Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative Compliance: Digital Piracy, Deterrence, Social Norms, and Duty in China and the United States

The study of compliance has been predominantly Western, and we do not know whether existing theories and findings also apply elsewhere. As a first venture in developing a comparative view on compliance, this study seeks to gain a comparative understanding of compliance decision making among Chinese and American students. It studies their decisions in response to two scenarios that offer an opportunity to use pirated online content. It tests how their decisions are shaped by subjective deterrence, social norms, and perceived duty to obey the law, comparing a control group with a group who received an explicit deterrence message from a strong campaign targeting the use of pirated digital content. The results indicate that, regardless of the explicit enforcement context, Chinese students' inclination to engage in digital piracy hinges chiefly on the perceived behavior and approval of others. This stands in contrast to US students. Within an explicit enforcement context, both social norms and perceived enforcement affect US students' decision making, whereas when there is no explicit enforcement context, both social norms and perceived duty to obey the law affect decision making. This study thus provides a warning that compliance theories and findings may not generalize well beyond the Western context. This necessitates the development of comparative compliance studies and more cross‐national replication.
ASCA Observations of the Seyfert 2 Galaxy NGC 7582: An Obscured and Scattered View of the Hidden Nucleus

We present the results of two ASCA observations of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 7582. The observation in 1996 revealed the variablity at >99% confidence with the shortest timescale of ∼ 2 ×10 4 s. Variations were significant only in the hard X-ray band (2-10 keV) with the normalized variability amplitudeRMS ≈ 0.3, which is the same level as that of Seyfert 1 galaxies of the same luminosity. In the soft X-ray band (0.5-2 keV) the flux stayed almost constant. The source showed similar variability in another shorter observation in 1994. The overall broadband (0.5-10 keV) spectrum is complex. It shows a heavily absorbed (NH ∼ 1.0 × 10 23 cm −2 ) and flat ( ∼ 1.5) power-law continuum plus a slightly broad iron Kline at ∼ 6.4 keV with EW ∼ 170 eV. Below 2 keV, a "soft excess" emission dominates the spectrum. No significant variations in the average continuum and line fluxes were detected between the two ob- servations. However, the inferred column density increased by ∼ 4 × 10 22 cm −2 from 1994 to 1996. This variation could be interpreted in terms of "patchy torus", namely suggesting that absorbing material on our line-of-sight comprises many individual clouds. The observed iron line feature is also consistent with the picture of the transmission of nuclear X-ray continuum through the torus-like geometry. The nuclear X-ray luminosity (2-10 keV) is ∼ 3 × 10 42 ergs s −1 , similar to the typical values for Seyfert 1 galaxies. The constant 0.5-2 keV soft X-ray spectrum, though at least partially accounted for by some starburst contribution, could be interpreted mostly as the scattered central continuum from a spatially extended region. This is consistent with the lack of rapid soft X-ray variability. Thus NGC 7582 is a typical example of a type 2 Seyfert galaxy which exhibits both an obscured and scattered emission component as expected from the AGN unification model.
Time-based segmentation of log data for user navigation prediction in personalization

There are many systems that attempt to predict user navigation on the Internet through the use of past behavior, preferences and environmental factors. We believe that many of these models have shortcomings, in that they do not take into account that users may have many different sets of preferences, specifically, we investigate time as an environmental factor in making predictions about user navigation. We present a method for segmenting log files in order to learn time dependent models to predict user navigation patterns and show the benefits of these models over traditional methods. An analysis is carried out on a sample of usage logs for wireless application protocol (WAP) browsing, and the results of this analysis verify our hypothesis.
Offices are open systems

This paper is intended as a contribution to analysis of the implications of viewing offices as open systems. It takes a prescriptive stance on how to establish the information-processing foundations for taking action and making decisions in office work from an open systems perspective. We propose due process as a central activity in organizational information processing. Computer systems are beginning to play important roles in mediating the ongoing activities of organizations. We expect that these roles will gradually increase in importance as computer systems take on more of the authority and responsibility for ongoing activities. At the same time we expect computer systems to acquire more of the characteristics and structure of human organizations.
A Service Layer for Building GSM Positioning Systems in E-Health Domain

