Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Meta-Reanalysis of Dream-ESP Studies

Storm et al. (2017) supported that laboratory studies of extrasensory perception (ESP) in dreams produce a signifi cant meta-analytic effect, seemingly no matter the studied ESP mode (telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition), research design (Maimonides Dream Laboratory [MDL] studies, Rapid Eye Movement [REM] sleep studies), or other characteristics (author, year). The authors should be commended for their continued investigations into such a sensitive topic, ESP, as well as their adherence to transparent research practices. While both the Meta-Analytic Reporting Standards (MARS) as well as Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) recommend researchers provide their created database, all too few actually follow these guidelines. Storm et al.’s meta-analysis has notable strengths. When initially reading Storm et al., I was struck by two unusual features of the meta-analysis. First, the reported meta-analytic effect sizes are very large for psi research. Prior meta-analyses, even when supporting psi, have reported very small effects for retroactive infl uences (Hedges’ g = .09; Bem et al., 2015), precognition (r = .02; Honorton & Ferrari, 1989), mental intention on dice rolls (r = .01; Radin & Ferrari, 1991), and conscious ESP (r = .01; Storm et al., 2012). Storm et al. reported much larger effects for telepathy (r = .22), clairvoyance (r = .18), and precognition (r = .17) in laboratory dream ESP studies. Effects of this size are considered moderate by recent guidelines (Bosco et al., 2015; Gignac & Szodorai, 2016; Paterson et al., 2016) and should be “noticeable to the naked eye of a careful observer” (Gignac & Szodorai, 2016, p. 74). Given that psi research is still heavily doubted in most academic outlets, it is safe to say that psi effects are not typically noticeable to the naked eye of the careful observer. Second, Storm et al. primarily report unweighted metaanalytic effects, which is generally atypical for meta-analyses. Most meta-analyses weight effect sizes by their associated sample size or inverse variance (Cheung, 2015; Lipsey & Wilson, 2001; Schmidt & Hunter, 2014), which allows a larger study to have a stronger infl uence on the meta-analytic results than a smaller study. In the majority of Storm et al.’s results, a study with a sample size of two has an equal weight as a study with a sample size of two-hundred. Likewise, other modern meta-analytic approaches could have been applied, such as various outlier identifi cation methods, inverse-variance weighted meta-regressions, and calculations of within-group Qs. This latter observation may be the source of the former observation, and Storm et al.’s results may be notably different when weighting effect sizes and applying other modern meta-analytic approaches. For this reason, the current article recalculates Storm et al.’s effects using their Appendix A to test the robustness of their results.
Assessing Mindfulness 2

The purpose of this project was to develop a bi-dimensional measure of mindfulness to assess its two key components: present-moment awareness and acceptance. The development and psychometric validation of the Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale (PHLMS) is described, and data are reported from expert raters, two nonclinical samples (n = 204 and 559), and three clinical samples including mixed psychiatric outpatients (n = 52), eating disorder inpatients (n = 30), and student counseling center outpatients (n = 78). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses support a two-factor solution, corresponding to the two constituent components of the construct. Good internal consistency was demonstrated, and relationships with other constructs were largely as expected. As predicted, significant differences were found between the nonclinical and clinical samples in levels of awareness and acceptance. The awareness and acceptance subscales were not correlated, suggesting that these two constructs can be examined independently. Potential theoretical and applied uses of the measure are discussed.
Safety and Predictors of a Positive Result of Intracoronary Ergonovine Testing in Patients with Ischemic Heart Disease without Hemodynamically Significant Coronary Artery Stenosis in Taiwan

Background: No information is available regarding the safety of intracoronary ergonovine provocation testing and the associated predictors in patients with suspected ischemic heart disease without hemodynamically significant coronary artery stenosis (CAS) in Taiwan. Methods: Patients who underwent cardiac catheterization for suspected ischemic heart disease and were found to have no hemodynamically significant CAS between January 2000 and December 2004 were enrolled. Provocation testing for coronary vasospasm was undertaken by administering a step-wise dose of intracoronary ergonovine. Coronary vasospasm was defined as a reduction in luminal diameter 70% during the provocation testing which was associated with angina and/or ST-depressive or elevated changes. Results: A total of 454 patients, including 193 with no hemodynamically significant CAS and no coronary vasospasm (control group) and 261 with coronary vasospasm without hemodynamically significant CAS (vasospasm group), were included in the analysis. The incidence of provoked coronary vasospasm was 57%. Patients with coronary vasospasm were more likely to be older, men, current smokers and to have a lower body mass index. The most significant independent predictor of coronary vasospasm was current smoker (odds ratio: 2.796, p＜0.001). No myocardial infarction or death was noted during intracoronary ergonovine testing. Ventricular fibrillation occurred during provocation testing in 3 patients (0.66%), of whom 2 required electric cardioversion and 1 had spontaneous recovery without sequelae. Conclusion: Intracoronary ergonovine provocation testing was not a risky intervention procedure for the diagnosis of coronary vasospasm. Current smoking was the most significant independent predictor of coronary vasospasm.
Reception Power Pattern of Distributed Absorbers in Focal Plane Arrays: A Fourier Optics Analysis

