Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Traffic in Women: Notes on the "Political Economy" of Sex

Gayle S. Rubin, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Women’s Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan, made her first impact on feminist and gender theory in 1975 with the publication of her groundbreaking essay ‘The traffic in women: Notes on the “political economy” of sex’, in which she introduced the term ‘sex/gender system’ as a corrective to what she saw as the conceptual limitations of the word ‘patriarchy’ for theorising gender and sexuality. When ‘Thinking sex: Notes for a radical theory of the politics of sexuality’ (a ‘protoqueer’ text that became foundational to queer studies) was published in 1984, she had already established her reputation as a fearless and often controversial pioneering theorist of the politics of sexuality and an activist on behalf of sexual minorities, which brought her into open conflict with some sister feminists – notably those spearheading the anti-pornography lobby. As the title of this timely reader of Rubin’s work suggests, her essays are deviations from norm and doctrine in their sustained and reasoned refusal of convention, including those givens of feminism, and in their centring of the idea and practice of sexual deviance as intellectual concerns that are always, inextricably, both personal and political. (Rubin’s explicit appropriation of the terminology of 19th-century sexology is significant and the lineage of the term ‘deviant’ is comprehensively engaged in her essay ‘Studying sexual subcultures’). Her stated objective in ‘Thinking sex’ to ‘contribute to the pressing task of creating an accurate, humane, and genuinely liberatory body of thought about sexuality’ (p. 145) underpins the trajectory of the career mapped in her key essays and subsequent reflections on them in afterwords, postscripts and an interview conducted by Judith Butler included in this reader, which, in its entirety, stands as a necessary reminder of the role feminism should play ‘as a progressive, visionary force in the domain of sexuality’ (p. 275), especially when confronted by the cooption of its discourse by right-wing agendas. Reflecting on the retrospective imperatives of writing the introduction to Deviations, Rubin uses geology – a ‘recreational obsession’ of hers (p. 2) – as an analogy to situate the essays as ‘artifacts of very particular circumstances’ or ‘different matrices’ which ‘manifest a consistent lineage of theoretically interconnected interests’. The aptness of the analogy is increasingly evident as one reads through the sequence of essays – each ‘something like a piece of amber that preserves’ a particular cultural moment and place, to use Rubin’s description of ‘The traffic in women’ (p. 12) – and her later reviews of them in which additional contextualisation deepens one’s understanding of their significance, both then and now. She returns to this analogy in her final essay in the collection,
Cosmopolitan Regard: Political Membership and Global Justice

Introduction 1. Against associative obligations 2. Particularizing obligation: the normative role of risk 3. The social waiver 4. Compatriot Preference and the Iteration Proviso 5. Humanitarian intervention and the case for natural duty 6. Associative risk and international crime 7. A global harm principle? Conclusion: citizens in the world.
Large Scale Multi-view Stereopsis Evaluation

The seminal multiple view stereo benchmark evaluations from Middlebury and by Strecha et al. have played a major role in propelling the development of multi-view stereopsis methodology. Although seminal, these benchmark datasets are limited in scope with few reference scenes. Here, we try to take these works a step further by proposing a new multi-view stereo dataset, which is an order of magnitude larger in number of scenes and with a significant increase in diversity. Specifically, we propose a dataset containing 80 scenes of large variability. Each scene consists of 49 or 64 accurate camera positions and reference structured light scans, all acquired by a 6-axis industrial robot. To apply this dataset we propose an extension of the evaluation protocol from the Middlebury evaluation, reflecting the more complex geometry of some of our scenes. The proposed dataset is used to evaluate the state of the art multiview stereo algorithms of Tola et al., Campbell et al. and Furukawa et al. Hereby we demonstrate the usability of the dataset as well as gain insight into the workings and challenges of multi-view stereopsis. Through these experiments we empirically validate some of the central hypotheses of multi-view stereopsis, as well as determining and reaffirming some of the central challenges.
Distributed source coding system for correlated Gaussian observations

