Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rape and the Inner Lives of Black Women in the Middle West

One of the most remarked upon but least analyzed themes in Black women's history deals with Black women's sexual vulnerability and powerlessness as victims of rape and domestic violence. Author Hazel Carby put it baldly when she declared: "The institutionalized rape of black women has never been as powerful a symbol of black oppression as the spectacle of lynching. Rape has always involved patriarchal notions of women being, at best, not entirely unwilling accomplices, if not outwardly inviting a sexual attack. The links between black women and illicit sexuality consolidated during the antebellum years had powerful ideological consequences for the next hundred and fifty ears. "' I suggest that rape and the threat of rape influenced the development of a culture of dissemblance among Black women. By dissemblance I mean the behavior and attitudes of Black women that created the appearance of openness and disclosure but actually shielded the truth of their inner lives and selves from their oppressors. To be sure, themes of rape and sexual vulnerability have received considerable attention in the recent literary outpourings of Black women novelists. Of the last six novels I have read and reread, for example, five contained a rape scene or a graphic description of domestic violence. ' Moreover, this is not a recent phenomenon in Black women's writing. Virtually every known nineteenth-century female slave narrative contains a reference to, at some juncture, the ever present threat and reality of rape. Two works come immediately to mind: Harriet Jacob's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) and Elizabeth Keckley's Behind the Scenes, or Thirty Years a Slave,
Distribution-aware estimation of the minimum achievable uncertainty in diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI)

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) provides exquisite sensitivity to structural and microstructural characteristics of brain tissue, and is routinely employed in advanced neuroimaging applications. DTI is commonly performed using intrinsically noisy echo-planar imaging techniques and poses high demands both on scanner performance and on in-scanner subject time, which in turn is directly related to the number of diffusion-weighting direction one requires. While DTI-derived indices such as fractional anisotropy (FA), diffusion tensor trace and anisotropy mode have proven extremely useful in characterizing disease-related aberrations, their estimation is commonly performed using fitting routines that do not properly take into account MRI noise distribution. In this paper, we present a distribution-aware maximum likelihood tensor estimation framework which also allows, for the first time, separate local noise estimation in both diffusion weighted and reference images. We validate our framework using multiple water phantom diffusion weighted acquisitions, and demonstrate its feasibility in human data. We then employ our framework within Monte Carlo simulations to show how the minimum achievable uncertainty attainable in DTI depends on signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and number of diffusion gradient directions, demonstrating that these dependencies could be recast into simple power laws which may serve as guidelines for application-specific DTI protocol design.
Youth Sport Education and Development in Hong Kong: A Conflict Model Social Impact Assessment

Abstract The paper employs the conflict model of social theory to assess the social impact of the Easy Sport youth modified sport education programme upon the attitudes to sport of its student and parent clients. In doing so it exemplifies the latent and manifest tensions within the Hong Kong youth sport development system and the senior sport system as a whole. The study initially assesses the appropriateness of the conflict model as a template for the analysis. The service delivery of sport in Hong Kong; the value system, lifestyle and attitude to sport of the Hong Kong family; and characteristics and needs of youth sport education and development both generally and within Hong Kong are then analysed from the conflict paradigm perspective. An analysis of the impact of EasySport upon the attitudes to sport of the participating youth and their families is then effected facilitating the identification of dissonance within the youth sport delivery system. Conclusions regarding this impact and the conflict p.
Formations of Mexicana ness: Trenzas de identidades multiples Growing up Mexicana : Braids of multiple identities

As California's complexion and social panorama changes in color and class so must the directions for writing ethnicity and social analysis. This qualitative study seeks to break out of paradigmatic insulation by proposing innovative perspectives and directions for creating subversive narratives about our own realities. It also seeks to inform current social analysis about Mexicana quality of life and about educationalpolicy on Mexicana educacion (education of the whole person) and school cultures. This article examines how Mexicana identities are created, shaped, and developed through the construction of narratives. I interpret these with the analytical tools of trenzas that ''braids'' critical race theory and multidimensional feminist frames, platicas (popular conversations) and cultural intuition, and the engagement of myself, the researcher, and the young Mexicanas participating in the study. By claiming our space and voicing our feelings and meanings about language, Aztlan culture and identity, and wo.
Coerced offender rehabilitation – a defensible practice?

