Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Battery For The Assessment of Visuo-Spatial Abilities Involved in Drawing Tasks

Drawing ability is a complex cognitive process that involves different aspects of visuo-spatial skills. To date, the link between these functions has not been deeply investigated because of the absence of a standardized test that globally analyzes the basic aspects of visuo-spatial processes. The aim of this study was to examine the dimensionality, reliability, and validity of a new battery assessing basic visuo-spatial abilities implied in drawing tasks. A total of 370 children (aged 4–11 years) participated in the study. In order to analyze the psychometric properties of the battery subscales, data were analyzed with a Rasch model and compared with other standardized tests. For each subscale items were compared and ordered on the latent trait, and the misfitting items eliminated. The results of this study provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the battery, and indicate that the battery can be a valid tool for researchers interested in investigating the development of visuo-spatial abilities and the relationship between basic visuo-spatial abilities and general cognitive abilities.
Are Intergovernmental Grants Tactical? The Evidence from Russia

Two hypotheses about the determinants of Russian intergovernmental grants are tested empirically. According to first hypothesis, federal transfers to regions correlate with recent voting behavior of regional electorates. Second hypothesis states that transfers are higher in regions with politically powerful governors. We find a strong confirmation for the first hypothesis and no evidence for the second for years 1995-1998. This result is robust across specifications. Panel data analysis allows us to control for regional fixed effects. However, in years 1999-2001 election variables show no effect on transfers. It appears that in the nineties transfers were used by the incumbent government to enhance its reelection probabilities, while by the end of the century this mechanism was no longer in use as the transfer system has become more transparent and objective.
Record Large-Area p-Type CZ Production Cell Efficiency of 19.3% Based on LDSE Technology

A record independently confirmed production cell efficiency of 19.3% is presented for a large-area p-type Czochralski (CZ) silicon solar cell, based on the University of New South Wales (UNSW) laser-doped selective emitter technology. In this paper, the innovative and patented laser-doping technology is simply added to a standard Centrotherm turnkey line, operating with a modified process and the addition of the laser-doping and light-induced plating steps. Impressively, this record efficiency is achieved by using standard commercial grade p-type CZ-grown silicon wafers on standard production equipment and exceeds the previous independently confirmed record for any technology of 19.2% using a standard aluminum back-surface field with full rear coverage. The avoidance of laser-induced defects is discussed in this paper to overcome previous limitations of the laser-doping technology using conventional Q-switched lasers or the laser chemical processing method. It is demonstrated that the use of appropriate lasers can avoid defect formation through thermal cycling while still allowing for the sufficient mixing of dopants and allow laser doping to be performed through a standard SiN layer with contacts formed through a self-aligning metallization scheme.
Knowledge creation in marketing: the role of predictive analytics

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of predictive analytics, summarize how it is impacting knowledge creation in marketing, and suggest future developments in marketing and predictive analytics for both organizations and researchers.Design/methodology/approach – Survival in a knowledge‐based economy is derived from the ability to convert information to knowledge. To do so, researchers and managers increasingly are relying on the field of predictive analytics. Data mining identifies and confirms relationships between explanatory and criterion variables. Predictive analytics uses confirmed relationships between variables to predict future outcomes. The predictions are most often values suggesting the likelihood a particular behavior or event will take place in the future.Findings – Data mining and predictive analytics are increasingly popular because of the substantial contributions they can make in converting information to knowledge. Marketing is among the most frequent applicati.
An Integrated Competitive-Approach for the Remuneration of VAR Producers in an Open-Access Environment