Ubiquitous Computing has enabled seamless access to a wide variety of services and Internet-based applications anywhere, anytime, and using any device. These capacities along with the recent advances of wireless communication technologies allowed the development of the so-called location-based systems. However, building these systems can be a complex and expensive task, mainly due to the need to manage and maintain communication among the various entities that make up this type of system (e.g. devices, application servers, spatial databases, terminals, base-stations). In e-Health domain, where time and information accuracy can determine the success or failure of a medical emergency care, the demand for robust and accurate location-based systems has led to the need for new technologies that improve the processing and delivery of location data. Hence, this paper proposes a Service Layer which supports building Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Positioning Systems. The Service Layer enables interoperability among the different entities through the use of services. These services provide functionalities for position data processing and user interface adaptation for visualization in various mobile devices according to the interaction context. A case study illustrating the use of the Service Layer in an application for tracking ambulances has been conducted in order to investigate the feasibility of the proposal.
Lung protection by inhalation of exogenous solubilized extracellular matrix

Decellularized extracellular matrix (ECM) contains complex tissue-specific components that work in concert to promote tissue repair and constructive remodeling and has been used experimentally and clinically to accelerate epithelial wound repair, leading us to hypothesize that lung-derived ECM could mitigate acute lung injury. To explore the therapeutic potential of ECM for noninvasive delivery to the lung, we decellularized and solubilized porcine lung ECM, then characterized the composition, concentration, particle size and stability of the preparation. The ECM preparation at 3.2 mg/mL with average particle size <3 μm was tested in vitro on human A549 lung epithelial cells exposed to 95% O2 for 24 hours, and in vivo by tracheal instillation or nebulization into the lungs of rats exposed intermittently or continuously to 90% O2 for a cumulative 72 hours. Our results showed that the preparation was enriched in collagen, reduced in glycosaminoglycans, and contained various bioactive molecules. Particle size was concentration-dependent. Compared to the respective controls treated with cell culture medium in vitro or saline in vivo, ECM inhalation normalized cell survival and alveolar morphology, and reduced hyperoxia-induced apoptosis and oxidative damage. This proof-of-concept study established the methodology, feasibility and therapeutic potential of exogenous solubilized ECM for pulmonary cytoprotection, possibly as an adjunct or potentiator of conventional therapy.
Emotion regulation and academic perceptions in adolescence

ABSTRACT Although studied extensively in the field of adolescent mental health, the role of emotion regulation (ER) in the academic functioning of adolescents is not well understood. This study examined the role of ER in adolescents’ perceptions of themselves and their learning environments. We compared adolescents with high and low levels of ER on perceptions of school achievement and attitudes towards school and their perception of their parents’ academic involvement. Students completed surveys about perceptions of their learning and parental involvement, as well as their ER abilities. Results indicated that students with higher emotion dysregulation endorsed more negative self-perceptions of their own academic abilities, had more negative attitudes towards school, and rated their mothers and fathers as more controlling in relation to their learning. These results demonstrate the importance of ER in the academic context, particularly in the home learning environment.
Effect of Oenothera odorata Root Extract on Microgravity and Disuse-Induced Muscle Atrophy

Muscle atrophy, a reduction of muscle mass, strength, and volume, results from reduced muscle use and plays a key role in various muscular diseases. In the microgravity environment of space especially, muscle atrophy is induced by muscle inactivity. Exposure to microgravity induces muscle atrophy through several biological effects, including associations with reactive oxygen species (ROS). This study used 3D-clinostat to investigate muscle atrophy caused by oxidative stress in vitro, and sciatic denervation was used to investigate muscle atrophy in vivo. We assessed the effect of Oenothera odorata root extract (EVP) on muscle atrophy. EVP helped recover cell viability in C2C12 myoblasts exposed to microgravity for 24 h and delayed muscle atrophy in sciatic denervated mice. However, the expressions of HSP70, SOD1, and ceramide in microgravity-exposed C2C12 myoblasts and in sciatic denervated mice were either decreased or completely inhibited. These results suggested that EVP can be expected to have a positive effect on muscle atrophy by disuse and microgravity. In addition, EVP helped characterize the antioxidant function in muscle atrophy.
Presidential political ambition and US foreign conflict behavior, 1816–2010

How do term limits affect international conflict behavior? We revisit this question using new quarter-year-level data on presidential political ambition in the US from 1816 to 2010. Multi-country research finds that the re-election motive decreases the likelihood of conflict initiation. We argue that there are good reasons to expect that the US is different. We find that politically ambitious US presidents are more likely to initiate international conflicts. Consistent with previous research, however, we find that political ambition appears to be unrelated to a president’s chances of becoming the target of a militarized dispute.
The factors associated with criminal recidivism in Finnish male offenders: importance of neurocognitive deficits and substance dependence

