Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Welfare Works: Explaining Female Legislative Representation

This study aims to advance our understanding of why women are underrepresented in legislatures around the world, and what accounts for the wide variation over time and across countries. Scholars generally agree on many of the favorable conditions for women to enter parliament, including, inter alia, proportional representation, leftism in government, and female employment. However, the mechanisms that link women's seat shares to the supposed explanatory factors are still poorly understood. In this study, we argue that the key link resides in welfare state policies that 1) free women to enter the paid workforce, 2) provide public sector jobs that disproportionately employ women, and 3) change the political interests of working women enough to create an ideological gender gap. The emergence of this gender gap, in turn, creates incentives for parties to compete for the female vote, and one way that they do so is to include more and more women in their parliamentary delegations.We are grateful to Natsu Matsuda for capable research assistance, to Torben Iversen for sharing data, and to Ethan Scheiner and Bing Powell for helpful comments as discussant for this paper at a panel at the 2004 American Political Science Association meetings in Chicago. Thies also acknowledges the support of a grant from the UCLA Academic Senate's Committee on Research.
Extracting Semantics from Random Walks on Wikipedia: Comparing Learning and Counting Methods

Semantic relatedness between words has been extracted from a variety of sources.In this ongoing work, we explore and compare several options for determining if semantic relatedness can be extracted from navigation structures in Wikipedia. In that direction, we first investigate the potential of representation learning techniques such as DeepWalk in comparison to previously applied methods based on counting co-occurrences. Since both methods are based on (random) paths in the network, we also study different approaches to generate paths from Wikipedia link structure. For this task, we do not only consider the link structure of Wikipedia, but also actual navigation behavior of users. Finally, we analyze if semantics can also be extracted from smaller subsets of the Wikipedia link network. As a result we find that representation learning techniques mostly outperform the investigated co-occurrence counting methods on the Wikipedia network. However, we find that this is not the case for paths sampled from human navigation behavior.
The role of attention in word learning from shared storybook readings

Shared storybook readings with an adult provide children with opportunities to imagine different worlds, experiment with new ideas and be inspired. Existing research shows that shared storybook reading also supports word learning. To date the role of attention in word learning from shared storybooks has been largely overlooked. The aims of this research programme were to investigate how changes to storybook reading interactions, or storybook formats might influence children’s word learning by making target words and objects more or less salient using various attentional manipulations which could be used in the real world. Chapter 1 provides an introduction and literature review. Chapter 2 presents a multi-level meta-analysis of studies of word comprehension from shared storybook reading. Empirical chapters (Chapters 3-6) use bespoke storybooks controlling for story length and number of exposures to novel vocabulary to examine children’s word learning from storybooks. Participants are 3- and 4-year-old typically developing children. In Chapter 3 children’s eye movements are recorded while they are presented with repeated or different stories. We find no evidence of differences in eye movements or word learning between conditions. Chapter 4 demonstrates that presenting storybooks one page at a time (as in Chapter 3) improves word learning compared with when two pages are displayed at a time. Chapter 5 investigates whether illustration complexity (Experiment 1) or salient illustration features (Experiment 2a and b) affect children’s learning of the depicted novel words. We found no evidence to support this with the stimuli we used. Chapter 6 investigated the role of storybook repetition in learning new words and the development of narrative skills. Overall, the research programme supports the idea that children’s word learning can best be supported by storybooks and reading styles which provide a suitable level of informational content and adult scaffolding from which they can learn.
The Involvement of Immune Semaphorins in the Pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBDs)

Background and Aims Immune semaphorins are a large family of proteins involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases through the regulation of immune homeostasis and tissue inflammation. We aim to assess the possible involvement of semaphorin3A (sema3A) and 4A (sema4A) in peripheral immune responses and bowel tissue inflammation of patients suffering from Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Patients and Methods Twenty-seven CD patients and 10 UC patients were studied and compared to 10 patients followed for acute diverticulitis (disease control) and 12 healthy individuals. All were evaluated for sema3A expression on T regulatory cells (Tregs), serum levels of sema3A and sema4A, and tissue expression of sema3A and sema4A in bowel biopsies. Results The percentage (%) of T regulatory cells (Tregs) expressing sema3A in patients with active CD (64.5% ±14.49%) and active UC (49.8% ±16.45%) was significantly lower when compared to that of healthy controls (88.7% ±3.6%, p< 0.001 and p< 0.0001, respectively). This expression was seen to be in negative correlation with CD activity. Serum levels of Sema4A were significantly lower in patients with CD and UC when compared to that of controls (5.69±1.48ng\ml for CD, 5.26±1.23 ng/ml for UC patients vs 9.74±2.73ng/ml for normal controls, P<0.001). Sema4A was highly expressed in lymphocytes of the lamina propria of CD and UC patients but absent in patients with diverticulitis or in normal individuals. Conclusions Altered % of Tregs expressing sema3A in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) is partially responsible for their failure in preventing CD4+ effector T cell induced inflammation in IBD in peripheral blood. The increased expression of sema4A in bowel biopsies from CD and UC patients is suggestive of its central role in regulating local tissue inflammation in the bowel.
MUSIK KLASIK MENURUNKAN TINGKAT STRESMAHASISWA YANG AKAN MENGHADAPI UJIAN

