Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamics of the spatially homogeneous Bianchi type I Einstein–Vlasov equations

We investigate the dynamics of spatially homogeneous solutions of the Einstein–Vlasov equations with Bianchi type I symmetry by introducing a new formulation that allows an efficient use of dynamical systems methods. We find that all models are forever expanding and that they isotropize towards the future; towards the past there exists a singularity—we identify and describe all possible past asymptotic states. In this context, we establish the existence of a heteroclinic network, which is a new type of feature in general relativity. The past asymptotic structure illustrates that the dynamics of Vlasov matter models differs significantly from that of perfect fluid models.
Truth Discovery in Crowdsourced Detection of Spatial Events

The ubiquity of smartphones has led to the emergence of mobile crowdsourcing tasks such as the detection of spatial events when smartphone users move around in their daily lives. However, the credibility of those detected events can be negatively impacted by unreliable participants with low-quality data. Consequently, a major challenge in mobile crowdsourcing is truth discovery, i.e., to discover true events from diverse and noisy participants' reports. This problem is uniquely distinct from its online counterpart in that it involves uncertainties in both participants' mobility and reliability. Decoupling these two types of uncertainties through location tracking will raise severe privacy and energy issues, whereas simply ignoring missing reports or treating them as negative reports will significantly degrade the accuracy of truth discovery. In this paper, we propose two new unsupervised models, i.e., Truth finder for Spatial Events (TSE) and Personalized Truth finder for Spatial Events (PTSE), to tackle this problem. In TSE, we model location popularity, location visit indicators, truths of events, and three-way participant reliability in a unified framework. In PTSE, we further model personal location visit tendencies. These proposed models are capable of effectively handling various types of uncertainties and automatically discovering truths without any supervision or location tracking. Experimental results on both real-world and synthetic datasets demonstrate that our proposed models outperform existing state-of-the-art truth discovery approaches in the mobile crowdsourcing environment.
Line-following Tendencies Among Pedestrians: A Sex Difference

science and the design and engineering professions. The area is complex, and rigorous research has been lacking. In part, evaluation is difficult because the main techniques have been and are likely to remain correlational rather than experimental (Lee, 1972). The present study was set up to determine how incidental markings on the ground might guide or channel pedestrian behavior. Pedestrians normally walk to the right on a si-dewalk (Goffman, 1971, p. 9), but pedestrians using the edge of an Atlanta, Georgia, plaza as a sidewalk
The National Trauma Institute: Lessons learned in the funding and conduct of 16 trauma research studies

BACKGROUND To increase trauma-related research and elevate trauma on the national research agenda, the National Trauma Institute (NTI) issued calls for proposals, selected funding recipients, and coordinated 16 federally funded (Department of Defense) trauma research awards over a 4-year period. We sought to collect and describe the lessons learned from this activity to inform future researchers of barriers and facilitators. METHODS Fifteen principal investigators participated in semistructured interviews focused on study management issues such as securing institutional approvals, screening and enrollment, multisite trials management, project funding, staffing, and institutional support. NTI Science Committee meeting minutes and study management data were included in the analysis. Simple descriptive statistics were generated and textual data were analyzed for common themes. RESULTS Principal investigators reported challenges in obtaining institutional approvals, delays in study initiation, screening and enrollment, multisite management, and study funding. Most were able to successfully resolve challenges and have been productive in terms of scholarly publications, securing additional research funding, and training future trauma investigators. CONCLUSION Lessons learned in the conduct of the first two funding rounds managed by NTI are instructive in four key areas: regulatory processes, multisite coordination, adequate funding, and the importance of an established research infrastructure to ensure study success. Recommendations for addressing institution-related and investigator-related challenges are discussed along with ongoing advocacy efforts to secure sustained federal funding of a national trauma research program commensurate with the burden of injury.
Coexpression of human chorionic gonadotropin beta subunit and its receptor in nontrophoblastic gynecological cancer

A considerable number of biochemical and physiologic studies evaluate the roles of gonadotropins in carcinogenesis. Latest reports show that human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), and especially its beta subunit, are secreted by a variety of malignant tumors of different origin. However, the mechanism of hCG action and its role in tumor development is not known yet. This study, with the help of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry, is an attempt to document the molecular presence of the hCGβ and luteinizing hormone/hCG receptor (LH/hCGR) in the ovarian, endometrial, and uterine cervix cancer tissues. The LH/hCGR, coexpressed with hCGβ, may act as a potential mediator of hCG action in nontrophoblastic gynecological cancers
Female genital cutting in the news media: A content analysis

