Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Muslim extrinsic cultural religious orientation and identity: relationships with social and personal adjustment in Iran

Especially in Muslim communities, extrinsic motivations for being religious may include the use of religion to promote societal well‐being. Iranian university students responded to statements designed to express an extrinsic cultural religious orientation. Four factors described this motivation, including Family and Social Order, Disorder Avoidance, Peace and Justice, and Cultural Foundations. Extrinsic cultural religious factors correlated positively with identity, displayed limited associations with personal adjustment, and broadly predicted greater social adjustment as reflected in measures of Individualist and Collectivist Values, Collective Self‐Esteem, Empathic Concern, and Perspective Taking. The extrinsic cultural religious orientation also partially mediated the relationship between identity and social adjustment and slightly suppressed the association of identity with personal adjustment. These data confirmed the importance of examining the extrinsic cultural religious orientation in studies of Muslim and perhaps other religious communities.
Resolução temporal de crianças escolares

PURPOSE: to study temporal processing in children with normal development through the Random Gap Detection Test and the Gaps-in-noise Test. METHODS: a population comprised of 73 students, 19 having normal development, between 6 and 14-year old, males and females, no otologic and/or audiologic history, and no learning disabilities; normal hearing; articulatory production of all Portuguese sounds, no auditory processing disorders. RGDT and GIN tests have been used as the procedures of the research, carried out at 50 dB SL, being the first binaural and the second monoaural. A t-test of Student was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: for the RGDT test, the mean value for gap intervals for the 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, 4000 Hz frequencies were 10 msec, 13 msec, 8.69 msec, 11.94 msec and 10.56 msec respectively, there were no significant statistical differences in the performance of the sample related to the tested frequency. For the GIN test, the threshold mean was 5.7 msec for the right ear, 5.4 msec for the left ear, there has been no significant statistical difference as to the ear evaluated. CONCLUSION: there are differences between the thresholds of the tests carried out with the same subjects, that point out to the hypothesis that GIN and RGDT are either not evaluating the same hearing ability or require non-auditory processes for the requested tasks. New research is necessary to better understand the applicability and the parameters of both tests in clinical practice in Brazil.
Age and Skill in Visual Search.

The effects of age and experience on visual-cognitive performance were examined by administering a domain-relevant visual search task and a standard letter search task to skilled and control subjects at 2 age levels (young and middle-aged adults). In the skilled task, subjects searched for a designated item within 3-item displays using images of bacteria morphology as targets and distractors. Each target was preceded by a word prime representative of bacteria morphology that was valid, invalid, or neutral with respect to the diagnostic characteristics of the target
Cause of Death Affects Racial Classification on Death Certificates

Recent research suggests racial classification is responsive to social stereotypes, but how this affects racial classification in national vital statistics is unknown. This study examines whether cause of death influences racial classification on death certificates. We analyze the racial classifications from a nationally representative sample of death certificates and subsequent interviews with the decedents' next of kin and find notable discrepancies between the two racial classifications by cause of death. Cirrhosis decedents are more likely to be recorded as American Indian on their death certificates, and homicide victims are more likely to be recorded as Black; these results remain net of controls for followback survey racial classification, indicating that the relationship we reveal is not simply a restatement of the fact that these causes of death are more prevalent among certain groups. Our findings suggest that seemingly non-racial characteristics, such as cause of death, affect how people are racially perceived by others and thus shape U.S. official statistics.
Integrating Human Demonstration and Reinforcement Learning : Initial Results in Human-Agent Transfer

This work introduces Human-Agent Transfer (HAT), a method that combines transfer learning, learning from demonstration and reinforcement learning to achieve rapid learning and high performance in complex domains. Using experiments in a simulated robot soccer domain, we show that human demonstrations can be transferred into a baseline policy for an agent, and reinforcement learning can be used to significantly improve policy performance. These results are an important initial step that suggest that agents can not only quickly learn to mimic human actions, but that they can also learn to surpass the abilities of the teacher.
The well-being of community residents in remission from major depression disorder

This study hypothesized that the well-being of community residents in remission from major depression disorder (MDD) would not be significantly different from those without MDD. Data from the Midlife in the United States Survey (MIDUS), a prospective general population survey conducted in 1995 and 2004, were analysed. A comparison of the psychological well-being scores, Big Five personality scores and life satisfaction scores of remitted and non-remitted respondents revealed generally small effect size differences. The remitted group were more likely than the non-remitted group to have had past-year panic disorder at follow-up. In general, these results suggest that the well-being of respondents in MDD remission was relatively high.
Second-Level Agenda Setting in the New Hampshire Primary: A Comparison of Coverage in Three Newspapers and Public Perceptions of Candidates

