Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving the Quality of Manually Acquired Data: Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to Data Quality Improving the Quality of Manually Acquired Data Manual Data Acquisition and Operator Intention

Murphy, Glen D. (2009) Improving the quality of manually acquired data : applying the theory of planned behavior to data quality. Reliability Engineering and System Safety. ABSTRACT The continued reliance of manual data capture in engineering asset intensive organisations highlights the critical role played by those responsible for recording raw data. The potential for data quality variance across individual operators also exposes the need to better manage this particular group. This paper evaluates the relative importance of the human factors associated with data quality. Using the theory of planned behaviour this paper considers the impact of attitudes, perceptions and behavioural intentions on the data collection process in an engineering asset context. Two additional variables are included, those of time pressure and operator feedback. Time pressure is argued to act as a moderator between intention and data collection behaviour, while perceived behavioural control will moderate the relationship between feedback and data collection behaviour. Overall the paper argues that the presence of best practice procedures or threats of disciplinary sanction are insufficient controls to determine data quality. Instead those concerned with improving the data collection performance of operators should consider the operator's perceptions of group attitude towards data quality, the level of feedback provided to data collectors and the impact of time­ pressures on procedure compliance. A range of practical recommendations are provided to those wishing to improve the quality of their manually acquired data. Numerous publications, both academic and professional, lament that despite an exponential increase in our capacity for data storage data quality remains poor [1]. Potential antecedents of data quality include aspects such as systems integration/migration problems, age and redundancy, relevance and the temptation to collect data 'just because we can and we might need it someday " [2, 3]. Others suggest issues with personnel's interpretation of complex equipment and difficulties in securing personnel with adequate competence for the role [4]. However few consider explicitly the extent to which organisational context determines the performance of those tasked with manually acquiring data in an engineering context. Contextual elements beyond the immediate scope of the individual operator are vital to consider in terms of predicting and improving operator data acquisition behaviours. In addition to discussing operator attitudes and intentions the paper also addresses the impact of elements such as operator feedback and operator time pressures on data collection behaviour. The material presented here provides an insight into what operational interventions may …
Momentum and Mean Reversion in Strategic Asset Allocation

We study a dynamic asset allocation problem in which stock returns exhibit short-run momentum and long-run mean reversion. We develop a tractable continuous-time model that captures these two predictability features and derive the optimal investment strategy in closed form. The model predicts negative hedging demands for medium-term investors, and an allocation to stocks that is nonmonotonic in the investor's horizon. Momentum substantially increases the economic value of hedging time variation in investment opportunities. These utility gains are preserved when we impose realistic borrowing and short-sales constraints and allow the investor to trade on a monthly frequency.
What Determines Government Spending Multipliers?

This paper studies how the effects of government spending vary with the economic environment. Using a panel of OECD countries, we identify fiscal shocks as residuals from an estimated spending rule and trace their macroeconomic impact under different conditions regarding the exchange rate regime, public indebtedness, and health of the financial system. The unconditional responses to a positive spending shock broadly confirm earlier findings. However, conditional responses differ systematically across exchange rate regimes, as real appreciation and external deficits occur mainly under currency pegs. We also find output and consumption multipliers to be unusually high during times of financial crisis.
The SfinX Video Surveillance System

In a surveillance system, video signals are generated by multiple cameras with or without spatially and temporally overlapping coverage. These signals need to be compressed, fused, stored, indexed, and then summarized as semantic events to allow efficient and effective querying and mining. This paper presents the hardware and software architecture of SfinX, a next-generation video-surveillance system. We analyze each component within the software architecture and identify research issues. Finally, we present preliminary results on the performance of various components of SfinX.
Synaptic Plasticity and PDGF Signaling Defects Underlie Clinical Progression in Multiple Sclerosis

Neuroplasticity is essential to prevent clinical worsening despite continuing neuronal loss in several brain diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS). The precise nature of the adaptation mechanisms taking place in MS brains, ensuring protection from disability appearance and accumulation, is however unknown. Here, we explored the hypothesis that long-term synaptic potentiation (LTP), potentially able to minimize the effects of neuronal loss by providing extra excitation of denervated neurons, is the most relevant form of adaptive plasticity in stable MS patients, and it is disrupted in progressing MS patients. We found that LTP, explored by means of transcranial magnetic theta burst stimulation over the primary motor cortex, was still possible, and even favored, in stable relapsing-remitting (RR-MS) patients, whereas it was absent in individuals with primary progressive MS (PP-MS). We also provided evidence that platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) plays a substantial role in favoring both LTP and brain reserve in MS patients, as this molecule: (1) was reduced in the CSF of PP-MS patients, (2) enhanced LTP emergence in hippocampal mouse brain slices, (3) was associated with more pronounced LTP in RR-MS patients, and (4) was associated with the clinical compensation of new brain lesion formation in RR-MS. Our results show that brain plasticity reserve, in the form of LTP, is crucial to contrast clinical deterioration in MS. Enhancing PDGF signaling might represent a valuable treatment option to maintain brain reserve and to attenuate the clinical consequences of neuronal damage in the progressive phases of MS and in other neurodegenerative disorders.
Child interests in assisted reproductive technology: how is the welfare principle applied in practice?

