Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Worldviews and Intergenerational Altruism

This paper presents empirical evidence concerning worldviews and intergenerational altruism from unique U.S. and Japanese survey data. These data sets have been collected by Osaka University, and contain questions concerning worldviews and religions, hypothetical questions about parental behavior, and questions about socioeconomic variables. Our empirical evidence indicates that people who are confident about issues related to worldviews tend to show tough love attitudes toward their children. Our evidence also suggests that worldviews and religions aect tough love and spoiling love attitudes.
Using Recommendation Agents to Cope with Information Overload

Integrating the traditional and structural approaches to information load measurement, this research investigates the impact of information overload on decision strategy. Decision strategy refers to whether a consumer uses a recommendation agent and the consumer's reactance behavior to the agent advice (whether the chosen product was the same or different from the recommended product). The research further shows the effects of information overload and decision strategy on choice quality, choice confidence, and e-store interactivity. The experiment, which involved 466 consumers, had three levels for the number of alternatives (6, 18, and 30), three levels for the number of attributes (15, 25, and 35), and two different attribute distributions across alternatives (proportional vs. disproportional). The results contribute to the literature of information overload and decision support systems by underscoring that (1) the relationship between information load and perceived overload is curvilinear, (2) information overload augments recommendation agent use and conformance to the recommendation, (3) the positive impact of using a recommendation agent on choice quality increases with information overload, and (4) consumers become more confident in their choices and perceive higher e-store interactivity when they conform to product recommendations. As such, the results help to explain some conflicting findings in the information overload literature and contribute to practice by highlighting the importance of decision aid tools in information-intensive environments.
Formation of Juvenile/Mature Wood in Pinus eldarica medw and Related Wood Properties

The aims of this study were: a) to investigate anatomical properties (tracheid length and annual ring width) and to examine the age of transition from juvenile to mature wood, b) to examine physical properties (oven dry density and volumetric shrinkage) in juvenile and mature wood, c) to determine the relationship among the wood various properties in juvenile/mature wood. Results showed that with increasing cambial age (ring from pith), the values of trachied length and annual ring width increased and decreased, respectively. The duration of juvenile wood was 24 year. The wood density and volume shrinkage content are higher in the mature wood while tracheid length is taller. After determining the age of transition (24 yr), the relationship between tracheid length and ring width and also between the wood density and volume shrinkage were investigated in the juvenile and mature wood by linear regression. According to this correlation, there was a negative relationship between tracheid length and ring width, but this relation in juvenile wood was stronger than mature wood. In addition, the correlation between the wood density and volumetric shrinkage in juvenile wood was weaker than mature wood.
Optical performance of the BICEP2 Telescope at the South Pole

Bicep2 deployed to the South Pole during the 2009-2010 austral summer, and is now mapping the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), searching for evidence of inflationary cosmology. Bicep2 belongs to a new class of telescopes including Keck (ground-based) and Spider (balloon-borne) that follow on Bicep's strategy of employing small, cold, on-axis refracting optics. This common design provides key advantages ideal for targeting the polarization signature from inflation, including: (i) A large field of view, allowing substantial light collecting power despite the small aperture, while still resolving the degree-scale polarization of the CMB; (ii) liquid helium-cooled optics and cold stop, allowing for low, stable instrument loading; (iii) the ability to rotate the entire telescope about the boresight; (iv) a baffled primary aperture, reducing sidelobe pickup; and (v) the ability to characterize the far field optical performance of the telescope using ground-based sources. We describe the last of these advantages in detail, including our efforts to measure the main beam shape, beammatch between orthogonally-polarized pairs, polarization efficiency and response angle, sidelobe pickup, and ghost imaging. We do so with ground-based polarized microwave sources mounted in the far field as well as with astronomical calibrators. Ultimately, Bicep2's sensitivity to CMB polarization from inflation will rely on precise calibration of these beam features.
Creating and Using Meaningful Alternate Assessments

As these new responsibilities, along with the required paperwork and documentation, “filter down” to the classroom level, teachers are becoming increasingly burdened (Heward, 2000; “Special Educators Share,” 1999). Educators must give careful thought to how schools will include each student in state or district educational assessments. Most students with disabilities will participate in a state or district general education assessment, with individualized modifications and accommodations, as needed. A smaller portion of students with disabilities (those students who cannot participate in the general assessment, even with appropriate modifications and accommodations) will participate in a state or district alternate assessment. As noted by Erickson, Ysseldyke, Thurlow, and Elliott (1998), students given alternate assessment typically have severe disabilities.
Anthropometric Characteristics, Physical Fitness and Motor Coordination of 9 to 11 Year Old Children Participating in a Wide Range of Sports

Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent 9 to 11 year old children participating in a specific sport already exhibit a specific anthropometric, physical fitness and motor coordination profile, in line with the requirements of that particular sport. In addition, the profiles in children with a different training volume were compared and possible differences in training hours per week between children from a low, moderate, and high level of physical fitness and motor coordination were investigated. Methods and Results Data of 620 children, 347 boys and 273 girls, who participated in the Flemish Sports Compass were used. Only the primary sport of each child was considered and six groups of sports (Ball sports, Dance, Gymnastics, Martial arts, Racquet sports and Swimming) were formed based on common characteristics. Measurements consisted of 17 tests. Independent T-tests and Mann-Whitney U-tests revealed few differences between the groups of sports and the discriminant analyses with the moderate and low active group did not show any significant results (p > .05). However, when discriminating among the high active children, a 85.2 % correct classification between six groups of sports was found (Wilks’ Λ = .137 and p < .001). Finally, children performing under average on the tests spent significantly fewer hours in sport per week (2.50 ± 1.84 hours) compared to the children performing best (3.25 ± 2.60 hours) (p = .016) and the children performing above average (2.90 ± 1.96 hours) (p = .029) on physical fitness and motor coordination. Discussion The study showed that in general, children at a young age do not exhibit sport-specific characteristics, except in children with a high training volume. It is possible that on the one hand, children have not spent enough time yet in their sport to develop sport-specific qualities. On the other hand, it could be possible that they do not take individual qualities into account when choosing a sport.
Management of prehypertension.

A 58-year-old woman is evaluated by her primary care physician, her gynecologist, or at employee health. On 2 separate occasions, duplicate seated blood pressure (BP) measurements average 132/84 mm Hg. She is informed that she has “prehypertension. ” At her last check-up in 2002, she had a similar reading but was told she had normal BP. The BP category “prehypertension” was first introduced by the Seventh Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC-7) in 2003, replacing former categories of “high-normal” and “above-optimal” BP.1 The rationale for redefining this category was to emphasize the excess risk associated with BP in this range and to focus increased clinical and public health attention on prevention. Management of prehypertension by lowering BP into a more optimal range can be expected to lower risk. The risks associated with prehypertension are in part related to the tendency of BP to increase with age in industrialized societies. Thus, prehypertension is a precursor of clinical hypertension and consequently of the cardiovascular disease (CVD) and renal risks associated with elevated BP (ie, SBP ≥140 or DBP ≥90 mm Hg). In addition, the relationship between BP and CVD risk is continuous over the whole range of BP, and therefore, prehypertension itself is associated with BP-related morbidity and mortality. Thus, the goals of treating prehypertension are to prevent hypertension and to reduce the excess CVD risk associated with BP in this preclinical range. Although treatment of prehypertension is primarily nonpharmacological lifestyle change, redefining this range of BP also serves to emphasize the role of health care providers in its management. The terms “high-normal” or “above-optimal” BP in previous JNC reports might have implied in the past that appropriate action should originate in the public health or the lay public sectors, but the label “prehypertension” …
Intent Tag Clouds : An Intentional Approach To Visual Text Analysis

Getting a quick impression of the author’s intention of a text is an task often performed. An author’s intention plays a major role in successfully understanding a text. For supporting readers in this task, we present an intentional approach to visual text analysis, making use of tag clouds. The objective of tag clouds is presenting meta-information in a visually appealing way. However there is also much uncertainty associated with tag clouds, such as giving the wrong impression. It is not clear whether the author’s intent can be grasped clearly while looking at a corresponding tag cloud. Therefore it is interesting to ask to what extent, with tag clouds, it is possible to support the user in understanding intentions expressed. In order to answer this question, we construct an intentional perspective on textual content. Based on an existing algorithm for extracting intent annotations from textual content we present a prototypical implementation to produce intent tag clouds, and describe a formative testing, illustrating how intent visualizations may support readers in understanding a text successfully. With the initial prototype, we conducted user studies of our intentional tag cloud visualization and a comparison with a traditional one that visualizes frequent terms. The evaluation’s results indicate, that intent tag clouds have a positive effect on supporting users in grasping an author’s intent.
Interlocking Feedback Loops Govern the Dynamic Behavior of the Floral Transition in Arabidopsis[W][OA]

