Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Riccati observers for position and velocity bias estimation from either direction or range measurements

This paper revisits the problems of estimating the position of an object moving in n (≥ 2)-dimensional Euclidean space using velocity measurements and either direction or range measurements of one or multiple source points. The proposed solutions exploit the Continuous Riccati Equation (CRE) to calculate observer gains yielding global exponential stability of zero estimation errors, even in the case where the measured velocity is biased by an unknown constant perturbation. These results are obtained under persistent excitation (p.e.) conditions depending on the number of source points and body motion that ensure both uniform observability and good conditioning of the CRE solutions. With respect to prior contributions on these subjects some of the proposed solutions are entirely novel while others are adapted from existing ones with the preoccupation of stating simpler and more explicit conditions under which uniform exponential stability is achieved. A complementary contribution, related to the delicate tuning of the observers gains, is the derivation of a lower-bound of the exponential rate of convergence specified as a function of the amount of persistent excitation. Simulation results illustrate the performance of the proposed observers.
Alleviating Choking: The Sounds of Distraction

“Choking” is defined as a critical deterioration in the execution of habitual processes as a result of an elevation in anxiety levels under perceived pressure, leading to substandard performance. In the current study, music was used in a “dual-task” paradigm to facilitate performance under pressure. Three “choking-susceptible” experienced female basketball players were purposively sampled from 41 screened players. Participants completed 240 basketball free throws in a single-case A1-B1-A2-B2 design (A phases = “low-pressure” and B phases = “high-pressure”), with the music intervention occurring during the B2 phase. Following completion of the phases, an interview was conducted to examine perceptions of choking and cognitions associated with the effects of the music lyrics. Participants improved performance in the B2 phase, and explained that choking resulted from an increase in public self-awareness (S-A). The music intervention decreased S-A, and enabled participants to minimize explicit monitoring of execution and reduce general distractibility.
Transitional Identity as a Facilitator of Organizational Identity Change during a Merger

We adopted an interpretive, grounded theory approach to study the processes by which organizational identities changed during the initial phases of a merger between two formerly rival healthcare organizations. Our investigation of two top management teams attempting to instigate this major change effort and lead their organizations toward completion of the merger revealed that the emergence of a transitional identity—an interim sense held by members about what their organizations were becoming—was critical to moving the change process forward. The transitional identity allowed executives in the two organizations to suspend their preexisting organizational identities and work toward creating a shared, new identity. The transitional identity appears to have been effective because it was ambiguous enough to allow multiple interpretations of what the merged organization would become to eventually coalesce into a common understanding, but not so ambiguous as to be threateningly unfamiliar. Overall, we present a process model of organizational identity change during a major change event that spanned two organizations, with the concept of transitional identity as its centerpiece.
Does ethnic Internet use deter or promote cross-cultural adaptation?

Guided by uses and gratifications theory and prior research on cross-cultural adaptation (CCA), this paper examines the impact of ethnic Internet use on CCA. Based on surveys from 268 Chinese students in the U.S., our results show that Chinese students use the Internet primarily for information, entertainment and ethnic maintenance reasons. Entertainment and social involvement motives positively predict ethnic Internet use whereas assimilation attitude and length of stay are negative predictors of ethnic Internet use. More importantly, we found that heavy ethnic Internet users tend to show higher life satisfaction and less depression than do their counterparts. Implications of significant findings for CCA research are discussed. Key words: Ethnic Internet use, cross-cultural adaptation, uses and gratifications, Chinese students.
ARE GOOD MORALS OFTEN RECIPROCATED? PERCEPTIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL VIRTUOUSNESS AND OPTIMISM AS PREDICTORS OF WORK ENGAGEMENT

The study employed the cross-sectional survey design to examine whether perceptions of organizational virtuousness and optimism could predict work engagement among bank workers in Nsukka and Enugu capital city, southeastern Nigeria. A total number of 222 employees (127 males and 95 females) randomly sampled from 12 commercial banks completed measures of organizational virtuousness, optimism and work engagement. Employees’ immediate supervisors provided additional report on their subordinates’ level of work engagement. As expected, the results of the hierarchical regression analyses showed that both perceptions of organizational virtuousness and optimism significantly predicted work engagement. Findings have been discussed in the light of typical Nigeria work organizations, wherein it is recommended that practitioners should consider organizational virtuousness and optimism as two critical factors that could spell success to organizations.
A Parallel Configuration Model for Reducing the Run-Time Reconfiguration Overhead

