Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Detainees Plead Guilty Faster? A Survival Analysis of Pretrial Detention and the Timing of Guilty Pleas

Although numerous quantitative studies have linked pretrial detention to increased conviction rates, the precise mechanisms linking these decisions remain unclear. Qualitative studies shed light on these processes, revealing that many detainees plead guilty quickly to escape the pains of detention, including poor confinement conditions, strained work or family relations, and “dead time. ” Moreover, these pressures to plead are often exacerbated by uncertain detention length, time-sensitive “exploding” plea deals, and temporal discounting. Utilizing data on felony defendants from large urban counties between 1990 and 2004, we assess whether pretrial detention accelerates the pace of guilty pleas. Survival analyses indicate that pretrial detainees plead guilty 2.86 times faster than released defendants do, suggesting that pretrial detention is a powerful prosecutorial tool. Moreover, local resources affect case processing time in ways that are consistent with the courtroom workgroup perspective. Implications for public policies and future research are discussed.
Spread of Amphibian Chytrid Fungus across Lowland Populations of Túngara Frogs in Panamá

Chytridiomycosis, caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), is an emergent infectious disease partially responsible for worldwide amphibian population declines. The spread of Bd along highland habitats (> 500 meters above sea level, m a.s.l.) of Costa Rica and Panamá is well documented and has been linked to amphibian population collapses. In contrast, data are scarce on the prevalence and dispersal of Bd in lowland habitats where amphibians may be infected but asymptomatic. Here we describe the spread (2009 to 2014) of Bd across lowland habitats east of the Panamá Canal (< 500 m a.s.l.) with a focus on the Túngara frog (Physalaemus [Engystomops] pustulosus), one of the most common and abundant frog species in this region. Highland populations in western Panamá were already infected with Bd at the start of the study, which was consistent with previous studies indicating that Bd is enzootic in this region. In central Panamá, we collected the first positive samples in 2010, and by 2014, we detected Bd from remote sites in eastern Panamá (Darién National Park). We discuss the importance of studying Bd in lowland species, which may serve as potential reservoirs and agents of dispersal of Bd to highland species that are more susceptible to chytridiomycosis.
VDCC based voltage mode Tow-Thomas biquad filter

In this paper, a new voltage mode Tow-Thomas biquad circuit is proposed. The proposed circuit employs two voltage differencing current conveyors (VDCC) as active element together with two capacitors and five resistors as passive elements. The tunability of center frequency and bandwidth has also been shown. The workability of the filter has been verified using PSPICE simulations.
Last-Recorded P2Y12 Reaction Units Value Is Strongly Associated with Thromboembolic and Hemorrhagic Complications Occurring Up to 6 Months after Treatment in Patients with Cerebral Aneurysms Treated with the Pipeline Embolization Device

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A recent study identified a preprocedural P2Y12 reaction units value of <60 or >240 as a strong independent predictor of perioperative thromboembolic and hemorrhagic complications after treatment of cerebral aneurysms with the Pipeline Embolization Device. This study aimed to determine whether a last-recorded P2Y12 reaction units value of <60 or >240 predicts thromboembolic and hemorrhagic complications up to 6 months after treatment of cerebral aneurysms with the Pipeline Embolization Device in the same patient cohort. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We recorded patient and aneurysm characteristics, P2Y12 receptor antagonist administered, P2Y12 reaction units value with VerifyNow, procedural variables, and thromboembolic and hemorrhagic complications up to 6 months after Pipeline Embolization Device procedures at our institution during an 8-month period. Complications causing a permanent disabling neurologic deficit or death were considered major. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to identify independent predictors of thromboembolic and hemorrhagic complications. RESULTS: Forty-four patients underwent 48 Pipeline Embolization Device procedures at our institution during the study period. There were 11 thromboembolic and hemorrhagic complications up to 6 months after treatment in our cohort (22.9%), 5 of which were major (10.4%). A last-recorded P2Y12 reaction units value of <60 or >240 was the only independent predictor of all (P = .002) and major (P = .03) thromboembolic and hemorrhagic complications in our cohort. Most patients (71%) required, on average, 2 adjustments to the dose or type of P2Y12 receptor antagonist to remain within the 60–240 target P2Y12 reaction units range. CONCLUSIONS: In our cohort, a last-recorded P2Y12 reaction units value of <60 or >240 was the only independent predictor of all and major thromboembolic and hemorrhagic complications up to 6 months after Pipeline Embolization Device procedures.
Analyzing User Preference for Social Image Recommendation

