Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Living production‐engaged alternatives: An examination of new consumption communities

In this study we draw on varied theoretical perspectives to explore and gain an alternative understanding of consumption at New Consumption Communities (NCCs). Intrinsic to the notion of NCCs is a sense of community between production‐engaged consumers who question market practices deemed inadequate or unfair. Reported findings are part of a three‐year ethnographic research project and suggest that such communities have been overly perceived as presenting radical resistance to prevailing ideologies of consumer society. Collectively, they are more interested in entrepreneurial positive discourses, practices and choices, than in acting against consumer culture or markets. This view is buttressed by their varied production‐engaged practices, which in turn are problematized in relation to (perhaps outdated) notions of consumers, producers and their interrelationships. Finally, this paper attempts a fluid classification of the NCCs (Committed, Engaged Alternatives, Apprentices and Visionaries), and offers a view of alternative consumer behaviour that goes beyond the current “anti” discourses in the extant literature.
Do Brokers of Insiders Tip Other Clients?

We examine trading activity around insider transactions on the Toronto Stock Exchange and find evidence that some traders mimic insider positions. Our unique data set allows us to establish a direct connection between insiders, their brokerages, and the brokerages’ other clients. The findings are consistent with the possibility that some brokerages tip their clients about insider trades. Insiders in our sample have good timing; returns are usually positive (negative) after insider purchases (sales). Insiders’ good timing translates to the mimicking transactions, which appear to be profitable net of trading costs. Evidence consistent with tipping is observed mainly for smaller independent brokerages. This paper was accepted by Brad Barber, finance.
Spatial and temporal modeling of large-scale brain networks

Title of dissertation: SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL MODELING OF LARGE-SCALE BRAIN NETWORKS Mahshid Najafi, Doctor of Philosophy, 2017 Dissertation directed by: Professor Jonathan Z. Simon, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Luiz Pessoa, Department of Psychology The human brain is the most fascinating and complex organ. It directs all our actions and thoughts. Despite the large body of brain studies, little is known about the neural basis of its large-scale structure. In this dissertation, I take advantage of several network-based and statistical techniques to investigate the spatial and temporal aspects of large-scale functional networks of the human brain during “rest” and “task” conditions using functional MRI data. Large-scale analysis of human brain function has revealed that brain regions can be grouped into networks or communities. Most studies adopt a framework in which brain regions belong to only one community. Yet studies in general fields of knowledge suggest that in most cases complex networks consist of interwoven sets of overlapping communities. A mixed-membership framework can better characterize the complex networks. In this dissertation, I employed a mixed-membership Bayesian model to characterize overlapping community structure of the brain at both “rest” and “task” conditions. The approach allowed us to quantify how task performance reconfigures brain communities at rest, and determine the relationship between functional diversity (how diverse is a region’s functional activation repertoire) and membership diversity (how diverse is a region’s affiliation to communities). Furthermore, I could study the distribution of key regions, named “bridges”, in transferring information across the brain communities. Our findings revealed that the overlapping framework described the brain in ways that were not captured by disjoint clustering, and thus provided a richer landscape of large-scale brain networks. Overall, I suggest that overlapping networks are better suited to capture the flexible and task-dependent mapping between brain regions and their functions. Finally, I developed a dynamic intersubject network analysis technique to study the temporal changes of the emotional brain at the level of large-scale brain networks by formulating a manipulation in which threat levels varied continuously during the experiment. Our results illustrate that cohesion within and between networks changed dynamically with threat level. Together, our findings reveal that characterizing emotional processing should be done at the level of distributed networks, and not simply at the level of evoked responses in specific brain regions. SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL MODELING OF LARGE-SCALE BRAIN NETWORKS
Validity and Repeatability of a Novel Dynamic Visual Acuity System.

PURPOSE In many sports, athletes rely on visual information from the environment to perform. Some literature suggests athletes have superior visual abilities to non-athletes, particularly on tasks representative of the visual demands of their sport, such as dynamic acuity, eye movement accuracy and speed, and peripheral vision. Other literature suggests there is no difference between athletes and non-athletes, at least when standard clinical assessments are employed. A limitation of the literature is that almost none of the research has been conducted with standardized, validated tools. This is partly caused by a lack of readily available tools to measure tasks representative of the visual demands of sport, and available tests have typically not been validated against current clinical standards. The purpose of this study is to examine the validity and repeatability of a novel visual acuity system (moV&; V&MP Vision Suite) recently developed in the Vision & Motor Performance Lab (V&MP). moV& permits the measurement of many visual function parameters including dynamic visual acuity with predictable, random, and jittering target motion. METHODS Twenty-five participants attended two study visits, separated by a minimum of 2 weeks. At each visit, static and dynamic visual acuity was measured using Snellen, ETDRS, and moV& charts. Static visual acuities were compared to determine the validity of moV&, and both static and dynamic visual acuities were compared between visits to determine the test-retest repeatability. RESULTS moV& static visual acuities are clinically similar to visual acuities measured with the ETDRS chart (moV&, -0.09 ± 0.13; ETDRS, -0.03 ± 0.11, concordance correlation coefficient 0.726). Additionally, all static, dynamic, and jitter visual acuities demonstrate good test-retest repeatability (Lin's concordance correlation coefficient range 0.451-0.953). CONCLUSIONS moV& provides good clinical measures of static visual acuity that are comparable to both Snellen and ETDRS measures. Dynamic visual acuity measures demonstrate good test-retest repeatability.
The Challenging Response of Physis to Inflammation

