Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Population change and its implications for wildlife management in the New West: A case study of Colorado

Abstract Dramatic change is affecting wildlife management in the Rocky Mountain states. Evidence of this change is seen in new, “nontraditional”; interest groups who have become effective in influencing wildlife decisions. In a case study of Colorado, this paper examines four elements of population change that may be related to the changing climate for wildlife management in the West. Population increase has led to growing numbers of traditional consumptive recreationists using a diminishing land base. Also, population increase has been accompanied by growing participation in other outdoor activities and more contact and conflict between traditional and nontraditional recreationists. Migration to Colorado does not appear to have caused an influx of “new”; values; the wildlife value orientations of long‐term and short‐term residents are similar. Values do appear to be changing across generations. Compared to older age groups, younger age groups are more likely to be positive toward wildlife rights and wild.
Individual-level factors associated with intentions to quit smoking among adult smokers in six cities of China: findings from the ITC China Survey

Background Over 350 million smokers live in China, and this represents nearly one-third of the smoking population of the world. Smoking cessation is critically needed to help reduce the harms and burden caused by smoking-related diseases. It is therefore important to identify the determinants of quitting and of quit intentions among smokers in China. Such knowledge would have potential to guide future tobacco control policies and programs that could increase quit rates in China. Objective To identify the correlates of intentions to quit smoking among a representative sample of adult smokers in six cities in China. Methods Data from wave 1 (2006) of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Policy Evaluation Project China Survey, a face-to-face survey of adult Chinese smokers in six cities: Beijing, Shenyang, Shanghai, Changsha, Guangzhou and Yinchuan, was analysed. Households were sampled using a stratified multistage design. About 800 smokers were surveyed in each selected city (total n=4815). Results Past quit attempts, duration of past attempts, Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI), outcome expectancy of quitting, worry about future health and overall opinion of smoking were found to be independently associated with intentions to quit smoking, but demographic characteristics were not. Conclusions The determinants of quit intentions among smokers in China are fairly similar to those found among smokers in Western countries, despite the fact that interest in quitting is considerably lower among Chinese smokers. Identifying the determinants of quit intentions provides possibilities for shaping effective policies and programs for increasing quitting among smokers in China.
Flocking of Multiple Dynamic Agents

In this paper, we consider the coordinated motion of multiple dynamic agents via nearest neighbor rules based on fixed and switching topologies, respectively. We design the control law which consists of two parts: a potential field force that makes the agents attract to each other and at the same time avoid collision in the group, and an alignment force that makes all dynamic agents' headings and speeds to converge respectively to common values. This paper is studied based on the Lyapunov theory and basic graph theory. The effect of disturbances on the collective dynamics of the group.
Antihormones in Prevention and Treatment of Breast Cancer

Abstract: Breast cancer has the highest incidence of all types of cancer in women. Age and family history are the strongest risk factors, but sex hormones also play an important role, as demonstrated by epidemiological studies reporting a consistent association by reproductive personal history and breast cancer risk. The acceptability of preventive strategies by healthy women is closely related to their lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. Although surgical prevention may be considered in carriers of BRCA1/2 mutation, this option cannot be advocated for the majority of women whose risk is only moderately increased. In these women, chemoprevention with tamoxifen may reduce the incidence of estrogen receptor (ER)‐positive breast carcinoma by 30–50%. Other drugs such as raloxifen and aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are currently being tested in this setting. Tamoxifen has been the most successful hormonal treatment over the last 30 years and, until recently, the most active drug in endocrine‐sensitive breast cancer. In premenopausal breast cancer, tamoxifen still represents the therapy of choice, alone or in association with ovarian suppression. Conversely, in postmenopausal women it has been overtaken by third‐generation AIs as first‐choice drugs both in the adjuvant and metastatic settings. Many other issues, such as the optimal sequence between tamoxifen and AIs, the duration of AIs treatment, and the association of ovarian suppression and AIs in premenopausal patients still await the completion of randomized clinical trials. Furthermore, it is likely that treatment tailoring will be increased by the definition of patient subgroups that could derive larger benefits from AIs (progesterone receptor–negative, HER‐2‐overexpressing) or other new drugs.
Increased Caloric Intake on a Fat‐Rich Diet: Role of Ovarian Steroids and Galanin in the Medial Preoptic and Paraventricular Nuclei and Anterior Pituitary of Female Rats

