Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Are Affirmative Action and Economic Growth Alternative Paths to Racial Equality

This study uses simple mathematical models to assess the effects of affirmative action and economic growth as "strategies" for achieving racial equality. The models focus on occupations as they are locally situated, and equality is considered "achieved" when the racial composition of the group of incumbents in the occupation matches the racial composition of the local labor force. The speed with which equality is achieved is examined in four contrasting situations; the situations combine either high or low proportion black in the local labor force with high or low vacancy rate for the occupation. The strategies are not equally effective in speeding the achievement of equality, nor is one overall strategy more effective than the other in all the contrasting situations. Moreover, the growth strategy, though often less effective than affirmative action in speeding equality, can have the compensating benefit of establishing more jobs that are available to the disadvantaged. This apparent conflict suggests the need for deciding which alternative, achieving equality or providing jobs for the disadvantaged, is the primary goal if there is to be some uniform policy for eradicating the current and future consequences of past racial discrimination.
Are believers in the paranormal inclined to jump to conclusions

An earlier study by Irwin, Dagnall, and Drinkwater (2012a) found a relationship between the intensity of paranormal beliefs and a self-reported proneness to jump to conclusions. This relationship was statistically significant for the factor of Traditional Paranormal Beliefs but was only of borderline significance for the other major factor of paranormal beliefs, New Age Philosophy. The project reported here aimed to replicate the relationship using an additional self-report measure of jumping to conclusions, plus a standard performance measure of this construct. A convenience sample of 124 people completed three measures of proneness to jump to conclusions and a questionnaire surveying paranormal beliefs. A relationship between intensity of paranormal beliefs and proneness to jump to conclusions was confirmed, but the pattern of findings across the various indices of jumping to conclusions raises several issues for further empirical clarification.
Timing of the Acadian Orogeny in Northern New Hampshire

New U‐Pb geochronology constrains the timing of the Acadian orogeny in the Central Maine Terrane of northern New Hampshire. Sixteen fractions of one to six grains each of zircon or monazite have been analyzed from six samples: (1) an early syntectonic diorite that records the onset of the Acadian; (2) a schist, a migmatite, and two granites that together record the peak of the Acadian; and (3) a postkinematic pluton that records the end of the Acadian. Zircon from the syntectonic Wamsutta Diorite gives a 207Pb/206Pb age of circa 408 Ma, the time at which the boundary between the deforming orogenic wedge and the foreland basin was in the vicinity of the Presidential Range. This age agrees well with the Emsian position of the northwest migrating Acadian orogenic front and records the beginning of the Acadian in this part of the Central Maine Terrane. We propose a possible Acadian tectonic model that incorporates the geochronologic, structural, and stratigraphic data. Monazite from the schist, migmatite, Bigelow Lawn Granite, and Slide Peak Granite gives 207Pb/206U ages, suggesting the peak of Acadian metamorphism and intrusion of two‐mica granites occurred at circa 402–405 Ma, the main pulse of Acadian orogenesis. Previously reported monazite ages from schists that likely record the peak metamorphism in the Central Maine Terrane of New Hampshire and western Maine range from circa 406–384 Ma, with younger ages in southeastern New Hampshire and progressively older ages to the west, north, and northeast. Acadian orogenesis in the Presidential Range had ended by circa 355 Ma, the 207Pb/235U age of monazite from the Peabody River Granite. From 408 to perhaps at least 394 Ma, Acadian orogenesis in the Presidential Range was typical of the tectonic style, dominated by synkinematic metamorphism, seen in central and southern New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. From no earlier than 394 Ma to as late as 355 Ma, the orogenesis was typical of the style in parts of Maine dominated by postkinematic metamorphism.
Resolution Limits in 130 nm and 90 nm CMOS Technologies for Analog Front-End Applications