Passive imaging cameras at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths are currently entering a new era with the development of large format arrays of direct detectors. Several of these arrays are being developed with bare absorbing meshes without any antenna coupling (lens or horn) structures. The design of such arrays is typically done resorting to geometrical considerations or basic broadside plane wave incidence analysis. This paper presents a spectral technique for the analysis of such focal plane arrays in reception using Fourier Optics, which is valid also for moderately skewed incident angles. The analysis constitutes a step improvement with respect to previously used methods by providing an accurate and efficient way to estimate the point-source angular response and the throughput from a distributed incoherent source of an absorbing mesh in the focal plane of a quasi-optical component (e.g., a parabolic reflector or lens). The proposed technique is validated with full-wave simulations. After presenting the analysis, this paper compares the performance of arrays of bare absorber in the focal plane of a quasi-optical component to those of corresponding antenna based arrays. It is found that absorbers lead to a comparable tradeoff, in terms of spill-over and focusing efficiency, only for very tight samplings. For larger samplings, the focusing efficiency of absorbers is significantly lower than the one for antennas.
Effect of Motor Control Program in Improving Gross Motor Function and Postural Control in Children with Sensorineural Hearing Loss-A Pilot Study

Background: Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is the most common type of permanent hearing impairment and results from damage to the inner ear or the nerve pathway. Children with hearing impairment have balance and motor deficits primarily due to concomitant damage to the vestibular structures. Objective: To study the effect of motor control program on improvement of gross motor function and postural control in children with sensorineural hearing loss. Methods: A pre-post testtrial consisting of 10 participants between the age group of 6 to 12 years with the clinical diagnosis of sensorineural hearing loss. Participants received exercise sessions including 10 min of activities in the following categories: eye hand co-ordination and visual motor training, balance training, activities to improve general co-ordination for 3 days a week for 12 weeks. The outcome was assessed in terms of Pediatric Balance scale (PBS), Test for Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2). Result: There was highly significant difference seen in scores of both TGMD-2 and PBS (p<0.01). Conclusion: The findings of the study suggest thatmotor control program including eye-hand co-ordination, visuomotor training, balance training and general co-ordination exercises can be useful to maintain gross motor skills and postural control in children with sensorineural hearing loss.
Earnings management under German GAAP versus IFRS

Abstract This paper addresses the question whether voluntary adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is associated with lower earnings management. Ball et al. (Journal of Accounting and Economics, 36(1–3), pp. 235–270, 2003) argue that adopting high quality standards might be a necessary condition for high quality information, but not necessarily a sufficient one. In Germany, a code-law country with low investor protection rights, a relatively large number of companies have chosen to voluntarily adopt IFRS prior to 2005. We investigate whether German companies that have adopted IFRS engage significantly less in earnings management compared to German companies reporting under German generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), while controlling for other differences in earnings management incentives. Our sample, consisting of German listed companies, contains 636 firm-year observations relating to the period 1999–2001. Our results suggest that IFRS-adopters do not present different earnings management behavior compared to companies reporting under German GAAP. These findings contribute to the current debate on whether high quality standards are sufficient and effective in countries with weak investor protection rights. They indicate that voluntary adopters of IFRS in Germany cannot be associated with lower earnings management.
Accuracy of resource selection functions across spatial scales

Resource selection functions (RSFs) can be used to map suitable habitat of a species based on predicted probability of use. The spatial scale may affect accuracy of such predictions. To provide guidance as to which spatial extent or grain is appropriate and most accurate for animals, we used the concept of hierarchical selection orders to dictate extent and grain. We conducted a meta‐analysis from 123 RSF studies of 886 species to identify differences in prediction success that might be expected for five selection orders. Many studies do not constrain spatial extent to the grain of the next broader selection order in the hierarchy, mixing scaling effects. Thus, we also compared accuracy of single‐ vs. multiple‐grain RSFs developed at the unconstrained extent of an entire study area. Results suggested that the geographical range of a species was the easiest to predict of the selection orders. At smaller scales within the geographical range, use of a site was easier to predict when environmental variables were measured at a grain equivalent to the home‐range size or a microhabitat feature required for reproduction or resting. Selection of patches within home ranges and locations of populations was often more difficult to predict. Multiple‐grain RSFs were more predictive than single‐grain RSFs when the entire study area was considered available. Models with variables measured at both small and large (> 100 ha) grains were usually most predictive, even for many species with small home ranges. Multiple‐grain models may be particularly important for species with moderate dispersal abilities in habitat fragments surrounded by an unsuitable matrix. We recommend studies should no longer address only one grain to map animal species distributions.
Reconstructed Mediterranean Salt Lens Trajectories

