Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring IT-Enabled Public Sector Innovation in U.S. States

Scholars and practitioners often assume that the public sector mirrors the private sector and that it is possible to merely port strategies between domains. However, we highlight the substantial differences between the domains and explore how IT-enabled innovation shapes and is shaped within state government. Analyzing state-level IT governance data using crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis, we uncover that low state attainment is a catalyst for IT-enabled innovation. We uncover and differentiate several types of innovations and also find that successful innovation requires the collaboration of the legislature, governor and CIO.
Stance and Sentiment in Tweets

We can often detect from a person’s utterances whether he or she is in favor of or against a given target entity—one’s stance toward the target. However, a person may express the same stance toward a target by using negative or positive language. Here for the first time we present a dataset of tweet–target pairs annotated for both stance and sentiment. The targets may or may not be referred to in the tweets, and they may or may not be the target of opinion in the tweets. Partitions of this dataset were used as training and test sets in a SemEval-2016 shared task competition. We propose a simple stance detection system that outperforms submissions from all 19 teams that participated in the shared task. Additionally, access to both stance and sentiment annotations allows us to explore several research questions. We show that although knowing the sentiment expressed by a tweet is beneficial for stance classification, it alone is not sufficient. Finally, we use additional unlabeled data through distant supervision techniques and word embeddings to further improve stance classification.
Dissecting the actin cortex density and membrane-cortex distance in living cells by super-resolution microscopy

Nanoscale spacing between the plasma membrane and the underlying cortical actin cytoskeleton profoundly modulates cellular morphology, mechanics, and function. Measuring this distance has been a key challenge in cell biology. Current methods for dissecting the nanoscale spacing either limit themselves to complex survey design using fixed samples or rely on diffraction-limited fluorescence imaging whose spatial resolution is insufficient to quantify distances on the nanoscale. Using dual-color super-resolution STED (stimulated-emission-depletion) microscopy, we here overcome this challenge and accurately measure the density distribution of the cortical actin cytoskeleton and the distance between the actin cortex and the membrane in live Jurkat T-cells. We found an asymmetric cortical actin density distribution with a mean width of 230 (+105/−125) nm. The spatial distances measured between the maximum density peaks of the cortex and the membrane were bi-modally distributed with mean values of 50 ± 15 nm and 120 ± 40 nm, respectively. Taken together with the finite width of the cortex, our results suggest that in some regions the cortical actin is closer than 10 nm to the membrane and a maximum of 20 nm in others.
VLA polarimetry observations of PKS 2322−123: estimating magnetic fields in the Abell 2597 cluster

We present 5, 8, and 15 GHz total intensity and polarimetric observations of the radio source PKS 2322-123 taken with the Very Large Array (VLA). This small (11 kpc) source is located at the center of the cooling-core cluster Abell 2597. The inner X-ray structure, the radio morphology, and the steep spectral index ({alpha} = -1.8) in the lobes, all suggest that the radio emission is confined by the ambient X-ray gas. We detect a small region of polarized flux in the southern lobe and are able to calculate a Faraday rotation measure (RM) of 3620 rad m{sup -2} over this region. Based on these observations and Chandra X-ray data we suggest that the southern lobe has been deflected from its original southwestern orientation to the south and into our line-of-sight. Using the observed RMs and our calculated electron density profiles, and assuming both a uniform and tangled magnetic field topology, we estimate a lower limit of the line-of-sight cluster magnetic field, B{parallel} = 2.1 {micro}G.
Hospital ownership and preventable adverse events

