Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Climate Risk, Cooperation, and the Co-Evolution of Culture and Institutions

This paper examines the relationship between economic risk and the evolution of social cooperation. We hypothesise that trust developed in pre-industrial times as a result of experiences of cooperation aimed at coping with climatic risk. We document that European regions with higher pre-industrial climatic variability display higher levels of trust today. This effect is driven by variability in the growing season months and is more pronounced in agricultural regions. Regarding possible mechanisms, our results indicate that climatic risk favoured intercommunity exchange and the early adoption of inclusive political institutions which is associated with higher quality of local governments today.
Controlling the Information Flow: Effects on Consumers' Decision Making and Preferences

One of the main objectives facing marketers is to present consumers with information on which to base their decisions. In doing so, marketers have to select the type of information system they want to utilize in order to deliver the most appropriate information to their consumers. One of the most interesting and distinguishing dimensions of such information systems is the level of control the consumer has over the information system. The current work presents and tests a general model for understanding the advantages and disadvantages of information control on consumers' decision quality, memory, knowledge, and confidence. The results show that controlling the information flow can help consumers better match their preferences, have better memory and knowledge about the domain they are examining, and be more confident in their judgments. However, it is also shown that controlling the information flow creates demands on processing resources and therefore under some circumstances can have detrimental effects on consumers' ability to utilize information. The article concludes with a summary of the findings, discussion of their application for electronic commerce, and suggestions for future research avenues. Copyright 2000 by the University of Chicago.
Side channel analysis of an elliptic curve crypto-system based on multi-class classification

Cryptosystems, even after recent algorithmic improvements, can be vulnerable to side channel attacks (SCA). In this paper, we investigated one of the powerful class of SCA based on machine learning techniques in the forms of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and multi-class classification. For this purpose, support vector machine (SVM) is investigated as a robust and efficient multi-class classifier along with a proper kernel function and its appropriate parameters. Our experiment performed on data leakage of FPGA implementation of elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), and the results, validated by cross validation approach, compare the efficiency of different kernel functions and the influence of function parameters.
Spinal G-Protein-Gated K+ Channels Formed by GIRK1 and GIRK2 Subunits Modulate Thermal Nociception and Contribute to Morphine Analgesia

G-protein-gated potassium (K+) channels are found throughout the CNS in which they contribute to the inhibitory effects of neurotransmitters and drugs of abuse. Recent studies have implicated G-protein-gated K+ channels in thermal nociception and the analgesic action of morphine and other agents. Because nociception is subject to complex spinal and supraspinal modulation, however, the relevant locations of G-protein-gated K+ channels are unknown. In this study, we sought to clarify the expression pattern and subunit composition of G-protein-gated K+ channels in the spinal cord and to assess directly their contribution to thermal nociception and morphine analgesia. We detected GIRK1 (G-protein-gated inwardly rectifying K+ channel subunit 1) and GIRK2 subunits, but not GIRK3, in the superficial layers of the dorsal horn. Lack of either GIRK1 or GIRK2 was correlated with significantly lower expression of the other, suggesting that a functional and physical interaction occurs between these two subunits. Consistent with these findings, GIRK1 knock-out and GIRK2 knock-out mice exhibited hyperalgesia in the tail-flick test of thermal nociception. Furthermore, GIRK1 knock-out and GIRK2 knock-out mice displayed decreased analgesic responses after the spinal administration of higher morphine doses, whereas responses to lower morphine doses were preserved. Qualitatively similar data were obtained with wild-type mice after administration of the G-protein-gated K+ channel blocker tertiapin. We conclude that spinal G-protein-gated K+ channels consisting primarily of GIRK1/GIRK2 complexes modulate thermal nociception and mediate a significant component of the analgesia evoked by intrathecal administration of high morphine doses.
A Method for Secure Query Processing in Mobile Databases

