Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Citizenship between De- and Re-Ethnicization

This article discusses some contemporary transformations of citizenship across Western states, with a special emphasis on Europe. It is argued that citizenship is subject to countervailing “de-” and “re-ethnicization” pressures, the first pushing toward incorporating immigrants, the second toward retaining ties with emigrants abroad. While grounded in the dual nature of the modern state as a territorial and ethnic unit, and reinforced by contemporary globalizing and transnationalizing processes, de- and re-ethnicization are identifiable projects of the political left and right, respectively. Which trend prevails is then a simple function of who has the political majority. On étudie les transformations actuelles de la citoyenneté en Occident, et surtout en Europe. L'argument est que la citoyenneté est soumise à des pressions contradictoires, l'une tendant à la “ déethnicisation ” des immigrants poussés à s'intégrer, l'autre à la “ réethnicisation ” des émigrants. Reposant sur la nature duale de l'État moderne, unité à la fois territoriale et ethnique et renforcés par les processus de globalisation, les projets de “ dé ” et de “ ré-” ethnicisation sont identifiables comme respectivement de gauche et de droite. Dieser Artikel diskutiert einige Veränderungen der Staatsangehörigkeit in westlichen Staaten, besonders in Europa. Es wird argumentiert, dass sich die Staatangehörigkeit im Kreuzfeuer von gegenläufigen Tendenzen zur ”De-“ und ”Re-Ethnisierung“ befindet. Erstere läeuft auf eine inklusivere Einwandererintegration hinaus; letztere wirkt darauf hin, die Bindungen zu Emigranten im Ausland aufrechtzuerhalten. Die Dualität von ”De-“ und ”Re-Ethni-sierung“ ist in der doppelten Natur des modernen Staates als territorialer und ethnischer Einheit begründet, und wird durch gegenwärtige Prozesse und Diskurse der Globalisierung und der Transnationalisierung noch verstärkt. De-Ethnisierung ist aber trotzdem ein Projekt der politischen Linken, während Re-Ethnisierung im allgemeinen von der Rechten favorisiert wird. Welche Tendenz sich durchsetzt ist dann eine Funktion der politischen Mehrheitsverhältnisse.
Nonlinear Statistical Learning with Truncated Gaussian Graphical Models

We introduce the truncated Gaussian graphical model (TGGM) as a novel framework for designing statistical models for nonlinear learning. A TGGM is a Gaussian graphical model (GGM) with a subset of variables truncated to be nonnegative. The truncated variables are assumed latent and integrated out to induce a marginal model. We show that the variables in the marginal model are non-Gaussian distributed and their expected relations are nonlinear. We use expectation-maximization to break the inference of the nonlinear model into a sequence of TGGM inference problems, each of which is efficiently solved by using the properties and numerical methods of multivariate Gaussian distributions. We use the TGGM to design models for nonlinear regression and classification, with the performances of these models demonstrated on extensive benchmark datasets and compared to state-of-the-art competing results.
‘It's only a picture’: sexting, ‘smutty’ snapshots and felony charges 1

The title of this article comes from a statement made by teenager Amanda Dagsher quoted in an article about the current popularity of sexting. She said: ‘I mean, you don’t have to have parents’ permission to send a picture’ (Choi 2009). But in contradiction to the phrase in my title, a photograph is always more than ‘only a picture’. One extreme and tragic confirmation of this claim was reported in July 2008 when an 18-year-old Cincinnati woman sent sext photographs to her boyfriend. Their romance soured and her angry exboyfriend sought retribution by sending these sexted photographs to his school classmates and friends. The humiliation and harassment proved too much for her, resulting in her suicide by hanging in her bedroom (TODAY Show.com, 6 March 2009) (Benzel 2009; Choi 2009; Searcey 2009).
Fast Ordering Algorithm for Exact Histogram Specification

This paper provides a fast algorithm to order in a meaningful, strict way the integer gray values in digital (quantized) images. It can be used in any exact histogram specification-based application. Our algorithm relies on the ordering procedure based on the specialized variational approach. This variational method was shown to be superior to all other state-of-the art ordering algorithms in terms of faithful total strict ordering but not in speed. Indeed, the relevant functionals are in general difficult to minimize because their gradient is nearly flat over vast regions. In this paper, we propose a simple and fast fixed point algorithm to minimize these functionals. The fast convergence of our algorithm results from known analytical properties of the model. Our algorithm is equivalent to an iterative nonlinear filtering. Furthermore, we show that a particular form of the variational model gives rise to much faster convergence than other alternative forms. We demonstrate that only a few iterations of this filter yield almost the same pixel ordering as the minimizer. Thus, we apply only few iteration steps to obtain images, whose pixels can be ordered in a strict and faithful way. Numerical experiments confirm that our algorithm outperforms by far its main competitors.
Association between social position and congenital anomalies: A population-based study among 19,874 Danish women

