Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Public Input/Elite Privilege: The Use of Participatory Planning to Reinforce Urban Geographies of Power in Seattle

This article begins to address why cities continue to use public participation-based planning processes to shape their public spaces, notwithstanding three decades of criticisms of such approaches. Based on ethnographic, activist participant research into Seattle Washington's planning for public skateboard parks, I argue that the mobilization of two ostensibly incompatible paradigms for planning—one vesting discretionary authority in experts, the other using the planner to develop consensus through inclusive public input processes—are popular precisely because they can be used together to frustrate truly democratic urban planning. This case study demonstrates how elites used the public input garnered by planners as a form of "shadow referendum," determining in advance whether there were any powerful actors that might oppose proposed policies. And by shifting between or combining the two planning models these elites could justify adhering to the demands of powerful neighborhoods, while discarding input from less powerful neighborhoods as politically irrelevant.
Age-Related Variations in Intestinal Microflora of Free-Range and Caged Hens

Free range feeding pattern puts the chicken in a mixture of growth materials and enteric bacteria excreted by nature, while it is typically unique condition materials and enteric bacteria in commercial caged hens production. Thus, the gastrointestinal microflora in two feeding patterns could be various. However, it remains poorly understood how feeding patterns affect development and composition of layer hens’ intestinal microflora. In this study, the effect of feeding patterns on the bacteria community in layer hens’ gut was investigated using free range and caged feeding form. Samples of whole small intestines and cecal digesta were collected from young hens (8-weeks) and mature laying hens (30-weeks). Based on analysis using polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and sequencing of bacterial 16S rDNA gene amplicons, the microflora of all intestinal contents were affected by both feeding patterns and age of hens. Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Fusobacteria were the main components. Additionally, uncultured environmental samples were found too. There were large differences between young hens and adult laying hens, the latter had more Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, and bacterial community is more abundant in 30-weeks laying hens of all six phyla than 8-weeks young hens of only two phyla. In addition, the differences were also observed between free range and caged hens. Free range hens had richer Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria. Most of strains found were detected more abundant in small intestines than in cecum. Also the selected Lactic acid bacteria from hens gut were applied in feed and they had beneficial effects on growth performance and jejunal villus growth of young broilers. This study suggested that feeding patterns have an importance effect on the microflora composition of hens, which may impact the host nutritional status and intestinal health.
Oxidative status and lipid profile in metabolic syndrome: gender differences.

BACKGROUND Metabolic syndrome is associated with cardiovascular disease and oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences of novel oxidative stress parameters and lipid profiles in men and women with metabolic syndrome. METHODS The study population included 88 patients with metabolic syndrome, consisting of 48 postmenauposal women (group I) and 40 men (group II). Premenauposal women were excluded. Plasma levels of total antioxidant status (TAS) and total oxidative status (TOS) were determined by using the Erel automated measurement method, and oxidative stress index (OSI) was calculated. To perform the calculation, the resulting unit of TAS, mmol Trolox equivalent/L, was converted to micromol equivalent/L and the OSI value was calculated as: OSI = [(TOS, micromol/L)/(TAS, mmol Trolox equivalent/L) x 100]. The Student t-test, Mann-Whitney-U test, and chi-squared test were used for statistical analysis; the Pearson correlation coefficient and Spearman rank test were used for correlation analysis. P < or = 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS Both women and men had similar properties regarding demographic characteristics and biochemical work up. Group II had significantly lower levels of antioxidant levels of TAS and lower levels of TOS and OSI compared with group I (P = 0.0001, P = 0.0035, and P = 0,0001). Apolipoprotein A (ApoA) levels were significantly higher in group I compared with group II. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that women with metabolic syndrome have a better antioxidant status and higher ApoA levels compared with men. Our findings suggest the existence of a higher oxidative stress index in men with metabolic syndrome. Considering the higher risk of atherosclerosis associated with men, these novel oxidative stress parameters may be valuable in the evaluation of patients with metabolic sydrome.
Legitimacy and Economy in Deliberative Democracy

