Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Perturbative Window into Non-Perturbative Physics

We argue that for a large class of N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories the effective superpotential as a function of the glueball chiral superfield is exactly given by a summation of planar diagrams of the same gauge theory. This perturbative computation reduces to a matrix model whose action is the tree-level superpotential. For all models that can be embedded in string theory we give a proof of this result, and we sketch an argument how to derive this more generally directly in field theory. These results are obtained without assuming any conjectured dualities and can be used as a systematic method to compute instanton effects: the perturbative corrections up to n-th loop can be used to compute up to n-instanton corrections. These techniques allow us to see many non-perturbative effects, such as the Seiberg-Witten solutions of N=2 theories, the consequences of Montonen-Olive S-duality in N=1* and Seiberg-like dualities for N=1 theories from a completely perturbative planar point of view in the same gauge theory, without invoking a dual description.
Prognostic and Predictive Value of KRAS Mutations in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Clinical implications of KRAS mutations in advanced non-small cell lung cancer remain unclear. We retrospectively evaluated the prognostic and predictive value of KRAS mutations in patients with advanced NSCLC. Among 484 patients with available results for both KRAS and EGFR mutations, 39 (8%) had KRAS and 182 (38%) EGFR mutations, with two cases having both mutations. The median overall survivals for patients with KRAS mutations, EGFR mutations, or both wild types were 7.7, 38.0, and 15.0 months, respectively (P<0.001). The KRAS mutation was an independent poor prognostic factor in the multivariate analysis (hazard ratio = 2.6, 95% CI: 1.8–3.7). Response rates and progression-free survival (PFS) for the pemetrexed-based regimen in the KRAS mutation group were 14% and 2.1 months, inferior to those (28% and 3.9 months) in the KRAS wild type group. KRAS mutation tended to be associated with inferior treatment outcomes after gemcitabine-based chemotherapy, while there was no difference regarding taxane-based regimen. Although the clinical outcomes to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) seemed to be better in patients with KRAS wild type than those with KRAS mutations, there was no statistical difference in response rates and PFS according to KRAS mutation status when EGFR mutation status was considered. Two patients with both KRAS and EGFR mutations showed partial response to EGFR TKIs. Although G12D mutation appeared more frequently in never smokers, there was no difference in clinical outcomes according to KRAS genotypes. These results suggested KRAS mutations have an independent prognostic value but a limited predictive role for EGFR TKIs or cytotoxic chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC.
Frying doughnuts: what can the reprocessing of X‐rays to IR tell us about the AGN environment?

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) produce vast amounts of high-energy radiation deep in their central engines. X-rays either escape the AGN or are absorbed and re-emitted mostly as infrared (IR). By studying the dispersion in the ratio of observed mid-IR luminosity to observed 2–10 keV X-ray luminosity (RIR/X) in AGN, we can investigate the reprocessing material (possibly a torus or donut of dust) in the AGN central engine, independent of model assumptions. We studied the ratio of observed mid-IR and 2–10 keV X-ray luminosities in a heterogeneous sample of 245 AGN from the literature. We found that when we removed AGN with prominent jets, ∼90 per cent of type I AGN lay within a very tight dispersion in luminosity ratio (1 < RIR/X < 30). This implies that the AGN central engine is extremely uniform and models of the physical AGN environment (e.g. cloud cover, turbulent disc, opening angle of absorbing structures such as dusty tori) must span a very narrow range of parameters. We also found that the far-IR (100 μm) to mid-IR (12 μm) observed luminosity ratio is an effective discriminator between heavily obscured AGN and relatively unobscured AGN.
Bias in Spontaneous Reporting of Adverse Drug Reactions in Japan

Background Attitudes of healthcare professionals regarding spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in Japan are not well known, and Japan’s unique system of surveillance, called early post-marketing phase vigilance (EPPV), may affect these reporting attitudes. Our objectives were to describe potential effects of EPPV and to test whether ADR seriousness, prominence, and frequency are related to changes in reporting over time. Methods A manufacturer’s database of spontaneous ADR reports was used to extract data from individual case safety reports for 5 drugs subject to EPPV. The trend of reporting and the time lag between ADR onset and reporting to the manufacturer were examined. The following indices for ADRs occurring with each drug were calculated and analyzed to assess reporting trends: Serious:Non-serious ratio, High prominence:Low prominence ratio, and High frequency:Low frequency ratio. Results For all 5 drugs, the time lag between ADR onset and reporting to the manufacturer was shorter in the EPPV period than in the post-EPPV period. All drugs showed higher Serious:Non-serious ratios in the post-EPPV period. No specific patterns were observed for the High prominence:Low prominence ratio. The High frequency:Low frequency ratio for peginterferon alpha-2a and sevelamer hydrochloride decreased steadily throughout the study period. Conclusions Healthcare professionals may be more likely to report serious ADRs than to report non-serious ADRs, but the effect of event prominence on reporting trends is still unclear. Factors associated with ADR reporting attitude in Japan might be different from those in other countries because of EPPV and the involvement of medical representatives in the spontaneous reporting process. Pharmacovigilance specialists should therefore be cautious when comparing data between different time periods or different countries. Further studies are needed to elucidate the underlying mechanism of spontaneous ADR reporting in Japan.
Evaluating software architectures: development, stability, and evolution