In the last few years CMOS commercial technologies of the quarter micron node have been extensively used in the design of the readout electronics for highly granular detection systems in the particle physics environment. IC designers are now moving to 130 nm CMOS technologies, or even to the next technology generation, to implement readout integrated circuits for future HEP applications. In order to evaluate how scaling down of the device features affects their performances, continuous technology monitoring is mandatory. In this work the results of signal and noise measurements carried out on two CMOS commercial processes are presented. Data obtained from the measurements provide a powerful tool to establish design criteria in nanoscale CMOS processes for detector front-ends and can be used to evaluate the resolution limits achievable for low-noise charge sensitive amplifiers in the 100-nm minimum feature size range.
Perpetual and Fair Data Collection for Environmental Energy Harvesting Sensor Networks

Renewable energy enables sensor networks with the capability to recharge and provide perpetual data services. Due to low recharging rates and the dynamics of renewable energy such as solar and wind power, providing services without interruptions caused by battery runouts is nontrivial. Most environment monitoring applications require data collection from all nodes at a steady rate. The objective of this paper is to design a solution for fair and high throughput data extraction from all nodes in the presence of renewable energy sources. Specifically, we seek to compute the lexicographically maximum data collection rate and routing paths for each node such that no node will ever run out of energy. We propose a centralized algorithm and two distributed algorithms. The centralized algorithm jointly computes the optimal data collection rate for all nodes along with the flows on each link, the first distributed algorithm computes the optimal rate when the routing structure is a given tree, and the second distributed algorithm, although heuristic, jointly computes a routing structure and a high lexicographic rate assignment that is nearly optimum. We prove the optimality for the centralized and the first distributed algorithm, and use real test-bed experiments and extensive simulations to evaluate both of the distributed algorithms.
Efficient Use of Unused Spare Columns to Improve Memory Error Correcting Rate

In the deep sub-micron ICs, growing amounts of on-die memory and scaling effects make embedded memories increasingly vulnerable to reliability and yield problems. Spare columns are often included in memories to repair defective cells or bit lines during production test. In many cases, the repair process will not use all spare columns. Schemes have been proposed to exploit these unused spare columns to store additional check bits which can be used to reduce the miscorrection probability for triple errors in single error correction -- double error detection (SEC-DED). These additional check bits increase the dimensions of the parity check matrix (H-matrix) requiring extra area and delay overhead. A method is proposed in this paper to efficiently fill the extra rows of the H-matrix on the basis of similarity of logic between the other rows. Optimization of the whole H-matrix is accomplished through logic sharing within a feasible operating time resulting in the reduced area and delay overhead.
Genetic relationship and population structure of three Indian local chicken populations as revealed by mtDNA D-loop

Abstract The genetic information obtained from the mitochondrial DNA D-loop region has paramount importance in understanding the evolution of closely related individuals, and designing proper breeding or conservation plans. The present study was conducted using partial D-loop sequences of three local poultry populations from Odisha, India. The partial D-loop sequences were found to be highly polymorphic having 164 polymorphic sites with 89 singletons and 75 parsimony informative sites. Furthermore, 25 insertion and deletion sites were observed. High genetic diversity was observed within three local chicken populations. Highest genetic difference was observed between Gujuri and Kalua population (0.2230) followed by Gujuri and Hansli (0.199) and Kalua with Hansli (0.166). The pairwise mismatch distribution showed that all populations are of constant size over time. Phylogenetic tree analysis indicated that the said three populations were close to the referred population of China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Japan than Aseel and Kadaknath (Indian native breeds).
Association of Six Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in a Chinese Population

