Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adifor Working Note #6: Structured Second-and Higher-order Derivatives through Univariate Taylor Series Structured Second-and Higher-order Derivatives through Univariate Taylor Series Mcs Preprint P296{0392

Second-and higher-order derivatives are required by applications in scientiic computation, especially for optimization algorithms. The two complementary concepts of interpolating partial derivatives from univariate Taylor series and preaccumulating of \local" derivatives form the mathematical foundations for accurate, eecient computation of second-and higher-order partial derivatives for large codes. We compute derivatives in a fashion that parallelizes well, exploits sparsity or other structure frequently found in Hessian matrices, can compute only selected elements of a Hessian matrix, and computes Hessian vector products.
Scaling Factor Aided Iterative Multiuser Receiver for Sparse Code Multiple Access

Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) is a promising nonorthogonal multiple access scheme for the 5G system. In this letter, we introduce a scaling factor (SF) to scale the extrinsic information exchanged between the detector and the decoders to further improve the performance of iterative multiuser receiver (IMR) in SCMA. Appropriate SF is selected by using the extrinsic information transform chart analysis. Simulation results indicate that compared with the standard IMR, the proposed SF aided IMR scheme can achieve obvious gain at the performance and convergence speed under the additive white Gaussian noise and the Rayleigh fading channels.
Complex Segregation Analysis Provides Evidence for Autosomal Dominant Transmission in the Chinese Han Families with Ankylosing Spondylitis

Introduction Familial aggregation of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) has been frequently noticed. However, the mode of inheritance in AS remains poorly understood. Our aim was to determine the mode of inheritance best fitting the observed transmission pattern of AS families. Methods Families with 5 or more AS patients diagnosed with 1984 modified New York criteria were recruited. We performed complex segregation analysis for a binary trait in regressive multivariate logistic models. The inheritance models, including sporadic, major gene, environmental, general, and other 9 models, were compared by likelihood ratio tests and Akaike's Information Criterion. Results This research included 9 Chinese Han AS families with a total number of 315 persons, including 74 patients. First, familial association was determined. Sporadic with familial association model was rejected when compared with either the general model or the homogeneous general model (p < 0.001). The environmental model was also rejected when compared with general models (p < 0.02). Mendelian dominate mode fitted best in 5 AS families, while Tau AB free model best explained the mode of inheritance in these AS families. Conclusion This study provided evidence in support of Mendelian dominant mode and firstly discovered a non-Mendelian mode called tau AB free inheritance mode in AS.
COMPARISON OF PIXEL-BASED AND OBJECT-ORIENTED CLASSIFICATION METHODS FOR EXTRACTING BUILT-UP AREAS IN ARIDZONE

This study focuses on the comparison between the classical and object-oriented image classifications of remote sensing imagery in the arid area. Due to its special geographic environment and socio-economic contexts, the land cover and its spatio-temporal pattern in aridzone is very different from those in coastal area, thus some conventional methods of remote sensing image classification may not be suitable. In order to investigate an appropriate method for aridzone image classification, pixel-based image classifiers such as the Maximum Likelihood Classifier and an object-oriented image classifier were tested and compared using an Landsat ETM+ image. The accuracy of each method was assessed using reference data sets derived from high-resolution satellite images, aerial photograph and field investigation. The result shows that the object-oriented method has achieved an overall accuracy of 89% with a kappa coefficient of 0.87, compared with 71% (0.66) that was derived from the conventional pixel-based method.
Dynamic Weighted Bit-Flipping Decoding Algorithms for LDPC Codes

