Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Génération Désenchantée: Satisfaction with Democracy and Income Inequality

Recent scholarship offers compelling evidence on the negative impact of income inequality on satisfaction with democracy. This article studies whether the impact of inequality on evaluations of the democratic process varies for different groups in the population and over time. The central argument is that the impact of inequality is conditional on individual characteristics and experience. Young adults and members of the 90s generation should be more sensitive to income inequality compared to older generations. To answer this question, we use cumulative six-wave data from the European Social Survey (2002-2012), matched with income inequality estimates from the Standardized World Income Inequality Dataset (2014). Results from a series of mixed-effects models reveal that higher levels of income inequality are associated with lower levels of satisfaction with democracy, but with a disproportionate negative influence on young adults compared to older citizens and also on the 1990s cohort compared to all other cohorts.
Negative refractive index due to chirality

We demonstrate experimentally and numerically that metamaterials based on bilayer cross wires give giant optical activity, circular dichroism, and negative refractive index. The presented chiral design offers a much simpler geometry and more efficient way to realize negative refractive index at any frequency. We also developed a retrieval procedure for chiral materials which works successfully for circularly polarized waves.
Comparison of different methods of antioxidant activity evaluation of green and roast C. Arabica and C. Robusta coffee beans

Coffee beans contain a large amount of antioxidants, which are subjected to various changes during roasting. In this study, antioxidant potential of raw and roasted to different degree (light, medium, dark) C. arabica and C. robusta coffee beans was evaluated by the four antioxidant assay methods, TPC, FRAP, TEAC, and DPPH˙. The obtained results revealed significant differences between the coffee types, roasting degree, and antioxidant activity assessment methods. FRAP and TPC appeared to be the most appropriate methods for revealing the differences in antioxidant potential of different coffee types and the effects of roasting. The results obtained by these methods were in good correlation. ABTS and DPPH? methods are not enough sensitive for the determination of roasting degrees. In general, based on statistical data evaluation, antioxidant activity is more dependent on the coffee type than on the degree of roasting, however, the selection of analytical method may also be significant.
Detection of chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency through multigate Quality Doppler Profiles

Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) is a vascular syndrome in which deoxygenated blood flow from the veins surrounding the brain and the spine is slowed or blocked in its return to the heart. Among the criteria adopted for CCSVI diagnosis, the detection of possible intermittently reversed (reflux) flow in deep cerebral veins and sinuses, is of major importance. However, conventional ultrasound Doppler techniques are in many cases not capable of detecting the blood flow direction in these deep and narrow vessels. In this paper, we report on the integration of multigate spectral Doppler analysis, which allows to finely and independently detect blood velocities at different depths, in the MyLabVinco echo-color Doppler unit (Esaote SpA, Firenze, Italy). The unit has been targeted for this application through the introduction of the Directional Quality Doppler Profiles (QDP DIR) functionality, which highlights the flow direction in real-time. In vitro and in vivo examples, showing reflux or absence of reflux, are presented.
The Experiences and Complexities of Care-Seeking Behavior of People Living with HIV/AIDS: A Qualitative Study in Nigeria

In 2009, approximately 2.98 million people in Nigeria were living with HIV/AIDS. More than 192,000 deaths were caused by AIDS and 2.175 million AIDS orphans are now living in Nigeria (UNAIDS, 2010). The availability of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) implies that people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) should be able to carry out daily activities like the rest of society. However, there are a number of hindrances to the utilization of care, leading to suboptimal effectiveness of available treatment (Hilhorst et al., 2006; Morolake et al., 2009). One of the factors seems to be stigma; PLWHA and their care givers have to cope with negative reactions from the people directly around them as well as from the community (Mwinituo & Mill, 2006; Mitchell et al., 2007; Sabin et al., 2008; Adewuya et al., 2009; Hejoaka, 2009; Demmer, 2011). A study carried out among home based care givers in KwaZulu Natal South Africa showed that home based care givers experience high levels of burden and are targets of HIV-related prejudice and discrimination (Singh et al., 2011). Not only does the discovery that one is infected with HIV lead to fear of progression into AIDS and fear of dying, it also creates an anticipation of negative social reactions among PLWHA. Sontag (1989) argues that it is not the suffering of the disease that is deeply feared, but the denigration that is suffered from having the disease that makes PLWHA vulnerable as individuals and within society. People in the community have a negative attitude towards PLWHA because they attribute the characteristic of promiscuity to those who are infected (Campbell et al., 2007). Societal norms and values in Nigeria are restrictive and secretive, while discussion about sex is often private for cultural and religious reasons (Ajuwon et al., 1998), making people who transgress these norms likely to be condemned because norms are very strong and strict. Several studies around the world (Amirkhanian et al., 2003; Singh et al., 2009; Stevelink et al., 2011; Vlassoff & Ali, 2011) and in Africa indicate that PLWHA are still discriminated against (Muyinda et al., 1997; Duffy, 2005; Shisana et al., 2005; Muula & Mfutso-Bengo, 2005; Hilhorst et al., 2006; Liamputtong et al., 2009; Morolake et al., 2009; Amuri et al., 2011), making them resort to varied ways of coping with their problems (Mbonu et al., 2009). Despite these studies indicating the presence of stigma, literature have equally acknowledged that one of the positive noticeable interventions in the fight of HIV/AIDS
Determinants of Low Antenatal Care Services Utilization during the First Trimester of Pregnancy in Southern Benin Rural Setting