Background To investigate whether the candidate genes that confer susceptibility to type 2 diabetes mellitus are also correlated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in pregnant Chinese women. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, 1764 unrelated pregnant women were recruited, of which 725 women had GDM and 1039 served as controls. Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs7754840 in CDKAL1, rs391300 in SRR, rs2383208 in CDKN2A/2B, rs4402960 in IGF2BP2, rs10830963 in MTNR1B, rs4607517 in GCK) were genotyped using TaqMan allelic discrimination assays. The genotype and allele distributions of each SNP between the GDM cases and controls and the combined effects of alleles for the risk of developing GDM were analyzed. We found that the rs4402960, rs2383208 and rs391300 were statistically associated with GDM (OR = 1.207, 95%CI = 1.029–1.417, p = 0.021; OR = 1.242, 95%CI = 1.077–1.432, p = 0.003; OR = 1.202, 95%CI = 1.020–1.416, P = 0.028, respectively). In addition, the effect was greater under a recessive model in rs391300 (OR = 1.820, 95%CI = 1.226–2.701, p = 0.003). Meanwhile, the joint effect of these three loci indicated an additive effect of multiple alleles on the risk of developing GDM with an OR of 1.196 per allele (p = 1.08×10−4). We also found that the risk alleles of rs2383208 (b = −0.085, p = 0.003), rs4402960 (b = −0.057, p = 0.046) and rs10830963 (b = −0.096, p = 0.001) were associated with HOMA-B, while rs7754840 was associated with decrease in insulin AUC during a 100 g OGTT given at the time of GDM diagnosis (b = −0.080, p = 0.007). Conclusions/Significance Several risk alleles of type 2 diabetes were associated with GDM in pregnant Chinese women. The effects of these SNPs on GDM might be through the impairment of beta cell function and these risk loci contributed additively to the disease.
Hepatic Fibrosis Scan for Liver Stiffness Score Measurement: A Useful Preendoscopic Screening Test for the Detection of Varices in Postoperative Patients With Biliary Atresia

Objective:Even after successful Kasai portoenterostomy, progressive hepatic fibrosis in postoperative patients with biliary atresia (BA) can be associated with portal hypertension and esophageal or gastric varices. Therefore, early diagnosis and close follow-up of varices are important. We investigated the correlation between the liver stiffness scores measured by FibroScan and the presence of esophageal or gastric varices to examine the usefulness of FibroScan as a preendoscopic screening test for varices. Patients and Methods:A total of 49 of 81 children with BA following successful Kasai operations were enrolled in this study. FibroScan and endoscopic examination were performed prospectively. Results:There were 22 males (44.9%) and the mean age of the patients was 3.8 ± 2.7 years. Esophageal or gastric varices were present in 30 patients (Vx group) and absent in 19 (nVx group). The mean liver stiffness score was significantly higher in the Vx group (21.35 ± 10.31 kPa in the Vx group versus 9.75 ± 8.61 kPa in the nVx group, P < 0.001). The optimal cutoff value of the liver stiffness score for the prediction of a varix was 9.7 kPa with a sensitivity of 0.97 and a specificity of 0.80. Conclusions:Liver stiffness scores measured by FibroScan correlate well with the presence of esophageal or gastric varices. FibroScan is a novel, noninvasive, and useful screening method for the preendoscopic detection of varices in postoperative patients with BA.
Bullies and Victims

ABSTRACTBullying affects adults and children and the reported cases are merely the tip of the iceberg. Some symptoms and signs of bullying are listed and the characteristics of the perpetrators are discussed. Various strategies to combat bullying are outlined. The children's charity, Kidscape, has developed programmes for children, involving role play and discussion, which demonstrate the importance of responsible behaviour. If a joint approach is adopted by parents, school staff and children, bullying can be reduced.Ten year old Melanie wrote to Kidscape: ‘None of the girls in my class will speak to me. They say I'm ugly and that no one will ever like me. Yesterday, I tried to drown myself in my bath, but I couldn't. I haven't told my mum. I hate school. I don't want to go back’. ‘My three year old is being bullied by two other children in his nursery school for special needs children. He is having nightmares and wetting his bed. The teachers say that the other boys have problems, but I don't see why my l.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BODY MASS INDEX AND HYPERTENSION IN ELDERLY GREEKS: THE NEMEA PRIMARY CARE STUDY