A method for secure query processing in mobile databases has been presented in this paper. Mobile devices send queries to the server via point-to-point channels. The mobile database server computes the superset of results of several similar queries, which is broadcast on a large bandwidth broadcast channel. The mobile devices tune to that channel to retrieve their necessary information. Here the senders of all the said queries can view not only the result of their own query but also the results of others' queries in the same group. This is not desirable, since some user can maliciously view the results of queries sent by some other user. In this paper, we have proposed a method that would not allow any user to do so, although the results of multiple queries are being sent in the same broadcast channel which is accessible to all users.
Perkembangan Sistem Perbankan Islam di Malaysia: Kajian dari Sudut Strategi Penyebaran Maklumat Menerusi Laman Web

Penulisan ini akan melihat peranan laman web sebagai satu strategi penyebaran maklumat bagi bidang perbankan Islam terus berkembang di Malaysia. Aspek yang ditekenkan dalam penulisan ini meliputi dari sudut jenis-jenis institusi yang membangunkan laman web perbankan Islam seperti institusi perbankan, institusi pendidikan, badan perundingan dan penyelidikan serta orang peerseorangan. Sudut keberkesanan penyebaran maklumat menerusi laman web turut dibincangkan terutama dari sudut jumlah pengguna internet yang melayari laman web tersebut, kemudahan capaian kepada laman web tersebut dan juga manfaat yang diperolehi oleh penyelia laman web tersebut hasil daripada penyebaran melalui medium internet dan laman web. Seterusnya kesan penggunaannya kepada masyarakat terutama dari sudut kemudahan untuk mencari maklumat berkaitan dengan perbank Islam terutama berkaitan tentang persoalan hukum, penggunaan prinsip-prinsip Syariah dalam perbankan Islam serta isu-isu semasa berkaitan turut dibincangkan.
Time after Time: Representing Time in Literary Texts

The representation of temporal information in text represents a significant computational challenge. The problem is particularly acute in the case of literary texts, which tend to be massively underspecified, often relying on a network of semantic relations to establish times and timings. This paper shows how a model based on threaded directed acyclic graphs makes it possible to capture a range of subtle temporal information in this type of text and argues for an onomasiological approach which places meaning before form.
An online SLAM-based mosaicking using local maps for ROVs

This article discusses the possibility of building online a mosaic of the seafloor relying on a SLAM framework. The goal is to provide the ROV operator with an approximated seafloor's visual map relatively rough. In order to have that map, it is important to get an accurate estimate of the location of the visual landmarks and, in particular, a correct data association when a visual landmark is re-visited by the vehicle. The proposed approach uses the combination of a set of local mosaics constructed in the proximity of the SLAM visual landmarks instead of using a global mosaic. The algorithm was tested using a batch of experimental data in typical operating conditions and the results show the effectiveness of the approach.
Gaussian Sampling Precision and Information Leakage in Lattice Cryptography

Security parameters and attack countermeasures for Lattice-based cryptosystems have not yet matured to the level that we now expect from RSA and Elliptic Curve implementations. Many modern Ring-LWE and other lattice-based public key algorithms require high precision random sampling from the Discrete Gaussian distribution. The sampling procedure often represents the biggest implementation bottleneck due to its memory and computational requirements. We examine the stated requirements of precision for Gaussian samplers, where statistical distance to the theoretical distribution is typically expected to be below 2−90 or 2−128 for 90 or 128 “bit” security level. We argue that such precision is excessive and give precise theoretical arguments why half of the precision of the security parameter is almost always sufficient. This leads to faster and more compact implementations; almost halving implementation size in both hardware and software. We observe that many of the proposed algorithms for discrete Gaussian sampling may leak significant amounts of secret information in easily mounted timing attacks. We further offer new recommendations for practical samplers.
Chronic Traffic-Related Air Pollution and Stress Interact to Predict Biologic and Clinical Outcomes in Asthma

