Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Causal Persuasive Arguments to Change Beliefs and Teach New Information: The Mediating Role of Explanation Availability and Evaluation Bias in the Acceptance of Knowledge

In this article processes by which causal arguments effect change in established beliefs were explored. The hypothesis that explanation availability mediates belief change in response to causal arguments was tested in 2 experiments. Persuasive communications used causal evidence, noncausal (statistical) evidence, or both to argue that AIDS is not transmissible by casual contact. Results supported the authors' hypothesis. Causal arguments produced the greatest belief change, with the effect mediated by explanation availability. Causal arguments were also less subject to evaluation bias, consistent with a cognitive interpretation of the biased assimilation phenomenon (in which evidence in favor of one's position is evaluated more favorably than evidence in opposition). Experiment 2 replicated the basic effects with dependent measures (including a measure of behavioral commitment) obtained 3 weeks after presentation of the communications. These results suggest that a causal component strengthens the educational potential of persuasive arguments. Persuading an audience to accept new information seems particularly difficult when audience members can explain why they hold their current beliefs. The persuasion task then goes beyond simply convincing an audience of the correctness of the new information; persuasion must also overcome forces that maintain established beliefs. For example, in teaching social psychology, we have seen students resist ideas that challenge their common sense understanding of social behavior. Of course, common sense is derived from life experience and is rich with explanations. Researchers studying learning in children have observed a similar phenomenon. In several studies, incorrect prior knowledge interfered substantially with the learning of correct scientific information (Alvermann & Hague, 1989; Alvermann,
Characteristics and Mechanisms of the Subseasonal Eastward Extension of the South Asian High

AbstractThis study investigates the features of eastward extension of the South Asian high (SAH) and its connection with diabatic heating and rainfall over eastern Asia on subseasonal time scales. The causes of SAH’s eastward extension are examined by potential vorticity (PV) diagnosis with emphasis on the joint role of diabatic heating feedback and midlatitude wave train. The SAH’s eastward extension features eastward propagation of a wave train across Eurasia. Among the wave train, the migration of weak high from the western flank of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) to the east of TP contributes to the SAH’s eastward extension at the early stage. When the SAH approaches its easternmost position, a strong negative PV (positive geopotential height) center prevails to the east of the TP at 200 hPa. The associated anomalies in diabatic heating and rainfall include the anomalous heating and above-normal rainfall over the South China Sea (SCS) and subtropical western Pacific occurring 12 days before the SAH’s eastern.
Holocene marine sediments on the middle and outer continental shelf of the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska

INTRODUCTION Sheet 1 of this publication depicts the thickness of a presumed Holocene marine sedimentary stratum on the middle and outer continental shelf of the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska. For convenience in this report. the term "Holocene" is applied to any sediments believed to have been deposited on the shelf subsequent to its subaerial exposure during the final Wisconsinan eustatic sea level minimum about 17,000 years ago. Thus the "Holocene" marine stratum contoured here may include, at its base on the outer shelf, sediments older than the formal Pleistocene-Holocene boundary defined at roughly 10,000 years B.P. by Hopkins (1975). Although several sedimentary facies may be present within the contoured unit. it is referred to in this report as a "stratum" because its seismic signature is homogeneous throughout the map area. Beneath most of the middle and outer shelf the base of the contoured stratum is the uppermost prominent sub-seafloor reflector observed on a grid of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles. The age range of the base of the stratum has not been directly or indisputably established because it has never been sampled in the study area. I f , however, this highly reflective basal surface formed as a result of beins subaerially exposed during the final Pleistocene glacial stage as argued below, then the marine stratum lying depositionally above it must be "Holocene" in the special sense of that term used here. Sheet 2 of this publication provides structural contours on the base of the inferred Holocene stratum. Data points were obtained by adding the present water depth to each measurement of sediment thickness used to generate the isopach map (sheet 1). The results are used in a discussion of the late Quaternary sea level history of the Beaufort Sea. Owing to the high petroleum potential of sediments underlying the Beaufort shelf a large number of current and completed studies have been devoted to understanding the shelf environment and to delineating the engineering characteristlcs of its surficial sediments. Details of the late Quaternary sedimentary history of the shelf resulting from the present study cast light on such problems as active faulting and landsliding, thickness of unconsolidated sediment, and depth to subsea permafrost. The results also provide a few more facts to be considered in correlating the sea level history of the Arctic Ocean with the history of formerly nearby Pleistocene ice sheets.
LATE AGAIN: WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE’S ABILITY TO PASS AN ON TIME BUDGET?