We consider the distributed source coding system for L correlated Gaussian remote sources X<inf>i</inf>, i = 1, 2,···, L, where X<inf>i</inf>, i = 1, 2, ·, L are L correlated Gaussian random variables. We deal with the case where each of L distributed encoders can not directly observe X<inf>i</inf> but its noisy version Y<inf>i</inf> = X<inf>i</inf> +N<inf>i</inf>. Here N<inf>i</inf>, i = 1,2,···, L are independent additive L Gaussian noises also independent of X<inf>i</inf>, i = 1, 2,···, L. On this coding system the determination problem of the rate distortion region remains open. In our previous works, we derived explicit outer and inner bounds of the rate distortion region and explicit sufficient condition for those two to match. In this paper we derive a stronger sufficient condition for the inner and outer bound to match. We further study the sum rate part of the rate distortion region when the correlation has some symmetrical property and derive a new lower bound of the sum rate part. We further derive a sufficient condition for this lower bound to be tight. The derived sufficient condition depends only on the correlation property of the sources and their observations.
Oxidative Stress and Down Syndrome: A Route toward Alzheimer-Like Dementia

Down syndrome (DS) is one of the most frequent genetic abnormalities characterized by multiple pathological phenotypes. Indeed, currently life expectancy and quality of life for DS patients have improved, although with increasing age pathological dysfunctions are exacerbated and intellectual disability may lead to the development of Alzheimer's type dementia (AD). The neuropathology of DS is complex and includes the development of AD by middle age, altered free radical metabolism, and impaired mitochondrial function, both of which contribute to neuronal degeneration. Understanding the molecular basis that drives the development of AD is an intense field of research. Our laboratories are interested in understanding the role of oxidative stress as link between DS and AD. This review examines the current literature that showed oxidative damage in DS by identifying putative molecular pathways that play a central role in the neurodegenerative processes. In addition, considering the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in neurodegenerative phenomena, results demonstrating the involvement of impaired mitochondria in DS pathology could contribute a direct link between normal aging and development of AD-like dementia in DS patients.
Human perceptions before and after a 50% reduction in an urban deer herd's density.

Overabundant white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations in urban and suburban areas can be controversial because of potential damage to landscape vegetation, deer-vehicle collisions, and fear over transmission of tick-borne diseases. Herd reduction is often proposed to solve these problems; however, the ability of human residents to accurately perceive a herd reduction has not been demonstrated. We used mail surveys to study effects of a 50°/O localized deer herd reduction on the perceptions of residents in 2 areas (one control, one treated) on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, over 2 time periods (before vs. after herd reduction). Residents in the treated area perceived a decrease (P<0.001) in the relative abundance of deer using their yards after the herd reduction; residents in the control area (where no deer were removed) did not. Residents in the treated area reported seeing about 50°/O fewer deer after the herd reduction (P<0.001); residents in the control area saw about the same number of deer. Nonpermanent residents did not perceive the herd reduction that was noticed by permanent residents. Residents in both the control and treated areas wanted to see fewer deer in their yard in the future. Residents did not report a decrease in the money required to replace plants damaged by deer during our one-year study. Our results indicate that costs to implement deer-herd reduction programs in urban and suburban areas may be justified based on the benefits perceived by the residents.
Simultaneous INTEGRAL and RXTE observations of the accreting millisecond pulsar HETE J1900.1-2455