Background Previous research has documented effects of both physical and social environmental exposures on childhood asthma. However, few studies have considered how these two environments might interact to affect asthma. Objective This study aimed to test interactions between chronic exposure to traffic-related air pollution and chronic family stress in predicting biologic and clinical outcomes in children with asthma. Method Children with asthma (n = 73, 9–18 years of age) were interviewed about life stress, and asthma-relevant inflammatory markers [cytokine production, immunoglobulin E (IgE), eosinophil counts] were measured. Parents reported on children’s symptoms. Children completed daily diaries of symptoms and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) measures at baseline and 6 months later. Exposure to traffic-related air pollution was assessed using a land use regression model for nitrogen dioxide concentrations. Results NO2 by stress interactions were found for interleukin-5 (β for interaction term = −0.31, p = 0.02), IgE (interaction β = −0.29, p = 0.02), and eosinophil counts (interaction β = −0.24, p = 0.04). These interactions showed that higher chronic stress was associated with heightened inflammatory profiles as pollution levels decreased. Longitudinally, NO2 by stress interactions emerged for daily diary symptoms (interaction β = −0.28, p = 0.02), parent-reported symptoms (interaction β = −0.25, p = 0.07), and PEFR (interaction β = 0.30, p = 0.03). These interactions indicated that higher chronic stress was associated with increases over time in symptoms and decreases over time in PEFR as pollution levels decreased. Conclusions The physical and social environments interacted in predicting both biologic and clinical outcomes in children with asthma, suggesting that when pollution exposure is more modest, vulnerability to asthma exacerbations may be heightened in children with higher chronic stress.
An Image Is worth a Thousand Words: Why Nouns Tend to Dominate Verbs in Early Word Learning

Nouns are generally easier to learn than verbs (e. in children's earliest vocabularies, creating a seeming paradox. This paper examines one hypothesis about the difference between noun and verb acquisition. Perhaps the advantage nouns have is not a function of grammatical form class but rather is related to a word's imageability. Here, word imageability ratings and form class (nouns and verbs) were correlated with age of acquisition according to the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI; Fenson et al., 1994). CDI age of acquisition was negatively correlated with words' imageability ratings. Further, a word's imageability contributes to the variance of the word's age of acquisition above and beyond form class, suggesting that at the beginning of word learning, imageability might be a driving factor.
A Simplified Proof of the NP- and MAX SNP-Hardness of Multiple Sequence Tree Alignment

We give a simple proof which shows that the multiple sequence tree alignment problem from molecular biology is both NP-complete and MAX SNP-hard. Our proof of MAX SNP-hardness is simpler than that given previously by Wang and Jiang. These results suggest that it is unlikely that the multiple sequence tree alignment problem has polynomial-time algorithms that produce either optimal solutions or approximate solutions whose cost may be arbitrarily close to optimal.
Tap input as an embedded interaction method for mobile devices

In this paper we describe a novel interaction method for interacting with mobile devices without the need to access a keypad or a display. A tap with a hand can be reliably detected e.g. through a pocket by means of an acceleration sensor. By carefully designing the user interface, the tap can be used to activate logically similar functionalities on the device, leading to a simple but useful interaction method. We present results of user tests aimed at studying the usability of various tap input based user interface applications.
Flower reconstruction from a single photo

We present a semi‐automatic method for reconstructing flower models from a single photograph. Such reconstruction is challenging since the 3D structure of a flower can appear ambiguous in projection. However, the flower head typically consists of petals embedded in 3D space that share similar shapes and form certain level of regular structure. Our technique employs these assumptions by first fitting a cone and subsequently a surface of revolution to the flower structure and then computing individual petal shapes from their projection in the photo. Flowers with multiple layers of petals are handled through processing different layers separately. Occlusions are dealt with both within and between petal layers. We show that our method allows users to quickly generate a variety of realistic 3D flowers from photographs and to animate an image using the underlying models reconstructed from our method.
Individuals with bipolar disorder and their relationship with the criminal justice system: a critical review.