OBJECTIVE: To determine if type of hospital ownership is associated with preventable adverse events.DESIGN: Medical record review of a random sample of 15,000 nonpsychiatric, non-Veterans Administration hospital discharges in Utah and Colorado in 1992.MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: A two-stage record review process using nurse and physician reviewers was used to detect adverse events. Preventability was then judged by 2 study investigators who were blinded to hospital characteristics. The association among preventable adverse events and hospital ownership was evaluated using logistic regression with nonprofit hospitals as the reference group while controlling for other patient and hospital characteristics. We analyzed 4 hospital ownership categories: nonprofit, for-profit, major teaching government (e.g., county or state ownership), and minor or nonteaching government.RESULTS: When compared with patients in nonprofit hospitals, multivariate analyses adjusting for other patient and hospital characteristics found that patients in minor or nonteaching government hospitals were more likely to suffer a preventable adverse event of any type (odds ratio [OR] 2.46; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.45 to 4.20); preventable operative adverse events (OR, 4.85; 95% CI, 2.44 to 9.62); and preventable adverse events due to delayed diagnoses and therapies (OR, 4.27; 95% CI, 1.48 to 12.31). Patients in forprofit hospitals were also more likely to suffer preventable adverse events of any type (OR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.03 to 2.38); preventable operative adverse events (OR, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.42 to 4.87); and preventable adverse events due to delayed diagnoses and therapies (OR, 4.15; 95% CI, 1.84 to 9.34). Patients in major teaching government hospitals were less likely to suffer preventable adverse drug events (OR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.16 to 0.89). CONCLUSIONS: Patients in for-profit and minor teaching or nonteaching government-owned hospitals were more likely to suffer several types of preventable adverse events. Further research is needed to determine how these events could be prevented.
Ceramide Kinase, a Novel Lipid Kinase

Ceramide-1-phosphate is a sphingolipid metabolite that has been implicated in membrane fusion of brain synaptic vesicles and neutrophil phagolysosome formation. Ceramide-1-phosphate can be produced by ATP-dependent ceramide kinase activity, although little is known of this enzyme because it has not yet been highly purified or cloned. Based on sequence homology to sphingosine kinase type 1, we have now cloned a related lipid kinase, human ceramide kinase (hCERK). hCERK encodes a protein of 537 amino acids that has a catalytic region with a high degree of similarity to the diacylglycerol kinase catalytic domain. hCERK also has a putative N-myristoylation site on its NH2 terminus followed by a pleckstrin homology domain. Membrane but not cytosolic fractions from HEK293 cells transiently transfected with a hCERK expression vector readily phosphorylated ceramide but not sphingosine or other sphingoid bases, diacylglycerol or phosphatidylinositol. This activity was clearly distinguished from those of bacterial or human diacylglycerol kinases. With natural ceramide as a substrate, the enzyme had a pH optimum of 6.0–7.5 and showed Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with K m values of 187 and 32 μm for ceramide and ATP, respectively. Northern blot analysis revealed that hCERK mRNA expression was high in the brain, heart, skeletal muscle, kidney, and liver. A BLAST search analysis using the hCERK sequence revealed that putative ceramide kinases (CERKs) exist widely in diverse multicellular organisms including plants, nematodes, insects, and vertebrates. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that CERKs are a new class of lipid kinases that are clearly distinct from sphingosine and diacylglycerol kinases. Cloning of CERK should provide new molecular tools to investigate the physiological functions of ceramide-1-phosphate.
Sodium in soluble paracetamol may be linked to raised blood pressure

Recently I came across a small illustrated book, Jewish Life in Canada , published in 1976 by the artist William Kurelek and coauthor Abraham Arnold. An unusual name, Kurelek, stirred an old memory. In 1953 I was working as a senior registrar at the Maudsley Hospital in London. One day, a young man aged 26 came to the hospital's front door depressed, dishevelled, and disorganised, and in obvious need of psychiatric care. The patient was assigned to me, and his history soon emerged. He was of Ukrainian heritage, raised on a Canadian farm, …
Upregulation of CD40-CD40 Ligand (CD154) in Patients With Acute Cerebral Ischemia

