Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Government Career Commitment and the Shaping of Work Environment Perceptions

This article examines government career commitment and its relation to perceptions of the work environment as well as reports of career decisions and behaviors. The results of a field survey of 385 government employees from 11 state agencies suggested that stronger government career commitment was linked to reports of greater job involvement, more organizational commitment, and lower turnover intention. Results also suggested that government career commitment has a positive relation with perceptions of situational characteristics such as human resource development, performance feedback, variety, challenge, and mission importance. Occupational differences were reviewed to examine whether they influenced the extent to which government career commitment had shaped employees’ perceptions of their jobs, office, and agencies, as well as their reports of job involvement, organizational commitment, and turnover intention. Findings indicated that the government career commitment of professional/technical employees was related to their perceptions of jobs, offices, and agencies, but minimal effects were found in occupational categories of secretarial/clerical or managerial/executive.
Crystal structure of antigen TpF1 from Treponema pallidum

Introduction. Several bacterial genomes code for proteins belonging to the Dps family, which includes dodecamers, made up of 12 identical subunits, each of them with a four-helix bundle folding similar to that of ferritins. The crystal structure of several members of the family have been determined: Dps from Escherichia coli (1DPS, 1F30, 1F33, 1JRE, 1JTS, 1L8H, 1L8I), Listeria Innocua Dps (1QGH, 2BJY, 2BK6, 2BKC), HP-NAP from Helicobacter pylori (1JI4), Dlp1 and Dlp2 from Bacillus anthracis (1JI5, 1JIG), archaeal Dps-homolog from Halobacterium salinarum (1MOJ, 1TJO), Dps protein from Bacillus brevis (1N1Q), Agrobacterium tumefaciens Dps (1O9R), Dps-like peroxide resistance protein from Streptococcus suis (1UMN), Dps from Mycobacterium smegmatis (1VEI, 1VEQ, 1UVH). Despite their structural similarity and the fact that most of these proteins are capable of incorporating iron in vitro, their biological function appear to differ among family members. The E. coli and the B. subtilis proteins protect DNA from oxidative damage (Dps, DNA protecting protein under starved conditions), whereas the L. innocua protein (Flp) is a true dodecameric ferritin functioning in iron storage. The FtpA protein from H. ducreyi is a structural protein of fine tangled pili. At variance from these Dps proteins, the H. pylori homolog HP-NAP appears to display different activities. It induces migration and activation of human neutrophils and monocytes, adhesion of neutrophils to endothelial cells, and it causes mast cell degranulation. HP-NAP binds to neutrophil glycosphingolipids and to mucin, a component of the stomach mucus layer. A major property of HP-NAP is that of being highly immunogenic in humans. This property is shared by a Dps-like protein, named TpF1, produced by Treponema pallidum, and therefore, we decided to undertake the determination of the crystal structure of this protein, which is presented in this report.
Fabrication of High Aspect Ratio SiO2 and Tempax Glass Pillar Structures and Its Application for Optical Modulator Device

This paper presents the fabrication of deep SiO2 and Tempax glass pillar structures by using reactive ion etching system, which intends to realize optical modulator mounted on an image sensor. The optical modulator consists of high aspect ratio SiO2 or Tempax glass pillars that can modulate the transmitted light intensity by moving a liquid in and out of the spaces between pillars based on the reversible electrowetting of liquid on top of micro-pillars surfaces. SiO2 pillars having smooth surfaces, vertical shapes, and high aspect ratio of 12 with a depth of 12 μm, diameter of 1 μm, and the pitch of the two pillars of 2 μm has been achieved. In addition, Tempax glass pillar structures are also successfully fabricated under investigation of gas mixtures of SF6 and O2. Finally, a 7.2 mm × 9.6 mm optical window area integrated with an image sensor for an optical modulator has been demonstrated where high transmission modulation together with a large contrast has been observed of approximately 65% and 0.86 for cases with and without matching oil penetration, respectively.
Defect Identification by Sensor Network Under Uncertainties

This paper presents a theoretical framework for identification of defects by a sensor network under uncertainties. While location of sensors are not known due to their inspection due to limited knowledge on the structure to be inspected, existing inspection methods do not take uncertainties of sensor locations into account for the localization of defects. The proposed theoretical framework formulates the uncertainties of sensor states stemming from both motion and measurement and allows stochastic identification of defects using recursive Beyesian estimation. Multi-sensor belief fusion further allows a network of sensors to jointly identify defects and improve the accuracy of identification. Parametric studies and application to practical defect identification have shown the validity of the proposed framework.
Affine Processes in Life Insurance Mathematics - With a View Towards Solvency II