STUDY QUESTION How is the welfare principle interpreted and practised and what meaning does it hold for health professionals who must apply it in assisted reproductive technology (ART)? SUMMARY ANSWER The welfare of a child is a meaningful concept to ART counsellors but it is also impractical when applied preconception. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Policy which promotes the interests of a child to be born is inconsistent between and within countries, and has been widely criticized as meaningless, as an unfair imposition and for its lack of clarity and inconsistent translation to ART practice. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION We conducted a qualitative study of ART counsellors in Australia and New Zealand in 2012. This study took an inductive approach. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING AND METHODS Thirty-two counsellors (15 psychologists and 17 social workers) participated in 6 focus groups. Vignettes were used to focus and stimulate discussion of how the welfare of all participants but especially the interests of a non-existent child were interpreted and operationalized in practice. Qualitative descriptive content analysis was used to analyse the data into themes. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Five themes emerged in the data: giving presence to the child that could be, balancing welfare interests, welfare concerns, balancing values and making a decision and screening and legal presumptions against treatment. Themes were validated according to qualitative research standards. The study showed that counsellors take the child welfare principle seriously but that the concept is indeed slippery and difficult to operationalize. Counsellors denied a role in screening patients for parenting fitness but were engaged in health care assessment of patients and these roles need further differentiation, clarity and research. Health care practitioners would benefit from a process that reviews decisions and clarifies professional values. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION Participants were drawn from only two of the six Australian states and two territories. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS The study provides insight and deeper understanding of how welfare principles play out in counselling practice, what gives them meaning and the difficulties of balancing various interests and values. Our findings have shown that the welfare of a child can be a meaningful concept to ART counsellors but that it can also be impractical and unclear. Despite differences in legislation among countries, our study contributes to the growing data and debate emerging from the USA and the UK. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS This study was funded by a Flinders University Faculty of Health Sciences Grant. There are no conflicts of interest. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER Not applicable.
A Kernelized Stein Discrepancy for Goodness-of-fit Tests

We derive a new discrepancy statistic for measuring differences between two probability distributions based on combining Stein's identity with the reproducing kernel Hilbert space theory. We apply our result to test how well a probabilistic model fits a set of observations, and derive a new class of powerful goodness-of-fit tests that are widely applicable for complex and high dimensional distributions, even for those with computationally intractable normalization constants. Both theoretical and empirical properties of our methods are studied thoroughly.
Dyrk1A Haploinsufficiency Affects Viability and Causes Developmental Delay and Abnormal Brain Morphology in Mice

ABSTRACT DYRK1A is the human orthologue of the Drosophila minibrain (mnb) gene, which is involved in postembryonic neurogenesis in flies. Because of its mapping position on chromosome 21 and the neurobehavioral alterations shown by mice overexpressing this gene, involvement of DYRK1A in some of the neurological defects of Down syndrome patients has been suggested. To gain insight into its physiological role, we have generated mice deficient in Dyrk1A function by gene targeting. Dyrk1A−/− null mutants presented a general growth delay and died during midgestation. Mice heterozygous for the mutation (Dyrk1A+/−) showed decreased neonatal viability and a significant body size reduction from birth to adulthood. General neurobehavioral analysis revealed preweaning developmental delay of Dyrk1A+/− mice and specific alterations in adults. Brains of Dyrk1A+/− mice were decreased in size in a region-specific manner, although the cytoarchitecture and neuronal components in most areas were not altered. Cell counts showed increased neuronal densities in some brain regions and a specific decrease in the number of neurons in the superior colliculus, which exhibited a significant size reduction. These data provide evidence about the nonredundant, vital role of Dyrk1A and suggest a conserved mode of action that determines normal growth and brain size in both mice and flies.
Characterization of Residential Pesticide Use and Chemical Formulations through Self-Report and Household Inventory: The Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study

