Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Purely optical networks for terabit communication

Emerging applications require a substantially higher bandwidth than the one offered by current networks. The authors propose a novel architectural approach that meets the high bandwidth requirements by introducing a communication architecture based on lightpaths, which are purely optical transmission paths in the network. Since lightpaths form the building block of the proposed architecture, its performance hinges on their efficient establishment and management. The authors shown that although the problem of optimally establishing lightpaths is NP-complete, distributed heuristics provide near-optimal solutions for several of the basic problems presented by the lightpath architecture. <<ETX>>
Ethics in Wildlife Management: What Price?

This paper argues that there may be instances where assessing wildlife for monetary valuation might be quite reasonable and useful for public policy, even when there are strong arguments against valuation of wildlife and nature. A case of deer population management is considered where continued growth of the deer population will lead to more property damage and habitat loss. However, deer population control raises ethical questions on the rights of animals to exist and on the rights of humans to arbitrarily interfere. The contingent valuation methodology (CVM) is used to value preferences for deer management for the purpose of guiding public policy. The valuation estimates show that ethical concerns about killing deer affect the level of willingness to pay in a quite a logical manner. However, for individuals with rights-based preferences, CVM is not appropriate. The survey results also show that individuals with rights-based preferences are a small minority in this particular example.
A high-speed, high-gain OTA structure with a new compensation technique

In this paper a high-speed, high-gain operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) is designed and simulated in a 180-nm CMOS technology. The gain-boosting technique is employed in a two-stage OTA structure and a new compensation approach is developed. Using booster in the two stage OTA increases the open-loop DC gain while using the proposed compensation technique guarantees the stability of the structure. Moreover, using the simplifications made in the small signal analysis in this work provides an effective strategy in analyzing more complex circuit structures. In this case, an OTA with an open-loop DC gain of about 114 dB, unity gain bandwidth of about 305 MHz, phase margin of 61° and power consumption of 4.3 mW with a loading capacitor of 5 pF is designed and simulated.
The Effects of Cognitive Style and Feedback Type on Performance in an Internal Control Task

ABSTRACT: To facilitate the task of evaluating the internal control environment, auditors typically use internal control questionnaires (ICQ) to identify and document audit information. One drawback of structured ICQs is that beginning auditors charged with their completion could use them mechanistically, overlooking important cues that do not match ICQ prompts. We investigate the effects of cognitive style and feedback type on auditors' ability to identify internal control cues using ICQs. Student participants, proxying for beginning staff auditors with no experience, were classified as possessing either a sensor or an intuitive cognitive style. In an experiment, participants used an ICQ to identify internal control cues for one accounting cycle. After receiving varying kinds of feedback, participants repeated the internal control cue identification task using an ICQ for a second accounting cycle. Contrary to expectations, cognitive style did not significantly affect performance in the absence of feedbac.
Minority‐Specific Determinants of Mental Well‐Being Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth

This study discusses the impact of stress specific to being lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB)-measured by means of the concepts of stigma consciousness and internalized homonegativity-on the mental well-being of LGB youth. Also, the effects of positive and negative social support were considered within the model. The sample consisted of 743 LGBs less than 26 years old who were recruited during the online ZZZIP survey in Flanders, Belgium. Hierarchical regression shows that LGB-specific unsupportive social interactions have the greatest direct effect on mental well-being of LGB youth, followed respectively by stigma consciousness, internalized homonegativity, and confidant support.
Conceptual Problems as Obstacles to Progress in Political Science

When they assess competing theories political scientists typically rely exclusively and naively on criteria of empirical performance. They have correspondingly little to say about conceptual problems and seem generally unaware of the extent to which their assessments of empirical performance are parasitic on conceptual commitments. This, in turn, hinders their ability to both persuasively conduct and critically assess substantive research. I use four decades of research on political culture as a vehicle for demonstrating how conceptual problems pose obstacles to progress in political science.
"Bad Things": Child Abuse and the Nineteenth-Century Spanish National School for the Deaf and Blind

This article draws on contemporary insights from the fields of psychology, sociology, and social welfare to analyze the potential threats of abuse posed by residential schools for deaf and blind children. It also examines an alleged episode of sexual abuse at the nineteenth century Spanish National School for deaf and blind children; the alleged perpetrator of these acts was director and professor Miguel Fernández Villabrille.
The Confidence Gap: From Fear To Freedom