Second-level agenda setting was examined during the New Hampshire primary through a comparison of Gallup poll responses and coverage in three newspapers in the region. Results show that John McCain was covered much more positively than George W. Bush. The findings also show that respondents linked four of six cognitive attributes (issues, personal characteristics) to candidates in direct proportion to media coverage. The results show less support for media influence on the affective (positive) attributes individuals linked to candidates.
Performance of Uplink Multiuser Massive MIMO Systems

We study the performance of uplink transmission in a large-scale (massive) MIMO system, where all the transmitters have single antennas and the receiver (base station) has a large number of antennas. Specifically, we analyze achievable degrees of freedom of the system without assuming channel state information at the receiver. Also, we quantify the amount of power saving that is possible with increasing number of receive antennas.
Improving Municipal Governance in China

In recent years, a serious effort to remake the Chinese administrative system has accelerated. This article explores the dynamics of reforms aimed at improving the bureaucracy's effectiveness in providing services to the public. To illuminate key features of the process of local-level administrative reform, it examines in detail the pathbreaking Service Promise System experiment carried out in the city of Yantai. This case study shows how useful innovative ideas about reform filter into China and then diffuse across organizational and administrative boundaries. It sheds light on the role played by “entrepreneurial executives” (local bureaucrats) in promoting innovative policies and on the features of the Chinese administrative system that shape how reforms are implemented. Drawing on the New Public Management approach to administration, the Service Promise System represented a serious attempt to make the bureaucracy more customer-oriented and professional. The analysis presented in this article highlights the difficulty of achieving these aims while the Chinese Communist Party remains averse to being bound by clear rules and by public opinion.
Spatial statistic to assess remote sensing acreage estimates: An analysis of sugarcane in São Paulo State, Brazil

After the launching of the Landsat-5/TM in the 1980's, remote sensing based methods appeared as an alternative to obtain agricultural statistics. Using the case study of sugarcane acreage in São Paulo State, this paper compares, at a municipal scale, the differences between the remote sensing based (Canasat Project) and the official (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE) estimates of relative sugarcane acreage in 2010. This evaluation was carried out through graphical and spatial statistical analyses. Despite individual divergences, results indicated that on average Canasat and IBGE are in agreement. Moreover, large differences were rarely observed for municipalities with high sugarcane production. The remote sensing based method seems to be of great potential for agricultural statistics as it tends to maintain the consistence of current official agricultural statistics with the benefit of further improving estimates. The spatial statistical analyses showed to be effective to assess remote sensing based acreage estimates.
Schizosaccharomyces pombe Carboxyl-terminal Domain (CTD) Phosphatase Fcp1

Schizosaccharomyces pombe Fcp1 is an essential protein serine phosphatase that preferentially dephosphorylates Ser2 of the RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain (CTD) heptad repeat Y1S2P3T4S5P6S7. Here we show that: (i) Fcp1 acts distributively during the hydrolysis of substrates containing tandem Ser2-PO4 heptads; (ii) the minimal optimal CTD substrate for Fcp1 is a single heptad of phasing S5P6S7Y1S2P3T4; and (iii) single alanine mutations of flanking residues Tyr1 or Pro3 result in 6-fold decrements in CTD phosphatase activity. Fcp1 belongs to the DXDX(T/V) family of phosphotransferases that act via an acyl-phosphoenzyme intermediate. An alanine scan of 11 conserved positions of S. pombe Fcp1 identifies Thr174, Tyr237, Thr243, and Tyr249 as important for phosphatase activity. Structure-activity relationships at these positions were determined by introducing conservative substitutions. Our results, together with previous mutational studies, highlight a constellation of 11 amino acids that are conserved in all Fcp1 orthologs and likely comprise the active site.
Wavelet-domain color image enhancement using filtered directional bases and frequency-adaptive shrinkage

This paper presents a novel wavelet-domain color image enhancement using filtered directional bases and frequency-adaptive shrinkage. Most traditional noise reduction methods tend to over-suppress high-frequency details. For overcoming this problem we first decompose the input image into flat and edge regions, and remove noise using the alpha map computed from wavelet transform coefficients of LH, HL, and HH bands. After removing noise in the flat region, we further remove noise in edge regions by adaptively shrinking wavelet coefficients based on the entropy. Moreover, we present a new directional transform using wavelet basis and Gaussian low pass filters. The wavelet coefficients of edge regions are inverse transformed by using the filtered wavelet bases. Experimental results show the proposed algorithm can reduce noise without losing sharp details and is suitable for commercial low-cost imaging systems, such as digital cameras, CCTV, and surveillance system.
Facial point detection using convolutional neural network transferred from a heterogeneous task