The use of the criminal justice system to force offenders to receive psychological treatment is one of the most controversial aspects of service provision for offenders. Coerced treatment needs to be distinguished from pressured treatment, both having objective and subjective dimensions. In this paper some arguments for and against coerced offender rehabilitation are discussed. We suggest that coercing offenders into attending rehabilitation programmes (or placing legal pressure on them to attend) is unlikely by itself to lead to poorer outcomes. Rather, the individual's perception of coercion will be more influential in determining how an offender approaches treatment. Even when offenders perceive they are being coerced, it is likely that pre-treatment anti-therapeutic attitudes can change over the course of a programme, such that therapeutic gains (risk reduction) can occur. Coercion and its effects on treatment engagement and rehabilitation outcomes require further empirical research and conceptual analysis.
Detection of Critical Driving Situations using Phase Plane Method for Vehicle Lateral Dynamics Control by Rear Wheel Steering

Abstract A method for detecting laterally critical driving situations based on the vehicle body side slip angle (VBSSA) is investigated. Based on a nonlinear vehicle model, the vehicle stability is analyzed graphically on the β–&βdot; plane (or phase plane). The stable area can be determined depending on the wheel turn angle δ F , the velocity v and the road friction coefficient µ 0 . The detection of critical situations via the phase plane method is integrated into a gain scheduling control for the stabilization of the lateral vehicle dynamics. The control concept focuses on minimizing the VBSSA by means of rear wheel steering. Since the VBSSA cannot be measured in series production vehicles it is estimated using an Extended Kalman Filter that combines the lateral and longitudinal vehicle dynamics. The overall control concept including the EKF and the phase plane method are validated with the vehicle simulation software CarMaker®. Besides open-loop maneuvers, additional close-loop maneuvers are conducted in order to investigate the driver's influence on the controller performance and it's reaction to the controller activity.
Auditory Perception by Children

HE WRITER HAS, through a series of research projects supported by the University of Wisconsin and the United States Office of Education, been concerned with identifying the ways in which children in elementary school (ages 6 to 12) perceive and respond to the auditory presentation of musical sounds. The need for investigations of this kind arises from the lack of available information concerning the development of skills associated with auditory perception. Literature relating to the musical development of children repeatedly emphasizes the desirability of beginning with those activities which focus attention upon aural perception and recognition of the several basic musical elements. The resultant aural understandings are considered essential to the subsequent, or even parallel, development of skills associated with intelligent and sensitive musical listening and performance. Traditional music education in the elementary schools usually begins with a relatively simple "readiness" program. It is expected that once the individual has achieved minimal competence in terms of the aural recognition and understanding of basic elements of music, he can then successfully undertake music reading activities. It has been further assumed that activities which require visual perception and some overt response to musical symbols are meaningful only when the individual is already familiar with the musical ideas being symbolized. However, few of the assumptions and practices have been verified by systematic investigation. The writer became involved with the problem of auditory perception in connection with exploratory research concerned with music reading competencies possessed by children in the upper elementary grades (ages 10, 11, and 12). The several tasks utilized in this study required singing responses to the visual presentation of: (a) a set of short tonal configurations, each given individually in a set of learning trials, the items randomized for each successive trial; and (b) a short song, eight measures in length, which utilized these same tonal configurations. The major findings of the study showed: 1. There were no significant differences between grade levels (4, 5, and 6) in terms of competence in learning to read tonal configurations. 2. The level of achievement in reading simple tonal configurations without external assistance was relatively low for all grades, with considerable guessing taking place.
Troubles cognitifs et comportementaux chez l'enfant ayant une épilepsie bénigne à pointes centro-temporales

L’epilepsie Rolandique est la forme la plus frequente des epilepsies idiopathiques de l’enfance, dont les premieres manifestations surviennent entre 3 et 13 ans. Le pronostic de ces patients est bon, en raison notamment de la remission spontanee de cette epilepsie a l’adolescence. Toutefois, des etudes recentes suggerent la presence de troubles specifiques, durant la phase active du syndrome, dans les spheres cognitive, affective et comportementale. Les particularites neuropsychologiques rapportees concernent les spheres langagieres et perceptuelles, les capacites mnesiques et attentionnelles. De plus, quelques auteurs suggerent la persistance de certaines specificites dans le traitement de l’information, chez ses patients, apres la remission complete de cette epilepsie. Cette revue de la litterature a pour but de recenser et de classer les divers troubles cognitifs et affectifs rapportes par les etudes recentes s’interessant aux consequences de cette epilepsie benigne. Des travaux investiguant la qualite de vie de ces enfants viennent completer cette recension. Mots-cles : Epilepsie benigne a pointes centro-temporales ; epilepsie Rolandique ; cognition ; deficits neuropsychologiques ; comportement ; qualite de vie.
Decoding ballistic missile defense: semiotics and the power of the image in American Ballistic Missile Defense

