Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
WEB SURVEYS " CAN THE WEIGHTING SOLVE THE PROBLEM ?

Web surveys are promising another break-throu improvement to the survey industry. However, as usual, initial suspicions towards new methods are generally very strong, which could also be observed previously for other modes of computer assisted interviewing. During the few years of their existence Web surveys provided us with a wide range of empirical evidence. Many advantages of this survey mode are reported (Balden 1999; Batagelj and Vehovar 1998a; Bates and Nichols 1998; Black 1998; Chisholm 1998; Clayton and Werking 1998; Comley 1997, 1998; Coomber 1997; Davis 1998; Dillman and Tortora 1998; Eaton 1997; Farmer 1998; Gonier 1999; Hollis 1999; Iyer 1996; Kehoe and Pitkow 1996; Kottler 1997a; Lanier et al. 1998; McCullough, 1998a; Nichols and Sedivi, 1998a; Onyshkevych and McIndoe 1999; Parackal and Brennan, 1998; Pitkow and Kehoe, 1995; Pitkow and Recker 1995; Schillewaert et al. 1998; Smith 1997; Spaeth 1999; Stanton 1998; Watt 1997; Weissbach 1997; Wydra 1999), however, certain obstacles do exist, particularly when the general population is targeted. Leaving some (temporary) technical problems aside, the key problems remain the Intemet penetration within the general population and, even more seriously, the participation m these surveys. In this paper we concentrate on the specific aspect of Web surveys, i.e. using the post-survey weighting corrections as a remedy for these problems. These post-survey adjustments are not specific only to the Web surveys but are frequently discussed also in the context of the general non-response problem in other survey modes. Here, we discuss the problem within a framework of an empirical project based on comparisons of the results from a Web and a telephone survey.
The Effects of Acculturation on Survey Question Comprehension among Latino Respondents in the U . S

Respondents’ culture may influence comprehension and interpretation of survey questions. This poses an important problem for researchers who are interested in studying differences among groups that vary in their cultures (i.e., different racial or ethnic groups) because differences in survey responses among these groups could be due either to substantive differences or to artifacts of group differences in comprehension or interpretation of survey questions (or some combination of the two). If cultural differences in comprehension or interpretation of survey questions are at least partly responsible for observed racial/ethnic differences in survey responses, acculturation to the dominant culture may lead to the minimization of racial/ethnic differences. Although research has documented cultural variability in respondent comprehension and interpretation of survey questions, little information is currently available on the role that acculturation might play in minimizing cross-cultural differences in the comprehension or interpretation of survey questions. To investigate this problem, we examine the potential effects of acculturation to host culture on respondent comprehension of survey questions among two distinct Latino populations on the U.S. mainland: Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans. Specifically, comprehension-related respondent behaviors coded from 345 face-to-face interviews conducted with Mexican American, Puerto Rican, African American and nonLatino White adults living in Chicago are examined. Employing survey responses as the unit of analysis, nested within respondents, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) is employed to examine the degree to which level of acculturation among Latino respondents accounts for group differences in question comprehension difficulties, net of individual and question level characteristics. Findings indicate that Latino respondents who were born outside of the U.S. and who have a preference for communicating in Spanish, relative to English, were more likely to express comprehension difficulties. These findings suggest that pretest survey instruments with immigrant populations may be a useful strategy for identifying problematic questions.
Incorporation in Wubuy

the In Wubuy (Northern Australia), nouns can be productively incorporated into verbs and adjectives. A longstanding controversy in linguistics has revolved around the question of whether these constructions are syntactic (derived by movement) or lexical (formed in the lexicon). Here I show that the arguments which may be linked to incorporated nouns show rather more freedom than generally supposed, and in this respect display similarities to compounding. I propose an analysis using aspects of Construction Morphology (e.g. B. Baker, 2008; Booij, 2010a) but with the crucial difference that incorporation structures always admit a phrasal interpretation, rather than a lexical one.
CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY SMALL AREA ESTIMATION FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS

I. What is the Problem? This paper reports preliminary results of the Census Bureau's investigation of small area estimation methodology for Congressional Districts (CDs) of the 103rd Congress based on Current Population Survey (CPS) data. The CPS is a monthly national sample survey of the population of the United States. Its sample is a two-stage stratified probability sample drawn independently within each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It is designed to provide accurate estimation of labor force characteristics at the national and state levels. The survey also gathers data on the employment and earnings status of the population. The CPS sample was not designed, however, to provide for estimation at the CD level. The achieved sample sizes for CDs tend to be too small to allow precise sample-based estimation. In this paper we discuss research into determining a methodology for producing CD-level estimators which are more precise than the direct sample-based estimators. This research falls into the category of small area estimation. There are a number of articles which give overviews of different types of small area estimation, for instance, Kalton (1990), Ghosh and Rao (1994), and Purcell and Kish (1979). The approaches to CD-level estimation investigated in this paper combine model-based small area estimation with CPS sample-based estimation. The resulting estimators are composite estimators.
Measuring Attitudes : Using Branching and Numerical Scales

Past research has recognized the effectiveness of verbally labelled branching questions with two aims: to simplify the judgement task, and to explore and optimize the midpoint answer. However, I recommend branching since positive and negative extremity answers are asked in the second step, both with positive labels, resulting in the same unit of measurement. Numerical scales are usually inappropriate for measuring attitudes because they exclude the negative part of the continuum. Accordingly, I conducted a split-ballot experiment (SAQ; N=146) to study the effect of branching with numerical scales, comparing 1-10 scales of trust toward 16 different institutions with their branching versions (i.e. dichotomous question followed by 5-point scale of extremity). Only a few studies have attempted to disambiguate the meaning of numerical scales using negative numbers. Their findings showed a positivity bias effect, which significantly shifts distributions to the positive side. I argue that there is also an avoidance effect with negative numbers, because respondents do not use them in everyday life. The solution that includes negative answers, but not negative numbers with rating scales, is branching. Results of an MTMM analysis, including four Guttman scales, showed higher convergent and discriminant validity for the branching format. Although branching scales had an average mean higher than the unipolar scales (5.6 vs. 4.6), respondents did not avoid negative answers (46% in the first step) as happened elsewhere with negative numbers. Furthermore, branching allows a better use of the scale gradation (SD 2.7 vs. 2.4), especially for the positive side. This study warns researchers against employing unipolar rating scales for measuring bipolar constructs, as attitudes are, suggesting that negative answers, either verbally or numerically labelled, have a different unit of measurement than positive answers. This asymmetry implies a comparison problem between the two directions of the evaluative continuum, which branching can reasonably resolve.
Detecting and Correcting Influential Values using the Conditional Bias Approach : Application to the Canadian Survey of Household Spending

A classical challenge faced by survey statisticians is how to reduce the impact of certain collected values on the survey estimates. Traditionally, outlier detection methods will focus on the values, or the weighted values, of the variable of interest. However, such approaches ignore the possibility that a typical value may still adversely impact the estimates as a result of the sample design employed, the nature of the parameter to be estimated or the estimator used. Conversely, outlier values may not be influential for a given sample design and estimation method. A more all-encompassing approach was sought, one that would reveal which units have the greatest influence over a given estimate and how exactly it exerts that influence. To meet the challenge of producing robust estimates, the Survey of Household Spending (SHS) has looked into the notion of conditional bias which has just recently been proposed as a means of gauging a unit's overall influence on estimates. In this paper we describe this innovative approach as well as our results, along with the practical issues one may be facing when implementing this method in a complex survey.
Caffeine Ameliorating Effect on Anxiety and Depression in an Aluminum Chloride-induced Alzheimer's Disease Rat Model

