Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A survey for Fe 6.4 keV emission in young stellar objects in ρ Oph: The strong fluorescence from Elias 29

We report the results of a search for 6.4 keV Fe fluorescent emission in Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) with measured accretion luminosities in the ρ Oph cloud, using the existing Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of the region. A total of nine such YSOs have X-ray data with sufficiently high S /N for the 6.4 keV line to be potentially detected if present. A positive detection of the Fe 6.4 keV line is reported for one object, Elias 29, in both the XMM-Newton and the Chandra data. The 6.4 keV line is detected in Elias 29 both during quiescent and flaring emission, unlikely all previously reported detections of 6.4 keV Fe fluorescence in YSOs which were made during intense flaring. The observed equivalent width of the fluorescent line is large, Wα � 160 eV, ruling out fluorescence from diffuse circumstellar material. It is also larger than expected for simple reflection from a solar-composition photosphere or circumstellar disk, but it is compatible with being due to fluorescence from a centrally illuminated circumstellar disk. The X-ray spectrum of Elias 29 is also peculiar in terms of its high (ionized) Fe abundance, as evident from the very intense Fe  6.7 keV line emission; we speculate on the possible mechanism leading to the observed high abundance.
In Vivo 11&bgr;-HSD-2 Activity: Variability, Salt-Sensitivity, and Effect of Licorice

Loss-of-function mutations or inhibition of 11&bgr;-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11&bgr;-HSD-2) results in overstimulation of the mineralocorticoid receptor by cortisol and causes salt-sensitive hypertension. Traditionally, 11&bgr;-HSD-2 activity has been assessed by measurement of the urinary cortisol metabolite ratio (tetrahydrocortisol [THF]+5&agr;-THF)/tetrahydrocortisone (THE). Recently, the ratio of urinary free glucocorticoids, UFF/UFE, has been suggested to be a more reliable parameter, an aspect that has not been investigated systematically. Steroid metabolites were measured repeatedly by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry in 20 healthy subjects at baseline and after 1 week each of a 30- or 180-mmol/d of sodium diet or 500 mg/d of glycyrrhetinic acid. Intraindividual coefficients of variation from 3 random urine collections for (THF+5&agr;-THF)/THE and UFF/UFE ratios were 11±9% and 25±14% (P <0.001). (THF+5&agr;-THF)/THE was more sensitive than UFF/UFE for detection of glycyrrhetinic acid–induced increases higher than the upper 95% confidence interval of the coefficient of variation of the corresponding ratio. Low- or high-salt diet did not alter either ratio. Mean (THF+5&agr;-THF)/THE but not UFF/UFE was higher in salt-sensitive than salt-resistant subjects. Absolute glycyrrhetinic acid–related increase in (THF+5&agr;-THF)/THE but not UFF/UFE was higher in salt-sensitive than salt-resistant subjects and correlated with changes in mean BP. Intraindividual variability of (THF+5&agr;-THF)/THE is lower than that of UFF/UFE. The UFF/UFE ratio does not appear to be more sensitive than (THF+5&agr;-THF)/THE for detection of decreased 11&bgr;-HSD-2 activity. The (THF+5&agr;-THF)/THE ratio better discriminates between salt-sensitive and salt-resistant subjects. Together with BP responses to glycyrrhetinic acid, these findings support a pivotal role of 11&bgr;-HSD-2 in salt sensitivity.
Certification with Multiple Signatures

