Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Apartheid Policing: examining the US migrant labour system through a South African Lens

This article draws a parallel between the Apartheid regime in South Africa and the post-IRCA immigration regime in the USA. I argue that both regimes were organised around Apartheid Policing, which may be defined as a legal process consisting of three mutually reinforcing mechanisms: differentiation of migrants into non-citizen insiders with legal residence rights and non-citizen outsiders without them; stabilisation of migrants as permanent or long-term residents, enabling the growth of the migrant workforce; and marginalisation of migrants as politically vulnerable outsiders, including exploitation at work. But the two regimes were supported by different political and ideological apparatuses. While placing a disproportionate burden on Latino migrants, the post-IRCA immigration regime differed from the Apartheid regime in that it was not organised around an explicit racial hierarchy, and offered non-citizens a greater array of rights. As a result, Apartheid Policing under the post-IRCA immigration regime is potentially more politically sustainable.
Markov Weight Fields for face sketch synthesis

Great progress has been made in face sketch synthesis in recent years. State-of-the-art methods commonly apply a Markov Random Fields (MRF) model to select local sketch patches from a set of training data. Such methods, however, have two major drawbacks. Firstly, the MRF model used cannot synthesize new sketch patches. Secondly, the optimization problem in solving the MRF is NP-hard. In this paper, we propose a novel Markov Weight Fields (MWF) model that is capable of synthesizing new sketch patches. We formulate our model into a convex quadratic programming (QP) problem to which the optimal solution is guaranteed. Based on the Markov property of our model, we further propose a cascade decomposition method (CDM) for solving such a large scale QP problem efficiently. Experimental results on the CUHK face sketch database and celebrity photos show that our model outperforms the common MRF model used in other state-of-the-art methods.
Cultural Diversity and Methodology in Feminist Psychology: Critique, Proposal, Empirical Example

This article calls for a revision in the methodology of feminist psychological research because cultural differences can neither be investigated nor integrated without methodological change. A methodology that combines etic (objective, behavioral) and emic (subjective, phenomenological) approaches was demonstrated in an empirical investigation. White women did not differ from women of color in self-ratings on several gender-role stereotypic terms (etic data). However, the two groups differed significantly in how they had defined and interpreted those terms while rating themselves (emic data), and these subjective, culturally constituted interpretations predicted the self-ratings.
Augmenting Sulfur Metabolism and Herbivore Defense in Arabidopsis by Bacterial Volatile Signaling

Sulfur is an element necessary for the life cycle of higher plants. Its assimilation and reduction into essential biomolecules are pivotal factors determining a plant’s growth and vigor as well as resistance to environmental stress. While certain soil microbes can enhance ion solubility via chelating agents or oxidation, microbial regulation of plant-sulfur assimilation has not been reported. With an increasing understanding that soil microbes can activate growth and stress tolerance in plants via chemical signaling, the question arises as to whether such beneficial bacteria also regulate sulfur assimilation. Here we report a previously unidentified mechanism by which the growth-promoting rhizobacterium Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (GB03) transcriptionally activates genes responsible for sulfur assimilation, increasing sulfur uptake and accumulation in Arabidopsis. Transcripts encoding for sulfur-rich aliphatic and indolic glucosinolates are also GB03 induced. As a result, GB03-exposed plants with elevated glucosinolates exhibit greater protection against the generalist herbivore, Spodoptera exigua (beet armyworm, BAW). In contrast, a previously characterized glucosinolate mutant compromised in the production of both aliphatic and indolic glucosinolates is also compromised in terms of GB03-induced protection against insect herbivory. As with in vitro studies, soil-grown plants show enhanced glucosinolate accumulation and protection against BAW feeding with GB03 exposure. These results demonstrate the potential of microbes to enhance plant sulfur assimilation and emphasize the sophisticated integration of microbial signaling in plant defense.
Silencing Whom? Linking Campus Climates for Religious, Spiritual, and Worldview Diversity to Student Worldviews

This study examined the perceptions of campus climate among students of diverse worldviews. Results from this study suggest that climate perceptions and experiences were more negative among worldview majority students (e.g., Protestants, Catholics) than among worldview minority students (e.g., Muslims, Jews) and nonreligious students. Theoretical implications are discussed.
Psychological studies of tourist behaviour and experience

