Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adapting to Unknown Smoothness via Wavelet Shrinkage

Abstract We attempt to recover a function of unknown smoothness from noisy sampled data. We introduce a procedure, SureShrink, that suppresses noise by thresholding the empirical wavelet coefficients. The thresholding is adaptive: A threshold level is assigned to each dyadic resolution level by the principle of minimizing the Stein unbiased estimate of risk (Sure) for threshold estimates. The computational effort of the overall procedure is order N · log(N) as a function of the sample size N. SureShrink is smoothness adaptive: If the unknown function contains jumps, then the reconstruction (essentially) does also; if the unknown function has a smooth piece, then the reconstruction is (essentially) as smooth as the mother wavelet will allow. The procedure is in a sense optimally smoothness adaptive: It is near minimax simultaneously over a whole interval of the Besov scale; the size of this interval depends on the choice of mother wavelet. We know from a previous paper by the authors that traditional smoot.
A synthesis-based test generation and compaction algorithm for multifaults

Because of its inherent complexity, the problem of automatic test pattern generation for multiple stuck-at faults (multifaults) has been largely ignored. Recently, the observation that multifault testability is retained by algebraic factorization demonstrated that single fault (and therefore multifault) vector sets for two-level circuits could give complete multifault coverage for multilevel circuits constructed by algebraic factorization. Unfortunately, in using this method the vector set size can be much larger than what is really required to achieve multifault coverage, and the approach has some limitations in its applicability.In this article we first present a multifault test generation and compaction strategy for algebraically factored multilevel circuits, synthesized from two-level representations. We give a basic sufficiency condition for multifault testability of such networks.We next focus on the relationship between hazard-free robust path-delay-fault testability and multifault testability. We show that the former implies the latter for arbitrary multilevel circuits. This allows the use of previously developed composition rules that maintain path-delay-fault testability for the synthesis of multifault testable circuits.We identify a class of multiplexor-based networks and prove an interesting property of such networks—if the networks are fully single stuck-at fault testable, or made fully single stuck-at fault testable, they are completely multifault testable. We give a multifault test generation and compaction algorithm for such networks.We provide experimental results which indicate that a compacted multifault test set derived using the above strategies can be significantly smaller than the test set derived using previously proposed procedures. These results also indicate the substantially wider applicability of our procedures, as compared to previous techniques.
When invasive ants meet: effects of outbreeding on queen performance in the tramp ant Cardiocondyla itsukii

Most disturbed habitats in the tropics and subtropics harbor numerous species of invasive ants, and occasionally the same species has been introduced repeatedly from multiple geographical sources. We examined how experimental crossbreeding between sexuals from different populations affects the fitness of queens of the tramp ant Cardiocondyla itsukii, which is widely distributed in Asia and the Pacific Islands. Eggs laid by queens that mated with nestmate males had a higher hatching rate than eggs laid by queens mated to males from neighboring (Hawaii × Kauai) or distant introduced populations (Hawaii/Kauai × Okinawa). Furthermore, inbreeding queens had a longer lifespan and produced a less female‐biased offspring sex ratio than queens from allopatric mating. This suggests that the genetic divergence between different source populations may already be so large that in case of multiple invasions eventual crossbreeding might negatively affect the fitness of tramp ants.
An Ecological Approach to Understanding Delinquency of Youths in Foster Care

ABSTRACT This review highlights the importance of an ecological approach to understanding delinquent behaviors of youth in foster care. The author provides clarification on the specific aspects of Ecological Theory that are considered in this review. The author highlights how Brofenbrenner’s Ecological Theory can be useful for various professionals working with these youths. Relevance of the theory in regards to implications for both clinical practice and policy are discussed, in addition to research. The author describes how an ecological approach provides a more comprehensive approach to understanding delinquency of youth in care.
Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia: Validation of the Japanese version

Abstract This preliminary study was performed to test the reliability and validity of the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) as an assessment tool in a Japanese‐language version (BACS‐J). The subjects for the present study were 30 outpatients with chronic schizophrenia. Each subject gave written informed consent to participate in the research. Cronbach's alpha for the BACS‐J was 0.77. The BACS‐J composite score was significantly correlated with all primary measures of BACS‐J (verbal memory, working memory, motor speed, verbal fluency, attention, and executive function). All BACS‐J primary measures and the composite score were significantly correlated between two assessments. The mean score of the Digit Sequencing Task and composite score on the second assessment were significantly larger than those on the first assessment. All BACS‐J primary measures except the Symbol Coding Task were significantly correlated with relevant standard neurocognitive tests. Also, the BACS‐J composite score was significantly correlated with all standard neurocognitive tests except the Continuous Performance Test. A principal components analysis with varimax rotation resulted in a three‐factor solution (executive function and memory; motor speed and general cognitive functions; and working memory). This preliminary study indicates that the BACS‐J is a reliable and practical scale to evaluate cognitive function.
Adaptive IIR digital filtering using an analog neural network

A novel neural network method for adaptive IIR digital filtering is proposed. Based on the linear prediction principle and the observable data at the IIR filter input and output prior to the current iteration time k, an analog neural network is used to estimate the filter coefficients of the next iteration time k+1. Computer simulation results are given which indicate our method has several advantages over the conventional LMS algorithm in stability and convergence.
What Matters in Corporate Governance?