Aims: Hete J1900.1-2455 is the seventh known X-ray transient accreting millisecond pulsar and has been in outburst for more than one year. We compared the data on Hete J1900.1-2455 with other similar objects and made an attempt at deriving constraints on the physical processes responsible for a spectral formation. Methods: The broad-band spectrum of the persistent emission in the 2-300 keV energy band and the timing properties were studied using simultaneous INTEGRAL and the publicly available RXTE data obtained in October 2005. The properties of the X-ray bursts observed from Hete J1900.1-2455 were also investigated. Results: The spectrum is well described by a two-component model consisting of a blackbody-like soft X-ray emission at 0.8 keV temperature and a thermal Comptonized spectrum with the electron temperature of 30 keV and Thomson optical depth tau_T ~ 2 for the slab geometry. The source is detected by INTEGRAL up to 200 keV at the luminosity of 5E36 erg/s (assuming a distance of 5 kpc) in the 0.1-200 keV energy band. We have also detected one type I X-ray burst which shows the photospheric radius expansion. The burst occurred at an inferred persistent emission level of ~ 3-4% of the Eddington luminosity. Using the data for all X-ray bursts observed to date from Hete J1900.1-2455, the burst recurrence time is estimated to be about 2 days. No pulsations have been detected either in the RXTE or in the INTEGRAL data which puts interesting constraints on theories of the magnetic field evolution in neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries.
Cold Snare Polypectomy for Large Sessile Colonic Polyps: A Single-Center Experience

Colonoscopic polypectomy has been shown to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer and the mortality. Postpolypectomy bleeding was reported to be lower with cold snare polypectomy (CSP) when compared with conventional polypectomy. CSP has traditionally been utilized only in smaller polyps below 1 cm. We retrospectively analyzed the CSP outcomes in patients with sessile polyps ≥10 mm in size and observed that CSP was feasible in large sessile polyps with no adverse events and with an acceptable rate of residual polyp on follow-up colonoscopy. Further prospective study in larger patient groups is warranted to determine optimal CSP techniques and whether CSP for large polyps has favorable efficacy in regard to complete polypectomy, procedure time, and complication rates relative to polypectomy with cautery.
No Association between Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha Gene Polymorphisms and Lung Cancer Risk

Objectives The role of genetic polymorphisms of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) for lung cancer development was evaluated. Methods Genotypes of the TNF-α polymorphisms, -1210C>T, -487A>G, -417A>G, IVS1+123G>A, and IVS3+51A>G, were determined in 616 lung cancer cases and 616 lung cancer-free controls. Results After adjusting for body mass index and smoking, each TNF-α genotype or haplotype composed of five TNF-α single nucleotide polymorphisms did not show an association with lung cancer risk (p>0.05). The statistical power was found to be 88.4%, 89.3%, 93.3%, 69.7%, and 93.9% for 1210C>T, -487A>G, -417A>G, IVS1+123G>A, and IVS3+51A>G, respectively. Furthermore, the effects of each SNP or haplotype on lung cancer risk were not found to be different according to the cell type of lung cancer (p>0.05). In the repeated analysis with only subjects without other diseases related to inflammation, there was also no association between polymorphisms or haplotypes of the TNF-α gene and lung cancer risk (p>0.05). Conclusions This study found no association between common variants of the TNF-α gene and lung cancer risk.
Triad formation: organization and function of the sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium release channel and triadin in normal and dysgenic muscle in vitro

Excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling is thought to involve close interactions between the calcium release channel (ryanodine receptor; RyR) of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and the dihydropyridine receptor (DHPR) alpha 1 subunit in the T-tubule membrane. Triadin, a 95- kD protein isolated from heavy SR, binds both the RyR and DHPR and may thus participate in E-C coupling or in interactions responsible for the formation of SR/T-tubule junctions. Immunofluorescence labeling of normal mouse myotubes shows that the RyR and triadin co-aggregate with the DHPR in punctate clusters upon formation of functional junctions. Dysgenic myotubes with a deficiency in the alpha 1 subunit of the DHPR show reduced expression and clustering of RyR and triadin; however, both proteins are still capable of forming clusters and attaining mature cross-striated distributions. Thus, the molecular organization of the RyR and triadin in the terminal cisternae of SR as well as its association with the T-tubules are independent of interactions with the DHPR alpha 1 subunit. Analysis of calcium transients in dysgenic myotubes with fluorescent calcium indicators reveals spontaneous and caffeine-induced calcium release from intracellular stores similar to those of normal muscle; however, depolarization-induced calcium release is absent. Thus, characteristic calcium release properties of the RyR do not require interactions with the DHPR; neither do they require the normal organization of the RyR in the terminal SR cisternae. In hybrids of dysgenic myotubes fused with normal cells, both action potential- induced calcium transients and the normal clustered organization of the RyR are restored in regions expressing the DHPR alpha 1 subunit.
Fii Flows to India: Nature and Causes