The program of studies described in this paper can be categorized into three stages. The dearth of psychological research on tourist behaviours and environments led to a demonstration phase in which it was argued that tourist behaviour can be incorporated as a worthwhile and important topic for empirical study in psychology. In a second phase of tourist research, studies were undertaken to extend psychological knowledge and to understand tourist responses and satisfaction. Select examples of this research are described. Finally in a consultancy phase of tourist research, psychological studies have been conducted to change the environmental and social organization of tourist settings, thereby holding the promise of enhancing people's leisure and travel experiences.
Thinking as Action

The aim of cultural psychology is understanding how mind is related to cultural, social, institutional, and historical contexts. This endeavor requires an adequate unit of analysis. We believe this unit of analysis to be mediated action. Our view of action as the unit of analysis has important theoretical and methodological consequences. In the theoretical domain , it means assuming a notion of culture as a set of semiotically mediated activity settings, and a view of cognition as heterogeneous, contextually and historically-culturally situated and semiotically mediated. We outline three methodological implications: a historical or genetic perspective, the analysis of activity in everyday cultural contexts, and the use of semiotically mediated action as a unit of analysis. Finally, we explain the way in which we have employed mediated action as a conceptual and methodological tool for conducting research in cultural psychology and illustrate some of these ideas with reference to specific studies carried out by our research group.
A D-band divide-by-6 injection-locked frequency divider with Lange-coupler feedback architecture in 0.13 µm SiGe HBT

A D-band divide-by-6 injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD) is presented. The basic mechanism of high division ratios frequency divider is investigated. The circuit employs a wideband microstrip Lange coupler, a microstrip delay line and a pair of Cascode transistors to form a feedback loop for enhanced divide-by-6 operation. The proposed ILFD is fabricated with chip size of 0.7 × 0.9mm2 in a 0.13 μm SiGe HBT technology. The losses of WR-6 waveguide and 170-GHz probe in measurement setup are calibrated accurately by employing the open-short-load approach in a terminated two-port network. Through varying the operating voltage, the free-running oscillation frequency of the circuit can be changed, which results in an effective frequency-division locking range of 135 to 150.2 GHz while consuming 5.25 to 14.4mW including the output buffer amplifier. A phase noise of −121.58 dBc/Hz at 1MHz offset is achieved at 150.2GHz.
New Differential Evolution Algorithm with a Second Enhanced Mutation Operator

To improve the efficiency of the original differential evolution algorithm, a new differential evolution algorithm was proposed. A new framework with a single population was used to improve its' exploration ability. And a second enhanced mutation operator was used to ensure the exploitation of previous knowledge about the fitness landscape. Numerical experiments with typical benchmark functions show the proposed new version of differential evolution performs better than original differential evolution algorithm. Performances compared with dynamic differential evolution and particle swarm optimization algorithm show its superiority.
Pindolol augmentation of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and clomipramine for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A meta-analysis

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Religious Beliefs: Their dynamics in two groups of life scientists

The assumption that scientific knowledge would bring an end to religious belief has challenged many scholars, particularly since such a belief persists even among those devoted to scientific activities. In this paper the occurrence and nature of religious belief in groups of life scientists working in the UK and Brazil is discussed in the context of their degree of training. Data obtained through one‐to‐one interviews went beyond mere yes/no answers to questions on belonging to a religion or believing in God. Categories were created to assess how open these scientists were with regard to the possibility of the supernatural. The results suggest that scientific training affected their religious belief and reduced the number of believers. Nevertheless there were scientists in both groups whose beliefs persisted.
The dialogue-labs method: process, space and materials as structuring elements to spark dialogue in co-design events

Facilitating participation has become one of the cornerstones of co-design, and a number of methods, techniques and events intended to inspire design participants and scaffold collaborative ideation and concept development have been developed. However, an aspect that is yet relatively unexplored in co-design literature is how different methods and techniques can be productively combined. This paper presents and discusses the dialogue-labs method, which provides a structured way of generating ideas through a sequence of co-design activities. The analysis of the method during 18 sessions, based on iterative reflection, focuses on its three key structuring aspects: the process of how dialogue-labs sessions are orchestrated, the space in which the sessions unfold and the materials that are employed. In addition to understanding the specific dialogue-labs method, this discussion of process, space and materials may yield insights into how other co-design methods are analysed and further developed or combined.
A novel multiple experts and fusion based segmentation algorithm for cursive handwriting recognition