Previous studies in male rats have demonstrated that the orexigenic peptide galanin (GAL), in neurones of the anterior parvocellular region of the paraventricular nucleus (aPVN) projecting to the median eminence (ME), is stimulated by consumption of a high‐fat diet and may have a role in the hyperphagia induced by fat. In addition to confirming this relationship in female rats and distinguishing the aPVN‐ME from other hypothalamic areas, the present study identified two additional extra‐hypothalamic sites where GAL is stimulated by dietary fat in females but not males. These sites were the medial preoptic nucleus (MPN), located immediately rostral to the aPVN, and the anterior pituitary (AP). The involvement of ovarian steroids, oestradiol (E2) and progesterone (PROG), in this phenomenon was suggested by an observed increase in circulating levels of these hormones and GAL in MPN and AP with fat consumption and an attenuation of this effect on GAL in ovariectomised (OVX) rats. Furthermore, in the same four areas affected by dietary fat, levels of GAL mRNA and peptide immunoreactivity were stimulated by E2 and further by PROG replacement in E2‐primed OVX rats and were higher in females compared to males. Because both GAL and PROG stimulate feeding, their increase on a fat‐rich diet may have functional consequences in females, possibly contributing to the increased caloric intake induced by dietary fat. This is supported by the findings that PROG administration in E2‐primed OVX rats reverses the inhibitory effect of E2 on total caloric intake while increasing voluntary fat ingestion, and that female rats with higher GAL exhibit increased preference for fat compared to males. Thus, ovarian steroids may function together with GAL in a neurocircuit, involving the MPN, aPVN, ME and AP, which coordinate feeding behaviour with reproductive function to promote consumption of a fat‐rich diet at times of increased energy demand.
Investigation of fully polarimetric TerraSAR-X data for soil parameters estimation

The potential of estimating soil moisture from fully polarimetric satellite X-band SAR data is analysed for the first time. The Physical Optics model has been combined with an azimuthally rotation distribution, forming a socalled Extend-PO-model (X-PO), for the scattering process representation which includes a cross-polarized component. In addition, the eigen-based decomposition approach has been used to interpret the scattering mechanisms and to estimate the soil parameters. The developed inversion approach has been applied to data acquired by the German satellite TerraSAR-X over the Wallerfing region in April 2009. Simultaneously to the overpasses, soil moisture and vegetation measurements have been collected on agricultural fields. Finally the estimated soil moistures from the proposed algorithm have been compared with the measured soil moistures collected over bare soil fields resulting in a root mean square error of ~10Vol. %.
The measurement of backscatter coefficient from a broadband pulse-echo system: a new formulation

A new formulation for obtaining the absolute backscatter coefficient from pulse-echo measurements is presented. Using this formulation, performing the diffraction correction and system calibration is straightforward. The diffraction correction function for the measurement of backscatter coefficient and the acoustic coupling function for a pulse-echo system are defined. Details of these functions for two very useful cases are presented: a flat disk transducer and a spherically focused transducer. Approximations of these functions are also provided. For a flat disk transducer, the final formulation appears as a modification to the established Sigelmann-Reid formulation. For a focused transducer, the final correction is a weak function of frequency when the scattering volume is near the focal area, rather than the frequency squared dependence proposed by earlier investigators.
Animal magic: Nigel Nicholson and evolutionary psychology

Review of Nicholson, N. (2000). Managing the Human Animal: Why People Behave the Way They Do in Corporate Settings, Texere Publishing, 316pp. ISBN 1587990318. Evolutionary psychology (EP) has had considerable exposure in academic and popular circles in recent years. Now EP has reached the shores of management and organization behavior. Its agent is Nigel Nicholson, who pitches the book as part conventional academic tome, part pop management best seller. The arguments expand on Nicholson's (e.g. 1997) earlier attempts to persuade us that EP is a radical and challenging perspective that will allow organizations to manage with the grain of human nature.
Robust Segmentation of Multiple Intersecting Manifolds from Unoriented Noisy Point Clouds

We present a method for extracting complex manifolds with an arbitrary number of (self‐) intersections from unoriented point clouds containing large amounts of noise. Manifolds are formed in a three‐step process. First, small flat neighbourhoods of all possible orientations are created around all points. Next, neighbourhoods are assembled into larger quasi‐flat patches, whose overlaps give the global connectivity structure of the point cloud. Finally, curved manifolds are extracted from the patch connectivity graph via a multiple‐source flood fill. The manifolds can be reconstructed into meshed surfaces using standard existing surface reconstruction methods. We demonstrate the speed and robustness of our method on several point clouds, with applications in point cloud segmentation, denoising and medial surface reconstruction.
Good Deal, Bad Deal? Job Satisfaction in Occupations

