Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Routine Infanticide in the West 1500–1800

Historians have assumed that early modern Europeans did not practice neo-naticide similar to the great Asian civilizations, but sex-ratio studies are only now entering the demographic literature. This article passes in review both published and unpublished research on sex ratios at baptism in Italy, France, England and colonial Acadia, together with juvenile sex ratios drawn from censuses in Germany, France and Italy. Both endemic and conjunctural imbalances appear everywhere, but they could target females or males depending upon the context.
COLOCATED FINITE VOLUME SCHEME FOR THE STOKES PROBLEM

We present and analyse in this paper a novel colocated Finite Volume scheme for the solution of the Stokes problem. It has been developed following two main ideas. On one hand, the discretization of the pressure gradient term is built as the discrete transposed of the velocity divergence term, the latter being evaluated using a natural finite volume approximation; this leads to a nonstandard interpolation formula for the expression of the pressure on the edges of the control volumes. On the other hand, the scheme is stabilized using a finite volume analogue to the Brezzi-Pitkäranta technique. We prove that, under usual regularity assumptions for the solution (each component of the velocity in H(Ω) and pressure in H(Ω)), the scheme is first order convergent in the usual finite volume discrete H norm and the L norm for respectively the velocity and the pressure, provided, in particular, that the approximation of the mass balance fluxes is of second order. With the above-mentioned interpolation formulae, this latter condition is satisfied only for particular meshings: acute angles triangulations or rectangular structured discretizations in two dimensions, and rectangular parallelepipedic structured discretizations in three dimensions. Numerical experiments confirm this analysis and show, in addition, a second order convergence for the velocity in a discrete L norm. Résumé. Nous présentons et analysons dans cet article un nouveau schéma Volumes Finis collocalisé pour la résolution du problème de Stokes. Son développement a été mené en suivant deux idées essentielles. D’une part, la discrétisation du terme de gradient de pression est construite comme la transposée discrète du terme de divergence, ce dernier étant calculé par une approximation volumes finis usuelle ; cela conduit à utiliser pour l’expression de la pression aux faces des éléments une formule d’interpolation non-standard. En second lieu, nous mettons en œuvre une technique de stabilisation qui peut être interprétée comme l’analogue en volumes finis de la stabilisation proposée par Brezzi et Pitkäranta. Nous démontrons que, sous les hypothèses de régularité usuelles (appartenance à H(Ω) de chaque composante de la vitesse et appartenance à H(Ω) de la pression), le schéma est d’ordre un en norme H discrète et en norme L pour respectivement la vitesse et la pression, pourvu notamment que l’approximation des flux associés au bilan de masse soit d’ordre deux. Avec les formules d’interpolation précitées, cette dernière condition n’est vérifiée que pour des maillages particuliers: maillages réguliers en quadrangles ou triangulations ne comportant que des angles aigus en dimension deux, maillages réguliers en parallélépipèdes en dimension trois. Les tests numériques confirment cette analyse et mettent en évidence, en outre, une convergence d’ordre deux de la vitesse dans une norme L discrète. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. 65N12,65N15,65N30,76D07,76M12. May 2005.
Political Consumerism and Producerism inTimes of Crisis. A Social Movement Perspective

Local alternative consumerism practices supported by organized citizens seem to provide the only way to save small agro producers from economic failure. At the same time, organized small producers provide incentives to new forms of co-production. By relying on semi-structured and in depth interviews, a focus group, document analysis and participant observation, in this article, we show how Tuscan Solidarity Purchase Groups, together with producers, act in the context of the economic crisis, and how the crisis has influenced them. First, we show how organized political consumers and small producers are intensifying their relations to overcome the threats of the crisis. Secondly, we illustrate how these consumer-producer relations concretize in a co-production experience. Our case study shows that, in the adverse context of the economic crisis, local alternative consumerism practices can develop alternative processes through civic food networks and (re)discover radical forms of food democracy. That is they build a local Sustainable Community Movement.
Recursive Training of 2D-3D Convolutional Networks for Neuronal Boundary Detection

Efforts to automate the reconstruction of neural circuits from 3D electron microscopic (EM) brain images are critical for the field of connectomics. An important computation for reconstruction is the detection of neuronal boundaries. Images acquired by serial section EM, a leading 3D EM technique, are highly anisotropic, with inferior quality along the third dimension. For such images, the 2D max-pooling convolutional network has set the standard for performance at boundary detection. Here we achieve a substantial gain in accuracy through three innovations. Following the trend towards deeper networks for object recognition, we use a much deeper network than previously employed for boundary detection. Second, we incorporate 3D as well as 2D filters, to enable computations that use 3D context. Finally, we adopt a recursively trained architecture in which a first network generates a preliminary boundary map that is provided as input along with the original image to a second network that generates a final boundary map. Back-propagation training is accelerated by ZNN, a new implementation of 3D convolutional networks that uses multicore CPU parallelism for speed. Our hybrid 2D-3D architecture could be more generally applicable to other types of anisotropic 3D images, including video, and our recursive framework for any image labeling problem.
Methods for Estimating Capacities and Rates of Gaussian Quantum Channels