of LATE AGAIN: WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE’S ABILITY TO PASS AN ON TIME BUDGET? by David M. Heitstuman California has had a constitutional budget deadline of June 15 since 1933, a deadline the Legislature has not met in passing a budget in the past quarter century. Late budgets or a lack of a budget wreaks havoc on the state’s most vulnerable population’s survival, put in jeopardy the sustainability of small business state contractors, and cripple the state’s ability to provide for the education, healthcare, and transportation needs of California residents. Media reports point to anecdotal evidence for what factors cause the Legislature’s perpetual tardiness, some are supported by empirical academic research, and others are purely supposition. This study examines the institutional factors that influence the California Legislature’s ability to pass an on time budget. I use regression analysis to determine that, of the eight explanatory variables tested (Change in Revenue, Strength of the Majority, Years Late, Post Term Limits, Legislative Drawn Districts, Proposition 13, Proposition 98, and the Party of the Governor), there appears to be a positive relationship between Term Limits and the number of Days Late the legislature is in passing a budget. This conclusion makes sense based on what the field of research has said about the effect of term limits on other elements of policy making such as the level of state spending and the amount of oversight exercised by term limited legislatures. _______________________, Committee Chair Robert Wassmer, Ph. D. _______________________ Date
Valuation of an American put catastrophe insurance futures option: A Martingale approach

The goal of this paper is to develop an arbitrage-free valuation formula for an American put option on a catastrophe insurance futures contract. This contract (denoted CATS) was introduced in December 1992 by the Chicago Board of Trade. The option buyer’s valuation problem is formulated as an optimal stopping problem within a continuous trading, arbitrage-free and complete financial market. The problem is then analyzed via Earatzas’ unified equivalent martingale measure framework. His framework is a bit more elaborate than the Harrison-Rreps and Harrison-Pliska seminal models in which the key economic idea of the absence of arbitrage opportunities is linked to the probabilistic concept of a martingale. Specifically, Raratzas’ framework enables market participants to consume as well as invest. This permits a unified approach to the problems of: option pricing, consumption and investment, and equilibrium in a financial market.
Comparative assessment of population genetics and demographic history of two congeneric deep sea fish species living at different depths

The mechanisms that determine population genetic structure in the marine environment are poorly understood, as are the processes that drive population dynamics. One potential factor is depth, with especially those species living in the abyss inhabiting a distinct environment with respect to habitat complexity, pressure, the distribution of resources and environmental change over time. Here we consider a deep sea fish genus, Coryphaenoides, which has many named species, including 8 abyssal species. We provide data in support of the existence of 2 distinct evolutionary lineages within the genus, associated with depth, and also provide detailed population genetic data for the abyssal species (C. brevibarbis) for comparison with available data on a congeneric species inhabiting shallower waters (C. rupestris). The abyssal species showed no sign of population genetic structure across a thermal oceanographic boundary (the Sub-Polar Front), for which C. rupestris showed differentiation. An assessment of historical demographics suggested a decline in population size for both species, but a faster and more severe decline for the abyssal species. We consider these data in the context of environmental gradients and potential evolutionary mechanisms. Relatively low effective population size estimates for both species emphasize the importance of understanding these processes for the effective conservation and management of deep sea fish stocks.
Construction of a Vibrio splendidus Vsm metalloprotease mutant using a novel counter-selectable suicide vector

splendidus is a dominant culturable Vibrio in seawater, but strains related to this group are also associated with mortalities in a variety of marine animals. The determinants encoding the pathogenic properties of these strains are still poorly known, however, the recent sequencing of the genome of V. splendidus LGP32, an oyster pathogen, offers the opportunity to decipher the basis of the virulence properties by the disruption of candidate genes. We have developed a novel suicide vector based on the pir-dependant R6K replicative origin, which can be transferred by RP4 based conjugation to, potentially, any Vibrio strain, and which also carries the plasmid F toxin ccdB gene under the control of the PBAD promoter. We demonstrate that this genetic system allows the efficient counter-selection of integrated plasmids in presence of arabinose, both in V. splendidus and V. cholerae, and as such permits the efficient marker-less allelic replacement in these species. We used this technique to construct several mutants of V. splendidus LGP32, including a derivative deleted of a secreted metalloprotease gene, vsm. We show that this gene is essential for the LGP32 extracellular products toxicity when injected in oysters, but is not necessary for the virulence of bacteria in the model of oyster infection after bacterial injection.
Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Shiraz Male Wushu Players: A Cross Sectional Study

Background: Wushu is one of the martial arts that combines explosive strength and speed movements with combat techniques. Most studies to date of wushurelated injuries have been published in Chinese languages. No published studies have reported the prevalence of these injuries in Iran. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries in male wushu players in Shiraz. Methods: Male wushu athletes aged 18 to 30 years were included in this cross sectional study if they had been practicing for 2 hours per session, twice a week during the past 3 years. The athletes were recruited by convenience sampling from 30 wushu clubs in Shiraz, Iran. The sample size was 165. The study was conducted from June to September 2016. Each participant was asked to complete an information questionnaire about his musculoskeletal injuries related to wushu during the previous year. Results: About two third (65.45%) of wushu players had one or more injuries during the previous year. Severe injuries were most commonly located in the head/neck and knee/tibia areas, and inflammation was more prevalent than the other types of injuries. Conclusion: Wushu players in this study reported a high prevalence of injuries affecting different parts of the body.
Organisations and the issue of multiple identities: who loves you baby?