Bit-flipping (BF) decoding of low-density parity-check codes is of low complexity but gives inferior performance in general. To improve performance and provide new BF decoder options for complexity-performance tradeoffs, we propose new designs for the flipping function (FF), the flipped bit selection (FBS) rule and the checksum weight updating schedule. The new FF adjusts the checksum weights in every iteration while our FBS rules take more information into account. These two modifications represent efforts to track more closely the evolutions of both check and variable nodes' reliabilities. Two selective update schedules are proposed to offer more performance and complexity tradeoffs. The combinations of the new FBS rule and known FFs result in new BF decoders with improved performance and a modest complexity increase. On the other hand, combining the new FF and FBS rule gives a new decoder with performance comparable to that of the normalized min-sum algorithm while if we use a much simpler FBS rule instead, the decoder suffers little performance loss with reduced complexity. We also present a simple decision-theoretical argument to justify the new checksum weight formula and a time-expanded factor graph model to explain the proposed selective weight-updating schedules.
Enhancing performance of geographically distributed teams through targeted use of information and communication technologies

Increasingly, geographically dispersed teams are relying exclusively on sophisticated information and communication technologies (ICTs) to coordinate their knowledge. Current research argues that the reliance on the technology (versus face-to-face) for communication may inhibit geographically distributed team performance. In contrast, we argue that previous research associates negative performance effects with the level or degree of exclusive reliance on ICT without regard to the specific form or ways in which team members use ICT. We hypothesize that teams will be more successful when they use ICT to specifically facilitate the situational awareness needs created by their teams’ composition and task. We studied 54 geographically dispersed teams that all relied exclusively on ICT (with minimal to no face-to-face interactions) for coordination in order to control for the effect of the level of reliance on ICTs. Our multi-source/multi-method study demonstrates that the form of use can have a positive association with team performance even in teams relying exclusively on ICT depending on the team composition and nature of task being performed. Our findings suggest that, instead of assuming that technology reliance negatively impacts team performance, researchers studying distributed teams should separate the level of reliance (degree of use) from form of reliance (type of use) on ICT.
Is war a good or a bad thing? The attitudes of Croatian, Israeli, and Palestinian children toward war

It has been documented that children's basic attitudes to social issues such as war and peace are formed during the early school-age period. The aims of the study were threefold: (1) to examine the attitudes of Croatian school-age children toward war and peace; (2) to explore the relationship between these attitudes and children's gender, age, and amount of experience with war and violence; and (3) to compare the attitudes of Croatian children toward war and peace with the attitudes of Israeli and Palestinian children examined using the same scale 18 years earlier. The sample consisted of 230 children aged 11-14 years who attended school in Zagreb. The results indicate that Croatian children generally have a negative attitude toward war, but strongly support the fight for the freedom of their nation. A relationship was found between the children's gender, age, and war experiences and their attitudes toward war. A comparison between Croatian, Israeli, and Palestinian children showed that nationhood had an .
Music Recommendation Based on Multiple Contextual Similarity Information

This paper proposes a music recommendation approach based on various similarity information via Factorization Machines (FM). We introduce the idea of similarity, which has been widely studied in the filed of information retrieval, and incorporate multiple feature similarities into the FM framework, including content-based and context-based similarities. The similarity information not only captures the similar patterns from the referred objects, but enhances the convergence speed and accuracy of FM. In addition, in order to avoid the noise within large similarity of features, we also adopt the grouping FM as an extended method to model the problem. In our experiments, a music-recommendation dataset is used to assess the performance of the proposed approach. The datasets is collected from an online blogging Web site, which includes user listening history, user profiles, social information, and music information. Our experimental results show that, with various types of feature similarities the performance of music recommendation can be enhanced significantly. Furthermore, via the grouping technique, the performance can be improved significantly in terms of Mean Average Precision, compared to the traditional collaborative filtering approach.
Action Recognition from Pose Signature in Static Image