Mass media play an important role in explaining the issue of female genital cutting and can influence discourse among the general public as well as policy makers. Understanding how news media present female genital cutting has strong implications for the global status of women. This study, a quantitative content analysis, analyzed how 15 years of newspaper coverage surrounding the launch of the Millennium Development Goals framed female genital cutting in four countries with varying prevalence levels of female genital cutting: the United States, Ghana, The Gambia, and Kenya. The study found female genital cutting is consistently portrayed as a problematic and thematic topic, largely tied to cultural rituals. However, coverage is minimal and inconsistent over time, and does not appear to be impacted by the increase in international initiatives aimed at combatting the practice.
Embedded Activism and Political Change in a Semiauthoritarian Context

This article provides a theoretical introduction to the other contributions in this special issue. The emergence of social movements is generally seen as an indicator of democratization. The article argues that such a view overlooks the nature of political change in China, which entails a more gradual transition. In this light, the collection of articles is organized around several questions. What does the limited political space imply for the development of a social movement in China? Is the possibility for a social movement a precondition for the development of civil society? What are the prospects for the emergence of a social movement in China, and how would it relate to international forces? These questions are explored by focusing on one of the most active areas of civil society in contemporary China: the environmental realm. The argument linking the articles in this special issue is that China's semiauthoritarian political setup in association with increased social spaces for civic action has created a milieu for embeddedness in social movement. Contrary to totalitarian control, the semiauthoritarian environment is restrictive, but paradoxically, it is also conducive to nationwide, voluntary collective action.
Environmental Changes to Control Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Manufacturing Companies

Purpose: To determine the effects of an environmental intervention on obesity, disease risk factors, and dietary intake in an employee population. Design: Randomized controlled community trial. Setting: Eight manufacturing companies in Kentucky with ~ 150 to 350 employees each. Subjects: Randomly selected employees. Intervention: Multicomponent environmental intervention that included employee advisory committees, point-of-decision prompts, walking paths, cafeteria/vending changes, and educational materials. Measures: Height; weight; body fat; blood pressure; fasting lipids, glucose and insulin; and dietary intake were assessed prior to and 3, 6, and 12 months after initiation of the intervention. Analysis: Mixed-model repeat-measure analyses of covariance were used to analyze data collected over the study period. Categorical data were analyzed in contingency tables. A p value of . 05 was used to judge statistical significance. Results: There were no intervention effects for outcome variables, with the exception of lower intake of saturated fat and dietary cholesterol in the intervention group compared to the control group. Over the course of the study, changes in anthropometry and biomeasures were similar in both groups. Conclusions: Findings indicate that subtle environmental changes alone may not impact employees' weight and health; however, such institutional-level approaches may be essential to support healthy lifestyle habits that are initiated by more intensive efforts. Academic researchers should continue to partner with employers and practitioners to develop, implement, and evaluate innovative health promotion strategies including environmental interventions. (Am J Health Promot 2011;25[5]:334-340.)
Nitric oxide in the kidney.

bastron and kaloyanides([2][1]) had already investigated the effects of sodium nitroprusside in the isolated kidney 8 years before the postulate of an endothelium-derived relaxing factor was made by Furchgott and Zawadzki ([14][2]). More recent studies aim at the importance of nitric oxide (NO) for
Early Hearing-Impairment Results in Crossmodal Reorganization of Ferret Core Auditory Cortex

Numerous investigations of cortical crossmodal plasticity, most often in congenital or early-deaf subjects, have indicated that secondary auditory cortical areas reorganize to exhibit visual responsiveness while the core auditory regions are largely spared. However, a recent study of adult-deafened ferrets demonstrated that core auditory cortex was reorganized by the somatosensory modality. Because adult animals have matured beyond their critical period of sensory development and plasticity, it was not known if adult-deafening and early-deafening would generate the same crossmodal results. The present study used young, ototoxically-lesioned ferrets (n = 3) that, after maturation (avg. = 173 days old), showed significant hearing deficits (avg. threshold = 72 dB SPL). Recordings from single-units (n = 132) in core auditory cortex showed that 72% were activated by somatosensory stimulation (compared to 1% in hearing controls). In addition, tracer injection into early hearing-impaired core auditory cortex labeled essentially the same auditory cortical and thalamic projection sources as seen for injections in the hearing controls, indicating that the functional reorganization was not the result of new or latent projections to the cortex. These data, along with similar observations from adult-deafened and adult hearing-impaired animals, support the recently proposed brainstem theory for crossmodal plasticity induced by hearing loss.
Fast tridiagonal solvers on the GPU