Certificate Authority (CA) is a single point of failure in the design of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). A single compromised CA breaks the entire infrastructure. The disclosed CA key can be used by adversaries to issue rogue certificates for any domains without the consent of the domain owners. These rogue certificates have been used in Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks. Studies have been conducted to prevent and reduce the damages of breached CAs and rogue certificates in different ways. However, few have a mechanism to fully and efficiently verify whether a CA or a certificate can be trusted or not. There is a need to develop new methods to ensure certificates with a high level of trustworthy in order for the PKI to be more resistant to compromised CAs and rogue certificates. We propose an alternative approach to mitigate the issue of CA breaches by imposing multiple signatures on a server certificate. This is analogous with the redundancy approach that is commonly adopted in the practice of IT management. Since CAs are run and managed by independent organizations, the probability of breaking multiple CAs in a short period of time is reduced significantly. If S signatures are imposed on a certificate, the compromise of S-1 CAs will not break the PKI system. In this paper, we describe a framework of our approach and analyze its security. We also provide a brief overview of the most relevant counter measures against CA breaches and rogue certificates.
Linear-complexity algorithms for QoS support in input-queued switches with no speedup

We present several fast, practical linear-complexity scheduling algorithms that enable provision of various quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees in an input-queued switch with no speedup. Specifically, our algorithms provide per-virtual-circuit transmission rate and cell delay guarantees using a credit-based bandwidth reservation scheme. Our algorithms also provide approximate max-min fair sharing of unreserved switch capacity. The novelties of our algorithms derive from judicious choices of edge weights in a bipartite matching problem. The edge weights are certain functions of the amount and waiting times of queued cells and credits received by a virtual circuit. By using a linear-complexity variation of the well-known stable-marriage matching algorithm, we present theoretical proofs and demonstrate by simulations that the edge weights are bounded. This implies various QoS guarantees or contracts about bandwidth allocations and cell delays. Network management can then provide these contracts to the clients. We present several different algorithms of varied complexity and performance (as measured by the usefulness of each algorithm's contract). While most of this paper is devoted to the study of "soft" guarantees, a few "hard" guarantees can also be proved rigorously for some of our algorithms. As can be expected, the provable guarantees are weaker than the observed performance bounds in simulations. Although our algorithms are designed for switches with no speedup, we also derive upper bounds on the minimal buffer requirement in the output queues necessary to prevent buffer overflow when our algorithms are used in switches with speedup larger than one.
A reader on punishment

1. Thinking about Punishment 2. Marxism and retribution 3. The Expressive Function of Punishment 4. A Paternalistic Theory of Punishment 5. Censure and Proportionality 6. Proportionality, Parsimony, and Interchangeability of Punishments 7. Making the Punishment Fit the Crime: A Consumer's Guide to Sentencing Reform 8. Penalties and Opportunities 9. Reductivism and Deterrence 10. General Prevention as Communication 11. Incapacitation within Limits 12. The Concept of Punishment 13. Beyond Punishment 14. Crime, Inequality and Sentencing 15. Abolition: Assensus and Sanctuary
Statistical tracking of tree-like tubular structures with efficient branching detection in 3D medical image data

The segmentation of tree-like tubular structures such as coronary arteries and airways is an essential step for many 3D medical imaging applications. Statistical tracking techniques for the extraction of elongated structures have received considerable attention in recent years due to their robustness against image noise and pathological changes. However, most tracking methods are limited to a specific application and do not support branching structures efficiently. In this work, we present a novel statistical tracking approach for the extraction of different types of tubular structures with ringlike cross-sections. Domain-specific knowledge is learned from training data sets and integrated into the tracking process by simple adaption of parameters. In addition, an efficient branching detection algorithm is presented. This approach was evaluated by extracting coronary arteries from 32 CTA data sets and distal airways from 20 CT scans. These data sets were provided by the organizers of the workshop ‘3D Segmentation in the Clinic: A Grand Challenge II-Coronary Artery Tracking (CAT08)’ and ‘Extraction of Airways from CT 2009 (EXACT’09)’. On average, 81.5% overlap and 0.51 mm accuracy for the tracking of coronary arteries were achieved. For the extraction of airway trees, 51.3% of the total tree length, 53.6% of the total number of branches and a 4.98% false positive rate were attained. In both experiments, our approach is comparable to state-of-the-art methods.
The Dynamics of Democratization: Dictatorship, Development, and Diffusion

