Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-Construal in Chile and Norway

The study compares Chilean and Norwegian self-construal with regard to the concepts of independence and interdependence. Chile has been characterized as collectivistic and Norway as individualistic, and the hypothesis is that this characterization also distinguishes self-perception as independent and interdependent, respectively. The total sample consists of 368 university students. The instrument, Self-Construal Scale (SCS), measures the strength of independence and interdependence. The Chilean sample reports a higher score on both constructs. Both samples report the highest score on independence. The results are inconsistent with previous models that characterize Chile as collectivistic and Norway as individualistic. These characterizations are questioned. The findings also imply that a particular score on either independence or interdependence does not predict the score on the opposite variable. Individuals in the two cultures have a unique blend of independent and interdependent self-appraisal, which represent a composite mix of individualistic and collective elements in each culture.
The Assessment Of Intellectual Capital (Ic) In The South African Context – A Qualitative Approach

The aim of the article is to report on an investigation into IC as portrayed by thought leaders and research groups, against a South African background. An attempt was made to clarify relevant terminology, develop a model and methodology for South African application, and assess the status of IC within the South Africa context through a qualitative methodology using Focus Groups. Results indicated that IC in South Africa is still in the infancy stage. However, models and methodologies developed in other continents could with changes be applied in the South African context.
Scale Normalized Radial Fourier Transform as a Robust Image Descriptor

We present a new visual descriptor that combines a multi-scale Laplacian Profile with a Radial Discrete Fourier Transform. This descriptor exists at every position and scale in an image and provides a local feature vector that is both discriminant and robust to changes in orientation and scale. It has a variable description length, and thus can be easily adapted for a variety of applications, ranging from simple detection tasks on low power computing platforms to complex tasks requiring highly discriminant detectors. To demonstrate the discriminant power of this descriptor we employ it in its most compact form to construct a cascade of linear classifiers for detecting people in images. We compare this detector to cascades classifiers constructed using Haar wavelets, Gaussian derivatives and variable size block HOG descriptors. Our experiments show that a cascade with this descriptor performs well against the other three detectors when tested using a common publicly available data set. We examine the stability of the descriptor to changes in image rotation and scaling for different description lengths.
PLCTOOLS: design, formal validation, and code generation for programmable controllers

Strong timing requirements and complex interactions with controlled elements complicate the design and validation of software controllers. Different techniques have been proposed to cope with these problems during the different development steps: for example, differential equations for modeling controlled elements, the IEC 1131-3 notations for designing the software controller, and formal models for validating the design, but no definitive solutions have been proposed yet. The paper describes PLCTOOLS, a toolbox that exploits all the aforementioned techniques to supply an integrated environment for the design, formal validation, and automatic code generation of software controllers.
Consumer Cash Usage: A Cross-Country Comparison with Payment Diary Survey Data

We measure consumers' use of cash by harmonizing payment diary surveys from seven countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States (conducted 2009 through 2012). Our paper finds important cross-country differences, for example, the level of cash usage differs across countries. Cash has not disappeared as a payment instrument, especially for low-value transactions. We also find that the use of cash is strongly correlated with transaction size, demographics, and point-of-sale characteristics, such as merchant card acceptance and venue.
A new extensive library of PHOENIX stellar atmospheres and synthetic spectra

Aims. We present a new library of high-resolution synthetic spectra based on the stellar atmosphere code PHOENIX that can be used for a wide range of applications of spectral analysis and stellar parameter synthesis. Methods. The spherical mode of PHOENIX was used to create model atmospheres and to derive detailed synthetic stellar spectra from them. We present a new self-consistent way of describing micro-turbulence for our model atmospheres. Results. The synthetic spectra cover the wavelength range from 500 A to 5.5 μm with resolutions of R = 500 000 in the optical and near IR, R = 100 000 in the IR and Δλ = 0.1 A in the UV. The parameter space covers 2300 K ≤ Teff ≤ 12 000 K, 0.0 ≤ log g ≤ +6.0, −4.0 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ +1.0, and −0.2 ≤ [α/Fe] ≤ +1.2. The library is a work in progress and we expect to extend it up to Teff = 25 000 K.
Non-Gaussian probability distribution of a velocity field in uniform straining-flow turbulence.