Background and Purpose— Inflammation and hypercoagulability contribute to the development of acute cerebral ischemia. Both can be mediated by the CD40 system. This study investigated whether the CD40 system and related mediators are upregulated in patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke. Methods— Seventeen patients with TIA, 60 patients with complete stroke, and 15 control subjects were investigated. CD154 and P-selectin were analyzed on platelets and CD40 on monocytes during and 3 months after acute cerebral ischemia by double-label flow cytometry. Blood concentrations of soluble CD154 and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) were evaluated. Results— Our main findings are as follows: (1) patients with acute cerebral ischemia showed a significant increase of CD154 on platelets and CD40 on monocytes compared with controls; (2) plasma levels of soluble CD154 were significantly higher in these patients; (3) these patients had significantly higher numbers of prothrombotic platelet-monocyte aggregates; (4) the chemoattractant MCP-1 was significantly elevated in cerebral ischemia; and (5) at 3 months’ follow-up, upregulation of CD154 still persisted in patients with previous acute cerebral ischemia. Conclusions— Patients with acute cerebral ischemia show upregulation of the CD40 system, which might contribute to the known proinflammatory, proatherogenic, and prothrombotic milieu found in these patients.
Effect of differing doses of inhaled budesonide on markers of airway inflammation in patients with mild asthma

BACKGROUND It is desirable to prescribe the minimal effective dose of inhaled steroids to control asthma. To ensure that inflammation is suppressed whilst using the lowest possible dose, a sensitive and specific method for assessing airway inflammation is needed. METHODS The usefulness of exhaled nitric oxide (NO), sputum eosinophils, and methacholine airway responsiveness (PC20) for monitoring airway inflammatory changes following four weeks of treatment with an inhaled corticosteroid (budesonide via Turbohaler) were compared. Mild stable steroid naive asthmatic subjects were randomised into two double blind, placebo controlled studies. The first was a parallel group study involving three groups receiving either 100 μg/day budesonide (n = 8), 400 μg/day budesonide (n = 7), or a matched placebo (n = 6). The second was a crossover study involving 10 subjects randomised to receive 1600 μg budesonide or placebo. The groups were matched with respect to age, PC20, baseline FEV1 (% predicted), exhaled NO, and sputum eosinophilia. RESULTS There were significant improvements in FEV1 following 400 μg and 1600 μg budesonide (11.3% and 6.5%, respectively, p<0.05). This was accompanied by significant reductions in eosinophil numbers in induced sputum (0.7 and 0.9 fold, p<0.05). However, levels of exhaled NO were reduced following each budesonide dose while PC20was improved only with 1600 μg budesonide. These results suggest that exhaled NO and PC20 may not reflect the control of airway inflammation as accurately as the number of eosinophils in sputum. There were dose dependent changes in exhaled NO, sputum eosinophils, and PC20 to inhaled budesonide but a plateau response of exhaled NO was found at a dose of 400 μg daily. CONCLUSION Monitoring the number of eosinophils in induced sputum may be the most accurate guide to establish the minimum dose of inhaled steroids needed to control inflammation. This, however, requires further studies involving a larger number of patients.
Autism and the Development of Mind

Preface. Prolegomena. The Picture of Autism. Interpersonal Relatedness I: The Normal Infant. Interpersonal Relatedness II: The Case of Autism. The Growth of Interpersonal Understanding. Conceptual Issues I: On Understanding Minds. Conceptual Issues II: On Thought and Language. Thought and Language: The Case of Autism. The Development of Mind and the Case of Autism.
Gender socialization and family influences on body image and weight loss behaviors among adolescent girls: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