Latar belakang: Ujian merupakan salah satu penyebab utama stres pada mahasiswa. Terdapat berbagai cara untuk menurunkan tingkat stres pada mahasiswa, salah satunya menggunakan terapi musik. Tujuan: Membuktikan bahwa musik klasik dapat menurunkan tingkat stres mahasiswa yang akan menghadapi ujian. Metode: Penelitian ini adalah eksperimental dengan pre test post test randomized control group design dan post test only randomized control group design. Penelitian dilaksanakan di laboratorium fisiologi FK Undip pada tanggal 18 April 2016. Subjek penelitian adalah mahasiswa Kedokteran FK Undip angkatan 2015, dibagi menjadi kelompok perlakuan (n=20) dan kelompok kontrol (n=20). Denyut jantung diukur menggunakan pulse oxymeter, tekanan darah diukur menggunakan sfigmomanometer digital sebelum dan sesudah diberikan musik klasik, dan kecemasan diukur menggunakan CTAS sesudah diberikan musik klasik. Data berdistribusi normal diuji menggunakan uji t tak berpasangan dan data berdistribusi tidak normal diuji menggunakan uji Mann-Whitney. Hasil: Uji statistik menunjukkan terdapat perbedaan yang bermakna pada tekanan darah sistolik antara kedua kelompok (p=0,002), sedangkan tidak terdapat perbedaan yang bermakna pada denyut jantung (p=0,308), tekanan darah diastolik (p=0,205), dan kecemasan (p=0,721) antara kedua kelompok. Kesimpulan: Perbedaan yang bermakna hanya didapatkan pada tekanan darah sistolik, menunjukkan bahwa musik klasik tidak dapat menurunkan tingkat stres mahasiswa yang akan menghadapi ujian secara signifikan. Kata kunci: ujian, stres, musik klasik
Model-view sensor data management in the cloud

Infinite nature of sensor data poses a serious challenge for query processing even in a cloud infrastructure. Model-based sensor data approximation reduces the amount of data for query processing, but all modeled segments need to be scanned, in the worst case. In this paper, we propose an innovative index for modeled segments in key-value stores, namely KVI-index. KVI-index has an in-memory tree component and a secondary structure materialized in the key-value store that maps the tree nodes to the modeled data segments. Then, we introduce a KVI-index-Scan-MapReduce hybrid approach to perform efficient query processing. As proved by a series of experiments in a real private cloud infrastructure, our approach outperforms in query response time and index updating efficiency both Hadoop-based parallel processing of the raw sensor data and multiple alternative indexing approaches of model-view data.
Emotion recognition using brain activity

Our project focused on recognizing emotion from human brain activity, measured by EEG signals. We have proposed a system to analyze EEG signals and classify them into 5 classes on two emotional dimensions, valence and arousal. This system was designed using prior knowledge from other research, and is meant to assess the quality of emotion recognition using EEG signals in practice. In order to perform this assessment, we have gathered a dataset with EEG signals. This was done by measuring EEG signals from people that were emotionally stimulated by pictures. This method enabled us to teach our system the relationship between the characteristics of the brain activity and the emotion. We found that the EEG signals contained enough information to separate five different classes on both the valence and arousal dimension. However, using a 3-fold cross validation method for training and testing, we reached classification rates of 32% for recognizing the valence dimension from EEG signals and 37% for the arousal dimension. Much better classification rates were achieved when using only the extreme values on both dimensions, the rates were 71% and 81%.
Factor-covering designs for testing software

Testing is a critical component of modern software development. The problem of designing a suite of test cases is superficially similar to that of designing an experiment to estimate main effects and interactions, but there are crucial differences. Additive models are unhelpful, and classical design criteria are also. We propose a new class of models and new measures of effectiveness. We compare several designs.
Comparing Open and Sealed Bid Auctions: Evidence from Timber Auctions

We study entry and bidding patterns in sealed bid and open auctions with heterogeneous bidders. Using data from U.S. Forest Service timber auctions, we document a set of systematic effects of auction format: sealed bid auctions attract more small bidders, shift the allocation towards these bidders, and can also generate higher revenue. We show that a private value auction model with endogenous participation can account for these qualitative effects of auction format. We estimate the model's parameters and show that it can explain the quantitative effects as well. Finally, we use the model to provide an assessment of bidder competitiveness, which has important consequences for auction choice.
THE EFFECTS OF CATALYST, FREE FATTY ACIDS, AND WATER ON TRANSESTERIFICATION OF BEEF TALLOW