Since the beginning of liberalization FII flows to India have steadily grown in importance. In this paper we analyze these flows and their relationship with other economic variables and arrive at the following major conclusions: * While the flows are highly correlated with equity returns in India, they are more likely to be the effect than the cause of these returns; * The FIIs do not seem to be at an informational disadvantage in India compared to the local investors; * The Asian Crisis marked a regime shift in the determinants of FII flows to India with the domestic equity returns becoming the sole driver of these flows since the crisis.
Economic Growth in an Open Developing Economy: The Role of Structure and Demand

Contents: Preface 1. Divisions in the World Economy and the Importance of Economic Growth 2. Growth Theory: Old and New 3. A Critique of Orthodox Growth Theory: Structure and Demand Matter for Economic Growth 4. The Endogeneity of the Natural Rate of Growth, and Constraints on Demand 5. Balance of Payments Constrained Growth 6. Trade Liberalisation, the Balance of Payments, Growth, Inequality and Poverty References Index
New NAG library software for first-order partial differential equations

New NAG Fortran Library routines are described for the solution of systems of nonlinear, first-order, time-dependent partial differential equations in one space dimension, with scope for coupled ordinary differential or algebraic equations. The method-of-lines is used with spatial discretization by either the central-difference Keller box scheme or an upwind scheme for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. The new routines have the same structure as existing library routines for the solution of second-order partial differential equations, and much of the existing library software is reused. Results are presented for several computational examples to show that the software provides physically realistic numerical solutions to a challenging class of problems.
Measuring the Informal Economy in Latin America and the Caribbean

This paper estimates the size of the informal economy for 32 mainly Latin American and Caribbean countries in the early 2000s. Using a structural equation modeling approach, we find that a stringent tax system and regulatory environment, higher inflation, and dominance of the agriculture sector are key factors in determining the size of the informal economy. The results also confirm that a higher degree of informality reduces labor unionization, the number of contributors to social security schemes, and enrollment rates in education.
Topic Models and n-gram Language Models for Author Profiling - Notebook for PAN at CLEF 2015

Author profiling is the task of determining the attributes for a set of authors. This paper presents the design, approach, and results of our submission to the PAN 2015 Author Profiling Shared Task. Four corpora, each in a different language, were provided. Each corpus consisted of collections of tweets for a number of Twitter users whose gender, age and personality scores are know. The task was to construct some system capable of inferring the same attributes on as yet unseen authors. Our system utilizes two sets of text based features, n–grams and topic models, in conjunction with Support Vector Machines to predict gender, age and personality scores. We ran our system on each dataset and received results indicating that n-grams and topic models are effective features across a number of languages.
IMPROVEMENTS TO THE FOOD AT HOME , SHELTER AND PRESCRIPTION DRUG INDEXES IN THE U . S . CONSUMER PRICE INDEX