We present a novel training approach that uses convolutional neural network for facial part detection. In the proposed training procedure, we use the parameters of a network obtained for a heterogeneous task as the initial parameters of the network for a target task. We employ a convolutional neural network for facial part labeling in the heterogeneous task, and then transfer the trained network so as to provide initial parameters of the network for facial point detection. This transfer of network is advantageous in the training for a target task in that 1) the network obtains representation kernels for extraction of facial part regions and 2) the network reduces detection errors at distant positions. The performance of the proposed method applied to BioID and Labeled Face Parts in the Wild datasets is comparable to that of state-of-the art methods. In addition, since our network structure is simple, processing takes approximately 3ms for one face on a standard CPU.
Evidence for Contribution of Neutral Trehalase in Barotolerance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

ABSTRACT In yeast, trehalose accumulation and its hydrolysis, which is catalyzed by neutral trehalase, are believed to be important for thermotolerance. We have shown that trehalose is one of the important factors for barotolerance (resistance to hydrostatic pressure); however, nothing is known about the role of neutral trehalase in barotolerance. To estimate the contribution of neutral trehalase in resisting high hydrostatic pressure, we measured the barotolerance of neutral trehalase I and/or neutral trehalase II deletion strains. Under 180 MPa of pressure for 2 h, the neutral trehalase I deletion strain showed higher barotolerance in logarithmic-phase cells and lower barotolerance in stationary-phase cells than the wild-type strain. Introduction of the neutral trehalase I gene (NTH1) into the deletion mutant restored barotolerance defects in stationary-phase cells. Furthermore, we assessed the contribution of neutral trehalase during pressure and recovery conditions by varying the expression ofNTH1 or neutral trehalase activity with a galactose-inducible GAL1 promoter with either glucose or galactose. The low barotolerance observed with glucose repression of neutral trehalase from the GAL1 promoter was restored during recovery with galactose induction. Our results suggest that neutral trehalase contributes to barotolerance, especially during recovery.
Characteristics of Gray Wolf Attacks on Humans in an Altered Landscape in the West of Iran

Wildlife attacks on humans are an example of serious human–wildlife conflict. Such attacks are rarely studied in Asia and particularly not in Iran. A total of 53 wolf (Canis lupus) attacks were recorded on humans in the Hamedan province, a human-dominated landscape in west Iran, between April 2001 and April 2012. Most attacks were classified as predatory (68%) and pet-related (19%) in nature. The majority of victims were children (12 years old or younger; 62%). Most incidents (70%) took place during the wolf’s pup-rearing season. The most frequent human activities at time of attack were recreation based (57%). The locations of attacks occurred frequently in the farmlands (43%) and outskirts of villages (41%). We recommend that future wolf attacks could be reduced or prevented through modification of human behavior and public education designed to prevent the habituation of wolves.
A Parallel DBSCAN Algorithm Based on Spark

With the explosive growth of data, we have entered the era of big data. In order to sift through masses of information, many data mining algorithms using parallelization are being implemented. Cluster analysis occupies a pivotal position in data mining, and the DBSCAN algorithm is one of the most widely used algorithms for clustering. However, when the existing parallel DBSCAN algorithms create data partitions, the original database is usually divided into several disjoint partitions, with the increase in data dimension, the splitting and consolidation of high-dimensional space will consume a lot of time. To solve the problem, this paper proposes a parallel DBSCAN algorithm (S_DBSCAN) based on Spark, which can quickly realize the partition of the original data and the combination of the clustering results. It is divided into the following steps: 1) partitioning the raw data based on a random sample, 2) computing local DBSCAN algorithms in parallel, 3) merging the data partitions based on the centroid. Compared with the traditional DBSCAN algorithm, the experimental result shows the proposed S_DBSCAN algorithm provides better operating efficiency and scalability.
On Frequency Detection Capability of Full-Rate Linear and Binary Phase Detectors

Until now, it has been known that the full-rate linear and binary phase detectors (PDs) cannot detect the frequency difference between the received data and the recovered clock in clock and data recovery (CDR) loops. In this brief, we study the frequency characteristics of the full-rate linear and binary PDs and show that, unlike the binary PD, the linear PD has not only phase detection capability but also frequency detection capability intrinsically. According to our frequency-locked loop analysis, the locking trajectory of a referenceless CDR with only the full-rate linear PD in the single-loop architecture can be represented by using an exponential decay function with a single time constant. MATLAB Simulink simulations agree well with the predicted locking trajectory, which verifies that the full-rate linear PD has frequency detection capability.
Beyond Cultural Capital Theory: Hidden Dimensions of Working Class Learning