Aims: To examine the association between maternal and paternal educational level and household income and the risk of giving birth to a baby with a congenital anomaly in a population of Danish women. Methods: We performed a population-based cohort study, based on record linkage of data from Danish administrative registries. For each pregnant woman in the cohort, we described financial and educational resources and congenital anomalies in her offspring. We used logistic regression to model the association between social position and congenital anomalies. Results: The analyses included all 19,874 primiparous singleton deliveries in North Jutland county, Denmark, from 1991 to 1998. There were 1025 (5.2%) babies with congenital anomalies. The odds ratios (ORs) for giving birth to a baby with a congenital anomaly showed a dose— response decline, as the mothers' educational level increased. Women with less than 10 years of schooling had an almost three-fold increased risk of giving birth to an infant with a congenital anomaly, as compared with women with more than 4 years of higher education (OR=2.9, 95% confidence interval = 1.8—4.6). Paternal educational level and household income were, to a lesser degree, associated with congenital anomalies in the offspring. Conclusions: Maternal educational level, and to a lesser degree paternal educational level and household income, were associated with the risk of giving birth to a baby with a congenital anomaly. However, the analysis did not take into account maternal health status, and the results might be due to differential misclassification or residual confounding.
Unravelling the effects of sequential presentation in culprit present lineups

SUMMARY It is well established that sequential presentation of faces in an eyewitness situation can reduce false identification rates. The effect of a sequential presentation on the probability of accurately identifying a culprit when present in a lineup is less clear. The current study examined the efficacy of the sequential procedure in culprit present lineups approximating the real life condition where a person’s appearance has changed between the time they were seen and the identification. Young (17– 33 years) and older (58–80 years) witnesses viewed a video of a crime and then engaged in some filler tasks. Later they viewed a culprit-present lineup presented in a simultaneous or sequential format. Some witnesses viewed lineups in which target appearance (hairstyle) had changed and some where it had not. Sequential testing was associated with fewer choices (hits and foil choices) as compared to simultaneous testing. A change of appearance lowered hit rates in sequential test conditions among young adults. Finally, participants in sequential conditions were more likely to report that they expected the target to be present in the lineup. We advise policy makers not to advocate sequential testing until we have a full understanding of the conditions under which the sequential-superiority effect may be observed. Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Fospropofol assay: issues and impact on pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic evaluation.

Following i.v. administration, fospropofol is rapidly metabolized by alkaline phosphatase enzymes, releasing propofolFP. Several pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies have shown that propofolFP demonstrated differences in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles compared with propofol in a lipid solution [1–5]. We have recently discovered an assay problem that may have affected the measurement of propofolFP plasma concentrations in previously published studies. In the earlier studies [1–4,6], blood samples were collected in tubes containing sodium orthovanadate (SOV; 60 mg added as a solid powder to maintain 10 mg ml 1 concentration) to prevent further in-vitro conversion of fospropofol to propofol by alkaline phosphatase enzymes. This was found to result in incomplete dissolution of the SOV powder and variable concentrations of SOV that affected plasma pH and caused haemolysis of many samples, leading to changes in propofol extraction recovery and storage stability. As a result, the propofolFP concentrations obtained in previous studies [1–4,6] could possibly be inconsistent and unreliable as the impact of the above-mentioned factors was neither known nor controlled, and, therefore, the originally reported propofol pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic results and the derived conclusions could be inaccurate. It was shown that the assay and stability problem was limited to quantitation of propofolFP and that it did not affect the fospropofol concentrations. The new drug application for fospropofol disodium was submitted to the Food and
Physiological regulation of MMPs and tPA/PAI in the arterial wall of rats by noradrenergic tone and angiotensin II

The interactions between the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and angiotensin II (ANG II), and their direct effects in vitro on the enzymes involved in vascular extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, were examined. Rats were treated with guanethidine, losartan or the combined treatments. mRNA, protein and activity of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 and mRNA of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) were quantified in abdominal aorta (AA) and femoral artery (FA). Norepinephrine (NE) or ANG II with adrenergic (β, α1 and α2) or losartan antagonists was tested for MMP mRNA response in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Combined treatment enhances the inhibition of MMP-2 mRNA and protein level induced by simple treatment in AA. However MMP-9 in AA and MMP mRNA in FA were reduced in the same order by treatments. MMP activities were not affected by treatments. The t-PA/PAI-1 ratio, which reflects the fibrinolytic balance, remained higher after treatments. In cultured VSMCs, NE induced stimulation of MMP mRNA via α2 and β adrenergic receptors and MMP-2 activity via β adrenergic receptors, while ANG II-induced stimulation was abrogated by losartan. Overall, there is a synergic inhibition of both systems on the level of MMP-2 in AA.
Testing the Harvesting Hypothesis by Time-Domain Regression Analysis. I: Baseline Analysis