While the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI), as a Laspeyres-type index, attempts to measure the average change in the prices paid by urban consumers for a fixed market basket of goods and services, new samples for most item categories are routinely introduced over time to keep the CPI sample representative of consumer spending patterns. This paper will describe methodological changes being implemented in January 1995 to the food at home, shelter, and prescription drug components of the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI). These changes reflect improvements designed to make the CPI more representative of price changes experienced by consumers. Food at Home. The U.S. Bureau of the Census conducts a Point-of-Purchase Survey (POPS) to provide the sampling frame of outlets for most non-shelter components of the U.S. CPI. To keep the outlet and item samples representative of consumer expenditures, the POPS is conducted annually in approximately 20 percent of the Primary Sampling Units (urban areas) in the CPI and new outlets are selected to replace the old samples. The procedures currently used by the U.S. CPI cause it to give high weight to sample items that are on sale during the month that a replacement sample is introduced, and low weight to sample items that are not on sale. These procedures can cause an overstatement of price change in an urban area immediately after its sample is replaced. We discuss a sample aging procedure that will be used to alleviate this problem for food-at-home items. Shelter . Further investigation of the functional form bias noted for non-shelter items (Reinsdorf, 1994) has uncovered an analogous problem with the estimator used for imputation of implicit rent changes for owner occupied housing. In addition, rent data are collected less frequently than other prices, at 6-month intervals. The current rent indexes are estimated using a composite of 6-month rents and renters' reports of 1-month rent changes. We discuss both improvements in our strategy for imputing changes for owners' implicit rents, as well as changes in our treatment of estimating changes for rent. Prescription Drugs. Another potential source of bias in the U.S. CPI is the treatment of brand name prescription drugs after their patent expires. Griliches and Cockburn (1993) present evidence that there is substantial substitution of generic drugs for brand drugs when patents expire. The U.S. CPI does not pick up such substitution in a timely manner. To address this situation, BLS will institute new substitution procedures for the prescription drug component of the CPI. Improvements to the Food at Home, Shelter and Prescription Drug Indexes in the U.S. Consumer Price Index Paul A. Armknecht, Brent R. Moulton and Kenneth J. Stewart
On the Geography of Demography: Why Women Live in Cities

Young women go to prosperous areas, leaving economically backward places with a deficit of fertile women. This phenomenon is common throughout the developed world. The proposed reason is that women have two sources of income: men and work, and both the good men and the good jobs tend to be in cities. Urban sex-ratios (men to women) may be further depressed if married women drop out of the labor force and women in good jobs drop out of marriage. The paper presents Swedish municipality level data supporting the argument.
Musculoskeletal pain in children and adolescents

ABSTRACT Introduction Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain in children and adolescents is responsible for substantial personal impacts and societal costs, but it has not been intensively or systematically researched. This means our understanding of these conditions is limited, and healthcare professionals have little empirical evidence to underpin their clinical practice. In this article we summarise the state of the evidence concerning MSK pain in children and adolescents, and offer suggestions for future research. Results Rates of self-reported MSK pain in adolescents are similar to those in adult populations and they are typically higher in teenage girls than boys. Epidemiological research has identified conditions such as back and neck pain as major causes of disability in adolescents, and in up to a quarter of cases there are impacts on school or physical activities. A range of physical, psychological and social factors have been shown to be associated with MSK pain report, but the strength and direction of these relationships are unclear. There are few validated instruments available to quantify the nature and severity of MSK pain in children, but some show promise. Several national surveys have shown that adolescents with MSK pain commonly seek care and use medications for their condition. Some studies have revealed a link between MSK pain in adolescents and chronic pain in adults. Conclusion Musculoskeletal pain conditions are often recurrent in nature, occurring throughout the life-course. Attempts to understand these conditions at a time close to their initial onset may offer a better chance of developing effective prevention and treatment strategies.
Trust and Efficiency

This paper uses the economics of altruism to show how the presence or absence of trust between employees of the firm affects economic efficiency. We develop a simple model in which trust is defined as reciprocal altruism between two employees and show that the presence of trust improves efficiency by mitigating principal-agent problems. Firms characterized by trust between employees are more profitable and have higher levels of employee satisfaction than firms from which trust is absent. We also compare the effects of trust to those of profit-sharing plans and argue that cultivating trust in the firm is easier to implement.