Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A model for battery pulsed discharge with recovery effect

This paper introduces a stochastic model of battery behavior, that emulates electrochemical mechanisms that are key to battery performance under pulsed discharge conditions. A pulsed discharge allows charge recovery during the idle periods. Recovery depends on the state of charge of the battery and on the duration of the rest time period. Using the postulated model, we derive the improvement to battery lifetime that results from pulsed current discharge driven by bursty stochastic transmissions. The results emphasize the role of traffic shaping in the quest to enhance battery behavior.
Palm Vein Recognition using Local Tetra Patterns

Palm Vein Recognition is an emerging touch-less and spoof-resistant means of biometric authentication. However, matching algorithms tend to lack accuracy, due to the complexity of vascular patterns and irregularities in subsequent samples of the same person. This paper proposes a method that describes the spatial structure of local texture using direction of central gray pixel, formulating a discrete set of features which generates a unique template that improves the accuracy of identification. The features from various samples pertaining to the same person are strategically combined. This creates a robust feature vector which is able to handle the irregularities encountered while acquiring images for the database, and improves the efficiency manifolds as compared to present techniques. Matching and score calculation was done using cosine similarity measure. The method was tested on the PUT Vein Database which contained 1200 samples. The results showed an Equal Error Rate of 0%.
Academic Attribution: Citation and the Construction of Disciplinary Knowledge.

In this paper I explore the ways in which academic citation practices contribute to the construction of disciplinary knowledge. Based on the analysis of a computer corpus of 80 research articles and interviews with experienced writers, the study investigates the contextual variability of citations in eight disciplines and suggests how textual conventions point to distinctions in the ways knowledge is typically negotiated and confirmed within different academic communities. Clear disciplinary differences are identified in both the extent to which writers refer to the work of others and in how they depict the reported information. Writers in the humanities and social sciences employed substantially more citations than scientists and engineers, and were more likely to use integral structures, to employ discourse reporting verbs, and to represent cited authors as adopting a stance to their material. It is argued that these differences in citation practices are related to the fact that academics actively participate in knowledge construction as members of professional groups and that their discoursal decisions are influenced by, and deeply embedded in, the epistemological and social conventions of their disciplines.
The quest for excitement: a missing link between personality disorder and violence?

Despite its relative neglect by most emotion theorists, excitement has been found to be an important motive for criminal, and particularly violent, offending in young men. Exceptionally, reversal theory (Apter, M.J. (2007b). Reversal theory: The dynamics of motivation, emotion and personality (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oneworld Publications. ) regards the quest for excitement as a powerful motive for human behaviour, including antisocial behaviour. The quest for excitement, manifesting as a desire to inflict harm and suffering on others, is prevalent in the dissocial domain of personality disorders and is arguably most prominent in those showing traits of ‘meanness’ and ‘disinhibition’ (Patrick, C. (2010). Conceptualizing the psychopathic personality: Disinhibited, bold…or just plain mean? In D.R. Lynam & R.J. Salekin (Eds.), Handbook of child and adolescent psychopathy (pp. 15–48). New York: Guilford Press. ). Violence motivated by the desire for excitement is often facilitated by drug or alcohol use, overrides whatever feelings of empathy individuals might have for their victims, and represents a failure of emotion regulation characterised by an inability to down-regulate positive emotional states such as excitement and exhilaration. A quadripartite typology of violence is described which is intended as a working hypothesis and a framework to guide future research focusing on motivations for violent offending.
Inconstant constants: do the inner workings of nature change with time?

S ome things never change. physicists call them the constants of nature. Such quantities as the velocity of light, c, Newton’s constant of gravitation, G, and the mass of the electron, m e, are assumed to be the same at all places and times in the universe. They form the scaffolding around which the theories of physics are erected, and they define the fabric of our universe. Physics has progressed by making ever more accurate measurements of their values.
Dark tourism, thanatourism, and dissonance in heritage tourism management: new directions in contemporary tourism research

This research note focuses on tourism to heritage sites with a controversial history and sites associated with death, disaster, and the macabre. Several new concepts and research directions have emerged in the study of such sites. Particular attention is given to the dark tourism and thanatourism approaches as well as to an analysis of dissonance in the management of heritage sites. Further, changes at places with a shadowed past are examined in the context of a revived geography of memory. There is a continued interest of the traveling public in revisiting war and peace memorials. In the final part of the research note examples of a new perspective on places of pain and shame are introduced.
Compulsive sexual behavior : new concepts and treatments

New developments in understanding the nature, etiology and treatment of compulsive sexual behavior offer new hope for people suffering from these sexual disorders. There is considerable debate about terminology and these newer approaches to treatment. This paper reviews these new developments and the controversy which surround them. Compulsive sexual behavior can be divided into two types: paraphilic and nonparaphilic. While John Money (1986) has described the paraphilias at length, a specific attempt is made here to describe and classify nonparaphilic compulsive sexual behaviors. An obsessive-compulsive model for understanding paraphilic and nonparaphilic compulsive sexual behaviors is preferred by the author.
What can Patient Outcomes tell us about Hospital Quality ?