With the incredibly growing amount of multimedia data shared on the social media platforms, recommender systems have become an important necessity to ease users' burden on the information overload. In such a scenario, extensive amount of heterogeneous information such as tags, image content, in addition to the user-to-item preferences, is extremely valuable for making effective recommendations. In this paper, we explore a novel hybrid algorithm termed {\em STM}, for image recommendation. STM jointly considers the problem of image content analysis with the users' preferences on the basis of sparse representation. STM is able to tackle the challenges of highly sparse user feedbacks and cold-start problmes in the social network scenario. In addition, our model is based on the classical probabilistic matrix factorization and can be easily extended to incorporate other useful information such as the social relationships. We evaluate our approach with a newly collected 0.3 million social image data set from Flickr. The experimental results demonstrate that sparse topic modeling of the image content leads to more effective recommendations, , with a significant performance gain over the state-of-the-art alternatives.
Molecular Biology of the Cell

Developing physiologically meaningful mathematical models that describe multilevel regulation in a complex network of immune processes, in particular, of the system of interferon-regulated virus production processes, is a fundamental scientific problem, within the framework of an interdisciplinary systems approach to research in immunology. Here, we have presented a detailed high-dimensional model describing HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) replication, the response of type I interferon (IFN) to the virus infection of the cell, and suppression of the action of IFN-induced proteins by HIV accessory proteins. As a result, this model includes interactions of all three processes for the first time. The mathematical model is a system of 37 nonlinear ordinary differential equations including 78 parameters. Importantly, the model describes not only the processes of the IFN response of the cell to virus infection, but also the mechanisms used by the virus to prevent effects of the IFN system.
Variance-Reduced Second-Order Methods

In this paper, we discuss the problem of minimizing the sum of two convex functions: a smooth function plus a non-smooth function. Further, the smooth part can be expressed by the average of a large number of smooth component functions, and the non-smooth part is equipped with a simple proximal mapping. We propose a proximal stochastic second-order method, which is efficient and scalable. It incorporates the Hessian in the smooth part of the function and exploits multistage scheme to reduce the variance of the stochastic gradient. We prove that our method can achieve linear rate of convergence.
Controlling water reservoirs using a Hybrid Intelligent Architecture

Measured inputs in control domains are often continuous. A discretization function is needed to map continuous inputs into multiple intervals or ranges of input values, so that they can be used as symbolic inputs to a rule-based system. The discretiza-tion parameters used to determine each interval play a critical role in the overall eeectiveness of a rule-based system. We propose a Hybrid Intelligent Architecture (HIA) that exploits the complementary features of expert systems and connectionist architectures to revise the initial domain knowledge and enhance its input characterization. A successful application of the proposed concepts to control the water reservoirs of Colorado river near Austin, is described.
Effect of atorvastatin and fish oil on plasma high-sensitivity C-reactive protein concentrations in individuals with visceral obesity.