This paper proposes a comprehensive competitive-based scheme for procuring VAR ancillary services from the dynamic sources in an open-access environment. To make an incentive for the market participants, the proposed pricing mechanism includes VAR capacity as well as VAR utilization during system operation. In order to accommodate real power system circumstances and evaluate realistically expected total VAR capacity and utilization payment during the contracted period, multiple load levels and the associated critical contingencies for each load level with their occurrence probabilities are addressed. The problem is stated as a large-scale minimization problem so that the financial and technical issues, emphasizing voltage security issue, are regarded explicitly in a new unified single formulation. The proposed formulation stresses the fairly payment in terms of the VAR capacity and VAR utilization for the worthy VAR providers that are critical for keeping system security under multiple transition states. The method has been tested on IEEE-57 bus system to examine its capability. Keywords: deregulation, VAR market, ancillary service pricing, voltage security, PSO.
Heat generation in illuminated gold nanoparticles on a flat surface

The generation of heat in a group of nanoparticles attached to a flat surface due to absorption of light was studied. The reflection of light by the substrate was specifically considered and it was found that, depending on the incident angle and the polarization of the incident light, the reflected light can strongly affect the absorption efficiency of the nanoparticles. Therefore, the reflection plays an important role in the nanoparticle heating process. Heat transfer from the nanoparticles to the substrate was also investigated and it was found that the temperature of the nanoparticles and substrate is largest when the contact area between them is minimized.
Testing the Efficiency of Thin Forward Foreign Exchange Markets: An Application of Instrumental Variable Multiple Regression with Integrated, I(1), Variables

This paper applies the recently developed asymptotic theory on instrumental variable estimation of multivariate cointegrating regression by Phillips and Hansen (1990) to test the efficiency of three thin forward markets, i.e., the markets for two-, six- and twelve-month forward foreign exchange. The procedure involves semi-parametric corrections not only for long-run endogeneity but also for heteroskedasticity and serial correlation. The results suggest that when constant, time and polynomial trends are used as instruments, the unbiasedness hypothesis can be rejected for all the forward contract maturities. However, when sinusoidal instruments are added it is not possible to reject the hypothesis for most of the two-month forward exchange rates. Copyright 1992 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd and The Victoria University of Manchester
Lean: A failed theory for public services?

Abstract ‘Lean’ has become a popular approach to public service reform. In the current era of reduced public spending, it promises to maintain service productivity, improve utilisation and maintain quality. Drawing on literature and empirical data, this paper will argue that the implementation of Lean to date has been defective – it has focused on the technical tools of implementation without an over-arching business logic to validate it. This paper will argue that Lean can only achieve its potential in public services when based within a public service dominant business logic. Without this, Lean is doomed to fail both as a theory and a set of practices.
Identification of the First Riboflavin Catabolic Gene Cluster Isolated from Microbacterium maritypicum G10*

Riboflavin is a common cofactor, and its biosynthetic pathway is well characterized. However, its catabolic pathway, despite intriguing hints in a few distinct organisms, has never been established. This article describes the isolation of a Microbacterium maritypicum riboflavin catabolic strain, and the cloning of the riboflavin catabolic genes. RcaA, RcaB, RcaD, and RcaE were overexpressed and biochemically characterized as riboflavin kinase, riboflavin reductase, ribokinase, and riboflavin hydrolase, respectively. Based on these activities, a pathway for riboflavin catabolism is proposed.
Causal Inference in Civil Rights Litigation

Civil rights litigation often concerns the causal effect of some characteristic on decisions made by a governmental or socioeconomic actor. An analyst may be interested, for example, in the effect of victim race on jury imposition of the death penalty, in the effect of applicant gender on a firm’s hiring decisions, or in the effect of candidate ethnicity on election results. For the past thirty years, such analyses have primarily been accomplished via a statistical technique known as regression. But as it has been used in civil rights litigation, regression suffers from several shortcomings: it facilitates biased, result-oriented thinking by expert witnesses; it encourages judges and litigators to believe that all questions are equally answerable; and it gives the wrong answer in situations in which such might be avoided. These difficulties, and several others, all stem from the fact that regression does not begin with a paradigm for defining causal effects and for drawing causal inferences. This Article argues for a wholesale change in thinking in this area, from a focus on regression coefficients to an explicit framework of causation called “potential outcomes. ” The potential outcomes paradigm of causal inference, which (for lawyers) may be analogized to but-for causation with a renewed emphasis on time, addresses many of the shortcomings of regression as the latter is currently used in civil rights litigation, and it does so within a framework courts, litigators, and juries can understand. This Article explains regression and the potential outcomes paradigm and discusses the latter’s application in the death penalty, employment discrimination, and redistricting settings.
Estimation of FMCW radar system performance using measurement data of a 77-GHz transmitter