Transesterification of beef tallow and methanol is affected by many factors. Catalyst, free fatty acids, and water in beef tallow, and reaction time were investigated. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was a more effective catalyst than sodium methoxide (NaMeO). NaOH and NaMeO reached their maximum activities at 0.3% and 0.5%, w/w of beef tallow, respectively. The presence of water had more negative effect on transesterification than did the presence of free fatty acids (FFA). For best results, the water content of beef tallow should be kept not beyond 0.06%, w/w. FFA content of beef tallow should be kept below 0.5%, w/w. The transesterification of beef tallow was very slow in the first minute. The production of beef tallow methyl esters (BTME) was complete after about 15 min. There were still some mono- and diglycerides in the BTME phase after the reaction was finished.
Active Walking Interface for Human-Scale Virtual Environment

This paper presents a new locomotion interface that provides users with the ability to engage in a life-like walking experience by stepping in place. Stepping actions are performed on top of a flat platform with embedded grid of switch sensors that detect footfalls pressure. Based on data received from sensors, the system can compute different variables that represent user’s walking behavior such walking direction, walking speed, standstill, jump, and walking. The overall platform status is scanned at a rate of 100Hz with which we can deliver real-time visual feedback reaction to user actions. The proposed system is portable and easy to integrate with major virtual environment with large projection feature such as CAVE and DOME systems. The overall weight of Walking-Pad is less than 5 Kg and can be connected to any computer via USB port, which make it even controllable via a portable computer.
Acute improvement of hand sensibility after selective ipsilateral cutaneous forearm anaesthesia

The cortical representation of body parts is constantly modulated in response to the afferent input, and acute deafferentation of a body part results in bilateral cortical reorganization. To study the effects on hand function of right forearm anaesthesia, we investigated ten human subjects (group 1) for perception of touch, tactile discrimination and grip strength in the right (ipsilateral) and left (contralateral) hand before, during and 24 h after forearm skin anaesthesia with a local anaesthetic cream (EMLA®). Ten age‐matched controls (group 2) were investigated in the same way but received placebo. In group 1 a significant improvement was seen in tactile discrimination in the ipsilateral hand compared to base line (P = 0.009) and compared to group 2 (P = 0.006). The improvement in tactile discrimination remained for at least 24 h after anaesthesia. Perception of touch, was improved during anaesthesia compared to baseline values in group 1 (P = 0.046) and remained for at least 24 h. Grip strength did not change. These findings suggest that transient selective deafferentation of an extremity results in enhanced sensory functions of the functionally preserved parts of the same extremity, presumably as a result of expansion of adjacent cortical territories. Such rapid functional changes suggest unmasking of pre‐existing synaptic connections as the mechanism underlying the acute modulation of sensory functions in the hand. Our findings open new perspectives for sensory re‐education and rehabilitation following injury to the peripheral and central nervous system.
The Information-Collecting Vehicle Routing Problem: Stochastic Optimization for Emergency Storm Response

Utilities face the challenge of responding to power outages due to storms and ice damage, but most power grids are not equipped with sensors to pinpoint the precise location of the faults causing the outage. Instead, utilities have to depend primarily on phone calls (trouble calls) from customers who have lost power to guide the dispatching of utility trucks. In this paper, we develop a policy that routes a utility truck to restore outages in the power grid as quickly as possible, using phone calls to create beliefs about outages, but also using utility trucks as a mechanism for collecting additional information. This means that routing decisions change not only the physical state of the truck (as it moves from one location to another) and the grid (as the truck performs repairs), but also our belief about the network, creating the first stochastic vehicle routing problem that explicitly models information collection and belief modeling. We address the problem of managing a single utility truck, which we start by formulating as a sequential stochastic optimization model which captures our belief about the state of the grid. We propose a stochastic lookahead policy, and use Monte Carlo tree search (MCTS) to produce a practical policy that is asymptotically optimal. Simulation results show that the developed policy restores the power grid much faster compared to standard industry heuristics.
Does Non-Central Nervous System Tuberculosis Increase the Risk of Ischemic Stroke? A Population-Based Propensity Score-Matched Follow-Up Study