We investigate which provisions, among a set of twenty-four governance provisions followed by the Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC), are correlated with firm value and stockholder returns. Based on this analysis, we put forward an entrenchment index based on six provisions - four constitutional provisions that prevent a majority of shareholders from having their way (staggered boards, limits to shareholder bylaw amendments, supermajority requirements for mergers, and supermajority requirements for charter amendments), and two takeover readiness provisions that boards put in place to be ready for a hostile takeover (poison pills and golden parachutes). We find that increases in the level of this index are monotonically associated with economically significant reductions in firm valuation, as measured by Tobin's Q. We present suggestive evidence that the entrenching provisions cause lower firm valuation. We also find that firms with higher levels of the entrenchment index were associated with large negative abnormal returns during the 1990-2003 period. Moreover, examining all sub-periods of two or more years within this period, we find that a strategy of buying low entrenchment firms and selling short high entrenchment firms out-performs the market in most such periods and does not under-perform the market even in a single sub-period. Finally, we find that the provisions in our entrenchment index fully drive the correlation, identified by prior work, that the IRRC provisions in the aggregate have with reduced firm value and lower stock returns during the 1990s; we do not find any evidence that the other eighteen IRRC provisions are negatively correlated with either firm value or stock returns during the 1990-2003 period. Data on the entrenchment index for the period 1990-2007, and a list of over seventy-five studies using our entrenchment index, is available for downloading at Lucian Bebchuk's home page.
Social network of support and biopsychosocial adjustment during ageing: a comparative analysis in the community and residential context

El presente trabajo analiza el nivel de ajuste biopsicosocial en dos grupos de personas mayores de 69 años. Un grupo general (N=109) de personas mayores viviendo en su hogar y un grupo diana (N=100) de personas mayores viviendo en residencias de tercera edad. Se evaluaron medidas de apoyo social, autoestima, salud general y depresión. Los resultados muestran el diferente nivel de ajuste biopsicosocial en ambos grupos, con especial diferencia en todas las medidas de apoyo social. Un análisis de las redes de apoyo en ambos grupos permite encontrar diferencias también en las fuentes de apoyo. Se discuten los resultados y se proponen vías de intervención en función de éstos.
The empire that was Russia: the Prokudin-Gorskii photographic record re-created

The story of the effort of the Library of Congress to preserve and make accessible color images taken by the innovative scientist-photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii begins a century ago in prerevolutionary Russia and ends with Internet access to stunning digital reproductions created by LC staffers and others. The story involves Tsar Nicholas II, the hiding of images in cellars deep below Paris during World War II, and the use of modern digital, high-resolution scanners and computer software to render more than 121 digital images in vibrant natural colors derived from Prokudin-Gorskii's glass-plate negatives. In 2000, as part of the effort to preserve the images, the Library of Congress scanned all 1,903 original glass-plate negatives at uninterpolated 1,000 pixels/inch, 16-bit grayscale mode, saving them as uncompressed TIFF format image files. Information Technology Services (ITS) staff located experts with the photography expertise and digital image technology to recover full-color digital images from these near-century-old "color-separation" negatives. Many Library divisions and two contractors collaborated on this project, which culminated in an exhibition in 2001. There is ready access to all the negatives and albums in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, http://lcweb2.loc. gov/pp/pphome.html.
Australian women's needs and preferences for information about human papillomavirus in cervical screening

Objective: The role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in cervical cancer and developments in medical technology to prevent cervical cancer has changed information needs for women participating in cervical screening. Design: Qualitative face-to-face interviews were conducted with 19 women diagnosed with HPV infection on their Pap smear following routine cervical screening. Setting: Family planning clinics, general practice and specialist gynaecologist practices in Sydney and the surrounding area, Australia. Main outcome measures: Women's information needs, preferences and experiences of HPV diagnosis. Results: Women wanted further information on different HPV viral types, transmission, implications for sexual partners, prevalence, latency and regression of HPV, their management options and the implications of infection for cancer risk and fertility. Uncertainty about the key aspects of HPV, the style in which the clinician communicated the result and the mode of delivering the result (letter, telephone or consultation) influenced women's psychological response to the diagnosis of HPV. The delivery of results by letter alone was linked to considerable anxiety among the women interviewed. Women's experience of searching the Internet for further information about HPV was reported as difficult, anxiety provoking and contributing to the stigma of the infection because information was often located in the context of other sexually transmitted infections, with multiple sexual partners highlighted as a risk factor for infection. Conclusion: Women participating in cervical screening need high-quality information about HPV and its role in cervical cancer prior to screening rather than afterwards, when they face an abnormal result. The clinician potentially plays an important role in moderating the effects of diagnosis through the manner and mode in which an HPV diagnosis is delivered. Revision of cervical screening policy and practice in light of the changes in the understanding of HPV is recommended.
Fast mining maximal sequential patterns