Multitasking on reconfigurable logic can achieve very high silicon reusability. However, configuration latency is a major limitation and it can largely degrade the system performance. One reason is that tasks can run in parallel but configurations of the tasks can be done only in sequence. This work presents a novel configuration model to enable configuration parallelism. It consists of multiple homogeneous tiles and each tile has its own configuration SRAM that can be individually accessed. Thus multiple configuration controllers can load tasks in parallel and more speedups can be achieved. We used a prefetch scheduling technique to evaluate the model with randomly generated tasks. The experiment results reveal that in average using multiple controllers can reduce the configuration overheads by 21%. Compared to best cases of using multiple tiles with a single controller, additional 40% speedup can be achieved using multiple controllers
LinkMirage: Enabling Privacy-preserving Analytics on Social Relationships

Social relationships present a critical foundation for many real-world applications. However, both users and online social network (OSN) providers are hesitant to share social relationships with untrusted external applications due to privacy concerns. In this work, we design LinkMirage, a system that mediates privacy-preserving access to social relationships. LinkMirage takes users’ social relationship graph as an input, obfuscates the social graph topology, and provides untrusted external applications with an obfuscated view of the social relationship graph while preserving graph utility. Our key contributions are (1) a novel algorithm for obfuscating social relationship graph while preserving graph utility, (2) theoretical and experimental analysis of privacy and utility using real-world social network topologies, including a large-scale Google+ dataset with 940 million links. Our experimental results demonstrate that LinkMirage provides up to 10x improvement in privacy guarantees compared to the state-of-the-art approaches. Overall, LinkMirage enables the design of real-world applications such as recommendation systems, graph analytics, anonymous communications, and Sybil defenses while protecting the privacy of social relationships.
A Tapestry of Values: Gifted Women Speak Out

How do the expectations of young gifted women compare with those of successful career women? In two studies conducted with 1) able young women in university and; 2) prominent Canadian women, similar concerns were voiced. Pressures to conform to stereotypical roles, inconsistent vertical development of careers, and the importance of connections were reported. Independence and contributing to the welfare of others were emphasized, as were concern for the multiple responsibilities of active career women.
The Role of Sociability Self-Concept in the Relationship between Exposure to and Concern about Aggression in Middle School

Abstract This study examined middle grades students’ sociability self-concept and their perceptions about feeling safe at school. Participants’ (N = 420) exposure to school aggression and concern about the potential for violence at school were measured across four critical areas: fighting, bullying, stealing, and seeing weapons. Results indicated a limited exposure to school aggression for these young adolescents. However, students who did report seeing more aggression at school also tended to be more concerned about aggressive incidents occurring. The prediction of concern by exposure was stronger among students low in sociability self-concept and weaker for those high in sociability self-concept. Sociability selfconcept, thus, appeared to be a protective factor, in that sociability self-concept buffered the effect of exposure to aggression on concern about violence at school. These results highlight the importance of attending to sociability self-concept during early adolescence in our efforts to reduce concern about aggression in the middle grades school environment.
The happy face of mindfulness: Mindfulness meditation is associated with perceptions of happiness as rated by outside observers

The last decade has witnessed an enormous increase in research examining the effects of mindfulness meditation. One of the basic assumptions guiding this research is that meditation ultimately makes people happier. In this article, in two studies we tested whether meditators actually look happier. To address this question, outside raters judged the happiness of meditators and non-meditators based on a 15-s video clip of their behaviour. Study 1 demonstrated that novice meditators looked happier after an intensive 9-day meditation retreat (as compared to before the retreat), while Study 2 demonstrated that experienced mindfulness meditators looked happier as compared to controls. The interpersonal implications of these findings are discussed.
STEPPING UP VERSUS STANDARD DOSES OF ERYTHROPOIETIN IN PRETERM INFANTS: A Randomized Controlled Trial

In this study, it is hypothesized that a planned increase in the dose of recombinant human erythropoietin (rh-EPO) can prevent transfusion in very low birth weight infants. Two different regimens of rh-EPO were administrated, one consisting in increasing dosage up to 5000 U/kg/wk, according to the individual reticulocytes response, and the second in a standard therapy of 1250 U/kg/wk. Fifty-one infants participated. Despite a significant higher reticulocytosis, the study was prematurely terminated due to the results of an interim analysis showing that transfusion was not avoided by increasing the rh-EPO. No significant differences were found between the two regimens concerning transfusion rate, volume transfused, gain in weight, and adverse effects. Progressive titration of rh-EPO to improve the biological response does not leave premature infants free of transfusion.
Same, Same but Different: How Design Requirements for an Auditory Advisory Traffic Information System Differ Between Sweden and China