This is a hands-on, self-help guide to gaining long-lasting confidence and overcoming fear using mindfulness-based therapy. The author explains how many of us are playing the 'confidence game' using the wrong rules, and guides the reader through clear, simple exercises designed to help you manage difficult emotions such as anxiety and build genuine confidence. The Confidence Gap has a gentler, more thoughtful approach to teaching confidence than the typically aggressive/peppy self-help approach. It is instructive, reassuring and gentle in tone, which will appeal to women as well as men and the business market.
HWWI Research Paper

The paper analyzes the relation between institutional quality, such as corruption, in a country and its monetary regime. It is shown that a credibly xed exchange rate to a low ination country, like a currency board, can reduce corruption and improve the scal system. A monetary union, however, has ambiguous e¤ects. I nd that that there is convergence between countries with regard to the level of
Electrocardiogram Signal Compression Using Multiwavelet Transform

In this paper we are to find the optimum multiwavelet for compression of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. At present, it is not well known which multiwavelet is the best choice for optimum compression of ECG. In this work, we examine different multiwavelets on 24 sets of ECG data with entirely different characteristics, selected from MITBIH database. For assessing the functionality of the different multiwavelets in compressing ECG signals, in addition to known factors such as Compression Ratio (CR), Percent Root Difference (PRD), Distortion (D), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) in compression literature, we also employed the Cross Correlation (CC) criterion for studying the morphological relations between the reconstructed and the original ECG signal and Signal to reconstruction Noise Ratio (SNR). The simulation results show that the cardbal2 by the means of identity (Id) prefiltering method to be the best effective transformation. Keywords—ECG compression, Multiwavelet, Prefiltering.
Using the Rating Scale Model to Examine the Psychometric Properties of the Self-Efficacy Scale for Driver Competence

This study evaluated the psychometric properties of a self-report scale for assessing perceived driver competence, labeled the Self-Efficacy Scale for Driver Competence (SSDC), using item response theory analyses. Two samples of Swedish driving-license examinees (n = 795; n = 714) completed two versions of the SSDC that were parallel in content. Prior work, using classical test theory analyses, has provided support for the validity and reliability of scores from the SSDC. This study investigated the measurement precision, item hierarchy, and differential functioning for males and females of the items in the SSDC as well as how the rating scale functions. The results confirmed the previous findings; that the SSDC demonstrates sound psychometric properties. In addition, the findings showed that measurement precision could be increased by adding items that tap higher self-efficacy levels. Moreover, the rating scale can be improved by reducing the number of categories or by providing each category with a label.
Tuberculosis transmission by patients with smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis in a large cohort in the Netherlands.

BACKGROUND Sputum smear microscopy is commonly used for diagnosing tuberculosis (TB). Although patients with sputum smear-negative TB are less infectious than patients with smear-positive TB, they also contribute to TB transmission. The objective of this study was to determine the proportion of TB transmission events caused by patients with smear-negative pulmonary TB in The Netherlands. METHODS All patients in The Netherlands with culture-confirmed TB during the period 1996-2004 were included in this study. Patients with identical DNA fingerprints in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from sputum samples were clustered. The first patients in a cluster were considered to be the index patients; all other patients were considered to have secondary cases. In addition, we examined transmission from sources by conventional contact tracing. RESULTS We analyzed 394 clusters with a total of 1285 patients. On the basis of molecular linkage only, 12.6% of the secondary cases were attributable to transmission from a patient with smear-negative TB. The relative transmission rate among patients with smear-negative TB, compared with patients with smear-positive TB, was 0.24 (95% confidence interval, 0.20-0.30). Secondary cases in clusters with an index patient with smear-negative TB more frequently had smear-negative status (odds ratio, 1.86; 95% confidence interval, 1.18-2.93), compared with secondary cases in clusters with an index patient with smear-positive TB. Conventional contact tracing revealed that 26 (6.2%) of the 417 sources, as identified by the Municipal Health Services, had smear-negative TB. CONCLUSIONS In The Netherlands, patients with smear-negative, culture-positive TB are responsible for 13% of TB transmission. Countries that have ample resources should expand their TB-control efforts to include prevention of transmission from patients with smear-negative, culture-positive pulmonary TB.
Efficient Thermal via Planning Approach and Its Application in 3-D Floorplanning