The explosive spread of democracy has radically transformed the international political landscape and captured the attention of academics, policy makers, and activists alike. With interest in democratization still growing, Nathan J. Brown and other leading political scientists assess the current state of the field, reflecting on the causes and diffusion of democracy over the past two decades. The volume focuses on three issues very much at the heart of discussions about democracy today: dictatorship, development, and diffusion. The essays first explore the surprising but necessary relationship between democracy and authoritarianism; they next analyze the introduction of democracy in developing countries; last, they examine how international factors affect the democratization process. In exploring these key issues, the contributors ask themselves three questions: What causes a democracy to emerge and succeed? Does democracy make things better? Can democracy be successfully promoted? In contemplating these questions, The Dynamics of Democratization offers a frank and critical assessment of the field for students and scholars of comparative politics and the political economy of development. Contributors: Gregg A. Brazinsky, George Washington University; Nathan J. Brown, George Washington University; Kathleen Bruhn, University of California at Santa Barbara; Valerie J. Bunce, Cornell University; Jose Antonio Cheibub, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Bruce J. Dickson, George Washington University; M. Steven Fish, University of California at Berkeley; John Gerring, Boston University; Henry E. Hale, George Washington University; Susan D. Hyde, Yale University; Craig M. Kauffman, George Washington University; Staffan I. Lindberg, University of Florida; Sara Meerow, University of Amsterdam; James Raymond Vreeland, Georgetown University; Sharon L. Wolchik, George Washington University
A Window of Opportunity to Control the Bacterial Pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa Combining Antibiotics and Phages

The evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is a global concern and the use of bacteriophages alone or in combined therapies is attracting increasing attention as an alternative. Evolutionary theory predicts that the probability of bacterial resistance to both phages and antibiotics will be lower than to either separately, due for example to fitness costs or to trade-offs between phage resistance mechanisms and bacterial growth. In this study, we assess the population impacts of either individual or combined treatments of a bacteriophage and streptomycin on the nosocomial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We show that combining phage and antibiotics substantially increases bacterial control compared to either separately, and that there is a specific time delay in antibiotic introduction independent of antibiotic dose, that minimizes both bacterial density and resistance to either antibiotics or phage. These results have implications for optimal combined therapeutic approaches.
Pattern of Statin Use in Southern Italian Primary Care: Can Prescription Databases Be Used for Monitoring Long-Term Adherence to the Treatment?

Objectives We sought to evaluate the prescribing pattern of statins according to national and regional health policy interventions and to assess specifically the adherence to the therapy in outpatient setting in Southern Italy. Methods A population-based study was performed on persons ≥15 years old, living in the catchment area of Caserta (Southern Italy), and registered in Arianna database between 2004 and 2010. Prevalence and incidence of new treatments with statins were calculated for each year and stratified by drug. Adherence to therapy was measured by Medication Possession Ratio. Sub-analyses by individual compound and type of cardiovascular prevention were performed. Results From 2004 to 2010, the one-year prevalence of statin use increased from 44.9/1,000 inhabitants to 79.8/1,000, respectively, consistently with the incidence of new use from 16.2/1,000 to 19.5/1,000, except a slight decrease after criteria reimbursement revision on 2005 (13.3/1,000). The incidence of new treatments decreased for atorvastatin, and increased for simvastatin over the study years. Overall, 43% of new users were still highly adherent to the treatment (MPR≥80%) after six months, while 26% after 4-years of follow-up. As compared with highly adherent patients, the probability to be non-adherent (MPR≤25%) at 4-years of follow-up was 26% higher for women than for men (full adj. odds ratio: 1.26; 95% CI: 1.10–1.45), and 64% higher in patients who started on primary rather than on secondary prevention (1.64; 1.29–2.07). Conclusions Prevalence and incidence of statin use increased consistently with health policy interventions. Only one-fourth of patients who newly initiated a statin were adherent to the treatment after 4-year of follow-up. Since the benefits of statins in terms of cardiovascular outcome and costs are associated with their chronic use, the identification of patient-related predictors of non-adherence such as gender, primary prevention could be suitable for physicians to improve the patients' compliance.
LIFE AT THE FRONT OF AN EXPANDING POPULATION