Sharply varying levels of job satisfaction in occupations in the UK are documented and explained primarily by reference to individual level data for a large sample of current employees collected in 1999-2000. An accompanying critique of the approach to job satisfaction in some applied and organizational psychology makes two points. First, the terms job and work need to be more carefully distinguished when examining satisfaction data, giving more attention to the terms of the employment contract, skill data, and the mobility implications of jobs, and relatively less weight to employee involvement, empowerment and self-actualization. Second, job satisfaction data supply evidence of the competent rational evaluation of utility on the part of employees, though individual affectivity undoubtedly conditions such assessments. The findings support a re-balancing in explanation between extrinsic and intrinsic sources of job satisfaction, while showing that work-related stress and excessive hours may in practice comprise a more urgent practical problem for management than socio-technical aspects of work-life quality.
Implicit and explicit knowledge in the control of complex systems

These experiments deal with the relation between the ability of a person to carry out efficient action in a situation, and that of the same person to answer questions about the situation. Existing knowledge on the topic has various gaps. In particular it is relatively common to show performance changing without change in verbal knowledge, but relatively rare to show changes in verbal knowledge without change in performance. A second major gap is in defining the kinds of task on which discrepancies may be expected to occur, since in everyday life we do quite frequently expect people to know what they are doing. Accordingly, seven groups of subjects were studied controlling two artificial systems, one concerned with transportation and one with a model of the economy. The discrepancy between verbal knowledge and performance was changed by altering the number or salience of the relationships being learned, and this is at least one factor in making tasks show the discrepancy. Several instances were found of change in verbal question answering opposed to or in the absence of any change of decision performance; thus, the discrepancy is not asymmetric affecting only one measure of learning. This implies that all the variables examined affect processes specific to one or other measure, rather than changing a common database. The results challenge a common view of the discrepancy between performance and verbal accounts, and suggest rather that there are alternative modes of processing in human decision making, each mode having its own advantages.
Interpretation of contested heritage at an attraction in St. Lucia

The tangible sugar heritage in the Anglophone Caribbean is important to its tourism product. This heritage, like the plantations which play a central role in regional preservation efforts, was created as a result of the enslavement of Africans to provide a large, cheap labour force. Sugar heritage is thus a contested heritage and there is disagreement about how this heritage should be interpreted. In fact, the silence of slaves resounds in the interpretation evident at many former sugar plantations in the Americas. The question, however, is if consumers of this heritage notice the absence of slave voices at this sites that are now primarily used as places of leisure and pleasure in the tourism industry. This study confirms that the silence is perceived by tourists visiting Morne Coubaril Estate, a popular attraction in St. Lucia. Though their satisfaction and overall quality of experience are not related to their disappointment with this component of interpretation, they nonetheless overwhelmingly support the need for more details about slavery and greater emphasis on slavery in the interpretation on site. These findings are important at both the site and destination level, given the current inclination to exploit cultural heritage resources to diversify the region's tourism offerings.
Quality metrics for business process modeling

Modeling business processes is vital when improving or automating existing business pocesses, documenting processes properly or comparing business processes. In addition, it is necessary to be able to evaluate the quality of a business process model, which in tern requires a set of quality metrics. Most of the works proposed to evaluate business process models deal with quality by adapting software metrics. This is possible, because software products and business processes software are quite similar. Our contribution in this paper consists in adapting object oriented software metrics to business process models. This adaptation is based on correspondences which we establish between BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation) concepts and object oriented concepts. By adapting object oriented metrics, we aim to obtain new metrics which give us more information about the complexity of business processes, cohesion between process tasks and coupling between processes themselves.
Platelet-Activating Factor (PAF) Up-Regulates Plasma and Tissue PAF-Acetylhydrolase Activity in the Rat: Effect of Cycloheximide

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is a proinflammatory phospholipid mediator implicated in necrotizing enterocolitis. Regulation of PAF-acetylhydrolase (AH), the enzyme degrading PAF, is poorly understood. In this study we found that administration of a dose of PAF (1.5 μg/kg, i.v.), which does not cause gross intestinal injury, increased plasma and intestinal PAF-AH in the rat. Cycloheximide (CHX, 5 mg/kg, i.v.) reduced the activity of plasma (but not intestinal tissue) AH in control, as well as in PAF-injected rats, and aggravated systemic inflammation and tissue injury in the latter. The intestinal necrosis induced by PAF and CHX was ameliorated by posttreatment with WEB2170 (a PAF antagonist), indicating a role of endogenous PAF in mediating injury. Both WEB2170 and anti-TNF antibody reduced PAF-induced AH activity in intestinal tissue, but not in the plasma. Allopurinol largely prevented the injury induced by PAF and CHX, but had no effect on the up-regulation of AH. We conclude: 1) de novo protein synthesis is required to maintain physiologic AH level in the plasma; 2) PAF up-regulates plasma and intestinal AH activity; 3) CHX enhances the injurious effect of PAF; 4) endogenous PAF and TNF also play a role in the up-regulation of intestinal AH; the former probably mediating the intestinal injury by PAF; and 5) reactive oxygen species may mediate the injurious effect of PAF plus CHX, but do not contribute to the regulation of AH by PAF.
Toward contextual forensic retrieval for visual surveillance: Challenges and an architectural approach

