Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
After prison: Pathways to reintegration for older women in Ottawa

As the population ages, the number of older adults who are involved in the criminal justice system is increasing. While their experiences in prisons have been explored, older women's lives in their communities have yet to be studied. This thesis examines the reintegration experiences of older female ex-prisoners living in Ottawa through the perspectives of the professionals who assist them in their reintegrations. Using standpoint theory, I conducted semi-structured interviews with a variety of professionals who described their experiences working with older reintegrating women for non-governmental community organizations in Ottawa. Participants examined various aspects of the reintegration experience, including the communities in which older women live; their health; the social networks surrounding older women; roadblocks which create difficulties during reintegration; and what older women require in order to reintegrate successfully. Through participants' accounts, I describe the challenges and opportunities older reintegrating women face and explore what can be done to ensure that they have the best possible reintegration experiences.
DNA Sequence Analyses Reveal Abundant Diversity, Endemism and Evidence for Asian Origin of the Porcini Mushrooms

The wild gourmet mushroom Boletus edulis and its close allies are of significant ecological and economic importance. They are found throughout the Northern Hemisphere, but despite their ubiquity there are still many unresolved issues with regard to the taxonomy, systematics and biogeography of this group of mushrooms. Most phylogenetic studies of Boletus so far have characterized samples from North America and Europe and little information is available on samples from other areas, including the ecologically and geographically diverse regions of China. Here we analyzed DNA sequence variation in three gene markers from samples of these mushrooms from across China and compared our findings with those from other representative regions. Our results revealed fifteen novel phylogenetic species (about one-third of the known species) and a newly identified lineage represented by Boletus sp. HKAS71346 from tropical Asia. The phylogenetic analyses support eastern Asia as the center of diversity for the porcini sensu stricto clade. Within this clade, B. edulis is the only known holarctic species. The majority of the other phylogenetic species are geographically restricted in their distributions. Furthermore, molecular dating and geological evidence suggest that this group of mushrooms originated during the Eocene in eastern Asia, followed by dispersal to and subsequent speciation in other parts of Asia, Europe, and the Americas from the middle Miocene through the early Pliocene. In contrast to the ancient dispersal of porcini in the strict sense in the Northern Hemisphere, the occurrence of B. reticulatus and B. edulis sensu lato in the Southern Hemisphere was probably due to recent human-mediated introductions.
Design and Analysis of Low Power Comparator Using Switching Transistors

Comparator is one of the fundamental building blocks in most analog to digital converters. Many high speed analog to digital converters such as flash analog to digital converter require high speed and low power comparators. A new double tail comparator is designed, where the circuit of a conventional double tail comparator is modified for low power and fast operation even in small supply voltages. Without complicating the design and by adding few transistors the positive feedback during the regeneration is strengthened which results in remarkably reduced delay time. Post layout simulation results in a 0. 18μm technology confirm the analysis results. It is shown that in the switching transistors using dynamic comparator, both the power consumption and delay time are significantly reduced. Power consumption of conventional double tail comparator is 12μW in 0.8v and power is reduced to 9. 5μW in double tail comparator using switching transistors with the same supply voltage.
The Psychological Attraction Approach to Accounting and Disclosure Policy

These slides summarize a paper which offers the psychological attraction approach to accounting and disclosure rules, regulation, and policy as a program for positive accounting research. We suggest that psychological forces have shaped and continue to shape rules and policies in two different ways. (1) Good Rules for Bad Users: rules and policies that provide information in a form that is useful for users who are subject to bias and cognitive processing constraints. (2) Bad Rules: superfluous or even pernicious rules and policies that result from psychological bias on the part of the 'designers' (managers, users, auditors, regulators, politicians, or voters). We offer some initial ideas about psychological sources of the use of historical costs, conservatism, aggregation, and a focus on downside outcomes in risk disclosures. We also suggest that psychological forces cause informal shifts in reporting and disclosure regulation and policy, which can exacerbate boom/bust patterns in financial markets. The working paper version of the paper is available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=1359967.
Posttraumatic Growth Actions Work, Posttraumatic Growth Cognitions Fail: Results from the Intifada and Gaza Disengagement