This paper addresses the problem of action recognition from body pose. Detecting body pose in static image faces great challenges because of pose variability. Our method is based on action-specific hierarchical poselet. We use hierarchical body parts each of which is represented by a set of poselets to demonstrate the pose variability of the body part. Pose signature of a body part is represented by a vector of detection responses of all poselets for the part. In order to suppress detection error and ambiguity we explore to use part-based model (PBM) as detection context. We propose a constrained optimization algorithm for detecting all poselets of each part in context of PBM, which recover neglected pose clue by global optimization. We use a PBM with hierarchical part structure, where body parts have varying granularity from whole body steadily decreasing to limb parts. From the structure we get models with different depth to study saliency of different body parts in action recognition. Pose signature of an action image is composed of pose signature of all the body parts in the PBM, which provides rich discriminate information for our task. We evaluate our algorithm on two datasets. Compared with counterpart methods, pose signature has obvious performance improvement on static image dataset. While using the model trained from static image dataset to label detected action person on video dataset, pose signature achieves state-of-the-art performance.
A collaborative ant colony metaheuristic for distributed multi-level uncapacitated lot-sizing

The paper presents an ant colony optimization metaheuristic for collaborative planning. Collaborative planning is used to coordinate individual plans of self-interested decision-makers with private information in order to increase the overall benefit of the coalition. The method consists of a new search graph based on encoded solutions. Distributed and private information are integrated via voting mechanisms and via a simple but effective collaborative local search procedure. The approach is applied to a distributed variant of the multi-level lot-sizing problem and evaluated by means of 352 benchmark instances from the literature. The proposed approach clearly outperforms existing approaches on the sets of medium- and large-sized instances. While the best method in the literature so far achieves an average deviation from the best-known non-distributed solutions of 75% for the set of the largest instances, for example, the presented approach reduces the average deviation to 7%.
SiGe Transmitter and Receiver Circuits for Emerging Terahertz Applications

This paper presents recent developments on transmitter and receiver circuit in advanced SiGe technologies for emerging applications in the sub-millimeter wave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This includes high-power harmonic oscillators, multiplier chains, and heterodyne I/Q transmitters for terahertz signal generation, as well as direct detectors, heterodyne receivers and Radar transceivers for wide-band signal detection. The circuits are attached to a secondary silicon lens and packaged on low-cost FR4 printed circuit boards.
Student PTs' Grade Mark from Practical Training and the Characteristics of Factors in Affective Domain

本研究は学生のストレス対処傾向と性格特性について調査し，実習において問題のなかった学生群と中止・不可になった学生群の特性を捉え，どのような情意特性が関連するのか検討することを目的とした。 調査は理学療法士養成校の理学療法学科昼夜間部3，4学年生127名を対象にラザルス式ストレスコーピング・インベントリーと自我態度スケールの2つの心理テストバッテリーを実習前に実施した。 学生全体の性格特性として逃避型，隔離型の特性傾向が比較的少なく，因子分析の結果からストレス対処は “積極的”，“すりかえ”，“気分屋”と自我態度は“おとな”，“こども”と分けることができた。 また問題のなかった学生群と中止・不可になった学生群を比較すると自己コントロール型と円熟性に有意な差が見られ，自己コントロール型が高く，円熟性が低いほど不合格になる傾向があった。 これらの結果から，学生の情意特性と実習の関係を考察した。
Reactive power optimization based on PSO and considering voltage security in a practical power system

This paper narrates an application of particle swarm optimization (PSO) for power loss minimization and voltage control of power systems. This problem is analyzed as a mixed-integer non-linear optimization problem (MINLP). The original PSO is expanded in the proposed method for handling MINLP and for determination of power loss and voltage control with continuous and discrete control variables such as automatic voltage regulator (AVR) operating values of generators, tap positions of on-load tap changer (OLTC) of transformers, and the number of reactive power compensation equipment (RPCE). The feasibility of the proposed method is tested and compared with IEEE 30 bus and IEEE 57 bus systems. The main objective is to minimize the real power loss and maintaining the stability of the power system. The voltage profile assessment is tested by calculation of line stability index. The study results show that the approaches developed are feasible and efficient.
Assessing Extreme and Acquiescence Response Sets in Cross-Cultural Research Using Structural Equations Modeling