The non-Gaussian probability distribution of a velocity field itself is found in the numerical simulation of uniform straining-flow turbulence. The distribution does not decrease as fast as a Gaussian distribution. The moment method to determine a limiting probability distribution, proposed by Sinai and Yakhot [Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 1962 (1989)] for the passive scalar field, is examined in detail for the present velocity field. It is found by the examination of the conditional probability distribution on vorticity magnitudes that the non-Gaussianity is caused in the tube like high vorticity region, two-dimensional structure, appeared in the turbulent flow. The results are also compared with those of a passive scalar field and a three-dimensional flow with two-dimensional structure, which makes the contribution from pressure term to such distribution more apparent. It follows that the non-Gaussian distribution is due to the superior dissipation effect to the pressure (nonlinear) effect.
Impact of Ketamine on Learning and Memory Function, Neuronal Apoptosis and Its Potential Association with miR-214 and PTEN in Adolescent Rats

Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, is used as a general pediatric anesthetic and anti-depressive drug. Recent studies suggest that ketamine enhances neuronal apoptosis in developing rats. The goal of this study is to explore whether ketamine could result in learning and memory impairment and neurodegeneration in adolescent rats, and if so, whether the effects of ketamine are associated with miR-214 and PTEN expression. Fifty-day-old SD rats were randomly divided into three groups receiving ketamine at 30, or 80 mg/kg, i.p. or saline for seven consecutive days. Twenty-four hours after the last treatment, learning and memory function were tested by the Morris water maze. The rats were then decapitated, and the brains were isolated for detection of neuronal apoptosis and protein PTEN expression by TUNEL and immunohistochemistry respectively. Expression levels of the miR-214 and PTEN in the hippocampus were measured by qRT-PCR and western blot analysis respectively. Ketamine administered to the adolescent rats at a dose of 80 mg/kg rather than the lower dose of 30 mg/kg caused learning and memory impairment, increased the number of apoptotic cells in the hippocampal CA1 region, cerebral cortex and subcortical region, decreased the miR-214 levels and increased PTEN protein expression in hippocampus. The results suggest that ketamine at a dose of 80 mg/kg in the adolescent rats is able to induce the learning and memory impairment and neurodegeneration, in which the down-regulation of miR-214 and high expression of PTEN protein may be involved.
Detecting Kernel Level Keyloggers Through Dynamic Taint Analysis

Keyloggers as invisible keystroke recorders have posed a serious threat to user privacy and security. It is difficult to detect keyloggers, especially kernel keyloggers that operate at the operating system’s kernel level, because of their inconspicuous activities and flexible interception methods. In this paper, we propose a framework using a dynamic taint analysis technique to detect kernel level keyloggers. Our design is originated from the observation that kernel keyloggers usually manipulate the data flow of a keyboard driver in order to record typed keystrokes. By tainting and monitoring the keystroke data, this framework detects and analyzes any illegitimate uses of the tainted keystroke data. Based on Argos, a system that can perform host-based intrusion detection and support dynamic taint analysis, we build a prototype of the proposed framework and evaluate its effectiveness. Our experimental results show that the proposed framework can accurately detect kernel level keylogging activities and identify their root causes.
A Note On Boneh-Gentry-Waters Broadcast Encryption Scheme and Its Like

Key establishment is any process whereby a shared secret key becomes available to two or more parties, for subsequent cryptographic use such as symmetric-key encryption. Though it is widely known that the primitive of encryption is different from key establishment, we find some researchers have confused the two primitives. In this note, we shall clarify the fundamental difference between the two primitives, and point out that the Boneh-Gentry-Waters broadcast encryption scheme and its like are key establishment schemes, not encryption schemes.
Neurons, neonates and narrative

The problem I want to address is a classic one in the philosophy of mind. In that context it is called the problem of other minds, but it is a problem that is debated in and across a number of disciplines and approaches – the problem of intersubjectivity in phenomenology, empathy or understanding others in hermeneutics, social cognition or theory of mind (ToM) in cognitive sciences, psychology, and developmental studies, and most recently, under similar titles, we find discussions of motor resonance processes in the cognitive neurosciences. The basic question addressed under these different headings is: How are we able to understand other people – their intentions, their behaviors, their mental processes? All of these different titles for the problem, however, are themselves problematic and in some way beg the question. To cast the problem in terms of ‘mind’, ‘inter- subjectivity’ , ‘cognition’, ‘empathy’, or ‘motor resonance’, already biases the way one is tempted to solve the problem. One strategy for balancing out, if not canceling out these different biases, is to take an interdisciplinary approach, and that is what I will do here. I will review several debates that are ongoing across these various disciplines, and, in contrast to certain standard views, I will map out an alternative position that will draw support from neuroscience, developmental psychology, phenomenology, and narrative theory. Keywords: empathy; interaction theory; mirror neurons; motor resonance; narrative competence; simulation; theory of mind
Embedded model predictive control of unmanned micro aerial vehicles