Optimization methods aimed at estimating the capacities of a general Gaussian channel are developed. Specifically evaluation of classical capacity as maximum of the Holevo information is pursued over all possible Gaussian encodings for the lossy bosonic channel, but extension to other capacities and other Gaussian channels seems feasible. Solutions for both memoryless and memory channels are presented. It is first dealt with single-use (single-mode) channel where the capacity dependence on channel's parameters is analyzed providing the full classification of possible cases. Then, it is dealt with multiple uses (multimode) channel where the capacity dependence on the (multimode) environment state is analyzed when both total environment energy and environment purity are fixed. This allows a fair comparison among different environments, thus understanding the role of memory (intermode correlations) and phenomenon like superadditivity of the capacity. The developed methods are also used for deriving transmission rates with heterodyne and homodyne measurements at the channel output. Classical capacity and transmission rates are presented within a unique framework where the rates can be treated as logarithmic approximations of the capacity.
IP-Enabled C/C++ Based High Level Synthesis: A Step towards Better Designer Productivity and Design Performance

Intellectual property (IP) core based design is an emerging design methodology to deal with increasing chip design complexity. C/C++ based high level synthesis (HLS) is also gaining traction as a design methodology to deal with increasing design complexity. In the work presented here, we present a design methodology that combines these two individual methodologies and is therefore more powerful. We discuss our proposed methodology in the context of supporting efficient hardware synthesis of a class of mathematical functions without altering original C/C++ source code. Additionally, we also discuss and propose methods to integrate legacy IP cores in existing HLS flows. Relying on concepts from the domains of program recognition and optimized low level implementations of such arithmetic functions, the described design methodology is a step towards intelligent synthesis where application characteristics are matched with specific architectural resources and relevant IP cores in a transparent manner for improved area-delay results. The combined methodology is more aware of the target hardware architecture than the conventional HLS flow. Implementation results of certain compute kernels froma commercial tool Vivado-HLS as well as proposed flow are also compared to show that proposed flow gives better results.
Phonon affected transport through molecular quantum dots

To describe the interaction of molecular vibrations with electrons at a quantum dot contacted to metallic leads, we extend an analytical approach that we previously developed for the many-polaron problem. Our scheme is based on an incomplete variational Lang–Firsov transformation, combined with a perturbative calculation of the electron–phonon self-energy in the framework of generalized Matsubara functions. This allows us to describe the system at weak-to-strong coupling and intermediate-to-large phonon frequencies. We present results for the quantum dot spectral function and for the kinetic coefficient that characterizes the electron transport through the dot. With these results we critically examine the strengths and limitations of our approach, and discuss the properties of the molecular quantum dot in the context of polaron physics. We place particular emphasis on the importance of corrections to the concept of an anti-adiabatic dot polaron suggested by the complete Lang–Firsov transformation.
Postcolonial Development, (Non)Sovereignty and Affect: Living On in the Wake of Caribbean Political Independence

This paper sets out a new research agenda for work on postcolonial development, sovereignty and affect. It examines how ideals of postcolonial independence play out through the more heterogeneous affective atmospheres that disrupt neat paradigms of sovereign control and non-sovereignty in everyday life. The example employed is everyday life in a Caribbean government office, but the paper develops a wider set of new conceptual tools and ethnographic approaches so as to facilitate research in postcolonial studies and affect more generally.
Formation of Structure in Snowfields: Penitentes, Suncups, and Dirt Cones

Penitentes and suncups are structures formed as snow melts, typically high in the mountains. When the snow is dirty, dirt cones and other structures can form instead. Building on previous ﬁeld observations and experiments, this work presents a theory of ablation morphologies, and the role of surface dirt in determining the structures formed. The glaciological literature indicates that sunlight, heating from air, and dirt all play a role in the formation of structure on an ablating snow surface. The present work formulates a mathematical model for the formation of ablation morphologies as a function of measurable parameters. The dependence of ablation morphologies on weather conditions and initial dirt thickness are studied, focusing on the initial growth of perturbations away from a ﬂat surface. We derive a single-parameter expression for the melting rate as a function of dirt thickness, which agrees well with a set of measurements by Driedger. An interesting result is the prediction of a dirt-induced travelling instability for a range of parameters. experiment of Driedger and ﬁnd good agreement. Thus reassured that the theory contains the imporant physical eﬀects, we show how dirt alters the growth of small perturbations. We show that a thin dirt layer suppresses the reﬂection-driven instability and induces travelling dispersive waves on the surface. In the limit of thick dirt, we demonstrate the insulation-driven instability expected from the discussion above.
A STUDY OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERISTICS OF ESCHERICHIA COLI ISOLATES OBTAINED FROM DIFFERENT HUMAN CLINICAL SPECIMENS AGAINST MULTIPLE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE ( MAR ) INDEX IN BAREILLY ( INDIA ) REGION