Deliberative democracy, though the dominant theme in recent democratic theory, remains on the face of it impossible-at least to the degree it is cast as an account of democratic legitimacy. Yet this is how the theory arrived in Joshua Cohen's classic formulation, and this is still the claim at the theory's core: that outcomes are legitimate to the extent they receive reflective assent through participation in authentic deliberation by all those subject to the decision in question. ' As Seyla Benhabib puts it, "Legitimacy in complex democratic societies must be thought to result from the free and unconstrained deliberation of all about matters of common concern" (emphasis added). 2 The essence of deliberation is generally taken to be that claims for or against collective decisions need to be justified to those subject to these decisions in terms that, given the chance to reflect, these individuals can accept. But in real-world deliberations, all or even very many of those affected do not appear to participate, thus rendering deliberative democracy vulnerable to demolition of its legitimacy claims. In the context of the supposedly exemplary case of health care rationing in Oregon,3 Ian Shapiro asks, "Why should we attach legitimacy at all to a deliberative process that involved very few of those whose health care priorities were actually being discussed? "4 There are ways to fudge the issue; for example, Cohen specifies only that "outcomes are democratically legitimate if and only if they could be the
The Nature of Transnational Alliances in Women's Associations in the Maghreb: The Case of AFTURD and ATFD

This paper analyzes how the discourse of the independent Tunisian feminist movement of the 1980s brought new visibility and appreciation to the early feminists of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, and how it revived tensions that had arisen during the earlier period. The paper also examines how, in a transnational context, the construction of an anthropology of culture by women of the region and the establishment of a Maghrebi women's network enabled the torch of women's rights to pass from women in Tunisia, where the Personal Status Code (PSC) was a model for the region, to women in Morocco, whose activities led to a reform of the Moroccan personal status code (the Mudawwana) in 2003. The discourse of the second generation of Tunisian women, which emerged, unlike that of women in other Arab Muslim countries, in a post-independence context wherein they benefited from an oft-amended PSC that awarded them numerous rights, required that they not only demand new rights but also develop a discourse different from that of the state. However, as Tunisian feminist discourse was becoming institutionalized (e.g. with the publication of the magazine Nissa) in the face of a growing Islamist movement which, strengthened by the transnational Islamist dynamic, was calling for a referendum on the PSC, its promulgator, President Habib Bourguiba, was deposed. The second Republic chose to continue the policy of the first, and brought the women's movement into association with other Tunisian political forces in a "National Pact" to safeguard the PSC, thereby turning the majority of Tunisian women into protectors of the state.
Morphological characterization of the nasopalatine region in human fetuses and its association to pathologies

The nasopalatine region is composed of structures such as the vomeronasal organ and nasopalatine duct. The nasopalatine duct may provide the communication of the mouth to the nasal cavity in human fetuses and can be obliterated in an adult human. Knowledge on the development of the nasopalatine region and nasopalatine duct in humans is necessary for understanding the morphology and etiopathogenesis of lesions that occur in this region. Objective: The aim of the present study was to describe the morphological aspects of the nasopalatine region in human fetuses and correlate these aspects with the development of pathologies in this region. Material and Methods: Five human fetuses with no facial or palatine abnormalities were used for the acquisition of specimens from the nasopalatine region. After demineralization, the specimens were histologically processed. Histological cuts were stained with methylene blue to orient the cutting plane and hematoxylin-eosin for the descriptive histological analysis. Results: The age of the fetuses was 8.00, 8.25, 9.00 and 9.25 weeks, and it was not possible to determine the age in the last one. The incisive canal was observed in all specimens as an opening delimited laterally by the periosteum and connecting oral and nasal cavity. The nasopalatine duct is an epithelial structure with the greatest morphological variation, with either unilateral or bilateral occurrence and total patent, partial patent and islet forms. The vomeronasal organ is a bilateral epithelized structure located alongside the nasal septum above the incisive canal in all the fetuses. Conclusions: The incisive canal, nasopalatine duct and vomeronasal organ are distinct anatomic structures. The development of nasopalatine duct cysts may occur in all forms of the nasopalatine duct.
COMS eye plaque brachytherapy dosimetry simulations for P103d, I125, and C131s.

Monte Carlo (MC) simulations were performed to estimate brachytherapy dose distributions for Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study (COMS) eye plaques. Brachytherapy seed models 200, 6711, and CS-1 Rev2 carrying P103d, I125, and C131s radionuclides, respectively, were modeled and benchmarked against previously published values. Calculated dose rate constants ΛMC were 0.684, 0.924, and 1.052 cGy h-1 U-1 (±2.6%, k=1 uncertainty) for models 200, 6711, and CS-1 Rev2, respectively. The seeds were distributed into 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22 mm-diameter COMS eye plaques. Simulations were performed in both heterogeneous and homogeneous environments, where the latter were in-water and the former included the silastic seed carrier insert and gold-alloy plaque. MC-based homogenous central axis dose distributions agreed within 2%±1% (±1 s.d.) to hand-calculated values. For heterogeneous simulations, notable photon attenuation was observed, with dose reduction at 5 mm of 19%, 11%, and 9% for P103d, I125, and C131s, respectively. A depth-dependent correction factor was derived to correct homogenous central-axis dose distributions for plaque component heterogeneities, which were found to be significant at short radial distances.
Human epidermal growth receptor-2 overexpressing early operable primary breast cancers in older (≥70 years) women: biology and clinical outcome in comparison with younger (<70 years) patients.