OBJECTIVE Bipolar disorder is a severe and prevalent psychiatric disease. Poor outcomes include a high frequency of criminal acts, imprisonments, and repeat offenses. This critical review of the international literature examined several aspects of the complex relationship between individuals with bipolar disorder and the criminal justice system: risk factors for criminal acts, features of bipolar patients' incarceration, and their postrelease trajectories. METHODS Publications were obtained from the PubMed and Google Scholar electronic databases by using the following MeSH headings: prison, forensic psychiatry, criminal law, crime, and bipolar disorder. RESULTS Among patients with bipolar disorder, the frequency of violent criminal acts is higher than in the general population (odds ratio [OR]=2.8, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.8-4.3). The frequency is higher among patients with bipolar disorder and a comorbid substance use disorder than among those without either disorder (OR=10.1, CI=5.3-19.2). As a result, the prevalence of bipolar disorder among prisoners is high (2%-7%). In prison, patients' bipolar disorder symptoms can complicate their relationship with prison administrators, leading to an increased risk of multiple incarcerations. Moreover, the risk of suicide increases for these prisoners. CONCLUSIONS Criminal acts are common among patients with bipolar disorder and are often associated with problems such as addiction. Thus it is important to improve the diagnosis and treatment of inmates with bipolar disorder.
Analysis of Partial K-Space reconstruction algorithms for Magnetic Resonance Imaging

There are different imaging techniques which are being used for diagnosis of human body. Medical Resonance Imaging (MRI) technique provides information that differs from other imaging techniques, one of the major advantages is that it can characterize and discriminate among tissues using their physical and biochemical properties. The patient acceptability is high as it requires little patient preparation for the test. In this paper we analyze different algorithms of Partial K-Space reconstruction used in MRI. We also review the Compressive Sensing/Sampling approach of image reconstruction from partial K-Space data.
Variants in the 1q21 risk region are associated with a visual endophenotype of autism and schizophrenia

Deficits in sensitivity to visual stimuli of low spatial frequency and high temporal frequency (so‐called frequency‐doubled gratings) have been demonstrated both in schizophrenia and in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Such basic perceptual functions are ideal candidates for molecular genetic study, because the underlying neural mechanisms are well characterized; but they have sometimes been overlooked in favor of cognitive and neurophysiological endophenotypes, for which neural substrates are often unknown. Here, we report a genome‐wide association study of a basic visual endophenotype associated with psychological disorder. Sensitivity to frequency‐doubled gratings was measured in 1060 healthy young adults, and analyzed for association with genotype using linear regression at 642 758 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. A significant association (P = 7.9 × 10−9) was found with the SNP marker rs1797052, situated in the 5′‐untranslated region of PDZK1; each additional copy of the minor allele was associated with an increase in sensitivity equivalent to more than half a standard deviation. A permutation procedure, which accounts for multiple testing, showed that the association was significant at the α = 0.005 level. The region on chromosome 1q21.1 surrounding PDZK1 is an established susceptibility locus both for schizophrenia and for ASD, mirroring the common association of the visual endophenotype with the two disorders. PDZK1 interacts with N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate receptors and neuroligins, which have been implicated in the etiologies of schizophrenia and ASD. These findings suggest that perceptual abnormalities observed in two different disorders may be linked by common genetic elements.
BER analysis of WiMAX on FSO

The Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) presented in IEEE 802.16 has the aim to provide wireless broadband services to commercial fixed and mobile users. Free-space-optical (FSO) link can be utilized for establishing the connection between WiMAX base station and core network. This optical wireless technology is used for distributing WiMAX traffic because it represents a cost-effective solution, easy to be installed and supports high data rates. On the other hand, transmission of radio-frequency (RF) signals over a FSO link is strongly dependent on weather conditions. In our work, we study a mixed FSO/WiMAX link with primary aim to determine the overall error rate performance. Firstly, we provide a brief recapitulation of main results in this field. Secondly, we determine error rate dependence on different system and channel parameters. We observe the simultaneous effects of FSO and RF channel conditions on error rate performance. Further, we suggest some quasi cyclic low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes suitable for implementation in these systems and determine their error rate performance for different code words lengths.
Calibrating the EGS Flow Stimulation Process for Basement Rock