The challenging response of Physis to inflammation is a 7-part series, which covers all aspects of inflammation, from how and why it occurs to healthcare advice on healthy lifestyle choices. Part 1: Overview and historical significance of inflammation Part 2: Nature and role of inflammation – benefits and drawbacks Part 3: Stress, lifestyle factors and inflammation Part 4: Tibb and conventional approaches to inflammation Part 5: Inflammatory diseases, processes and outcomes. Part 6: Healthcare and an anti-inflammatory lifestyle Part 7: Herbal therapy, vitamins and mineral salts for inflammation
Does climate variability influence the demography of wild primates? Evidence from long‐term life‐history data in seven species

Earth's rapidly changing climate creates a growing need to understand how demographic processes in natural populations are affected by climate variability, particularly among organisms threatened by extinction. Long‐term, large‐scale, and cross‐taxon studies of vital rate variation in relation to climate variability can be particularly valuable because they can reveal environmental drivers that affect multiple species over extensive regions. Few such data exist for animals with slow life histories, particularly in the tropics, where climate variation over large‐scale space is asynchronous. As our closest relatives, nonhuman primates are especially valuable as a resource to understand the roles of climate variability and climate change in human evolutionary history. Here, we provide the first comprehensive investigation of vital rate variation in relation to climate variability among wild primates. We ask whether primates are sensitive to global changes that are universal (e.g., higher temperature, large‐scale climate oscillations) or whether they are more sensitive to global change effects that are local (e.g., more rain in some places), which would complicate predictions of how primates in general will respond to climate change. To address these questions, we use a database of long‐term life‐history data for natural populations of seven primate species that have been studied for 29–52 years to investigate associations between vital rate variation, local climate variability, and global climate oscillations. Associations between vital rates and climate variability varied among species and depended on the time windows considered, highlighting the importance of temporal scale in detection of such effects. We found strong climate signals in the fertility rates of three species. However, survival, which has a greater impact on population growth, was little affected by climate variability. Thus, we found evidence for demographic buffering of life histories, but also evidence of mechanisms by which climate change could affect the fates of wild primates.
Endocervicalcolposcopy: An Exploratory Method Complementary to Colposcopy

In recent years, the diagnostic capacity of colposcopy has been called into question. Recent studies have indicated that the sensitivity of this method for the detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3 (CIN 3) is between 54% and 85% [1]. In additional, it has been reported that biopsies performed under colposcopy guidance detects only two-thirds of CIN 3 lesions [2], and several researchers have even suggested that biopsies should be conducted randomly to improve their capacity to detect lesions [3,4].
Primary school teacher’s noticing of students’ mathematical thinking in problem solving

Professional noticing of students' mathematical thinking in problem solving involves the identification of noteworthy mathematical ideas of students' mathematical thinking and its interpretation to make decisions in the teaching of mathematics. The goal of this study is to begin to characterize pre-service primary school teachers' noticing of students' mathematical thinking when students solve tasks that involve proportional and non-proportional reasoning. From the analysis of how pre-service primary school teachers notice students' mathematical thinking, we have identified an initial framework with four levels of development. This framework indicates a possible trajectory in the development of primary teachers' professional noticing.
Elution of viruses by ionic and nonionic surfactants

The ionic and nonionic surfactants sodium dodecyl sulfate and Triton X-100, respectively, eluted two viruses, phi X174 and PRD1, which were adsorbed to the ionic and nonionic binding membranes cationic polysulfone and nitrocellulose, respectively. Results indicated that complete elution was readily achieved only when combinations of surfactants and binding membranes were matched (i.e., ionic-ionic or nonionic-nonionic).
Relationship between oxygen transport and oxygen uptake in patients with cirrhosis: Effects of vasoactive drugs