Affine processes have been of great interest in financial mathematics, and with the introduction of Solvency II in life insurance, the need for stochastic modeling of the valuation basis has led to the entry of affine processes into the literature on life insurance mathematics. The thesis begins with a qualitative discussion of Solvency II and the implications for life insurance liabilities. The thesis then considers multidimensional time-inhomogeneous continuous affine processes which are subsequently applied in the valuation of life insurance liabilities, providing a foundation for stochastic modelling of the valuation basis. This leads to the introduction of generalised forward rates, and a theorem is proven that allows for the use of dependent interest and transition rates in e.g. a survival model or a model including the surrender option. Using the theory of affine processes it is also shown how one can model the mortality rate using a CIR process, such that the distribution of the forward rate can be found, allowing for simple simulation of the Solvency II capital requirement. It is shown that the distributional result also holds for certain time-inhomogeneous CIR processes. Thesis for the Master degree in Insurance Mathematics. Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Copenhagen
Sequential auctions with synergies: An experimental analysis

In this paper we show experimentally that in a sequential auction the presence of synergies leads to more overbidding which in turn may result in bankruptcies. In line with theoretical predictions we find that the seller benefits from the buyersâ€™ synergies. In contrast to theory the buyers also benefit from these synergies. Moreover, opposed to theory and many empirical findings we do not observe declining prices. Finally we find that the overbidding is increasing in the valuation of the object on which the synergy does not materialize and we attribute this finding to anchoring.
Moral distress of staff nurses in a medical intensive care unit.

BACKGROUND Moral distress is caused by situations in which the ethically appropriate course of action is known but cannot be taken. Moral distress is thought to be a serious problem among nurses, particularly those who practice in critical care. It has been associated with job dissatisfaction and loss of nurses from the workplace and the profession. OBJECTIVES To assess the level of moral distress of nurses in a medical intensive care unit, identify situations that result in high levels of moral distress, explore implications of moral distress, and evaluate associations among moral distress and individual characteristics of nurses. METHODS A descriptive, questionnaire study was used. A total of 28 nurses working in a medical intensive care unit anonymously completed a 38-item moral distress scale and described implications of experiences of moral distress. RESULTS Nurses reported a moderate level of moral distress overall. Highest levels of distress were associated with the provision of aggressive care to patients not expected to benefit from that care. Moral distress was significantly correlated with years of nursing experience. Nurses reported that moral distress adversely affected job satisfaction, retention, psychological and physical well-being, self-image, and spirituality. Experience of moral distress also influenced attitudes toward advance directives and participation in blood donation and organ donation. CONCLUSIONS Critical care nurses commonly encounter situations that are associated with high levels of moral distress. Experiences of moral distress have implications that extend well beyond job satisfaction and retention. Strategies to mitigate moral distress should be developed and tested.
The Impact of Shifting from an Annual Federal Budget Cycle to a Biennial Budget Cycle: A Look at the States and the Implications for Congress

This paper uses a public choice framework to consider the impact of Congressional adoption of a biennial federal budget. The introductory chapters detail the evolution of the current Congressional annual budget and explain how budgetary institutions affect the power structures inside Congress. The relevant public choice literature on budgetary institutions is also explored. Proponents of biennial budgeting argue that changing to a biennial process will provide several benefits to Congress: reduced discretionary spending through more Congressional control over the process, more time for oversight of programs, and greater transparency. Chapter 3 constructs a model of state spending to examine the relationship between budget periodicity and spending by constructing a model of state spending. In contrast to most of the literature on budget periodicity, this chapter finds a positive relationship between spending and biennial budgets. Chapter 4 conducts two case studies of states that have recently moved from annual budgeting to biennial budgeting to determine how the changes affected the influence and power of Appropriators relative to Authorizers. Anecdotal evidence from Connecticut suggests Appropriators' influence is negatively affected by a move to a two-year budget. Campaign contribution evidence from Arizona confirms that interest groups perceive this reduction in the power of Appropriators and, accordingly, donate less to Appropriators relative to Authorizers following a shift to biennial budgeting. Chapter 5 considers whether timing and transparency problems under an annual budget are technical issues that could be cured by extending the budget period and finds that instead these problems the political realities facing legislators. Thus, changing the budget period will not fix these issues and may exacerbate them. This dissertation finds that moving to a federal biennial budget process would increase the pressure on Congressional budgeters to spend, shift power away from Appropriators, and not solve timing and transparency problems in the federal budget.
Calculation of threepoint functions of chiral primaries in a symmetric orbifold