Abstract: We use Matlab 3D finite element fluid flow/transport modelling to simulate localized 10 wellbore temperature events of order 0.05-0.1oC logged in Fennoscandia basement rock at ~ 1.5km 11 depths. The temperature events are approximated as steady-state heat transport due to fluid 12 draining from the crust into the wellbore via naturally occurring fracture-connectivity structures. 13 Flow simulation is based on the empirics of spatially-correlated fracture-connectivity fluid flow 14 widely attested by well-log, well-core, and well-production data. Matching model wellbore15 centric radial temperature profiles to a 2D analytic expression for steady-state radial heat transport 16 with Peclet number Pe ≡ r0φv0/D (r0 = wellbore radius, v0 = Darcy velocity at r0, φ = ambient porosity, 17 D = rock-water thermal diffusivity), gives Pe ~ 10-15 for fracture-connectivity flow intersecting the 18 well, and Pe ~ 0 for ambient crust. Darcy flow for model Pe ~ 10 at radius ~ 10 meters from the 19 wellbore gives permeability estimate κ ~ 0.02Darcy for flow driven by differential fluid pressure 20 between least principal crustal stress pore pressure and hydrostatic wellbore pressure. Model 21 temperature event flow permeability κm ~ 0.02Darcy is related to well-core ambient permeability κ ~ 22 1μDarcy by empirical poroperm relation κm ~ κ exp(αmφ) for φ ~ 0.01 and αm ~ 1000. Our 23 modelling of wellbore temperature events calibrates the concept of reactivating fossilized fracture24 connectivity flow for EGS permeability stimulation of basement rock. 25
The role of PET-CT in radiotherapy planning of solid tumours

Abstract Background. PET-CT is becoming more and more important in various aspects of oncology. Until recently it was used mainly as part of diagnostic procedures and for evaluation of treatment results. With development of personalized radiotherapy, volumetric and radiobiological characteristics of individual tumour have become integrated in the multistep radiotherapy (RT) planning process. Standard anatomical imaging used to select and delineate RT target volumes can be enriched by the information on tumour biology gained by PET-CT. In this review we explore the current and possible future role of PET-CT in radiotherapy treatment planning. After general explanation, we assess its role in radiotherapy of those solid tumours for which PET-CT is being used most. Conclusions. In the nearby future PET-CT will be an integral part of the most radiotherapy treatment planning procedures in an every-day clinical practice. Apart from a clear role in radiation planning of lung cancer, with forthcoming clinical trials, we will get more evidence of the optimal use of PET-CT in radiotherapy planning of other solid tumours
Reforming the Oversight of Multi-Site Clinical Research: A Review of Two Possible Solutions

The current system for the ethical oversight of clinical research suffers from structural, procedural, and performance assessment problems. Initially conceived primarily to handle local investigator-initiated single-site studies, the system of institutionally-based committee review has become progressively more inefficient given the increased prevalence of commercially or federally sponsored multi-center trials. To date, proposed solutions do not adequately address these problems. Beginning with a review of these structural, procedural, and performance assessment problems, this article will then consider two proposals for addressing these deficiencies: (a) regional ethics organizations; and (b) IRBNet™, a newly developed web-based program for cooperative IRB review. The strengths and weaknesses of these two approaches will be evaluated in light of recent experience with centralized review. The proposal to establish a system of regional ethics organizations presents a comprehensive approach to many of the problems faced by the current system. However, IRBNet™ offers an immediate and feasible solution to many of the problems faced by the review of multi-site clinical studies. IRBNet™ has been developed by Elizabeth A. Bankert, MA and Robert M. Nelson, MD, PhD through a cooperative venture of Dartmouth College and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, funded by the National Institutes of Health through a Human Subjects Research Enhancement Award (1 S07 RR18181). IRBNet™ has subsequently been transferred to a private entity for commercial development.