Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Incremental Hessian Locally Linear Embedding algorithm

In this paper we propose an incremental version of Hessian locally linear embedding (HLLE) on the basis of incremental locally linear embedding (LLE) generalizations. The main idea behind our algorithm is to produce a lower dimension representation of a high-dimensional manifold such that the significant characteristics of the dataset are preserved while adapting to newly added points arriving to the dataset. Our experimental results verify how the new projection of points, along with the additional points, produces a good fit to the original manifold.
Surviving Hilar Somatostatin Interneurons Enlarge, Sprout Axons, and Form New Synapses with Granule Cells in a Mouse Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

In temporal lobe epilepsy, seizures initiate in or near the hippocampus, which frequently displays loss of neurons, including inhibitory interneurons. It is unclear whether surviving interneurons function normally, are impaired, or develop compensatory mechanisms. We evaluated GABAergic interneurons in the hilus of the dentate gyrus of epileptic pilocarpine-treated GIN mice, specifically a subpopulation of somatostatin interneurons that expresses enhanced green fluorescence protein (GFP). GFP-immunocytochemistry and stereological analyses revealed substantial loss of GFP-positive hilar neurons (GPHNs) but increased GFP-positive axon length per dentate gyrus in epileptic mice. Individual biocytin-labeled GPHNs in hippocampal slices from epileptic mice also had larger somata, more axon in the molecular layer, and longer dendrites than controls. Dual whole-cell patch recording was used to test for monosynaptic connections from hilar GPHNs to granule cells. Unitary IPSCs (uIPSCs) recorded in control and epileptic mice had similar average rise times, amplitudes, charge transfers, and decay times. However, the probability of finding monosynaptically connected pairs and evoking uIPSCs was 2.6 times higher in epileptic mice compared to controls. Together, these findings suggest that surviving hilar somatostatin interneurons enlarge, extend dendrites, sprout axon collaterals in the molecular layer, and form new synapses with granule cells. These epilepsy-related changes in cellular morphology and connectivity may be mechanisms for surviving hilar interneurons to inhibit more granule cells and compensate for the loss of vulnerable interneurons.
Insurance IPOs--A Test of the Underpricing Theories

This paper uses a numerical experiment to observe the behavior of the variance of total losses of an insured group, as the group is continually divided and subdivided. In the tradition of Rothschild and Stiglitz (1976) only loss frequency is analyzed. The results of the experiment suggest that an insurer need only divide a large group of insureds into a relatively small number of subgroups (10–15) to achieve most of the efficiency gains that are available.
The Formation of Oversized Coalitions in Parliamentary Democracies

In parliamentary democracies, participating in government provides access to office perks and policy influence. Because of this, as Riker (1962) demonstrated, there is a powerful logic behind the formation of minimum winning coalitions. Thus, an important question is why we regularly observe oversized coalitions. While several theories of coalition formation have been proposed, few have been tested in competition with one another. This article offers a simultaneous test of five main theories of coalition formation using data from 24 countries over the period from 1955 to 1998. The weight of the evidence suggests that oversized governments form when maintaining coalition bargains is harder (Carrubba and Volden 2000). Also, there is mixed support for oversized governments forming when the largest party is smaller and more extreme (Crombez 1996), but not when the status quo policy is more extreme (Baron and Diermeier 2001) and not to secure upper‐house majorities (Lijphart 1984; Sjolin 1993). Finally, while we descriptively observe oversized connected coalitions (Axelrod 1970), the logic behind their formation appears to differ from what Axelrod proposes.
You Can ’ t Always Get What You Want : Educational Attainment , Agency , and Choice

Using educational attainment to indicate socioeconomic status, the authors examined models of agency and effects of choice among European American adults of different educational backgrounds in 3 studies. Whereas college-educated (BA) participants and their preferred cultural products (i.e., rock music lyrics) emphasized expressing uniqueness, controlling environments, and influencing others, less educated (HS) participants and their preferred cultural products (i.e., country music lyrics) emphasized maintaining integrity, adjusting selves, and resisting influence. Reflecting these models of agency, HS and BA participants differently responded to choice in dissonance and reactance paradigms: BA participants liked chosen objects more than unchosen objects, but choice did not affect HS participants’ preferences. Results suggest that HS and BA models of agency qualitatively differ, despite overlap between HS and BA worlds.
Older Driver Estimates of Driving Exposure Compared to In-Vehicle Data in the Candrive II Study