BACKGROUND Chronic low-grade inflammation may contribute to the increased risk of atherosclerosis in visceral obesity. Statin and fish oil have been reported to have antiinflammatory effects. We studied whether dyslipidemic, obese individuals have increased plasma high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) concentrations and whether treatment with atorvastatin and fish oil lowered plasma hs-CRP concentrations. METHODS We compared plasma hs-CRP, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) concentrations in 48 obese individuals with the concentrations in 10 lean normolipidemic men. The obese individuals were then randomized to treatment with atorvastatin (40 mg/day), fish oil (4 g/day), atorvastatin plus fish oil, or matching placebo for 6 weeks. RESULTS Compared with controls, obese individuals had increased hs-CRP [geometric mean, 2.19 mg/L (95% confidence interval, 2.15-3.15 mg/L) vs 0.49 mg/L (0.30- 0.93 mg/L); P <0.001] and IL-6 [351 pg/L (318-449 pg/L) vs 251 pg/L (211-305 pg/L); P <0.01]. Atorvastatin treatment had a significant main effect of decreasing plasma hs-CRP (-0.87 mg/L; 95% confidence interval, -0.10 to -1.60 mg/L; P <0.01) and IL-6 (-70 pg/L; 10 to -140 pg/L; P <0.01), but this was not seen with fish oil. The reductions in hs-CRP with atorvastatin were not significantly correlated to changes in plasma lipids, IL-6, insulin resistance, or cholesterogenesis. Plasma TNF-alpha concentrations in obese individuals, however, were neither statistically different from concentrations in the lean controls nor altered with atorvastatin or fish oil treatment. CONCLUSIONS This study shows that visceral obesity is associated with increased plasma hs-CRP and IL-6 and, hence, a low-grade chronic inflammatory state and that treatment with atorvastatin or atorvastatin with fish oil, but not fish oil alone, reverses this abnormality.
Regulatory Environment and Strategic Orientations in a Transitional Economy: A Study of Chinese Private Enterprise

This study examines characteristics of perceived political/regulatory environments and strategic orientations among Chinese private enterprises. Using a sample of fifty-three private entrepreneurs, the study found that regulatory hostility, dynamism, and complexity led to strategies characterized by innovativeness, proactiveness, and risktaking, yet discouraged future-oriented strategy. Results were compared with studies of entrepreneurs in Western economies as well as Chinese entrepreneurs in other countries. Implications are also discussed.
Multimedia Services in Cloud-Based Vehicular Networks

Research into the requirements for mobile services has seen a growing interest in the fields of cloud technology and vehicular applications. Integrating cloud computing and storage with vehicles is a way to increase accessibility to multimedia services, and inspire myriad potential applications and research topics. This paper presents an overview of the characteristics of cloud computing, and introduces the basic concepts of vehicular networks. An architecture for multimedia cloud computing is proposed to suit subscription service mechanisms. The tendency to equip vehicles with advanced and embedded devices such as diverse sensors increases the capabilities of vehicles to provide computation and collection of multimedia content in the form of the vehicular network. Then, the taxonomy of cloud-based vehicular networks is addressed from the standpoint of the service relationship between the cloud computing and vehicular networks. In this paper, we identify the main considerations and challenges for cloud based vehicular networks regarding multimedia services, and propose potential research directions to make multimedia services achievable. More specifically, we quantitatively evaluate the performance metrics of these researches. For example, in the proposed broadcast storm mitigation scheme for vehicular networks, the packet delivery ratio and the normalized throughput can both achieve about 90%, making the proposed scheme a useful candidate for multimedia data exchange. Moreover, in the video uplinking scenarios, the proposed scheme is favorably compared with two well-known schedulers, M-LWDF and EXP, with the performance much closer to the optimum.
Nodavirus Coat Protein Imposes Dodecahedral RNA Structure Independent of Nucleotide Sequence and Length

ABSTRACT The nodavirus Flock house virus (FHV) has a bipartite, positive-sense RNA genome that is packaged into an icosahedral particle displaying T=3 symmetry. The high-resolution X-ray structure of FHV has shown that 10 bp of well-ordered, double-stranded RNA are located at each of the 30 twofold axes of the virion, but it is not known which portions of the genome form these duplex regions. The regular distribution of double-stranded RNA in the interior of the virus particle indicates that large regions of the encapsidated genome are engaged in secondary structure interactions. Moreover, the RNA is restricted to a topology that is unlikely to exist during translation or replication. We used electron cryomicroscopy and image reconstruction to determine the structure of four types of FHV particles that differed in RNA and protein content. RNA-capsid interactions were primarily mediated via the N and C termini, which are essential for RNA recognition and particle assembly. A substantial fraction of the packaged nucleic acid, either viral or heterologous, was organized as a dodecahedral cage of duplex RNA. The similarity in tertiary structure suggests that RNA folding is independent of sequence and length. Computational modeling indicated that RNA duplex formation involves both short-range and long-range interactions. We propose that the capsid protein is able to exploit the plasticity of the RNA secondary structures, capturing those that are compatible with the geometry of the dodecahedral cage.
Quasar Elemental Abundances at High Redshifts