Background: Home and garden pesticide use has been linked to cancer and other health outcomes in numerous epidemiological studies. Exposure has generally been self-reported, so the assessment is potentially limited by recall bias and lack of information on specific chemicals. Objectives: As part of an integrated assessment of residential pesticide exposure, we identified active ingredients and described patterns of storage and use. Methods: During a home interview of 500 residentially stable households enrolled in the Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study during 2001–2006, trained interviewers inventoried residential pesticide products and queried participants about their storage and use. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency registration numbers, recorded from pesticide product labels, and pesticide chemical codes were matched to public databases to obtain information on active ingredients and chemical class. Poisson regression was used to identify independent predictors of pesticide storage. Analyses were restricted to 259 participating control households. Results: Ninety-five percent (246 of 259) of the control households stored at least one pesticide product (median, 4). Indicators of higher sociodemographic status predicted more products in storage. We identified the most common characteristics: storage areas (garage, 40%; kitchen, 20%), pests treated (ants, 33%; weeds, 20%), pesticide types (insecticides, 46%; herbicides, 24%), chemical classes (pyrethroids, 77%; botanicals, 50%), active ingredients (pyrethrins, 43%) and synergists (piperonyl butoxide, 42%). Products could contain multiple active ingredients. Conclusions: Our data on specific active ingredients and patterns of storage and use will inform future etiologic analyses of residential pesticide exposures from self-reported data, particularly among households with young children.
The Time Series Behaviour of Volume, Initial Return and Economic Condition of the Malaysian IPO Market

This paper analyses the short-run as well as the long-run relationship of the IPO volume, initial returns and economic conditions of the Malaysian IPO market. The ARDL bounds testing approach was used to examine these variables. Empirical results showed that both initial returns and economic conditions have significant long-run relationships with IPO volume. Moreover, these two variables are also found to Granger- cause the IPO volume in the short-run.
Evaluating advantages of test driven development: a controlled experiment with professionals

Test driven development (TDD) is gaining interest among practitioners and researchers: it promises to increase the quality of the code. Even if TDD is considered a development practice, it relies on the use of unit testing. For this reason, it could be an alternative to the testing after coding (TAC), which is the usual approach to run and execute unit tests after having written the code. We wondered which are the differences between the two practices, from the standpoint of quality and productivity. In order to answer our research question, we carried out an experiment in a Spanish Software House. The results suggest that TDD improves the unit testing but slows down the overall process.
Sedentary behavior in Brazilian children and adolescents: a systematic review

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To describe the methodological characteristics of the studies selected and assess variables associated with sedentary behavior in Brazilian children and adolescents. METHODS For this systematic review, we searched four electronic databases: PubMed, Web of Knowledge, LILACS, SciELO. Also, electronic searches were applied in Google Scholar. A supplementary search was conducted in the references lists of the included articles and in non-indexed journals. We included observational studies with children and adolescents aged from three to 19 years developed in Brazil, presenting analyses of associations based on regression methods and published until September 30, 2014. RESULTS Of the 255 potential references retrieved by the searches, 49 met the inclusion criteria and composed the descriptive synthesis. In this set, we identified a great number of cross-sectional studies (n = 43; 88.0%) and high methodological variability on the types of sedentary behavior assessed, measurement tools and cut-off points used. The variables most often associated with sedentary behavior were “high levels of body weight” (in 15 out of 27 studies; 55.0%) and “lower level of physical activity” (in eight out of 16 studies; 50.0%). CONCLUSIONS The findings of this review raise the following demands to the Brazilian agenda of sedentary behavior research geared to children and adolescents: development of longitudinal studies, validation of measuring tools, establishment of risk cut-offs, measurement of sedentary behavior beyond screen time and use of objective measures in addition to questionnaires. In the articles available, the associations between sedentary behavior with “high levels of body weight” and “low levels of physical activity” were observed in different regions of Brazil.
Behavioural flexibility and invasion success in birds

Behavioural flexibility has long been thought to provide advantages for animals when they invade novel environments. This hypothesis has recently received empirical support in a study of avian species introduced to New Zealand, but it remains to be determined whether behavioural flexibility is a general mechanism influencing invasion success. In this study, we examined introduction success of 69 bird species in different regions of the world as a function of their degree of behavioural flexibility. Specifically, we predicted that species with relatively large brains and a high frequency of foraging innovations in their area of origin should show a higher probability of establishing themselves where they were introduced than species with small brains and low innovation frequencies. An analysis with general linear modelling (GLM) supported the prediction for relative brain size, even when controlling for phylogenetic biases and potential confounding variables. The only covariates that remained with relative brain size were plumage dimorphism, human commensalism and nest site. A pairwise comparison of closely related species also revealed that successful invaders showed a higher frequency of foraging innovations in their region of origin. This result held even when differences in research effort between species were considered. Overall, the results confirm and generalize the hypothesis that behavioural flexibility is a major determinant of invasion success in birds.  2002 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
Altered Nitrogen Balance and Decreased Urea Excretion in Male Rats Fed Cafeteria Diet Are Related to Arginine Availability