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the relationship between organisational identification and identification with work group and profession for knowledge workers. The literature points to two competing standpoints, first, a compatible relationship between focal points of identity and second, a trade off relationship whereby an increase in one is at the expense of another.Design/methodology/approach – Using the population of a large public UK sector organisation ordinary least squares regression was used to examine these relationships.Findings – The findings established a strong relationship in which work group, organisational and professional identification were compatible.Research limitations/implications – The findings indicate, at least in this context, that no inherent trade off or problem reconciling multiple identities was evident. Regrettably the authors do not have the capacity to comment on the weighting or the relative importance placed on each focus of identity; this is an area for future.
Testing against a high dimensional alternative

Summary. As the dimensionality of the alternative hypothesis increases, the power of classical tests tends to diminish quite rapidly. This is especially true for high dimensional data in which there are more parameters than observations. We discuss a score test on a hyperparameter in an empirical Bayesian model as an alternative to classical tests. It gives a general test statistic which can be used to test a point null hypothesis against a high dimensional alternative, even when the number of parameters exceeds the number of samples. This test will be shown to have optimal power on average in a neighbourhood of the null hypothesis, which makes it a proper generalization of the locally most powerful test to multiple dimensions. To illustrate this new locally most powerful test we investigate the case of testing the global null hypothesis in a linear regression model in more detail. The score test is shown to have significantly more power than the F‐test whenever under the alternative the large variance principal components of the design matrix explain substantially more of the variance of the outcome than do the small variance principal components. The score test is also useful for detecting sparse alternatives in truly high dimensional data, where its power is comparable with the test based on the maximum absolute t‐statistic.
Out of the comfort zone: enhancing work-based learning about employability through student reflection on work placements

This paper examines the work-based learning about employability reported by 26 undergraduate Geography and Environmental Management students on part-time, unpaid work placements. The students' “reflective essays” emphasized their learning more in terms of emotional challenges than in terms of skills, as being pushed out of their “comfort zone” forced them to be more proactive, tackle unfamiliar activities and develop emotionally. This conceptualizes employability as more than skills and as integrative, reflective and adaptable. This also emphasizes that higher education institutions must support employability and work-based learning outside the academic zone and better integrate off-campus work-based learning with on-campus reflection.
Optimal Segmentation Framework for Detection of Brain Anomalies

This work presents an enhancement in accuracy for brain disorder detection using optimal unification. The strategy for detection of segments and brain regions causing medical conditions are described. This work demonstrates the application of multilateral filter and applied watershed method with EM-GM method. The most popular existing techniques of brain tumor detection are not optimal compared to this combination of Watershed and EM-GM technique with the proposed optimal unification technique. The result is optimally unified and achieved high accuracy. The multilateral filter enhances the image edges for better segmentation using signal amplitude moderation of the pixel. In the unification process, the optimal sets of segments are divided and finest merged results are considered with the brain regions detected with anomalies. Henceforth the number of possible medical investigations will be reduced.
Impact of the Optimal Respiratory System Dynamic Compliance Strategy for Titrating Positive End-Expiratory Pressure on the Prognosis of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Children

To investigate the impact of the optimal respiratory system dynamic compliance (Cdyn) strategy for titrating positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) on the prognosis of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in children. A total of 30 patients with ARDS admitted in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of Guangxi Maternity and Child Health Hospital were randomly divided into two groups (n=15). PEEP was set in the control group according to the PEEP/ fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) in American ARDS collaboration network while the optimal Cdyn strategy was employed for the treatment group. We used the pressure control ventilation (PCV) mode and small tidal volume (7mL/Kg). Respiratory mechanics, hemodynamics, and inflammatory cytokines were monitored in each group before and after the experiment. The time of mechanical ventilation, hospital stay in the PICU, and 28-day mortality were compared. There were no significant differences in terms of sex, age, and severity of disease between the two groups. The optimal PEEP of the control group was significant lower than that of the treatment group [(6.4±1.4) cmH2O vs. (9.9±1.6) cmH2O, P 0.05). Interleukin-6 (IL-6) in two groups gradually decreased, and the decrease was greater in the treatment group than in the control group [IL-6 after the experiment at 24 h: (84.58±9.11) ng/L vs (93.18±9.27) ng/L, P 0.05). The optimal Cdyn method for titrating PEEP improved respiratory mechanics in ARDS, shortened the time of mechanical ventilation, and had no serious adverse effect on hemodynamics.
Cadmium’s Effect on the Organizationof Microtubular Cytoskeleton in Root Tips Cellsof Salix matsudana Koidz