In this paper, we investigate thermal via (T-via) planning during three-dimensional (3-D) floorplanning. First, we consider the temperature constrained T-via planning (TVP) problem on a given 3-D floorplan. Second, we integrate dynamic TVP into 3-D floorplanning process. Our main contribution and results can be summarized as follows. We solve the temperature constrained TVP problem by solving a sequence of simplified interlayer and intralayer TVP subproblems. Each subproblem is formulated as convex programming problem and we derive nearly optimal solution for detailed T-via distribution. Based on the TVP solution, we implement the integrated TVP and 3-D floorplanning algorithm in a two-stage approach. Before floorplanning, blocks are assigned into different layers by solving a sequence of knapsack problems. During floorplanning, T-vias are allocated with white space redistribution to optimize T-via insertion. Experimental results show that our TVP approach can reduce T-vias by 12% compared with a recent published work (J. Cong and Y. Zhang, "Thermal via planning for 3-D ICs," in Proc. Int. Conf. Comput.-Aided Des., Nov. 2005, pp.745-752). Compared with the postfloorplanning optimization approach, integrating TVP into floorplanning process can reduce T-vias by 16% with 21% runtime overhead
Occurrence of Livestock-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Turkey and Broiler Barns and Contamination of Air and Soil Surfaces in Their Vicinity

ABSTRACT The emission of microorganisms, especially resistant bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), from poultry farms is of public interest, and its occurrence and relevance are controversially discussed. So far, there are limited data on this issue. In this study, we investigated the occurrence of livestock-associated (LA)-MRSA inside and outside previously tested MRSA-positive poultry barns in Germany. In total, five turkey and two broiler fattening farms were investigated four and three times, respectively. In a longitudinal study during one fattening period, samples were collected from animals, the animals' environment inside the barn, including the air, and the barns' surroundings, such as ambient air and boot swabs of ground surfaces at different distances from the barn. Moreover, a cross-sectional study was carried out once inside the barns on five turkey and four broiler farms during the last third of the fatting period. In the cross-sectional study, LA-MRSA was detected in the air of most barns (7 of 9, 77.8%), as well as in many samples originating from animals, with detections levels of 50 to 54% in broiler and 62 to 77% in turkey farms. In the longitudinal study, LA-MRSA was found in the ambient air outside two turkey barns and on the ground surface on the downwind side of many (44.4%) turkey and broiler farms. The same spa types of isolates were observed inside and outside the barns. Transmission of MRSA within poultry farms, as well as emission via the airborne route, seems to be possible.
Young People and the Future.

Abstract This study examines the values of 16 and 18 year olds. Essays written by fifth and upper sixth formers were used as the basis of a questionnaire on pupils’ hopes and expectations for the future. Results showed the young people to be pessimistic about the future, and not very materialistic. Technological society seemed to be rejected by many; in particular by girls, by sixth formers (especially those studying arts subjects) and by the more academic fifth formers.
Analyzing Political Sentiment on Twitter

Due to the vast amount of user-generated content in the emerging Web 2.0, there is a growing need for computational processing of sentiment analysis in documents. Most of the current research in this field is devoted to product reviews from websites. Microblogs and social networks pose even a greater challenge to sentiment classification. However, especially marketing and political campaigns leverage from opinions expressed on Twitter or other social communication platforms. The objects of interest in this paper are the presidential candidates of the Republican Party in the USA and their campaign topics. In this paper we introduce the combination of the noun phrases’ frequency and their PMI measure as constraint on aspect extraction. This compensates for sparse phrases receiving a higher score than those composed of high-frequency words. Evaluation shows that the meronymy relationship between politicians and their topics holds and improves accuracy of aspect extraction.
Cognitive-Motor Abilities of the Elderly Driver

This article reviews literature that documents the effects of age on motor performance as it relates to driving behavior. Movement initiation is the focal point of the first part of the article, and it is considered in terms of absolute age differences when functional manipulations are made, such as response preparation, response selection, response programming, and complexity. The second part of the article addresses age difference in the context of movement execution characteristics; differences in movement speed, force production, limb coordination, and sensory motor integration are considered. Movement time and movement kinematics and kinetics are the principal dependent measures reviewed. Adults were found to initiate and execute movements more slowly and with less precision as they age, which may contribute to the decline of their driving skill. Most of the data reviewed were obtained in laboratory settings; nevertheless, they suggest how age may impair the elderly driver.
Analysis of the active-clamped soft-switched forward converter without output filter