Environmental changes have caused episodes of habitat expansions in the evolutionary history of many species. These range changes affect the dynamics of biological evolution in multiple ways. Recent microbial experiments as well as simulations suggest that enhanced genetic drift at the frontier of a two‐dimensional range expansion can cause genetic sectoring patterns with fractal domain boundaries. Here, we propose and analyze a simple model of asexual biological evolution at expanding frontiers that explains these neutral patterns and predicts the effect of natural selection. We find that beneficial mutations give rise to sectors with an opening angle that depends sensitively on the selective advantage of the mutants. Deleterious mutations, on the other hand, are not able to establish a sector permanently. They can, however, temporarily “surf” on the population front, and thereby reach unusually high frequencies. As a consequence, expanding frontiers are loaded with a high fraction of mutants at mutation–selection balance. Numerically, we also determine the condition at which the wild type is lost in favor of deleterious mutants (genetic meltdown) at a growing front. Our prediction for this error threshold differs qualitatively from existing well‐mixed theories, and sets tight constraints on sustainable mutation rates for populations that undergo frequent range expansions.
The School and Society

First published in 1899, "The School and Society "describes John Dewey s experiences with his own famous Laboratory School, started in 1896. Dewey s experiments at the Laboratory School reflected his original social and educational philosophy based on American experience and concepts of democracy, not on European education models then in vogue. This forerunner of the major works shows Dewey s pervasive concern with the need for a rich, dynamic, and viable society. In his introduction to this volume, Joe R. Burnett states Dewey s theme. Industrialization, urbanization, science, and technology have created a revolution the schools cannot ignore. Dewey carries this theme through eight chapters: The School and Social Progress; The School and the Life of the Child; Waste in Education; Three Years of the University Elementary School; The Psychology of Elementary Education; Froebel s Educational Principles; The Psychology of Occupations; and the Development of Attention. "
Permanence and Extinction for a Nonautonomous Malaria Transmission Model with Distributed Time Delay

We study the permanence, extinction, and global asymptotic stability for a nonautonomous malaria transmission model with distributed time delay. We establish some sufficient conditions on the permanence and extinction of the disease by using inequality analytical techniques. By a Lyapunov functional method, we also obtain some sufficient conditions for global asymptotic stability of this model. A numerical analysis is given to explain the analytical findings.
Information and communication technology innovations: radical and disruptive?

Information and communication technology innovations (ICT) are considered to be of central importance to social and economic developments. Various innovation theories offer classifications to predict and assess their impact. This article reviews the usefulness of selected approaches and their application in the convergent communications sector. It focuses on the notion of disruption, the comparatively new distinction between disruptive and sustaining innovations, and examines how it is related to other innovation-theoretical typologies. According to the literature, there is a high frequency of disruptive changes in the field of internet protocol-based innovations in combination with wireless technology. A closer analysis reveals that these classifications and assessments not only differ in detail but are even contradictory. The article explains these differences by highlighting delicate choices that have to be taken by analysts applying the disruption concept. It argues that its applicability is comparatively low in the convergent communications sector and generalizations of single-firm assessments are hardly valid.
ICRAC controls the rapid androgen response in human primary prostate epithelial cells and is altered in prostate cancer