To elucidate the relationship between oxygen transport and uptake in cirrhosis, we studied the effects of three vasoactive drugs that change O2 transport. Systemic hemodynamics, blood gases and lactate concentration were measured in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis before and after intravenous dobutamine, propranolol and nitroglycerin. Nine patients received successively dobutamine and then propranolol. Ten patients received nitroglycerin. Three other patients without cirrhosis (controls) received dobutamine. In patients with cirrhosis, dobutamine infusion was accompanied by a significant increase in cardiac output (+21%), systemic O2 transport (+21%) and O2 uptake (+12%), whereas O2 extraction ratio and arterial lactate concentration did not change significantly. Propranolol administration was followed by a significant decrease in cardiac output (−24%) and systemic O2 transport (−25%) and a significant increase in O2 extraction ratio (+19%), whereas O2 uptake and arterial lactate concentration did not change. Nitroglycerin infusion was accompanied by a significant decrease in cardiac output (−21%), systemic O2 transport (−26%) and O2 uptake (−10%), whereas O2 extraction ratio (+18%) and arterial lactate concentration (+31%) significantly increased. In control patients, dobutamine infusion was accompanied by an increase in cardiac output and in systemic O2 transport and by a decrease in O2 extraction ratio, whereas O2 uptake was not modified. These results suggest that O2 uptake may be abnormally dependent on O2 transport in patients with cirrhosis.
Narsarsukite: a new occurrence in peralkaline trachyte, south Greenland

Summary A flinty, spherulitic dyke of peralkaiine trachyte in a Precambrian dyke-swarm consists mainly of albite and aegirine. Within this, euhedral crystals of narsarsukite, Na2(Ti,Fe)Si4O10(F), occur as short prisms elongate parallel to c. This distinguishes them from all previously described narsarsukites, which have tabular habits. Minor phases present include micas, apatite, quartz, pectolite, nordite, and a thorium silicate. Probe analyses are presented for narsarsukite, aegirine, aibite, biotite, apatite, pectolite, nordite, and the thorium silicate. On mineralogical and geochemical grounds it is unlikely that the narsarsukite-bearing dyke is a differentiate of supposedly mantle-derived basalt-trachyte-comendite magmas in the region. The dyke is colinear with a comendite dyke exposed at lower altitude and it is suggested that the narsarsukite- bearing dyke developed as a rhcomorphic fenite generated by reaction between quartz diorite basement and fugitive alkaline solutions from the subjacent comendite.
The Reciprocal Dynamic Model of Career Decision Ambiguity Tolerance With Career Indecision: A Longitudinal Three-Wave Investigation

The current study investigated the dynamic interplay of career decision ambiguity tolerance and career indecision over 3 assessment times in a sample of college students (n = 583). While the previous research has repeatedly shown an association of career decision ambiguity tolerance with career indecision, the direction of this association has not been adequately assessed with longitudinal investigation. It was hypothesized in this study that there is a reciprocal pattern of career decision ambiguity tolerance leading to subsequent career indecision and career indecision leading to subsequent career decision ambiguity tolerance. Using a cross-lagged panel design, this study found support for the reciprocal pattern that aversion to ambiguity led to increased negative affect and choice anxiety in career decision making, while negative affect and choice anxiety led to increased aversion to ambiguity. Additionally, this study revealed that aversion led to decreased readiness for career decision making and readiness for career decision making led to increased interests in new information. The key findings were discussed with respect to the theoretical and clinical implications for career counseling along with limitations and suggestions for future research.
Therapeutic effect of Ga‐Al‐As diode laser irradiation on experimentally induced inflammation in rats

We produced experimental inflammation models in rats by carrageenin and studied the effect of Ga‐Al‐As diode laser irradiation (780 nm, continuous wave, 31.8 j/sec/cm2, spot size of 0.2 mm) on inflamed regions compared with those of indomethacin, a potent anti‐inflammatory agent. We found that a low‐power infrared laser has an anti‐inflammatory effect on carrageenin inflammation. A low‐power laser inhibits: (1) the increase of vascular permeability during the occurrence of an acute inflammation in the carrageenin‐air‐pouch model, (2) edema in the acute stage in the carrageenin‐paw‐edema model, and (3) the granuloma formation in the carrageenin‐granuloma model after receiving laser irradiation once daily. In all cases, irradiation for less than 10 min was sufficient to inhibit the inflammation by 20–30%. The inhibitory effect of laser irradiation was not comparable to that of indomethacin (4 mg/kg, i.o.) in the air‐pouch model and the paw‐edema model, whereas laser irradiation was more potent than that of daily administration of indomethacin (1 mg/kg, i.o.) in the granuloma model.
The Caribbean Plate Evolution: Trying to Resolve a Very Complicated Tectonic Puzzle

The Caribbean Plate is an independent lithospheric element of more than 4 Mkm2, characterized today by the un-deformed or less deformed Cretaceous oceanic plateau of Colombia and Venezuela Basins (almost 1 Mkm2), and the Palaeozoic-Mesozoic Chortis continental block (about 700,000 km2), both bounded by deformed marginal belts (about 2,3 Mkm2), resulting from the Mesozoic to Present interactions with the adjacent Nazca, Cocos, and Americas Plates (Fig.1).
HIGH PERFORMANCE INTERCONNECTION NETWORKS