1. Mas JL, Arquizan C, Lamy C et al. Patent foramen ovale and atrial septal aneurysm study Group. Recurrent cerebrovascular events associated with patent foramen ovale, atrial septal aneurysm, or both. N Engl J Med 2001; 345:1740–1746. 2. Fisher DC, Fisher EA, Budd JH et al. The incidence of patent foramen ovale in 1,000 consecutive patients. A contrast transesophageal echocardiography study. Chest 1995;107:1504–1509. 3. Homma S, DiTullio MR, Sacco RL et al. PICSS Investigators. Age as a determinant of adverse events in medically treated cryptogenic stroke patients with patent foramen ovale. Stroke 2004;35:2145–2149. 4. Marini C, Miniati M, Ambrosino N et al. Dyspnoea and hypoxaemia after lung surgery: The role of interatrial right-to-left shunt. Eur Respir J 2006;28:174– 181. 5. Ilkhanoff L, Naidu SS, Rohatgi S et al. Transcatheter device closure of interatrial septal defects in patients with hypoxia. J Interv Cardiol 2005;18:227–232.
The Netrin 1 Receptors Unc5h3 and Dcc Are Necessary at Multiple Choice Points for the Guidance of Corticospinal Tract Axons

Migrating axons require the correct presentation of guidance molecules, often at multiple choice points, to find their target. Netrin 1, a bifunctional cue involved in both attracting and repelling axons, is involved in many cell migration and axon pathfinding processes in the CNS. The netrin 1 receptor DCC and itsCaenorhabditis elegans homolog UNC-40 have been implicated in directing the guidance of axons toward netrin sources, whereas the C. elegans UNC-6 receptor, UNC-5 is necessary for migrations away from UNC-6. However, a role of vertebrate UNC-5 homologs in axonal migration has not been demonstrated. We demonstrate that the Unc5h3 gene product, shown previously to regulate cerebellar granule cell migrations, also controls the guidance of the corticospinal tract, the major tract responsible for coordination of limb movements. Furthermore, we show that corticospinal tract fibers respond differently to loss of UNC5H3. In addition, we observe corticospinal tract defects in mice homozygous for a spontaneous mutation that truncates the Dcctranscript. Postnatal day 0 netrin 1 mutant mice also demonstrate corticospinal tract abnormalities. Last, interactions between the Dcc and Unc5h3 mutations were observed in gene dosage experiments. This is the first evidence of an involvement in axon guidance for any member of the vertebrateunc-5 family and confirms that both the cellular and axonal guidance functions of C. elegans unc-5 have been conserved in vertebrates.
The NBPF Gene Family 187 On chromosome 17 , the translocation disrupts ACCN

Neuroblastoma is one of the most intensely studied solid malignancies that affect children (Maris & Matthay, 1999). These tumours are heterogeneous biologically and clinically. One subset of neuroblastoma is susceptible to spontaneous apoptosis with little or no therapy and another subset differentiates over time, but most of these tumours are difficult to cure with current treatments. A relatively high proportion of affected children die due to resistance of the neuroblastoma to therapy (Van Roy et al., 2009). Every step in the identification or functional understanding of the genes that play important roles in this cancer could bring us closer to understanding the molecular mechanism and could help to develop more effective therapy. We will describe the novel NBPF gene family and its role in neuroblastoma. The NBPF gene family was originally identified by the disruption of one of its members in a neuroblastoma patient (Vandepoele et al., 2008). This gene was named NBPF1, for Neuroblastoma Breakpoint Family, member 1. Several reports indicate that the NBPF gene family might play an important role in neuroblastoma and possibly in other cancers as well. Additionally, this evolutionarily recent gene family has been involved as an important player in human evolution.
The Reliability and Validity of a First Ray Measurement Device

The need for measuring the mobility of the first ray has been identified. The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of a device built to measure the relative vertical displacement of the first ray. Twenty fresh frozen cadaver feet were sampled (mean age of donor was 70 ± 13 years). Dorsal mobility of the first ray was measured by device over three trials of repeated loading using 20 N, 35 N, 55 N and 85 N of force. Radiographs served as the criterion standard for validation of the device. Vertical displacement was measured from x-ray by a digitizing procedure that recorded movement of the first ray during loading. Reliability of the device assessed by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) was . 98 with standard errors of the measurement calculated to be 0.35 mm. A correlation of agreement value of . 97 was determined for the two methods of measurement. Analysis of variance testing found a significant interaction between force and method of measurement. Tukey post-hoc analysis found no difference (F < 1.70) between the two methods of measuring first ray displacement in cadaver specimens when the force applied did not exceed 55 N. At 85 N of force (F = 10.05), unwanted movement of the second metatarsal caused the device to overestimate the amount of displacement that occurred specific to the first ray. This measure of first ray mobility should help clinicians and researchers to better investigate foot pathology resulting from faulty mechanics of the first ray.
What Guides Visual Overt Attention under Natural Conditions? Past and Future Research