The Indian peoples of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, to take one example, have flourished, as have their places, because of their traditions of teaching and learning. Their diverse cultures have continued to be enriched despite the abuses and interventions they have suffered from all kinds of Outsiders. [They] have kept regenerating their language and culture, while coexisting with, as well as resisting, their colonizers' universalizable truths. Their evolving modes of cultural coexistence protect their pluriverse, adapting to each new condition of oppression and domination without losing their historical continuity. When studied from up close, we discover with others that those who become addicted to classroom instruction end up losing real opportunities for gaining the knowledge and skills with which communities endure and flourish.
An expanded test for speech discrimination utilizing CNC monosyllabic words. Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6. SAM-TR-66-55.

Abstract : Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 is composed of four lists of 50 consonant-nucleus-consonant (CNC) monosyllabic words each. The construction of the test followed the same scheme employed earlier in the development of N. U. Test No. 4, a less extensive version using the same type of material. The four lists of N.U. Test No. 6 were given twice to each of two subject groups--one group with normal hearing and another with sensorineural hypoacousis. During each administration, six ascending presentation levels were used ranging from -4-dB to 40-dB sensation level. The two groups yielded articulation functions highly similar to those obtained with the earlier test (N.U. Test No. 4). The new test (N.U. Test No. 6) appears to have good interlist equivalence and high test-retest reliability. It thus retains the desirable features of the earlier tool while doubling the inventory of items available for the measurement of phonemic discrimination.
Waveform inversion of marine reflection seismograms for P impedance and Poisson's ratio

SUMMARY The estimation of the elastic properties o the crust from surface seismic recordings is of great importance for an understanding of the lithology and the detection of mineral resources. Although in marine reflection experiments only P waves are recorded, information on shear properties o the medium si contained in the reflection amplitudes recorded at different distances from the source. Being able to estimate both dialatational and shear properties gives stronger constraints on the lithology. It is therefore desirable to recover both types of elastic parameters from multi-offset seismograms. In the real-data example presented here, the amplitude of the reflections cannot be explained by one parameter related to the dilatational properties (P impedance) only, when, trying to minimize the least-squares fit between synthetic and real multi-offset seismograms. When adding an additional parameter related to the shear properties (Poisson's ratio), the fit between synthetic and real seismograms improves. Synthetic-wavefrom-fitting experiments underline the possibility of recovering Poisson's ration when the P-impedance model is well known from fitting waeveforms recorded at small offsetts. In the real-data example, the resulting models for P impedance and Poisson's ratio are anticorrelated in most depth regions, but are correlated in particular depth region, indicating a sudden change in lithology.
Optimal Periodic Sensor Scheduling in Networks of Dynamical Systems

We consider the problem of finding optimal time-periodic sensor schedules for estimating the state of discrete-time dynamical systems. We assume that multiple sensors have been deployed and that the sensors are subject to resource constraints, which limits the number of times each can be activated over one period of the periodic schedule. We seek an algorithm that strikes a balance between estimation accuracy and total sensor activations over one period. We make a correspondence between active sensors and the nonzero columns of the estimator gain. We formulate an optimization problem in which we minimize the trace of the error covariance with respect to the estimator gain while simultaneously penalizing the number of nonzero columns of the estimator gain. This optimization problem is combinatorial in nature, and we employ the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) to find its locally optimal solutions. Numerical results and comparisons with other sensor scheduling algorithms in the literature are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.
Rejoinder to Coady, Stalker, and Levene's Response to Gingerich

To the Editor: In the March-April issue of Families in Society, Coady, Stalker, and Levene (2000) responded to my letter (same issue), in which I suggested that their conclusion that no methodologically sound studies on SFBT have been conducted (Stalker, Levene, & Coady, 1999) was inaccurate. I called their attention to 15 controlled- outcome studies of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) that Sheri Eisengart and I had identified in a review of the research (Gingerich & Eisengart, 1999). 1 In their response to my letter, Coady and colleagues indicated they made a quick perusal of the 15 SFBT outcome studies but dismissed most of them because they were obviously methodologically unsound. They acknowledged the existence of four studies that they could construe as controlled-outcome studies of any type but indicated that none provide clear support for the effectiveness of SFBT. Their conclusion remained the same: We maintain that there is no empirical evidence of SFBT's superior effectiveness or brevity.