Labelled 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) binding experiments have shown that expression levels of (yet unidentified) membrane androgen receptors (mAR) are elevated in prostate cancer and correlate with a negative prognosis. However, activation of these receptors which mediate a rapid androgen response can counteract several cancer hallmark functions such as unlimited proliferation, enhanced migration, adhesion and invasion and the inability to induce apoptosis. Here, we investigate the downstream signaling pathways of mAR and identify rapid DHT induced activation of store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) in primary cultures of human prostate epithelial cells (hPEC) from non-tumorous tissue. Consequently, down-regulation of Orai1, the main molecular component of Ca2+ release-activated Ca2+ (CRAC) channels results in an almost complete loss of DHT induced SOCE. We demonstrate that this DHT induced Ca2+ influx via Orai1 is important for rapid androgen triggered prostate specific antigen (PSA) release. We furthermore identified alterations of the molecular components of CRAC channels in prostate cancer. Three lines of evidence indicate that prostate cancer cells down-regulate expression of the Orai1 homolog Orai3: First, Orai3 mRNA expression levels are significantly reduced in tumorous tissue when compared to non-tumorous tissue from prostate cancer patients. Second, mRNA expression levels of Orai3 are decreased in prostate cancer cell lines LNCaP and DU145 when compared to hPEC from healthy tissue. Third, the pharmacological profile of CRAC channels in prostate cancer cell lines and hPEC differ and siRNA based knock-down experiments indicate changed Orai3 levels are underlying the altered pharmacological profile. The cancer-specific composition and pharmacology of CRAC channels identifies CRAC channels as putative targets in prostate cancer therapy.
DIVERSIFICATION, PRICING POLICY AND CREDIT UNION RISK

Using a sample of Australian credit unions, we examine the relationship between diversification, pricing policy, risk, and earnings. Credit unions with more concentrated revenues have higher earnings and volatility of asset returns. Those that use pricing policy to reduce dependence on interest on personal loans by increasing transaction fees have higher risk and smaller earnings while those with a higher proportion of revenues derived as commissions and off-balance sheet facility fees have higher risk. Credit unions deriving a higher proportion of revenue from interest on residential loans and a lower proportion from interest on personal loans have lower risk and return. JEL classification: G21
Yoga Research and Public Health

Research on yoga is witnessing an unprecedented proliferation currently, partly because of great interest in yoga’s health utility. However, yoga research does not seem to be sufficiently public health oriented, or its quality corresponding to its quantity. Yoga research is falling short to enable key stakeholders like end users, prescribers, and payers to meaningfully, confidently, and fruitfully answer the questions like: Is it generalizable? Is it standardizable? Which yoga style should be used/recommended/paid for? Or will it be worth the money? Therefore, it is important to examine the alignment to purpose or value of yoga research from a public health point of view so as to make it more practical. The issues such as lack of clear definition of yoga, wide variation in its dosage, cacophony of lineage-based styles, no data about comparative effectiveness between the yoga components, confounders and biases clouding the evidence regarding its benefits, too little data on long-term adherence, equivocal results about its cost effectiveness, discussions lacking embrace of better methods in research, and absence of a theory of yoga are examined. This is not a detailed discussion of every issue yoga research faces, but a high-level overview of those that have direct practical bearing. In the end, a few pragmatic approaches are offered. The article suggests that yoga-component analysis, development of a theory of yoga, adoption of a health-aligned functional typology of yoga, development and testing of a simple universal basic prototype of yoga intervention, emphasis on research about long-term adherence, and discouragement for mere proof of concept research might make yoga research serve the stakeholders better. It urges the research community to practice “context cognizant scholarship” to disentangle health compatible yoga from its historical-cultural-social body before examining it for health or medical application.
Oral rehabilitation with dental implants in oligodontia patients.

PURPOSE The aim of this retrospective report was to evaluate the treatment outcome of oral rehabilitation with dental implants in oligodontia patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirteen oligodontia patients treated with dental implants were examined clinically and radiographically (follow-up 3 +/- 2 years, range 1 to 8 years). In addition, patient-mediated concerns of satisfaction, treatment experience, and level of impairment of oral functions were assessed with questionnaires. RESULTS In general, all patients were satisfied with the implant treatment and experienced the treatment as nonaggravating. There was significant functional improvement, with an implant survival rate of 86% and 96% for the maxilla and mandible, respectively. CONCLUSION Dental implants can play an important role in the oral rehabilitation of patients with oligodontia. Patients were generally satisfied with the overall treatment experience and reported significant functional improvement. Implant survival rate was comparable with previous reports.