We examine rest-frame ultraviolet spectra of 70 high-redshift quasars (z ≥ 3.5) to study the chemical enrichment history of the gas closely related to the quasars and thereby estimate the epoch of first star formation. The fluxes of several ultraviolet emission lines were investigated within the framework of the most recent photoionization models to estimate the metallicity of the gas associated with the high-redshift quasars. Standard photoionization parameters and the assumption of secondary nitrogen enrichment indicate an average abundance of Z/Z☉ ≃ 4-5 in the line-emitting gas. Assuming a timescale of τevol ≃ 0.5-0.8 Gyr for the chemical enrichment of the gas, the first major star formation for quasars with z ≃ 4 should have started at a redshift of zf ≃ 6-8, corresponding to an age of the universe of several times 108 yr (H0 = 65 km s-1 Mpc-1, ΩM = 0.3, ΩΛ = 0.7). We note that this also appears to be the era of reionization of the universe. Finally, there is some evidence for a positive luminosity-metallicity relation in this high-redshift quasar sample.
Digital Government, Open Architecture, and Innovation: Why Public Sector IT Will Never Be the Same Again

This article argues that the future of public services will be shaped increasingly by the evolution of global, Internet-enabled, digital platforms, with two distinctive technical and commercial features. First, use of open standards and architectures that separate standard business logic from supporting applications will allow government to become technology- and vendor-agnostic, freeing it from its overdependence on proprietary systems and suppliers. Second, over time, open standards and increased market choice will drive both innovation and progressive convergence on cheaper, standard “utility” public services. These two features will combine to create a powerful dynamic situation, driving disintegration of traditional “black boxed” technologies and services, traditionally organized around “systems integrators” and departmental structures, and their reaggregation around the citizen in the form of services. Such reaggregation is allowing progressively sharp distinctions between niche
Influence of Sire Breed on the Interplay among Rumen Microbial Populations Inhabiting the Rumen Liquid of the Progeny in Beef Cattle

This study aimed to evaluate whether the host genetic background impact the ruminal microbial communities of the progeny of sires from three different breeds under different diets. Eighty five bacterial and twenty eight methanogen phylotypes from 49 individuals of diverging sire breed (Angus, ANG; Charolais, CHA; and Hybrid, HYB), fed high energy density (HE) and low energy density (LE) diets were determined and correlated with breed, rumen fermentation and phenotypic variables, using multivariate statistical approaches. When bacterial phylotypes were compared between diets, ANG offspring showed the lowest number of diet-associated phylotypes, whereas CHA and HYB progenies had seventeen and twenty-three diet-associated phylotypes, respectively. For the methanogen phylotypes, there were no sire breed-associated phylotypes; however, seven phylotypes were significantly different among breeds on either diet (P<0.05). Sire breed did not influence the metabolic variables measured when high energy diet was fed. A correlation matrix of all pairwise comparisons among frequencies of bacterial and methanogen phylotypes uncovered their relationships with sire breed. A cluster containing methanogen phylotypes M16 (Methanobrevibacter gottschalkii) and M20 (Methanobrevibacter smithii), and bacterial phylotype B62 (Robinsoniella sp.) in Angus offspring fed low energy diet reflected the metabolic interactions among microbial consortia. The clustering of the phylotype frequencies from the three breeds indicated that phylotypes detected in CHA and HYB progenies are more similar among them, compared to ANG animals. Our results revealed that the frequency of particular microbial phylotypes in the progeny of cattle may be influenced by the sire breed when different diets are fed and ultimately further impact host metabolic functions, such as feed efficiency.
Ejaculated Mouse Sperm Enter Cumulus-Oocyte Complexes More Efficiently In Vitro than Epididymal Sperm