The AdS/CFT conjecture in string theory suggests that quantum gravity in Anti de Sitter space, as a low energy limit of some string theory configuration, is equivalent to a conformal field theory on the boundary. One of the simplest examples is the D1-D5 system that has a super-gravity limit in AdS3. It is argued that the boundary theory has a point in its moduli space that is a 2 dimensional CFT with as target space the symmetric orbifold of a 4 dimensional hyperkähler space. To compare both theories one has to study objects that do not depend on the coupling constants. On the CFT side these objects can be described from a conformal field theory point of view or by dimensional reduction to a certain cohomology of the target space. In this thesis the link between these two methods is studied. An explicit description of the cohomology ring is given and the benefits of each description is discussed.
Variations on language modeling for information retrieval

Search engine technology builds on theoretical and empirical research results in the area of information retrieval (IR). This dissertation makes a contribution to the field of language modeling (LM) for IR, which views both queries and documents as instances of a unigram language model and defines the matching function between a query and each document as the probability that the query terms are generated by the document language model. The work described is concerned with three research issues.
Detecting the historical roots of research fields by reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS)

We introduce the quantitative method named “Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy” (RPYS). With this method one can determine the historical roots of research fields and quantify their impact on current research. RPYS is based on the analysis of the frequency with which references are cited in the publications of a specific research field in terms of the publication years of these cited references. The origins show up in the form of more or less pronounced peaks mostly caused by individual publications that are cited particularly frequently. In this study, we use research on graphene and on solar cells to illustrate how RPYS functions, and what results it can deliver.
Spatial and Temporal Clustering of Kawasaki Syndrome Cases

Background: The etiology of Kawasaki syndrome (KS) remains unknown despite 30 years of intensive search for an agent. Epidemiologic clues to a possible infectious etiology include the seasonal distribution of cases, the previous occurrence of epidemics, the clinical features of the syndrome that mimic other infectious rash/fever illnesses in children, the self-limited nature of the illness, and the peak age incidence in the toddler years. Methods: We examined the epidemiology and spatial and temporal distribution of KS cases in San Diego County, California during the 6-year period from 1998 to 2003. Clustering in space and time was analyzed using geo-referenced data with the K-function, the local G-statistic, and Knox statistic. Results: A total of 318 patients were identified through active surveillance. The overall annual incidence was 21.7/100,000 in children <5 years, with rates in whites, white Hispanics, and Asian/Pacific Islanders of 15.3, 20.2, and 45.9/100,000, respectively. The Knox test showed significant clustering of cases within the space-time interval of 3 km and 3–5 days. Conclusions: This is the first study of KS cases to use geo-referenced point pattern analysis to detect spatial and temporal clustering of KS cases. These data suggest that an infectious agent triggers the immunologic cascade of KS.
Hierarchical coordinated control strategy for electric vehicle based on bi-level programming

Uncontrolled charging behaviors of electric vehicle may have negative impacts on the operation of the power system. To avoid this, a hierarchical coordinated control strategy based on bi-level programming is proposed. The upper-level is devoted to minimize the operational cost of several aggregators and the system load variance. On the lower level, each aggregator controls the charging/discharging behaviors of EVs to meet the dispatch scheme determined by the upper decision-maker. An iterative genetic algorithm is employed to solve the problem. Finally, a test system including 3 aggregators is employed to demonstrate the performance of the approach proposed.
Orthorhombic modification of bis[4-(3-pyridylmethylideneamino)phenyl]methane

The title compound, C25H20N4, is a disubstituted methane derivative having two pyridylmethyleneaminophenyl arms, one of which is essentially rigid as all atoms lie on a plane (r.m.s. deviation = 0.074 Å), whereas the other is twisted [dihedral angle between the phenylene and pyridyl rings = 51.1 (4)°]. The angle at the methylene C atom is 113.2 (2)°.
Multilingual Features of Complex Valency Frames

In this paper we deal with the verb valency lexicon of Czech verbs named VerbaLex, which contains complex valency verb frames (CVFs) including both surface and deep valencies. The most notable features of CVFs include two-level semantic labels with linkage to the Princeton and EuroWordNet Top Ontology hierarchy and the corresponding surface verb frame patterns capturing the morphological cases that are typical of the highly inflected languages like Czech. We discuss the assumption that CVFs are suitable for a description of the predicate-argument structure not only of Czech verbs but also verbs in other languages, particularly Bulgarian, Romanian and English. We come to the conclusion that this hypothesis can be verified reliably enough exploiting the principle of translatability and also indirectly using semantic classes of (Czech) verbs.
The Role of Genetic Testing In Paediatric Syndromes of Sudden Death: State Of The Art and Future Considerations