The thesis is concerned with the design of high performance interconnection networks for use predominantly in parallel computing systems and wide area networks. The most important characteristic of high performance is low cost, defined as the product of degree and diameter, indicating a combined measure of hardware complexity and worst-cast message routing complexity. Furthermore, a high performance network should also have the properties of regular and planar topology, high bisection width and routing simplicity. Specifically, the following problems are studied: (i) constructing the largest possible networks that simultaneously exhibit a number of other properties including a small number of edges, high bisection width and planarity; and (ii) implementing high performance communication networks on a scale comparable to that of the Internet. With respect to specific technology, the thesis addresses the following two questions: (i) exactly how can optical inter-networking be achieved on a world wide scale so as to maximize performance and (ii) just how big can an optical inter-network be, given the present/future technological limits and performance constraints. Major contributions include: (i) two families of networks which exhibit a combination of significant properties, comparing favorably to existing results, and (ii) definition and treatment of a random hierarchy with application to wavelength routed virtual networks. The first major contribution includes a remarkable discovery, namely a set of Moore graphs in the average sense. The total number of exact Moore graphs is well known but so far there has been no reported Moore graphs in the average sense, which lends theoretical importance to the contribution. The second major contribution includes a derivation of neighborhood growth in a random network. The neighborhood growth function is used to demonstrate that expected properties of the random graph are indeed competitive with those obtained via constructive approaches. Randomness is further used with the proposal of a random hierarchy which intrinsically facilitates self-organization of high performance virtual networks. Self-organization is a key property of the successful Internet. The use of a random hierarchy to construct high performance virtual networks has very little or no significant treatment in the literature and yet the concept yields significant practical and theoretical applications. Specifically, for the first major contribution, the principle topological properties of a pro-
The State of Information Systems in Australian Universities - South Australia Report

This paper examines the status of Information Systems (IS) at the University of South Australia (UniSA). On a broad scale this study is part of a larger Case Study regarding the state of the IS Academic Discipline in Australasian Universities but, in view of the face that Information Systems degrees are offered only at one university within the State, the South Australia study, by definition, becomes a study of that university. The paper clarifies the role of IS within UniSA, with particular reference to the degree of professionalism and the impact of local contingencies on IS teaching and research. Data were gathered by means of qualitative surveys with present and former academics of the institution, as well as via statistical information. The results suggest that the State of South Australia’s IS offerings were heavily influenced during the 1990s by the soft systems and critical systems approaches to the discipline, a situation which began to change at the turn of the century; and that the curriculum is depends more heavily on industrial than political factors.
FEATURE EXTRACTION OF DIGITAL MAMMOGRAM BASED ON MULTIDIMENSIONAL COMPLETE ENSEMBLE EMPIRICAL MODE DECOMPOSITION WITH ADAPTIVE NOISE

Mammography is the most effective procedure for the early detection of breast cancer. In this paper an efficient method for feature extraction of mammogram image in order to build a Computer Aided Diagnosis (CADx) system to discriminate between normal, benign and malignant masses is shown. The feature extraction is based on Multidimensional Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise(MCEEMDAN)which decomposes a given image into frequency components called intrinsic mode functions(IMFs). MCEEMDAN was performed on Region Of Interests(ROIs) of preprocessed mammogram images. A data set of 322 images taken from Mammographic Image Analysis Society Mini Mammographic data base was used to evaluate this method. Three experiments have been performed to classify between (i) Normal and Mass ROI (ii) Benign and Malignant in mass ROI (ii) Normal, Benign and Malignant ROI. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) was used as classifier and the maximum classification accuracy of 96.7% with 95.5% sensitivity and 93.3% specificity is achieved for the third experiment which is very much promising compared to the other methods.
Psychological factors involved in prurigo nodularis: A pilot study

Abstract Emotional stresses and psychological disorders seem to be concurrent factors in some cases of prurigo nodularis (PN), a chronic skin condition with a difficult therapeutic approach. In order to improve the therapeutic strategies, we performed a psychometric study on 20 patients affected by generalized and histological proven PN. Specific questionnaires were employed to examine the hypotheses (General Health Questionnaire, State Trait Anxiety Inventory – form Y, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire). The results show that symptoms of anxiety and depression associated with PN are more severe than in the control group and that some specific traits of personality are more frequently represented in such subjects. The results of our study represent a first attempt to analyze the psychological problems and the personality dimensions which seem to characterize PN patients. Such evidence supports the importance of a psychological approach in the clinical management of PN, which should always include psychological assessment and treatment together with the other therapeutic options.