This paper analyzes an active-clamped soft-switched forward converter without output filter. Differently from the topology presented in [G.Spiazzi et al., (2002)], the transformer reset is obtained by using an active clamp subcircuit instead of a lossless passive snubber. This solution avoids the use of a second inductor and auxiliary diodes and allows a better exploitation of the converter components, since now both the main and the auxiliary switch turn on at zero voltage and zero current, and they turn off at zero voltage by using a loss-less capacitor. The resulting topology is practically identical to that of an active-clamped flyback converter, except for the reversed transformer secondary side polarity. Thus, in addition to the converter analysis, the paper presents a comparison between the proposed converter and the active-clamped flyback converter, by testing two prototypes rated for 48 W output power.
One nation or two? The changing geography of unemployment in great britain, 1983-1988

Unemployment affected large numbers of people in Great Britain during the 1980s. An economic upturn since the mid-1980s has resulted in declining numbers of unemployed. Disaggregated data show that the geography of unemployment decline has not led to regional convergence in numbers out of work: unemployment has fallen most in those regions which were least affected by it.
Performance enhancement of a contract net protocol based system through instance-based learning

The contract net protocol (CNP) is a widely used coordination mechanism in multiagent systems. It has a lot of communication overhead due to the broadcast of the task announcements. The performance of the CNP degrades drastically when the number of communicating agents and the number of tasks announced increases. Hence, it has problems of scalability. In order to overcome this limitation, an instance-based learning (IBL) mechanism is designed that uses previously stored instances in order to select a target agent. This avoids the expensive bidding process. The scheme is implemented in a simulated distributed hospital system where the CNP is used for resource sharing across hospitals. Experimental results demonstrate that with the incorporation of the IBL, the system performance improves significantly. The system is better scalable with respect to the number of tasks.
An Alternative View of Outcome in Autism

Parents often rely on the knowledge and experience of others to explain the longitudinal outcomes in autism. Unfortunately, limitations keep parents from obtaining accurate and relevant information. First, professionals with limited experiences are not likely to understand the range of outcomes for persons with autism. Second, previous studies have used narrow explanations to define outcomes. Past researchers have generally defined good outcome as the development of a normal social life and independence by adulthood; and they have defined the best predictors as verbal and IQ levels. Because most individuals with autism continue to struggle with social relationships and need individualized supports, this outcome is rare. Parents, educators, and researchers need other frameworks now to characterize and conceptualize “good outcome. ” Data on 46 individuals with autism will be used to present an alternative view of outcome. Some who would have been predicted to do poorly as adults because of their relatively low verbal, cognitive, and adaptive behavior levels were found to be leading satisfactory lives. To illustrate the multitude of variables that have an impact on outcome and to propose the claim that competency and quality of life are the best criteria for judging outcomes, we present four case studies.
Some components and consequences of a babyface.

Physical measurements and subjective ratings of various facial features were obtained for 20 adult male stimulus faces. The faces were also rated on five personality dimensions, physical attractiveness, age, and babyfacedness. The physical measurements of large, round eyes, high eyebrows, and a small chin each yielded the perception of a babyish facial appearance, and a weighted linear composite derived from the measures of eye size and chin width accounted for 57% of the variance in ratings of babyfacedness. Both this measured composite and subjective babyfacedness ratings were positively correlated with perceptions of a male stimulus person's naivete, honesty, kindness, and warmth. Analyses revealed that these relations were not attributable to the effects of perceived age or attractiveness. The results are discussed within a theoretical framework, which suggests that the adaptive value of recognizing natural covariations between certain appearance cues and behavioral affordances may provide an explanation for some appearance-based stereotyping.
Symptomatology and Subjective Experiences in Current Depressive States

SEVERAL RECENT papers have suggested that the presenting symptomatology in some of the neuroses and functional psychoses has changed, when compared to the earlier classical descriptions. 2,15,19 If these observations are accurate, the changes may be accounted for by such factors as: the earlier recognition and treatment of many psychiatric disorders; the vast cultural and social transformations; modifications and advances in management and treatment techniques applied to psychiatric patients; and changes in diagnostic criteria which have occurred since the early 1900's. In the event that such changes in observable symptomatology have taken place, a time lag would be expected between the manifest alteration in symptomatology and explicit recognition and acknowledgement of it within the mental health profession. The depressive states, in particular, have been reported as showing considerable change in the presenting clinical picture, as compared to older descriptions. 13,26 Some observers have described
The effect of children on parents

The neglected perspective - children's effect on parents areas of parents' lives determinants of child effect theoretical synthesiws the effect of juvenile delinquency children's emotional problems and difficult child episodes students' perception of the effect they have had on their parents the impact of children on divorced parents mothering children who have severe chronic illnesses children's active role in mothers' premenstrual syndrome two case studies of interracial mothers and daughters mother-blaming in a recent Hemingway biography additional considerations and conclusions.