Objective: Most studies on older adults’ driving practices have relied on self-reported information. With technological advances it is now possible to objectively measure the everyday driving of older adults in their own vehicles over time. The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of older drivers to accurately estimate their kilometers driven over one year relative to objectively measured driving exposure. Methods: A subsample (n = 159 of 928; 50.9% male) of Candrive II participants (age ≥ 70 years of age) was used in these analyses based on strict criteria for data collected from questionnaires as well as an OttoView-CD Autonomous Data Logging Device installed in their vehicle, over the first year of the prospective cohort study. Results: Although there was no significant difference overall between the self-reported and objectively measured distance categories, only moderate agreement was found (weighted kappa = 0.57; 95% confidence interval, 0.47–0.67). Almost half (45.3%) chose the wrong distance category, and some people misestimated their distance driven by up to 20,000 km. Those who misjudged in the low mileage group (≤5000 km) consistently underestimated, whereas the reverse was found for those in the high distance categories (≥ 20,000); that is, they always overestimated their driving distance. Conclusions: Although self-reported driving distance categories may be adequate for studies entailing broad group comparisons, caution should be used in interpreting results. Use of self-reported estimates for individual assessments should be discouraged.
Cloning and expression of the mouse glomerular podoplanin homologue gp38P.

BACKGROUND Puromycin aminonucleoside nephrosis (PAN) is a rat model for human minimal change nephropathy. During PAN, severe proteinuria is induced that is paralleled by a reduced expression of a rat podocyte protein, named podoplanin. The protein probably plays a role in maintaining the unique shape of podocytes. Recently, attenuated amino acid transport has been observed in cultured mouse glomerular epithelial cells treated with puromycin aminonucleoside (PA). In the present study, gp38P, a protein homologous to rat podoplanin was cloned from mouse glomerular epithelial cells and was found to be down-regulated by PA. A role for gp38P in membrane transport in mouse podocytes has been suggested. METHODS Based on homology to rat podoplanin, the protein gp38P was cloned from mouse glomerular epithelial cells by RT-PCR. Mouse glomerular epithelial cells, mouse cortical collecting duct cells, and Xenopus oocytes were treated with PA and the expression of gp38P was examined by RT-PCR and western blot analysis. Expression of gp38P in other mouse tissues was demonstrated by RT-PCR. The possible impact of gp38P on amino acid transport and folic acid uptake was examined in Xenopus oocytes. RESULTS gp38P cloned from mouse glomerular epithelial cells showed strong homologies to rat podoplanin and gp38, a protein expressed in the thymus and other tissues. RT-PCR analysis demonstrated ubiquitous expression of gp38P in epithelial and non-epithelial tissues. Quantitative RT-PCR and western blot analysis indicated down-regulation of gp38P in PA-treated glomerular epithelial cells along with loss of cell shape and cell lysis, which was not observed in other cell types. When expressed in Xenopus oocytes, gp38P had no impact on folic acid uptake or transport activity of the amino acid co-transporters CAT1, EAAC1, and rBAT. CONCLUSION Cultured mouse glomerular epithelial cells express the podoplanin homologue gp38P, which is down-regulated by PAs. gp38P is ubiquitously expressed and is likely to control specifically the unique shape of podocytes.
Deformation during the 12 November 1999 Duzce, Turkey, earthquake, from GPS and InSar Data

Only 87 days after the Mw 7.5, 17 August 1999 Izmit earthquake, the Duzce earthquake ruptured a ca. 40-km-long adjoining strand of the North Anatolian fault (NAF) system to the east. We used displacements of 50 Global Positioning System (GPS) sites together with interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) range-change data spanning the event to estimate the geometry and slip distribution of the coseismic rupture. Postseismic deformation transients from the Duzce earth- quake and the preceding I zmit event that are included in some of the measurements are corrected for using dislocation models fit to GPS data spanning the various time periods. Nonlinear inversions for fault geometry indicate that the rupture occurred on a ca. 54� north-dipping oblique normal, right-lateral fault. Distributed-slip inver- sions indicate maximum strike slip near the center of the Duzce fault close to the earthquake hypocenter. Slip magnitude and depth of faulting decrease to the west and east of the hypocenter. Both GPS and InSAR data suggest that normal slip is restricted to the shallow portion of the rupture. The Duzce earthquake had the highest slip-to-rupture-length ratio of any historic earthquake along the NAF.
Contemporary trends and issues in science education

The book series Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education provides a forum for innovative trends and issues connected to science education. Scholarship that focuses on advancing new visions, understanding, and is at the forefront of the field is found in this series. Accordingly, authoritative works based on empirical research and writings from disciplines external to science education, including historical, philosophical, psychological and sociological traditions, are represented here. Book proposals for this series may be submitted to the Publishing Editor: Bernadette Ohmer E-mail: Bernadette.Ohmer@springer.com
Engineered nanomaterials: knowledge gaps in fate, exposure, toxicity, and future directions