Summary form only given. We survey seminal work on software architecture evaluation methods. We then look at an emerging class of methods that explicates evaluating software architectures for stability and evolution. We define architectural stability and formulate the problem of evaluating software architectures for stability and evolution. We draw attention to the use of Architectures Description Languages (ADLs) for supporting the evaluation of software architectures in general and for architectural stability specifically.
Health economic assessment of universal immunization of toddlers against Hepatitis A Virus (HAV) in Mexico

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) has shifted from high to intermediate endemicity in Mexico, which may increase the risk of clinically significant HAV infections in older children, adolescents and adults. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cost-utility of single-dose or 2-dose universal infant HAV vaccination strategy in Mexico, compared with no vaccination. A previously published dynamic model estimated the expected number of HAV cases with each strategy, and a decision model was used to estimate the costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) expected with each strategy. The time horizon was 25 years (2012–2036) and the base case analysis was conducted from the perspective of the Mexican public health system. Costs and QALYs after the first year were discounted at 5% annually. Input data were taken from national databases and published sources where available. The single-dose HAV vaccination strategy had an incremental cost-utility ratio (ICUR) of Mexican peso (MXN) 2,270 per QALY gained, compared with no vaccination. The two-dose strategy had an ICUR of MXN 14,961/QALY compared with no vaccination, and an ICUR of MXN 78,280/QALY compared with the single-dose strategy. The estimated ICURs were below the threshold of 1 x Mexican gross domestic product per capita. When indirect costs were included (societal perspective), the single-dose HAV vaccination strategy would be expected to improve health outcomes and to be cost-saving. This analysis indicates that routine vaccination of toddlers against HAV would be cost-effective in Mexico using either a single-dose or a 2-dose vaccination strategy. GSK study identifier: HO-12-12877.
Violence and dispossession in tourism development: a critical geographical approach

ABSTRACT This article introduces a special issue that illustrates how violence and dispossession frequently define everyday practices, livelihoods and representations in tourism. The authors take a relational approach to violence, emphasizing how violence's many forms (physical, symbolic, epistemic, structural, etc.) interweave in practice to produce the built tourism environment, creating unequal power relations between “hosts” and “guests”. The special issue's papers provide five historically and geographically specific articulations of tourism, violence and dispossession in Paris, Guatemalan forests, rural Honduras, faux South African shantytowns, and O'ahu, Hawaii. They reveal recurring themes of enclosure and extraction, erasure and commodification, “destructive creation,” and (neo)colonialism. This introductory article draws on the special issue's guest editors’ ethnographic research in Colombia and Guatemala to elaborate on the key concepts of tourism development, violence, dispossession and spatial fetishism underpinning these themes using a critical and geographical approach. Attending to violence in tourism allows contributors to identify more sustainable forms of tourism development. These include redefining “sustainability” as Indigenous and Native sovereignty, advocating for grassroots and collective forms of tourism, reducing tourism's role in climate change by traveling locally, and contesting the reproduction of colonial itineraries and practices of “Othering”.
The State of Macroeconomic Forecasting 1 The State of Macroeconomic Forecasting

Macroeconomic forecasts are used extensively in industry and government The historical accuracy of US and UK forecasts are examined in the light of different approaches to evaluating macro forecasts. Issues discussed include the comparative accuracy of macroeconometric models compared to their time series alternatives, whether the forecasting record has improved over time, the rationality of macroeconomic forecasts and how a forecasting service should be chosen. The role of judgement in producing the forecasts is also considered where the evidence unequivocally favors such interventions. Finally the use of macroeconomic forecasts and their effectiveness is discussed. The conclusion drawn is that researchers have paid too little attention to the issue of improving the forecasting accuracy record. Finally, areas where improvements are most likely to be found are discussed.
Using the Time Petri Net Formalism for Specification, Validation, and Code Generation in Robot-Control Applications