This paper presents a novel segmentation algorithm for offline cursive handwriting recognition. An over-segmentation algorithm is introduced to dissect the words from handwritten text based on the pixel density between upper and lower baselines. Each segment from the over-segmentation is passed to a multiple expert-based validation process. First expert compares the total foreground pixel of the segmentation point to a threshold value. The threshold is set and calculated before the segmentation by scanning the stroke components in the word. Second expert checks for closed areas such as holes. Third expert validates segmentation points using a neural voting approach which is trained on segmented characters before validation process starts. Final expert is based on oversized segment analysis to detect possible missed segmentation points. The proposed algorithm has been implemented and the experiments on cursive handwritten text have been conducted. The results of the experiments are very promising and the overall performance of the algorithm is more effective than the other existing segmentation algorithms.
Naturalization fosters the long-term political integration of immigrants

Significance The political integration of immigrant minorities is one of the most pressing policy issues many countries face today. Despite heated debates, there exists little rigorous evidence about whether naturalization fosters or dampens the integration of immigrants into the political fabric of the host society. Our study provides new causal evidence on the long-term effects of naturalization on political integration. Our research design takes advantage of a natural experiment in Switzerland that allows us to separate the independent effect of naturalization from the nonrandom selection into naturalization. We find that in our sample, naturalization caused long-lasting improvements in political integration, with immigrants becoming likely to vote and attaining considerably higher levels of political efficacy and political knowledge. Does naturalization cause better political integration of immigrants into the host society? Despite heated debates about citizenship policy, there exists almost no evidence that isolates the independent effect of naturalization from the nonrandom selection into naturalization. We provide new evidence from a natural experiment in Switzerland, where some municipalities used referendums as the mechanism to decide naturalization requests. Balance checks suggest that for close naturalization referendums, which are decided by just a few votes, the naturalization decision is as good as random, so that narrowly rejected and narrowly approved immigrant applicants are similar on all confounding characteristics. This allows us to remove selection effects and obtain unbiased estimates of the long-term impacts of citizenship. Our study shows that for the immigrants who faced close referendums, naturalization considerably improved their political integration, including increases in formal political participation, political knowledge, and political efficacy.
How Complex Simplex Words can be

Abstract A series of experiments investigated components of the word frequency effect in visual lexical decision, progressive demasking, and subjective frequency ratings. For simplex, i.e., monomorphemic, nouns in Dutch, we studied the effect of the frequency of the monomorphemic noun itself as well as the effect of the frequencies of morphologically related forms on the processing of these monomorphemic nouns. The experiments show that the frequency of the (unseen) plural forms affects the experimental measures. Nouns with high-frequency plurals are responded to more quickly in visual lexical decision, and they receive higher subjective frequency ratings. However, the summed frequencies of the formations in the morphological family of a given noun (the compounds and derived words in which that noun appears as a constituent) did not affect the experimental measures. Surprisingly, the size of the morphological family, i.e., the number of different words in the family, emerged as a substantial factor. A monomorphemic noun with a large family size elicits higher subjective frequency ratings and shorter response latencies in visual lexical decision than a monomorphemic noun with a small family size. The effect of family size disappears in progressive demasking, a task which taps into the earlier stages of form identification. This suggests that the effect of family size arises at more central, post-identification stages of lexical processing.
Compact semi-disc microstrip patch antenna with improved bandwidth

A novel compact semi-disc MPA with improved impedance bandwidth (SWR <2∶1) has been designed and analyzed. The probe-fed semi-disc MPA with a single shorting-pin is significantly smaller in size than that of the conventional MPAs and is thus suitable for applications in some compact systems. This semi-disc structure may be more useful compared to the circular one due to its diameter radiating edge. The performance of the antenna was accurately predicted using Ensemble software package, which is based on moment method with potential integral equations.
Project Summary : Implementing a Process Approach in Engineering Design Through Calibrated Peer Review