This paper examines the use of patient health outcomes to measure quality differences across hospitals. If patients choose hospitals based on their initial health status, the resulting selection bias needs to be taken into account when using patient outcomes to aseess the effect of hospital care on patient health. This selection is controlled for by estimating patient outcomes conditional on a behavioral model of hospital choice, taking an approach that differs from the statistical treatments of selection that have been previously used. The same problem arises in estimating hospital production functions when the hospital output is measured in terms of patient outcomes. Using data of Medicare heart attack patients, I find that selection does lead to a correlation between the patient initial health status, and the hospital inputs, as measured by the characteristics of the hospital. In particular, older and more severely ill patients are less likely to choose low volume hospitals and hospitals offering specialized procedures, so that failing to control for selection causes the effect of hospital volume on patient health outcomes to be underestimated, and of specialized procedure capabilities to be overestimated. ∗I am grateful to Tim Bresnahan, Alan Garber, Mark McClellan, and Roger Noll for their help and comments. Funding from the Brookings Institution, the Health Care Financing Administration (contract number 500-96-P535) and the National Institute on Aging (AG05842 and AG11706) is also gratefully acknowledged. Email : at436@columbia.edu
High-dose melphalan and the development of hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation: 25 years later.

Hillard M. Lazarus, Department of Medicine, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Ireland Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University Gordon L. Phillips, Department of Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY Roger H. Herzig, Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant, University of Louisville, James Graham Brown Cancer Center, Louisville, KY David D. Hurd, Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC Steven N. Wolff, Department of Internal Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN Geoffrey P. Herzig, Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant, University of Louisville, James Graham Brown Cancer Center, Louisville, KY
Which part of the Quick mild cognitive impairment screen (Qmci) discriminates between normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment and dementia?

Introduction: the Qmci is a sensitive and specific test to differentiate between normal cognition (NC), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. We compared the sensitivity and specificity of the subtests of the Qmci to determine which best discriminated NC, MCI and dementia. Objective: the objective was to determine the contribution each subtest of the Qmci makes, to its sensitivity and specificity in differentiating MCI from NC and dementia, to refine and shorten the instrument. Methods: existing data from our previous study of 965 subjects, testing the Qmci, was analysed to compare the sensitivity and specificity of the Qmci subtests. Results: all the subtests of the Qmci differentiated MCI from NC. Logical memory (LM) performed the best (area under the receiver operating curve of 0.80), registration the worst, (0.56). LM and verbal fluency had the largest median differences (expressed as percentage of total score) between MCI and NC, 20 and 25%, respectively. Other subtests did not have clinically useful differences. LM was best at differentiating MCI from NC, irrespective of age or educational status. Conclusion: the Qmci incorporates several important cognitive domains making it useful across the spectrum of cognitive impairment. LM is the best performing subtest for differentiating MCI from NC.
What have we done to Mother Earth? Psychodynamic thinking applied to our current world crisis

This article takes as metaphors Earth Mother and Mother Earth and considers their meaning as we face an uncertain future in relation to our planet. It explores our ambivalence in relation to Mother Earth and how our defences of denial, disavowal, splitting and contempt are deployed in order not to think about the damage we have done to the Earth and to future generations’ ability to live on this planet. The article uses images, poetry and literature to illustrate some of our experiences of the Earth and Nature and our connection with them as well as our fear of them. The paper draws explicitly on the ideas of Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott and Wilfred Bion and attempts to put these ideas in context in relation to the Earth and our continuing destruction of it. In the latter part of the paper, I make use of ideas from complexity theory drawing on the works of contemporary thinkers, especially Joseph Dodds and Rosemary Randall. The paper concludes with the emphasis on what is needed to help manage the anxieties and depression which ensue when there is an exploration of these issues, which often feel overwhelming and unbearable.
Rawlsian Global Justice

L'A. defend la these selon laquelle la theorie de la justice de Rawls, fondee sur des procedures constructivistes et etatiques d'inspiration kantienne, ouvre la voie au projet d'une justice mondiale substituant a l'idee de droit des gens un droit cosmopolitique des personnes. Au-dela de la division des personnes et de l'etat, l'A. defend les principes non-etatiques de l'incorporation, de la tolerance et de la cohesion, ainsi que leur application pratique a un monde non-ideal.
Evolution of newly formed dust in Population III supernova remnants and its impact on the elemental composition of Population II.5 stars