To analyse the situation of antibiotic resistance, a total of 77 E. coli isolates from urine, pus, sputum and endo-tracheal aspirate were screened for their antibiograms for antibiotic resistance, multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index for evaluating the spread of resistance and plasmid profiles for the presence and characterization of plasmids. Very high resistance level (>90%) was detected against ampicillin, amoxicillin, ceftazidime, norfloxacin, tetracycline while imipenem and amikacin recorded the least resistance levels of 2.3% and 13.9% respectively among the isolates. An increased resistance to amoxicillin, tetracycline, cotrimoxazole and norfloxacin were observed in this geographical area which however displayed a lower resistance in other countries. The MAR index varied considerably, the lowest was 0.18 and the highest was 0.89. Plasmids of 10 size ranges were detected in the isolates. Some isolates possessed single sized plasmid while other possessed multiple plasmids. Isolates with high multiantibiotic resistance profiles were found to possess multiple plasmids. This study shows that regular antimicrobial sensitivity surveillance is necessary and acquisition of plasmid could greatly contribute in the antibiotic resistance and poses a significant risk of the spread of microbial resistance in this community. INTRODUCTION: Escherichia coli is a multi-talented, very adaptive, enteric gram-negative bacillus, which belongs to the family Enterobacteriaeceae. Most strains of E. coli live as commensal, many perhaps all are opportunistic pathogens of humans. E. coli is one of the main causes of both nosocomial and community acquired infections in humans. The organism is therefore of clinical importance and can be isolated from various clinical specimens. It is one of the organisms most frequently isolated from blood 1, 2, . E. coli has now been established as etiological agents of human gastroenteritis, enteric fever, septicemia, localized infections and diarrhea disease of humans . The antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial isolates is not constant but dynamic and varies with time and environment . Indeed, high resistance rate to several antimicrobial agents have been observed in commensal bacteria in developing countries .
A Chinese Intelligent Question Answering System Based on Domain Ontology and Sentence Templates

With the development of network technology, distance education is becoming increasingly important. Intelligent question answering system is an important part of remote learning system. Currently, there have been a lot of mature English question answering systems. Owing to the Chinese natural language complexity and processing technical limitations, there is still no mature Chinese QA system exploited by now. This paper designs and implements a Chinese intelligent question answering system based on domain ontology and sentence templates according to Chinese characteristics. This system packages question template , semantic template and answer model into a sentence template, adopts automatic word segmentation and sentence templates matching method to understand the users’ questions, and uses domain ontology as knowledge base which provide domain vocabulary for question analysis and knowledge retrieval for answers’ generation. Our system achieves to question with limited natural language, and finally returns to the user a precise and concise answer.
Social Class Conflict Presented In “The Kite Runner” Novel Based On Marxism Theory

The writer conducts the research related to class conflict which is presented in Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” novel. This qualitative research is written to analyze the conflicts that happen in Afghan society which is mainly caused by difference of social class. The research is conducted by using library research. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative method as the data are described in the form of sentences. The steps of collecting the data in this research are reading both the novel and the supporting theories related, analyzing, organizing and displaying the data to allow conclusions to be drawn. The results show that the society in the twentieth is fundamentally separated by two large groups namely Pashtun and Hazara. They are inhabit Afghanistan as told in The Kite Runner. The Pashtuns act as the dominant upper class and the Hazaras fill the society of the lower class which fits the theory of Marxism.
A cohort study of the effectiveness of influenza vaccine in older people, performed using the United Kingdom general practice research database.