Many advanced driving assistance systems have been developed based on the western automobile markets. However, it is widely known that the differences between Western and Asian markets are large in terms of traffic safety culture, traffic situation, and driver behavior. This study aimed to explore the differences between Swedish and Chinese drivers' information requirements in regards to a 3D Auditory Advisory Traffic Information System design (3DAATIS). A total of 46 participants took part in the study. The results showed that both Swedish and Chinese drivers appreciated the concept of a 3DAATIS. Moreover the two groups expressed similar information needs when interacting with a single road user, e.g. giving higher priority to vulnerable road users. In contrast, they expressed different information requirements in complex traffic scenarios. The results further imply that identifying drivers' requirements under different traffic scenarios can be a feasible approach to successful cross-regional adaption design.
The repertoire of robot behavior

In social interaction, people draw on a large repertoire of social acts tailoring their use of these acts to meet the demands of the social situation and to achieve the goals of the interaction. This paper presents an approach to creating such a repertoire of social acts for robots and enabling designers to specify the social situation to which robots may adapt their behaviors. Drawing on principles of Activity Theory and social-scientific findings on human social behavior, this paper introduces an implementation of this approach---the Robot Behavior Toolkit---and two studies that use a limited, proof-of-concept repertoire of specifications for gaze cues to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach for controlling robot gaze behavior. The first study assessed the feasibility of the use of this repertoire, comparing it to alternative, baseline repertoires in two human-robot interaction tasks, and found that it enabled the robot to more effectively support the interaction goals. The second study investigated the feasibility of the robot adapting its use of the repertoire to a social situation by comparing different goal specifications in two human-robot interaction tasks. The results showed that these specifications enabled the robot to achieve some of its task and communicative goals, although participant gender strongly affected whether the robot elicited these interaction outcomes.
Revisiting Token-Based Atomic Broadcast Algorithms

Many atomic broadcast algorithms have been published in the last twenty years. Token-based algorithms represent a large class of these algorithms. Interestingly all the token-based atomic broadcast al- gorithms rely on a group membership service, i.e., none of them uses failure detectors. The paper presents the first token-based atomic broadcast algorithm that uses an unreliable failure detector - the new failure detector denoted byR - instead of a group membership service. The failure detectorR is compared with}P and}S. In order to make it easier to understand the atomic broadcast algorithm, the paper derives the atomic broadcast algorithm from a token-based consensus algorithm that also uses the failure detector R.
Feedback for patients reporting adverse drug reactions; satisfaction and expectations

Objective: Due to the rising number of patient reports in pharmacovigilance, the manner in which feedback is provided to patients is an element to be considered. The objective is to explore the satisfaction of patients towards personalized and general feedback in response to their reported adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Methods: Patients who reported an ADR to the Dutch Pharmacovigilance Centre for the first time in the period between October 2012 and April 2013 were included. Reporters received personalized feedback or a general acknowledgement letter. Satisfaction towards the received feedback, expressed on a 5-point Likert scale (1 very good to 5 very poor), was studied using a web-based questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Pearson Chi-square test and linear regression analysis. Statistical significance was based on p < 0.05. Results: A total of 471 patient-reporters were contacted with a total response of 52.5%. Respondents of both groups were satisfied with the received feedback, average score 2 (good). Respondents of the personalized feedback-group were however more satisfied score 2.0 versus 2.5 (p < 0.001) and considered the feedback more clear and useful compared with respondents of the acknowledgement letter-group, respectively score 1.6 versus 1.7 (p = 0.01) and score 2.1 versus 2.5 (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Patients reporting ADRs are satisfied with feedback received from the pharmacovigilance centre, whether this is a personalized feedback or a general acknowledgment letter. They find it clear, useful and it meets their expectation. Although differences were found between the two types of feedback, these differences did not indicate dissatisfaction towards the received feedback.
Task interference from event-based prospective memory: an event-related potentials study

Event-related potentials (ERPs) technique was used to examine brain activity related to task interference during event-based prospective memory. The behavioral data indicated that there existed task interference. Data from ERPs record on non-prospective memory trials suggested that there were significant differences in the time windows of 200–300, 300–350, and 350–400 ms after the onset of stimulus. The ERP difference wave showed the maximum amplitude over the central site (Fz) with a peak latency of 250 ms (N250). The topographical map in the time window of 200–300 ms indicated that the components reflected activation mainly in the frontal lobe. The results seemed to support preparatory attentional processes and memory processes theory and revealed that frontal lobe was involved in monitoring, which caused task interference effect.
Collective Occupations among Filipina Migrant Workers: Bridging Disrupted Identities