Sequential patterns mining is now widely used in many areas, such as the analysis of e-Learning sequential patterns, web log analysis, customer buying behavior analysis and etc. In the discipline of data mining, runtime and search space are always the two major issues. In this paper, we had study many previous works to analyze these two problems, and propose a new algorithm with more condense structure and faster process to find out the complete frequent sequential patterns.
Map-aided Dead-reckoning - A Study on Locational Privacy in Insurance Telematics

We present a particle-based framework for estimating the position of a vehicle using map information and measurements of speed. Two measurement functions are considered. The first is based on the assumption that the lateral force on the vehicle does not exceed critical limits derived from physical constraints. The second is based on the assumption that the driver approaches a target speed derived from the speed limits along the upcoming trajectory. Performance evaluations of the proposed method indicate that end destinations often can be estimated with an accuracy in the order of $100\,[m]$. These results expose the sensitivity and commercial value of data collected in many of today's insurance telematics programs, and thereby have privacy implications for millions of policyholders. We end by discussing the strengths and weaknesses of different methods for anonymization and privacy preservation in telematics programs.
Is Organization Theory Obvious to Practitioners? A Test of One Established Theory

Critics have argued that organization theories which "work" are obvious to practitioners; that is, the theories simply confirm relationships that are already well understood by experienced managers. In our study, four types of respondents--Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) with business school education, CEOs without such education, graduating MBA students, and liberal arts graduate students--were presented with theory-based performance-rating tasks. These tasks identified respondents' beliefs regarding high-performance alignments of businesslevel strategy, structure, and environment for manufacturing firms. The respondents' cause maps were then compared to one another and to the alignment-performance relationships prescribed by business-level contingency theory.The graduating MBAs' cause maps reflected contingency theory most closely. The MBAs' cause maps weremuch closer to prescriptions of the theory, however, than were those of either the liberal arts graduate students or the experienced CEOs. This suggests that business-level contingency theory isnot obvious to educated laypersons,or to highly experienced practitioners; both groups would find that the theorydisconfirms aspects of their causal expectations. Further, each of the four respondent types in our study emphasizeddifferent contingency factors during the decision-making exercise. We discuss these results and their implications.
The Multicultural Jigsaw Puzzle

This research introduces and examines the relatively novel concept of category indispensability. It is examined whether the perception of subgroup indispensability for the identity of a superordinate category is associated with majority members’ acceptance of minority rights. We investigated the role of perceived national category indispensability of immigrants for native’s acceptances of immigrants’ expressive cultural rights. The general hypothesis tested is that higher perceived category indispensability of immigrant groups is associated with higher acceptance. Results from four studies provide support for this hypothesis among native Dutch participants living in the Netherlands. Furthermore, the relationship was found to be mediated by a sense of common dual belonging and by deprovincialization beliefs.
A Quantitative Analysis of Unemployment Benefit Extensions

This paper measures the effect of extensions of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits on the unemployment rate using a calibrated structural model that features job search and consumption-saving decision, skill depreciation, UI eligibility, and UI benefit extensions that capture what has happened during the current downturn. I find that the extensions of UI benefits contributed to an increase in the unemployment rate by 1.2 percentage points, which is about a quarter of an observed increase during the current downturn (a 5.1 percentage point increase from 4.8 percent at the end of 2007 to 9.9 percent in the fall of 2009). Among the remaining 3.9 percentage points, 2.4 percentage points are due to the large increase in the separation rate, while the staggering job-finding probability contributes 1.4 percentage points. The last extension in December 2010 moderately slows down the recovery of the unemployment rate. Specifically, the model indicates that the last extension keeps the unemployment rate higher by up to 0.4 percentage point during 2011.
Revealing of the ultrafast third-order nonlinear optical response and enabled photonic application in two-dimensional tin sulfide