The existence of energetic anticyclonic mid-depth vortices of Mediterranean Water (meddies) questions the validity of a conventional advective–diffusive balance in the eastern Atlantic subtropical gyre. A mesoscale experiment in the Azores–Madeira region reveals a link of these meddies to large-scale subsurface meanders. For the first time it is shown that meddies may have strong surface vorticity, indicative of a generation process involving the Azores Current—a deep reaching near-surface jet.
Achievement Goal Task Framing and Fit With Personal Goals Modulate the Neurocognitive Response to Corrective Feedback

Past studies have demonstrated the educational impact of achievement goals, but have not yet captured their effects at a critical learning moment—students’ response to negative feedback and their subsequent engagement with error remediation opportunities. We used event-related potentials to investigate how neural substrates of feedback processing were influenced by a within-subjects manipulation of mastery and performance goals. Task goal framing did not affect event-related potentials to performance feedback, but did modulate neural activity predicting successful learning. Under a mastery frame, successful learning modulated fronto-temporal activity linked with semantic processing; under a performance frame, it modulated parieto-occipital activity linked with perceptual processing. A match (“fit”) between task and personal goals intensified these neural differences under both goal frames, but mastery goals were additionally sensitive to goal presentation order. Mastery goals may motivate better learning strategies, but are more vulnerable to modulation by students’ own goal dispositions and prior experiences.
Relative potencies of Flutamide and Casodex: preclinical studies

After 3 h of incubation at room temperature, hydroxyFlutamide, the active metabolite of Flutamide (Eulexin), and Casodex (bicalutamide), an analog of Flutamide, have comparable potency to displace [3H]R1881 from the human prostate and rat ventral prostate androgen receptors contrary to the previous claims that Casodex was four times more potent using different incubation conditions. Binding data, in fact, must be interpreted with caution, since they are very much dependent upon the duration and temperature of incubation. In the more appropriate intact cell situation, hydroxyFlutamide is approximately three times more potent than Casodex at inhibiting dihydrotestosterone-stimulated proliferation of androgen-sensitive mouse Shionogi carcinoma cells in vitro. Under in vivo conditions, in the orchiectomized rat supplemented with androstenedione implants, Flutamide is about three times more potent than Casodex at inhibiting ventral prostate and seminal vesicle weight. When both compounds were administered for 7 days to intact rats, Flutamide and Casodex showed similar apparent potency. However, taking into account the much higher plasma levels of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in intact animals treated with Flutamide compared with those treated with Casodex, the estimated potency of Flutamide in the intact rat is also at least three times higher than that of Casodex. The present data, contrary to previous claims based upon the inappropriate intact rat model clearly show that Flutamide is at least three times more potent than Casodex in rat and mouse tissues. These data are opposite to those obtained in the inappropriate intact rat model where Casodex was reported to be five to ten times more potent than Flutamide. Using more appropriate models of androgen action, the present data thus indicate a 15to 30-fold lower estimate of the potency of Casodex. Since the choice of the dose of Casodex to be used for the treatment of prostate cancer patients is based upon such a large overestimate of the true potency of Casodex, the present data should help the choice of a more appropriate dose of this antiandrogen for the treatment of prostate cancer. Endocrine-Related Cancer (1996) 3 229-241
Seasonal stability of a flexible algal–cnidarian symbiosis in a highly variable temperate environment

We evaluated the seasonal stability of two algal symbiont populations in the temperate intertidal sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima on San Juan Island, Washington, where the relatively thermally tolerant dinoflagellate Symbiodinium muscatinei coexists with the less thermally tolerant chlorophyte Elliptochloris marina. Random collection of anemones along repeatedly sampled transects over four seasons and three shore heights revealed S. muscatinei to be the dominant symbiont, with E. marina mostly limited to anemones in the lower intertidal zone. At the lowest shore height sampled (+0.2 m), the proportion of E. marina was between 40% and 50% of the total symbiont population throughout the year. Symbiont distribution patterns persisted despite considerable seasonal variation in aerial exposure, temperature, irradiance, nutrients, and phytoplankton concentration, as well as a high potential for symbiont shuffling, with mixed‐symbiont assemblages occurring in 51% of all anemones sampled. Symbiont density in anemones also changed little despite three‐ to fourfold‐higher division frequencies of both symbionts during July and November. Although the intertidal zonation of these symbionts was stable over an annual period, we predict that their spatial distributions will be responsive to longer‐term environmental change, and anticipate that this anemone symbiosis will be a useful and highly tractable barometer for future climate change, with this study serving as a baseline.
Sterols and fecal indicator microorganisms in sediments from Admiralty Bay, Antarctica