The influence of phase noise and frequency sweep linearity on radar system performance is discussed using measurement data of a linear frequency modulated continuous wave (LFMCW) radar transmitter, consisting of a 77-GHz voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and a 19-GHz down-converter manufactured in a 200-GHz silicon germanium (SiGe) technology.
Adding network bandwidth resource management to Hadoop YARN

YARN (Yet Another Resource Negotiator) is an emerging resource management system in Hadoop platform which can process big data in the scale of petabytes/day. YARN, as a resource management system, needs manage all kinds of resources in the clusters, such as cpu, memory, disk io, network io and so on. At present, YARN mainly focuses on computing resource and storage resource (CPU and memory), while ignoring network management. But research shows that efficient network bandwidth resource management is crucial to optimize performance. In this paper we present a network bandwidth resource management mechanism based on YARN that takes into account the allocation and isolation of applications' network bandwidth. Experiments show that the proposed solution makes YARN run applications in a more predictable manner.
Counterinsurgency's Impact on Transitions from Authoritarianism: The Case of South Africa

Counterinsurgency's impact on transitions from authoritarianism remains poorly understood and under-theorized. Using archival sources and interviews with ex-rebels, this paper examines the apartheid counterinsurgency programme's hidden history. A programme of clandestine violence and intelligence operations orchestrated at the regime's highest military and political echelons, it intensified during the 1990–1994 transitional period. This paper analyses its impacts on the state and its security sector during and after the negotiated transition. By marginalizing former rebels with high popular legitimacy, counterinsurgency compromised South Africa's process of security sector reform, while helping to preserve entrenched criminal networks and racist tendencies within the police and army. This has perpetuated institutional illegitimacy and corruption, and weakened security sector responses to South Africa's post-transition surge of violent crime, thereby undermining democratic consolidation. Apartheid counterinsurgency has also left lasting impacts at the social capital and participatory levels, contributing to the erosion of trust between civil society and the state.
Use of Personality Assessment Measures in the Selection of Air Traffic Control Specialists

Abstract : Three studies illustrated the uses of personality assessment methods for selection of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control specialists (ATCSs). Study 1, using a select-out approach to the problems of screen, compared the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF) results with NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) results from 122 student ATCS participants. Results suggest that the current approach to personality assessment during the initial medical examination focuses primarily on the extent to which the applicant reports symptoms consistent with neurotic, inefficient, and perhaps argumentative characteristics. The remaining two studies consider select-in strategies looking at the psychometric issues of reliability, specificity, and validity. Study 2 examined the NEO PI-R along with the Experiences Questionnaire (EQ) subtests of the Air Traffic-Selection and Training (AT-SAT) battery scores.
Mineralization and immobilization of nitrogen in heath soil under intact Calluna , after heather beetle infestation and nitrogen fertilization