Abstract We investigate the evolution of dust formed in Population III supernovae (SNe) by considering its transport and processing by sputtering within the SN remnants (SNRs). We find that the fate of dust grains within SNRs heavily depends on their initial radii aini. For Type II SNRs expanding into the ambient medium with density of nH,0 = 1 cm−3, grains of aini < 0.05 μm are detained in the shocked hot gas and are completely destroyed, while grains of aini > 0.2 μm are injected into the surrounding medium without being significantly destroyed. Grains with aini = 0.05–0.2 μm are finally trapped in the dense shell behind the forward shock. We show that the grains piled up in the dense shell enrich the gas up to 10−6–10−4Z⊙, high enough to form low-mass stars with 0.1–1 M⊙. In addition, [Fe/H] in the dense shell ranges from −6 to −4.5, which is in good agreement with the ultra-metal-poor stars with [Fe/H] < −4. We suggest that newly formed dust in a Population III SN can have great impact on the stellar mass and elemental composition of Population II.5 stars formed in the shell of the SNR.
The Declining Information Content of Dividend Announcements and the Effects of Institutional Holdings

We propose an explanation for the disappearing dividend phenomenon: the decline in the information content of dividend announcements. This reduces the propensity of firms to pay or increase dividends, since dividends are costly. The decline in the information content of dividend, is partly because of the rise over time in stockholding by institutional investors that are more sophisticated and informed. Our results show a decline in the stock price reaction to announcements of dividend changes since the mid 1970s. Across firms, the price reaction to dividend news is smaller in firms with high institutional holdings. Institutional investors exploit their superior information by buying before dividend increases and selling afterwards. And, firms with high institutional holdings are less likely to raise dividends.
Recent Advances in Imprinting Disorders

Imprinting disorders (ImpDis) are a group of currently 12 congenital diseases with common underlying (epi)genetic etiologies and overlapping clinical features affecting growth, development and metabolism. In the last years it has emerged that ImpDis are characterized by the same types of mutations and epimutations, i.e. uniparental disomies, copy number variations, epimutations, and point mutations. Each ImpDis is associated with a specific imprinted locus, but the same imprinted region can be involved in different ImpDis. Additionally, even the same aberrant methylation patterns are observed in different phenotypes. As some ImpDis share clinical features, clinical diagnosis is difficult in some cases. The advances in molecular and clinical diagnosis of ImpDis help to circumvent these issues, and they are accompanied by an increasing understanding of the pathomechanism behind them. As these mechanisms have important roles for the etiology of other common conditions, the results in ImpDis research have a wider effect beyond the borders of ImpDis. For patients and their families, the growing knowledge contributes to a more directed genetic counseling of the families and personalized therapeutic approaches.
An Eliminativist Theory of Suspense

Suspense realism claims suspense is itself a genuine, distinct emotion. While current theories of suspense are suspense realist theories, I argue for a suspense eliminativist theory according to which suspense is not itself a genuine, distinct emotion but a subspecies of an emotion, or the class comprising all and only those subspecies, chiefly demarcated by the necessity of uncertainty and primarily the province of (primarily fictional) narrative encounters. There are several prima facie compelling reasons to think suspense eliminativism is capable of grounding a theory equally if not better able to resolve the principal concerns suspense theory must address.
ested image steganography scheme using R-barcode technique

ing-Wein Wang ational Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences nstitute of Photonics and Communications 15 Chien Kung Road aohsiung 807 Taiwan Abstract. In this paper, QR bar code and image processing techniques are used to construct a nested steganography scheme. There are two types of secret data lossless and lossy embedded into a cover image. The lossless data is text that is first encoded by the QR barcode; its data does not have any distortion when comparing with the extracted data and original data. The lossy data is a kind of image; the face image is suitable for our case. Because the extracted text is lossless, the error correction rate of QR encoding must be carefully designed. We found a 25% error correction rate is suitable for our goal. In image embedding, because it can sustain minor perceptible distortion, we thus adopted the lower nibble byte discard of the face image to reduce the secret data. When the image is extracted, we use a median filter to filter out the noise and obtain a smoother image quality. After simulation, it is evident that our scheme is robust to JPEG attacks. Compared to other steganography schemes, our proposed method has three advantages: i the nested scheme is an enhanced security system never previously developed; ii our scheme can conceal lossless and lossy secret data into a cover image simultaneously; and iii the QR barcode used as secret data can widely extend this method’s application fields. © 2009 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. DOI: 10.1117/1.3126646
Differing Procedures for Recording Mortality Statistics in Scandinavia