Title of Document: GENDER SOCIALIZATION AND FAMILY INFLUENCES ON BODY IMAGE AND WEIGHT LOSS BEHAVIOR AMONG ADOLESCENT GIRLS: FINDINGS FROM THE NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF ADOLESCENT HEALTH Janet Marie Liechty, Doctor of Philosophy, 2007 Directed By: Sandra L. Hofferth, Ph.D. Professor Department of Family Studies The rise in preoccupation with weight and dieting among adolescent girls in the last 30 years has produced a plethora of clinical research on body image and other correlates of disordered eating. However, there have been few longitudinal population studies investigating precursors and prevalence of actual cognitive distortion in body image among girls or its health consequences. Data on U.S. girls (ages 12-21) were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Using Symbolic Interaction and Feminist Sociocultural theories, logistic regressions were conducted to test theoretical propositions and investigate possible pathways of risk from gendered self-concept to body image distortion (BID), and from BID to risky weight loss behavior (e.g., diet pills, vomiting, and laxatives) and more common weight loss behaviors such as dieting and exercising to lose weight. Family social support, parent traditional attitudes, and background variables (race/ethnicity, age, parent education, and BMI status) were also considered. Multivariate analyses at Time 1 suggest that selfesteem is negatively associated with BID and high appearance investment is positively associated with BID. Multivariate longitudinal analyses suggest that BID at Time 1 predicts the onset of both risky weight loss behaviors and dieting by Time 2 (one year later), controlling for weight loss behavior at Time 1. High self-esteem is also associated with decreased risk of engaging in risky weight loss behaviors and decreased dieting behavior. Self-esteem has a direct effect on BID and an indirect effect on unhealthy weight loss behaviors, mediated through BID. There is no evidence that BID mediates the relationship between self-esteem and dieting to lose weight, however. Parent traditional attitudes are associated with girls’ higher social passivity, but are unrelated to self-esteem and appearance investment. Results suggest that universal, developmentally appropriate prevention programs addressing body image, realistic body weight self-assessment, and self-esteem are needed, as well as targeted programs for girls at risk for BID or who already display BID, in order to curb risky and unnecessary weight loss practices. Suggestions for designing screening and prevention programs based on theory and current research are discussed. GENDER SOCIALIZATION AND FAMILY INFLUENCES ON BODY IMAGE AND WEIGHT LOSS BEHAVIORS AMONG ADOLESCENT GIRLS: FINDINGS FROM THE NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF ADOLESCENT HEALTH.
A decentralized privacy-enabling TV personalization framework

While there has been many studies on personalization frameworks for iTV, few have raised the issue of personal information ubiquity and privacy. Our purpose is to address both of them, thanks to the use of a smart card based personal profile engine. We additionally propose an innovative solution to mix content based and collaborative filtering using a decentralized architecture. We illustrate the usage of our framework with an experimental movie recommender application, and give metrics that show the quality of the obtained recommendations.
Quality of Service by flow–aware networking

The paper addresses the issue of providing Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees in the Internet. After a brief discussion of Internet traffic characteristics, we consider the possibility of performing multiplexing with predictable performance for stream and elastic traffic using open–loop and closed–loop control, respectively. QoS depends essentially on providing sufficient capacity to handle expected demand. We argue that flow awareness is additionally necessary to ensure that traffic is directed over routes with available capacity and to avoid congestion collapse in case of overload. Proposed flow–aware controls allow simple volume–based charging and the development of an economic model similar to that of the telephone network.
Outcomes Among Hypertensive Patients With Concomitant Peripheral and Coronary Artery Disease: Findings From the INternational VErapamil-SR/Trandolapril STudy

Hypertension is a common risk factor for peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Guidelines suggest treating PAD patients to a blood pressure <130/80 mm Hg; therefore, our objective was to explore whether attainment of this target blood pressure is associated with improved outcomes. We performed a post hoc analysis of the INternational VErapamil-SR/Trandolapril STudy, a randomized clinical trial, which included hypertensive patients with concomitant PAD and coronary artery disease. There were 2699 PAD patients followed for a mean of 2.7 years (60 970 patient-years). The primary outcome, all-cause death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke, occurred in 16.3% of PAD patients versus 9.2% without PAD (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.26 [95% CI: 1.13 to 1.40]; P<0.0001). The primary outcome occurred least frequently among PAD patients treated to an average systolic blood pressure of 135 to 145 mm Hg and an average diastolic blood pressure of 60 to 90 mm Hg. PAD patients displayed a J-shape relationship with systolic blood pressure and the primary outcome, although individuals without PAD did not. PAD patients may require a different target blood pressure than those without PAD.
LEARNING AND MEMORY: Olfactory based spatial learning in neonatal mice and its dependence on CaMKII