Building on earlier assessments of visual representation in air and missile defenses, and on investigations of the role of representation and perception in warfare more generally, this article offers a semiotic analysis of the signifying practices and processes that are a necessary part of America's Ballistic Missile Defense systems. The argument is made that missile defense – a range of projects aimed at protecting the United States by intercepting enemy missiles in flight – provides a recurrent site of contestation of the image. To illustrate this, examples of the use and testing of missile defense technology to date are analysed from a broadly social semiotic perspective, with specific emphasis on the concepts of signs, codes and modality. Taking this approach indicates that, in the supposedly routine process of representing “threats” in a visual format, even the most sophisticated missile defense systems in use today still encounter severe difficulties, with potentially deadly consequences. This potential for misperception is itself an inherent part of the process of coding and decoding spatial data, represented in a visual format involved herein, which raises significant questions about the vision of nuclear security promised by ballistic missile defense.
Mapping of hepatic expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) in a Han Chinese population

Background Elucidating the genetic basis underlying hepatic gene expression variability is of importance to understand the aetiology of the disease and variation in drug metabolism. To date, no genome-wide expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) analysis has been conducted in the Han Chinese population, the largest ethnic group in the world. Methods We performed a genome-wide eQTL mapping in a set of Han Chinese liver tissue samples (n=64). The data were then compared with published eQTL data from a Caucasian population. We then performed correlations between these eQTLs with important pharmacogenes, and genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), in particular those identified in the Asian population. Results Our analyses identified 1669 significant eQTLs (false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05). We found that 41% of Asian eQTLs were also eQTLs in Caucasians at the genome-wide significance level (p=10−8). Both cis- and trans-eQTLs in the Asian population were also more likely to be eQTLs in Caucasians (p<10−4). Enrichment analyses revealed that trait-associated GWAS-SNPs were enriched within the eQTLs identified in our data, so were the GWAS-SNPs specifically identified in Asian populations in a separate analysis (p<0.001 for both). We also found that hepatic expression of very important pharmacogenetic (VIP) genes (n=44) and a manually curated list of major genes involved in pharmacokinetics (n=341) were both more likely to be controlled by eQTLs (p<0.002 for both). Conclusions Our study provided, for the first time, a comprehensive hepatic eQTL analysis in a non-European population, further generating valuable data for characterising the genetic basis of human diseases and pharmacogenetic traits.
Traditional Inventory Models in an E-Retailing Setting: A Two-Stage Serial System with Space Constraints

In an e-retailing setting, the efficient utilization of inventory, storage space, and labor is paramount to achieving high levels of customer service and company profits. To optimize the storage space and labor, a retailer will split the warehouse into two storage regions with different densities. One region is for picking customer orders and the other to hold reserve stock. As a consequence, the inventory system for the warehouse is a multi-item two-stage, serial system. We investigate the problem when demand is stochastic and the objective is to minimize the total expected average cost under some space constraints. We generate an approximate formulation and solution procedure for a periodic review, nested ordering policy, and provide managerial insights on the trade-offs. In addition, we extend the formulation to account for shipping delays and advanced order information.
The comorbidity of depression and eating dysregulation processes in a diet-seeking obese population: a matter of gender specificity.

OBJECTIVE To explore gender differences in depression vulnerability among an obese, treatment-seeking population and to discern those components of eating-related phenomena that discriminate the depression-comorbid obese from their noncomorbid counterparts. METHOD This sample consisted of 1,184 self-admitted patients enrolled in a residential weight loss program between 1990 and 1995. Subjects were administered several questionnaires including (a) the Beck Depression Inventory, (b) 5-point scales of eating-related foci, and (c) 7-point scales of subject's confidence in their eating control under various circumstances. Data were analyzed via analyses of variance (ANOVAs) and stepwise regression. RESULTS Greater depression was accompanied by more disruptive, dysregulatory eating tendencies, and stronger inclination to engage in affectively and socially disrupted eating. Regression results revealed gender-specific predictors of comorbid depression. For obese females, negative-emotion disrupted eating and binge-purge behaviors were prominent predictors of depression. For males, eating induced by experiences of social or physical inadequacy and fasting relating to eating behaviors were the depression-relevant variables. DISCUSSION These results are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for gender-mediated models of obesity-depression comorbidity, and in terms of their clinical significance.
Structural and Physical Properties of Biofield Treated Thymol and Menthol

Thymol and menthol are naturally occurring plant derived compounds, which have excellent pharmaceutical and antimicrobial applications. The aim of this work was to evaluate the impact of biofield energy on physical and structural characteristics of thymol and menthol. The control and biofield treated compounds (thymol and menthol) were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). XRD study revealed increase in intensity of the XRD peaks of treated thymol, which was correlated to high crystallinity of the treated sample. The treated thymol showed significant increase in crystallite size by 50.01% as compared to control. However, the treated menthol did not show any significant change in crystallite size as compared to control. DSC of treated menthol showed minimal increase in melting temperature (45oC) as compared to control (44oC). The enthalpy (âH) of both the treated compounds (thymol and menthol) was decreased as compared to control samples which could be due the high energy state of the powders. TGA analysis showed that thermal stability of treated thymol was increased as compared to control; though no change in thermal stability was noticed in treated menthol. FT-IR spectrum of treated thymol showed increase in wave number of –OH stretching vibration peak (14 cm-1) as compared to control. Whereas, the FT-IR spectrum of treated menthol showed appearance of new stretching vibration peaks in the region of 3200-3600 cm-1 which may be attributed to the presence of hydrogen bonding in the sample as compared to control. Overall, the result showed that biofield treatment has substantially changed the structural and physical properties of thymol and menthol.
Local Multiagent Coordination in Decentralized MDPs with Sparse Interactions