INTRODUCTION There is dearth of literature reporting the prevalence and biological characteristics as well as the long-term clinical outcome of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) overexpressing tumours in older women. Currently, research involving trastuzumab at large focuses on the younger population. This study aimed to analyse their biological characteristics and to compare them with their younger counterparts from a single centre with a long-term clinical follow-up. METHODS Over 37 years (1973-2010), 1758 older (≥70 years) women with early operable (<5 cm) primary breast cancer were managed in a dedicated clinic and have complete clinical information available. Of these, 813 patients underwent primary surgery and 575 had good quality tumour samples available for tissue microarray analysis using indirect immunohistochemistry. Comparison was made with data from a well-characterised younger (<70 years) series (N = 1711) treated between 1986 and 1998 (before adjuvant trastuzumab became standard) in our institution. Forty five (7.6%) and 140 (8.2%) patients from the older and younger series, respectively, had HER2-positive tumours. RESULTS HER2 overexpression was seen in 45 (7.6%) older women and 140 (8.2%) in younger patients (P = 0.56). HER2 overexpressing tumours in older women when compared with that in their younger counterparts were associated with low Ki67 and high bcl2 expression (P < 0.05). Only 26% of the younger patients and none of the older patients received adjuvant chemotherapy, and no patients at the time received trastuzumab. However, there was no significant difference in the outcome of the two age groups (5-year breast cancer-specific survival rate: <70 years = 65% versus >70 years = 70%, P = 0.51). CONCLUSION HER2 overexpressing tumours in older women showed relatively a less aggressive phenotype and did not show any inferior long-term clinical outcome despite not having received chemotherapy when compared with the younger patients. The precise role of different adjuvant systemic therapies in this population needs to be delineated.
Population protocols for leader election and exact majority with O(log^2 n) states and O(log^2 n) convergence time

We consider the model of population protocols, which can be viewed as a sequence of random pairwise interactions of $n$ agents (nodes). We show population protocols for two problems: the leader election and the exact majority voting. The leader election starts with all agents in the same initial state and the goal is to converge to the (global) state when exactly one agent is in a distinct state $L$. The exact majority voting starts with each agent in one of the two distinct states $A$ or $B$ and the goal is to make all nodes know which of these two states was the initial majority state, even if that majority was just by a single vote. Alistarh and Gelashvili [ICALP 2015] showed a leader-election protocol which converges in $O(\log^3 n)$ time w.h. p. and in expectation and needs $\Theta(\log^3 n)$ states per agent. We present a protocol which elects the leader in $O(\log^2 n)$ time w.h. p. and in expectation and uses $\Theta(\log^2 n)$ states per agent. For the exact majority voting, we show a population protocol with the same asymptotic performance: $O(\log^2 n)$ time and $\Theta(\log^2 n)$ states per agent. The exact-majority protocol proposed by Alistarh et al. [PODC 2015] achieves expected $O(\log^2 n)$ time, but requires a relatively high initial imbalance between $A$'s and $B$'s or a large number of states per agent. More recently, Alistarh et al. [SODA 2017] showed $O(\log^2 n)$-state protocols for both problems, with the exact majority protocol converging in time $O(\log^3 n)$, and the leader election protocol converging in time $O(\log^{6.3} n)$ w.h. p. and $O(\log^{5.3} n)$ in expectation. Our leader election and exact majority protocols are based on the idea of agents counting their local interactions and rely on the probabilistic fact that the uniform random selection would limit the divergence of the individual counts.
Somatoform and Psychoform Dissociation Among Women with Orgasmic and Sexual Pain Disorders

Since the 20th century, psychogenic female sexual dysfunctions (FSD), like some somatoform and conversion disorders, have been considered an expression of somatoform dissociation. Several studies have reported dissociative symptoms in different somatoform and conversion disorders, but limited data are available on dissociation among patients with FSD. The aim of this study was to assess somatoform and psychoform dissociation among patients with women's orgasmic disorder, dyspareunia, and vaginismus. A battery of self-administered questionnaires (Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire, Dissociative Experiences Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Impact of Event Scale–Revised) was given to 200 gynecological outpatients to assess psychoform and somatoform dissociation and their association with FSD. A strong association between somatoform dissociation and FSD was observed (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 5.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.15–25.32), the association between somatoform and psychoform dissociation being estimated by an adjusted OR of 4.83 (95% CI = 1.17–19.91). Our results are compatible with the idea that some forms of FSD could be regarded as somatoform dissociative disorders.
Validity and Usefulness of the Simple Assessment of Lactate Threshold in Younger Adults