This study was conducted to evaluate the long-term ameliorating effect of caffeine in adult male Wistar rats (Aluminum ChlorideAlCl3 induced AD Model). A total number 64 Wistar adult male rats, with average weight of 200 g were used and randomly assigned into 4 groups (n= 16), 4 replicates each. In control group (C), they had plain water ; in group two, Alzheimer-induced group (AD) rats had ad libitum supplied with AlCl3 in drinking water at 200 mg/kg/day ; in group three : Caffeine group (CF), the rats had Caffeine (80 mg/kg body weight) in drinking water ; and in group (4) (CF-AD, the rats were exposed to ad libitum supply of AlCl3 and caffeine alternatively in the drinking water. The treatment was continuous for 16 weeks using in a day after day regime of administration of AlCl3 and Caffeine and plain water. The measuring parameters were behavioral parameters using open field test and forced swim test. The determined oxidative stress parameters included Malondialdehyde and Glutathione. The obtained results revealed that there were significant effects of caffeine on the measured behavioral and biochemical variables. The treated rats were differently influenced by caffeine. The observations revealed that caffeine had a significant anxiolytic effect on the measured behavioral profile in the open field, and antidepressant influence in forced swim test. Furthermore, the measured biomarkers proved the antioxidant effect achieved by the long-term caffeine administration in the studied AD model. It was concluded that caffeine improves the behavioral profile of anxiety and depression in Alzheimer-induced rat models, and has an ameliorating effect. These results supported the new approaches of using caffeine in therapeutic potentials for Alzheimer management.
Endoplasmic reticulum stress induces tau pathology and forms a 1 vicious cycle : Implication in Alzheimer ’ s disease pathogenesis 2 3

1 Accumulation of unfolded proteins can disturb the functions of the 2 endoplasmic reticulum (ER), leading to ER-stress or unfolded protein responses 3 (UPR). Recent data have shown that activation of UPR can be found in post-mortem 4 brains of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients; and biological markers for activation of 5 UPR are abundant in neurons with diffuse phosphorylated tau. Although these 6 observations suggest a linkage between ER-stress and tau pathology, little is known of 7 their relationship. In this study, we found that high levels of phosphorylated PKR-like 8 ER-resident kinase (p-PERK) and phosphorylated eukaryotic initiation factor 2 alpha 9 (p-eIF2 as markers for activation of UPR in the hippocampus of aged P301L 10 mutant tau transgenic mice. The immunoreactivity of p-PERK was found to co11 localize with that of phosphorylated tau. We then hypothesized that phosphorylation 12 of tau could induce ER-stress and vice versa in promoting AD-like pathogenesis. By 13 using the protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) inhibitor okadaic acid (OA) as an inducer 14 for phosphorylation of tau, we found that primary cultures of rat cortical neurons 15 treated with OA triggered UPR as indicated by increased levels of p-PERK and p16 eIF2 splicing of mRNA for xbp-1 and elevated levels of mRNA for GADD153. On 17 the other hand, thapsigargin (Tg) as an ER-stress inducer stimulated phosphorylation 18 of tau at Thr231, Ser262 and Ser396. Tg also induced activation of caspase-3 and 19 cleavage of tau. These findings suggested that ER-stress and hyperphosphorylation of 20 tau could be induced by each other to form a vicious cycle to propagate AD-like 21 neurodegeneration. (Word count: 246) 22 23
Baer ’ s extension problem for multidimensional linear systems

Within an algebraic analysis approach, the purpose of this paper is to constructively solve the following problem: given two fixed multidimensional linear systems B1 and B2, parametrize the multidimensional linear systems B which contain B1 as a subsystem and satisfy that B/B1 is isomorphic to B2. In particular, we parametrize the equivalence classes of multidimensional linear systems B which admit a fixed parametrizable subsystem Bp and satisfy that B/Bp is isomorphic to a fixed autonomous system Ba.
Psychological intervention improves quality of life for patients with breast cancer