Although the association between air pollution and daily mortality is well established, the mechanisms by which air pollution results in excess mortality are not yet well understood. In particular, there exists debate over whether air pollution has a direct effect on mortality in the general population or simply shortens the life span of frail individuals, a hypothesis referred to as “harvesting. ” The goal of this investigation is to test the harvesting hypothesis using the time-domain regression method of Dominici et al. (2003a). We conducted simulations based on a two-compartment model that divides the population into a larger group of healthy individuals and a frail subpopulation. Death from air pollution is assumed to take place in two steps, by first moving from healthy population to the frail pool, then death with probability related to the level of air pollution. Using time-domain analysis, we seek to identify data patterns that would be characteristic of harvesting under different scenarios. For a pure harvesting model, time-domain analysis indicates that mortality is associated with a short-term air pollution episode of less than 2 d if the mean residency time in the frail pool is short. If both entrants and deaths depend on the level of air pollution and the rates of entry to and exit from the frail pool are about the same, the log relative risk estimates are essentially unchanged at all time scales. If pollution affects mortality in the frail pool more than entrants, larger effects will occur at shorter time scales.
Latent Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Infection of Monocytes Downregulates Expression of Adaptive Immune Response Costimulatory Receptors and Proinflammatory Cytokines

ABSTRACT Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) infection is associated with the development of Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, and multicentric Castleman's disease. We report the establishment of a monocytic cell line latently infected with KSHV (KSHV-THP-1). We profiled viral and cytokine gene expression in the KSHV-THP-1 cells compared to that in uninfected THP-1 cells and found that several genes involved in the host immune response were downregulated during latent infection, including genes for CD80, CD86, and the cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β). Thus, KSHV minimizes its immunological signature by suppressing key immune response factors, enabling persistent infection and evasion from host detection.
Consensually Driven Explanation in Science Teaching.

We view the teaching and learning of science content as problematic. Even the constructivist perspective does not entirely address the dilemmas of conveying and comprehending formal scientific knowledge. We believe engaging groups of students in inquiry and discourse about phenomena is a viable approach for teaching science concepts. Within large and small groups, consensus-building discussion affords space for generating, refining, and connecting ideas. Within these discussions, the dissemination of ideas gives students access to and inclusion with powerful ideas generated within the class, and prepares them to resolve critically conflict between personal understandings and formal explanations. The intent of this work is to explore this teaching approach and document students' advances in understanding science concepts. The study takes place in a grade 7 science classroom as the students study light phenomena. In this article, we focus on one target group working to achieve consensus and a coherent explanation of light and shadow effects. Based on the in-depth result and our review of related literature, we articulate the beginnings of a framework for consensus building within inquiry discourse. We address the problem of teaching content by posing an alternative to delivering the “facts. ” © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 173–192, 1997.
Vaccinia Virus A6 Is Essential for Virion Membrane Biogenesis and Localization of Virion Membrane Proteins to Sites of Virion Assembly

ABSTRACT Poxvirus acquires its primary envelope through a process that is distinct from those of other enveloped viruses. The molecular mechanism of this process is poorly understood, but several poxvirus proteins essential for the process have been identified in studies of vaccinia virus (VACV), the prototypical poxvirus. Previously, we identified VACV A6 as an essential factor for virion morphogenesis by studying a temperature-sensitive mutant with a lesion in A6. Here, we further studied A6 by constructing and characterizing an inducible virus (iA6) that could more stringently repress A6 expression. When A6 expression was induced by the inducer isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactoside (IPTG), iA6 replicated normally, and membrane proteins of mature virions (MVs) predominantly localized in viral factories where virions were assembled. However, when A6 expression was repressed, electron microscopy of infected cells showed the accumulation of large viroplasm inclusions containing virion core proteins but no viral membranes. Immunofluorescence and cell fractionation studies showed that the major MV membrane proteins A13, A14, D8, and H3 did not localize to viral factories but instead accumulated in the secretory compartments, including the endoplasmic reticulum. Overall, our results show that A6 is an additional VACV protein that participates in an early step of virion membrane biogenesis. Furthermore, A6 is required for MV membrane protein localization to sites of virion assembly, suggesting that MV membrane proteins or precursors of MV membranes are trafficked to sites of virion assembly through an active, virus-mediated process that requires A6.
On the use of long-range radars for Space Situational Awareness: An experimental test