We study the performance of three parallel algorithms and their hybrid variants for solving tridiagonal linear systems on a GPU: cyclic reduction (CR), parallel cyclic reduction (PCR) and recursive doubling (RD). We develop an approach to measure, analyze, and optimize the performance of GPU programs in terms of memory access, computation, and control overhead. We find that CR enjoys linear algorithm complexity but suffers from more algorithmic steps and bank conflicts, while PCR and RD have fewer algorithmic steps but do more work each step. To combine the benefits of the basic algorithms, we propose hybrid CR+PCR and CR+RD algorithms, which improve the performance of PCR, RD and CR by 21%, 31% and 61% respectively. Our GPU solvers achieve up to a 28x speedup over a sequential LAPACK solver, and a 12x speedup over a multi-threaded CPU solver.
Rapid identification of synthetic cannabinoids in herbal samples via direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry.

RATIONALE Dozens of synthetic cannabinoid analogs purposefully meant to circumvent legal restrictions associated with controlled substances continue to be manufactured and promoted as producing 'legal highs'. These designer drugs are difficult to identify in conventional drug screens not only because routine protocols have not been developed for their detection, but also because their association with complex plant matrices during manufacture generally requires labor-intensive extraction and sample preparation for analysis. To address this new and important challenge in forensic chemistry, Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS) is applied to the analysis of these designer drugs. METHODS DART-MS was employed to sample synthetic cannabinoids directly on botanical matrices. The ambient ionization method associated with DART-MS permitted the analysis of solid herbal samples directly, without the need for extraction or sample preparation. The high mass resolution time-of-flight analyzer allowed identification of these substances despite their presence within a complex matrix and enabled differentiation of closely related analogs. RESULTS DART-MS was performed to rapidly identify the synthetic cannabinoids AM-251 and JWH-015. For each cannabinoid, three hundred micrograms (300 µg) of material was easily detected within an excess of background matrix by mass. CONCLUSIONS New variations of herbal blends containing a wide range of base components and laced with synthetic cannabinoids are being produced, making their presence difficult to track by conventional methods. DART-MS permits rapid identification of trace synthetic cannabinoids within complex biological matrices, with excellent sensitivity and specificity compared with standard methods.
Spasticity of the gastrosoleus muscle is related to the development of reduced passive dorsiflexion of the ankle in children with cerebral palsy

Background and purpose Spasticity and muscle contracture are two common manifestations of cerebral palsy (CP). A spastic muscle may inhibit growth in length of the muscle, but the importance of this relationship is not known. In 1994, a register and a healthcare program for children with CP in southern Sweden were initiated. The child's muscle tone according to the Ashworth scale and the ankle range of motion (ROM) is measured annually during the entire growth period. We have used these data to analyze the relationship between spasticity and ROM of the gastrosoleus muscle. Patients and methods All measurements in the total population of children with CP aged 0–18 years during the period January 1995 through June 2008 were analyzed. The study was based on 2,796 examinations in 355 children. In the statistical analysis, the effect of muscle tone on ROM was estimated using a random effects model. Results The range of dorsiflexion of the ankle joint decreased in the total material by mean 19 (95% CI: 14–24) degrees during the first 18 years of life. There was a statistically significant association between the ROM and the child's level of spasticity during the year preceding the ROM measurement. Interpretation Spasticity is related to the development of muscle contracture. In the treatment of children with CP, the spasticity, contracture, and strength of the gastrosoleus muscle must be considered together.
The Sociopolitical Involvement of Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander Gay and Bisexual Men

This paper compares and contrasts the sociopolitical involvement of Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander men within lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities of color. We hypothesize that being connected to community, and believing in the importance of sexual and racial/ethnic identity would positively impact men's sociopolitical involvement within LGBT communities of color. Findings indicate that, for all groups of men, feeling connected to the LGBT community was one of the most significant predictors of sociopolitical involvement within LGBT communities of color, but the importance of sexual and racial/ethnic identity was not as powerful a predictor for this sample of men. Similarities and differences between and among the groups are discussed with regard to understanding how community and identity is related to the sociopolitical involvement of Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander men within LGBT communities.
Youth, Transitions and Social Exclusion: Some Issues for Youth Research in the UK