Abstract Neurocognitive deficits and psychiatric disorders are often brought up as risk factors of recidivism. In this study, we investigated how neurocognitive and academic deficits and psychiatric disorders (including substance dependence) are associated with criminal recidivism and prison career among male offenders. In a health survey of Finnish prisoners, 72 sentenced male prisoners were examined in Turku prison using a neurocognitive test battery and psychiatric assessment including a standardized psychiatric interview (SCID-I, II). The neurocognitive and academic tests were chosen to assess domains of cognitive functioning and reading, spelling and mathematical skills. Our results showed that the combination of neurocognitive deficits and substance dependence was connected to recidivism. Axis I diagnosis (major mental disorders) and substance dependence were connected with neurocognitive and academic deficits. Moreover, first-time offenders had fewer neurocognitive deficits and Axis I disorders, less substance dependence and fewer personality disorders than those with several convictions. Rehabilitation of cognitive functions and academic skills, along with intervention for mental health problems and substance dependence could help to prevent the unfavourable circle of criminal career.
A book chapter template < 1 Similarity Learning For Motion Estimation

Short overview of the Chapter—Motion estimation necessitates an appropriate choice of similarity function. Because generic similarity functions derived from simple assumptions are insufficient to model complex yet structured appearance variations in motion estimation, we propose to learn a discriminative similarity function to match images under varying appearances by casting image matching into a binary classification problem. We use the LogitBoost algorithm to learn the classifier based on an annotated database that exemplifies the structured appearance variations: An image pair in correspondence is positive and an image pair out of correspondence is negative. To leverage the additional distance structure of negatives, we present a location-sensitive cascade training procedure that bootstraps negatives for later stages of the cascade from the regions closer to the positives, which enables viewing a large number of negatives and steering the training process to yield lower training and test errors. We apply the learned similarity function to estimating the motion for the endocardial wall of left ventricle in echocardiography and to performing visual tracking. We obtain improved performances when comparing the learned similarity function with conventional ones.
Inflammatory bowel disease: how relevant for Brazil?

The term inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) encompasses such disorders as idiopathic ul-cerative colitis (IUC) and Crohn's disease (CD), characterized as recurrent and immune-mediated, with the intestine as the target organ and chronic inflammatory process as the principal event. The etiology remains unknown and is probably multi-factorial. It is believed that genetically predisposed individuals interact with environmental factors (probably triggers for the disease), sparking an uncontrolled immune response that gives rise to a chronic intestinal inflammatory process. Progression of the disease can involve perforations, obstructions , and even intestinal tumors. The limited modifications in the evolution of IBD with treatment, and its emergence in young individuals tend to cause a major impact on work capacity, quality of life, and socioeconomic issues for patients and families. IBD prevalence increased rapidly in the industrialized countries in the latter half of the 20 th century, tending to stabilize. CD incidence is 5 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants/ year in the United States and Europe, with a prevalence of 50/100 thousand, while IUC prevalence is 12/100 thousand inhabitants in the United States. In developing countries where Western lifestyle is spreading, the corresponding rates are increasing and indicate an environmental influence in the genesis of IBD. Prevalence, incidence, and mortality rates in Brazil are still unknown, although regional reports have described an increase in the number of new cases of CD as compared to IUC. The disease mainly affects individuals in their teens and twenties and presents a diverse range of symptoms, severity, and extra-intestinal manifestations. The most frequent clinical picture includes chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, and rectal bleeding, which also occur in various other prevalent diseases in Brazil such as bacterial, parasitic, and viral intestinal infections. Diagnostic difficulties arise both in the formulation of the clinical hypothesis and in the investigative process. The lack of a single gold standard test requires the association of clinical data with serological, radiological, endoscopic, and histological tests to reach a diagnosis. Even this entire armamentarium may be insufficient to produce a diagnosis, and only the natural evolution of the disease can help the clinician. There is still no cure, but the emergence of new biological drugs points to a reduction in the morbidity of IBD by controlling the cells and immune mediators involved in the inflammation , thus preventing its perpetuation. However, the chronic and costly use of drugs has a major socioeconomic impact on Brazil's Unified National Health …
Plasmodium falciparum heterochromatin protein 1 binds to tri-methylated histone 3 lysine 9 and is linked to mutually exclusive expression of var genes