In traditional visual surveillance systems, retrieval has been relying on indexing events and features extracted by visual analytic algorithms that were developed for well-defined, specific domains. However, due to the increasing need for intelligent forensic retrieval with contextual semantics, this approach is reaching its limits, because it is almost impossible to predict and model all situations at development time. Consequently, a more flexible and intelligent retrieval approach is required. The goal of this paper is to explore the scope of requirements and architectural options to solve this problem. We consider several query scenarios inspired by real events that would benefit from intelligent support. We derive challenges and requirements by reviewing state-of-the-art retrieval approaches in terms of the selected queries. Based on the derived requirements, we present and discuss our architecture and its prototypical implementation.
Occupational exposures to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and respiratory and urinary tract cancers: a quantitative review to 2005.

BACKGROUND Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been reported in several industries, including those of the aluminum production, coal gasification, coke production, iron and steel foundries, coal tar and related products, carbon black and carbon electrodes production. PATIENTS AND METHODS This paper reviews the results from cohort studies conducted on workers exposed to PAHs in these industries, with a focus on cancers of the respiratory and urinary tract. RESULTS An excess risk from lung/respiratory cancers was found in most industries, the pooled relative risk (RR) being 2.58 (95% CI 2.28-2.92) for coal gasification, 1.58 (95% CI 1.47-1.69) for coke production, 1.40 (95% CI 1.31-1.49) for iron and steel foundries, 1.51 (95% CI 1.28-1.78) for roofers and 1.30 (95% CI 1.06-1.59) for carbon black production. The evidence for cancers of the bladder and of the urinary system is less consistent, with a significant increased risk only for workers in aluminum production (pooled RR = 1.29, 95% CI 1.12-1.49), coal gasification (pooled RR = 2.39, 95% CI 1.36-4.21), and iron and steel foundries (pooled RR = 1.29, 95% CI 1.06-1.57). CONCLUSIONS Increased risks from lung and bladder cancers were found in PAH-related occupations. These were modest in most industries, apart from those for coal gasification, and whether they are due at least partially to some bias or confounding remains open to discussion.
Re-contextualizing pre-sentence reports

In the past two decades, Canadian policies governing the structure and content of presentence reports (PSRs) have shifted to focus more directly on the systematic identification of offender’s criminogenic risk and needs. In this article, we (1) examine how risk-based approaches to offender management have altered the structure and format of the PSR in Canada, and (2) contrast the structure of risk-based PSRs to Gladue reports for Aboriginal offenders in Canada. Gladue reports are designed to identify the unique systemic race/cultural and historical factors specific to Aboriginal offenders and to recommend alternatives to incarceration. We argue that although risk-based PSRs incorporate recognition of race-related issues, their structure and emphasis on actuarially based risk assessments frames race and risk differently from Gladue reports. In Gladue reports, holistic approaches and cultural impact factors are documented and used to understand risk and need. Finally, we argue that the conceptualization and relevance of race is limited by actuarial risk logic.
A New Method of Integration Control With Instantaneous Current Monitoring for Class D Series-Resonant Converter

In this paper, the application of the integration control method for class D transistor voltage source series-resonant converters used as dc/dc and dc/ac converters is presented. First, the integration control of the signal as a combination of the resonant frequency and its subharmonics (subharmonic integration control) is discussed. Second, the modulation density of the pulses shorting the bridge diagonal for one current half wave (semi wave integral pulse density modulation) is explained. A detailed control circuit operation, referred to as the four basic algorithms of the resonant current control, is given. The method for the calculation of the value and sequence of the current increments for a dc/dc converter is presented. The results of computer simulations and laboratory experiments demonstrate that the proposed methods allow controlling the converter output quantities fulfilling soft switching conditions (zero-current switching) and provide higher efficiency in comparison to other known methods
In Pursuit of Professional Dominance: Australian Accounting 1953‐1985

Although sociologists have been studying professions for many years it is only more recently that accounting researchers have begun a critical appraisal and questioning of the meaning of “profession” (Hopwood, 1985; Willmott, 1986). With a primary focus on the question of professional dominance, this study documents the professionalisation process of the Australian accounting profession for the period from 1953 to 1985. Drawing on the literature from the sociology of professions, the author has developed a theoretical framework which focuses on the use of strategies. Because professional dominance cannot be conceptualised as a fixed phenomenon, it is suggested that these strategies are used by professions in a continuous process of negotiation and renegotiation of their status.