Black phosphorus (BP), a typical mono-elemental and two-dimensional (2D) material, has gathered significant attention owing to its distinct optoelectronic properties and promising applications, despite its main obstacle of long-term stability. Consequently, BP-analog materials with long-term chemical stability show additional potential. In this contribution, tin sulfide (SnS), a novel two-elemental and 2D structural BP-analog monochalcogenide, has been demonstrated to show enhanced stability under ambient conditions. The broadband nonlinear optical properties and carrier dynamics have been systematically investigated via Z-scan and transient absorption approaches. The excellent nonlinear absorption coefficient of 50.5×10−3 cm/GW, 1 order of magnitude larger than that of BP, endows the promising application of SnS in ultrafast laser generation. Two different decay times of τ1∼873 fs and τ2∼96.9 ps allow the alteration between pure Q switching and continuous-wave (CW) mode locking in an identical laser resonator. Both mode-locked and Q-switched operations have been experimentally demonstrated using an SnS saturable absorber at the telecommunication window. Femtosecond laser pulses with tunable wavelength and high stability are easily obtained, suggesting the promising potential of SnS as an efficient optical modulator for ultrafast photonics. This primary investigation may be considered an important step towards stable and high-performance BP-analog material-based photonic devices.
Test Review Nos. 13 & 14: Visual Efficiency Scale

No ages specified but appears suitable for visually impaired young children about 4 to 8 years old; VES; dated 1970; 5 scores: Section 1 (discrimination of geometric form, object contour, light-dark intensity, and size and position), Section 2 (discrimination of size, object and abstract figure detail, position in space, image constancy of outlines, and pattern details and objects), Section 3 (visual closure, spatial perspective, and discrimination of object and abstract figure details), Section 4 (discrimination of size, position, sequence and relationship of letter and word symbols and groups of symbols), and Total; 1 form (1970, 8 pages); manual (1970, 73 pages); separate administration directions (1970, 8 pages); scoring sheet (n.d., 1 page); graphic profile sheet (n.d., 1 page); sample measurement set is available as part of Low Vision Kit, $2.50; package of 10 VES test booklets with set of directions, $6.00; unlimited administration time; author; Natalie Barraga (University of Texas) and Ruth Holmes (Illinois Braille and Sight Saving School), assisted by Douglas Ozias and Mildred Smith (both University of Texas) and Carson Nolan (American Printing House for the Blind); publisher: American Foundation for the Blind, 15 West 16th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011 (telephone 212-924-0420).
In Situ Determination of B-Cell Heavy Chain and Kappa/Lambda Light Chain Expression Patterns: Methodology and Clinical Utility

The authors describe a reverse transcriptase in situ polymerase chain reaction (RT in situ PCR) method that allows the determination of B-cell clonality as defined by expression of kappa and lambda mRNA as well as the different VH families that comprise the entire heavy chain (IgH) sequence using paraffin-embedded, formalin-fixed tissue. Polyclonal expression of B-cell light and heavy chains was documented in two reactive lymph nodes and a spleen in the same histologic distribution as the B-cell marker CD20. Monoclonal expression of kappa versus lambda mRNA was documented in 11 cases of B-cell lymphoma and was corroborated in 5 cases by flow cytometry; each case showed monoclonal expression of IgH. The authors analyzed seven additional tissues where a definitive diagnosis of B-cell lymphoma could not be rendered based on histologic, immunohistologic, and clinical analysis. RT in situ PCR for IgH and kappa versus lambda expression differentiated the B-cell lymphomas (n = 2) from reactive B-cell processes (n = 3) and from two cases of B-cell-rich T-cell lymphoma. The described RT in situ PCR methodology allows routine determination of the monoclonal versus multiclonal expression patterns of B cells, which will facilitate the diagnosis of B-cell lymphomas and aid in understanding the pathogenesis of B-cell malignancies using archival, paraffin-embedded tissues.
Biomedical Practice and Anthropological Theory: Frameworks and Directions

The exploration of "Western" medicine-"Biomedicine"---extends a new frontier in medical anthropology. Anthropologists have returned from abroad to follow trails blazed by sociological pioneers (55, 135). The anthropological venture of self-examination has encountered resistance from our medicine itself (136a) as well as from the anthropological community (142), even its medical division (78). Such resistance attests to the powers of Biomedicine as a sociocultural system and to the epistemological difficulties of reflexive anthropology, in which one's own society provides at once the perspective and the subject of one's examination. By the name Biomedicine we refer to the predominant medical theory and practice of Euro-American societies, a medicine widely disseminated throughout the world (191). Each of its many denominations, "Western," "Cosmopolitan," "Modern," "Scientific," "Allopathic," and "Biomedicine" as well, captures ones of its characteristics, while misleading us in other ways. While Biomedicine may have its principal origins in Western civilization, and has even been a leading edge of modernism (117), it has incorporated and now penetrates other traditions as well (146, 191). Even though it is widespread, the exclusive erudition and catholicism connoted by "Cosmopolitan" (42a, 105a) is inaccurate. Biomedicine may have appeared more recently and changed more