This article exemplifies how social and cultural contexts influenced identity-formation among individuals of a collectivistic community. Specifically, ethnographic data on Filipina workers in Hong Kong showed that disruptions caused by migration and foreign employment resulted in participants feeling conflicted about their sense of selves. Further, while still in the host country, participants' engagement in occupations with their peers also enabled the workers to embody new identities through recreation of familiar sociocultural contexts. Using the concept of “interdependent self construal,” the study shows how participants' identities shifted with changes in sociocultural contexts. Also, collective engagement in occupations proved instrumental in alleviating feelings of conflicted sense of selves. As such, this article may contribute to the body of knowledge about the interrelationships of occupation, culture, and identity-formation that, in turn, may enhance cultural competence among occupational therapy practitioners.
Cross-shift study of exposure–response relationships between bioaerosol exposure and respiratory effects in the Norwegian grain and animal feed production industry

Objective We have studied cross-shift respiratory responses of several individual bioaerosol components of the dust in the grain and feed industry in Norway. Methods Cross-shift changes in lung function and nasal congestion, as well as in respiratory and systemic symptoms of 56 exposed workers and 36 referents, were recorded on the same day as full-shift exposure to the inhalable aerosol fraction was assessed. Exposure–response associations were investigated by regression analysis. Results The workers were exposed on average to 1.0 mg/m3 of grain dust, 440 EU/m3 of endotoxin, 6 µg/m3 of β-1,3-glucans, 17×104/m3 of bacteria and 4×104/m3 of fungal spores during work. The exposure was associated with higher prevalence of self-reported eye and airway symptoms, which were related to the individual microbial components in a complex manner. Fatigue and nose symptoms were strongest associated with fungal spores, cough with or without phlegm was associated with grain dust and fungal spores equally strong and wheeze/tight chest/dyspnoea was strongest associated with grain dust. Bioaerosol exposure did not lead to cross-shift lung function decline, but several microbial components had influence on nose congestion. Conclusions Exposure to fungal spores and dust showed stronger associations with respiratory symptoms and fatigue than endotoxin exposure. The associations with dust suggest that there are other components in dust than the ones studied that induce these effects.
An optimized interaction strategy for Bayesian relevance feedback

A new algorithm and systematic evaluation is presented for searching a database via relevance feedback. It represents a new image display strategy for the PicHunter system. The algorithm takes feedback in the form of relative judgments ("item A is more relevant than item B") as opposed to the stronger assumption of categorical relevance judgments ("item A is relevant but item B is not"). It also exploits a learned probabilistic model of human behavior to make better use of the feedback it obtains. The algorithm can be viewed as an extension of indexing schemes like the k-d tree to a stochastic setting, hence the name "stochastic-comparison search. " In simulations, the amount of feedback required for the new algorithm scales like log/sub 2/ |D|, where |D| is the size of the database, while a simple query-by-example approach scales like |D|/sup /spl alpha//, where /spl alpha/<1 depends on the structure of the database. This theoretical advantage is reflected by experiments with real users on a database of 1500 stock photographs.
Does Religion Really Reduce Crime?*

Considerable research in sociology, criminology, and economics aims to understand the effect of religiosity on crime. Many sociological theories positing a deterrent effect of religion on crime are empirically examined using ordinary least squares (OLS) cross‐sectional regressions of crime measures on measures of religiosity. Most previous studies have found a negative effect of religion on crime using OLS, a result I am able to replicate using county‐level data on religious membership and crime rates. If crime affects religious participation, however, OLS coefficients in this context suffer from endogeneity bias. Using historic religiosity as an instrument for current religious participation, I find a negligible effect of religion on crime and a negative effect of crime on religion. To further explore the relationship between religion and crime, I examine variation in crime incidence before and after Easter. Consistent with the instrumental variables results, I find no evidence of a decrease in crime following Easter.
Fine-grained parallel implementation of edge-directed Image Interpolation on GPU

Edge-directed interpolation is widely used to enhance visual performance of remote sensing image. Compared with traditional bi-cubic interpolation and bilinear interpolation, a great number of matrix operations will appear as it is getting better visual performance. CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) offers tremendous performance in many high-performance computing areas. Edge-directed interpolation can be mapped to this architecture (CUDA) readily. However, parallel schemes based on CUDA are generally decomposed into coarse-grained tasks, which is suitable for thread blocks. In this paper, a parallel approach of fine-grained edge-directed interpolation is proposed. Based on CUDA, the process of parallel interpolation for one missing pixel is assigned to 4*4 threads for the reason that majority of matrix operations are related to 4*4 matrix. This task division strategy minimizes resource pressure of thread-blocks. Our calculating scheme is expressed in terms of increasing parallelism that is efficiently implemented on the GPU. By employing one NVIDIA GTX480 GPU and one NVIDIA GTX590 GPU in the case with asynchronous I/O transfer, our GPU optimization efforts on fine-grained edge-directed interpolation scheme finally achieve a speedup of 69.8x with respect to its CPU counterpart C code running on one CPU core of Intel core(TM) i7-920.