between March 1 and April 31, 2005, in 35 public health clinics which provide primary health care in the city of Antalya. The research population consisted of 325 midwives who responded to a questionnaire about the sociodemographic characteristics of the subjects and their working places as well as the Work-Related Strain Inventory (Revicki, May, and Whitley, 1997) translated into Turkish by Aslan, Alparslan, Aslan, Kesepara, and Unal, 1998), the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach and Jackson, 1981), adapted to Turkey by Ergin (1992) and the Minnesota Work Satisfaction Questionnaire. The midwives' Work-Related Strain Inventory mean score was at the moderate level and the burnout subcategory of emotional exhaustion mean score level was moderate. Depersonalization was low and personal accomplishment was moderate.
How to say that you're special: Can we use bits in the IPv4 header?

The IP header should be the ideal part of a packet that an end system could use to ask the network for special treatment. Recently, there has been renewed interest in using bits of this header -- e.g. the ECN and the DSCP fields. But can we really use these bits? Or should we try to use other bits? We contribute to the body of work that tries to answer these questions by reporting on IPv4 measurements regarding the DSCP field and the Evil bit. Our findings also confirm recent results on IP Options and ECN.
An Accelerated Resource Utilization in Autonomous Stochastic Mobile Multi-Agents

This paper describes how to coordinate autonomous mobile multi-agents, whose agents stochastically move over a finite resource consisting of cells in accordance with transition probabilities. We assume there are interactions or coordination among agents such that 1 each agent cannot move to a destination cell occupied by agents more than the agents of a current cell and 2 their agents have time-lag. Then it is ideal that every cell is always occupied by agents, because of the efficient use of resources, and it is desirable to be the fewest expected number of cells not occupied by agents. The first result shows that the resource utilization of accelerated mobile multi-agents with appropriate average moving speed becomes higher than the resource utilization of mobile multi-agents without average moving speed. Then the resource utilization can be accelerated to maximum by giving appropriate moving speed. The second result shows that there are the best moving speed of system-specific optimum to utilize the resources of autonomous stochastic mobile multi-agents.
Voice pitch characteristics of Cantonese and English produced by Cantonese-English bilingual children

Two-minute spontaneous conversational speech of English and Cantonese was obtained from 86 Cantonese-English bilingual children. As a physical measurement of the rate of vocal fold vibration during speech production, fundamental frequency (F0) characteristics including the mean speaking F0, pitch sigma, minimum and maximum F0 values were measured from the medial 60-second portion of the speech samples by using Praat. F0 data measured from the English and Cantonese productions were statistically compared. Significant correlation was found for speaking F0, pitch sigma, and F0 range values between Cantonese and English. Results indicated that speaking F0 and F0 range values were significantly lower in Cantonese than in English. It is speculated that such difference is related to the tonal nature of Cantonese, although language proficiency may play a role in the discrepant F0 findings.
An Uncommon Wealth . . .Transforming the Commons With Purpose, for People and Not for Profit!

The overemphasis on individualism in much normative entrepreneurship discourse belies the powerful role played by local level and communal forms of barter, culturally based collectivist models of organization, social enterprise, and other forms of co-investment. Following Rindova et al., we argue innovation in entrepreneurship can be an emancipatory process with broad change potential to bring about new economic, social, institutional, and cultural environments. New forms of productive social relations and cooperative effort generate new ways of liberating individual and collective existence. However, the dark side of entrepreneurialism also casts its shadow over the pursuit of an idealized commons. Romanticizing forms of collective entrepreneurialism as a means for elevating vulnerable groups may have contrary effects, especially for those already socially and economically marginalized. Theorizing entrepreneurship from a critical perspective, we draw on Laclau’s emancipation–oppression dualism. We explore the contradictions and potentialities of locally based communal entrepreneurship as expressions of a dynamic tension, which is simultaneously both transformative and exploitative in orientation.
Increase of Exhaled Nitric Oxide in Children Exposed to Low Levels of Ambient Ozone