Antenatal care services for pregnant women improve maternal and child health outcomes. It is recognized that antenatal care services are underutilized in developing countries. The objective of the study was to identify the determinants of low utilization of antenatal care services during the first trimester of pregnancy in southern Benin rural setting. The cross-sectional and analytical study included 301 pregnant women, 29 husbands and 21 health workers in Athieme municipality (southern Benin rural setting) and was conducted from 14 April to 14 July 2014. Data on sociodemographic and antenatal services characteristics were collected using questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Determinants of low utilization of antenatal care services were identified using logistic regression model. Among 301 pregnant women, only 24.6% utilized antenatal care services during the first trimester of the pregnancy. Five independent determinants of low utilization of antenatal care services were identified: low education level of pregnant women, OR= 3.3 (95%CI= (1.534:7.071)); wrong knowledge of the required period for the first attendance to antenatal care service during pregnancy, OR=5.131 (95%CI= (1.972:13.353)); adequate knowledge of the benefits of the antenatal care service, OR=4.031 (95%CI= (1.401:11.594)); participation in the behavior change communication sessions, OR=0.059 (95%CI= (0.028:0.125)); adequate patient-welcome in antenatal care services, OR= 0.162 (95%CI= (0.051:0.513)). Sociocultural reasons were also mentioned. Pregnant women underutilize free antenatal care services in Athieme municipality. Effective interventions taking into account the identified determinants may contribute to improve the utilization of antenatal services in southern Benin rural setting.
STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE SERVICE DELIVERY IN LOCAL AUTHORITIES

This study sought to identify the causes of poor service delivery and the strategies to improve service delivery in local authorities using the case of Kajiado Local Authority. Two selfadministered questionnaires were designed i.e. one for the employees and the other for service users so as to capture the views of both the employees and service users. Questionnaires were conveniently distributed to 150 service users and 100 were returned usable. Questionnaires were also conveniently distributed to 20 employees of Kijiado Local Authority and 20 were returned usable. A mixed approach i.e. a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was taken to analyse data. The findings showed that the major causes of poor service delivery are councilor interference and political manipulation, corruption and lack of accountability and transparency, inadequate citizen participation, poor human resource policy, failure to manage change, lack of employee capacity, poor planning, and poor monitoring and evaluation. The main strategies to improve service delivery were found to be increasing citizen participation in the affairs of the local authority and partnership with the community in service delivery, flexible response to service user complaints, offering value for money and ensuring that service users pay their bills on time, strategic public service planning, sound human resource policy that includes capacity building and employee motivation, managing change, dealing with corruption and improving accountability, segregation of duties between councilors and management of the local authorities, and partnering with other players and outsourcing services.
Draft Anti-nociceptive effects of Gentiopicroside on neuropathic pain induced by chronic constriction injury in mice : A behavioral and electrophysiological study

Complete List of Authors: Liu, Ning; Department of Pharmacology, Ningxia Medical university, Yinchuan 750000, peoples R China Li, Yu-Xiang; College of Nursing, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, peoples R China Gong, Shuai-Shuai; Department of Pharmacology, Ningxia Medical university, Yinchuan 750000, peoples R China Du, Juan; Department of Pharmacology, Ningxia Medical university, Yinchuan 750000, peoples R China Liu, Gang; Department of Pharmacology, Ningxia Medical university, Yinchuan 750000, peoples R China Jin, Shao-Ju; Luohe Medical College, Luohe 462002, Henan Province, peoples R China Zhao, Cheng-Jun; Key Laboratory of Fertility Preservation and Maintenance of Ministry of Education, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750000, peoples R China Niu, Yang; Key Laboratory of Hui Ethnic Medicine Modernization, Ministry of Education, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, peoples R China Sun, Tao; Ningxia Key Lab of Craniocerebral Diseases of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, peoples R China Yu, Jian-Qiang; Department of Pharmacology, Ningxia Medical university, Yinchuan 750000, peoples R China
Two Lignans from the stem bark of Styrax japonica