Studies have begun to address the psychological consequences following exposure to terrorist activities (Galea, Ahern, Resnick, Kilpatrick, Bucuvalas, & Gold, et al., 2002; Schlenger, Caddell, Ebert, Jordan, Rourke, Wilson, et al., 2002; Schuster, Stein, Jaycox, Collins, Marshall, Elliot, et al., 2001; Silver, Holman, McIntosh, Poulin, & Gil-Rivas, 2002) and during ongoing terrorism exposure and threat (Bleich, Gelkopf & Solomon, 2003; de Jong, Komproe, Van Ommeren, El Masri, Araya, & Khaled, 2001; Hobfoll, Johnson, & Canetti-Nisim, 2006). These studies have demonstrated the relationship between the trauma of terrorism exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and symptoms of depression.
Surface Topography of Microtubule Walls Decorated with Monomeric and Dimeric Kinesin Constructs

Abstract The surface topography of opened-up microtubule walls (sheets) decorated with monomeric and dimeric kinesin motor domains was investigated by freeze-drying and unidirectional metal shadowing. Electron microscopy of surface-shadowed specimens produces images with a high signal/noise ratio, which enable a direct observation of surface features below 2 nm detail. Here we investigate the inner and outer surface of microtubules and tubulin sheets with and without decoration by kinesin motor domains. Tubulin sheets are flattened walls of microtubules, keeping lateral protofilament contacts intact. Surface shadowing reveals the following features: (i) when the microtubule outside is exposed the surface relief is dominated by the bound motor domains. Monomeric motor constructs generate a strong 8 nm periodicity, corresponding to the binding of one motor domain per α-β-tubulin heterodimer. This surface periodicity largely disappears when dimeric kinesin motor domains are used for decoration, even though it is still visible in negatively stained or frozen hydrated specimens. This could be explained by disorder in the binding of the second (loosely tethered) kinesin head, and/or disorder in the coiled-coil tail. (ii) Both surfaces of undecorated sheets or microtubules, as well as the inner surface of decorated sheets, reveal a strong 4 nm repeat (due to the periodicity of tubulin monomers) and a weak 8 nm repeat (due to slight differences between α- and β-tubulin). The differences between α- and β-tubulin on the inner surface are stronger than expected from cryo-electron microscopy of unstained microtubules, indicating the existence of tubulin sub-domain-specific surface properties that reflect the surface corrugation and hence metal deposition during evaporation. The 16 nm periodicity visible in some negatively stained specimens (caused by the pairing of cooperatively bound kinesin dimers) is not detected by surface shadowing.
Rural Clinician Scarcity and Job Preferences of Doctors and Nurses in India: A Discrete Choice Experiment

The scarcity of rural doctors has undermined the ability of health systems in low and middle-income countries like India to provide quality services to rural populations. This study examines job preferences of doctors and nurses to inform what works in terms of rural recruitment strategies. Job acceptance of different strategies was compared to identify policy options for increasing the availability of clinical providers in rural areas. In 2010 a Discrete Choice Experiment was conducted in India. The study sample included final year medical and nursing students, and in-service doctors and nurses serving at Primary Health Centers. Eight job attributes were identified and a D-efficient fractional factorial design was used to construct pairs of job choices. Respondent acceptance of job choices was analyzed using multi-level logistic regression. Location mattered; jobs in areas offering urban amenities had a high likelihood of being accepted. Higher salary had small effect on doctor, but large effect on nurse, acceptance of rural jobs. At five times current salary levels, 13% (31%) of medical students (doctors) were willing to accept rural jobs. At half this level, 61% (52%) of nursing students (nurses) accepted a rural job. The strategy of reserving seats for specialist training in exchange for rural service had a large effect on job acceptance among doctors, nurses and nursing students. For doctors and nurses, properly staffed and equipped health facilities, and housing had small effects on job acceptance. Rural upbringing was not associated with rural job acceptance. Incentivizing doctors for rural service is expensive. A broader strategy of substantial salary increases with improved living, working environment, and education incentives is necessary. For both doctors and nurses, the usual strategies of moderate salary increases, good facility infrastructure, and housing will not be effective. Non-physician clinicians like nurse-practitioners offer an affordable alternative for delivering rural health care.
WS-50030 [7-{4-[3-(1H-inden-3-yl)propyl]piperazin-1-yl}-1,3-benzoxazol-2(3H)-one]: A Novel Dopamine D2 Receptor Partial Agonist/Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor with Preclinical Antipsychotic-Like and Antidepressant-Like Activity