Ozone (O3) is known to induce lung function impairment and airways inflammation during episodes of photochemical smog. The aim of the present study was to assess the inflammatory effect of ambient O3 in healthy children using nitric oxide in exhaled air (eNO) as a noninvasive test. The study was performed on 6 groups of children (n = 11–15), aged 6.5 to 15 yr, who attended summer camps in rural areas of the south of Belgium in 2002. Ambient O3 concentrations continuously monitored in the camps ranged from 48 to 221 μg/m3 (1-h maximal concentration). Children remained outdoors during the experimental days, doing various recreational activities but no sports. Lung function tests (forced expiratory volume in 1s [FEV1] and forced vital capacity [FVC]) and eNO were measured twice in each child in the morning and in the evening. While lung function tests did not show any consistent pattern of decrease at these O3 levels, a highly significant increase in eNO was found in all subjects from an ambient 1-h O3 level of 167 μg/m3. A multivariate analysis did not reveal any influence of age, gender, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) of the children. The threshold for this O3-induced increase in eNO estimated benchmark dose analysis was 135 μg/m3 for 1-h exposure and 110 μg/m3 for 8-h exposure. These observations suggest that ambient ozone produces early inflammatory changes in the airways of children at levels slightly below current air quality standards.
Role of Appearance and Nonverbal Behaviors in the Perception of Sexual Orientation among Lesbians and Gay Men

According to the zero-acquaintance paradigm gay men and lesbians possess the ability to identify other homosexuals accurately after only very brief interpersonal contact. Given the vulnerability gay men and lesbians face in terms of antigay violence and prejudice, perceptual accuracy provides self-protection. In an exploratory study, 123 respondents were classified as low, moderate, and high perceivers on the basis of their responses to a recognition index designed by the authors. Next, respondents rated on a series of 5-point Likert scales the helpfulness of several characteristics for identifying gay men and lesbians. Analysis supported the importance of eye contact for lesbians and gay men in identifying one another. For both lesbian and gay male participants, several other variables emerged as significantly helpful in identifying gay men: clothing style and fit, jewelry, facial expressions, posture, body type, walk or gait, and both the types and frequencies of gestures.
Learning and teaching policies in higher education: mediations and contradictions of practice

This article explores the meanings involved in the development and implementation of learning and teaching policies in higher education through a single institution case study in an English university. It draws on interview data collected from middle manager-academics, located in Schools, who are charged with implementing learning and teaching policies. Tensions and contradictions of practice emerged from a detailed analysis of the data identified through three closely related themes: centre/periphery, time and temporality, and disciplinary locations. The central theme, which frames the discussion of the other two, concerns relations between centre and periphery. The manager-academics identify themselves with the interests of their colleagues within Schools and use their position to mediate between central pressures and practice on the ground. Rather than identifying with managerialist practices, they rely on projected ideals of collegiality in their relationships with School colleagues. At the core of th.
A thermal-dissipation-based approach for balancing data load in distributed hash tables

A major objective of peer-to-peer (P2P) systems is the management of large amounts of data distributed across many systems. Distributed hash tables (DHT) are designed for highly scalable, self-organizing, and efficient distribution and lookup of data, whereby data is stored globally persistent. The range of values of the corresponding hash function is partitioned and each interval is assigned to a node of the DHT. Because the assignment of data to nodes is based on hash functions, one assumes that the respective data load is distributed evenly across all participating nodes. However most DHT show difficulties with load balancing as we demonstrate in this paper. As a solution for this problem, we present a new and very simple approach for balancing stored data between peers in a fashion analogous to the dissipation of heat energy in materials. We compare this algorithm with other approaches for load balancing and present results based on simulations and a prototype implementation. This new algorithm improves the distribution of load in DHT without requiring major changes of the DHT themselves. In addition, we show that the fault tolerance of peer-to-peer systems is increased by the proposed algorithm.
Early Violence Prevention Programs

Abstract: This chapter considers violence prevention programs in light of aggression and violence directed toward girls and women. More specifically, current violence prevention programs, directed toward young children and/or their caregivers, are discussed with a special consideration for the Adults and Children Together (ACT) Against Violence Training Program developed by the American Psychological Association (APA) and the National Association of Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Data supporting ACT is presented, with implications for further program development and evaluation. Finally, parent education, theory and research, and professional services related to violence prevention are discussed.
The construction and validation of a scale to assess psychological risk and well‐being in sex offender treatment providers