Two lignans, 1R,2R,5S,6R-2-(4′-hydroxy-3′-methoxyphenyl)-6-(3′’,4′’-dimethoxyphenyl)-3,7-dioxabicyclo[3.3. 0]octane 4′-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (1) and styraxlignolides F (2), were isolated from the EtOAc-soluble fraction of the stem bark of Styrax japonica (Styracaceae). The structures of lignans (1-2) were determined by spectroscopic means. The absolute configuration for styraxlignolides F (2), (2S,3S)-2-(3′’,4′’-dimethoxybenzyl)-3-(4′-hydroxy-3′-methoxybenzyl)-γ-butyrolactone 4′-O-(β-D-glucopyranoside), was unambiguously confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis.
Party System Compactness: Measurement and Consequences

An important property of any party system is the set of choices it presents to the electorate. In this paper we analyze the distribution of parties relative to voters in the multidimensional issue space and introduce two measures of the dispersion of the parties in the issue space relative to the voters, which we call measures of the compactness of the parties in the issue space. We show how compactness is easily computed using standard survey items found on national election surveys. Because we study the spacing of the parties relative to the distribution of the voters, we produce metric-free measures of compactness of the party system. The measures can be used to compare party systems across issues, over time within countries, and across countries. Comparing the compactness of party systems across countries allows us to determine the relative amount of issue choice afforded voters in different polities. We examine the compactness of the issue space and test the impact it has on voter choice in four countries: the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, and Great Britain. We demonstrate that the more compact the distribution of the parties in the issue space on any given issue, the less voters weight that issue in their vote decision. Thus we provide evidence supporting theories suggesting that the greater the choice offered by the parties in an election, the more likely it is that issue voting will play a major role in that election.
Effect of automatic hyperparameter tuning for residential load forecasting via deep learning

Short-term residential load forecasting is becoming increasingly important as we are advancing to an era where the penetration of renewable energy keeps increasing and will become ubiquitous in our day-to-day energy consumption. In this future grid scenario, individual load forecasting is more critical than load forecasting on system level because many renewable energy sources (RESs) are generally distributed, and it is most efficient to consume the renewable generation at the sites of energy production. Despite there have been many works in short-term load forecasting (STLF), few of them target the problem on the end-use level. Also, deep learning has started to be proposed in STLF, but the common problem for deep learning, the selection of many hyperparameters, is rarely discussed. In this paper, we extend a deep long short-term memory (LSTM) based load forecasting framework with automatic hyperparameter tuning to address the STLF problem for the highly volatile residential load. A tree-structured Parzen estimator based hyper-parameter tuning method is integrated into the STLF framework to efficiently find the best set of hyper-parameters for better forecasting performance.
The 2009 Pandemic H 1 N 1 and Triple-Reassortant Swine H 1 N 1 Influenza Viruses Replicate Efficiently but Elicit an Attenuated Inflammatory Response in Polarized Human Bronchial Epithelial Cells

The pandemic H1N1 virus of 2009 (2009 H1N1) produced a spectrum of disease ranging from mild illness to severe illness and death. Respiratory symptoms were frequently associated with virus infection, with relatively high rate of gastrointestinal symptoms reported. To better understand 2009 H1N1 virus pathogenesis in humans, we studied virus and host responses following infection of two cell types: polarized bronchial and pharyngeal epithelial cells, which exhibit many features of the human airway epithelium, and colon epithelial cells to serve as a human intestinal cell model. Selected 2009 H1N1 viruses were compared to both seasonal H1N1 and triple-reassortant swine H1N1 influenza viruses that have circulated among North American pigs since before the 2009 pandemic. All H1N1 viruses replicated productively in airway cells; however, in contrast to seasonal H1N1 virus infection, infection with the 2009 H1N1 and triple-reassortant swine H1N1 viruses resulted in an attenuated inflammatory response, a weaker interferon response, and reduced cell death. Additionally, the H1N1 viruses of swine origin replicated less efficiently at the temperature of the human proximal airways (33°C). We also observed that the 2009 H1N1 viruses replicated to significantly higher titers than seasonal H1N1 virus in polarized colon epithelial cells. These studies reveal that in comparison to seasonal influenza virus, H1N1 viruses of swine origin poorly activate multiple aspects of the human innate response, which may contribute to the virulence of these viruses. In addition, their less efficient replication at human upper airway temperatures has implications for the understanding of pandemic H1N1 virus adaptation to humans.
RLC-Induced Current Oscillations in Convoluted Arcs With Independently Activated Magnetic Fields