The mouse is an established and popular animal model for studying reproductive biology. Epididymal mouse sperm, which lack exposure to secretions of male accessory glands and do not precisely represent ejaculated sperm for the study of sperm functions, have been almost exclusively used in studies. We compared ejaculated and epididymal sperm in an in vitro fertilization setting to examine whether ejaculated sperm enter cumulus-oocyte complexes more efficiently. In order to prepare sperm for fertilization, they were incubated under capacitating conditions. At the outset of incubation, ejaculated sperm stuck to the glass surfaces of slides and the incidences of sticking decreased with time; whereas, very few epididymal sperm stuck to glass at any time point, indicating differences in surface charge. At the end of the capacitating incubation, when sperm were added to cumulus-oocyte complexes, the form of flagellar movement differed dramatically; specifically, ejaculated sperm predominantly exhibited increased bending on one side of the flagellum (a process termed pro-hook hyperactivation), while epididymal sperm equally exhibited increased bending on one or the other side of the flagellum (pro-hook or anti-hook hyperactivation). This indicates that accessory sex gland secretions might have modified Ca2+ signaling activities in sperm, because the two forms of hyperactivation are reported to be triggered by different Ca2+ signaling patterns. Lastly, over time, more ejaculated than epididymal sperm entered the cumulus oocyte complexes. We concluded that modification of sperm by male accessory gland secretions affects the behavior of ejaculated sperm, possibly providing them with an advantage over epididymal sperm for reaching the eggs in vivo.
Urban versus rural mortality among older adults in China.

Urban versus rural place of residence has proven to be a critical health determinant over time and across countries. Several studies have demonstrated an urban advantage in mortality in China. This variation by place of residence could be a function of differences in characteristics of individuals differences in urban and rural communities or a combination of individual and community factors. Population aging coupled with a growing distinction between urban and rural life is creating some urgency in the effort to determine the magnitude of the urban advantage among older adults and to ascertain the mechanisms responsible for the association. Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey with additional information from the 2000 Chinese Census the current study examines urban/rural variation in mortality of adults aged 50 and older. The analysis describes differences in mortality and examines the extent to which variations are accounted for by socioeconomic and health-access and health-availability characteristics that are measured at individual and community levels. Age-specific mortality rates across regions and Cox proportional hazard model ratios are provided using mortality data from 1989 to 2000. Results show unadjusted rural mortality to be 30 percent higher than urban mortality. Adjusting for cadre status and number of amenities within the community reduces the difference to about 18 percent so that these two covariates account for about 40 percent of the baseline urban advantage. (authors)
Ventral and Dorsal Visual Stream Contributions to the Perception of Object Shape and Object Location

Growing evidence suggests that the functional specialization of the two cortical visual pathways may not be as distinct as originally proposed. Here, we explore possible contributions of the dorsal “where/how” visual stream to shape perception and, conversely, contributions of the ventral “what” visual stream to location perception in human adults. Participants performed a shape detection task and a location detection task while undergoing fMRI. For shape detection, comparable BOLD activation in the ventral and dorsal visual streams was observed, and the magnitude of this activation was correlated with behavioral performance. For location detection, cortical activation was significantly stronger in the dorsal than ventral visual pathway and did not correlate with the behavioral outcome. This asymmetry in cortical profile across tasks is particularly noteworthy given that the visual input was identical and that the tasks were matched for difficulty in performance. We confirmed the asymmetry in a subsequent psychophysical experiment in which participants detected changes in either object location or shape, while ignoring the other, task-irrelevant dimension. Detection of a location change was slowed by an irrelevant shape change matched for difficulty, but the reverse did not hold. We conclude that both ventral and dorsal visual streams contribute to shape perception, but that location processing appears to be essentially a function of the dorsal visual pathway.