In the last decade, overt attention under natural conditions became a prominent topic in neuroscientific and psychological research. In this context, one central question is “what guides the direction of gaze on complex visual scenes? ” In the present review recent research on bottom-up influences on overt attention is presented first. Against this background, strengths and limitations of the bottom-up approach are discussed and future directions in this field are outlined. In addition to that, the current scope on top-down factors in visual attention is enlarged by discussing the impact of emotions and motivational tendencies on viewing behavior. Overall, this review highlights how behavioral and neurophysiological research on overt attention can benefit from a broader scope on influential factors in visual attention.
Snooze: A Scalable and Autonomic Virtual Machine Management Framework for Private Clouds

With the advent of cloud computing and the need to satisfy growing customers resource demands, cloud providers now operate increasing amounts of large data centers. In order to ease the creation of private clouds, several open-source Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud management frameworks (e.g. Open Nebula, Nimbus, Eucalyptus, Open Stack) have been proposed. However, all these systems are either highly centralized or have limited fault tolerance support. Consequently, they all share common drawbacks: scalability is limited by a single master node and Single Point of Failure (SPOF). In this paper, we present the design, implementation and evaluation of a novel scalable and autonomic (i.e. self-organizing and healing) virtual machine (VM) management framework called Snooze. For scalability the system utilizes a self-organizing hierarchical architecture and performs distributed VM management. Moreover, fault tolerance is provided at all levels of the hierarchy, thus allowing the system to self-heal in case of failures. Our evaluation conducted on 144 physical machines of the Grid'5000 experimental test bed shows that the fault tolerance features of the framework do not impact application performance. Moreover, negligible cost is involved in performing distributed VM management and the system remains highly scalable with increasing amounts of resources.
Time and out-of-pocket costs associated with respiratory syncytial virus hospitalization of infants.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to quantify time spent plus out-of-pocket costs associated with confirmed respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) hospitalization of infants not prophylaxed against RSV. METHODS A prospective survey was carried out at multiple tertiary care hospitals in the United States. PATIENTS The patients consisted of a consecutive sample of infants <12 months, born between 33 and 35 weeks of gestation. One site also enrolled full-term infants hospitalized with confirmed RSV. Daily patient census identified eligible patients. Consenting caregivers of eligible subjects (n=84, 1 refusal) were interviewed on discharge day and by telephone approximately 30 days following discharge regarding time and out-of-pocket costs due to RSV. RESULTS Total average out of pocket expenses were 643.69 US dollars (range 21-16,867 US dollars; SD 2,403 US dollars) for premature and 214.42 US dollars (range 6-827 US dollars; SD 218 US dollars) (P=.0158) for full-term subjects. Total average economic burden per admission was 4517.07 US dollars for premature and 2135.30 US dollars for full-term infants, including the value of lost productivity but excluding inpatient hospital and physician bills and lost income. Premature infants (n=48) had longer hospital stays (mean 6.9 days; SD 7.5 vs. 3.4 days; SD 2.6 days) (P=.001) with an associated mean total time spent by up to 5 adults of 281.7 hours (range 25-2819.7 hours; SD 465.8 hours) versus a mean of 139.7 hours (range 31.8-561.3 hours; SD 118.1 hours) for term infants (P=.109). Time and out-of-pocket costs continued after discharge. CONCLUSIONS RSV hospitalization of infants is associated with substantial, previously unmeasured time and monetary losses. These losses continued following discharge. The economic burden on families and society appears heavier for infants born at 33 to 35 weeks of gestation than for full-term infants.