The aim of this study is to identify current knowledge gaps in fate, exposure, and toxicity of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), highlight research gaps, and suggest future research directions. Humans and other living organisms are exposed to ENMs during production or use of products containing them. To assess the hazards of ENMs, it is important to assess their physiochemical properties and try to relate them to any observed hazard. However, the full determination of these relationships is currently limited by the lack of empirical data. Moreover, most toxicity studies do not use realistic environmental exposure conditions for determining dose-response parameters, affecting the accurate estimation of health risks associated with the exposure to ENMs. Regulatory aspects of nanotechnology are still developing and are currently the subject of much debate. Synthesis of available studies suggests a number of open questions. These include (i) developing a combination of different analytical methods for determining ENM concentration, size, shape, surface properties, and morphology in different environmental media, (ii) conducting toxicity studies using environmentally relevant exposure conditions and obtaining data relevant to developing quantitative nanostructure-toxicity relationships (QNTR), and (iii) developing guidelines for regulating exposure of ENMs in the environment.
A Conceptual Model for Enhancing Intra-Group Knowledge Sharing

Knowledge sharing is a social action involving the collective behavior of a group of people. However, prior research on knowledge predominately focused on individual behavior. Furthermore, previous studies did not capture the multiple facets of this group behavior. In this research, we propose and justify a framework for the explanation of knowledge sharing in organization context as a social action, integrating multiple theories, i.e., social capital theory, institutional theory, and adaptive technology structuration theory. A series of propositions are proposed and discussed.
A Cross-layer Decentralized BitTorrent for Mobile Ad hoc Networks

In recent years, a number of P2P systems, for instance, Gnutella, KaZaA, Napster, and BitTorrent, have been proposed for the wired Internet. However, these protocols are not immediately applicable to the mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) owing to the extreme conditions MANETs operate under. Of the above protocols, although BitTorrent has several features which make it an ideal candidate for adapting to MANETs, the current specification of BitTorrent has several drawbacks which make a straightforward implementation of BitTorrent for MANETs an undesirable solution. In this paper, we investigate a straightforward implementation of BitTorrent in MANETs, termed BTI, and compare its performance with a cross-layer adaptation of BitTorrent for MANETs, termed BTM. We resolve the issues of centralized control and single point of failure in BTI by proposing mechanisms to decentralize the BitTorrent model for MANETs and provide resource/data redundancy to improve the protocol performance. In addition, the cross-layer model of BTM is more suited for use in a MANET. Our performance comparison studies show that BTM is able to outperform BTI in terms of goodput, and the number of pieces delivered, in the context of amortizing the client download expenses over more connections (that is, BTM has a higher average peer degree)
Bayesian Periodic Signal Detection. II. Discovery of Periodic Phase Modulation in LS I +61°303 Radio Outbursts

A Bayesian analysis of the phase variations of the 26.5 day periodic radio outbursts from the high-mass X-ray binary LS I +61°303 demonstrates a clear periodic modulation on a timescale similar to that previously found for the long-term modulation of the outburst peak flux density. Combining the outburst phase and flux information we obtain a phase and flux modulation period of 1584+14-11 days as well as a more accurate outburst period of 26.4917 ± 0.0025 days. From the shape of the phase and outburst flux modulation we find that larger outbursts occur at an earlier orbital phase, closer to periastron, probably as a result of variations in the wind from the rapidly rotating Be star primary. The phase modulation also suggests a rather sudden onset to each new cycle of mass loss by the Be star. The next maximum in long-term flux modulation is predicted to occur between 1999 February and 2000 March (JD 2,451,233-2,451,633).
Title the " Lonely Gamer " Revisited

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) supporting rich and complex social interactions among well over 10 million players worldwide. In this study, we explore implications of the pervasive “lonely gamer” stereotype, which portrays online gamers as socially isolated and addicted young people, usually male, with few real-life (RL) social ties. This is the first study to directly address the stereotype quantitatively, focusing on assessing the extent to which WoW players interact in the game with other people with whom they share a RL social relationship. Most previous studies of the interaction between online gaming and sociality have focused solely on either in-game or RL social interactions, without seriously taking into account today’s large and growing opportunities for hybrids of both. An online survey (in English and Chinese) collected data from 2865 WoW players from multiple world regions: Europe, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the US. The findings lend no support to the “lonely gamer” stereotype, but suggest instead that playing World of Warcraft may serve to enhance, rather than diminish, RL social interactions. This paper also
Neural Correlates of Semantic Competition during Processing of Ambiguous Words