Background Previous studies on the association between tuberculosis and the risk of developing ischemic stroke have generated inconsistent results. We therefore performed a population-based, propensity score-matched longitudinal follow-up study to investigate whether contracting non-central nervous system (CNS) tuberculosis leads to an increased risk of ischemic stroke. Methods We used a logistic regression model that includes age, sex, pre-existing comorbidities and socioeconomic status as covariates to compute the propensity score. A total of 5804 persons with at least three ambulatory visits in 2001 with the principal diagnosis of non-CNS tuberculosis were enrolled in the tuberculosis group. The non-tuberculosis group consisted of 5804, propensity score-matched subjects without tuberculosis. The three-year ischemic stroke-free survival rates for these 2 groups were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The stratified Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate the effect of tuberculosis on the occurrence of ischemic stroke. Results During three-year follow-up, 176 subjects in the tuberculosis group (3.0%) and 207 in the non-tuberculosis group (3.6%) had ischemic stroke. The hazard ratio for developing ischemic stroke in the tuberculosis group was 0.92 compared to the non-tuberculosis group (95% confidence interval: 0.73–1.14, P = 0.4299). Conclusions Non-CNS tuberculosis does not increase the risk of subsequent ischemic stroke.
Architecture and Adhesive Activity of the Haemophilus influenzae Hsf Adhesin

ABSTRACT Haemophilus influenzae type b is an important cause of meningitis and other serious invasive diseases and initiates infection by colonizing the upper respiratory tract. Among the major adhesins in H. influenzae type b is a nonpilus protein called Hsf, a large protein that forms fiber-like structures on the bacterial surface and shares significant sequence similarity with the nontypeable H. influenzae Hia autotransporter. In the present study, we characterized the structure and adhesive activity of Hsf. Analysis of the predicted amino acid sequence of Hsf revealed three regions with high-level homology to the HiaBD1 and HiaBD2 binding domains in Hia. Based on examination of glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins corresponding to these regions, two of the three had adhesive activity and one was nonadhesive in assays with cultured epithelial cells. Structural modeling demonstrated that only the two regions with adhesive activity harbored an acidic binding pocket like the binding pocket identified in the crystal structure of HiaBD1. Consistent with these results, disruption of the acidic binding pockets in the adhesive regions eliminated adhesive activity. These studies advance our understanding of the architecture of Hsf and the family of trimeric autotransporters and provide insight into the structural determinants of H. influenzae type b adherence.
Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS)-Interacting Protein Interacts with Neuronal NOS and Regulates Its Distribution and Activity

Mechanisms governing the activity of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), the major source of nitric oxide (NO) in the nervous system, are not completely understood. We report here a protein-protein interaction between nNOS and NOSIP (nitric oxide synthase-interacting protein) in rat brain in vivo. NOSIP and nNOS are concentrated in neuronal synapses and demonstrate significant colocalization in various regions of the central and peripheral nervous systems. NOSIP produces a significant reduction in nNOS activity in a neuroepithelioma cell line stably expressing nNOS. Furthermore, overexpression of NOSIP in cultured primary neurons reduces the availability of nNOS in terminal dendrites. These results thus suggest that the interaction between NOSIP and nNOS is functionally involved in endogenous mechanisms regulating NO synthesis. Furthermore, we found that the subcellular distribution and expression levels of NOSIP are dynamically regulated by neuronal activity in vitro as well as in vivo, suggesting that NOSIP may contribute to a mechanism via which neuronal activity regulates the synaptic availability and activity of nNOS.
The Dynamics of Poverty and the Effectiveness of Poland's Safety Net (1993-1996)

The author analyzes how the incidence of household endowments and the allocation of social benefits affect families' transitions into and out of poverty. Using panel data for 1993-96 from Poland's Household Budget Survey, and a framework based on sample survival analysis techniques, the author evaluates how various policies will affect households with specific characteristics that make them likely to become poor or to move out of poverty under different scenarios (including whether or not they receive a given amount of a particular type of social transfer). He also discusses how non-income sources of welfare, such as savings, credits, and loans, affect the likelihood that families will become or stop being poor. He concludes that family allowances and unemployment benefits, the two major social programs analyzed, have significant but different effects on different groups of households (characterized in terms of age, gender, marital status, and educational attainment of the head of household; the size, type, location, and sector of employment of the family or household; and the year in which the household fell into poverty). If the share of the family allowances in total household income were reduced by 1 percent, for example, the average length of poverty would be increased by roughly 2 percent. But a 1 percent change in unemployment benefits would yield a 3 percent change in the average duration of poverty. Differences in hazard rates for various subgroups would be even greater. Households in villages were much more likely to fall into poverty than households in cities and large towns, but the poor in towns and cities had more difficulty exiting poverty. There was generally less poverty mobility among households headed by public sector employees than among those headed by employees in the private sector. Families with three or more children and one-parent families (and grandparents with children) faced the greatest risk of being poor; single-person households and childless married couples were the least endangered . Small nuclear families with one or two children and families without children fell between these two extremes.