Purpose. Since 1991 over 1,400 Prison Service personnel have been trained in the delivery of therapeutic interventions with men convicted of sexual abuse. In that time anecdotal evidence of psychological difficulties experienced by treatment providers has emerged. However, empirical support for this evidence is sparse, and reflects a disproportionately low level of research into the impact on treatment providers of their work when compared with the efficacy of the treatment they deliver. One of the consistent shortcomings of the available research has been the lack of a valid and reliable psychometric assessment of the psychological well-being of treatment providers, and this paper reports on the construction and validation of a scale designed to assess the personal and professional effects of working therapeutically with sex offenders. Method. A scenario technique was used to elicit items. Exploratory factor analysis of the responses of 182 active facilitators yielded a three-factor scale comprising 61 items. The structure was replicated on an independent sample of 165 facilitators. Results. Negative reactivity to offenders (NRO) described generally adverse responses to offenders, ruminative vulnerability (RV) was characterized by emotional pre-occupation with work and increasing sensitivity to emotional issues, and organizational dissatisfaction (OD) included items relating to lack of collegial and managerial support. Concurrent validation showed that the three factors were systematically related to a range of relevant variables. Conclusion. The new assessment of dynamic adaptation (ADA) scale should provide an invaluable tool for evaluating the effectiveness of SOTP training programmes.
But What Do Children Really Think? Discourse Analysis and Conceptual Content in Children's Talk

A discourse-analytical approach to children's knowledge is offered, focusing on extracts of classroom talk between a teacher and a kindergarten class. After rejecting the possibility of defining concepts and memories as cognitive states prior to or underlying discourse, the talk is examined for how participants define and deal with such notions as a feature of the sequential and rhetorical organization of discourse. An argument is advanced for the analysis of knowledge, reality, and education as public, interactionally managed participants' concerns that can be studied as discursive practices. It is argued that the study of discourse does not ignore nondiscursive realms of mind and reality but permits analysis of how those things are defined, so that any explanatory appeal to what is beyond or behind the talk is unwarranted.
Psychosocial Predictors of Heavy Television Viewing Among Preadolescents and Adolescents

This article describes 3 general theoretical orientations regarding the psychosocial determinants of children's television viewing habits. A series of specific hypotheses are then tested via multiple regression analyses of data from 23 large-scale representative sample surveys. Consistent with the need satisfaction perspective, television-viewing frequency was related to social integration with peers, intelligence, book reading, and the hostility of parental punishment methods. Among preadolescents, television viewing was positively related to time spent with parents in families where parent-child coviewing is common, but among preadolescents who rarely coview and among all adolescents, parent-child contact was unrelated to viewing time. Frequency of interpersonal conflict with parents was also unrelated to television exposure. Consistent with the parental influence perspective, amount of viewing was associated with parental values for self-direction and with the imposition of rules restricting viewing. And consistent with the resource availability perspective, television viewing was related to the amount of time spent working at after-school jobs but, surprisingly, not to family income. The strengths of some of these relations varied according to age. Implications of these findings regarding the psychosocial determinants of media exposure and regarding child development are discussed.
Interactions between RSV Infection, Asthma, and Atopy

In this issue, Culley et al. ([1][1]) present findings from an infant mouse model of respiratory syncitial virus (RSV) infection, which provides a new perspective on the pathogenesis of RSV-mediated lung disease in early life. RSV is one of the most common respiratory pathogens encountered in
The Effects of Item Order on Test Performance and Stress

AbstractThe objectives were to investigate the effect of item order on the performance of a mathematics test; on the amount of stress generated during a test; and on the performance of high and low test anxious Ss. Our major findings were, that the mean number of correct answers for test questions arranged in the difficult-to-easy order was significantly lower than the mean number of test questions arranged in the reverse order; and that item order had an effect on the stress generated during the test. The importance of this study to test constructors seems to be the evidence it provides against the practice of making the order of presentation of items in a test different for different examinees to reduce the chance of cheating.