The floral transition is a key decision in the plant life cycle and under complex regulation. Using modeling and experimental approaches, this work determines a core network of hub activities that accounts for many of the properties of the floral switch. This network exhibits switching behavior and suggests the balance of FT and TFL1 is critical for controlling plant architecture. During flowering, primordia on the flanks of the shoot apical meristem are specified to form flowers instead of leaves. Like many plants, Arabidopsis thaliana integrates environmental and endogenous signals to control the timing of reproduction. To study the underlying regulatory logic of the floral transition, we used a combination of modeling and experiments to define a core gene regulatory network. We show that FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) and TERMINAL FLOWER1 (TFL1) act through FD and FD PARALOG to regulate the transition. The major floral meristem identity gene LEAFY (LFY) directly activates FD, creating a positive feedback loop. This network predicts flowering behavior for different genotypes and displays key properties of the floral transition, such as signal integration and irreversibility. Furthermore, modeling suggests that the control of TFL1 is important to flexibly counterbalance incoming FT signals, allowing a pool of undifferentiated cells to be maintained despite strong differentiation signals in nearby cells. This regulatory system requires TFL1 expression to rise in proportion to the strength of the floral inductive signal. In this network, low initial levels of LFY or TFL1 expression are sufficient to tip the system into either a stable flowering or vegetative state upon floral induction.
Asynchronous Adaptation and Learning Over Networks—Part II: Performance Analysis

In Part I of this paper, also in this issue, we introduced a fairly general model for asynchronous events over adaptive networks including random topologies, random link failures, random data arrival times, and agents turning on and off randomly. We performed a stability analysis and established the notable fact that the network is still able to converge in the mean-square-error sense to the desired solution. Once stable behavior is guaranteed, it becomes important to evaluate how fast the iterates converge and how close they get to the optimal solution. This is a demanding task due to the various asynchronous events and due to the fact that agents influence each other. In this Part II, we carry out a detailed analysis of the mean-square-error performance of asynchronous strategies for solving distributed optimization and adaptation problems over networks. We derive analytical expressions for the mean-square convergence rate and the steady-state mean-square-deviation. The expressions reveal how the various parameters of the asynchronous behavior influence network performance. In the process, we establish the interesting conclusion that even under the influence of asynchronous events, all agents in the adaptive network can still reach an O(ν1 + γo') near-agreement with some γo' > 0 while approaching the desired solution within O(ν) accuracy, where ν is proportional to the small step-size parameter for adaptation.
Rendering Synthetic Objects into Full Panoramic Scenes using Light-depth Maps

This photo realistic rendering solution address the insertion of computer generated elements in a captured panorama environment. This pipeline supports productions specially aiming at spherical displays (e.g., fulldomes). Full panoramas have been used in computer graphics for years, yet their common usage lays on environment lighting and reflection maps for conventional displays. With a keen eye in what may be the next trend in the filmmaking industry, we address the particularities of those productions, proposing a new representation of the space by storing the depth together with the light maps, in a full panoramic light-depth map. Another novelty in our rendering pipeline is the one-pass solution to solve the blending of real and synthetic objects simultaneously without the need of post processing effects.
City Research Online

We present a new technique for the visual exploration of origins (O) and destinations (D) arranged in geographical space. Previous attempts to map the ﬂows between origins and destinations have suffered from problems of occlusion usually requiring some form of generalisation, such as aggregation or ﬂow density estimation before they can be visualized. This can lead to loss of detail or the introduction of arbitrary artifacts in the visual representation. Here, we propose mapping OD vectors as cells rather than lines, comparable with the process of constructing OD matrices, but unlike the OD matrix we preserve the spatial layout of all origin and destination locations by constructing a gridded two-level spatial treemap. The result is a set of spatially ordered small multiples upon which any arbitrary geographic data may be projected. Using a HashGrid spatial data structure we explore the characteristics of the technique through a software prototype that allows interactive query and visualisation of 10 5 to 10 6 simulated and recorded OD vectors. The technique is illustrated using US county to county migration and commuting statistics.
Connecting Credit Grantors and Credit Requestors: Towards the Electronic Exchange of Rating-Relevant Information

Before granting new credits, banks must gather qualitative and quantitative information about their prospective customers in order to start a rating process which allows them to assess the credit requestor’s risk class. Driven by intense structural changes within the financial industry and as a result of the specifications of the Basle II accord with regard to the rating process, banks are currently looking for new ways to improve the timeliness and quality of the rating-relevant data provided by credit requestors while at the same time reducing the costs of the rating process. Banks can achieve this by providing a platform for their prospective customers through which real-time financial data (e.g., daily cash flow data) can be transferred in an automated manner. We believe that realtime integration can be beneficial for both market sides, the banks as well as their prospective customers. Within this paper, we focus our attention on the credit requestor side. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and on the literature on innovation adoption, we develop a model of factors that affect the willingness of SMEs to adopt IOS for the purpose of providing real-time rating information to their credit banks. Within six exploratory case studies, we discuss this model with financial decision-makers of German SMEs.
Study of the osseointegration of dental implants placed with an adapted surgical technique.