Creating coordinated multiagent policies in environments with uncertainty is a challenging problem, which can be greatly simplified if the coordination needs are known to be limited to specific parts of the state-space. In this work, we explore ho w such local interactions can simplify coordination in multiagent systems. We focus on problems in which the interaction between the agents is sparse, exploiting this property to minimize the c oupling of the decision processes for the different agents. We contribute a new decision-theoret ic model for multiagent systems, DecSIMDPs, that explicitly distinguishes the situations in wh ich the agents in the team must coordinate from those in which they can act independently. We relate our new model to other existing models from the literature, such as MMDPs and Dec-MDPs. We then prop ose a solution method that takes advantage of the particular structure of Dec-SIMDPs and pro vide theoretical error bounds on the quality of the obtained solution. Finally, we illustrate th e performance of our method in several simulated navigation problems.
Ultrastructural Features of Atretic Follicles in the Sexually Immature Ostrich (Struthio Camelus)

The aim of this study was to describe the ultrastructural features of atresia in follicles of the immature ostrich (12–14 months old); a ratite that displays seasonal, precocious ovarian activity. The early stage of atresia in primordial, pre‐vitellogenic and vitellogenic follicles was characterized by the accumulation of lipid droplets in the granulosa cells. Granulosa cells with condensed cytoplasm and nuclei were a prominent feature during the intermediate phase of atresia. The degenerating follicles were then infiltrated by stroma during the terminal stages of atresia. The results of this study provide further information on the morphology of atretic ovarian follicles in the immature ostrich.
Optimism, Coping, and Psychological Distress: Maternal Reactions to NICU Hospitalization

A mediational model of maternal optimism, coping, and psychological distress was tested in 112 mothers of infants hospitalized in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Maternal optimism was related to mothers' use of active, cognitive, and ventilation coping strategies as well as less distress during their infants' hospitalization and 1 month postdischarge. An indirect relationship between optimism and distress was also identified, mediated by mothers' use of cognitive and avoidant coping strategies. Optimistic mothers employed more cognitive and fewer avoidant coping strategies and experienced less distress both during and following their infants' hospitalization. Interventions with pessimistic mothers that encourage engagement with their infants in the NICU may facilitate better maternal adaptation and subsequent child development.
Combined and Individual Mitochondrial HSP60 and HSP10 Expression in Cardiac Myocytes Protects Mitochondrial Function and Prevents Apoptotic Cell Deaths Induced by Simulated Ischemia-Reoxygenation

BackgroundThe mitochondrial heat-shock proteins HSP60 and HSP10 form a mitochondrial chaperonin complex, and previous studies have shown that their increased expression exerts a protective effect against ischemic injury when cardiac myocytes are submitted to simulated ischemia. The more detailed mechanisms by which such a protective effect occurs are currently unclear. We wanted to determine whether HSP60 and HSP10 could exert a protection against simulated ischemia and reoxygenation (SI/RO)–induced apoptotic cell death and whether such protection results from decreased mitochondrial cytochrome c release and caspase-3 activation and from the preservation of ATP levels by preservation of the electron transport chain complexes. In addition, we explored whether increased expression of HSP60 or HSP10 by itself exerts a protective effect. Methods and ResultsWe overexpressed HSP60 and HSP10 together or separately in rat neonatal cardiac myocytes using an adenoviral vector and then subjected the myocytes to SI/RO. Cell death and apoptosis in myocytes were quantified by parameters such as enzyme release, DNA fragmentation, and caspase-3 activation. Overexpression of the combination of HSP60 and HSP10 and of HSP60 or HSP10 individually protected myocytes against apoptosis. This protection is accompanied by decreases in mitochondrial cytochrome c release and in caspase-3 activity and increases in ATP recovery and activities of complex III and IV in mitochondria after SI/RO. ConclusionsThese results suggest that mitochondrial chaperonins HSP60 and HSP10 in combination or individually play an important role in maintaining mitochondrial integrity and capacity for ATP generation, which are the crucial factors in determining survival of cardiac myocytes undergoing ischemia/reperfusion injury.