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the validity of the exercise intensity of which lactate increased 0.1 mmol/l from baseline level (METs@LAr+0.1), as for the practical assessment of lactate threshold (LT), in younger adults. Thirty-two apparently healthy younger adults (21±1yr., 167.5±10.2cm, 58.2±9.4kg) performed submaximal bench stepping test, in order to determine the LT and METs@LAr+0.1. The LT (8.6±1.1METs) and METs@LAr+0.1 (8.7±1.4METs) were not significantly different, with the strong correlation (r=0.925, p<0.001). The mean error (%), the standard error of estimation (%) and the total error were -0.1±0.6 METs (-0.5±6.7%), 0.44 METs (5.1%) and 0.53 METs, respectively. Furthermore the lower and upper limit of agreement were -1.1 METs (-13.2%) and 1.0 METs (11.6%), respectively. These results suggest that METs@LAr+0.1 can estimate the LT with ±15% of error. Thus the METs@LAr+0.1 may be a valid and useful assessment of LT in younger adults.
DIFFERENCES IN THE REGULATION OF GROWTH AND BIOMINERALIZATION GENES REVEALED THROUGH LONG‐TERM COMMON‐GARDEN ACCLIMATION AND EXPERIMENTAL GENOMICS IN THE PURPLE SEA URCHIN

Across heterogeneous landscapes, populations may have adaptive differences in gene regulation that adjust their physiologies to match local environments. Such differences could have origins in acclimation or in genetically fixed variation between habitats. Here we use common‐garden experiments to evaluate differences in gene expression between populations of the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, spanning 1700 km and average temperature differences of 5°C to 8°C. Across expression profiles from 18,883 genes after 3 years of common conditions, we find highly correlated expression patterns (Pearson's r = 0.992) among most genes. However, 66 genes were differentially expressed, including many ribosomal protein and biomineralization genes, which had higher expression in urchins originally from the southern population. Gene function analyses revealed slight but pervasive expression differences in genes related to ribosomal function, metabolism, transport, “bone” development, and response to stimuli. In accord with gene expression patterns, a post‐hoc spine regrowth experiment revealed that urchins of southern origin regrew spines at a faster rate than northern urchins. These results suggest that there may be genetically controlled, potentially adaptive differences in gene regulation across habitats and that gene expression differences may be under strong enough selection to overcome high, dispersal–mediated gene flow in this marine species.
Children's recognition of the usefulness of a record: Distinguishing deterministic and probabilistic events

Children aged six, eight, and ten years were asked to decide which of two devices—one deterministically functioning and the other probabilistically functioning—they wanted to keep a record of in order to find out whether or not the device worked properly. The devices were a ball-dropping device (deterministic) and a spinner (probabilistic). To investigate the devices, the children were asked to observe—and potentially record—only as many events as necessary in order to determine the function of each device with sufficient certainty. Children investigated both devices first in a rigged and then in a natural state. In Experiment 1, only the ten year olds showed a good understanding of a record's relative usefulness for investigating the functioning of the probabilistic in preference to the deterministic device. Younger children did not adapt the record keeping to the different kinds of functioning. This might have been related to their difficulties in understanding the deterministic character of the ball-dropping device, therefore its deterministic character was made more salient in Experiment 2. However, this manipulation did not change the results. In both experiments, only the ten year olds appeared to have a good understanding of the fact that a decision about the probabilistic nature of an event sequence requires a relatively large number of observations and therefore, if faced with a choice, a record is more useful for the investigation of probabilistic than deterministic phenomena.
Building Portable Options: Skill Transfer in Reinforcement Learning

The options framework provides methods for reinforcement learning agents to build new high-level skills. However, since options are usually learned in the same state space as the problem the agent is solving, they cannot be used in other tasks that are similar but have different state spaces. We introduce the notion of learning options in agentspace, the space generated by a feature set that is present and retains the same semantics across successive problem instances, rather than in problemspace. Agent-space options can be reused in later tasks that share the same agent-space but have different problem-spaces. We present experimental results demonstrating the use of agent-space options in building transferrable skills, and show that they perform best when used in conjunction with problem-space options.