Hyperlipidic diets limit glucose oxidation and favor amino acid preservation, hampering the elimination of excess dietary nitrogen and the catabolic utilization of amino acids. We analyzed whether reduced urea excretion was a consequence of higher NOx; (nitrite, nitrate, and other derivatives) availability caused by increased nitric oxide production in metabolic syndrome. Rats fed a cafeteria diet for 30 days had a higher intake and accumulation of amino acid nitrogen and lower urea excretion. There were no differences in plasma nitrate or nitrite. NOx and creatinine excretion accounted for only a small part of total nitrogen excretion. Rats fed a cafeteria diet had higher plasma levels of glutamine, serine, threonine, glycine, and ornithine when compared with controls, whereas arginine was lower. Liver carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase I activity was higher in cafeteria diet-fed rats, but arginase I was lower. The high carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase activity and ornithine levels suggest activation of the urea cycle in cafeteria diet-fed rats, but low arginine levels point to a block in the urea cycle between ornithine and arginine, thereby preventing the elimination of excess nitrogen as urea. The ultimate consequence of this paradoxical block in the urea cycle seems to be the limitation of arginine production and/or availability.
Impact of Attachment Styles on Internalizing and Externalizing Behavioral Problems among Children and their Academic Achievement

The current study examines attachment styles as determinants of internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems among children, and their academic achievement. The convenient sampling technique was used to collect the sample data comprising of (N=201) school children studying in the 9th and 10th grades; further divided on the basis of gender i.e. boys (n=100) and girls (n=101) with age ranges between 15 to 17 years. Their attachment styles and behavioral problems were measured through the Child Problem Checklist and Attachment Style Scale respectively. Academic achievement was taken from their respective schools. Pearson correlation, multiple regression and independent t-test analyses were computed to verify the hypotheses. Co relational analysis showed that avoidant and anxious attachment styles were negatively correlated and the secure attachment style was positively Co related with academic achievement. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated the secure and anxious attachment styles as significant negative predictors of internalizing behavioral problems whereas the avoidant style was found to be significant positive predictor of internalizing behavior problems. A significant inverse relationship exists between internalizing behavior problems, with externalizing behavior problems and with secure attachment style. Avoidant attachment style predicted externalizing behavioral problems significantly and negatively and non-significantly to internalizing behavior problems. Significant gender differences were demonstrated on the aforementioned constructs except secure attachment style and academic achievement. Further significant school differences were found on all variables except internalizing behavioral problems and the avoidant attachment style.
Mining group movement patterns

In this paper we aim to recognize a priori unknown group movement patterns. We propose a constellation-based approach to extract repetitive relative movements of a constant group, which are allowed to be rotated, translated or differently scaled. To this end, we record a sequence of constellations, which are used for describing the movements relatively. We deal with uncertainties, and similarities of constellations respectively, by clustering the constellations. Further, we have developed a sequence mining algorithm, which uses the clustering results and tree-like data structures to extract the requested patterns from the sequence. Finally, this approach is applied to different datasets containing real trajectory data provided by different tracking devices. By this way, we want to show its portability to different use cases.
Cultural capital and educational expectations of native and immigrant parents of primary school students: a qualitative study

This paper uses the concept of ‘cultural capital’ from the theory of Pierre Bourdieu and it aims on the one hand to investigate the similarities and differences between the institutionalized and objectified cultural capital of native and immigrant parents of state primary school students in Greece and on the other hand to correlate these two forms of cultural capital with their expectations for the educational future of their children. The research was conducted during the spring semester of 2014 with the use of semi-structured interviews, in which 20 parents (10 native and 10 immigrant) of children in the 6 th grade of primary schools in the city of Patras participated. The results of this study showed that there were more differences than similarities between these two categories of parents and they are mainly focused on cultural goods which exist in their house as well as on cultural activities of family members during their spare time. The educational expectations of the sum total of parents of students regardless of national origin and educational level seem to be very high. It also emerged that educational level and occupation of parents is correlated to their specific expectations for the educational future of their children.