Sediments from the proximity of Ferraz station outfall, located in Admiralty Bay, Antarctica, were analyzed for fecal indicator microorganisms and sterols during the austral summer of 1999/2000 in order to assess human sewage input. Concentrations of total sterols and coprostanol ranged from 0.09 to 19.6 ¼g. g-1 and < 0.01 and 14.0 ¼g. g-1 dry weight (dw), respectively. Our analyses indicated that only sites within to 400m of the sewage outfall exhibited a sterol signal characteristic of human sewage input. Low levels of coprostanol and high levels of cholesterol in distant sites could be attributed to natural sources such as marine mammals and planktonic organisms. Fecal indicator microorganisms (E. coli, fecal streptococci and Clostridium perfringens) were non-detectable beyond 50m from outfall. Both indicators (sterols and fecal indicator microorganisms) produced consistent data and fecal sterol parameters have sho wn themselves to be efficient in the evaluation of trace amounts of fecal material. This study concluded that sewage contamination is limited to the immediate vicinity of the sewage outfall. In general, the concentration of fecal sterols and microbiological indicators were lower than in other Antarctic areas.
Informed Traders: Linking Legal Insider Trading and Share Repurchases

Logic suggests that a link might exist between insider trades and share repurchases because of their potential to signal mispricing when market prices deviate from fair value; both events emanate from essentially the same set of decision makers. Using the overall repurchase sample, adding insider-trading information is generally not helpful. For “value” buyback companies, however, where perceived mispricing may be a more important factor, insider trading provides a strong complement to the repurchase signal. Logic suggests that a link might exist between insider trades and share repurchases because of their potential to signal mispricing when market prices deviate from fair value; both events emanate from essentially the same set of decision makers. A rich set of literature suggests that executives have timing ability with respect to both events. Long-horizon equity return drifts are evident subsequent to both classes of announcements. Several researchers, however, view this collective evidence with suspicion. Certainly, repurchases occur for a wide array of economic motivations, some not specifically related to mispricing. Moreover, insiders trade their stock for various reasons that are not directly related to private information about their companies. Some researchers are suspicious of the evidence supporting mispricing given the difficulty in measuring long-term abnormal stock returns. We addressed this debate by considering these two transactions jointly. We used publicly available information to form portfolios and evaluated their performance by using performance metrics common to the asset management industry as well as those commonly used in academic studies. For “value” buyback companies, where the likelihood of undervaluation is seemingly a more plausible economic motivation for repurchases, insider trading provided a strong complement to the repurchase signal. The same was not true for other buyback cases, where factors aside from mispricing may be motivating repurchase decisions. Our evidence is consistent with that of prior studies that concluded that some managers do exhibit timing ability. The results suggest that investors can combine these two independent corporate events made by essentially the same set of decision makers to better identify mispriced companies.
Assessing Punitive Damages (with Notes on Cognition and Valuation in Law)

Although legal scholars have disagreed about whether juries should be allowed to award punitive damages and about how judges should instruct them, the debate has included little discussion of jurors' cognitive capabilities. In this Article, Professors Sunstein, Kahneman, and Schkade respond to this gap by offering an experimental study. The study seeks to separate the tasks that a jury is suited to perform from those that a jury can accomplish only with great inconsistency. In personal injury cases, the study shows, jurors' normative judgments about outrageousness and appropriate punishment are relatively uniform, at least when measured on a bounded numerical scale (0 to 6). Indeed, these normative judgments are uniform across race, age, education, wealth, and gender When subjects map their judgments onto an unbounded dollar scale, however outcomes become erratic and unpredictable. Drawing on these results, the authors question the current legal approaches to the regulation of punitive damages. They then analyze various reform proposals designed to overcome erratic awards, including damage caps, compensatory judgement "multipliers," and conversion formulas that translate either jury judgments on bounded numerical scabs or jury arrangement of comparison cases into punitive damage awards. Finally the authors discuss the implications of the study for many other issues of law: including contingent valuation and compensatory damages in such areas as pain and suffering, libel, sexual harassment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Language: en
Interpolative fusions

We define the interpolative fusion [Formula: see text] of a family [Formula: see text] of first-order theories over a common reduct [Formula: see text], a notion that generalizes many examples of random or generic structures in the model-theoretic literature. When each [Formula: see text] is model-complete, [Formula: see text] coincides with the model companion of [Formula: see text]. By obtaining sufficient conditions for the existence of [Formula: see text], we develop new tools to show that theories of interest have model companions.