The preclinical characterization of WS-50030 [7-{4-[3-(1H-inden-3-yl)propyl]piperazin-1-yl}-1,3-benzoxazol-2(3H)-one] is described. In vitro binding and functional studies revealed highest affinity to the D2 receptor (D2L Ki, 4.0 nM) and serotonin transporter (Ki, 7.1 nM), potent D2 partial agonist activity (EC50, 0.38 nM; Emax, 30%), and complete block of the serotonin transporter (IC50, 56.4 nM). Consistent with this in vitro profile, WS-50030 (10 mg/kg/day, 21 days) significantly increased extracellular 5-HT in the rat medial prefrontal cortex, short-term WS-50030 treatment blocked apomorphine-induced climbing (ID50, 0.51 mg/kg) in a dose range that produced minimal catalepsy in mice and induced low levels of contralateral rotation in rats with unilateral substantia nigra 6-hydroxydopamine lesions (10 mg/kg i.p.), a behavioral profile similar to that of the D2 partial agonist aripiprazole. In a rat model predictive of antipsychotic-like activity, WS-50030 and aripiprazole reduced conditioned avoidance responding by 42 and 55% at 10 mg/kg, respectively. Despite aripiprazole's reported lack of effect on serotonin transporters, long-term treatment with aripiprazole or WS-50030 reversed olfactory bulbectomy-induced hyperactivity at doses that did not reduce activity in sham-operated rats, indicating antidepressant-like activity for both compounds. Despite possessing serotonin reuptake inhibitory activity in addition to D2 receptor partial agonism, WS-50030 displays activity in preclinical models predictive of antipsychotic- and antidepressant efficacy similar to aripiprazole, suggesting potential efficacy of WS-50030 versus positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, comorbid mood symptoms, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and treatment-resistant depression. Furthermore, WS-50030 provides a tool to further explore how combining these mechanisms might differentiate from other antipsychotics or antidepressants.
Following celebrities’ medical advice: meta-narrative analysis

Objective To synthesise what is known about how celebrities influence people’s decisions on health. Design Meta-narrative analysis of economics, marketing, psychology, and sociology literatures. Data sources Systematic searches of electronic databases: BusinessSource Complete (1886-), Communication & Mass Media Complete (1915-), Humanities Abstracts (1984-), ProQuest Political Science (1985-), PsycINFO (1806-), PubMed (1966-), and Sociology Abstracts (1952-). Inclusion criteria Studies discussing mechanisms of celebrities’ influence on people in any context. Results Economics literature shows that celebrity endorsements act as signals of credibility that differentiate products or ideas from competitors and can catalyse herd behaviour. Marketing studies show that celebrities transfer their desirable attributes to products and use their success to boost their perceived credibility. Psychology shows that people are classically conditioned to react positively to the advice of celebrities, experience cognitive dissonance if they do not, and are influenced by congruencies with their self conceptions. Sociology helps explain the spread of celebrity medical advice as a contagion that diffuses through social networks and people’s desire to acquire celebrities’ social capital. Conclusions The influence of celebrity status is a deeply rooted process that can be harnessed for good or abused for harm. A better understanding of celebrity can empower health professionals to take this phenomenon seriously and use patient encounters to educate the public about sources of health information and their trustworthiness. Public health authorities can use these insights to implement regulations and restrictions on celebrity endorsements and design counter marketing initiatives—perhaps even partnering with celebrities—to discredit bogus medical advice while promoting evidence based practices.
A Mobile Manipulator Controller Implemented in the Robot Operating System