ABSTRACT Studies of the economic restructuring of the UK suggest that the future labour market will be typified by increasing proportions of workers unemployed or subemployed in casual, informal, peripheral, non-standard jobs. Clearly the future working lives of many young people will be substantially different from those of their parents' generation, as full employment in regular, relatively permanent jobs gives way to more insecure and risky working lives. Some of the social problems that have accompanied the fracturing of previous youth transitions are reviewed and the idea that such problems are indicative of the emergence of a deviant, anti-social, anti-work underclass introduced. The focus is upon Teesside in north-east England, a locality which reveals these broad social and economic transformations in the most dramatic way. In conclusion, four themes which might inform future research on marginal youth transitions and social exclusion in the UK are outlined.
A TRACE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR A CLASS OF COUPLED BULK-INTERFACE TRANSPORT PROBLEMS ∗

In this paper we study a system of advection-diffusion equations in a bulk domain coupled to an advection-diffusion equation on an embedded surface. Such systems of coupled partial differential equations arise in, for example, the modeling of transport and diffusion of surfactants in two-phase flows. The model considered here accounts for adsorption-desorption of the surfactants at a sharp interface between two fluids and their transport and diffusion in both fluid phases and along the interface. The paper gives a well-posedness analysis for the system of bulk-surface equations and introduces a finite element method for its numerical solution. The finite element method is unfitted, i.e. , the mesh is not aligned to the interface. The method is based on taking traces of a standard finite element space both on the bulk domains and the embedded surface. The numerical approach allows an implicit definition of the surface as the zero level of a level-set function. Optimal order error estimates are proved for the finite element method both in the bulk-surface energy norm and the L 2 -norm. The analysis is not restricted to linear finite elements and a piecewise planar reconstruction of the surface, but also covers the discretization with higher order elements and a higher order surface reconstruction.
Promoting older adults’ well-being through Internet training and use

The purpose of the current research was to test the psychological impact of learning how to use computers and the Internet in old age, hypothesizing that such activities would contribute to seniors’ well-being and personal sense of empowerment. Employing a quasi-experimental research design, we offered a course, conducted in small groups, in computer operation and Internet browsing to 22 older adults (mean age of 80) who went to day-care centers for the elderly or resided in nursing homes. A comparison group of 26 participants (similar in all major respects) was engaged in other activities. Both groups were administered measures of physical functioning, life satisfaction, depression, loneliness and self-control at pre- and post-intervention four months later. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants who finished the computer course. ANCOVA was employed for controlling the effects of control variables and pre-intervention differences on participants who completed the activities. Results showed a significant improvement among participants in the intervention group in all measures except physical functioning, whereas deterioration in all measures was detected in the comparison group. Computer and Internet use seems to contribute to older adults’ well-being and sense of empowerment by affecting their interpersonal interactions, promoting their cognitive functioning and contributing to their experience of control and independence.
Scaling of the streamwise velocity component in turbulent pipe flow

Statistics of the streamwise velocity component in fully developed pipe flow are examined for Reynolds numbers in the range $5.5 \times 10^4 \le \hbox{\it Re}_D \le 5.7 \times 10^6$. Probability density functions and their moments (up to sixth order) are presented and their scaling with Reynolds number is assessed. The second moment exhibits two maxima: the one in the viscous sublayer is Reynolds-number dependent while the other, near the lower edge of the log region, follows approximately the peak in Reynolds shear stress. Its locus has an approximate $(R^+)^{0.5}$ dependence. This peak shows no sign of ‘saturation’, increasing indefinitely with Reynolds number. Scalings of the moments with wall friction velocity and $(U_{cl}-\overline{U})$ are examined and the latter is shown to be a better velocity scale for the outer region, $y/R > 0.35$, but in two distinct Reynolds-number ranges, one when $\hbox{\it Re}_D < 6 \times 10^4$, the other when $\hbox{\it Re}_D > 7 \times 10^4$. Probability density functions do not show any universal behaviour, their higher moments showing small variations with distance from the wall outside the viscous sublayer. They are most nearly Gaussian in the overlap region. Their departures from Gaussian are assessed by examining the behaviour of the higher moments as functions of the lower ones. Spectra and the second moment are compared with empirical and theoretical scaling laws and some anomalies are apparent. In particular, even at the highest Reynolds number, the spectrum does not show a self-similar range of wavenumbers in which the spectral density is proportional to the inverse streamwise wavenumber. Thus such a range does not attract any special significance and does not involve a universal constant.