Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fear of Crime in the United States: Avenues for Research and Policy

as distinct social problems. After assessing the of knowledge on this of and the moral and practical implications of The discussion draws on the literatures of risk perception and risk communication, as well as research on the etiology of fear and public beliefs about crime. A final objective of the chapter is to identify the most pressing unanswered questions about fear con-fronting investigators
Ricardian Equivalence and the Value of Firms in the Capital Market

The main idea of this article is that a rise in permanent general government consumption increases the permanent taxation imposed on firms and reduces the net present value of their profits and hence reduces their net present value.This hypothesis was examined empirically for Israel in the period 1974-2002 and a significant negative correlation between public consumption and the value of firms was found.The assumption that a rise in public consumption erodes private wealth is the motive for examining the mechanism linking private and public consumption. The hypothesis proposed here is that private consumption is a function of public consumption even if consumers have not internalized the government’s budget constraint. For a rise in public consumption to lead to a decline in the value of firms, the erosion of the public’s wealth, and the reduction of private consumption, it is sufficient that agents active in the capital market internalize the government’s budget constraint. In other words, an increase in permanent public consumption has a negative wealth effect, thus reducing private wealth even when individuals (consumers) do not internalize the government’s budget constraint.The empirical part of the article tests the hypothesis that the capital market is the main channel through which the above mechanism (Ricardian equivalence) operates in Israel. The regressions show that a shift in public consumption affects private consumption only through the change in firms’ value. For a given value of shares, public consumption does not affect private consumption.
The Importance of Industrial Policy in Quality-Ladder Growth Models

We extend the class of quality-ladder growth models (Grossman and Helpman, 1991, Segerstrom, 1998 and others), to encompass an economy with asymmetric fundamentals. In contrast to the standard framework, in our model industries may differ in terms of their innovative potential (quality jumps and arrival rates) and consumers' preferences. This extension allows us to bring industrial policy back into the realm of the growth policy debate. We first show that it is always possible to raise the long-run growth rate and the social welfare of the economy through a costless tax/subsidy scheme reallocating resources towards the relatively more promising industries. We then prove that, in certain economies, even a mere profit taxation policy increases economic growth and social welfare above the laissez-faire.
Retino-hypothalamic regulation of light-induced murine sleep

The temporal organization of sleep is regulated by an interaction between the circadian clock and homeostatic processes. Light indirectly modulates sleep through its ability to phase shift and entrain the circadian clock. Light can also exert a direct, circadian-independent effect on sleep. For example, acute exposure to light promotes sleep in nocturnal animals and wake in diurnal animals. The mechanisms whereby light directly influences sleep and arousal are not well understood. In this review, we discuss the direct effect of light on sleep at the level of the retina and hypothalamus in rodents. We review murine data from recent publications showing the roles of rod-, cone- and melanopsin-based photoreception on the initiation and maintenance of light-induced sleep. We also present hypotheses about hypothalamic mechanisms that have been advanced to explain the acute control of sleep by light. Specifically, we review recent studies assessing the roles of the ventrolateral preoptic area (VLPO) and the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). We also discuss how light might differentially promote sleep and arousal in nocturnal and diurnal animals respectively. Lastly, we suggest new avenues for research on this topic which is still in its early stages.
Proteins vibrations in THz frequency domain

THz spectroscopy was used to investigate bovine serum albumin (BSA) flexibility in conditions ranging from lyophilised BSA to dilute 10% w/w BSA solution and highly concentrated 50% w/w BSA solutions. The simulated THz spectra of dry and hydrated BSA are in good agreement with the experiments.
Antineuroinflammatory and neurotrophic effects of CNTF and C16 peptide in an acute experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis rat model

Experimentalallergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an animal model for inflammatory demyelinating autoimmune disease, i.e., multiple sclerosis (MS). In the present study, we investigated the antineuroinflammatory/neuroprotective effects of C16, an ανβ3 integrin-binding peptide, and recombinant rat ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), a cytokine that was originally identified as a survival factor for neurons, in an acute rodent EAE model. In this model, C16 peptide was injected intravenously every day for 2 weeks, and CNTF was delivered into the cerebral ventricles with Alzet miniosmotic pumps. Disease severity was assessed weekly using a scale ranging from 0 to 5. Multiple histological and molecular biological assays were employed to assess inflammation, axonal loss, neuronal apoptosis, white matter demyelination, and gliosis in the brain and spinal cord of different groups. Our results showed that the EAE induced rats revealed a significant increase in inflammatory cells infiltration, while C16 treatment could inhibit the infiltration of leukocytes and macrophages down to 2/3–1/3 of vehicle treated EAE control (P < 0.05). The delayed onset of disease, reduced clinical score (P < 0.01) in peak stage and more rapid recovery also were achieved in C16 treated group. Besides impairing inflammation, CNTF treatment also exerted direct neuroprotective effects, decreasing demyelination and axon loss score (P < 0.05 versus vehicle treated EAE control), and reducing the neuronal death from 40 to 50% to 10 to 20% (P < 0.05). Both treatments suppressed the expression of cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α and interferon-γ when compared with the vehicle control (P < 0.05). Combined treatment with C16 and CNTF produced more obvious functional recovery and neuroprotective effects than individually treatment (P < 0.05). These results suggested that combination treatment with C16 and CNTF, which target different neuroprotection pathways, may be an effective therapeutic alternative to traditional therapy.
Evaluating Google, Twitter, and Wikipedia as Tools for Influenza Surveillance Using Bayesian Change Point Analysis: A Comparative Analysis

Background Traditional influenza surveillance relies on influenza-like illness (ILI) syndrome that is reported by health care providers. It primarily captures individuals who seek medical care and misses those who do not. Recently, Web-based data sources have been studied for application to public health surveillance, as there is a growing number of people who search, post, and tweet about their illnesses before seeking medical care. Existing research has shown some promise of using data from Google, Twitter, and Wikipedia to complement traditional surveillance for ILI. However, past studies have evaluated these Web-based sources individually or dually without comparing all 3 of them, and it would be beneficial to know which of the Web-based sources performs best in order to be considered to complement traditional methods. Objective The objective of this study is to comparatively analyze Google, Twitter, and Wikipedia by examining which best corresponds with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ILI data. It was hypothesized that Wikipedia will best correspond with CDC ILI data as previous research found it to be least influenced by high media coverage in comparison with Google and Twitter. Methods Publicly available, deidentified data were collected from the CDC, Google Flu Trends, HealthTweets, and Wikipedia for the 2012-2015 influenza seasons. Bayesian change point analysis was used to detect seasonal changes, or change points, in each of the data sources. Change points in Google, Twitter, and Wikipedia that occurred during the exact week, 1 preceding week, or 1 week after the CDC’s change points were compared with the CDC data as the gold standard. All analyses were conducted using the R package “bcp” version 4.0. 0 in RStudio version 0.99. 484 (RStudio Inc). In addition, sensitivity and positive predictive values (PPV) were calculated for Google, Twitter, and Wikipedia. Results During the 2012-2015 influenza seasons, a high sensitivity of 92% was found for Google, whereas the PPV for Google was 85%. A low sensitivity of 50% was calculated for Twitter; a low PPV of 43% was found for Twitter also. Wikipedia had the lowest sensitivity of 33% and lowest PPV of 40%. Conclusions Of the 3 Web-based sources, Google had the best combination of sensitivity and PPV in detecting Bayesian change points in influenza-related data streams. Findings demonstrated that change points in Google, Twitter, and Wikipedia data occasionally aligned well with change points captured in CDC ILI data, yet these sources did not detect all changes in CDC data and should be further studied and developed.
Strong relations of elbow excursion and grip strength with post-stroke arm function and activities: Should we aim for this in technology-supported training?

Objective To investigate the relationships between an extensive set of objective movement execution kinematics of the upper extremity and clinical outcome measures in chronic stroke patients: at baseline and after technology-supported training at home. Methods Twenty mildly to severely affected chronic stroke patients participated in the baseline evaluation, 15 were re-evaluated after six weeks of intensive technology-supported or conventional arm/hand training at home. Grip strength, 3D motion analysis of a reach and grasp task, and clinical scales (Fugl-Meyer assessment (FM), Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) and Motor Activity Log (MAL)) were assessed pre- and post-training. Results Most movement execution parameters showed moderate-to-strong relationships with FM and ARAT, and to a smaller degree with MAL. Elbow excursion explained the largest amount of variance in FM and ARAT, together with grip strength. The only strong association after training was found between changes in ARAT and improvements in hand opening (conventional) or grip strength (technology-supported). Conclusions Elbow excursion and grip strength showed strongest association with post-stroke arm function and activities. Improved functional ability after training at home was associated with increased hand function. Addressing both reaching and hand function are indicated as valuable targets for (technological) treatment applications to stimulate functional improvements after stroke.
An importance sampling scheme for models in a strong external field