Background and Goals: The proposed project will implement an established process approach to support learning in capstone design. This work integrates (a) instruction in the process approach to design, (b) development of a measurement system that is aligned with instruction, and (c) assessment and evaluation of projects and project teams as they work on capstone design projects. The project addresses two essential needs: the need for results-based design education and the need for cost-effective approaches to design education. To accomplish project goals, the project team will adapt and implement two exemplary practices: the process approach to engineering design described in Product Design and Development by Ulrich and Eppinger (2004) and the Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) web-based tool developed at UCLA. Major project outcomes are:
Effects of GLP-1 on appetite and body weight : focus on the central nervous system Chapter 2

absTRaCT The delivery of nutrients to the gastrointestinal tract after food ingestion activates the secretion of several gut-derived mediators, including the incretin hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA), such as exenatide and liraglutide, are currently successfully employed in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes. GLP-1RA improve glycaemic control and stimulate satiety leading to reductions in food intake and body weight. Besides gastric distension and peripheral vagal nerve activation, GLP-1RA induce satiety by influencing brain regions involved in the regulation of feeding, and several routes of action have been proposed. This review summarises the evidence for a physiological role of GLP-1 in the central regulation of feeding behaviour and the different routes of action involved. Also, we provide an overview of presently available data on pharmacological stimulation of GLP-1 pathways leading to alterations in CNS activity, reductions in food intake and weight loss.
A clinical decision aid for the selection of antithrombotic therapy for the prevention of stroke due to atrial fibrillation

Aims The availability of new antithrombotic agents, each with a unique efficacy and bleeding profile, has introduced a considerable amount of clinical uncertainty with physicians. We have developed a clinical decision aid in order to assist clinicians in determining an optimal antithrombotic regime for the prevention of stroke in patients who are newly diagnosed with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. Methods and results The CHA2DS2-VASc and HAS-BLED scoring systems were used to assess patients’ baseline risks of stroke and major bleeding, respectively. The relative risks of stroke and major bleeding for each antithrombotic agent were then used to identify the agent associated with the lowest net risk. Individual patient factors such as the treatment threshold, bleeding ratio, and cost threshold modified the recommendations in order to generate a final recommendation. By considering both patient factors and clinical research concurrently, this clinical decision aid is able to provide specific advice to clinicians regarding an optimal stroke prevention strategy. The resulting treatment recommendation tables are consistent with the recommendations of the European Society of Cardiology and Canadian Cardiovascular Society Guidelines, which can be incorporated into either a paper-based or electronic format to allow clinicians to have decision support at the point of care. Conclusion The use of a clinical decision aid that considers both patient factors and evidence-based medicine will serve to bridge the knowledge gap and provide practical guidance to clinicians in the prevention of stroke due to atrial fibrillation.
Benchmark Dose Calculation from Epidemiological Data

Summary. A threshold for dose‐dependent toxicity is crucial for standards setting but may not be possible to specify from empirical studies. Crump (1984) instead proposed calculating the lower statistical confidence bound of the benchmark dose, which he defined as the dose that causes a small excess risk. This concept has several advantages and has been adopted by regulatory agencies for establishing safe exposure limits for toxic substances such as mercury. We have examined the validity of this method as applied to an epidemiological study of continuous response data associated with mercury exposure. For models that are linear in the parameters, we derived an approximative expression for the lower confidence bound of the benchmark dose. We find that the benchmark calculations are highly dependent on the choice of the dose‐effect function and the definition of the benchmark dose. We therefore recommend that several sets of biologically relevant default settings be used to illustrate the effect on the benchmark results and to stimulate research that will guide an a priori choice of proper default settings.
Test–retest stability analysis of resting brain activity revealed by blood oxygen level‐dependent functional MRI

To assess test–retest stability of four functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)‐derived resting brain activity metrics: the seed‐region‐based functional connectivity (SRFC), independent component analysis (ICA)‐derived network‐based FC (NTFC), regional homogeneity (ReHo), and the amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF).
Delineation of ECG Wave Components Using K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) Algorithm: ECG Wave Delineation Using KNN

Detection of the boundaries of electrocardiogram (ECG) characteristic waves with a reasonable accuracy has been a difficult task. As a classical statistical pattern recognition algorithm characterized with high accuracy and stability, KNN has been proposed for locating the waveform boundaries (the onsets and offsets of P, QRS, and T waves) in ECG signals. First, the QRS-complex of each beat is detected from the ECG signal. Next, the onset and offset of each QRS complex are located. The P wave and T wave, relative to each QRS complex along with their onset and offset points, are then identified using this algorithm. Further, QRS duration, heart rate, QT-interval, P-wave duration and PR-interval have also been computed using ECG wave fiducial points. This algorithm is tested on the ECG dataset acquired using ATRIA®6100 ECG machine in our own laboratory. The results obtained using the proposed algorithm presented for the assessment of performance, has been compared with the output of inbuilt software based detector of ATRIA machine.