Objective: To investigate how to improve quality of life for patients with breast cancer by psychological intervention. Methods: A total of 263 breast cancer patients and their spouses were analyzed retrospectively. Both patients and their spouses received psychological counseling in an intervention group. Patients and their spouses who received routine nursing care were treated as a control group. The couples answered quality of life questionnaires (using the QLQ-30 scale), preand post-treatment depression self-assessment questionnaires (SDS), and self-assessments of anxiety (SAS). Results: After treatment, the SDS and SAS scores of the intervention group were significantly lower than those of the control group (P<0.05). The SDS and SAS scores of the spouses of the intervention group after treatment were lower than those of the control group (P<0.05). The scores of the QLQ-30 scale between the two groups showed that there was no significant difference in physical function scores and pain scores (P>0.05), but there were significant differences in cognitive function, social activity function, emotional function, and marrital life scores. The most significant difference between the groups was found in the scores of emotional functioning in the two groups. The scores in the intervention group (87.54±7.85) were significantly higher than those in the control group (65.94±8.07), P<0.01. Conclusion: Psychological interventions for breast cancer patients and their spouses can effectively improve the quality of life for the cancer patients, and therefore, these interventions are worthy of promotion in clinical practice.
Assessing Pronunciation

Accents are one of the most perceptually salient aspects of spoken language. Previous research has shown that linguistically untrained listeners are able to distinguish between native and non-native speakers under nonoptimal experimental conditions, including when the speech is played backwards (Munro, Derwing, & Burgess, 2010) or when it is in a language that listeners do not understand (Major, 2007). In fact, one of the earliest documented examples of language testing, the biblical Shibboleth test described in the Book of Judges, involved testing the identity of members of warring tribes based on whether they pronounced the word shibboleth ‘sheave of wheat’ with a /ʃ/ or a /s/ sound at syllable onset, with fatal consequences if the “wrong” pronunciation betrayed their enemy status (Spolsky, 1995). In modern times, a less brutal but still high stakes example is the use of so-called experts’ analyses of speech to determine the legitimacy of asylum seekers’ claims based on their perceived group identity (Fraser, 2009). Of course, such identity tests are far from foolproof, can lead to erroneous conclusions that could inform high stakes decisions, and raise concerns about fairness. It is often unclear, for example, whether it is aspects of the speech signal that trigger unfavorable listener responses, or whether listener expectations that arise as a result of linguistic stereotyping lead listeners to assign qualities to the speech that are absent or distorted (Kang & Rubin, 2009). Foreign accents tend to receive a disproportionate amount of attention precisely due to their perceptual salience. Despite the enduring reference to the native speaker as the “gold standard” of language knowledge (Levis, 2005), eradicating traces of a foreign accent is widely viewed by applied linguists as an unsuitable goal for L2 pronunciation instruction for several reasons. First, native-like attainment of phonology is an unrealistic goal for most adult L2 learners, not least
14-01 A Triple Test for Behavioral Economics Models and Public Health Policy

We propose a triple test to evaluate the usefulness of behavioral economics models for public health policy. Test 1 is whether the model provides reasonably new insights. Test 2 is on whether these have been properly applied to policy settings. Test 3 is whether they are corroborated by evidence. Where a test is not passed, this may point to directions for needed further research. We exemplify by considering the cases of social interactions models, self-control models and, in relation to health message framing, prospect theory; out of these, only a correctly applied prospect theory fully passes the tests at present. JEL classification codes B41, D04, I18
Comparative serological, histopathological and immunohistochemical evaluation of immune status of broiler chickens experimentally infected with velogenic Newcastle disease virus in different ages.