The main objective of this paper is to show the advantages of using the time Petri net formalism for specification, validation, and code generation in robot-control applications. To achieve this objective, we consider as application the development of a control system for a mobile robot with a rotating rangefinder laser sensor with two degrees of freedom to be used in navigation tasks with obstacle avoidance. It is shown how the use of the time Petri net formalism in the whole development cycle can fulfilll the reliability requirement of real-time systems, make the system development easy and quick, strongly reduce the time for the testing and tuning phases and, therefore, reduce the development cost significantly. It allows verification of functional and temporal requirements, error detection in the early stages of the development cycle, and automatic code generation, avoiding coding mistakes. Experimental tests show that the theoretical results obtained from the analysis of formal system models match the real-time behavior of the robotic system.
A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of the Role of Test Sequence Length in Software Testing for Structural Coverage

In the presence of an internal state, often a sequence of function calls is required to test software. In fact, to cover a particular branch of the code, a sequence of previous function calls might be required to put the internal state in the appropriate configuration. Internal states are not only present in object-oriented software, but also in procedural software (e.g., static variables in C programs). In the literature, there are many techniques to test this type of software. However, to the best of our knowledge, the properties related to the choice of the length of these sequences have received only a little attention in the literature. In this paper, we analyze the role that the length plays in software testing, in particular branch coverage. We show that, on “difficult” software testing benchmarks, longer test sequences make their testing trivial. Hence, we argue that the choice of the length of the test sequences is very important in software testing. Theoretical analyses and empirical studies on widely used benchmarks and on an industrial software are carried out to support our claims.
Design, control, and energetics of an electrically actuated legged robot

To study the design, control and energetics of autonomous dynamically stable legged machines we have built a planar one-legged robot, the ARL Monopod. Its top running speed of 4.3 km/h (1.2 m/s) makes it the fastest electrically actuated legged robot to date. We adapted Raibert's control laws for the low power electric actuation necessary for autonomous locomotion and performed a detailed energetic analysis of our experiments. A comparison shows that the ARL Monopod with its 125 W average power consumption is more energy efficient than previously built robots.
Labour Market Regulation and Industrial Performance in India: A Critical Review of the Empirical Evidence

This paper offers a critique of recent empirical studies on the impact of labour regulation on industrial performance in India. It begins with a review of earlier studies that tried to infer the effects on manufacturing employment of amendments to the Industrial Disputes Act (IDA) in 1976 and 1982 that required government permission for layoffs, retrenchments and closures, and shows that the results are ambiguous. It then criticizes the widely-used index of state-level labour regulation devised by Besley and Burgess (2004), and the econometric methodology they use to establish that excessively pro-worker regulation led to poor performance in Indian manufacturing. Several recent studies that have used their index are also surveyed. Finally, the paper reviews other evidence, pointing in a very different direction, on the actual enforcement of labour laws, labour flexibility, and industrial employment. Throughout, attention is paid to the crucial role of judicial interpretation of the IDA, which has been neglected in this literature.
STOPPING AT THE MAXIMUM OF GEOMETRIC BROWNIAN MOTION WHEN SIGNALS ARE RECEIVED

Consider a geometric Brownian motion Xt(ω) with drift. Suppose that there is an independent source that sends signals at random times τ1 < τ2 < · · · . Upon receiving each signal, a decision has to be made as to whether to stop or to continue. Stopping at time τ will bring a reward Sτ , where St = max(max0≤u≤t Xu, s) for some constant s ≥ X0. The objective is to choose an optimal stopping time to maximize the discounted expected reward E[e−rτi Sτi | X0 = x, S0 = s], where r is a discount factor. This problem can be viewed as a randomized version of the Bermudan look-back option pricing problem. In this paper, we derive explicit solutions to this optimal stopping problem, assuming that signal arrival is a Poisson process with parameter λ. Optimal stopping rules are differentiated by the frequency of the signal process. Specifically, there exists a threshold λ∗ such that if λ > λ∗, the optimal stopping problem is solved via the standard formulation of a ‘free boundary’ problem and the optimal stopping time τ∗ is governed by a threshold a∗ such that τ∗ = inf{τn : Xτn ≤ a∗Sτn }. If λ ≤ λ∗ then it is optimal to stop immediately a signal is received, i.e. at τ∗ = τ1. Mathematically, it is intriguing that a smooth fit is critical in the former case while irrelevant in the latter.
The advantages of the pentameral symmetry of the starfish

Starfish typically show pentameral symmetry, and they are typically similar in shape to a pentagram. Although starfish can evolve and live with other numbers of arms, the dominant species always show pentameral symmetry. We used mathematical and physical methods to analyze the superiority of starfish with five arms in comparison with those with a different number of arms with respect to detection, turning over, autotomy and adherence. In this study, we determined that starfish with five arms, although slightly inferior to others in one or two aspects, exhibit the best performance when the four aforementioned factors are considered together. In addition, five-armed starfish perform best on autotomy, which is crucially important for starfish survival. This superiority contributes to the dominance of five-armed starfish in evolution, which is consistent with the practical situation. Nevertheless, we can see some flexibility in the number and conformation of arms. The analyses performed in our research will be of great help in unraveling the mysteries of dominant shapes and structures.
Perceptions on gender-based differences in educational leadership