This paper reports on the results achieved in an experimental test conducted with the Selex ES RAT (Radar Avvistamento Terrestre) 31DL long range radar in December 2014 - January 2015. The objective of the test was to determine the capability of the radar of detecting and tracking Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites with an external cue command derived by the NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) Two Line Elements (TLE). The test has been prepared and conducted together with the Italian Air Force (ITAF) in the framework of the Italian support to European Space Situational Awareness (SSA) program and in particular for the development of a dual-use function for the detection and tracking of space or orbital debris. In fact, the previous experimental activities that the ITAF had conducted with the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) and the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) lead the Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri to appoint ITAF as the national representative for the “Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) Framework Programme”. Because of the partnership between ITAF and Selex ES, the RAT 31DL system selected for the aforementioned activity is the one installed at Borgo Sabotino, an ITAF site.
Homeostatic Interactions at the Front of Migration Control the Integrity and the Efficiency of a Migratory Glial Chain

In metazoans, cell migration often occurs in a collective manner: the cells move while physically and functionally connected to their neighbors. The coordinated and timely movement of the cells eventually ensures the proper organization of tissues, and deregulation in such a process contributes to the development of severe diseases. Thus, understanding the cellular mechanisms underlying coordinated cell movement is of great interest in basic and medical science. The developing Drosophila wing provides an excellent model to follow the chain migration of glial cells in vivo. Cells at the tip of the glial collective have been shown to control the timely movement of the chain. In the present study, we show that while pioneers trigger chain migration, they cannot move as single cells. We also show that isolating cell clusters at the chain tip restores the formation of smaller migratory communities. Interestingly, the migratory efficiency of these de novo formed communities depends on the number of cells and progressively improves as the size of the cluster increases. Thus, homeostatic events at the migratory front control community integrity, efficiency, and coordination, emphasizing the importance of interactions and cell counting in fine-tuning collective processes.
The Use of DREADDs to Deconstruct Behavior

A central goal in understanding brain function is to link specific cell populations to behavioral outputs. In recent years, the selective targeting of specific neural circuits has been made possible with the development of new experimental approaches, including chemogenetics. This technique allows for the control of molecularly defined subsets of cells through engineered G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), which have the ability to activate or silence neuronal firing. Through chemogenetics, neural circuits are being linked to behavioral outputs at an unprecedented rate. Further, the coupling of chemogenetics with imaging techniques to monitor neural activity in freely moving animals now makes it possible to deconstruct the complex whole-brain networks that are fundamental to behavioral states. In this review, we highlight a specific chemogenetic application known as DREADDs (designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs). DREADDs are used ubiquitously to modulate GPCR activity in vivo and have been widely applied in the basic sciences, particularly in the field of behavioral neuroscience. Here, we focus on the impact and utility of DREADD technology in dissecting the neural circuitry of various behaviors including memory, cognition, reward, feeding, anxiety and pain. By using DREADDs to monitor the electrophysiological, biochemical, and behavioral outputs of specific neuronal types, researchers can better understand the links between brain activity and behavior. Additionally, DREADDs are useful in studying the pathogenesis of disease and may ultimately have therapeutic potential.
Importance of the CCR5–CCL5 Axis for Mucosal Trypanosoma cruzi Protection and B Cell Activation

Trypanosoma cruzi is an intracellular parasite and the causative agent of Chagas disease. Previous work has shown that the chemokine receptor CCR5 plays a role in systemic T. cruzi protection. We evaluated the importance of CCR5 and CCL5 for mucosal protection against natural oral and conjunctival T. cruzi challenges. T. cruzi-immune CCR5−/− and wild-type C57BL/6 mice were generated by repeated infectious challenges with T. cruzi. CCR5−/− and wild-type mice developed equivalent levels of cellular, humoral, and protective mucosal responses. However, CCR5−/−-immune mice produced increased levels of CCL5 in protected gastric tissues, suggesting compensatory signaling through additional receptors. Neutralization of CCL5 in CCR5−/−-immune mice resulted in decreased mucosal inflammatory responses, reduced T. cruzi-specific Ab-secreting cells, and significantly less mucosal T. cruzi protection, confirming an important role for CCL5 in optimal immune control of T. cruzi replication at the point of initial mucosal invasion. To investigate further the mechanism responsible for mucosal protection mediated by CCL5–CCR5 signaling, we evaluated the effects of CCL5 on B cells. CCL5 enhanced proliferation and IgM secretion in highly purified B cells triggered by suboptimal doses of LPS. In addition, neutralization of endogenous CCL5 inhibited B cell proliferation and IgM secretion during stimulation of highly purified B cells, indicating that B cell production of CCL5 has important autocrine effects. These findings demonstrate direct effects of CCL5 on B cells, with significant implications for the development of mucosal adjuvants, and further suggest that CCL5 may be important as a general B cell coactivator.