OBJECTIVE To study the osseointegration of dental implants placed with a modified surgical technique in Beagle dogs and to compare it with the conventional method. MATERIALS AND METHODS Dental implants were placed bilaterally in the mandible of Beagle dogs using the press-fit as well as undersized implant bed preparation technique. Micro computer tomography (micro-CT) and histometric methods were used to analyze the bone implant contact and bone volume (BV) around the implants. RESULTS The bone-to-implant contact percentage (BIC: expressed as %), first BIC (1st BIC: expressed in mm), sulcus depth (SD: expressed in mm) and connective tissue thickness (CT: expressed in mm) were analyzed for both groups. The BIC percentage was significantly higher for the undersized installed implants (P=0.0118). Also, a significant difference existed between the undersized and press-fit installed implants for the first screw thread showing bone contact (P=0.0145). There were no significant differences in mucosal response (SD and CT) for both installation procedures. Also, no significant difference was found in the BV, as measured using micro-CT, between the implants placed with an undersized technique (59.3 ± 4.6) compared with the press-fit implants (56.6 ± 4.3). CONCLUSION From the observations of the study, it can be concluded that an undersized implant bed can enhance the implant-bone response.
Improved long-period generators based on linear recurrences modulo 2

Fast uniform random number generators with extremely long periods have been defined and implemented based on linear recurrences modulo 2. The twisted GFSR and the Mersenne twister are famous recent examples. Besides the period length, the statistical quality of these generators is usually assessed via their equidistribution properties. The huge-period generators proposed so far are not quite optimal in this respect. In this article, we propose new generators of that form with better equidistribution and “bit-mixing” properties for equivalent period length and speed. The state of our new generators evolves in a more chaotic way than for the Mersenne twister. We illustrate how this can reduce the impact of persistent dependencies among successive output values, which can be observed in certain parts of the period of gigantic generators such as the Mersenne twister.
Minute Virus of Mice, a Parvovirus, in Complex with the Fab Fragment of a Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibody

ABSTRACT The structure of virus-like particles of the lymphotropic, immunosuppressive strain of minute virus of mice (MVMi) in complex with the neutralizing Fab fragment of the mouse monoclonal antibody (MAb) B7 was determined by cryo-electron microscopy to 7-Å resolution. The Fab molecule recognizes a conformational epitope at the vertex of a three-fold protrusion on the viral surface, thereby simultaneously engaging three symmetry-related viral proteins in binding. The location of the epitope close to the three-fold axis is consistent with the previous analysis of MVMi mutants able to escape from the B7 antibody. The binding site close to the symmetry axes sterically forbids the binding of more than one Fab molecule per spike. MAb as well as the Fab molecules inhibits the binding of the minute virus of mice (MVM) to permissive cells but can also neutralize MVM postattachment. This finding suggests that the interaction of B7 with three symmetry-related viral subunits at each spike hinders structural transitions in the viral capsid essential during viral entry.
Role of spike protein conformational changes in fusion of Semliki Forest virus

The alphavirus Semliki Forest virus (SFV) and a number of other enveloped animal viruses infect cells via a membrane fusion reaction triggered by the low pH within endocytic vesicles. In addition to having a low pH requirement, SFV fusion and infection are also strictly dependent on the presence of cholesterol in the host cell membrane. A number of conformational changes in the SFV spike protein occur following low-pH treatment, including dissociation of the E1-E2 dimer, conformational changes in the E1 and E2 subunits, and oligomerization of E1 to a homotrimer. To allow the ordering of these events, we have compared the kinetics of these conformational changes with those of fusion, using pH treatment near the fusion threshold and low-temperature incubation to slow the fusion reaction. Dimer dissociation, the E1 conformational change, and E1 trimerization all occur prior to the mixing of virus and cell membranes. Studies of cells incubated at 20 degrees C showed that as with virus fusion, E1 trimerization occurred in the endosome before transport to lysosomes. However, unlike the strictly cholesterol-dependent membrane fusion reaction, the E1 homotrimer was produced in vivo during virus uptake by cholesterol-depleted cells or in vitro by low-pH treatment of virus in the presence of artificial liposomes with or without cholesterol. Purified, lipid-free spike protein rosettes were assayed to determine the requirement for virus membrane cholesterol in E1 homotrimer formation. Spike protein rosettes were found to undergo E1 oligomerization upon exposure to low pH and target liposomes and showed an enhancement of oligomerization with cholesterol-containing membranes. The E1 homotrimer may represent a perfusion complex that requires cholesterol to carry out the final coalescence of the viral and target membranes.