Experimental results on atmospheric-pressure arc plasma convolutes in air around a polytetrafluoroethylene cylindrical shroud containing a magnetic field ( B-field) producing coil are presented. In this paper, the B-field coil is energized by a current separate from that flowing through the arc, and a separate RLC circuit was connected across the arc gap. Thus the magnitude and time duration of the B-field are independent of the arc current and the high-frequency current oscillations produced by the parallel RLC circuit. Experimental results for the time variation of the current through and voltage across the arc plasma for these different conditions are presented, along with high-speed photographs of the oscillating current arc. The effects of varying the B-field upon plasma pulsations formed by the independent B-field and RLC current oscillations are discussed.
New Parvovirus Associated with Serum Hepatitis in Horses after Inoculation of Common Biological Product

Equine serum hepatitis (i.e., Theiler’s disease) is a serious and often life-threatening disease of unknown etiology that affects horses. A horse in Nebraska, USA, with serum hepatitis died 65 days after treatment with equine-origin tetanus antitoxin. We identified an unknown parvovirus in serum and liver of the dead horse and in the administered antitoxin. The equine parvovirus-hepatitis (EqPV-H) shares <50% protein identity with its phylogenetic relatives of the genus Copiparvovirus. Next, we experimentally infected 2 horses using a tetanus antitoxin contaminated with EqPV-H. Viremia developed, the horses seroconverted, and acute hepatitis developed that was confirmed by clinical, biochemical, and histopathologic testing. We also determined that EqPV-H is an endemic infection because, in a cohort of 100 clinically normal adult horses, 13 were viremic and 15 were seropositive. We identified a new virus associated with equine serum hepatitis and confirmed its pathogenicity and transmissibility through contaminated biological products.
Observed ENSO teleconnections to Southern Ocean SST anomalies diagnosed from a surface mixed layer heat budget

This study examines the mechanisms that govern the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnections to variability in extratropical Southern Hemisphere sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies using several observational and reanalysis products. During the warm season, turbulent heat fluxes and heat advection by Ekman currents contribute equally to ENSO‐related SST variability throughout the Southern Ocean, while shortwave radiation has a larger contribution in the subtropics. A comparison of the ocean mixed layer heat budget between multiple re‐analysis products reveals that the relative contributions of the turbulent, radiative and Ekman heat fluxes to ENSO‐related SST anomalies is consistent between the NCEP, ERA‐40 and OAFlux/ISCCP products, but discrepancies exist with regard to the structure and amplitude of the turbulent heat fluxes and, to a lesser extent, the shortwave radiation. However, a comparison between the tendencies in SST and flux‐derived temperatures reveals minimal residuals, suggesting that the ENSO‐signal in the SST field can be resolved by turbulent, Ekman, and radiative heat fluxes, particularly in the ERA‐40 products.
A two-chain path integral model of positronium

We have used a path integral Monte Carlo technique to simulate positronium (Ps) in a cavity. The primitive propagator is used, with a pair of interacting chains representing the positron and electron. We calculate the energy and radial distribution function for Ps enclosed in a hard, spherical cavity, and the polarizability of the model Ps in the presence of an electrostatic field. We find that the positron distribution near the hard wall differs significantly from that for a single particle in a hard cavity. This leads to systematic deviations from predictions of free-volume models which treat Ps as an effective, single particle. A virial-type estimator is used to calculate the kinetic energy of the particle in the presence of hard walls. This estimator is found to be superior to a kinetic-type estimator given the interaction potentials, cavity sizes, and chain lengths considered in the current study.
Low loss rotated porous core octagonal single-mode fiber for THz radiation

A novel kind of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a rotated hexagonal porous core and an octagonal cladding has been proposed in this paper. The fiber geometry is considered as the turning point in order to raise the fraction of power transmitted through the core air-holes and single-mode propagation of the guided wave. The rotated hexagonal lattice in the core reduces the material absorption loss to a great extent (0.05 cm-1) and the octagonal structure in the periodic cladding ensures high confinement factor and a high power fraction in core air-holes at the operating frequency of 1 THz and core diameter of 360 μm. Additionally, the simple design can easily be fabricated using combination of drilling and stacking methods, by which the fiber is expected to be applied in single-mode imaging and security applications.
Characterization of relaxation-oscillation noise in continuous-wave traveling wave tubes

Extremely low noise levels are frequently required in radar and communication systems that utilize microwave tubes. A noise waveform frequently found in continuous-wave (CW) linear-beam microwave tubes is a relaxation-type oscillation that has a period typically on the order of several milliseconds. This paper provides an extensive experimental characterization of this relaxation-oscillation phenomenon by recording the corresponding signal modulations on the output of several solenoid-focused CW traveling wave tubes. The characteristics of these amplitude and phase modulations were studied during systematic variations of tube operating parameters that included magnetic field, cathode voltage, depressed collector voltage, heater filament voltage, and input drive level. A measurement technique was also developed with the capability to obtain detailed information on the growth of the relaxation-oscillation noise waveforms along the beam interaction region by comparing reflected and output noise waveforms.