We propose Monte Carlo methods to estimate the partition function of the two-dimensional Ising model in the presence of an external magnetic field. The estimation is done in the dual of the Forney factor graph representing the model. The proposed methods can efficiently compute an estimate of the partition function in a wide range of model parameters. As an example, we consider models that are in a strong external field.
Preprocessing for Propositional Model Counting

This paper is concerned with preprocessing techniques for propositional model counting. We have implemented a preprocessor which includes many elementary preprocessing techniques, including occurrence reduction, vivification, backbone identification, as well as equivalence, AND and XOR gate identification and replacement. We performed intensive experiments, using a huge number of benchmarks coming from a large number of families. Two approaches to model counting have been considered downstream: ”direct” model counting using Cachet and compilation-based model counting, based on the C2D compiler. The experimental results we have obtained show that our preprocessor is both efficient and robust.
Long‐Term Effects of Head Start on Low‐Income Children

A growing body of research suggests that the first few years of life are a particularly promising time to intervene in the lives of low‐income children, although the long‐term effects on children of the U.S. government's primary early childhood program—Head Start—remains the topic of debate. In this article we review what is known about Head Start and argue that the program is likely to generate benefits to participants and society as a whole that are large enough to justify the program's costs. Although in principle there could be more beneficial ways of deploying Head Start resources, the benefits of such changes remain uncertain and there is some downside risk.
Consistent responses of soil microbial communities to elevated nutrient inputs in grasslands across the globe

Significance Human activities have resulted in large increases in the availability of nutrients in terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Although plant community responses to elevated nutrients have been well studied, soil microbial community responses remain poorly understood, despite their critical importance to ecosystem functioning. Using DNA-sequencing approaches, we assessed the response of soil microbial communities to experimentally added nitrogen and phosphorus at 25 grassland sites across the globe. Our results demonstrate that the composition of these communities shifts in consistent ways with elevated nutrient inputs and that there are corresponding shifts in the ecological attributes of the community members. This study represents an important step forward for understanding the connection between elevated nutrient inputs, shifts in soil microbial communities, and altered ecosystem functioning. Soil microorganisms are critical to ecosystem functioning and the maintenance of soil fertility. However, despite global increases in the inputs of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to ecosystems due to human activities, we lack a predictive understanding of how microbial communities respond to elevated nutrient inputs across environmental gradients. Here we used high-throughput sequencing of marker genes to elucidate the responses of soil fungal, archaeal, and bacterial communities using an N and P addition experiment replicated at 25 globally distributed grassland sites. We also sequenced metagenomes from a subset of the sites to determine how the functional attributes of bacterial communities change in response to elevated nutrients. Despite strong compositional differences across sites, microbial communities shifted in a consistent manner with N or P additions, and the magnitude of these shifts was related to the magnitude of plant community responses to nutrient inputs. Mycorrhizal fungi and methanogenic archaea decreased in relative abundance with nutrient additions, as did the relative abundances of oligotrophic bacterial taxa. The metagenomic data provided additional evidence for this shift in bacterial life history strategies because nutrient additions decreased the average genome sizes of the bacterial community members and elicited changes in the relative abundances of representative functional genes. Our results suggest that elevated N and P inputs lead to predictable shifts in the taxonomic and functional traits of soil microbial communities, including increases in the relative abundances of faster-growing, copiotrophic bacterial taxa, with these shifts likely to impact belowground ecosystems worldwide.
Multiracial campus professionals’ experiences with queering race in U.S. postsecondary contexts

ABSTRACT Because Multiracial people are often pressed between socially constructed monoracial categories and forced to navigate a monoracial-only paradigm of race, Multiracial individuals may develop a heightened (Multi)racial consciousness, through which they queer race, or (un)consciously challenge normative, often-oppressive racial constructs. While the word ‘queer’ has come to signify an essential identity for some, specifically those who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and/or transgender, it is also a political identity that applies to people at odds with the dominant, such as Multiracial people. This study focuses on 24 Multiracial campus professionals’ experiences with frustrating race in post-secondary contexts in the U.S. by exploring the question, What are Multiracial campus professionals’ experiences with queering race in U.S. postsecondary contexts? In exploring Multiracial professionals’ experiences with queering race, this study aims to better inform institutional and individual understandings of advancing racial equity.
The Great Arch: English State Formation as Cultural Revolution