We propose a lightweight embedded system for stabilization and control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and particularly Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs). The system relies solely on onboard sensors to localize the MAV, which makes it suitable for experiments in GPS-denied environments. The system utilizes predictive controllers to find optimal control actions for the aircraft using only onboard computational resources. To show the practicality of the proposed system, we present several indoor and outdoor experiments with multiple quadrotor helicopters which demonstrate its capability of trajectory tracking and disturbance rejection.
Optimal Protocol Interoperability Test Generation via Heuristic Algorithm

As complement of protocol conformance testing, protocol interoperability testing is often used to check whether two or more protocol implementations can interact with each other to perform a certain task. Interoperability test sequence generation is an important issue in this field. During interoperability testing, a minimal number of test sequences are expected to reduce the size of system state space and obtain more practical test case. This paper focuses on the interoperability test sequences generation optimization to avoid the well- known state space explosion problem. Compare with the conventional methods, our method can produce more effective test sequences in terms of both test size and coverage.
Screen Space Spherical Harmonics Filters for Instant Global Illumination

We present a general technique that allows for appling the in stant global illumination (IGI) technique to scenes with glossy B RDFs and high-frequency geometric features like bump and normal maps. Like IGI, we usen×m interleaved sampling patterns to reduce the lighting computations by a factor of n×m, and filter incoming illumination in screen space. Unlike IGI, we filter (per-pixel ) the incoming radiance fieldrather than the normal-dependent irradiance. To represent the incoming radiance field, we use spherical ha rmonics functions whose coefficients will then be filtered in scre en space. This provides us with directional information on the incide nt illumination, which then allows to apply it to non-diffuse BRDFs , or on surfaces with strongly varying normals such as normal, bu mp, or displacement mapped surfaces.
Automatic Discovery of Document Classiication Knowledge from Text Databases

We investigate approaches for automatic discovery of document classi cation knowledge from text databases. We review existing rule-based text classi cation learning algorithms such as SWAP-1 and RIPPER. After identifying their weakness, we propose a new technique known as the IBRI algorithm by unifying the strengths of rule-based learning and instance-based approaches and adapting to characteristics of text classi cation problems. We have also explored some variants of our IBRI approach. We have implemented our approach and extensive experiments have been conducted on a large-scale, real-world text database, namely the Reuters-21578 collection. The results show that our new approach outperforms the RIPPER and instance-based approaches. 1
Corporate-Liberal Theory and the Social Security Act: A Chapter in the Sociology of Knowledge

I would like to thank Harvey hiolotch, James Weinstein, and the editorial board of Politics & Society for their very helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper. Thanks also to Kim McQuaid for very useful background comments on the origins of the Social Security Act. THE purpose of this paper is to analyze three rival interpretaflons of the Social Security Act of 1935 to show how the &dquo;structural&dquo; and &dquo;state-oriented&dquo; social theorists of the 1980s distort the corporate-liberal theory of power in the United States that was formulated in the 1960s. I argue that these more recent theorists fail to appreciate corporate-liberal theory because they do not share its assumptions or pose the same questions that it asks. Thus, this paper is yet another chapter in the sociology of knowledge, suggesting that factors outside of theories themselves can lead to misunderstandings and exaggerations of theoietical differences. The first section of the paper attempts to set the record straight as to the origins and claims of corporate-liberal theory. It shows that power structure researchers such as myself who applied the theory to the Social Security Act
Mind the Gap A Veriﬁcation Framework for Low-Level C

This paper presents the formal Isabelle/HOL framework we use to prove reﬁnement between an executable, monadic speciﬁcation and the C implementation of the seL4 microkernel. We describe the reﬁnement framework itself, the automated tactics it supports, and the connection to our previous C veriﬁcation framework. We also report on our experience in applying the framework to seL4. The characteristics of this microkernel veriﬁcation are the size of the target (8,700 lines of C code), the treatment of low-level programming constructs, the focus on high performance, and the large subset of the C programming language addressed, which includes pointer arithmetic and type-unsafe code
Piecewise-Linear Neural Networks and Their Relationship to Rule Extraction from Data