Increasing experimental evidence shows a prominent role of histone modifications in the coordinated control of gene expression in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The search for the histone-mark-reading machinery that translates histone modifications into biological processes, such as formation of heterochromatin and antigenic variation is of foremost importance. In this work, we identified the first member of a histone modification specific recognition protein, an orthologue of heterochromatin protein 1 (PfHP1). Analysis of the PfHP1 amino-acid sequence revealed the presence of the two characteristic HP1 domains: a chromodomain (CD) and a chromo shadow domain (CSD). Recombinant CD binds to di- and tri-methylated lysine 9 from histone H3, but not to unmodified or methylated histone H3 in lysine 4. PfHP1 is able to interact with itself to form dimers, underlying its potential role in aggregating nucleosomes to form heterochromatin. Antibodies raised against PfHP1 detect this molecule in foci at the perinuclear region. ChIP analysis using anti-PfHP1 shows that this protein is linked to heterochromatin of subtelomeric non-coding repeat regions and monoallelic expression of the major virulence var gene family. This is the first report implicating an HP1 protein in the control of antigenic variation of a protozoan parasite.
SERVER-BASED SPAM FILTERING APPROACH

The spam has now become a significant security issue and a massive drain on financial resources. In this paper, a spam filter is introduced, which works at the server side. The proposed filter is a combination of antispam techniques. The integrated solution create a spam filtering system which is more robust and effective than each of the comprising techniques. The task of proposed filter is to minimize the ability of the spammers to distract the network by the spam. That is done by blocking the spam messages at the server level. A server-based solution is normally more advantageous than protecting e-mail users individually. Such a solution gives more control to administrators.
On the Cosmological Evolution of the Luminosity Function and the Accretion Rate of Quasars

We consider a class of models for the redshift evolution (between 0 ≲ z ≲ 4) of the observed optical and X-ray quasar luminosity functions (LFs), with the following assumptions: (1) the mass function of dark matter halos follows the Press-Schechter theory, (2) the black hole (BH) mass scales linearly with the halo mass, (3) quasars have a constant universal lifetime, and (4) a thin accretion disk provides the optical luminosity of quasars, while the X-ray/optical flux ratio is calibrated from a sample of observed quasars. The mass accretion rate, , onto quasar BHs is a free parameter of the models, which we constrain using the observed LFs. The accretion rate inferred from either the optical or X-ray data under these assumptions generally decreases as a function of cosmic time from z ≃ 4 to z ≃ 0. We find that a comparable accretion rate is inferred from the X-ray and optical LF only if the X-ray/optical flux ratio decreases with BH mass. Near z ≃ 0, drops to substantially sub-Eddington values at which advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) exist. Such a decline of , possibly followed by a transition to radiatively inefficient ADAFs, could explain both the absence of bright quasars in the local universe and the faintness of accreting BHs at the centers of nearby galaxies. We argue that a decline of the accretion rate of the quasar population is indeed expected in cosmological structure formation models.
Institutions, the Rise of Commerce and the Persistence of Laws: Interest Restrictions in Islam and Christianity

Why was economic development retarded in the Middle East relative to Western Europe, despite the Middle East being far ahead for centuries? A theoretical model inspired and substantiated by the history of interest restrictions suggests that this outcome emanates in part from the greater degree to which early Islamic political authorities derived legitimacy from religious authorities. This entailed a feedback mechanism in Europe in which the rise of commerce led to the relaxation of interest restrictions while also diminishing the Church’s ability to legitimise political authorities. These interactions did not occur in the Islamic world despite equally amenable economic conditions.
Strategic success factors in ERP system implementation

Different ways of approaching ERP implementation give different results. In order to successfully implement an ERP system it is necessary to properly balance critical success factors. By researching what the critical success factors in ERP implementation are, why they are critical, and to what extent they are relevant to users, consultants and suppliers, this paper seeks to identify strategic critical success factors in ERP implementation and to understand the impact of each factor on the success of ERP system introduction. This paper lists strategic critical success factors (CSF), which are influence the long-term goals. Key-Words: ERP implementation, measuring success, cost, critical success factors, management, IT project
LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS ON WAVE TURBULENCE

This review paper is devoted to a presentation of recent progress in wave turbulence. I first present the context and state of the art of this field of research both experimentally and theoretically. I then focus on the case of wave turbulence on the surface of a fluid, and I discuss the main results obtained by our group: caracterization of the gravity and capillary wave turbulence regimes, the first observation of intermittency in wave turbulence, the occurrence of strong fluctuations of injected power in the fluid, the observation of a pure capillary wave turbulence in low gravity environment and the observation of magnetic wave turbulence on the surface of a ferrofluid. Finally, open questions in wave turbulence are discussed.