"A remarkably centralized country" - state formation in Medieval England "This realm of England is an Empire" - the revolution of the 1530s an elect nation - the Elizabethan consolidation mortall God enthroned - one bourgeois revolution (of many) from theatre to machine - "old curruption" "the working class question" - "Society" and society "There is, above all, an agency".
Expression of p-CREB and activity-dependent miR-132 in temporal lobe epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE The mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of intractable epilepsy (IE) are still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the role of phosphorylation of Cyclase Response Element Binding Protein (p-CREB)/microRNA-132 (miR-132) signal pathway in the epileptogenesis. METHODS Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) was induced in rodents, and the brain tissues were collected. P-CREB expression was detected by Western blot assay and immunochemistry at 6 h, 24 h, 3 d, 7 d, 14 d, 30 d and 60 d after induced status epilepsy (SE), respectively, and in patients with TLE. The expression of miR-132 was detected by RT-PCR. RESULTS The p-CREB and miR-132 were highly expressed in both rats and patients with TLE as compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS The expression of p-CREB and miR-132 increases in epilepsy rats and patients, suggesting a possible pathogenetic role of p-CREB and miR-132 in TLE via modulating the dendritic plasticity.
5′ flanking region of var genes nucleate histone modification patterns linked to phenotypic inheritance of virulence traits in malaria parasites

In the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum antigenic variation facilitates long‐term chronic infection of the host. This is achieved by sequential expression of a single member of the 60‐member var family. Here we show that the 5′ flanking region nucleates epigenetic events strongly linked to the maintenance of mono‐allelic var gene expression pattern during parasite proliferation. Tri‐ and dimethylation of histone H3 lysine 4 peak in the 5′ upstream region of transcribed var and during the poised state (non‐transcribed phase of var genes during the 48 h asexual life cycle), ‘bookmarking’ this member for re‐activation at the onset of the next cycle. Histone H3 lysine 9 trimethylation acts as an antagonist to lysine 4 methylation to establish stably silent var gene states along the 5′ flanking and coding region. Furthermore, we show that competition exists between H3K9 methylation and H3K9 acetylation in the 5′ flanking region and that these marks contribute epigenetically to repressing or activating var gene expression. Our work points to a pivotal role of the histone methyl mark writing and reading machinery in the phenotypic inheritance of virulence traits in the malaria parasite.
An Hα-selected sample of cataclysmic variables – II. Implications for CV evolution

We use an independent new sample of cataclysmic variables (CVs), constructed by selecting objects for Ha emission, to constrain the properties of the intrinsic CV population. This sample is restricted to systems that are likely to be non-magnetic and unevolved; it consists of 17 CVs, of which at least 10 have orbital periods above 3 h. We find that even very generous allowance for selection effects is not sufficient to reconcile the large ratio of short- to long-period CVs predicted by standard CV evolution theory with the observed sample, possibly implying that short-period systems evolve faster than predicted by the disrupted magnetic braking model. This would require that an angular momentum-loss mechanism, besides gravitational radiation, acts on CVs with orbital periods below the period gap. To bring the model into agreement with observations, the rate of angular momentum loss below the period gap must be increased by a factor of at least 3, unless the model also over estimates the angular momentum-loss rate of long-period CVs.
Olfactory Hallucinations without Clinical Motor Activity: A Comparison of Unirhinal with Birhinal Phantosmia

Olfactory hallucinations without subsequent myoclonic activity have not been well characterized or understood. Herein we describe, in a retrospective study, two major forms of olfactory hallucinations labeled phantosmias: one, unirhinal, the other, birhinal. To describe these disorders we performed several procedures to elucidate similarities and differences between these processes. From 1272, patients evaluated for taste and smell dysfunction at The Taste and Smell Clinic, Washington, DC with clinical history, neurological and otolaryngological examinations, evaluations of taste and smell function, EEG and neuroradiological studies 40 exhibited cyclic unirhinal phantosmia (CUP) usually without hyposmia whereas 88 exhibited non-cyclic birhinal phantosmia with associated symptomology (BPAS) with hyposmia. Patients with CUP developed phantosmia spontaneously or after laughing, coughing or shouting initially with spontaneous inhibition and subsequently with Valsalva maneuvers, sleep or nasal water inhalation; they had frequent EEG changes usually ipsilateral sharp waves. Patients with BPAS developed phantosmia secondary to several clinical events usually after hyposmia onset with few EEG changes; their phantosmia could not be initiated or inhibited by any physiological maneuver. CUP is uncommonly encountered and represents a newly defined clinical syndrome. BPAS is commonly encountered, has been observed previously but has not been clearly defined. Mechanisms responsible for phantosmia in each group were related to decreased gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) activity in specific brain regions. Treatment which activated brain GABA inhibited phantosmia in both groups.