The toxic effects of Cd on microtubule (MT) organization in root tip cells of S. matsudana were investigated in the present study using tubulin immunolabeling and fluorescence microscopy. Cell damage and expression level of the SmTUA1 gene in the root tips were also examined by means of propidium iodide (PI) staining and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) technology. The MT arrays were very sensitive to Cd. At interphase, under 50 μmol/L Cd treatment for 48 h, some cortical MTs were discontinuous, inducing numbers of differently sized fragments. With increased Cd concentrations and duration of treatment, peripheral MTs appeared to be broken gradually, and the degree of disorder was enhanced. Spindle fibers even formed condensed MT at 10 μmol/L Cd for 48 h. During anaphase/telophase, there was a small part of MT absent, MT fibers were stuck to each other (even forming lumps) and could not form phragmoplast at 50 μmol/L Cd for 48 h. The cell damage of S. matsudana root tips increased with enhanced Cd concentrations and prolonged treatment time. Expression level of SmTUA1 analyzed by qRT-PCR further validated the results by indirect immunofluorescence staining. The data obtained here will be very useful to understand the mechanisms of Cd-induced cell toxicity.
A Defaultable Callable Bond Pricing Model

This paper presents a 3D model for pricing defaultable bonds with embedded call options. The pricing model incorporates three essential ingredients in the pricing of defaultable bonds: stochastic interest rate, stochastic default risk, and call provision. Both the stochastic interest rate and the stochastic default risk are modeled as a square-root diffusion process. The default risk process is allowed to be correlated with the default-free term structure. The call provision is modeled as a constraint on the value of the bond in the finite difference scheme. The numerical example shows that the 3D model is capable of pricing defaultable bonds with embedded call options adequately. This paper can provide new insight for future research on defaultable bond pricing models.
Linking and the Morse complex

For a Morse function f on a compact oriented manifold M , we show that f has more critical points than the number required by the Morse inequalities if and only if there exists a certain class of link in M whose components have nontrivial linking number, such that the minimal value of f on one of the components is larger than its maximal value on the other. Indeed we characterize the precise number of critical points of f in terms of the Betti numbers of M and the behavior of f with respect to links. This can be viewed as a refinement, in the case of compact manifolds, of the Rabinowitz Saddle Point Theorem. Our approach, inspired in part by techniques of chain-level symplectic Floer theory, involves associating to collections of chains in M algebraic operations on the Morse complex of f , which yields relationships between the linking numbers of homologically trivial (pseudo)cycles in M and an algebraic linking pairing on the Morse complex.
The effects of increased nitrogen deposition and CO2 on Sphagnum angustifolium and S. warnstorfii

The differences in response to four levels of N deposition rates 0, 10, 30 and 100 kg ha a and ambient CO2 concentrations 350, 700, 1 000 and 2 000 ppm were studied in a greenhouse with Finnish material: Sphagnum angustifolium (Russow) C. Jens. , a species occurring over a wide nutrient regime, and S. warnstorfii Russow, a meso-eutrophic species. With increased N deposition rate, capitulum density, capitulum and stem dry masses per unit length increased in S. warnstorfii. Length increments differed statistically among the N treatments, but in the highest experimental N deposition rate there was no fall in S. angustifolium comparable to that found in S. warnstorfii. In both species, raised CO2 concentrations caused increasing trends in capitulum and stem dry masses as well as length increments. Dry mass production of S. angustifolium increased at raised CO2 concentrations. Interaction between the two treatments was not so clear as their individual effects.
Testing Gravitation in the Solar System with Radio Science experiments

The laws of gravitation have been tested for a long time with steadily improving precision, leading at some moment of time to paradigmatic evolutions. Pursuing this continual effort is of great importance for science. In this communication, we focus on Solar System tests of gravity and more precisely on possible tests that can be performed with radio science observations (Range and Doppler). After briefly reviewing the current tests of gravitation at Solar System scales, we give motivations to continue such experiments. In order to obtain signature and estimate the amplitude of anomalous signals that could show up in radio science observables because of modified gravitational laws, we developed a new software that simulates Range/Doppler signals. We present this new tool that simulates radio science observables directly from the space-time metric. We apply this tool to the Cassini mission during its cruise from Jupiter to Saturn and derive constraints on the parameters entering alternative theories of gravity beyond the standard Parametrized Post Newtonian theory.