The maintenance of low availability of mineral N in heath soils is thought to be a key factor for the stability of heathland ecosystems. We investigated the turnover of NH4  and NO3 ÿ in the organic surface layer of soils from a Danish heathland using N isotope techniques in laboratory incubations. The soils were sampled under intact and dead Calluna vegetation. The dead Calluna vegetation had been fertilized at rates of 0, 15 or 35 kg N haÿ1 per year and the death of vegetation had been caused by a naturally occurring heather beetle infestation. In the soil under intact Calluna, the NH4  pool was very low with no net mineralization, while a substantial mineralization-immobilization turnover of NH4  was found with a large capacity for short term net NH4  immobilization (36 mg N gÿ1 during 1 h; 135 mg N gÿ1 during 24 h). The metabolic inhibitor mercury chloride completely inhibited assimilation of NH4  indicating the process was biological. The immobilization of NH4  had no short or long-term (38 days) effect on soil respiration while NH4  immobilization stimulated net mineralization of soil N during long-term incubation. The soils sampled under dead and dead/fertilized Calluna had large pools and high net mineralization rates of NH4  with a decrease of gross NH4  immobilization relative to the soil under intact Calluna. Neither net nor gross nitri®cation activity could be detected in any of the soils. The results indicate that the effects of an increased atmospheric N deposition to the heathland may be delayed because of the tight cycling of NH4  and the storage capacity for N in the soil and vegetation. The ecosystem may, however, be susceptible to disruption of the tight NH4  cycling because of the limited capacity of the ecosystem to remove excess mineral N from the soil. This may increase the risk of conversion of the heath into grassland. # 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Otto Kahn-Freund and Collective Laissez-Faire: An Edifice Without a Keystone?

This paper describes Otto Kahn-Freund's advocacy of the British ‘collective laissez-faire’ system of regulation of industrial relations, in which regulation proceeded autonomously of the state. It suggests that a weakness of collective laissez-faire as a normative principle was its failure to make adequate provision for the furtherance of the public interest. It links this failure to a more general reluctance, on the part of Kahn-Freund, to conceive of the state as representative of the public interest. And it seeks to explain this reluctance with reference to Kahn-Freund's experiences of living and working as a labour court judge in the Weimar Republic, and of moving to the UK as a refugee from Nazism.
In Vivo Activity of Cefquinome against Escherichia coli in the Thighs of Neutropenic Mice

ABSTRACT Cefquinome is a cephalosporin with broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, including activity against enteric Gram-negative bacilli such as Escherichia coli. We utilized a neutropenic mouse model of colibacillosis to examine the pharmacodynamic (PD) characteristics of cefquinome, as measured by organism number in homogenized thigh cultures after 24 h of therapy. Serum drug levels following 4-fold-escalating single doses of cefquinome were measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The pharmacokinetic (PK) properties of cefquinome were linear over a dose range of 10 to 640 mg/kg of body weight. Serum half-lives ranged from 0.29 to 0.32 h. Dose fractionation studies over a 24-h dose range of 2.5 to 320 mg/kg were conducted every 3, 6, 12, or 24 h. Nonlinear regression analysis was used to determine which pharmacodynamic parameter best correlated with efficacy. The free percentage of the dosing interval that the serum levels exceed the MIC (fT>MIC) was the PK-PD index that best correlated with efficacy (R2 = 73% for E. coli, compared with 13% for the maximum concentration of the free drug in serum [fCmax]/MIC and 45% for the free-drug area under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 24 h [fAUC0-24]/MIC). Subsequently, we employed a similar dosing strategy by using 4-fold-increasing total cefquinome doses administered every 4 h to treat animals infected with four additional E. coli isolates. A sigmoid maximum-effect (Emax) model was used to estimate the magnitudes of the %fT>MIC associated with net bacterial stasis, a 1-log10 CFU reduction from baseline, and a 2-log10 CFU reduction from baseline; the corresponding values were 28.01% ± 2.27%, 37.23% ± 4.05%, and 51.69% ± 9.72%. The potent bactericidal activity makes cefquinome an attractive option for the treatment of infections caused by E. coli.
Noise-shaped post-mixer blocker filter for integrated receivers