The early, pioneering work by Barry Maron established the most common causes of ‘‘Sudden Death’’ in the United States of America. It is important to note that this landmark study only reported on aetiologies of sudden death which could be diagnosed in a careful anatomical or histological post mortem examination. While fundamental to our understanding of the differential diagnosis of sudden death in the young, the study does not address the autopsy negative aetiologies of sudden death, some of which may be uncovered by a ‘‘genetic autopsy’’, as will be discussed in this review. Many of the aetiologies of sudden death that have been described have a negative post mortem examination. Furthermore, reported causes of sudden death vary widely among different countries, as illustrated on Table 1. The differences between the countries cannot be explained solely by difference in the genetic makeup of each country, but rather, awareness or interest in the different potential diagnoses of sudden death. Furthermore, variability in protocols of post mortem examination can also explain the international differences. For example, in the case of ‘‘arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia /cardiomyopathy’’ (ARVD/C) the diagnosis lies primarily in the histology of the right ventricle, and may be missed if that is not included as part of the protocol of the post mortem examination. If genetic evaluation of victims of sudden death with negative autopsies increases in popularity, the causes of sudden death such as channelopathies will likely increase in prevalence as more of these ‘‘undiagnosed’’ cases will finally have a diagnosis. This knowledge is of the utmost importance as we try to not only answer the question as to why a seemingly healthy individual dies, but also, can we detect the same condition in other asymptomatic members of the family, who may be at risk for sudden death as well. Therefore, genetic testing in these families will ultimately save lives.
African American adolescents and new media: associations with HIV/STI risk behavior and psychosocial variables.

OBJECTIVES Cell phones and online media are used frequently but we know little about their use among African American adolescents. This study examines the frequency of such use and its relationship to psychosocial variables and STI/HIV risk behavior. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS 1,518 African American, aged 13-18 years, from 2 Northeast US cities (Providence, RI; Syracuse, NY) and 2 Southeast US cities (Columbia, SC; Macon, GA), were assessed from 2008-2009. DESIGN Participants were assessed on frequency of cell phone and Internet use, psychological constructs (ie, depression, life satisfaction, impulsivity) and HIV/STI risk behaviors (ie, history of intercourse, sexual sensation seeking attitudes, peer sexual risks norms) with reliable scales and measures using an audio computer-assisted self-interview. RESULTS Over 90% of African American adolescents used cell phones every day or most days and 60% used social networking sites every day or most days (96% used Myspace). Greater frequency of cell phone use was associated with sexual sensation seeking (P = .000), riskier peer sexual norms (P = .000), and impulsivity (P = .016). Greater frequency of Internet use was associated with a history of oral/vaginal/anal sex (OR = 1.03, CI = 1.0-1.05) and sexual sensation seeking (P = .000). CONCLUSION These findings suggest that riskier youth are online and using cell phones frequently. The Internet and cell phones may be useful platforms for targeted health promotion and prevention efforts with AA adolescents.
The Review of Regional Studies Racially Polarized Voting in a Southern U.S. Election: How Urbanization and Residential Segregation Shape Voting Patterns

This paper advances a model of racially polarized voting that captures the intervening effects of urbanization and residential segregation on white voters’ political behavior. The model is tested for a 2011 referendum election in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Using King’s method of ecological inference and weighted least squares regression, we find that regional minority population size impacts white opposition to minority-preferred political alternatives both directly and indirectly through an effect on residential racial segregation. Importantly, these influences hinge on intra-regional patterns of urbanization. The findings have important implications for understanding spatial variation in regional political behavior and intergroup relations.
Efficient Design of a Hybrid Adder in Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata

This paper first presents an efficient quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) design for the Ladner-Fischer prefix adder. We then present an efficient QCA design of a hybrid adder that combines the Ladner-Fischer adder with a ripple carry adder. We show that the hybrid adder has better performance (in terms of latency) in QCA than a Ladner-Fischer or a ripple carry adder. We also show that the hybrid adder has a smaller area-delay product than existing adder designs in QCA. Results of simulation in QCADesigner are also given and they support the theory presented.
Block Markov Superposition Transmission with Spatial Modulation

Spatial modulation (SM) is a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission technique that maps the information into both antenna indices and signals from a conventional signal constellation. Block Markov superposition transmission (BMST) is a recently proposed coding scheme which has a good performance and a predictable performance lower bound. In this letter, we propose to combine the BMST with the SM, resulting in a system, which is acronymized as BMST-SM for convenience. Also presented is a sliding-window decoding executed iteratively between the BMST decoder and the soft-in soft-out (SISO) SM demapper. To evaluate the performance of the BMST-SM system, the mutual information is derived for the SM with multiple receive antennas under uniformly distributed input constraint. Simulation results show that the BMST-SM scheme performs around one dB away from the Shannon limit at the bit-error-rate (BER) around 10-5 over uncorrelated Rayleigh fading channels.