Background: There may be various reasons for differences in suicide rates between countries and over time within a country. One reason can be different registration practices. Aims: The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the present procedures for mortality and suicide registration in the three Scandinavian countries and to illustrate potential sources of error in the registration of suicide. Method: Information about registration practices and classification procedures was obtained from the cause of death registers in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. In addition, we received information from experts in the field in each country. Results: Sweden uses event of undetermined intent more frequently than Denmark does, and Denmark more frequently than Norway. There seems to be somewhat more uncertainty among deaths classified as ill-defined and unknown cause of mortality in Norway, compared with the other two countries. Sweden performs more forensic autopsies than Norway, and Norway more than Denmark. In Denmark, in cases of a suspected unnatural manner of death, a thorough external examination of the deceased is performed. Conclusion: Differences in the classification of causes of death and in postmortem examinations exist in Scandinavian countries. These differences might influence the suicide statistics in Scandinavia.
Dyadic Adjustment and Depressive Symptoms

The present study examines adult attachment as a mediator, explaining the association between dyadic adjustment and depressive symptoms. Participants included 188 women and 35 men (N = 223) with a mean age of 28.9 years (SD = 9.95 years; range = 18–66 years). Results replicated previous research by demonstrating a significant association between poor relationship adjustment and depressive symptoms. However, the authors extended prior work identifying avoidance as a mediator of the relationship between each Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS) subscale (i.e., Satisfaction, Consensus, and Cohesion) and symptoms of depression. On the other hand, attachment anxiety mediated only the relationship between the cohesion subscale of the RDAS and depressive symptoms but was not influential in the association between satisfaction or consensus and symptoms of depression. Implications for the clinical treatment of depression among adults are discussed.
Quad Ropes: immutable, declarative arrays with parallelizable operations

We describe the quad rope data structure, a representation of immutable two-dimensional arrays that avoids many of the performance pitfalls of plain C-style two-dimensional arrays. Our motivation is that, for end-user development in high-level declarative programming languages, it is impractical to let users choose between different array-like data structures. Instead, one should use the same, somewhat performance-robust, representation for every programming task. Quad ropes roughly retain array efficiency, as long as programmers express their programs using high-level constructs. Moreover, they allow for fast concatenation and dynamic task-based parallelism and are well suited to represent sparse arrays. We describe their operational semantics and evaluate the performance of individual functions on quad ropes as well as declarative algorithms that use our quad rope implementation.
Simulation of Mobile Robots in Virtual Environments

In this paper we describe a system to simulate and operate Virtual and Real robots (ViRBot). The system consists of several layers that control the operation of real and virtual robots. A 3D graphic engine interface allows to test multiple virtual robots, that are a close simulation of the real ones, the virtual robots are able to execute the same commands, using a robot’s programming language, that real robots can, including behaviours, movement equations and sensors readings.
Computerization of the Workplace

Divergent conceptualizations of the recent changes in work organization that have accompanied computerization include neo-Bravermanian analyses, postindustrial analyses, and contingency analyses. To make sense of these differing views, the paper surveys sociological research on computerization and its impact on three analytically separate dimensions of the workplace: organizational restructuring, changes in worker skill, and power and authority relationships. The review reveals that computerized work organizations typically have fewer hierarchical levels, a bifurcated workforce, frequently with race and sex segregation, a less formal structure, and diminished use of internal labor markets and reliance instead on external credentialing. Variable patterns of centralization and decentralization occur, and workplace power relationships interact with technological change to produce variable political outcomes. With regard to worker skills, recent evidence suggests aggregate upskilling with some deskilling and .
Scene analysis in the natural environment

The problem of scene analysis has been studied in a number of different fields over the past decades. These studies have led to important insights into problems of scene analysis, but not all of these insights are widely appreciated, and there remain critical shortcomings in current approaches that hinder further progress. Here we take the view that scene analysis is a universal problem solved by all animals, and that we can gain new insight by studying the problems that animals face in complex natural environments. In particular, the jumping spider, songbird, echolocating bat, and electric fish, all exhibit behaviors that require robust solutions to scene analysis problems encountered in the natural environment. By examining the behaviors of these seemingly disparate animals, we emerge with a framework for studying scene analysis comprising four essential properties: (1) the ability to solve ill-posed problems, (2) the ability to integrate and store information across time and modality, (3) efficient recovery and representation of 3D scene structure, and (4) the use of optimal motor actions for acquiring information to progress toward behavioral goals.