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) plays detrimental role in suppression of immunity giving the chance for secondary infections in chickens resulting in mortalities, the present study aimed to evaluate the immune status of chickens experimentally infected by velogenic Newcastle disease virus (vNDV) in relation to age. Seventy five broiler chickens, non-vaccinated against NDV were allocated into 3 groups (25 birds each); Group 1 served as control non infected group; groups 2 and 3 were inoculated with 10 EID50 of NDV at the 15 and 30 day of age respectively. Three chickens were sacrificed from each group for serum and tissue samples collection at 1, 3, 5 and 7 days post infection. Serum samples were used to run heamagglutition inhibition (HI) test. Tissue specimens from thymus, spleen, cecal tonsils and bursa of fabricius were collected for histopathology, lesion scoring and Immunohistochemical detection of ND viral antigen. Results revealed higher anti ND specific antibody titers in group2 (6.3±0.33) compared with group 3 (2.3±1.2). Histopathological examination revealed massive damage of lymphoid organs in both infected groups that was more severe in group3 compared with group 2 and the severity of immune damage was more severe in 5 and 7 Dpi compared with 1 and 3 Dpi in all infected groups. The lesions score in different immune organs supported the pathological findings. Immunolabeling of the viral antigen expression among different immune organs was more severe in group 3 than group 2. We could concluded that virulent genotypes strains of NDV causes massive reduction in immune status of birds by lowering the antibody titer and inducing severe histopathological alterations in immune organs that was correlated with high viral antigen expression in immune organs ,in addition there was positive correlation between the age of chickens at time of infection and the severity of the developed lesions and subsequent the immune status of bird , thus special caution must be paid in poultry farms of older age chickens by supplying immune modulatory agent for older age.
AN EMITTANCE-PRESERVATION STUDY OF A FIVE-BEND CHICANE FOR THE LCLS-II-HE BEAMLINE

The Linac Coherent Light Source II (LCLS-II) is an upgrade intended toward advancing on the great success of its predecessor, LCLS, to maintain its position at the forefront of X-ray science. The introduction of a niobium metal superconducting linac for LCLS-II not only increases the repetition rate to the MHz level (from 120 Hz) but also boasts an average brightness many orders higher (~10 ) than that of LCLS. Though, these improvements do not come without a price: the peak brightness suffers by a factor of 10 in part due to the impact of Coherent Synchrotron Radiation (CSR) diminishing the peak current of the beam in the second bunch compressor (BC2) [1]. In this paper, we discuss the impact of implementing a plug-compatible 5-bend chicane for BC2 on the beam's emittance dilution for a high energy, low emittance configuration of LCLS-II (LCLS-II-HE). The results are compared with that of a standard 4-bend chicane under various settings in ELEGANT and CSRTrack [2, 3].
A study of stochastic input-to-state stability of a class of stochastic port-Hamiltonian systems

Stochastic input-to-state stability (SISS) is well recognized as an important concept for analysis and synthesis of nonlinear stochastic systems. The notion of SISS is an extension of the deterministic input-to-state stability (ISS) concept [1], and has been improved by several researchers, e.g., [2], [3], [4]. Besides, as a practically important class of nonlinear stochastic systems, one of the authors has introduced stochastic port-Hamiltonian systems (SPHSs) in [5]. SPHS is an extension of the deterministic port-Hamiltonian system (PHS) [6], and it represents electrical and mechanical systems, electromechanical systems and systems with nonholonomic constraints with uncertainties such as system and measurement noises and modeling error. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the SISS property of a class of SPHSs. As mentioned in [7], there are few studies on robustness of PHSs against external disturbances, and this important subject has not been clarified for SPHSs. The key techniques in this paper are coordinate transformations, integral actions and feedback compensators derived from the stochastic generalized canonical transformations (SGCTs). Although we use particular coordinate transformations in [8], [7] and add an integral action in [7], there are two main differences amoung them. First, we revealed in [5] that an extra condition due to the stochastic noise is necessary to preserve the SPHS structure under a coordinate transformation compared to the case of PHS. Hence, the techniques in [8], [7] are not directly applied to SPHSs. SGCTs proposed in [5] provide conditions for the coordinate and feedback transformations preserving the SPHS structure, and we newly equip some feedback compensators based on SGCTs to solve this problem. Second, although the method in [7] which we use here only deals with matched deterministic disturbances, the proposed method can