Spatial learning and memory involves the ability to encode geometric relationships between perceived cues and depends critically on the hippocampus. Visually guided spatial learning has been demonstrated in adult animals. As infant animals rely heavily on olfaction, olfactory based spatial learning was assessed in infant mice. When 12-day-old pups were displaced from their nest, they learned within a few training trials to use the spatial pattern of odor cues to move back to the nest. However, mouse pups that over-expressed Ca2/calmodulindependent protein kinase (CaMKII) in hippocampal neurons were impaired in olfactory based spatial learning. NeuroReport 11:1051±1055 & 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Reassignment of a rare sense codon to a non-canonical amino acid in Escherichia coli

The immutability of the genetic code has been challenged with the successful reassignment of the UAG stop codon to non-natural amino acids in Escherichia coli. In the present study, we demonstrated the in vivo reassignment of the AGG sense codon from arginine to l-homoarginine. As the first step, we engineered a novel variant of the archaeal pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase (PylRS) able to recognize l-homoarginine and l-N6-(1-iminoethyl)lysine (l-NIL). When this PylRS variant or HarRS was expressed in E. coli, together with the AGG-reading tRNAPylCCU molecule, these arginine analogs were efficiently incorporated into proteins in response to AGG. Next, some or all of the AGG codons in the essential genes were eliminated by their synonymous replacements with other arginine codons, whereas the majority of the AGG codons remained in the genome. The bacterial host's ability to translate AGG into arginine was then restricted in a temperature-dependent manner. The temperature sensitivity caused by this restriction was rescued by the translation of AGG to l-homoarginine or l-NIL. The assignment of AGG to l-homoarginine in the cells was confirmed by mass spectrometric analyses. The results showed the feasibility of breaking the degeneracy of sense codons to enhance the amino-acid diversity in the genetic code.
Cost-Effective Generation of Minimal Test Sets for Stuck-at Faults in Combinational Logic Circuits

New cost-effective heuristics for the generation of small test sets are introduced, and heuristics proposed previously are enhanced. An improved procedure is also proposed for computing independent fault sets which are used to selecet target faults in test generation. The procedure results in large lower bounds on the minimum test set size. Experimental results of test generation demonstrate the effectiveness of the heuristics.
Effect of an R69C mutation in the myelin protein zero gene on myelination and ion channel subtypes.

BACKGROUND Most mutations in the myelin protein zero gene (MPZ) typically cause a severe demyelinating/dysmyelinating neuropathy that begins in infancy or an adult-onset axonal neuropathy. Axonal degeneration in the late-onset H10P mutation may be caused by the disruption of axoglial interaction. OBJECTIVE To evaluate sural nerve biopsy samples from a patient with early-onset Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1B caused by an arg69-to-cys (R69C) mutation. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS Biopsies of sural nerves were performed 20 years apart in a patient with an R69C mutation (early onset). In addition, peripheral nerves were obtained from autopsy material from a patient with a T95M mutation (late onset). These nerves were analyzed using light microscopy of semithin sections, teased nerve fiber immunohistochemical analysis, electron microscopy, and immunologic electron microscopy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Pathological changes in sural nerve. RESULTS Both R69C biopsy samples showed prominent demyelination and onion bulb formation, unlike the late-onset T95M mutation, which showed primarily axonal degeneration with no onion bulbs. The sural biopsy sample obtained 20 years earlier from the R69C patient showed minimal difference from the present sample, consistent with the lack of clinical progression during the 2 decades. Teased fiber immunohistochemical analysis of R69C revealed voltage-gated sodium channel subtype 1.8 expressions at the nodes of Ranvier around the areas of segmental demyelination. Internodal length in all R69C nerve fibers was invariably short (>94% of all internodes are <150 mum). CONCLUSIONS Morphologic abnormalities in this early-onset R69C neuropathy were severe in childhood but progressed very slowly after adolescence. The switch to voltage-gated sodium channel subtype 1.8 expression at the nodes may provide clues into the pathogenesis of this case of early-onset neuropathy, and the short internodes may contribute to the extremely slowed conduction velocities in this case (<10 m/s).