This work presents the development of mathematical model of a mobile manipulator and its use to develop a controller based on backstepping nonlinear control and the computed torque control law. This MIMO nonlinear controller was implemented on the Robot Operating System (ROS) environment. The mobile robot is based on the Barrett WAM (Whole Arm Manipulator) and a custom build mobile platform. The dynamic modeling is used to ensure better performance of the controller.
Successor-invariance in the finite

A first-order sentence /spl theta/ of vocabulary /spl sigma/ /spl cup/ {S} is successor-invariant in the finite if for every finite /spl sigma/-structure M and successor relations S/sub 1/ and S/sub 2/ on M, (M, S/sub 1/) /spl vDash/ /spl theta/ /spl hArr/ (M, S/sub 2/) /spl vDash/ /spl theta/. In this paper I give an example of a non-first-order definable class of finite structures, which is, however, defined by a successor-invariant first-order sentence. This strengthens a corresponding result for order-invariant in the finite, due to Y. Gurevich.
New Techniques for Modeling File Data Distribution on Storage Nodes

This paper presents a new probabilistic model which describes the way data blocks belonging to a certain file are distributed along the disk in general purpose systems. The distribution type is classified depending on the kind of file system, the file size and the disk occupancy ratio. The resulting algorithm will be used to simulate the access time to the data stored on a disk of an I/O node, where the position of data blocks determines the access time. In order to perform the modeling, some parameters have been estimated using some stress tests with different degrees of disk occupancy and file sizes on Ext2 and ReiserFS file systems.
Defining user perception of distributed multimedia quality

This article presents the results of a study that explored the human side of the multimedia experience. We propose a model that assesses quality variation from three distinct levels: the network, the media and the content levels; and from two views: the technical and the user perspective. By facilitating parameter variation at each of the quality levels and from each of the perspectives, we were able to examine their impact on user quality perception. Results show that a significant reduction in frame rate does not proportionally reduce the user's understanding of the presentation independent of technical parameters, that multimedia content type significantly impacts user information assimilation, user level of enjoyment, and user perception of quality, and that the device display type impacts user information assimilation and user perception of quality. Finally, to ensure the transfer of information, low-level abstraction (network-level) parameters, such as delay and jitter, should be adapted; to maintain the user's level of enjoyment, high-level abstraction quality parameters (content-level), such as the appropriate use of display screens, should be adapted.
The Emotional Toll of Hell: Cross-National and Experimental Evidence for the Negative Well-Being Effects of Hell Beliefs

Though beliefs in Heaven and Hell are related, they are associated with different personality characteristics and social phenomena. Here we present three studies measuring Heaven and Hell beliefs' associations with and impact on subjective well-being. We find that a belief in Heaven is consistently associated with greater happiness and life satisfaction while a belief in Hell is associated with lower happiness and life satisfaction at the national (Study 1) and individual (Study 2) level. An experimental priming study (Study 3) suggests that these differences are mainly driven by the negative emotional impact of Hell beliefs. Possible cultural evolutionary explanations for the persistence of such a distressing religious concept are discussed.
Mobile applications: Analyzing private data leakage using third party connections

In previous few years, an incredible growth is witnessed in the popularity and pervasiveness of smart phones. It has also seen that new mobile applications are built day by day. These applications provide users functionality like social networking applications, games, and many more. Some of the mobile applications might be having a direct purchasing cost or be free but having an ad-support for revenue and in return these applications provide users' private data to ad provider with or without users' consent. Worryingly, some of ad libraries ask for permissions beyond the requirement and additional ones listed in their documentation. Some applications also track users by a network sniffer across ad providers and its applications. It is often ineffective at conveying meaningful, useful information on how a user's privacy might be impacted by using an application. Here in this paper, we have examined the effect on user privacy of some grossing Android applications that transmit private data of user without their permission. Using third party connections that an app makes, we defined the legitimacy of application. Also we observed some other parameter to check whether an app is stealing users' private information.
Persistent Dwell-Time Switched Nonlinear Systems: Variation Paradigm and Gauge Design