In this paper, analysis and design of a frequency dependent negative resistance (FDNR) based noise-shaping elliptic blocker filtering technique is presented. Due to its noise shaping characteristics, the circuit can provide a third-order low-pass elliptic response with an input referred noise density of 7.2nV/sqrtHz. The proposed circuit relaxes the noise-linearity trade-off a receiver chain by providing blocker rejection with a minimal area and noise cost. The design occupies a die area of 350 ¿m by 700 ¿m in a 65-nm CMOS process covering a frequency band of 700-KHz to 5.2 MHz as a universal direct-conversion base-band filtering solution.
Cashing in on the green machine: are developers in the UK missing out?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons behind the apparent reluctance of UK residential developers to embrace microgeneration technology and adopt it large‐scale across their developments despite consumer demand for post‐construction microgeneration technologies. This paper explores residential developers’ attitudes towards these technologies, their perceptions of drivers and barriers to sustainability, supply and demand issues and perceptions of the potential contribution that microgeneration technologies could make towards sustainable construction across the UK.Design/methodological/approach – This paper reports on the findings from 12 telephone interviews with UK residential developers which were carried out in May 2007.Findings – The main driver towards sustainability was legislation. The most favoured microgeneration technology amongst developers was solar thermal, as it was perceived to be the most established microgeneration technology. Barriers towards adopting this technolo.
Olfaction‐associated quality of life in chronic rhinosinusitis: Adaptation and validation of an olfaction‐specific questionnaire

To detect validity and reliability of the Questionnaire of Olfactory Disorders (QOD) compared to other quality‐of‐life (QoL) questionnaires, to explore its ability to reflect olfaction‐related QoL changes, and to investigate age‐ and gender‐related effects of olfactory changes on QOD results.
Spatial context driven manifold learning for hyperspectral image classification

Manifold learning techniques have been demonstrated to be successful in representing spectral signatures in hyperspectral images, which consist of spectral features with very subtle differences and often spatially induced disjoint classes whose neighborhood relations are difficult to capture using traditional graph based embedding techniques. Robust parameter estimation is a challenge in traditional kernel functions that compute neighborhood graphs e.g finding the optimal number of nearest neighbors. We address these challenges by proposing spatial context driven manifold learning methods. Empirically, the study reveals that use of spatial contextual information has a bearing on the structure of the graph Laplacian that in turn links image pixel observations to their manifold spaces. Further experimental results demonstrate an improvement in the classification performance compared to traditional manifold learning methods.
Intrabreath diffusing capacity of the lung in healthy individuals at rest and during exercise.

BACKGROUND Traditional approaches to measuring the diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) treat the lung as a single, well-mixed compartment and produce a single value for DLCO to represent an average diffusing capacity of the lung (DL). Because DL distribution in the lung is inhomogeneous, and changes in the DL in diseased lungs may be regional, measuring regional DL, especially during exercise, may be more sensitive in detecting pulmonary vascular diseases. OBJECTIVES To characterize regional changes in DL in healthy individuals from rest to exercise, and to provide normal references for future studies in pulmonary vascular disorders. METHODS We reanalyzed DLCO and phase III CH(4) slopes that were obtained during a slow, single exhalation at rest and during exercise in our extended database of 105 healthy individuals. DLCO profiles between 20% and 80% of exhaled vital capacity (VC) (ie, the intrabreath DLCO) were analyzed by calculating the average DLCO measured at midlung volume (ie, 30 to 45% of exhaled VC [DLCOMLV]) and by fitting the whole curve with a third-order polynomial equation. RESULTS DLCO decreased nonlinearly by approximately 30%, from 20 to 80% of exhaled VC at rest. DLCO during exercise was greater than that at rest, and the increase was similar at all lung volumes. The CH(4) slopes at rest and during exercise were similar. Prediction equations based on regressions on age, sex, and height were computed for resting and exercise DLCOMLV and the phase III CH(4) slope (an index of ventilation distribution). CONCLUSIONS Capillary recruitment/dilation during exercise in healthy individuals is a uniform process throughout the lungs. Our analyses provide a database for a noninvasive method that can incorporate exercise to evaluate the volume-dependent distribution of DLCO in lung diseases.