This descriptive, qualitative study aimed at identifying disparities in perceptions of males and females regarding gender-based differences in educational leadership. Data were gathered purposively from 20 renowned male and female educationists having a long experience of leadership in various institutes of Pakistan. An open-ended questionnaire was used as a research tool to express their perceptions. Data were thematically analyzed under pre-defined categories borrowed from different leadership theorists. The results showed that both male and female respondents perceive that males have more leadership qualities as compared to females. It is especially true about abilities of decision-making and empowering the employees.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CASH FLOW NEWS FOR INTERNATIONALLY OPERATING FIRMS

Internationally operating firms are exposed to frictions that increase the importance of unexpected changes in their future cash flows. Applying Campbell’s (1991) variance decomposition framework, we find that cash flow news of internationally operating firms are more dominant than that of domestically operating firms. Moreover, the covariance between cash-flow and discount rate news is higher for firms with international exposure.
Advances in Ngram-based Discrimination of Similar Languages

We describe the systems entered by the National Research Council in the 2016 shared task on discriminating similar languages. Like previous years, we relied on character ngram features, and a mixture of discriminative and generative statistical classifiers. We mostly investigated the influence of the amount of data on the performance, in the open task, and compared the two-stage approach (predicting language/group, then variant) to a flat approach. Results suggest that ngrams are still state-of-the-art for language and variant identification, and that additional data has a small but decisive impact.
Job Skills and Minority Youth: New Program Directions

Minority youth unemployment is an enduring economic and social concern. This book evaluates two new initiatives for minority high school students that seek to cultivate marketable job skills. The first is an after-school program that provides experiences similar to apprenticeships, and the second emphasizes new approaches to improving job interview performance. The evaluation research has several distinct strengths. It involves a randomized controlled trial, uncommon in assessments of this issue and age group. Marketable job skills are assessed through a mock job interview developed for this research and administered by experienced human resource professionals. Mixed methods are utilized, with qualitative data shedding light on what actually happens inside the programs, and a developmental science approach situating the findings in terms of adolescent development. Beneficial for policy makers and practitioners as well as scholars, Job Skills and Minority Youth focuses on identifying the most promising tactics and addressing likely implementation issues.
Criteria for quality in qualitative research and use of freedom of information requests in the social sciences

Access to information (ATI) and freedom of information (FOI) requests are an under-used means of producing data in the social sciences, especially across Canada and the United States. We use literature on criteria for quality in qualitative inquiry to enhance ongoing debates and developments in ATI/FOI research, and to extend literature on quality in qualitative inquiry. We do this by building on Tracy’s (2010) article on criteria for quality in qualitative inquiry, which advances meaningful terms of reference for qualitative researchers to use in improving the quality of their work; and illustrating these criteria using examples of ATI/FOI research from our own work and from others’ in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. We argue that, when systematically designed and conducted, ATI/FOI research can prove extraordinary in all eight of Tracy’s criteria.
Articulatory characteristics of sibilant production in young people with Down's syndrome

Speech production in children with Down’s syndrome (DS) has been found to be variable and inconsistent. Errors are concentrated in consonants that are typically late developing, such as fricatives. It has been suggested that inconsistency in speech production in DS is a result of a motor speech deficit but there is little detailed articulatory evidence to support this claim. This study (with data from MRC grant ‘Assessment and Treatment of Impaired Speech Motor Control in Children with Down's syndrome’ (G0401388)) provides a detailed phonetic analysis of the voiceless sibilants /s/ and /ʃ/, in a group of young people with DS, by means of auditory and articulatory analysis. The aim of the study is to assess fine motor ability and articulation variability at word level production in a group of speakers with well-established difficulties in speech articulation. The study analysed data from 25 children with DS, 10 typically developing children and 8 adult speakers, recorded using EPG. Perceptual measures were compared with quantitative analyses of EPG data, along with visual analysis of articulation patterns based on a new set of articulation taxonomies. The data is presented by group and in the form of 5 case studies. The case studies provide a means to analyse the relationship between articulation and auditory information in detail and to compare these with supplementary motor control measures. The results show presence of atypical articulation patterns for speakers with DS for both perceptually acceptable tokens, and those in error. Higher levels of within-speaker articulation variability are presented in comparison to the TD control group. Further findings suggest presence of articulation patterns in the TD speakers previously unidentified in EPG studies. Similar to previous studies, the results find that speakers with DS are a highly variable group and that speakers display a combination of typical and atypical speech patterns, influenced by speech motor control difficulties.