Asymptotic gain and adaptive control are studied for persistent dwell-time switched systems. Ultimate variations of auxiliary functions are considered for existence of asymptotic gain and a gauge design is introduced for switching-uniform adaptive control by partial state feedback and output feedback of switched systems subject to unmeasured dynamics and persistent dwell-time switching. The usage of the controlled dynamics as a gauge for the instability mode of the unmeasured dynamics makes it possible to design a control rendering the evolution of the overall system interchangeably driven by the stable modes of the controlled and unmeasured dynamics. Unmeasured-state dependent control gains are dealt with and unknown time-varying parameters are attenuated via asymptotic gain. Verification of asymptotic gain conditions is based on the relation between dissipation rates of unmeasured dynamics and timing characterizations ¿p and T p of switching sequences.
SuperCaly: Smart life assistance by integrating a calendar app with location tracking, media organization and social connection

Smart life assistant starts from collecting every possible data about a user and makes intelligent use of such data to support user. SuperCaly easily organizes daily life around one of the most important personal tool: the calendar. SuperCaly extends calendar by integrating location tracking, messaging, media organization, and search functions into one cohesive app. Popular calendar apps, such a Google Calendar and iOS Calendar, allow users to create events and invite participants. However, they lack an in-app communication platform allowing users to interact with event participants conveniently. SuperCaly aims to bridge this gap to create a more streamlined event creation and collective planning experience. SuperCaly additionally offers dynamic location tag creation, automatically creating additional events in the calendar based on the user's location changes. Location history is then easily accessible by users, making it easier for them to recall easily forgettable details: when was their last doctor's appointment, which car maintenance shop did they use, etc. Additionally, SuperCaly also provides intelligent media organization, allowing the user to see which photos and videos were taken during a certain event. Integrated data also has the potential to reveal the user's previously hidden life patterns, which they can use to learn about their habits and increase efficiency in their daily activities.
Action of the Grothendieck-Teichmueller group on the operad of Gerstenhaber algebras

Action of the graded Grothendieck-Teichmueller (GT) group on a resolution of the operad of Gerstenhaber algebras (GA) is defined. It is shown that the induced Lie algebra action is homotopically non-trivial (i.e. the induced map from the Lie algebra of the graded GT group to the deformation complex of the operad of GA is injective).
Manufacturing Excellence in a Compound Semiconductor Fabrication Facility

Motorola’s 150mm Compound Semiconductor One (CS-1) fabrication facility serves as both a production and a development factory. It currently can provide a plethora of technologies; whether it is MESFET, pHEMT, HBT or HIGFET devices. The principles that CS-1’s Manufacturing team is guided by are 1) Speed of Execution and 2) High Quality. By adhering to these two principles, manufacturing can impact both the financial “top line” (sales / revenue) as well as the “bottom line” (sales minus operating expenses). This paper will focus on CS1’s speed of execution and the various ways that it was enhanced.
An Experimental Approach to Assessing the Perceived Value of Personal and Social Responsibility

Abstract Personal and social responsibility (PSR), one of four essential learning outcomes identified by the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) Report (AAC&U, 2007), was rated as “very” or “extremely” important by 88% of the participants in the study. To supplement the expected results from the traditional survey methods that assess the perceived value of PSR, this study provided additional experimental evidence that students were sensitive to, and highly valued, the markers of achieving PSR. Participants were randomly assigned to examine one résumé in a 3 (GPA) × 2 (PSR) design. Beyond and independent of the effect of academic achievement, PSR positively influenced hiring decisions, salary recommendations, and performance expectations.