BACKGROUND The effectiveness of influenza vaccination against hospitalization and death can only ethically be assessed in observational studies. A concern is that individuals who are vaccinated are healthier than individuals who are not vaccinated, potentially biasing estimates of effectiveness upward. METHODS We conducted a historical cohort study of individuals >64 years of age, for whom there were data available in the General Practice Research Database for 1989 to 1999 in England and Wales. Rates of admissions for acute respiratory diseases and rates of death due to respiratory disease were compared over 692,819 person-years in vaccine recipients and 1,534,280 person-years in vaccine nonrecipients. RESULTS The pooled effectiveness of vaccine against hospitalizations for acute respiratory disease was 21% (95% confidence interval [CI], 17%-26%). The rate reduction attributable to vaccination was 4.15 hospitalizations/100,000 person-weeks in the influenza season. Among vaccine recipients, no important reduction in the number of admissions to the hospital was seen outside influenza seasons. The pooled effectiveness of vaccine against deaths due to respiratory disease was 12% (95% CI, 8%-16%). A greater proportionate reduction was seen among people without medical disorders, but absolute rate reduction was higher in individuals with medical disorders, compared with individuals without such disorders (6.14 deaths due to respiratory disease/100,000 person-weeks vs. 3.12 deaths due to respiratory disease/100,000 person-weeks). Clear protection against death due to all causes was not seen. CONCLUSIONS Influenza vaccination reduces the number of hospitalizations and deaths due to respiratory disease, after correction for confounding in individuals >64 years of age who had a high risk or a low risk for influenza. For elderly people, untargeted influenza vaccination is of confirmed benefit against serious outcomes.
Autism from 2 to 9 years of age.

CONTEXT Autism represents an unusual pattern of development beginning in the infant and toddler years. OBJECTIVES To examine the stability of autism spectrum diagnoses made at ages 2 through 9 years and identify features that predicted later diagnosis. DESIGN Prospective study of diagnostic classifications from standardized instruments including a parent interview (Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised [ADI-R]), an observational scale (Pre-Linguistic Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule/Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule [ADOS]), and independent clinical diagnoses made at ages 2 and 9 years compared with a clinical research team's criterion standard diagnoses. SETTING Three inception cohorts: consecutive referrals for autism assessment to (1) state-funded community autism centers, (2) a private university autism clinic, and (3) case controls with developmental delay from community clinics. PARTICIPANTS At 2 years of age, 192 autism referrals and 22 developmentally delayed case controls; 172 children seen at 9 years of age. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Consensus best-estimate diagnoses at 9 years of age. RESULTS Percentage agreement between best-estimate diagnoses at 2 and 9 years of age was 67, with a weighted kappa of 0.72. Diagnostic change was primarily accounted for by movement from pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified to autism. Each measure at age 2 years was strongly prognostic for autism at age 9 years, with odds ratios of 6.6 for parent interview, 6.8 for observation, and 12.8 for clinical judgment. Once verbal IQ (P = .001) was taken into account at age 2 years, the ADI-R repetitive domain (P = .02) and the ADOS social (P = .05) and repetitive domains (P = .005) significantly predicted autism at age 9 years. CONCLUSIONS Diagnostic stability at age 9 years was very high for autism at age 2 years and less strong for pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. Judgment of experienced clinicians, trained on standard instruments, consistently added to information available from parent interview and standardized observation.
Distributed constraint satisfaction for formalizing distributed problem solving

Viewing cooperative distributed problem solving (CDPS) as distributed constraint satisfaction provides a useful formalism for characterizing CDPS techniques. This formalism and algorithms for solving distributed constraint satisfaction problems (DCSPs) are compared. A technique called asynchronous backtracking that allows agents to act asynchronously and concurrently, in contrast to the traditional sequential backtracking techniques used in constraint satisfaction problems, is presented. Experimental results show that solving DCSPs in a distributed fashion is worthwhile when the problems solved by individual agents are loosely coupled. <<ETX>>
Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory Study Antihypertensive drugs decrease risk of Alzheimer disease

ABSTRACT Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether use of diuretics, angiotensin-1 recep-tor blockers (ARB), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I), calcium channel blockers(CCB), or b-blockers (BB) was associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer disease (AD) dementiain participants with normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: Secondarylongitudinaldataanalysis ofthe GinkgoEvaluationof Memory Study in olderadults at least 75 years of age with normal cognition (n 5 1,928) or MCI (n 5 320) over a median6.1-year period using Cox proportional hazard models after adjusting for confounders. Results: Diuretic use was reported by 15.6%, ARB 6.1%, ACE-I 15.1%, CCB 14.8%, and BB20.5%. Of the 2,248 participants, 290 (13%) developed AD dementia. Hazard ratio for incidentAD dementia among participants with normal cognition was 0.51 in diuretic (95% confidenceinterval [CI] 0.31–0.82), 0.31 in ARB (95% CI 0.14–0.68), 0.50 in ACE-I (95% CI 0.29–0.83), 0.62 in CCB (95% CI 0.35–1.09), and 0.58 in BB (95% CI 0.36–0.93) users and wasnot significantly altered when mean systolic blood pressure was above 140 mm Hg. In partic-ipants with MCI, only diuretic use was associated with decreased risk (hazard ratio 5 0.38, 95%CI 0.20–0.73).