Extreme response styles (ERS) and acquiescence response styles (ARS) may constitute important sources of cross-cultural differences on survey-type instruments. Differences in ERS and ARS, if undetected, may give rise to spurious results that do not reflect genuine differences in attitudes or perceptions. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis is recommended as the most effective method of testing for ERS and ARS and determining whether cultural groups can be meaningfully compared on the basis of factor (latent) means. A detailed numerical example is provided.
Influence of Temperature on the Frictional Properties of Water-Lubricated Surfaces

The influence of temperature on the lubricating properties of neat water for tribopairs with varying bulk elasticity moduli and surface hydrophilicity, namely hard-hydrophobic interface (h-HB), hard-hydrophilic interface (h-HL), soft-hydrophobic interface (s-HB), and soft-hydrophilic interface (s-HL), has been investigated. With increasing temperature, the coefficients of friction generally increased due to the decreasing viscosity of water. This change was more clearly manifested from soft interfaces for more feasible formation of lubricating films. Nevertheless, dominant lubrication mechanism appears to be boundary and mixed lubrication even for soft interfaces at all speeds (up to 1200 mm/s) and temperatures (1 to 90 °C) investigated. The results from this study are expected to provide a reference to explore the temperature-dependent tribological behavior of more complex aqueous lubricants, e.g., those involving various additives, for a variety of tribosystems.
Why don't we perceive our brain states?

Abstract The major part of this paper is devoted to the issue of how to bridge the gap between perception and action. First, the traditional view of the perception-action relationship is addressed. This view assumes that there are two different and incommensurate coding systems for afferent and efferent patterns (sensory and motor coding). Next, a different view is proposed that invokes the common coding of afferent and efferent patterns. One of the implications of this view is that actions can be controlled and guided by representations of distal events. There is some support for this view from two different sources: the first is nineteenth-century psychology of the will. the other comes from more recent experimental evidence. Some findings from experiments on sensorimotor synchronisation and on the Simon effect are discussed with reference to the notion of distal focusing in action control. In conclusion, the issue raised in the title is addressed. As a tentative answer it is suggested that the reason w.
The block of ryanodine receptors selectively inhibits fetal myoblast differentiation

Differentiation and morphogenesis of skeletal muscle are complex and asynchronous events that involve various myogenic cell populations and extracellular signals. Embryonic and fetal skeletal myoblasts are responsible for the formation of primary and secondary fibers, respectively, although the mechanism that diversifies their fate is not fully understood. Calcium transients appear to be a signaling mechanism that is widely utilized in differentiation and embryogenesis. In mature skeletal muscle, calcium transients are generated mainly by ryanodine receptors (type 1 and type 3), which are involved in excitation-contraction coupling. However, it is not clear whether the activity of these receptors is important for contractile activity alone or whether it may also play a role in regulating the differentiation/developmental processes. To clarify this point, we first examined the expression of the receptors during development. The results show that the expression of both receptors appears as early as E13 during limb muscle development and parallels the expression of skeletal myosin. The expression and the activity of both receptors is maintained in vitro by all myogenic cell populations isolated from different stages of development, including somitic, embryonic and fetal myoblasts and satellite cells. Blocking ryanodine receptor activity by using ryanodine inhibits in vitro differentiation of fetal myoblasts (judged by the expression of sarcomeric myosin and formation of multinucleated myotubes) but not of somitic or embryonic and satellite muscle cells. This block is caused by the transcriptional inhibition of markers characteristic of terminal differentiation, rather than commitment, as the expression of muscle regulatory factors is not impaired by ryanodine treatment. Taken together, the data reported in this paper demonstrate that, although calcium transients represent a general mechanism for the control of differentiation and development, multiple calcium-dependent pathways may be relevant in different myogenic populations during development. Moreover, since fetal myoblasts are responsible for the formation of secondary fibers during development, and therefore for the building of the bulk of muscular mass, these results suggest that calcium release from ryanodine receptors plays a role in the histogenesis of mammalian skeletal muscle.
What Drives Tax Morale