The current study investigated the neural correlates that underlie the processing of ambiguous words and the potential effects of semantic competition on that processing. Participants performed speeded lexical decisions on semantically related and unrelated prime–target pairs presented in the auditory modality. The primes were either ambiguous words (e.g., ball) or unambiguous words (e.g., athlete), and targets were either semantically related to the dominant (i.e., most frequent) meaning of the ambiguous prime word (e.g., soccer) or to the subordinate (i.e., less frequent) meaning (e.g., dance). Results showed increased activation in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) for ambiguous-related compared to unambiguous-related stimulus pairs, demonstrating that prefrontal areas are activated even in an implicit task where participants are not required to explicitly analyze the semantic content of the stimuli and to make an overt selection of a particular meaning based on this analysis. Additionally, increased activation was found in the left IFG and the left cingulate gyrus for subordinate meaning compared to dominant meaning conditions, suggesting that additional resources are recruited in order to resolve increased competition demands in accessing the subordinate meaning of an ambiguous word.
THINKING CATEGORICALLY ABOUT OTHERS: A CONJECTURAL EQUILIBRIUM APPROACH

Inspired by the social psychology literature, we study the implications of categorical thinking on decision making in the context of a large normal form game. Every agent has a categorization (partition) of her opponents and can only observe the average behavior in each category. A strategy profile is a Conjectural Categorical Equilibrium (CCE) with respect to a given categorization profile if every player's strategy is a best response to some consistent conjecture about the strategies of her opponents. We show that, for a wide family of games and for a particular categorization profile, every CCE becomes almost Nash as the number of players grows. An equivalence of CCE and Nash equilibrium is achieved in the settings of a non-atomic game. This highlights the advantage of categorization as a simplifying mechanism in complex environments. With much less information in their hands agents behave as if they see the full picture. Some properties of CCE when players categorize `non-optimally' are also considered.
Mobile Money Use in Uganda: A Preliminary Study

As mobile phones proliferate in the developing world and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) look for ways to diversify from voice and SMS, mobile money has emerged as an opportunity. While currently used mainly for money transfers, mobile money advocates are enthusiastic about its capability to transform the financial fabric of society, particularly for the poor. We report on a study of mobile money users in Uganda across 3 MNOs. Besides understanding current usage of mobile money, we explore different daily financial transactions of respondents. We investigate the relative importance of these transactions, their frequency, and methods of payment used. Satisfaction with current payment methods and strength of intention to use mobile money if offered for these transactions are captured. The goal is to identify potential new ways to use mobile money in Uganda.
The Relationship of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) on Co-located Urban High Schools Infractions, Suspensions, School Progress Grade and the School Environment

The responsibility for school administrators to provide a safe school environment demonstrates institutional accountability under the regulations of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Students who violate the safety component of the public school discipline code face suspensions and expulsions. On average, students spend more than 16 million hours a year serving suspensions. This quantitative study examined the effect of Sugai’s three-tiered Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework on co-located urban high schools. The study analyzed the relationship of the PBIS framework on the number of infractions, number of suspensions, school progress grade, and the safety and respect component of the school environment as measured by One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). This research furthers previous research on school infractions based on violence and safe school indicators (i.e. robbery with or without weapons, assaults with or without weapons, arson, altercations with or without weapons, drug or alcohol possession and sex offenses). The sample of the co-located urban high schools implementing PBIS was 15 out of 18. Each co-located urban high school hosted five to nine schools with a combined student population of 36,906. The mean of each participating co-located high school’s number of infraction, number of suspensions, school progress grade, and school environment were analyzed. The study indicated no significant difference between the independent variable PBIS and the dependent variables of co-located urban high schools. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Education (EdD) Department Executive Leadership Subject Categories Education This dissertation is available at Fisher Digital Publications: http://fisherpub.sjfc. edu/education_etd/165 The Relationship of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) on Co-located Urban High Schools Infractions, Suspensions, School Progress Grade and the School Environment
The Impact of Perceived Listening Behavior in Voice-to-Voice Service Encounters

Call centers have become an important customer access channel as well as an important source of customerrelated information. This boundary-spanning unit has finally enabled companies to take marketing’s commonplace wisdom of listening to the customer literally. As a result, there has been an increase in voice-to-voice service encounters and in these encounters listening as an essential skill. In this article, three dimensions of listening behavior are discerned: attentiveness, perceptiveness, and responsiveness. Results of an empirical study reveal that attentiveness is a direct driver of encounter satisfaction, whereas perceptiveness is primarily related to trust. Furthermore, the responsiveness dimension is related positively to both satisfaction and trust. In addition, we find a significant association between satisfaction and trust, and, finally, both a satisfactory evaluation of the voice-tovoice encounter and the build up of trust have a significant impact on the customer’s intention to contact the call center again in the future.
Attitudes to social justice

The Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) is the UK ’s leading progressive think tank and was established in 1988. Its role is to bridge the political divide between the social democratic and liberal traditions, the intellectual divide between academia and the policy making establishment and the cultural divide between government and civil society. It is first and foremost a research institute, aiming to provide innovative and credible policy solutions. Its work, the questions its research poses, and the methods it uses are driven by the belief that the journey to a good society is one that places social justice, democratic participation, economic and environmental sustainability at its core.This paper was first published February 2005© ippr 2005