This article addresses the topic of extracting logical rules from data by means of artificial neural networks. The approach based on piecewise linear neural networks is revisited, which has already been used for the extraction of Boolean rules in the past, and it is shown that this approach can be important also for the extraction of fuzzy rules. Two important theoretical properties of piecewise-linear neural networks are proved, allowing an elaboration of the basic ideas of the approach into several variants of an algorithm for the extraction of Boolean rules. That algorithm has already been used in two real-world applications. Finally, a connection to the extraction of rules of the Łukasiewicz logic is established, relying on recent results about rational McNaughton functions. Based on one of the constructive proofs of the McNaughton theorem, an algorithm is formulated that in principle allows extracting a particular kind of formulas of the Łukasiewicz predicate logic from piecewise-linear neural networks trained with rational data.
Goose Parvovirus and Circovirus Coinfections in Ornamental Ducks

SUMMARY Clinical observations and diagnostic procedures carried out to elucidate the cause of high mortality in 2–8-wk-old ornamental ducks (mandarin, wood, falcated, and silver teal ducks) are described. At necropsy, ducklings showed general pallor of skeletal and heart muscles, subcutaneous gelatinous transudates, pericarditis, ascites, and severe edema and hyperemia of lungs. Histopathologic examination revealed that the most important changes were located in the crop, bursa of Fabricius, and lungs with presence of amorphic basic intracytoplasmic inclusions. No bacteria or fungi could be detected from affected organs and ascitic fluid. Viral diagnosis included molecular detection for the presence of goose parvovirus (GPV), circovirus, avian influenza, herpesviruses, paramyxovirus, reovirus, and polyomavirus. Both GPV and circovirus could be detected by real-time PCR and nested broad-spectrum PCR, respectively. Phylogenetically, full-length nucleotide sequence of GPV showed a close similarity ranging from 95.6% to 97.9% with European and Asian pathogenic GPV. On the other hand, the detected circovirus showed nucleotide identity of 90% to 98% with goose circoviruses (GoCVs). This is the first report of GoCVs and GPV in ornamental ducks. The concurrence of GPV and GoCV infections is thought to contribute to the high mortality.
Supervised Teacher Development Groups - Super and Visionary to Whom and What?

Supervised teacher groups have increasingly become a new way to meet demands for professional development in Swedish schools. The general purpose is to engage small groups of teachers in guided ongoing dialogues about their work, although the activity takes different forms. The purpose of the current study is to examine what principals’, supervisors’ and teachers’ perspectives on supervised teacher groups as means for learning and development are.A pre-study (web survey) among Swedish principals (Aberg 2004) shows a great deal of interest in guided professional dialogues, and an overwhelming conviction that they are a valuable means for school development. The results raise some important questions: Why are principals so enthusiastic? What kind of development is supported in these groups? What are the potential outcomes? The results of the follow-up interview survey with principals show that even though no systematic evaluations have been carried out at schools regarding what development group supervision supports, principals experience a number of positive changes within several areas: development of professional language, reflection and increased ability to clarify and deal with work tasks, improved problem-solving ability without expert assistance, improved cooperation and increased personal certainty in the professional role. 2There are examples of group supervision where the aim has primarily been adaptation to one another and to the objectives of the organization. However, there are, more importantly, many examples of development-focused group learning, groups that have become stronger, that have begun to question existing orders, groups that begin to look for their own answers and solutions to a greater extent, that have received insight and increased resources for independent actions and that, aided by supervision, have been able to break out of destructive patterns and poorly functioning cooperation.
Program optimization space pruning for a multithreaded gpu

Program optimization for highly-parallel systems has historically been considered an art, with experts doing much of the performance tuning by hand. With the introduction of inexpensive, single-chip, massively parallel platforms, more developers will be creating highly-parallel applications for these platforms, who lack the substantial experience and knowledge needed to maximize their performance. This creates a need for more structured optimization methods with means to estimate their performance effects. Furthermore these methods need to be understandable by most programmers. This paper shows the complexity involved in optimizing applications for one such system and one relatively simple methodology for reducing the workload involved in the optimization process. This work is based on one such highly-parallel system, the GeForce 8800 GTX using CUDA. Its flexible allocation of resources to threads allows it to extract performance from a range of applications with varying resource requirements, but places new demands on developers who seek to maximize an application's performance. We show how optimizations interact with the architecture in complex ways, initially prompting an inspection of the entire configuration space to find the optimal configuration. Even for a seemingly simple application such as matrix multiplication, the optimal configuration can be unexpected. We then present metrics derived from static code that capture the first-order factors of performance. We demonstrate how these metrics can be used to prune many optimization configurations, down to those that lie on a Pareto-optimal curve. This reduces the optimization space by as much as 98% and still finds the optimal configuration for each of the studied applications.