This paper reviews the literature and contributes with some evidence based on the World Values Survey on the drivers of tax morale around the world, with an emphasis on developing countries. It shows that socio-economic factors such as age, religion, gender, employment status and educational attainment have a significant impact on people’s levels of tax morale. In terms of institutional determinants, it finds that the satisfaction with democracy, trust in government and the satisfaction with the quality of public services plays an important role in increasing tax morale. The paper also discusses future directions for research and policy action in this area. Cet article propose une revue de la litterature existante et apporte de nouveaux elements empiriques sur la base de donnees provenant de la World Values Survey, sur les determinants de la morale fiscale dans le monde, et dans les pays en developpement en particulier. Il montre que les facteurs socio-economiques tels que l’âge, la religion, le genre, la situation professionnelle et la reussite scolaire ont un effet significatif sur le degre de morale fiscale des individus. Concernant les determinants institutionnels, l’article montre que le degre de morale fiscale des individus depend egalement du niveau de satisfaction avec le systeme democratique, de confiance dans le gouvernement et de satisfaction quant a la qualite des services publics. L’article conclut en proposant des pistes/orientations futures de recherche et des recommandations politiques dans ce domaine.
Effects of Aging on Linear and Curvilinear Aiming Arm Movements

This research was designed to test the hypothesis that seniors may have deficits in their movement planning and execution of rapid target oriented arm movements. Twenty senior adults (M = 81.2 years, SD= 1.8) and 20 young adults (M = 25.2 years, SD= 2.5) performed two types of fast aiming arm movements (linear and curvilinear) on a digitizer in a counterbalanced order. Age effects on the variables of movement time, movement jerk, as well as on the profiles of movement displacement, velocity, and acceleration were examined. The outcomes of analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures indicated that the seniors executed both movement tasks more slowly and had higher movement jerk than the young adults. This suggests that aging is not only associated with slower but less smooth movements. In addition, the examination of movement profiles indicated that the young adults implemented the curvilinear task as one smooth and integrated motion, whereas the seniors executed the task in two segments. One possible reason of this ''segmental'' execution of curvilinear movement is that seniors may compensate for their deficits in movement planning by adopting a control strategy that reduces movement complexity. The aging effects on rapid aiming arm movements are discussed from the perspectives of motor planning, the ''speed-accuracy trade-off,'' and task complexity.
Empathy as an Interpersonal Phenomenon

The purpose of this study was to find the constituents of empathizers' and targets' experiences of empathy. We analyzed 28 empathizers' and 28 targets' narrative accounts of situations when they had experienced empathy. From both perspectives, the constituents of empathy included that (1) the empathizer understands the target's situation and emotions, (2) the target experiences one or more emotions, (3) the empathizer perceives a similarity between what the target is experiencing and something the empathizer has experienced previously, and (4) the empathizer is concerned for the target's well-being. The data suggested that actions associated with the fourth constituent - concern - make empathy an interpersonal phenomenon.
Lyapunov based frequency independent current controller for grid connected single phase PV systems

This paper proposes a control scheme for single phase inverter based systems. The inverter controller consists of two loops; the inner current control loop which is the faster one while the outer voltage / active and reactive power control loop is the slower one. A Lyapunov based inner (current) control is presented in this work which robustly tracks the reference current independent of the system frequency. The proposed controller is used in a grid connected single phase Photo Voltaic (PV) system and is compared with a Proportional Resonant (PR) and sliding mode controller which are generally used in AC systems. While the PR controller is tuned to operate at a particular frequency, the proposed controller performs much better in terms of tracking the reference current at any frequency. The controller is derived using the system differential equation and obtaining asymptotical stability using Lyapunov's stability criteria.